Celestia pulled a small, silver whistle out of her robes and blew it firmly to call the students to a halt. She gave the room at large a broad smile and said simply, ”Well done! That was pretty good for a first few attempts. As I alluded to earlier, you will be pairing up and having a practice duel for the rest of the lesson. The rules for this duel are simple: you must not intentionally harm your opponents outside of the usual cuts and scrapes, you must attempt these spells at least once during your duel, and you must try to use Transfiguration spells as frequently as possible. Make sure to spread out, please, and give your classmates plenty of room! For those of you who are absolutely uncomfortable with dueling, go ahead and continue practicing Transfiguration spells that could be useful in a duel on the two dummies at the back of the room.” Celestia gestured towards the two dummies that stood proudly away from the majority of the classroom. She wasn’t going to Vanish the remaining dummies, however; what better way to get her students who were just learning to Vanish objects of that size some practice than to leave them to it? As she thought this, she added casually, ”Fourth and fifth years, I expect you to try and Vanish the remaining dummies first. Quickly, please!” It would be good practice for the fifth years’ OWL exams in any case.

OOC: You guys are doing great! Celestia and I loved reading your mini activity posts! I had some RL stuff come up tonight, but I’ll respond to each of you as the lesson moves forward, and do a catch up post on reactions to your mini activity posts tomorrow. You have until 12 AM CDT on July 25 to finish the lesson. If you need anything from Celestia specifically, please put ‘professor’ or something like that in your post title. Feel free to contact me at any time if you have any quesions!

Josie tensed at that... Duel... As in interacting with the other students? She frowned at the thought. She was perfectly happy practicing on her own and not dealing with others. She looked around, was there even anyone left not partnered up? Or could she just watch from the sidelines? That seemed like the better idea actually.

Okay, so they were going to duel now? Well, that was good, because while Maddie wasn't an expert on what they'd learned today, she did know a good bit of useful dueling spells. She glanced around the room, trying to scout out a person who was about on her dueling level. She was well beyond the first year level, but no way did she want to duel a seventh year either!

That was when her gaze landed on Emmalyn. She'd be the perfect partner! There was only one year difference in their ages, so they were probably about on the same level. "Hey, Emmalyn! You want to partner up and practice some dueling spells?" she asked. "Don't worry! I'm not super awesome at dueling, so we'll just have fun with it!" And if she didn't want to duel, they could always partner up and try the spells from earlier.

Dueling. That seemed interesting. She was well protected with her cloak and hat, so she was far more willing to give it a go. The sound of Maddie's voice made her turn her head. "Sure! I'd love to partner up with you." She walked over to her friend and housemate.

"Sounds good. I'm not so hot either and have only been able to produce some sparks instead of a fire rope. But, this could be fun." She giggled a bit and moved to an area that would work to duel. " Are you ready?" She waited enough time for Maddie to get in position before commanding "Ignisio Funem!" and watched as her spell took form. Her eyes widened, her wand tip glowed red then a small string of fire slowly emerged from the tip of her wand. It moved across the floor about three feet before fizzling into nothingness. "WOW!! Did you see that? It sort of worked."

In her excitement, she momentarily forgot they were dueling. She looked up to see Maddie standing across from her, remembered, and braced herself for what Maddie might send her way.

As Skylar listened to Professor Grimsbane speak, the only thing she could think of was that she was that she wished she had known these spells when she was still partaking in the dueling club. They might have come in handy. She watched and took some diligent notes, because as the realization of NEWTs being super close the seventh year was determined to at least make an attempt of ending Hogwarts with good marks. OR she was going to try.

When her turn came to practice on the dummy, she had chosen to not done one of the protective hats or cloaks, but instead cast a protego on herself before concentrating on the spell. Fiery rope. That might have been more efficient to throw at Saffron back in her fourth year than setting her robes on fire, come to think of it. Ah well, it was in the past and the graduated Hufflepuff was thankfully one she would never have to see again. Hopefully.

'Ignisio funem,' she thought fervently, in non-verbal casting because apparently Grimsbane was one who expected it of her older students. A thick stream of fire shot from her wand, enveloping the body of the dummy. Watching it with fascination like the pyro loving person that she was, she waited a moment before casting 'Anguisfors', non-verbally again, and watching as it shifted form into a snake.

