Old School Week Like Two Fists and a Heart Attack

[Celia Vu]

Thanks to someone, the Quidditch cup was no longer a possibility, so Celia had turned her attention towards a different trophy. She wanted to add another Dueling Tournament championship to her collection this year, and to ensure that happened, she'd come to the chamber for some extra practice. Celia set up a couple dummies at one end of the room and aimed her wand at them. "Confringo!" The dummies exploded, sending fake limbs flying. Though the blast was impressive, it wasn't quite as satisfying as hitting someone with a bludger.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Poor, poor, poor, acceptable, poor. Rion didn't understand. She was always top of the class. Well, she'd always been top of the muggle class, but intelligence wasn't supposed to have boundaries. What was the difference between chemistry and potions, anyway, apart from a little magic?

She was on her way to ask Professor Miller just that when there was an explosion from behind the door to the duelling chamber. Rion pushed it open and peered into the dim room where a dark-haired figure stood alone holding a wand. "Are you OK?"

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia didn't notice the door open, so she startled a little when a voice emerged from the dark. She turned to see a much younger student who looked vaguely familiar. Celia couldn't tell if that was because she'd spoken to this girl before or if it was just because this girl was a first year. (All the first years tended to blend together in Celia's mind). "What? Oh, I'm fine. It's just an explosion charm," she said with a shrug.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion mouthed a silent 'oh'. It was the Slytherin prefect who had shouted at Georgia for spilling hot chocolate on her silk top. The sensible thing to do now was leave, but, sensing an opportunity to delay her chat with Professor Miller, Rion ventured further into the room instead. Torchlight glinted on the scattered limbs of a training dummy. "Wow," she exhaled. "That's stress relief. Imagine what it would do to a real person. Uh - a real person other than me. I'm way too cute to die young."

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia rolled her eyes. "It wouldn't kill you," she said, though she had no real proof of that. She just assumed that magic could fix most injuries, even ones called by explosion charms. She supposed she would find out during the tournament when she hopefully hit Caleb with one. "Aren't you a little young to be in here?" Celia had once written a column for the Monthly arguing that first years should be allowed to duel, but that didn't mean she wanted the chamber clogged with a bunch of clueless firsties.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion glanced at the dismembered dummy sceptically. "OK, but it would definitely make me late for class," she said. If that didn't crack a smile, she didn't know what would.

Too young? Huh! Rion stood up a little straighter. "I'm thirteen," she said. If she'd said twelve, she might have gotten away with it, but there was no way the tiny Ravenclaw could pass for a teenager. "And mature for my age." Her confidence faltered a fraction. She wasn't ready to talk to Professor Miller - not yet. "Can I watch?"

 

[Celia Vu]

"Some would consider that a positive," Celia said dryly. Sometimes she did think actual dismemberment would be preferable to one of Professor Castillo's Herbology lessons. Celia snorted a little when the girl claimed to be thirteen years old. "Sure, and I'm 21." At the girl's question, Celia sighed. She was tempted to tell her to get lost, but she didn't need the girl complaining to a professor, not when head student selections were around the corner. "Fine, but duck if anything flies your way. I'm not responsible for any injuries." Celia waved her wand at the broken dummy and cast a Repairing Charm so that it could reassemble itself.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion grinned, lacing her fingers. She may only have been eleven, but she felt very grown up hanging out with a prefect. Perching eagerly on a bench, she pulled her wand from her pocket and waggled it about. "It's OK. I know the banishing charm," she said. But of course, knowing the incantation for a charm and being able to execute it flawlessly, particularly under pressure, were two very different things. Rion watched with a mixture of envy and admiration as the prefect deftly repaired the broken dummy. Somehow, she made even that look easy. "Depulso," the Ravenclaw whispered. A faint, colourless light flickered at the tip of her wand, then vanished. Who was she trying to kid? She couldn't have deflected flying dummy parts if her life depended on it.

(I'm incapable of OSW posts sometimes I'm sorry XD and sorry for the delay!!)

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia watched impassively as the girl waved her wand about. "Congratulations," she said dryly, privately thinking that a shield charm would be much more useful. She considered pointing that out but decided experience would be a much more useful (and potentially amusing) teacher. Once the dummy had repaired itself, Celia sent another "Confringo!" at it. She immediately followed it up with a shield charm that was just big enough to protect herself, and only herself, from the flying dummy debris.