27 May 2021, 23:21
Looking back on the year
Date: June 13th 2021
Interacting or will be: @Rose Moon
Mentioning: Logan Baird | Astrea Soleil Neptune | Santario Martin
Languages: English | French | Italian | Arabic | Russian
Wearing: Outfit | Sweatshirt | Bag | Pendant(hidden)
The year was nearly over, it felt like a lifetime but at the same time it felt like September 1st was only yesterday.
Henry Knight felt like his second year had loads of surprises, some good and others not so good. He felt his second year at Hogwarts was more eventful than his first. He felt like he changed throughout the year to, like he was more brave than in pervious years and he felt like his social anxiety was getting better.
Speaking of being social, the young teen felt like he met so many people that year and gained more friends. He originally originally thought that he would hang around Logan all year again but was proven wrong by the amount of friends he met that year. The boy felt less lonely that hear than he felt in the past, having made new friends and reconnected with old ones and strengthened the ones he already had. Henry Knight was glad for his friends that year and saw them has one the many good things that year.
Besides from the numerous balls that never ended well that year, the dungeon maze, trial of the fear event, and a few others that year didn't turn out so bad. He earned a few detentions along the year, might have gained a enemy or two, but sometimes the good outweighed the bad which was the case here.
It was a day off and Henry Knight still got up rather early. Dressing in a gray pair of jeans, black trainers, and a red shirt with his gold rusted pendant sitting around his neck underneath his shirt. The boy ruffled his hair a bit before ruffling the fur on his orange feline; Loki gently with a smile but careful not to wake his dorm mates.
He would pull on a sweatshirt that belonged to his older brother and then lift up his backpack pulling it over his shoulders. The young teen would give Loki a few treats before leaving his dormitory and heading to the great hall where he would grab a apple for breakfast and head to the library.
His second year was almost up and the boy wanted to start studying not for his third year bit for his OWL examinations that he will take in his fifth year. The young teen wanted to earn as many owls as his older brother and parents earned while they were at school and always thought that there was no time to early to start studying.
The boy would spend most of the day in the library studying until it was noon at least. The bot would then leave and start to make his way to the dueling room since he remembered that Rose Moon and him agreed to practice for next year at noon that day.
Henry smiled at the thought the red head, she was a close friend and soon to be step sister. He was worried that their relationship would he ruined with their parents recent engagement but soon saw it wasn't and now was actually looking forward being step siblings with her. He actually thought that summer might actually turn out to be pretty good even with his father's wedding.
Henry would enter the dueling room to find he was the first one there and decided to start practicing before Rose got there as he walked to the opposite side of the room. Henry would take off his bag and place it on the ground, kneeling beside it as he unzipped it and pulled out his wand and cassette player.
A cassette player was a muggle device that didn't rely on electricity to work, it played recordings on a tape that could be removed and replaced with another. The tape inside that specific cassette player held a recording of his mother's voice singing along with her fathers and presumed uncle's.
Henry would leave his sweatshirt on as he got to his feet and walk a few feet away from his bag, facing the wall. He would pull the headphones to the cassette over his ears knowing it was only going to last for a minute or so and press the button on the player before tucking it in his back jean pocket and taking a dueling stance. Wand in front and mind focused as the voices of his parents and uncle filled his ears.
"Flipendo!"
The boy would shout and watch sparks fly from his wand but only saw his mistakes as he positioned himself to start again and a another voice popped into his mind.
"Another failed attempt"
"Don't expect to succeed, you are a failure"
"Once a failure, always a failure"
"Rose deserves a better duelist to practice with then you"
"Flipendo!"
"Give up already, you save yourself the embarrassment"
"Shouldn't you practice being knocked unconscious instead"
"It's a wonder how your even on the dueling team"
"Are you sure Dmitri and Santario didn't make a mistake"
"Flipendo!"
Henry felt himself breathing harder, his head started to throb and a familiar ringing was in his ears as he tried to ignored the feeling and pointing his wand out at front ready to continue.
"Flipendo!"
Last edited by Henry Knight on 7 Jan 2022, 22:19, edited 2 times in total.
"There's no such thing as strange creatures, only blinked people" - Newt Scamander
3 Jun 2021, 01:19
Looking back on the year
The end of the school year was quickly approaching, and Rose wasn't sure if she was ready for it to end or not.
On one hand, yes, she was ready. She was ready to finally be a third year, and she was ready for the schoolwork to be over. She was ready for exams to be through with, and she was ready to curl up in the sun without having to worry about homework, or schoolwork, or drama at school. She was ready to see her sister, Jessica, again, and she was ready to see her mother again. She was ready for late nights and long reading. Early mornings and making her own food. She was ready to not worry about anything, really.
But on the other hand, her mother was getting married this summer. Everything was going to change. Everything was going to be so different. She was going to have to relearn how her family worked, and integrate whole new people. She was going to have to deal with a stepfather. She was going to have to move away from her house. She was going to have so much more to worry about. This was not going to be a normal summer at all.
So she was a little torn about all of this. She didn't know what to think about it. She didn't know how she was supposed to think about all of this. She didn't know what she did think about all of this. It was all so confusing. Why did this have to happen?
Anyway. She had agreed to practice dueling with her good friend, Henry Knight. Also her future step-brother, Henry Knight.
