Oliver shivered as he entered the Forbidden Forrest and it wasn't down to the cold this time. This place was hella creepy during the day, but at night the creepines was multiplied tenfold. He drew his wand, muttering “Lumos” and looked around in the wand light half expecting to see glowing eyes like the ones you got in muggle cartoons peeking out from the undergrowth at him.

He had a quiet determination in his eyes as continued deeper into the forrest without any further hesitation. Deeper and deeper into the forrest he ventured until he eventually arrived at his destination. He pulled his hood back. "I'm here." He announced confidently.

The forbidden forest... She hadn't actually been here before, and now she knew why it had recieved its name. Still...it had some tranquility to it, even though the place was really creepy and dark. As she got closer to her destination, the need to see where she was going made her light up her wand, and now tread more carefully along the little path.

Her confident steps carried her over to where a boy was waiting. She looked at him and pulled down the hood as she noticed it was Oliver. Her hand rose up and she waved to him in a sort of greeting and smiled at her friend, then announced to whomever it was that wanted them both here. "As am I."

Oliver could see another figure approaching. Somebody small and by the looks of it, female. He remained silent but a warm smile curled up his lips when he saw it was Miranda. He waved his wand at the Hufflepuff in greeting before dropping it to his side.

Samuel stood in the shadows watching the two as they smiled and waved to each other. They did realize why they were here didn't they? With an imperceptible flick of his wrist, he strengthened the curse on the two lovebirds.

Now this was going to be an interesting duel indeed.

He directed his wand towards the arena and lit the torches, "Why don't you two go and get some practice in, before we start."

Miranda glanced at the boy again, wondering what he was thinking and when all this was going to start. The little smile she had displayed on her lips turned flat as she suddenly felt the seriousness of this event and took a deep breath. Her face now showed the focus as she watched the boy again, but now with more determination. She was going to duel Oliver, beat and break him until he was defeated.

She didn't flinch when the torches lit up, but turned her head to where the man from the bar spoke to them. "Allright." She pursed her lips, glanced at Oliver and made to turn away from him and seek out a place to practice. She cracked her neck and did almost the usual upper body warmup when going to play a Quidditch match. Then she grabbed her wand, twirled it between her fingers and started to whisper - casting spells with minimal power so Oliver wouldn't notice what she was doing.

She smiled crookedly.
The Captain was ready.

The jovial expression on Oliver's face suddenly darkened. Not even his trademark smirk graced his lips but instead in it's place was a scowl which looked rather out of place on his face. He narrowed his eyes dangerously on Miranda as it suddenly dawned on him why he was here and how serious this was.

With a grunt in response to the shady barman, he turned away from 'Rodent Girl'. He closed his eyes he began to bring all the spells he knew to the front of his mind, visualising the effects of each, the wand stroke and the incantation to accompany it. As much as he had despised Durmstrang, some of the things he learned there may very well prove useful here.

Barbecued rat anyone?

Heh heh heh.

And with that thought, the smirk returned.

Another boy and girl pairing off. Rosita Chiquita-Banana peered at the two of them as she snuggled deep into her fur coat.

Ugh. This weather was just... unbearable. Simply unbearable. And yet these well trained little scamps weren't even complaining. Professional fighters, clearly.

"You," she waved her gloves at the children. "You come HERE."[/color]

Oliver held his wand tightly in his hand as he concentrated on spells and incantations in his mind. Colourful sparks crackled from the end he was so deep in concentration despite no incantation being uttered aloud.

The sparks ceased and he blinked his eyes open when a brash female voice cut through in a demanding tone. Usually Oliver would have had something sarcastic and cutting to say, but instead he just smiled coyly at her and nodded; then obediently wandered over. “Yes, Ma'am?” He asked politely.

He glanced back at Rodent Girl to see what she was doing before his eyes settled back on the glove wielding woman.

Miranda was stretching her chaser arm, getting herself ready, when suddenly someone started to call them. She turned, confused as to whom it could be, but started to make her way over to the furry woman, realising it was a spectator. Wand held tightly, the Huffie Captain glanced at Oliver, seeing him approaching aswell, but directed her eyes to the gloves quickly.

"Good evening, m'am." Miranda smiled kindly but kept her chin high, waiting to see what she wanted.

"Yeeeeeees, good." Rosita tilted her head back and forth at the two. "How old are you? Thees stupid schools, you know? They have ridiculous rules about when to learn the most important fighting spells. Offense. Defense." Perhaps they'd be evenly matched.

The Slytherin boy was being unusually courteous and bowed his head slightly out of respect for the woman. Despite being under a curse, his eyes hadn't lost their mischievous quality as he locked eyes with her once again.

“I'm a Durmstrang student, Ma'am. - Jus' transferred this year. I'm almost sixteen.” Give or take seven a few months.

