Rory
The great hall had been sectioned off for the first meeting of this year's dueling club. All the tables had been removed to make room for a couple dozen circular mats. The teachers' table had been replaced by a raised platform for instructional and observation purposes. Two glowing lines circled the room, one was silver and the other a blue green. I had over heard someone mention that the sliver one was called and age line and was meant to keep first years out. The other one was a ward to keep the spectators out of the harms way but allowing them to see what was happening. Professor Potter was talking with Flitwick and Professor Forst while professor Malfoy organized the participants in front of the platform. Damian, Aria, Xander and Nikki were among the second years grouped on one of the mats. Aura stood a short distance from Casper, with the third years, on the next mat over. Skylar and Tobin sat with me on one of the benches along the wall. Leon was in the hospital wing having his newly grown beard removed. After seeing his attempt to cross the boundary lines, the other first years opted out of trying to sneak into the club a year early.
"Listen up." Professor Potter called out from the platform "First I'd like to welcome you all to the Duelling club. Whether you are here for the frist time or returning from last year, I'd like to start with the ground rules. First rule is that there will be no intentional injuries. Leave your grudges at the door. The second rule is that you will not toy with your opponent. We are here to teach you how to defend yourselves in times of need or to settle things in a traditional fashion. It can be fun but your opponent is not a play thing. The third rule, you may quit at any time. This isn't for everyone. It may look like fun at first but you may find that it isn't to your liking. That's perfectly fine. Rule number Four. Duelling outside the practice mats will not be tolerated. If caught you will not be welcomed back and you will serve what ever punishment the Head Mistress deems appopriate. Rule Five is that the Instructors' word is law. You are still in school and we are still your teachers." Professor took a second to glance over the six groups of students. "Tonights agenda will begin with a demonstration.." A cheer rang out form those gathered in the hall, briefly shattering the tension that had built up while the rules where given. Professor shook his head and fought a smile. "After which I'm sure we will lose most of our spectators as I will be instructing rather than providing entertainment. We will then divide you up into pairs by year to see how you do. Afterwards we will pair you by ability."
I glanced over at our friends for a moment. Aria and Damian were sporting similar rakish grins. Nikki was soaking in every word while jotting notes down in a small muggle notebook. Xander had his normal almost detached look. It's like he is paying attention but he doesn't really care what is being said. At one point his mask broke long enough for him to whisper something to Nikki, who rolled her eyes and irritably whispered something back. Xander just smiled before putting his mask back on.
What is it with my friends and their masks? Xander wears a mask to hide his feelings from others, Aria literally never wears her real face from what Damian has told me. He wears a mask of emotions to cover the walls that he locks his heart behind. Tobin hides so much that I'm not sure I can say that I honestly know anything about him, and Nikki is the exact oposite. Though not very talkative she is always honest. She is so completely forthcoming that you feel like you are hiding things from her. Skylar is probably the most normal year mate I have. She still has that look in her eye that questions what she sees like all the others that lived through the war, but beyond that she doesn't really hide anything.
"We are going to start off with a basic demonstration In which Professor Forst and myself will show you the proper form of duelling. Our goal is to be the first to disarm the other." Professor Potter explained as he and Damian's Aunt took their positions. "First face your opponent and present your wand." The two raised their wands so they pointed upward a few inches before their faces. "Next, lower your wand and take your stance." Our instructors swiftly lowered their wands to their sides before raising them back to shoulder hight as they each turned sideways to make themselves smaller targets. "At this point you will begin casting spells to disarm your opponent."
I'm not certain but I'm fairly sure that it was a good thing none of my friends were paired against each other. Though it may have lead to some more interesting first duels. Many of the second years simply tried to use the disarming charm that our D.A.D.A. instructor was famous for and had recently taught us. A few got creative with tickling charms and the like. When not using offensive charms, several were testing the strength of their sheilds. Then there was Xander, Damian and Aria. Rather than trying to make their opponents drop their wands, they were finding other ways to end the duels. I also found out later that the Weasley Wizard Wheezes sells toy wands the cast bolts of light which temporarily change the colour of what ever they hit. Apparently those of the Forst line had been playing with them for several years now. My three friends still standing had yet to bother with a shielding charm. Well Xander had used one but mostly they stepped out of the way of spells. Xander was mostly using silencing charms and body binding curses. Damian seemed to prefer the disrupting of his opponent's ability to cast. He had just called out "Obfuscate!", the bolt of purple hit the Hufflepuff boy he was facing. The boy look startled and confused before he started spouting nonsense, his wand spewing harmless sparks and he tried to retaliate.