Rose's duels had not gone well at all, in order of how horrible they had been. For her first duel she had been bad. She had successfully cast a total of two spells and hadn't managed to dodge very much. The duel was over before Rose and her partner, Eyre, could say, "Hospital Wing." Her second duel had been worse. Still with her partner Eyre, they had been put against a Fourth Year and a First Year. You can see where this is going. The Fourth Year flattened them, with help from the First Year. Rose and Eyre scored much below even the First Year. It all seemed so unfair. Her third duel had been miserable. Her dueling partner, Eyre, quit, though with good reason. Rose had stuck with the team and partnered with the newbie Nicholas McCowan. He was a first year, and he had done brilliantly, while Rose had been knocked out super soon in the match, only for him to pass into unconsciousness himself not much later. Rose was furious that First Years were better than her and that she had lost three for three duels. She had beat herself up about it every chance she could catch and hated herself even more because of it. She wasn't good at anything.
Rose really really really hoped that this would help with her dueling skills. Henry at least had one more win in his pocket than she did, and she hoped that he would be able to pass on some knowledge to her, and that they would be able to spend some time together in the process.
The redhead had slept in a little that day, only to get dressed and go off to the Dueling Club, grabbing a little bit of breakfast to eat on her way to meeting Henry. She came in, seeing that he had already started. She watched him by the door for a minute, seeing the telltale blue of the Knockback Jinx shoot towards his mortal enemy- the wall. He had some headphones on his ears, and Rose wondered what he was listening to. Was it inspirational music or something?
Little did she know that he was beating himself up, anxiety feeding him lies. She watched him for a minute before making herself known. "Nice one, Henry!" she said, loud enough for him to hear. It would cut through the noise of his headphones and his own thoughts, interrupting both. If he looked over, she would smile at him and come up close to him. "Thanks for this. How have you been?"
4 Jun 2021, 23:57
Looking back on the year
Interacting: @Rose Moon
Mentioning:
Languages: English | French | Italian | Arabic | Russian
Wearing: Outfit | Sweatshirt | Bag | Pendant(hidden)
The cassette tape only lasted for a few minutes as the young teen practiced casting the knockback jinx at the wall.
When the voices of his parents and uncles faded, Henry didn't take off the headphones but left them on as another voice filled his head.
This one was his own mind, a small voice that lived in his head and spoke the truth but also lies. A voice that grew from his anxiety or perhaps his anxiety grew from.
"Flipendo!"
Henry shouted, sending another row of blue sparks cashing to the wall. It appeared like a successful cast but unfortunately all he could see was the mistakes and flaws.
"your opponent would have dodge that"
"Your next spell will backfire against you"
"Just give up, you know you are awful at dueling"
"No practices can ever help you, you'll always be the first knocked unconscious"
"Flipendo!"
Another flash of blue went hurling toward the wall as the thirteen year old watched it, breathing hard and ears throbbing of the silence around him and loudness within his head.
"your a failure and you'll always be one"
"Save the Vipers time next year and quit the team"
"Save everyone the time next year and don't come back to Hogwarts, they'll all be better off without you anyway"
"Its your fault you lost your second duel"
"Logan deserves a better best friend than you"
"Flipendo!"
Another cast and more sparks went colliding with the wall as his ears throbbed and heart pounding, his breathing started to quicken as the words in his head continued.
"it's your fault Anna ran away, she wouldn't have if it wasn't for you"
"You should have never fought with Anna"
"It's your fault your mother died"
"You should have ran"
"It's all your fault because your a failure, a failure that is all alone"
"It's a shame Rose is getting a failure werewolf as a step brother"!
"Flipendo!"
The young teen called out but this time would watch the blue sparks hit the wall because a voice, a familiar one would distract him.
Henry would lower his wand and turn to find a set of bouncing red hair and bright green eyes walking toward him.
Rose Moon. Close friend and soon to be step sister.
Henry would hold his wand down in his left as he nodded a bit with a smile and spoke" thanks although the aim was off a few degrees and the spell was a bit weak from my pronunciation," the second year found it rather easy to identify his own faults and explain them which also fed the voice in his head.
"Don't mention it, I thought we both could use last practice before the holiday," Henry replied to the gryffindor feeling himself hide all emotions almost like a emotionless statue. Only a small smile was present on his face.
" I have been fine and you how have you been," Henry asked never really focusing on himself. The young teen would have rather focused on his friends, helping them with their problems and listening to them. When they did it for him then he was grateful for them but also felt rather guilty about it.
Henry Knight was loyal to a fault. So he put his friends above all else which usually was a good thing but also tended to get him into trouble.
"Rose deserves a better dueling practice partner"
"You should save her the time and leave"
"It's a shame that she will have a failure as a step brother"
"She pity's you, that's the only reason she hangs around with you"
"Will she end up getting hurt as well after you become step siblings"
Henry didn't let Rose know about the voice inside his head, keeping his barrier up as he smile softly before taking the headphones after and cassette out of his pocket to show Rose and distract himself.
He would hold them in both hands as he looked up at Rose and spoke" it's a cassette tape, it doesn't use electricity which is how it worked at Hogwarts," the boy would smile a bit at it as the small voice rang in his ear still reminding him of his fears and worries.
"It was a birthday present from Arthur this year, uh would you like to listen to it?" Henry asked looking up at Rose's green eyes while covering the address and names written on the tape with his fingers waiting for her answer.
Last edited by Henry Knight on 13 Jun 2021, 23:38, edited 1 time in total.
