Jillian was accustomed to the headmaster closing the door every time he is ready to start the class. Her eyes wandered around, not searching particularly for anyone and glancing back to headmaster Trent. She was startled in the last second as she fidget a bit before taking a step back and spreading her arms wide.

Ohhh, exercises. She absolutely did not expect for that to happen but that's good, she needed to move her body and loosen up her mind and muscles. Taking the first position she once again spread her arms wide and began to move it in a clockwise circular manner.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5...…. 15 she counted in her head before changing the arm movement to counter-clockwise this time. Counting once again. She felt or heard a soft cracking sound- nothing to be alarmed about. After finishing she dropped both her arms down.

More exercises.

Thank Merlin she does yoga about once or twice a week- whenever is possible really. She bent her body a bit and touched her left leg with her right arm then vice versa with one hand stretched up high. Still counting in her head she manages to reach 20.

Phew.

More dueling. This dueling thing was getting pretty serious here at Hogwarts this year. Blake wondered if they were getting ready for an attack ... maybe ninjas were coming! that would be both cool and terrifying at the same time. He better be prepared if they were though, so following the professors guidance. Blake began to circle his arms, loosing up his shoulder getting ready to kick a little dummy butt since last time he left rather embarrassed by it.

When he had finished his circles he took up the cadence of bending over and reaching across to touch his toes. This felt like gym class at his primary school.

Catherine gave her best friend the tiniest smile in greeting when she was nudged. Knowing Cecelia, she had signed up to duel, so Catherine was wondering if she would be one of the ones to do so that evening. She wasn't exactly sure what to think about that or whether she should be worried, but she supposed she would have to wait and see.

When it was time to stretch, Catherine actually waited for those around her to move instead of moving herself. The others could make sure there was enough space between them. Besides, she herself wasn't going to be stretching that much because she wasn't going to duel, so she didn't think it was necessary. And the less she moved the less people would be tempted to look at her, she was sure.

She did do all the moves as instructed, but more like mini versions of them instead of the full blown out thing most people were doing.

Did everyone HEAR that? The HEADMASTER liked her attitude. Thought she was going to be a WINNER. This was excellent news! The blonde griiiiiinned and stood up just a little bit taller, pleased with his words.

Unlike Catherine, Cecelia was ALL about the stretching. She did loads of it between quidditch and lessons with Hassan and it came second nature to her. The second year worked seriously, stretching the muscles she knew would be coming in handy for dueling. DUELING! She still couldn't believe it was going to be happening today.

Merlin!

Streeeeeeetch!

Eiji felt called out though he had no reason not to be. He was not physically UNFIT but he still felt like the headmaster was talking to him specifically about needing the stretching.

Anyway. Shoving all THAT aside for now.

Stretching he could do, though he offered Nina a heaving sigh as he stepped the opposite direction of her movements. Arms width away from all, he started on this whole stretching business and mimicked the headmaster's movements. No wonder him and Uncle Ryu were practically brothers. He was almost feeling like he was at a class over at Himitsumahou. Just at least here at Hogwarts the Forest was not exactly a hospitable environment for jogs through.

...11....12...13...14...15...

’I appreciate you trying to hold it together.’

That sentence was enough to get his mind racing faster than the speed of light. A part of him couldn’t help but wonder if he was just that obvious. Could he see it clearly on his face? Did Trent always know? Did he expect him to feel this way? Did he know him well enough by now? Probably.

But another part of him couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to keep up with, uh, this. They were going to duel, weren’t they? So this was going to get worse, he was certain of it. He didn’t even want to think about any of the many, many injuries he was likely to get but he was sure that if they did happen, he was not going to hold it together.

So, uh, what should he say back? Should he say anything at all? Lucas blinked at him before doing his best to give him a small, awkward smile.

Holding it together. He was holding it together.

And he could still hold it together because the first step was only a bit of stretching. And as much as he didn’t like exercise, this wasn’t tOO bad, right?

Lucas moved around, his arms stretching out to make sure he was really arm’s length away from those closest to him. Or move than arm’s length. To be safe. Once he’d found the perfect spot, and once he felt ready, the boy started moving his arms around around in circular motions. First fifteen clockwise circles, and then fifteen anti-clockwise circles.

Anyone looking at the Gryffindor might’ve noticed his breathing becoming heavier and heavier the closer he reached the end of the total number of circles. He also started moving slower the closer he reached the end but that was normal for students their age, wasn’t it?

