Among the Idiots PV Ileen Knight Finished

Ileen had tied her long brown hair into a ponytail to have a clear view during practice. Although she had thought long and hard about whether she really wanted to apply for a team, in the end the desire to practice dueling had outweighed her doubts. Her experiences during the summer camp had shown her in many ways – fighting, defending and healing – how useless and helpless she still was. She couldn’t save or defend her friends, not even herself, but well, she very much intended to change that.

After joining the team she had been positively surprised how many of the few Slytherins she respected or liked were part of it, too, so it had turned into a group she felt comfortable with – at least on average which was more than she had hoped for in this chaotic and idiotic house. Since she knew that Erik, her best friend at Slytherin, and Ruby, her person of trust also had joined the team, she was even more motivated to concentrate with heart and soul on dueling and healing.
So after the team practice Ileen decided to stay behind to work once more on her Disarming Charm and also the Wind Charm which she had recently taught herself. In any case, it wouldn't hurt and she would never forgive herself if she ended up impeding the team. Even if the young girl would never admit it to herself, the ambition typical for Slytherin was very clear in her.

She waited until the group had scattered, holding her chestnut wand loosely in her hand, and then turned to the room again. But she wasn’t alone. Another girl, Bridget if she remembered correctly, had also decided to stay behind and it looked like she was about to perform another spell. Ileen remembered that girl – she had been the one who had picked up Dees words at the fight club and tried to stop the groups from fighting. For that alone, Ileen highly respected her.

The brunette Slytherin had noticed the younger one as well and turned to her with a smile.
“Uhm, yeah. I was planning to work on some of my spells.” Ileen pushed a loose strand of her brown hair from her eyes and the corners of her mouth curled into a half smile before she followed the invitation of the older girl and stepped next to her. She raised her wand and looked at the dummy, but then she stopped and looked back at the other girl. “You are Bridget, right? I saw you at the fight club. You were one of the few who tried to talk some sense into our beloved housemates. It’s good to know that there are at least some people among these idiots who are reasonable and use their brain. I’m Ileen, by the way.”

Interacting with | @Bridget Collins
Mentions | @Ruby Cazares | @Erik Tharaldson

@Ileen Knight

The younger girl accepted her invitation to practice together, although she supposed it really wasn't all that much of a choice. It was that or an awkward situation where they ignored each other. Ileen got into her stance, raising her wand as if to cast, but stopped before saying an incantation.

Bridget nodded, forcing herself to focus on everything else she was saying instead of the mention of the fight club. There was an annoyance in younger girl's words as she described their housemates as 'idiots'. She wasn't wrong. How much trouble could they have gotten out of if no jumped to conclusions too fast, if everyone paused for a minute to think? She smiled a bit when Ileen voiced appreciation of what she'd done at the fight club. Frankly, Bridget's memories of that day were filled of everything she hadn't done, everything she'd done wrong, but it was nice to have some tell her she'd done at least one thing right. Besides, the respect was mutual.

"Yes, I'm Bridget. And it's nice to know there's someone as reasonable as you on this duelling team." It was a genuine compliment; Bridget didn't know Ileen all that well, but the girl had been nothing but smart from what she'd seen. Duelling wasn't just a battle of spells but of wits as well and it hardly mattered if you could cast powerful spells if you didn't know when the situation called for them.

Turning to face the dummy, she decided to cast the first spell. "Expelliarmus!" With a burst of red light from the tip of her wand, the spell flew through the air and made contact, sending the dummy's wand spiraling away. Stepping slightly to the side, she motioned to the other dummy. "Go ahead. Being older definitely isn't everything, but I have a bit more experience so I might be able to give you a few tips."

A soft smile plucked at the corners of Ileen’s mouth, when the other Slytherin girl complimented her to be reasonable. Reasonable... good... These were values the girl wanted to live up to, values she had been struggling with in her first year, living in the fear that she couldn’t do anything about it but turn evil instead. Fortunately, it had become clear that she had been wrong. And to be perceived by others as she wanted to be, and even if it was only based on a snapshot, made Ileen happy and proud. She automatically stood straighter and pushed her shoulders back to appear taller.
“Oh, thanks. As I said, I can only return the compliment.” The second-year carefully took a step back as Bridget prepared herself to cast her first spell. It was an unfamiliar but nice situation. She respected that girl for what she had done in the fight club and now she was here, practicing with her - she felt comfortable around her.

She knew that she could also learn a lot from watching, not only casting herself. So, her dark brown eyes remained fixed on the girls hand as she flicked her wand and casted the disarming spell. A red beam of light broke out of the trip of Bridget's wand, hit the dummy precisely and whirled the stick he was holding out of his hand.
Impressed, Ileen tilted her head. It was clear that Bridget was not only good at spellcasting, but also very precise in aiming. The disarming spell was one of Ileen’s favorite spell. It was one of the most effective spells to face an enemy without actually harming them. With this spell you could solve an argument that is about to get physical or prevent yourself from being hurt without cursing others or causing injuries. It was an attack that was merely and defense itself.

