One of the furies

She doused the dummy and decided to move back into hand combat, carefully putting her wand in her bag. The boy was nursing his injuries as she approached the dummy - and then he spoke. She sighed and began to hit at the dummy, lightly bouncing on the balls of her feet as her ponytail bobbed up and down with the movement as she moved around it, hitting it from all directions.

"The implications of your words are more dangerous than the words themselves," Wally said, speaking well through the activity as she was just beginning. Soon, her breath would get heavier and her sentences would become more heavily fragmented as she took breath. But of course, she was fine now and the effect of talking calmly and intelligently as she slaughtered this dummy was probably slightly terrifying.

Good.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes as he promised he could make a good sandwich. She slammed the heel of her palm into the dummy's nose, bending the head all the way back as he offered a restart. She spun around, freezing in her fighting stance, and looked him up and down. Her eyes narrowed on him and she finally said, "My name is Wally."

And then she spun and hit the dummy in the stomach with her foot.

"And I really need to practice," she said, not looking at him as she again hit the dummy.

Brian watched as she completely destroyed the dummy, she was certainly not a girl he wanted to fight, but he felt the only way he was going to gain any of her respect was to give her what she wanted. Brian was a Seeker, he had been hit by bludgers and large men on brooms his entire life, how hard could sparring with a girl be? He was good at taking a beating, and if he was lucky, maybe he could avoid her enough to tire her out. He was hard pressed to find anyone who could run as fast or as long as he could.

"Well, lets practice then," Brian pulled off his Gryffindor robe and stood in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He did not know how to fight, or spar, or whatever it was she would do to him but he was not going to back down so easily. Maybe if he showed a bit of his bravery, and his ability to step up to any challenge presented to him, she might take a liking to him. "Just know, I am not going to take it easy on you just cause you are a girl."

He did not stand a chance.

She was, once again, doing her best to ignore him in the hopes that he would turn into a puff of smoke and disappear forever. However, he didn't. He spoke and she landed a final blow upon the plastic man before her. She slowly turned to look at the boy, trying to gauge whether or not he was bluffing. It was hard to tell - mostly because she was useless when it came to social cues.

Still, bluff or not... She was not going to pass up the opportunity to actually hit another person.

She walked over to her duffle bag and reached inside, pulling out a pair of sparring gloves. She looked at him and said, "You probably won't need a pair, but just in case." She performed a quick spell and found herself with two pairs. She tossed the duplicates to him, as well as a foam helmet. She would not need the helmet she was sure. She pulled on her gloves and took a stance. "I defer first move to you," she said.

Brian took the gloves and he slid them on, but he tossed the helmet aside, he was no wuss! He did not need a helmet! Those were the words of a boy right before he received a concussion. He had been in a fight once when he was a third year, what do you know, it was against a Slytherin. He was much older than Brian, and he kicked his ass, but Brian refused to step down from a challenge. It took a long time for him to live that one down.

"Hope you're ready for this, cutie!" Brian ran in and swung an awkward swing at her. It had very little power behind it, and he dropped his blocking arm, so his face was completely left open. Brian did not know any of the techniques to fighting, especially in an organized setting, so he had no idea the pounding he was in for. God willing she would take it easy on him.

He did not want the helmet. She smiled a bit sadly - she would bet that he would be reaching for it soon. She began bouncing on the heels of her feet again, lightly and very minimal so as to slowly build up energy through her limbs. She shook out her arms, cracking her joints, and then hopped from her left foot to her right foot to stretch out her knee joint the best she could.

Alright, dude. Bring it on.

She had learned defensive attacks, so he did not realize that he was being put at the disadvantage by striking first. He shambled forward, obviously just moving without thought, and swung his arm. She quickly bounced backwards and then forward, almost feeling bad as she swung her glove towards the side of his head.

She bounced back, out of reach. "On the balls of your feet," she instructed. "Dodging is more important than striking. Try again."

Thwack!

He took a shot to the side of the head and he saw stars for a moment. He recoiled and took a few steps back, reaching up and grasping his head. "Son of a....." He moaned and he bent over, putting pressure on the spot where she hit him, but he was not done yet. It hurt, but he was hell bent on impressing this girl, it was not going to end that quickly.

"You punch way harder than anyone your size should be able to." He shook his head and he gathered himself, she started to instruct him on how to properly fight, so not having any knowledge on the subject, he complied. "Like this?" He said, getting onto the balls of his feet, the position felt awkward but she seemed to know what she was doing. one of his strengths was picking things up easily, especially if it was athletic in nature, so maybe he would learn something.

