The 8th of June 1979. ft. @its-marymac
There were just some things that Alice was never going to stop doing no matter how much she wanted to. Laughing when she was nervous, saying âIâm sorryâ too often, and pushing herself harder than necessary to reach self-imposed standards. The latter wasnât necessarily because she was obsessed with being the absolute best or anything like that. It was just that the young woman often felt like it was her against the world. And the world was winning, really kick her rear as of late. So she needed to up her game and be prepared for all the right hooks and side punches it had to throw.
She stood in a wide empty room of Dedalus Diggleâs home where Moody regularly taught advance defense spells. The members of the order were encouraged to practice on the transfigured targets or on each other in the safe space. It had oddly enough reminded Alice of her days back in duelling club. Though back then she didnât remember feeling so pressured to do no less than perfect. The spells practiced during her youth were just a fun pass time to add to her impressive weaponry. Something she could tell her fellow classmates about and them they would gawk at her saying that there was no way she perfected such an advanced spell at such a young age. To which Alice would just sheepishly nod and say that it just took a little time and effort, anyone could do it, really. But now, there was an added weight to every instruction she was given and every advancement made. Because these spells would be used to save someoneâs life, if done right. And she was getting fed up with losing people.
Gripping her wand tight in her right hand, Alice lunged back as she created a Wall of Fire between herself and the dummy she was practicing her duelling on. As the flames roared, she gracefully moved to the side to hit the dummy in the leg with another spell. If it had been a real person it wouldâve easily crippled them and left them at the mercy of the small woman in front of them. With a flick of her wrist the flames ceased and Alice was back to square one, thinking up more and more creative ways to Take Down the poor dummy in front of her. Almost too in her head to notice she wasnât completely alone in the space.
Alice moved to place her wand in between her teeth as she pulled her soft locks into a high bun, only then turning to recognize the blonde. âOmf,â her words not all coming out right due to the wandâs interference. Once it had been removed, she cleared her throat and smiled (not remembering when she last used her voice, seeing as she had locked herself away in the room for awhile). ââEllo, Miss Mary.â Though the two hadnât talked much the older female was familiar with the younger. Sheâd seen her more in the past week than she had in during their school days, probably. âSorry, I uh, were you looking for someone? Or did you want to use the room? Because I can leave you be if youâd like.â And although the offer was sincere, Aliceâs big brown eyes were silently hoping Mary wouldnât kick her out. Her determination to continue her training was strong.
After the incident in the living room last week, Mary knew she needed far more practical dueling practice. She wasn't the worst at duelling, by any means, but she felt that she lacked the instincts that others had for it. Much more practice was going to be needed if she was going to save anyone. Throwing spells at a target by herself wouldn't help improve the skills necessary for accomplishing her goals.
Moody was an amazing resource for this, of course, but he had the skills of the entire Order to worry about. It had only been a week or so since the classes began and Mary already saw that she was falling behind the group. To remedy this, she spent plenty of time practicing alone, but most of her practices were spent perfecting spell techniques rather than combat casting. A few of these uneventful solo sessions passed before she concluded that she was in need of a tutor. After seeing her in action last year, Mary figured Alice was perfect for the job.
Mary was passing through the house when she heard the sounds of what was sure to be an intense practice happening in the room down the hall. Figuring that it couldn't hurt, she slowly opened the door to take a peek inside. Even just observing the others often helped her nail down her own process. It was a pleasant surprise to find that source of the noise was the girl she had been hoping to speak to. Mary watched the performance in silence, not daring to interrupt. The elegance and speed with which Alice darted back and forth simply amazed her. If Mary had been in the dummy's place, she knew she wouldn't be able to keep her eyes on her assailant. These were exactly the skills that she admired in Alice.
Once she realized that she had been spotted, Mary walked toward the girl. "Hi, Alice," she said with a smile on her face, masking the embarrasment she had for getting caught. "No, no, you don't have to go. I was, um, I was actually hoping to run into you."
Mary turned to the toppled over dummy and mused at how it looked thoroughly defeated in its current position. "That was an amazing display. You've really got a talent for this stuff, huh?" Every word she spoke was sincere and she was sure that her admiration was showing through, perhaps even a bit too much. There was no chance of her hiding it, just watching Alice in action for a few moments inspired her. This feeling quickly overtook her - as it usually did - and she turned back to face the brunette, a look of determination in her eyes. "Alice, I need your help." The words fell out of her without hesitation, surprising Mary. She wasn't usually one to speak so candidly with others, especially others that she didn't know very well.
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