Cris blinked in surprise not expecting his spell to work especially when she had cast her shield charm at about the same time that he did. But there is was. The rope reeling spell he had cast at her, found its mark. Her wrist. As the rope began reeling her towards him, he began to smile.

"Yes I got you fair and square and I'm really happy I did," he smiled at her as she moved closer towards him. He ended the spell saying, "Finite" and watched the rope disappear from around Jasmine's wrist.

He laughed when she raised her arms up in surrender and reached up to pull them down. "The singing spell huh? Jasmine, all you needed to do was ask," he grinned down at her before looking around to make sure no one was near enough to hear him.

"I would have hemmed and hawwed at first but then I would have done this...," Cris placed one arm around Jasmine's waist and held her hand with the other. Then as he began to dance with her, Cris began to sing.

"It's been a long and winding journey, but i'm finally here tonight
Picking up the pieces, and walking back into the light
Into the sunset of your glory, where my heart and future lies
There's nothing like that feeling, when I look into your eyes...

My dreams came true, when i found you
I found you, my miracle...

If you could see, what I see, that you're the answer to my prayers
And if you could feel, the tenderness I feel
You would know, it would be clear, that angels brought me here..." Cris ended, smiling tenderly down at her as he twirled her around once and then stopped dancing.

"Are you ready to leave now?" Cris asked as he looked deeply into her eyes.

SPOILER!!: so which are you, Kevin, hmmmmmmm? GOING OVER TO THE DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE? HMMMMMM?! XD

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi

...Fictional...alien...what?

The boy sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead tiredly. He knew an alien language? "How'd you even kn-...no nevermind, i don't think i even want to know..." Because he didn't want him to go on and on on how he had learned this fictional alien language. He wanted to duel. But as he lowered his hand, he suddenly remembered that there was SOMETHING on his forehead. He had completely forgotten about it because he had been used to the writing by now. "And remove this stupid writing okay? why did you even think i would FORGET this?" He wasn't the type of person who forgot something quickly and when he did forgot a thing it was usually because he wanted to forget it.

Why was everyone so surprised to hear he had studied? "Yeah? so? got a problem with that!?" He only did it because he wanted to defeat the guy. Not because he liked studying. "I had wanted to practise with Donny but it didn't really go well, the guy is crazy!" ahem, of course he hadn't said ANYTHING about him being the one who had provoked the attacks. Oooor...that he had kind of threatened him... Best to keep that a secret.

As he stood on the platform, he watched the Professor as he conjured up a bandage out of thin air and then gave it to him. The Gryffindor's eyes twinkled as he walked towards him and took the bandage. Okay...so how did he do this? He looked confused for a moment as he tried to figure out how on earth he was supposed to tie his arm down. On the back was just too much work so he decided to keep his arm at the side and then began to wrap it around his torso. After he had walked around three times, the lion grinned and stepped away.

Ha! this was so cool! wait till his friends heard about this muwahaha.....oh wait..he had none.

"I read we have to bow before a duel but i don't like bowing to anyone so let's skip that part and get on with the fun, okay?" he said as he raised his wand and pointed it at the Professor.

The smirk tugging on his lips only grew wider. He supposed he could have gone into detail about how useful these fictional foreign languages could be. Or even made up ones between friends. He had never been the linguist among his small group of friends in the Gryffindor Tower, but he did have an ear for languages and found learning them to be an excellent way to exercise his brain. But that was beside the point because now Mr. Hirase was complaining about the memo on his forehead. "Better safe than sorry," he chuckled as he waved his wand lazily towards the boy and instantly cleaned his forehead. It was even shiny clean now. You're welcome!

"You don't see me complaining, do you?" he subtly taunted. "Pleased would be the better term, that you are so passionate and driven to accomplish a personal goal." Even if it was a bit far fetched. Because, let's face it, there was no way the astronomer was going to allow himself to lose to a student. He would never hear the end of it. "Well, it will be interesting to see what tricks, if any, you picked up from your training session," he mused.

