Alex looked around the classroom with a critical eye. She'd stacked the tables and chairs around the walls, leaving a large space for everyone to practice in. She would have liked to have raised platforms, as was traditional, but it was irritating to construct them every single time the club met, and they weren't necessary, just pretty- although if they ever did something on limited movement, they would be ideal.

Other than a sense of glamour, the room was lacking one key element: members of duelling club. They would arrive soon, some completely oblivious to how much she wished they weren't there. Being expected to deal with irritating and arrogant idiots without screaming at them was without doubt the worst part of being president of Duelling club. Not that she wouldn't yell, it was just that she didn't yell as much as she would like to.

Alex hoped that eventually they would stop being insufferable and become normal people, a day which could not come soon enough. Ideally, the suggestion of today's meeting- to use physical objects as well as magical attacks- would result in one having some sense knocked into them. She understood that it was more likely to result in injury, but really if someone couldn't doge then they deserved to be hit.

Although she would be on hand to avert anything that looked serious, of course.

---

Note: I am assuming that Duelling Club has been having regular meetings since the Club Day, so the members should be aware of the rules of duelling club, and of duelling as a whole. If you are uncertain of these, please check the handbook. Useful spells can be found here and here, or you could just make some up.

Chaos is encouraged, but please leave people time to post.

Zoe always enjoyed Dueling Club. It probably was her favorite club, getting to use jinxes there was little chance she'd use elsewhere. Plus, it was great practice and a good hands-on learning experience. The young witch hurried through down through the castle to the classroom where the day's meeting was being held.

The Ravenclaw peeked her head in the door, but saw only Alexandra. "Hello Alexandra," she greeted the fellow Ravenclaw as she walked into the classroom. "Guess I'm the first one here." Zoe leaned against on of the tables at the sides, as there was no chairs to sit in and she didn't want to do the thing of standing and not knowing what to do with her body.

"What is today's lesson going to be on?"

"How to stop turning everything into an extension of class." Casey slipped in behind Zoe soon enough to hear her query. "It's also supposed to be for fun or are you bitter about the current standings?"

Once the club had settled into regular meetings Casey had hit his former stride. His abilities placed him at the top of his year, a summit shared by the few who could go toe to toe with the older students. The one downside to Dueling Club was getting out of the room on his own power until he could find a hidden location to recuperate in. Eventually he would improve his stamina or jinx himself trying.

Heinrich gave Alex a slight bow when he entered, acknowledging her, as always, as the master of the room.  He leaned back against a stack of chairs, relaxing and rolling out his shoulders.  He nodded to Casey and Zoe, smiling at the Ravenclaw but letting the smile fade away for the Slytherin.  The boy was just too damned competitive for Heinrich's liking.  He had talent to be certain but Casey wasn't anywhere near as good as he thought he was.  Then again, so few were.

He toyed with the baton that he'd brought to this meeting.  Having to counter the use of objects as well as spells would mean a little parrying would be useful.  He'd thought about bringing his knife but had reconsidered.  After all, he didn't want to hurt anybody.  He spun the foot long piece of wood a few times, finding the balance point and reacquainting his fingers with it.  He'd need to turn it into an extension of his body, much like he tried to do with his wand.

Heinrich enjoyed the slight tension, the feeling of anticipation that came with the dueling club meetings.  On the advice of Headmaster Eisenberg he wasn't playing at his full potential.  It wouldn't do to have everyone in the club knowing his full measure.  He wondered how many others would be doing something similar.  Not many and certainly not Casey. 

Blossom hadn't anticipated being so early.  The only person in the room he recognized was Casey and the two didn't exactly see eye to eye, not since they'd ended up in a duel in the Slytherin common room on the first day of school which ended with Blossom's teeth sunk into Casey's hand.  Thankfully they'd never had to face each other here.  Blossom had no illusions as to what his chances were like this time around. 

He often thought the club merely tolerated the first year members, secretly snicker behind their hands at their comical attempts at serious dueling.  Then again several of the older students had made an actual effort to teach the younger members some of the more important essentials.  He'd even managed to pick up one or two spells from the second year members.  He wasn't sure if it was making him a better wizard but he was certainly learning things he'd be able to learn no place else.

