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.
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 5, 2023 19:16:08 GMT 10
Entering the duelist chamber, Reena put her bag down and pulled out her ivy wand. After practicing some incantations and movements, she decided to take off her robe as well.
It allowed for better mobility, should she need to duck away from any spell or curse -- speaking of: They should probably set some ground rules about the extent of harmful magic.
While it would make sense to practice evading curses as well, she did not want to risk actual injury and potentially have one of them drop out of tonight's patrol.
Reena put her hair up into a rather strict ponytail as she glanced towards the door, expecting Oscar to walk in at any moment now. His greenhouse stuff couldn't take all that long.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Jun 5, 2023 20:50:11 GMT 10
His first task of the day completed, Oscar had nothing holding him back from some duelling practice. Well, nothing but his own slight fear of his opponent anyway.
He had been attempting to get over that, sure, since Reena seemed okay in their classes. But going up against her wand may be a step too far.
Uh.. Why was he doing this again? Right, because practice was practice, no matter how badly he thought it would go.
Oscar entered the chamber and offered a small wave hello to Reena, unsurprised to see that she was already there. Instead of heading straight over to her though, he took the time to store his belongings at the side of the room.
He was not procrastinating, thank you very much, it was just the sensible thing to do.
His robe joined his bag, since he thought that she had a good idea in getting rid of it. It was easier to move without the swishy fabric and he did not want to be at any more of a disadvantage.
His beanie was the last thing to go, unwilling to risk it with whatever spells Reena might throw. Thinking of that, they should probably talk about such things.
Gathering all of his courage he finally walked over to her. “Hey,” he greeted her properly. “So.. Just a friendly duel, right? No aiming to, uh, maim?”
He really disliked that he even had to check that. What had he gotten himself into?
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 5, 2023 21:42:30 GMT 10
Seeing Oscar come in, Reena nodded towards his greeting. She finished up the practice-motion for the protego charm before she gave him a small wave in return.
She felt better now that he was actually here, one less thing to be anxious about. Now all that was left was the blood curse, Lindsey, Antoninus' warning and the newest addition: The Entity of Darkness.
Oscar took his time to sort out his belongings and Reena used the time to mentally go over her newest spells once more. She had been feeling confident about her skill inside the classroom, but that was then and now was now.
Reena put her wand at ease when Oscar finally decided to join her and could feel her face relax - if only slightly.
"There will be no maiming today," she said in a deliberately grave tone of voice.
Her classmate's choice of words amused her. Yet it also confirmed her own thoughts from before, about this being a friendly duel with hopefully little to no injuries.
"How do you feel about curses?", she asked. "In a real duel we'd need to be ready to face anything thrown at us, so that would speak for the use of curses. But they also add to the risk of injury, especially if they're not all that well controlled yet. So if you'd prefer to duel without using curses today, that's fine."
Reena shrugged and glanced towards the dueling area. She was ready to start. Her main concern regarding injuries were in lights of their prefect control tonight, but she saw equal reasons for and against curses regardless.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Jun 5, 2023 23:25:25 GMT 10
Oscar nodded along seriously, taking her at her word despite the tone. No maiming was good. He would very much like to finish the duel without being maimed.
His relief at that agreement fled at the mention of curses.
Oh dear Merlin, no. Please not again.
He thought the agreement for no maiming would imply no curses, but apparently not and he very much wanted to back away from just the idea of a duel against Reena that included curses.
“I-” he began when he realised that oh yeah, she probably expected an answer. He could do this, he could get the words out and put his foot down. He could.
“I think, um, no curses would be best,” he said, gripping his wand so tightly he half wondered if it would snap as he forced out the words. “Curses.. It- it would probably be better to have someone else on hand.. Right?”
Yeah, that sounded like a reasonable excuse. If something went wrong, and he knew it would, then it would be better to have help around.
He just really hoped she did not take him up on finding someone to be that. Or that anyone walked through the door right then. Like Hathmore. Oh that would be the worst.
