AN: This is for the Camp Hogwarts Competition, for Cabin Prewett. This is for the Archery prompt, write about a medieval duel. The word count is 919, for judging purposes.
"You fight like a lady, Godric!" Salazar Slytherin called over to his best friend. Godric Gryffindor looked away from the enchanted dummies he had made to practice fighting in the summer sun.
"Well, mate, why don't you try practicing your dueling in this heat?" Godric asked with a teasing smile as he fanned himself. "It's bloody scorching out here. Ladylike fighting can't be helped."
"Did I hear something about fighting like a lady?" A soft Welsh voice carried out into the breeze onto the lakeside ruins close by the castle.
The men looked to see their two female consorts standing atop the great steps of their school of magic, soon to open in the coming autumn. One was in silken robes of blue and looked rather ominous, with her black waves coming to her waves and her fierce dark eyes that threatened to swallow you whole. The other was in lacy robes of a gay yellow, and her coppery red curls were hovering around her shoulders, bouncing with glee anywhere she stepped.
The woman in dark blue, the one known as Rowena Ravenclaw, merely stood there, staring into the men's souls threateningly, as if telling them to never do it again, to say that much dreaded phrase amongst the witches of the era.
The woman in yellow, however, who was known as Helga Hufflepuff, lifted her sunny skirts, and started skipping down the steps.
How Salazar's heart skipped a beat, whenever that sunny witch came his way. Something about the way that light seemed to radiate from her, even in pure darkness, caught his attentions, caught his gray eyes in a way that was remotely strange to him. It made him want to fuss with his dark hair, straighten his robes, and stand up a bit taller.
"What's this I hear about fighting like a lady?" Helga asked. Her tone was teasing, but there were undertones of things more serious in her voice.
Dread filled Godric and Salazar's heart. They loved Helga, Godric platonically, and Salazar in a more romantic way, but they knew that she was the least talented of the four friends. Rowena was a known Diviner, Salazar was a Parseltongue, and Godric was a Squid Animagus, but Helga had no known special talent that set her apart from the others.
"Ah, Helga," Godric said in a supposedly flattering tone. "We meant it as a joke. We weren't trying to insult you or Rowena."
Helga placed her hands on her hips, and suddenly, she wasn't so merry anymore. "A joke? You think belittling the way an entire gender fights is a joke?"
Godric internally groaned. He forgot about Helga's rants about her crazy ideas. She was a great case for why women shouldn't think. Rowena was at least logical, but Helga's arguments all seemed to come out of nowhere.
"That's not what we were saying at all," Salazar intervened, trying to placate Helga. "We just meant-"
"I know what you meant, and I consider it to be quite offensive!" Helga said glaring at Salazar so fiercely he had to look away. Her anger was as blinding as the sun. She looked at Godric. "If you think women fight so horribly, go ahead. Duel me." She raised her wand.
Everyone groaned internally. Everyone knew that Helga was no duelist. She was the peacekeeper, the healer of the group. Heaven knows they had Godric and Salazar and Rowena for that.
"What, you don't think I can take you on?" Helga continued. "Is it because I'm a woman? Go ahead. Duel me."
"Fine," Godric said. "Incendio!" A jet of fire shot at Helga.
"Aguamenti!" Helga called, and water shot out of the end of her wand, and met Gryffindor's fire, effectively canceling both spells.
"Ventus!" She then called. A gale pushed Godric on his back, and Helga advanced.
"Flipendo!" Godric casted desperately. Helga was already proving to be more than he thought. She went flipping over, onto her stomach finally. She staggered to her feet.
Godric then wordlessly summoned a storm of fire from the depths of Hell, and sent it straight at Helga, who rose on a tornado made of water, that quenched the fire, and spat water at Godric, who admitted to rather preferring the squirts. They were better than the scorching summer sun, that was for sure.
Helga then descended her tornado.
He then sent a Stunning Spell her way.
Helga dodged, and retaliated, only for a total miss. She then conjured a unicorn in front of her.
Godric stared at it, wide-eyed, as pixies sprouted from the mane of the unicorn, and the unicorn stamped its foot, and lowered its head. Godric ran off screaming, and dove underwater to escape the pixies that were trying to sting him.
Helga turned to a wide-eyed Salazar and a shocked Rowena. "If anybody had any doubts that I can duel, and that women are talented duelists, I hope they are resolved?"
Salazar nodded rapidly. Rowena ran into the castle as quickly as she could, still totally surprised by the outcome in a fight between fierce Gryffindor and sweet Hufflepuff.
Salazar continued to stare as Helga mounted the unicorn, and rode off into the Enchanted Wood, where all things magical seemed to happen in Scotland.
Godric poked his head out. "Is the coast clear?" He asked.
"The pixies all rode off with Helga," Salazar assured his dripping friend as he helped him out of the Black Lake.
"Good. I never want to see another one again," Godric swore.