Ira was determined to get her shield correct. She first mouthed Protego over and over again to be used to it. Wand movement was waving motion.
So now she practiced the spell. "Protego!" she muttered and waved her wand with her elbow being the axis of rotation as said by the professor. Nothing happened. Ira tried again, this time with more concentration. She cleared her mind and focused on the spell.
"Protego!" she muttered and waved her wand. Faint blue light appeared but quickly vanished! Maybe it was because her spell was still very weak. But at least she had got something!
Now was time to practice the Knockback jinx. She didn't it. She referred through her notes, and saw that she needed a partner to work with. There was a Ravenclew girl just besides her who was also apparently learning like herself.
She approached her and asked, "Hi, I'm Ira. It looks that you too are without a partner. Shall we practice together?"

Jez smiled at the girl. "Sure! Sounds great." She hesitated. "You start." To tell the truth, Jez wasn't overly confident here.

"Its alright...So I'll try the Knockback Jinx and you try to shield yourself. Fine? So lets start" Ira replied.
"Ready, steady, go! Filipendo!" Ira sent the jinx towards Jez, desperately wishing that Jez was ready and didn't get hurt...A light red light emanated from Ira's wand and went towards Jez...

As he waited for Carter's decision on which spell he wanted to practice first, Josh's eyes were of course on Evelyn and Marie watching them carefully and tensing at the sight of almost every spell that was casted towards his girlfriend...and relieving upon seeing that she managed to avoid them...repeatedly.

Then finally Carter spoke and distracted him. ''Okay.'' he said with a little smirk and pointed his wand at the other lion. ''Get ready!'' He had better be ready because he did not want to deal with a stupefied Carter.

But wait...the duelling champion man was speaking and...oh? Volunteers for a real duel??!! Awesome.

''I would like to volunteer, sir.'' he said raising one hand for attention. It was true that he had hardly found the opportunity to practice yet the read practice was always the action itself. Hehehehe...

And then, without warning this time, he uttered a ''Stupefy!'' towards Carter as soon as he looked back at her from the duelling short man.

Well, Katrina could obviously tell that this girl was excited. But who never was?!

"I'm Katrina, first year too." Katrina said, smiling. "I can see, but just to give you a tip... why don't you talk to them because if you just sit there and watch them, you'll never make friends,"

Katrina couldn't wait to start practicing. So she took her wand out but did not point it at Ira yet.

"The shielding charm is "Protego"," she said when an unbounded spell came to her which was cast by another student. "Why don't try it while I cast a offensive jinx on you, like the Jelly-Leg Jinx,

"Don't worry, this is my first time," Katrina said while she looked at the scared face of Ira, i think.

I think I am going to do this. Thought Maddy

Louisa tucked her wand in as well and nodded. His accent was scottish then. Hmm. Well it wouldn't be so nice to tell him that it sounded Piratish to her. She just smiled, "I never heard a Scottish accent before." She did hear French and Brazilian accents, Australian too if you count India's. Scottish... why did this word sound familiar? She was sure that Scotland had something important to Louisa..

...hmm...what was it...

The little man's voice interrupted her stream of thoughts and she listened to him.

Real duels? Louisa smiled at that, nervously. Swallowing hard and raising her arm sloooowly she spoke, "I'd like to duel, too, sir."

MERLIN'SBEARDSHE'SDONEIT!

She turned to Gideon, her face paler than before, just a bit. Was he going to volunteer? It was stupid of her to do that, a girl with wrecked nerves and such... he was better. He was today, anyway.

Carter raised an eyebrow. "You're volunteering for a duel?" What if he was matched up with Evelyn?

Actually, on second thought... that would be brilliant to watch...

Josh was already having a hard time concentrating with Evelyn feet away. It would be much worse if he was dueling her.

Then, before he knew it, a jet of red was shooting toward him. With a wave of his wand a shield appeared in front of him blocking Josh's attack. "Merlin Josh! A little warning next time, mate." It was a good thing that they learned to do that nonverbally a few terms ago... or maybe it was last term... In any case, he was glad because he wouldn't have had time to yell "Protego."

And... maybe something good came out of the mess from second year. He had that spell down.

Now it was his turn, right?

"Flipendo." he said while making a squiggly wand movement.

