Courtyard Chat PV w/ Percival Rocier

Aisling noticed a flicker of something in Percival's eyes. What it was, she couldn't really pick up on it. She dropped it mentally. Maybe she was just looking too deeply into it. She nodded at his suggestion of meeting up again to practice. "That'd be grand!" she responded, "and I could help you get better at the charms!"

Aisling paused for a second, thinking back about what she had seen and heard about some of the extracurricular activities around the castle. "Hey, isn't there a dueling club here at Hogwarts?" she asked, "Maybe if we practiced together, you could get on the dueling club by the end of the year!" She smiled at that idea. "And you know," she added, "I'm actually a bit curious about dueling myself. I know you said that your dad got you into it. Have you ever duelled a bit yourself? I mean, I doubt it would've been an organized duel like the ones the dueling club has, but have you ever been in one before?" She toyed with her wand as she asked him. She wondered who Percival might've duelled against, if he had been in a duel before. Maybe the duels were small ones against his brother.

Percival’s expression brightened when she said she’d help him. “That’d be great,” he said with a smile. When Aisling mentioned the duelling club, he nodded right away. “Yeah, I heard about it not long after I got here,” he said, a spark of excitement flickering in his voice. “I actually signed up for the waiting list already. They said they’ll let me know when there’s an opening.”

And he couldn't be more excited about it.

At her next question, Percival hummed in thought for a moment, “No, I haven’t really duelled before. Not properly, anyway,” he admitted. “I've only done some practice with other students during class, but that's not the same." In class, it was all about making mistakes to learn from them. In duelling, there was way more pressure and focus on winning or losing.

And in the real world, winning and losing were synonymous with life or death.

"We could even practice duelling together," he said with a smile. "We may not be in official house teams yet, but there's no harm in practicing to prepare for it." He nodded to himself, clearly excited about the idea. "You'd be able to help me get better at spells, and we'd both learn how to apply them in more interesting situations." A duel was far more like something they could encounter in the real world, after all.

“So… what do you think? After our next practice, maybe we could try a few spells, see how it goes?”

@Aisling Doyle

Aisling nodded. "That sounds perfect!" she exclaimed, "but when should we meet up? I know our schedules can get a bit hectic." This was true. She had barely been able to see her friends lately, both within and outside of Hufflepuff. And don't even get her started about trying to get all of her homework settled each night (as much as she thoroughly loved the classes). She thought for a second, then the (potentially) perfect timing came to her. "Percival," she said, "what if we did a practice duel during the weekend? Like Saturday afternoon or something like that? When we know we won't have classes." Aisling paused again. "Also, with the duel," she added, "how would we know who won? Should we have someone be our referee?" She knew it was probably silly to have a referee during a virtually impromptu duel, but then again, it wouldn't be the worst idea to have a third party make sure that both Aisling and Percival were on equal footing. That was the only way they would both get better, in Aisling's mind. "And who should be our referee?" she asked. She paused for a second. "Do you know anyone who'd like to referee? Maybe a member of one of the duelling teams, if you know of any?"

“Saturday works,” Percival said with a smile. He seemed genuinely excited about the idea, even if there was some nervousness behind the way he smiled. “That’ll give us time to practice before then, too,” he added, already thinking about which spells he should go over first.

When she mentioned a referee, he considered it for a second before shaking his head slightly. “We probably don’t need one yet, right?” he asked. “We can just focus on practicing the spells and duelling with them.” He grinned, clearly already excited.

The thought of dueling properly or in real situations still made him a bit nervous, but this was different. There wouldn’t be a crowd or anyone watching to point out mistakes. It would just be the two of them learning together, and that made it sound… very fun.

“If we get good at it, we could ask someone to watch next time,” he said after a short pause, “For now... I like the idea of it just being us.” He shifted a little where he sat, looking down at his wand before glancing back up. “Maybe we can find a nice place outside for it."

He then smiled again and no longer seemed all that nervous. No, he was excited now. “So, Saturday after lunch? I’ll bring a few notes on the spells I want to try,” he said, then laughed softly. “And maybe a bruise salve too, just in case.”

It wasn’t hard to tell he was looking forward to it already.

@Aisling Doyle

Aisling smiled as they confirmed the practice duel. "Sounds like a plan," she replied. Internally, she was a bit nervous. While she did know the Smokescreen spell and even Jaculor (the Shooting spell), she pondered on if it was enough. If only Professor Lécuyer would teach us more defensive spells, she thought. No matter, though. Even if she wasn't a Slytherin like Percival was, Aisling was sure she could pull a trick or two from her sleeve.

"I think having the duel here could be a good spot," Aisling said, cocking her head toward the rest of the courtyard. It was spacious enough for a duel, especially with one that was admittedly amateur. If anything, that was probably for the best. After all, Aisling had seen defensive spells ricochet in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which led to incidents of her peers getting both their bodies and egos bruised. Aisling pondered on that idea. Maybe the bruising salve wouldn't be a bad idea. "Maybe a burn healing paste too," Aisling offered, "just in case. You can never be too sure." After all, she wasn't sure how exactly the Verdimillious spell affected human skin. The last thing she wanted was to accidentally burn her new friend.