(Lidia- Hey everyone! As always thank you for reading! My current schedule doesn't allow for the consistent updates I had in mind when I initially started this but I don't want to abandon it so I'd suggest subscribing to alerts if you're interested. In the moments I do have I try to get as much writing in as possible so I should have another update available soon.
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"Guest chapter 37 . Sep 20
Will we see Mary interact more with the Weasleys?" -Yes.)
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"A Cerberus is such a complex creature. It is one of the few creatures that have more than one soul. They have three actually. It allows them to chase prey from this plane into the next."
-Professor Filius Flitwick
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Chapter 38: "You Can Quit."
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"Now I know you're, like, slow or whatever, but I need you to pay close attention. Okay?" I followed behind my new Guru. She led us away as everyone broke off into their pairs. I didn't speak or look at the scab still healing on her leg. It was barely visible through her stocking socks. Without thinking I clicked my teeth, and I could have sworn her step faltered just a bit.
Good. Demon.
"This is a good spot." She suddenly spun on her toes. I halted so I didn't bump into her. She unzipped a bag she'd been holding and pulled out a handful of fabric ribbons. "Have a seat." When I didn't immediately do it, she snapped her fingers and pointed a claw at the floor. "Now, Sow." I plopped down, half afraid she'd kick me in the face on my way down. Because she did that. She kicked me in the face almost a week ago. Almost broke my nose. I was afraid I'd really look like my Dad then. Thank God it was just bruised. Madame fixed it up fine but it was purple a while.
"What 'er those for?" I asked, speaking to her for the first time since we'd gotten here.
"These are resistance bands. They're good for plenty of different exercises." Sarah sat down in front of me. She was a lot more graceful than I was. She really was a cat lady. Her arm swung across her body, her other coming up to brace it just below the elbow. "We're going to start with simple stretches. Just do what you see me do."
It was awkward- not the arm thing. Just sitting here with her. I'm used to her jumping out from behind a bush to karate chop me into the dirt. When she reached out at first to fix where I put my hands, I flinched. I couldn't help it! But she ignored it and just fixed my position again a little more aggressively than the first time. "Don't bounce. Just hold it in place." I did. And then we switched to the other arm. "These are warm-up stretches. From now on you do this every morning when you wake up and every night before bed. This will help loosen the stiffness in your muscles. That is going to be our first focus. Your complete and utter lack of flexibility."
Flexible…Like a rubber band? Why did I need to be a rubber band? "I don't understand."
"Of course you don't," she said with a small roll of her eyes. She pulled her knee over one leg and twisted her toso-troso-torso toooooorsoooo a little in one direction. I tried my best to imitate it so she wouldn't need to touch me again. "Some of them," she said with a lazy wave of her hand to the different pairs, "like to think that strength or maybe speed are the most important points of physicality." Physicality sounded like physical. "And you do posses both of those to some degree given your stocky build." What was a stock? "You do run away faster than I've seen any first year in a while. "But the real determining factors in a fight, or just plain survival, are flexibility, reflexes, and speed. And you are super rigid. You need to loosen up."
We moved into positions lying on our backs and pulled a knee to our chest and just held it there. I could feel the stretch I guess but I really think this was weird. We are not old people. "Mama said loose women go to hell."
"Please. Stop talking. This endeavor is tiresome enough without your folksy muggleborn adjacent colloquialisms." We switch legs and pulled up the other knee. "Flexibility is a necessity. It comes on hand when needing to maneuver yourself out of difficult situations. Holds, handcuffs. It also provides a broader range to a fighter's ability." I'd ask her who I would be fighting exactly other than her, but she called me a colly and told me to stop. I didn't know what it meant. I'd ask Cedric later. It must be an English thing again. "You have don't do the best job of maintaining awareness of your surroundings though you have come along a bit. But you just don't have the range and are constantly focusing on trying to punch your way out of a fight. Probably hoping the same thing you did to that other first-year happens again. Or you notice the attack coming but are too clumsy to react in time. And that's when you don't just run away." I also bite. "So flexibility will be our focus for now."
We d done a few more stretches before she clapped her hands together. "Done! I hope you memorized that routine, Dumb-dumb, because you're going to need to do that every day twice a day or I'll notice." She picked up one resistance band she had pulled earlier and rubbed her finger down the middle. It glowed for a moment. Sarah sat back down directly behind me, this time with her back facing mine. The bands in her hand slapped onto my wrist and hers. Then our ankles. We looked connected and silly like maryon puppets. "When I pull, try not to resist. It will just hurt worse."
"What will?" The air changed and I could feel the grin on her face. I don't know how I could see it so easily in my head. I looked down at my bracelet but it wasn't glowing at all. Finally, with a big pull from her, my arms and legs widened as far as they were able and she was correct. It hurt. "What are you doin?! Let go!" I struggled but I was stuck. I had never done the splits before! My legs could do that! Even now, this wide V they made was the closest they've ever gotten.
"As long as we keep this up every day, it will grow to hurt less. Trust me."
"I don't trust you! I hate you!"
She giggled to herself. "Well I don't need you to like me. I just need you to do what I tell you. Which brings me to my next point. Your diet. It's atrocious. From this day forward, you will immediately reduce your bread intake by 70%. If I see you overdosing on another basket of buttery croissants or dinner rolls as if you're the only piglet at the table, I will bend you in half with these. Am I understood?"
What could I say? I loved bread with all my heart, but I also loved having legs. "Okay! Okay!"
She eased on the stretch. "Rest for 5 seconds and then I'm going to pull again. By the time I'm done with you, you'll be an acrobat."
"I don't want to be an acrobat," I grumbled, rubbing my sore joints.
"There's something you should learn sooner rather than later. Not everything revolves around you." Sarah brought her hands and legs forward again, bending me back again. "If you want this to end you can fight to become Queen…or you can quit."