Hoping to avoid the chance of that happening, or of her finding another reason to curse him, Oscar nodded towards the duelling area.
“Should we, uh?” he said, trying to ask if she wanted to get to the duelling portion of his torture the event. “You go first, right?”
That was how things worked, he thought. Since technically she had challenged him.
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 5, 2023 23:47:38 GMT 10
He was hesitant, which caught her curiosity. She figured he had the same train of thought that she had also had, and she nodded once he made his point. His stammered way of speaking came expected to her by now and she waited patiently for him to finish.
It did make sense to have someone else present, just in case. She'd remember that, for next time.
But now, she was happy just to rely on charms and spells. Everything needed practice, even those.
"Yes, let's get started," she agreed. While she and Oscar weren't friends by any means, she could appreciate his skill and company and she gave him a smile as she took her place in the dueling area.
"Ready?" She briefly awaited confirmation.
Reena lifted her wand and bowed slightly, before she put on the proper stance that Hathmore had shown her during last year's tournament and with a firm motion of her wand, cast an offensive spell at Oscar.
Last Edit: Jun 6, 2023 20:31:22 GMT 10 by Reena Ashworth
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 7, 2023 6:50:43 GMT 10
Reena felt like she had had a solid start with a strong spell - but Oscar’s overpowered hers.
She took a step back as a gust of wind and magic blew towards her. She could hear an electrical buzzing from her ponytail and saw little blue lightning in her peripheral vision.
“Excelent form,“ she said. Praise where praise was due, right? “You need to show me how you did that later.“
Reena knew for certain now that she had chosen the right opponent, as they seemed to be fairly evenly matched, judging by that first round.
She shuffle back forward onto her spot and raised her wand for the next spell. She worried she may have left too much time in between.
Reena cast a powerful offensive spell (score: 12), which easily overpowers Oscar's defensive spell (score: 4). Oscar -- free-rp the outcome of your choice. Reena wins the round, and then the match.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Jun 11, 2023 22:38:32 GMT 10
Oscar moved over to his spot in the duelling area, dreading every step he took. He was really doing this. He was really going to duel Reena again. Oh boy. That was a scary thought.
He knew he had to put his fears to the side, as hard as that was, otherwise he would never get anywhere in a duel. What was it Zio Antonio had said over the summer?
Oh yeah… That he did not want to see his little sister lose her child, so Oscar had to either grow a pair or face staying hidden in his room for the rest of his pathetic life.
A bit cold maybe, but apparently that was him showing he cared. Fifteen years and he still did not quite understand that particular relative most of the time.
Questionable ways of saying things aside, Oscar didn’t actually want to spend the rest of his life locked away. Sure, he loved his bed and naps as much as anyone else, but he could never imagine staying in it for the rest of forever. He’d miss the outdoors too much.
So facing his fears it was. And that meant trying to get better at duelling. By duelling Reena.
Yep, no matter how he reasoned it out, it still sounded like a bad idea.
There was no backing out though, so he nodded to show that he was ready, his wand held up in position to be used.
As soon as he saw her shoot her first spell at him he reacted with his defence. His wand snapped into action and, rather shockingly, he succeeded in blocking the first attack.
Oscar blinked down at his wand, slightly shocked by his own quick actions. He was not actually sure how he had done that. Pure desperation maybe? Either that or Reena had gone easy on him.
The second round of spells gave him his answer as Reena’s spell smashed through his defence far too easily and suddenly he was flying one way, his wand the other.
Yeah, that was more like what he had expected. She had definitely gone easy on him for the first spell.
At least his classes so far that year had gotten him more used to being sent flying. Silver lining, maybe?
Even with all that practice though, he was still left dazed from his meeting with the floor. He lay staring up at the ceiling for a long moment, until it finally came back into focus properly and he pushed himself up into a sitting position.
“I-.. I don’t think you need me to teach you, um.. anything.” He said with a shrug and then a wince.
He was unsure if he should be impressed that she had taken him out with one spell, embarrassed that she had, or scared for how much she had improved from their last duel.