Resisting the urge to wiggle and give the Gryffindor a hard time while wrapping the bandage around him, Airey focused his attention on his wand that he was still idly twirling between his fingers. Oh, he was done? NOW he was going to wiggle and see just how snug it was....which it seemed to be pretty snug since he really could only wiggle his fingers and sort of move his arm away from his side. "Well, Mr. Hirase, if you choose not to bow that is your choice. I, however, will," he said as he bowed, somewhat awkwardly because his balance was a little impaired, and refrained from taking any sort of dueling stance just yet. "Typically, when a duellists does not respect their opponent they do not bow correctly," he continued, eyebrow raised at the Gryffindor before him. Yeah, he was sort of pushing the young man's buttons right now, but ooops? "I certainly hope that you are not implying that you don't respect me, Mr. Hirase. No respect leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering."

If only he had both of his hands free so he could mimic Yoda ears. Alas.

Jasmine had lost and usually she would be bummed for a while after losing.......but not this time. She wasn't upset because she felt like she had won and gotten the best prize of all.

Wait, was Cris going to sing for her after all? He spun Jasmine around and started to dance with her. She was in heaven until he started to sing softly so only she could hear. Where were you when you were two steps above heaven? That's where Jasmine was. Cris' voice was so beautiful and so full of emotion. And the song he sang..........was he going to make her cry........again? Giving her a final twirl, Cris finished the song. "Wow", was all Jasmine managed to say. "I had no idea that you had that.......that voice inside of you. That was beautiful."

Cris asked Jasmine if she was ready to leave, but she was still caught up in his singing and the emotion of the song. "What? Oh, yes I'm ready to leave." With that, Jasmine started to pack up her things and prepare to leave the arena.

Angel smiled at Leah. "It's okay bestie." Angel giggled as she had no idea what she would do now. "What is Lentesco?" Angel had never heard of that spell.

O________________o

It was a gluing spell "Oh never mind." Angel pouted as she tried to not touch anything then, she giggled. "Hey does that mean if I touch you, we would be stuck together?" Angel didn't know many spells but she had heard of a few. "Engorgio." Angel pointed her wand at Leah's feet.

Lex chuckled at Cutty's brilliant point. It was always better knowing a spell as opposed to being faced with a situation that required it but having no knowledge of how to proceed. "Fair point. Even more reason to learn it then. 'Sides, I'll be of age once summer rolls around. I may not have anything to blow up at school but I can think of some good uses once I'm out of this place." She couldn't wait! It promised to be one of the best summers she'd had in a while.

And there was something. Looking to get some practice in. "Yeah?" Lex regarded the Third Year with avid curiosity. "What kind of spells you been reading about? Hexes? Curses? Defensive magic?" She didn't mind defense but the Gryffindor always felt better on the offence. Nothing quite like a curse done proper inflicting damage the way it should to get your blood pumping.

The Prefect thought over his suggestion. What she'd been blowing up? A dummy, but she supposed it couldn't give off that big an explosion just the way it was. Pity too, she was looking to entertain herself while she practice. Lex watched him enlargen the dummy once it was back in one piece then took aim again. "Bombarda Maxima!" It wasn't quite the earth shattering effect she'd expected but it was far more impressive than the others so she'd take it.

"You know..." She said, now looking to him again, "You could give those spells a shot if you want. I wouldn't mind sparring with you." Y'know, if he was up for it.

The moment Cris ended his song, he began to feel embarrassed. He hadn't intended to sing, but being here, despite them being in this dueling arena, with Jasmine, he felt comfortable and relaxed. And so he sang for her. Whether it was the right thing to do, Cris was now hesitant.

With abated breath, he waited to see what Jasmine's reaction would be. When she remained silent for a few seconds, he started to regret his momentary lapse in judgment. But when she began to smile, and compliment his voice, he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled back at her.

Feeling very self conscious right at this moment, all Cris could do was chuckle nervously and say,"Beautiful? I don't think that my singing voice can be classified as that, but since that compliment is coming from you, I'll gladly accept that."

So she was ready to go? Cris went over to pick up his things before walking over to join Jasmine. Slipping his hand into hers, he left the arena with her.

"Well, My Head of House DID say i have a GREAT deal of potential" Kevin said in a voice that whoever heard it would know he was stroking his ego. But his lack of not wanting to do any homework got in the way of his *great deal of potential*. At least he had a normal looking forehead again without any ridiculous writing on it.

