Dominic waited to see if he'd be successful at last with his disarming spell; but then before it could be helped, he watched horror struck as the two spells collided in mid air with a bang. As he was already belly down on the floor, he couldn't very well get 'thrown' anywhere as Kayla did, but his hands instinctively covered his head, in attempts to shield it from the falling sparks.

Once the sparks settled, he glanced up at his colleague, reluctantly rising. "Draw?" he asked, arching his brow and extending his hand towards her.

Kayla got slowly to her feet, thankful that she still could. That was the second time that something like that had happened and she was getting a little tired of being thrown around the room.

Looking at Denton's outstretched hand, Kayla begrudgingly had to concede to a draw, otherwise they might blow up the place next. "Draw" she agreed and shaking his hand. "Not bad Denton, not bad at all."

Dominic, for just a moment, thought his hand was going to be left in limbo. But much to his surprise - and delight - Winters accepted his hand and agreed to a draw. It was for the best, as the last thing they needed was for Kazi to dock points for blowing up the dueling arena.

"Same to you, Winters. Simply incredible," he complimented, as he picked up his bag and started out of the arena. Best quit procrastinating and now get started on some homework.

Chalice walked into the arena. 'I haven't been in here since James cursed Liz first term of my first year! That was INTERESTING' she thought. she watched some of the older kids duel for a little while before deciding to take a practice dummy and work on a few spells.

Entering the dueling arena was Lethe's first time. Walking in, her eyes looked for a seat, then saw someone whom she thought was a year older than her.

She went to join the girl and watched the ongoing duel.

"Oh, hello.." she greeted with a crooked smile.

Clifford didn't like this. Nope. He didn't like this one little bit and he dragged himself slowly into the dueling arena wishing he could just turn around and run right back out.

"This is stoopid homework." He whined glancing across at Evangeline. They had to DUEL for homework? "Kazimeriz is an evil ole' fart." He mumbled with a shake of his head.

He had enough trouble with performing hexes and jinxes as it was ... let alone aiming them at his girlfriend!

"Hi! I'm Chalice, second year Gryffindor. Who are you?" Chalice greeted the girl that had come near her.

Evangeline had to agree with Clifford this time - it really was stupid homework. Practise hexes and jinxes on eachother was far too extreme, but Kazimeriz was just mean. Mean and evil.

She followed him into the duelling area with a small sigh, but as soon as he turned around to face her, there was a smile on her face. They'd go easy on eachother - this was to practise defensive spells anyway, so it'd be okay. Yup, yup.

"Oh come on, Carden.." She said with a small crooked smile on her lips. "Dont tell me you're scared.."

"Scared?" Clifford snorted at Evangeline's taunting as he drew his wand. He was scared. Scared of accidentally hurting his girlfriend, but also scared of completely humiliating himself. Evangeline was better with a wand than he was ...

... he was going to get beaten by a GIRL.

Now that wasn't healthy for a boy's ego.

"I'm not scared." He lied with a small roll of his eyes. Rolling up his sleeves, Clifford walked further into the arena and spun to face his girlfriend. Ready. Well, as ready as he could be. "Ladies first."

Evangeline knew he was scared, really, but so was she! He was her boyfriend for Heaven's sakes. Her boyfriend, her best friend, a fellow Slytherin student, a fellow Prefect! If she accidentally hurt him, she'd be in deep trouble and she'd never again forgive herself. Oh goodness.

"Sure you're not." She teased again, gripping her hand tighter in her right hand and shaking her head at his words. Ladies first? Aha! "First, the bow.." She told him, lightly bowing her head in his direction.

She was only trying to buy time, really. But she couldn't avoid it forever.

Taking a deep breath and dearly hoping he was ready, she straightened up. "Now we can start ..." She gave a small wink in his direction and quickly pointed her wand at him. "Impedimenta!" Oh gosh.

Bow? Eh. What was the point of that? To make the whole 'I'm about to curse your butt' thing more polite or something? Dueling was so dumb and the only reason he was doing it was for the homework. Hmpf.

I am the boss.. I am the boss..

Oh, he so wasn't the boss right now. The boss was over there winking at him. Was Evangeline not scared too?

Clifford squared his shoulders, ready to retaliate to whatever Evangeline threw at him. "Protego!" He yelled, praying something ... ANYTHING would happen. His shield was a weak one though and he felt Evangeline's jinx breaking through it easily. BAH!

"T - Tarantallegra!" He tried, wincing as he pointed his wand at her. Now he was thankful for his crappy spellwork. Hopefully his jinx failed.

