Here it was! Her first duel! Azura was nervous, that was for sure. She hadn't slept much the night before! Thankfully she wasn't facing any of her friends, though she was sure that would come should she advance! And Merlin if she had been fighting Jace..

Enough Azura! Get your head in the game!

She took a deep breath and tried to remove all thoughts of things that were mucking about in her brain. Jace, potions, classes.. She tried to empty her mind and focus on the task at hand.

The Duel.

She turned and bowed to her partner and then picked up her wand. Here goes nothing. She was sorry random person she was dueling!

"Flipendo!" She cried as she sent her spell sailing straight towards her opponent.

Cornelius was SOOOOOOOOOOOO freaking excited.

He was worse than a bouncing bulb as he waited for his duel to start. If only his mummy could have been here to watch him. She wasn't only his mum. She was his teacher, his sensi, his mentor, his guardian; she was the queen of his HEART.

The bouncing only grew worse. He was READY. HISSSSSSS.

As his opponent made it up to the platform, Cornelius struggled to keep still. He was all eyes, ears, nose and scent. His mum, being one of the best Aurors in FRENCH HISTORY was sure to teach him lots, and of course, being who he was, Cornelius had learned the gimmicks and gave them a little COB twist. Except now that duel was starting most of it hid all the way in the back of his head and a nerves replaced it.

His first duel. This was it. It was either going to be 'Ma, I won and made the family proud' or 'Ma, I lost, shame on our cow.'

Bowing at his opponent, Miss Azura Kennedy, he smiled a little. Why be so tense, you know?

........And then she shot at him.

RIGHT. NO FRIEND-MAKING TIME.

The boy's wrist reacted quick, mind and hand making a successful connection. "Protego!" he shouted, not with the intention to protect, but to deflect. Have fun with that one girly. With excited nerves buzzing through him, he followed up with another spell. "Expelliarmus!" Have fun with two spells. GRIN.

SPOILER!!: Point Tracker

Spells Cast:
Protego: Creates a shield against MINOR spells (jinxes, hexes and curses), and sends them in rebound to the original caster (i.e. Shield Charm)

Caster Points:
H: 0
M: -15 (deflecting spell back)
F: 0

Opponent Points:
H: - 20 (Flipendo rebounded)
M: 0
F: 0
Additional Effects: Flipendo: Pushes or knocks out target, depending on strength of the spell (i.e. Knockback Jinx)

Expelliarmus: Disarms the target (of whatever they are holding) and can be used to knock-back a target if cast forcefully enough

Caster Points:
H: 0
M: -7
F: 0

Opponent Points:
H: -11
M: -11 (ONLY if spell disarms caster of wand)
F: 0
Additional Effects: n/a

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

Affected by Spells: N/A

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

Dueler Name: Cornelius Baltazar
- H: 100 - 0 = 100
- M: 100 - 22 = 78
- F: 15 - 0 = 15

Azura's purple eyes went wide as her duel partner, sent her spell right back to her and then tried to take her wand away!

Heyyy!! She was trying to be nice! She didn't know him, she wanted to be friends! She hadn't chosen to go first. she had too! She sighed softly as she sidestepped to miss the spell deflected back at her!

He was lucky she didn't trip! Cause yeah, that could have happened! And she liked her wand! Thank you very much!

"Protego! She said as she blocked the spell, but didn't send it back! Look at how nice she was! Seeeeee!!!

Merlin she was going to lose! Her head wasn't in the right place, she was still reeling from Jace's rejection and Austin said her wand knew when she wasn't up to snuff..

Finally she shot "Colloshoo! at him, perhaps it might be helpful if he couldn't move? Maybe?

Shoo-oo-ters!!!

Azura managed to avoid his spells. Note: Remember to practice on speed and aim. Got it. Cornelius' brows knitted in concentration in that teeny tiny slot of time he was presented with. Which was like, five seconds. Studying his opponent with the sharpness of an experienced first year, Cornelius waved his wand, casting the shield charm. "Protego!" HISSSRAWRWHATEVER.

He DEFLECTED her spell back at her again. He figured she'd tire out faster if he bombarded her with spell after spell until her guard was finally down. That or she'd grow confused OR his one of his spells would make contact. Merliiiin. He loved his mummy so much. Had she not trained him he'd be a fish out of water already, and stuck to the ground at that.

Following the spell rebound, Cornelius flicked his wrist, concentrating HARD on his magic and intent. The pretty wand lady said his wand was made of pure awesome and that it was powerful. He believed it. COME ON, WANDA. (Yeah, his wand had a name, SO WHAT?!)

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Please drop her wand, please drop her wand, please drop her wand. Pleeeeeeeease.

And please be glued to the floor. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.

