An active, character-driven Hogwarts experience set in the early 2000s. Unique items, plots, and features. Non-canon; this isn't Harry Potter's story, it's ours.
With some time to kill before lunch and the tourney this afternoon, Rylan decided to get in some duelling practise so that he didn't look a bit of a fool when the time came. Ashworth had made him look a fool, and though he wasn't angry with her, it meant that he needed to step up his game.
Maybe a few other students would join him, either to practise on the training dummies, or the one in Gryffindor robes. He kind of hoped someone wanted to actually duel though, as that was the only real way to learn. Dummies didn't fight back, at least not the artificial kind.
Of course, that ran the risk of being injured and therefore unable to participate, but better that than to show himself up in front of the many students and other faculty members who may be watching later. Not that he usually cared what people thought of him, but he did want to avoid appearing to be an easy target. That would make life so much harder.
Post by Lucas Mardling on May 4, 2022 23:28:54 GMT 10
Unable to decide if he wanted to risk his neck and dignity in the supposed Duelling Whatever this afternoon, Lucas headed to the designated chamber to see if anyone else had the bright idea of getting some practice in while they could.
A Gryffindor was there, either waiting for someone to duel or trying to decide to go against a dummy or not. Those dummies were pointless, in Lucas' opinion. He smirked, noting the Gryffindor seemed a bit younger at least, and probably not particularly skilled.
'Thinking about this afternoon?' Lucas asked, strolling to join him. 'Fancy a duel, then?' He folded his sleeves, then got out his wand -- flexing his wrist in preparation. It helped make him look as if he did this often, which was an outright lie.
Lucas was skilled at using magic, but when it came to confrontations he usually preferred human shields and a good old fashioned running away. The only reason he considered entering today was the impress Amara, well and because honestly he needed to get better at this.
'Name's Lucas Mardling, in case you didn't know,' he added, standing straighter as if he fully expected some recognition for his name. 'And you are?'
Rylan had already resigned himself to the fact that he would have to make do with a training dummy, but then a somewhat familiar voice asked if he was thinking about this afternoon. He turned to see one Lucas Mardling, who he had never had any real dealings with. He was the fifth year who could often be seen taking bets on quidditch days, but it seemed as though he had a different sport in mind today.
"Guilty as charged", hr responded with a shrug as he was then asked if he wished to duel. He sure did!
"You're on!", he answered, wand out at the ready. "Was hoping someone would come in and save me from having to make do with these things", he added with a gesture to the dummies. "Bloody pointless exercise, so maybe I wouldn't have even bothered!"
The introduction was hardly necessary, although only a Slytherin would assume that much! Then again, this guy had made himself stand out a little, so his House was perhaps of little relevance there.
"Lucas Mardling, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't heard the name. Rylan Marsh.", he spoke before introducing himself. "Challenger goes first?", he then prompted the older boy once he was in position. It was likely he was more skilled and he was setting himself up for embarrassment, but then the real embarrassment would be to have never tried to improve, he supposed.
Post by Lucas Mardling on May 7, 2022 0:09:56 GMT 10
Lucas smirked at being recognised, secretly quite relieved that was the case. He resisted a gloating comment, and finished folding his sleeves.
'Yeah, those dummies are for first years. Probably,' he said, as if he had any idea. 'Wouldn't want them hurting themselves when they only just got their wand,' Lucas despised the dummies too though, so was happy to have a chance to talk down about the things.
'All right,' he agreed to going first, readying his stance. 'Good luck, Marsh.' That part was just for sportsmanship, as Lucas intended to win this or else.
Checking his feet, his face turned unusually serious and focused. Lucas righted his posture, and cast an offensive spell.
As a first year, Saoirse hadn't seen much action when it came to duelling. Oddly enough, it was more interesting and less frightening to her than Quidditch was. She supposed that having a single opponent to focus on was less frightening. Much less so than falling to a horrible death, crashing into a wall, or having a rogue Bludger shatter her jaw into a hundred pieces.
And so, she wasn't nearly as nervous as she reckoned she'd be. Saoirse walked towards the duelling chamber with soft footsteps, peering around her unfamiliar surroundings. She had asked a few Slytherins in the halls if they knew where Mardling the fifth-year was. Most of them had rolled their eyes and snickered, but one girl had been gracious enough to mention that he'd been seen heading for a duel.
A flash of light illuminated the dark chamber ahead of her, and male voices floated towards her. Saoirse reached into her pocket to grab at the scroll, and quickened her pace. She entered the main chamber, where the centre of attention was on two older boys practicing a duel. One was in Gryffindor robes, which meant the other boy was likely the one that Saoirse was looking for.
