Closed Duelling Mistakes

[Vader Hume]

Duelling had been a mistake. That much was very very evident to Vader now, the moment the wand had flown out of his hand he had rushed out of the room. He couldn’t not do so, Alice would hate him, he had tripped her up and tried to stun her when it had appeared they were both sticking to the spell he’d lost to. The boy hadn’t looked back, left the wand, hadn’t waited for the professor’s declaration. Just headed out. He rushed back up the stairs. He knew that there would be no one in the accio room, he rushed up to it and closed the door loudly behind him. No one could come in here but the few people who were a part of it. There were only four other people who had any real access to this room. It would allow him the peace of a room in Hogwarts that he loved. The gryffindor felt comforted by the smells and sounds of the room. He spent a lot of time in there, and where he wasn’t good at duelling he could remain good at photography. He didn’t have time to be a duelling champion, he had accio. Accio would be his come the following year. But, god had he wanted that to go better. He had wanted to learn how to fight, given an opportunity to learn how to use his magic to protect himself, but all he’d gotten was the realisation that he just couldn’t fight, he couldn’t hurt anyone and he’d hurt and lost one of his few friends in the school Alice. He’d go back and get his wand, but instead he just focused on this room. Heading over to the pictures he had left to develop before the duelling contest had started up that day. The boy knew this would calm him down, bring him comfort having ruined one of his few friendships.​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice had decided to sign up for the duelling tournament because two of her sistesr were in it, and it seemed exciting. She had looked forward to the event, but when she was finally dueling someone, she realized how difficult it was to actually hit people with spells. Especially someone she considered a friend. Vader had been a good opponent, and at first Alice had thought things were going well. She had quite enjoyed sending spells back and forth, realizing in the end that she preferred the disarming charm to the other spells they had learned so far. But it seemed like Vader had been upset by the end, maybe even hurt. She wasn't sure what she had done wrong, but wanted to make sure her friend was okay. He had even left his wand behind, which wasn't something wizards usually did. He must hav ebeen really upset. Alice had picked up his wand and gone after him, hoping to catch him quickly. She spotted him rush up stairs and head into a room, one that Alice knew vaguely belonged to the Accio club. She followed and then hesitantly knocked. "Vader? I have your wand..." She said through the wood of the door. "Are you okay?"

