Pushing Limits PV Isadora Everridge Finished

Reducio

Dora's life at Hogwarts has become rather routine. Classes on weekdays, send an owl to Grandmother on Monday, receive her reply Friday morning, and then go to be tutored by Ruby with her words hanging over Dora's head. Today, her grandmother's voice is particularly strong, as it was last week. It had pushed Dora to ask if Ruby could help her practice dueling today, and now it pushes her every step to the Dueling Room when part of her wants to run away.

'No.' She scolds herself, 'Don't be a coward. You need to be stronger.'

It isn't just her grandmother. Dora knows herself to be weak, it's why she's so glad Ruby offered to tutor her. And after Ruby's warnings about the dangers of Hogwarts... Dora hasn't been able to get the idea out of her head that she'd be ill-prepared to face it. Lucas Chapman spoke of meeting a dhampir, something Dora's been lucky enough to avoid thus far. What happens if she crosses the path of a half-breed student on a bad day? Lucas hadn't even seemed bothered, and that's probably because he'd be able to handle that encounter much better than Dora. Practically anyone could.

Dora doesn't want to hurt anyone, but she doesn't want to be weak, either.

She meets Ruby in the Dueling Room, taking in the new scene. "Good afternoon, Ruby." She greets politely, forcing her nerves down and wearing a neutral expression.

“Good afternoon. I hope this week has been treating you well. I know this is a bit of a step, even with us starting to practice using spells against others, so would you prefer if we did this like an actual duel or if I walked you through it more? Since this isn’t a real duel and we’re just starting, I’d also like to know what your boundaries are in terms of what can be done and what spells can be used. Extra harm and discomfort is unnecessary.”

Dora thinks, a bit unsure. This is all very new to her. "Um, well.." She clears her throat when her voice catches, "I don't expect I could win against you in a real duel, especially since I haven't dueled before..." Her eyes dart to the floor, "I just want to get better at things like this. So, you can hit me with whatever you think I can handle, and I'll try my best." She promises. Then, having read the dueling rules, nervously adds, "And, maybe we can stop before I pass out?"

Yes, she's terrified. But she needs to get over it and be a real witch!

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Isadora explained that she didn’t think she could win against Ruby in a real duel—obviously, the chances would be extremely slim given the age gap, meaning Ruby would have far more power from having more time to learn new spells and skills, but the Hufflepuff’s comment seemed to just be an acknowledgement of that. She continued by explaining that she just wanted to improve—very respectable—and that she wanted to stop before she was unconscious. Did she really think Ruby would do that to her on her first time duelling, after she had seemed so nervous?

She looked Isadora in the eyes. “Isadora. I may be willing to duel you for practice, but that doesn’t mean I actually want to hurt you.” She climbed the stairs to the piste, taking her position and waiting for Isadora to do the same. She weighed up what to cast—not something that would cause lasting harm or psychological damage, such as being set on fire, and not something that was learned in an upper year so that Isadora could learn how the first year spells felt and know what to use if in danger. “Rictusempra,” she cast. The spell shot out powerfully, hitting Isadora perfectly and strongly. Oops.

On second thoughts, maybe this was a bad idea. She hadn’t meant to hit so hard, her duelling instincts had just kicked in. She should’ve used a spell that would just decrease Isadora’s skills rather than deal damage to start with. While she was pulling punches by not using Flipendo or Incendio, clearly she wasn’t being cautious enough. Well, at least it was a demonstration of the power Isadora could achieve in a few years? Hopefully it wouldn’t hurt too much or scare Isadora off. She would use a gentler spell next time.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Reducio

“Isadora. I may be willing to duel you for practice, but that doesn’t mean I actually want to hurt you.” Ruby says before they begin, and Dora nods. She knows that, or at least she thinks she knows that. No, Ruby's her tutor and Dora trusts her. The person Dora trusts less is herself. She's still afraid, as she steps up onto her side of the piste.

Her feet on the raised platform decorated with phases of the moon, Dora suddenly feels a little ill. Her stomach turns as her vision narrows to see Ruby on the opposite end. She swallows thickly and thinks, 'Stop it. You need to do better!'