Ah...the tricks he had learned. They weren't many tricks he had learned but he definitely knew more than that he did a year ago. So who knows?

He watched as the Professor began to wiggle his arm , probably to see if it was snug enough and when he confirmed that he couldn't move his arm much the Gryffindor smiled proudly at his work while crossing his arms over each other. And then he was talking about disrespect and not bowing or whatever. The second year rolled his eyes. "Oh no, i don't disrespect you good sir" he said in a mocking voice. He disrespected all authority. Bunch of stuck ups they were in Kevin's mind. Always thinking they were better.

He unfolded his arms when the Professor did bow for him, although it looked weird because of his tied arm , and held his Phoenix feather wand in his right hand, getting ready. But the man continued to talk instead of duel after he bowed.

No respect leads to anger..anger leads...what on earth did that even mean?! Kevin huffed loudly because one he had no idea what the man was trying to imply and second, he didn't want to talk, he wanted to duel. Typical Gryffindor eh? And besides, he wanted payback for last year. So when the Professor was talking about Anger leading to Hate and BLAHBLAH , the Gryffindor had pointed his wand at him and with a swish that he had learned he shouted.

"petrificus totalus!"

There was no light that his eyes could follow but he sure hoped that it had caught him of guard and that it had hit its target. Yes, it was dirty. And yes, he had told another student he would never duel like that...but if the Professor could attack him during his first year while HE had been defenseless...he could do the same.

SPOILER!!: Angel bestie ^_^

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Angel smiled at Leah. "It's okay bestie." Angel giggled as she had no idea what she would do now. "What is Lentesco?" Angel had never heard of that spell.

O________________o

It was a gluing spell "Oh never mind." Angel pouted as she tried to not touch anything then, she giggled. "Hey does that mean if I touch you, we would be stuck together?" Angel didn't know many spells but she had heard of a few. "Engorgio." Angel pointed her wand at Leah's feet.

Ah it hit the hand Angel was not holding her wand with. Leah had hoped to glue the young girl's hand to her wand so that it made her difficult to move. Eh, this was fine too. The second year backed away, pretending to be afraid. "Aah, I don't want to be stuck with you forever!" she said. "Just kidding. I'll happily be with you together."

Before she could get rid of the smile on her lips, a spell came shooting at Leah's feet. Though it was her feet that were growing bigger, her eyes followed them and she stared with wide-eyes at her them. "F-finite! Finite!" The growing stopped but her pretty boots were torn at the edges. Those could be fixed later on. "Impressive, Angel. I forgot to tell you that you can put a stop to spell with 'Finite'." And it was Leah's turn now, kinda. There were no orders in dueling anyway. "Gelatinus!" And a loose lightning bolt wand movement followed. "Are you okay? Can you stand still?" Leah asked, worriedly. She started moving towards her best friend but fell down because of her large feet. Brushing herself, the girl said, "Jelly-Legs Jinx. Effects you should know." Oh gosh this was difficult. "Hey can you help me up, please?" Leah was trying to help Angel after all.

Oh so Leah decided to tell her that she could use the finite spell on any spells after she was done casting and before she could do anything her friend had hit her with another spell, that was not nice now was it she fell down and her hand obviously got stuck to the floor and her wand was somewhere else because she had dropped it when she had fallen to the floor. "I'm on the floor near you and my wand is over there." Angel would have pointed it out for her friend but her hand was stuck to the floor.

O______________o

"Can you get up?" Angel started to laugh at the situation they found themselves in, her she was stuck to the ground because everything she touched stuck to her hand and there was her friend with big feet. "I'd love to help you up bit I'm in a bit of a pickle myself." Angel laughed as tears came down her face. "This is the last time I duel with you Bestie!! You don't tell me half the stuff I need to know." Angel giggled. "Like if I had known you could cancel a spell I wouldn't know be stuck to the floor."

After a successful dueling session with Jasmine, Cris was hooked. He loved having the opportunity to practice casting the spells he had learned at the dummies and better yet, sparring with others.

