Adrienne was beyond happy that Professor Truebridge was back, not only because it felt like her beliefs about what had transpired last term and before this term being wrong were valid. It also just oddly made things feel more normal this term, given everything she was finding out that was going on around her. And dueling was always interesting, even when they were only talking about theory. She always liked learning things she could use against her brother, at least, and legally she could now.

Raising her hand as several duels were brought up, and nodding a little as Jake mentioned Dumbledore, she spoke. "Extending Cedric's answer a little, Harry Potter actually dueled Lord Voldemort more than once. The first time when he was only a fourth year, and while his final duel with him is more known, the other is just as important. If only because it helped everyone realize Lord Voldemort was back, even though it also furthered the opinion that Harry Potter was the one who could defeat him." Even though historically a lot of people had needed a lot more convincing.

Gold raised a hand. "Bellatrix Lestrange and Sirius Black, sir," she said, with a little nod. "That was in..." she thought a bit. "1996, I believe. Battle at the Department of Mysteries, in the Second Wizarding War."

"Mr. Black was killed, when one of Lestrange's spells hit him in the chest, and pushed him through the Veil, in the Death Chamber." She lowered her hand and, having spoken her mind, fell silent.

Oh my, Truebridge was back. He was actually back! Only why was he back? And for how long? And was he like REALLY back. As in back as a teacher? And what was this all about?! O___o

Quickly raising her wand, confusion still plastered across her face Nancy replied to the professor's question. "Well, there was the duel between Molly Weasley and Bellatrix Lestrange. That was during the Battle of Hogwarts." Chewing her lip she subconsciously scratched the back of her head where she could still feel a small scar. Shudder!

At least her leg was back to normal.

Oliver raised his hand. "Sir.. There was that famous Auror dude, Alastor Moody or "Mad-Eye Freaky Eyes", he duelled a lot of death eaters. Evan Rosier for one.. who he killed." Pfft.. course Oliver knew about that one - crazy distant cousins. *shudder* "And... " He flicked through his text book and scanned the text. "He fought and was injured; defeated by Antonin Dolohov in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. Lord Voldemort eventually killed the dude in the Battle over Little Whinging in the Second Wizarding War. He looked up at the professor.

Yada yada yada...
Come on! When were they going to be actually learning how to duel? All this history stuff is just boring, and something you can read on your own dull time if you wish, but right now they should be learning about how to make sure the thug you stunned stays down.

And really, who was going to be thinking about the rules of dueling during and actual serious duel? Sigh.

Miranda rubbed a hand on her face, wondering when this HoM kiddie project was going to end. They were wasting precious time here... Or, atleast that's what she thought. Having the urge to go after whatever had made her bleed and break her bones didn't leave you with much patience.

Her thumb nail went to her mouth and she started gnawing on it like she usually did when anxious. Come on already!

Brant raised his hand again, for he always forgot normally.

"There was a big duel here Sir, at Hogwarts I mean, Most of the students were involved too, and the staff. This was againsty, "He-who-must-not-be-Named" and his death eaters. Many gave their lives for this fight." he said sadly then

Sidney remembers her Grandfather Marlowe belonged the a dueling club when he was younger. He told her a tale about a famous duel that took place during a competition. "Professor, during the All-England Wizarding Duelling Competition of 1420, Alberta Toothill defeated Samson Wiblin. He was the favorite to win the competion, but Alberta Toothill defeated Samson Wiblin using the Blasting Curse. Do you think it was fair using that curse in a competition, sir?" Sidney thinks that was an extreme curse to use particularly to win a competition.

"Sir, There was also the duel between Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort at the Department of Mysteries. It was when Black was killed and Voldemort was trying to kill Harry Potter." Kay answered. She didn't think anyone had thought of this duel.

Arya sat twirling her quill as students began to anwser the question. She didn't know of many duels and the ones she did know of were already mentioned, so she just sat there quietly.

She turned to Raiden and back to Truebridge when he told of a duel the professor had with Kazimeriz. So he was the unstable professor that attacked Kazi, but Raiden said the two had dueled not that he attacked the old man. Arya studied the professor for a moment, he seem stable enough and friendly. Still, it didn't make the million questions swirling through her head go away. Looking down to her parchement she drew a few doddles. The girl knew that no good would come from speaking to the professors on the matter so she would ask Raiden when class was over.

