Alright so Benny knew that he would most likely be partnered up with a fellow seventh year or either a sixth year or a professor. The grouping could go each way and he had seen the list of people who had signed up. There was a wide variety of players in this serious game. The fact that he had been paired up with Paulina, a good friend, right off the bat was going to prove interesting. Especially given the fact he had only had a few months to see what she was capable of in contrast to the others whom he had been with all seven years.

This was going to be enlightening.

He took his place at one end of the dueling stage when it was time, his dueling clothes on as he stood ready waiting for Paulina to be the same. When they were on an even field, Benny bowed in respect, his wand out and ready to make the first move as directed. Then he straightened up and took aim with the spell he had chosen to begin with.

"Rictusempra!!" Incantation pronounced clearly with wand movement directed at Paulina. A silver jet of light cast from the spell heading straight towards the Hufflepuff.

Note from Ref:

Sorry these things weren't outlined clearly before....

• 1) If you are using non-verbal spells, be be advised that they cost an additional -25 magic points on TOP of the cost of using that spell. Please clarify whether a spell is non-verbal or not.
  
  
• 2) If you cast a spell, or try, and it fails for your character (as in YOU RP it not working) point loss still occurs for the attempt to cast (think of the energy a wizard/witch has to expend trying to do magic)
  
  
• 3)Also, don't worry about putting a point tracker at the top of your post. Please just (in the title of your post, put Health, Magic, and Fatigue points at the START of that post (so whatever they were ending at the last post and BEFORE any spells hit or other spells are cast)....
  
  i.e. Post A ends with 20 Health, 5 Magic and 0 Fatigue --> please title post B with the same. (Just makes for easier point tracking :3)
  
  
• 4) Fatigue points are ONLY depleted if you are doing a physical attack or maneuver to defend against an attack. Duelers can move about freely, jump on the spot and so forth, so long as they aren't actively defending against an attack or doing an offensive attack

Knowing that she was going to be partnered off with a fellow Seventh Year, Paulina wasn't sure who to expect. The fact that it was Benny made her feel rather relieved, because they were friends and she felt very comfortable around him.

That might be a bad thing during a duel, but she was going to try her best to stay alert. Giving it her all was important, but she was not going to be a sore loser if she lost. Winning wasn't everything, she just wanted to improve her fighting skills.

Returning Benny's bow, Paulina wasn't surprised when he cut to the chase immediately - she would have done the same thing in his place.

Quickly she sidestepped out of the way so that his spell hit the ground to her left. Usually she would have put up a shield, but she didn't have enough time to cast Protego. Maybe she could make Benny confused though... It was worth a shot.

Maybe later she would try to duel non-verbally, but for now she was going to stick with the trued and true method.

"Confundo!"

Hopefully she would make a hit.

SPOILER!!: Points Tracker

Spells Cast: [i]

• Confundus Charm: Causes confusion
  • Caster Points:
    • H: 0
    • M: -25
    • F: 0
  • Opponent Points:
    • H:0
    • M: -25% (if hits will deplete 173 points)
    • F: 0
  • Additional Effects: n/a
  • Directionality: Towards Benny

Affected by Spells: Rictusempra - Avoided

Physical Movements: Sidestep (F: -5)

Depleted -25 Magic points, -5 Fatigue points

Your Dueler's Current Points:
Health Points: 400
Magic Points: 675
Fatigue Points: 20

Boo no fair.

Paulina moved herself to avoid his spell. Not that Benny really thought it was unfair since it was completely allowed and he himself might have considered it as an option to escape whatever was directed at him from an opponent. As it was, when his partner in duel decided to cast a spell back at him, the Gryffindor could have done so though opted to raise his wand in defense, pointing it straight at the badger and the incoming spell.

"Protego!" he cast, the light from one spell bounding off the shield that he had managed to erect in time and back towards Paulina. Take that my dear Hufflepuff. And as an added bonus since the shield was in defense, Benjamin rounded off with another quick spell. "Colloshoo..." he cast quietly yet firm as he gave the required wand movement. Perhaps one or both would catch his fellow seventh year off guard.

She certainly wouldn't be moving away if the former caught her.

Or the former for that matter...all confused.

