The Sun and Moon: Chapter 10

Tonks was a good teacher. This was something I became aware of, as even mom seemed to approve of her training methods.

“Alright, Sol. A real auror needs to only be a good wizard, but be physically fit as well. To chase down and punch the shit out of guys, I mean. If need be.”

Penelope gave her a rather unimpressed stare, causing Tonks to shrug. The ginger fourth year was quite confused about why the members of the dueling club were now running, but Tonks simply called his manhood into question. Which served to further inspire the ginger.

He seemed rather intent on bringing up his two older brothers at the beginning of the run. Seeming to brag about how great they were, and how he’d be great too.

I could understand where he was coming from. It was rather difficult to keep from bragging and talking about one’s own family.

But he quickly stopped when Tonks commented that his older brother, Bill, was attractive. Which Penelope reluctantly agreed to. Which seemed to dampen his spirit.

He also wasn’t a very fast runner. Between all four of us, he was the one furthest in the back, and was constantly out of air. Which led to Tonks making fun of him.

Eventually after twenty minutes of running around the castle, Percy fell to the ground. Claiming he had twisted his ankle.

Which was weird, because he just fell over softly. Nor did he seem to have any trouble walking away when Penelope offered to help him up.

Tonks rolled her eyes at the events unfolding in front of her. Before turning back to me and ushering me forward. In order to keep running.

Leaving the other two behind.

Eventually at a certain distance, Tonks finally spoke.

“It’s pretty impressive that you’re keeping up with a seventh year.”

I tilted my head to the side. Was it? I’ve noticed that my legs were running at a faster pace than Tonks due to her legs being much longer and her being taller. But it wasn’t as if I felt like I was struggling.

It was easy.

“Is that so?”

Was all that I said in return. Causing Tonks to snort out loud before taking out her wand with a mischievous smirk.

“You know, there’s a better way of increasing your speed…”

“And what’s that?”

I curiously inquired.

“There’s a spell I learned a few years ago. It can make your limbs weigh a bit more than usual.”

Hmm? I didn’t follow. That sounded like the opposite way to do things. Thankfully Tonks cheerfully explained.

“If you put it on your legs and run about a bit while exercising and then take it off, then it makes sense that you’ll eventually be able to run longer without getting tired, yeah?”

Ah! Of course. I felt like a complete idiot for not understanding it immediately. When she put it like that, the answer was obvious.

So, I nodded quickly and exposed my legs for her to cast the spell on. To which she did so with a rather disturbing like cackle.

“Pondus Incremento!”

I was surprised that several notifications sprung up in front of me. The first one being a warning that I had been afflicted with a ‘status ailment’. The second one telling me that I had successfully learned the spell she had cast.

And the third one was about exercising in general. It said that if I continued to run a certain distance around the castle with the ‘status ailment’ on both my legs, then my dexterity would increase by one.

So it would seem this kind of exercising was rewarded.

I understood.

After Tonks hit my other leg with the spell, we continued to run. Just as she said, it was a lot harder to do. It was like running with two young Luna’s grabbing my legs as I did so.

Even so…

Mom had asked me to run a certain distance before stopping, so I would need to do that. Failing that would be the same as failing my family.

“Haha, so how is it? Feeling it now?”

Tonks asked, easily keeping up by slowing her own speed. She watched me with rather amused eyes. Seemingly waiting for something to happen.

“Yes…thank you.”

She huffed a bit in amusement, but also raised her eyebrow in confusion.

“Ooookay…”

Eventually she just decided to keep running, so I tried to keep pace with her. Running after her as quickly as I could. Time continued to pass as we did so.

Sweat beaded down my face as I tried to keep my breathing level. Thankfully as it was getting closer to Christmas, the weather outside was a bit chilly. Making it easier on me to keep going.

Tonks gaze went from confused, to surprised, to flabbergasted, and then eventually, impressed. Until finally she stopped me next to a strange little dent in the ground a good bit of distance away from the hut outside the castle.

“Alright, I admit it. You’re a lot stronger than I gave you credit for, squirt.”

“Oh…well that’s nice of you to say.”

She shook her head with a wry grin.

“Honestly… I was mostly just messing with you. I didn’t actually think you could walk several yards under that spell. Much less lap the entire damn castle.”

I didn’t know what to say. So I just shrugged.

“It'll make me stronger, so why wouldn't I?”

Mom’s system said as much.

My words caused Tonks’s eyebrow to lift up before finally shaking her shoulders and sitting down on the ground. Taking a seat next to the top of the hill close to where the cone like hole was in the ground.

After a few seconds she hummed to herself, before patting her side.

“You know…you’ve just been working out your legs. Wouldn’t it be better to also work out your arms too?”

Hmm…that did make sense. But…I was getting a bit tire-

My eyes immediately drifted to a nearby notification. Telling me that I’ll get an additional point in strength if I did Tonks’s exercise.

