Let us see, tonight, how... impressive your magic is, Jenna.

Merlin knew she - or he himself - did not doubt her magic and, for a moment, Jenna could not comprehend his thoughts. She knew herself to be an excellent spell-caster - and more importantly, spell-creator - but, at the end of the day, he could not expect her to be a match for him. For him or, for that matter, his magic. Did he want to see her fail?

Right. If that's the case, how much needlessly eviller can he get?

"If this is a test," she said coldly. "It's a damn stupid one."

"I never said it is."

He sounded as detached as he looked handsome in the dim light, the kind of handsome that the crux of his own deeds would put an end to sooner than most death eaters could have guessed, and looking up at him, Jenna decided that she could walk off, and still not anger him. That course of action did have a drawback, though: she could not have been more certain that, should she shrug and leave now, she'd carry the curse on her arm for life.

"I'm not some stupid student," she said, angry. He did not respond, only smiled skeptically, so she proceeded to add, "You think you look cool, right, acting the big, bad guy that's all evil smiles?" This earned her a threatening eyebrow raise, so she further added, "Right. I'll give this a try, and if it fails, trust me you're in big trouble."

He smiled then, an actual smile; and Jenna, still holding his gaze, realized she didn't care about the outcome of her 'try'. Things might turn out unright, and she might end up exaggerating the stupid injury, but she'd risk that, not because he frightened or intimidated her, not because she felt threatened, but simply because she could risk it... for him.

Stars of golden light scattered in the air, tipping out of her slender wand, joining into a thick beam of aurum light, running freely, almost like a steam or river. They started at her shoulder and multiplied, until the stream covered the entire length of her arm, her wrist, her hand, almost threatening to drip down and spill on the floor in bursts of glossy, little stars.

Jenna, now looking down at her sparkling arm, did not notice the look in his eyes, a look of comprehension, the look of someone that has finally understood the heart of a mystery after a long, long search. It never occurred to her that she had given him a clue [and never could have thought that a spell might give something away, just because it happened to be so bright - something that powerful, dark magic rarely is].

The stars faded, the gash disappeared, and she held up her arm.

"You're in big trouble," she said sweetly.