Details for NMitH 1937 Round 2 - Claire vs. Lucian |
Summary: | Claire gives Lucian the fight of his life in a knock-down, drag-out duel. |
Date: | October 25, 1937 |
Location: | Great Hall |
Related: | Plot: No Magic In the Halls - 1937 |
Characters |
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After classes have let out, before dinner, the Great Hall has been configured once again for the No Magic in the Halls Dueling Tournament. A long dueling stage has been erected along the center of the room, with seating arranged on either side for spectators. Today, it's Ravenclaw's star athlete Claire Cameron vs. Slytherin Prefect, Lucian Proudmore.
Lucian has handed his robe off to another Slytherin boy while he warms up, stretches his legs and going through a few basic wand maneuvers, empty-handed. The hall has filled with a decent crowd, as plenty are eager to see if the cocksure Slytherin will be taken down today.
Although the duels have held no particular interest for her, Nicki has come by today to support her Prefect as he goes into battle. And, one of her other housemates brought biscuits, so.. yeah. She sits with several other Slytherins, but on the outskirts of the group, mostly talking to some girls in her own year as they wait for the festivities to begin.
Arriving a bit late as usual and looking ruffled, perhaps even more so than usual, Tadhg O'Riley advances towards the stage with a purpose,"Alright. Sorry I'm late. Dreadful travel day." He says absently as he moves a motion for those who are meant to be on stage to come up with him. Once upon the dueling stage, he does perform a simple charm to make his clothing look freshly pressed and a bit of something is applied to his wild hair to smooth it down. "So today is Mr Proudmore and Miss Cameron. Well. Wands please. I expect we did this last time but it really should be done each duel if it isn't." He says in his light brogue.
If anyone can, Claire is sure she's the one to do it. After spending the week leading up to this getting wound tighter and tighter, she's surprisingly relaxed when she enters the Great Hall. She hands her robe off to a housemate, trading some light banter. She steps up to her end of the dueling stage. "Proudmore," she greets her opponent. She hands off her cedar wand to the official.
Lucian gives Claire a respectful nod, walking up alongside her to present his own wand of mahogany. "Cameron. Feeling better about this, I hope?" He offers a smile, and then a handshake.
"Twelve inches and bendy, cedar wood." Tadhg says in a somewhat distracted voice before moving the wand and saying,"Avis!" Causing a murder of ravens to issue forth, taking wing and flying away,"Nicely maintained Miss Cameron." He says as he hands back Claire's wand and takes the mahogany."Yes. I remember this one being nicely maintained, appears to still be in excellent condition." He says as he gives a swish of the wand,"Aguamenti." Causing a stream of water to issue out, the falling droplets creating a rainbow as they mist downwards,"Excellent. Now for the rules. There will be no attempts to seriously harm each other. When I call the duel, that's it. Do not attempt another spell or you will be disqualified. Let's keep this clean now. Take your places, salute and we will begin."
"Well, you're not invincible," Claire says with a smile. She shakes his hand, firmly but without the macho posturing this time. Accepting her wand back, she takes her mark. Deep breathe, hold for a beat, exhale. When she salutes she is serious, no longer smiling and laughing but looking as if the minister's warning is the only tihng keeping her from removing her opponent's limbs from his body.
Mabel gathers off to the side with a few members of the Dueling Club, applauding quietly as the contenders take the dueling stage.
Lucian shakes Claire's hand firmly, nodding, "That's right. Nobody is." He takes his wand back from O'Riley, and steps up to the stage, taking his position. Centering himself, he lifts his wand to his face, then sweep it down and to the right in salute to Claire, bowing. As he assumes his stance, he is the very image of calm. No expression, no emotion. Just…ready.
At the mark, Claire raises her wand to eye level and with a tiny flick says, "Lumos." It's pointed at Lucian's eyes in an attempt to blind him. She doesn't expect to be able to get past his shield, but if she can get him to drop it…
Lucian's Shield Charm proves ineffective, as Claire isn't so much attacking, as just shining a light in his eyes. Clever! He blinks against the spots now appearing in his vision, trying to focus on his opponent.
Mabel looks on as things begin, it doesn't appear she's taken sides: this time, she seems more interested in what the two more-senior members play at each other, an eyebrow rising as the particular choices of spells cross, murmuring, "Risky, that one."
Ambling in from the direction of the entry hall comes Lois, her arms full of… skeins of wool, for some reason. She's been drawn by the sound of voices, and arrives in time to catch the last of Claire's Lumos gambit. The girl pauses for a second, watching, before beating a path for Mabel. A guess is ventured: "Another duel for the tourney?"
Lucian is still blinking against the blinding spots in his eyes. He aims his wand, incanting, "Petrificus Totalus!" But he can't quite see straight, and the spell goes well off course, striking a candlestick somewhere behind Claire.
