As the new week began, William's fears were confirmed. Henry had apparently just been laying low for a few days, because on Monday he hit William with a Jelly legs curse right before Charms, nearly making him late, but luckily he stumbled in just as the bell rang, only earning him a glare and short verbal reprimand from McAllister. It was a few days later though that he and Theodore pulled off their biggest stunt yet.

It was shortly after Defense class, and Chris had once again rushed off to finish homework he should have done the night before. Sarah had forgotten some things back in her room so she had to rush back before lunch. William was left alone as he walked towards the dining hall. With the renewed bullying from Henry, William had started to try to find different ways through the school. He was heading for one of the alternate staircases, and it was as he rounded a corner that he heard Theodore call out a levitating charm, swiping his books from his hands with a laugh.

As William jumped and then yanked out his wand to pull them back with his own levitation charm, Theodore hit him squarely with a Jelly legs curse, causing him to stumble about as his books clattered to the ground. Henry then came around the corner laughing and called, "Petrificus Totalis!" William's body snapped to attention and he wasn't sure why. He gulped as he fell face first, but was happy when he felt nothing. Both boys were laughing, though he could barely hear them, they lifted him up and then put him against the wall. Henry then placed his wand on the wall and murmured a spell William didn't know, but he could barely make out what looked like glue pour out from Henry's wand. The bullies then high fived each other before sticking their tongues out at William and walking off.

William wasn't sure how long he was hanging there before Assistant Dean Tall Elk rounded the corner. He frowned when he saw the young boy, and quickly ran his wand over the child. William immediately felt like his whole body was covered in pins and needles as he slumped off of the wall, and nearly fell down again. The older man placed a hand on his shoulder though, and despite the wrinkles and his age, his grip was firm and strong. Tall Elk then said, "My office Mr. Fraser." William nodded, scrambling to pick up his books and followed Tall Elk down the hall, back to the classroom through it and into the old teacher's office.

William had never actually been in the Assistant Dean's office, he had never even caught glimpses between classes. The room was dimly lit by a small fire stirring on one wall, it grew larger when they entered the room but not by much. There were several decorations around the room, William couldn't help but stare at the large buffalo head that hung over the fireplace, and while at first William thought it had been mounted there he slowly realized that it seemed to have fittings for someone's head, as if it could be worn. On another wall there was a shelf, in the center of it was a thick sack that looked neatly folded and taken care of despite the weathering of many years, next to the bundle there was what William recognized immediately as a gun, it was shining in the firelight and it looked exactly like the six-shooters cowboys were supposed to have. Next to the shelf there was a massive feathered head dress set a few feat above it, so that the head dress stopped a few inches above the ground. As he continued turning about the room, he noticed other strange things; old shirts covered in beads and paint, several small pictures of native americans in dynamic stances on empty backdrops, and finally a small moving picture of a boy a few years older than William looking very uncomfortable as he sat in a straight backed wooden chair wearing a suit that seemed to clash with his very being. Tall Elk smiled as William gazed about the room, sitting down in a comfortable looking leather chair on one side of his desk, he gestured for William to sit as he answered his unspoken question, "I have lived through many winters Mr. Fraser, you should not be surprised by what you see here."

William nodded slowly, he had figured out that wizards had lived longer than muggles, but he had never quite had it thrust into his face like this before, "Right, sir." He paused, and then asked, "Sir, have I done something wrong?"

"That depends on how you look at it William," The older wizard said after a small pause, "You have not broken any rules, or to my knowledge even done poorly on any of your exams so far." He took a deep breath as he then concluded, "But you continue to do yourself a great disservice."

William was very confused when his defense teacher said this, he looked at the older man and then asked, his confusion evident through the singular word, "Sir?"

"Nearly everyday since you've arrived, I have watched you get picked on by those two boys," He said, his tone grave, "Not once have I seen you rise to defend yourself." William was about to protest but Tall Elk merely lifted his hand, "While forgiveness is a great quality, and the ability to cope with great pain is admirable, there is also a point where the reasoning that you merely need to live in this world without trouble is no longer enough." William didn't quite understand his last comment but held his breath unsure if the professor was waiting for a response or not. "It worries me, when I see bright young boys such as yourself get picked on and be ridiculed. It does not help anyone to sit there and take it, it makes you bitter and it only lets those other boys go on thinking it is right."

William nodded, and Tall Elk seemed to be pausing for a moment to gauge his response, William seized the opportunity to respond, "Dean, I don't want to start any fights, not..." William sputtered, "Not that I'd even know how to."

The old wizard nodded his head slowly, "I thought this might be the case," the old teacher explained, "That is why I wanted to inform you that I sponsor the dueling club here at the school."

