WHO: Tilly Dawlish and Sullivan Burke. WHEN: 18 December 1997, during Dark Arts. WHERE: Dark Arts classroom. SUMMARY: DUELING. RATING: PG. STATUS: Completed log.
If it had been anyone, anyone other than Tilly Dawlish, Sully probably would have just said, nope, not even going to bother with this duel business. But it was Tilly and he’d been wanting to rip a chunk of her stupid curly hair out of her head (or at least something similarly sinister) for weeks now. There were only two problems: one, out of spite for the Professors Carrow, he hadn’t practiced in a while and two, his aim was, as ever, a problem.
That didn’t stop him from narrowing his eyes at her and taking the first thing he could think of when he looked at her -- a comb -- out of a pocket and using dingy lobbing to throw it in her direction.
Tilly wasn't expecting to be duel, let alone in class with everyone else. And as luck would have it, she was stuck with Sully Burke as her partner. She grumbled to herself as everyone paired off and she was left with the perpetual whinger, and all she could do was wrinkle her nose at him. With her wand raised, she was fully prepared for whatever was going to come at her, but even she didn't think Sully would be childish enough to throw a comb at her.
Rolling her eyes, and moving just a bit to avoid the comb, Tilly yelled, "Titillando!", making sure to wave her wand three times and aimed it properly at Sully. She smiled with satisfaction as she watched him succumb to tickling.
Sully did indeed dissolve into a fit of giggles and wasn’t sure whether to just enjoy it or be annoyed by the tickling. In the end, he decided to be annoyed since it was from Tilly, after all. He cast a finite and then exclaimed, “Tarantallegra!”
Tilly barely had time to react when she was suddenly dancing, doing some extensive dancing movements that she wouldn't have normally been able to. When she finally settled down, moments later, Tilly wasted no time in shouting, "Furnunculus!"
Sully yelped in pain as boils broke out over his body. Now he was rather cross with her. It took him a second to stop thinking about the boils and instead think of what to hex Tilly with next. “Densaugeo!” he yelled. Perhaps she’d look even more like a rabbit now, he thought with some amount of satisfaction.
Tilly shouted with horror as she realised her teeth were now growing at an alarming rate. Once she had stabilized, she used her free hand to hide her mouth from view, as she glared at Sully for what he had just done. She was raging now, and she used all her rage in her next spell, as she exclaimed, "Tentaclifors!" She made sure that she didn't move her wand away, even after the spell was cast, in case that somehow disrupted the spell.
With a tentacle for a head, now Sully couldn’t see. He also couldn’t scream like he wanted to. Remembering her incantation, Sully deduced what had happened and could only imagine how ridiculous he must look. It did not help abate his rage. With his wand still in his hand, he charged at the spot he thought Tilly would be in.
She was still humiliated, certainly, but there was a look of satisfaction as she watched Sully's head transform into a tentacle. Tilly would have laughed at him more than the giggles that had managed to escape, if she wasn't so self-conscious about how gigantic her teeth probably were now. But she did lose concentration when she realised that Sully was now charging towards her. Her eyes widened, and she didn't really have time to react, before he crashed into her and they were both on the floor. "Bloody hell, Sullivan!" Tilly screamed, her eyes now watery, her body aching at the spots where she crashed into the floor.
Unfortunately, Sully couldn’t hear anything either, so he wasn’t entirely sure if he’d crashed into Tilly or someone else. Oh well, he decided it didn’t matter and with his free hand, tried to find a chunk of hair that he could yank at and hoped it was curly.
Tilly yelped really loudly when a hand of her hair was now being yanked by Sullivan, and she shut her eyes tightly, as the pain was now being focused on her head. She kept flailing her arms and legs about, and in a moment of genius, she aimed her knee at his private area, making sure it was done so with some fervor, before shoving him with her hands.
Sully could only scream in pain inside his head. However, with the way he was writhing around on the floor and cupping himself, it was rather obvious that he was in quite a large amount of discomfort. He decided to return the favor and kicked his legs out a few times, trying to make any kind of contact he could.
Professor Carrow had been pleased by his little idea of a duel. He had hoped that it would inspire ferocity between his pupils. Prepare them for what laid ahead. He gave a disgusted snort at the sight of Miss Dawlish and Mr Burke making a spectacle of themselves. However, he did wait until Miss Dawlish had the upper hand before freezing them.
"No barbaric Muggle abuse in my class," he said. He gave Mister Burke a steady glance. "See that you make something of yourself," he said. "And you, Miss Dawlish, I would expect better of you. Go on, then, keep at it." With a wave of his wand he fixed her teeth--They were no longer gigantic, but they weren't straight, either. She'd have to go to Pomfrey for that.
"Professor Carrow!" Tilly interjected, holding her bruised arm with her free hand. "I think I have to go to the hospital wing. I believe I'm suffering from internal bleeding after Sullivan basically bulldozed himself into me!" She was almost pouting, but she threw Sully a nasty glare, moments later.
“I couldn’t see!” Sully protested, already knowing that no one else would care about that tiny, insignificant detail. He crossed his arms, sighed and flared his nostrils a bit, catching Tilly’s glare. He then rolled his eyes but took advantage of the opportunity while she was off her guard and aimed an itching hex at her.
Amycus chuckled. It was good to see Sullivan Burke participating. And so he left Tilly to defend herself, and moved on to the next pair of students.