Closed Pumping Blood

[Harper Alston]

Harper had always thought herself a decent duelist, but a single training session with the other aurors had quickly put an end to that notion. She was badly out of practice, which made sense since she hadn't entered a duel since her Hogwarts days. It was nothing she couldn't remedy with more training — a lot more training — but Harper didn't want to just rely on her sessions at work to improve. She was highly conscious of the fact that she was one of the youngest aurors in the department, and she knew that meant she had to work hard to prove she deserved her place. She didn't want anyone to have any second thoughts about her hiring.

After asking around, Harper had learned about a magical gym popular among local duelists. She'd spent a lot of time in muggle gyms during her childhood, but nothing could have prepared her for the sheer size of this place. Even though Harper knew that gawking would give her away as a newbie, she couldn't help but stare a little when a wizard in one of the many practice arenas was suddenly flung into the air with a scream. Harper knew that dueling was dangerous, but it had been easy to forget that at Hogwarts, where strict rules and the watchful eye of professors limited the chances of any serious injuries. This place definitely wasn't Hogwarts.

Harper glanced between the different arenas, not sure how things worked. Was she supposed to sign up somewhere and get matched with an opponent? Find a stranger and challenge them to a duel? There was a section with practice dummies, but they seemed like a cop-out. She was saved from her indecision when she spotted a familiar face. It wasn't necessarily a friendly face, but it was familiar, and Harper made her way over to him. "Flynn, hey," she said, giving him a hesitant smile. "Fancy seeing you here. How've you been?" she asked though she was ready to back off if he wanted to be left alone. He'd been rather grumpy when they were kids, though he'd seemed to lighten up a little during their last year at Hogwarts.

 

[Flynn North-McGowan]

Flynn hadn't really been keeping up with his duelling since leaving Hogwarts, and that had been something he had wanted to at least try and do. While his apparent career choice didn't really see the need to be an expert at casting jinxes or hexing anyone, it was still something he enjoyed. Something he was actually quite good at, too. If the four duelling champion titles under his belt were anything to write home about.

It had been a couple of months ago when he had decided he wanted at least try and get back into things, and then promptly realized how out of practice he was and how different real life duelling was to the duelling he had done back in Hogwarts. It was a learning curve he was still quite trying to get used to, evil-eyeing the older wizard off to the side who had thoroughly pounded him last time and then laughed about it and called him some green twerp with no skill. One of these days, Flynn was going to grind that stupid grin into the dirt, and he would be the one laughing about it.

Though, he was distracted by his evil thoughts by a familiar voice, blinking as he turned around to see Harper approaching. "I didn't know you attended here," he was pretty sure he hadn't seen her around before. Or maybe they had yet to bump into each other. "But, uh, yeah, I guess I'm good. What about you? Are you doing anything interesting these days?"

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper shook her head. "I don't," she said, before correcting herself. "I mean, this is my first time here. Someone mentioned this place was pretty popular and a good way to work on my dueling." "Pretty popular" might have been an understatement, and it astounded Harper that she had never heard of this place until now. Then again, she'd spent much of the last year either in the muggle world or out of the country (or both). It seemed there was still a lot of the magical world she needed to explore.

"I was traveling for a bit," Harper answered, figuring that counted as "interesting." "I also just started a new job at the Ministry. Magical Law Enforcement." She never knew how open she was supposed to be about her new job, especially considering the fact that she was hoping to do undercover work in the future. But she kind of doubted Flynn had secretly joined the Scitorari or some other criminal organization in the year since she'd last seen him. "That's why I'm here," she admitted. "I'm out of practice." Another understatement. "Anyway, what've you been up to?" Harper asked, genuinely curious.

 

[Flynn North-McGowan]

Flynn could still remember his first time coming to the gym and how cocky he had felt about the time. But that cockiness had been quickly shown its place, and now he was working right from the bottom, determined to get better, so he could beat at least one of the older sods around here who were convinced he was some tactless child. "Well, I'll warn you now, these people take their dueling very seriously. I think they get a kick out of beating Hogwarts graduates or something. Like it's the only enjoyment in their lives." At that, he did have to give the older wizard in the corner who had beaten him last time another sharp look.

"You joined the MLE?" It was a little surprising, but to think about it, he supposed it wasn't that surprising. Harper was smart enough to get the grades required for something like that, and she had been pretty nifty with a wand in her own right. "How is that, anyway?" He would admit he had always been curious, but he could never have seen himself in the job. He just didn't do very well with taking orders from anyone. "But I haven't changed, I'm still at Ollivanders."

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper surveyed the room, nodding at Flynn's words. She could believe them. For the most part, no one had bothered looking her way but the few who had had simply scoffed, as if she wasn't a serious opponent. Unfortunately, she knew they were probably right. "Noted. Guess I'll keep my alma mater to myself and prepare for some painful defeats," she said with a chuckle. Harper knew she was starting at the bottom, but she was confident that she could eventually work her way up, even if it would be a painful process.

She noted the surprise in Flynn's voice but wasn't offended. Harper knew she probably didn't fit the stereotype of the typical MLE official. "It's been good." she said honestly. "I'm still doing a lot of training, which has been challenging. But I'm enjoying it." Then it was Harper's turn to be surprised. She tried to remember if she'd already known that Flynn worked at Ollivanders. "That's cool. Are you selling wands or do you help make them?" Somehow she couldn't picture Flynn guiding 10-year-olds through the wand-buying process.

 

[Flynn North-McGowan]

"Really, I don't think they care if you're a Hogwarts graduate or not. You're young, so they just want to put you in your place and prove that age really does matter. Or something along those lines, anyway." Maybe he could try and aging potion to make himself look older, then maybe one of these older gits around the room would take him a little more seriously of an opponent. Somehow, the last time he had felt that they were just taking it easy on him and not taking the duel at all seriously just because of his age. Which was stupid, how was he supposed to get better if no one was going to duel him seriously?

He hadn't really pictured any of his old classmates as an Auror, really, but if he had to pick someone for the job, he probably would have picked Harper. "So, how long are you going to be in-training before, anyway?" Years, he could imagine. They probably didn't want to be sending fresh-faced grads to fight dark wizards anytime soon. "Mostly just the selling, still," he offered with a shrug, "But I'm actually starting to learn about the wand-making process now I'm more than just a part-timer."