....and Professor Romanos' DADA homework assignment now gave him the opportunity to do the former. Practice the Reductor spell on one of the dummies in the dueling arena. So here he was.

Cris walked over to the middle of the arena and first did some warming up exercises. The last thing he needed was a sprained wrist or arm. Once he was nicely limbered up, Cris positioned himself in front of the dummies. Remembering what Professor Romanos had told him about taking his time, Cris didn't rush his movements.

First he practiced the wand movements for the spell. A quick slash to the right and then to the left, forming a sideways V. Cris practiced the wand movements over and over again until his movements were fluid and fast. Now it was time to try casting the spell.

First he picked a spot on the dummy. Next, he closed his eyes and brought up the image of what he wanted his spell to do and that was to blast the dummy into smithereens. Concentrating on that very image, Cris opened his eyes and brought up his wand.

He then positioned himself, standing sideways, evenly distributing his weight on the balls of his feet. Then he pointed his wand at the dummy and with a quick slash to the right and then to the left, forming a V formation, Cris called out,"Reducto" at the same time.

He watched as a blue beam of light shot out from his wand and flew straight towards the dummy he was focusing on, hitting it right in the middle.

BAM!!. Cris watched as the dummy blew apart, stuffing flying all over the place. Ending the spell, calling out "Finite," as he walked over to examine the dummy.

Okay dummy heal yourself.

SPOILER!!: Angel XD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Oh so Leah decided to tell her that she could use the finite spell on any spells after she was done casting and before she could do anything her friend had hit her with another spell, that was not nice now was it she fell down and her hand obviously got stuck to the floor and her wand was somewhere else because she had dropped it when she had fallen to the floor. "I'm on the floor near you and my wand is over there." Angel would have pointed it out for her friend but her hand was stuck to the floor.

O______________o

"Can you get up?" Angel started to laugh at the situation they found themselves in, her she was stuck to the ground because everything she touched stuck to her hand and there was her friend with big feet. "I'd love to help you up bit I'm in a bit of a pickle myself." Angel laughed as tears came down her face. "This is the last time I duel with you Bestie!! You don't tell me half the stuff I need to know." Angel giggled. "Like if I had known you could cancel a spell I wouldn't know be stuck to the floor."

O_o This was getting bad. Angel, with her hand sticky with glue, got a full-blast Jelly-Legs Jinx and fell down, her hand stuck to the ground. Still, Leah could not help but laugh. They were both in awkward positions. The older girl pushed herself up with great effort. She was still not adjusted to her new-size feet. She was afraid of using the shrinking spell herself, what if she messed something up?

"This is hard. I need a walking stick or something." Leah sighed. She walked over to Angel and picked up her wand for her. "Yes, I can see that. A bit of a... pickle." She smiled. "I'm sorry. I'm a bad teacher." Leah really was bad. She let her best friend land in this situation. "I don't know if Finite will work right now. You need an unsticking charm or something." Something she did not know of.

"Do you want to stop the duel and get someone to unstick you from the floor and change my feet to the original size?" Leah asked Angel.

Angel could feel the tears coming down her face. "Oh you really are a bad teacher." Angel winked. "A five year old could teach better than you." Angel stuck her tounge out at her bestie, "Anyway it was fun but I do think we might need a Professor or two." Angel smiled. "One to help the first professor who is laughing too hard to do anything." Angel giggled, she was sure that if a Professor walked in now then they would totally be rolling on the floor with all the laughing.

Bay walked into the Dueling area to start practising his homework and he had to work on Reducto.. easy enough and he was glad that he didn't have to practice on an actual person. As soon as he was in the room he spotted Cris.. making his way over to his mate he smiled "hey dude" he said but it was right at the time where Cris was casting his spell.. ooopps… bad form Bay. Clearly Cris didn't hear Bay but he saw the dummy blow apart "Wicked" he said out loud hoping to catch his attention.

Taking out his own wand he started to just practice the wand movement, because repetition was the key of learning the wand movements. he started forming his sideways "V" moving from the right and then to the left, over and over again. While he watched his friend kick that dummy's bottom.

Cris laughed to himself when he saw the dummy repair itself. Even though he had seen it do it before, it still never failed to amaze him.

