the girl with all of the choices

o n e h u n d r e d n i n e

8574 words

january tenth- the mirror of erised

~ Addison ~

Sixteen days. It had been sixteen days since I had seen Draco. Compared to how long the war could continue for, it was a short time. And sometimes, it felt like that. Some days it felt like we had barely been apart and we would see each other tomorrow. But most days, it felt like we had been separated for eternity. 

The longest we had been completely separated like this was the two months between the end of sixth year and the beginning of seventh. We were extremely dependent on each other, writing letters to each other whenever we could when we couldn't be physically together. But now, we were completely cut off from each other. I had a feeling it would last a lot longer than two months.

I had come to accept it. Did I want to? No, of course not. But, I knew he would want me to. He wouldn't want me to mope around forever and get nothing done. Tonks was going to have a baby. That meant that I would have to get out of my spiral to help out where I could, as it was the least I could do.

Since Tonks was pregnant, the training that we had originally worked through during the summer had to be altered slightly. She was insistent on me continuing to receive training, but she couldn't do it herself, which meant that Remus was going to become my new mentor. 

I was excited. Training always gave me something else to focus on. The more time I spent training, the less I would spend thinking and moping about the fact that Draco and I were hundreds of kilometres away from each other. Plus, Remus had been training three people on his own, which meant that I was going to have training partners.

Very familiar training partners. 

I hadn't seen George and Fred since Bill and Fleur's wedding back in August. They had trained under Remus for years, just as I had trained under Tonks for years. And, just as Tonks was insistent on me continuing my training now, Remus was insistent on the twins continuing theirs even though they were both out of school and the war was raging.

I wasn't sure who the third person was going to be, but I was still excited. 

"I do things a little differently than my wife does," Remus kidded, adding a warming charm around the area outside that we were going to use to train in. "I know you and George are friendly, so I will suggest that the two of you partner up."

"Are we duelling?" I inquired as I placed a warming charm over the small stone bench that was outside near the flutterby bushes. 

"Yes. I like to watch a duel and then comment on technique. Sometimes I'll introduce new spells, but you already know way more than you'll hopefully ever need, so I doubt I'll do that at least for now."

Before another word could be shared, a familiar cracking noise was heard. That could only mean one thing. They were here.

Remus and I both turned expectantly towards the back door of the house, watching as shadowed figures exchanged hugs and whatnot in the entryway, inside through the big window. It wasn't another moment before Tonks appeared in the door, smirking at her husband as she crossed to sit over in her chair on the porch and three figures made their way out into the backyard. 

Fred was the first to sprint over to me, much to my surprise. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly, his red hair slightly longer and fluffier than it had been the last time I saw him.

Before another second could pass, he stepped back, fastening his hands on my shoulders to hold me at arm's length and inspect me.

"What are you-"