Blossom looked around the common room.  For ten months out of each of the next seven years, this would be his home.  He would (hopefully) make friendships here that would last throughout his lifetime.  Perhaps he might even meet a future wife here.  The possibilities were endless.  Some of the finest witches and wizards ever born had walked on these very stones, stood exactly where he was standing.  The history books were filled with their names.

I wonder if my name will join them?

Beyond the common room were the dormitories.  Who knew who had stayed in which of those rooms?  Malfoy.  Lestrange.  Black.  Even the darkest wizard of all.

I hope I don't end up in his bed.

Although Casey was not one for sentimentality, there were things about Hogwarts he missed. Not the classes or the people, nothing that changed, but some of the things that stayed the same. The Slytherin common room was one of these, minus the obnoxious leather couches that gave him a skin rash. Like any Slytherin worth their salt the whole house had secrets. There was the hearth and couches if you wanted to be social but you could find a window open to the depths of the lake where you can be alone. Casey had found this one segment, hidden behind a trick bookcase and fake wall, a hidden chamber. It was like sitting in a halved cube, the floor sloped in front of one wall see through like the Great Hall ceiling, offering a wide unobstructed view of the lake bottom.

It was the best spot to think and remain alone, and this was the spot Casey was planning to go to dodge people for a few hours. It wasn't too long after the welcoming feast but most people will still linger, although the first years would have been lead to the dorms by now. Like this wide eye hopeful, Casey saw, before the unrelenting Slytherin politics would suck the life out of him, Dementor like.

He would figure it out sooner or later. Salazar's shiny pate, it was Blossom. Oh, the story there must be behind that naming convention.

"Impressive, isn't it," Casey said, toying with the first year. "Check to make sure the seals of the windows in your dorm room are tight before you go to bed. One wrong thing smacks into the first year chamber and the whole room could flood."

It sounded like a story invented to frighten the new students but it was good advice nonetheless. After all, he didn't want to be responsible for flooding out the entire dungeon on his first night.  "I will," Blossom  said, nodding.  "And yes, it's very impressive," he continued.  "I can't believe I'm actually here."  He looked around.  "Slytherin.  Only the finest are sorted into this house."

Casey smirked. "Yes, only the finest in here." Although this begged the question of how types like Vulpes, Huck, and Deres had passed the mark. The Sorting Hat must be getting threadbare in its old age.

"There are many well connected and legendary names through the house, rich and powerful wizards." Casey guessed the first year had been thinking along these lines. Such history had interested Casey during his first month at Hogwarts until he realized it was pointless emulate people that weren't around any more.

"The Hat tell you this is the house where you can make a name for yourself? It can. You might be able to come up with something better than Blossom Rose."

The snort, surprisingly, had managed to stay in Casey's throat, making a raspy snark. "Are you your parent's little rose blossom?"

The colour flamed into Blossom's face.  And so it starts.

"Only my father's," Blossom said, trying to keep a tremble out of his voice.  It might have been anger or it might have been that he was bordering on tears.  "My mother died when I was born."

You have to either stand up now or every witch and wizard in Slytherin is going to know that they can tease you.  Stand up to one bully and maybe they're respect your courage.  Or they'll laugh even more.  Either way, you don't have much to lose except your dignity.

"Would you mind giving me a moment to get my wand out or are you content to let everyone know you that you'd cheat in a duel with a firstie?"  Blossom knew he had utterly no chance.  The older boy could give him a six spell head start and the outcome would still be inevitable.

Casey rolled his eyes. "Family sob stories? Join the club, kid." This was more from boredom than to jab at Blossom's struggles. Casey didn't like talking about the inherent problems at Doherty Manor, so he didn't like hearing other students laying grief about their own families. He seldom liked such talk unless it showed signs of doing something about it.

He smirked again when Blossom put up the challenge to duel. This must have been how Ventus Shang had felt during their encounter over the summer. "I don't need to cheat if we're going to do this honorably."

He lazily pulled out his own wand, getting into a dueling stance while keeping his wand slack, not in a position to fire off a spell. "Ever dueled before, Rose Blossom? I'll even give you the first shot so you could have a brief taste of victory."

Ah, Slytherin. The house filled with liars, cheats, and only the most cunning children of Hogwarts. Often, they were feared or loathed by the students in the other houses, but the members of Slytherin didn't seem to care. After all, they were Slytherin.

