Don't Underestimate Me

Prologue

The wand felt wrong in her hand, dueling wands were longer than her normal one and thicker too. The armor was a little too large since it was her brother's set, even though it was a few years old at this point. Everything was irritating her at the moment, distracting her from how loud her heartbeat was.

This was so low stakes as far as duels went. Just her and her brother in the backyard. When she had brought up the subject of being interested never in a million years had she thought he would have said yes. Let alone agree to be the one to train her himself. But here she was, staring through the mesh face shield, listening to the instructions of how to start a proper duel.

"Now you bow." Mace soothingly said.

"Not so low." He sighed. "If you bow that low, some more dishonorable people could take you out right then and there. Don't ever take your eyes off of your opponent." She nodded her head. Storing that away. "Okay. Now we count to three."

One. She felt her heartbeat start to rise again. Two. Her hands were so sweaty she was going to drop her wand the moment she moved. Three. Deep breath. Go.

It happened so fast she didn't even feel the motion. Suddenly everything clicked into place and she was no longer nervous. With a breath she waved her wand in a u shape, just a second faster than her brother, as he went flying onto his back.

"Oh no. Oh merlin" She cried out as she ran over to him. "I'm sorry. I didn'-"

"That was brilliant!" He cried. Interrupting her apologies. She took her helmet off and wiped the few tears that had been scared out of her. Suddenly he sat up and grabbed her face.

"Don't ever apologize for winning. Don't forget that there are people out there that have been trained to never stop. To not let people walk out of the rink." He was dead serious. His usually light hearted voice went cold. "Do not ever hesitate. They won't" The sentence hung in the air for a little longer than was comfortable. She held her hand out to help pull him up. With a laugh and a slight wince, she pulled him onto his feet.

"At least I don't have to worry about teaching you to react. You're a natural. And here I was going easy on you." He laughed out.

With that she froze and pushed him off of her. "I want to go again." She smiled "Have you not learned to underestimate me?"

"Don't get cocky on me yet." He winked. "Okay. So we bow....."