the girl with all of the choices

o n e h u n d r e d t e n

** TW: Panic Attacks **

13515 words

january twenty-fourth- combat skills

~ Addison ~

A month since Christmas. Rather, a month since Christmas Eve. A month since that perfect night. A month since I begged Draco to let our friends stay and I had stolen the last moments we would have from us. 

So much had changed, but so much was still the same.

I was still a muggle-born. Draco was still, as far as I knew, a Death Eater. Remus was still my old Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Tonks was still my mentor and a good friend. George was still one of my best friends. Fred was still Ainsley's boyfriend. Andromeda was still the woman who made me that dress for Bill's wedding. Ted was... still a person who disliked me because of my relationship.

And, we were still at war.

We had continued our training sessions every Saturday and Tuesday with Fred, George, and Willow. Forget whatever George insisted the day that I first met her; they were definitely dating. Even if it wasn't official, it practically was. There was no reason for them both to not think of it as such. We were at war; war took things from people, from everyone that I knew. If they both found someone to make them feel a little more whole, and if that someone for each of them was the other, there was no reason that they should bother hiding it or running from it. 

As a group, our combat skills had improved drastically. Willow and I were far more advanced in our technique than the boys, but even I had managed to learn something. A sticky fingers jinx, so if I got my hand on someone's wand, it would stay on my person no matter what; no disarming spell would prompt them to be able to get it back. However, we had all managed to improve so much that Remus decided it was better we spend our training sessions in another way.

Wandless combat.

That's right. Physical fighting. Not just punching and kicking, which we all could manage, but how to wield a dagger. Ted had made a set of blades for each of us. At first, I wasn't sure if he was going to make a set for me or not. But, he did.

I didn't want to take them from Remus when he showed us them on Tuesday. The last time I had seen daggers like that was when I was in the dungeons, in Amycus and Alecto's presence. The last time my hands were on a dagger was, well, never. But they had been on my arm only four months ago. 

He taught us that first day on how to hold them, with help from Tonks, of course. I knew that she had been through the perils of Auror training, but I didn't know that Auror training included hand to hand combat. She taught us the way to hold our fists to not break our thumbs, the proper way to hold a dagger while throwing, the strongest points on the body, and where to aim with those strongest points.

It was like I was learning self-defence from Dad again. He taught me simple reminders and routines and gave me a thing of pepper spray to keep on me when I was thirteen. 

The purpose of learning all of this was as a security measure. We knew how duels worked. They usually ended when one person had the others wand. Fighting without a wand was usually a death sentence. But, if we could physically attack someone in an attempt to get our wands back, we would be able to, hopefully, make it to see another day. A security measure. 

After learning the basics on Tuesday, Remus basically had us fight each other. It was entertaining, to say the least. Fred and George had some experience from post-Quidditch match brawls, so Willow and I ended up testing things on each other. We placed softening charms on both of our bodies so that whenever we actually made contact with each other, it felt like a nice pillow instead of a fist.