Neptune was pretty sure that no one (save for Professor Incarcerated) had been in a real duel. Completion points for BOTT duels were things like, 'When Mom or Dell show up' or 'When someone starts to cry'. And limits were things like, "Don't alter my hair" or "nothing below the belt". Neptune turned around in her seat to give everyone disapproving looks for obviously having no real-world experiences.


But anyway. She raised her hand to offer something, "My grandpa once dueled someone that was trying to break into our Bean Lab! The THIEF was after the vomit flavored bean recipe, right?" Ew. "Right. And so Grandpa hexed him and the intruder barfed forever and ever after that and had to go Mungo's!" Or so the story went. "Pretty sure there was no Code though, cause Grandpa got a limp from that." Permanent damage, in other words. MMhmmm.

As Jack read through his notes, trying to find an answer that hadn't been said yet, he realized just how many duels there had been throughout wizarding history. Goodness, didn't anyone ever get along?!

He raised his hand. "Well, there was a duel between Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter during their second year at Hogwarts, during which Harry unintentially revealed that he was a Parselmouth. Even though it was just a practice duel and neither of them were really experienced, it was still important because of the whole Parselmouth thing," he explained.

Rafe raised his hand, he didn't know if this would count as a proper wizarding duel, but he answered anyways, "What about the werewolf Gilles Garnier versus the hermit of St. Bonnot in the autumn of 1573 in Dole. Garnier was going around killing children of the village, many of the villagers thought it was the hermit and accused him, but the hermit being a wizard knew exactly who was doing the killings and confronted Garnier. It was a massive duel only witnessed by few, but then the...uh, werewolf was slain, but the hermit was never seen again."

It wasn't a happy story really, but it was an interesting one. Usually, he would prefer stories of the werewolf looking like the hero, but those were really rare and many people wouldn't like them as much so they were hardly ever told. He felt a little embarassed with his tale, most people spoke of Harry Potter or Dumbledore, but this was something he was more familiar with, after all his family wasn't around England during the last war.

Violet didn't even listen to the question her mind was on something else her hand shot up in the air. "Professor, were not a loud to use the unforgiveable curses or dark magic?!" asked Violet.

"Proffessor, wasn't the Battle at Hogwarts one of the most famous duels of wizard history. Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, many Death Eaters, members of the Order of Pheonix, and members of DA were part of it. It was very significant because it was the death of Lord Voldemort," Jacklyn Caroline pleased with her long explaination, but sad thinking about Bellatrix, her great aunt's friend.

Ah.

"... I suppose that counts." Truebridge answered quietly, recalling the details vividly and not much liking it. Awkward situation. His former mentor was possibly the greatest dueler Ethan had ever met and quite expert at angering Ethan enough to do things that he now regretted. Still the old man did seem reasonably happy in the post of potions master...

"Known to Wizardkind all over the globe, yes indeed. I assume you speak of Voldemort's defeat rather than the earlier, less publicized but no less important one."

"Good Jake, A very important duel and one of the Elder wand duels to boot." Truebridge kept his eyes on the boy for a long moment and then moved along.

"Precisely, Adrienne. Thank you for that." He nodded at the Ravenclaw.

"A very unique ending to a duel." Truebridge agreed, tipping his head to one side. "I don't believe I know your name?"

"Good, Nancy. Thank you." He nodded approvingly at the Slytherin girl. She was very intelligent but not annoying with it like certain others could be.

"Mad eye Moody was indeed involved in many duels both in his position as auror and due to his involvement in the Order of the Phoenix. Thank you... your name is...?" There seemed to be a lot of new students this term, and not just first years.

"Alright there Miranda?" Truebridge eyed the Hufflepuff.

"There have been a few of those big battles, that one is certainly the best known. Thank you."

"Excellent." Truebridge nodded at Sidney. "I do think it is fair because it was not against the Code Duello which had been established for the duel. Not all curses are dark and curses are some of the more powerful spells in a witch or a wizard's arsenal."

"Dumbledore was very impressive was he not? And a master of the Elder wand to boot." Truebridge nodded at Kay.