His eyes flitted briefly to Miranda and his grip tightened invountarily around his wand. The twitchy boy was just itching to get going now.

Miranda snorted at the way the woman was seizing them both up. She listened to Oliver, and snorted even louder at the way he sounded, like a five year old who was proud that he could hold up five fingers. Miranda twirled her wand in her hand as she spoke, "I'm fifteen." She didn't need to say what school right? The lady hadn't asked for that info. So she waited to hear what else the woman had to say, not really sure why she had to be talking to her.

Did Miranda just snort? Like, twice? Heh. Maybe it was pork on the menu and not rat. Still, whatever she was, she was going down.

He smirked, went crossed eyed and opened and closed his mouth as if imitating the Hufflepuff girl as she addressed the furry woman. Apparently the pleasantries towards the woman did not also extend to Miranda.

He leaned towards her and prodded her in the ribs with his wand to get her attention. “Ready to feel pain, Rodent?” He smirked. Revenge, for all the times she had poked him for NOTHING(!!!) was going to be so damn sweet.

Her attention was on the fluffyfurryfffff woman, but she couldn't help but glance at Oliver to see what other silly expression he had now. And then she saw him... She made a face. "What is that- what are you doing?" Miranda asked exhasperated. "You look like a fish. A TWITCHY fish." Weirdo. Gosh, that boy was beyond strange.

And then he had the audacity to POKE HER. "Watch it, Curly!" She narrowed her eyes and pointed her wand at him in his FACE. Pain? "What- NO." She stepped closer to him, stood up on her tippy toes and glared at him between what was now slits for eyes. "But I have no doubt you will feel some." Smirk.

Oliver merely smirked... as usual.. in that amused at the world and the people in it sort of way. “It's you.” He replied to what he knew fine well was a rhetorical question. “So does that make you a twitchy fish, luv?” Cos, really, the likeness was quite uncanny. He chuckled lightly and gave furry woman a look as if to say, 'daft girl.'

Ooooh.. then her wand was in his face. Feisty. Oliver likey. He raised his hands defensively and chuckled lightly. He moved her wand out of his face with his hand and took a step towards her and looked down into her eyes. “Now, now, Midget. Save it for when I kick your scrawny butt.” heh. Bring it.

Me!? Arrrrrrrghhhhhh! This boy was GOING DOWN!
Miranda merely glared at thim, her lips pursed. She focused, trying to come up with something to say. "Have you looked in the mirror lately?" She asked cocking an eyebrow. "If someone looks like a fish, it's you. Actually, there are probably fishes out there with a bad perm - just like yours!" At this lame comeback, Miranda flashed the boy a happy smile, but dropped it not long after.

Sheesh, this giant was...GIANT! Miranda kept his gaze, though it was sort of making her neck stiff with having to look up like this. Somehow she let him move her hand away, probably because if she jinxed him here and now, there would be no duel because the twitchy boy would be singed, on the ground. But his next comment made her ball up her fists. Maybe she could make some of the boxing things Masterson taugh her come in handy. (Hehe, handy, geddit?) He. was. too. close. Yeah, she had indeed closed the gap between them first...but still. Ahem. She brought her hands up and pushed him back by the shoulders so he wouldn't be so close. Miranda wasn't backing off, no way. "That...was just a preview." She smiled sweetly and gave him a wink.

Now this was so much better. These two had gone from giving each other goo-goo eyes to wanting to tear each other limb from limb.

This was gonna be an excellent duel.

Clearing his throat, Samuel stepped forward. "Save the insults and put them into your fighting."

He looked around the arena making sure that everything was in order, satisfied that things were the way he wanted them, he looked back at the two students.

"When you are both ready. It's time to DUEL."

A perm? A PERM!? Oh ho ho.. this chick was going to roast. “Nice one, Rat Girl.” He said still smiling. “Least I can do something about my flaws. Only magic.." He gestured at her face with a wave of his hand. "...or muggle surgery could correct that ugly mug.” Too mean? Nahhhhh – she'd blatantly asked for that. Would be bad if it were actually true.. which it wasn't. He returned her happy smile with one equally, if not more, jovial.

He could see the façade cracking as he invaded the Hufflepuff's space and looked down at her. The tense body language and the balled up fists were a dead give away. He merely took a step back when she pushed him. She was so ickle. “Lets hope the actual show is better than the preview then.” He shrugged.. and smirked.

When were they going to get started anyway?


Oh.. right now. Well good, good. Lets get this show on the road.

He grabbed Miranda by the hand and hauled her to the centre of the arena. They were going to do this properly. There was no honour in duelling if you cut corners.

