Haddie more bounced than walked onto the dueling stage and gave Ariadne a bubbly, but awkward wave. She was excited but also a bit nervous, just like she had been with her first duel with Jaemin. That duel had taught her a lot, but still, Ariadne grew up with magic, and her mother used to teach here. So there was reason to be nervous, Haddie thought. She wanted to win this duel... She was going to win this duel! Sorry Ariadne, but she was.

Hadley took a deep breath and bowed to Ariadne. Now it was time to begin. The Californian first year aimed her wand at the Slytherin girl and cast the Ear-shriveling Curse. Mostly because she had been really curious what that might look like.

Ariadne was SUPER NERVOUS, but she would never let anybody know that. She tried to act cool, calm, and collected as she walked into the dueling arena. Did her nerves show? She didn't know. She waved at Hady and smiled anyway, just before putting on her game face and giving her wand a tight squeeze of assurance.

...and just as she did, an Ear-Shriveling Curse was shot in her direction.

MERLIN, that was fast!

It was early on in the duel, and Ariadne was in tip-top shape. She was READY. She raised her wand into the air and with a "Protego!", she easily blocked it. Problem was, she didn't really have anything ready to go. She should get some kind of strategy together for this kind of thing. She didn't have a whole lot of 'think time', though.

A funny little hex came to mind, and she knew if it hit, Hady would be caught off guard. With quick and accurate wand movements and a strong burst of the incantation, Ariadne sent a Sardine Hex in Hady's direction. TAKE THAT! Okay, now, SARDINES! Come out, come out wherever you are!

Awwww, man! She was still so curious about how the ear-shriveling curse looked, she was half-tempted to cast it again. Before she could though, Ariadne cast her own spell back at Haddie. The eagle rolled under the spell, escaping the, shudder, smell of sardines dripping out of her nose. Oh sure, it would hurt a bunch, but Haddie had a feeling the fishy smell in your nose! was the worst part.

Why did she roll when side stepping would have been easier? Because it was cooler, duh! As Haddie came out of the roll, kneeling, she whipped her wand around at Ariadne and... uh... she blanked on what spell to cast. Oh! This will be a good one! Haddie cast the Jelly-Fingers curse at Ariadne. Then she hopped to her feet with a little bounce and readied her wand again.

Ariadne gave an "UGH!" in disgust as she saw that her spell had narrowly missed Haddie. All she probably needed was one good hit, and she'd probably get a good advantage over her Ravenclaw opponent. Maybe. Maybe not, too. Haddie seemed GOOD at this.

Ariadne was in such deep thought about how she could pull off winning this duel, that she dropped a bit of her focus, ultimately causing her to be hit by Haddie's next spell. Ariadne's fingers tingled and then a weird sensation traveled through her hand. She fumbled with her wand, gasping as she tried to change it to the next hand so as to avoid dropping it.

She managed to do so but her right hand was still affected. She'd have to make a left-handed cast if she wanted to stand a chance. MERLIN, this was going to be hard! Thank goodness Haddie hadn't cast again, or else Ariadne would be TOAST, and she'd already lost one duel already.

She needed to come up with something in return...AND FAST, TOO.

"CALAVRIO!" she said, casting something that would mainly serve to distract Haddie, and that's exactly what Ariadne needed to happen right now.

YES! A successful hit! Haddie watched as Ariadne lost the ability to grip her wand with a big old smirk on her face. This duel was going to be over soon and...

"Pro--" Too late. The last thing Haddie had been expecting was for Ariadne to recover from the Jelly-Fingers curse by switching hands. And actually effectively casting with her non-wand hand. The spell had hit and...

WAS THAT A LOCK OF HER HAIR!? It dropped and fluttered to the ground, followed quickly by more locks and then even more locks and... Haddie's eyes narrowed at the snake. Sure, magic could regrow her hair when the duel was over, but she HAD JUST GOTTEN THE ENDS DYED AT HOGSMEADE!!

"That," Haddie said pointedly, her voice growling. "Was a mistake." In the same instant, she raised her wand and cast a forceful Stinging Hex at the snake that crossed a line. Oh, yeah. Ariadne was going down. Haddie swore so on the corpses of her once beautiful and dyed hair littered at her feet.

O_O.

Was that Haddie's...HAIR?! Ariadne hadn't actually thought about what the outcome would look like once the spell was in action. Her eyes flickered to the floor for a brief second, and she saw that small pool of hair gathered there. OMG, SO SORRY, HADDIE! Soooooo sorry!

