The compulsion was strong and it led Ivory straight to where she needed to go. Through the grounds, through the thick trees and into the Forbidden forest.

Her feet clad in her trusty jazz shoes were silent in the underbrush, and as she bypassed branches and large shrubs and circled around stagnant mud puddles she used the large branch she'd found earlier to drag against the ground behind her, covering any trace of her coming.

She even went as far as to loop around a few times just to confuse anyone if they might have been following. By the end of it though, she was sure no one had come for if they had she surely would've noticed by now.

Her head turning this way and that, listening for any possible sound of pursuit, she was oblivious to her hair and eyes that had kept up their chameleon state and were blending into the foliage. Her eyes deep with black and greens and browns that made her look as if she belonged there.

Her feet out of their own accord picked up the pace as if they themselves knew exactly where to go, and she, for some reason, was neither surprised nor suspicious when they led her to a clearing.

Stepping forward out of the shadows, she felt a strange tingle of energy, an excitement in the air.

Bouncing on the balls of her feet, she let her changing eyes casually look around unconsciously evaluating.

If one were to look her over they would probably find her entire ensemble a conundrum. Not only did she look tiny coming in at about 4'4" but wearing what she'd fallen asleep with, she was sporting a set pajamas that shouted out their owner's youth, but then again she was also wearing the first jacket her hand had come in contact with. One that was surprisingly appropriate, if she had thought about it which of course she didn't.

All she did was look around, and wait. For what she didn't know...but the point was she was here. Exactly where she needed ot be.

The torches suddenly came to life casting light over a make shift arena and Samuel stepped out from the shadows and faced the two young girls. "Nice of you to drop in." His lip curled back into a sneer as he looked them over.

The younger ones were so much easier to influence which is why he seemed to keep picking them. "Why don't you two get a little practice in before the others get here."

Evelyn, finally hearing some noise behind her lifted her wand to be ready if it really was a creature, when suddenly she could actually see. Whaat? Looking back forward, she noticed the familiar man and...

Well wasn't this a cozy little place.

Raising a brow at the word 'practice' since she barely needed it, because she was awesome like that, Evelyn turned back around to see who else was there. He did say the 'two' of them should practice...

Her? Her...she knew her. Somewhere in her mind. Some Ravenclaw girl, and...she didn't like her. "Nice clothes...freak." she mumbled before turning around and walking into the lightened area, casting a 'Protego' around herself. At least protect herself if she was going to turn her back to the enemy...

Moving to the other side, and walked into a shadowed part of the area created by the flickering lights of the torches, she stood quite still with her hood still up, watching the other girl. The other quite SHORT girl.

Ivory kept her face devoid of emotion. Although her eyes were as turbulent as her hair, she didn't give a start as a man stepped forth from the shadows.
Nice of her to drop in?Well of course...how could it be anything else?

Meeting his gaze head on, the small girl acknowledged his sneer with an unblinking stare and then turned to see who exactly was the other one in two.
Oh. Deep in her subconscious, a part of her recognized the girl as one of the first people she'd ever met in the wizarding world. She knew her...a second year...a Slytherin...she'd been nice...

Her train of thoughts hit some sort of barrier and she was englufed with a feeling of competitiveness and dislike. No she wasn't. That girl was the farthest thing from nice that ever lived. And she deserved to be taught a lesson. A lesson she herself would teach.

Her resolve was only more ground when she heard the echo of her words on the wind. Freak!?! Oh she'd show her 'freak'...

Watching the girl back away with a quick shield charm, Ivory smiled for the first time that night. Sadly it wasn't her usual toothy grin with the happy twinkle in her eye, no this smile was one of challenge and determination.

Making a big show out of it, Ivory turned her back to her opponent without shielding as she made her way to the other side. Just to show she wasn't the least bit afraid.

Reaching what she deemed her side of the arena, she turned back around and watched her opponent carefully.

Calculating the odds, she quickly tallied the advantages and disadvantages...
The girl was older, taller, probably stronger and knew more spells. What did she have?

Her mind speeding through scenarios, she came up with a strategy.

Making sure she was facing the Slytherin, Ivory reached into her robes and withdrew her wand.

As soon as her hand made contact with the aged inscribed wood, the familiar heat crashed through her body and came to a pinpoint at her hand, where it finally blossomed into its usual blue flame.

As always her eyes were caught and slightly mesmerized by the odd quirk of her wand due to its Gubraithian fire core, and as she stared into its depths her eyes lost their unusual sheen for just a second and she looked up confused. Unfortunately the first thing she saw, was the sneering man and just as suddenly the hard cold Ivory was back and she had a plan up her sleeve.

Watching the, what she thought was sulking, girl Ivory brought up her wand and purposefully held it wrong as she moved it in a pathetic upwards flick and pronounced Protego! as loudly as she could.

The expected result was a poor flickering thing that was worse than even her first ever shield. Concentrating on her act, she did this a few more times and tried to make sure that her face was one of intent. As if this really was the best she could do.

Being underestimated would be her greatest advantage, and she used this valuable time to mentally run through her small arsenal of spells.

Evelyn watched the Ravenclaw girl move to the other side of the arena with her unblinking gaze and unmoving position.

Ravenclaws. What kind of house was that anyways? Think they are better then everyone because they have 'brains'. Well, lets see how much 'brains' this girl has when she was done with her.

