First position. Wand at the ready.

Dione summoned the memory of her mother's crisp, clear voice, letting it echo through her mind. At once, her body moved to answer. Her heels, clothed in simple black ballet flats, clicked together. Her already impeccable posture straightened ever further. Her wand arm snapped straight, exactly even with her square shoulders, as her off-hand -- the staff-hand, as Mama called it -- curled back and up in a graceful arch to maintain her balance.

She held her position with practiced dedication. The polished silver of her translation artifact glistened at her throat and hands in the pale, partly cloudy afternoon sun. It was warmer today than it had been in a while, not to mention dryer, and Dio was determined to take advantage of it by moving her practice outside.

Her eyes narrowed on her target: a plain but sturdy wooden doll sent by her mother for exactly this purpose, a rope tied around its waist to dangle it from a nearby tree. She breathed in and out through her nose, her mother's voice counting time in her mind.

"And one, two, three...And one, two, three...And one, two, three....And one...!"

She spun, imagining a spell whizzing inches right through where she'd been standing. In mid-spin, she 'countered' the move with a flip of her wrist, a silent Smack Hex striking the doll head-on. The clap! of her strike echoed around the immediate area of the lake as she slipped into second position with her legs apart and her balancing arm raised higher. The doll swung wildly on its branch as Dione waited for it to still.

She didn't know she was being watched. Or at least, she didn't know yet.

Intelligent, methodical, graceful, thought young Roland Dylanis as he contemplated the young Slytherin girl's movements and practice with her wand upon the grounds. His only clue to her identity was the Slytherin crest he caught emblazoned upon her clothes, but even so despite this girl being unknown to him, Roland could not help but find himself strangely enraptured by her movements and what seemed to be a performance. He recognized the forms she was going through, they were highly familiar to practices he had to drill on when he was growing up with his grandfather.

What astounding this boy most of all, however, was her ability to cast spells without even so much as a word from her lips! It caught Rou by surprise because even his grandfather, in his relentless, backbreaking training of the boy, never expected Roland to be able to cast spells wordlessly as early as his first year! And yet here he saw a Slytherin girl in his same year, if his estimates were right, doing it without even breaking a sweat trying.

During all of this, Roland carved away at the block of wood he had brought with him for his normal afternoon routine of having some along time after classes had concluded for the day. He was on his way to his normal spot by the lake for solace when he happened upon this girl and her practice. And in this instance, he decided to challenge himself once more like he had the day Aoife stole his shoes and socks from his feet. Not looking at the wood, he continued to observe the girl's movements and ballet-esque dance of form and allowed his hands to fashion from the block a sculpture of her in the midst of one such movement, her hands held above her head and one foot drawn to the opposing leg's knee. It was a perfect capturing of one of her transitional movements between her casting forms.

Rou did not know why, exactly, he chose a fellow classmate to serve as his sculpting inspiration today, but there was something about this girl and her abilities that seemed to resonate within the boy.

Focus firmly locked on her practice, Dione took no notice of the Hufflepuff watching her moves. Dueling, as her mother always told her, was an art. It required both flexibility and rigidity, discipline and spontaneity. She moved from flat-foot stances to the tips of her toes, dancing to the silent counts of time in her mind, mindful of her footwork, her pacing, and the placement of her spells.

And one, two, three, defend -- the shield charm not yet mastered, its place in the pattern was held by a flicker of silver sparks from her wand.

And one, two, three, attack -- another hex rattled the doll on its dangling wire.

And one, two, three, dodge...

She spun,  her arms tucked close, and moved directly from that into a leap that would place her in the perfect position to counter. As she landed, her left leg kicked out for balance. Without warning, its black ballet flat flew off. The shoe arched through the air towards her spectator and landed, with a soft thump square on his head. Dione didn't even notice. 

When Rou's head was rather violently smacked with a projectile shoe, the boy reacted in an unanticipated yet natural way. He was caught off-guard by the shoe due to him beginning to concentrate more and more on his sculpture as time passed due to necessity. He was putting the finishing touches on his carving, perfectly capturing this girl's grace in its craftsmanship, when the shoe hit him and sent him into a quick defensive mode.

Rou's cherrywood wand was drawn from a sidepocket in his heavy cloak when he was hit, and his keen eyes immediately sweeped the area looking for where it had come from. He saw the Slytherin girl with one bare foot, the shoe seemingly flying off after she threw out her leg to balance. A small smirk on his face, Rou decided a small bit of playful vengeance was in order when he pointed his wand at the girl's other foot.

"Accio!" he said, casting a simple Summoning Charm that was manageable due to her close range. Either the force of the spell would pull the girl over as her other shoe flew off, leaving her completely barefoot, or the shoe would tear itself from her foot and render it completely useless in the process.

Either way, the sardonic boy thought, she was in for a surprise.

In the back of her mind, Dione registered an apparent change in temperature. She thought at first that the weather might have taken a sudden bad turn, only to realize that the only chill was around her left foot. But before she had a chance to glance down, her right leg -- on which she had balanced -- was suddenly yanked as though a rug had been pulled out from under her.

