Reese headed down across grounds to the forbidden forest with her hands still in her jacket pocket. She didn't even stop to take a one or two second break during her journey from the castle to the forest, instead, she just continued walking with her eyes locked on the dark forest.

Once she made it to the forest, she took her hands out of her pocket and crossed them over her chest as she waited for instructions.

Pulling her cloak closer around herself to keep out the cold Nancy made her way out of the castle and down to the Forbidden Forest. Her blue eyes averted to the ground the 17 year old glanced over her shoulder several times to see if she wasn't being followed. Which, duh, she wasn't. Why was she did that paranoid lately?! Straaaange.

Upon arriving at the Forbidden Forest she immediately noticed another person with their back towards her standing in what looked like an arena. Right. Somehow the blonde hair seemed familiar. Nancy quickened her pace until she was standing right next to the girl, only to recognize her as, "Reese." So she was...what?! What were they going to have to do?

Just in case she pulled her wand out of its holster and let her eyes roam her surroundings waiting for further instructions.

The forest was eerily dark and Samuel stood in the shadows watching the two girls for a moment, a small satisfied smirk on his face. This was turning out to be a very lucrative little deal indeed.

Lighting the torches in the arena with his wand, Samuel stepped forward into the light with his wand pointed at the two girls and he strengthened the Imperius curse he had placed onto them earlier.

"Glad you could make it girls." Samuel snorted softly to himself, like they had any choice in the matter. "Why don't you two get a little practice in before we start." Hopefully the others wouldn't be late this time.

Reese had placed her hoodie on her head, so that only her face was showing, then she took a look around the forest even though it was kind of hard to see since it really dark outside. She uncrossed her arms, then she pulled out her wand from inside her jacket pocket. "Lumos," she muttered as she tip of her wand lit up the area around her.

There wasn't much to see except for a little arena...and a lot of trees.

When she heard footsteps behind her, she didn't turn around to see who was there, but instead stood still as a stone and listened as the footsteps came closer to her. Then the person was in front of her. Blinking a few times, she had to let her brain register the fact that Nancy Hudonson was there. "Nancy," she said with wrinkled eyebrows. She took her hoodie off, so that the Slytherin could better see her face.

Just then, the arena lite around them, and Reese unlit and lowered her wand as she took a nice look around the place. Her eye diverted to the man from the Hog's Head, who had just greeted them both and told them to go practice. "Will do," she simply responded before heading off towards the edge of the arena, twirling her wand in her hand as she went.

The Prefect took one look behind her to see if Nancy was cheating and seeing what spells she would be using, then she pointed her wand towards the empty forest and began to go through some spells that came to her mind first. Of course, she started with 'Protego' first since she had a feeling she would be using that spell a lot.

"WoOoOoOoOoOHoOoOoOoOo! Here we go again!" Alora yelled, making her way into the first of three arenas. Of course she arrived with her coat swinging high above her head. It had become her...sort of...trademark, she guessed one could say. She couldn't help it, though! These fights just got her all good 'n excited!

"Ha ha! Hey, ickle kiddo!" she called, taking her umbrella and pointing it into the arena. She pointed it first at one girl then at the other. "Get 'er! Get 'er good!" It wasn't raining, of course, but Alora simply loved swinging her coat and pointing her umbrella.

"Lumos!" Nancy muttered with a small flick of her wand to take a closer look at where exactly she was. The beam of light illuminated the meadow-like place they currently where which made her absolutely sure of pervious assumption. They were right in the center of an arena. A dueling arena. Cause that was what they were here for. She would be dueling Reese.

In the process of smiling at the fellow Slytherin the smile literally froze on Nancy's face, however, and turned into a rather smug grimace. This was going to be interesting. The Prefect would be going down. Totally. Whatever it took.

At the sound of footsteps approaching her blue eyes fickered towards the Hog's Head barkeeper with yet another smirk plastered across her face. "Certainly, Sir." With that said Nancy directed another smug glare at the Prefect before taking a few steps off to their right. "Muffliato!" Now with that taken care of the 17 year old gave an fake sympathetic shrug towards Reese. Shame, now she couldn't even hear her practicing the verbal spells. Shaaaame.