She moved back, closer to the shadows, while lowering her head slightly so the shadow of her hood would play across her face while she crossed her arms, still easily keeping up her shield. Who knew how this short girl played in duels, whether it be fair or dirty. Soon though, she was going to find out, and she was just waiting for that exact moment. It was hard enough to keep her wand hand away from accidentally twitching in the direction of the girl across from her...

It seemed like there was now a...stare down? Curious, Evelyn lifted her head up slightly to get a better look at the Ravenclaw girl. Wait. She remembered her. REALLY remembered her. Not only was she a short annoying little Ravenclaw, she was the girl with the dragon. The really PRETTY dragon. Oh how Evelyn wanted to snatch that little creature away from the girl all those months ago, but had refrained from doing so.

Maybe she would have the chance tonight. As a...trophy...for her winnings when she won this. Yes, she would do that. When she won, that dragon would then be hers.

But all thoughts of dragons disappeared as the girl finally took her wand ou-WOAH! That was, a very beautiful flame. A flame, which also was called...fire. Her eyes stared at the flickering blue warm light almost as if hypnotized. However, tonight was a good night. Something in her mind made her stop for a moment and really think about this. Normally, she would have been going crazy and running over to the girl, trying to figure out how to produce that kind of flame since she was obsessed with fire. But no. Not tonight. That wand though, was quite a pretty thing as well. She would take that one too as a reward.

The fun just didn't stop did it!? What was the girl doing? Was she really that bad at magic where she couldn't produce a simple shield?! A small bubble of laughter filled her chest and throat, making her snicker quietly as she leaned her weight onto her right leg, making her feel the dirt underneath her bare feet. This girl...thought she was stupid. No Ravenclaw, that she had met, was bad at magic. And the thought that the short girl could get an upper hand over her just made her laugh even more.

Oh this was too funny...

Holding her aching sides, but keeping a good eye on the freak girl, this process made her suddenly feel something in her sleeve that she brought with her. Oh...she almost forgot about that...

"Lou, Lou, skip to my LOU! Lou, Lou, skip to my LOU! Lou, lou, skip to my LOU! Skip to my lou, my darlin'!!!!"

Alora Lassley skipped happily from one arena to the other, her bag of galleons still jingling and swinging high above her head. She stopped for a moment to wonder who Lou was and why the person in the song was skipping, but when she spotted the kiddos getting ready to duel, her attention suddenly turned completely to them.

jingle, jingle

Oh, yeahhh. Alora was ready for some bettin'!

Time was ticking on and his little puppets seemed to have had enough practice now. Samuel made his way into the arena and faced the two young girls and smirked. "Practice is over. Time to duel. Take your places and start."

Practice was over? Already? It seemed like they just started! Well, the short Ravenclaw started. She herself was just standing and watching the girl pretend to fail. At least, that's what Evelyn thought the girl was doing. Who knows, perhaps this girl really was this bad at magic.

She had been so intent on watching the girl's every movement and trying to stop laughing that when she looked over to the side, she was surprised to see a woman standing there. When did she get there? And what was she holding? Whatever though. This meant that there was someone watching their duel, and she was all for making this duel as enjoyable as possible. Not that one person was a crowd. Two people if you counted the creepy guy saying it was time to duel.

Smirking, she straightened up and lowered her hood, revealing her dark brown hair made up in a ponytail. Can't have hair distracting our concentration now can she? Keeping up the shield, she slid her foot forward to take a step as she stared at the girl across from her, though in the back of her mind, she was making note of what was on the ground. Now why didn't she think of carrying shoes with her? It would have been a lot easier to duel without worrying about stepping on something now that she thought about it. But she did have a high pain tolerance. Probably wouldn't feel it anyways if she did happen to step on something.

Taking another step forward, she gestured her wand towards the Ravenclaw, now wondering what in the world the girl's name was, and smiled slightly. "Your move Shorty McShort Short." Yes. Let them make the first move. Make the first mistake. And be the first one to lose.

From her torchlit corner of the arena, Ivory kept up her flimsy wand movements, watching the other girl intently from the corner of her eye.

Oh, so she was laughing, was she. No matter. It had been one technique of many, and she had many more where that came from. After all, she thought as she grinned evilly to herself. There was more then one way to skin ... a snake. Either way she continued it for a while hoping that the longer she kept it up the more believable it would be.

Stretching out her limbs a bit, she refrained from doing a few cartwheels and flips since obviously now was not the time. Instead she brought out a hair tie from her pocket and brought up her hair in a swift knot. Sure this revealed to all the slight almost woodland creature greenish tinge to her skin, but at this point it didn't matter. Let them think it was war paint or something.

Settling her stance a bit she commenced the scared girl look. Her eyes purposefully averting from her opponents gaze as if that alone was too much. She even did a few foot shuffles. Eventually though, the bar man came forward and it was time to begin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel Huxley

Time was ticking on and his little puppets seemed to have had enough practice now. Samuel made his way into the arena and faced the two young girls and smirked. "Practice is over. Time to duel. Take your places and start."

Rolling her shoulders predatorily, and made her eyes as wide and confused as she could make them as she began to circle the other girl, prepared to let her be the first to attack...

