Duelling Practice

[Simon Vanity]

After having won the first of the duels that he had, Simon was eager to get some practice in and hopefully get a bit better at it. He liked winning and though it was nice to have won that first duel he did think it would be nice to win another and maybe even win the whole thing. Well, for his year group. he didn't think he could win it, there were a whole host of other people and he did not feel particularly confident that he could win it, but not winning wasn't really an option. If he got to the next round he could be happier. He would be better. The teen had therefore decided he would do a little bit of practice. He would've done so in the duelling room, but it was being used by someone else, and he did not want to be interrupting them. Instead he had picked the abandoned classroom, which thankfully had at least one of those duelling dummies that he needed. It didn't fight back of course, but it did allow him to cast spells and make sure his spells were good and working. He just needed to be sure that if he lost it wouldn't be because he hadn't put in any effort. ​

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[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam hadn’t signed up for the duelling tournament because she didn’t think it was wise to add an activity to her schedule when she didn’t have a lot of time right now. She was always organised with her time, she was proud to call herself the best organiser of the family, but for some reason or other this time she had been unable to get everything in order. It was something she was most definitely not used to. It kind of messed with her brain. She was on her way to find a secluded spot where she could study in peace, practice some spells. Although Charms was in first semester Sam still wasn’t over not passing the subject. With a sigh, she stopped in front of the door to the abandoned classroom. First, she has to make sure she wasn’t being followed. She didn’t like being disturbed. Then, she quickly opened the door and entered, breathing in relief when no one seemed to have seen her. When she turned, she realised she wasn’t the only one in there. She groaned inwardly. Couldn’t she just have one space to herself? Seriously. "Sorry, I didn’t know someone else was here," she spoke, her tone apologetic. She couldn’t see who the boy was from behind, but hopefully, it wasn’t a prefect. If he was, that would mean Sam had to be the one to leave.
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[Simon Vanity]

Simon had been practicing easily, the room gave him the quiet solitude of the room. A little removed from the normal day to day life of classrooms, and giving him the space to practice. He was therefore a little startled when someone spoke, Oh jeez, he exclaimed with a surprised look round to who was there. She was familiar to him, but not enough, Thats why I came here, the boy told her fairly bluntly, I wanted to practice in the duelling area, but its just really busy right now, what with the tournament, Simon continued with a little shrug. He knew her, shed been that girl whod asked him for paper once in the library, and she was vaguely familiar to him in more than just that. Maybe she was Analei? He remembered that girl looking similar to this one, and since shed been wearing a costume last time hed run into her, he couldnt be certain. The rose that Analei had sent him had been a little odd, so maybe this girls non-reaction to him indicated he wasnt her. Theres enough space for us both, Simon gestured, he had been there first but Simon knew how busy the school was, so he wouldnt mind sharing with her at all, there were few other places to practice spells if that was what she was looking to do.​

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[Sam Mackintosh]

When the student turned, Sam was surprised to find the boy who had been so kind as to give her some parchment when she was in need in the library that day. After that encounter she had doubted she would see him again, after all she had no idea what year he was in, definitely not in hers. She nodded, it made sense for him to come here. She wasn’t going to chase him out. He had come here first. "Yeah. Are you participating in the tournament, then?" she asked a little tentatively, curious. Seeing as he was practicing spells, he probably was, but it was always best to ask just in case instead of jumping to conclusions. She did notice the dummy however. She sent him a small smile. "Thanks. I'm Sam, by the way," she introduced herself, placing her bag on the desk closest to her. "Do you want to practice together, or something?"
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[Simon Vanity]

Simon knew that he recognised her more from the occasion of giving her parchment than any other, but he almost had a feeling that this was not whom he was in his mind thinking it was. At the question he nodded, I am! he said, very clearly proud of his own achievements so far and that he was even in it. The boy then nodded when she said her name, so this girl was not Analei, perhaps she was related to the other girl, they did seem familiar in how they looked, Im Simon, he replied, still tossing up whether or not to ask about if she had a sibling, Have you got a twin sister? he knew that twins were fairly common in the magical world, so he wanted to specifically ask about if she had a sister, not a brother. If she then turned out to not be related, then it was his mind making him confuse two people, which definitely wouldnt be the first time it happened. There were better things that he could be asking about but it would stay on his mind if he did. Yeah, why not, the ravenclaw agreed, before motioning towards the dummy, You can go first if you want,​

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[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam blinked at the boy's sudden response, and she giggled at him, he was excited about it and she couldn’t say the idea of duelling wasn’t tempting. But for Sam, she preferred books over wand use any day. That was mainly the reason for her not participating in the duelling tournament, and the fact that she did not want to embarrass herself. But maybe, with practice... "Nice to meet you Simon," she said when he'd introduced himself, and when she was asked about a twin sister she frowned, with a small smile etched on her face. "No, actually, I have older siblings and a little sister, but no twin. I have an older brother in Hufflepuff. Why do you ask?" Sam possibly could look like someone Simon knew, though she didn’t often get asked this question. Simon told her she could go first, so she glanced at the dummy and got her wand out of her pocket. "Oh...alright," she agreed, slowly approaching the dummy, yet keeping a safe distance. "Stupefy!" she said clearly, pointing her wand at the dummy. Thankfully her skills had improved and she watched with delight as it hit the target. She tried the jelly-legs jinx next, this one was harder as expected since she had only learned it in Defence a few lessons ago and she needed to practice it more. Not that she liked it, but if it was for school she did have to do well. When she felt that she had enough for now, she turned to Simon and said, "You can go if you want," while gesturing to the dummy behind her.
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[Simon Vanity]

The boy nodded, so maybe this girl was not at all who he thought it could be. Clearly there were just two people who looked quite alike, ”You just remind me of someone else, this girl Analei, she has a crush on me and I thought maybe you were her or she was your sibling,” the boy explained honestly, ”I met her on halloween, so I don’t particularly know what she looked like exactly but you reminded me of her,” the boy spoke as if this was both the most obvious and evident thing that that would be why he had asked such a question. He watched as the girl tried a couple of spells, knowing when it was clear she was quite good, ”Nice!” the boy said genuinely. He raised his own wand at the dummy and cast a few spells, starting with stupefy and a few of the jinxes they’d learned in second year. He needed to be on his toes and be good at the spells. He left the space for her to go, ”Why aren’t you taking part in the duelling?” the part veela asked as he watched her cast again, clearly she was good enough to, so why hadn’t she.​