SPOILER!!: Point Tracker

Spells Cast:
Protego: Creates a shield against MINOR spells (jinxes, hexes and curses), and sends them in rebound to the original caster (i.e. Shield Charm)
Caster Points:
H: 0
M: -15 (deflecting spell back)
F: 0

Opponent Points:
H: - 20 (Colloshoo rebounded)
M: 0
F: 0
Additional Effects: Colloshoo: Glue's target's shoes to the ground (aka Stickfast Hex)


Expelliarmus: Disarms the target (of whatever they are holding) and can be used to knock-back a target if cast forcefully enough

Caster Points:
H: 0
M: -7
F: 0

Opponent Points:
H: -11
M: -11 (ONLY if spell disarms caster of wand)
F: 0
Additional Effects: n/a

----------------
Affected by Spells: N/A
----------------

Dueler Name: Cornelius Baltazar
- H: 100 - 0 = 100
- M: 78 - 15 - 7 = 56
- F: 15 - 0 = 15

Azura blinked a little as the boy she was dueling, what was with him? Was suddenly everyone a champion dueler? Her purple eyes widened in surprise as he deflected her attack yet again!

She couldn't focus! Her mind had slipped to Jace once again and his rejection of her and she lost a precious moment of time as the spell struck her and now..

She was glued to the floor!

Calm down Azura.. Breathe! She tried to repeat to herself as the boy fired his next spell at her! Again with the disarming!! She took a deep breath and held up her wand..

"Protego!" She called out, but as Austin said, her wand knew when she wasn't fully focused.. and today she wasn't. Everything that had happened to her was crowding into her mind and the spell went straight through her shield charm and her wand flew up into the air..and away from her..

Well NOW what? She was stuck to the floor and wandless! Was the duel over? Cause ummm... Stuck!!

HELP!!!!!

Professor Hirsch? Professor Airey???

She wasn't going to cry.. She wasn't going to cry...

She was going to cry..

Cornelius had been so PUMPED for this day. Like, he didn't even sleep last night and was currently running on lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and LOTS of sugar. Was the ingestion of ten sugar quills at breakfast healthy? Probably not but he was FEELING GREAT. And ENERGETIC and--

ASLDKFJDSKLJ!!!

HE FINALLY DID IT! DID YOU SEE THAT, 'MA?!

Oh wait, she wasn't here. Did Hirsch SEE THAT? DID HE?

Cornelius' fist went into the air. Fist bump, fist bump, oh yeah!

Oh noooooooooooo. Azura didn't look happy (who would be?) and had the face his sisters had before the waterworks came. The feeling of victory tuned down a little bit, guilt pushing it's way up. But...like...he wanted to win. So...it was okay? The girl didn't need to cry. It was all part of this...losing your wand and getting glued to the floor.

He felt like a jerk. A little jerk. He wanted to win sooo...

"Accio Azura's wand!" he cast, focusing solely on the wand and not the girl, picturing how he'd look with both wands in his hands. It'd be kind of weird if she all of a sudden landed on him.

SPOILER!!: Point Tracker

Spells Cast:
Accio: Summoning charm; summoning an object to the caster
Caster Points:
H: 0
M: -10
F: 0
Opponent Points:
H: 0
M: 0
F: 0
Additional Effects: n/a
----------------
Affected by Spells: N/A
----------------

Dueler Name: Cornelius Baltazar
- H: 100 - 0 = 100
- M: 56 - 10 = 46
- F: 15 - 0 = 15

There's no crying in dueling.. There's no crying dueling!!

Azura had to keep repeating that in her head over and over again as she looked over at her opponent.. Her teeth were firmly clamped down on her lower lip as if the action would help stem the tide of tears that threatened to overwhelm the first year at any time!

Could someone help her out? Or was she just going to be stuck here for all of eternity?

The fist bump seemingly just rubbed salt in her wound. She had a hard few weeks okay!! Getting mildly poisoned and then blurting out feelings that you were trying to deny for someone and them remembering the whole thing and then getting rejected was not an easy thing to deal with! Especially when that person was one of your closest friends! She hadn't been eating much or sleeping and her magic was wonky!!

She watched as Cornelius accio'd her wand away.. she couldn't do anything about it. It was to far for her to grab at and her feet were stuck to the floor.

The duel was over.. Could she go now before she burst into tears..

"Professor Hirsch?" She called out looking around..

Could somebody savvvvveeeeeeeee her?

........................ Uh oh.

The man had been sitting in the shadows, anticipating this duel like he had for pretty much all the duels. Duels were his favourite thing to watch and take part in. The anticipation, the feeling of the unknown coming towards you and you having to protect yourself using any means necessary.......... it was all very exciting.

But this? This was a disaster.

The wide smile that had been in place soon vanished as everything in front of him seemed to go downhill. Well, for Miss Kennedy, at least. Mr Baltazar seemed to be relishing in the environment, which only made the man fill up with pride. But, towards the end of the duel, the man’s attention stayed on Miss Kennedy and Miss Kennedy only. Could this be over with soon? Could he go up there?

Finally!

Practically jumping up from his seat, the man didn't even bother striking up a barrier between the two contestants. Not when one of them currently has the other’s wand in their possession. Instead, he simply went over towards Miss Kennedy and cast a Finite Incantatem over her to eliminate the spells in place. ”Miss Kennedy? Are you okay?”

