Advanced Charms Test

[-Roan-]

Half-past one, and Roan was pacing up and down the Dueling hall. The clock chimed, but the Hufflepuff took no noticed. She was dressed in her black school robes and her brown hair was drawn back into a ponytail where she usually wore it. Her face was drawn with stress and worry. Today was the day she took a test for placement in Advanced Charms. She was a 5th year, too young to take it, and if she wanted to be part of the more difficult class, she needed to pass this test. It was very stressful, Roan barely ever attended classes, and didnt know what to expect. The teacher wasnt even due for another half hour.

The Hufflepuff's wand was out and swaying at her side with each step she took, a strong grip on the handle. Roan's head was down towards the ground, her eyes unfocused. Instead, she was running through every single charm and spell she knew in her head, and how to use them. The girl had spent many hour in the library, even before this, to learn charms to aide her in combat. She had even performed a few of these to help her own life. So it wasnt like the girl was ignorant of charms, or unskilled. Just nervous.

She continued this for about fifteen minutes before going to sit against the wall of the Dueling Hall, breathing calmly. Oh come on Roan, you can face Fenris Fenrir, traitorous students, a madman, and demons, but you cant face this test? She thought angrily. These days the girl was getting used to the stress of combat, just not the stress of a classroom. It was a lot different, even if it wasnt someone's life on the line, because for once she wasnt thinking about helping someone else, just herself. Roan thought she really needed this class, it could teach her things that books couldnt. Things like theory and movements, and tips. With the war going on, the Hufflepuff took every chance she could get.

The girl was startled out of her breathing by the loud chiming of the school clock. Three in the Afternoon. The test would begin soon. Roan stood up rapidly and walked into the open of the empty Dueling Hall, and fixed her robes before watching the door with eager eyes. It was time to prove she could do what it takes to get into this class.

[Adhara Naunet]

Faint footsteps could be heard coming down the hall at quarter after two. They paused at the entrance to the duelling hall corridor, whispered words were spoken too softly for any passerby to hear and then the sound of silence permeated the area. A quiet figure couldn't been seen striding up to the open door of the duelling hall and smirking a bit when she saw that it was already occupied. She'd half expected that, after all. And moreover, she'd planned well for just such an occurance.

Her footsteps still silenced, with the invisibility charm still on, she slipped into the room, being sure to give the panicky girl a wide berth. For the next half hour she traipsed around the perimeter of the room, casting spells here and there, even aiming a few at the ceiling. She wasn't planning on cutting the 5th year any kind of slack, and it could likely be said that she was going all out. Which, for Adhara, was quite a feat.

This would be an excellent show, and the Professor knew that the spectators would be showing up momentarily.

Finally, everything was in place. Adhara stepped back and pretended to admire her handiwork; in reality she was just staring at a seemingly empty room with a smirk on her face. The clock chimed three and the green eyed woman had to bite back a laugh as she saw Roan startle like a baby deer and jump immediately to the center of the room, eyes on the door.

Adhara walked around behind her, took the silencing charm off, and allowed the invisibility charm to slowly melt away. She coughed lightly to clear her throat, and tried to make the mischievious smile on her face disappear. It worked, to an extent. There was still a coy up-quirking of her lips, but since the girl was so nervous, and didn't know her well, that wouldn't be too much of a giveaway.

"Miss Aliagh, I'm glad to see that you're punctual. Your objective is simple; you must get past me and touch the far wall of the hall. You may use any legal spell that you know, and I may use any knowledge in my arsenal. You have a half hour." With that, Addie bowed to the 'Puff student and simply stood in the back part of the hall, not even bothering to take out her wand.

[Hayzie]

"Oh boy..." Hayzie whispered. Adhara had invited her along to a test of sorts for the Advanced Charms lesson and the blonde hadn't passed up the opportunity to watch... but what she had in place for the girl amused even a girl who had heard and helped with many plans before.

Opening the door quietly with her wand, the new Head Girl badge flickering against black robes, after having come from a dull Transfiguration class, Hayzie smiled at her friend, noting the glint in her eyes. It likely matched Hayzie's own. Roan would be fine with this. She had faced much worse than Adhara Naunet.

Wheeling herself to the side of the room and keeping to one side, Hayz whispered: "Go on, Roan.. you can do this.."

[-Roan-]

Roan jumped when Professor Naunet spoke, and whirled around to face her. The girl's face was beet red, she hadnt expected to be snuck up on. "Hello Professor Naunet." She said calmly, listening to everything she said. But the girl couldnt help but keep a puzzled look off her face. Get past her, and touch the far wall? That cant be that hard... She thought, but quickly shook if off. This was an Advanced Charms test, there were bound to be obsticles along the way. Anything could happen. Roan took a few moments to think about what her objectives were, and what to do about them. Ok, treat fighting her like you would fight Fenris, weaken and run.

