The entire student body was thrumming with excitement regarding the upcoming duelling club. Though the first years weren't all too pleased about the club being only for those 2nd year and above. Professor Flitwick had a reputation as a duelling champion in his glory days and students were itching to get started with the lessons. I was pretty excited about the whole affair as well. I had learnt many of the basic duelling spells but using them well in an actual duel would require experience and a good teacher. I was also curious about who would assist Flitwick in the club. Of course, he may do it single-handedly but an additional professor should help a lot. At the very least, it wouldn't be a farce like Lockhart and Snape's lesson. The class was starting from 7pm and the great hall was already crowded at half-past six. There were about 20 duelling platforms set up. Today's class was for 2nd and 3rd years only. Finally, Professor Flitwick walked in followed by, to my utter delight, Professor McGonagall. Now, we had two teachers, who are among the best at duelling in Hogwarts, teaching us. 'Listen up, students. I would like all of you to approach the central platform. Professor McGonagall and I are going to demonstrate a duel and tell you about duelling customs before you pair off and duel each other. I am extremely thankful that she consented to join our lesson. You are going to be watching the most formidable witch at Hogwarts in action. Gather around now.' 'We start of duels with a bow towards our opponents. It’s a mark of respect and not doing it is seen as mocking or disrespecting the opponent. Then we hold the wands like a sword, which is the combat position and thereafter we start duelling on the count of three.' 'It is as Professor Flitwick said, students. We will now show a demonstration and would like students to observe from a distance. Keep in mind, a real duel is much more dangerous. We will be using the spells verbally to show them to you. We will also not use higher speeds, so that you may appreciate a true wizarding duel. Obviously, lethal spells are out of question.' 'Ah, before we begin, I would like to give credit to Mr Icarus for the idea of a duelling club. I appreciate the need for students to know how to defend oneself. Now let us begin. Mr Darius, I trust you can be the referee?' 'Of course!' The professors bowed, turned and walked 10 paces before turning back with their wands in combat stance. It was time to initiate the duel.' 'Wands at the ready?' 'Ready.' 'Ready.' '3....2....1' And the professors began. No words can simply describe the scene. Even though they said they would slow down, their wands were nearly a blur. They were smoothly chain-casting a multitude of spells and were at par to each other. It was glorious! 'Stupefy!' 'Protego!' 'Expelliarmus!' 'Expulso!' 'Incendio!' 'Aguamenti!' 'Confringo!' 'Impedimenta!' 'Incarcerous!' 'Petrificus Totalus!' And so, on they went for nearly a minute. They swung, whipped and jabbed their wands, smoothly flowing from a spell to the next, ducking and weaving to dodge spells, as they stepped closer and finally ended the duel when they were just 7-8 feet from each other. 'There you are students, a wizarding duel. Admittedly true duels are even faster and more lethal, not to mention often done non-verbally, this much is more than sufficient to carry you forward for quite some time. I realise many of you may not be familiar with the spells used today but we will walk you through that over the next few weeks.' ' Now, students pair up with each other and we will let you on the stage by turns, where you will attempt to duel each other. We will offer our advice based on the performance and then the next pair will step forward.' The twins immediately paired with each other and I stood by Lee Jordan. The other students quickly paired up and were sent up to the stage in quick succession. Wizarding duels are generally very brief in nature. Each witch or wizard's goal is to quickly incapacitate the opponent and thus they never last too long. Additionally, with all of us being students, we have a limited spell repertoire and magical strength. Most people were only capable of disarming or stunning. Few of the better informed came out with more, but they were few are far between. Finally, it was over for the 2nd years and it was our chance to go on the stage. The two central stages were being refereed by Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, while the rest were being used by students who already had their chances for further practice. The 3rd years did put up a better show but not by much. And then, it was the twins' turn. They performed the courtesies and took their stances. Then they started! It was amazing! They were among the best I saw today. They were shooting spells as if they had been practicing for days and ducked and weaved like experts, most likely their quidditch reflexes at play. And there was a strange synchronization between the two, as they seemed to effortlessly duel each other. The duel ended only after 3 min when George got a lucky hit with a leg-locker curse 'locomotor mortis'. They were even praised by the professors for their skill. There were a few good duels but nothing particularly eye-catching before it was our turn. Lee and I headed to the stage and faced each other. We bowed and retreated ten paces from the centre before facing each other again and assuming our duelling stance. Professor McGonagall was refereeing and started off the match. I was faster and started first. Though I didn't use non-verbal spells to keep it sporting and also to not reveal my full capabilities. 'Petrificus Totalus!' 'Protego!' 'Incendio!' 'Repulso!' 'Tarantallegra!' 'Finite Incantatem! Expell-' 'Stupefy!' I managed to stun him soon enough after I got him with a 'tarantallegra'. He was unable to cast the next spell in time after undoing the jinx. It was a fun duel but didn't really push me to my limits. I even tried to chain-cast but it wasn't too successful. Chain-casting is basically firing off spells in quick succession, one after another. The important part is the wand movement, it should flow smoothly from one spell to the next. My control of magical powers was more than sufficient to fire off multiple spells in succession but the wand movement isn't quite as practised. Well, nothing a little extra practice can't fix. Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall had headed over to speak to us. 'Well done, Mr Jordan. You were adept at your spells but try practising further to speed up the process. You can head to one of the other stages and practise further with different opponents. Excellent duelling, Mr Icarus. You have proven your skill on the duelling platform as well. I also happened to notice you trying to chain-cast. The sudden wand movements are easily identified as novice chain-cast attempts. Though I would normally dissuade students from these attempts and let them simply practice their spells further, I see you have no particular need to do so. The simple trick is to keep practising against many and varied opponents and gain experience. You need to be able to focus on the opponent's spell, counter them and use your next spell in a fraction of a moment. Only experience can help you there.' I heeded her advice and kept moving from stage to stage and having duels with everyone. It was fun and I got faster at casting my spells as well. I just couldn't get the knack of chaining spells yet. It's not a problem though, I can keep practising though, there are many classes to go. The lesson ended after two hours. The students were still in high spirits and even the professors were smiling at the enthusiastic students. I had had an undefeated streak through the lesson. I even duelled Fred and then George towards the end of the lesson and I was able to best them. Both were an excellent match though and took the defeat with great poise and promised to be a better match next time. The professors wrapped up for the day and left after commending the students for an excellent performance and that the next class would be in about 2 weeks. Now duelling was another thing he had to add to his practice list. The room of requirement would be able to give him everything required to practice like targets and mannequins. Most people would not even be considering practising or doing so many things at the same time but he had spent enough time in his previous life being told he can't do something. Now, he would do whatever he wanted.