And now, the harder part. Or the hardest part after all that duelling. After some previous lessons, the Prefect knew exactly how to do this stretch that Trent had taught them. In fact, it was enough to give him a small surge of confidence as he bent down into the stretch the Headmaster was talking about.

But the problem? The problem came when, after a very few number of sets, his muscles started screaming from all this, uh, pain? Exercise?

Was this over?

Oh......the door was shut. It was showtime. Wait, they were going to do exercises? Well Naya supposed that made sense. Wouldn’t want to pull a muscle, or worse, while dueling. The fifth year was all for it. Naya followed directions and moved away from her classmates. The only thing worse than a dueling injury would be a warm up injury.

Naya stood up tall and rolled her head around in a circle. Time to stretch. She put her arms out and began to move them in clockwise circles. 1, 2, 3.............15. And she reversed the motion, counting as she went, until she reached 15 again. Once that was done, she shook out her hands.

Time for the next stretch. Naya bent forward and alternated touching each arm to the opposite leg. When she had finished her required twenty, she bent one knee, stretching it behind her. Then she repeated the stretch with the other leg. Just thought she would try a little extra. Now she was ready, more or less. If she could get her mind right, all would be well.

For a kid who'd been a dancer once upon a time, this activity wasn't exactly difficult at all. Even still, Isla had been out of practice for almost a year now. She was kind of starting to feel the stretches work on her boy, and she was sure she'd be sore later on. She pushed on and stuck her arms out a second time. Clockwise they went for fifteen counts. Was this really going to help them if they got surprise-attacked? She guessed it would at least keep her in shape.

She paused for a second then started turning her arms in the opposite direction. They felt heavier this go round. She counted to fifteen then swapped up to doing more leg stretches. All twenty of them. At this point, she sort of wanted to force herself to duel, terrified or not, just because of all the hard work she was doing to get ready for it.

She finished up the second round of leg stretches then stood back up to her full height. Okay, was two rounds of arm stretches and two rounds of leg stretches enough? They were going to stop now, right? He didn't more exercises in mind or something, did he?

One thing Carys knew she could handle: stretching. It had been and always would be part of her personal Quidditch training regime, and therefore there was no complaint from the Hufflepuff prefect as they’d been instructed to start the DADA lesson with stretching. Even if she hadn’t signed up for duelling club, she knew her sister had and therefore was going to support her, and anyhow, stretching never killed anyone. That she knew of, and she was going to guess that nobody would be dying in the duelling area this evening either.

She started with the arm circles, knowing the move was just as useful for keeping up her Chaser skills as it presumably was for duelling. Odds were they wouldn’t have been instructed to do so if they weren’t. Honestly, she was almost planning on continuing stretches once she’d moved to the stands when the duels began. At the very least, she’d visualize Quidditch drills so she wouldn’t feel quite so lax in her training.

First clockwise circles, then counter-clockwise after the count of fifteen.

While the students did their stretches, Malachi did a few stretches of his own. He would be participating in a duel later with one lucky student--ha...ha....lucky--and thought it wouldn't hurt to get himself feeling a little more loose. If nothing else could be said about his students, they were still in their prime. Still rather...spritely and likely to hop around in in circles. Perhaps he should've done some full on workouts in the weeks before.

Too late for that now.

At the end of the stretches, it was time for a bit of more...practical exercise.

"Before we break into the inevitable, I'd like us to get into pairs. If, when the dust clears, you don't have a pair, I'd be happy to step in." But he'd be just as quick to point out open students should anyone decide to forgo the search in favour of simply working with him. That was for certain, a last resort.

"Once you've grabbed yourself a partner, we can move to the next step. " And a pause to give them enough time to find an opponent. "As was mentioned, there are a few ways to end a duel. I'll take this time to also remind you that a duel to the death is never permitted at Hogwarts. It's so not permitted that it's even less permitted than unauthorized duelling. Unauthorized duelling, as was mentioned in previous lessons," because he'd been sure to hammer it home whenever he could, "is very very VERY prohibited. As in, if Godric Gryffindor walks up to you and pitches the idea of the "greatest duel ever seen" you quote the rule books at him prohibited." Was he eyeing a certain two? Maybe.

"In this evening's duels, disarming your opponent will be enough to end the duel. So that's what we'll do now. There won't be any dummies, you'll have each other to work with. For this, you'll need both "expelliarmus" and "protego". You don't need to wait or take turns. Treat it as a proper but limited duel." Warm up, for now.

