Memento Mori - Sirius Black

Chapter 38

December 26th, 1975.

Morgan was sprawled on the floor trying to get air into her lungs like a fucking idiot. Everything hurt, and the cut on her arm didn't stop bleeding, her head was pounding, and this felt a lot more like a punishment than like a practice.

"Again!" The same word that had been torturing her all morning.

"If we go again, I'll sue you for child abuse, Mother," she said through gritted teeth without even opening her eyes.

"Oh, are you tired? I'm so sorry, my love," the fake regret in Alexis' voice made Morgan scoff. "It's just that after you thought yourself capable of facing Voldemort, I would've thought a bit of dueling would be child's play for you. My bad,"

"I get it, ok? I fucked up," Morgan gathered enough strength to get back on her wobbly feet. "You've made it perfectly clear with the last fifty curses you threw my way,"

"I think we should do fifty more. For good measure, you know," Alexis mused, the mocking in her face hiding the actual anger that was deep inside. She had her golden hair tied back in a bun, which meant business, and her eyes were a storm, mainly because her daughter was too much of a pain in her arse.

The woman had been training with Morgan for hours. She'd dragged Morgan out of her bed at seven in the morning and locked the two of them in the dueling room. Morgan had never fought like she did that day, she'd never been attacked so relentlessly by so many dark curses. Morgan was aware that Alexis Gaunt was one of the best duelers out there and she'd decided to show her why that day. Morgan also knew that she would've died like ten times already if the attacker wasn't her mother. Because damn, was the woman creative.

When she'd gotten back home last night after dropping off Sirius, she'd been greeted by two angry parents who told her how stupid she was a few too many times. She'd been mentally prepared for it, thank Merlin. But she hadn't been prepared to have her arse handed to her by the endless dueling hours.

The expecting expression on Alexis' face had Morgan lifting her wand once more with a sigh. They'd started dueling wandlessly but after so many hours there was no way Morgan could cast a simple lumos without her wand's help.

It was funny how the duel was, though. No words were said because none of the women felt like granting the other the gift of a warning. Morgan had to settle with sensing the curses as they were fired, identifying the magic, and responding accordingly. The sheer force of her mother's magic made Morgan step back as she shielded against it and counterattacked at the same time. There were some spells that Morgan didn't even know existed, but she got her revenge when she used a curse of her own making that had Alexis staggering back, using that millisecond to attack again, Morgan had the opening for the kill, but lowered her wand with a smirk.

"You'd be dead," she said in a singing like voice.

"Sure, if all your previous fuck ups didn't have you already in a grave," Alexis replied with a roll of her eyes. But the slight pride there made Morgan sigh with relief. "Go eat something. Your father will be back soon and you're his for the rest of the day,"

"More training? You've got to be kidding me," Morgan questioned her mother with an angry look. Her whole body felt like it was about to spontaneously burn itself to the ashes. No way was she doing this any longer.

"Morgan, it's for your own good," Alexis walked tiredly towards her daughter. Morgan might have been the clear loser in the duel but that didn't mean she wasn't a hell of an opponent. She put a hand on Morgan's cheek, "I know it feels like we're punishing you, but... please,"

The raw honesty in her face made Morgan feel like an idiot for even questioning her. The woman had a power to make her feel guilty, for fuck's sake.

"Fine, sure. I'll see you at dinner," Morgan smiled and left the room, going to eat something and straight to her room after. She thought about showering but her father would probably make her sweaty and dirty again so she discarded the idea.