Chapter 11: Dueling Club Pt. 2
"Detractors of dueling," Professor Calding began. "Often claim the sport is a brutal affair, encouraging the next generation to be quicker to draw and popularizing violence."
"The truth of dueling, however, is not that of a simple and hotheaded sport. It is an art, where dance and dexterity meet magical strength and intuition. These talents manifest uniquely in each duelist; take away a duelist's distinguishing characteristics and the movements and magic that form their dueling style will show their identity." There was a passion in Professor Calding's voice that was absent when assisting Professor Sewell in Transfiguration class.
"Andrej Dordevic makes dueling a game of shields. He utilizes his own to reflect his opponents' attacks back at them and turns his opponents' against them with powerful repertoire of shield corrupters and breakers.
The unflappable Frenchwoman Delphine Lisette never loses her composure. She uses her bottomless stockpile of spells to find the perfect spell for each situation.
Seasoned veteran Anej Aleks duels with a tight precision, flawless fundamentals, and a controlled pace that steadily overwhelms all but the best.
Our own contender, the young Hogwarts alumni Gideon Rafe, utilizes movement, both magical and mundane, to claim advantages on the platform. Where others shield, Rafe dodges, pulling ahead in tempo without the use of his wand.
I encourage everyone, even those who walk away from the Dueling Club in the months and years to come, to watch one of these duelists in action if you have the opportunity. Nothing, and no one, can showcase the beauty and complexity of dueling better."
Professor Calding beckoned over the six year Hufflepuff prefect standing to the side of the podium. "Mr. Lupin and I will perform a dueling demonstration. We will be using harmless spells and there is a ward around the podium; you are safe to watch."
Lupin gave a wave and a careless smile. He ran his hand through his long blonde hair and ripples of pink flowed out from his fingers, reminding Myles of Scufy's hair. There was a scattering of whispers and giggles in the first year crowd, admiring and gossiping about the tall and handsome Hufflepuff. Calding and Lupin approached the center of the podium and gave a low formal bow to each other.
They walked way from each other, turning back towards their opponent Their wands raised, their eyes met, and at a signal acknowledged by the two of them but unnoticed by the crowd of first years, began.
"Go Teddy!" Elias shouted, cheering as the duel kicked off.
Myles had seen Mrs. Lenore duel in Lower Diagon Alley, fighting off the two wizards chasing after him. He'd been amazed by the power and control of her magic and scared of the destructive spells and curses and two men had been throwing out. The duel between Professor Calding and Lupin, however, was an entirely different experience.
The fight in Lower Diagon Alley had been loud, explosive, and chaotic. Professor Calding and Lupin, on the other hand, were quiet, restrained, and controlled. The incantations shouted in Diagon Alley were spoken soundlessly behind closed lips here, the squeaking of shoes and rustling of robes filling the voiceless silence. The explosions of magic, which had combined with the screams of cracking wood and shattered stone, were replaced by the soft static of magic through the air and the low hum of shields.
There was too much going on in the duel for Myles to follow. Spells flowed faster than he'd ever seen before, the wandwork of Calding and Lupin made one spell flow seamlessly into another, all the while they moved: advancing, retreating, and dodging. Lupin seemed at least strained as he did so, a sheen of sweat forming on his forehead and needing to vocalize some of his spells. Calding, on the other hand, could have been enjoying a stroll by the Great Lake.
Myles watched the duel with dumbfounded fascination. A chill ran up his back, his stomach clenched, he couldn't blink. The fight in Lower Diagon Alley was childlike in comparison to duel of the two wizards before him. Watching it unfold both empowered and frightened Myles. He was in exactly in the right place to learn to defend himself, but the ceiling was so high that he couldn't imagine reaching it.
The duel didn't build to a climax; it ended as suddenly as it had started. Somewhere in the exchange of spells and shuffle of feet Professor Calding had pushed Lupin back on his heels and caught him flat footed with a stunner.
The first-years' silence slowly broke as Calding walked over to revenerate Lupin, excited and awed mutterings spreading through the crowd.
Professor Calding helped Lupin stand and turned to face the first-years, again clearing his throat to call for silence. "Most of you will not start on nonverbal spells until your sixth year and many of you will never reach dueling competency in nonverbals. Likewise, years of practice may never deliver the finger and wrist dexterity and magical capability needed to rapidly cast spells."
