Carl walked onto the platform with lighter steps than before. He was glad he was not dueling a close friend again - that would have been so awkward. He smiled at Azura, wondering how she felt. He was excited and nervous, part of him wanting to win this duel.

He bowed at the Ravenclaw and took a deep breath. Was he to begin? He raised his wand slowly, then aimed at her and said, "Obscuro." This was something he had learned from his previous duel. After he had gotten the last of the pumpkin chunks out of his hair, he had done some readings on the spells Mel had used. And he practiced.

And here she was again, another duel.. and almost in the same place! She still wasn't sure where she stood with Jace but at least she was taking his rejection a bit better than she had been. Talks with Torie, Brady and especially Garreth had helped a whole lot..

She was ready this time! She had studied and practiced and she wasn't going to go down without a fight this time!

She bowed to her partner, Carl.. she knew of him, but she had never really met him, but, she guessed now was a good time as any!

"Good Luck!" She called out with a smile as she got her wand ready for the first spell that was going to come her way..

And there it was.. Well, sorry Carl but she sort of needed her sight! So!

"Protego!" She called out as she deflected his spell back to him, something she had picked up in her last duel! She then called out.. "Flipendo! And then cast a Feather-light charm on herself.. Another thing she had picked up watching duels,Maybe she wouldn't get stuck to the floor this time?

All right, she was ready!

Ooh, she cast Protego! That was a good choice, if it was him he would not want his sight impaired at the beginning of the duel either. But wait - the spell was being deflected at him. Carl sidestepped just in time and his spell shot past his ear.

He raised his wand and was searching his mind for an appropriate spell, when Azura sent another one his way. "Protego!" He called out. A shield appeared between the two, defending him from the Knockback Jinx. It was not however, strong enough to deflect the spell.

"Tarantallegra!" Carl said afterwards, tightening his grip on his wand.

Azura smiled as Carl managed to dodge her two spells perfectly! He was pretty good it seemed, why had he lost before? She wasn't sure, but she kept her purple eyes on him and kept her wand up, ready for whatever he was going to throw at her!

Eeek! She certainly didn't want to get hit with THAT! With how clumsy she was, she would end up with something broken for sure, so she dove to the ground, just in time for the spell to move right over her head!

Fwoopers! That had been close! Really, she was doing everyone a favor for not getting hit with that!

She held up her wand and called out "Cooloshoo!" Yup, that had been the spell that had gotten her in her last duel! Having you feet glued to the floor wasn't pleasant, but not terrible!

All right, let's see how he dealt with that!

Nice diving! She could be a good sports player, Carl thought in amuse, momentarily forgetting that his spell had not met its target. That was okay, this was not the end of the duel. He raised his wand again and he pointed it at her. That was when he noticed that Azura had purple eyes. They were ... bizarre.

Before he knew it, a spell he did not know came flying to his feet. What was this? He tried to back away a bit, but his feet were glued to the floor. It was difficult, but he had managed to keep his balance and not fall down. Man, this was why she had used the Feather-light charm on herself.

Sighing, he said, "Expelliarmus!" Carl hoped she did not move around too much, it was already hard getting a clear aim at her.

It had worked!!!

One of her spells had actually hit someone!! A small smile made it's way across her face before she quickly hid it! She sort of felt bad now that he was stuck to the floor! At least it wasn't something worse!! "Sorry Carl!" She apologized to him..

She wasn't a mean hexer type of person..

Azura was so excited that she barely had time to dodge his next spell, and in fact, it hit her side and pushed her back so she landed on the floor!! GAHHH!! Thankfully her wand was still in her hand though she had fumbled it a bit, because it wanted to leave her hand! She lay on her back for a moment, catching her breath..

She slowly moved to her feet and aimed her wand at Carl again.. "Rictusempra!" All right.. let's see how he dealt with that!!

Carl tried to smile. "It's okay, Azura!" It was totally not okay that he was stuck to the floor, but there was no need for her to apologize. After all, attacking and getting hit was the whole point of a duel. Speaking of which, that was a strong Stickfast Hex. He could not move his feet despite some frantic tries.

Aaand his spell had hit her! He had meant to disarm her and nothing more, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. He hoped she was okay ... he did not want to hurt his opponent, even if it was a duel.

The Hufflepuff was well prepared to defend himself against the next spell. "Protego!" He shouted and a shield appeared, this time deflecting the spell back. Rictusempra, hmm ... imagine what would have happened it he was hit by that. Being tickled and unable to move. It would have been torture.

Ohh! He had deflected her spell back to her!

Eek!!

Azura sidestepped just in time as the spell went zooming past her ear! That could have been bad! That could have been very bad actually! She would have been laughing so hard that she couldn't have continued the duel!!

She looked at Carl as she raised her wand and cast an Ears to Kumquats spell right at him!

Mainly, because she really wanted to see what it looked like! Also.. because he couldn't hear.. and perhaps she could take his wand? Maybe?

Carl watched intently, wondering what would happen. She had sidestepped just in time and managed to dodge the spell he deflected back. He was beginning to feel that if this continued, he might be at a disadvantage.

This feeling did not falter as Azura cast the Ears to Kumquats spell at him. Unable to raise his wand in time, and obviously unable to move around to dodge the attack, he received the spell full in the face. Ugh, this was Melofors all over again. He reached up to where his ears should be and felt small fruits there instead. Oh and he could not hear anything. It was all just great, y'know.