He mimicked her bouncing back and forth for a few moments, trying to get comfortable in his new stance, but it all felt so awkward. He was so used to standing in a certain way that it all felt off. He sprung forward, going in for another punch, but not as reckless as the first time. He actually didn't feel confident in his approach, so he aborted, and jumped backwards pulling the strike.

He circled her, bouncing on his heels, trying to show off his speed and maybe gain a slight advantage, though he knew he wouldn't. He sprung forward again, this time being more balanced, and instead of throwing a wild punch, he tried jabbing at her to see how that went.

Wally smiled as her hit connected and he cursed. Her immediate retreat was not even necessary, as he seemed a bit distracted. She continued to bounce, because it was important to keep up a high level of energy. Wally grinned at his words - the highest of compliments - and said, "It's not power. It's follow through. The strength comes from the release. As soon as I connect, I pull back, and my energy continues to flow out against you. It's all in the release."

He followed her instructions, looking uncomfortable. She amended, "Straight." She stopped bouncing momentarily and put a glove on the top of her head. "Imagine there is a string connected to the center of your head, and it's holding you up in a standing position. That's where you'll find your best balance. Then, it won't feel as awkward."

She didn't usually like being interrupted, but it was helpful to be teaching what she was practicing.

She began bouncing as he looked ready for an attempt, and he approached, before pulling back. She nodded. "Good. Now just try a hit. I'll let you land it so you can get used to it." He circled her and she circled too, making sure her eyes were on him. He sprung forward to jab and she dodge enough so that it hit her shoulder. The release wasn't there enough to make it particularly powerful, but he had enough weight behind it for it to apply pressure. "Good. Pull back quicker though, it'll provide more energy. This time, I will block. So try to be quick."

Brian was notoriously competitive, so when she started to teach him, his mind switched from trying to flirt with the girl to him actually trying to learn how to fight. It was in his nature to be the best at everything he did, so naturally, he wanted to prove that he was good at fighting. He had never really digged the whole fighting thing, but hey, when in Rome.

She told him a few more techniques, the string thing was good, so he instantly imagined a string that was holding him up. The stance was still awkward, but the longer he held it, the easier it became. He had heard about the follow through of a punch and how it could help, but he never really cared to learn it, so it went right over his head.

He did as he was told, but he was feeling a little more confident, so he tried something harder. He threw a couple of jabs with his left hand and then he lunged forward with a more powerful punch. Obviously he was pulling his punches, because even though he knew he probably couldn't hit her, he did not want her to make a mistake and end up on the brunt end of a wild punch. It wasn't obvious, though, to her he was just another terrible fighter.

"If I ever need someone to fight for me I know who to come to now, but what good is this when you are fighting against someone with a wand?" It was a simple and honest question, he never saw the point in fighting when he could use his wand. Sure there were times when he might not have it, but the odds were more in his favor with the wand, he guessed it was all for sport. He didn't really understand muggles.

Wally stayed active and engaged, watching as he adjusted his actions according to the advice she was dishing out. It was funny, or maybe it was ironic - a moment ago, the boy's very existence had irritated her. Now, she was almost happy to have him here. It had nothing to do with his personality, of course, but it was nice to have a willing pupil around to help her improve her own ability.

She watched with anticipation as he came in for the attack again and she deftly blocked the first few and then raised her other arm to block the final. However, she had not anticipated the power he put into the punch, which pushed her back considerably. She stayed on her feet the best she could and smiled. "Good!"

His question was a valid one. She said, "Defense is not about the actual punching or blocking. It's the art of understanding force and acquiring instinct. It's also about balance and energy. Let me illustrate." She turned and jogged a good distance from him, stopping about where she would stand if they would engage in a proper wizard's duel. She began hopping around as she had before and called out, "Imagine trying to land a spell on me. Imagine trying to predict my next move."

She was right, it would make for a harder target, but he had a feeling that a skilled wizard would have no problem hitting her and it would give her no real advantage. But he did not want to say it because he could not exactly prove it and she seemed very adamant about it. Plus, he did not feel like testing her again, just in case she decided to sock him again.

"It would be hard, you're right." He did not care to lie to make someone else feel better. Who was he kidding, he didn't care to lie at all, he did it all the time. "How long have you been doing this?" He let his arms drop, from the few minutes he had been doing it he had become exhausted. "It takes its toll, I gotta hand it to you, you're in great shape. " for once he was saying it without a sexual connotation behind the sentence.