January 5th, 1890 — Headquarters of the London Society for the Practice of Combative Magic

Well obviously Mr. Gallivan was going to wipe the floor with the school matron! What sort of match was this? If Mr. Gallivan didn't win then it was a damn good thing he'd had the sense to quit while he was ahead. Even a failed Auror-in-Training ought to be able to defeat the likes of Miss Sykes.

After a brief recap of the rules they were ready. "Please begin, Miss Sykes."

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Constance Sykes Theodore Gallivan
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Why was she forever being pitted against boys barely out of school? It probably said a great deal about her own prowess but she couldn't help but feel a tad insulted - until it registered who the young man was. Oh fucking balls, wasn't he an auror? Had she signed up for the wrong session and they'd let her through for their own amusement?

Inclining her head Connie opted for precision rather than force, reasoning that he might not have quite mastered the former just yet. He was, after all, a man and therefore she cast a charm to turn him into an ice statue and hoped for the best.

  

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MJ made me beautiful

Now that he was here, Theodore realised this had been a stupid idea. He'd almost thought better of it entirely at first, with the idea that everyone from the Auror department would be here and he didn't much want to see any of them again anyway - but then he had supposed if he competed in a different bracket, he would avoid everyone he knew and get the opportunity to shoot spells at someone for his own satisfaction.

(He had a lot of frustration in his bones, see, and no longer being in training to hunt Dark Wizards really put a damper on outlets for it.)

But he was up against a matron from the school, and that put something of a damper on his inclinations towards brutality. Not that he wanted to lose to her either, even if she was twice his age. In the end, he cast a stinging hex, hoping it would put her off.

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Well that was a hot mess. Charles could only stand back and watch as both spells hit their targets. Mr. Gallivan seemed only partially frozen but certainly rendered immobile, while Miss Sykes was probably in considerable pain judging by how it seemed to have hit her square on in the face. That probably wouldn't feel great in the morning.

He cast a spell to reduce the swelling so Miss Sykes could at least see her target but he doubted that had completely reversed the hex. He was about to announce the results and then realized he should probably defrost Mr. Gallivan first. There. "The first round goes to Mr. Gallivan who will start the second round."

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[Scores: Constance 6, Theodore 10] +6 for injury!
Constance Sykes Theodore Gallivan
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   Elladora Black

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Lucky he'd been rendered frozen, or Theo might have flinched at how his spell hit her right in the face. Well, perhaps the sooner the duel was over the better? Trying for something a little more merciful this time, he settled for a stunning spell, which had always been his first port of call in offence or defence, even in the days before Auror training.

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Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck-Merlin she hoped there weren't any students watching. Both because this was hugely embarrassing and also because there was a strong chance she might throw her wand at Mr Gallivan: somehow the sting had acted as a memory charm too and now she remembered him - the Head Boy who'd impaled himself on his broomstick. Served him right.

Her face felt as though she had gone head first into a batch of stinging nettles and then dunked the wounds in lemon juice for good measure, but she could just about see him through her clouded vision and she sent a gaggle of furious geese flying in his direction.

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   Theodore Gallivan

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MJ made me beautiful

Charles' eyebrows rose in surprise as a sizable gaggle of angry geese appeared before him, fortunately he was not the one they were charging for. There was a dull 'thud' as one of them hit the ground having taken the brunt of Mr. Gallivan's stunning spell - apparently that was effective, a shame it hadn't been able to find its intended target. The mob began their assault on Gallivan and Charles decided that was quite enough and vanished them promptly. "Miss Sykes will start the tie-breaking round!" Did anyone need him to actually say she'd won the point?

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[Scores: Constance 10, Theodore 9]
Constance Sykes Theodore Gallivan
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Connie was quite prepared to admit that it wasn't her finest moment - so much for finesse - but it had gotten the job done and hopefully he had been pecked at least once.

Hoping to end things quickly Connie cast petrificus totalus.

  

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MJ made me beautiful

Were those... geese?

After that ambush - he had approximately zero desire to ever be within half a mile of a goose again after this, thank you - Theodore no longer felt sorry for that stinging hex to the face. With one last shot to do something, Theo cast alarte ascendere, hoping to blast her up into the air and physically, this time, throw her off her game. Bloody geese.

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The full-body bind curse whizzed past its target as Miss Sykes was quite literally swept off her feet by Mr. Gallivan. Well that settled things nicely. Settling less nicely on the hard floor was Miss Sykes who was probably feeling beyond worse for wear although it wasn't a terrible fall. "Congratulations, Mr. Gallivan." While he strongly believed women had no place dueling in competitions, he thought Mr. Gallivan had been a little ungentlemanly in his methods but perhaps Miss Sykes would think twice about entering again after this.

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[Scores: Constance 7, Theodore 9]
Constance Sykes Theodore Gallivan

  

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