A/N- Written for My Dear Professor McGonagall's Mother and Child Competition on the HPFC forum. Reviews are love :)
A Moment's Panic
Tonks felt numb as she stared at the sentence in her Transfiguration textbook. It was as if it had altered itself overnight. She was so sure it had said something different when she had read it before her exam.
She was one of the last people remaining on the Hogwarts Express. Now that she had learnt to apparate, her parents didn't come to collect her at the platform any more, though she knew they secretly wanted to. Her friends had all left the train to run to their families but Tonks, feeling oddly nostalgic had wandered up and down the carriages for a while, knowing that this was probably the last time she would see them.
In an attempt to kill more time before she had to leave forever the train on which she had first met her closest friends, she had decided to flick through her textbooks. Not one to go back over exams and analyse them in excruciating detail, or even to be seen studying publicly, her books hadn't been touched since her final exam a few days before. She thought she would just check that she had written the right thing in the essay question on her Transfiguration paper. Of course she was sure she had. She just wanted to check, just to be sure.
And there it was in black and white; molecular transformative exchanges weren't switching spells. It was such a tiny little detail, the sort of mistake she and her friends would laugh about, but the usually carefree, laidback Tonks wasn't laughing. She might act like she didn't care about her marks, but she really, really did. She needed an Outstanding in Transfiguration for acceptance into the Auror Office and she had worked so hard for it. Why did this have to happen now? She had always been able to get good marks without trying and now, when it really mattered, she had messed up.
Her stomach sank and she felt vaguely sick as she gathered her things and walked out of King's Cross station in a daze. She made her way through the bustling Muggle streets towards the deserted alleyway from which she could apparate safely without being seen. Her legs carried her on auto-pilot, as she could only focus on the numbers whizzing through her brain, calculating just how bad the damage could be. What if her essay had just been given zero? She might not even pass!
After recovering from the brief disorientation caused by her apparition, she dragged her trunk up her street and knocked on the familiar door that she had not seen for over half a year, having remained at Hogwarts over Easter.
Her mother opened the door just seconds later; clearly she had been waiting for her daughter's arrival. Andromeda's face split into a huge smile and suddenly Tonks' emotions caught up with her. She had failed. Her dreams of a career as an Auror were over.
She launched herself into her mother's arms and burst into tears.
"What's wrong, Dora, sweetheart? What's happened?" her mother asked, shocked at this uncharacteristic outburst.
Tonks merely buried her face in her mother's shoulder and clung to her, comforted by the knowledge that her mother was there for her no matter how badly she messed anything up.
Eventually she tearfully explained what had happened as Andromeda steered her into the kitchen and sat her down, flicking her wand over her shoulder so that Tonks' luggage tucked itself neatly away into an alcove in the porch. When she had finished, her mother placed a steaming cup of tea in front of her and stroked her hair, which she noticed had faded a little from its usual bright pink hue.
"I'm sure it isn't as bad as you think it is," she soothed. "The examiners know people make mistakes under pressure. They'll see from the rest of your paper that you're a clever girl and take that into account. I'm sure they won't fail you just for one little mistake."
"It wasn't a little mistake, though. I should have known that. I probably did know and just didn't think it through."
Andromeda sat down opposite her daughter and looked into her reddened eyes.
"It's not the end of the world, Dora," she said calmly. "You've done brilliantly to even be considered by the Auror office when so many people aren't. No matter how you do in these exams, I'm incredibly proud of you and so is your father. Besides, I'm sure your practical exam more than made up for the theory paper."
Tonks gave a small smile. "Yes, I suppose that did go pretty well," she conceded.
A/N- In case you hadn't guessed, Tonks is overreacting and she did just fine in her exam, got an Outstanding and became an Auror. I always find that the more important an exam is, the more terribly you think you've done. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. Please review and let me know what you think :)