Duelling Classroom ((Liam & Pyro))

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Amaryllis shut the door of the Duelling Classroom with a concise snap to block out the noise of the students going past at the end of lessons rush and sat down at her desk. She was going to be overseeing a duel in twenty minutes, between a fourth year Gryffindor, Liam Angelus, and a fourth year Slytherin she had seen in her Duelling Classroom once before, Pyro Blackfire. She pondered what she knew of the ability of the two, concluding that it should hopefully be an enjoyable duel to oversee, before taking out the detective novel she was currently reading and engrossing herself in it as per usual when she allowed herself the time to read. It was quite a bright mid-autumn day, and the sunshine poured through the window, making her have to squint to read. She wasn't prepared to do that for long, but the sunshine was something Hogwarts hadn't witnessed for a few days and she was enjoying its warmth, so she flicked her wand and the blind closed just far enough to make sure it was no longer in her eyes. She shifted in her chair slightly to get comfortable and continued to read as she waited for the two students to arrive, for once not glancing up at the clock.

[Pyro Blackfire S5]

Pyro's steps echoed down the hallway. At least, thats what they would have been doing had the hallway been empty. His mood wasn't improving very well as he continued to move through the hall, dodging this way and that to get through the large throng. Finally he could see the doors to the dueling room up ahead.

Pyro had been there once before. He had dueled his cousin, Cassandra Blackfire. She had beaten him in that duel. He had been outraged at first for he had believed her to be a muggle born. Now, he had discovered, she was actually a pureblood, and his cousin for that matter! Pyro shook the memory away. This duel would be different. He had been spending all summer practicing those spells in the book he had retrieved. His magic had improved greatly since last time.

Pyro raised his hand but stopped just before opening the door. He grinned and mumbled, "At the desk, reading a book. A mystery novel most likely." Pyro pushed the door open and stepped inside to find the Professor sitting at her desk. He shut the door behind him. "Hello Professor. Fine day for a duel wouldn't you say?" He said looking cheerful. He looked at her book. "So, what is it your reading there?" He asked.

[Liam Angelus G5]

As Liam walked through the halls on his way to the dueling classroom, he had to dodge students who were rushing from there classes towards other parts of the castle. As he weaved through the crowd of students, his mind kept going over the different spells he'd need to use against Pyro Blackfire. Liam had not taken part in a duel in all of the years he'd been at Hogwarts so he needed to keep his mind ready for anything that Pyro would send at him.

As Liam neared the dueling classroom, he noticed Pyro enter into the room several moment before he reached the door. Stopping at the door, Liam took a deep breath before he opened the door slowly. Closing the door behind him, Liam said, "Good day Professor." Liam looked at Pyro before he spoke again. "Before we begin, I have to say good luck to you Pyro." Liam reached his hand out for Pyro to shake when he finished speaking.

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Amaryllis looked up as Pyro Blackfire entered the room, glad that this time he greeted her and was perfectly polite. She regarded him with a neutral expression as he seemed really rather upbeat and replied, "Good afternoon Mr. Blackfire. Indeed it is a good day for a duel, but then surely every day is?" She glanced down at her book as the Slytherin enquired about it and replied, "A simple matter of an Agatha Christie novel, 'The Clocks', in this case." Amaryllis put the book away as Mr. Angelus entered the room, nodding to the fourth year Gryffindor and returning his greeting, "Good afternoon, Mr. Angelus."

She stood up as the Gryffindor was speaking to Mr. Blackfire, and once she thought both were nearly ready she said, "Once you are both ready, we can start the duel. Mr. Blackfire, if you would take the lime green square mat to the right on the platform, Mr. Angelus, you the navy blue circle to the left." Amaryllis waited for the two fourth years to take the positions she had instructed them to, taking up her own place next to the platform where she could easily stop things getting out of hand. "When you are ready to begin, Mr. Blackfire you may cast your first spell."

[Pyro Blackfire S5]

Pyro smirked slightly but did not respond. Not that he had much of a chance to for his opponent entered at that moment. Pyro looked this at him. He had never met him before, but he had seen him around at classes. Liam offered Pyro his hand and said good luck. Pyro arched an eyebrow as he looked down at the offered hand. He smirked but never took the hand. "Good luck to you as well." He said in a tone that clearly stated he wasn't being sentimental.

Pyro turned and quickly moved over to the spot that Professor Hardy had assigned him. Being no stranger to duelling he wasted no time in shrugging off his robes and placing them on the floor. Taking his wand out of his pockets he took his stance. He waited for Liam to get ready. As soon as it looked like he was ready Pyro waved his wand. "Frenonectio."

[Liam Angelus G5]

When Professor Hardy replied to him, Liam bowed slightly before his attention was turned back to Pyro. When Pyro wished him luck, Liam knew that he was not being as serious as Liam had. Liam heard the professor tell them to get into place, and Liam quickly took his robes off his shoulders. Placing it in a pile near his position, Liam took his wand out of his pocket and stood ready.

Liam heard Pyro cast his first spell and immediately, Liam aimed his wand and called, "Protego."

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

((Pyro casts Frenonectio, he has a 75% success chance.

*Dice... 7 ... = 87.5%... Failure!*

Pyro fails to cast Frenonectio, so no defence spell is required.

Score - Pyro 0.0, Liam 0.0))

Amaryllis lightly noted the small response she had caught from Mr. Blackfire, not entirely sure what it signified but glad some acknowledgement of her reply had been given, even if not verbal. That was always polite; the last time Mr. Blackfire had been in her Duelling classroom he hadn't been quite so courteous as to observe the normal etiquette of greeting the person in the room he had just walked into. But there was no need to dwell on that now - though she enjoyed building up her own impression of students to allow her to ascertain their general character (usually helpful if they got into trouble), she shouldn't be thinking over what had happened in the past so much. She had merely been pondering on it rather a lot recently. Probably as a result of what had happened to Kris Graas, and the things he had said in his following duel with Dana Coran, some of which had sent her back to hurtful memories.

Anyway, now was not the time to be thinking about these things, she told herself decisively. The students had finished preparing to duel and Mr. Blackfire was about to cast his first spell. Amaryllis had her wand at the ready to dispel the effects of any spells cast in the duel once she had seen their outcome. The Duelling Classroom was not a place for students to get hurt in, although she was fairly sure some students had left the room with their egos slightly bruised. Amaryllis watched carefully as Mr. Blackfire cast his spell, but was disappointed to see it fail almost as soon as it had left his wand. She always preferred to see students doing well, but she cast her mind back quickly over the way he had cast it in order to decide what the source of the problem was.
"That was a good try, Mr. Blackfire," she said once she had done so, "but not particularly effective." Thinking to herself she might be stating the obvious a little, she added with a small smile, "As I'm sure you're aware. Perhaps refining your wand movement a little would help in this case? Draw it across horizontally, and then loop up and back." Amaryllis demonstrated what she meant with her wand as she said the words, glancing curiously at the lilac sparks her wand emitted entirely spontaneously. Why lilac anyway? She pondered this momentarily in her mind before dismissing it as completely frivolous at any rate and not anything to do with the job she had to get done at this minute in time. She looked at the two students for a moment before saying: "Mr. Angelus, whenever you are ready, you may cast your first spell."