Damn, that worked better in practice. A muscle ticks in Claire's jaw, a little sign the strategy fail is affecting her more than she should let it. "Silencio!" she says, but her aim is off and the spell whizzes past the Slytherin.
Mabel nods, with a smile over to Lois, "A fairly interesting one, at that," she says, hand darting toward her wand as a somewhat-dazzled Lucian looks like he might cast a little too-awry, but continues on, unflapped, as it doesn't. "I would have expected Cameron to try finishing it right at the start."
Enough. Claire can't afford to keep making mistakes. If the duel goes on much longer, the odds are going to shift and they will not be in her favor. With an authoritative step forward, she sweeps and slashes with her wand, calling out, "Petrificus totalus!"
Enough. Claire can't afford to keep making mistakes. If the duel goes on much longer, the odds are going to shift and they will not be in her favor. With an authoritative step forward, she sweeps and slashes with her wand, calling out, "Petrificus totalus!" (repose)
Lucian sees the aggressive attack coming, and quickly throws up another Shield Charm, "PROTEGO!" Merlin's beard, this girl is fierce! The flash of white light manages to deflect the incoming spell, and a good thing, as that would have been the end of it.
Lois, standing near Mabel, lets out a low whistle. "Interesting? I'll say. Going at it like thunder and lightning, from the looks of it." After a moment's thought, the motherly girl adds, with a sniff: "I hope they at least manage to avoid someone getting hurt."
Mabel nods to Lois, as the spells start being thrown a bit harder, slipping her wand out to tuck it up under her arm in case there's need to ward off stray jinxes.
Claire growls in frustration, stepping out of the way of the rebound. Again, she pushes forward, swooping and slashing with her wand. Her movements are getting larger, more dramatic. "Petrificus totalus!"
Lucian is starting to sweat. Claire is no amateur, and her aggressive style is forcing him to maintain a purely defensive stance. Another Shield Charm deflects the incoming Body-Bind Curse, trying to redirect it back at her, but she's too quick.
Her jaw is set, she's advanced almost to the halfway point on the stage. Claire has to give ground to dodge the rebound of her spell, but takes it back to fire off another full-body bind. It is not a subtle or elegant strategy, but the relentless hammering leaves her opponent with few openings to attack.
As she batters against his defenses, Lucian grunts out another "PROTEGO!" Lucian Proudmore on the ropes? So it seems.
Mabel seems to be getting a bit wrapped up in the bit of a slug-fest this duel's shaping up to be, sparing a smile for Lois, "Well, this can't last forever, someone will have to change the tempo… Any moment, now…"
Lucian sees his opening at last. He's been timing her attacks as she hammered him, and counting to himself: 1…2…3… "Expelliarmus!" He makes a twisting motion with his wand, and a tendril of green light arcs for from his wand toward hers.
Claire mispredicts where the rebound of her hex would land, and though she's able to avoid it (and, when she is having a rage about the loss later, at least she will be able to say it was not her own spell that took her out), she's not able to get a shield up in time. She roars, inarticulate, when she feels the wand slip from her hand.
"And that is the duel." Tadhg says pleasantly as he looks between the pair of them,"A splendid duel too. Best one I've seen during this whole thing." He says in a very serious voice,"Now I want you to calm down a bit. You acquitted yourself well. I thought this was going to be over multiple times while you were hammering him. Now if you would all excuse me, I do have some work to be doing back at the Ministry." That being said, he does pull some candies from his pocket and tosses them into the air and with a flick of his wand directs brightly wrapped candies to each student present for the duel before he finally heads out.
Lucian pants, out of breath and exhausted as he salutes Claire again. "You fight like the devil, Cameron. He's right, you really had me against a wall. Well done." He looks upon her with obvious admiration.
Mabel takes the moment to applaud, then, once things have settled out, "Now that was quite spirited!" she fair cheers.
Claire clenches her hands into fists at her side, breathing hard, head down, eyes shut. Her whole body is rigid with tension, like Lucian had used a Full Body Bind instead of the Disarming Spell. Gradually her fists unclench and she's able to force a smile at Lucian. "Thank you. Excellent duel." Her words are clipped, but she extends a hand in defeat.
Lucian's eyes flit to Mabel, but he just nods, stifling his disdain for the Gryffindor. At least she's cheering for the right reasons. He steps up and takes Claire's hand, giving her a firm handshake. "Seriously. Truly excellent. I've not had a challenge like that in a long time." He gets a bit of a boyish smirk.
Claire nods once and retrieves her wand. She's eager to be out of the Great Hall, but doesn't want to look like she's fleeing so she forces herself to stick to a measured pace out of the hall.