Stepping into the arena, Noelle was surprised to see her name matched with a professor's. Merlin's beard. As much as Noelle enjoyed Professor Stewarts Muggle Studies class, she was a little intimidated about dueling a professor. She went over the conversations and practices she had with Hirsch in her head as she walked to the middle of the arena. "Good day professor" She said brightly, giving a wave to the professor. She hoped the professor wouldn't be fooled by her friendliness. She liked the professor, but she took her dueling seriously. She wasn't about to go easy.

Most of the time, people said good luck before starting a duel.... that didn't seem right in this case. Saying good luck to a professor?? The professor was more experienced than she. Noelle shrugged her thoughts away and took a much needed deep breath. "Good luck professor" She said in spite of it feeling odd. She squared her shoulders and got into her dueling mind frame.

Bowing, she pulled her wand from the holster. First things first, she cast a featherlight spell on herself and then a gripping charm on her hand to keep a firmer grasp on her wand. Sometimes palms got sweaty and she needed a good grip.

Then Noelle pointed her wand at professor Stewart. "Levicorpus!" followed by a "Obscuro" She said, testing to see her reflexes. Speaking of reflexes, Noelle was already on the balls of her feet, ready for any spells to come back at her.

Did she mention that she took dueling seriously?

This was rather surprising. Roderick pairing her with a student wasn't something she had ever thought would happen but now that it had, Kay was up for the challenge. The only thing that troubled her was that she would want to go easy on the student she was up against which happened to be Noelle.

"And to you, Ms Summers,'' the woman replied with her warm smile. She waited, letting Noelle go first. The first spell sent to her was Levicorpus which reminded her of the duel against Cami earlier in the term. She was prepared. "Contego!'' Though the spell wasn't long as lasting as Protego, it did the trick. But the second spell... Kay's eyes were suddenly covered. The blindfold was quickly removed when she pulled it off with her wand-free hand.

"Avis!'' The spell conjured a flock of birds. ''Oppugno!'' The birds turned to attack Noelle.

The warm smile that Professor Stewart gave her was a welcomed one. She liked that Professor Stewart looked confident. She was still a little surprised she was playing against a professor. Even if she did manage to blindfold a professor.

Olly would definitely be told about this.

Noelle wanted to tell the professor that was a good block, but she was on the balls of her feet, ready for what the professor would bring at her. She was curious when she cast Avis and Oppungo.

"Arresto Momentum." Noelle said, slowing the birds before saying, "Finite" so the birds vanished. It was a good thing she'd just practiced that not too long ago. She'd also used depulso in her practice but she was concentrating on her next plan of action.

Holding her wand up, she said "Immobulus!' out loud while aiming at Professor Stewart before a silent nonverbal, Rictusempra. It was a combination that she quite liked. So she didn't hurt her opponent. And she KNEW she could cast that one nonverbally because she'd practiced it many times. She could do it without trouble now.

Noelle was excellent at duelling. This was what Kay could gather thus far from the short 'battle'. She was disappointed and relieved that the birds did not get to attack but she was expecting another attack. The Freezing Charm was deflected back to the caster but the Tickling Charm caught her off caught. Non verbal... it had been non verbal.

Kaysha burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. She struggled to maintain a hold on her wand and finally, she managed to point it to herself. "F-fi- Finite!'' Thankfully she was able to stop the Spell then she once more turned the wand in the Gryffindor's direction.

"Gaudeo!'' The Cheering Charm could be an advantage for Kay; at least this was what she reasoned. "Muffliato!''

It was kinda of cool seeing this side of Professor Stewart. She was quick with her wand but it was obvious she wasnt dueling to her top potential. Probably due to Noelle being a student and all. Noelle appreciated the gesture but she took this seriously and wanted to see if she, herself, had improved since she upped her training.

The freezing charm was sent back to her which Noelle blocked with "protego". Her tickling charm had worked and she broke into a smile despite her 'game face'. She even giggled because watching Professor Stewart giggle like that was contagious.

She'd been giggling so she wasn't prepared for Professor's next quick attack. She managed to jump out of the way of the cheering charm but was hit with muffliato.

Ugggghhh. A buzzing sound erupted into her ear drums. She could barely think! She shook her head a few times, trying to stop the noise but knew she had to send a spell back or she'd lose her chance.

Challenge accepted. Breathing out, she squared her shoulders. The giggle that was happening not too long ago was gone. "G-Glacius!" She tried sending to the professor but nothing came from her wand. Ugh. The noise was distracting her. Time to think outside of the box.

Pointing her wand at the professor's feet, she sent a nonverbal glacius charm at the floor behind the professor and then one of her favorite spells when she was younger. The Bat Bogey Hex. She sent that one verbally, yelling on accident because of the buzz in her ear.

Then she pointed her wand at her ears and said 'Finite'. The buzzing stopped and she breathed a sigh of relief. That was annoying.

Hirsch felt a small stab of guilt everytime he thought of the word he'd given to Noelle about duelling against an Auror or YATI and here she was, duelling against a member of staff. It was probably slightly disheartening but considering the low turnout of the Auror/YATI members, his hands were tied. Hopefully, this duel still helped her. Kaysha wasn't exactly bad at duelling, after all.

A proud smile and a raised eyebrow expression spread across his face as the duel continued. If he wasn't mistaken, Kaysha seemed to be putting Noelle through her paces and Noelle was putting up a fight of her own. There was a strong sense of determination there, as if neither women wanted to back down. Frankly, he was oddly proud for pairing the two up against each other.

When the duel came to a close, he struck up a shield between them before hurrying forwards. "That was amazing!" he said, a little too enthusiastically, "Really. It looks like you've really grasped the nonverbal spells, Noelle. I'm very proud of the progress you've made." She had really pushed herself and it was showing. "Thank you for doing this, Kaysha," he said, turning towards the Muggle Studies professor, "Hope you enjoyed the challenge." A staff visit to Hogsmeade was probably going to be a thing once the school year was over.

And they were free to go.