Another duel!!! Hadley Denaker was excited. And confident. Sure, Azura was a good witch as well, and had her last duel, but so had Hadley. Either way, it was going to be fun. The young first year half skipped into the arena and faced her opponent. "Princess," she said, and bowed, so it looked less like dueling etiquette and more like Hadley was greeting actual royalty... Oh, well.

Now was time to duel and Haddie's face flipped from an expression of excitement and fun to one of focus and intensity: her game face. With a little twirl the girl raised her wand at Azzy. "Colloshoo!" She immediately followed this up with the Cornflake Skin Spell. The other Hadleigh had told her to try combinations, and that's what she was doing. For now at least. If they took too much out her, she'd have to revert back to her more paced spell casting that she had done during the last too duels.

She had to duel Haddie? Azura wasn't looking forward to this at all! She didn't want to duel her friend! Not to mention, Haddie was good! She was really good, enough to make the purple eyed girl nervous.

"Haddie." Azura said as she nodded her head to Haddie's bow..

She raised her wand as she prepared for the first shot...

Err the first two shots!

EEK!

Breathe Azura! Since when were they doing more than one spell? She easily sidestepped to miss her first spell! She really didn't want to be stuck to the floor! The next spell she let hit her though, and she nearly gagged as she looked down at her skin..

BLECH!!!

That was disgusting..

She shook it off though.. As she shot Green sparks Out of her wand at Haddie, near the other girls shoulder, just enough to distract her.. and then she quietly said.. even though her intent was still there..

"Colloshoo." She was trying to distract Haddie in order to stick her to the floor..

A featherlight charm Later.. Azura was ready to go!

One thing Haddie needed to work on was her timing. Sure, most of the time her timing was spot on, but at least once every duel she was a bit late in casting a shield. This duel was no exception. "Protego!" Her shield went up just milliseconds too late, the green sparks were already past. They singed her dueling robes a little, and stung the side of her neck, more annoying than painful really.

It wasn't a complete failure though. Hadley was timing, though late, was still a lot better than the times she'd been late in the past. AND it ended up blocking the second spell that Haddie hadn't even heard Azura cast. The girl slapped the side of her neck to free herself from the lingering annoyance of where the sparks had hit bare flesh, and fired off her favorite little spell at her dorm mate. "Rictusempra!"

Azura was feeling slightly winded from casting those spells so quickly, and she was glad when only one seemed to come her way, unless Haddie had perfected nonverbal magic?


EEKK? She hadn't had she? She bit her lip a little as she sidestepped to miss the spell the other girl sent her way.She felt it whiz past her shoulder and she swallowed hard.. that spell felt powerful! She waited for a few more moments, but thankfully nothing else seemed to come at her.. And she let out a soft sigh of relief..

Good!

Were non verbal spells even allowed in dueling?

She shook her head to focus as she raised her wand and sent the Ears to Kumquats Spell at her.. Because.. that was just kind of funny really.. She still couldn't get the image of Carl with Kumquat ears out of her head!

Oh no. Hadley knew what this spell was. She wanted to see what it looked like, not be the model for it. The girl whipped to the side, a little too eagerly and clumsy, and for a second, she was afraid she wouldn't get out of the way in time. She almost didn't. Haddie turned her body as she sidestepped, and that small fact was the only thing that saved her hearing.

The spell blew past her torso so close she actually felt it pass. She let out a small sigh of relief that was part chuckle and looked over at Azura as if to ask her, Did you see that? Because, while they might be opponents at the moment, they were still friends. And dueling was fun, and a fun thing they were doing together. Which meant enjoying the craziness that happened.

But this was still a duel, so Azura being Hadley's friend didn't mean she was going to go easy on the Fairy Princess. And Haddie had a few favorite go to spells. Naturally. Grinning, still a bit relieved and impressed by the fact she narrowly avoided having kumquats for ears, Hadley took aim and cast the Jelly-Fingers Curse at Azzy.

Azura watched as Haddie moved to the side as the spell came towards her, it almost hit her and Azura was proud of her friend for how fast she moved!! She grinned at her and Haddie looked over at her and she nodded.. That had been a good move!

