» Evalyn "Eva" Williams v. Niall Donovan

[Moira Prewett]

Moira was yet again dismayed at how she had been landed with a mixed gender pairing. She wanted to judge an exciting and intense duel. She supposed there was a chance of some rebellion on one of the competitors' part, that would be certain to liven things up.

"You are both aware of the rules, I do not care to repeat myself again. Don't forget the pleasantries. Miss Williams shall begin the match." Moira sighed heavily to herself and resigned to watching what she assumed was going to be a very dull competition. Hopefully, she would be proved wrong.

[Eva Williams]

Eva was frankly more than a little nervous--her duel with Ezekial Aesalon had been sort of a throw-away win; she still had trouble taking the boy seriously when he was doing anything other than pouring a drink, and it hadn't really taken that much hard effort to beat him, although she had apparently pushed the rules just a bit too far. Now she had to find something to do for another round of duels, and she wasn't sure whether she should win or not, and so was quite conflicted.

Nothing combative, nothing offensive. No conjuring spells, since she'd always been terrible at those. Transfiguration was her thing, so she'd worn more jewelry than she was usually accustomed to, so that she could have something to use as base material. Something decorative and useful. It shouldn't be this hard, she reasoned, but she was overthinking everything.

Rising to the platform she curtseyed deeply at the audience and smiled when she heard a few people cheer or applaude--either friends of hers or perhaps spectators from her last duel the day before--then turned and curtseyed to her opponent, a large and intimidating looking man with blond hair.

Taking out her wand and considering a moment before she spoke, she eventually decided to attempt to turn her necklace into a scarf--that was fairly useful, if the weather was tempermental--then to turn the scarf into a long, braided vine of flowers. Nothing could be more decorative, except maybe a flock of birds, but Eva had bad enough luck with animals not to try and create any in the vicinity of her neck.

[Niall Donovan]

Again, Niall found himself facing a woman. He just wanted a real fight, and he wasn't getting one. It was really kind of frustrating, but perhaps in the next round he'd get to fight.

Twitching his wand towards the dummy, Niall lazily started with a wordless spell intended to conjure ropes to bind it.

[Moira Prewett]

Moira rolled her eyes at the latter performance; by round two, were the participants not expected to be more imaginative rather than less? Eva's was far more intricate and skillful in comparison.

"Miss Williams wins this round, Mr. Donovan may start the second round." She spoke with authority but there was also an underlying boredom, almost drawling quality to the way in which she spoke. She was quickly tiring of the lack of potency and excitement of the 'duels'.

[Scores: Eva 6, Niall 5.]

[Niall Donovan]

The problem was, Niall didn't care any more. He wasn't going to get an actual fight, so he'd either coast through until he did or he'd lose and go find himself a brawl. As such, it didn't really phase him that Miss Williams had gotten the point.

Waving his wand lazily, he set fire to the ropes binding his dummy. He really, really didn't care.

[Eva Williams]

Eva smiled and curtseyed out at the audience again as the point was announced to be hers, though honestly she was a little disappointed that the other man seemed not to be trying. At least Ezekial had been entertaining to watch, even if he wasn't always the best with his wand. Ropes on a dummy that couldn't move anyway? Not very skillful.

She watched as he lit the dummy on fire and wrinkled her nose. She could do better than that, and offensive spellwork and charms certainly weren't her strong suit. Oh well.

Eva had to do something more impressive than the necklace bit, she realized, if not necessarily for the sake of the duel than for the sake of the audience. She removed the flower garland from her neck and cast a hesitant spell on it--she wasn't entirely sure if she remembered how to do this, but hopefully the flower-chain would start to dance.

[Moira Prewett]

Well the more impressive display was obvious. Mr. Donovan was either a poor dueler, very complacent or he didn't give a flying Hufflepuff.

"Miss Williams has won this round. The match is over and the victor is Miss Williams. Commiserations to Mr. Donovan." Her tone was deadpan as she announced the results, seemingly bored by the whole event.

[Score: Eva 9, Niall 7]

[Eva Williams]

Eva smiled and waved to the audience, because it was required, but her smile was a little hollow. Honestly, her victory was a little hollow, if she wasn't going to be matched against any partners who cared. She was not that great with magic, except for Transfiguration, and she was fully aware that this man probably could have beaten her easily if he'd put any effort into it. She shouldn't have gotten past this round, and she knew it.

Well. Maybe next round she'd be paired against a woman; they might put some actual effort into the duel. For now, she would just smile and wave and give her opponent the required curtsey and make her way off the stage and hope for the best tomorrow.