Lesson 4 - N.E.W.T. Level

Amelia successfully blocked the spell, and it rebounded and flew across the room and hit a book that was perched atop a shelf. It began to shake and "dance" the best way a book could and Jack spun on her heel and pointed her wand at the book, squinting as she took aim since the book was spazzing out something terrible. Finite! she thought and it fell back flat.

With a smile, Jack turned back to look at Amelia, who seemed to be mesmerized by the barrier that had formed in a pearly, nearly-translucent bubble around her. Jack waited for a moment, but realized Amelia would not be snapping out of her reverie any time soon on her own. Jack waved her hand and said, "I'm ready for you Amelia!" She took up a powerful stance and held her wand aloft.

Brienne listened attentively, smiling to herself. Who would she be paired up with today? Hm? Hopefully not Amelia, she'd hate that. She'd really hate that. But alas, she wasn't much to her relief. Instead, it was her and Wake. What did the professor mean by "Do not be gentle on her"? Was that an insult, hoping she'd be killed by it? Or was that a compliment with how well she'd probably do the spell? Only the professor knew for sure. She cared not to ask, either, as that would definitely put her on his bad list. This was definitely something that she didn't want. She did not want it to be like that. She only wanted to go to class and have a normal day without any unpleasantness.

She looked over at James, "Hey, guess it's you and me this time. This'll be fun, Ravenclaw and Ravenclaw. Yes, that'd be something, wouldn't it?" She seemed to smile. "Gentlemen first when firing spells. I'll try and block, okay?" She got up out of her seat and strode over to James.

"Technically, gentlemen begin with bow, stride three steps away from each other, and simlutaneously cast spells," James replied in his usual, non-commital manner. He got up, taking out his wand and pensively staring down at it. What spell could he use. " Hence, the term 'gentlemen' does not apply to this situation, as it is merely for demonstration. In fact, I prefer to believe that Houses do not truly matter in a duel, simulated or not." James did not care much for conversation. Rather, he cared about the grade, the work, and what really set him apart from the lazier students.

Having finally chosen a spell, James turned to the prepared Brienne. James did not know her too well. Frankly, he did not know many of the students well enough, but he knew her a little bit more than most. He did know, however, that if she said she was ready, she was ready. James set himself in attack position, wand at the ready, and deadly glint in his eye. He shot his arm out and cast "BOMBARDA!"

Amelia was pulled abruptly from her own thoughts by Jack’s voice, which carried easily through the barrier around her, despite the fact that it had easily stopped the spell. As soon as Amelia’s train of thought disappeared, the pearlescent sphere around her followed suit, bringing her back into the classroom at large and back into the moment.

“Oh right,” she said offhandedly, as though it were totally normal to disappear into your own world for a few minutes and completely forget the lesson at hand. The slight tinge of red in her cheeks, however, suggested that she hadn’t been completely impervious to the signs that she was doing something socially awkward.

Big surprise there…

With Jack standing opposite her, looking more like she was ready to wrestle a bear than defend against a spell, Amelia took a moment to compose herself and to think of an appropriate spell for the situation. Coming across one she thought would be effective and not overly harmful if it were to pass through Jack’s attempt at defense, Amelia raised her wand. Following suit with what Jack had done – it was the respectful thing to do – Amelia said the spell aloud as she flicked her wrist to send a burst of thick ropes in Jack’s direction.

“Incarcerous!” Amelia said firmly, watching as a coil of brown burst from her wand and headed exactly in the direction of the fiery redhead standing opposite her.

Jack was pumping herself up, humming a classic muggle song called Eye of the Tiger to herself, as she always did when trying to pump herself up. It was not too difficult- this task, that is- but she wanted to make sure she was doing exceptionally well, especially after the professor's public compliment.

Amelia sent the spell her way and Jack pushed her leg back, flicked her wand, and said in a clear, booming voice, "Protego Totalum!”A similar pearly bubble spread around her and she saw the spell rebound, though the mark it actually hit was unknown to her. She grinned and said, "Finite." The shield dissolved and she grinned walking over to Amelia. "Well, we're good." She smiled.

The spell Amelia had sent flying at Jack had been repelled by the protective spell the Gryffindor girl had thrown up, working in exactly the same way that Amelia's earlier protective spell had. The ropes that had been intended for Jack's torso were flung backward and up, toward the ceiling where they collided with a light fixture and wrapped themselves tightly, coiling around and around until they ran out of free space.

Slight bemused by the ropes' attack on an inanimate object, Amelia found herself smiling slightly as Jack approached her, clearly content with the work the two of them had done, and rightfully so. Both had performed the spell adequately and it seemed that they were now finished with the professor's instructions.

"I think that would be an accurate statement," Amelia responded mechanically, though her slight smile added at least a touch of humanity to her statement. In spite of her good mood at performing well and watching her rope-producing spell attack the light fixture, the Ravenclaw girl hadn't been able to totally shake her constant need to filter her words, and when she filtered, these were the kinds of things that got through.