(1937-10-09) Firsties Prepare For Duels
Details for Firsties Prepare For Duels
Summary: More senior Dueling club students, and later Auror Bannon, teach some ambitious firsties some dueling basics.
Date: 09 OCT 1937
Location: Club Room, Hogwarts
Related: Plot: No Magic In the Halls - 1937
Characters
DumbledoreMabelEamonMaeveJosieGabrielArevanBannonCamillaChrisRipleyGabrielle

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Club Room Hogwarts Castle
Tue Oct 09, 1937 ((Tue Oct 09 20:17:51 2012)) (Ground Floor - N. Corridor)


This large room has a variety of uses, and can be setup differently for each club that uses it. Large storage doors around the room each hold a different club's equipment, to be setup with the wave of a wand. When the Athletics Club is here, for example, the room is full of gymnastics, weight, and other sports equipment. When the Domestics Club is here, however, stoves and cauldrons and workstations are more likely to be found here.

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Ripley lifts a brow, "I believe I did say that." He smiles a little to Gabby. "I like to ask because it's fun to see a person's reaction." He's leaning against the table, looking across it at Gabby and between them are a few drawings of certain things. (For drawings - As Gabby.)

Mabel would recognize one of the owl drawing as her own.

Gabrielle clenches her jaw, "Fun? that's just…..mean!and manipulative…and wholly not true if that's why you're asking!" She'll start trying to gather her sketches, but is shaking so bad, all she does is drop them on the floor.

Ripley bends down and helps her to pick them up, "Well, with pretty ladies, one must know if they have a chance at all." He smiles to her.

Gabby doesn't smile back, but it's more because she has this completely confused look on her face, "That doesn't make any sense…" She'll shake her head and bend down as well to gather the papers, trying to ignore how close he gets.

The doors open with a flood of excited noises. Trooping in the door come Gabriel, Maeve, Josie, & Arevan followed closely by Mabel. Gabriel's tossing a baseball up in the air over and over chattering animatedly,"This is going to be fun! I really want to learn that spell Professor Dumbledore used at the end of the duel last night, the one that turned Josie's Auror into a finch. Hey Mabel, can that spell turn people into other birds? What about other animals? Oh, a bunny! I bet a bunny would really end the duel. A bird could hol a wand in they claw, a bunny has nothing at all to hold it with. Or even better, what's that little fluff ball thingy I've seen in the wizard petshop? That would be the best! It would be a duel finisher AND really funny AND really cute! Oh! Hey! Its the demon hunter! Hi Gabrielle!"

Mabel comes in around when some younger students are there, a pair of duelling gauntlets clasped in her left hand, saying, "Oh, someone's about. Hello, Gabby, …Fox," she says, brightly, "I do hope we're not interrupting something," she says, though by the look on Gabby's face, perhaps it's as well if she is. Gabriel gets a smile, "That one's rather more advanced than we'll be covering today, but at least we'll hopefully show you how to make a good showing as you are."

Ripley looks to Gabby and tilts his head, "Why not?" He smiles once again and then looks to the flurry of noise and people that come in the doorway. His brows lift a little and he grins to them all. "Hi." As he finishes helping Gabby and then rises to his feet. "Animated group." He speaks, "All into the dueling. All pulling wands out all the time and firing off without thinking."

Maeve shakes her head as Gabriel chatters on, although she's giggling slightly. As she notices the older students, she seems about to stop short, then, when Mabel continues on and in, she shrugs and follows. "Pardon us, please," she says, her irish accent, as always very evident. "We didnae mean t' interrupt."

"I know!" Arevan chimes in, "I'd love to be a bird, or half bird. or a Bunny!" She seems just as delighted about having some horrible curse put on her as she is in winning. "And is that cloths cutting one usually used in duels? Doesn't seem that useful." She gives Gabrielle an excited wave when she notices her already in the room, "Oh Hi! Are you going to instruct us too?"

Josie follows the others in, and grins to Gabriel, "Bet that one's hard, Mr. Bates said after that Professor Dumbledore's the best duelist in the world." Then to Arevan she says, "No, I bet that was just for fun." She looks up as she sees those in the room, waving.

Gabrielle looks like she's going to argue with Ripley more, but with the entrance of the group she snaps her mouth shut. she'll take the drawings from Ripley and turn them over so they can not be seen, "thanks." She's been blushing, so it doesn't change when everyone comes in. She'll flash a forced smile to everyone, and respond, "No you're not interrupting! I was just finishing up some projects." she'll give Arevan a warmer smile, "No, I"m not really a dueling type."

Ripley chuckles a little and then looks about, "Never was too good with the dueling. Maybe I should work on it more." He's a little proud of the blush on Gabby's cheek and he grins wide, "She's got some really nice drawings there." He mentions and points.

Gabriel bounces over to Gabrielle, immediately latching on to Arevan's idea,"Oh! That is a great idea. You're going to help, right Gabby? Please? I'm sure with all you experience you're going to be a great help! Can you teach us that spell to turn people into finches? No, wait, not finches! Bunnies, it have to be bunnies! No! Not bunnies! The fluff balls!" Turning on Josie he asks,"What are the fluff balls called??"

Mabel smiles, to the kids, "A bit of patience," she says, "It's been a while since we've seen you at Club, but I'm sure Mr. Fox can hold his own," she says, and adds to Ripley, "Just giving some first-years who rather ambitiously-signed up for the tournament a bit of a start, you see. How to stand and such, at least," she winks. "Gabby is rather our artist-in residence."

Better late than never, that's Eamon's motto! He did tell Mabel he'd come to help the firsties out, didn't he? Poking a toussled blond head in through the door way, he sees this shindig is already under way and ambles right on in. "Never fear, the party is here!"

Gabrielle tries to give Ripley a shut up look, and turns to Gabriel rather sternly, "No…I don't /duel/." she'll give Mabel a grateful smile.

Ripley peers at Gabriel and just slowly shakes his head, "Or snakes. Or badgers. Or fish. Want to be a fish? Flopping around on the ground with no water." He says with a bit of a feral smile and then looks to Eamon, "Really? You are the party? Somehow I doubt that." And then to Gabby with an upturned brow to say 'What?'.

"Do you think it's possible to be turned into more than one of something?" Arevan asks, catching on to the plurals of the animals used. "Would be strange to be a bunch of snakes. How many do you think I'd have to turn into for my body weight?" She asks looking at herself. "Could be confusing, and then what happens if you can't get all your snakes lined up again?"

Josie looks up to Mabel and blinks, "I know how to stand, I'm in the dueling club. It's spells I don't know. All I know is expelliarmus and protego, and I'm not very good at them either." She looks patient enough, though, moving to find a spot to sit down.

Gabriel puts on the breaks in reaction to Gabrielle's response, his usual smile fading into a look of confusion and the ball stops with a flat *thwack* against his palm. "But you…" He fades out and opens his eyes wide for a moment before smiling a bit again. "oh! Yeah its supposed to be… Nothing.

