A few days flew by. Kaylina's hand was...
alright, saying it was looking better would be an understatement.
Her hand looked like shit, her hand felt like shit.
Charming.
The bruising hadn't gone down, if anything, it was darker than before with hues of yellow-ish green. The swelling had gone down though, it wasn't throbby or big and thick.
During the past few days, she felt like she couldn't even use her right hand— well, because she couldn't.
She could barely move her right hand and every little movement or pressure made her hiss in pain.
The Healer had been giving her more things to help with the pain and Dreamless Sleep.
Training was extremely hard, she had to try using her left hand.
She's been frustrated ever since her hand broke, not being able to even hold a knife with her right hand without the pain blooming through her hand. She couldn't use a gun since the accident.
Actually, no, another understatement.
It wasn't an accident and Kaylina knew that.
She told Fred and George it was an accident, that she did it to herself.
Joshua tried encouraging her to get used to using her left hand since her right hand was kind of useless at the moment.
Not kind of, was useless.
She and Draco have been speaking a little more.
Oh, well, another understatement.
They only speak when they need to, such as waiting for the bathroom, during training or demanding each other on who's turning the light off.
They never sat together during meals, everyone sat with their usual peers.
~
Kaylina woke up and saw Draco waiting on his bed for her to use the bathroom first. "You can use it first," she insisted, taking off her hand wrap.
Draco was kicked back in his bed. Ankles crossed and one hand behind his head and the other on his lap as he fiddled with his rings with no shirt, per usual.
"I can wait," he spoke, his voice was pretty calm for the first time. His eye bags were darker, he hadn't been sleeping.
She nodded, unwrapping her hand as she walked to the bathroom. She let her hand breathe as she got ready before wrapping it again.
~
"How's your hand, doll?" Fred asked worriedly, seated in front of her in the cafeteria.
Fucking horrible.
Kaylina let out a huff, putting her right hand flat on the table, just hovering a little over the surface. "It feels like I shot myself with the pellet gun," she smiled cheerily.
"Serves her right for using the knife on Mione— karma's a bitch," Ron snarled, walking by them with Hermione. They took a seat on the far end of the table.
I wish I'd use the knife on her.
Ron has been saying that for the past couple days every time Fred or George would ask how Kaylina's hand was.
Kaylina rolled her eyes, dropping her head into her left hand, elbows on the table. "I didn't fucking use the bloody fucking knife on her," she muttered in frustration.
"We know you didn't. Ron is just being a kiss ass and Hermione's being a fucking prat as usual," Geroge said, rubbing her back comfortingly.
She honestly didn't have a reason as to why she told her friends that she did it to herself, but the past is the past. It's not like it'd change the outcome, there's no point in telling the truth.
The damage is done.
"Do you guys think we'll all be okay during the Assassination?" Ginny asked, hope sparking in her eyes.
"Hopefully," Kaylina, Fred, and George all answered in unison.
They exchanged glances. "Stop copying me," they said in unison once more.
"I said it first," they did it again.
Ginny laughed and so did the three of them.
"Wicked," Kaylina, Fred, and George said in unison, grinning.
Fred threw his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in as he ruffled the top of her hair.
~
"Santos, you're more than welcome to take a break today at any time if you feel the need," Joshua said to her on the side whilst the rest of the group trained.
I don't know if I can train.
"Thank you, but I'll be okay," Kaylina flashed a reassuring smile.
He nodded and they departed.
Kaylina let out an exasperated sigh, standing as her eyes scanned the rest of the group training.
Draco was doing combat training with Theo and Blaise.
Pansy and Daphne were using the swords.
Dean and Ginny were in the maze.
Hermione and Ron— Kaylina wanted to shove a sword up both their asses.
The twins were doing hand to hand combat.
Cedric, Neville, Luna, and Padma were all in the shooting range.
Kaylina walked to one of the many sections, the one with a target and knives. She looked down at her right hand, it was shaking and the pain was slowly coming back.
The fucking potions aren't doing shit anymore.
She looked at her left hand, it was shaking just as much as her right hand. She let out a shaky breath, closing her eyes as she did so.
She reopened her eyes and used her left hand to wrap her fingers around the grip of the knife, hand shaking in the process.
She's been trying so hard to train with her left hand, to try and control the shaking in her hands, but it's hard.
One doesn't realize how frustrating and hard it is to live without something until one loses it.
She had possibly lost the ability to use her right hand for weeks, maybe even months.
She gripped the knife and took deep breaths as she got into her stance. She aimed it at the target, lunging the knife slightly back and forth before whipping it at the target.
The knife bounced off the stone wall and to the floor.
She tried again and again and again and again.
The closest she got was on the fifth rim from the bulls-eye, but it was barely on the line.