Saoirse looked for somewhere to sit or stand that was well away from the splash zone. She found a stone bench that provided an excellent view of the spectacle and was also fairly close to the entrance, so that Mardling wouldn't be able to leave without seeing her. She settled herself down comfortably and folded her hands in her lap, waiting for the outcome of the duel.
Last Edit: May 7, 2022 22:45:45 GMT 10 by Deleted: No robes for Lucas!!!
Post by Lucas Mardling on May 8, 2022 3:27:18 GMT 10
Lucas was pleased to got a good offense in, which overpowered Marsh's defensive spell. His confidence grew a bit as they duelling, though it ended up in a tie so there were no bragging rights for either of them. Still, it could have been worst. He considered a rematch, though needed a moment as that was more of a workout than he'd expected.
Pausing to take a breather, Lucas glanced towards the door and noticed a firstie hanging out there. When had she come in? Not that he cared, just assumed she was probably waiting for a turn or something. Shrugging, he checked himself over -- then, of course, meticulously fixed his hair. Nothing was singed, mercifully. 'Good match.' He nodded to Marsh, trying to appear a good spot and all that. Lucas felt he should have won though, being far superior as he was, but supposed he was rather out of practice. A tie was fair, even if he'd have preferred a win.
It turned out that Saoirse hadn't even needed to sit down. The duel was over almost immediately, with Mardling briefly overpowering the Gryffindor student. However, the overall result was a draw. Saoirse hopped off her bench and made a beeline for the Slytherin. He was mainly concerned with fixing his hair, like most boys his age.
Saoirse did not falter or waver, or acknowledge anyone else around her. She knew from personal experience that most first-years were punted out of the way or completely shunned by the older years. She had to be firm and stand her ground. It was like dealing with a shark. One had to be unshakable and give it a good shove so it knew not to risk a bite.
Saoirse walked straight up to Mardling the shark and planted her feet directly in front of him. She looked up at him- a long way up- and met his gaze. Without breaking eye contact, she reached into her pocket. She produced the scroll, presenting it to Mardling. There was no point in niceties with the older years, sworn enemies of the first-years. She had to get straight to the point.
"I know you've seen one of these before. There's three others like it, and I have to find them. Tell me what I can do to find them." She paused. "... Please."
Sorry, forgot about the 24 hour rule. I can't usually post Wednesdays and Saturdays, and am lucky to get anything in on a Tuesday too.
Rylan's defensive spell was easily overpowered by the more experienced student, but he wasn't about to give in that easily! Though it had availed him little, he had at least guessed correctly that the first spell would be a straight put offensive. That had to count for something, right?
Overall, it seemed as though they were fairly evenly matched (or maybe the Slytherin youth was just having a bad day), their duel resulting in a tie. Though he congratulated him on a good match, the flatness in his tone had not escaped the younger Gryffindor.
"Thanks, you too!", he nonetheless responded, before he too noticed the first year girl watching. "Can we help you?", he asked, but it seemed clear that he couldn't, but his opponent could.
"Right, I'll let you guys deal with this. See you at the tourney?", he spoke in way of parting. As much as he was curious about this scroll, it really wasn't any of his business.
Post by Lucas Mardling on May 9, 2022 20:11:48 GMT 10
Lucas nodded socially at Marsh's parting words, not overall confident or keen on attending the tournament this afternoon though a part of his worried he may lose his wits and decide to partake. What a nightmare.
He fixed his sleeves, then eyed the first year who seemed rather adamant to get his attention. Lucas was about to scoff, and say he was not duelling her next (even if it'd be an easy win), but was surprised that their location appeared to have little to do with why she was there.
His eyebrows raised at her, though he had to press his lips together to withhold amusement with how firmly she planted herself in front of him. Was she trying to appear confident or in charge or whatever? She was tiny compared to him. It was ridiculous, but he gave her points for trying.
'I have,' Lucas said, glancing at her scroll. His amusement vanished, replaced by a frown, when she dangerously toed the line of demanding answers from him. Clearly, she didn't know who he was. 'Valuable information doesn't come free. I know what comes next, when you have all of them, but it sounds to me like you've skipped a step.'
He shrugged, sleeves neat once again. He eyed the doorway, keen to leave and spend his valuable time elsewhere. Sighing, he eyed the brat again. She was a future customer, he supposed.
'Look, you have one piece, right?' He shrugged, irritable. 'So, wherever you got it probably has some connection or line of thought as to where the rest are. It's tied with a red ribbon, exactly like Gryffindor. Four pieces, four houses. It's not that hard; go figure it out.'
Unaware he'd just given her exactly what she needed, Lucas rolled his eyes and went to retrieve his bag which he'd secured under a bench before he'd fully entered the room in search of someone to duel. He lingered a moment, checking it was untouched, having a feeling the first year wasn't quite done with him yet.