Yep. I hear you're a really good artist." And rounding on Ripley with narrowed eyes and frowning brow he says,"You're not all that nice are you? Its supposed to be a friendly duel and turning someone into a fish with no water nearby could kill them if someone makes a mistake or takes too long turning them back into a person. Yes'sir, not nice at all." BUt he gets distracted by Arevan's question,"Oh!

That's an interesting thought. And if you get turned into more than one thing, do you think with one brain or lots of brains? And if one of the animals that's you gets lost are you going to come back missing a piece, like a finger or part of your ear? Oww! Bet that would hurt!"

Mabel laughs a bit, giving Eamon a wave, and a laugh, saying idly, "Puffskeins, they're called. " She gives Josie a smile, "Well, that's very good, for a starting first year, Davies. A little something to build on, anyway, where did you learn those? I'd heard you know Mr. Bannon, him, perhaps?"

Eamon grins magnanimously at Ripley, not the least bit creased by the slight. "Well, if it isn't the less cunning Fox," he says cheerfully, "Are you here to teach the children too?" The Slytherin is cast a mistrustful look, perhaps a little dubious on his actual ability to contribute anything to the teaching of the first years.

Ripley gives a little evil laugh as he watches Gabriel get all upset at his words. "I was just asking about it. Didn't mean I would." He settles down in a seat and just grins, "Besides, I think you just turn into one thing. Be silly to turn into more than one." He keeps his eyes on Gabriel, "Lots of practice. Lots of it. Keep someone from doing things that they shouldn't."

Gabrielle releases a breath she didn't know she was holding and tries to roll the drawings up for transport. She'll look at Ripley as she does this and shake her head, not saying anything.

Arevan nods at Gabriel, "Like some vampire stories where they turn into a flock of bats are there vampires and can they turn into bats?" Well, maybe that's enough of that line of questioning. "Any spells will help, really. Does anyone know Lucian Proudmore? I've never met him before."

Josie smiles at Mabel's compliment, but shakes her head. "All he ever taught me was how to make a feather fly. Learned those at dueling club. Professor Dumbledore taught them first meeting." She looks to Gabriel at his reaction to the fish part of the discussion and says, "Yeah, wouldn't be fair in a sport duel, but Mr. Bates said what we're learning might save our lives. If I'm fighting for my life, not gonna hold back."

Ripley gives Arevan a long look with a frown. Suddenly the boy's smile goes away and he stands up abruptly from his chair and breathes in deep before he heads for the door.

Eamon shakes his head, chuckling at the discussion. "I believe transfiguration is a one-to-one spell. Conjuring multiple small objects would be possible fer a more advanced wizard, but I've never heard of splitting something into multiple things…or composing something from many. So if ye made yerself into many snakes, I don't think ye could go back the other way." He squints and adds, "I think." Just in case anyone actually knows and busts him for bsing. "I know Lucian. Ye'll have yer work cut out for ye. He's quite talented at Transfiguration, and he's been in the Dueling Club a long time. I think yer best bet would be going for the unexpected. Think of it like… chess. Sometimes when ye're playing with a master, taking the unexpected route can throw them off enough to trip them."

Gabby watches Ripley start to storm off, and she'll frown as well. She'll look to Mabel and shrug, before following him.

Mabel ahs to Josie, "Of course. I should have thought. I'd had some last minute class changes to worry about, and missed the first meeting. We'll just have to see what else we can put in the mix."

She sighs a bit to Arevan, "Well, Proudmore's one of our best. But hopefully that means he won't be excessive, in your case…." For now, she doesn't comment to Eamon as Ripley storms off, indeed sending a questioning look Gabby's way. A pause, then, and she says, "With Transfiguration, it has much to do with how complicated the product and starting materia are: it's fairly simple to turn, say, wood to sawdust, but to turn one living creature into several others would be quite advanced, generally. "

Gabriel arches his eyebrows at Ripley's sudden change in demeanor. And instead of addressing him he instead talks to Josie but the comment is clearly meant for the person that first came up with the idea, "Sure, if you think you're really going to die I guess it would be OK. But why would anyone come up with that kind of idea when thinking about sporting duel. Speaks to a meanness of spirit that is kind of clear." Hearing Eamon talk about knowing people he turns to him and adds a question of his own, "Is his Aria's boyfriend? I saw him holding hands with her last night and she's my first match. What do you think my chances are? I don't really know any spells but I'm a quick learner. Can I learn something unexpected that could help against her?"

Josie nods quickly and says, "Lucian's really good. But he helps out, he helps us all learn stuff, so I bet he won't be mean about it. Bet you'll learn lots dueling him even." Then she looks to Gabriel and adds, "If you can find a spell to get Ria dirty, you'll beat her. But don't tell her I said this," she adds quickly with a grin.

"Throw dirt at her," says Eamon just about the same time Josie suggests the same, quirking his mouth at her. "Er, that's probably not allowed, don't listen to me. Seriously though, you could probably blast her with an aguamenti or something and really ruin her day." A Gryffindor who fights dirty? That's a new one. "I wouldn't mind Fox… The gossips say he and Proudmore got into a big fight. I don't think they like each other much."

Mabel smiles, and quips, "If you could sneak in a babbling jinx, you might just talk her into conceding, perhaps," she says, frowning a bit after them, "You know, though, I'm really not sure at this point who Ria's dating, but at this rate you'd need a racing form to keep track of the social scene this autumn." She hrms, to Eamon, "Let's do try to be civilized about this, though. It's rather the point to make a good showing of yourself. Those new to this may only last a pass or two, but it may as well be good ones."

Gabriel looks around the room a couple of time then stabilizes on Eamon and Mabel,"So what now? Can you teach me either of those? Or are you going to teach us something else? How do we start?" Pulling out his wand he shows it to everyone,"Actually, I've never even used this before outside of classes. I did pretty good in charms, floating the feather. Is there any way that can be used in a duel?"

Josie grins to Gabriel and says, "Might be able to use it to float their wand away, but bet Expelliarmus works better, it's not that hard either. Though, I kinda wanna learn some of those spells Mr. Bates showed last night. Like the stunning spell. Bet that's really hard, though."

Maeve has been sitting, and quietly taking notes for the whole time, still using her muggle composition book, and adding to those she took the night before.

A long look is given Gabriel, quite thoughtful. "I could probably teach you how to stun. I've got a wicked one." Eamon rubs his chin and then gets a sly, devious kind of look. "What say ye, Hawker, shall we teach the kiddies a few spells?" He pulls his wand out, trying to balance it on a fingertip, waiting for an answer from Mabel.

Mabel smiles to Gabriel, "It can be of some use," she says, "At opportunity, for instance, to flip someone's robes over their eyes, and in the event you're duelling for real, there's all manner of things about that can make for distractions and surprises." And she nods to Josie. "Expelliarmus is usually superior, but one never knows."