The Hufflepuff decided to focus on his opponent's cool purple eyes. "Impedimenta!" He said, though he could not hear his own voice either. From here onward, he had to be really alert.

Oh Fwoopers!! Her spell had worked...

Her spell had worked?

Her Spell had worked!!!!

Azura was standing there in awe as she watched Carl's ears turn into kumquats! And she couldn't help but giggle the tiniest bit.. It was pretty funny! She had cast it really to see the result and well.. It was worth it! Though.. she kind of felt a bit bad for it.. Thankfully it wasn't awful! It wasn't like she was stinging him or anything!

Right?

Right!!

However her thinking was interrupted by the rather funny sound of Carl's voice as he cast a spell at her.. She was about to try and jump over the spell, but before she could get an inch of the ground, it hit her in the ankles and BAMMM

Not only did it knock her back, she fell smack dab onto her face as well! HARD!!!

Ow.. Owwwwwww OWWWWWWW!!! Her nose felt a little funny and it took a few seconds for her to push herself off the floor.. That was some spell!

Merlin.. the room was spinning!! And she wasn't paying any attention to the red stuff dripping down her face and onto the floor! She just looked at Carl and called..

"Expelliarmus."

Time to get his wand! Cause she was getting rather tired now!

Also..

Ouch!! Her face hurt..

Although he could not hear it, Carl could see that she was giggling. He could not blame her, he must look hilarious with kumquats for ears. Imagining the image, he cracked a grin himself. The smile soon slid off his face as he saw what his Impedimenta had done. Ugh, that must have hurt, falling on her face ... was that blood?

No, this was bad.

He tried to move forwards, temporarily forgetting that his feet were glued to the floor. The First Year fell onto his hands and knees and dropped his wand. He picked it up immediately and upon seeing a spell being sent at him, he practically yelled while pointing his wand at Azura, "Protego!" He had no idea what it was, but he was defended from the spell.

Carl did not think it was right to attack anymore. Not when his opponent was hurt. He lowered his wand a little, watching how she would respond.

Rats! Azura panted a little as Carl fell over, lost his wand.. And still managed to deflect her spell! Grrrrr!!

However, what he did next had her eyeing him! He hadn't cast a spell back at her! Why not? She was about to open her mouth to ask him when she felt something warm drop on her lips and she put her fingers up to wipe them off, she had thought it might have been sweat, but she startled as she looked down at her hand and saw that it was covered in blood!!

Wha???

She gingerly touched her face and let out a legit shriek as she barely touched her nose and blinding pain shot through her!!

HOLY BLAZING FWOOPERS OF MYSTERIOUS DARKNESS!!!!!!

She had broken her nose!

Gahhhhhh!!

No.. No! NOOOOOOOO! She wasn't going to lose like this! Nuh uh! Nope! Not again!

She took a careful deep breath and aimed her wand at her nose.. She knew the healing spell! Her mom was a healer at St.Mungos! She had just never done it on herself before!!

Okay..

"Episkey! " she said as she went slightly crossed eyed but managed to aim at her nose! And

Yesssssssss!

It worked!! Sweet relief!!

"All right Carl! I'm okay!" Not that he could hear her or anything!! Not with his ears! Instead she gave him a thumbs up! And motioned for him to fire at her!! He had missed his turn cause he was being so sweet about everything!!

She smiled at him! And wiped off the remaining blood with her sleeves!

It was like watching a silent film. Concerned, Carl stayed still as she realized that she had broken her nose - and healed herself. Wow, that was amazing! He furrowed his brows when she said something to him, then grinned as she mimed it out for him and his kumquat ears. He was also surprised that she did not take this chance to attack him.

Raising his wand, he pointed it at Azura and said, "Locomotor Wibbly!"

Azura smiled at Carl as he seemed to get the message and she held up her wand, ready for what he was going to throw at her!

Ack!

Not the Jelly legs curse! She REALLY didn't want to break anything again, so she sidestepped out of the way and felt the heat of the spell move right past her cheek as it flew right by her..

Phew!!

She panted softly as she looked at him and smiled before she held up her wand..

One more time!!

"Expelliarmus!" She called out again as she aimed right at Carl, aiming to disarm him!

Carl hoped Azura knew how lucky she was to have her feet free to move. He felt envious as she sidestepped his Jelly-Legs Curse easily. He smiled back at her, fatigue washing over his body. All he wanted to do was to sink into his bed and take a long nap ... he held up his wand again, but before he was ready, another spell was coming. Oh well, hopefully it was something with a weak impact.

It was Expelliarmus. Carl's wand shot out of his hand and towards his opponent. It was not forceful enough to knock him back, though. Wandless, earless and immobile, he stared at Azura. Then he grinned.

Well, wasn't this an interesting turn of events?

See, Hirsch had a feeling that this duel would be quite good but wouldn't be one of those gripping duels. Expectations shouldn't be kept high and all. So, when this duel kicked off, the man was pleasantly surprised. In fact, he was positively beaming as the duel went on and on before finally coming to a stop. The Defence Professor wasted no time in putting up the magical shield and hurrying over towards the two first years. Another flick of his wand and any remaining effects were gone.

Now, onto business. "That was an excellent duel! Very well done to the two of you." He then turned to Miss Kennedy, the frown from his first lesson replaced with a proud smile that displayed his dimples. "Congratulations on the win, Miss Kennedy. And you've put up a good fight, Mr Leonard." Really, he was proud of both of them.


Stats:
Carl Leonard: 48.57%
Azura Kennedy: 54.43%