Time and time again, her brothers had urged her to hone her skills with defensive and offensive magic. It was just so much effort, and the truth of the matter was: she was lazy. And extremely busy, as of late anyway. But when one very sweet Katherine Moss requested a day of practice, Althea could not bring herself to say no. So, they'd arranged to meet in the dueling arena - though, if she were completely honest, she was not ready - and Althea had made a great effort to be there on time.

Despite feeling overwhelmed by the impending end of year O.W.L.s, Althea would always make time for friends. When she arrived, she took a quick look around the room; she much preferred the training room instead. The Hufflepuff couldn't deny the elegance and intensity of it, though, and moved further into the room as she waited for her friend, in awe of all the areas they could practice with. She hoped that Katherine wouldn't want to...duel duel. Practicing spells seemed more appropriate - right? Right.

Char and Liv had a PLAN. Which was why the two Gryffindor girls were here after all, and why they had sent a note​ to Professor Hirsch, requesting his presence.

Like, really NICELY requesting but also basically requiring he come meet them for their super important and exciting and fun proposal.

"Lets set the dummies up." the dummies were going to be stand-ins for students.It would help for the visual!

So had Katherine made a great effort to be on time! She entered only a few moments after her friend. She was dressed appropriately for some activity as duels generally required physical activity too - a T-shirt, tights and trainers. Her hair was neatly tied up to a ponytail. Although the black circles under her eyes indicated she still wasn't getting enough sleep, she looked pretty alive today.

"Hi, beautiful," she called and grinned. She normally would have been mortified to call anyone 'beautiful', but no one was around and Katherine was feeling hyper due to lack of sleep. "How shall we practise?"

Althea was pretty sure she'd arrived a little bit earlier than she meant to, so she grew a little nervous as she waited for Katherine to show up. She didn't wait long, however, and her worry quickly dissipated when she heard her friend's voice. "Hello to you too," she said, flashing her with a grin of her own.

Feeling overcome with good, positive feelings, she enveloped Katherine in a quick hug before stepping to the side to pull her hair up. "Hmmm," she mulled over this momentarily as she managed to successfully recreate a messy bun of sorts. "Okay, well first, I must warn you, I've been incredibly lazy so my wand work for defensive spells is...not entirely up to par." She definitely was not ready to spar head-to-head with anyone; she could hear Levi's voice chastising her for not practicing enough. "Maybe we should use the dummies, and practice spells on them?"

Olivia was going along with this for one very simple reason: she needed the distraction. Oh sure, she loved duelling...and Char... and Prince Eric...and spells.... Okay, there was more than one reason, but the fact remained that this was a brilliant distraction. For the purpose of physical activity, the bit of jewelry that had shown prettily on her ring finger since the start of term was nowhere to be found. Actually, she'd not worn it for several days now...

"Do you want to put them in formation?" For example, a two on one situation, or... more. For Liv, she enjoyed a bit of a challenge. But also, it helped with practicing precision. She regretted having to admit to herself that she'd gotten sloppy. Blast not being able to do magic outside of school!

Glancing at the wall-clock, she noted the placement of his hands; faking a grin. That was becoming easier to do, as well... "Did you give our Commander-in-Chief a specific time?" Charlotte may have already shared this bit of information, but she'd forgotten all the same.

Katherine wasn't expecting that hug, and she was late to hug back warmly - but she felt warm and fuzzy and giggled. She was so glad for her friendship.

"That's what I've thought. I couldn't practise any wandwork over the summer too," she rooooolled her eyes, it was so stupid to wait until seventeen, "so working on the dummies is better at first. I have already read the textbook of first and second year - we can quickly go over those spells, then take a break, then look at third year?"

................nope, Katherine certainly didn't think this might be too much for one day; because a teenager Katherine Moss was able to study non-stop for 12 hours straight.

Right. Althea was totally talking about not being able to perform underage magic and definitely wasn't talking about just being lazy in general. "Yeah, it's so weird. You'd think they'd let us at least practice that much; how else are we supposed to get better?" It was a valid concern of hers - especially with the impending O.W.L.s at the end of term - one that she was very certain wouldn't go away quickly.

A smile crept onto Althea's lips as she shook her head in amusement. Leave it to Katherine to be super prepared. She liked that about her. "I'll follow your lead because if I'm honest I haven't cracked those books open in a while." Hopefully she didn't fall too behind; Hirsch was a great professor, and she wanted to do better in class. "So, practice dummies it is!"

Of course Althea wasn't talking about being lazy. Katherine wouldn't even become friends with a lazy person, she picked her friends well. Or at least that's what she thought. Either way, she nodded with an annoyed expression. "I'll write to the Minister about it. I'm sure she'll listen." She didn't know if she could directly send a letter, but she'd at least try. She hadn't really thought about it until this summer, but it was a stupid measure for sure and she wanted to be able to practise magic next summer at least.