Mabel nods to Eamon, "Do let's, though we'll have to wait for the Professor to actually use the spells, let's get them started on stances. He should be along soon."

Gabriel hops into place in front of the upperclass students, landing in credible fencing position, wand held like a fencing foil with his free hand curled up over his head. "OK, let's have at it!" One smallish problem: His free hand isn't really free. It has his baseball still in it.

Mabel claps her hands, a bit at the little gathering, doing, it seems, a bit of coaching, or getting down to it. "All right, then, one thing we'll start with is how to stand, …it always helps, after all, not to get knocked off your feet if something packs a kick, and to be able to move within the allowed area, even, if we get to it, how to fall down, which you'll find is a useful skill in your Hogwarts career just in general," she smiles, indicating the laid out areas the Duelling club uses for practice.

Dumbledore chuckles loudly as he steps into the Club Room. "Mr. Ward, your enthusiasm is admirable. But let's not get ahead of ourselves before you have a faculty member present. Let us see if we can find one, shall we?" The Professor gives Gabriel a wink as he approaches Mabel. "Miss Hawker, it's good to see the older students carrying the candle of wisdom to guide our newer students. Five points to Gryffindor. Now then. Where do we stand?" He clasps his hands behind his back, taking a step back into a position of observation.

"Falling down is especially important if you're planning on talking to girls. Also, how to duck a punch." Or maybe that's just Eamon's experience with talking to girls. He should probably stop hitting on them. He wouldn't get slapped so much. He turns upon hearing their head of house speak and grins. "Hello, Professor. Thank you for joining us. We were just about to teach the students a few easy, useful spells for the upcoming tournament."

Maeve sets aside her notes, and stands up, her expression dubious at the mention of falling. However, that does disappear when Dumbledore enters. "Afternoon, Professor. How are ye today," the tiny first year says politely.

Mabel smiles as the Professor arrives, turning, and nodding, "Oh, just getting things together, Professor: Macaille and I were about to start in on some basic footwork, while we were waiting, since apart from Miss Davies, it's all a bit new. Of course," she smirks over to Eamon, "Everyone's predictably-anxious to start in on the wand-play."

Dumbledore smiles, nodding to each student in turn. "Splendid. Now then, I think Miss Hawker has the right tack. Stance is vitally important. If you cannot keep your footing, you are at a significant disadvantage. But that is enough out of me. Consider me an observer for now. Miss Hawker, Mr. MacCaille, you have the floor."

Arevan frowns. She would have to be put up against a good opponent right from the start, she had been hoping to make it past the first duel at least. "Darn, don't know how much I can surprise someone like that. Maybe he'll use an interesting curse on me at least." Her new goal will just have to be to make it past the first round of spells. "Good morning professor." She said to Dumbledore, still sounding a bit down. She moves into position her eyes a bit distant as she tries to think of what she could do.

Josie is just getting to her feet as Dumbledore comes in, but she stands straighter. She says quickly, with a grin, "That was a brilliant demonstration yesterday, Professor." She pauses and adds, earnestly, "Sorry I wasn't cheering for you, but Mr. Bates is my friend." She moves then to take the stance as she's been learning in previous meetings of the dueling club.

Maeve moves to take her position on one of the strips, getting into stance as well. She glances around at her fellow first years, and grins at them all, in spite of not knowing Arevan. Of course, that can always change. Suddenly, a thought strikes her, and she reaches into a pocket, pulling out a ribbon, then tying her hair back into a ponytail.

Dumbledore gives Arevan a sympethetic frown, and crouches by her side, putting a comforting hand on her back. "Don't be discouraged, Miss Van Dragor. Lucian Proudmore is not invincible. Even the mightiest duelist can be overcome with some very simple spells. How can Mr. Proudmore fight without a wand?" He gives her a wink of encouragement as he stands. Josie's comments earn a chuckle from him. "Why, thank you, Miss Davies. I consider Auror Bates to be a friend as well, and I daresay a most formidable opponent."

He's going to let Eamon teach kids to do anything? Time to pretend he actually deserves that Prefect badge. Uhoh. "Right then. I guess the first thing ye have to remember is the dueling area. Ye don't want to get so involved in casting spells or retreating that ye forget the end of the runway. Falling on yer bumpkiss hurts. I think that expelliarmus would be a great tool for your arsenal. Professor Dumbledore is exactly right, a foe without his wand is just as good as a target dummy. Ye get his wand, ye got him."

Gabriel waves at the professor as he walks,"Good evening Professor Dumbledore. It was a lot of fun watching you last night. I really like the last spell you used. We've been talking a lot about it. Like wondering if you could turn people into more than one thing? He.." pointing at Eamon,"doesn't think that can be done but I bet with a little practice someone could learn to do it and reverse it. And we were wondering if you could turn someone into a puffleskein. That would really end a duel fast. But I wanted to know if there was some way to get someone dirty? That would be really helpful." As he speaks he moves into line with everyone else getting back into the quasi-fencing position he was using before.

Arevan blushes a bit as Dumbledore comforts her, but she does smile, "Thanks Professor, and I guess it'll be a good learning experience anyways." Gaining some of her cheer back; though, even without a wand, she'd expect an older student might be able to overpower her. To Eamons comment she nods, "At least that's where being small has some advantage. Got more room to move."

Mabel smiles and nods in agreement with Josie, and sets Maeve, and whoever else chooses that end, to their marks. "All right, then, we'll start with some of the classic starting stances, shall we? It's much to do with your center of gravity, whichever you use. For now," she demonstrates, "Let's stand like this. This one's fairly strong for defense, but still leaves capacity to move and counter. Drop most of your weight to your hips, knees just slightly bent, wand-arm forward." She glances up to what Eamon might be doing on his end: "Not stiffly, now, just firm." She sways a bit to show one ought to be able to shift weight easily, and starts correcting a bit, smiling, "I know it seems a lot at once, but you'll find it comfortable soon enough."

Maeve smiles reassuringly at the Hufflepuff girl who, astonishingly, is even smaller than she is. "Aye. I put m' size t' good use avoidin' bullies back home." At Mabel's instructions, she assumes the stance (which resembles a classic fencing stance, wand foot forward, rear foot at a ninety degree angle, both feet at shoulder width apart.)

"Being small also means it's easier to shoot you up into the air, like the good Professor did to Auror Bates last night. You learn wingardium leviosa on feathers because feathers are light. Lifting something heavy, like a person, takes more focus and determination. The heavier the person, the harder it's going to be to get them up into the air." While Mabel's showing them the stance, he goes around to examine each one, nodding approval where it's good or gently reaching to adjust what needs to be fixed. "Do it when you're not doing anything else. Just practice stepping in and out of it until it becomes second nature. You should be able to do it without thinking, so you can focus on defense and offense, rather than tripping over your feet."

