Open Refresher for Devil's Snare

[Elio Boneheart]

Professor Castillo had told them to brush up on their Devil's Snare defence spells, essentially and since he was also in SDA and learning his duelling forms he didn't think he was a particularly bad idea actually. He stood in the duelling chamber surrounded by dummies, looking at each of them in turn. He looked over at the fireproof dummies, with a thoughtful expression. The dummies stood in a row, their sturdy forms a reminder of the practical applications of the spells he was about to practice.

He decided to start with Incendio. With a few practice casts, he aimed at one of the dummies, watching as the fire sprang to life and danced around its surface. The flames flickered and crackled, but the dummy’s fireproof properties meant it remained unharmed. Elio was satisfied with the intensity of the spell, knowing it would be effective against Devil’s Snare. Next, he moved on to Accio. He visualised a nearby object—a small, enchanted quill—and focused on summoning it. The quill lifted from its place on a nearby table and flew into his hand smoothly. Elio practiced a few variations, aiming to control the quill’s movement with precision. Summoning objects could be useful in a pinch, especially if he needed to retrieve something quickly while dealing with a Devil’s Snare.

Feeling confident, he turned his attention back to Lumos. Even though he considered it one of the simpler charms, he took the opportunity to practice maintaining a steady beam of light from his wand. The light from his wand illuminated the chamber, casting long shadows and filling the room with a warm glow. Elio practiced adjusting the intensity, thinking about how he could use this ability to navigate dark or dangerous areas effectively.​

 

[Savannah Walters]

Savannah hadn't spent nearly this much time in the duelling chamber until now. it wasn't like she felt like she had to, but just part of her wanted to do well, wanted to honour the responsibility she had been given by the previous leader. It was also a pretty quiet place, which really was rare at a school like this. She had been tidying a few things up, the first event she'd held having gone well. She stepped into the duelling chamber and looked at the boy who was practicing. The transfer, homeschooled transfer. She watched him as he cast spells, letting herself learn a little about how powerful he was. "Careful now, you might make it so bright you blind us both," she warned him, using this moment of him just casting lumos to interrupt him.

 

[Elio Boneheart]

"What?" Elio looked over as he heard someone address him and noted it was the leader of the duelling club, he dropped his wand to his side so he wasn't pointing it anywhere and laughed. "Can Lumos actually get that bright? Because that actually seems like a more interesting way to blind someone than using Obscuro," he said standing a bit more casually now that he wasn't trying to work his way through his forms. He didn't have any training dummies at home that he could use to practice his spellwork on so he knew that his technique was probably a little out. He'd learned from his mother and she had gone to school and had formal training and she'd even been in the duelling club herself from what he could remember, but that didn't make her a great dueller, he hoped he was picking it up as well and as quickly as he should be, but it was sometimes hard to tell these things. "My form is probably a little off, you can probably tell just by watching, right?"

@Savannah Walters ​

 

[Savannah Walters]

Savannah shrugged a little at the question. "Obscuro is targeted though, you'd blind your opponent and yourself with a bright Lumos," she countered, but watching as he took a few forms and moved again. "Spells are all about intent," she added as if to explain how it would work, as she continued to watch him do the different forms. "Yeah," she replied plainly. "But your form isn't the worst I've seen, so it'll get easier to have it not be off,"

 

[Elio Boneheart]

She had a point, probably, he couldn't say since he'd never really practiced any duelling. He knew the basics as anyone with a wand did at his age, but a proper duel? No, his mother wasn't interested and he supposed he could have asked Bryce or Beau, but they both knew his mother didn't like it, so they weren't going to risk her anger. "Good point," he said, looking back at the dummy. He pointed his wand at it and cast "Obscuro," watching a dark ribbon fly out of his wand and wrap around the head of the dummy. It had no affect of course, since this wasn't something that could see, but it was good to have the option. "I was practicing spells for Herbology, I don't think Obscuro would do much against a tentacular or devil's snare, but, I've never gone up against one either." He wondered idly how much training she'd had, surely a lot if she was trusted to lead the group. He could probably learn a lot from her. "Are you willing to show me some more moves?" Whilst she was here, surely there was no harm in it, right?

@Savannah Walters ​

 

[Savannah Walters]

Savannah gave a little nod as he said it was a good point, and then cast obscuro. She nodded as it appeared to do what it was supposed to. She then gave a little nod. "Probably not, given it's a plant and wouldn't..see, if the way like you and I do," Savaanah said with a little shrug. "You could always do incendio," she said. "It's both light and fire," she added with a shrug, against plants it was probably good, but likely very destructive. She didn't mind it being destructive if that was what was necessary, but wasn't sure how he felt about it. "I can show you more moves if you want,"

 

[Elio Boneheart]

"Yes I was working on that earlier, that's why the dummies I'm using are fireproof, and it works, honestly, but I think my aim is a little off. I never really got the chance to do much duelling before I came here," he added, though he didn't think she cared about his family history or the story of why he was a transfer and blah blah, since it likely had little to do with what he wanted to learn or how he could become a better duellist. "If you have any other wisdom tucked away in there," he pointed to his head, "then please do be my guest, if I have even a chance of potentially beating Anisha," he'd seen her during the class and she'd probably been in this club since first year, so surely she was good, he'd seen her name on at least one duelling championship trophy, he couldn't remember what year it was though, but that probably meant she was better than him. He could use the help. "I could use the help." The fact he was also up against the duelling club leader also kind of worried him, but he was resolved to the idea he probably didn't stand a chance against her. Just Anisha, maybe.​

 

[Savannah Walters]

Savannah nodded, "You were homeschooled," she answered giving the reason for why he hadn't, almost sure that that had been the reason he'd given when they'd spoken at the SDA event. She shrugged, and then gave a slightly humourless laugh. "You have no chance of beating Anisha, she's the best in our year," Savannah replied. She didn't like Anisha, but she wasn't blind either, she knew Anisha was one of the best, Savannah found her duelling style boring but that didn't really matter if she was winning. "Well, show me your stance, and fire a spell, something interesting, not just stupefy," she told him, standing back a little to give him the space to do the spell.

 

[Elio Boneheart]

Probably a very valid and astute observation. She was right, he really didn't have a chance of beating Anisha, though he didn't think she had to be quite so blunt about it, that didn't mean he didn't want to try and maybe he'd get lucky with a couple of good shots. Maybe she'd be like really distracted or something and he could just get in a lucky expelliarmus. He rolled his shoulders and faced the dummy, bending his knees slightly for some extra balance. His dominant foot was in front with his weaker foot behind and he held his wand out in front of him. "Diffindo!" a large slash suddenly appeared through the dummy, slightly off centre of where he'd aimed.​

 

[Savannah Walters]

Savannah watched him as he cast a spell, interested by what he had chosen, but was mostly watching his stance. Noting that he hit slightly off centre than what she was sure he'd been aiming for. "Okay," she said, both as a comment on his stance, and as a comment on the spell. "Is your wand curved?" she asked with a little glance towards it. It ddn't look so. "You went a little off centre, and it's either because your wand is curved or there's like power in it, and you need to compensate for it in your stance. If its neither then you need to work on the stance,"