As for Mr Baltazar, he'd get his congratulations in a bit.

Azura wasn't sure why, but she always felt like she was somehow letting Professor Hirsch down! Maybe it was the frown that he had awarded her in their DADA class, or perhaps it was the fact that she broke her nose in it, or managed to pass out in their dueling club..

Whatever it was, she had been trying so hard to prove to him that she was capable of.. well anything!

And now this.

She had once more let him down. The weight of that pushed down on her as he came towards her and released the spells on her. She raised slightly watery purple eyes up towards him and just gave a shrug. She wasn't even remotely okay.. Nothing had been okay since that potions class..

But she couldn't cry.. not here.

"I'm all right Professor Hirsch. Thank you." She said softly as again her teeth clamped down on her lower lip as tears threatened to spill over. She pushed her black hair behind her ear.. "I'm sorry." She had been uttering that too much lately, but she didn't know what else to say.

Cornelius' heart did ecstatic little flutters in his chest when Azura's wand flew into his hand. HIS CHARM SUCCEED. Say what? Uhuuuuh. Oh yeaaaaaah! Little victory boogie dance.

DID HIRSCH SEE--

Oh crud.

Azura's sad little face did stuff to the boy's conscience. His parent's upbringing definitely clashing at this very moment. His mum would be proud and tell him to stand up straight, tuck his shirt in and bow. To not act cocky just because he won, but humble because his hard work was paying off. Then there was his dad, who would fist bump his hand in the air and sing victory, BUT--there's a but--he's always told Cornelius to never intentionally make a girl cry.

.........Well. It hadn't been his intention. His intention was to win and he did.

While his mind did the wrestling his parent's caused in his head (you'd think they'd get it right on the fifth child), Cornelius did a small bow at Azura, then made his way towards her in a hurry.

"I didn't mean to upset her," Cornelius told Hirsch, because he was there now and probably understood more than Cornelius did on how he felt winning his first duel. "Honest," he added, turning to look at Azura.

"Here's your wand," he said handing it over, his excitement levels going down a smidgen.

He won and he upset a girl. Which one was most important/worse/bad/good?

Alright. She was alright.

.............. Riiiiiight.

Did he believe it? Not a bit. He'd seen those eyes and he'd seen the way she'd fallen. There was no way that she was simply alright. The man said nothing for a minute but just scrutinised her, trying to watch out for any signs of physical damage. Merlin, what was he going to say to Moxley if she was hurt yet again in an activity run by him? "Come on, let's get you up, okay?" he started, offering a hand to her. And here's hoping that she wasn't physically or emotionally hurt. It was just a school duel, remember?

And look, there was Mr Baltazer. Turning to him, the man smiled an actual proud smile that displayed his dimples. "You're fine." Meaning, he didn't do anything wrong. Relish in your victory, okay? "Congratilations! You did splendidly." He was even offering the Ravenclaw back her wand. See how nice?

Speaking of, Roderik turned his attention back towards her. "You put up a good fight, Miss Kennedy. Excellent, even. You just seemed to have given up towards the end." At least, that's what it looked like to him.

Ohh No!! She hadn't meant to make Cornelius feel bad!! GAHHHHH!! She wanted to flail about! She took a silent deep breath and smiled at her opponent.

"You didn't upset me,really." He really hadn't.. She just had a lot going on that's all. "Congratulations on your win Cornelius." She said with a warm smile as she took her wand from him and smiled. "Thank you, good luck on your next match, though I don't think you'll need it."

Azura took Professor Hirsch's hand as she got up and she brushed herself off. She thought she was all right. Right? She would see, but everything seemed to be in working order and nothing hurt too badly..

A small smile came to Azura's mouth as Professor Hirsch complimented her! She had put up a good fight? "I was trying Sir, I just have a lot on my mind and I couldn't seem to focus." She explained to him with a nod.

Okay..............Okay............OKAY.

Hirsch praising him just elevated his excitement to 10000%! He tried to hide the little smile that threatened to stretch his lips. He DID do splendidly, didn't he? Oh thank Merlin! He wasn't going to need to write to his mum and shame their cow. They didn't have one to start with. His dad would have to go buy one then shame it. What a CHORE.

Thankfully Cornelius saved his family from ALL that trouble. A win for you, Cornelius. You go, Cornelius.

"Thank you, Professor Hirsch," he said, beaming widely and showing off his very own dimples. Dim-dim-diiiiimples.

Cornelius nodded vigorously, his curls bouncing up and down, as he agreed with the DADA Professor. "SUCH a great fight! I mean--like--I thought I was done for. And when you sent me that goo spell--I almost got a mini heart attack." He nodded again, his eyes wide in all seriousness. He was sure if he hadn't used the loo before the duel there would have been a small accident in the arena...which wouldn't be magic related.

He smiled at Azura. "It was great dueling you." And just to clear things up, he offered his hand for her to shake. They were good, yeah?