He was so engrossed in the spell practicing until he heard someone else say something. Turning his head, Cris smiled when he realized that the caster was Bay. "Hey Bay. I see you're here to practice the Reducto Spell Professor Romanos assigned us for homework," Cris smiled over at his Gryffindor friend.

Then he pointed over at the dummy he was using. "These self healing dummies are awesome. I wish I could get one of these to bring back home," he grinned back at Bay.

"Okay back to practicing. Good luck with yours," Cris called out before turning his attention back to his own spell casting.

Cris took his time assuming his sideways stance again, equally distributing his weight on the balls of his feet. Then he cleared his mind, discarding all distracting thoughts from his mind, as he began concentrating on casting the spell again. He focussed all his attention on what he wanted the spell to do, visualizing his spell shooting out from his wand and blasting the dummy into bits.

When he was ready, with a quick slash of his wand first right and then left, forming a sideways V formation, Cris called out the incantation, "REDUCTO!"

Cris watched as a bright, bluish beam of light shot out from his wand, and flew towards the dummy.

BOOM! the impact of his spell once again tore through the dummy and its stuffing flew all over the place.

Cris quickly ended his spell.

Jasmine arrived at the dueling arena eager to get started on her Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. It seemed as if she had just been here practicing her spells and dueling with Cris. Speak of the devil. It did not surprise her at all to see Cris already practicing in the arena. He wasn't the only one because Bay was there also, apparently practicing his wand movements. Not wanting to interrupt them, Jasmine gave both boys a wave and walked over to an empty space near an unoccupied dummy.

Dropping her gear on the floor, Jasmine took a moment to stretch and loosen her muscles bit. Who knows? She might want to practice a few other spells after she was finished with her homework. When she was sufficiently warmed up, Jasmine took out her wand and prepared to practice the wand movement first.

Jasmine moved her wand right then left, making a sideways V shape. She repeated the movement several times until she felt ready to try the spell. She was very comfortable with the incantation and did not feel the need to practice it beforehand.

Having successfully cast the Reductor Curse twice, Cris decided that he would make his next attempt a little more difficult. He was going to try casting the spell non-verbally.

He waited for his dummy to self heal itself and when it did so, Cris resumed his dueling stance position. Standing sideways, away from the dummy, he planted his left foot in front of him, and his right foot, pointed towards the dummy, forming an L formation with his feet. He then distributed his weight equally on the balls of his feet to ensure proper balance.

As he prepared to cast the spell, he noticed Jasmine enter the dueling arena and he waved a hello to her before turning back to the dummy.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and slowly released it. Cris then tried to empty his mind of everything...even the presence of Jasmine...which was a hard thing to do...but he tried his best. Next he brought up the image of his spell as it hit the dummy and turned it into flying stuffing, and began concentrating hard to making what he had visualized become a reality.

Opening his eyes, Cris pointed his wand at the dummy and with a quick slash of his wand, first to the right and then the left, he non-verbally cast the spell, mentally saying, 'REDUCTO' in his mind.

He watched a blue beam of light shoot out from his wand and fly towards the dummy.

Pffft...Cris watched in dismay as the spell hit the dummy but instead of blowing it up, it just bounced off it! Cris ended his spell and walked over to examine the dummy. Just a singe mark but nothing else.

He had failed on his first attempt at casting the Reductor curse non-verbally, but Cris wasn't one to give up. He would try and try again, until he was successful.

But that would have to be another day. It was time for him to head off to class. So Cris packed his things and left the Dueling Arena.

Now this was the kind of homework she enjoyed. Lux was happy as she made her way to the duelling arena. Practicing magic could be fun, and at least she would be working with a dummy, not another person.

Spotting Bay, Cris, and Jasmine already there, she smiled. It was awesome to see them. "Hey guys!" A second after she realized that she might have distracted them. Oops. Time for her to head over to her own dummy now. Finding a good spot, she began making the sideways 'v' with her wand over and over again. It was good to practice the wand movement before starting, so that she could get into the groove. "I wish you were a zombie piñata," she said aloud to her dummy as she worked with her wand. "Then I could get more candy." That was something she could never have enough of.