"There's no such thing as strange creatures, only blinked people" - Newt Scamander
13 Jun 2021, 13:58
Looking back on the year
Henry only seemed to have criticism for himself. Rose smiled a little. "It doesn't have to be absolutely perfect for it to be good, Henry," she said. Once again, this was a prime example of Rose telling somebody something without believing it herself. If somebody had said that to her, she would have pretended that she had listened but not ever applied it. She would continue to beat herself up about the little tiny things. So, even though she tried to tell Henry that his spell was good even though it wasn't perfect, she would beat herself up over minuscule details herself. So Rose was somewhat of a hypocrite.
Yeah, Rose could definitely use a dueling practice. She had lost all three of her duels quite miserably, and hated the feeling. She hated the feeling of being weak. Of being not enough. Of failing. And so she was determined to do better next year. Because Rose was not a quitter.
She had to do better next year. Learn more spells. Be better. She was going to be so committed to dueling that she would win. She was going to study her opponents' duels. She was going to watch duels and read books about strategy and practice and learn and look ahead in classes. She was going to put her all into dueling next year, even if it exhausted her. Even if it pushed her to her limit, she had to be better at dueling. She couldn't keep failing over and over and over again. She was going to duel until she won, and then keep winning.
But it wasn't just that she had lost. It wasn't just that fact. It was that she had lost miserably. She had only hit two or three spells. She had gotten her butt kicked like she was just a dueling dummy and not an actual person who was capable of dodging and casting spells. It had been horrible. Miserable. She hadn't ever had a chance.
She almost felt like she was just using him to get better, and that she was only going to bring this whole dueling practice down. Henry deserved better than this. He deserved better than her. At least he had won one of his duels, and not lost all three. At least he had kind of won. At least he had gotten close. At least he had done something during the duels.
Rose hated it just thinking about it.
"Yeah," she agreed with him. They did need the practice.
He asked her how she was. "I'm okay, thanks for asking," she said, with a little smile.
She looked over the cassette tape. It had been instinctual to analyze it, to observe it. It looked kind of old, and not very modern, but at least it worked at Hogwarts. There wasn't a lot of things here that you could play music on, at Hogwarts. "That's really cool," she said, looking up at him and then back to the cassette tape. Her eyes lit up as he asked her if she wanted to listen to it. She nodded enthusiastically, saying, "Yeah, I would love to." They went to go sit down on the dueling strip, and Rose put the headphones over her ears, nodding at him to let him know that she was ready.
The music played in her ears and she smiled. It was a good song, and good voices. She didn't notice that the voices belonged to, or the label on the tape. Except for... Luke. She heard his voice, and it was familiar. Once it was finished, she took the headphones off and smiled. "That was amazing," she said. "Thanks for sharing with me, they're talented." After a couple of seconds, she looked down at her hands, still holding the headphones. "Was that your dad?" she asked softly, looking up at him.
"Anyway, should we get started?" she asked. "Do we wanna go against each other, or do we wanna be against the dummies?" He would probably choose the dummies, as he was very loyal. He wouldn't ever choose to be against her, or to have a chance to hurt her. But he could still definitely surprise her.
14 Jun 2021, 00:15
Looking back on the year
Interacting: @Rose Moon
Mentioning:
Languages: English | French | Italian | Arabic | Russian
Wearing: Outfit | Sweatshirt | Bag | Pendant(hidden)
Henry was better at helping others and giving them confidence then he was at giving it to himself. The young teen strived for perfection actually, in classes he tried to keep straight O's and in dueling he tried for each spell to hit it's mark with the greatest impact.
His strive for perfection came from a parr of him wanting to make his older brother proud and also to follow in his footsteps. While another part of him wanted to continue his mum's legacy which he thought he wasn't doing a good job at, especially since he wasn't in ravenclaw and was rather awful at quidditch if he remembered from the scrimmage in previous months.
Then joining the dueling teams also didn't help since it seems like the captain was obsessed with winning and perfection. Henry was almost afraid to lose a duel or to fail him almost as much as he was afraid of failing for himself which was already pretty large.
"Thanks, just the spells have to be rather perfect especially for Dmitri. He can be a bit of a handful when it comes to winning but he is a great captain," Henry spoke deciding to tell the red head part of the truth before continuing" I'm sure your spells will be brilliant to Rose," the young teen smiled toward the girl as he imagined her spells would be closer to perfect than his. He could never see or perhaps acknowledge his strengths.
Henry would nod to her word of agreement, still unsure about inviting the red head to practice with him. The second year often doubted his own abilities and believed that Rose deserved a better dueling partner than him.
Rose hasn't see any of his duels and chances were didn't know how they ended but Henry watched one of hers. Her first one which was aginest his best friend, the young teen thought that she gotten better and perhaps was more helpful in her own duels now. The young teen missed her second duel but he caught her last one and the outcome was predicted.
Slytherin won
It wasn't a surprise anymore that slytherin was making out to be quite the dueling team but during most of it, Henry thought Rose performed brilliantly.
While he only saw that he won a single duel, lost a single duel, and fell unconscious in his third when the hufflepuff captain forfeited. To the young teen it looked like failure. It increased his anxiety and thoughts in his mind along with that voice in his head.
Henry nodded a bit to the girl with a smile when he heard her voice before looking at the cassette tape in his hand. The device was pretty cool, he has to admit and was glad that his brother sent it to him however he was still curious how Arthur found the tape and where.
When Rose agreed to listen, at first Henry was worried and his anxiety spiked again although his face didn't show it with the barrier he kept up.