Josie adjusts her stance to follow Mabel's words. She grins a bit when Mabel says it may seem like a lot, but doesn't say anything. She doesn't seem to have too much trouble following the instructions. She glances up to Eamon as he starts to inspect, looking hopeful.

Dumbledore taps his chin thoughtfully. "A spell to make someone dirty, Mr. Ward? Usually we focus more on making something clean. This may be a question for Madam Patil and the Domestics Club."

Arevan has been in the club for a little while at least, so she knows the basics. She takes up the proper stance, her long wand held in hand to feel the weight of it, but held backwards to avoid accidental casting. "I'm not sure having rocks in my pockets would help there anyways. Unless the fell out while I was drifting over head and knocked him out." She does a little hop backwards, and a minimal step to the side to practice her balance.

Gabriel chuckles at Professor Dumbeldore's answer but for once just quietly follows instructions. Seems the word rattle does know how to be quiet when its necessary. He might not be a fencer or a duelist but he has practiced quite a bit of sports and adjusts fairly easily to the suggested stance.

Mabel and Eamon have set up a quartet of younger students on the dueling practice boxes, seemingly setting them up in some basic dueling stances, the Gryffindor girl seeming to have Maeve sorted out, at least, adds, "Now, one thing you'll first want to be able to do is to shift your weight forward at need, either against the force of an opponent's spell, or that of your own, if it happens to have a kick to it, which you'll find a lot of jinxes that you're not quite smooth with will do, so, for a start, just push against my hand, the thing about this is you'll want to keep your footing, but not over-balance." And she glances over to Arevan, just to see how she's doing, in the meanwhile.

Gabriel waits his turn until either Eamon or Mabel is in front of him and shows he can push on a hand and return to his starting position without loosing his balance or overcompensating for the pushback.

Josie, when her turn to deal with the pressure comes, shows an excellent sense of balance. She has no trouble leaning just enough into the push. Of course, the exercise is a lot slower than a real spell. She smiles, though.

Claire enters the club room and takes up a position leaning against the wall, lurking like a lurking creeper. She spins her wand around the fingers of one hand.

Mabel smiles when they seem to have gotten it, "All right, we'll just learn a few good steps from there, you'll occasionally want to give some ground or step in, rather than fall over, for instance, and there's sidestepping. Though the first thing we'll do is a bit on how to go in and out of a formal dueling bow from a stance like this, which is something you'll want to know, particularly not to get caught by surprise if your opponent is quick at it."

Gabriel turns to Josie and starts mimicking fencing moves at her with his wand, non-verbally challenging her to a wand fencing match as the class starts trying the limits of his attention by not getting to the good stuff quickly enough.

Mabel smirks a bit to the older folks in the room as the rather hyperactive Ravenclaw starts running out of attention span, and says to Gabriel, and laughs, "I promise we won't spend the whole evening learning how to bow, but it's actually more important than you'd think. Eyes front, Ward." She shows the bow again, and returns to the stance just learned, and says, "Let's see. First year… You'll have learned the old Filipendo, yet? It's a basic one, but while we're learning how and how not to fall over, that's a good one. And if it comes off well, even a much superior opponent will lose the match if pushed out of play."

Josie smiles and steps back slightly, taking a slightly further back position then regains her stance. She shakes her head to Gabriel, though whether from dedication to mastering these concepts or not wanting to fool around in view of Dumbledore isn't clear. She looks back to Mabel and imitates her bow.

Bannon steps into the club room, his bowler hat in his hand. He takes a long look around, noting those gathered. He walks towards Professor Dumbledore, reaching up to place his bowler on his head as he does, "Good day, Professor." He then turns his attention to Mabel, the to Josie, nodding his head slightly, "Things are coming along well, I see."

Dumbledore smiles at Bannon's appearance. "Ah, Auror Bates. Indeed. The children are most invigorated by your tournament. Several of our more experienced students are mentoring the young ones to prepare them for their duels."

Bannon smiles slightly, "Indeed? That is very admirable." There is a moment of consideration on his face as he adds, "I'll admit… When I instituted the policy that year would not be a factor in choosing the tournament matches, I thought the mentorship amongst students would be more of a one-to-one exercise, but I'm quite glad to see it so widespread." He calls out, "A little higher on your wand Miss Davies, and loosen your elbow. It is your aim point for everything."

Gabriel snaps back to attention and mirrors the bow. Not perfectly but well enough to only have to be corrected once or twice before he gets it down. "OK, now which spell are we going to learn? The shield one, and the disarm one, and the flip one you just mentioned a little while ago, and the puffskein one, and the smoke one, and maybe we could practice Accio some more, could work in a pinch." Can't seem to let go of the idea of transfiguring someone into a puffskein, can he?

Josie blinks as she hears Bannon's voice, looking over her shoulder to look up to him and smiles. "Hi." She turns quickly back to Mabel and the lesson again, though, and shakes her head, "Haven't learned that yet."

Dumbledore chuckles, "Remember, Mr. Ward. Less is more. Overreach yourself, and you will leave yourself open. One need not use flashy transfigurations to overcome an opponent." He gives an apologetic smile to Bannon.

Mabel laughs a bit, over the Professor's way, nodding and gives a little bow, while she's on the practice stages, toward Auror Bannon. "I do think we've got an enthusiastic Transfigurist on our hands, in this one, Professor," she smiles. "Mr Bates." She nods to Gabriel, though, and thinks, "We'll see if we can get you going with Shield charms after we've covered something for you to practice them with. But, it's a bit more advanced than you may be up to doing well at yet, so we'll concentrate elsewhere for now." She winks. "It's one of my very favorite spells, shieldings, nothing like a little of the old—" She makes a few fencing moves with her rowan wand, "-To get the blood pumping." She says, "Let's start by trying to teach you that knock-back jinx, for now," she says, and with a gesture, says, 'Accio mannequin!" to summon a practice dummy to set up by the two. She adds, wryly. "If you say 'Accio Dummy,' you never know who you'll get, don't you know. Let's line up over this way, people!"

Josie does adjust her stance to what Bannon suggests. But then they're asked to line up to learn a new spell, and grinning, she makes her way over to step into her new position before taking her stance once again.

Bannon smiles at Josie, "Hello." He then looks towards Gabriel, the smile still present on his face, "Correct. One needs to only turn the other into a finch." He smiles sardonically towards Dumbledore. He looks towards Mabel, returning the bow, "Miss Hawker." He looks towards Dumbledore, his voice dropping lower, "Actually, she is a born transfigurationist. She was doing minor transfigurations wandlessly when the Ministry found her. Its quite interesting."