With a silent gasp, Dio tumbled forward into the grass. The other shoe flew off her foot. Her wand slipped from her fingers and fell into the grass. She lay still a moment, stunned, then twisted to follow her errant footwear's path. There, not thirty feet away, stood a Hufflepuff -- a boy she recognized from their classes, but whose name she didn't know. And he had her shoes.

Such gall! How dare he?

Dione huffed, tossing her long hair out of her face. She snatched up her wand and rolled to her feet, careful to keep her legs together and her skirt tucked in. The Hufflepuff was smirking, pleased with his little joke. Dione advanced on him, wand raised. See how he liked this joke.

She snapped her wand like a whip, summoning a voiceless Hot-Foot Hex -- payback in her favorite form. Red sparks like lightning lashed from the tip of her wand, arching down until their forked tips caught the Hufflepuff's feet.

The girl obviously did not like getting her feet chilled by the brisk day's temperatures, as she immediately retaliated with an unspoken curse. As Rou was unable to actively identify her hex, he instead got a hands-on lesson when his feet were hit and promptly burst into an incredibly painful burning sensation. The pain caught the boy off-guard and he fell straight to the ground, though now, at least, he knew that it was the Hot-Foot Hex being used and, as such, meant that he had to disarm his opponent if he was going to stop the pain on the soles of his feet.

The simple Disarming spell would be adequate here, but Rou knew he needed to go a bit further, especially if he was going to neutralize the Slytherin girl completely, as she definitely seemed to be bent on some small vengeance for his theft of her shoes on this chilly day. Not that he was going to give them back, though, as he quickly pointed his wand right at the girl's wand-hand and called out a jinx:

"Vibrodigi", he said, firing a Jelly-Fingers Curse right toward her hand. Even if the spell did not hit her hand, it would require her to break her concentration on her own jinx and allow him to right himself and ready his wand for a defense.

If the boy had been hoping to distract Dione with his shoe-stealing prank, he'd chosen the wrong moment for it. Even with her feet freezing in the grass -- the wet, muddy, bug-infested, filthy grass! -- her mother's dueling instructions echoed clear in her mind.

And one, two, three, dodge.

Dione turned, her steps long and graceful, arms swinging to maintain the proper balance. Her hot-foot hex was broken, the red lightning vanishing quick as it came. The boy's jelly-fingered jinx -- a fine choice at their level, one that she had yet to master because of its inelegance -- missed her wand-hand but caught her left. Its effects were instantaneous, the fingers going numb and jiggling without shape or form.

"Ignore it," whispered her mother's voice. "Second move. Level the playing field."

If only she had the Silencing Charm mastered! Then they'd see what a match he was on her level, with only non-verbal spells at his command. Alas, she only knew the theory, not the technique. She would have to settle for limiting his speaking in other ways. As she came out of the turn she snapped her wand towards the boy's stomach, summoning singulto -- the Hiccup Hex. If it found its mark, the Hufflepuff would first feel a mild pressure to the stomach. Then the hiccups would hit, hard and fast.

His distraction did its job and Roland was back on his feet and ready before the Slytherin girl could fire her next hex. He did not see a spell stream leave the girl's wand but however, he definitely could feel the power of her spell gathering and thus timed his defense to that. Before her hex hit Rou, he deftly parried it while sidestepping away from his wand before leveling it straight at the girl. Tossing away her shoes, for she definitely would not be needing them for awhile, Roland could tell she was definitely not enjoying having her bare feet in the grass, temperature notwithstanding.

Maybe she should get off her feet awhile, the boy snarked to himself as he followed up his parry with a Tripping Jinx aimed straight for her.

"Accido", he cried and the invisible spell fired forth.

As the boy deflected her spell, Dione advanced quickly, closing the distance between them with swift, measured steps. Her haste to close in on her opponent proved her undoing. His Trip Jinx caught her right in the ankles. She stumbled forward, arms swinging in a failed attempt to keep her balance. She caught the Hufflepuff boy around the neck, fell into him, and knocked them both to the ground in a heap.

Next thing she knew she was face-first in the grass again, half-tangled-with, half-on-top-of the boy who'd swiped her shoes.  Catching her breath, Dio sat up indignantly and shoved at the boy's shoulders, presumably to push him away, though he barely moved. She snatched up her wand and gestured nonsense words with her left hand.

You! Why you....! How dare you, you...!

Her translation artifact, thankfully, did not attempt to turn the nonsense into words.

Roland was surprised that the girl was able to close with him so quickly, especially fast enough for her to react to his Tripping Hex by, in turn, pulling him to the ground with her! As they tangled about on the ground and regained their seating, Rou's wand slipped from his hand, as apparently did hers. When the Slytherin girl pushed his shoulders as he sat up and began seemingly flailing her free hand about, Roland reached over and snatched his wand up while rising to his feet, intent on regaining his defense before she could strike.

