Hex Duel #2 - Henric Nicolei & Zeke Browne
 

H:300, m:300,f:20
 

Henric stepped up onto the dueling platform and faced his opponent, Zeke Browne, Gryffindor fourth year. He wondered if he was going to use the smoke screen spell again during the match. He wasn't going to disillusion himself like the last time they had DADA lesson practice, would he? Alright...time to get your game on face, Henric. He bowed respectfully towards Zeke before straightening his back once more,"Good Luck, Browne." He then turned around. Like all wizards duels, he followed the etiquette that needed to be done while counting the steps in his head. With a deep breath, he cast the first spell he could think of at the moment.

"LOCOMOTOR MORTIS!"

Points: H 250 M 250 F 25
 

Perhaps highest of his priorities of late, was training for this duel. Again he was pitted against a fifth year, and again he was confident he could succeed. Zeke had cleaned his wand and examined his uniform the night before, in preparation for this match. Henric Nicolei. Truthfully, he still didn't know much about his opponent, but what mattered was that the dude had won his first duel, and that in itself could be very telling. He'd have his work cut out for him, but he hoped his training would result in a positive difference.

Taking his position at one end of the hall, Zeke marched forward to meet Henric with the customary bow from the waist, "Likewise," he replied simply as he straightened and returned to his post, his wand poised in front of him for an attack.

A smart dueler would attack first, which is what Henric did.

But another smarter dueler, would be prepared for it, which is what he was.

Zeke had been on edge since stepping into the hall, so when the first syllable left the Huffplepuff's lips, he was ready.

"Protego!" he cast, deflecting the Leg-Locker Curse back to Henric, his wand already moving to cast his second charm of the duel - a disarming charm at Henric's wand, "Expellairmus!"

H: 300, m: 275, f: 20
 

With a flick of his wand, he cast the Protego charm verbally to end the spell that Zeke threw back at him. However, he did not expect the second spell to hit him so quickly. His wand flew right out of his hand and across the floor behind him. He had no choice but to scrambled after his wand and managed to save it in time before it dropped outside of their dueling arena.

Henric knew Zeke had the potential to become a great duelist one day from the way he countered offensive attacks during their club practice sessions. He shouldn't underestimate his opponent but he had to admit, his opponent like most of his Gryffindor mates...was very competent and assertive. As soon as his wand was within his grasp, he turned back and cast the next spell he knew would hinder his opponent from attacking him further.

"OBSCURO!"

"DESCENDO!"

Points: H 250 M 225 F 25
 

His deflection missed, but it wasn't for nothing. It had served as enough of a distraction to allow Henric to be disarmed... and right then and there he should have had the Hufflepuff backed into a corner. The only problem was, his mind was racing, and instead of taking the next step to secure his win (because if one didn't win when their opponent was down and out, then when would they?) he wasted enough time deciding on his next action that Henric recovered quicker than anticipated. The guy could move.

He was somewhat ready for it too. It wasn't the cleanest defence, but he did manage to stumble!side-step out of the way of the first spell sent at him. Only... it left him off-guard for the next, and this one hit him hard. "Oomph!"

All of a sudden, Zeke found himself being thrust against the ground almost as if he'd been sat on by a fully grown mountain troll - thankfully without that much pain. He was sure his bones weren't crushed, but his chest was sore, the side of his face too.

Why was it he always managed to get floored?

From where he lay, Zeke trained his wand on Henric and swiftly sent a whispered "Incarcerous!" his way before rolling onto his knees, pushing himself up off the ground and moving to advantage. He wasn't going to lay around and play 'easy target', he had to make a name for himself.

H: 285, m: 225, f: 20
 

Henric's first spell missed Zeke by a few inches but the second one successfully hit him! He watched in awe as Zeke was brought down to the floor. Whoa.... O.O... Honestly, he only mastered the spell quite recently and it shocked him that it worked! Wooohoo!!! Oh wait, this wasn't the time to celebrate! By the time he realised this, Henric was hit by Zeke's Incarcerous spell. The ropes binds itself around his legs, causing him to lose his balance and fell hard on his bottom. He wiggled and struggled to get free from the ropes but it was no use. The ropes tightened even more with every movement he made! Okay calm down now...used your wand,Henric! He muttered,"FINITE!"

He quickly rise up so he could defend himself against Zeke's incoming spells. How about a taste of the JELLY-LEGS Curse!

"LOCOMOTOR WIBBLY!" He bellowed the spell towards Zeke's direction.

Points: H 245 M 215 F 13.75
 

With his incarcerous spell binding Henric successfully, Zeke skipped a few paces left, then right, then left again. He had to think. He had to strategise. He had been too slow to take advantage of having his opponent disarmed, and now with the dude bound, he had to make his impact. The only problem was, he had plan's A, B, C through to Q mapped out in his head, but he wasn't convinced A was his best option, especially not after what he'd done to Kyroh in the last duel. Sending Henric to the hospital wing in a matchbox was not going to be a good outcome, so instead of plan A, Zeke opted to execute plan.... D. It was a sound plan. A great plan.

And in the nick of time too it seemed.

Wand trained on his opponent, Zeke watched as the rope binding him was undone, and was prepared for the spell that came his way.

"Protego!" he cast, deflecting the spell back to the fifth year. Immediately after this, Zeke shot off two lots of Green Sparks in rapid succession. TAKE. THAT.