EEP.

Yeah, yeah, that probably was a mistake, but this was a DUEL. After that Jelly Fingers Curse, Ariadne had needed a win to make up for the loss of her right hand. Or the use of it, at least. Speaking of which, the feeling was starting to return to it, so Ariadne switched her wand back to her regular casting hand. AHHHHH. Normalcy!

She managed to dodge the next spell with a quick sidestep to the right. Ouch, that would have hurt. "INCARCEROUS!" she called out, hoping to bind her opponent. If it worked, Haddie would have to unbind herself before casting again, and Ariadne could surely get the upper hand.

Haddie paced back and forth, eyes narrowed at Ariadne. There wasn't any hatred or even too much anger in the Eagle's expression though. That didn't stopped her from looking any less like a hungry predator eyeing its next meal. It wasn't too hard to imagine a lioness or a tiger there instead of Haddie.

She frowned as the Slytherin dodged her spell. Dang it! Oh well, Haddie still had plenty up her sleeve to throw at Ariadne. And she wasn't planning to be caught off guard again and get hit with something equally rotten. Nuh-uh. Her wand was there, ready in a flash. "Protego!" Ariadne's spell ricocheted off Haddie's shield, flying back at Ariadne. Barely giving herself time to catch her breath, Haddie launched another spell at the snake "Rictusempra!" Let's see if Ariadne can avoid getting hit with both spells?

Was it just her...or did Haddie look legitimately angry? Maybe it was just a "in the heat of the moment" kind of expression that would be over once the duel ended. Ariadne couldn't worry about that right now, though. Spells were coming out her left and right, and she had literally NO TIME to think about anything else.

...which Haddie proved a second later, when Ariadne's 'Incarcerous' came flying right back at her. Wide-eyed, she responded with a "PROTEGO!" The shield spread out around her just in time to stop the rebound. Another spell was waiting just behind it, though, and seeing as Ariadne wasn't quite prepared for a double whammy, it ended up getting her. She squirmed and giggled as the effects of the spell washed over her.

Thank Merlin there weren't any additional spells chasing after her. She wasn't sure she would make it through another one. If she didn't cast soon, though, Haddie would. Ariadne reached deep inside of her for the strength to cast through the effects of that last spell. "Everte Statum!" she managed to say, casting a spell Haddie's way that would hopefully knock the girl back and give Ariadne an edge over her.

Sadly, Haddie was still just a first year and casting two spells so close together like she had done, still took a lot out of her. She was ready though. She was absolutely ready for Ariadne's return spell. Or so she thought, until she had her wand raised to block the spell. It was only then she realized she wasn't quite ready yet.

The spell slammed into her chest and threw her backwards several feet. But it was what was coming next that worried her. If Ariadne sent another spell while Haddie was trying to get up, she'd be unable to defend against it. She landed with a thud and immediately, before she had any time to actually recover or catch her bearings, the young Eaglet sprang to her feet, stumbling off balance and coughing painfully as she did. That blast had really knocked the wind out of her. But it wasn't going to stop her. Oh no.

It was another few seconds before the disorientation faded, and enough air filled Haddie's lungs again to actually incant a spell. The girl took aim at the Slytherin. "EXPELLIARMUS!!" Maybe it was a bit strong, but her lungs were still burning from having the wind knocked out of her and she overcompensated in case she could get it out that well. Even still, the moment the spell was cast, Hadley broke into another string of dry, hacking coughs as she continued to recover.

Well wasn't this an interesting duel?

Hirsch was standing there watching the duel take place with a rather large smile on his lips. First years! This level of dueling was coming from first years! Sure, they weren't using advanced or impressive magic given their ages, but the duel itself was pretty impressive on its own. It was as if the man had somehow transformed into a little boy and was watching his favourite show take place before his eyes.

Just saying.

Unfortunately, the duel had to come to a stop, which called for the magical shield to appear between the contestants. "Well done, both of you. That was a very good duel, indeed." Could they tell from the way he was smiling and showing off his dimples? "You've both put up a great effort but, Miss Denaker," he said, turning to her, "You've taken the lead on this one. Congratulations! And well done, Miss Greingoth."


Stats:
Ariadne Greingoth: 45.57%
Hadley Denaker: 64.23%