SPOILER!!: Evelyn, mortal enemy ^,^

Quote:

Originally Posted by individual

Practice was over? Already? It seemed like they just started! Well, the short Ravenclaw started. She herself was just standing and watching the girl pretend to fail. At least, that's what Evelyn thought the girl was doing. Who knows, perhaps this girl really was this bad at magic.

She had been so intent on watching the girl's every movement and trying to stop laughing that when she looked over to the side, she was surprised to see a woman standing there. When did she get there? And what was she holding? Whatever though. This meant that there was someone watching their duel, and she was all for making this duel as enjoyable as possible. Not that one person was a crowd. Two people if you counted the creepy guy saying it was time to duel.

Smirking, she straightened up and lowered her hood, revealing her dark brown hair made up in a ponytail. Can't have hair distracting our concentration now can she? Keeping up the shield, she slid her foot forward to take a step as she stared at the girl across from her, though in the back of her mind, she was making note of what was on the ground. Now why didn't she think of carrying shoes with her? It would have been a lot easier to duel without worrying about stepping on something now that she thought about it. But she did have a high pain tolerance. Probably wouldn't feel it anyways if she did happen to step on something.

Taking another step forward, she gestured her wand towards the Ravenclaw, now wondering what in the world the girl's name was, and smiled slightly. "Your move Shorty McShort Short." Yes. Let them make the first move. Make the first mistake. And be the first one to lose.

That is...until she heard that dreaded word. Short. Even when she thought it to herself it was in a disgusted matter. She was NOT short, she was vertically challenged and everyone else was abnormally tall anyway.

Unable to resist a small growl, she eyed the other girl completely. Hmm... she was barefoot...

"My pleasure, Big Foot..."

In the instant that followed it must have looked as if the young girl aimed the fiery tip of her wand at her opponents feet, but in reality she purposefully aimed at the spot of dirt directly in front of her toes.

"Confringo!" Making her voice forceful sounding as if she was genuinely out of control she pronounced the incantation, intending for the dirt and grass and leaves to explode upwards and hopefully distract her opponent not only with the surprise volley of earth but with the loud boom, enough ...

For her to slightly angle the tip of her wand in the next millisecond and cast a whispered Muffliato.

Connecting the wand motions together in an upward flick, she brought up her shield letting it flicker as she moved around light on her feet. "Protego."Let her think it was weak.

Her smile faltered slightly at the growl. Did that girl just growl at her? Unless she was retarded. HA! A retarded Ravenclaw. Who would have thought?!

Apparently though, and to her pleasure, the Ravenclaw didn't like being called short. And, she had her own comebacks as well. Aw, she knew this girl wasn't stupid, but really. Big foot?! She did not have big feet! They were...normal sized. Pfft. Big foot...

Although, Evelyn couldn't even think of something to say back when suddenly the ground just in front of her feet practically blew up. She was thankful that she had her shield up to protect her eyes and face, but it did not fully extend down to her feet. She could feel the tips of her toes sting slightly, whether it be from the spell itself or the force of the dirt and whatever was blown towards her scratching them up, it was still not enough to really distract. What did catch her off guard though, was the sudden buzzing in her ears. Oh, no she didn't!! Her shield must have fallen by the surprise of the first spell, making it easy for the second to push right through. Oh how Evelyn hated that muffliato spell...

So maybe having the Ravie go first wasn't such a good idea. No matter though. Even though now she lacked in the 'hearing' department, her eyesight and other senses were perfectly fine. Watching the dirt and leaves fall back to the ground, leaving what looked like a cloud of dirt around her, she raised her wand towards the girl opposite her, thinking through most of the spells she knew in the next seconds.

"Locomotor Mortis!" she said, taking a small leaping hop over the little hole that was created just moments before, and then took a few steps to her left, again sliding her feet against the ground. Oh..there was a rock there. That wouldn't be good. Raising a brow at a sudden thought, she scooted her feet around again. First left, then right...until a pile dirt was sitting in front of her.

Could be useful later on..."Avis! Oppugno! Stupefy!" Small, yet quick, black birds appeared and flew towards the girl in all different angles as well as the jet of blue light. She had been working on those first two particular spells since that Gryffie prefect told her about it, and well, it was useful too.

"Protego." Now to just get of this incredibly annoying buzzing in her ears. Whoever made up this spell, she was going to resurrect them, and then send them to the grave a second time!

Left step two three. Right step one two. Forward and skip to the left. Cha cha cha. NO! Now was not the time to think of the Chacha, even though she was moving around so much it must've looked as if she was dancing some complicated tribal dance, what with her weird skin tone and crazy footwork.

Nevertheless, Ivory prioritized her thoughts and concentrated on her shield as she kept herself light on her feet and moved around trying to not stay in one place too long, that's how she'd lost her first ever duel and it wasn't going to happen again. No siree Bob...whoever he was.

Smiling in satisfaction as she saw the earth explode upwards, Ivory had merely a second to smile a cheshire cat smile (and a curious glance at Evelyn's little dirt pile) before she heard the Slytherin's voice reach her just as she saw her take a hop forward, her wand aimed straight at her.

Had she not already kept her shield up for the better part of more then a minute (A fact Sir Lawson would've been proud of) Ivory might've had a chance at completely deflecting the leg locker curse but as it was just shy of two minutes her shield was already waning, causing the spell to stream straight through albeit a bit dilutely.

