Eternal Patience

Mischief Masterpiece

"I told you, I'll happily duel the troll with you," said Barnaby, as he walked with Sarah to the training grounds. "You don't have to ask Diego Caplan."

"You might have to help Liz get the troll back to the reserve," said Sarah again. "And anyway, I figured you'd be too busy to help me train. Aren't you supposed to be with Rowan in the library?"

"I want to watch your duel first," he said. They arrived at the training grounds and spotted Diego talking to his ever-present group of fans. 

Sarah poked Barnaby in the side, smiling. "What's got into you? You're more prickly than a knarl all of a sudden." She looked forward to see Diego wave to her and give a wink. "Do you not like Diego?"

"He's not the best dueler at Hogwarts," said Barnaby. "And he's not that good-looking either."

Sarah laughed. "I never said he was."

"He says it," said Barnaby. "And for some reason everyone believes him. You'd be much better off dueling with me."

"I can't duel against you anymore, you always go easy on me."

"I do not!" he said, but he could feel himself blushing. 

"Uh huh," she said. "I like dueling with Diego. He has an interesting style. It'll be good for me to practice with someone new."

"Sarah," said Diego, rushing up to kiss her hand. "Lovely to see you again! I'm so glad you asked to meet me, though I can't say I'm surprised."

"Thanks for meeting me, Diego. I was hoping you could give me another dueling lesson."

"A one-on-one dueling lesson?" he asked hopefully, glancing sideways at Barnaby. Barnaby crossed his arms in front of his chest. 

"Uh, yes," said Sarah. "Could you excuse us a moment, Barnaby?"

"Fine." He backed up to stand against the wall. 

Sarah and Diego talked for a few more minutes before backing up a few paces and commencing the duel. 

The other people in the training grounds made room and found a safe place to watch. 

"I could watch this match-up everyday," said Andre, as he and Badeea moved to stand next to Barnaby. 

"Does Sarah always have to be doing something reckless?" asked Badeea. 

Barnaby and Andre just laughed. 

As Barnaby could have predicted, Sarah defeated Diego in only a few minutes. 

The two reconvened to chat for a bit, and the crowd of onlookers went back to what they'd been doing before. 

"Look's like Sarah's more than a match for Diego," said Andre. "And I don't just mean in dueling."

"What do you mean?" asked Badeea. 

"I mean that they would make a great couple." Andre's smile became sly. "Don't you agree, Barnaby?"

"No."

"Why not? Do you think she'd be better with someone else?" 

Barnaby didn't like the feigned innocent tone Andre had adopted. Before he could answer, Diego and Sarah joined them. 

Diego looked extremely uncomfortable. "Still, dueling a troll is extremely risky," he was saying. "At the least we could get in serious trouble. At worst, we could be killed."

"That's why I came to you," said Sarah. "Who better to face this challenge than Diego Caplan, the greatest duelist at Hogwarts?"

"Well, when you put it that way..."