Beauxbatons [Charlie Weasley]

Duelling

"Thank you all for handing in your permission forms!" Professor Kettleburn's jolly voice calls out to his class of four.

"We now have two weeks until our trip to Tibet, and over the course of these two weeks, we will all be learning and practising several skills that could be life-saving if we do indeed encounter a Yeti up close!"

The professor paces back and forth in front of the class, who look up at him and listen intently.

"We are going to be practising different ways of tracking these creatures, in order to be able to find one in the wild, using a number of methods I will teach you over these two weeks. We will also be practising several different and quick ways of lighting fires, both with and without wands, just in case you do not have your wand with you and still need to defend yourself against the Yeti. As further defensive practise, you will be duelling each other and practising hand-to-hand combat, both with and without weapons."

Charlie glances down at Isabelle, half expecting her to be scared by all of Professor Kettleburn's serious preparation, but she simply looks eager and excited. The red-headed boy's face heats up slightly, and he immediately looks away from her.

"Alright then!" the professor says, still in his jolly voice, "It's time to get into pairs and begin duelling! Today, we will be rotating pairs around the class, getting to know each other's strengths and weaknesses and helping each other out with them, teaching each other and making sure you're all well-equipped with being able to fight and defend yourself in a duel. Off you go!"

Charlie immediately gets into a pair with Isabelle, drawing his wooden wand.

Isabelle's blue eyes twinkle in excitement, her dainty hand drawing out her own pearly wand from her pocket, pointing it steadily at his chest.

The Gryffindor boy can't help but grin, pointing his own wand at the beautiful girl in front of him.

"When you're ready... begin!" Professor Kettleburn's voice sounds across the class, and Thomas and Amelia immediately start flying spells at each other.

Charlie and Isabelle, however, wait a moment, the French girl's eyes travelling all over the boy in front of her, taking in every detail of his stance, the way he holds himself, which leg bears his weight, predicting what he's about to do.

And then she begins.

Holy mother of Merlin, she begins.

Charlie has never been a bad dueller himself, being almost top in the grade, in fact, but France must teach their students to duel differently. Because Isabelle doesn't just stand there and fire spells at him, blocking his when they come, she seems to move into the fight, becoming the spells she throws his way.

She begins by soundlessly encasing her body in a transparent, shimmering shield that wraps around her, as if giving every inch of her a tight hug. Charlie's spells can hit her all they want, but they simply get absorbed into the shimmering shield, each spell seeming to give her more strength as it drains him.

Charlie barely has time to react as spell after spell gets hurtled his way by her, all of them coming out of her wand without her ever uttering a word, so he has no idea what he needs to prepare for.

Isabelle seems to move fluidly, almost dancing as she dodges some of his jinxes, her wand slicing through the air like a whip, releasing several different spells at once, all of them hurling towards Charlie in a blur of merged colours.

Amelia and Thomas have stopped their fight to watch, mouths hanging open, eyes wide. Even the professor's beyond impressed.

Charlie, having kept up with her torrent of spells for a while, sending a few her way himself, quickly starts to wear out, resorting to putting all his strength into a shield charm that lays itself out in front of him in a protective barrier.