Henry was worried what Rose would think or say or not say. This would be the first time that someone at Hogwarts besides from Scarlett Aden would hear his mother's voice, he never really talked about his mum in general and was worried with what the girl would say. The young teen was also panicking about the questions or comments about the other voice on the tape that apparently was his uncle.
Henry would take a breath and try not to focus on the voice and anxiety in his head as he followed the girl to the dueling stripe and found a spot besides his bag. Sitting down next to Rose before he would hand the headphones to her.
The teen choose not to lean his back against the wall as he pressed play and waited. He felt his anxiety creating the worst possible situations within his mind but didn't say a word as he watched the girl as she listened.
When it was over, Henry saw the girl hand him back the headphones and hear her voice as he smiled a bit and fidgeted with the cassette tape in his hands.
"I thought you would appreciate it, the song made me think of you and a few others when I first heard it," Henry replied with a smile to Rose. It was true he had thought of certain friends when he first listened to the tape, one of them being Rose Moon. Fellow Duelist. Close Friend. Fellow Frog Choir Member. Study Buddy. Chaska Owner. Piano 'Student'. Future Step Sister.
Henry would turn his eyes from Rose to the cassette tape as he held it out so she could see the writing as well, rubbing his fingers over it as he spoke" yeah, that was my father," his anxiety increased as he felt awkward about the situation, " and my mum, it was nice to hear her voice again. I remembered when before the accident back in Godric Hollow, Anna and I slept in a bunk bed even through we had separate rooms," Henry smiled a bit when he remembered how his twin sister use to sleep in his room on the top bunk of a bunk bed before they moved to Liverpool, maybe it was those moments that got him liking the bottom bunk even at hogwarts.
"Uh, anyway at night occasionally our mum would sing this song to us before kissing us goodnight," Henry spoke it been a while since he talked about his mother with anyone really, "She would only sing the same four lines but still it was nice to hear again," Henry smiled at the memory before brushing back a strand of hair as he spoke" sorry, anyway the other person is someone named Edward Knight who I think is my uncle."
Henry would slip the cassette tape carefully and securely into his backpack before turning to Rose still keeping his barrier up and looking like a emotionless statue.
"Maybe we should start with the dummies then try to go against each other if you want," Henry asked Rose not wanting to hurt the girl and also not wanting to hurt himself as he remembered a practice duel with Logan where smoke got into his eyes from her spell and currently Henry still found it hard to see far away occasionally but never mention it to anyone.
Henry would hold his wand in his left ad he got up before holding his right out to Rose to help her up as he spoke" you did brilliantly in your last duel, your skills improved from your first. Just rotten luck is all," before making a few calculations in his mind before he would continue" your offensive spells were brilliant just you weren't as strong defensively, I think next year the wind jinx would be perfect for you maybe I could show you over the summer?"
Last edited by Henry Knight on 24 Jun 2021, 20:09, edited 1 time in total.
"There's no such thing as strange creatures, only blinked people" - Newt Scamander
24 Jun 2021, 02:13
Looking back on the year
The redhead gave a nod. "Ah, okay." Obviously, different captains led teams in different ways. Her captains were a little less interactive, and hadn't been quite as striving for perfection as Henry's sounded to be. She hoped that they weren't pushing Henry and his teammates too hard. Henry definitely didn't need to be pushed any harder than he was pushing himself. He said that her spells were probably going to be good too, but she doubted it. She just didn't want to say it out loud, because then he would start telling her otherwise, and she didn't want to be lied to for her own sake.
While letting Rose hear the song had provoked some nervousness for Henry, it brought a little bit of calm to Rose. Music had always had a way of tricking Rose into relaxing a little, almost becoming lost in the music. There was something about the way that every piece was unique, yet followed a pattern, that mystified her. She could listen to a song ten times and notice something different about it each time. She supposed that happened with a lot of things with her. She zoned out a little, listening to the voices that seemed so happy.
"Thank you," she said with a smile. "I did appreciate it." It had been very nice of him to think of her when he heard something, and it warmed her heart a little. Henry was definitely a very good friend, one she should keep. It was a good thing, too, since they were going to soon be forced to live together. Maybe she didn't want to think about it that way, though. They weren't forced to live together- they got to live together.
Rose was a little proud of herself for recognizing Luke's voice. After all, he would be her... ugh, it was so weird to think about it happening to her. She quieted at the mention of his mother, listening to him. Once he had finished, she said, "That's very sweet. I know you must miss her a lot." Her eyes were a little bit sad thinking about it.
They then moved on to the reason they were there, and stood up. "Alright, sounds great."
Being the analytical person that he was, Henry started analyzing her last duels in order to help her. She scoffed a little, and cocked her head. "Are you sure you watched my last duel? My offensive and defensive were both nonexistent. The only thing I did before I was knocked out was backfire the Blindfolding Spell into myself and take the blindfold that I blinded myself with off." She wasn't wrong- she had done horribly in her duels. "You don't have to lie to make me feel better, you know. I know you're trying to help, but I know I didn't do well at all in any of my duels. It's just a plain fact, out there for anyone to see." She smiled a little, grateful at his suggestion. "Thank you. I- yeah, that would be amazing. Anything I can do to be better than I am."
Rose took a dummy and set it up on one side of the dueling stage, then climbed up on the other side. Henry gave her the go-ahead, so she went first, pointing her wand at the dummy determinedly. She gripped her chestnut wand so much that her knuckles were a little white. It was either that or her hand shaking like crazy, and Rose chose the lesser of two evils. She chose a simple spell for her first spell, it coming almost naturally to her to use the Knockback Jinx.
