Details for NMitH 1937: Week 1 - Gabriel vs Ria |
Summary: | Ria wins over Gabriel by a slimmer margin than the Slytherin girl would like. |
Date: | October 10, 1937 |
Location: | Great Hall |
Related: | Plot: No Magic In the Halls - 1937 |
Characters |
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Great Hall Hogwarts Castle
Wed Oct 10, 1937 ((Wed Oct 10 05:49:35 2012)) (Ground Floor)
Braziers that hang by chains from the beaks of griffin gargoyles that line the walls where they meet the high vaulted enchanted ceiling offer warm illuminating blazes. Four long tables are evenly spaced with the heads of the table at the north and south of the room. Each table has a cloth runner down the center and a plush rug underneath of the different House colors indicating to which house the table belongs.
The most westerly table is the Slytherin table. Beside them is the Ravenclaw table. The Gryffindor table is then between the Ravenclaw table to the west and the Hufflepuff table which is the most easterly table. One other table along the northern wall up on a dais for the Professors to sit at and look over all four of the other tables. Also on the dais is one lectern gilded in gold with an owl spreading it's wings at the top of the lectern. Candles line the tops of the owl's wings to illuminate anyone speaking at the lectern. A stool like protrusion comes out of the lectern as well as that's where the first years sit when they are sorted.
There are three sets of doors in the Great Hall. The main exit and entrance that leads to the Entry Hall is a large set of double wooden doors carved with vines and flanked by high stone pedestals each set with a small brazier above the stony 'H' carved in the pedestal. On the eastern wall is a much smaller door just next to the dais that's attached to the antechamber the first years come up from the lake through. Lastly one other door is set into the northwest corner behind the High Table.
As always high above within the obscured stone and wood cathedral like buttresses and crockets the outside weather is reflected in an illusion with all the sound and visuals of the weather, just without the actual effects of it.
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<FS3> Opposed Roll — Gabriel=Reaction Vs Ria=Reaction
< Gabriel: Success Ria: Good Success
< Net Result: Ria wins - Solid Victory
Whoever Ria's dueling opponent is, he's been rather mysterious. And while she hasn't been really looking into who exactly Gabriel Ward is, he hasn't exactly made himself known either. All she knows is that she got a note in the library naming a time and place for her duel. That was a rather annoying move. How dare a fellow student think they can just summon her. But she's here anyway, and she's neatly folded her robes to the side. Delicately she rolls her sleeves up as well as she takes her place on the platform waiting for whoever this boy is.
Gabriel walks in almost immediately after Ria. As he walks down the aisle towards the dueling platfrom he gives Ria the same smile and wave he gave her as she was walking out of the primer hoster by Auror Bates at the begining of the week. "Hello Ms. Sykes, I'm your first match. My name, if your haven't guess by now is Gabriel Ward." Taking the last few steps up the the platform he stands at the opposite end of the strip and waves at the Mnistry Official serving as a judge for them,"Hello sir."
Ria's eyes widen and she clears her throat. A first year?! The one who caught her hand holding?! Oh this is just a brilliant situation. If she's hard on him, she looks like an asshole. If she's too easy, then she's a weakling. Good thing no one but the ministry worker is here to watch. So she attempts to give Gabriel a friendly smile, but really it just turns out to be an awkward twist of her lips. "Oh uh…Good to meet you too Mr. Ward," she addresses him as politely as he addresses her. And just before she politely bows and assumes a dueling stance, she gives the official a nod to begin and a 'please don't judge me' look.
Gabriel pulls his wand out of his robe pockets, brings it up to his face then swishes it down and to the side in an overly formal salute that would tell most people he's never been in a formal duel before. Just like the correct but overly stiff dueling stance he adopts will. For a little shrimp he does look aweful confident thought and that smile isn't really disappearing either. "Nice to meet you too."
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Gabriel=OM Vs Ria=DM
< Gabriel: Success Ria: Good Success
< Net Result: Ria wins - Marginal Victory
Ria assumes her side dueling stance, one hand forward while her wand hand arcs up over her head. It seems like she does this on a fairly regular basis. And even though she's quite confident she'd be able to get him first, she takes the defense anyway. "Protego." The magical shield forms large enough to give her good protection.
Gabriel takes a little stamping step forward, stabing with his wand and giving the tip a little flip upwards toward the end of his movement at the same time he says,"Flipendo!" in a firm voice, sending an almost invisible wave of force rushing along the stage towards Ria. He's a little too slow however and energies clash in front of Ria sending out multicolored sparks and then again to one side as Gabriel's spell rebounds into the wards around the stage and fizzles out.
