lanie sat at the back of the class quietly as they had a class discussion.

Gwen raised her hand.

"Professor, where, if at all, does Transfiguration come into play in duelling?"

"Ah, excellent question Gwen. If I may, Professor," he said with a glance to his wife first. "Transfiguration can also be used in duels, though I have only seen it used by the most advanced duelers. I, as you have seen, have never mastered the use of transfiguration during a duel because it requires quite a bit of forethought and an awareness of your surroundings and your opponent for which I have not the skill. Duels can be rather chaotic. Charms and hexes are generally quick and easy solutions to deter most opponents. Though, our resident ex-auror could ellaborate a bit more, I'm sure."

He looked up and spotted another hand in the air. "Yes?"

Marco almost cried. 5 points already lost. Those stupid first years were stupid. Why did they have to turn up late?

A joint class was an inspired idea. Showing how the fields blended in some areas. Of course the two professors being married probably had nothing to do with it. Helios' snippiness aside, the students seemed to be enjoying the class.

The boy hated everything right now. So, no offense to anybody.

And on the topic of hating things; what was the deal with the way Kayla and Krissy looked at him? Krissy looked at him like he was a moron for coming to class when he should be in bed, and Kayla was sizing him up for another duel. Summed those two up well. And the way their eyes hurt the young prince worse than his poisoned arm without having a clue why, summed up Helios similarily.

Agie smiled to herself after the Slytherin student lost points. She really wanted Gryffinor to win this year.

She hoped that they would get a chance to get off their seats and have a chance to duel. "Professor, could we have a go at duelling?" She asked after raising her hand.

Joseph perked up at the words. He wanted to duel so badly. he didn't know too many spells, he picked up a book a few days ago on it, he had been studying it for a while... but still, he didn't know a lot.

Krissy motioned for Helios to come closer. She was worried about him being out of bed and standing in the back of the room. she was the only one that knew what he was hiding under his cloak and she prayed it hadn't gotten worse. "Helios, copy me notes so yeh don't get beaten by Kayla in a duel again."She whispered giving him a meek smile hoping he could handle the small joke. He needed to focus on his Lessons and she was hoping to help him.

Gwen suppressed a smile at Agie's expression. She liked a lot of Slytherin students very much; indeed, she got on fairly well with all the houses. But it did give her a warm fuzzy feeling inside when other houses lost points.

Anna perked up when Agie asked if they could start dueling. Apparently the student who had a question earlier wasn't going to ask it anymore, as she hadn't made any effort to start asking.

Anna sat, looking up at her professors anxiously, waiting to her whether or not they were going to be allowed to duel.

"It DOES take a lot of concentration and a little luck, time, and skill to use transfiguration in a duel. I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a very patient partner who is willing to let you experiment. You should wait until you've been dueling for at least five or six years before you even try." She scooted next to her husband. "I think they could duel now. What do you think, Doyle?"

Agie's grin widened as she heard the Headmistress. "Ohh really? We can Duel? I'd love to have a go against my sister" She said, sounding a little too shifty.

Kayla jumped excitedly to her feet this is what she had been waiting for. "Come on Krissy, there won't be any staff waving in this class, let's see how good you are at magic" Kayla said with a wicked smile.

Claudian lifted his head up at the Professors words with a somewhat panicked look. Dueling?! No! No, dueling! Who said anything about dueling??? He thought.

He eyed the exit carefully.

Anna wondered briefly if she was supposed to find her OWN dueling partner, or if the professor would find one for her.

Just in case she was supposed to find her OWN partner, Anna started surveying the room, looking for potential partners.

Juniper stared at the headsmistress. They - they, the students - were going to duel? Juniper bit her lip, trying to banish all of her pessimistic thoughts that had suddenly come crashing back. It was a classroom, dueling in classrooms usually did not result in permanant damage, she told herself. Usually.

"Anna, would you like to pair up if we get to duel?" Gwen asked.

"I think that sounds like a lovely idea," Professor Branxton smiled. "But, I would not recommend starting out with stunners."

Joseph was ecstatic, he couldn't wait to duel somebody. he would probably lose, unless he by chance did the right spell. he had been practicing one spell in particular..

Josh heard dueling and he was in. He loved to duel. He looked around for a suitable enemy. He had found the perfect one with a shiny badge and Bright yellow colors. He walked over to Amelia and asked," May i duel you?"

Krissy giggled at her friend's excitement. "Aye Winters, I'm not half bad though I do rather prefer the big stick as opposed to this wee one." she said gesturing to her wand.

Anna whirled around to find Gwen, the third year she had met in the girls dorm earlier. "Yeah, let's have a go at it!"

Kerry looked up when she heard Agie say she wanted to duel her. Shaking her head she said "Why am I not surprised. You're so competitive" she laughed. "Something tells me that's what you've been thinking since the moment you walked into this class haven't you?" Kerry whispered to her sister.

Xana caught Claudian's eye and grinned... Dueling. Excellent. she thought. Maybe he'd be willing to duel Apedemak while she took on Dia.

Joseph felt kind of left out, nobody had approached him, and he wasn't about to go to anyone else. he was just watching for now.