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader heard the knock on the door and heard Alice’s voice. He realised as she spoke that he had indeed left behind his wand, in his urgency to remove himself from the situation he had left the wand where it had fallen. He shook his head wanting to ignore her, but maybe she didn’t hate him too much, maybe he could apologise and make all of it go away. So hesitantly Vader headed over to the door, he opened it and stepped out, closing it behind him and looking at her. His features displayed far more than he would want to give away, his worry and concern, his fear over a lost friend. ”Thanks Alice,” he held out his hand to her so that she could give him back his wand. ”I’m sorry too, I didn’t want to hurt you in that duel but, it’s clear I did, I know you probably don’t want to be my friend anymore,” after all, Vader would never have wanted to be friends with any of the people who’d hurt him, he didn’t want to be the older girl’s friend, or friends with any of the kids from primary who’d bullied him. It might’ve been a duel, but he’d picked a spell that had hurt her, he could’ve just tried to take her wand, like she’d been with his. But, he hadn’t. He’d picked a spell which had tripped her, tried to stun her. He hoped that perhaps they would be able to fix it between them, but he didn’t hold out too much hope for that outcome.​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice was relieved when Vader opened the door. He didn't look happy, though, and she wondered what was wrong. Had she made a mistake in the duel? She wasn't sure, but she figured she had hurt his feelings somehow. She handed him his wand, then listened as he spoke. Her eyes widened in surprise at his words, and she instinctively grabbed his arm as she shook her head. "No! I'm not hurt!" She said, gesturing at herself with her free hand. "See? I'm fine! You didn't do anything wrong." She looked at him earnestly, wanting him to know she meant her next words. "I do still want to be your friend. I enjoyed dueling you! It's okay!" She smiled at him, then pulled him into a hug to punctuate her words. "It was just a duel, just a sport really." She said, squeezing him before letting go. "You didn't hurt me at all. You were great out there!" She said encouragingly. "Did you really think I wouldn't want to be your friend anymore? Just because of one duel?" She asked, her tone more serious now. "You're a great person, and funny, and sweet. You're good at photography too! Why wouldn't I want to be your friend?" Alice felt protective of Vader now, and wanted to make sure he felt appreciated. Clearly, he wasn't feeling very good, and it was her job as his friend to fix that.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader gripped his wand lightly but he didn’t look at her. He was a little surprised when she grabbed him, and couldn’t help himself as he tensed up, waiting for something to follow, but what did was the insistence that she was fine, that there wasn’t anything wrong, that she was hurt, but he’d heard it? He’d heard it right? He shook his head when seemed to want to remain his friend and assured him that she’d had fun. Maybe duelling one of his first ever friends had been the mistake. Vader relaxed a little when she pulled him into a hug and continued to assure him that everything had been fine, and that he’d done well. He didn’t think he’d been great but maybe with this encouragement he might not just throw it all away to never try again. He nodded at her, having relaxed and come to the nice realisation that maybe Alice didn’t hate him that much, ”Why would you have wanted to be friends with someone that hurt you intentionally,” the boy told her as if that was obvious, ”Even if it’s duel and even if I wasn’t doing it with the intention of hurting you, I thought it had hurt you,” the boy opted to ignore all the kind things that she had said, now wasn’t the time for that. He knew that it probably wasn’t the soundest logic that he had, but to him, all he could think was that he had hurt her and she wouldn’t want to be his friend any more.​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice looked at Vader, concerned. She wanted to know why he was thinking she would hate him, so she could convince him that she didn't. As he spoke, she sighed softly. "You didn't hurt me... I only tripped, and it was a duel. You were supposed to hit each other with spells. I'm not sure if it was my favorite thing to do, but... casting spells at each other is a part of it." She shrugged. "I could have hurt you too! It's part of the duel and everyone gets fixed right up. I wouldn't have been mad with anyone else casting a spell at me, so I'm not mad at you either. Did you see some of the older years? Their duels get intense. I bet they're all still friends too." She said brightly. "I'm fine, I promise." She said softly. "Are you okay?" She had asked the question already, but hoped he felt a little bit better now after their talk.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader met her gaze when she assured him that she’d just tripped, her assurances that they they were supposed to do that didn’t particularly help him in feeling better. It was helping a little and the more she spoke the more he was feeling a little easier about it. He had watched some of older duels and they were intense, but he still felt bad about what he’d done to her. The fact he had done it to her. He was pleased that she wanted to remain his friend, that they were still friends. He nodded a little, ”I’m okay,” he spoke quitely and shyly. His cheeks blushing a little, he rubbed his forehead, maybe he’d just freaked out a little too much. ”I’m sorry, I was being dumb. I think I just thought I heard you get hurt and spiralled. I didn’t really want to fight my friend, even if we were supposed to,” Vader spoke quietly avoiding looking at her too much, maybe he just was so un-used to having friends, that things like duelling were not something he was used to.”I’ve never had friends before and I could’ve never been friends with someone who’d hurt me,” the boy finally looked up at her again. ​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice was relieved to see Vader relax a little, and when he said he was okay, she had a feeling he meant it. She was glad, she wanted him to feel alright and be at ease around her. They were friends, and she never wanted to make him feel bad in any way. "You weren't being dumb, just scared. It's okay to be scared, I just hope you now know I won't abandon you as my friend for something like this. You didn't do anything wrong." She said softly. "I can understand not wanting to fight a friend. I didn't like that so much either." She admitted. It broke her heart a little to hear him say that he never had friends before, and she resisted the urge to pull him into another hug. She didn't want to seem like she pitied him. "There's a difference between hurting someone by accident during a tournament and on purpose and trying to hurt them." She said softly. "And you would never do that."

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader nodded, ”I know now, yes,” he could understand where he had gotten the rough ideas about what had happened during the duel. Maybe it was because his first duel had been with Alice rather than someone he didn’t know had made it personal, difficult. The boy just nodded as she kept speaking. He had been so worried about it, he didn’t know how to be a friend really. All of these experiences were so new to him that he didn’t always know what to do. It was true that of course that there was a difference between hurting someone during a tournament and on purpose. Though so often had he found himself in situations where the he wasn’t sure about what was happening. ”I know, you’re a good friend to me, Alice. I’m sorry I freaked out,” he knew he had to be a better friend, he had to get better at being people’s friends. ”Do you want to come in?” the boy offered to her, motioning towards the accio room, he knew that most of the time only accio members, but he could show her the photography development. ”I’m developing pictures from the rose giving?”​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice was glad she had managed to convince Vader everything was okay. Or at least according to him. But he said he knew what she was saying twice, which made her feel like she had rambled on a bit too much, perhaps. So when he apologized for freaking out, she just smiled. "It's okay." She said simply. She happily listened to his next suggestion, and nodded immediately. "I would love to! Show me!" She said, grinning. "I'm always so curious how that happens, with your photos. I'd really like to see." She liked that he took photos of the rose deliveries too. He was a really nice boy, and Alice was glad to be his friend.