Maeve picks right about this moment to enter the hall. The tiny Gryffindor struggles to make her way through the crowds surrounding the dueling stage until she can see. Recognizing Gabriel, she grins. "C'mon, Gabriel. Ye can do it," she says, obviously rooting for her friend.
Gabriel steps back into his dueling stance and almost immediately makes a slashing and pull motion with his hand, aiming it at Ria's wand hand. As he swishes he calls out "Expelliarmus!", keeping his eyes on Ria's wand.
Ria watches the sparks ricochet off her shield and she continues to remain on the defensive. Either she's biding her time or she really is taking it easy. But another "Protego" sent out.
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Gabriel=OM Vs Ria=DM
< Gabriel: Success Ria: Good Success
< Net Result: Ria wins - Solid Victory
Gabriel's eyes go wide as the reddish-orange beam of his Expelliarmus bounces straight back at him. No fancy side stepping or counter spells for him. He just squats and covers his head with his arms, then peek up through them a second later as if to make sure the spell has gone past him and his wand is still in his hands.
From the sidelines, the tired looking clerk-like judge waves a hand towards Ria and speaks in a monotone. "Point. Defender."
Ria's mouth straightens into a line when she watches him duck and sighs. But hearing that she earned a point is rather satisfying.
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Gabriel=reaction Vs Ria=Reaction
< Gabriel: Success Ria: Failure
< Net Result: Gabriel wins - Marginal Victory
Maeve's grin disappears as she watches Gabriel's attempts fail. She gets a bit closer to the stage, still watching intently.
Gabriel pops back up to his feet, still smiling, even if this time he's blushing a bit too. As he gets ready for his next attack he says,"By the way Miss Sykes, I've prepared a jinx specifically for this bout. Its meant to get my opponent as dity as possible. And you never know when it'll be coming."
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Gabriel=OM Vs Ria=DM
< Gabriel: Good Success Ria: Success
< Net Result: Gabriel wins - Solid Victory
Gabriel follows up his taunt with another little stamping step and a wand stab and flick. "Flipendo!" This sends another stream of almost invisible energy streaming along the stage towards Ria.
Ria rolls her eyes as she waits for him to go again. "Why don't you just cast your next one alre-Protego!" His trash talking has successfully distracted her this time around and she casts a little too late. The flipendo knocks her in the chest pretty hard and she does fall back one, two steps before falling back. It's met with a frown as she gets up. Alright, enough. He wants to play. She'll play.
Once again the bored looking clerk type judge looks at the combatants, waving a hand towards Gabriel as he repeats in that bored monotone. "Point. Offense."
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Gabriel=Reaction Vs Ria=Reaction
< Gabriel: Good Success Ria: Failure
< Net Result: Gabriel wins - Solid Victory
Maeve grins as Gabriel gets a good shot in on the Slythern girl, knocking her arse over teakettle. "Tha's brilliant. Good shot, Gabriel!"
Once she's back up on her feet, Ria gives and under handed whip of her wand. "Stupefy!"
Gabriel looks a little surprised at having gotten through and his smile actually falters a bit as the possible ramifications of this flash through his mind. Almost immediately after he sees his spell connect his wand flashes through the air in a pattern that almost looks like a sideways S with on flat side. "Petrificus Totalus!" He calls out his spell a little louder than necessary in his excitment.
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Ria=OM Vs Gabriel=OM
< Ria: Success Gabriel: Success
< Net Result: DRAW
And the red bolt of Ria's stupefy collides with Gabriel's bluish petrificus somewhere in the middle of the two exploding in a brilliant hue of light that breaks into smaller bolts.
Maeve turns her head away, covering her eyes when the spells collide in a blinding flash.
Gabriel takes a step back and squints his eyes against the shower of sparks. Then goes right back into his dueling stance. With his off hand he gives Maeve a little wave now that he's realized she there but he doesn't take his eyes off Ria for a moment,"You know, I was kind of worried about this at first…" False bravado is the almost complete disappearance of his smile is a hint.
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Gabriel=reaction Vs Ria=reaction
< Gabriel: Failure Ria: Failure
< Net Result: Both Fail.
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Gabriel=OM Vs Ria=DM
< Gabriel: Success Ria: Success
< Net Result: DRAW
Gabriel, as usual, is talking up a storm. And somehow he's managing to keep it from stopping him from dueling as following his little bravado statement he immediately goes into, "Expelliarmus!" sending a reddish-organge ray in Rai's direction.