SPOILER!!: Points Tracker

Spells Cast:

Protego:shield charm

Caster Points:
H: 0
M: -15
F: 0
Opponent Points:
H: 0
M: 0
F: 0

Additional Effects: n/a
Directionality: At spell and towards Paulina

Colloshoo: Glue's target's shoes to the ground (aka Stickfast Hex)

Caster Points:
H: 0
M: -5
F: 0
Opponent Points:
H: -10
M: 0
F: 0

Affected by Spells: N/A

Physical Movements: N/A

Depleted -20 Magic points

Your Dueler's Current Points:
Health Points: 400
Magic Points: 670
Fatigue Points: 25

Another Note from Ref:

Still working out the kinks. Here are two important spell updates. If you have already used these spells, don't worry about them, please still follow through as per the previous guidelines/point systems for the spells. If you haven't, and are considering them, these are the new rules for Expelliarmus and Stupefy. See the Q & A thread for more details

SPOILER!!: Expelliarmus

• Expelliarmus: Disarms the target (of whatever they are holding) and can be used to knock-back a target if cast forcefully enough
  • Caster Points:
    • H: 0
    • M: -10
    • F: 0
  • Opponent Points:
    • H: -15
    • M: -15 (ONLY if spell disarms caster of wand)
    • F: 0
  • Additional Effects: If hit by the spell, victim MUST loose their grip on whatever they are holding. If it is their wand, -15 magic points applies. If their wand is disarmed, the victim can go after it without a cost of loosing fatigue points.

After Blaise Bellaire was knocked-out with a stupefy spell, it has been banned from the club. Reason for this is that the Tournament Duels are supposed to help students practice dueling, and having a K/O isn't the best way to do this. Therefore, Stupefy will be a spell permitted only in practice sessions and Challenges, as per the new point system:

SPOILER!!: Stupefy (NO longer permitted in tournaments)

• Stupefy: Stuns and knock's-out target
  • Caster Points:
    • H: 0
    • M: -100
    • F: 0
  • Opponent Points:
    • H: -100%
    • M: -100%
    • F: -100%
  • Additional Effects: If hit, the victim will be rendered unconscious. For this reason, it is not permitted in the dueling arena. Only in practice duels and the Challenges.

Well played, Benny.

Well played.

Paulina saw the spell ricochet back towards her and raised her wand so that she could cast a quick Shield Charm. "Pro--"

Waaaait.

Where was she? What was going on? Paulina had no idea why she was standing here with Benny. She was so confused. "Benny, are we working on a homework assignment?" How could she have forgotten about homework? Maybe it was something that she found uninteresting, because then it would have been a lot less memorable.

Yes, that had to be it.

Before she could wonder about it any further, Paulina suddenly felt as if she was rooted to the spot. "Oh. I can't move, how interesting." Trying to take a few steps, Paulina found that her shoes refused to do anything.

Interesting.

SPOILER!!: Points Tracker

Spells Cast: N/A
Additional Effects: N/A
Directionality: N/A

Affected by Spells: Confundus Charm - Hit (M: -25%)
Stickfast Hex - Hit (H: -10)

Physical Movements: N/A

Depleted -169 Magic (-25%) points, -10 Health points

Your Dueler's Current Points:
Health Points: 390
Magic Points: 506
Fatigue Points: 20

Tazenhani: Hey guys! You are doing awesome thus far!

Just as a heads up, the Confundo charm was -25% magic, not -25 points. So, that means it's -169 magic points for Paulina. Given this may not have been apparent when deciding if the spell hit or not, I'll let you two decide if you want to go forward with it hitting or not. I have, for the moment, updated the points to reflect it hitting (as per the post).

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks

Okay he hadn't expected both spells to take hold.
But sure enough, first the rebounded confundus stopped Paulina in mid-cast and Ben could see the look of confusion come over his friend before her spoken words clearly showed the spell's effects on her mind. "No....no we're dueling," he answered her, unsure fo where to go with this. And then the stickfast hex took effect and the badger was unable to move, though she didn't seem to mind it all that much in her confusion.

She found it all interesting.

Benny half expected a referee to appear and call the duel. Granted she wasn't totally down for the count but the Gryffindor didn't really feel right just continuing to duel while she wasn't exactly herself. Okay so maybe he fully expected it but neither Professor Dakest nor Flamsteed made his presence more known like Adi and Cutty's duel with the dragons and the seventh year figured he was still on his own.

He debated how to handle the situation and move them foreward. There was cancelling out either of the spells, or both for that matter, finite just on his tongue before he realized the solution. Disarming her would likely end it so there was just one spell that he needed. "Expelliarmus!" he cast, aiming at her wand hand and seeing if it would work in her state.

While a fair cast, it came just at the same time as the grandfather clock on the far side of the room went off. On the first strike, a wall of shimmering light shot up between the duelers, fizzling out the spell with a loud 'pop'. The contact seemed to dismantle the shield entirely, and it collapsed in a shower of harmless sprinkles of light.

Sabel took care of the spells still holding Holiday fast, with a quite finite. His expression was kind as he stepped up between the two duelers, looking from one to the other. Atreyu got a bit longer of consideration before he pointed his wand above the kid's head and sent off a small gold spark. "Winner of the duel, Mr. Atreyu. Well done, the both of you."

----------------------
OOC: Thanks so much for dueling! It was an awesome read! Duel is now officially over. I will have next pairs up by the end of the Second Meeting