First she of course started off with a simple Shield Charm which she cast multiple times as it was probably the one she would be needing most. As her eyes fell on a nearby rock Nancy's smirk grew even more wickedly. This was definitely going to come in handy. "Bombarda!" The 17 year old muttered out loud as somehow the word itself sounded quite intimidating - not that anybody would be able to hear her - while pointing her wand at the rock which immediately exploded. Strengthening her shield Nancy watched as the individual sharp pieces of rock simply bounced off. Now what nex-

What the heck?! Her head jerked up towards the origin of piercing female voice yelling at them...and found herself pointed at with an umbrella. Whoever this woman was she definitely was on her side...even though she'd just called her "ickle kiddo". With a quick flick of her wand and an non-verbal Finite she made sure the woman would be able to hear her. "Of course, Ma'am." At this she directed a smug, rather wicked grin at Reese.

Reese's concentration was broken by a sound of a woman's....cheering? Screaming? Whatever it was, it sure did make her lower her wand and turn towards the crazy woman. And what that woman cheering on NANCY? Of course she was since she had pointed her umbrella at the other Slytherin, then to her with the following statement 'Get her good'.

OH. OH. OHHHH. It was so on. She was not going to let Nancy 'get her good'. Narrowing her eyes at the other Slytherin, she turned back around to face the woods as she ran through some more spells.

The way Reese was now glaring at her made Nancy's smirk only grow more intense, more wicked. Poooooor Prefect. "Aww, Reese. Where are YOUR fans?" Raising her eyebrows at her in totally fake sympathy she let her eyes wander around the arena. No, till now there were only her, Reese, the Hog's Head-guy and this Umbrella!Fan of hers. Hehe...

With yet another huge smirk and a small fake disappointed shrug Nancy turned her attention back to practicing a few spells again. When were they finally going to start?!

Walking around to the other arena, Rosa eyed the two older students in front of her and she narrowed her eyes.

This would probably be a more impressive duel than the two younger girls but Rosa did like the younger ones. More easily influenced. However she was prepared to put her money down on this match as well. You just never know.

"You there girly, you with the big mouth" she said pointing her finger at Nancy. "I hope your skills are as good as your insults." Rosa's eyes flicked between the two girls for a moment before making her decision.

She was putting her money on the other girl. It was the quiet ones you had to watch. Everyone knew that.

When one of the ickle girls looked her way, Alora replied with a poke, poke of her umbrella into the air. It was the mightiest of cheers coming from a woman like Alora Lassley. She lowered her umbrella and scribbled something onto a piece of paper. When she reread what she'd written, she cackled loudly then glanced up again. "Ya gettin' her good, kid?" she asked.

"Look at that, kid! She's turned her back on ya! Get 'er good! Right now, right now!" she said, poking her umbrella in Reese's direction. To showcase the excitement she felt, Alora stood and swung her coat around and around several times. "Woooooooo Hoooooooo!"

Coat still swinging around and around, Alora turned to see Rosa make her way into the arena. She cackled when the other woman egged on the kiddies. "Ahh ha!" Alora called out, making a mocking face at the kiddo she'd already deemed to be the one to lose. She turned her attention back to the woman who'd just arrived. "Rosie Posey! She's gettin' her good, huh?"

Now this match was certainly going to be the one to watch. Samuel still hadn't decided which one of them would come out the winner, they both looked evenly matched.

Stepping forward closer to the two, Samuel cleared his throat. "Practice is now over. Take your positions and start dueling!"

Reese practice 'protego' one last time before turning around to face Nancy. She tried her best to block out the bystanders comments, because she needed to concentrate on the other Slytherin. Losing concentration was the worst thing she could do now. If she lost concentration, she might as well as kiss her hops of winning goodbye.

Without hesitation, she quickly pointed her wand at the girl and said in almost a whisper, "Densaugeo." It was always good to start simple to see how this girl's reflexes were.