What can she use against Ruby? The nausea flares up when she thinks of using something like the Fire-Making Spell or Knockback Jinx, just in case she hurts her. What would Ruby think? What would her grandmother think? Dora instead thinks back to their tutoring sessions practicing the Levitation Charm. Maybe this time Dora can use it to lift Ruby's wand out of her hand. Carefully, she casts the spell "Wingardium Leviosa!" at her.

But as she finishes her slow cast, Ruby's own spell hits her directly. Dora doubles over laughing, trying to fight against the uncomfortable tickling sensation all over her. It hurts too, when it hits, and Dora's eyes water. Hadn't Ruby said she wouldn't hurt Dora?

As she regains her senses, Dora looks up to see that her own spell has missed Ruby's wand completely. She must have dodged it, quicker than Dora could. It suddenly feels like Dora's fault that Ruby's spell hurt. Maybe she's weaker than Ruby expected.

'What can I do?' Dora thinks, feeling backed into a corner.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Isadora’s Levitation Charm flew past Ruby and only then did the Slytherin realize what a mistake she had made, properly looking at Isadora. She was such a fool—the younger girl was clearly distressed, and why wouldn’t she be? She was already hesitant to duel and Ruby wasn’t making it any better. She had to quickly change her behavior and strategy before it was too late and she scared Isadora off for good. “Finite Incantatem,” she said quietly, canceling the remaining effects of the spell she had cast. She needed to drill into her head that this wasn’t a real duel. This was supposed to lift Isadora up and strengthen her by increasing confidence in her skills, not by hurting her.

The piste was her home, but it certainly wasn’t yet Isadora’s. She had to break the associations that she had with this place—while it was for duelling, she needed to make sure she wasn’t causing too much harm. She paced back and forth slightly, ready to dodge if needed. She debated apologizing but she wasn’t sure of the extent of the damage she had caused and didn’t want to appear insincere considering she intended to continue to use offensive spells. While she was tempted to offer general comfort, she didn’t know what Isadora needed or preferred. She doubted the younger girl would ask for help, though, considering she had had what seemed to be a strict pureblood upbringing and Ruby knew all too well what that was like. Still, Isadora would have to learn to either ask for help or fight her own battles, and Ruby didn’t believe doting on her would help.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Reducio

Ruby moves and Dora instinctively points her wand and thinks of a possible spell she can cast. "Steleus!" She casts the Sneezing Hex at Ruby quickly but shakily.

As she does, the tickling that she's been feeling finally stops, and she takes a deep breath of relief. Has the spell worn off? But, looking at Ruby across the piste, Dora realizes the truth. Ruby's wand is lowering, as if she cast something at Dora, but Dora knows she didn't dodge. Ruby must have cast a counter-spell to her own attack.

If that isn't humiliating enough, Ruby has dodged her spell yet again. The frustration builds in Dora as Ruby does this, and she feels so small. Ruby must think she's completely unteachable! And Dora doesn't blame her. Even now, she's so mad at herself for getting sick over this. It's not even a real duel, and Dora can't even think straight. And now, she's starting to wonder what she even wanted from this in the first place.

Ruby remains silent, and Dora can't glean anything from her faraway features. She needs to do what Ruby wants, but she can't read what that is. Maybe, maybe she wants Dora to hit her harder? Guiltily, Dora tries to think of a more dangerous spell.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Ruby dodged the spell Isadora sent her way, although it was well-cast. She wondered if she should be making it easier for her, considering the years of experience she had on the other girl, but she was unsure how to fix things besides deliberately throwing spells. She was already just sticking to spells she had learnt in her first year, but she couldn’t really make up for the skills and ease of casting she had gained over the years, as well as the extra practice.

Now that she thought of it, Isadora looked like she was only getting worse emotionally—the shaky cast an indicator if what she knew about Isadora so far wasn’t enough. Ruby herself probably would’ve had some nerves if facing a fifth year back when she was a first year. And while this wasn’t a “real duel”, it was a very similar scenario. While debating how to handle the situation, she settled on a relatively harmless spell to cast for the next round. “Wingardium Leviosa,” she commanded, the spell shooting towards Isadora. But this time, something in the younger girl must have been prepared, as she managed to narrowly dodge.