She let out an exasperated sound before picking up the knives and dropping them back onto the table.
If she can't even use her left hand to get the knife through the bulls-eye, how the bloody hell is she supposed to do hand to hand combat?
Or hold and fire a gun?
"Can everyone gather around!" Joshua shouted, getting everyone's attention.
Everyone walked, circling their instructor and waited for him to speak.
"I think we need to do more hand to hand combat. Most of you are doing the simple stuff— the stuff you and I both know you're already skilled at, so I think it's only appropriate that we try something different during our combat training," Joshua spoke firmly, hands laced in front of him.
"Are we going to train in the dark?" Theo joked, chuckling with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"How did you ever guess?" Joshua smiled.
Theo went silent, his eyes blinking slowly as his mouth gaped open. "I was joking," he blurted.
"I'm not— so what we're going to do is I'm going to shut the lights. It won't be pitch black, but this will teach you to use your other senses. This will teach you to not only rely on your sight, but help you use your sense of hearing and feel— when you can't see, it'll help you listen more carefully and use your other senses to feel the presence of your surroundings and your opponent," he explained, "I'm going to call two people up on the mat," he said, walking to the mat and everyone followed, "And you'll be doing a 1v1 in the dark— no weapons for this being the first time we're doing this in the dark."
Joshua whipped out his wand and with a flick of it, the lights shut.
It wasn't too dark, it was dark, but there was a single light in the corner of the room that was on that made it just enough, so she could still see just the slightest.
"Santos, do you think you'll be okay to try and do a 1v1 with your injury?" Joshua asked quietly, so only she could hear.
I can't do it.
"I can do it," Kaylina nodded.
"That's what I like to hear," he nodded, smiling warmly, "First, can we have Diggory and Weaslette on the mat," he called out loudly.
The footsteps of both the called people walked onto the mat, Kaylina could see their frame as a person from where she was standing. She was standing next to Fred and her other side was empty.
"Do not rely on your sight— use your ears and your touch," Joshua instructed.
Kaylina blinked once and saw Cedric launch himself at Ginny, but the redhead was quick to dodge him and smoothly spin behind him. Cedric's back stayed facing Ginny as he tried to make out his next move.
Next thing, he sweeps Ginny to her feet, but the redhead was quick to yank him down with her. She flipped, so she was on top and pushed her forearm into his neck, making him wheeze for air.
"Alright, Weaslette— that was good," Joshua said approvingly and Ginny got off of the brown haired boy.
"Good one," Cedric panted and Ginny patted him on the back before they both returned to their spots.
"Ron Weasley and Santos," Joshua called up.
Stab me in the fucking eye. You're fucking joking, right? First Hermione goes ballistic on me and now Ron will finish me off.
Kaylina didn't realize, but she groaned irritatedly out loud.
Fred snorted and so did George, but they both cleared their throats simultaneously to cover it up.
"Santos, if you don't think you can do it— as I said, you're more than welcome to back out for this," Joshua said, chuckling slightly.
I don't want to.
"Oh— no, I can do it. I'm fine," Kaylina quickly said, walking to the mat.
"Alright," the instructor nodded.
She saw Ron's faint frame in front of her, she couldn't see his eyes. She didn't know if he was staring at her like she was dead meat.
She's pretty positive he was though, considering Hermione made the lie saying Kaylina used the knife on her.
Joshua signaled and the two started circling.
Kaylina kept her eyes on the frame of the ginger boy, her hand aching in nothing but pain as she did so. Ron launched at her, his hands shoving both her shoulders and she fell.
On first instinct, she planted both hands down to catch her fall, she cried out in pain as her right hand slammed hard onto the mat.
Her eyes watered, the pain in her hand was roaring as her hand began to viciously shake more than it already was.
"Santos—" Joshua, spoke, but stopped when she made her move.
Ignoring the pain in her hand and with a quick movement, she used both her legs to trap Ron's in between hers.
She summoned all her strength and flipped him forward with her legs as she was still on the mat, his face colliding with the mat, a grunt fleeing his lips.
She hopped to her feet, using her left hand to flip him over, so he was facing up. She dug her foot into his neck, his face turning bright red.
"Impressive, Santos," Joshua's tone was shocked as he did a slow clap and to Kaylina's surprise, so did everyone else.
Kaylina walked back to her spot, cradling her hand to her chest.
"Nice one," Fred murmured into her ear, nudging her shoulder slightly.
"Thanks," Kaylina said, unable to hide the sly smile on her lips.
She was actually proud of her own moves on her opponent considering she had one less hand to use for help, even though she actually caused herself more pain by participating in the training session.
She still wasn't ready though, this was just hand to hand combat with no weapons.
This isn't even the beginning of what she needed to try to get skilled at during training with only one hand to work with.