It ended up not being as bad as she'd thought it would be, so perhaps the brash attempt at confidence had worked. Mardling didn't try to kick or jinx her or call her a unicorn turd, so it was already a vast improvement from many of Saoirse's other interactions with older years. Better yet, he knew exactly what she needed.
Saoirse looked down at her tiny scroll again, pursing her lips. She'd known she'd need to go and figure it out for herself. But Mardling had confirmed for her that she needed three other scrolls- three other Houses, three other founders. But that still left her with the issue that she couldn't get into the other Houses, nor did she have any friends in them.
Mardling tried to walk off on her, and Saoirse followed like a puppy determined for a treat. She put the scroll back in her robes for safekeeping. If he ran off, she had very little chance of finding him again. So, she would get what she could out of him here in the duelling chamber.
"I guessed as much, so thank you for confirming my suspicions. But I found this in the Gryffindor common room. I can't go to the other common rooms. Unless they're somewhere else, but that wouldn't make any sense..." Or maybe it did make sense? Saoirse definitely wasn't a Ravenclaw.
Post by Lucas Mardling on May 9, 2022 21:32:10 GMT 10
He huffed, annoyed he'd helped the brat in any way -- considering he'd just said information wasn't free. Not that it was particularly valuable, in his eyes, but he should at least get something for tolerating her presence when he had far better things to be doing right now.
With an impatient sound, Lucas hung his head back to stare up the wall. He didn't care about her silly little mission or that she was stumped by basic logic or that she needed a Polyjuice potion... wait.
'The only way to gain access to the other houses, apart from some Professor-sanctioned sleepover nonsense, is obviously to sneak in via rather unorthodox means.' His glance implied the word "illegal" was more fitting, but he wasn't about to incriminate himself so directly. 'You could transform yourself into a member of that house, by use of a Polyjuice Potion. Ever heard of it? They don't last long, and you'll need one for each house, but it's the best way to get the job done.'
He moved to the side of the corridor, making their conversation a bit more private.
'As it so happens, I have a contact who could provide you what you need. For a price, of course.' Lucas smirked, straightening his posture. 'If you're willing to make a deal with, then you'll be on your way to finding the remaining pieces. But it won't come cheap. Are you in?'
Saoirse was stunned by his words. Illegal means? She hadn't even considered that. Had she even ever done anything illegal? Madam Pince and Professor Archerose had been so eager to help her. But now it seemed the only way she could realistically proceed was the deceptive way.
Saoirse weighed it in her head. Even though she had initially balked at the idea of it, she thought about all the ridiculous rules of Hogwarts. How one old hat decided how others treated you for the rest of your life. The constant secrets kept from the students, and the danger. Better yet- she would be going against her stickler grandparents by doing something like this.
That settled it. Saoirse nodded at Mardling. She knew he was just looking to make some coin or earn a favour, but it would still help her. So she'd play along with this. She tried not to think too much of what using a Polyjuice Potion would be like.
Post by Lucas Mardling on May 10, 2022 0:13:12 GMT 10
Lucas waited while she considered things, which was fair enough even if his impatience grew. There was moments when he wished he'd never started this whole deal business. It seemed he spent so much time being chased after for things, and now he was a 5th year with a girlfriend and OWLs to focus on. Was he wasting his youth with this?
Probably, honestly. But he had no other choice. He needed the money. Graduation grew ever nearer and he had to secure his future. Otherwise... well, he had no future. Hogwarts sheltered him for now, but it won't last.
He sighed, nodded as the first year agreed. 'What's your name?' Lucas asked, as he always made note of his dealings -- including possible return customers. 'And do you have a Potions Kit? The non-class one. You'll need it to pull your end of the deal.'
Lucas didn't wait for a confirmation, assuming she probably had one. If not, well that was her problem to figure out. Either way, it was mandatory so if the brat wanted these vials badly enough, she'd make it happen.
'My contact can get these as soon as possible, but you'll need to make it worth her while by replacing some of what she used to make them,'he said while writing down the full list of requirements to make it work. 'This is my price. Pay in full, and I'll give you the potions. This is very much against all school rules so I'd keep this to yourself if you have any sense.'
He handed her the list, accompanied by a stern look.
'Do we have an agreement?' Lucas had no intention of budging on his terms, though some was open to negotiation if she thought it would be worth his while. He doubted anything would be, as few deals in the past ever were. He was good at what he did.
The following list is what Saoirse must bring Lucas in exchange for 3 vials of Polyjuice Potion. Check my plotter for more info / some alternatives.
61 Galleons -- covers the vials and bought ingredients, and the cost of skipping ingredients they don't have the required skill levels to obtain.
3 Human hair -- received for winning a duel against a student.
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December