Maeve hasn't noticed much of what's been going on, outside of the lessons, so busy has she been, concentrating on her spells. "After we finish this, can we maybe ask 'bout our opponents? I've naer met this Prince. I'd like tae know what I'd be facin'"

Arevan 's eyes circle with mirth, trying to imagine the look on someone's face who ended up being yanked across the room by an 'accio Dummy'. "I'd really like to learn the smoke screen." She adds in agreement to Gabriel. "When do you usually learn shielding spells?" She hops to the left a few inches, wobbling slightly to keep her toes within the line.

Gabriel laughs merrily at the dummy joke and then is all attention as the session gets to what he really wanted.

Mabel ohs, to Arevan, "Well, it depends, …they're very basic in Dueling Club. Some take to them right off, others take some time at it. It's not an inherently-complicated spell, but there's many ways to use them. It depends, I think, on your aptitudes and affinities. I took right to them, it's like wind and water to me. We'll give you a try before the evening's out, at least. And the smoke, if you like. Of course, I'm partial to fog, myself." She winks, and addresses the gathered. "All right, then, let's line up this way, and remember the stances you've just learned… Now, shoving things and people about is also simple, just a matter of a focused push. Flipendo!" With a deliberate wand motion, she shoves at the dummy opponent she set up, causing it to spring back, to right itself like a jack-in-the-box.

Maeve takes her stance, eyes narrowing slightly as she gazes down the strip at her dummy. Slowly, she takes a breath, then, almost tentatively, then flicks her wand. "Flipendo!" As the dummy topples over, she grins, straightening up.

Arevan flips her wand around so she's holding it the correct way up now that casting is going to be happening. Biting her low lip, trying to concentrate on both her stance and her dummy. With the benefit of not being in a pitched battle, she waits until she things she has everything correct before saying, "Flipendo." Her wand cutting the air and sending out a jolt of magic to knock the dummy back, "All right!"

Gabriel is nowhere near as restrained as the girls. He does a little hop forward, stabs at the dummy as if his wand was a sword long enough to reach it and bellows out "FLIPENDO!" as if volume equals force. And maybe it does since the dummy falls over backward but Gabriel himself also ends up taking a stumbling step backward before looking at the tip of his wand and going,"geeez…" in a low voice.

Josie stretches a little and then raises her wand, trying to keep everything she's been taught about stances in mind as she flicks her wand, "Flipendio!" Yep, she said it wrong. There's a loud bang and a small explosion of smoke flame as she goes flying backwards.

Bannon sees it coming, his right hand already moving towards the wand in his pocket. With a whiplike crack, the wand is out and the spell is slung. Arresto Momentum, but the spell is cast silently. The spell itself serves to slow Josie down and then soften her fall to a feather-lightness. He the calls out, "Wands down!" Short pause, "Is everyone alright?"

As he walks into the Club Room, Christmas is in his normal uniform. His hands are stuffed into his pockets and he is humming softly to himself. He blinks at the amount of people in the room and cocks his head to the side. He begins to slow his walk to get an idea and see what's going on…

Maeve lowers her wand, and looks around. As she sees Josie sprawled back, she abandons her stance, and goes over to check on her friend. "Are ye ok, Josie? It looks like ye took quite a spill."

Dumbledore's wand blurs right along with Bannon's, cradling Josie in their dual spell and bringing her to a safe landing. "No need to panic. Just a misspoken spell. Miss Davies? Are you hurt in any way?"

Mabel applauds at the early successes, gloved hands clapping lightly over her own wand: (someone seems to have had the Great War in mind when they fit a brass lanyard ring to the butt of it,) she's got a little line of the newbies learning some knockback jinxes against a spring-based target dummy, clapping, saying, "That's why we started with stances, " she smiles to Gabriel. "A little more control, next time," she says, as Josie's flung… The Auror's trained reflexes beat her by a mile as Josie's incantation goes off wrong… She winces a bit as she makes her way over to Josie, to check her out. "Well, that was inventive, Davies," she says, checking for any singed eyebrows or anything else. "Here we are, all right, then?"

Josie's eyes are very wide, her wand dropping from her hand as she's caught and lowered to the floor. She turns a little red but she nods quickly, picking up the wand a little shakily, then slowly standing up, "I.. think I'm ok. Yeah, I'm ok."

Arevan nearly drops her wand at the sudden blast from Josie. "What was that?" she asks the smoke filled empty space where Josie was standing. Arevan yawns, trying to clear her ringing ears. She lowers her wand on command and only then notices Josie was blasted backwards. "I'm fine, how is she? I'd love to know that spell, you could really surprise someone with that one." It's got quite a kick to it apparently.

Eamon has been around. Somewhere. You know. Being around. Probably coaching somebody, being quite decent at charms, anyway. Now he perks up and looks around the room, trying to get into the swing of things.

Gabriel takes a step in Josie's direction but stops once she's surrounded by other people. Of course, that doesn't stop his mouth,"Oh! Are you alright Josie? You're not hurt? You know, if you could do that again maybe you could blind you opponent with the little flash that came out there but you'd really have to be ready for the pushback. I wonder if we can make that happen again…" He had put his wand down when Bannon said wands down but now he starts swishing it around, trying to see if he can mirror the movement Josie used with her abortive but maybe useful spell.

Christmas blinks as Josie flies through the air, has a look of concern on his face to see one so young flying thru the air but remains silent. He folds his hands behind his back and begins to walk a few steps closer to watch the class and see what he can learn from the Auror.

Mabel glances up, making sure the others aren't getting in more trouble, "Wands *down,* Ward!" she repeats Bannon's order, a bit more sharply than she's normally heard to speak. "That's for everyone's safety. We'll get back to it in a moment, for now, don't teach yourself the wrong thing, misfires aren't that predictable, all right?" She says that last more gently, as she helps Josie to her feet. "See what I meant about falling down, for that matter?" She smiles a bit. "Back on the horse, when you catch your breath, is all, Davies. Let's review that one, first, though, shall we?"

Eamon, being a knight in shining armour, is available to catch first years who may be flung a bit wildly. "Well, this is entertaining," he decides merrily, and then shuts up so Bannon and Mabel can be all instructiony.

Once there is no question about anyone's safety, Bannon nods to Mabel, "Proceed with your demonstration, Miss Hawker." He then looks towards Areven, "If you are looking for a jinx that could potentially blind your opponent, the problem therein lies that you may also inadvertently blind yourself. If you must have your opponent lose sight of you, I recommend the smokescreen spell. You'll get there eventually."

Seeing that Josie is in good hands, Maeve goes back to her strip, and relaxes back into a dueling stance, wand still down, paying attention to Mabel, waiting for the next part of the lesson. Still, she does glance over to Josie.

Gabriel says, "Eep!" Yes, he actually eeped as he he hides both hands behind his back and looks up at the ceiling. Like no one saw what he was doing or trying. After a moment of faking innocence he shuffles back into place and waits for new instructions."