Entering the common room quietly was a rather tall young lady dressed in her school uniform, her hair pitch black except for a white forelock. Several bags around her arms, Raven Whitman dragged her stuff along her, grateful that she had remembered to cast a charm to make the various containers lighter than they actually were supposed to be. She strode right past both Casey and Blossom without any acknowledgement to the two, her expression oddly neutral and unreadable. Beelining it to the girl's dormitory, she disappeared from view as she dumped her stuff on her bed for the year, only keeping her everyday bag on. After all, you never knew when you needed some of the things she had in there.

Pulling out a book entitled "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe," she emerged from the dorm and picked out her favorite chair, made of comfortable green cloth cushions instead of the regular leather that she abhorred so, and was about to start reading where her bookmark (which looked like it had a bloodstain on it) was placed when she actually noticed the first and fourth year about to duel. Clapping her hands together once, she grinned like a maniac, her insanity only further questioned by her mismatch eyes and strange hair.

"Oh goodie~" She commented excitedly, "A duel between short people. Those always make my day~!" Not caring if she offended either party, she leaned forward, wanting to see them start. Her eyes rested on Blossom, glinting with an almost sadistic amusement. "How long do you think you'll last against Dorthy over there, Blossom? I'll bet thirty seconds."

I'm dead.

"You asked, I answered," Blossom said to Casey, setting down the ornately carved wooden box.  "And no, I haven't dueled before, which is actual a stupid question, seeing as how I'm obviously a first year.  As far as getting the first spell, that wouldn't be 'honourable'."  It wasn't like he could get any deeper in trouble, so what difference would insulting the older boy make?

He carefully opened the box and with suddenly sweating fingers, picked up his mother's wand.  It was ornately carved rosewood and as soon as he touched it there was a sudden swirling of tiny rose petals around his hand and the room was briefly filled with the scent of roses.

He looked at the older girl.  "I don't expect that I'll even last that long," he answered before assuming as close to Casey's position as he was able.  "Still, it has to be done."  The blush was gone and he was pale and trembling but he was going to stand his ground, even if it killed him, which it most likely would.

There is no mercy in Slytherin.  But there might be honour.

"Any chance we could postpone this until I have a fighting chance?"  He didn't expect Casey to agree.  Oh, well.  If he got lucky he might be able to blind his opponent momentarily with a shower of sparks.  After that, he was done for.

"Come now, never played with your parent's wand before? No scuffles on the train ride to Hogwarts? Pity." The new students were having boring lives from the start. "The honorable part is that I set that as your handicap, did you need more or less."

Watching Blossom tremble was more enjoyable than the thought of jinxing his ears to twitch. Which, given a comment from the comedic chorus that consisted of Raven Whitman, he considered doing it to her instead. And a few other worse curses. The short comment he could drop, having a few inches from a magically induced growth spurt satisfied him that he didn't have to look up at too many of his peers anymore. The ones in the same grade, that is. It was the 'Dorothy' snark that made him grit his teeth. It was different from saying Casey was also a girl's name, it was taking his name and making it sound feminine.

"O'Doherty," he said in crisp tones. "Remember each syllable, Whitless."

"Well, a few lessons of Defense and working up the ladder in Dueling Club might give you a chance." Casey idly played with his wand. Seemingly more signs of hesitation but in the fraction of a moment he could get a spell fired off. "Unless you want to start right now with skill number one, dodging practice."

There is only one way I'm going to come out of this alive and with dignity intact.  I have to get his wand out of his hand before he can cast anything....

There was a crowd gathering, watching the stand-off between the two boys.  Most of them had chosen safe vantage points but one or two of the first years, unable to see around the taller students had placed themselves behind either Casey or Blossom.  They had a clear view but were in the line of fire.

"I'm afraid I didn't catch your name, Miss, but I'm going to have to ask that you act as a witness to the fact that Mr O'Doherty has offered me first spell as a handicap," Blossom said, taking a crab walking  step forward, closing the distance slightly.  He'd seen his father move that way in a duel that concerned some money owned.  His father had lost and the other wizard got away without paying his debt.

He didn't wait for the girl to respond.  He snapped his wand forward, hoping for the best.

A twisting, swirling spray of blackness came from the wand, a blinding cascade of black rose petals.  They buffeted Casey's face, doing no damage but obscuring his vision for a few seconds.  Behind the distracting cloud came Blossom, launching himself forward in a desperate lunge for Casey's wand hand.

It had an appointment with Blossom's teeth.