William stared at his teacher, not once had a teacher ever suggested he fight the bullies. If any of his teachers back at school had ever shown him how to throw a punch, he wasn't quite sure what would happen to them. Before he could explain himself though Tall Elk laughed, it was rich and deep almost melodic, "I do not abdicate the breaking of Salem's Rules of Conduct Mr. Fraser." He paused then continued, "However, many times over the years have I seen the change brought over my students when they learn the finer points of Wizard Dueling. It provides many things Mr. Fraser that are important to students." The dean stood up, and moved over to the door, opening it and gesturing for William to leave, "We will be meeting this evening in the basement of the stadium. I hope to see you there at eight o'clock sharp Mr. Fraser."

While William had his doubts he couldn't help but nod and say, "Yes, Dean Tall Elk."

The old man nodded approvingly as William made his way out of the classroom and into the halls, quickly moving to the dining hall before he had to make it to his next class.

William had marched down to the stadium that night wearing his robes and carrying just his wand, he had been completely unsure what he was supposed to bring to the club. It had taken him a few moments to finally find the stairwell that lead down into the basement, and after navigating the maze of locker rooms, team offices, and several empty rooms, he finally found the large chamber where the dueling club met.

The first thing he noticed was that there were dozens of students there, from every grade at Salem. William also immediately felt like he wasn't prepared for this at all. Most of the older students seemed to be wearing specialized uniforms, with wearing lots of padding and leather, most of them had pants on instead of robes. Several of them seemed to be wearing matching jackets with the school colors and seal on them, chatting amicably on one side of the room. Some of the older students even seemed to have several medals pinned on one of their sleeves. Two students who were standing far apart from everyone else were actually wearing just a light pair of pants each and were slowly circling each other, before William could blink there was a flash of different colored lights and both of them looked as if they had run a marathon. They stumbled up to the other, half hugging, half supporting each other before moving over towards a large set of kegs on one side, where they poured themselves buckets of water before settling down on benches and starting to drink greedily.

Tall Elk entered from the far side of the room, and when he did everyone went silent. The uniformed students quickly rushed off to one side of the room, almost like soldiers falling into ranks. Other students seemed to break off into grade, it was when this happened that William caught sight of three other sixth graders. He quickly rushed to them and fell in next to a thin boy a few inches taller than him with dark black hair and muddy brown eyes, he too was wearing his school uniform, the boy nodded at William in greeting.

Tall Elk walked down the column that had been formed by the students, he then began calling out names and different positions as instructors, referees, and a few jobs that William didn't quite understand. The one that he paid attention to though was, "Clark, instruct the sixth graders."

"Sir!" Barked a sharp voice, out came a young woman, at least two years older than William's sister who stepped out and moved down to the younger students. She was wearing highly polished black boots, blue pants, and a dark black leather jacket with an array of medals down the right sleeve. Her curly red hair was pulled back from her face and she laid her green eyes down on the young sixth graders. Clark's eyes finally settled upon William, before simply stating, "You're new."

"Y..yes," William stammered, trying to avoid her gaze.

Her lips curled into a smile and then she said, "Alright, you're a few sessions behind but that's not too bad at this point." She then began pacing around the four sixth graders, "Today we will be continuing our drills on the shield charm. Rosenberger, incantation!"

"Protego!" A girl on the other side of the line called, William could barely see her due to the two boys in the way.

"Hobbes, demonstrate!" Clark called as she stood behind the sixth grade boy.

Hobbes next to Rosenberger jumped forward and held his wand directly in front of him, "Protego!" He shouted at the top his lungs, the air shimmered for a brief moment. He quickly came back into line.

Clark seemed to turn her nose up and then added, "Passable." She came around the line to stand in front of the boy next to William, "Hawthorne, for the new boy, why are we learning this charm?"

The boy immediately called out, "Because it provides a basic line of defense against a majority of the hexes used in a duel."

"Hobbes, another reason," She asked immediately.

"There is no point in attacking unless you can not be hit yourself," He stated.

The older girl shrugged at the answer, and rounded on the young girl at the end, "Rosenberger, why?"

"The protego spell is not only effective but it can be more effective based on the placement of the wand directing the spell. The better prepared the duelist, the more likely they can stop a spell from any direction." Rosenberger rattled off quickly and sharply.

Clark merely nodded in her direction, before coming back down the end of the line and turning to William, "Name?"

"William Fraser!" William found himself shouting.

"Fraser, wand out." Clark called out. William quickly pulled out his wand and stood with it at his side. Clark then suddenly gripped him and kicked his feet widely apart, rearranging his arms as he went. Suddenly he found his right foot forward with his left pointed to the side so that he seemed to be half-sitting as he stood there. His wand lay casually parallel with his right leg, and his left arm was position down behind him. "This Fraser, is your wand out position. It is the ready position you will assume in every duel." William nodded as Clark walked back to stand in front of them all, "Wands out!"

The other three sixth graders fluidly moved into the ready position. Clark also fell into it so quickly that William had barely noticed the shift in her posture. She then quickly demonstrated the protego spell, and then began drilling them on it. She corrected wand positions as they continued, made sharp comments regarding foot work, and continued to ask questions as they went. After only a few minutes she was asking William questions as well, some he could only guess at, others he found himself capable to answer as the drills continued. It had been well over an hour when she had finally told them to get some water.

