Duel of the ages
False was not good at many subjects, there was a lot that just did not make sense to her. But she was okay with that. She did not need to excel at every class like Etho did, she had her PVP.
She joined the duelling club at the end of her first year after a friend of hers, Cleo, had recommended it to her and boy did she dominate it. Lots of the older students had been very excited with such a talent and began learning her as much as they could. Because False may not be good with words and letters, but she excelled at DADA and the martial arts.
That was, of course, until Etho joined the club.
She and Etho had been friends for their entire time at Hogwarts, having met at the sorting ceremony together with Iskall and Hypno. They sat together in class and they sat together at lunch, they played wizard chess together and they played gobstones together.
They just did it all together, everything except dualling. Because that was False’s thing and hers alone. It was the only thing she could really excel at.
But no, as soon as Etho caught wind of the club he wanted to join in. Normally that had not been a problem, but Etho was good. Very good. And False felt threatened.
They never sparred together, neither wanting to make a move. But there were whispers, whispers about how the two best duelers had to go against each other for an ultimate showdown; a dual of the ages.
But she was scared, she did not want to lose her position as the best dueler of Hogwarts. And the only way to establish that, was by beating Etho in a duel. Etho was already so good at so many things and now he would come and take her only good thing. It had to come to an end.
And so she trained, evening after evening until she felt ready enough to challenge him. It happened after training.
“Etho, I would like to formally request to challenge you.” The entire room went quiet, you would be able to hear a pin drop. Even Etho, who normally did not show his expressions, looked surprised.
“Ehhh, okayyy? I accept your challenge.” He answered uncertainly and the room burst into cheers, startling both of them.
The following week was weird. She kept getting strange looks from people when walking to her classes and talking to Etho became awkward, so the two just sat in silence during their classes. But she was in top shape, she was better than ever.
She was just so stressed, even Hypno’s motivational speeches were not working. This was a big deal. If she lost she might as well have nothing, be a nothing.
The week rolled by and eventually the time of the dual had arrived. False and Etho stood on different sides of the duelling room, surrounded by their supporters and their coaches.
“Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the duel between Etho Slab and False Symmetry. My name is Xisuma Void and I’m not sure why I’m here as I know nothing about duelling.” Xisuma, their chosen referee, enchanted their voice to be louder with a quick sonorus and went to start the match.
“Okay, duellist take your places.”
False took a deep breath in and went to stand on her spot, one metre away from Etho who gave her a smile which she struggled to return.
“One, two, three. Begin.” The two turned around at a lightning speed and began firing at the other. False chose to start off slightly defensive as she wanted to feel Etho’s way of fighting before she went in head first. She had of course been observing him during their training sessions but observing was different than feeling. When she thought she knew his movement she went for the more aggressive tactics, hitting many times.
She did not know how long they were at it (later on someone told her that the duel lasted at least twenty minutes) but she could feel herself wearing down as her movements became a bit more sluggish at times. But that was fine, because Etho was struggling much more than she was. His movements became predictable and so did his spellcasting, it was just up to False to not make a mistake and finish it.
It proved to be more difficult than it should have been, as Etho did not go down without a fight, but after a tricky combination of spells False had managed to get him exactly where she wanted and went in for a last expelliarmus. Etho’s wand flew across the room, right in her hand.
A deafening applause followed and False dumbly took it all in. Etho immediately went up to her and gave her a crushing hug.
“You are such a marvellous dueler, you never slacked off. How do you get the stamina?” False just smiled at him. She would tell him later about her martial arts, for now she just wanted to enjoy the moment.
That night ended spectacularly. False did not only win the duel, but, after some prodding from Etho, also managed to convince their head boy Xisuma to tutor her and help her with her reading difficulties.
Finally things were looking up!