Oh Merlin's Big Toe...her legs had snapped together a big sluggishly but were immobile nevertheless.

Sighing she resisted the urge to groan as she hopped a few feet this way and that. But then, right when she was about to dispell the effects of the curse, her opponent's wand came up once more and although for a second Ivory felt a moment of panic it quickly passed as she heard the spells the Slytherin had aimed at her. Feeling just a bit confident now since she knew she'd encountered this before.

Smiling in preparation, and ignoring her locked legs for now, she concentrated on her shield, since odds were the stunning spell would hit first.

Bring her wand up in a firm upward flick, she pronounced the incantation as confidently as she could. "Protego!"

Sure enough the jet of blue light hit her shield front and center its aim so true that Ivory doubted that if it hadn't been for the practice with Lawson, she never would've had a strong enough shield for it. Against her will, she felt a grudging sort of respect for the other girl...but by all means that did not mean she liked her.

Now for the birds about to peck her to death...

Remembering her duel in the dueling arena, where Gold had sent a volley of birds much like these (although they'd been blue and not quite so sinister looking) Ivory brought up her wand and jabbed with the smallest flick at the last possible second just when they'd begun to swarm around her.

"Immobulus!"

In her mind a giant PAUSE button seemed to have been hit.

And just like then, all the birds held still in mid flight as if they were hummingbirds and merely flying in place not only not attacking her, and heaven forbid pooping on her but also obscuring her from view.

Sound maybe check. Sight check for now...sort of.

Hoping the Muffliato was still in play Ivory peeked through the birds and aimed her wand with a well thought out Babbling Curse. Not only would it be good for laughs and maybe rouse a few more gamblers to their arena but maybe even enough distraction to fix her legs so she wouldn't fall...fall...hmmm.

Bending ever so slightly to aim, at a point a little in front of the Slytherin, Ivory cast a Trip Jinx for good measure...juuust in case she tried to come forward a bit to see through the birds or maybe as a reserve for later.

And with that she brought up her shield again."Protego!"here really was no better friend in a duel.

Evelyn, still kicking up a good pile of dirt and rocks with her stinging feet, watched the Ravenclaw girl act as if she had to use the bathroom. Really, she should've gone before she came! But what really made her start to snicker slightly was the fact that she could now really see the girl's skin color. Was she rooting for her, the Slytherin, to win? Well good. She should be.

A sudden feeling of satisfaction arose in her at the sight of the girl's bound legs. She was amazed though that McShort Short hadn't fallen over. This girl had good balance, which only made Evelyn angry at the thought. The Ravenclaw should have fallen over by now; well she was hoping the girl would have. And her other spell did nothing? No matter. Her beautiful flock of black birds would surely give the final blow she was looking for right?

Now done with the pile of dirt, while keeping a quick and watchful eye on the girl, Evelyn moved in front of it as if she didn't care about it anymore, suddenly seeing her flock of birds pause in mid air in front of the Ravenclaw. Well that failed, but making the girl fall over wasn't the only thing she had in mind when sending those birds. Make the girl lose part of her senses, even if just a little. It was only fair considering that she herself couldn't hear anything at the moment but that constant annoying buzzing. "Finite incantatum." she mumbled quietly as she pointed her wand to herself, looking as if her lips hadn't moved at all.

Aw there we go. In a split second, the sudden sound of the eerie silence of the forest, footsteps on the dirt, and crackling of the fire from the torches whooshed through her ears, making her sigh in relief for only a moment before throwing up a shield. "Protego!" she said louder than usual, seeing something suddenly hit it. Well now, she was liking and hating this Ravenclaw more and more. She didn't even see the girl cast that spell, whatever it was. Gah...

Her own birds were in the way...

It was a pity that they were so beautiful too. The orange light from the flickering torches played off of their sleek black feathers so well. Oh well, she could always conjure more later on. "This is no time for hide and seek little Shorty." she laughed in a slight evil way before raising her wand and slicing it down in front of her. "Deprimo!"

Now with half the birds gone..."There you are." she smiled mischievously, seeing the Ravenclaw in perfect view now. Taking one step back so her foot was behind the pile of dirt, she scooted it forward next to her, not so close where the tripping jinx hit her though, and pointed her wand towards the Ravenclaw. Evelyn was extremely grateful now that she had worked on her speed with casting spells when at home in the countryside.

"Relashio! Rectusempra!" One more step forward, along with her pile of dirt, had her almost to the middle of the arena. Stepping forward in front of it again, she sent one a silent Expelliarmus to the girl, one of the few spells she had been able to somewhat master non verbally already before adding one more for safe measures...

"Diffindo!"

He had found a nice spot for them. High up in the viewing seats. A pair of black omnioculars perched on the end of a metal bar like opera glasses whipped out and held close to his face.

His eyebrows raised at the remarks made from one girl to the other. "Oh! OH! Are you gunna take that, Shorty?! Give 'er what for!" He goaded the one girl.

Celandine, drawn and pale, sat at Prospero's side, the dark circles under her eyes making it clear she'd not slept a lot. She was murmuring under her breath as she watched the duel begin and the teeth marks in her lip showed how much worrying she'd done already. Ivory was only a first year and sure, Evelyn wasn't much older but the Slytherin girl had the makings of an excellent dueler one day. Cela thought all the talking was a weakness though, better to zip lip and just duel.