Vulpes regretted joining the dueling club since the first meeting. It wasn't bad, in anyway. He simply hated the competitiveness of it all. The way everyone wanted to show off how good they were, how many spells they knew, how well they could blow each other up. It was... frightening, really. Sort of like watching dogs challenge each other for pack dominance. An oddly apt metaphor, considering. The news that they would be practicing with physical objects this time was... unpleasant. While Vulpes was good at evasion, and while Rory had taught him some hand to hand, he still preferred not being hit. At all.

Still, he did have one trick up his sleeve.

Quietly Vulpes slipped into the room and shuffled his way to the back corner, not wanting to be bothered in the slightest. He watched as the Durmstrang boy twirled his little baton. How odd. Idly he slipped a hand into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the miniature fencing foil he had brought with him.

Truth be told he didn't expect to need it, at all. Being a wizard he was perfectly capable of deflecting objects with his wand if he had to. But... still. It never hurt to be able to swipe something out of midair with a sword.

Alex didn't even bother to force a smile. She hated being called Alexandra, it was long and irritating and the only person who called her that was her Father. "Alex, please," she said, the humour in her voice slightly strained. "Nice to see you here again, Zoe."

Of course, her least favourite member of the duelling club was the second to arrive. The worst thing was that he was somewhat justified in his pride- while Casey wasn't perfect, he was still a good dueller. "Do shut up Casey, or I'll cast silencio and see how good your non-verbal spells are," Alex drawled, rolling her eyes. "Respect for other duelling club members is specified in the rules- and since you can't beat everyone, there'll be no criticising others." Alex understood Casey's pride, but he was so completely insufferable that she couldn't stand him. Silencio had probably been invented to spare the rest of the world from having to listen to people like him.

Alex looked at the students standing aimlessly, then called out "Everyone pair off in the appropriate ability categories. Rose, you can stick with me for now."

"For today, try using physical objects for once, and I don't mean trying to beat your opponent to death with a table- try to have a little more class than that. You can still use hexes and other spells, but try not to stick with them.  Don't do any irreparable damage to the furniture. And no head shots- I don't care if your wand slips, nothing above shoulder height."

Alex nodded, "That's everything, I think. Rose, over here."

Blossom's immediate response was 'What have I done now?' but he obediently trotted over to the girl who ran the dueling club.  He wasn't entirely certain what she wanted with him but she was in charge and he trusted her enough not to hurt him too badly.

"What can I do for you, Alex?" he asked.  His hands were, as they always were when he was the focus of attention, sweaty.  He'd long since stopped blushing.

Kamon never had any ill intentions. He had always been the voice of reason in his group of friends, being the only one to talk sense into the violent adolescents, but he something about the thrill and adrenaline from a good wizard duel simply drew him into the Hogwart's dueling club. Kamon was a muggleborn Slytherin, so he had to face a lot of ghoulish peers in his time. However, Kamon managed to become an adequate duelist, and he never seemed too bothered by the idea that people hated him for his own blood.

He sauntered inside the room and eyed the people with perplexed eyes. The group wasn't the most intimidating, although he admittedly wasn't one to talk. His disposition was nonchalant, although he felt anxious for a fight. He smiled at his peers and loosened his emerald tie, "Oyasuminasai."

He readied his wand. He wasn't actually sure if they would be dueling each other or simply practicing. Either way, he was ready. He noticed a Durmstrang boy near him with a small baton in his hand. Kamon's eyes squinted. What was the baton for if he had a wand? Especially since that baton was so small? "That definitely separates the weak from the fittest; whether or not they can actually use their bloody wand," he noted to himself. He turned back to the president, and waited for her to begin.

Kiba strode lazily into the room, trailing after Babcock. Kiba ran his hand roughly through his hair, grumbling to himself about the bother of dueling club. He didn't really want to join any club at Hogwarts, but Kiba felt it necessary to join the club to practice his skills that he was obviously lacking. He glanced around the room, taking in his surroundings.