Hmm. Well, Althea needn't worry. "I can lend you my books with all the notes and all if you want to read. I mean - you should read, because it starts with basic magical laws, plus best defensive stance and the theory and you should revise those. But I don't think it'll take you too long to go over them." It hadn't taken her long, at least, and she bet Althea revised every year's class notes during summer like she did, right? Everyone revised the whole year's notes over summer, right?? Anyway. "I have a list here. Most of them are curses and not really defensive, but attacking is also a defence." She carefully pulled out a parchment from her magically enlarged robes pocket. On it was a list, written with a very neat and small hand-writing. She glanced at it as she held it at an angle for both of them to see.

"So... I think we can go over arrow shooting spell, colloshoo, diffindo, petrificus totalus, jelly legs jinx aaaaand... steleus?" Hmm? "Then we can go over the second year spells."

The Minister seemed very enigmatic, but Althea had never really paid much mind to her - at all. She also believed that if Katherine said she would write to the Minister, then she actually would do it and get her point across. Whether or not the Minister actually listened was an entirely different discussion altogether; but she would support her friend nonetheless. "I really hope you're able to reach her, I mean as intense as she is, I think she might listen to reason." Especially if the letter was worded well.

As she listened, Althea nodded, though when Katherine had finished she felt that her mind was spinning. Leave it to a Ravenclaw to be thorough in all their studying materials. Still, she smiled at the other girl, grateful to have a friend who was willing to help out. "Thanks, Kath, I appreciate it." And she did. She didn't know how much she'd get through - but she wouldn't let Katherine's notes go to waste. "And I thought I was intense." A joke, of course, as Katherine's intensity had absolutely nothing to do with her study habits. So far, Althea felt that this was indeed a very good thing. The Hufflepuff moved closer to where Katherine stood to get a better look at the parchment. She was amazed at the level of detail and the neatness of her handwriting. "Full of surprises, aren't you?"

Again, Althea had been under the impression that they wouldn't be doing heavy wandwork but clearly Katherine was of a different mind. "Kath, please, that...can we do that all in one sitting?" She wasn't entirely sure. Maybe it was her nerves that was getting the best of her, but she suddenly felt very incapable of performing - especially if Katherine was already a step ahead.

Katherine looked determined. She was going to send a letter - if the Minister bothered to read it, it'd be great. If not... well, she'd keep sending. "We won't know without trying. Would you help me write it? I can write it, and then you can check?" Hmm? Sounded good?

"So, I'll give you the textbooks I'm done with during breakfast tomorrow?" She could also give today after they were done here, but she didn't think Althea would go up all those stairs.

She smiled a little. She LOVED these compliments, and was quite proud of her working ethics, yes. They fed her drive even more. "You're intense alright." She looked at her with a you know what I mean gaze. She still thought about that pretty much every night. And she was glad Althea thought she was full of surprises - she was mainly worried she'd actually find her boring.

Anyway, right, that was a one-time thing and she bet Althea would never even want to try again, so back to work.

"Yep!" she exclaimed confidently, "it's honestly not hard at all! These are all first-year spells, you'll see how easily you can do them." Without further ado, she took a step back and brought out her wand. She combined yelling a "Colloshoo!" with the proper wand movement directed at the dummy, and nothing visible really happened - but when she tried to push it, it didn't budge.

......hopefully 'colloshoo' would come up at OWLs, then.

Althea nodded eagerly. "Of course, anything for you." And she meant it. Kath was someone very special to her, so she would help her out in any way she could. It was exciting, sort of, thinking about doing something so political. Althea never really bothered with such things, but Kath had made a point; they would never learn if they didn't have the means to practice at home. And it was such an archaic law that really, as they approached the twenty-second century, needed to be gutted.

"Thank you, really, you're always helping me out. I feel like I'm burdening you." She didn't want Kath to think that she wasn't capable enough or that she was dead-weight or anything like that. But she would accept any help that her friend offered because Kath was incredibly smart and Althea could do no wrong with studying with her. Althea felt her cheeks burn at Katherine's statement, and she did her best not to smile too hard. What could she even say to that? Nothing, nothing, nothing. She coughed a few times into her fist - she didn't really need to cough, she just desperately needed to hide her shame aka her cheeks - and then glanced back at Katherine.

Okay. First year spells. Easy. Althea took a step to the side to give Katherine some room, and watched the Ravenclaw's wandwork in motion. Whoa. She smiled at her, and clapped. "Good form." Hopefully she would be able to produce the same sort of results as well. It would be embarrassing otherwise.

Katherine grinned. "Thanks." And she'd do anything for her too - she may not have many friends, but she was loyal to those few. And then she frowned. A burden? She waved her hand dismissively.

"I enjoy our friendship too much to call it a 'burden'," she said, and then thooooooroughly enjoyed her friend's red cheeks with a huge grin. It was nice to see HER blush for a chance, and Katherine was very proud of herself for being the cause.

Anyway, right, back to work. So, she decided she was going to do the rest of the spells quickly and without a pause - not to show off, but to go quickly. And then, Althea could have a go and they'd address any mistakes they'd made. Good plan. And she didn't waste time by explaining it to Althea - her friend would get it anyway.