"Right, let's get moving."

OOC: Moving away from the usual format here, as you all may have already noticed. It's time for the mini activity! Partner up and try to disarm your partner while keeping your wand. Your charries can only use the disarming and protection charms. You'll have 48-72 hrs to get this done. Have fun! As a side note, please don't post an "open" post below someone who has posted one. Grab the open post instead of adding to the number of open ones. We're all here to have a good time, yeah? And it makes it easier for me to see who's the odd cookie out. Let's work together ^^

She had been quiet as class began and did her stretches as she was told. Her ears were open as she worked through her own stretches. Dueling was one of those things that Chloe wanted to do more of but had a really hard time doing altogether. She hated going up against her friends or people she didn't know that well, plus there was no one she really disliked so going up against an enemy of any sort was out as well. Her struggle to do the best she could and not want to hurt anyone was a distraction when she had to be super focused.

Hearing the headmaster's voice she got out of her stretch and listened carefully. Find a partner, right, this was always so awkward. She had plenty of friends and her brothers were in most of her classes so she should be able to find someone quickly, but she hated asking anyone in case they had someone else in mind. So instead of jumping right up and grabbing a partner, she took her time looking around the room, seeing if anyone was looking as if they were left out. She never wanted anyone to feel left out or that they didn't belong so she tried to see if she could find someone she could make feel like they weren't an outsider.

"If anyone needs a partner, I'll be it."

Blake was uncertain that he wanted a much older student to be his dueling partner... he was certain to loose with in seconds. And he didn't like he was dueling a much older girl. The thought made him blush again. Why did he always have to blush ugh .... taking a deep breath, he didn't have much choice in the matter. The headmaster was very clear in his instructions ... everyone needed a partner.

"I guess it's you and me." He added the girl next to him. "I'm Blake by the way." He did like that he had to look up to see her face fully, I mean he wasn't short by any means ... but ...... okay well he was shorter and younger than his dueling partner and he didn't like it..... there.... he said it... not out allowed though.. never out loud. "I guess we should line up and bow." He added with smile ... okay .. he could still do this. Taking his place on one side of the room he offered his partner the bow before a duel and got his wand on the ready.

Chloe was smiling as the younger student came up to her. She was really going to have a hard time dueling a younger student, but she knew it was a learning experience for both of them. Plus this way if she didn't fully duel and let him win she could feel like she was helping his confidence.

"Hi Blake, I'm Chloe." Pulling her wand and giving them both some room she did nod at his words, "Yes, to start we have to stand here facing each other and bow as we did with those dummies. " She showed him as she spoke and made sure to do the correct angle, her bum still hurt thinking about when she hadn't gone far enough into the bow.

Guess who was feeling smug in the moment? Go on. Take a guess.

Eiji always appreciated it when the headmaster indulged in some salty tendencies, and his jabs at the whole Godric Gryffindor situation were sheer perfection. His hazel-green eyes nonchalantly flickered around the area towards the two younger Gryffindors in question. Yes. Common sense. Honestly.

Though the smug look on his face soon faded when they were told they had to collect a partner. Ugh.

His gaze immediately shifted to Nina and he leaned over a bit to smack her hand to grab her attention. "Oi. Partner with me?"

To say Carsyn was looking forward to dueling club was an understatement! Without Quidditch yet again, the fifth year was all about any possible way to get her daily endorphin rush. Whether it be morning runs before the snow really settled in on the grounds or afternoon swims or well, dueling. As someone who played quidditch, Carsyn was no stranger to stretches either. Even if she impatiently wanted to do something more, she began rotating her arms one way... and then then other...

Then her wrists. Then her knee raises. And toe raises. And stretches of one arm up and opposite leg out and switch.

Well that time went surprisingly quickly, with the Headmaster talking now about unauthorized dueling and Godric Gryffindor .... and Carsyn was reminded of seeing him on the grounds and then he disappeared before she had the chance to follow because she'd gotten caught up with some distracting behaviors. What had she missed in the dueling arena that afternoon she'd only heard about through the Hogwarts Rumor Grapevine but it also made her wonder, if she hadn't gotten caught up ... what would she have done?? Would she have questioned Godric? She'd like to think she would have, being older than the other two involved in the destruction and yet... he was her founder, in the flesh. Or was he? It was all so confusing because he seemed lifelike and yet she also knew he was LONG SINCE dead and there was no elixir of life....