But as he turned back to the girl, who was still seated, it quickly became clear to Roland that she wasn't flailing her hand about at all. In fact, it seemed more like she was trying to convey a message to him judging by the form and movements of her hand. The fact that she was not further attacking him was information enough, and the boy raised his eyebrow slightly before shifting his wand to his left hand and then offering his right for her to help himself up. Hopefully, this gesture would not provoke any sort of retaliation, but he would not hold his breath.

Dione eyed the offered hand, the fire in her eyes fading a bit as she recognized a true gentlemanly gesture. After only a moment's hesitation, she took it and rose to her feet. The grass here was a bit less moist but no less uncomfortable against her bare soles. Worse, fragments of it now covered her skirt.

She huffed and brushed herself off before turning to glare at the Hufflepuff boy. She signed at him, using both hands in sharp, clear motions.

"Say something," said the translation artifact, the gem at her throat flashing softly with each syllable. She added, You idiot, in her mind. It wasn't like she could carry any semblance of a conversation. This, this boy owed her an explanation for the theft of her shoes, and she didn't even know him. "Name. Your name."

She was signing at him. Of course, it all made sense, now, considering that she was his age and yet was already casting wordless magic. It would be a necessity for something who could not speak and it seemed she compensated by wearing a choker that translated her sign language into speech. Judging by her body language, though, she was definitely hacked off about their little tussle. Rou sheepishly put away his wand before responding to her demand for his name.

"Roland," he muttered, his eyes meeting hers as he bowed his head a bit from his bashfulness, "Roland Dylanis. What's yours?"

Dione huffed again, the tension in her shoulders fading. Her mouth was still sealed into a thin white line, but that was nothing new. She almost never opened it, for obvious reasons. The rush of the duel died away and she got the chance to actually look at this Dylanis boy properly. He wasn't bad looking, for a little boy, but he had 'Hufflepuff' written all over him, with the sheepish smile and bashful little bow.

Still. The duel had been impressive enough. Dione brushed her hair back behind one ear.

"Die-oh-neigh. Say-or," said her artifact, translating the practiced rapid-fire signs of her phonetic name. The limitations of magic and sign language would never stop frustrating her.

Rou's intrigue in this girl's manner of speaking became obvious as his eyes followed her hands, seemingly paying more attention to her sign language than the glowing translation necklace that was making her hands movements into spoken word. He still heard, however, and his eyes then sharply snapped to her mouth as she finished speaking, taking notice that it didn't seem to make any attempt to open or even move. The boy felt, in a way, that she might even prefer that her mouth be removed entirely, though that was more his sardonic thought than anything.

It quickly became clear that she was definitely a proper type of Slytherin girl. From her tough retribution from the theft of her shoes to the posture she took, it was very clear that she had the mind of a lady, one that was every bit as sharp as one driven by determination as she. Considering that she had mastered nonverbal casting, or was at least adept at it, at an age that even Grandpa Roland knew would be folly to try and force into the boy's mind, Rou quickly gathered that this girl was definitely more than she seemed. And even so, the fact that she seemed to take somewhat of an interest in him did not deter the boy from pressing further with the conversation.

"You can call me Rou, then, Dione," the boy said, managing a more friendly smile and extending his left hand forward, palm-up so that she could place her hand in his rather than actually shake it in a gentleman-style greeting. "And, uh, what could I call you?" His voice faltered a bit when he realized that he was doing something that he'd really had no experience in: Interacting with others. Aside from a few instances of his antisocial nature putting off several classmates, and the unfortunate theft of his shoes by Aoife the other day, Rou had made something of a point to keep to himself. It allowed him a solace that he never got to experience at home, what with the drilling and the studying he was being driven to do.

As such, he briefly met Dione's eyes before looking back down as his shyness go the best of him, giving her a full glimpse of his deep, rich blue eyes with encroaching shades of green, yellow, and bronze suggesting that they were going to change to a different color once his growing truly set in. His hand remained extended, however.

Roland -- propriety dictated that she not shorten his name until they became better acquainted -- offered his hand again. Dione counted off five seconds before sliding her own into his grip, the indication subtle but clear that she held herself in higher regard. His knowledge of proper gentlemanly actions appealed to her, despite the low-brow birth indicated by his goldenrod robes. And while she was aware of his eyes following her hands, he didn't draw attention to it -- another point for propriety.

Once their respectful hand contact was complete, she freed her hand again and tested a combination of signs to mimic the sound of his name. "Row-land." She cocked her head, affirming his approval or disapproval of the combination before she continued. "Die-oh-neigh is fine." Her mother and dorm-mates called her Dio sometimes, but again, that wouldn't be appropriate, as they'd only just met.

A cool, wet wind blew past, chilling her bare feet. Dione shivered and scanned for her shoes. From her current position, she spied only one of the pair; the other had been tossed away and she couldn't see it.

She beckoned her hand low, putting it in Roland's field of vision to urge him to look up. Once she had has attention she gestured towards the lone shoe with a questioning motion, then set her expression in a displeased frown, waiting for him to produce its match. An explanation for why he'd targeted her in the first place would also be welcomed, and to this end she added a single, "Why." to the end of her thought.