Oh. My. Life.

IT WAS FREEZING!

Jake shivered visibly, his teeth chattering, glaring contemptuously around to try and find the evil entity who'd made him come out here in the freezing cold.

"Bloody freezing," Jake exclaimed bitterly, by way of announcing that he had arrived. Still... he took out his wand... in case... Well... just in case.

It WAS the Forbidden Forest.

One check of his watch confirmed it was like, five past midnight... which meant he'd made good time. But... maybe he should have left earlier.

Feh.

Dylan had cast a warming charm over himself. It was rather chilly outside. He had finally made it down to the forbidden forest, his wand drawn. He didn't know what he would come across. Hopefully not a werewolf. He had heard they roam these parts.

"Dylan reporting for duty," he announced.

"You're late" Samuel announced as he stepped forward, lighting his wand as he did so. The light reflected the sneer on the man's face as he surveyed the two boy's in front of him. They weren't much but then none of the students he had picked were. Hopefully next time he could get something better.

"Go get some practice in while we wait for the others" he grunted, jerking his thumb over his shoulder indicating the make shift arena behind him.

Staring straight up at barkeep guy, Jake wondered if he'd get anything worse than a sneer for his being late. Apparently not. Obviously the bloke didn't want to shout so late at night. Well, maybe.

Not pausing to say sorry or anything, Jake moved into the makeshift arena and turned, twirling his wand in his hand and holding it up, ready.

...

Dude, he really needed to get taller.

Late? How could he be late? Crazy barman. He didn't even give Dylan the right drink. Tasted a bit funny.

He held tightly onto his wand. He wondered how good Jake was at magic. Dylan knew a few things. But not alot. He wasn't magically inspired.

Practice. Yeah. He took a deep breath and cast a non-verbal protego. Shield up! Like a superhero. And shield down again.

Waiting for Dylan to do something, Jake stood in silence. BRRRRRR it was cold here; he really needed to move around a bit. Heh.

It seemed like the other boy was practicing the shield charm; up, down... Jake waited until he took the shield down and cast a verbal dis-arming charm in the boy's direction; more as a joke than anything... though when he thought about it, it was a good way to size the boy up.

"Expelliarmus."

The way he cast it was purposefully half-hearted, and he had this feeling that, if Dylan didn't shield it or avoid it, it would totally be effective.

Dylan's shield continued to flicker on and off. He watched Jake through it. Strange boy. Even if the kid was watching him, with his wand out. That looked a bit weird. He kept his shield up this time. He didn't like the look of the lad. His shield flickered with an impact. Jake had actually cast something at him. Now that wasn't very nice. Not nice at all. Not since they were practicing.

Dylan gave his wand a flick, from behind it. A leg locker curse should fix the boy right up.

"Protego," Jake muttered, concentrating his shield charm and moving the shield so it 'caught' the curse, for want of a better term, and purposefully sent the curse off in some random direction, where it disappeared into the trees. There was probably a poor bowtruckle out there, jumping around, looking for a counter-curse.

Bwahahaha.

So, now he'd got a decent idea of how Dylan might act, Jake backed away towards a tree, planting his back up against it so he couldn't be crept up on from behind. Heh.

"Aguamenti," he said aloud, pointing his wand to the ground, warming it up with a few spells. "Or-KID-ee-us... Evanesco..."

Once the water and flowers, bright yellow daffodills, had disappeared, Jake continued twirling his wand. All the spells he could think of using were duelling spells. He wanted to staaarrrrrrt.

Walter the grumpy old man, wandered over to the third arena, where at least THESE were taking the fight seriously. These two weren't skipping and trying to preen feathers. They were PRACTICING. Walter definitely approved of that.

Still not sure exactly who to thank for this great idea, Walter looked around for the Man in charge. For only a MAN would think to put children to use like this. For their entertainment.

Seamus loved to see a good fight.

And what was better than witnessing a good duel AND possibly earning a few bob out of it? The middle-aged man sauntered up to the third arena, sneer fixed in place as he checked out the participants.