Uhh.. Anyways!

Azura looked at the spell coming towards her and she dove This time to get out of the way, and just in the nick of time too! She could feel force of the spell moving over her and she stayed still until she was sure it was past!

Whew! That had been close! Azura slowly pushed to her feet.. and smiled at friend before she aimed her wand at her and sent the Jelly legs curse directly at her friend.

HA! Please. Azzy, you are going to have to do better than if you want to get Hadley Denaaaah! Oh, she was going down. Dropping like a stone, to be a bit more precise. So...nevermind all that. Haddie tried to pick herself up. Sensation was already returning to her legs, but not that quickly. After three failed attempts to get back to her feet, though admittedly each one was a little better than the last, Haddie said Screw it, and decided to cast her spell from the floor.

"Obscuro!" Let's see Azzy be such a good aim with a blindfold over her eyes. In the meantime, Haddie tried to get to her feet again, and found she could, albeit shakily. But it wouldn't be that long before full use of her legs returned. There see, she was better alreaaaah! Her legs gave out again. Maybe she was trying to rush it a little too quickly.

Uh Ohh...

Her spell had hit and down Haddie went! EEk! She didn't want to hurt Haddie and she bit her lip a little as her friend went down instantly and then tried to get back up to no avail.

Eeekkk! She hoped she was okay!

Azura watched her friend closely as she shot at spell at her!

Fwoopers! She knew that spell!! Carl had tried to use it on her as well!

"Protego!" She called out a little TOO strongly as she accidentally deflected the spell back at Haddie, panting a little..she wasn't going to shoot another spell at her friend.. That was just mean!

The upside to being on the floor was it was super easy to roll out of the way of her own spell. Her legs were feeling much stronger too, so Haddie sprang to her feet and launched her next surprise attack at Azura without hesitation. "ACCIO AZURA KENNEDY'S WAND!" Or her wand arm. Haddie wasn't picky. At the very least, it should give a nice forceful tug, she hoped, if it didn't manage to disarm her opponent. Either way, if this worked, it would make it impossible to defend against the real attack.

Only a fraction of a second later, Haddie followed it up with another spell. "Colloshoo!" The strategy was risky; she was already feeling the strain of casting so much before this. And now the combo left her heavily winded. But if it worked, it might just win her the duel. Black dots spread across Hadley's vision. She stumbled a little to keep her balance. It had been too much, too close together. She only hoped it worked. That was her make or break gambit. It better work.

ACK!!!!!

Azura barely had time to tighten her hand on her wand, because Haddie's next attack was fierce and nearly took her arm out of it's socket!! EeeKKK!! She held on tightly though as the spell tried to take her wand and her arm with it, and the force knocked her off of her feet and right onto her face..

Again..

Though it was a good thing it made her fall over for she rolled over and Haddie's next spell whizzed right over her head..

Holy Fwoopers in the Morning Light.. That.. WAS CLOSE!

Also.. OW!

But Azura wasn't going to miss a beat. Even from on the ground, she quickly aimed her wand at Haddie and said "Titillando"

Ughh.. Her arm hurt.. so did her face..

The plan failed. And worse, Azura didn't look nearly as tired as Hadley felt, or probably looked herself. That wasn't a good sign, but honestly it didn't matter. She was having a blast either way. Win or lose, she was pleased with how she'd been dueling today.

A spell came flying back at her, and Haddie knew without even trying to raise her wand, she didn't have the energy to block or dodge it. She was still too winded from her last combo. Hadley braced herself. The spell hit...tickles? She got hit with another tickling spell!? Haddie squirmed as she giggled, trying to block the unblockable, invisible hands that were tickling her everywhere. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as last time, so she wasn't out just yet. She still had some fight left in her.

It took Haddie three tries to get the first spell out. She kept squirming or giggling midway. Despite it not being as strong as last time, it was still distracting and still hard to block out. "Expelliarmus! Rictusempra!" If she was going out, she might as well go out in a blaze of glory, right? Her head swam. Spots clouded her vision and didn't seem in any hurry to clear away. She didn't even have the energy to cancel the tickling hex on her...ah, what the hell? Haddie launched a smashing spell at the floor beneath Azura's feet and the world went dark.

