I was with my friends as we left Defense Against the Dark Arts, and as we walked down the hall, Jack warily made an observation. "You don't look too enthusiastic, Weiss."

"Wizard duelling demonstration today," I said with no energy.

"Ah, that. I really wish I had something to help you out."

"Getting me out would be a good start."

"The only way I can think of doing that is getting hurt badly enough to go to Dr. Ocsid's office," Laura said.

"I'd rather not have to go there again. He's just. . . His treatments make no sense, and yet they work. Compared to him, every other confusing magical thing I've seen is fairly normal, and I only learned that magic existed a year ago."

"Have you heard of the time he used a guillotine to heal a girl?" Phoebe asked. "How does that work?"

"It probably had something to do with whatever she was in there for," Jack said. "I know I heard the story before, but I can't. . ." He snapped as he remembered. "Professor Naut! Last winter! She'd been cut very deep and he finished the cut to heal her. Two girls left his office."

I absently rubbed my nose, remembering a recent trip I'd taken to his office. "That sounds about right. I think she was almost dead when he did that."

"So you're saying he was. . . cutting it close?"

I lightly slugged his shoulder. "Shut up, Jack."

We gathered in the duelling classroom with the rest of the class. Professor Duellington was on the stage. "Today will be our first demonstration of a wizard duel. This is a match of skills, spells, and wits to beat your opponent, whether through direct or indirect means. You will only have your wand with you. Spells only. No levitation. No other tools or techniques may be used. Before the duel starts, hold your wand up in front of you and bow to your opponent. Noir, Weiss, if you two could come up for a demonstration?"

I got on one end of the stage followed Noir's motions for the ritualistic greetings. The whole time, I kept an eye on her for any underhanded moves she might try. Thankfully, she did nothing.

"Excellent. Begin!" Professor Duellington quickly got off the stage.

I got ready to cast my first spell. "Bau-"

"Sternius!" Noir was quick to cast her spell at me.

The spell tickled a bit when it hit my face. "Wha. . . Ah. . . Achoo!" I was suddenly hit by a sneezing fit. "Bau. . . Achoo!"

"Flipendo!" Her spell sent me flying backwards, nearly to the end of the stage.

I got to my feet, sneezed again, and held Myrtenaster in a defensive position. I waited for the next sneeze to get out before trying again. "Baubillious!" A white stream of sparking magic flew from the sword towards Noir.

"Baubillious!" Noir's casting of the spell came out dark blue and crashed into my stream. Another sneeze broke my focus, cancelling my spell. It was only by sheer luck and mere inches that her stream missed me.

I prepared another spell. "Gla. . . Ahcoo!" The spell backfired and covered me in a thin layer of ice, just strong enough to immobilize me.

"Flipendo!" I barely heard the spell, but I felt it hit me. It sent me sliding back towards my end of the stage, where I fell off and landed on my back, breaking the ice.

"Weiss!" Jack was quick to come to my side and help me to my feet.

"Thanks," I tiredly said as I brushed off some ice and let out another sneeze.

Professor Duellington stepped back onto the stage. "That, everyone, was a good example of a wizard's duel. Both duellers showed respect, honored the rules, and fought fairly. Noir's use of Sternius" -Another sneeze of mine interrupted him- "kept Weiss from being able to properly fight back. It may seem underhanded, but it is a fair trick that is used in many official duelling competitions. Thanks, both of you."

Noir gave him a small bow. "It was an honor, Professor." I did not miss the smug sideways glance she gave me.

I was with my friends as we left Defense Against the Dark Arts, and as we walked down the hall, Jack warily made an observation. "Uh, Weiss? What's with the evil look on your face?"

I steepled my hands and started tapping my fingers together. "I have it on good information that there's going to be a live demonstration of no-maj duelling today."

"Ohhh. Make sure you do some stretching first so you don't hurt yourself."

"I don't think Weiss is too worried about that," Laura said. "Noir did say she wanted herself and Weiss to be the main demonstration participants, and there's no way she could have forgotten the times she's lost to Weiss in the arena, even when she was cheating."

"Do you really think that's going to stop her from, I don't know, shutting everything down here if she loses?" Phoebe asked. "I don't know her like Weiss does-"

"Be glad you don't," I interjected, my mood deflating at the new topic.

"-but what would stop her from just sending a letter to her family with the complaints?"

"I think she's playing politics," Laura answered. "Or at least she knows that she's part of the political game. From what I've seen, she has some standards. If she loses a duel that she set up or accepted, she won't go and complain because that would make her look weak."

"So why does she not just recruit more students to her side?" Jack asked.

"She was going to try with the first year Scientia girls," I said. "I interfered twice, so they're not going to be an issue. Hopefully. I still believe she wants total loyalty in one group before moving on to the next group."

"What if you pretended to join her?"