All of the above, maybe? He could feel more than one thing at a time, he wasn’t Tinkerbell. He was a wizard and he had the wand to prove it.
… He should probably find his wand.
Oscar climbed to his feet and proceeded to do just that, picking up his wand when he found it off to the side of the duelling area.
“Sorry,” he said, turning back to Reena with a sigh now that he had his wand back in hand. Not that it would do much use against her. Well, not unless he was willing to poke her in the eye with it. He would save that move for more desperate times though. “For not, y’know.. being a better challenge. Guess I need to train more.”
If he ever wanted to survive longer than a minute in a duel anyway. Which he did.
“A lot more,” he sighed. There was going to be so much training in his future.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Jun 16, 2023 8:55:44 GMT 10
“Y-yeah,” he nodded, ignoring the fact that he was rubbing his sore back. “I’m okay. Um, guess our classes are getting me used to.. that.” He vaguely waved his hand behind him to indicate the whole flying through the air thing.
On the bright side, at least she had not shocked him first like often seemed to happen in class. In fact, other than completely wiping the floor with him strength wise, she was actually fairly nice about the whole thing. She even let him kind of get the first hit in, since Oscar saw that first deflect as nothing but her going very easy on him for the first exchange.
Being used to it though and her being weirdly nice about it, did not mean that he was eager for another round. He wasn’t stupid.
“A- again?” he stammered, anxiously twirling his wand between his fingers as he thought it over. He knew he was never going to get better if he didn’t try, but he also thought that going up against someone that much better than him may not be the best way to learn either. Shouldn’t he train with people more his level and then work his way up to beasts like Reena?
Then again, maybe another round would show her that he was hopeless at the moment and encourage her to find people more her own level to train with. Maybe it would be worth another round just for her to get that message.
“Sure, I.. er, guess.” He did not sound sure. “I don’t think I’m much of a, uh, challenge though. For you. You’re..” Terrifying? “Really good.” There you go Oscar, compliment her and she might be nice about tossing you across the room again.
Oh Merlin, he blinked as his brain caught up to realise that he had just agreed to another duel. Maybe he was stupid after all.
Oscar slowly moved back to his spot in the duelling area and, after taking a calming breath (it didn’t work), he dipped his head in a bow and got himself into his ready stance. He flexed his fingers against his wand and then sprang forward to shoot off an offensive spell at her.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Jun 16, 2023 18:05:23 GMT 10
Oscar's eyes widened as his spell flew at Reena only to meet a barrier too great to overcome. One that instead shot his spell back at him with a flash of blue.
“Oof-” he groaned as it sent tingles all up his arm before knocking his shoulder back. He barely managed to keep hold of his wand with his suddenly numb fingers.
“Not good, not good,” he muttered to himself as he switched his wand over to his other hand to shake his numb one out, attempting to shake some life back into it.
Once he felt like he could safely hold his wand again without fumbling it, Oscar moved it back to his dominant hand and, with a glance to check Reena was still at the same spot, shot another offensive spell at her.
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 17, 2023 13:53:17 GMT 10
Reena half shrugged, half smiled when Oscar agreed to go again. He had said he wasn’t much of a challenge, but she wasn’t as convinced of it as she was.
Sure, the last spell she had sent him flying with had really been something, but she knew for a fact that he was a proficient spell caster himself. Besides, her defence could really use some work.
She adjusted her stance and held her wand at the ready for when he would cast at her. He seemed a little hesitant with the first one and Reena felt like she had enough time to prepare her defence.
She managed to put up a barrier rather easily, and that was when she started to doubt her judgement of Oscar a little. Perhaps he had been right all along and she should really be looking for different practice partners.
The next round however, his attack broke through her shield and she was zapped with a red bolt that made her hair stand on end.
So while his spell casting was not as powerful as hers, he still wasn’t half bad in comparison. He would get there, she was sure of it.
But it was her turn now, Reena took a deep breath and then jumped into forward motion, flicking her wand in a short, but precise manner as she cast her offensive spell towards him.
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