Oh bummer. Evangeline winced as if the hex had hit her when the spell she had aimed at Clifford went through his weak shield. ACK! Good think she had tried an easy spell, eh? Watching him wince, she didnt even notice he had pointed his wand at her and started walking towards him, needing to check if he was alright.

Oh gosh. She couldnt hurt Clifford!

In her eagerness of making sure he was fine, she forgot this was a duel and by the time she saw the brightness of his spell coming towards her, she was already dancing around ... which combined with her attempt to walk towards him ended up with her tripping over. GAH!

"Finite Incantatem" She said, pointing her wand at her legs to stop them from crazily dancing. Thank goodness his spell seemed a bit weak or she wasn't sure if she'd be able to end it. After checking if none of her bones were broken, she pointed her wand towards him and winced. Gosh, she didnt want to do this. "Petrificus Totalus." Another one who wouldn't hurt him.

Hopefully.

The effects of the Impediment Jinx Evangeline had sent at him seemed to be wearing off and Clifford flexed his limbs cautiously. Well, so far, so good. At least everything still seemed to be in full working order. For now.

He honestly hadn't been expecting his jinx to work and Clifford's eyes widened in horror when Evangeline's legs turned all spazzy and caused her to trip over. Oh noes. She had enough trouble walking when her legs were NORMAL! Why had he chosen that jinx and why hadn't she performed a shield charm!?

He didn't get a chance to rush to her aid ... and nor did he get a chance to try and work up another shield charm as next thing he felt was his whole body grow rigid as Evangeline's full body bind hit him hard. Oh crap. After a few seconds wobbling on the spot, the frozen Clifford lost his balance and felt flat on the floor. Ouch.

Thankfully, he'd fallen with his wand still gripped tightly in his hand ... but Evangeline's spell had left him unable to move his mouth to lift the curse off of himself. Finite Incantatem, Finite Incantatem, he thought desperately, surprised when for the first time in his life he managed to do a non-verbal spell. Unless Evangeline lifted the curse off him that was. Either way, he was FREE! and jumping to his feet Clifford sent another spell in his girlfriend's direction. "Densaugeo!" Oh dear Merlin.. he hoped she remembered a shield charm this time.

Her legs had stopped wobbling around crazily by now, and Evangeline quickly stood up, never taking her eyes off Clifford. Eyes which widened as once more the spell she had sent his way hit him. Crap! She watched hopelessly as he stiffened and lost his balance. Oh gosh.

She winced when he fell over, thinking it was over. He couldnt move his mouth to say the incantation so that was it, no? Thank goodness. Or maybe ... She watched in awe as he moved and realised he had just done a non-verbal. Wow! She was still struggling with those!

However surprised she was, though, she had learnt and was still in alert. She could congratulate him later, right? Hehe. As he jumped to his feet, she immediatelly griped her wand tighter. "Protego!" Just in time to block his spell, a shield appeared around her and she smiled at him. "You don't like my teeth the way they are, honey?" Evangeline pretended to pout, wondering what spell to use next.

Gosh, she sucked at duelling. And she hated duelling with Clifford!

Right. She needed a spell that wouldn't hurt him. Aaaah! The Twitchy Ears Hex.

"Velico auris!" She said, jabbing her wand in his direction. Oh dear.

ooc: Velico means twitch (I think) and auris means ear.

The more they duelled the more Clifford hated that Kazimeriz bloke. This was just ... harsh! And wrong on so many levels. Hmpf. Crazy, twisted, evil ole' fossil, that's what he is, he thought angrily.

Ignoring the throbbing he could feel above his right eye due to the faceplant on the floor he'd done, Clifford watched Evangeline with a pained exression, hoping, PRAYING beyond anything that she'd remember to cast a shield charm this time.

WOOOOO!!

If he'd made her teeth grow, that would've been it. He would've quit this stoopid homework duel. GRRR. Evangeline seemed keen to continue though, and Clifford was ready when she cast another spell his way. "Protego!" Unlike the first one, this shield was enough to block out her hex, and the sixth year beamed triumphantly, wiping away the beads of sweat that were breaking out on his forehead. Talk about anxious.

"Rictusempra!" He then sent towards Evangeline, this time picking a spell that couldn't hurt her if she forgot a shield charm. Bwaha.

Barry came into the duel arena and looked around he need to duel for the homework so he looked around looking for someone

"Hey Barry! What cha up to?" Chalice asked walking away from the girl with a wave.

The one reason why Evangeline wasn't exactly thinking about what they were doing was because she didnt like to think she was duelling her boyfriend for points. It was sorta like selling her soul and the fact is that -- well, she'd probably sell her soul if that meant Slytherin would get the cup.