He already knew who he was going to put his gold on.

Who practised conjuring FLOWERS for a duel? Pathetic.

Dylan eyed the two men who had entered the arena. His eyes flicked back to Jake practicing with flowers. What was up with that? They flicked back onto the men. Hmmmm. Were they punters? Probably.

He flicked his wand on a nearby tree, "Flagrate." He drew a D on the bark. Kind of like Zorro's Z. Nice.

Since Jake hadn't taken the calming draft tonight, which no doubt led to the way he was more focused and in the zone with his magic, Jake was fully alert to his surroundings, but chose not to speak up. It was like... a kind of 'don't interact with the observers' thing. Perhaps like in a zoo, where nobody was to feed the animals.

Smirking a teeeeeeny bit to himself, Jake couldn't really resist. He whispered the spells under his breath because he wasn't too trig on non-verbals, Jake crossed his arms and sneakily directed his wand at Dylan.

A stinging hex went straight for the older boy before Jake brought up a sustained shield.

Okay... He'd behave now.

... Teehee.

The stinging hex caught the edge of Dylan's arm. "Ouch," he yelped, momentarily. He eyed the graze it had caused. Hmmm at least it wasn't bleeding. Now he knew how Jake would play. Not dirty but somewhat.

He eyed his tree. The D shone brightly. "Flagrate," he uttered, pointing his wand at Jake. He marked a D on his shirt. He didn't want to burn Jake. Not yet anyway.

Now Jake had started on Dylan, he made sure to keep an eye open for any retaliation. He knew he shouldn't have hexed the boy yet, but hey, it was good practice!

Already having a shield up was helpful, but sustaining it was harder than the boy would have thought and Jake abruptly sidestepped out of the way, seeing a D marked on the tree he'd been leaning up against.

"Ah."

See, that would have hurt.

Swiping his wand through the air, Jake kept one eye on Dylan as he cast a few purple sparks to warm his wand up again. Duuuuuude, he just wanted to FIGHT.

And here he had thought that these two were going to be the duds. But they had started on each other already. Seems Samuel had been wrong about them after all.

These two were certainly going to be entertaining if their practice was anything to go by. Should make the betters happy.

"Alright you two practice is over. Take your positions and when your are ready it's time to DUEL."

Samuel looked around at the people gathered and gave a satisfied little smirk. "Place your bets everyone."

Pulling at his school tie so it hung loosely around his neck, Jake smirked a little and sauntered back towards the centre of the arena again. He felt so in control of his magic... like he could do anything.

Keeping his wand at the ready, Jake faced where Dylan would stand and glanced at the bar-dude.

This.

Was.

Going.

To.

Be.

AWESOME.

Dylan took a deep breath. He was ready. He held out his wand. His hand unshaking. He was as steady as a rock. Oh yeah. He took off his robes, jumper and his silk shirt. He didn't want it ripped. He hung them on a tree.

He casually shook his hair out of his eyes. Sure his shirt was missing, but he still had his warming bubble around him. Shame it wasn't a protective bubble.

His wand was back out in front of him.

Bring!

It!

ON!

Well... Jake was ready... and apparently so was Dylan.

So... they could start?

Feh, even if they couldn't... well... techically they already had.

And... okay, Dylan had his shirt off. Weirdo.

Bwahahaha, he didn't look too cold... so Jake would have to change that.

Okay, he needed a distraction or two, he needed and offensive move or two, then he needed to get a sheild up... or... no, just one.

"Papilio Oppugno," the boy exclaimed, causing several large butterflies to speed out of his wand, and if they got to the boy, they good beat him round the head and sheild his view, maybe flap around his ears so he could hear. If they got there of course. "Avis Oppugno," Jake added straight after, and dozens of likke hummingbirds went STRAIGHT for the boy. No way would would shield defend all this.

Erm... maybe.

"Aguamenti!" Niiiiiice cold, iiiiiiiiice cold water...

