Tonks took a deep breath and then almost instantly regretted it as she inhaled the fumes from her potion. They weren't noxious or anything (or else she would have cast a filtration charm on the area and placed a bubblehead charm on herself) but they weren't pleasant and made her cough. That earned her glares from McCabbert and Matt for daring to interrupt their concentration. That was the thing about being split up into threes for their Brewing exam (it had a far longer, fancier name but they all just called it Brewing), they could hear every little noise the other people did. For example, since when did Matt breathe so heavily? Had he always breathed like that? Was it because of the fumes.
Brewing. Right. Brewing. Back on topic. This was fine. She could brew potions. She was actually pretty good at the diagnostic ones. The ones you had to know how to brew in order to check for poisons and other foreign bodies on or in things. It was actually quite interesting figuring out what reacted with what in order to narrow down a theory. It was all a part of putting the puzzle pieces together, you know? And that was satisfying.
Sure, it was a little bit off putting to brew it under a time limit but she could manage. It was fine. She just had to remember not to leave out steps so the potions were actually function and they better be functional because they were going to use each of the two, they were brewing to identify poisons in the next step of the exam. One was for detecting the presence of a poison on a surface and the other in a drink. Definitely important potions and were used for two further skills that were then tested. One investigative and the other protective.
They had to take their first potion and then use it to determine just what poison a suspect had been brewing in a small crime scene. Hers had traces of the poison on a shelf, like a vial of the stuff had been stored there. All the potion did was detect the presence of a poison and how strong (and therefore how lethal) it was. Hers lit up orange on contact so it wasn't immediately lethal but you definitely would need immediate medical attention she explained. Maybe make use of an emergency bezoar or drag the person to St Mungo's she explained to her examiner.
For testing their second potion she had to test a cup of tea they had been given (not that she would ever drink it because it definitely did not have enough sugar in it) to prove if someone was trying to poison them. Now, this was one that Moody had made sure she knew about. Apparently, he always carried around three different potions that did this, paranoid old git. He had personally made sure she knew how to brew this and even taught her a variant that didn't change the colour of the drink (which the original did) so you wouldn't give yourself away if you were in the presence of the person who made you the drink. It only changed the temperature of it, which the original did but not enough for it to be commonly known. This little twist enhanced that. Which was pretty cool but did she brew it now? Would her examiners be impressed with her or did she just do everything by the book?
No, she wanted to be a little bit dramatic. Give a little flair, you know? And yes, show off a bit. Look, Hufflepuffs were known for their loyalty and willingness to do hard work, there was nothing in there about not being a show off.
You know what? She was going to do it.
The medical potions she wasn't quite as interested in. Obviously, they were the most useful and they weren't exactly complicated (they had St Mungo's for that) but they were emergency medicine so they were important to know. She just didn't like to think of ever being in situation where she would have to quickly whip up such a potion or administer one instead of being able to take them to hospital. And, let's be honest, if she liked the medical side of things then she would have gone and become a Healer. Which she definitely didn't want to be. Who ever heard of a Healer who caused injuries? To themselves. Merlin knows what sort of trouble she would get into with healing spells and the like, not to mention knives! Wait, no, they weren't knives, they were scalpels. Whatever. She definitely didn't need to be around them every day.
And she wasn't going to be because she wasn't going to be a Healer. She was going to be an Auror. And she was going to brew this damn healing potion for burns. Was it fluxweed or lethe water that went in next?
You know what she didn't like? The knowing looks on the testers faces when it was her turn to do the obstacle course. Well, she showed them. Didn't they know who Moody was? Obviously, she was good at this. She had certainly been made to run variations of it many times, lack of grace be damned. Her personal time was pretty damn good as well.
Of course, this one was more complicated than any she had be made to run in training, mainly because it was longer and that there were traps that she had to avoid setting off for fear of being doused in vinegar. Was one of the testers a Hufflepuff? Who else would involve vinegar in a trap? Whatever. She supposed she should be glad it wouldn't be something worse. Would it look bad if she preventatively placed a bubble bead charm around her head? If she triggered a trap, she would really rather not burn her eyes out of her head. But would casting one make it look like she was expecting to set off a trap? Would they mark her down for that? The things you had to consider.
Tonks did okay on the obstacle course. Well, she thought she did. It felt like she did. She had no clue about her time but she didn't fall flat on her face at any point and she didn't set off any of the traps. Not one. Though, she was somehow covered in mud and she absolutely had rope burn on her hands that were stinging so badly that she was kind of afraid to look at them. But she had finished and didn't break aby bones and that was all that mattered to her. Well, that and avoiding the aforementioned traps, obviously, because those would have one, wasted time and two, earned her a time penalty at the end which would have sucked. The examiners had actually seemed to be a little bit impressed with her too which made her wonder if her reputation of clumsiness had preceded her. Probably had. It wasn't exactly a secret.
Whatever. She had got a subtle thumbs up from one of the examiners so she was taking that as a win. There was no time to worry or think of anything else except her next exam.