When the world returned, Haddie was on her butt, the world was doing loop-de-loops around her head, invisible hands were still tickling her, and she really wanted to sleep. Instead she weakly crawled to her feet and stood. She wasn't out yet. She probably didn't have it in her to cast another spell, but she wasn't out yet!

Ohhhh!! Ohh! Her spell had hit!! YAY!!

Azura was slowly getting up of the ground, paying no attention to her stinging nose when Haddie started to launch spells at Her!!

Oh Dear Sweet Merlin in the lands far away! Please SAVEEEEEEEE her!

Okay!

You can do this Azzy!

Maybe..

But not actually!

Azura barely had time to get a plan together when Expelliarmus hit her right in the knee!! She was knocked back onto the ground again and her wand tried to get away from her once more, but she had such a death grip on the dang thing that it wiggled in her fingers, tried to slip out.. but she grabbed it with both hands at the last minute.. Phew!

A roll Had her safe from the tickling charm, and she hopped to her feet and hurriedly said a "Protego! To protect her from the last spell! Whatever it was!!

Pant.. Pant.. Pant.. Azura felt dizzy.. her arm hurt as did her face!

But She wasn't giving up yet.. She still had some fight in her.. Barely..

So she sent a Cornflake skin spell So her friend could match her in the epidermis area..before panting a bit more.. Whew.. she needed to.. lay down!!

Still catching her breath from the rapid three part combo that nearly drained her, Haddie could neither dodge nor block the incoming spell in time. She cringed as the spell hit and took effect. Gah! It felt so weird!

Haddie let out a disgusted little shudder and raised her wand at Azura again. As drained as she felt, she wasn't out yet. Knowing now exactly how it felt to have cornflake skin, Hadley figured Azura might like a bath. "Aguamenti!" See, Haddie was, deep down, a good Samaritan! Helping her fellow dueler out. Okay she might have been feeling a little loopy with how worn out she was. But she wasn't done yet! Oh no! "Calavario!" What would Azzy look like bald, huh?

Sadly, Hadley never got an answer to that question. She had cast the spell, but nothing happened. No spell shoot from her wand. No hair fell from Azura. She just felt...depleted. Haddie took a moment to catch her breath. "You win."

Azura was stunned that Haddie had anything left in her and she just looked at her as she cast the water spell and Azura just fully got drenched..

Welp.. Now she was wet!

Azura braced herself for another spell coming at her.. but.. nothing happened and then Haddie said that she had won!

Had she??

"Good job out there Haddie.. You were so amazing! I was so scared!" Azura said as she smiled warmly at her friend before turning to Professor Hirsch..

"Professor, can we have normal skin now?" She asked him with a smile.

............ Oh Merlin.

So, the duel had started off well enough and he was actually fairly impressed with the two Ravenclaws' attempts at dueling. Everything from the spells cast to the way they were dodging and attacking was received well with the Defence Professor. This was the kind of duel he liked to see.

But then it all went downhill from there onwards. See, while it started off well, there was still the signs of tiredness from the two girls that grew more and more noticeable. This wasn't something that could be avoided, unfortunately. Dueling required a bit of physical activity as well as magical ability, it was just a fact. Maybe he needed to work on a challenge for the two, and the others, that worked with their physical fitness? Hm.

Right. Duel.

When the time was up, the man didn't even bother putting up the shield. There was no point, anyways. He simply made his way over and let out a small chuckle at Azura's words. "And here I thought you'd like cornflakes." You know, the Muggle breakfast cereal. He gave his wand a wave and let all the remaining signs of magic go away. You're welcome, Azura.

Then came the next matter of business. He took a few steps towards Hadley and held out his hand to help her up. It seemed like she needed it. "Well done on putting up a good fight, Miss Denaker. Really. That was an excellent display of magic and dueling from the two of you. And congratulations on your win, Miss Kennedy." Proud. He was proud.

Why couldn't he have more duels like this?


Stats:
Azura Kennedy: 32.33%
Hadley Denaker: 28.11%