Little flashes of images came to her mind. Her being knocked out. Eyre being knocked out. Letting Nicholas and Eyre down. They had been counting on her.
Rose shook her head to clear the thoughts, but they seemed to creep closer still.
The crowd. Her dueling captains. Everyone looked disappointed. So dissapointed in her...
With a sharp inhale, Rose flicked her wand in the precise motion and said in the most casual tone she could, "Flipendo."
Reducio
WDC for Flipendo: 9
Roll here
[d20 : 16] + 9 = 25 -> success
lol it didn't really matter since Rose's wis stat is 9 but I still wanted to feel cool doing a roll
The blue spell shot at the training dummy, hitting it and knocking it back. She gave a small smile at Henry, glancing his way. "I know it's a simple spell, I'll work my way up," she said.
24 Jun 2021, 21:52
Looking back on the year
Interacting: @Rose Moon
Mentioning:
Languages: English | French | Italian | Arabic | Russian
Wearing: Outfit | Sweatshirt | Bag | Pendant(hidden)
Henry nodded to the red heads response. It was expected since the captains of each team led their teams in different easy and had different practices and expectations for their teams. The slytherin team; Viridian Vipers was quickly becoming known as the team to beat in the very first season.
Most of the Vipers success could be credited to the captains. Dmitri Jones was a good captain just could get a bit to obsessed with winning and perfection in Henry's mind. Santario Martin was by far one of the best captains ever, she always supported the team and was great with strategy for herself and others at least in Henry's mind that was. As for Bridget Collins, she was a excellent duelist but Henry thought she was a bit inactive then the rest.
"Dmitri is a great captain just he can be a bit to obsessed winning and perfection but Santario is a brilliant captain, she really is one of the best," Henry told Rose not wanting his friend to get the idea about his captains, " Bridget, I guess is a bit inactive then the rest but anyway what about your captains?" Henry smiled toward his red haired friend curious about the gryffindor captain after all he heard that it was two first year gryffindor's who forfeited against slytherin in the third stage of duels.
Henry was nervous about letting Rose listen to the cassette, mainly since it was his mother's voice singing and he hadn't really talked about her with anyone minus one or two. Not to mention no one at Hogwarts heard his mother's voice, if you don't count Scarlett that is since they met before the accident.
So Henry was nervous but luckily after he heard the girls response, he would smile and nod toward her. Glad that she enjoyed the music as he carefully took it back from her and placed it securely into his bag as he put his 'barrier' back up hiding all emotion except from a smile.
Henry would offer her a smile and suddenly have a urge to start practicing, he wasn't sure if he should be telling Rose any of this but on another hand it felt right and he felt comfortable as well. That didn't change the fact or ease his mind that she could be thinking the opposite and probably didn't want to hear any of it anyway which only would increase his anxiety that was sounding off in his head.
"Thanks and uh yeah anyway enough about me, I'm sure you miss your father as well right," Henry spoke he never truly felt right when discussing his mother. It could have been that he felt responsible for her death, the night was a partial blur to him but he did remember watching the werewolf knock her down and he froze. Watching. If he tried then he could still see her face, her eyes staring at him and her voice telling him to run.
Henry hid these thoughts and emotions behind his 'barrier' only allowing a small smile to be shown as he nodded to Rose and follow her out the platform.
Henry was naturally a analytical and book smart person so it was normal for him to consider Rose's previous duels and spells to determine her success rate with spells and future duels. However the teen didn't rely on facts and numbers completely, given his pessimistic demeanor he could also be quite the optimistic and supporter for his friends.
"Of course I watched your last duel, I would never miss my friends duels," Henry replied playfully nudging her in the shoulder with his since it was the truth, the only one he missed was her second one and that was because his duel was at the same time.
"Even if you never come to see mine, I'll always come to see yours and cheer for you even if that means-" Henry spoke and thought of something to helpfully lighten her mood as he continued in a playful tone, " means cheering that your the best at falling to the ground," Henry laughed a bit clearly meaning that as a joke before controlling himself again and offering the girl a small smile as he spoke" and I'm not lying to you Rose, I would never you know that." The teen gave her a smile and carefully but gently place his hand on her shoulder as he smiled toward her.
"Your spells had around a 75% success rate which is better than most, only your accuracy wasn't the strongest but you can work on that and you are brilliant at dodging that is one of your string suits. So you aren't that bad in dueling Rose, you are pretty good just have some areas of improvement is all," Henry explained it wasn't the best but it was something since it added statistics with support and his own belief that his friend could become better in dueling.
Henry would remove his hand from her shoulder as he spoke" this summer I'll teach you loads of spells we learn next year so you'll be more prepared than others for your next duel," the teen always enjoyed helping his friends and he didn't see tho point with learning spells a year ahead if he couldn't use them to help his friends with their problems or help them learn them for their own duels.
Henry smiled toward Rose as he watched her move a training dummy in front of them onto the stage making a mental note that he would move it back instead of her when he finished practicing. Henry would take a step to the side for Rose and allow her to cast first when he saw her return to his side from moving the training dummy, as he waited the teen thought perhaps telling her about some his team mates and how he was a failure could help comfort her. While Santario might not enjoyed taking about their team mates in a bad way, he didn't mind it and wouldn't discuss only their negative sides.
"Adonis and Opeila lost both of their duels before, the third stage was their first win and Adonis still got knocked out," Henry spoke thinking that Ross was similar to his fellow Vipers. She lost her past duels but she could still win her future ones, she just needed to practice.