Adi was back at the Dueling Arena and this time t wasn't for a Duel. No Sir! He was here to do his practice that was a part of his first DADA homeowrk for the term. Whistling softly, he stepped towards the dummies that so creepily lined the back wall. Oh look! People were there! "Hi, you guys!'' Adi said to Cris, Bay, Jasmine and Lux. "I see you're all working on this early.'' Like him. Because he just refused to let his homework pile up.

Now to get started. Adi decided he would start off with the basics- the wand movement and the incantation. "Reducto! Reducto! Reducto! Reducto!'' Satisfied with that, he moved on to the movement. A sideways V. The badger practiced this repeatedly then...he was ready to have a go at an unlucky dummy! Which would be the one to get blown to smithereens?

Cris returned to the Dueling Arena the following day. Having failed at his first attempt to cast the Reductor Curse non-verbally, Cris wanted to attempt to do it again. But first he analyzed what he had done wrong the previous day.

He suspected his concentration may have been affected when he saw Jasmine walk in. That was something he was going to have work on, since he knew that he would be seeing his girlfriend in lots of classes they shared together.

Next was probably his determination and intentions. He had been told that non-verbal spells were harder to control and cast, so he had to make sure that his intentions were clear.

With that in mind, Cris took a couple of deep breaths, slowly releasing each one, as he closed his eyes and cleared his mind of everything. He blocked out the sounds of his friends' voices and their activities. Then he brought up the image of the dummy in front of him. In that image, he saw himself casting the spell non-verbally and watched as a beam of light shot out from his wand and flew towards the dummy. He saw the dummy distintergrate into little pieces, when the spell hit it squarely in the middle.

Cris ran that image over and over in his mind, each time focussing on a specific part of the image. Brows furrowed, Cris concentrated as hard as he could. Then he slowly opened his eyes.

Assuming the sideways stance, Cris raised his wand, and pointed it at the dummy. Taking in a deep breath and slowly releasing it, he cast the spell non-verbally, mentally calling out, 'Reducto' even as he moved his wand, first a quick slash to the right and then to the left, forming a sideways V.

Cris held his breath as he watched a strong beam of blueish light shoot out from his wand and head towards the dummy. He watched as the beam hit the dummy squarely in the middle of its chest.

BAM!!...well it didn't really sound that way, but the impact was still the same. The dummy broke apart, stuffing flying all over the place.

Cris quickly ended the spell, before punching the air with his fist. "Yes" he said jubilantly smiling from ear to ear. He had successfully cast the spell non-verbally. Could he do it again? Cris was ready to try again.

Unfortunately, he had run out of time, so he packed up his things and made his way out of the Dueling Arena. He still had tomorrow to practice doing it again.

Watching everyone else do such a great job he thought that he has practiced enough of the wand movement he thought it was best to move on to saying the spell, sure it was easy but if you messed something up something could go wrong and he didn't want that to happen.

making his way over to the benches he started to say "Reducto…..Reducto….Reducto…" he then started to break it down by syllable "re…duc….to…" he did this for at least another ten minutes before he started to wonder if he should try it out on a dummy. He didn't want to look like a fool if he failed.

Zander walked into the dueling room, already nervous about the first assignment. He looked around and noticed that quite a few other students were here practicing as well. Ah great. Now everyone could watch him embarress himself. But hey, at least he was here to practice right? And practice did make perfect. Hopefully.

Zander walked towards one end of the room and noticed his older friend Bay practicing as well. Sweet. At least there was one friendly face. "Hey, Bay!" Heh. That rhymed. He waved enthusiastically at his lion friend and decided to stand near him (but also far enough away so that he wouldn't accidentally hit the boy with a traveling spell).

Zander then took out his wand and looked at his play dummy. Be prepared to go down, dummy. He pointed his wand and focused as hard as he could muster. "Reducto?" It ended up sounding more like a question than it did a spell. Oops. The boy wasn't surprised when nothing happened.

Ugh. This was going to be a long day. He could already feel it.

After reading the Defense Against the Dark Arts homework, Arista was excited! She got to duel!! Of course it was with a dummy but it was with dueling none the less. She knew she would have to come back though, maybe with her adventure best friend, AJ!! Eeep!! That would be fun!! But for now she would deal with practicing on the dummy!

