𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫 | n. tonks

xix

Tonks was met with a long mane of red locks when she woke up, the early morning sunlight drifting through the window giving it a goldish glow. Hadley's head laid on her chest, her arms wrapped around her waist. Her lips were parted a little as she breathed quietly through her mouth, her feet twitching in response to whatever she was dreaming about. She smiled softly and kissed the top of her head. She could get used to waking up like this.

She stayed still as she held Hadley in her arms. She didn't want to wake her up, and she didn't want this moment to end just yet. When the redhead began to stir, Tonks gently rubbed her arm.

"No, Mum, I don'ts wanna get up," Hadley murmured, still partially asleep. "I was just aboutta catch a bad guy...Stupid Greyback..."

Tonks covered her mouth with her hand and stifled a laugh. Hadley would sometimes talk in her sleep if she was waking up from a dream, and would often be confused of her surroundings when her eyes opened.

"Not my sister!" Hadley gasped, her body jolting up to a sitting position. She waved her arm as if she was casting a spell before she laid back down, her head finding its place on Tonks' chest again. Her eyes slowly fluttered open. She groaned softly and turned her head into the crook of her girlfriend's neck. "I hate that stupid, ugly werewolf," she muttered, shutting her eyes tight. "Bastard tried to hurt Ginny."

"Shh, it's okay, sweet girl. It was just a dream," Tonks whispered, comfortingly rubbing Hadley's back.

"He has no right showing his ugly face in my dreams," Hadley grumbled. "Bad doggy."

She yawned and slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eye. She blinked a few times and looked around the room. She had forgotten that she fell asleep in Tonks' room.

They got dressed for the day and went downstairs for breakfast. Everyone else was already up. Remus raised his coffee cup to his lips and pretended to be interested in that morning's Daily Prophet. He sent Tonks a look as they sat down at the table, which went unnoticed by Mad-Eye and Kingsley.

Hadley wasn't paying attention to the conversation the grown-ups were having as they ate. It wasn't anything that she hadn't heard before: the Dark Lord gaining more power, Death Eaters wreaking havoc, Lucius Malfoy being sent to Azkaban...It was boring hearing the same news every day.

But it was better to have the same news rather than bad news.

As Hadley sipped her coffee, she read through a letter that Ron had sent her. She choked and set her cup down, rereading the line to make sure she read that right. "Bloody hell," she muttered.

"What is it?" Tonks asked, looking over her shoulder at the letter.

"Ron said that Harry thinks that Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater now," Hadley said as she showed Tonks the letter.

"Can't say I'm surprised by that." Mad-Eye sighed. "Speaking of Death Eaters, Hadley, you'll be starting off with defense training today with Remus."

"Do I get chocolate?" Hadley asked, grinning as she took a sip of coffee.

"Maybe," Remus replied, smiling a little.

After breakfast, Hadley went upstairs to her room to relax for a bit before her one-on-one training with Remus at 10. She hadn't had a proper defense teacher since her fifth year at Hogwarts when he was their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Mad-Eye would've been a good teacher during her sixth year if it hadn't been for the fact that he ended up being a Death Eater named Barty Crouch Junior, who had used Polyjuice Potion to pose as him all year, and no way in hell was Umbridge the Bitch anywhere close to a good DADA professor.

At 9:55, Hadley left her room. She went up to the attic, which had been cleared out and turned into a make-shift training room. As excited as she was, she couldn't help but feel nervous. She had no idea what to expect. Tonks said that Auror training was difficult, and with dark times like these, she was prepared to be pushed harder than any professor – including Snape – had ever pushed her.

She climbed through the trapdoor and into the attic. There were mats set up to soften the blow of the landing if she was knocked off her feet and dummies to practice on. Remus was standing writing some notes on a clipboard, and he gave Hadley a welcoming smile when he spotted her.

As if reading her thoughts, he said, "Don't be nervous. We're not going to do anything too intense today. I want to start out with a basic assessment just to see what your strengths are and what areas need improvement. Now, you mentioned that Harry formed a secret club last year and taught you guys how to defend yourselves?"

"Yes." Hadley nodded. "Umbitch was the worst Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Hogwarts has ever had. I feel like I didn't learn anything in her class last year."

"Yes, well, I can't say I'm surprised. Cornelius Fudge wasn't in his right mind, and that unfortunately had an impact on your schooling." Remus set his clipboard down on a desk and laid his quill on top of it.

They started out with a few basic spells – disarming, stunning, confunding – as a quick warm up before going into more difficult training. Remus enchanted one of the dummies to move and fight back, and Hadley was to defeat it. He told her not to get too relaxed with the simplicity of it, saying that as she continued her training, he'd increase the difficulty and add more dummies for her to fight.

"I think we'll leave it here for today," Remus said, writing a few notes down before smiling at Hadley, who was gasping for air after practicing defense against a dummy that she greatly underestimated – and this was supposed to be the easy level. Sweat beaded her forehead, and her red hair was a mess of tangles. "I'm very impressed with how well you did seeing as you haven't had a proper teacher for a while." He opened one of the desk drawers. He pulled something out and gave it to Hadley, her eyes lighting up. A chocolate bar. "Don't eat it all at once. You don't want to spoil your lunch."

"I won't. Thanks, Prof–"

"Remus." He chuckled a little at the confusion that crossed Hadley's face. "We're colleagues now, Hadley. No need to be so formal."

"Right. Uh, sorry. Old habits die hard, I guess." Hadley thanked Remus for the chocolate and exited through the trapdoor. She broke off a small piece and ate it slowly as she walked back to her room to freshen up before lunch.