Arevan shrugs, "I think as things stand now, both of us being blind could only help me." But she doesn't persue it, better not to worry about the 'double edged sword' spells just yet. She wiggles a finger in an ear as the ringing slowly dies away. While waiting for the lesson to get back underway, she sets about getting back in her stance.

"However if you create the screen between you and your attacker they will not be able to see you and when or what your casting. I think it is brillIant." Christmas finally speaks as he runs a hand through his textured hair.

Josie smiles ad nods to Mabel's words about falling. "I'm used to falling, from acrobatics, but never *that* fast." To the others she says again, more surely this time, "I'm fine, thanks." She glances up to Bannon but takes position again, and she waits to listen to Mabel's review. At the new voice she does glance over to Christmas curiously.

Mabel nods, to Bannon, smiling a little apologetically, perhaps a bit shyly. But straightens again, and says, "All right, then, let's go over it again, by twos this time, just to be sure it's fresh in your minds. She glances to Josie, "Ready, then? Remember the incantation's 'Flipendo.'" She repeats her demonstration at about minimum speed, so it catches on, then again at full-speed.

Maeve nods, and once again flicks the wand. "Flipendo!" Unfortunately, this time, she doesn't get the movement right, and the most that happens is a small bit of magical energy taps the dummy, causing it to start rocking weakly.

Gabriel shows a little more control this time. Instead of a bellow his "Flipendo" is a nice and controlled. But this time he over prepares for a kickbpack that doesn't happen and has to take a small step forward not to fall flat on his face. But hey, at least the dummy flips backwards, bumps the floor and pops back up.

Arevan , focused again, lifts her wand and lets out another "Flipendo." Sending another spurt of magic out to knock her dummy back. She lets out an excited giggle and bounces back on the balls of her feet, excited over her continuing success. "I think I'm ready to handle a spell to call down divine wrath from the heavens now."

As he sees an empty dummy, Chris takes out his 15" English Oak wand from his sleeve and places it at his side. He takes a deep breath and focuses his attention on the dummy. He says in a commanding voice, "Flipendo" flicking the wand at the dummy at the end of incantation. The spell slams into the chest of the dummy and it is flipped backwards twice before it falls over. A soft smile escapes his lips as he lowers his wand back to his side.

Maeve glances at Mabel, essentially a silent request to be allowed to try again.

Josie raises her wand again, staring at the dummy. She flicks her wand again, "Flipendo!" The name's right this time, and there's no explosion of flame and smoke, but once again she sends herself backwards instead of the dummy.

As Weaver steps to a mark, Mabel greets: "Come to help, Weaver?" After repeating her demonstration for Josie again, she's ready for Josie's repeat performance: rather than redundantly make to catch the girl, she casts a 'Spongify' at any hard objects she might be headed toward, just in case she misses the mats. She seems to aha, making her way over, "All right, then, you got the incantation right, I think I see the problem, Davies: I think you need to focus on the target, more: not what happens to yourself. We'll try it again," she says, "And what we'll do is keep our attention right on the target: the magic does the pushing, and we push the magic, all right?"

Christmas nods and smiles softly, "I wanted to see if I could do it. There was a time I couldn't control the direction of it." He looks back at his successful execution of the spell and beams a bit, "I seem to be getting better at it."

"Those of you who have already got Flipendo down, if you'd like to give it a go on a living target to feel the difference, I'm willing to suffer a few bruises for your sake," Eamon offers nobly. (Mostly because he's perfectly capable of stopping himself if one of them actually /does/ manage to roll him.)

Bannon breathes a sigh of relief as Josie is caught, nodding to Mabel, "Good catch, Miss Hawker." He then looks at Josie, "Miss Davies, you can do this…"

Gabriel jumps at the chance, literally. He starts hopping in place wand hand raised high in the air,"Oo, oo! Me! I want to try, I want to try!" And then he realizes what he's doing and stops hopping and just starts rocking on his feet, hands hidden behind his back again giving Eamon a pleading look.

Maeve hmmms, then moves over to the other end of Gabriel's strip. "Ye want t' try it on me, Gabriel? I dinnae mind."

Josie picks herself up, now looking just a bit angry as she looks to the target dummy. She nods a little to Mabel's words, "Ok… on the target. Right." Bannon's words of confidence visibly bolsters her, and she nods, "I can… I can do this."

Arevan waves her wand enthusiastically in the air as well, "I think I'm ready! And I want to feel what it's like to get hit!" Less surpise when hit by it in an actual match that way, "Are we going to learn how to counter the spell too?"

Christmas looks over at Mabel and grins, "Lets go Mabel." Chris walks to where the dummy was and sets his wand at his side, "I trust ya Mabel. You got this."

Mabel smiles to Bannon, and nods at the bit of praise, saying, "We've done a bit of flying about this room before, you see, sir," and smirks at various recollections of just such instances. Gives a moment's thought, and nods to Eamon, "That sounds fine, Eamon," and adds, "A little more practice at it, first, I think, girls, but once you've got it, then we'll see about counters. Weaver, would you mind playing catch in case there's any more rebounds?" She has a glance to the adults as though for confirmation of the approach, and this time, steps up to the mark with Josie, and just places steadying hands on her shoulders. "You won't be going anywhere, this time, all right? Take your stance, and concentrate on the target. "

Eamon lifts his eyebrows at Gabriel and Arevan's enthusiasm. "Well, in that case…" He spreads his arms open and says, "On then, Gabriel… But first!" He twists and casts a cushioning charm behind him, before returning to his undefensed pose. "And then Arevan, you can have a go."

Josie takes a breath, staring at the target dummy. She flicks her wand again and says, "Flipendo!" And… nothing. Which, in her case, is a big improvement.

Bannon frowns slightly, then walks towards Josie, "Almost got it, Miss Davies." He walks right up to her, then drops to a knee facing the target dummy. He gestures for her to come over, "I see where the problem is. Give me your wand hand." He reaches out with his right hand…

Mabel gives a little smirk, patting Josie on the shoulder and having a bit of a step back. Now here's some expert instruction, the raised eyebrow to any of the new duelers not-otherwise occupied seems to say.

Gabriel looks at Maeve and smiles at her,"That is really nice of you Maeve but I think I've been in enough trouble already today. Better if we wait until we're told to pair off, don't you think?" With another smile he turns to Eamon and salutes him like they've been taught than asks,"Ready?" Once he's been told that Eamon is ready he stabs his wand at Eamon and firmly says "Flipendo" with no stumble in either direction this time."

Maeve shrugs, and decides to take one more attempt at her dummy before trying the spell out on Eamon. She turns, and settles into her stance, then takes a breath. "Flipendo!" This time she does better, knocking the dummy back again. "I think I'm gettin' th hang o' this."

Josie frowns at the target dummy, but then looks to Bannon and obediently steps over to him, holding out her wand arm, frowning as she glances towards the target dummy again but she looks back to Bannon attentively.

