Sirius knew that technically his team had off from physical training, but he'd found his way to the training room, anyway. He figured that he needed to do something. Something other than pace the length of his flat, make tea, or otherwise, worry about the twins out on the mission (and when exactly had he become James's mum? Merlin, Marlene was right).
As he exited the dressing room, he saw the training room was relatively empty. That wasn't too unusual. Most of the regular agents followed a similar schedule to his. He figured that weekends were for reserves, or headcases, of which he was not counting himself.
Emmeline had stepped out of the women’s locker room, pulling her hair back into a ponytail when she spotted Sirius. She grinned. “Looks like we had the same idea.” Even on the team’s day off, Emmeline typically wanted to get some of her own workouts in. Emmeline was skilled duellist, true but there were other ways to fight other than magic. Even back home Emmeline would visit muggle gyms and pick up lessons, boxing had become a favorite of hers.
“What are you working on today?” She asked.
"Seems like it." He was relieved someone he knew was here. Sirius wasn't the type to enjoy brooding alone. He preferred action. Movement. Putting all of his restless energy to use. Pulling his hair back from his face, he surveyed the room around them. The training room was built for all sorts of combat, which meant they'd be able to work on pretty much anything. But Sirius didn't fancy going at a duel with a trained Auror. Not today.
"Thought I might give that Muggle fighting a try? Looked like a decent way to burn a few hours."
“Well you’re in luck.” Emmeline replied. With a wave of her wand she summoned two sets of boxing gloves. “This was what I’ve been doing, even back home. She held out the gloves to Sirius with a smirk. “If you want I can teach you some beginner stuff. It’s a great workout and it comes in handy if you ever find yourself in a situation without magic or a wand.” It had been suggested by one of her old mentors while she was training as an Auror. Never rely too heavily on magic.
Sirius knew how to throw a punch, but he'd never done anything as sophisticated as boxing. He grinned and took the gloves from her. They were lighter than he'd expected. "Would it be inappropriate to make a joke here about Yoda?" He held up his gloved hands, getting a feel for them. "Because I am your more than willing Luke."
Emmeline laughed. “Well since Luke is here I don’t know if he’d want anyone taking his title.” She gestured Sirius to follow her and once they found a punching bag, unused, she looked back to Sirius and smiled. “Okay so first let's get some of the basics down. Now the first thing to note is that if you’re right handed, you’re going to lead with your left or vice versa because you’ll want your dominant hand to be your power punch.” As she spoke she shifted her weight so one foot was in front and the other back. “Keep your legs like this, the stance is really important. Have the back foot turned slightly like this and when you’re moving you want to be on the balls of your foot so you can easily move.” She paused for a second for Sirius to mimic her stance. “And you’ll want your knees bent slightly, like this.” She said as she did a soft bend.
"Obi-Wan, then. He's not here, right?" Sirius said, as he followed her. He was grateful that they wouldn't be fighting each other. Right now, he was pretty sure that Emmeline could knock him flat. "I'd look great with a beard." As he tried to mentally follow Emmeline's instructions, he shifted his feet so that they matched hers. The whole thing wasn't as difficult as it seemed, once he'd got a visual of what she wanted. With his hands up, his legs back, and his knees bent slightly, he almost felt downright silly. "Alright, so like this?
“That works.” She replied with a laugh. “You would, you have such a baby face with no hair.” Emmeline teased as she poked his jaw with her finger.
When he had his stance she nodded in approval. “Very good. Now we’ll practice the first stance the jab with your non-dominant hand. Now as you hit, you don’t want to push like this, you want it to be quick jab like this.” Emmeline demonstrated with a quick jab to the bag. “Also keep an eye on my right hand. It’s up slightly protecting my face. So just keep jabbing with your left hand for a few punches and move along with it.” Emmeline demonstrated again this time making sure to show him how her front foot moves forward slightly and her back ankle slightly raised, on the balls of her foot so she could easily move.
"Oi." He batted her finger away with his gloved hand, laughing. "Good thing I am the baby now. Surprised Reg isn't -" He shook his head. He didn't want to think about what had happened to his brother, not now. "Nevermind. So, first stance…" He copied her movements, lifting his right hand to protect his face and his left to jab at the bag. He jabbed with his left hand, trying not to push. It took a couple of tries to get the jab right -- a quick, stabbing movement. He practiced again, leaning on the balls of his feet so he could move better. "See, all Luke needed was you, and think of how much faster the empire would have fallen…"
Emmeline hesitated for a brief moment but decided not to say anything on the matter. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about Regulus and now wasn’t the time to have that conversation. Emmeline watched Sirius carefully pointed out some adjustments here and there but overall he was doing really well. “It’s what happens when you don’t have enough women helping.” Though she was sure there were probably more women helping off screen but she remembered the movies being heavily driven by men. At least Leia was there to prove how badass women can be. “You’re doing really well.” She added. “Now that you’ve gotten some jabs in, now use your dominant arm for your power punch.”
Emmeline used her left to jab and then to swing her right hand across for a harder punch. “Just like that. And remember to keep your wrist looking like this.” She demonstrated. “That’s important or else you can hurt yourself.”
"Well," said Sirius, with a lopsided grin, "I've got you helping me." He landed another series of jabs at the punching bag, and then threw in a harder punch. It felt good, like he was letting go of all of the stress that had been building up in his mind over the past couple of days. It was certainly better than moping about his flat. "You're a pretty good teacher." He threw another jab at the bag, trying to find his rhythm. Jab-jab-punch. It made sense to him, but it wasn't easy to keep it up with his feet and hands all at the same time. "So, when do you reckon they'll send us out on a mission together? I'd like to give those COSes some one-two-threes…"
“Cheers.” Emmeline said with a small smile. It was nice, spending time with Sirius this way. They’ve been friends for so long and so much of it was goofing off, going to muggle concerts, talking about music, etc. There were some serious moments in there as well considering everything they had gone through in the order. Being with people like Sirius, Remus, Lily, Marlene, James and Benjy.. It took her back to a more simpler time in her life. She didn’t always have to be the cold hard shell of a person the war had left her.
“I don’t know.” Emmeline just shrugged. “Though after the last mission, I’m willing to take a break.” The kidnapping had been hard on everyone and she knew that she handled it poorly, especially when it came to Remus. It was a mistake that she didn’t want to repeat, and taking a break from missions was something she needed. “There’s so many teams, I’m not sure how the rotation works, especially since every so often we switch.”
"Right." Sirius realized his mistake, stepping back from the bag to look at Emmeline. How had he forgot that Emmeline had been there when Eliot had been kidnapped? "Sorry, I -- I've been thinking about the current mission, and I forgot the last one. Sometimes…" He paused to catch his breath, collecting his thoughts. "It seems easier to just press forward and to hell with the rest of it." That was how he'd got through the first war, at least. It seemed so far away now -- the deaths, the disappearances, the distrust.
"Besides, I kind of liked being a pony." He smiled softly. "It was a good change from the usual."
Emmeline shrugged. “It’s okay. I know what you mean though, it’s easy to just keep going.” Emmeline knew that feeling all too well. Though this, but she didn’t want to admit it, wasn’t slightly different because she wanted to make sure she was making an atonement to her mistakes. She didn’t want to brush it off as if it was nothing.
She laughed a little. “And I’m sure you make an adorable pony, Sirius. Now are you ready for your next lesson?”