"Amazing." She said quietly, to no one in particular.

And now they were to be practicing on each other? She glanced around, seeing Emmalyn and Maddie pair up. And there was a partnerless young Hufflepuff, but honestly, Skylar didn't really feel comfortable given she was a seventh year. Plus her track record with Hufflepuffs and fire wasn't good (even if she doubted the young girl would provoke anything), so it was probably for the best she didn't offer to be her partner.

Maddie shrugged. "I'm not a world-class dueler either, so it's all good," she replied. She had barely gotten that fire spell right, so she doubted she even used it much in the duel anyway. She walked off to their dueling spot and stood opposite Emmalyn. When they were both in a dueling position, Emmalyn started them off. She started to cast a shield to protect herself, but the sparks had died out just shy of a few feet from her.

Maddie sent the spell back toward Emmalyn. "Ignisio Funem!" she called, whipping her wand around. The flames shot from her wand, too, and she even managed to send them about a foot further than Emmalyn had. She remembered nailing the spell in class, so it was only natural hers would be a bit stronger. At this rate, neither of them would need a shield spell, but just in case they did, they always had their protective gear.

"We're doing awesome!" she said, replying to what Emmalyn had said.

Once the class was busy partnering up and getting down to practice, Celestia directed her attention once more to the Slytherin second year in front of her. She felt a pang of sympathy towards the young girl and gave her what she hoped was an encouraging smile. "I understand, Miss Queen. The end of the year can be hard sometimes, as you're so close to going home but still have a couple more months..." Celestia paused, trying to find something constructive to tell the girl. Whenever she had been homesick as a student, she had thrown herself into life at Hogwarts to push the feelings away. This obviously wasn't the case for Miss Queen.
"Err..have you joined any clubs?", she asked gently. It was all she could think of to say, really.

Although she was paying attention to Miss Queen, she wasn't ignoring the rest of the class; she was observing their efforts from where she stood behind her desk. Miss Walsh seemed to struggle with the spell at first -- perfectly natural for a second year -- and Celestia was quite pleased to see the Hufflepuff improve as she began her duel with Miss Kemp. Both girls earned a smile of approval as their duel progressed. After Miss Kemp had managed to create a fiery rope during the duel, Celestia called, "Excellent, Miss Kemp and Miss Walsh!" The professor was quite proud of both of them, but especially of Miss Walsh's composure when she had made colorful balls explode out of her wand on her first attempt.

Mr. Katharos was quite curious about kumquats. Celestia appreciated curiosity in her students, but... "I'm afraid I don't know much about kumquats. I've only held them to get a feel for their shape and texture." The Ravenclaw's comments about trying to conjure colored ropes in the practice room earned him a smile and an encouraging nod from Celestia. As she glanced his way during his practice, Celestia noted that Mr. Katharos was only producing sparks so far. While this was normal for a student his age, Celestia suggested, "Try and visualize the flames leaving your wand as a thick stream." It was possible that he was already doing that; her suggestion was merely to help with one of the most common reasons that students would produce only sparks.

"Keep your focus, Mr. Carden!"Celestia called as she watched Mr. Carden's fiery rope fall apart. She was pleased that he had managed to conjure such a nice looking stream of flames on his first attempt. That wasn't bad at all for a fifth year; he just needed to practice, really. This was still her opinion after the boy's second turn with the dummy -- particularly as his snake resembled a worm. Again, a perfectly normal mistake for a student just learning these spells -- though this was one that always had Celestia suppressing a smile.

Naturally, Miss Cambridge asked the interesting questions. Celestia smiled at the prefect and responded, "These spells certainly aren't perfect, and those would be good ways to counter this sort of attack. I would suggest having your snake attack quickly before your opponent has time to Vanish it. As for taking control of the snake away from you, that would take most wizards at least several seconds. Once you felt that starting to happen, you would have time to cast another spell or to take back or Vanish the snake yourself." It wasn't a perfect answer, but then, there wasn't really such a thing as a perfect dueling spell either. The professor was completely unsurprised that Miss Cambridge chose to use real flames or deadly force as she practiced these spells. She knew that the young Ravenclaw had enough control over her spellwork to keep the spells focused on the dummy -- and she was considerate enough to keep repairing the dummies as she damaged them. "Very well done, Miss Cambridge," Celestia added after the Ravenclaw had demonstrated both spells.