"Langlock..." Jake threw that one in as he thought of it, whilst he still had the chance. Everyone knew that you shouldn't just wait for the next spell to come towards you after one.

He would have put the leg-locker on the older boy, or disarmed him, but Jake wanted to have some fun first. He wanted to DUEL, you know? Get his blood pumping.

"Protego," he muttered to himself, and stood poised on his tiptoes, ready to dodge should he need to.

Now he watched carefully to see which, if any, of his spells had worked.

Dylan was ready. Maybe a bit of war paint wouldn't have gone a miss. There was something nagging the back of his head. Jake was his friend. And he shouldn't be hurting friends. But everytime he thought of this is mind clouded over. Odd.

His grip tightened on his wand. His eyes widened as things were fired at him. Butterflies and birds. Different. "Incendio," he fired at the butterflies and birds. The ashes floated to the ground. Rather dramatically. Weird.

He shook the water off his face, as it splurted at him. His hair looked good wet. If only Gold could see him now. Wet hair, and shimmering pectorals. It was a good look. Even if he was a little scrawny. He had a little definition.

He felt something zip past him as he was shaking out his hair. He didn't want to know what he was about to be hit with but at least it didn't.

He shivvered slightly. Surely the warming chamr should be working. Maybe he should recast it. Or it needed time to activate.

"Wingardium leviosa," he uttered, pointing at the butterfly and bird ashes. He gave his wand a flick, sending them in Jake's direction.

"Expulso," he pointed, hoping it would explode any shield Jake had created.

He quickly follwed with a "Confundo."

Awwwww, that was heartless. Poor butterflies and birdies.

Jake didn't let his tiny amount of sadness cloud his duel rage though, and so, when he saw the ashes coming his way, the boy acted quickly, letting his sheild down and crying out 'Evanesco!' to vanish the ashes. Unfortunately, a few were already at him and he breathed them in, which caused him to cough and wheeze a bit.

Greeeaaaaat.

Realising he just had to soldier on, as it were, Jake prepared himself to cast again, but before he could, the spell Dylan cast to break the shield hit hit, since Jake had already taken his shield down.

"Woaaahhhh!" the boy cried out, as he was throw up and back into the tree behind him, and the confundus charm hit the trunk somewhere below.

Coughing again as he dropped down, Jake was up again straight away, ash all over him and the unpleasant thought that these were ANIMALS. He raised his wand... but not at Dylan, at the branches above him. "Reducto!" he yelled, disintegrating the part of a few branches. That way, the three branches, each from different heights, began to fall... straight down, exactly where Dylan was.

Now pointing his wand at the boy, Jake thought for crucial second. "Confringo! Confringo!" he yelled, actually pointing his wand at the ground around the boy.

Aaaaand again with the icy water, this time like a pure jet, headed straight for Dylan's face... that would distract him... and Jake cast a final "Diffindo!"... the same spell which gave Jake the forked ear.

Without putting his shield back up, Jake began coughing again, trying to clear his chest.

He smirked as Jake flew back against a tree. But the confundo seemed to miss. Oh well. He would try that one again later. When Jake was tired. Hopefully that would be soon.

Reducto? Jake had pointed his wand straight up. That wasn't going to do anything. He heard something go crack, and he looked straight up. Branches were falling quite fast towards him. He stuck his wand in the air, "Protego. Protego Totalum." The shield deflected most of them. But the largest, and last one, crashed down. It caught the edge of his shield, shattering it. He caught the edge of it on his shoulder. He glanced at the scratch. It was not too bad. A little bit of blood was leaking from the wound. Nothing he couldn't cope with.

Then the ground collapsed from beneath him. He made a leap at the side of the hole. He hands grasped at it. Grabbing it. He clambered up it, slowly. Thankfully his escape attempts mean he had dodged the water stream. His hair was still quite damp. He gave it another shake, as he straightened himself up. Unfortunately, he hadn't managed to dodge the next spell. Darn him, not paying attention.