As long as they were paying attention, Truebridge didn't much mind the lack of answers. His eyes drifted over Arya and moved on.

"You'll find that many students, when looking into their personal family history, particularly those who are from a long line of magic users, will discover interesting stories and duels." Bean recipe? As in Bertie Bott's?

"What was your name?" Aside from alarming-Ravenclaw.

"Indeed. Proving that age is not always a factor in duels and neither is skill level. Surprises can always occur and one must be vigilant."

Impressed with the obscure knowledge, Ethan nodded once slowly. "Good. Rafe."

"Not if it is prohibited in the Code Duello that is being followed. Unforgiveable curses are never legal to be used, I personally have no issue with dark magic but certainly not while learning at school. So technically you are correct, students are not permitted to use such spells." And when you did, you got nasty detentions with Kazimeriz. Personal experience proved this to be the case.

"Yes, good."

Truebridge nodded more to himself than to the students.

"It is worthwhile, when studying dueling or indeed observing a duel, to take note on the spells used and what worked and what did not. There is much to be learned by observing and studying."

He looked around gravely, aware that many believed practice was far more important than theory. They were equally important.

"I mentioned seconds briefly before." He gestured at the list of limits. "Can anyone tell me what a second is?" Truebridge asked. "In dueling terms. No smart answers involving time or first place losers please."

Mina thought for a second before raising her hand. "Isn't a second in a duel, kind of like back-up? A person wouldn't want to go into a duel completely alone. A second would be there to help if needed."

Marie raised her had, "Um SIr, would a second be the person that is there to take over if the first person dueling gets killed or injured so they couldn't continue with the battle?"

“Oliver, Sir. Oliver Greenwood.” The cocky James bond impression somehow didn't seem appropriate right now. Heh.

He raised his hand to answer the professor's next question. “A second is there to act as a replacement should something happen to the main dueller in battle.”

Raiden's hand went up again.

"I think the original role of the second was to ensure that everything was fair and even, sir... Check the weapons and ensure that neither party had an unfair advantage. They could stand in for the primary duelers if something happened, but... I think that was optional?" He'd have to read up on dueling again. Raiden hadn't realised how long it had been since he'd last done so.

Brant raised his hand. "Well sir before the duel would happen, when they are making the rules of the duel, They would pick a Second person to carry on if they could not." he said

"But some duels do not require a second, it depends on the terms of the duel. But if its not a planned duel, and it was a fight to the death, I doubt that person would have a second.For things would be moving to fast to yell, Hey finish this fight for me." he said.

"Mhmm," Jake replied, twirling his extra-special electric blue quill in his fingers. He wasn't looking at Truebridge, so he didn't notice the way the man kept looking. At the next question, he raised his hand that held the quill.

"If yuhh-you d-d-die," he said in as bland a way as he could.

And that was all he'd say to answer that.

Your not a loud to user them then? Oh then thats not good thought Violet when she heard Truebridges reply. Then she listened to the next question. Violet raised her hand. "A second is a back up I believe." said Violet.

Chris raised his hand, "Well a second is like their tag-team memeber. If the dueler is unable to go on in the duel, their second could take over and finish their oponent or be finished themselves." the Prefect said nodding.

"Neptune June Bott, Mr. Truebridge," Neptune answered his inquiry. See that class? He was ALREADY interested - despite the fact that he had already asked several others their name. Neptune was OBVIOUSLY special.

And she giggled about that while scooting her desk forward, out of line, and up up up towards the front. Simultaneously, she sort of raised her hand to answer. Ish.


"I can give an example. Let's say, IN THEORY, Raiden or Kellen challenged ARYA to a duel of revenge for spitting in MY drink at the sleepover we had in the Great Hall. One of them could name ME their second to take over if they randomly died or keeled over or became unable to perform before the duel." MMhmm. Neptune all but turned around and POINTED at Arya: One Who Spits In Drinks. "Then I would duel in their place, as their second. Or that's how we play at home."

Lina twitched. She wanted to hex Neptune into next week. Or potion her. A really bad potion. That would send her home. Almost finals... she told herself. You can last a little bit longer...

"I always thought that a second was someone that was there if you needed them, like holding something for you or taking over if you needed them to."