Thornton was not looking forward to this. He had neglected to withdraw from the tournament before the first round was scheduled and his sense of obligation would not let him simply forfeit.

So he had begrudgingly pulled on his dueling gear and made his way to the hall. His shoulders slumped forward and his feet dragging, there were any number of places that Thornton Baines would rather be. After the proscribed bows, Thornton lifted his wand. While last term, his heart raced with nerves, this term, his pulse was normal if not slow, and his breathing more of a heavy sigh.

Wand held aloft, he half-heartedly prepared his opening combination. "Expulso," he said weakly, aiming for the ground just to the right of Hugo. Either the debris would hit, or he'd move to avoid it - Thornton hoped - and Hugo would step right into...

"Immobulus." Go big or go home, right? And Thornton just wanted to go home.

Since the day Hugo signed up for the Dueling Club he had been preparing for this day, yes ladies and gentlemen, the Prefect studied hard for his first duel. Nah just kidding BUT he did practiced with her sister over the holidays. Mhm. He had to be prepare, right? When the fifth year found out who he was dueling against with, he...well, got nervous, OKAY? Of course he was not going to admit that. Ever. It was Thornton and to Hugo, Thornton was like a superior student. You get me? After all, he won second place last year and was a Ravenclaw and Ravenclaws were good. BUT NOT AS GOOD AS SLYTHERINS. Ehem.

Anyways, the boy got ready with his robes and all that jazz. He made his way to the arena trying to look as chill as possible. Before the duel started, he took a deep breath, gave a nod at Thornton and bowed. He was nervous but excited.

Aaaand...it began.

He was caught off guard and the first spell caused an explosion next to him to which he got hit by but quickly reacted and protected himself from the second spell. "Protego!" phew. That was close. Hugo cast the Jelly Fingers Curse, keeping his voice as low as possible. He could have tried casting it non verbal but wasn't so good at it. Yet. And just in case, one more "Everte Statum" his wand pointing at the Ravenclaw Prefect.

This duel should have been epic. Prefect vs. prefect. Last year's second place finisher desperate to prove himself. But the Thornton Baines who had showed up for this duel was not the same one who had left the final the previous term. And, as the spells hurtled toward him, that was about to be painfully obvious to everyone who watched.

He'd raised his wand too slowly and the words had not escaped his lips fast enough, as the jelly-fingers curse hit him full-on and his wand clattered from his hand as his grip had loosened considerably. As the wood clattered to the ground, Thornton took an instinctive step forward to reclaim it, only to then be hit squarely in the chest with Hugo's second spell. Thrown backward, the Ravenclaw's body rotated in the air, before crashing face-down onto the ground.

Sure, they wore pads, but they really only absorbed so much. A small groan escaped his lips and Thornton wondered if maybe he could just stay there and someone would decide to call it out of mercy. It was a thought he entertained for perhaps too many moments, before deciding to at least try to finish on his feet.

His lip bleeding from where his tooth had cut it on impact, Thornton managed to shakily push himself up from the floor and start back toward where his wand had fallen, squeezing his hands trying to figure out how on earth to even grip the wand to reverse the spell.

He kept one eye on Hugo, though, knowing that another spell was sure to be on its way.

Hugo was prepared for Thornton to strike back after the first spell, he was sure the Ravenclaw was going to easily block the jelly-fingers curse, so he better had his wand ready. But surprise! That didn't happened and instead Hugo watched as Thornton flew backwards, hitting his face on the ground. He kept an eye on him. Just in case. He waited but only saw a not very enthusiastic Thornton trying to hold his wand steady, he didn't even bothered to cast back. The Slytherin lowered his wand. Was this some kind of strategy? Maybe was going to cast nonverbals? Yeah it could be. He had to be prepared.

But no, nothing happened.

Hugo was confused. What was Thornton trying to do? To make it easy for him? Or later on finish him off quickly? He went for the latter. Should he cast another spell? This was unexpected. The Slytherin remained there, watching, waiting, he cast no more spells.

He believed Thornton was up to something. There was no chance he was giving up, not after the way he started off the duel.

Thornton blinked in surprise when no more spells came. He'd thought for sure that Hugo would take advantage and cast another spell. Had he though? Thornton braced himself for a non-verbal that never came.

Huh.