Nancy gave her Umbrella!Fan a small smirk before turning on her heels to walk back to the center of the arena. This was it. Finally. Reese was going down. Literally. She directed an enormous smug smirk at the other Slytherin, completely ignoring all the other people. Especially this other woman who had just doubted her skills. Pfft! Well, she still had her Umbrella!Fan. Sorta.

Whoa! Nancy quickly gave her wand a flick to cast a shield around her which prevented the spell from hitting her. Now, THAT was a typical Slytherin move. Reese had just out of nowhere attacked her. Without advance warning. Well, she could play like a Slytherin too...

"Impedimenta!" Nancy yelled with her wand pointed at Reese before strenghtening her Shield Charm. This was still sort of just for teasing the girl. The actual pain would come later. "Furnunculus!" She added in barely more than a whisper, her eyes glintering in anticipation. THIS would be interesting to see.

Hmm, Nancy's reflexes weren't too bad.

Reese stood where she was with her wand raised and eyes narrowed. So, what if Nancy had dodged her first spell? That didn't mean she could dodge all her attacks. It was just the beginning. That other girl was going down down DOWN like there was NO tomorrow. She was 18 years old and she was not going to let someone younger than her win a duel. Nope, it just wasn't going to happen.

She had thought at first that she had put her shield charm up, but she soon realized that she didn't, but she realized at a bad time since Nancy had just sent the first spell towards her. EEEP! Not having time to say and incantation, she dodged the the left. She fell down on her side in the dirt with a THUMP!, and watched as the spell went by her.

The Prefect quickly put a shield charm around her just in time to see Nancy's second spell rebound off the shield she had just placed. Close one, she thought. Standing up from the ground, she pointed her wand a Nancy one more time and said in almost a whisper, "Expelliarmus!" Then, "Stupefy!" Then, "Confundo!"

The question was: could Nancy's shield last through all those spells?

Nancy snickered smugly as she watched Reese dive out of the way to dodge her spells. They were witches after all, what was up with the jumping out of the way? Aww, shame the second spell hadn't hit. A smirk on her lips the 17 year old shifted her weight from one leg to the other and started, "Maybe you should just-" Nobody was ever to find out what her suggestion would have been. Probably better that way as well. Cough.

EEEK!

All the smugness had distracted her slightly - she had even glanced her Umbrella!Fan to see if she had acknowledged Reese's need to dive out of the way. And now she was in trouble. There were three spells heading her way. THREE. At once. "Impedimenta!" Was her first reaction in an attempt to at least slow down the streams of light. But they were close. Very close.

Chewing her lower lip Nancy quickly considered her options. One was to stay put and hope her shield would be strong enough. And the other one was...exactly what Reese had just done. Which she was so not going to do. Pfft.

"Finit-"e! At that moment, though, all three spells crashed against her shield, the impact throwing her off her feet. However, there was one stream of light which had somehow gotten past her shield. And it was coming closer. And closer. And closer. And closer. Until...

Despite her cringing away from it the Confundus Charm graced her arm. Blinking rather rapidly Nancy sat up slowly, her blue eyes widened in surprise and confusion. Where was she? What was going on? Was this...then her eyes fell on the wand pointed at her. Was she trying to help her? Though, by the expression the girl wore that was probably not the case. "Protego!" Nancy muttered just in case. There WAS something going on. Only what?

The 17 year old got to her feet, rubbing the back of her head where a small bump had already started to form from her collision with the ground. What the-?! "Fi...Finite?" Nancy cast the spell rather half-heartedly, nonetheless it lifted the effect of the Confundus Charm. Grr! Reese had indeed managed to...to...this meant war!

"Langlock!" Nancy yelled with a smirk before - barely moving her lips - she added in a whisper, "Incarcerous!" Yes, the first one was just meant to be a distraction. Just for good measure she gave her wand another flick and added a non-verbal "Sectumsempra!"

Now, show me how you dodge this, Miss Prefect!

With the shield charm around her, Reese wiped some of the dirt off her arm and noticed that there was a minor cut on it. GAH, now she was going to have blood on her pajamas thanks to Nancy! These were her favorite pajamas, too! As she was wiping off her arm, the shield around her slowly weakened, so when Nancy send 'Langlock', it went right through the shield and hit her.

