The Houses Competition

Ravenclaw

Charms

Standard

[Pairing] Mad-eye Moody and Nymphadora Tonks

WC: 1122

Most of the new recruits disliked Moody. He was a hardass whose focus on the what-if's prevented him from seeing what was in front of his bloody nose. His tired refrain of "Constant Vigilance" got tiring after the hundredth repetition, and to be honest, most of the rookies thought the old man just needed to retire already and let them get on with their jobs.

Nymphadora 'Call me Tonks' Tonks was not like most recruits. She was determined to be the best, and to be the best, she had to learn from the best. All of the case files suggested that, of those who survived the war against Voldemort, Moody was the best of the best.

And so began the strangest game of Hide and Seek the Auror Academy had ever seen.

Moody had just completed a delightful day showing the wannabe Aurors the ropes. Now it was time for a nice bottle of Firewhiskey (brought from home of course) at Tom's to soothe away the memories. Moody nodded his head to the other regulars. Carson and Roberts were at it again arguing over some woman while McCaphrey came in a good hour before his usual time and seemed more sober than usual as well. Watching the crowd discreetly while taking a long sip from his flask, Moody pondered his problems with the new recruits. Not even a tenth of the class would last a year in the field, and the knowledge that those younguns were the best that Hogwarts had to offer and would likely be hired simply to keep numbers up smarted something bad.

"Hi Auror Moody, sir." McCaphrey had been slowly making his way over to Moody's side while he tried to brainstorm ways to make the students understand the need for vigilance. The resident drunkard suddenly shifted into a bubblegum-pink pain-in-his-ass recruit, no doubt in an attempt to stand out from the crowd

"Damn Metamorphmagi," he grunted as the eighteen-year-old began to talk his good ear off about all the brilliant aspects of class that day. Finally, he finished his bottle of firewhiskey, and with a final flaming belch, Alastor Moody apparated away.

Three days later, Moody was again accosted by the pink-haired witch, only this time it was while he was taking the Muggle underground on a mission.

"What's the matter, Prof? Surely you noticed me, didn't ya?" She yipped like a particularly annoying chihuahua.

"Course I saw ya, you wet behind the ears pup! Noticed ya at the first stumble down the stairs. Doesn't make it any less annoying," he hissed. Really, this was hardly the place for an assessment of her skills or lack thereof.

The kid just grinned impudently. "To be the best, I've gotta learn from the best. If I can get where I can trick you, I figure I oughta be golden!"

"Keep dreaming, kid."

Tonks became a woman obsessed and tried every game in the books. It seemed like nowhere was safe for Alastor against his biggest fan. Eventually, she even took their game into the classroom. When Wallace had to skip class due to a case of Dragon Pox, Tonks tried to fill in. Within fifteen minutes, she was called out of formation. "A mite conspicuous, don't you think, a recruit of your caliber missing the same day that Wallace makes a sudden recovery from Dragon Pox? Besides, his body language is completely different from yours. Camouflage is about more than looking like your target. You've got to act like them too." The gruff old Auror grunted.

So, Tonks spent weeks studying her classmates trying to learn their mannerisms until she could mimic Hornsworth perfectly. It helped that Alice Hornsworth was a similar size to Tonks, so walking in that body was easier than it was when pretending to be Wallace. Before Tonks really could try to trick her professor, however, she needed a plan to get Alice out of class and what would appear to be her in class. Polyjuice was the obvious solution, but Tonks' potion skills were barely sufficient to make it into the NEWT level class. As much as Tonks wanted to trick Auror Moody, doing so at the potential risk of another was not okay. She had morals enough for that at least.

Funnily enough, it was Alice who came to her rescue.

"I know you've been trying to trick Auror Moody. No doubt, you've decided I'm the best candidate." Alice laughed at Tonks' face. "Oh, don't look so shocked. I might not have 'constant vigilance' like Moody, but I have enough to notice when someone's mimicking me. I'll make the Polyjuice and pretend to be you. All I ask in return is that, when you finally explain to Moody how you tricked him, you give me credit where credit is due. If you're successful, it'll only be because I made a realistic you, after all."

Unfortunately, the Polyjuice took quite a while to brew, but the two women took advantage of the time to perfect their mimicry of each other. Finally, the day arrived. Tonks and Alice went to the lady's room just before class. One plucked pink hair in a goblet later, and everything was ready.

Everything went perfectly. Tonks' difficulty with balance was significantly lessened with the body being so similar to her natural state. Both women managed to get through the obstacle course with minimal difficulties, and no one seemed to notice a thing. Afterwards, just before the spell-casting portion of the session, 'Tonks' took a deep gulp from her water canteen. Both women did quite well with that section as well, and again not one person reacted as though anything was strange. The class was just about to end when Auror Moody called Hornsworth and Tonks up front.

The man's signature "Constant Vigilance" shout came just as Alice's Polyjuice impression washed away.

By the end of the class, every one of the recruits was signed up for a situational awareness course, everyone except Alice and Tonks. Alastor called for Tonks to follow him out of the building.

"You seem to have learned quite a bit in your attempts to trick me, lassie. You've gotten better at picking your targets wisely so that differences in size are not such a hindrance, and you've taken what I said about learning body language to heart. You could go far in the Aurors, with a wee bit of training. What do you say we try your skills out on some bigger fish?"

If a hungover Dolores Umbridge discovered that she accidentally voted yes to a few pieces of legislation that she definitely meant to vote no for, well there could be no one to blame for that bit of oversight than herself, of course.