Flash! Bam! Alakazam! (Thius)

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Sliding into the bathroom before she was due to meet up with Melanthius, she hurriedly ran her fingers through her hair and parted it properly, then stepped back a little, turning left to right, to check her dress was right. No - it wasn't tucked into her knickers, it wasn't creased, check. As she smiled slightly into the mirror, she stopped admiring herself when the reality of the matter sank in.

One - she had made an effort to change out of her uniform after classes. Two - she had spent some time selecting this particular dress, which was a rather simple black round-neck and short sleeves, that came in at the waist and out at her hips, and rested several inches above her knee. She'd paired it with her net stockings, her lace-up boots and neck ribbon. It was showing the swell of her chest.

Three - she had done all this, knowing she was going to meet up with Melanthius in particular.

Why had she gone to so much effort for duelling?!

The thing was, she knew that he had been looking at her in that way. As far as she was aware, no one had looked at her quite like that before. And after a series of rejections from various boys, including that Veela who had outright insulted her; Bellona would never admit it, but it had made her feel slightly insecure. Now someone was actually noticing her as a young woman!  

But it was... well... Thius. He certainly didn't look like the catch of the day, but he wasn't ugly. He wasn't ugly at all, actually. He was quite... handsome.

Exiting the bathroom and trying to pull herself together, she made way to the duelling chamber and decided to fire off a few spells just to push her mind away from Thius and onto the task at hand. After a short while, it was pushed to the back of her mind again.

@Melanthius Burke

While he observed the results of the localized shower, Thius found himself knocked back a mere few feet. That didn't bother him in the slightest bit.

Hmm, what would make it difficult to cast a spell while also being relatively harmless?

Aiming in her direction as he got back up, he licked his lips and stared at how the dampened dress clung to her. "Cantis!" Thius was quickly losing any and all focus he had. It'd be even better if she was wearing white...

@Bellona Lestrange

Urgh no, not that spell! Her singing voice was awful under the influence of that one. Not that she was a lark or anything usually, but somehow these spells had a way of being unforgivably embarrassing. She managed to dodge it, just, but at this point she was beginning to feel rather cold and felt as though wrapping it up would be best.

"Petrificus Totalus! she cried, from her position behind one of the training dummies.

@Melanthius Burke

Did he want to continue the duel or give her the win? Which would be most pleasing to him? She actually was a rather decent challenger despite their different skill level, and maybe she learned better from success? Either way, he'd like to see her more often in such a condition...

So, he stood as if ready to put up a shield charm only to let himself be hit by the spell. It wouldn't be the first time, nor the last, and it had a simple countercurse, so he wouldn't be losing anything by taking the L. His arms and legs snapped together, and he fell straight to the floor.

Thius glared at the ceiling as he waited for Bellona to see the results of this spell.

@Bellona Lestrange

And it was over. As much as she was disappointed to not have it last...

"Hergh!"

Priorities. Get dry! Beginning to shiver now, she performed a quick drying spell over her clothes and hair. Although she was absolutely certain her hair wasn't pristine now, at least she was more comfortable. Now - to him.

She walked over, and stood over him, glaring down with her hands on her hips.

"You did that on purpose!" she flared, before performing the counter-curse to relieve him from the binds. "I saw you lifting your wand, Thius." Pursing her lips, her nostrils flared as she turned from him. "Let's have a rematch. And don't go easy on me! It's insulting." She doubted that he saw her a weak, or vulnerable, but he evidently saw her as less capable than he was!

@Melanthius Burke

If he could move his facial muscles, Thius would be grinning at her in a blissfully stupid way. At least he now knew for sure that the spell also affected certain body parts...

He lifted himself up and nodded at her request. "Then we shall have a rematch, and I'll initiate it this time."

Thius was typically more stubborn, but he actually liked to do as Bellona commanded. He also didn't typically purposely lose duels.

Getting himself into position, he bowed and sent in her direction a Limbo Mist. If she desired a complete challenge, he'll be sure to give her one.

@Bellona Lestrange

"Good!" she snapped, but was grinning.

Would he still go easy on her? It was difficult to tell, but hopefully he wouldn't. Performing his first incantation, which she didn't recognise, she found herself in a duelling chamber that was shrouded in a low-lying mist.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Really, Thius?!"

A mist. A mist?!

But no sooner had she thought he was insulting her again, when the world around her began to change. She felt her head turn heavier at first, then everything spun upside down. Her hair had flopped above her ears, and her skirt hem was somewhere near her chin. Screeching, she wobbled, managing to push her skirt back down to reclaim her modesty once more.

Feeling a rage gripe her at being humiliated, she yelled her next spell down below at him: the tongue-tying curse. But her perception of height and gravity was so skewed, she may as well be aiming for Gryffindor tower.

