Gracie Slant vs Joshua Harcroft
Semi-Finals, Remembering Day Tournament 2010
3:00 PM, May 13^th

After days of waiting – of matches both thrilling and dull – it was Gracie’s turn again, hers and Joshua’s, in one last round to decide who would go to the finals. Now that it was down to four, the pressure was on, stronger than before, and Gracie—standing there, in her end of the ring—it made her all the more aware of those mounting stakes. Not only were they battling it out for the right to proceed to the next round, but...

As vice captain of Dueling Club, Gracie, at least, had expectations to live up to. Considering how she never really cared about anyone else’s (save for those of herself and her friends), it was bloody annoying.

Still, the young witch flashed the Gryffindor across from her a confident grin. Joshua was, admittedly, a decent duelist. Any sort of victory – his or hers – wasn’t guaranteed. “May the best witch win,” she teased, clear and flirtatious, and on both sides of the platform a smattering of laughter flitted through the crowd.

At the referee’s signal, she smoothly fell into position. “One,” Professor Donovan counted. “Two.”

All traces of amusement slowly bled from Gracie’s face, although a faint curl of a smile remained.


“Three!”

Josh was somewhat nervous about this duel- Slant was no pushover. " or wizard, Gracie" Josh replied, tone equally light. He kept an eye on her as the count started- she wasn't known to cheat, but a prudent duellist kept an eye on their opponent regardless.

Three!

Josh reacted like lightning when the count finished, firing off a Disarming spell. He didn't truly expect it to work, but he could always hope.

Joshua was fast, but Gracie was faster. Without something to rebound, his charm would go straight for her wand– “Incendio!” she snapped, and a blast of searing flame rushed toward him, meeting the charm head on.

As expected, hers rebounded, but she was already prepared. Quickly dispelled, the flame burst apart, leaving room for her barrage of bright, sizzling darts of light to fly through—all of which, be it boy or shield, spell or matter, exploded in crackling flashes upon contact, immediate and blinding.

Josh had barely had time to react. Fortunately for him, he had managed to recognise the spell Gracie had cast, and shut his eyes tight. it wasn't completely effective- the exploding balls of light had been extremely bright-but it meant he wasn't completely blind when he re-opened his eyes.  "saponify" he yelled- aiming not at Gracie, but at the floor under her feet. What was the spell? nothing more or less than conjuring soapy water- to the point that it was extremely slippery.

As the air around to Joshua sparked with light, Gracie threw up an arm to shield herself, letting a grin curl her lips. She would have hurled another spell, something to keep him distracted, but the spell worked both ways.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t realized doing so – shielding herself – would have its disadvantages, too; with her arm blocking her view, she couldn’t dodge his next spell until it was too late. What the–?

Water splashed at her feet, soaking her shoes. Soapy water. Just. Why.

Was he having her on?!

Eyes narrowing into slits, Gracie swiftly whipped her wand about her overhead. There was only a second to discern it as actual wand movements, because just then the water rose, and with a snap of her wrist her Water Whip cracked through the air—right for Joshua’s wand!

This was getting good. As the last of the aftyereffects from gracie's spell cleared, Josh noticed she was whipping her wand around. Seeing wyhat looked like a whip made of water heading for his wand, he reacted surprsingly simply. He stepped forwards so that his non-wand arm was facing the spell. It hurt- it was being whipped by water- but it meant he still had his wand. He was also less than amused. He waved his wand in an extremely subtle wad movement. He doubted anyone would notice it, but the spell summoned a powerful gust of wind- the kind that could knock a person off their feet.

Given that this was a duel, not once did it ever cross Gracie’s mind that Joshua would stop casting. And given the way he was so fond of dueling... As soon as her whip had hit its mark, Gracie dropped the spell—wordlessly throwing up a Knockback Shield in its stead!