"I know you didn't see my last duel but while each of my spells successfully casted, only one hit there targets and that was because the wind jinx spilt which is tremendously rare," Henry spoke as images of his last duel came back to him. He remembered now only one of his spells would hit his opponents and the rest have all missed, their win was because of Astrea's spells and their opponent forfeiting nothing else. Nothing that involved him. Since again he let down his partner and team because he was a failure.
"My second duel went even worse, our opponents didn't even need to cast their spells since more than half of my spells backfired aginest me and I knocked myself out. Nearly half of Astrea's spells backfired aginest her to and the ones that didn either missed or we ended up targeting each other," Henry explained not proud of that duel either since it was his first lost and he was determined to make it his only loss. He was determined not to get knocked out anymore or disappoint his team and captains. He couldn't let down his partner anymore and he didn't need another reason why he was a failure.
"See you have noticed any other duels but they prove that your not awful and actually can be just brilliant maybe even more than the others," Henry spoke before taking a half of step to the side to let her cast first which was when he noticed her grip on her wand.
Henry would pull out his own wand and hold it loosely but also firm in his left hand, pointing it downward. It was mayhaw wood and phoenix feather and something that the teen have always admired before offering Rose a small smile as he spoke" your knuckles are white Rose that could mean your holding your wand to tight which could be why you miss," Henry took his dueling stance, wand in hand firm but also loose and knees slightly bent before standing straight and turning to Rose with a smile as he spoke" try holding your wand loose but a tad firm, try imagining that your wand is a extension of your arm."
Henry quickly shut his mouth and looked toward the training dummy, he had a feeling that he shouldn't have spoke and Rose probably thought his advice was rubbish anyway. At least that's what the teen thought it was anyway.
"Sorry," Henry muttered before watching Rose cast the knockback jinx. Blue sparks hitting the training dummy square on which emitted a smile from Henry as he spoke" brilliant shot."
Henry then nodded toward the girl and took his dueling stance. Knees slightly bent, eyes focused ahead, wand in hand loose but also a tad firm as he waited for a moment breathing in then out.
"Ventus," Henry whispered never seeing the reason to shout spells as he watched a gust of wind emit from the tip of his wand and fly toward the training dummy.
Hitting it in the chest and blowing it back a few inches unfortunately Henry bit his bottom lip and only saw his mistakes making corrections in his head as he lower his wand and smiled over at Rose, " your turn, again Artemis."
Ventus
ReducioWisdom DC: 11
Wisdom Check: [d20:11]+10= 21, success
Last edited by Henry Knight on 23 Jul 2021, 21:08, edited 1 time in total.
"There's no such thing as strange creatures, only blinked people" - Newt Scamander
11 Jul 2021, 15:06
Looking back on the year
"My captains are great," Rose told him, with a smile. "They're all really nice people, I appreciate their leadership."
She smiled a little when he nudged her playfully. "I know," she told him, a little softly, swaying when he nudged her. She laughed a little at his joke about her being knocked out. She didn't like his joke at all, but he wouldn't have ever known that. "And I'm sorry I can't see yours, I'm always knocked out in the Hospital Wing when they happen." She tried to make it sound like a joke, but she really did feel guilty about never seeing his duels. Hopefully next year she would be enabled to watch him kick butt, and then get knocked out herself later. She didn't want him to feel bad about bringing it up, though, so she wouldn't let him see that she was really guilty inside. "I always make sure to ask people how you did, though. There's this one first year that tells me in full detail about your duel. Sound effects and everything," she said with a smile. It still wasn't the same as actually seeing how he did in his duels.
Rose knew that Henry didn't think he was lying, but Rose didn't believe him at all. She knew he was saying what he thought was true, but... she completely disagreed with him. She sucked at dueling, and that was the simple truth.
Henry gave her some statistics about her duels that were a little more believable. He reminded her of his offer to teach her more spells over the summer. She wasn't sure exactly how he would be doing that, unless it was just the theory around the spells, since Rose wasn't allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts for a little more than four years. "Thanks," she said with a little smile. He was right- maybe it was just her aim that was off. Or maybe other people were just too good at getting out of the way. She had to anticipate that- be unpredictable.
This was one of the areas where Rose and Henry were different. Rose saw many of her characteristics mirrored in Henry, like their anxiety, their perfectionist nature, their kindness, and their interest in dueling. But there were areas where they were different, too. Rose felt like she had to figure things out by herself. Give her a couple hours, and she would make a lot of improvements because she was trying to be better. She was strategizing, poring over diagrams, perfecting spells. Even though Henry was an introvert, he was a people person. He liked doing things with other people, and to have somebody by his side to do it. It wasn't that Rose didn't like other people or didn't like working with other people. But she felt she could focus more if it was just her. Rose could, of course, be wrong in her observation. But it was just a thought that crossed her mind.
With Henry's next point in the conversation, Rose had been determined to not interrupt him talking, but when he mentioned his Wind Jinx Split, Rose couldn't quite help herself. "It split?" her eyes widened. Rose had read ahead a little in the curriculum, not as far as Henry had, but she still knew some basic concepts of some spells. Not that she would ever be brave enough to try them. She kept thinking to herself that she would mess it all up or backfire it or something, so she just shied away from it. But she did know about the Wind Jinx and how rare it was for it to split. "Good for you!" She smiled and nudged him playfully. If anyone was going to have a Wind Jinx Split, it would be Henry Knight. "Sorry, go on."