So much for this being over quickly. His fingers still jelly, Thornton raised his wand, sending green sparks in Hugo's direction, rather erratically. This jelly-finger business was getting troublesome, but Thornton didn't know if he could keep steady enough to cast finite on himself... It was worth a try, however, and so he took a moment to do just that, but it was taking some significant time and focus...

leaving a perfect window for Hugo to attack.

Hugo kept watching Thornton trying to figure out what was he doing or planning to do. It was weird and not the duel he expected, at all. Like, it was Thornton who he was dueling against with and he knew he was pretty good so, this was just not right.

The Ravenclaw sent green sparks in his direction. What for? Hugo just moved to avoid them. At last it seemed like Thornton managed to break the jelly-fingers curse and Hugo was prepared for another spell from him but...nothing. He wasn't sure what to do. "Are you going to give up that easily?" Really Thornton? REALLY?

There was no denying that Hugo was kind of mad 'cause he had been looking forward to this duel and apparently his opponent wasn't in the mood of it. Shame.

He shouldn't have come. He should have just sent an message to the professor or feigned illness in the infirmary and forfeited the duel before it even began. At least that way, he would have spared himself the embarrassment.

This was twice, now, that Hugo had not cast and at this rate, the prefects would stare each other down all day. Give up? Thornton had half a mind to show him what that would look like as he gripped his wand and prepared to just throw it down between them. But then that would be what everyone discussed.

"Just CAST," he shouted back. The green sparks had been a legitimate diversion while he'd sorted out his fingers and, truthfully, he wasn't able to manage much stronger than that. But Hugo had made him mad and that might have been enough of a boost. Maybe.

"Orbis!" He aimed the spell at Hugo's feet, hoping the trap him in the floor and keep him from moving. "Expelliarmus," would then take care of that pesky wand, and, if Hugo were unable to retrieve it, then maybe.. just maybe...

Thornton could go spend the rest of his day in solitary peace.

To Hugo there was not point of casting more spells if the other person wasn't even going to defend themselves but at the same time, what were they going to do? He actually considered casting two more spells and giving this a quick finish, which was boring, but he didn't wanted to be here all day.

It looked like Thornton was going to give up but Hugo was hoping he didn't and so he waited. Minutes later a smirked grew on his lips because of Thornton's reaction, "Finally..." and spells began to be cast at Hugo. Great.

"Pro-" it was too late, the spell hit him and though he wasn't happy to be sinking into the ground at least Thornton was dueling. A second spell came, he cast Protego and hopefully it would not deflect but rebound and if that didn't worked out, "Obscuro" maybe that will. Hugo cast finite on himself and aimed at Thornton "Incancerous"

The small blip of hope when his first spell hit dissipated quickly as his second spell came rushing back. Lifting his wand, he attempted to cast a shield charm but... to no avail. Thornton was spent and couldn't muster even enough for that. His wand flew from his hand, spinning in the air. Instinctively, Thornton turned his head to look at it, leaving him wide open for the spells that followed.

His eyesight obscured, he could only guess at what was happening as the ropes tightened around him and he felt his weight pitch.

Thornton hit the ground, completely immobile.

It didn't last much though, the spells hit Thornton and that was it.

Hugo took a deep breath, it didn't felt like victory 'cause it hardly was and he wasn't entirely excited that he has beaten Thornton because he barely fought back so...he didn't knew. It had been very different at what he had pictured in his mind and probably was going to follow Thornton around until he gave him a proper duel. Yeah. But at least he survived, right?

Hugo walked towards the Ravenclaw Prefect and sat down next to him, "You okay?"

................ Oh Merlin. Oh Mr Baines.

Roderik had thought this would be an epic duel between the two Prefects: two model students who would prove that the students of Hogwarts can be responsible as well as put up a good duel and yet..... Hm. The man bit his lip as his eyes stayed glued to Mr Baines. Everything just seemed to go downhill for the Ravenclaw, didn't it? And he wanted to end the duel right then and there to end the humiliation but.......

.......... no. Not yet.

So he let it happen, all the while hoping that Mr Foster would go easy on the kid. But this was a duel and going easy on someone just wasn't how it worked, not in the real world, at least.

When the duel did end -- thank Merlin -- the man didn't even bother putting up a shield. There was no need, really. He simply rushed to Mr Baines as well and knelt down opposite the two Prefects. "Mr Baines? Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

And Mr Foster would get his congratulations in a bit.


Stats:
Thornton Baines: 51.3%
Hugo Foster: 83.93%