The diffindo spell caught him square on the chest. A gash appeared straight across it. This one was alot worse than the tree branches' one. He peered down. Oh this one was alot worse. "Accio shirt," he said, summoning it. He wrapped it round the gash. That should stop the blood flow. A little.

With Jake coughing, it was a perfect distraction. "Confundo," he attempted again. "Mobiliarbus," he cast at the tree behind Jake. Maybe it would grasp Jake, or trip him. He couldn't control the actions of the tree, but at least he could watch it.

Maybe the diffindo wasn't... the best idea.

It would heal okay, though... Ashford was gooood. It was only... a deep scratch. It wasn't like Sectumsempra, which made Jake feel better.

He didn't have much time to think, or even to cast another shield. There was a spell whooshing straight for him, and he ducked. The spell grazed his head, not leaving a mark or anything, but it was enough to kind of daze him. Not a full on hit... it lasted only a few seconds.

Pointing his wand over his shoulder, Jake cast finite and bounced on his toes.

Time to get creative?

Erm... later.

"Rictusempra!" Jake cast and then, bizarrely, he conjured up a plain white sheet which he caught in the air, ready for later. "Glisseo!" he added, pointing his wand at Dylan's feet before the tickling charm would have a chance to even reach the boy.

Finally, with a great sweeping motion of his wand and utter concentration on his face, Jake had the ashes, branches of the tree, some leaves, and the water from earlier fly up into the air and then go straight for Dylan.

And that used up most of his efforts, but Jake managed to put up a weak shield again. But he had the sheet ready. Curious.

Dylan could see blood staining his shirt. Well at least he hadn't been wearing the shirt when the spell hit. It could be washed, but it couldn't be fixed. It was silk. It's not like it could be sewn. He blinked. Nausea was not going to set in. He had been hurt before. What was a little blood?

He put up a slightly weak shield. Not that it could hold anything back. It would probably be crushed with any first hit. You could probably punch your way through it.

The tickling charm sliced straight through it, straight at Dylan's chest. He bent over double with a fit of giggles. "Fi....n...ite" giggle "In...c...can...ta...tum." He giggled, the wand pointed at his chest. "Huh hmm," he coughed, straightening up.

He could feel the floor freeze beneath his feet. That didn't look like a good thing. As he was peering at his feet he heard a woosh. He shielded his eyes, as the ash and trees and stuff flew towards him. He cast a temporary bubble head charm to shield his face. He felt the trees and water whip his body. Chilling, and scratching his skin. Bit sore. Hopefully the water would numb his body before anything did too much damage.

"Oppugno avis," he summonded. Ravens flew from the end of his wand. He could create bigger. He hoped. Hawks maybe. Oo an eagle.

What was with the sheet?

Bwhahahaha. The way the tickling charm worked made Jake grin to himself. Tickling was totally the worst form of torture, oh yes it was.

MWAHAHAHA.

Jake was too distracted by the mini-victory that he didn't think to reinforce his shield, so that those freaking HUGE bird were on him and pecking and trying to take some seeeerious liberties.

"OW!" Jake exclaimed, trying to bat the birds away. When a few hovered away for a moment, Jake pointed his wand at them. "Duro!" he yelled, turning the nasty little air vermin to stone. With gritted teeth, Jake poured water at the rest of the birds, which curiously caused them to like... disappear.

Weird.

Oh... magic.

Ignoring the pain from the mini wounds over him and the blood that was kind of evident on his shirt, Jake threw the sheet up into the air.

"Duro!" he shouted again, and then, "Wingardium Leviosa!" he levitated it to the middle of the arena and then... "Confringo!" he blew it up.

The pieces wouldn't hurt; it wasn't high up enough, but it made for a good distraction and Jake threw up another shield.

Without waiting to see if the distraction had worked, Jake sent a hurling hex straight for Dylan and coughed again, wheezing and in a little pain.

Gosh darn it; one of the bird had either pecked or scratched at his eyebrow, and Jake could definitely feel it, and the bit of blood running down his face.

Hmmm... he needed a tissue.

And he was getting tired.