Partnering and practicing disarming and shield charms. Okay, easy enough. She turned to look for Carys when she heard a oi, unaware that it wasn't intended for her, and gave a little "me?" pointing at herself and looking around to see Eiji there. "Sure, why not."

Partnering up!

Who was Cole going to ask to be his duelling partner? He didn't wan't someone that'd not let him hear the end of it, if he messed up the duel totally. So that ruled out a few of his housemates, as well as some older students. Considering his options he was though very relieved that he was going to duel a peer and not a dummy. He had the last duel in way too fresh memory. He still had aches after the dummy attacks.

Seeing Claudine, he decided on the spot. She was going to be his partner. They shared an interest in sketching maybe they could share duelling too? Approaching the younger dark haired snakette he bowed in a 45 degree angle with a smile at her before he begged. "Claudine, can you please be my dueling partner?" He'd be devastated and at a loss who to ask if she declined him.

Lining up and facing her Cole took out his wand as he bowed again, waiting for her to do the same before he straightened up.. "Are you ready Claudine? I start now." Gripping his wand tightly he aimed at her as he casted firmly "Expelliarmus!"

”Don’t worry, I’ll be careful” he answered to the Headmaster. Was it just him or did the man look disappointed that he had not run in to one of the Founders yet? He had only met Salazar Slytherin but he had heard about Godric Gryffindor as well. Destroying the dueling arena or something… He wasn’t sure.

Minjae had been a bit surprised to see that Ewan had walked to the seats. Did that mean he was not going to participate in any duels? LAME!

The Hufflepuff looked at the Ravenclaw Prefect as he stood near him and shrugged his shoulders at his question. S’up? ”Well, the sky is up” he said with a sheepish grin. Yes, he knew it was a bad joke.

He was about to ask him if he was going to participate in the dueling later as well when he heard the sound of the door snapping shut and he turned his attention to the Headmaster instead.

Stretching… well he guessed it was good for the body so the fourth year found a place to stand so that he did not hurt anyone and put his arms out. He counted in his head as he rotated his arms clockwise in a circular motion first. 1..2..3..4..—14…15. When he was done he did the same thing counter-clockwise until he felt his muscles loosening up.

….Yeah he was not going to do that next part. He was good enough already.

Holding his arms at his side, Minjae listened to the Headmaster again, letting out a snicker at the mention of ‘if Godric Gryffindor walks up to you’ It sounded so weird because it COULD actually happen since he really was in the castle right now. And part of him actually WANTED to duel Gryffindor. Like, how AWESOME would that be?! He’d be in the Daily Prophet! Every witch and wizard would know his name for at least two weeks! He shook his head as he tried to focus on the lesson again before he got lost in his own thoughts.

Partners? Minjae looked around him as the others already started partnering up. ”I’M SINGLE!" ...wait "I MEAN i'm free! Anyone want to partner up with me??”

Ooooooookay, that jab about Godric Gryffindor was DEFINITELY directed to her, but sulky!Bernadette tried not to look too pouty as she nodded. Yes, Headmaster. She'd heard and understood and mostly taken this message to heart. Plus she knew now that Godric Gryffindor himself shouldn't be walking around Hogwarts these days. If he was, something was very, VERY wrong.

Now, onto the partner bit....

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi

Partners? Minjae looked around him as the others already started partnering up. ”I’M SINGLE!" ...wait "I MEAN i'm free! Anyone want to partner up with me??”

She was tempted to look to Phoebe, but on her other side was a rather loud Hufflepuff yelling his head off. Hufflepuffs, smh...

"Oi oi, if I partner with ya, you're not going to set me on fire, will ya?" Bernadette approached Minjae with a smile. Y'know, like how he'd done the jukebox in? "Let's go." She wasn't afraid of taking on a fourth year, no way! Gryffindors had more courage than sense, after all.

.......Very funny..."THAT had been an accident, okay?" he said as he followed the Gryffindor to where she wanted to practice their dueling. Yes, he knew immediately that she meant the jukebox incident that had happened at the technology centre.

As he walked, the Hufflepuff took his wand out of his wrist holster and held it in his right hand. So the duel ended when one of them dropped their wands? noted! But first, Minjae bowed for Bernadette as it was the proper way to start any duel right? "Ready?" he asked. Doing a sneak attack right after a bow was not his style anyway.

Heh heh. "Sure sure, just maybe have another accident today, and drop your wand for me, m'kay?" Because then she would win the duel, and Bernie could really use a win right now.