Interesting. “Good work,” she complimented, offering an approving nod. “That was a nice dodge, keep it up.” She had a feeling she was losing Isadora and that, while this session got the Hufflepuff out of her comfort zone in a useful manner, it may have done harm. The real question would be whether it was worth it or not, which had yet to be determined. They would certainly have a lot to debrief once they stopped.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Reducio

She needs to try harder. Gripping her wand tightly, Dora runs through the spells in her mind, trying to think of something a real duelist would use. She goes with the first thing she thinks of, moving her wand and casting, "Incendio!"

A jet of fire shoots out from Dora's wand at alarming speed. Her eyes widen and she loses her concentration, the flames coming to a stop shortly. She watches them fly at Ruby, fearing for a moment that it may have been too much, but Ruby dodges them professionally before casting her own spell.

This time, on edge as she is, Dora moves quickly out of the way. Her breath catches in her throat as the magic flies past her. Was that Wingardium Leviosa she said? Did Dora really move quickly enough?

“Good work. That was a nice dodge, keep it up.” She hears Ruby say, and she's torn. Shouldn't it feel good that Ruby is praising her? That's what she wanted, after all. But she can't get over the jet of flames she sent Ruby's way. What if they had hit her? Why did she do that? Her breathing quickens, and sweat beads on her forehead.

'I can't do this.'

"St-Stop!!" She cries out, shamefully forfeiting the duel.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

An Incendio flew at Ruby as she had cast the Levitation Charm and she dodged instinctively, more of an urgency to her dodge this time. She saw the widening of Isadora’s eyes and wondered if the other girl had expected something different from the Fire-Making Spell. Soon, a “Stop!” followed, which clarified the eye-widening and alarm that had been present. There was a quick, subtle movement of Ruby’s wand as she willed Isadora to be healed, envisioning the result of a Reparifors. She subsequently lowered her wand, tucking it away, showing Isadora that she had no intent of crossing the younger girl’s boundaries and betraying her trust in that way.

She approached Isadora in a manner that was clearly unthreatening. “Thank you for asking me to stop. It’s a good thing to recognize your limits at a given moment.” Her voice was gentle as she spoke and then gestured to the steps of the piste. “Let’s step down from here.” If Isadora was willing to move, she would be led to the wooden bleachers, where Ruby would take a seat. “You may not feel like it, but you did well. This was a big step and I’m glad you were willing to try this. The first time doing something is always the hardest. It’ll get easier from here.” She would pause and offer a chance for Isadora to speak, eyes wandering to look idly at the piste where they had stood a moment before.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Reducio

After a quick flick of Ruby's wand, Dora feels physically a little better, no longer sore from getting hit with spells. It's kind of Ruby to heal her, making Dora feel even worse for letting her down. As Ruby approaches, her voice is soft and gentle. “Thank you for asking me to stop. It’s a good thing to recognize your limits at a given moment. Let’s step down from here.”

Dora nods, following Ruby down the steps with her eyes on the ground. She's biting the inside of her lip, not sure what to say and trying not to break out into tears. Crying would be the worst thing right now. They sit on the wooden bleachers together, Dora focusing on her folded hands intently as she waits for Ruby to speak.

“You may not feel like it, but you did well. This was a big step and I’m glad you were willing to try this." Again, she's so nice about it. Shouldn't she be scolding Dora for not doing better? For getting so worked up over something so dumb? "The first time doing something is always the hardest. It’ll get easier from here.”

"What if it doesn't?" She asks quietly. Dora's no good at dueling, she doesn't even like it. She doesn't like trying to hurt the other person, she doesn't like feeling weak when she can't dodge spells, she doesn't like feeling so scared and unprepared all the time. And if she can't get this right.. "What do I do when I'm in danger?"

Ruby told her about the shadow spiders, and her grandmother says the half-breeds at Hogwarts are dangerous, too, and she has to learn to deal with it. But what if she's just not strong enough?

"I'm sorry." She apologizes, eyes misty. "I'm really grateful for your help, I am."