Her eyes flickered to Ivory and Cela continued murmuring soundlessly, repeating over and over each and every spell the duelers used. It was like even under this sort of stress she couldn't help but analyse the progress of the duel, like she had nowhere else for her mind to retreat to.

Ivory needed to shield faster and concentrate on disarming and disabling Evelyn. She'd be better off if she kept it simple. Strong and simple.

Hollow smile upon his face, he turned to Cela and held out the specs in an offering gesture. But, then drew them back, remembering what she did to his flask. He missed it. Mummy had it engraved and everything. How could he have forgotten to pick it back up?

He looked down at the arena with and without the omnioculars, before deciding that he liked the view of the arena without them. "What a fight, eh, Kit...Cela?"

"Evelyn is really good." Cela almost added 'one day she'll be better than I am' but managed to hold her tongue as her eyes flickered between the two duelers. And Ivory? She was holding out so well for a first year. Celandine couldn't help be proud of the little Ravenclaw even though she was on the edge of her seat with worry.

She went back to murmuring silently to herself.

Little shorty!

Grrr.

Peeking through the birds, trying to get a better aim, Ivory jumped to and fro. She hadn't won her elementary's sack race to just fall now did she.

Little did she know she had thought that too soon. For as soon as she'd taken a hop forward, a hole was blasted through the wall of birds in front of her, exploding feathers and beaks and gutswho knew what else hard against her shield. So hard in fact that if she'd had control of her feet she probably would've had to brace herself, but since her darn legs were still locked together the explosion rocked her back and she fell...
In her head she imagined, the Slytherin as a lumberjack yelling 'Timber!' as she fell hard on the brittle rock littered ground.

Giving a small yelp as a rock cut into the back of her head, and she felt whatcould only be blood since she didn't remember there being a water balloon there. Staring dazed at the overhanging of tree branches, she watched a jet of sliver light that was distinguishing of the Tickling Charm shoot over her head. Wait a minute...she'd heard two spells.

Crouching forward she saw her the effects of another. NO FIRE! SHE WAS SOO NOW CATCHING ON FIRE! Bright sparks had played over the edge of her robes, and she felt the stinging feeling that meant she had burns. Without thinking she brought up her wand between her lips, holding it while she patted the small flames out, only to be sent back sprawling against the same stupid rock with her arms suddenly expelled upwards.

Gosh darn it. Was she ever going to get up? Between the leg-locker curse and disarming spells, for a second she had the urge to throw her wand and admit defeat. Grabbing her wand in hand though, her eyes glued on the blue flame and as she stared at it, her eyes darkened in determination. No...if she was going down, it would be kicking and screaming and bringing the Abominable Snowman down with her.

Hearing a man in the audience yelling for retribution reinforced and solidified her resolve. No more nice shorty.

"PROTEGO!" In a quick movement that felt more like instinct then technique, her hand arced her wand upwards with the tiniest distinguishing flick at the end just like Lawson had taught her
.
Recalling everything she'd learned about strengthening her shield, her intent had never been more pronounced as she felt the pressure of it increase as it expanded. Following the angle of the Yeti's wand she looked up at the overhanging tree branches, and angled her shield as she saw a jet of light shoot from its wand.

Concentrating on the effect she wanted, she watched smirking as the severing charm hit her shield and rebounded at an angle to a large tree branch overhanging Sasquatch. Sending it plummeting down. Staring at soon to be squashed other girl, she decided to add another for good measure because she hadn't even heard the disarming spell. "Sonorous!"

Using the next split second to cast "Finite Incantanum" on her legs, she jumped to her feet and brought her shield up again. Oh wow it felt good to bend those knees...sliding sideways she got behind the remaining birds. Now she knew how old people with arthritis felt. Poor old people. But now was not the time to feel sorry for them.

Knowing she probably didn't have much time but relishing the advantages of mobile joints, her eyes roved around and landed on the pile of dirt.

Lighting up as she remembered the spell she'd learned in her first herbology class, she aimed her wand and pronounced forcefully. "Siccus aerous!" A blast of strong hot air whooshed forward and hit the pile of dirt sending up a cloud of dirt.

From behind the smoke she cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled Protego then dropped down to the floor spying her opponent's quite luminous pale feet.

In a low voice with her lips not even moving she whispered a well aimed "Incarcerous." before bringing up her shield again.

Aw finally, the Shorty fell over. It was a little too late now, though it was still a pleasant thing to see. Plus for an added bonus, the girl's robes caught on fire. How brilliant was this duel?

But in the next moments, the girl was on her feet and was now hiding behind the beautiful black birds. Really now. Was she going to have to destroy all of her birds? Now that was just sad.

Although, she couldn't even raise her wand when there was a sudden blast of warm air around her feet. What was the girl doing? Wait...no! Her dirt pile! She ruined it! Looking behind her, her dirt pile she work hard to make was now floating in the air, making it look quite dusty in the arena. As it whirled around her, she turned back around to glare at the girl only see ropes coming her way. Out of instinct, she jumped forward over them, glad that they were low to the ground, and summer salted once before stopping crouched down on one foot and knee, smirking at the girl.