The Hufflepuff girl was about to start when Hayzie wheeled in, a slight distraction Roan couldnt afford. Great, someone to see this... The pressure was mounting to begin her test, if she was given a half hour, then it was obvious this would be hard. The girl bowed to Adhara like the Professor had to her, and took a deep breath. She already had her spells in mind, just had to find a way to execute them in the best possible way.

Bringing her wand up in one fluid movement, she yelled her first spell. "Bombarda!" The wooden wand was pointed at the floor just in front of Professor Naunet's feet, causing a large hole to occur and dust to fly up in the air. Same tactic she had used on Sen in her last duel with a witch, differenet spells though. Follow up! Follow up! She thought, and a second later her wand was moving again, and Roan was shouting another spell. "Conjunctivitis!" The spell to close someone's eyes. This spell had done more harm to her in the past than to the other person, but Roan hoped it would work.

In truth, the Hufflepuff was worried, this was a Professor. Not some lycan, she would know about combating spells, and much more advanced ones than she knew. This kept in mind, she started forward, done with her spells for the moment, and waiting for Professor Adhara to make her move. The test had begun.

[Adhara Naunet]

The first spell had amused the Professor, and caused her to wonder if Roan had forgotten her objective already. Granted, the spell hadn't the power behind it that it would have if Addie herself had cast it, but it did blow a good sized hole in the floor, creating yet another obstacle the girl had to get around to touch the wall. She was making her own life difficult, that was for sure, since even though the pit didn't stretch the width of the room, it still blocked the most direct path to the opposite wall.

Thankfully, her wandless shield charm had done its job by protecting her from the debris strewn about by the force of the blast. It weakened signficantly with the next spell, a surprisingly strong Conjunctivitis, but still the spell was rebounded by the shield. Adhara negated the shield spell for the moment, causing the slight blue glow surrounding her figure to dissipate.

Before the last of the dust settled to the ground, her first time charm kicked in and fog flooded the room. Addie lifted her wand to her eyes and murmured a spell that would allow her to see through it. She suspected that the student would have something up her sleeve as well, so she needed to be quick before the girl was able to see where the next round was coming from.

She lifted her wand again and a stream of dark purple sparks shot towards the girl. In Addie's first year at MH, she had witnessed a duel where Damiana Morgan had cursed her opponent with a spell that caused them to relieve their worst nightmares. This was a spinoff of that dark magic, one which simply intensified the other person's emotions, and in Roan's case, would increase her nerves signficantly.

[-Roan-]

Sloppy, sloppy sloppy sloppy! Roan berated herself. The trick she used on a traitorous Gryffindor werent going to work on an Advanced Charms Professor. The fog rolled in and the girl immidiatley thought of a spell to use. Most would use the light bringing spell, but that would remove Roan of her wand. Instead she used a tactic she had used at the graveyard. "Relashio!" Her voice was muffled, but she cast the spell several times, directing her wand around. The fog was illumiated by a fierce red glow, making it easier to see where she was. But it wasnt enough to stop that spell Adhara had sent at her. "Prot..."

Her voice was cut off as the purple sparks hit her. The first instinct Roan had was to panic, but she steadied herself. This was magic, it could not dominate her. Nerves and fear rose up in her stomach but the Hufflepuff stood still for a few moments, breathing deeply. Xailyn didnt conquer you like this in the graveyard, this teacher cant do it to you now. You are the only person in charge of your emotions. Now you are strong and can get through this, go! After a few deep breaths she was calm. Those nerves were still there though. "I will not let it dominate me." she whispered, concentrating at the task at hand now.

Shakily she raised her wand up and pointed it where she could see the faint outline of the Professor. "Incendio!" Her favorite spell of all time, every time she used it good things happened. Her enemies usually hated it. This spell did a few good things, it lit up the room as the stream of fire rushed at Adhara, and it created a block of sight for a slight moment between the two. A chance Roan knew wasnt going to be there that long. So with resolve she started forward again towards the back of the room.

The Hufflepuff had a strategy to all of this, Imobolize the Professor or keep her distracted, or her sight hampered, while she kept moving. That involved a lot of the combat spells Roan knew. Always play by your strength, and the spells meant to hamper and harm were her strength. Roan had to edge around her hole in the ground, berating herself again, but when she was around she pointed her wand at Adhara again, sending another eye closing spell at her. "Conjunctivitis" Keeping her wand up this time she readied for anything, while continuing to try and keep her emotions under control

[Adhara Naunet]

Addie's general rule in duelling was to never repeat anything twice, especially if it hadn't worked the first time. She'd simply sidestepped the flame charm, and it hit the wall behind her uselessly. However, this second bout of of conjunctivitis irritated her. It was time to show the girl the meaning of creativity.