Eamon nods to assure the boy he's ready, and then braces himself for a twirl. Legs are whipped out from under him, but he's prepared and puts his hands down to turn it into a controlled flip rather than landing flat on his back. Good thing the floor is squishy! "Well done, Ward!" he praises, getting back to his feet. "Could you feel the difference? Van Dragor, I believe you were next!"

Camilla 'sneaks' into the club room and saunters over to go sit on the counter over in the kitchen section so she doesn't get in the way. A warm smile curls her lips watching Bannon and Josie. Both hands cross her fingers as she whispers, "Get it Josie!"

Bannon takes Josie's wand hand, pointing it towards the target dummy, "Now, their is a bit of a trick to this spell. Try this…" He moves her wand by moving her hand, executing a short flick and then a barely perceptable upward scooping motion. He repeats it a few times and then adds, "Watch." With a finger on Josie's wand, Bannon moves the wand and calls out, "Flipendo!" The dummy is knocked back a solid five feet. He looks towards Josie, "See? The magic just kind of flows a little easier with the uptick. I want you to try it again…" He releases her wand hand, switching knees to effect a step back. He cautions, "Nice and easy. We don't force magic. We coerce it…"

"Good shot." Arevan praises Gabriel, then hops up when her name is called. "All right!" She moves over to where Gabriel was standing. "I would like to get it cast on me at some point too. I don't want it to be a surprise in the duel." She clears her throat and takes up a dueling stance waiting for Eamon to say he's ready. "You can call me Arevan by the way. Van Dragor just means my family is from Dragor."

Mabel is standing by there, now just taking the moment to survey the general scene, and the new kids' form. For now, arms folded as she watches, wand propped up by her shoulder. A glance back as Camilla enters, and a bit of a half-bow, half-nod, as Bannon does the teaching: it's a rather warm look: it reminds her of her own father, perhaps, and hands to the tiller.

Josie pays close attention to what Bannon's showing her, smiling at the demontsration. She nods, "I think I've got it." She goes through the motions a few times just to make sure, and then, focusing on the next target dummy, and flicks her wand with the uptick this time. The dummy is knocked back, not as far as Bannon's but she cheers, jumping.

Maeve moves over into line behind Arevan, feeling confident enough that she decides to take her turn with Eamon. She smiles at the newcomer, recognizing her from the primer the night before, but not knowing her.

Christmas nods and smiles softly, "I need to get to class. Well done Josie." As he passes Mabel he stops by Mabel and says, "You got this…" He gives everyone a wave and begins to run out of the Club Room.

Bannon smiles, "That's my girl." He stands up, reaching out to pat Josie on the shoulder, "Practice makes perfect. Keep at it, Miss Davies." He glances over towards Camilla, winking quickly before he points his wand and murmurs, "Avis." A flight of finches emit from his wand, flying towards Camilla at breakneck speed before they do a quick circle and impact against the wall in a flurry of bright sparkles and teeny-tiny feathers. He turns around, taking a quick look around at how the students continue to progress.

Eamon nods to Arevan. "Arevan, then. Yes, as soon as you've all had a turn bruising my back side so I can appeal to the lovely Hawker to patch me up," he winks at the younger students, "I will teach you how to counteract the spell and you can take turns with each other as the attacker and defender. Sound good? Let's go, Arevan, show me what you've got." Spreading his arms again, the Gryffindor prefect gives the girl a wolfish grin.

Arevan nods, "That would be great. All right, here it goes." She says bouncing on the balls of her feat, her heart racing a little more this time around. "Flipendo." She says swishing her wand a bit too enthusiastically. The end of her wand sparks, but nothing else happens as the spell fails to catch. "Ah shoot." She didn't even get that exciting explosion.

Gabriel pumps his hands in the air in a quick celebration then moves off to the side to watch everyone else. When Josie finally succedes he cheers and claps for her then stops when Arevan can't make it work for the first time in the practice,"Awww… You'll be OK, you've done fine every other time. Oh! I bet its because you're worried about hurting someone. Oooooo…" he sudden shuts up as he looks between Eamon and Arevan then starts to smirk slightly, quickly hidding it behind his empty hand, then turning to face the wall, his shoulders shaking.

Mabel smiles and applauds, "Smashing, Davies," she says, quietly, sensing a bit of a family moment, and stepping over toward where Eamon's been doing his own style of coaching, teasing, "Well, one should always play to his strengths, eh, MacCaille?" At least it's in good humor. She says, then, "Steady, now, Arevan. Don't put it all in the wand motion, use the rest of you, too, for this."

Camilla cheers for Josie and then acks and ducks the finches flying at her. The ducking turns into a shifting and fur spouts and in a little fuzzy twisting motion there's now a grey fox where Camilla once was and the adorable creature nips at the feathers that float in the air and gives Bannon a little sneazy snort.

"That's okay," says Eamon encouragingly when Arevan's first attempt fails. "Try again, no pressure." He glances over at Mabel and grins hugely at her. "One of these days, Hawker, you're going to realize how much you like me. You can't hold out against my boyish charm forever!" Or maybe she can, who knows.

Bannon smirks towards Camilla, "Showing off are we, Professor Grey?" There's a tease in his voice and a grin on his face as he turns and nods to Arevan, "Keep trying. As I said, practice makes perfect. Not a single wizard in all of history has cast a spell perfectly the first time. Magic is difficult, or else everyone would be able to do it!" He points his wand towards Eamon now, "You, stay at minimum of six feet away from Miss Hawker. If you get anymore overbearing, I will stun your myself." He then points his want towards Hawker, "You're not to practice healing magic on MacCaille. If he hurts himself offering himself up as a sacrificial target dummy, he's to be taken to the hospital wing by someone other than yourself. Understood?"

Josie beams at Bannon's praise, and nods quickly to his 'keep at it', "I will." She looks then in time to see the Bannon's spell at Camilla, and giggles, but beams even brighter if possible, and asks the fox, "You saw? I did it!" Obviously not surprised at this transformation.

Arevan takes a deep breath, trying to direct her enthusiastic energy a little better. "Don't worry I'll get him for you." She calls over to Mable. Centering she once more waves her wand, "Flipendo." This time the magic jets from wand at Eamon. "I did it! Yes, thank you Mister Auror." She adds to Bannon. Then she couldn't help to ask, "Did you ever have any interesting back fires when you were younger?"

Maeve claps as Arevan's second try works. "Brilliant. Ye're doin' well." She waits patiently, letting the smaller girl ask her question."

And get him, she does! Arevan's spell once more sends Eamon crashing end over end, though this time he manages to whack his elbow. He comes up rubbing it, though he doesn't look sour at all. Proud, actually. "Well done, Arevan!" And then. "O'brian? Let's see what ye've got."

The Grey Fox hops off of the counter and as it does it shifts back into Camilla. "Showing off? I'm not the one attacking one's significant other with rabid glitter filled finches." She sasses him right back and then beams proudly at Josie. "I saw! So proud of you! Course with Bannon's help, you'll be an Auror in no time, isn't that so Auror Bates?"