"Only a few of you have the potential to reach young Lupin here's level, and that potential will only be reached by years of dedication. If you're here dreaming of competing for Hogwarts on the platform but are only willing to put in a few hours a week at club, reconsider your choice of club."
None of the first years budged. They were still mesmerized by the demonstration, imagining themselves on the podium in Calding's and Lupin's shoes: dancing around magic, soundlessly casting spell after spell, and doing so with the same poise of their stance and with the same grace of their fingers. Professor Calding was unsurprised that his warning had been ignored.
"Today we will be learning one of the simplest, yet most effective dueling spells - the disarming charm."
Professor Calding and Lupin demonstrated the spell and had the first years split up into pairs to begin practicing. The room descended into a very loosely controlled chaos. Clumsy calls of 'Expelliarmus!' filled the room. Students, lacking the restraint they showed in class, sent their attempts at Disarming Charms into the air. Misspelled charms ruffled hair, tripped students, launched wands out of the casters hands, and on rare occasions, disarmed the caster's partner. The last of which happened to Myles, as Cecilia correctly cast the charm on her first try.
Myles hadn't quite caught the flick of the wand movement from watching the demonstration and his first few attempts failed, one of them wildly throwing Cecilia's hair up into the air and the rest doing nothing at all. Luckily for him, Cecilia was able to quickly correct him. The rest of the room, however, was a sea of chaos, the waves calming as Professor Calding, Lupin, and a Gryffindor girl that was also assisting Professor Calding slowly made their way through it.
"Nice one!" Lyla said, walking up to Myles as he took his turn disarming Cecilia.
"Do you want to make it more interesting?" Elias, Lyla's partner, grinned confidently at him. Myles shrugged, knowing that Elias and Lyla were going to make a competition out of it. The two of them loved and thrived in the Defence club, and were even more excited for dueling. He wasn't eager to lose his wand repeatedly but thought it might be good practice. He looked towards Cecilia, letting her decide.
"Why not?" Cecilia said, sparking a smile and an explanation from Lyla.
"Okay!" Lyla exclaimed, hopping in front of Cecilia and planting her feet in exaggerated motions. "We're going to play Stand and Hex, but only with Expelliarmus."
Myles and Cecilia both looked at Lyla blankly.
"Stand and Hex," Lyla repeated, as if that would suffice for explanation. "Where you stand and hex? First to move their feet loses."
"But we're only disarming each other." Cecilia said, confused. "If we lose by moving our feet, why would we move our feet?"
"Well, the first to lose their wand loses here." Lyla said.
"So if we aren't hexing each other and you don't win by standing in place, is it really Stand and Hex?" Myles asked, both to fluster Lyla and legitimately curious.
"You still lose if you move your feet!" Lyla protested. "Stand and Disarm then!"
"Let's go with that," Elias laughed. "Cecilia and Lyla are up first. I'll signal the start... Go!"
Cecilia was surprisingly fast to cast, and her Disarming charm went off first. Lyla, on the other hand, moved more than Myles would have thought possible for a game in which moving your feet was against the rules. She was ducking as soon as Elias's "go" left his mouth, casting the charm while falling until her chest hugged her legs. Cecilia's charm missed and her wand flew out her hand a moment later, clattering on the ground behind her.
Elias confidently stepped up to face the victorious Lyla, taking a stance that resembled Calding and Lupins' and motioning for Myles to give the signal. He waited a moment for them to be ready and gave the call.
Elias's disarming charm was a league apart from the other first years', a practiced motion of his hand and wrist that was a rough mimicry of the wand motions of Lupin and Calding. He was prepared for Lyla to duck again too, but for all that he wasn't ready for the twisting motion Lyla performed, throwing herself down to the side and catching herself with her off-hand.
"That was a good charm, Elias. Doesn't do much good if it doesn't land though," The sixth year Hufflepuff Lupin grinned, snatching Elias's wand out of the air. Elias turned towards him, his face flushing lightly with embarrassment.
"I know, Teddy." Elias groaned.
"It's impressive to move like that and still cast on target," Teddy said to Lyla. "But you should focus on the fundamentals right now. Try again without moving. Who's next?"
Myles stepped up with an edge of trepidation. His hand, suddenly palmy, gripped his wand. If he couldn't beat his fellow first-years, how was he going to defend himself against the men from Lower Diagon Alley?