H: 270, m: 195, f: 15
 

Uh-oh! Zeke deflected his spell yet again! Why was it so hard to penetrate his defenses?! Henric raised his wand and cast the shield charm just in time."PROTEGO!" The spell hits an invisible wall a few feet in front of him and he was saved! Well...only for a split second, before more of Zeke's unforeseen spells came crashing into him! He was instantly knocked back to the floor, feeling the stinging pain coercing through his whole entire body. It was like he was zapped by electricity and all he could do was wait until the last of the crackling sounds and the vibrations of his body subsides. Urgh...this was not good...not good at all.

As if by instinct, he reached up to check on his hair. OH BLOODY MERLIN! WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS HAIR?! Oh wait. Nothing. No hair stand wildly on ends or smell of burning hair? Oh thank Einstein, that only happened in cartoons or movies! Henric sighed with relief as he slowly regained back his determination to fight back. He raised his body up once more and pointed his wand towards Zeke's feet,"CULLOSHOO!"

Henric going to use his favourite spell of all time too!
"MELOFORS!!"

Points: H 245 M 190 F 13.75
 

Miss, hit and hit... overall a sound outcome, and in doing what he did, he realised the Hufflepuff's weakness. Of course, he should have known, it WAS such a Puffer thing. The hair. The greatest damage he could inflict psychologically if not physically, was damage to the hair.

...

And it was a weakness he was only too willing to exploit.

With a spell already heading his way, Zeke was too slow to defend himself properly, and his feet were stuck to the floor AND IT WAS NOT IDEAL! BUT at least he had been aware of it coming, so a quick "Finite!" sorted that one out in time for him to dodge the next assault.

Regaining his composure, Zeke sent a his next spell at Henric - opting to save him from losing his hair completely... for now...

"Herbifors!" he cast, going for the headshot.



OOC: So, I'ma VM you this stuff, cause I duunnooooo? I have questions. Cause, FINALS sound fun as do GUESTS, but duelling peers is ALSO fun, so yeah.

H: 260, m: 170, f: 15
 

Henric's Culloshoo spell hit Zeke and his feet got stuck onto the floor. Haha! Nicely done! But his second favourite spell didn't managed to get him though. His fellow opponent had dodged it in time."Nice reflexes man!" he complimented him.But too bad ...he wanted to see his head stuck in a pumpkin too. He should cast more spells like that at Adi, he thought. Heheh.

By the time he wanted to cast another spell at him, it was too late! His opponent had cast on him first! Zeke had reacted back quickly and his spell hit him with a spell he didn't expect from him! Immediately, Henric felt the changes happening on top of his head. His hair had transformed itself into a beautiful bouquet of colourful flowers! OH NO! NOT ZEKE TOO! Why was everybody he dueled aimed for his head?! Urgh his weaknessss......

"NOOO! My hair!"Henric cried in sorrow. Okay that was it!

"Tarantallegra! FURNUNCULUS!"




OOC: Possible dueling guest? Ohh that sounds fun!

Points: H 235 M 160 F 8.75
 

Nice reflexes, yeah... he had them.

Zeke supposed that was the product of his training, or at least part of it. He was more agile than he used to be, and in this moment he was thankful, because having a pumpkin on his head would not have been conducive to winning this thing - which he was determined to do.

Fifth years weren't so scary. He'd beaten Kyroh, and Henric seemed a nice enough guy (which was kind of the case with all Puffers, wasn't it?), so his confidence was sky-high.

He didn't reply to the compliment, the only indication of him hearing it was the slight smirk that lifted the corner of his lips. Sorry. It was hard to break a game face. However, it did break... because there was little else he could do but chuckle as Henric cried out about his hair.

Guys that cared about their hair that much, were doomed in duels. Did they know?

His laughter coming to an end quickly as he was under fire again. Dropping to the floor, Zeke managed to roll out of the way from Henric's first retaliation - because that's what it was. Instead of the Puffer melting into a messy goop of hair sorrow, he was firing up. Excellent, now things would get interesting. But before he could think much about anything, he had to defend himself.

"Protego!" he cast, deflecting Henric's second assault.

Pushing himself up to his knees, Zeke shot off a Smashing Spell for good measure, careful to aim at the Henric's feet hoping to knock his legs out from under him. There was no need to go for another headshot.

As fired up as things may have been getting, according to the grandfather clock it was time to shut them down. It tolled in a sudden, surprising gong, startling even Sabel from the duel. With a sigh, and some disappointment in not getting to see this play out till the end, he pushed himself away from the wall and sent the blue shield spell up between the pair of them.

Zeke's spells fizzled out against it harmlessly.

For a good long moment, Sabel was wordless as he moved up between the two boys, looking between them a few times. "You should both be proud of yourselves. You did well." But there can be only one winner in the ring, and all that jazz. Lifting his wand, he sent the gold spark off over Zeke's head. Winner!

"Congratulations, Mr. Brown." His small smile turned to Nicolei, with a nod of his head. "Well done."

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OOC: Thanks so much for dueling! It was an awesome read! Duel is now officially over.

Thanks for your feedback! In consideration of feedback and time constraints, we are going to do a final round of duels between students. However if you would like to duel a Professor from the club, please VM or PM me (and I will check with the chosen professor) :) This will be a 'for fun' challenge duel, if you decide to do so (and should not replace the duel with the student you are paired up with, so please consider your own time constraints/options).