The more physical exams were weird, if you asked her. Unlike the others that were quite clear in what subject they were, these ones weren't. They were more combination tests. For example, the duelling one wasn't a Defence Against the Dark Arts exam, it tested your Transfiguration and Charms as well. It tested your ability to dodge and think on your feet.

The latter she was pretty good at, if she said so herself, her mind was quick and Moody had drilled her enough that she knew enough variations of using spells. It was the dodging that she still wasn't good at, in particular the ones that required her to turn quickly. They always ended up with her falling over her own feet and, sure enough, it happened in her examine. Only twice, mind you, but that was definitely two times too many. She wasn't sure if she had managed to pass off one of those times as ducking low to let a hex pass over her but she hoped so. It wouldn't be quite so bad then. She hoped. She did manage to fire off a spell as she fell, which was something. Of course, it went wide and obviously did not hit her opponent (one of examiners, the other was on the side-lines as a spectator to mark her performance that way) but it did distract him slightly which meant that she could get back on her feet without anything being fired her way. Which was good because if he hadn't been distracted, she would have very easily been hit.

You would think that she would be better at this considering during her Training Moody liked to fire random spells at her to "keep her on her toes". And that had helped her dodging abilities. Mainly because Moody was over-fond of the stinging hex but it didn't help her useful dodging. As in being able to fight back despite being distracted. Which you absolutely got marked down on here. The training arena and dummies back at the Academy could only help that skill so much.

So yeah, that was annoying and you know what else was annoying? The fact that she could feel herself improve in that area as the duel went on so if she had trained a bit harder in that area he probably would have been, well, not good considering her lack of balance was still against her, but better!

What she was better at though was using transfiguration in duels. She got a surprised shout from her examiner by transfiguring a box into a limestone boulder and then blasting it at him. That got him scrambling enough to avoid getting pelted by gravel pellets that she got a few good hits in with some hexes. He had to continue the rest of the duel with a slight limp which definitely gave her and advantage.

Her favourite trick though was when she transfigured a bit of the broken limestone into a trampoline - which should have got her a few more points because it wasn't a direct size transfiguration, the trampoline was much bigger than the chunk. She then proceeded to bounce on the trampoline to get some ariel shots in. Which she did but she unfortunately hadn't taken into account two things. One, she had never tried shooting off spells while bouncing on something so her shots were definitely not as accurate as they could have been and two, she didn't give thought to how she was supposed to get off the damn thing and still continue on with the duel.

Thankfully, the whole experience had been distracting enough that she could scramble off the trampoline and even use it as a sort of shield once she knocked it on its side. It turned out that a trampoline could block low level hexes but the higher-powered ones just ripped through.

She was breathing heavily when the duel was over and sweat was dripping from her. Wow, that was a workout and that was with the examiner holding back a little (they had to or else none of them would pass their Duelling exam). Was there enough time between now and her next exam to take a quick shower? She doubted it. Everything was so crammed in today that she was surprised that she remembered to breathe.

The only good thing about these exams were that were all practical that they basically knew their results right away. They were informed quickly on whether they passed or failed that module of their course.

Of course, that still didn't tell them if they had successfully passed overall, Trainees weren't told the weightings of each module nor how much they had to pass by in order for them to pass overall. Apparently, that was against the spirit of the exams and taught them only to study certain areas instead of everything because you never knew what you might need to know. Whatever. All she knew was that she had passed the Duelling exam, surprisingly after the two falls after that were unfortunately mentioned in her brief feedback. Moody wouldn't be happy about that. One, it definitely brought her mark down and two a fall left her wide open to further attacks. He would definitely be more annoyed at the last point than the first one.

Onward with the next exam.

[xxxxxx]

Stupid Stealth and Tracking. Stupid, stupid Stealth and Tracking. She hated it. She hated it. She hated it. Why did she always manage to find something to trip over when she was quite literally watching her own feet? And yes, she was aware that watching her feet meant that she lost marks for possibly missing details in her surroundings but as Moody had told her, missing details was still better than being found out. But she somehow managed to do both. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. There was no way she was going to do well on this. Hell, she was going to be lucky if she didn't just outright fail it.

No. She wasn't going to fail it. She was going to pass it. She had to.

She did not pass it. Twice. Two times. Two times where they discovered her and she failed.

Right. Third times a charm. Thank Merlin for three chances at this thing. Right, Tonks, think. Think. This was her last chance and she was going to have to do something different because what she had been doing obviously wasn't working. It was never going to work for her because sneaking around and staying hidden was obviously not one of her strengths.

Strengths. She should play to her strengths! Oh, Merlin, how stupid was she to not think of that before? She had the perfect strength. Well, she hoped so anyway.

She gave the examiners a contemplative look (well, she hoped it was contemplative) and wondered if what she was going to try was allowed. It technically wasn't going to be bringing anything external into the exam (which they had been warned against) was it?

"Your time starts now," she was told.

Wait, she wasn't ready! She wasn't ready! Instinctively, she started trailing after the man she had been assigned to. Deep, slow breaths. She could do this. She just had to be careful and think this through.

Which was all well and good until she thought too much that she forgot to pay attention to her surroundings and, you guessed it, tripped. Which obviously got the attention of the man she was supposed to be tracking.

Without putting much thought into it she shifted herself into a passable imitation of McCabbert and let her robe fall while turning to the side so she didn't look like she was watching him. Hopefully blending into the other random people who were being used to flesh out an actual busy area (she still wasn't sure if they were Ministry employees or just volunteers). A few of them squeaked in surprise as they watched her. Dammit, she hadn't taken that into account!

Holding her breath, she waited for the call from the examiners that she had been spotted. And... it didn't come. It didn't come!

Tonks couldn't help but grin like an idiot as she waited for the man to start walking again. It had worked! It had actually worked! Now all she bad to do was keep it up. That couldn't be too hard, could it.