It didn't bother her that much that her tongue was now stuck to the roof of her mouth since she was 18 and could do non verbals. But the fact that Nancy quickly said another spell didn't give her enough time to make a really strong shield, so when the spell hit it, it rebounded, but the impact causes Reese to backwards onto the ground.

Okay, that was going to hurt in the morning.

Not letting her aching back bother her, she quickly non verbally placed a shield around her and watched as Nancy's next spell rebounded off. Wait... next spell? OH HECK! This girl was now doing non verbals too.

Not even bothering removing the Langlock spell since it would wear off soon, she quickly hopped back to her feet - never mind that she let out a little 'ouch' sound when she stood up - and pointed her wand right back at Nancy. If this girl wanted to do non verbals now, so be it. 'Serpensortia,' she thought and then a snake was conjured and went straight towards Nancy.

BITE HER!

Oh, wow. Nancy hadn't exactly expected for the first spell to hit. Especially as it wouldn't exactly have too much effect on Reese. She was a Seventh Year after all and could probably cast her spells non-verbally anyhow. Probably not as well as she of course, cause she was awesome and would totally win this duel - at least that's what she felt like at the moment - but y'know, she still probably was accustomed to non-verbals.

...which of course the Prefect was. The moment the other girl was back on her feet Nancy renewed her shield with a quick flick of her wand, however was not fast enough to cast a spell of her own before Reese could. And the spell she cast - non-verbally - was one which made Nancy freeze on the spot.

A snake.

Standing still as if she had just been petrified the 17 year old stared at the long black slithering thing coming towards her at an enormous speed. Her heart seemed as if it was up in her throat as she finally slowly pointed her wand at the creature and...did nothing. Her eyes wide with sheer terror of the snake slithering towards her Nancy proceeded to stare at it coming closer and closer.

"Inc-Ince-" She stuttered as her brain finally kicked back in but it was too late. A shriek escaped her lips as she blinked down in shock at the thing which was now thrusting its teeth into her leg. And it hurt. A lot. "Eva...Evanesco!" Nancy stammered and watched with terror clearly visible on her face as the snake disappeared again into nothingness.

Only leaving two small holes in her pyjama pants and a leg which felt like it was growing more numb every second which passed. "Protego." Nancy automatically muttered to recast the shielding charm in case Reese continued to attack her. Her leg felt like it was dead. Totally. There was no feeling in it anymore...

Still a bit shaken and one-legged - at least that was what it felt like - Nancy turned to glare at Reese. She was going to pay. The look in her eyes could only be described as one of sheer loathing as she flicked her wand yet again to send a "Confringo!" hurtling at the Prefect before once again adding a non-verbal "Sectumsempra!" To "hide" the non-verbal Nancy yelled yet again, "Avis! Oppugno!" The little fire-red birds immediately zoomed off into Reese's direction.

Hopefully they would be enough of a distraction for her non-verbal to hit.

OOC - I'm going to end the duel now since I'm not 100% sure I'll be around this weekend and I don't want to keep everyone waiting until Monday if it turns out I'm not here

BWAHAHAHA.

A little evil smirk formed on Reese's face as she watched the snake get closer and closer to Nancy. "Is itsy bitsy Nancy scared of snakes?" She asked in a way of tormenting her. Truth be told, this Prefect use to be scared of snakes, but now she was kinda okay with them.

She kept her wand pointed at Nancy, just in case she needed to case another spell, and continued to watch the snake as it got so close to Nancy that it finally bit her! That would definitely show Nancy that she, Reese Selena Upstead, didn't play games.

Quickly, she casted a strong shield charm around her since she knew that Nancy would try to get her back. And no doubt that she would try to get her back with more harmful charms.

Just like Reese had suspected, the first charms Nancy sent to her bounded off the shield, but the second one - the one that was non verbal - went through the shield and hit her. Luckily, the shield had made the charm less effective than it would have been if there wasn't a charm. The Sectumsempra charm still made her fall to her knees and her body did begin to get slashes on it, but it wasn't as bad as it would normally be thanks to the weak shield she had. And still HURT, though! There was no way she could continue on the fight.