She faced off to Minjae and returned his bow, but instead of replying to him, she shot off her first spell. "Expelliarmus!" Quickly, without waiting for him to fire back, she also cast, "PROTEGO!" Bernie felt like she really knew the shield charm...kinda...er, after practicing on the dummy...maybe?

SPOILER!!: Cole! <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

Partnering up!

Who was Cole going to ask to be his duelling partner? He didn't wan't someone that'd not let him hear the end of it, if he messed up the duel totally. So that ruled out a few of his housemates, as well as some older students. Considering his options he was though very relieved that he was going to duel a peer and not a dummy. He had the last duel in way too fresh memory. He still had aches after the dummy attacks.

Seeing Claudine, he decided on the spot. She was going to be his partner. They shared an interest in sketching maybe they could share duelling too? Approaching the younger dark haired snakette he bowed in a 45 degree angle with a smile at her before he begged. "Claudine, can you please be my dueling partner?" He'd be devastated and at a loss who to ask if she declined him.

Lining up and facing her Cole took out his wand as he bowed again, waiting for her to do the same before he straightened up.. "Are you ready Claudine? I start now." Gripping his wand tightly he aimed at her as he casted firmly "Expelliarmus!"

Claudine had been unaware that Cole had been watching her do the second set of exercise as she had been so absorbed in completing them quickly as possible. Once she had completed the exercises, she stood watching him, and the others who weren’t finished. Also, she was trying to regulate her breathing back to normal. Luckily, breathing was easy again just as Trent began dishing out the instructions.

Partners? Claudine inwardly groaned though she knew that this requirement would be inevitable at some point. Her gaze went dully around the room. Her regular partner was Bernie but since she was avoiding the Gryffindor....

She completely missed Cole moving closer to her until that head of hair that always stuck out (in her opinion) was bowing in her direction and he was asking her to be his partner. Relief washed over her; Claudine was okay with this particular Lion and wouldn’t mind working with him. She returned the bow politely in acceptance of the request.

Was she ready?

Claudine was born ready to take on anything.

“Give it your best shot,’’ she challenged with a smirk, and raising her wand. A spilt second after Cole cast the spell, the girl returned hers. “Protego.’’ Now, earlier in her practices, Claudine had perfected the Shield Charm. The basic one, that is. But it was enough for her wand remained in her hand. She didn’t hesitate to continue the duel. “Expelliarmus.’’

This was going to be SO cool!

Cecelia waiting for the instructions to be over and then glanced at Catherine, her smile growing. "Partners?! I could use all the practice I can get and you can help me prepare!" And AS a best friend, how could you refuse that pitch? You just COULDN'T...

...could you?

All the puppy-dog eyes for you, Catherine Mordaunt.

Alessandro was excited (yes, he was, okay?!) about this activity. He liked dueling. He was adept at it and had even mastered some nonverbal defensive spells over the summer with his father that aided his capability. During term, he rarely ever had the opportunity to flex these skills. So yes, he was excited. Dueling being welcomed was a pleasant surprise, even if there were limitations on the how.

Still, Alessandro would take it.

He looked around the room for someone to duel with, preferably someone fifth year or older. He was not looking to bully some poor younger kids in a duel. It was hardly a challenge. Ahem. Not fair to the younger students. That was what he had meant. Of course. Naturally.

Phoebe wanted to partner with one of her Stark friends. Teddy or Yoyo or Tavie... even Flynn, who would never choose her, but she'd choose in a second. Or Cece, who kept blowing them off for her new best friend.

BUT she also didn't want to die at wandpoint some day, so she probably needed to actually try. The second year Gryffindor considered grabbing the Headmaster as a partner, but he'd probably take it easy on her. Which was rotten, really, when a girl was trying to learn not to die.

She spotted an older student looking for a partner and planted herself in front of him. "I'm Phoebe. I'm a good learner and I want to learn to beat people with magic, and I want to be your partner. And you can say no, but you should say yes, because I'm pretty annoying." But chaaaaaaarming.

There now with the niceties out of the way .. introductions made... the bow performed Blake was ready. His wand was raised .. he was determined to attack first. That was going to be his strategy for dueling with an older student.... attack first ask questions later. HA...

Blake steadied himself and shouted what felt like his war cry "Expelliarmus" He felt good strong .. confident about his spell it went off with out a hitch ... he could have sworn he watched it go in slow motion toward Chloe ... but now .. could she dodge it or protect herself time .... only time will tell.......