Anyway, she let him continue. He told her that she wasn't a bad duelist, after all. Rose appreciated the thought, so she looked over at him, smiled, and reassured him, "Thanks. I'm fine, really. But thank you anyway." But even through his explanation of other people's duels, she felt even worse about herself. Yes, of course other people had failed. But they had won, too. They hadn't only failed- they had won at least once, even if it was luck, but they could hold their own. She didn't want him to feel bad about making her feel worse, so she hid her worry away, so he couldn't see it.
He gave her a small correction about holding her wand, interrupting her trying to ramp herself up. He wasn't wrong, though- he was exactly right. She was just so paranoid that she would miss or that she would fail the spell. She pulled in a deep breath and forced herself to relax, her body loose and limber and agile, while she felt tense on the inside. She successfully hid her paranoia.
She let out a breath of relief as her spell succeeded. He had apologized right before she had cast the spell, and then complimented her after. "Thanks." She almost told him what was wrong with the spell, like he had earlier. But she decided not to. She could keep those to himself. "What is there to be sorry for?" she asked, a smile on her face.
Henry took his own turn, and Rose grinned as the Wind Jinx worked beautifully. "That one was amazing- no wonder you made it split in your duel," she said, encouraging him.
Her turn again.
She went for another simple spell, staying true to her comment about working her way up. Her attention came to all of her senses, to everything, and she moved her wand in a triangle motion with a curved bottom, saying, "Incendio."
Reducioroll done here
[d20 : 8] + 9 = 17
The spell worked, but it was nothing great. It shot towards the dummy, hitting it in the neck, which was a little higher than where she had been aiming. She looked over at Henry. "Wasn't bad," she commented on her own spell. "Your turn," she said. Then she added in a British accent, "Fancy-pants."
23 Jul 2021, 23:07
Looking back on the year
Interacting: @Rose Moon
Mentioning:
Languages: English | French | Italian | Arabic | Russian
Wearing: Outfit | Sweatshirt(not wearing)| Bag | Pendant(hidden)
"Whose your captains?" Henry asked Rose when he heard her words on her captains before talking about his own as he continued" the Viper captains are Dmitri Jones, Santario Martin, and Bridget Collins. Do you know them or have you met them minus your last duel, " Henry looked over at the girl curiously as he thought of his captains. He didn't know Bridget that well and Dmitri could be intense at times but he knew Santario, actually Santario was one of his favorite members on the team and he was thankful for her kind words and help in their meet ups.
Henry smiled toward her, he did want to make her feel better about herself and her dueling. Unlike what he did with himself, usually he was so focus on his mistakes and what can be fixed that he missed his accomplished. His mind only saw the mistakes and failure. There wasn't much room there for improvement.
Henry turned toward the training dummy and started to practiced his casting without words as he listened to Rose's words. Absentmindedly nodding her as he stopped and turned to looked at her green eyes as he spoke" it isn't a problem, don't worry," the young teen actually did mind. He didn't like being forgotten or ignored or fade into the background but he grown used to it. He grown used to fading into the background and being forgotten by others, he grown to no longer need to rely on others not even on his father.
Still even if he spent years being forgotten or in the background that didn't mean he enjoyed it. He liked being alone but he hated be lonely. It still sometimes hurt the boy to know he was alone, that no one was there, that no one was cheering him on or encouraging him.
Henry at a time was jealous of others with their mothers. Watching there laugh and be comforted by their mothers. Henry ignores those feelings now but they come rushing back when he's forgotten or ignored. He couldn't help it at times.
"Is that first year in hufflepuff?" Henry asked with a smile as he thought of a peculiar first year hufflepuff as he spoke" there's a rather enthusiastic hufflepuff first year who I met twice in the hospital wing and has full details with sound effects and opinions for a few duels," remembering how the first year had a full detail for both duels that he fell unconscious in and also asked multiple questions on his first one. The kid also told him about Rose's and the captains duels as well.
Statistics and facts was something that Henry understood. The teen is a academic mind and what he couldn't explain in words then he could in facts or statistics or mathematics and if he couldn't do that then he turned to animals. Where his passion laid.
Henry smiled toward Rose at her word, the teen stayed to imagine and think of different ways to teach the girl different third year spells and strategies during the summer holiday. Maybe they could do what he did what he did with his elder brother years back, practice the wand movement with sticks and the pronunciation, incantation, and origin.
"Uh, yeah," Henry answered on the wind jinx splitting. Henry knew he should have been happy but he wasn't. The young teen only could focus on how it missed the other hufflepuff even if splits were rare.
Henry rubbed his shoulder a bit as he smiled up at Rose and her words. She's right, he should be happy for having a wind jinx that split but he couldn't be happy. On he saw was his failures. His mistakes. His mishaps.
"Even if your not a brilliant duelist at some who never lost a duel," Henry started thinking about Santario and her unbeatable record as he continued" your still a brilliant person who is intelligent and you'll definitely win next year." Henry smiled over at the red head. It was funny how similar but also how different you can be from someone.
There was a few areas where the two; Henry and Rose had in common. Their anxiety was one, their wanting to both be perfect in everything they do, their kind and helpful nature, their love of creatures and animals. Their interest in dueling and how both had siblings or parents who they want to step out of the shadows of. However they both had differences, they both were introverts but there are differences in them. Henry enjoyed being around others, having someone there to laugh with and talk to. It made a lonely boy less lonely.