Practice the Reductor spell on one of the dummies in the dueling arena. So here she was, ready to practice.

The first year walked over to the middle of the arena and decided maybe she should practice first. She stretched her arms first, because really she did not want to hurt herself, only the dummy would be being hurt tonight.

Arsita positioned herself in front of the dummies and got her wand arm ready. Remembering what Professor Romanos had told everyone, take their time, don't rush.. Or was that directed to someone else? She couldn't remember she had just listened to everything she had said soo...

Practice the wand movements first. Just a simple quick slash to the right and then to the left, forming a sideways V. It was simple! Arista practiced the wand movements over and over again until the movement was fluid, no rushing no bumps, no messing up. Now it was time to actually do the spell.

First pick a spot on the dummy. Chest. Next, she closed his eyes and brought up the image of what she wanted the spell to do, and that was to actually hit the dummy. Concentrating on that image, Arista opened her eyes and brought her wand up. She pointed her wand at the dummy and she gave a quick slash to the right and then to the left, forming a V formation, she yelled out "Reducto!"

A blue beam of light shot out from her wand and flew straight towards the dummy she was focusing on, hitting it right in the middle. BULLS-EYE!!!!! She hit it!! She called out, "Finite."and gave a fist pump in the air, she did it!

More people were coming in, and it was awesome. The more the merrier Lux figured. She wanted to work beside Bay, but had no idea which dummy he would pick.

Deciding that she didn't need to practice the incantation again, Lux figured that she was good to go. Pointing her wand at her dummy, she made the sideways 'v' slashing motion with her wand again while saying "REDUCTO!" The force of the spell tore through the dummy. Success! Happily, she ended the spell and waited for the dummy to heal.

When Cris returned to the Dueling Arena on his third day of practice, he noticed that all the dummies were back in shape and repaired. He noticed that some of his friends were already here practicing their spell, so he decided to remain quiet and not disturb them.

As for him practice makes perfect. Having successfully cast the Reductor Curse non-verbally, Cris decided he would attempt to do it again. Let's face it, non-verbal spells, although hard to cast were really useful to know especially when used to defend yourself, or even when you were on the offensive. So unless your target knew the color of every spell in the spell book and could read your mind, they would have problems knowing what spell you had cast until the very last minute. So yes, non-verbal it would attempt again.

Assuming his now usual stance while casting this spell, Cris closed his eyes and began to clear his mind of all thought. Once he had the image of what he wanted the spell to do, he began concentrating as hard as he could to make that happen in reality.

Opening his eyes, he took another deep breath and slowly released it, before raising his wand and pointing it at the dummy. Then with a quick slash of his wand first to the right and then to the left, like he was forming a sideways V, Cris mentally called out the incantation,"Reducto"

A bright bluish beam of light immediately shot out from his wand and headed straight towards his dummy. Cris watched as the beam hit the dummy right through the middle of its chest.

BOOM!! the dummy blew apart into smithereens.

Cris quickly ended the spell, saying, "Finite". Ensuring that no one was casting the spell at that time, Cris walked over to inspect his dummy....of which there was barely enough left of it.

Sorry dummy but I need you to repair yourself again.

Arista looked around, looked like everyone else was practicing too. Cool!!! She really needed to find a buddy to come and do her homework with! She loved dueling. She smiled and got ready to do the spells some more! She had been pretty good the first time so she would see what happened the next couple times!

The young Gryffindor took her sideways position, and pointed her wand towards the dummy. Before she actually shot the spell she cleared her mind, getting rid of all thoughts. All her thoughts went to casting the spell! She closed her eyes and visualized the dummy blasting into smithereens.

When she was ready, she gave a quick slash of her wand first right and then left, forming a sideways V formation, Arista called out the incantation, "REDUCTO!"

Once agan she watched as a bright, bluish beam of light shot out from her wand, and flew towards the dummy.

BOOM! the impact of the spell once again hit the dummy and its stuffing exploded everywhere.

"SWEET!!!"

Arista shot out a finite soon after she saw that the spell worked.