The Duel
The weeks bled into October, and Vi found herself thriving in Defense Against the Dark Arts—Professor Potter had a way of making the material feel less like schoolwork and more like a challenge. It was quickly becoming her favorite class. That’s part of the reason why she awoke with a spring in her step on this cool autumn morning. She had Defense Against the Dark Arts, yes, but this afternoon was their first flying lesson as well, and Vi felt herself buzzing.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was unlike the others at Hogwarts– the torches burned lower, the walls were lined with old shields, and, today, the desks were arranged in a semicircle, such that it left a big open space on the floor. Vi thought it looked sort of like an arena, and she felt herself get excited at the thought. Something practical. She looked over at Caitlyn, Mylo, and Claggor with a twinkle in her eye.
Professor Potter stood at the front, arms crossed as he surveyed the room. He wasn’t as old as Vi had initially imagined him to be at the start of the year. There was silver in his hair, and his infamous scar was faint, but unmistakable.
“Wands out, please,” he said, steady yet firm. “Today, we duel.”
Vi didn’t miss the faint smirk that crossed his lips. A ripple of murmurs spread through the class as Vi grinned and rolled her shoulders, whipping out her wand.
Professor Potter continued. “You may choose your partners. I want you to be comfortable with the person you’re dueling, as it is your first time.”
Vi automatically looked over at Caitlyn with an unspoken question in her eyes. Caitlyn gave her a nod.
“Do try not to embarrass yourself, Lanes,” Caitlyn teased with a smile as she pulled her wand from where it was tucked behind her ear, elegantly twirling it between her fingers. Vi felt her mouth go dry and chalked it up to nerves for their duel. She composed herself after a few seconds.
“You wish, Kiramman.”
The group of students stepped into the area cleared on the floor, partners facing one another, wands raised in traditional dueling stance. They had covered the mechanics and proprieties of Wizarding duels in the prior classes, and had been covering simple defensive spells since the beginning of the year. Professor Potter, after his tumultuous years at Hogwarts, believed that the first years, despite not knowing much by way of spells, should know how to defend themselves. After all, that was the point of defensive magic.
“Due to space constraints, we will have one group go at a time.” The scarred professor explained. “Ms. Lanes and Ms. Kiramman, you’re up first!”
Caitlyn and Vi made their way to the center of the room, facing one another at a bit of a distance.
“Bow,” Potter instructed.
They did– Caitlyn bowed sharp and proper, and Vi bent low, adding a dramatic flourish of her hands. Caitlyn stifled a chuckle.
“Begin.”
Caitlyn struck first with a quick and precise Expelliarmus sending a red jet from the end of her Chestnut wand. Vi barely dodged the spell, but fired back a quick Stupefy in return. It landed, sending Caitlyn flying back onto the mat, but it was not powerful enough to keep her subdued for more than a few seconds. She shot back up and glared at Vi, firing back a tickling curse with a bellowing, “RICTUMSEMPRA!”. Vi was sent flying back in a fit of uncontrollable laughter as Caitlyn’s jinx landed.
She fired back quickly with a shout of, “LEVICORPUS!”, but Caitlyn was quicker, blocking the spell with an even faster, “PROTEGO!”
At her shout, a gold shield-like barrier formed in front of her, and Vi’s spell was deflected off to the side. Before Vi could even react, Caitlyn fired back a jelly-legs jinx, and Vi was rendered incapacitated.
“Very well done, Ms. Kiramman!” Professor Potter was elated. “Excellent use of Protego! Five points to Gryffindor.” He quickly reversed Caitlyn’s jelly-legs jinx so that Vi could stand up and accept her defeat. She huffed as Caitlyn smugly shook her hand with a, “Better luck next time, Lanes.”
Vi elbowed a snickering Mylo in the gut. The rest of class went by quite quickly. Vi found that even when she wasn’t dueling, she very much enjoyed watching. She was paying rapt attention to Professor Potter’s critiques and praises, picking up on different hexes and jinxes she could use in the future. She was almost disappointed when Potter dismissed them. That quickly went by the wayside when she realized that they had their first flying lesson.