A split second later though, she turned around and ran back through the dirt cloud, kicking up as much dirt as possible to hide any trace of her. Looking down at the ground, she might as well make it easier for herself to hear and spot her enemy. "Aguamenti." she muttered quietly, looking up for any sign of spells that may be headed her way. She slightly ran a line of water down from one side of the ring to the other, before running back again, making it quite muddy before moving back towards her previous side of the ring, kicking up more dirt.

"OW." she hissed, stopping just for a moment to see what she had kicked. Stupid rocks.

Moving into the shadows, she peered at the arena in front of her, shaking her head and smiling. Well wasn't this a complete turn in events. Might as well send the Shorty a little gift now right for thinking up such a brilliant idea. "Serpensortia." she said, pointing at the ground in front of her and watching the big black and green snake appear. "Geminio. Geminio."

Now, three giant black and green snakes were there, but it still wasn't good enough to send as a gift to her dear short Ravenclaw friend. Something was missing. "Engorgio." she muttered, pointing her wand at the middle snake. Aw, there we go.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are Shorty!" she called out, snickering a little before going completely silent again, only breaking the silence to say one word. "Oppugno."

"Hope you like your gifts!" Walking silently around the side of the arena so she was moving closer and closer towards the girl, still keeping close to the shadows, she lifted her hood back up, watching and hearing for any sign of the girl, all the while seeing her snakes disappear in the dirt cloud.

Prospero watched with an eager eye as the one called Evelyn did her thing with the snakes. She wore the little streak of malice quite well. Indeed, he had to remind himself of its artifice for on her it looked quite natural. "I would have to agree."

Now to the little one he looked. What had she up her sleeve to combat the snakes?

Ivory smiled as the cloud of dust circled around them, but then quickly frowned as the Slytherin ran kicking up even more with her huuuge feet, shrouding them both.

After a few seconds of examining the whirl of dirt, through the dust, she saw a shadow move the length of the arena. What was Big foot doing? This wasn't a runway and for the record see was abnormally proportioned anyway.

Maybe a toe-nail growing hex would make things a little harder. Smirking evily, she raised her wand and was about to cast when she paused. A little ways ahead down the length that the Yeti had walked there seemed to be a tiny stream of water. Thinking it was better to work quickly, she aimed her wand at the tiny stream."Duro!"

Watching the mud harden and on her guard now, Ivory kept her shield tight to her body as she followed the Sasquatch's shadow this way and that. And then she didn't need to look because she was announcing her presence loudly with a hissed 'OW!'

Pinpointing the source of the sound, Ivory peered through the now settling dust and eyed her opponent who was in the midsts of conjuring snakes. Gifts her big toe. But she was so not going to get distracted with unwitty banter.

"Impedimenta!"
Aiming at the girl and not the snakes, her mind whirled. What to do? They were snakes! Holy Merlin's belly button lint and one was huge. Hearing the slytherin yell 'oppungo' made her take one tiny step back and then forward with her indecision.
And then she couldn't think anymore because there they were, rearing their heads, with their fangs dripping with venom, about to wind up her leg and-

Pretend they're birds. Pretend they're just birds.
"Stupefy!""Stupefy!"

Agh!The big one had wound up her back and then striked at her side, the fangs sinking in deep, where she suddenly felt a numb spot with pain."Stupefy!"

Wincing in discomfort, figuring the venom would kick in at a later time, she decided to use them to her advantage. Her stunning spell was her weakest and only lasted a few seconds so they were bound to start attacking again any second now. Thinking fast, she grabbed them by the tail as one of the small ones began coming to. Tying them together and using them as a bolus, she launched them through the air, hoping they'd wrap around Yeti's legs or at least give her bite or two.

Rolling her shoulders to shrug off her new pain, she turned her neck quickly to the side stretching it out a bit-which is right around when she saw something that made her smile in spite of her pain. Ants...fire ants and the Slytherin was bare foot.

"Oppungo!"

As ants began to swarm into the arena, even she herself felt a moment of fear. There must've been a ant hill nearby because what was nearing her opponent were intimidating little monsters climbing over each other in swarm upon swarm. Lets see if her feet were big enough that!

She hoped that was a good enough distraction for now and if not well there was still the trip jinx on the spot on the ground directly behind her.

Her one shot spells were doing nothing for her and she had to be quicker especially with the venom in her system.

"PROTEGO!"Sidestepping and favoring her side, she brought up her arm exaggeratedly as if she was casting a shield but then murmured two quick spells one right after the other on the well aimed upwards flick.

"Petrificus Totalus. Expelliarmus."

And then she took a few circling steps to be behind the birds once more, if anything they'd work as mini individual shields in case hers failed.

Hearing the one word, Evelyn resisted the urge to cringe as her plan with the mud seemed to not be in effect anymore. That Short McShort Short was really getting on her last nerves, ruining all her plans. First the dirt pile, now the mud...

Having been too distracted from the mud and watching the snakes slither towards the Ravenclaw, she was not aware of the jet of light coming towards her until the last second. She wasn't fast enough to move out of the way, but she was lucky enough to have moved enough where the spell only hit her left shoulder, making her stumbled back slightly.