@Melanthius Burke

With her sense of direction being disrupted, Thius took this as a chance to hide elsewhere in the room; he hoped she'd quickly realize that all she had to do was push through the mist as she definitely wouldn't know the counterspell. He trusted her and her intelligence enough to find her way out. In the meantime, he had to present the challenge she was asking for.

He pointed his wand towards the ceiling and shielded his eyes as he nonverbally cast the Verdimillious charm.

@Bellona Lestrange

It was just mist, and it wasn't everywhere. Putting her wand in her teeth, she tucked one half of her skirt in her shorts and took a breath in. Slowly, gingerly, she tried raising her foot. Wobbling slightly, she managed to retain her balance. She was perfectly stuck upside-down, so she wouldn't fall down. Perhaps it would be better if she kept her eyes shut and just... ran.

So she did. After a short while, she felt the weight in her head return to normal, and she opened her eyes.

Sparks.

Her eyes shot to their direction, and she saw him. "Expelliarmus!"

@Melanthius Burke

"Protego!"

That was at least enough to prevent himself from being disarmed. He could've gone for a higher level of the charm with enough determination, but Thius was curious to find out if she'd be able to break through it herself.

@Bellona Lestrange

"Evanesco!"

Nope. A vanishing charm didn't work on a shield spell. Although she knew of the shield charm, she didn't actually know how to cast one herself or how to counteract it. So, she thought she'd try causing another diversion, by bedazzling him.

"Lumos Maxima!"

Then she ran to the other side of him, trying to see if there were any gaps or weaknesses illuminated by the strong light.

@Melanthius Burke

As the light distracted him, Thius let his guard and shield down. He pointed in the direction of where Bellona was, unaware that she moved. "Ebublio!"

@Bellona Lestrange

There wasn't any bloody weaknesses in it. Urgh. His next spell went somewhere off to her right.

"Diffindo!" she chanted, running back a little to create distance between them again. Perhaps a severing charm could cut away at a shield charm?

@Melanthius Burke

When the spell didn't hit Bellona, Thius realized quite quickly that she had moved. He moved clockwise within the shield until he noticed where she had gone. Then his eyes lingered down to see that there was a disturbance within his shield.

"Excellent move, Bellona," he praised with a smile before resting his features. "Rictusempra!"

@Bellona Lestrange

She smiled slightly, although she didn't spend long in basking in his praise. She kept on the move at all times, and by now her breathing had become heavier. It wasn't fair: everything that he did seemed perfectly effortless, because he really didn't have to try. His magical dexterity was more advanced than hers, she realised that.

But...

Perhaps moving around a lot wasn't always helpful. She managed to move into the path of his spell, and started giggling. As her stomach started hurting and urged her to stop to catch her breath, she kept moving.

"Haha! ... W-w... ah... ehe!... urgh. I hate you... hee!"

She tried to cough, and managed to. Once you could cough after that spell, it pretty much lifted the laughter.

"Locomotor Wibbly!"

@Melanthius Burke

Her laughter was so entrancing and borderline contagious that Thius didn't see the next spell that came his way through the opening in the shield. One moment, he was standing up high and tall. The next, his legs were like mush and he was down to the ground, laughing.

He could taste some of the sweat that built up on his face as he turned to look over at Bellona. "I never knew your laugh was so joyful..."

It was rather sweet.

@Bellona Lestrange

Forgetting herself, she smiled again. It felt good to receive compliments, no matter if she disagreed with them. He could also be mocking her. Well, at least she felt that was a solid win: she'd managed to break a shield charm, and to get a spell through the crack in it.

Just in case he was mocking her though...

Flicking her hand out, a pointed icicle - like a shard - was caught between her fingers. Stepping closer to him, she flung it like a dart to the floor next to his head, where it shattered to chunks of ice.

"So you can cool down."

She untucked her skirt from her shorts, and rearranged her dress, hiding her satisfied smirk.

"I wish Riddle was around to see that. Perhaps we would've got extra credit."

@Melanthius Burke

His jaw dropped seeing the icicle that was flung and shattered in front of him. "You make a very worthy opponent, Bellona." To try and keep his eyes away from looking at her skirt, he attempted to get up only to remain on the floor.

Right, his legs were like jelly.

"How would you feel about joining the dueling club? Professor Riddle supervises it. Of course, we can continue to duel together away from it, if you wish. I do enjoy your company quite a lot."

@Bellona Lestrange

There was something about him being on the ground that was extremely satisfying to her, but she supposed she should fashion a counter spell. She did it then, only because he continued to sing her praises...

And when he said he enjoyed her company, she felt herself turning red. She hid her face behind a curtain of hair, pretending to wipe down imaginary lint on her dress.

"I'd say it's been rather fun," she said vaguely, unable to stretch it to 'I've enjoyed our time together too'. She looked back at him. "It's probably worth joining the club at this rate," she said, sighing, "The scum are all turning to that bloody gym, better to train our wand hands instead of our biceps."