Mabel laughs a little: the banter seems fairly familiar between the two Gryffindors, but of course it's very gallant of the Auror to come to her defense, still though, rather mirthful, when she says, closing a fist in that brown glove and smiles, "Oh, Mr. MacCaille is quite used to admiring me from afar, Mr. Bates," she says, stretching out her arm as though to measure. Just about when Arevan makes the point by knocking him on his tail, in fact, "Well, at least half so far as that," she smiles, nodding in acknowledgment of the general directive. "Actually, it's my cousin that's the aspiring healer, anyway. All right over there, Eamon?"

Maeve grins, and moves into position, waiting until Eamon's back up and ready for her to cast. "Flipendo!" she says, but, again, the motion isn't quite right, and all that happens is she gets a small trail of sparks.

Bannon chuckles, "Dozens of backfires… When I was younger, I was very interested in theoretical magic. Truth be told, if any professors had found out, I'd likely have served far more detention. Let's see, in my fifth year, I inadvertently shrunk my own head. In my fourth year, I accidentally blew all my clothing off with a mistimed Reductor curse. I was very lucky to escape that alive, but it had the distinct advantage of preparing me for a duel wearing nothing but a smile, as was nearly the case at yesterday's demonstration." He turns towards Camilla, "They were not rabid, nor was it an attack!" He laughs, looking towards Mabel now, "Perhaps, but he's not far enough for my liking, Miss Hawker. He'll conduct himself as a gentleman would…" The last is given with a warning glance towards Eamon.

Turning towards Camilla, Bannon shakes his head with a frown, "Goodness no. I hope very much that Miss Davies looks to me as an indicator of how NOT to conduct one's life. I have no doubt that Miss Davies will become a better wizard than myself, and go on to have a respectful job that pulls in galleons by the boatload without having to risk her pretty neck."

Eamon grins crookedly at Mabel and says, "Ye'll walk me up to the Infirmary when I break something, right, Hawker?" Over her lovely head he tells the Auror, "When she says I must admire her from afar, she means from across a very crowded table or possibly several Quidditch Pitches away. She doesn't understand how the sun glitters off her hair, dancing with the light of a thousand golden dewdrops on a … Dewy … meadow!" Nice recovery there, kid. "And the way she smells, like… like the rarest flower that blooms only at the height of noon on cold January mornings… And her lips! —" they're all saved from having to hear him make up more ridiculous praise for Mabel's mouth when Maeve's spell is fired at him and the sparks distract him. "Oh! That's all right, O'brian. Try again, eh?" He eyes Bannon at his warning and touches his heart. "I'm wounded, Auror Bates. I am always a gentleman." He's a prefect, even! Would a prefect be a threat to any fair maiden's virtue? — Don't answer that.

Maeve grits her teeth, and tries again. "Flipendo!" Once again, nothing more than a trail of sparks.

Josie smiles at Camilla's words, then looks up to Bannon, giggling at his stories of backfired spells, but looks thoughtful at talk of her career. "I dunno yet. I'm not scared of danger. But I gotta be important. So important, so good at something, that nobody'll ever forget me." She turns back though, to the target dummies, to give the spell a try again.

Gabriel turns back around and gets back on the dueling strip, taking deep breaths and still fighting a laugh. Pointedly avoiding looking at Arevan and Eamon. All that self control last just long enough to notice that Maeve is /also/ having trouble attacking Eamon, which for some reaons sends him back to facing the wall with both hands clapped over his mouth, which almost ends up with him poking an eye out with his wand, shoulders twitching so hard you'd think that someone had cast a tickling hex on him.

Mabel sighs, and steps up toward Maeve, still laughing a little, with a bit of a pause at the poetic praise, even if it's silly. And stoops a bit toward Maeve, "You see, now, this is what happens when someone's being very silly. A defense of its own, actually. Just back to the basics, again, and we'll see if we can get him, shall we? She repeats the motion and corrects Maeve's stance, saying, "Oh, the tragedy of it, but Ministry orders, don't you know!"

Maeve tries yet again. "Flipendo!" Again, the same result, leading the girl to mutter "Go hifreann leat!" Suddenly, realizing what she just said, the irish girl goes a bright pink!

Bannon pauses, peering towards Eamon in a measuring sort of way. His face softens. Perhaps he was like Eamon sometime long ago, when there was a schoolboy crush on the mind. Perhaps, Eamon reminds Bannon just a little bit of himself. No, probably not. Bannon shakes his head quickly, "Well, that's enough spell damage for you. Someone take over for MacCaille. He lost his mind." He looks towards Josie, narrowing his eyes momentarily, "Well, you have six years to figure out how to do it, Miss Davies."

Now this is what she's talking about. Arevan would have loved to see that. The shrunken head one, she already saw close enough to the other. "Caw, that must have been disorienting." She is practically bursting to ask him more, but wisely decides not to monopolies his time. For now, she just waits for her turn.

Camilla smiles warmly and just moves to fade back into the background while everyone practices. Just being a spectator for now.

Mabel laughs there, "All right, then, …a little harder under the circumstances, isn't it? Who could want to cause such a romantic more …ache, after all. There's worse things to not want to do, and that's one thing about magic sometimes. Let's get back to a dummy. Mannequin," she jibes, and winks over across the dueling stages. To Maeve, she says, "A little more practice at this, and we'll try and squeeze in a few side-steps and defenses, shall we?"

Josie smiles and nods to Bannon's words. Then she tries the spell again, "Flippendo!" And… nothing happens. "Oh… think I forgot the uptick." She gives a bit of an embarrassed glance back to Bannon and Camilla.

As the practice progresses and the girls just continue to fail sending Eamon head over heels Gabriel's laughter gets more and more out of control. To the point where he's now on the floor, no longer laughing because he's gasping for air more often than not, hands clutched around his stomach, tears running down his cheeks.

Maeve nods, teeth still gritted. "Aye…" She goes back to her training dummy, and tries it again. This time she gets it, and relaxes. "At last… It's 'bout bloody time." She lowers her wand, and then straightens up.

"Too many knocks to the head!" agrees Eamon, bonking himself with the heel of the hand and rolling his eyes around goofily. "Well, Ward, —" He looks around. "Ward? Ah! There you are." He discovers the boy rolling around on the floor and his eyebrows draw down. "Curious? Have you been jinxed with a tickler?" He points his wand at Gabriel and says, "Finite Incantatum!" Let's see if that works.

The boy gets up from the floor still chortling and shakes his head,"No, no hex." He doesn't explain any more than that instead joining the practice as it continues. After a couple of hours of work the first year students end up being able to fairly reliably cast Flipendo, Petrificus Totalus, and Expelliarmus at which point the adults call a halt to it and shoo everyone off to dinner.

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