Piece By Piece

Chapter Nineteen: Fight Like a Bull

      Since yesterday's meeting Lily's anxiety had returned to a level that was nearing how she had felt when Harry had gone to rescue Sirius. She picked at the lunch she'd forced herself to get to prepare for whatever intense training her son thought the Aurors needed. Out of the corner of her eye she could see James throwing worried glances in her direction. 

      "I can see you," She confronted him.

      James sighed and turned in his seat to face her. "I don't know what Harry has planned for you guys; but I do know that if you don't eat something you won't last five minutes in that room."

      "He's right," Dora chirped from across the table. "I totally get not eating because of the anxiety, it happens to a lot of people. I can assure you though, whatever the plan is for today's session is nothing to worry about. Harry knows where we each stand; he's not gonna just toss us in the deep end."

      Lily relented and forced herself to eat half of what she'd put on her plate. By the time lunch was over her nerves had calmed down enough to scarf down another few bites before heading off to the training room. 

      The training room, at least the largest one in the Training Complex, was roughly the length of two olympic-sized swimming pools and the width of one. The ceiling looked to be two stories high. At one end of the room there was a control panel that ran the simulations Aurors would train with. Today, someone had set up a small platform next to the panel and moved all of the punching bags and other like materials to a space on the platform's other side. Lily didn't realize she was staring at it so intensely until Harry made her nearly jump six feet in the air.

      "You alright?" He asked her. 

      She hadn't heard him come up from behind and nearly pulled her wand on him in surprise. "Yeah," she responded. "Yeah, totally."

      Harry gave her a skeptical look that she recognized from James. "You sure? You've been staring at that platform like it's going to come to life and kill you."

      Lily forced a small smile. "I guess I'm just a little nervous," she replied. 

      "That's alright," Harry assured her. "I don't expect anyone here to not be even a bit nervous. This training will be tough but it's necessary. The Death Eaters don't exactly follow the rules of civil dueling. Just follow what I tell you and you should be fine."

      Lily nodded. Of all the reassurances she'd gotten this afternoon, Harry's was by far the most comforting. He didn't tell her to suck it up or that everything would be okay; instead he had told her that it was okay to worry, that it was normal. 

      "I have to get things started," Harry said, giving her a quick pat on the shoulder. "I'll talk to you more later." He passed her and made his way to the platform. He climbed on top of it and was joined by Ron a few seconds later. 

      "Hello everyone," Harry addressed the crowd, getting their attention. "If you'd all find some space for yourselves as well as a partner to have for later that'd be much appreciated. We'll start in one minute."

      Quiet conversation buzzed around Lily as the Aurors scrambled to find space and a partner. She spun around, trying to quickly locate someone to partner with; but the truth was that Lily had done most of her training alone. Her schedule didn't even overlap with Harry's. She didn't have someone that she could immediately turn to.

      That's when Lily felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around. Standing there was Dora Tonks; someone who, despite their mutual friends, she hadn't really talked to that much since her arrival at the Joint Forces.