Ria is getting rather annoyed at all this trash talk, but not enough to let her guard down. "Protego." She casts another shield. If the last one reflected off and almost hit him, maybe it'll do it again this time? But she's wrong when the two spells impact and they cancel each other out.
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Ria=reaction Vs Gabriel=reaction
< Ria: Success Gabriel: Success
< Net Result: DRAW
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Ria=OM Vs Gabriel=OM
< Ria: Success Gabriel: Good Success
< Net Result: Gabriel wins - Marginal Victory
The longer the duel lasts the quicker Gabriel starts tossing out the spells. After all, the variety isn't much. "You know, I heard a lot about you over the last few days. And about your boyfriend. And I have to say, that your defensive spells are as good as I had heard." Of course, nothing's mentioned about offensive spells and that little smile is starting to come back. Another little stamp. another stab-flip. "Flipendo!" That almost transparent blue wave of force moves its way back down the stage.
Gabriel stumbles back one, two , three small steps. He's wobbling, he's wobbling… And he's down on his ass! As soon as he's down he's scrambling back to his feet trying to be back in position before Ria can take another whack at him.
"My, my big words," Ria says, rather unaffectedly. "Flipendo!" She whips out again, and just as she dishes it one, hits her and she knocked back. Rather intensely, this time. Rather than falling on her bottom, she's knocked all the way backward, head hitting the ground. But she gets up and shakes it off, getting ready to take the new move. He may knock her, but it seems she can take it.
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Ria=Reaction+mind Vs Gabriel=Reaction+mind
< Ria: Good Success Gabriel: Failure
< Net Result: Ria wins - Solid Victory
Gabriel doesn't even bother getting back into his dueling stance and instead tosses out an "Expellarmumus!" as soon as he's back to his feet. A mistake that costs his precious seconds as nothing happens and he has to recast. Swish! "Expelliarmus!"
Ria keeps form, and takes a step forward. One hand is delicately placed back while her wanded arm makes a definitive upward slice. "Stupefy!"
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Gabriel=OM Vs Ria=OM
< Gabriel: Success Ria: Success
< Net Result: DRAW
His aim's good, the disarming spell hits Ria right on her wanded hand and it knocks her weapon right out of her polished fingers, leaving a stinging sensation behind on her hands. She scowls and gasps, grabbing at her palm as she winces from the pain.
Gabriel is so focused on watching the effect of his Expelliarmus he forget that it was cast late, as these things go. Thanks to that distraction he's just standing there when Ria's jet of scarlett light that emmanated from Ria's wand before it was pulled out of her hands smacks him in the center of the chest. With a little sigh his eyes shut and he sinks to his knees then falls sideways, unconscious.
Maeve's grin immediately fades. As the duel is declared over, and Ria the victor, she runs up, and kneels down beside her friend.
<FS3> Ria rolls Charms: Good Success.
Ria looks rather irritated while she waits for the sting to subside, and taking her time she leisurely strolls over to where her wand fell and plucks it off the ground. Just as slowly, she makes her way over to the boy and his friend, scanning Maeve with her eyes over briefly giving the boy a downward flick of her wand. "Rennervate." That should do it. Crossing her arms impatiently, she waits for him to wake up before she says, "You may be able to hit, but it's no use if you can't defend." As always she's business-like. "Furthermore, I'd compliment you on a job decently done, but trash talkers who can't back themselves up are pathetic." And after a pause she looks the boy over, "Now do you need to go to the infirmary?"
Gabriel looks a little groggy at first but as Ria speaks he starts smiling, which turns into a big grin as he shakes his head,"No. I don't need to go to the infirmary. Thank you for a good bit of fun and for waking me up." Turning to Maeve he smiles at her,"and thanks for cheering for me. Wasn't that great!?" That's followed by a steady stream of happy praise for both himself and Ria equally. Now that the duel is over it seems to him its all just as exciting and he's quite pleased to appreciate Ria's performance and marvel in his own beginners luck. even if he doesn't phrase it quite that way.
Maeve nods, smiling ruefully at the Ravenclaw's stream of words. "Aye. I think he'll be fine." She stands, and smiles to the Slytherin girl. "Ye were very good yerself." Her tone is respectful, but also cautiously friendly, as she's not the sort to judge strictly by house.
Ria blinks, completely confounded by his reaction. Did he not just hear what she said? It almost annoys her just a little bit. But she replies. "Uhm. Sure. Good duel. Whatever." And to Maeve she quirks a brow at the curly haired girl. "Thanks," she throws out briefly and shrugs. Then she turns around to collect her neatly arranged things. "Go to the infirmary if you feel off. That's not a suggestion," she waves her hand idly over her shoulder and begins to head out the door.