Oh that felt funny. Wincing, she rolled her shoulder, feeling like it needed to pop or something, but couldn't. Looking, or at least trying to, through the dust cloud, she heard the other three spells that sent her over the edge. Did that girl just...hurt her snakes!? Moving a little more to the right so she could actually see what was going on, still staying in the shadows of course, she saw the three snakes wrapped around her, although now the girl was taking them and...tying them. And then...OH DEAR MERLIN! This girl was juuuust asking for a death wish wasn't she!

Anger shot through her as she watched her snakes being thrown in the air. "Wingardium Leviosa." she whispered, swishing and flicking her wand towards the snakes, making them hover before hitting the ground. With another flick of her wand towards the girl, she sent them flying back, smirking as they did so-

"Ow." she muttered, lifting her foot up instinctively as she felt something bite her. What was that? Looking down, to her horror she saw a huge red mass coming towards her feet rather quickly, a few of them already making it there and crawling over her feet. Ow ow ow OW OW! Clamping her mouth shut, she jumped her from the pile of ants, stumbling backwards as she flailed her feet around to get the fire ants off.

Pausing for a moment, far enough away from the ants for the moment of course, she looked down at her feet. Small red bumps were appearing on them, noticeable through the cuts and scratches on her feet. Greeeaaat. What next hmm?

Seeing the mass of ants come closer, she listened to the Ravenclaw shout out the shield charm, making her smirk. The air was still quite dusty, giving the arena a misty look, and she moved even closer into the shadows, practically behind the torches now. Moving around, she watched two spells miss completely, going towards where she was previously standing as she silently made her way behind the girl.

Eh, she might as well have a little fun before taking her victory. Yes, she was extremely confident that she was going to win, if that was a good or bad she didn't know. Didn't some animals like to play with their food before eating it anyways? hehe.

Sending a stinging hex and a Confringo towards the Ravenclaw, she moved back around in the shadows before pointing her wand to one of the torches. "Aguamenti." she said, watching the water douse the fire out before moving on to the next rather quickly. "Siccus aerous"

More shadows filled the arena as she blew out the torches, making her smirk. "Protego."

Out of the corner of his eye, Samuel spotted Prospero and the little blond know-it-all that he had caught snooping in his pub. Not wanting to miss too much of the duel, he backed up towards the two never taking his eyes off his two little puppets.

"Nice of you to make it Prospero and I see you brought our friend back." Samuel smirked as he finally managed to tear his gaze away from the duelers and he looked at the man. "You must be losing your touch my good man. She doesn't have a mark on her."

Samuel wondered how difficult Prospero would be when he asked for the girl back. Because he realized that he did indeed have use for her after all.

A flit of emotions passed over Ivory's face. Many of them didn't really matter like fear or respect, the only one that did was anger. Swishing and flicking her wand, she too levitated the snakes and then brought them in front of her as she watched the Yeti's feet get swarmed with ants.

Not able to resist a chuckle (thats what she got for being barefoot afterall) Ivory used that small moment to cinch her jacket tighter around her waist, hoping it would ward off the numbness of that area. As it was her heart rate was slowly increasing slightly and she felt as if a fit of adrenaline was running through her body. Almost as if everything going on around her was slow motion but she herself was moving incredibly fast.

Her eyes very wide and alert she watched the jet of white light from the stinging hex shot her way slowly. It was as if she had all the time in the world and she lifted her wand casually levitating the triad of snakes in front of her to intercept first it then the second spell.

One of the smaller snakes became unrecognizable as it became tight, swollen, and puffy as though it had suffered some violent allergic reaction, its already snakelike eyes narrowing more. The sight of it reminded her of muggle balloons that clowns would blow up for children and she had a childlike urge to bend and twist it into a bunny or something. Unfortunately, she didn't get a chance to do any such thing because in the next instant the larger snake erupted into large flames and it regained more of its mobility struggling against her levitation spell, a writhing long flame in the air.

Figuring the worst thing that could happen was that it would come floating back, she rushed it towards the Slytherin with as much force as she could muster just in time to see her slowly making her way around the arena and turning out the torches.

Oo ho ho. So she thought she could do better in the dark did she....

Moving her wand to encompass the entire area, she concentrated on thinking of dead flowers, brittle and dry and the type that if you stepped on would crunch uproariously.

"Orchideous!"
Dead flowers erupted from her wand coating the entire floor. If Big Foot took a step she'd be sure to hear.

Looking around however she decided to take an extra precaution.
Staring at the edges of the arena where the wooden poles were situated around the circumfernce she reached out her hand and strategically pushed the one nearest her which pushed down the next one and then the next one. One by one, by domino effect, they all fell, the tip of one landing on the end of another and a low fire was starting. Eeh...might as well speed up the process.

Squinting her eyes in concentration, she aimed her wand. Her mind intent on controlling the flame. "Incendio!"

A flame erupted on one wooden torch and quickly spread until a circle of flame surrounded them leaving them both visible to each other. Well aside from half the immobilized birds that covered a bit of the arena. Luckily, her side.

Now with a clear view at Big Foot and her ant bitten feet, Ivory glared without holding back as she casted her next spell. "Furnunculus!"

Tucking forward into a forward somersault she then rolled to her knees behind the birds once more and shot off another one. "Petrificus Totalus!"

She didn't know how long this adrenaline would last but she was going to milk it for all it was worth.