"Diffindo!" At the dummy's arm, with a sort of wave of her wand, "Petrificus totalus!" by drawing a horizontal sickle with her wand, "Locomotor Wibbly!" - a tricky wand movement, but she thought she managed it, "Steleus!" and lastly, as her voice was starting to get hoarse, she shot arrows... or tried to. Beads of sweat were visible on her forehead, her voice had gone hoarse and she probably needed some water, and... the dummy's arm was severed, it was also frozen alright and she bet it would also have sneezed (although she wasn't sure if they really could sneeze) had it not been paralysed - but its legs hadn't gone jelly (because the incantation always sounded fake to her, so she never was fully successful with it) and only one arrow was shot, because her voice had gone hoarse. But anyway, it was a 'pass' in her opinion for the first try, and she looked at Althea to see what she thought.

Well that was a relief. Normally, Althea didn't particularly care about how others saw her or thought about her, but as she steadily acquired "friends" she became a little anxious that they wouldn't actually like her. Weird. "I enjoy it too," she said brightly, smiling right after. Not that she needed the validation, but...it was nice to hear.

She watched carefully as Katherine cast the spells, took note of her form and wand movement. If she hadn't been so lazy with her wandwork as of late, she wouldn't have been nervous about performing in front of her friend. Ugh. Althea folded her arms across her chest and glanced at Katherine, a hint of worry on her face. "I'm amazed at your form; it made me realize just how much I need to work on." Levi's chastising voice was running around in the back of her mind about how she should've been more consistent with the spells, but she ignored it. No need to entertain nonsense so early in the day. "I feel bad for the dummy," she joked and laughed promptly. "And I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of any spell you cast." She shook her head, wondering how she missed this dauntless side of Katherine.

It had been a while since she and Liv had spent proper time together, and Char was borderline ecstatic really, more then just get usual cheer. It just meant a lot to her, being friends again, Liv wanting to spend time with her. And to top it off it was for dueling reasons too! The actual best reasons for anything in her books.

"Yes, and we should name them and show Hirsch how we will help them work on their individual weaknesses, to make it more personal. Like Reginald here, he's STRONG but not very fast." Char patted poor Reggie's wooden shoulder. "And Gloria here is zippy, but her spells lack OOMPH!" Char shifted a few more of the dummies and stood back to look at them. Yes, they would help with the effect.

"I did!" Char looked over at the clock too. "Any minute now!" And she was confident he would come at their joint request. Honestly he was the type who was curious enough that she thought he wouldn't be able to resist!

"I'm excited, are you ready? I think you better use ALL your performance skills to make sure there's enough impact to show how serious we are!"

So Hirsch said to get in contact with Rula, Henry, Rooney, or Char. Taking advantage of the moment, Noelle chose Rula first because the two had only really spoken during patrols or last year during the monster event. She wanted to get to know her a little better and just talk.

So, during one of their patrols, the two had coordinated on meeting up. The private practice room had been taken, so Noelle headed into the dueling arena. It was empty right now. It wasn't often that she practiced in here. But it would be good to do it while no one was using it.

It was a little intimidating if she was being completely honest.

Noelle looked over the room as she went to drop her things down. She pulled her hair up into a tight bun. She'd learned that letting it hang loose was sometimes not a good thing. She really never wanted to smell that retched smell of burnt hair again. Pulling her holster and wand out, she attached it to her arm and then began stretching and clearing her mind as she waited for Rula to show up.

Tying her hair back into a ponytail, Rula entered the dueling arena, excited for this practice with Noelle. She didn't get to hang out with the Gryffindor very often, and she also didn't get to practice one-on-one with someone else very often outside of classes either, so this meet-up was a great way to accomplish both of those things. She was pretty excited for it.

"Hey, Noelle," she said with a grin, stopping at a spot to start her stretches as well. "How're you today?"

Holster was on and wand tucked into it snuggly, Noelle cleared her mind. Henric had taught her this trick when she first started training a few years ago. Right now she was breathing in and out at an even and slow pace.

It was interrupted by a voice.

That voice was welcome though. "Hey Rula!" She said turning around to greet her. "Im pretty good. Excited. How are you?" She asked before grabbing her water and taking a sip of it to just get quenched before they headed up to duel.

"Hirsch says youll be a great one to help me train." She mentioned.. again since she already said this while asking Rula to train with her. "How do you want to do this? Just act like we are dueling?"

"Pretty good too," Rula replied with a grin, finishing up another leg stretch and straightening up. Just a few quick stretches seemed good enough for now. She wasn't intending this training practice to be too intense or anything.

The reminder that Professor Hirsch had actually suggested her as a good person to train with still made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It was just really nice to be thought of, you know? Made it feel like her hard work and practicing over the years had paid off, even if she hadn't won her first duel this term.

"Maybe just jump right into a duel, but talk through our thought processes? So not a real intense duel, just something to like...talk through our first instincts and reactions, and strategies and what we could do different if certain spells are cast...things like that, if that makes sense?"