So instead of complaining, I sucked it up.

This was for my family, after all.

“What did you have in mind?”

Tonks once again gained a rather mischievous look on her face.

She started by making a large perfectly orb like rock, and then smoothing out the edges of the nearby cone like hole. Then, she tossed the rock orb that was about half my size into the hole.

“Now roll it up and out of the pit.”

Of course, before I could do so, she once more used her spell on my arms to make them heavier. Causing the task to be harder than normal. It was rather hard to do, not because the rock was heavy, though it was. But because the rock would constantly roll around and simply fall back to the center.

Causing me to start all over again.

After fifteen minutes, I finally had pushed the rock out of the hole, only for Tonks to push it back in and ask me to do it a second time.

I was sensing a pattern.

I spent a rather long time pushing the rock up, and then having to go back down to get it. It was a rather tedious, boring task, but one that I had to do.

So, I just did it.

Though eventually I was struggling quite hard to push the rock halfway to the top. Causing Tonks to eventually stop me and pull me out of the hole.

“Damn…are you sure you’re not actually a sixth or seventh year in disguise? You’re really freaking strong for your age.”

I nodded at her compliment.

“Thank you.”

“I wasn’t…eh, whatever. You know, with training like this, and how well you’re learning from me, you’d make a pretty dang good auror after Hogwarts. What do you think?”

An auror huh? Hmm. It was a dangerous job, though a bit lucrative. However, it wasn’t exceptionally lucrative. Or at least, not lucrative enough to really provide for my whole family. Not unless I was a rather high ranking auror. Like, one of the ones that’s constantly guarding the Minister of Magic.

If I was looking for a job…I’d want something that paid quite a lot, was in a position to help my family, had enough time off to be with my family, and helped protect them as well.

…So maybe something like the position of Headmaster of Hogwarts, or becoming the Minister.

Dumbledore was pretty old, so the position might need to be filled in a few years. Then again, he’s been pretty old for a long time. So, it was also likely that he’d just continue to exist for another century.

And becoming a Minister seemed pretty difficult…

“…I’m not sure.”

I confessed, leading to Tonks to nod her head.

“Yeah, that’s fair. It’ll be a while till you need to think about those kinds of things. But …I think you’re kind of like me, in a way.”

My head tilted in confusion as I tried to make sense of her words. Similar to Tonks? In what way?

“I think you crave some action. Something exciting. To be able to do something that everyone from all walks of life could respect.”

I hummed. That certainly didn’t sound like me.

The opinions of others only mattered due to the fact that it could influence my family. Besides that…I didn’t really care about them at all.

And excitement? I didn’t really feel all that excited at the moment. Nor did I think I would get excited from arresting a dark wizard or two. That just seemed like another thing that should get done. Regardless of anyone’s thoughts or feelings.

Tonks eventually carried on.

“Well, even if you don’t become an auror, I think you still have a lot of careers open to you. Have you considered playing Quidditch next year? With strength like that, you’d make one hell of a beater.”

Hmm…a beater huh? Well, if that’s the best position I could play, then it didn’t seem to be all bad. Personally, I’ve never really considered hitting bludgers before. Then again, it definitely beat being a keeper, or being a recipient to said bludgers…

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

Tonks chuckled before patting me on the back.

“Well, just keep that in mind. Playing Quidditch, I mean, it’s what every guy wants to do, right? Besides, with your skills? It’ll make you popular with the ladies.”

That didn’t sound right.

“How so?”

“Trust me, Sol. Ladies love Quidditch players. Maybe it’s because they’re the only wizards who are actually physically fit under their robes or something. But there’s just a certain charm about a guy being capable of picking you up and…”

Tonks paused, before looking back at me with a searching gaze. Her lips quirking as she stopped walking. So, I decided to continue her sentence.

“Like a piggyback ride?”

“…Yes. Exactly. Like a piggyback ride.”

Well, I could see some logic in that. It felt a bit shaky, but it could definitely be true. After a bit more talking, Tonks and I finally went back the castle. Both of us excited to take a bath due to how much of a sweat we worked up.

Once I arrived in my room, I made sure that my familiar fairy was still sleeping. It seemed that after shocking enough people, it’d become tuckered out, and would quickly fall asleep.

It attempted to fall asleep on my arm, so I quickly moved it into an open drawer instead.

Where it was still resting, thankfully.

It was quite awkward this morning during breakfast when several people suddenly felt light stings on their backs. Thankfully the little fairy didn’t seem to just go for the people closest to me, but anyone it really saw. Thus, other students were subjected to its torment.

I was rather thankful that Christmas was coming up soon. That way I could at least leave the fairy at home, or something.

For several moments I looked at my body with a frown.

…I should probably ask Tonks how to release the spell tomorrow.