Skylar commented on the unorthodox use of the babbling hex, and how that could have actually been a bad move for Damian. Should the wand have fired something more dagerous as a result of its hindered master, he could be seriously injured.
"Stupefy!" Two mats over I saw the flash of red light before Aria's opponent fell to the floor with an audible thud. Several of the groups around her stopped and turned at the sound of a body hitting the floor. Professor Potter was there half a second later.
"Miss Reswick." The instructor seemed caught between the need to be professional and confused amusement at Aria's use of a spell taught to fourth years. "I said disarm your opponent, not render them unconscious."
"It did the job didn't it?" Skylar tried to fight off a fit of giggles at her dorm mate's responce. "Besides, it's not like she was hurt by it. Well maybe a bump on the head from the fall but the mat is padded enough." She ammended
"Rennervate." Professor sighed as the Slytherin girl woke up. "I would appreciate it if you would hold off on stunning people until I move you up into a higher ability bracket."
"Yes sir."
"Miss Silverstone." He called out. Skylar sat up straighter before realising he had meant her older sister. "When you are done with mister Rivers come over here and give Miss Reswick a challenge." Aura smiled and agreed as Casper struggled back to his feet. "Miss Fenning, when you feel up to it, you can go relieve Mr. Cornocte and try your hand with Mr. Tollson." Professor glanced around again before assigning Damian to try his hand with Tiana Hafgwynt. Tiana looked like she wanted to hex more than just Damian for being told to duel a younger student. Damian seemed to be debating on how he wanted to deal with one of our least favorite people.
"Hafgwynt may be in trouble." Skylar murmured
"I don't know." I replied. Damian hadn't done anything I hadn't seen him do before and She was a year older than us. "She has a year more of Defence classes to fall back on than Damian."
"True but remember the rules of combat that Potter taught us first week?"
I had to think for a second, trying to remember the exact wording. There had been four rules to winning a fight.
"Rule number two… Never fight angry. Controlling your emotions is essential to survival. Luck will only take you so far. Despite an opponent's superiority to you, a clear head can gave you the means to victory." Skylar recited "Hafgwynt hates all of you that associate with Xander and Tobin." Tobin made a noise of consent but otherwise said nothing as he shifted between watching Xander deflect a spell with a shielding charm and Damian. "She already looks ready to pitch a fit."
Damian visibly took a deep breath as he stepped onto the mat. Tiana appeared to be arguing with Potter about having to duel with someone beneath her. "Miss Hafgwynt. If you are indeed better, then make it a quick duel and I will find someone more suitable for both of you." Potter said just loud enough for us to hear him. Tiana huffed and glared at Damian as though it was his fault. Then something seemed to click in her head and she threw a nasty grin at my friend. Professor moved to deal with a couple of fourth years that were getting a little too aggressive and seemed to have have moved to casting fire balls and the like. Tiana now looked to be attempting to intimidate Damian as they got into their ready possitions. Damian for his part looked bored at first but then as they began flinging spells at each other he began to smile. Damian may not have been able to hit her with anything full force due to her shields and evation but she wasn't gaining ground either. Something that was obviously not making her very happy.
Aria seemed to be having a much better time with Skylar's older sister as the two went back and forth. The duel between the two Ravenclaw girls was completely different form the one between the Slytherin and the Gryffindor. Aura and Aria where using spells to try and disarm each other and learning form each failed attempt.
"Rule number four… learn from failure. You don't experience defeat the first time you lose to a specific opponent. You are defeated if you lose to them again. You must analyze and adapt to your enemies." Skylar whispered as she watched her sister and best friend
Tiana looked rather unnerved when Damian let loose a laugh. Hafgwynt's hex had missed his head by a matter of inches as he dove to the side and hoped back to his feet before he sent a bolt of icy blue at her. Again she to jumped out of the way before she attempted another lofty sneer and insult. However Damian just laughed with his Rakish grin firmly in place. It was becoming clear that she was not intimidating him. Soon her sneers began to falter again as he continued to "play" rather than cower. Over all the two seemed like a fairly even match thus far.
"Hafgwynt is going to lose this if Damian can keep up his act a little longer and make her slip. On the other hand if she gets to irrational it could backfire on him worse than that babbling hex could have."