However when it came to studying or practicing dueling then that was when the teen performed to be alone. To focus his mind and hone in on his mistakes and failures. Unknown to Rose, is that Henry spent each evening during dinner either in the library studying or practice dueling in the room that they were in.
Henry smiled a bit and nodded to her words when he caught her next question and softly spoke" for the advice on gripping your wand, it sounded a bit mental didn't it," the teen turned his blue gaze to the training dummy as they continued to practice.
Watching the flames from her incendio hit the dummy in the neck, Henry heard her words and added" more like brilliant shot," Henry smiled to her and felt himself a bit hotter than usual and quickly spoke" give a minute," the teen ran over to the side where his bag laid and took off his sweatshirt to reveal a red short sleeve and two chains around his neck for necklaces hidden underneath his shirt.
Henry ran back next to Rose, taking his spot next to her and holding his wand with his left hand loose but a bit tight as his eyes focused on the training dummy then he took a step forward and softly spoke" obscuro," and a blindfold shot from his wand and hit the training dummy in the face. Covering where its eyes should be.
Noting only his mistakes as he turned to Rose still smiling from the nickname she called him as he spoke" defense or debuff spells work seem to be better at the start then you fire out the offensive ones like incendio at least that's what I and Santario does," smiling a little as he remembered asking Santario what her preference was a while ago.
"Your turn Artemis," Henry spoke taking a step back still waiting to do a practice duel with his friend.
Last edited by Henry Knight on 10 Aug 2021, 18:53, edited 1 time in total.
"There's no such thing as strange creatures, only blinked people" - Newt Scamander
10 Aug 2021, 12:20
Looking back on the year
Rose looked up at the ceiling to remember her captains' names. "Alan Vanes and Meenauh Simaultrea." She narrowed her eyes. "And Anastasia Beckett. I assume you've heard of her, but she's an absolute jerk. We had AJ MacAllister for most of the year, and he was actually nice. But anyway, all of them are very kind and I appreciate their leadership."
The redhead nodded a little when he told her about his captains. "Haven't really met Dmitri or Santario, but there was this one time where Bridget and I ran into each other in the hall. I probably wasn't helping, really, but she was kinda mean. I doubt we're on good terms," she explained. It was kind of embarrassing to think that she had experienced such a bad encounter with Henry's dueling captain. Hopefully she wouldn't be the cause of a ruined relationship between Henry and one of his captains. She knew he loved dueling so much, and he deserved a good relationship with his captains. "Have you met any of my captains?"
She paused a little, then asked him, "Do you ever want to be a dueling captain? Like, is it something you aspire to do someday?" She was asking purely out of curiosity. He would probably do amazing in the position. I mean, even if you look at how he was lowkey coaching Rose right now. He was doing such a good job being a leader and supporting her. He would do a great job being analytical and putting teams together, and working on his duelists' strengths. Now that Rose thought about it, Henry would be the perfect fit to be a dueling captain.
Even though he told her that it wasn't a problem, she still felt bad. If there had been any way for her to come see his duels, she would have. But she just hadn't. She always seemed to miss them just because she sucked so much at dueling. It was affecting everything, even her being able to support one of her very closest friends. She felt really, really bad about it. And it was all her fault. It wasn't even like she didn't have any power to prevent it or anything. Maybe she would quit dueling so that she could see Henry's duels. She shook away the thought. He would feel bad if she did.
"Hufflepuff sounds right," she said. "To be honest, I wasn't really paying attention to his house, he was just talking so much. Kinda skinny and lanky, dark hair, big eyes?" she asked, describing the boy with expressive hand movements. "I think he's aspiring to be a Quidditch commentator- he would be great at it, too."
Henry really didn't seem to excited about his Wind Jinx splitting, at least, not as much as Rose was. Rose thought about commenting on it, but he didn't really seem to want to talk about it, so she left it alone.
"No, it wasn't," she said, furrowing her brow. "It probably helped me aim to be less stiff and a little more fluid and accurate. It definitely wasn't mental, it was a good tip."
He told her that her "wasn't bad" was "brilliant," and she smiled gratefully. "It was a little bit sloppy, but at least it worked, right?" she said, looking over to him. All she could really think about was how lucky she was that the dummies couldn't move.
"The aim on that one was fabulous," she said, looking sideways to him and smiling. Rose had decided that instead of just telling him how good his spells were, she would tell him how his spells were good. Point out his strengths, and the areas he excelled in to make him feel a little more confident in himself.
The Slytherin went on to make a comment about how debuff spells worked better in the beginning. Rose had tried that. And what had happened? She had blindfolded herself. Yay. She didn't want to tell Henry that, though, so she just said, "Oh, that's clever! I will definitely try that in my next duel and planning. Maybe it'll help." Rose was taking anything that she could right now, to be honest.
She focused on the dummy. Which spell to do next? A more complicated one. "Mucus ad Nauseam," she said, sending the spell towards the dummy. It wouldn't really have the effects that it normally would on a dummy, but it was the aim and the actual success of the spell that counted.
The spell was fairly good. The strength was about average and the aim was around the area Rose had intended. Overall, it was good, but it wasn't really awesome. At least it had worked.
"After your turn, do you wanna try a practice duel?" she asked him. If he said something along the lines of yes, she would nod. After he took his turn, she would say, "Okay, so what if we do a practice duel where we go until someone gets hit? After that, we can make sure we're okay and then go again?" She didn't want to hurt Henry. And if she did hit him, she wanted to run over to make sure he was okay.