He faced Miranda and bowed respectfully, keeping his eyes locked onto hers the whole time. He straightened up, turned on his heel and took the obligatory ten paces required in a formal duel and turned back to face his adversary, smirk fixed in place. He shifted into the correct position for duelling with his wand poised. “Ladies first.” He offered. Oh he was such a polite boy.

Miranda made a face at the boy and rolled her eyes. Really, that was his comeback? Pffft. She waved her hand as if dissmissing the comment.

After pushing back the annoying boy, Miranda simply looked at him, wondering if he would retaliate. If he would, so would she. The duel hadn't even begun, but the Captain didn't mind starting it right now. Better than the prieview? Oh, you just wait. TwitchyCurls. As Oliver smirked, Miranda wiggled her eyebrows at him, not saying anything more. He would definitely be seeing something...good.

And then the dude in charge bustled in, interrupting their Mexican standoff. She didn't take her eyes off the boy when being instructed that the duel was about to start. Oh boy. Finally, she'd be able to kick some butt.

Just as Miranda was about to turn and take a step to get into position, she felt her hand being grabbed and hauled over to where she was just about to get to. "What the hell!?" Utterly confused, when they were at the centre, Miranda harsly drew back her hand from it's hold. Why the heck was he touching her? With a quick sneer, the Captain tilted her chin up and followed suit with the bowing and then turned to walk the ten steps.

She brought her wand up, infront of her, focused on nothing but kicking his butt. She cocked an eyebrow at his, oh so chivalrous, suggestion. Well, normally Miranda would tell them to go blow a horn, but this she could not pass up.

Hoping to surprise, she swished her wand up, "Stupefy!"

Lah dee dah..

Oliver was tempted to examine his nails nonchalantly as he waited for Miranda to pull her finger out and get started, but he wasn't about to let his guard down. Not even if the opportunity to mock the girl was so damn tempting. Miranda may be small and.. well, a Hufflepuff, but he knew this girl could be vicious. He had had first hand experience of it after all. Rib poking! She was so going to pay for that!

Oh.. and the potato in the ears... Oliver had not forgotten how she treated him at the feast.

Guh. At last. Like, how predictable was her first spell? “Protego.” he muttered, casting a shield with a sweep of the arm. A fleeting smirk and wink in her direction, followed by a quick flourish of his wand. “Rictusempra!” A jet of silver light headed towards his target.

She saw the spell fly towards the boy, but she sighed, frustrated, when it was deflected by his shield. Dangit. And now he was smirking...that annoying little-

And now there was something coming at her. She ducked out of the way, feeling the spell brush her hair. An idea quickly formed in her mind and she decided to flop down on her tusch and start laughing - as if his spell had hit.

"HahaHAHaHAhahahAHAhhaaa!" Miranda laughed and held firmly onto her wand, while looking like she had been incapacitated. But suddenly, she shut up and moved her wand around her head, making a red stream shoot out. "Furnunculus!"

Yeah, who would be laughing now? Miranda hopefully, hehe.

Woah!

Oliver thought his spell had missed but it had obviously skimmed the wee Huffie as she ducked out of it's way. Was this duel really going to be this easy? With a cocky grin, he aimed his wand at the laughing wreck on the ground and took a couple of paces towards her.

But...

Oh crap.

That little shifty witch!

A spell was heading his way and because he had been on the offensive he didn't have time to block it. Luckily her position on the ground prevented it from hitting him square in the face. The red light instead, hit his wand hand which immediately erupted into angry, puss filled BOILS! Urrrrh! That was rather cunning for one from the Rodent House. Though Oliver had already established that she was rather the little Slytherpuff so he shouldn't be so surprised.

Not sure of a counter curse, Oliver ignored the disgusting spots on his hand – thank Merlin it hadn't been anything worse. The smirk was gone from his face as he narrowed his green eyes on Miranda, his wand trained on her small figure. “Langlock!” He spat. “Incarcerous!”

She could see his eyes widen at the sudden attack, and Miranda grinned at the way it had surprised him and hit his hand! But... Ew. The Huffie made a face of disgust at the things growing, but she teared her eyes away from it and focused once more, ready to put up a shield.

And she did when the spell came at her. Miranda deflected the first one, but she wasn't so quick on the second and found herself getting hit on the leg. She gasped when seeing a snakelike rope winding its way up from her foot.
Trying to shake it off, Miranda decided it was no use and went for the attack instead, feeling the rope wind itself higher and higher up and around her body.

Moving to the left, her gaze went up to the tree branches, pointing her wand up to them. "Confringo!" She yelled, hoping to see some wood fall down on the boy, to get him running, and then, "Stupefy!" Incase it didn't work... Because she had a feeling the twitchy boy would twitch himself out of this predicament.

OH, oh oh! They were dueling and she hadn't placed her bet! Rosita spun on her heels and hurried over to place her bet.

ON THE GIRL. She did so love them mean.