Something had come up, apparently...Just moments before, Cassie was jogging from the room, looking completely upset.

The blonde was looking after her, frowning...She really hoped everything was okay...

Looking around the room, she spotted Evelyn and...Marie...*snerk* She knew Evie and her cousin were friends...So, it was disappointing to know that no real harm would befall...*cough* her.

Oh well... And there was Josh and Carter...Oh lord. Glancing frantically at Evelyn, she wasn't surprised to see the Head Girl watching the duel in her peripheral. If Carter accidentally had a spell connect and hit Josh...Well, that was going to be bad.

She did NOT want to have to face off against a friend...

...Had the Professor just said something about real dueling??

"Sir, I'd also like to volunteer..."

Oh, let me get a crack at Marie...PLEASE let me get that chance! The blonde figured if she chanted enough in her mind, it might come true.

"N-No..." Daichi gulped as Aiden asked if he was ready. He looked in to her eyes and he wanted to yell like a little girl. The look on her face had chanced from normal, almost shy to a look of passion and the young Slytherin took a step back without even noticing it.

But atleast she was waiting for him to get ready and didn't attack immediately. "WAIT! wait..." he said again and tried to remember how the old man had done the shield charm. Protego was it not? "O..okay i'm ready" He held his wand at the ready, ready to use it to protect himself from any spell Aidan would use.

But then the voice of the old man duelist was overheard and Daichi, stupid as he was, turned his attention to him. VOLUNTEEEEEEEEEERS!? He wanted! oooh he wanted to volunteer! BUT , with the amount of magic that he could do...which was a wide variation of Lumos, Nox aaand Scourgify..which he was very proud of and not forgetting Reducto curse but that was mostly when he didn't even mean to do it it seemed like his dream to duel had to wait until he learned more.

He IS going to be one of the BEST someday though, Look out!

Gideon did his best not to react to her response. Never heard a Scottish accent before? That certainly seemed odd seeing as Hogwarts was right in the middle of Scotland and a few of the proprietors of shops at Hogsmeade at at least a little of the native accent. However the Gryffindor decided just to let it go, he didn't want to make her feel bad about anything.

Turning his attention with Louisa to their instructor as the shorter man spoke up again, he heard the request for duelists and wondered who would be accepting the challenge. Gideon couldn't help but watch as his own partner decided to give it a shot however nervous she appeared to be about her decision.

Did he dare?

"I will as well sir," Gideon finally told the man before he could go away. Stepping back, he found himself not feeling too bad about his choice. It would be just be one duel after all and if it wasn't for him he just didn't have to try again at the other times the dueling club met."Are you ok?" he asked the Ravenclaw concerned as she looked pale.

Gnaeus paced around the room and made note of all the students who wanted to participate in the duel. Then, he returned to the stage, where he once again changed the contents of the board and clapped. Clap, clap.

"Attention, young wizards and witches. In a few moments we will begin our very first duels. Take the next few minutes to conclude your practice, then gather 'round to watch a proper duel."

"I want to thank all of you for attending this meeting. I can see you are all very bright and will become great duelists soon enough. Remember, patient, practice, and perseverance.

To help you, I will leave the room off the great hall open so that you may practice whenever you desire. However, only Dueling Club members may make use of it, and to be a member you must have, of course, attended the first meeting. You know the rules, and I trust you will use it wisely. Now, you are free to go as soon as you conclude your practice, or you may take a seat on the benches to watch your fellow classmates duel."

---------------------------------

OOC: Please read this, especially if you have signed up to duel.

I will lock this thread in approximately twelve hours, but I will open the Spectator Area for those who wish to watch the duel, but do not duel in that thread. The Lunar Phase Stage will be opened also, but only the duelists may post there!!

The Room off the Great hall will also open and you can practice there any time. The duels you practice there will be entirely IC, though. Official duels are a combination of IC-OOC, if you will. HOWEVER, to be able to duel in the Room off the Great Hall you must have posted at least three times in this thread! This shows that your character was paying attention, participating, and is well aware of the rules.

TO THE DUELISTS!! If you can duel between now and the next five hours, please notify me through PM so that we can begin a duel immediately. To those who can't, send me another PM with the times you are a available. My plan is to complete all duels by this weekend.