@Melanthius Burke

As he felt his legs return to normal, he slowly propped himself up and finally stood. Thius smiled, rather glad to hear that she's had fun. He was definitely going to have to take a nice, long cold shower after this. Use that time to do what he should've done during lunch...

"I'm glad you agree. With Mackenzie over in America, Ptolemy focused on Alayna, and Atticus focused on cooking for Potter, I believe you'll easily become one of the best in the club..."

His smile turned into a smirk as he glanced down at her hands and then tilting his head to get a view of her rear. "I am sincere when I say you caught me by surprise... Next time we decide to duel again, I could teach you some of the anticurses. It'll help put you ahead of your classmates."

If it was anybody else, he wouldn't do it unless he had something to gain from it.

@Bellona Lestrange

"Although it sickens me to think of them together, or either of them in general, I do think cooking for someone sounds... nice."

It may be slightly controversial of their kind to be thinking of cooking meals when most of them had servants to do it for them. 

"I would love it if a boy cooked for me... especially if there was pudding."

She chuckled lightly.

"And yes, learning any spells beyond classes would be good. So thank you." 

@Melanthius Burke

Although like most purebloods, he never had to cook a day in his life, Thius found himself making sure that was stuck within his mind. He'd have to hop into a cooking class one day and hope he doesn't nearly burn down the entire kitchens like Munroe. If cooking was one of the ways to woo her, he'd make sure to do it.

"You're welcome, Bellona." Since Jeneva brought up the spring formal, Thius knew he wanted to ask Bellona out. He just didn't know when or where to do it. Being so covered in sweat wasn't how he'd like to pop that question.

"Apologies if my sweat gets on you," he said as he fanned himself with the neck of his shirt. Not typical behavior he'd present around a lady, but since they both got drenched in some form, maybe it wouldn't be too abhorrent to do. "Do you have any plans next Hogsmeade weekend? If not, we could take advantage of the time to duel and get ahead of the rest."

@Bellona Lestrange

"Don't think on it," she insisted, unbothered by the sweat. At least then he had physical evidence of trying during their duel, so she was satisfied. Jeneva probably would have recoiled in horror at the sight of them, but she would no sooner be an accomplished duellist than Lazar Tremlett.

"Actually... I do have plans," she told him, "I rarely stay behind on a Hogsmeade weekend, but other weekends I'd be more than happy to spend time here." She supposed she should tell him her plans: "Jeneva wants to go shopping for a dress for the formal. And as I've been told by her that I absolutely cannot dare to wear black... I'll be getting something new for it as well."

She hadn't really thought much of the prospect of dates or dance partners yet, which was fairly surprising. Nowadays she often assumed she would be Lawrence's date, as he wasn't prepared to go with a boy quite yet.

@Melanthius Burke

Good, she wasn't bothered by sweat. Thius figured most girls would probably be unnerved just at the sight of it.

"Another weekend then..."

So now all he had to do was figure out how to ask her out. That was something he'd never done before; he had spent most of the years focusing on academics, but it was as if there was a clock ticking within his body to secure a partner before his parents would do it for him.

"I may have to see what suits they have with Ptolemy as I'm sure he'll attend with Alayna," he added with rolled eyes. Thius had been putting off having some kind of frank discussion with him. "I never look forward to looking at suits, if I may be honest... It's so bloody difficult to find one in my size. They have much more talls than tney do bigs...."

That was always a struggle of his, so his casual wardrobe consisted of far less designer clothing for similar reasons.

@Bellona Lestrange

Bellona giggled.

"It's strange to think of boys shopping for clothes."

Although she was fully aware that a lot of boys in her circle took pride in their appearance, she just couldn't imagine them spending ages in Gladrags.

Bellona looked him over. "Perhaps you would prefer getting everything tailor made, I know that I do. Then I can specify exactly what is in my mind, and it's perfectly cut to my body. Even I have trouble sometimes finding off-the-rack sizes that fit. There's always a gape here, a tighter part there..."

So even she wasn't looking forward to going shopping, necessarily.

@Melanthius Burke

Chuckling, he replied, "Well, us boys do try to not take a very long time at stores in general. We go for one or two things then we're done." Though there were some who would spend hours just talking if they bumped into a friend. It has happened a few times with his father to where he would just wander off and take the Floo back home.

"Perhaps I could do that..." It would certainly make things much, much easier. "But when it comes to men's suits, we don't get as many options. If you're lucky, you can go for different colors other than the tie. We tend to just stick to black as it's timeless and is appropriate for every theme..."

It was quite strange for him, as a heterosexual male, to be discussing clothing, but with Bellona, it really did feel as if anything could be a topic of conversation.

"Really? I thought clothes would be much easier for you to find..."

All she needed was something to really show those curves... Something that hugged her hips and showed her best assets.

He was grinning to himself just thinking about it.

@Bellona Lestrange