"What do you mean?" I asked as I glanced sideways at the analyst beside me. To my surprise it was Tobin that answered my question
"He's messing with her head." I asked what he meant by that but he just nodded back to Skylar and returned to watching Xander who was duelling a third year as well
"Rule number one… Never be afraid of your opponent. It doesn't matter how big, strong, or fast they are… if you fear them, you lose the battle before it even begins. Damian is laughing at her. He may not be pushing her back but she wanted this to be a quick show of superiority. Instead this has drawn out far too long. So she tried to throw Damian off with insults but he isn't listening. Rather he is having fun and laughing."
"So Damian isn't afraid." I think I only half got what was going on.
"Damian may well be afraid but he isn't showing it. He is showing the opposite which is starting to worry Hafgwynt. She may know more spells but now she has a slight fear that it won't be enough."
"So he's intimidating her." I finally understood
"Exactly." Skylar confirmed as a loud blast like a canon shook the room. The Ravenclaw girls seemed to have stepped it up a notch to the dismay of most of those pressent. Twelve foot spears of ice had sprouted around the girls. Though judging by the whole in the wall of ice, the snow that was now falling, and the laughter between them, they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Professor Forst had stepped up to keep a closer eye on them. Aura threw another volley of frost and Aria made an effort to jump out of the way but slipped on the frozen mat. "Rule number three… Be aware of your surroundings. If you are cornered or pinned to the ground you are giving your opponent a perfect opportunity to knock you out, severely injure you, or worse."
"Why aren't you in there if you have all this memorised?" I asked. Skylar just shrugged and said that it wasn't something she wanted to do.
"There is a difference between knowing the rules and being able to play the game well." I let that soak in for a bit as I went back and forth between my two rather flashy friends. "Xander seems to be enjoying himself."
Xander was on to his next opponent. This one had a look caught between confusion and worry. He was waving his wand and shouting but no sound came out and the wand didn't react.
"Has he just been silencing all his opponents?" I asked
"Most of them." Tobin replied before going silent himself again
"He seems to be trying different methods of making it so they can't cast but still have their wand. It doesn't always work but it seems to be doing the trick more times than not." Skylar continued for him as she scanned the room "Nikki doesn't seem to have much talent for this." The girl in question was on the receiving end of a tickling charm.
"She tends to be better at the magic studies that don't involve a wand." I reminded her. Nikki had an amazing grasp of anything that came from a book but her spell work was not very strong on her best day. Not that she couldn't do the spells, it just took her longer most days. Very much the opposite of Damian now that I think about it. Nikki out did almost everyone in history, astronomy, and herbology. She wasn't half bad in potions, but she had trouble with the practical side of magic.
Another bang brought me back to Damian's duel. There was a scorch mark on the ground behind Damian to his left, and a matching burn on his sleeve. Tiana was breathing hard but Damian still smiled. Hafgwynt glared at him as she shouted out another curse. Before she could finish the incantation Damian turned serious and cast a shielding charm, just before her wand. The resulting explosion of the curse hitting the invisible wall knocked her off her feet. She tried to get back to her feet as professor Malfoy called an end to the duel. Potter just flew over to asses the extent of the damage. In the end it was determined that no real harm was done but it was obvious that at least one of the two had gone overboard. Both were told to take a fifteen minute brake while Flitwick looked them over. The charms teacher dragged them over to sit by Aura and Aria who were wrapped in blankets and sipping from steaming mugs.
"Who won?" I asked Skylar "Your sister or Aria?"
"Aria in the end. Sis was distracted by the explosion form Tiana's rebounded spell. Aria used it to catch her off guard." Skylar replied as she watched Flitwick tend to Hafgwynt's burns before he fixed up Damian. Apparently neither was hurt bad enough to warrant a trip to the hospital wing. "If not for that Aura would have won without question. Aria was down and wouldn't have been able to avoid another of sis's spells."
In the end Damian and Aria seemed pleased with themselves and were discussing the next session. Xander didn't say much but I had the feeling that he enjoyed himself as well. Nikki seemed unsure but agreed to try again next week. Then Damian tried to get me to agree to participate at the next meet, claiming that it was far more fun to play than watch. Skylar flat out turned down both of them when they tried to get her but agreed to watch them if it would make them feel better.
"Besides, if you get Rory to participate, then someone will have to keep Tobin company." She reasoned. Tobin cocked and eyebrow then shrugged but otherwise remained silent as per usual. I guessed that wasn't a no if nothing else on his part. Eventually we split off our separate ways to our common rooms then up to our dorms. Half an hour later, I smiled as I read over my letter to my sisters about the duelling club. I wish I could see the looks on their faces when they got the chance to read it. Folding the parchment, I set it on the night stand before crawling into bed. I'd take it to the aviary before breakfast tomorrow.