ALSO, A FEW QUESTIONS THAT CAME UP IN THE PMS THAT WILL BE ADDED TO THE RULES!!!

1. When you answer the trivia question you also add who you want to go first, all in the same post.
2. When you RP the spell casting, you may write as much or as little as you want, but the effect or result of all spells will be RPed by me.
3. You can cast all the spells on the spell list, regardless what year you are.

Thank you all for participating and enjoy the rest of your time!

UGH. Tori hadn't found a partner yet and now the duels were about to start. Great. She sighed dramatically and looked around, noticing that Hufflepuff prefect from the Charms corridor. She also looked like she was alone. GOOD. Tori could totes beat a Puff.

"Hey," Tori called out as she approached. "Wanna practice with me real fast before the duels start?"

Arya was already beginning to head over and watch a proper duel when the young snake came over. She paused for a moment of consideration before nodding her head. "Sure." Practice with a younger student, she could do that she supposed. Especially since this one already enjoyed throwing things at her. "You attack first?"

"Um.... sure." Tori nodded and walked back a few paces, pausing to bow jerkily. She straightened up and flicked her wand at the other girl, calling out the first spell that came to mind.

"OBSCURO!"

Arya walked back a few paces as well, and knowing who she was dealing with, didn't waste time with her bow or take her eyes of the girl. "Protego." She preformed the wand movement with practiced ease, feet twitching, wanting to simply side-step the spell, but she kept them in check.

... Now it was her turn to attack.

Huh. The prefect was having some internal issues about attacking, but it was just Tori. She paused long enough for the girl not to be surprised by her spell. "Expelliarmus."

As soon as she had cast the blindfolding spell, Tori realized with a start that she had forgotten her shield.

"Protego!" the girl murmured, moving her wand in a circle just in time to easily block Arya's disarming charm. It bounced off her shield harmlessly and moved back to her. "Expelliarmus!" she cast as well, just to see if Arya would be surprised by the reputation.

She was fast, but so was Arya. Her shield was up again, blocking both spells before she allowed it to fade. The prefect wasn't really going to attack the icklish she-snake, simply because she was younger and this was only a practice, so she cast another simple spell. "Titillando."

Tori had thought that surely one of her spells would hit Arya, so she was a little shocked when the girl's tickling jinx managed to hit the top of her head.

"HEHEHEHHhEEHEHEHEheheheheeeeee," Tori giggled, gasping for breath at the laughter consumed her. Her nose twitched but she managed to throw a spell Arya's way in between laughs.

"Hehehe," breath, "mimble wimble!" Heheheheee.

Hehe. Her giggles were infectious. Instead of throwing up a shield she simply stepped out of the spell's path. "You should cancel spells that hit you." Arya showed no signs of caring to cast again, inching closer to the younger girl. "Before your opponent casts again, gives you a better chance at not losing." Couldn't win a duel when she had the giggles. Heh.

Tori was still giggling, so she eyed Arya with great suspicion as the other girl stepped closer. "Cancel?" she managed to get out betwixt giggles. "HEHEEEe-- like finite incantatem?"

As soon as she said the spell, she realized her giggles had stopped. Oh thank Merlin. "Um. Thank you?"

Selina looked at Eino and blocked his next spell by shouting, "Protego!" Then she averted her eyes to the, she hesitated to say, Professor and listened him speak. He was taking volunteers and she was about to raise her hand when she saw Gideon volunteer. For someone who shouldn't care Selina felt her heart beat quicken a little. He better not get hurt, or she'd hurt him herself.

She looked at Eino and smiled, "You wanna wrap this up?" She wanted to keep an eye on this Gideon situation.

Arya nodded her head, grinning. "Yeah, cancel with-" Oh, well she seemed to have no trouble with that. The prefect stepped closer when Tori didn't try to attack her. Shrug. "Just know that whoever you are dueling, won't pause to make that pointer." And neither would she had it been a real practice duel.

Right. Well Tori wouldn't make the same mistake twice. "Gotcha." Anyway.

"Wanna go watch the ongoing duel?" Tori was tired of losing right now.

Arya glanced over at the current pair dueling.

"Suuure." She sheathed her wand into her wrist holster, and started making her way over, motioning for Tori to follow if she wanted.