She smiled at him when he managed to block her spell, but unlike before, she didnt waste time with that. Nuh huh. This was a duel and this was serious! Yes! Hehehe. "Protego!" Unlike before, her shield was too weak to block his spell and just when it hit her, she broke into a fit of giggles.

Oh brilliant.

"Lang-" ACK! She couldn't even stop laughing for the enough time to cast a spell to him. Bleeeeh. Bending over to hold her tummy which was starting to hurt, she somehow managed to point her wand at him. "Langlock!" Goodness.

Even though they'd been doing this dueling thing for quite a while now, Clifford still wasn't still comfortable OR happy with the whole situation. Sending hexes, jinxes and curses at Evangeline was like some twisted kind of torture. Perhaps he shoulda chosen a different partner.. Like Newell! Bwahaha. Now, he'd have no trouble what-so-ever at sending spells in HIS direction. In fact, he'd do it gladly. Gigglesnort.

His fantasies of hexing Newell however, came to a rather aprubt end when he heard Evangeline crack up into a rather scary fit of giggles. Oh noes.. that shield charm obviously hadn't done the trick. At least he hadn't used that teeth lengthening hex again.. nothing wrong with a few giggles. Teehee.

In fact, it was kinda amusing. So amusing that giggling himself, Clifford got rather distracted and had NO chance of performing his own shield. Oopsy Daisy. Feeling his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth.. he had a feeling this was it.

"O-Ombsooro!" He tried uselessy, wand aimed at Evangeline. No good. "Sloobify!" Still no good. "Ogomeni!" Ack! Nothing was wooorking! "Ebie! I sluck!" He stomped his foot and raised both hands in surrender. "A lil 'elb lease?"

The giggles Clifford's jinx had caused were slowly losing intensity, but Evangeline remained clutching her aching tummy. Ack. Who said laughing was he best remedy, eh? Pffft. She could just about jinx them right now and then they'd see. Oh yes, they would.

Clifford had been distracted aswell, clearly, and Evangeline chuckled some more when he attempted to hex her while having his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. HAHAHAHA! Now that was hilarious ... even if a bit worrying. But it wasn't like it'd stay like that forever. Hehehe.

But apparently, he was giving up and Evangeline let out a small gasp. He was giving up?! She released the spell outta him, freeing him to talk. "I won, then?" YAY!

Evangeline HAD one. He'd been beaten by a girl. A quick glance around the dueling arena told him that at least not ton of people had witnesed it. Now that would be embarrassing.

Then again, if anyone had to beat him, he was glad it was Evangeline. She was the biggest smarty-pants he knew so he'd known he hadn't had much of a chance really. Right.

Glad that she lifted the spell so that he could finally talk properly again, Clifford shrugged and gingerly touched the bruise he could feel already forming above his eye thanks to Evangeline's full body-bind curse. "Yeah - well, I thought it was probably best to give up while I still had some brain left."

Evangeline certainly hadn't been expecting to win and she most certainly hadn't been expecting it to be that easy. Not that duelling Clifford was easy - no, it was awful and hard and he really put up a fight. But she just had to stick his tongue to the roof of his mouth and it was done! That kind of easy.

Pocketing her wand once more, she approached him, chuckles still escaping every other second. Bah. Had she given him a bruise? Oh noes. "I'm sorry about that.." She whispered quietly, mimicking his actions and gingerly touching the spot above his right eye. "Ah. Had you not given up, and I'm sure you would've won.." Evangeline honestly commented as she rose to the tip of her toes in order to press a soft kiss on his cheek. Aaah, was she happy she didn't have to duel him anymore.

Setting back onto her feet, she warily looked around the room. "We should probably get out of there... before we get hit by some wrong-aimed hex.."

"Nothing" Barry said "Want to duel for the homework?"

Although he was a big, stong, brave man.. Clifford couldn't help but wince pathetically when Evangeline replaced his fingers with her own and touched the bump on his noggin'. He'd never had a bump that big before ... but then again, he'd never bounced his head of the floor that hard before.

The kiss he recieved made some of the pain go away though, and he grinned sheepishy. He knew she was probably only saying that to make him feel better.. but it was sweet. Hehe. "Naaah, you're way better at the whole ... spell thing than I am." He shrugged honestly, finding her hand and pulling her towards the door. She was probably right about getting out of the way before someone accidentally hexed them. "I don't mind you beating me anyway ... as long as you never tell anyone." He teased with a tiny wink.

"Yeah, sure. I have to practice protego." Chalice said happily.