I stuck out my tongue in disgust. "Blegh! I'm not doing that."

Soon, we were in the duelling classroom, and I had the smug smirk on my face again. Professor Duellington was on stage with a lecture. "As Professor Smith explained to you last year, no-maj duels are done without magic of any kind, as no-majes have no magic. While they do have weapons, we will not start with those. Instead, we will start with unarmed duelling. Punches, kicks, grapples, all manner of physical moves will be covered. We will start with a demonstration. Noir, Weiss, if you could come up, please?"

I walked through the crowd to one side of the stage and saw Noir going to the other. Jack followed me to the end of the stage. Noir and I walked up the steps to the stage at the same time and I saw a smug smile on her face. "I am going to have so much fun wiping the floor with her." She stood there as I stretched and limbered myself up for the fight. "No glyphs. No magic."

"Sometimes, there will be taunts delivered before the duel," Professor Duellington said. "It's not necessary, though."

"Are you ready to go down, Snowflake?" Noir taunted, sounding as high and mighty as ever.

"You mean like the other no-maj duels we've had?" I shrugged off my robes and tossed them to Jack, fully revealing my armored boots and weighted gloves. "I remember how those went."

"Oh, this time will be different." She did not take her robes off.

"Okay, she's got cheats going. Probably not the heaviness from before, though."

"Professor!" A Perseverantia girl called out with her hand up. "Are there any rules on what's worn in a no-maj duel?"

The Professor briefly looked over to me. "Generally, no. Only certain kinds of arranged duels have such restrictions, and from what I understand, those are more for show. This is no such duel. Any other questions?" Nobody said anything and he pulled out his wand. "Alright. Ladies, you may begin as soon as I'm off the stage. Loser is the first one off the stage, incapacitated, or to concede."

I tensed myself up in preparation for the fight, and Noir kept her relaxed posture. The seconds dragged on as I waited for the Professor to leave the stage. Finally, he stepped off.

Noir and I rushed at each other and met in the middle. I skidded to a stop just in front of her and threw a right hook at her face, only for her to lean back Matrix style and come back with a punch of her own at my face. Her attack connected and sent me back a couple steps. The punch didn't have much strength behind it, and my aura tanked it easily enough, but I was not expecting it.

I quickly changed my plan and went forward again, aiming to either stand on her foot or knock her off her feet. No matter what I did, whether it was a stomp, a low sweep, a grapple, or any kind of punch, she always easily dodged, sometimes by mere inches. "Come on, Snowflake. I thought you were going to hit me."

Anger quickly crept into my voice. "How are you dodging everything?" I couldn't keep myself calm, especially after she hit me with a backhand slap to my face.

"I did some studying over the summer." She leaned out of the way of a straight punch. "What about you?"

I aimed a roundhouse kick at her. It missed. "I took kickboxing lessons." Another punch of mine missed.

"You must have had a terrible tutor." She delivered a kick to my side. "You can't even touch me with what you've learned."

I couldn't stop my temper from rising further at the taunt, and my attacks became more wild. "Take that back!"

"Hm, nah." She delivered another weak slap to my face.

The dance of her taunting me and dodging my attacks went on for another couple minutes. "This isn't working." She dodged another punch. "I have the power, but she's dodging everything. Just like. . ." Memories of my first arena duel with her came to mind. "Of course!" I took a leap back and stood up straight. With the realization came an odd calm, so I gave Noir a confident look and the 'bring it' gesture.

She fell for my taunt, closed the distance, and went to slap me again. I grinned when I caught her arm just as her attack connected. "Hey!"

I kept my grip tight. "You know, Noir. . ." I turned her around and got her in a chokehold, just tight enough to keep her from going anywhere. "I workout regularly. I've taken some actual lessons in a martial art. I do a lot of physical stuff when I get the chance. It doesn't seem like you do, and yet, you're dodging everything with ease."

"Are you saying that I, a distinguished Starlight, am cheating?" She put up a futile effort to break my hold. "I've broken no rules in this duel, Snowflake! I have no weapons on me, and yet, you have those heavy gloves. If anything, you're the one with weapons!"

"The weighted gloves are allowed in this duel," Professor Duellington interjected. "No rules have been broken."

Noir let out a frustrated growl before trying to drive her heel into my foot. I barely felt the impact through the armor and my aura. "You know, heels like yours could be weapons too," I pointed out.

"Shut up, Snowflake!" She continued struggling in vain as I dragged her to her edge of the stage. "I won't lose to you like this!"

"You will." I casually tossed her off, earning myself another win against her.

"That's the end of this demonstration," Professor Duellington announced as he stepped back onstage. "Noir, Weiss, thank you very much."

I gave him a small bow. "It was an honor, Professor." I shot Noir a smug sideways glance, and she definitely saw it. "I probably won't be sleeping well for the next week, but that was worth it."