Instead of sending another spell to Nancy, she dropped her wand to the ground to show that she had been defeated.

Reese Upstead had lost.

After being on her knees for a few seconds, she dropped backwards onto the dirt ground, and hoped someone would make the pain go away! It also didn't even help that birds were now trying to attack her.

Well, she had always know she was a genius but now there was obvious proof for it. Nancy Hudonson had tricked Prefect Reese Upstead with a simple non-verbal spell. It had done the job. "Defeated by a simple Sectumsempra!" Nancy mused smugly as she limped over to where Reese was kneeling on the ground, keeping her shield up just in case.

Aww...but that didn't sound too good. That was boring. It would be loads better if..."Stupefy!" She muttered, sending a half-hearted Stunning Spell at the other girl. Yes, loads better. The birds were doing a fine job too...Defeated by a simple Stunner. Yes, definitely sounded better. Sectumsempra was simply too long for a slogan to be catchy...

"Aww...I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had already GIVEN UP. I'm sorry." The 17 year old said innocently with her eyes on the dropped wand. How could she have missed that? *coughcough* With a small shrug she smirked at the Hog's Head barkeep and - dragging her left leg along for she was unable to make it do anything else - approached him slowly. "Does this mean I win?" Duh, of course it did!

Rubbing the bump on her head she absentmindedly observed her hand which was full of blood...wait, blood?! She repeated the process of rubbing the spot and glanced down on her hand once again. Uh-oh. Well, it had been for a good cause. The cause of defeating Prefect Reese Upstead.

Her Umbrella!Fan would be so proud. Hehe...

O____O

Reese noticed from the corner of her eye that Nancy raised her wand towards her, and then she sent a stunner spell in her direction. Whaaat? She already given up. That can't be right!

Too bad the Prefect couldn't do anything since she was already in pain. So when the stunner spell hit her, her body moved forward a little bit as she continued to lay on the ground. Now she was knocked out cold.

WHAT????

You don't just give up in a duel. You fight to the end until you are the last person standing.

Samuel strode towards the arena about to demand that the girl continue when the other one stunned her while she was wandless.

It was a cheap shot.

But Samuel definitely liked that. He smirked as he moved into the arena and looked at Nancy. "Congratulations. Now get yourself back to the castle." he turned and looked at the one lying on the ground and shook his head.

"That's what you get for giving up so easily." He lent over her and before he revived her, Samuel noticed the Prefect's badge and snorted while he ripped it off her shirt.

He threw it away as he pointed his wand at the girl and 'enervated' her. "Get your butt back up to the castle" he growled before turning on his heel and headed back to the spectators.

Reese opened her eyes once the barkeeper 'enervated' her, then she slowly stood up from the ground. She watched as the barkeeper headed back over to the bystanders, then she turned on her heels and headed back towards the castle. Her body was still aching. And She didn't even notice that her Prefect badge was missing.

Nancy smirked back broadly at the Hog's Head barkeep despite the head-ache which was gradually becoming more and more unbearable. She had won! Well, duh, of course she had. The 17 year old directed another smug triumphant smirk at the Umbrella!Fan before gazing back at the barkeep.

Simply nodding in reply to his words Nancy very slowly made her way out of the arena, limping with her left leg slightly dragged along. This was going to be one long trip back to the castle.

Deep in the heart of the Forbidden Forest an underground dueling arena has been set up. A few random students have been selected to participate in these duels.



ROUND 3

EVELYN FLORES Vs IVORY ERISED



Place your bets.

Having snuck out from the castle, Evelyn flipped up her hood from her jacket as she made her way down to the grounds, staying more in the shadowy regions and looking out for any unwanted visitors before slipping into the forbidden forest.

Although, she knew to go into the forest, just not how far in she had to go. Whatever though. She slowed down her walk until she was barely taking any steps or moving at all for that matter, while keeping her ears open for any noises that may either indicate someone or something. Hopefully it was the 'someone' though...She didn't feel like dealing with any creatures at the moment.