Thankfully, the thin golden line on the floor--impossible to notice if you didn't know to look for it--was still between her and the girl, signifying that the mirror charm she'd put in place before was still ready to be activated. The professor snuck a quick glance at her watch, and judged that she had about five minutes...plenty of time. The girl had only made a few yards' worth of progress towards the back of the room, and she wasn't beginning to worry yet.

She had just activated the mirror charm, causing the air between her and Roan to glimmer faintly, when the student aimed the second spell at her. Oh Roan...she thought. At least the mirror hadn't been set to send back spells with the everlasting charm attached to them, that would be a disaster. As it was, the spell rebounded with a rush back to Roan's casting location.

[-Roan-]

Forget it, that spell is done. She thought with the fire spell, she wasnt angry or furious at the Professor, so that fire spell wouldnt grow to the strength it had when she had shot it at Sen. But when she saw her own spell shoot back at her she was ready. "Protego!" The shield spell went up right in time, and instead of shooting back at the mirror spell the Professor had put up, it bounced uselessly to the ground. It seemed she was done with Adhara, she was going to get past her, and any spell she used directly on her. But still Roan was going to try, she couldnt give up yet. The girl was going to show her just how badly she wanted into that Advanced Charms class.

"Mobilicorpus!" She yelled, pointing her wand at Adhara. The spell to move her, and Roan brandished her wand in the direction of the door to the Dueling Hall. But the girl didnt stop to see if the spell worked, time was ticking and she hadnt gotten that far. If she didnt touch that wall by the time the time was up she failed, and Roan couldnt live with that. It would be horribly embarassing and not worth the time.

Quelling another rising of panic in her stomach the girl took off at a run down the hall, her wand up and ready,ears listening for any spell from Adhara. She was ready. Treat this like a battle with Fen, be aware of your surroundings, never give up no matter what happens. Dont let pain or fear dominate you, and never lower you wand. Fight to the last second, you want this chance. Prove to her you want this. Thoughts rushed through her head, but Roan was forced to stop where she stood.

Her sparks were wearing off above them. "Relashio!" She yelled, running out of breath. The girl stopped for a moment to look around with the red light in the area. Hopefully no shield charms or mirror spells were around, but the girl was positive Adhara had something around here to hinder the girl. Roan waited for just that.

[Adhara Naunet]

Adhara had been expecting the panicked spell followed by the mad dash. What she was surprised by was the fact that it'd taken this long for the girl to resort to it. By this point, the brunette had already lowered her guard and figured that the girl wouldn't be so desperate to give in to the urge. Apparently she'd been wrong. The spell hit her just as the time release charm on the fog wore off, and her coup de grace kicked in.

The Professor went flying through the air and landed with a thump near the door. Or, at least where the door used to be. In place of the fog charm, the room was now turned into a desert. The walls themselves had melted away and the room had been filled with sand. Nothing remained of the visible room dimensions, sand dunes and blindingly bright blue sky stretched as far as the eye could see. The temperature in the room was slowly increasing, and would stop at just the point to make the heat uncomfortable. In one direction, palm trees swayed in the distance, caressed by an invisible breeze. In another, specks crossed the dunes; if one squinted, a family of nomads and their camels could just be seen. For all intents and purposes they'd been thrown into the middle of the Sahara.

As soon as Adhara landed on the sand, she cast a disillusionment charm on herself and Hayzie, following it up immediately up with the everlasting charm. Generally, Addie believed that it was completely unethical to utilize her favorite charm during duels, but it wasn't as if she was using it on her opponent. She'd simply used it on the space and on herself. Hayz, being a spectator, didn't count. The point of the this exercise was to see how the girl reacted to the situation she'd been presented.

Before Roan could fully react to her change in surroundings, Addie used the same mobilicorpus on the girl, lifting her high into the air and spinning her around a bit. Not enough to make her nauseous, just enough to disorient her. As a final touch, she wandlessly cast a nonverbal spell to prolong the effects. Then she sat back to see what the girl would do.

[Wilting Rose]

Wilting Rose strolled into the Duelling Hall and seated herself, disillusioning herself so she could watch. She had been invited by Miss Naunet to watch the duel, and even to judge, but she would rather be a spectator like everybody else. She had been impressed by Adhara's ingenuity in proclaiming duels for those underage and wishing to partake in her class, and she was interested to see how an old pupil of Magic Horizons would fare in wand-to-wand combat.

Smoothing out her robes, she settled back to see that Adhara was mostly using non verbal spells. Interesting for the battle, unfortunate for the spectators, thought Rose with a wry grin.

[-Roan-]

From the sound behind her, her spell had worked for once, and for that Roan was proud. But it seemed now the game had changed. The entire room had gone to a desert in the matter of a second, another of the Professor's tricks. With with dismay the girl looked around and realized none of the walls were there. She couldnt finish the test if she didnt touch the far wall. Great, I have to defeat this desert...She thought angrily. The heat was rising, causing her palms and face to sweat, but that wasnt the worst thing to harm Roan.