William found himself practically stumbling over to the water jugs. As he did, the boy who had been standing next to him the whole time gripped his arm a little to straighten him up. William turned to look at the other boy, but he just said, "I nearly fell over after my first time, you looked like you were going to fall flat on your face."

William laughed and nodded, as he collapsed onto the bench. The other boy grabbed two cups of water and sat down next to him. He handed him the cup and then said, "Nick Hawthorne."

William nodded, "William Fraser," he suddenly found himself clinking cups with the other sixth grader and smiled as he greedily gulped down the water.

Nick also took massive gulps as he did, as he brought the cup away he asked, "So what brought you to the club?"

"Dean Tall Elk told me he wanted me to come, and I guess, I don't know," William shrugged, "I don't want to like..." William shook his head, "I don't know."

Nick nodded, "I know what you mean. He's pretty cool for some old teacher."

William laughed and then said, "Yeah, I hadn't expected it to be this hard though."

Nick shrugged, "I guess you're right, but it's a lot of fun. I mean we haven't gotten to do anything besides this spell yet, but in another week or two we'll start learning something new."

"Really?" William asked, then as Nick nodded, he added, "I guess I'll have to really catch up."

Nick nodded, "Well we've only been doing this so far, but you're already doing pretty well for your first night."
William smiled, "Thanks."

As he drained the last drops from the cup Clark was shouting, "Sixth graders to me!" The two boys scrambled to rush over as Clark began once more drilling them and demanding demonstrations of the spell. This only lasted about another half hour though as the junior members were dismissed as they all had earlier curfews than the older high school age students. Clark had smiled when she bid them all goodbye, slowly removing her thick jacket and moving towards where several older students were sparring.

Rosenberger and Hobbes moved on ahead of William and Nick as they all made their way back towards Corey Hall. William shivered in the early October air, the first leaves of autumn beginning to crunch underneath his feet. Nick whistled a little as they walked back. They slowly began talking about classes, and it was when they did this that William had realized that Nick sat a few rows behind in History of Magic. They both laughed at the fact they hadn't recognized each other the entire time, and then fell into silence once again as Nick mentioned their upcoming exam.

The weeks were quickly blending together as William found himself regularly attending meetings of the dueling club. With more of his time being devoted to it, he also found himself hanging out with Nick a lot more as the two shared similar schedules on the days when there were club meetings. Nick had also been raised in the muggle world, though his dad had been wizard he had left Nick's mother years ago. One evening as they were walking towards the stadium, William caught sight of a group of students moving across the grounds. He gestured towards them, and asked Nick, "Hey, what do you think they're doing?"

The taller boy shrugged as he looked over at them, "I'm not really sure, looks like a bunch of older kids."

William nodded but then as they passed from a stand of trees into one of the open fields around campus William noticed that while most of them were taller and older looking there were two younger students with them. One of them looked like a thick ball clambering after them while the other was a thin shadow seeming to stretch out from the ball. "That's Henry Blackstock and Theodore Stinson..." He murmured as he watched the group pass.

"You mean those bullies?" Nick had quickly become familiar with the two when he found William once more being harassed by them, though he had been able to stop one or two of their jinxes, William wasn't still able to stop or avoid them entirely. Besides he could only stop the spells he saw coming, and it was very rare when the two boys came directly at him.

William nodded, "Yeah." He paused for a moment watching the shadows creep further away from the main parts of campus but he then shook his head, "Come on let's go."

When they arrived at the club that night, Clark was once more standing before the four sixth graders at the start of the meeting. "Alright," she said sharply, "You have all proven yourselves capable of deflecting and blocking spells with the shield charm." The session previous Clark and two other students had spent twenty minutes flinging simple hexes at the sixth graders which they all had to stop or deflect without suffering from the spells. By the end of the night, all of the sixth graders had been hit at least once but were still considered passable by the older students who believed they'd get the hang of it through practice (which they were encouraged to do all the time). Her hard green eyes settled on her young charges, "Which is why over the next few weeks of the semester I will begin teaching you several jinxes and hexes that you may or may not be learning in other courses this year. These are the types of spells that you will be expected to know by the end of your first year, they will be your bread and butter when you spar for at least the next year if not longer. We will start with the Jelly Legs hex, and other jinxes that affect the legs, then move up to the arms and then the body as a whole." She then started off by demonstrating the Jelly Legs hex, by spinning at William and calling out the incantation. William snapped his wand while shouting out for his shield charm, the air before him shimmered and glowed when the spell hit it. Clark smiled at him, "Very good Fraser. Now I will do that slower so you may all watch and learn." And so the night passed with the sixth graders drilling the wand movements of the spell, learning its precise pronunciation and in the last few minutes testing it out on each other before they all were told to head back to their dorms.

As William collapsed into his bed that night, his legs barely function and his arms feeling like dead weights he couldn't help but smile. He wasn't exactly sure why but his time at the dueling club had been his greatest time at Salem so far. When he fell asleep that night his slumber was deep and restful.