The chairs and tables were stacked neatly against the walls, a few people littered around the room, here and there. Kiba's eyes trailed across the faces of the people already present. He knew them, but he had trouble placing names to the faces.

"I could be sleeping now," Kiba muttered, stumbling over his own feet and almost falling onto his face due to his lack of concentration. Kiba's face burned in embarrassment as he quickly found an empty section of wall to lean against. He pulled out his wand and twirling it in his fingers, humming tunelessly to himself as he waited for the dueling to begin.

"Wait," Nicholas called out as Alexandra finished talking, "No head shots?  Where's the excitement there if there aren't objects flying toward your head? What if they are upside down, still no above the shoulder hits?"  Seemed like it would be a great learning experience for anyone who did get hit in the head, they weren't likely to let it happen again.  Then again, some of the younger years were a bit vicious, and didn't have the best aim, so there probably would be stuff flying around head level, but Nicholas could protect his head, he was more worried about other more sensitive areas that always seemed to get hit when kicking or flying objects were involved.  At least the day's dueling would allow him to try using a brick wall as a defense.  He still hadn't figured out how many hits a conjured wall could take, physically or magically.

Casey barely raised his eyebrows at the threat of being silenced. There were a few surprises he could go nonverabally so it wasn't as bad of a handicap as a hand tied behind the back. Or several other limitations based on physical weakness that Casey dueled in spite of.

When it came to appropriate match-ups, Casey felt he could take on the older students. Having him duel peers was almost unfair. Who to face? Babcock? Faust, the Durmstrang?

"Sorry, Hi Alex." Zoe made a note to herself to only call Alexandra Alex, the girl had seemed rather displeased when she had done that.

The young witch inwardly grimaces when Casey came. She pretended to not notice it when he spoke but couldn't help but smirk when Alex called him out on his behavior. It was always refreshing to see Casey getting unkind words, because it meant Zoe never had to fight him, others did that for her.

Zoe looked around the room for another Intermediate to fight. She had a few objects in her pockets that might be useful to be flung at her opponent. She moved from where she stood against the table closer into the room, a sort of signal that she was looking for a partner. It seemed as though she might have to fight someone older than her, as there was no way she'd challenge Casey.

Josh had turned up just before Alex spoke, listening as Alex said they would be trying to use physical objects. Perfect, he was brilliant at Transfiguration, so this should be right up his alley. He rolled his eyes at Bevans' stupid question, and noticed a 4th year looking at the older kids. Oh well, if the kid had that big an ego, he'd eventually challenge Josh, and Josh would probably beat said kid. Very few could, as a matter of fact. Josh had been trained in dueling tactics by his parents, who wanted to make sure he'd ave a chance of escape if he was ever attacked. Josh looked around the room looking for a likely partner.

Alex rolled her eyes, "Nick, don't be stupid. I don't care what happens, you are not going to hit anyone in the head, upside down or otherwise. I don't want to have to take anyone to the hospital hut- and you don't want me to have to do that either." Alex glared, wondering if it would have any impact if she lobotomized Nick. He would probably still talk, so that would defeat the purpose.

"Okay, Rose, there are insufficient members of your ability category, so stop looking like I'm going to kill you and try and kill someone from a more advanced category. Or rather, don't." Alex looked over at the sixth years milling around aimlessly, then nodded, "I would duel you, but I need to keep an eye on everyone. So… Zoe, I think."

Alex raised her voice again, "Torret, you're with Rose. O'Doherty, you can duel Atwood,  Babcock, with Faust, and Bevans, you're duelling Harcroft." Hopefully, having a prefect as his partner would calm Bevans down, not that she really expected it to. He was so… enthusiastic, and it was nice but also slightly worrying. More importantly, Harcroft was competent enough to escape unscathed. Probably.

Alex grinned, "Remember, physical objects can be used against you- so think twice before you use Accio on a table or whatever." Alex was slightly relieved that they had even numbers this time, it left her time to watch everyone so that she could see how they had improved-  or needed to improve. And, in the case of Bevans and O'Doherty, that they weren't going to seriously injure their opponent.