"Freedom!" Partridge gasped as they emerged from the exam room.

"I have a headache," Jean complained, rubbing at her head.

"I swear I still see words glowing behind my eyelids," Tonks added to the list complaints, blinking rapidly.

Why did the world seem so much brighter out here? The exam room wasn't even that dark.

"Well, that was unnecessary," McCabbert said in a bored tone.

Tonks swore that McCabbert was like one of those robots in those muggle films her dad liked watching. As did she but you'd never catch her admitting to that. Anyway, back to the point. She thought that comment meant that McCabbert was just as stressed about how that test went as the rest of them but Tonks couldn't be sure.

What she was sure of, however, was that they should all start calling each other by their actual names at some point. Well, except for her because there was no chance of that happening. Tonks was pretty sure that the non-Hogwarts ones didn't even know her first name and she'd like to keep it that way. But yeah, they were all trainees together. Surely that meant they should be on more familiar terms? Though, they were already at that point with Jean but that's because, well, she was Jean. She didn't exactly keep people at arm's length.

She was sure that they'd ease into using first names at some point. They just weren't there right now. They were, however, at the point where they could freely complain about the test they just sat.

"Remind me why I want to be an Auror?" Eggleston asked.

"It was just a test to see where we all are," Mainwaring said, trying to convince himself. "We can't actually fail it."

"It was awful," Dubois muttered. "I didn't get a chance to answer that twenty mark question. I was leaving it to the end and then suddenly time was up."

"I got to it," Jean admitted. "But I wrote like three lines. I couldn't think of anything else."

Tonks had to admit, she did feel a little better that even the ones that didn't go to Hogwarts found parts of the exam difficult. Did that make her a bad person? It probably did but she really couldn't bring herself to care. Because it meant that she wasn't as far behind in Defence like she had feared. She had never given much thought to the effect that having a different professor for Defence would have on her education but now that's all she could think about, ever since these tests. About how all of them from Hogwarts could have these massive gaps and not even know about it. About how they might not be able to catch up. They couldn't be thrown out of the Auror Program for something like that, could they? Auror Taylor had said that the results would just be used to figure out what they had to review from the NEWT level work. Right?

"Drinks," Dubois said fervently. "I need a drink after that."

"You've been saying that after every test," Fontaine said, eyeing him warily. "Should we be concerned?"

"Concerned that I just want to wipe my brain of how hard that was? No. I'm more concerned that you don't want to."

Fontaine rolled his eyes but didn't say anything in return.

"I'm up for drinks," Tonks said with a shrug.

It felt less awkward than that first time they all went out a few weeks ago. More natural. And she could definitely do with forgetting about those tests for a few hours. She was going to spend all weekend worrying about them, as well as next week, she deserved a few hours of not worrying in her opinion.

"We all in?" She asked everyone in the locker room at large.

She got murmurs of agreement from nearly everyone.

"Jones?"

As much as she didn't like him, that was no reason to leave him out. Unfortunately. Damn her and her Hufflepuff tendency to fairness.

"Must we go to a bar?" He sniffed. "Could we not go somewhere more classy?"

"Take it or leave it, Jones," Eggleston said impatiently.

Jones pursed his lips in that displeased way of his. "Fine."

"And drink beer this time instead of wine like some sort of pansy," Partridge scoffed.

"I don't drink beer."

"We've noticed. Who the hell orders wine at a bar?"

"It wouldn't hurt you to," Jones said imperiously.

"I'm pretty sure it would," Partridge told him. "There's no way the crappy little bar we all went to has good wine."

"It doesn't," Jones said irritably. "But that doesn't mean that I will be drinking beer."

"Does anyone hear this guy?" Partridge demanded incredulously.

"You are the one who is low class."

"You say that like it's a problem."

The two bickering men led the way out of the Ministry, the rest of them trailing behind them, snickering.

"I'm going to order shots this time," Jean said stubbornly.

She had been too chicken to even try a sip of one the last time. Something McCabbert had teased her endlessly about.

[xxxxxx]

Well, Jean had stayed true to her word and ordered shots. For everyone. Even Jones who had done his normal thing for turning his nose up at his. Jean had just taken his.

Which she really shouldn't have done, in hindsight. Because, well, because it turned out that Jean Cavendish really couldn't handle her alcohol. Like, at all. Tonks was pretty sure the woman hadn't been that bad the last time they had gone out but Tonks couldn't remember if she drank that much the last time.

Well, Jean was certainly making up for it now, slinging back at least four different shots and she was pretty sure that that was her second cocktail. Which was two cocktails too many.

Now, Tonks had had two shots herself and was nursing a very tasty cocktail of her own. But she wasn't the one swaying to non-existent music (that Jean had proclaimed to be "the best music ever!") nor was she the one slurring every other word. Granted, Tonks knew all her senses were a little fuzzy but she was still in control of herself. In control enough to take another sip of her drink and not spill it everywhere.

"Cavendish! Get down from there!" Gaffrey shouted suddenly.

Tonks looked up to see Gaffrey pull Jean down from the table she was trying to dance on top of. She sort of fell onto him but at least she was off the table.

"What do we do with her?" Mainwaring asked worriedly from next to her, holding a pint of beer.

"Do you know where she lives?" Tonks asked.

Maybe they could bring her there? Not that any of them should really be apparating. But maybe it was close? Unfortunately, Mainwaring was shaking his head.

Tonks sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I'll bring her home with me," she told him.

She was closest, after all. Mainwaring gave her a look of relief.

"That's a good idea. I'll help you if she can't stand upright."

"She probably won't be able to," Tonks said, as Jean waved her arm around and smacked several different people by accident.

Tonks just hoped that Jean wouldn't throw up on her.