Mr. Carter had decided to show off quite a bit today, Celestia noticed. She raised an eyebrow at the Head Boy as he left burn marks on his dummy; she had no objection to his burning the thing so much as his leaving the marks on there. She expected seventh years to clean up after themselves, but she merely sighed and made a mental note to do it herself later. She was not impressed with the wizard having his snake approach the line of students, though her lips twitched as it made an unmistakable raspberry sound. Rather than telling him off for something that she herself found amusing, Celestia chose to keep her observations to herself.

Mr. Ryker was able to perform the first spell of the day with apparent ease. Celestia smiled approvingly at the Slytherin after his first attempt produced a very nice, fiery rope. [/color=black]Miss Swann[/color] had also mastered the fiery rope spell very quickly, though she had also managed to turn hers into a snake after little time too. Celestia beamed at the young Hufflepuff as she headed back to the end of the line.

Miss Dalgaard-Volkova's attempts at both spells were quite good for a witch her age. Celestia was surprised and pleased at the young Gryffindor's improvement throughout the year, and at how she was able to perform a spell that involved a conjured animal with only a slight pause. The professor thought it best not to draw too much attention to this, however, lest she make the prefect feel embarrassed. She settled for giving the Gryffindor a proud smile after her turn at the dummies had ended.

The professor had noticed Miss Livingston's hesitation when she'd mentioned pairing up. Celestia shot the girl a sympathetic smile; it was perfectly okay with her if the young Hufflepuff worked with one of the dummies for the rest of the class period, but she did hope that someone would volunteer to partner her soon.

Celestia was pleased with Miss Diggory's efforts so far. She was particularly happy that the Slytherin had managed to cast both spells non-verbally, though she wasn't really surprised. Miss Diggory had a knack for this subject after all. She gave the Slytherin an approving nod from where she stood with Miss Queen by her desk.



OOC: Sorry for the late post, but you guys are doing great! You have about 48 hours left in the lesson. I know that's not much time, so if you aren't already dueling and would prefer to just keep going with the dummies, that's fine. There's exciting stuff happening in the RP right now, so thanks for coming and for bearing with me!

She stood at the ready as Maddie cast her spell towards her. The rope of fire crawled closer and closer, but seemed to fizzle out before it reached her body. As soon as it was no longer a threat, she realized that she probably should have spent more time figuring out a protection spell, than watching the rope work its way towards her.

"Oh,that was a really good one." She smiled and held her wand out for another go. She pictured the rope of fire streaming from the tip of her wand and commanded "Ignisio Funem!" The power of the spell flowed through her body and out the tip of her wand. Flames shot out in a rope like fashion and ever so slowly crept across the floor towards Maddie. She willed it closer and closer, but just before it reached her partner, it died out. "That one almost got to you. Well, at least it was closer than last time."

Her confidence was improving. She had gone from just a few sparks, to crazy sparkler balls of fire, to producing a small, but real, rope of fire. It was easier to focus on the spell when the rest of the class wasn't watching and it helped to be working with a partner.

Jessa nodded slowly, following along with the Professor’s explanation. In her opinion, both could also be countered but then, so could all but a few curses that should not technically be used in a duel. Rather than question it further, Jessa accepted it for what it was and turned her attention to the dummies again.

By the sounds of it, all she had to do was insist she was uncomfortable with duelling to get out of the activity. Well then.

Wordlessly, Jessa turned and headed for the dummies in the back. She would pass on the watered down duelling that was expected in the lesson. She saw no sense in duelling under such conditions.

At the back, the 6th year stared at the dummy, tilting her head this way and that. Without proper motivation, it was hard to know what to cast. Did she turn it all to stone? Conjure a blade in the position the heart would typically rest? Simply encase it with rope?

Clubs? Clubs sound nice. Yes. She should have thought of that at the beginning of the year. Hum. Next year instead. She shrugged.
"No. But maybe next year I guess," Skyler said.