It was the warmth of the sun on the few areas of her bare skin. It reminded her of the few times she had been burned, something the girl feared above all things. The girl was picked up and spun around, something she bore silently, but with a look of panic on her face. Now she had no sense of direction. She uttered a small cry before calming herself. She was almost done, if she didnt hurry up and find a way to touch that wall, she failed. And she didnt make it into the class. Roan couldnt allow that so she assesed her options quickly and carefully. The girl was only a 5th year, not strong enough to take down this desert. The only person who could do it was the Professor.

Another problem, neither Ms. Naunet nor Hayzie were in sight. Gone it seemed, though the Hufflepuff knew they had to be around, hidden. The Professor had to observe her test, and wouldnt leave her alone. How to find her though. Think, think, think. You need her to release the spell, if she doesnt, you dont pass. How to do it though, how to do it... Pointing her wand in the air, she said the first thing that came to mind, though she highly doubted it would. But still she filled her voice with concentraion and determination. "Accio Professor Naunet!" It would take power to call a human being to her, and Roan hoped she had it.

The girl's head was spinning, the effects from being twirled around by Adhara still affecting her. This wasnt good, if she couldnt keep her head, she wouldnt amount to anything. She stood stock still in her place and took one deep breath, quelling fear and now her spinning head. "Breath...you dont have much more time...breath..."She said aloud, giving her summoning charm a few minutes to take effect. But inside the girl was panicking, if this didnt work, how was she to finish the test?

Another spell came to mind, and Roan knew she had to use everything she had at this moment. This test wasnt a game, she couldnt mess around. So far she had been acting poorly, only one of her spells actually managing to do its purpose. "Finite Incantum!" Her voice echoed in the desert, but nothing happened. The Hufflepuff didnt know about the everlasting charm, and there was no use casting the other one again. "Come on..." She whispered, getting angrier and more frustrated by the second. This test seemed impassable.

[Adhara Naunet]

Adhara was getting really sick of flying through the air. However, it was quite impressive that the girl's summoning charm was strong enough to grab her, and it was only this thought that stopped her from cursing the girl from here until doomsday when she hit the sand with a soft whump. The professor grumpily spat out a mouthfull and then realized that she couldn't move.

If she did, she would have given away where she'd fallen. Since she was disillusioned, if she stayed still it would be impossible to see her imprint. With any kind of luck the student wouldn't accidently step on her.

[-Roan-]

Roan put her wand down at her side in pure frustration. This was getting her nowhere, these spells weren’t working. Her summoning charm was a failure, whatever the Professor did to hide herself must have hidden must negate the spell. With a sigh she looked around. Sand, sand, sand. A few landmarks, but she wasn’t fortunate enough to see them before being spun around. Think, she couldn’t have moved you into a desert, nor could she have just deleted this room. The castle is very heavily protected by magic, she couldn’t just delete the walls. At this thought, the Hufflepuff gasped a bit. All I have to do is find the wall, it has to be here!

She took a deep breath and spun around, looking around. There was nothing that could mark where that wall was. What was she going to do? Taking another deep breath she put a hand to her head. This disorientation was giving her a right little headache, and she wanted it over with as soon as humanly possible. Plus it was getting to be harder to control the emotions inside of her from the Professor’s other spell that had hit her. “Suck it up and go for it Roan, you have no time to lose. Go with the first thing that comes to mind.” Sadly, the first thing that came to mind was to just search. The Duel Hall was big, but if she ran at full speed, she could cover a large amount of distance. Hopefully in time.

With a look of resolution she turned and chose her direction, setting off at a run, wand down at her side. The disorientation made trying to run hard, but Roan managed. Sand got into her shoes, and the heat in the room was warm. Fortunatley, she chose a short way to run. An outstretched hand met cool stone, not visible to the human eye. This caused her to gasp and have a small smile. She found the left wall of the room, not the far wall she was looking for, but something that could immensely help. For if she followed it in one direction, she had to find the far wall sometime. Roan knew it couldn’t be the wall with the door, that was on the other side of the hole in the ground, and though Adhara had spun her, she hadn’t moved her.

Which direction to choose though, for if she chose the wrong one, time was certain to run out before she found the far wall. There was no true way to know either, the desert looked the same from all sides. To steady herself, Roan took another deep breath and began to think, keeping her hand on the stone as if to assure herself it was there. How badly do you want this… She thought, closing her eyes for a moment. Then with resolve she set off in the best way she knew, what her gut told her. Her footsteps were light on the sand as she ran, her hand skimming on the stone wall. Fortunatley, her intuition was right, if she continued this way, and Adhara didn’t activate anymore spells or traps, Roan would find that far wall if she kept going.