The shield held up for only so long, until the onslaught was at its strongest; indeed, it snapped under the pressure. But instead of leaving Gracie vulnerable, it allowed the wind to converge, focus, pool—until it snapped like a rubber band, sending the gust right back at him.

Rebounded, there was a gap left in its wake, just like before. And just like the before, Gracie filled it up immediately, unwilling to let the opportunity for even a second.

Silently – viciously – she cast. Epoxibulus!

Small black globs shot towards the Gryffindor spit-quick, pelting him without mercy. And as soon as they hit, they rapidly swelled—sticking to anything they touched and weighing it down.

OK, this was getting pretty good- Josh was impressed Gracie managed to reflect his blast of wind.He was annoyed at the balls weighing him down, but fortunately, they had missed his wand arm- he would find it trickier to dodge in future, but could still cast spells- or shields. On that point, since he was pretty sure Gracie still had a Knockback Shield up, he wouldn't be able to use his favoured spells- which sent something at his opponent- since they would be knocked back Therefore, he sent a Stunner at Gracie- however, it was wordless.

Last bout!

---

Gracie kept Joshua within her sights for as long as she could, pelting him with globs until they riddled his form like warts, black as pitch. She could see that he could still stand – cast, even – but it was obvious that the globs were taking their toll; not only were they heavy, but they grew heavier, rapidly swelling until they stuck to each other—ballooning to the size of bludgers. Quaffles. Larger than bowling balls. And they didn’t stop.

Worse, they weren’t so easily removed. The larger they grew, the harder they were to remove, clinging to anything they touched with worrying persistence. Movement would slow. With every passing moment, Joshua disappeared from view.[1]

Though the Stunner was silently delivered, it was easy enough to dodge. But there would be no relaxing until Joshua was down for the count. And though air deprivation would finish the job soon enough… This would end now.

With Epoxibulus weighing Joshua down, his wand arm made an easy target. In a blink of an eye, Gracie lashed out, her very wand itself transfigured into a whip—wrapping itself around his fist, and held fast.

She looked Joshua right in the eye then, and sent a Paralysis Curse coursing down the whip’s length. A variant of the Full Body-Bind Curse, it had the unusual quality of treating material as though they were conductive. And it traveled now, faster than a current.

1.	Like this!

Joshua had to think fast- these blobs were becoming a serious problem- and cast Relashio- blasting the whip off not a second before he would have been hit. If he was lucky, it would hit Gracie. Finally, he cast another Stunner- hoping to hit Gracie. Afyter that, he could barely stand. If The Stunner hit, he'd win by virtue of knocking Gracie out first. If not, she'd win, as he was struggling to keep conscious.

By a stroke of luck Joshua knocked off her whip, but his Stunner flew wide of its mark. And by the looks of things, it’d be his last; the globs were bloody giant now, smothering and clinging and all around alarming, and now–

He slowly toppled to the floor, folding beneath the weight and lack of air.[1]  As the crowd went up in boos and cheers, Gracie exhaled, the knot of tension in her gut loosening.  There we go, she thought, and then realized she was shaking, just a little.

Donovan hopped back onto the platform, heading for Joshua. At her cursory look Gracie ended the spell, leaving the unconscious boy sprawled out on the floor. Staring at him, she supposed he looked almost... heroic. Floppy, but heroic.  Maybe it was a Gryffindor thing...

It took a moment to remember someone was speaking.

“—the victor, for knocking out her opponent!” the professor’s voice rang out. Owlishly Gracie blinked back to the present; people were on their feet if they weren’t already, stomping and cheering, the occasional whistle piercing through the noise. She flushed at them all, pleased, and jogged towards Joshua’s end of the stage.

Once he was up (or at least, sitting upright), Donovan offered them an approving grin. “Excellent job, both of you,” she said, patting the nearest shoulder before making her way off the stage.

“Thanks, professor.” Smiling a little breathlessly, Gracie thrust out a hand. “Great match, Harcroft.”

1.	Agreed by both parties behind the scenes~