Spells and Magic

[Zared Katsaros-Styx]

Zared had found solace in the duelling chamber, after the yuleball and the break, the teen was quite confused. The slytherin really liked Elysia, they had spent an unplanned evening together, and she had kissed him which was perhaps the most amazing part of the evening, but given that school had broken for the summer, it had left him with more questions than he had ever had, and more thoughts that just did not manage to make themselves spoke out loud. The teen had rather hoped that the hours in silence spent with his family would grant him the time he needed to figure out what he needed to, but it hadn't. The slytherin had not sought out Elysia yet, not intending to be the first one to talk to her, preferring internally that she come to him, that she be the one to speak, that she be the one who decided what was next. The problem with that was that he didn't particularly want that, he wanted to spend time with Elysia, he wanted to study with her, and remain friends if nothing else. So, on that day, he had sent a note to her, saying he could be practicing for the up coming duelling tournament and that she was welcome to join him. Just to go over and practice the spells that they would be able to use during it. The teen having the shorter distance to travel, had reached it and was practice some of the simpler spells which they had learned in the first few years with the dummy in front of him. He wasn't sure how well he would fair against Elysia this time around, she was certainly the smarter and more powerful of them both, but time would tell what that meant for them. The teen looked up as the door opened, and hoped it was her.
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[Elysia Katsaros-Styx]

Elysia did not really want the break to end to soothe her mind. She was very much confused about how she felt. However, right now, she would focus on her teaching and helping Zared with the upcoming dueling tournament that she backed out of this year due to the fact she did not want to duel Zared. She knew that she would end up feeling bad for hurting him, so she just avoided the drama all together. Elysia tied her hair back into a messy bun to be able to focus, but it looked all wrong. Sighing, her hair fell around her shoulders, and she ran her fingers through it. So much for that. Making her way down to the dungeons, eventually to the dueling chamber where she heard someone inside. Elysia opened the door and her eyes met with Zared's. Immediately, Elysia halted because all she could think about was that night at the ball, where she didn't know where to go from here. Could she really pretend that nothing happened? She did not regret it, but the possibilities of ruining a friendship hung in the balance. Brushing her hair over her shoulders, the Ravenclaw approached the Slytherin, a soft smile caressing her lips. "I'm not up for dueling, but I can assist you with your spell work." Elysia could help him with his stance, and how he was waving his wand. The dummies were good to practice on, but a part of her wished that she could have dragged some first years down here instead.​

 

[Zared Katsaros-Styx]

Zared looked up when she arrived and gave a soft smile to the girl, the only time he ever smiled was for her. He sometimes gave a half smile to Lestat but Elysia made smiling feel natural like he was some hufflepuff with a joy for all things life and magic. Zared was surprised by what she said, why wouldn't she want to duel, he remembered the excuse she had given before for not wanting to do it. Citing that she didn't want people to know how good she was, which he thought was silly because he knew from experience that she could school pretty much everyone in their year. She would be the best duellest in the school if she just let herself, but he wasn't exactly ever in a position to tell people how to live. The slytherin therefore chose to remain silent on the matter and instead nodded, he could use all the help he could get. He nodded, "Yeah," he said, accepting her offer of help, hoping that was pretty clear in his tone. He lined himself up and pointed his wand at the dummy before looking back to Elysia with a look that asked if his stance was right or if she thought he maybe needed to move. The theory wasn't something that Zared struggled with, but he was simply brought down by his actual casting, he managed with enough practice. Speaking the spells brought him down, and he didn't have enough skills to do non-verbal magic. He was looking to Elysia for instruction before he continued.
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[Elysia Katsaros-Styx]

Elysia looked at Zared’s stance, before she sighed. She would have to really teach him. She reached for his hand with hers, and she held it for stability, before she murmured, “You need to hold it firmly, like this. Your stance is good, but you will need to speak the spells clearly, firmly, to get them to work. I know you do not speak much, but you can manage a spell.” Elysia pulled away as she reached for her own wand. She held it in front of her, before waving and verbally using her favorite spell, Reducto. The dummy went flying back into the wall, before she lowered her wand. “Unfortunately, speech will give the spell power. That is why my spells beat you last time.” There was the one spell that was supposed to only be toward a boggart, but that was just a mistake. Elysia folded her arms across her chest, and waited to see if he would perform the same spell as her. She hoped that he would, so that she could see just how much of a punch that his spells had, if they had any. Elysia looked over the Slytherin, definitely liking what she was seeing. She could not wait to see him in action this year. Elysia was just trying to keep her eyes to herself, and on the dummy, but it was not working out well.
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[Zared Katsaros-Styx]

Zared was glad she had agreed to help him, by the way that she immediately went to help his stance that he certainly needed all the help that he could get from her. He nodded as she took his hand and held it for stability, helping get a better grip of it. He was holding it more firmly in his hand, like she had told him. The slytherin nodded along with what she was telling him. The teen wasn't surprised that his spells were failing because of the fact he didn't really manage to say the spells as strongly as he could. He chose to not say anything, he could speak whenever he wanted to but he didn't think he needed to, he only spoke when he absolutely needed to, which was usually only to Lestat, Elysia and to mutter the occasional spell. He knew it was his downfall. The boy watched as Elysia cast what was probably a perfect spell, and nodded, "You flustered me," Zared said quietly with a little shrug in a half explanation for why he'd lost. He held the wand as firmly as he could, choosing to not say anything more about the fact that he didn't say anything, after all, he had just said a few things. He was pointing his wand at the dummy in front of him, and trying to muster the confidence to say the spell loudly, anything above the usual quiet tone he used. Zared glanced at her before looking back and the dummy, "Reducto," he said, with all the quiet confidence he could muster, which definitely wasn't as much as Elysia had but a little better than he'd done before. He groaned slightly at his slight failure and looked at Elysia, with a look of he couldn't do any better than that. Speaking was something that he could do, he just didn't want to most of the time, and now he always thought there was little point to speaking, what did he have to say.
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[Elysia Katsaros-Styx]