"Go!" Teddy called. Myles rushed to cast, shorting the upwards crescent motion of the charm, losing control of the flick that ended the wand movement, and speaking an incantation closer to "Expeliamus" than "Expelliarmus".
White flashed in front of him. A gust of fast moving air rushed out of his wand. A violent crack rang off the far wall, the noise filling the entire room and turning everyone's heads towards the center. Myles's wand sailed through the air, Lyla's charm yanking it out of his hand, and landed besides a shocked Teddy and Elias.
"Woah, there," Teddy called, streaks of red in his hair but otherwise calm. "Haven't seen that a disarming charm go that wrong before."
Teddy flicked his wand Myles's, and Myles's wand flew up to his clammy fingers. "Take a deep breath and try it again, without the game this time."
Myles looked down at his wand, afraid to cast the charm again out of fear for what might happen to the recipient of his magic. He glanced up at Lyla and saw her unfaltering smile. She gave him a confident nod, encouraging him on. Myles was stunned for a moment; any sane person would want to step out of the way of the uncontrolled magic he had just released. Yet there was no doubt in Lyla's mind that Myles would cast a controlled Disarming charm. Her confidence and belief was oddly reassuring; he could almost forget his failed spell and the many first-years looking towards him as a consequence of it.
Myles's fingers eased on his wand, his throat loosened, and he moved to cast again. "Expelliarmus!"
Lyla's wand flew neatly, if a bit powerfully, out of her hand. The pressure Myles hadn't realized was on his chest eased and the first-years that had been watching after being distracted by Myles's misfire turned back to learning and practicing the charm.
"Much better, but focus on smoothing out the upwards crescent and not holding the 'aaar' for too long," Teddy said, sending Lyla's wand flying back up to her. "Try to disarm each other again on my signal."
"…Go!"
"Expelliar-" Myles's spell was cut off as Lyla's disarming charm threw his wand into the air. Just like Teddy had said, he had held the "aaar" sound too long and was too slow for Lyla.
"Not bad, keep working at it and you'll catch up to your friends in no time." Teddy commended before looking towards Cecilia. "Let's see the last contestant in this little game."
The two faced each other under Teddy's supervision. Lyla's eyes were lit up with excitement, the same glow they held in the competitions in Defense Club that she won more than anyone. Cecilia was her normal collected self, but Myles thought he could see her getting into the friendly game. Cecilia had cast her disarming charm faster than Lyla last time, but Lyla had been ducking as she'd cast. Myles wasn't sure who would win now that Lyla was standing still but casting faster.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Expelliarmus!"
Cecilia's motion and voice were smooth and consistent through the spell. Lyla's upwards swish and beginning vowels were slow while her finishing flick and "iarmus" came in much faster. Their wands didn't move in unison and their voices didn't make sound the vowels together, but their charms finished at the same time.
Perhaps one of them finished faster than the other, but both of them finished their Disarming charms before their wands were torn from their hands. The two of them were left empty-handed and surprised, unaware that a tie could happen.
"An interesting group you have here Elias," Teddy grinned at them. "If the four of you keep at it you'll all be out of the twelfth in no time."
"The tenth?" Myles asked as Teddy moved on to the next couple of first years.
"The ranking for Dueling Club!" Lyla exclaimed. She was always excited when she explained something, perhaps because she was rarely in a position to do so in class. "There are twelve ranks to move up."
Elias rolled his eyes at Lyla's poor explanation. "It separates students by skill instead of by year. There are too many students in Dueling Club to have everyone in the room practicing at the same time so they split practices by rank. The twelfth is just for first-years and there are rarely any third-years in the eleventh, the competition only really starts when you reach the tenth."
"Who's still in?" Elias asked, stepping up. Both Cecilia and Lyla stepped aside for the other, but Lyla was surprisingly adamant that Cecilia should stay in after their tie.
Elias proceeded to run through them with ease, proving his loss to Lyla at the beginning was a fluke. Myles didn't think it was talent so much as technique; he had clearly learned it before, no doubt from the expansive Weasley-Potter family that somehow included Teddy Lupin. They started rotating instead of keeping the winner in, though Myles still had little luck.
He won a couple of times, though he counted them as flukes, before Elias looked down at his watch. "Blimey, Lyla, Quidditch tryouts are starting."
"Let's go!" Lyla laughed, running past Elias without a moment's hesitation. Elias rushed to catch up to her, leaving Myles and Cecilia watching the two Gryffindors running through the crowd of practicing first-years.