Daisy decided to practice her spellwork on the dummies since it was a safer option. She aimed her wand at a couple of the dummies and firmly said, "Evanesco!" Within a few seconds, the two dummies had disappeared from Daisy's sight. There was a third dummy a few inches away from where the other two dummies had stood. The Hufflepuff moved her wand like a whip as she said, "Ignisio Funem," resulting in the fiery rope coiling itself around the neck of the dummy like a blazing necklace. She then performed, "Anguisfors," moving her wand in an S-shape. The dummy was now sporting a serpent-like piece of neckwear where the fire had been.

Just as she was about to try the spell again, Maddie overheard the professor tell both she and Emmalyn how good of a job they were doing. "Thanks, Professor!" she called out. The professor was always so super nice! In just the few seconds it took to do that, Emmalyn had cast an awesome version of the spell, and at first, Maddie thought she'd need to cast a shield charm. She had the protective gear on, but still, her first instinct was to use her wand.

"WHOA!" she said, looking down at the floor where the fire had once been. "That was creepy!"

She laughed then raised her wand. "Ignisio Funem!" she called out. Again, the sparks came from her wand and soon turned into a trail of fire. Maddie didn't even blink or breathe as she commanded the fire to sneak toward Emmalyn. When it reached her feet, she used her wand to command it to turn in a circle around the girl's feet. She ended the spell then caught her breath. "Emmalyn! Did you see that?!" she exclaimed.

Too focused on what she was trying to do, she didn't hear the professor talking to them and was rather confused when Maddie called out the thanks. She briefly wondered if maybe she was just thankful for the protective clothing, but didn't put too much thought into it. "It was kind of cool, huh." She was proud of how well she'd done.

Then Maddie sent another rope of fire her way. It crept closer, and closer, and closer before wrapping around her feet. She stood stone still, not wanting to risk stepping on the fire or getting tangled up, but Maddie's control was amazing and it didn't touch her at all. "Wow! That was fantastic!"

She was up again. Her wand was out and her mind was focused. Her goal was to get the fire to Maddie. "Ignisio Funem!" she commanded forcefully, willing with all her mind and body the fire from the tip of her wand. It started out slowly, pouring down towards the ground, before snaking its way towards Maddie's feet. It kept up the slow and steady pace until it was within inches of her friends feet. Unsure if she would be able to wrap the fire around her and not cause injury, she stopped the rope of fire where it was. "It made it all the way! Not quite as good as yours, but it's getting so much better!"

Maddie was really excited now! She'd either got really good at the spell or just had a whole lot of luck on that last try. She wanted to believe that she'd gotten really good at it, though! In that case, she could cast it again and again with success each time! "Thanks!" Maddie said, when Emmalyn told her she'd done an awesome job. Then she laughed. "We must be the two nicest duelers there's ever been!" How many other duelers took turns casting spells and then congratulated each other after each attempt?

Maddie watched as Emmalyn cast the spell, causing a string of fire to start snaking its way to her. Maddie's eyes widened and she held her breath. Again, she got that same feeling of mild fear, even though deep down inside, she remembered that she had protective clothing on. "You did it. Emmalyn!" she finally said. "If we ever need to use this spell, you'd have no problem getting it to work!" Hopefully they'd never have a real situation where the spell was needed.

"So what now? Want to try a few rounds of a real duel?" she asked. Because before now, they'd really only been practicing the new spell.

Celestia nodded as Miss Queen stated that she'd try joining a club next year. Good. The professor certainly hoped that that would help the girl make more friends and beat back her homesickness in the future.

Meanwhile, most of her attention was obviously absorbed by the rest of the class. Many students were still hard at work, whether they were practicing individually -- like Miss Cambridge and Miss Swann -- or finishing up their duels. Celestia was most impressed with Miss Walsh's and Miss Kemp's duel; the girls both seemed to get better and better at each turn.

A short time later -- or so it seemed to Celestia -- the bell rang throughout the castle to signal the end of the lesson. Celestia turned back to her students and called, "Good work, everyone! I'll see you on Thursday!" Once her students began packing up and heading out of the room, Celestia approached Miss Walsh and Miss Kemp directly. "Very well done today, girls. Take ten points for Hufflepuff for your hard work and positive attitudes during your duel!"


OOC: Thanks so much to everyone who attended this lesson! I hope you guys had fun. Have a great time defending Hogwarts!!