Upon hearing that Elysia flustered him, the Ravenclaw hid her smile as she brushed her hair behind her ear. Even though she had complete control over her emotions and deciding to act on them or not, she still allowed this one to slip. Could she have felt the same way back then? Probably not. She was fueled with anger at that point, and used it as a strength. Could she have been so blind that she did not see how she was affeccting him? Or was it because at the time, she did not care? Elysia pondered on this for a moment, as she watched him cast a better reducto. His stance was perfect, but his vocaling needed some work. Elysia placed her hands at her side, and she spoke clearly, "Better. I believe that when we go into the Defence Against the Dark Arts class in the sixth year, you may exceed on nonverbal spellwork. It is a theory of mine." Elysia feared that she would not be able to exceed on that, since she relied heavily on her vocal skills. Elysia pointed her wand toward another dummy, and she ordered once more. "Again." Elysia felt extremely stiff because of the closeness she was with the Slytherin. This would serve as a good distraction to keep her emotions and feelings at bay.​

 

[Zared Katsaros-Styx]

Zared knew that there would come a certain point where he might become better at magic, if only when things played into how he enjoyed silence. The boy gave a smile at her and wondered how often she came up with theories about him. However he wasn't going to question Elysia on it, rather he was just happy that she even a little thought of him. He knew that Elysia was far better at pretty much everything than him but he was happy to have her company, to spend time with her and know that she believed he might one day get better at it. He held no doubts in his mind that she would do well in her OWLs and NEWTs, the only hinderance might be her own reluctance to show how smart she was to others around her. Zared smiled sympathetically with her but didn't reply. Instead he just nodded and once again pointing his wand at the dummy. It felt odd standing so close to Elysia, they'd been at odds for so long they'd argued, they'd avoided and now she stood so close to him. He felt the temptation to kiss her again, to hold her close but instead he just focused. Focusing his energy and attention on the dummy, "Reducto," he spoke louder than before, using all the confidence he had and drawing on the fact she was there helping him to really power the spell. This time the spell was far better, not perfect but the best attempt he had so far made. Zared glanced at Elysia to see what she thought.
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[Elysia Katsaros-Styx]

Elysia looked at Zared as he smiled, and she took in the features, trying not to smile herself. After all, feelings could definitely be distracting toward the goal, which was to perfect her favorite charm. Reducto. She set her wand at her side, before placing it inside of her robes. It was just difficult for her to focus because she could almost feel the heat from his body, and his scent was enjoyable. It took everything in her not to embrace him. Elysia held firmly to her stance though, determined to see this through. She did believe in him. As much as she wanted to be there with him, to be at his side while he dueled, she would not. Elysia did not feel up to dueling, and possibly injuring Zared. That was the last person she wanted to injure. But she also did not want the glory of winning the duel and letting others know. Elysia kept to herself the majority of the time. Elysia breathed a sigh of relief when the spell was a success, much better than the previous attempts. Elysia turned to Zared and she gave a curt nod, "Yes, just like that." Elysia figured that if he would use his spells just like that, he would have no trouble in dueling. But only if he remembered. "As long as you remember this lesson, you should succeed. I think this has been a good lesson." She could leave but she didn't want to leave alone. "Want to take a walk?"​

 

[Zared Katsaros-Styx]

Zared was satisfied when she said he'd gotten it right, that the last spell had actually been a good spell. He was happy with this, happy with the improvement that he'd made, perhaps thinking of Elysia had helped him and that should be something he considered in the future duelling tournament. Certainly it just solidified that he wanted to spend more time with Elysia. He was happy to have her so close to him, he was happy to be sharing such a space, to be spending time together and enjoying the closeness. There was no fighting, no stares or punches, it just felt right. It felt more than just nice. Zared looked at her, and nodded. He too thought it had been a good lesson, certainly one he would remember. The slytherin looked at her as she offered to take a walk and he nodded. He didn't want to stop spending time with her and though he didn't particularly enjoy walking all that much he nodded, holding out his hand to her, just on the off chance she wanted to take it as they walked out. He fully expected to be rejected by her but he was going to try anyway. In any case it wasn't as forward as the time he'd kissed her. Hopefully she wouldn't mind too much.
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[Elysia Katsaros-Styx]

The Ravenclaw looked down as the Slytherin offered his hand. Deciding to react based on her emotions instead of her brain, which was a chance of pace for once, she took his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. It just seemed like her hand was supposed to fit within his, almost molded to the shape. She let out a sigh, and started to lead Zared out of the dueling arena. She felt that words were not needed for the walk yet, but she did want to spend time with him. Something about him made her feel like she was the only person that mattered. Silly girl feelings around a handsome boy, that was for certain. Yet, as cold as she was, and though she was a Styx, she was still human, and a female. Nothing could change that.

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Fin​

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