Rico had just entered the Slytherin commonroom and a large circle had formed around  4th year and Blossom Rose. Rico pushed his way through the other people talking. He was very tall for a 12 year old. He even towered over some 4th and 5th years. He pushed his way to the front of the human ring around the duel.

For Blossom sake, he hoped the boy knew at least a good disarming spell. But alas the first thing the first year was spray a bunch of dark flower petals at the fourth year and lunged for him.

I can't watch

Mercedes and Rico talked about classes and how great this place was. They came to the Slytherin commonroom. A duel was going on. She walked over with Rico to see what was going on. She stood on a chair. She might have been tall, but not as tall as her brother. The boy that scared her deeply was standing with his wand pointed at a fourth year.

What was he thinking? He didn't know any spells! Classes haven't even started yet! It might have not been a disarming spell but the rose petals in Casey's face were effective. Only when he lunged did she realize that he was going to bite Casey.

That's a laugh

Nodding slightly at Blossom's comment but completely ignoring Casey, Raven leaned back, the other Slytherins knowing that if they stood in her line of vision, she would probably kick them into the line of fire. Completely relaxed, she pulled out a container of Bertie Bot's Every Flavor Beans from her cloak pocket, popping a jelly bean into her mouth before her expression twisted into disgust and she spit it out. "Alas, Earwax." Grabbing one she knew not to be one of the more nasty-flavored beans, she ate that one instead, appreciating the almost burning cinnamon as oppose to nasty taste of Earwax. Who knew how the candy company had figured out the taste of earwax.

Watching the duel as if she were a tired teenager watching a football game, she crossed one leg over the other, lazily pulling out her wand. While it was Blossom's own fault if he got hurt, she knew that Dorthy (Casey) would be less than forgiving to his junior, and she wouldn't be surprised if he continued his assault even if the younger, more nervous duelist was down on the ground.

When the petals flew out of Blossom's wand, Raven stifled a giggle at the irony of his actions. The giggle turned into a cackle as Blossom lunged for Casey, attempting to bite his wand out of all things. That was something Casey probably hadn't encountered in his time in the Dueling Club, for sure. Looks like this Blossom kid was turning out to be quite the interesting one.

Casey hadn't expected a real duel of this at all, of course. This Blossom kid was young and could barely manage a Flipendo, he wagered. Casey would have been content to Declino away whatever attempt Blossom could muster and retaliate with something humiliating but inconsequential, like covering his robes in flowers. No, not like that, something to give Blossom a poor evening like a finger lock. That would end the 'duel' quickly and put the youngster in his place.

So Casey scoffed initially at the feeble black smoke before his head was showered in blackened rose petals. Declino was not the spell for an unforeseen attack such as this. The petals irritated his face and eyes, burning as he eyes hadn't done since the other end of the summer.

As he squinted through bloodshot eyes Casey realized that Blossom was nearly upon him and made the rash conclusion that the first year was trying to bite his wand in two! The kid's teeth would be no match for stubborn Hornbeam hardened by Leprechaun Hair, but still Casey was not going to have what he considered the most powerful wand in existence marred by chewing.

He rushed through a spell but Blossom bit his hand before he could finish it, sending the spell light off perpendicular to there little match.[1] Casey ripped his hand free and stumbled back, remaining aloft with some distance between him and Blossom. The bite had shredded skin but there was no blood although it stung as bad as his eyes.

Casey wasn't cross. He was crosshatched, etched, and x'd. "You animal, what is wrong with you? Did you honestly think trying to bite a wand was going to leave me the worse one off? Who solves their problems by biting, have I gone around chewing on your things?"

What was worse was the crowd they had drawn. Casey didn't mind, as this would show all the new students not to mess with the fourth year but now his abilities were being called into question.

1.	Jelly Legs Jinx, anyone can catch it.

"I wasn't trying to bite your wand, I was trying to bite you, Blossom announced.  "It was the best way I could think of to disarm you.  It didn't work, obviously."  He was no longer trembling, no longer pale.  In fact he was mildly giddy about still being alive after his desperate attack failed.  "I suppose this is where we take out places again and continue, without me getting first spell advantage? "

He was being foolish, Blossom realized.  A little teasing was nothing compared to the potential consequences he faced from the now angry Casey.  He was facing the chance of real injury, all over a few words.  All he really needed to do was ignore the taunts and they would eventually stop just from the lack of reaction.  He thought about offering an apology but it was likely too late for that.   Sometimes standing up to the bully didn't work the way it was supposed to.