Bringing up her shield once more, she rolled her shoulders predatorialy and waited.

Evelyn watched the girl move the snakes in front of herself more as a shield than anything. Hadn't the snakes suffered enough?! And the poor smallest snake of them all, pathetic looking and just horrid. This Shorty did that to him! How dare she!?

But Evelyn suddenly forgot about any revenge or anger when she saw what happened next. Fire. And it was the largest snake on fire. Two of her most favorite things in the world, together. It was a pity that the snake wasn't a dragon though. In fact, she was too busy staring at the flames on the withering snake to realize that it was coming straight towards her! She was a split second too late when raising her wand to slow the three snakes down when it hit her. And hit her hard...sending her to the ground. Why in the world did she make that one snake this big? It weighed a ton!!

Gasping, she sat up, trying to get the entanglement of snake off of her, especially since that biggest one was engulfed in flames. She could feel the heat of it burn through her clothes and onto her skin and arm as suddenly there was a piercing pain on her right shoulder extremely close to her neck. What was that?! Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut as she finally flung the thing away from her, opening her eyes and watching the three snakes struggle with each other.

Again, there was no time to really pay attention to anything. As a little gift from her own fiery snake, it left her sleeve on and part of the front of her robes on fire. "Aguamenti!" she said, casting the spell on herself, thankful that her wand arm wasn't burned. She had enough to deal with from the shooting pain in her shoulder. Reaching her hand up as she stood up, she gently touched her neck, feeling something wet. Was it the water she just conjured? Please, someone tell her it was just water...

Not wanting to look though, she closed her eyes for a moment, taking everything in. The shorty just conjured flowers for probably some idiot reason, her neck/shoulder and feet were in searing pain making her slightly blurry eyed, along with her left arm...OH dear MERLIN! Opening her eyes, she moved up her sleeve and took something out, examining it quickly to see if it had got burned in the attack. No. No it was good.

Smirking, she suddenly heard the Ravenclaw cast some fire spell, looking up only to see all the torches had been pushed over, making a ring of fire around the arena. Well, she was forgetting something quite important now wasn't she! DUH! She needed a partner to actually duel with unless she wanted to knock herself out. Evelyn wouldn't mind if she did that, but still, she was on the OUTSIDE of the ring...

Rolling her eyes, she watched as a medium sized wall of fire lit around the arena quickly, and she made a hasty decision to take off her jacket revealing the burns on her left arm and a bit on her cheek as well. The jacket was ruined anyways. That Ravie was going to need to buy her a new jacket! Taking a leaping jump, she landed in the arena, only to find herself stepping on dead flowers and to have spells being cast at her.

Jeez! Could she ever get a break?!

"PROTEGO!" she yelled out, holding up not one wand, but TWO wands, (one lighter than the other), and creating two shields in the process. The two spells bounced off of her shields quite easily, making her smirk.

Aww the Shorty was hiding again. That was sweet. But Evelyn had no intention of playing Hide and Seek with the girl. Not now. Not ever.

"Finite Incantatem! Geminio!" she yelled at the birds, watching them start to actually move again. With two wands now though, even though she was only used to using one, instead of the birds multiplying once, they multiplied twice. "Oppugno!"

Scooting her feet along the dirt ground, wincing as the dirt and dead leaves of the flowers scooted their way into the cuts on her the bottom and top of her feet, she moved around until she was more towards her own side of the arena.

Stopping, she took a deep breathe and took a step forward, sending another "Confringo!" towards the Ravenclaw, along with... "Sectumsempra!"

Pausing for a moment, she closed her eyes, squeezing them shut as she had to lower her arm. Her shoulder was killing her, and it felt as if the pain was spreading. Gah! She didn't need anymore problems!

Opening her eyes again, if one looked closely enough and were really paying attention, they would have noticed that they were not the usual bright hazel that one would normally see her eyes as, but they were black.

Ivory felt her jaw literally drop.How on Merlin's blueberry was that even allowed? She'd known this girl was low but low enough to steal somebody's wand?

Feeling as if it was a dirty underhanded trick, she lifted her shield because something was happening to the birds in front of her. They were moving again!

But alright she'd imagined this would happen eventually but seeing the same thing happen twice in one duel was not something expected.
Taking a few steps back as the birds began to attack, it was just pure luck when a flash of light hit one of the birds and caused it to explode in flames.
Having looked up at the sudden sound, she gave a little yelp as a burning feather falling exactly on her cheek. Grimacing against the pain, she flicked it off and brought out her wand as quickly as she could although a bit flustered. "Protego!" Her legs locked against the ground as a spell her shield, only to fall back as a slice made its way across the birds and through to her catching her across the left shoulder. The birds continuing to peck and claw at her.

Bringing up her wand in a short thrust of her wand closely followed by the upward left flick exactly as Professor Kazimeriz had showed her. Imagining the birds there and then gone, pronounced the vanishing charm. "Evanesco!"

Glad for the evil things to have left, she looked up, gasping in pain, she grunted her teeth and aimed her wand. "Expelliarmus!" followed closely by a Petrificus Totalus, flew from her lips.

Her adrenaline running more slowly now she fell to one knee and then casted the one spell that she was personally very aware of."Confundus!"

And then her shield was back.