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Atticus twirled his wand in his left hand as he anxiously waited for the duel to start. His feelings were mixed when he was told his first round opponent would be a second year. While he certainly was impressed someone so young would want to play with the big boys - Gryffindors certainly were brave - he was still surprised to see one go through with it. He hadn't heard of Charles Harcroft beyond anecdotes from his older brother who was in Atticus' year. A half-blood with good lineage, one that was more than likely talented for his year. That being said, Atticus has four years on him, a dozen tricks up his sleeve and a burning passion for dueling that was only matched by those like Paolo Rossi, the president. Atticus trained his eyes on the young man standing about thirty feet away.

"Begin!"

Atticus immiedietely ran to the side, opting not to display fancy acrobatics just yet ad he tried to round Charle's position to attack on his flank. He had decided earlier he would leave out the excessively dangerous magic until the later rounds, so when Atticus wordlessly cast his first spell it might've been a surprise to some who knew his aggressive no-holds-barred dueling style. It wasn't directed at Charles, but the ground around him as a means to control his movements.

"Incendio!"

The half-ring grass lit up between Atticus and Charles, preventing the boy from chaging him straight and perhaps singing his eyebrows a wee bit.

Charles was nervous. he had entered the duelling tournament, hoping to do reasonably well. Then he drew one of the best duellers in the club in the first round. He knew he would lose, but could only hope that he wouldn't lose that badly.

"Begin!"

The duel started. Charles was slower to start than Roark, however, he was smarter than to try a head-on charge. He stepped backwards and left, so he was no longer behind the flames, which he ignored.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Charles hoped a bit of levitation would at the very least throw Roark off-balance.

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Atticus smirked as he watched the boy get out of the way of the flames. However he didn't expect the boy to try to levetate him. He felt one of his legs be pulled up and instantly his balance was off so when he shot off his next spell, it narrow missed and went behind Charles.

"Concusso!"

Atticus frowned when he saw the spell his and did his best to slam his foot down and run forward. He broke the levitation spell and rolled forward. Whe he came out of the roll he was about ten feet from Charles - dangerously close for both of them at this point. He wordlessly shouted "Infligo Proterex!", hoping that it hit Charles as if it did, it meant he would be blasted backward and into the air. Atticus could deliver the proverbial 'killing blow' if he was quick enough on his feet and Charles was stunned. That required a lot of things to happen though, so for now he just hoped his spell would hit his mark.

Charles was disappointed he only managed to levitate one of Roark's foot, but at least it had made his opponent's nesxt spell miss. seeing another spell heading towards him, he ducked. He almost succeeded in dodging it, but it clipped his non-wand arm. Fortunately, he was able to keep his balance.

"Expelliarmus!"

Charles hoped the spell would hit, since it would help, at least. He ran then, hoping to get behind Roark.