The young girl had practiced a lot to perform it that well as Bridget just had but she still had trouble getting enough power into it. Maybe she had been overthinking it because it was such an important part of her dueling strategie. In this respect, she felt a bit self-conscious when she followed the older students' invitation and stood in front of the dummy. “Expelliarmus!”
Red light, a good hit, but the wand rather dropped out of the dummies hand instead of being whirled away. Slightly disappointed, Ileen bit her lower lip. Damn it. “You see, I still could improve here. Actually, I think it’s a great opener for the duel. We could send the wand of the more dangerous opponent away to team up on one of them without dodging two attacks. This or probably Ventus.” She frowned and made a vague gesture towards the dummy. “I mean, like this it won’t work. They would just have to pick the wand up, that won’t save us much time.” A smile appeared on her lips. “Do you have, by any chance, any tips?”

Interacting with | @Bridget Collins

@Ileen Knight

Ileen squared up in front of the dummy, wand at the ready. She looked like she knew what she was doing, not that Bridget would have expected any differently. With duelling only just starting, there hadn't been too many trying out, but there had still been competition. It had taken skill to earn a spot.

She watched carefully as Ileen cast her spell. It went off without a hitch, incantation and wand movement both perfect. Her aim was true as well, the wand falling out of the dummy's hand. Although perhaps not the most impressive execution of the spell, it was still notable she could cast it so well this early in the year. At this time last year, Bridget certainly hadn't reached the level of control she had now, had in fact still been working on being able to consistently cast it.

Bridget nodded along to her explanation. Ileen was quite right in identifying the spell as a useful strategy. Without a wand, you were pretty much useless in a duel until you got it back. Not to mention getting it back involved finding it, which was attention diverted away from one's opponents, increasing your chance of getting hit. She was surprised at her mention of the Wind Jinx, a third year spell Bridget had only recently learned, but decided to leave it for now. Perhaps she'd ask about it later, but first, she had said she'd try and give Ileen pointers.

Frowning slightly in contemplation, she reviewed everything she'd made note of during the younger girl's cast. She had clearly worked on it quite a bit, and all aspects of her spellwork seemed to be perfect. What, then, was the problem? What was keeping her spell from being more powerful? "Hmm... It probably has to do with concentration." The three rules of spell-casting was one of the first things they'd been taught: pronunciation, wand movement, and concentration. "And it's not that you're not focusing. More like you're focusing on the wrong thing, if that makes sense."

She tried to recall when her Disarming Spell had gone from simply having the object drop out of her target's hand to spinning out of reach. It wasn't really an exact moment, more of a progression of slowly improving, but she'd also had to figure out how to make the switch by herself. Perhaps she could streamline the process for Ileen. "It's clear you have the wand movement and incantation down, so don't worry about getting that right so much. Trust your muscle memory to take care of that, and instead concentrate on what you want the spell to do. So, visualize, I suppose. Picture the wand flying away."

Hopefully that was helpful. To be entirely honest, Bridget wasn't sure she was remotely good at teaching, but then again, the one experience she had to go off of was helping Illowy with flying. That had gone almost disastrously. Ileen wasn't scared of casting spells, though, so maybe she was just bad at getting people to overcome their fears. Whatever the case, she waited, giving Ileen time to try again. She would see soon enough whether her advice was effective.

With a slight frown, Ileen looked back at the dummy, her wand pointed to the ground. Like this, she would let her team down in a duel and she couldn’t allow that. It was a strange but not unpleasant feeling being watched that closely while casting a spell. Especially since she couldn’t sense any judgment from the older girl - rather the contrary. As in the fight club Bridget proved she could stick to logic and analyze a situation well, something that only positively confirmed and reinforced Ileen's impression of her.

So, she tilted her head and listened carefully to the precious advice the older girl gave her. Even though the described idea was a little abstract for the young Slytherin, she nodded and kept listening. Indeed, overthinking the movement and thus losing sight of the desired effect was an issue Ileen faced a few times before. She was a very ambitious student, always trying to perform in perfection - and maybe that was her biggest weakness. Getting stuck with the detail and thus forgetting the bigger picture.
She was impressed by Bridget's ability to recognize this weakness, which she had not been aware of before, so quickly and to bring it to the point. “Huh.” The sudden realization not only reflected in her tone of voice, but was also written all over her face. She scratched her nose with her wand-free hand and tilted her head thoughtfully. “I never thought about it that way. Thank you.” Too concentrated to smile, the young Slytherin bit her lower lip and turned to the dummy one more. “Do you mind if I try it right away?”

Eagerly, she raised her wand, focused on the dummy and did as she had been told. With a deep exhale, Ileen briefly closed her eyes and pictured the desired effect in her head. The wand was supposed to be ripped from the dummy's hand and twirled away. She tried to remember what it had looked like when Bridget had cast the spell. She wanted the same outcome.
When she was sure she had the right picture in mind, Ileen opened her eyes again and flicked her wand resolutely. “Expelliarmus!” This time, the flash of red light that burst from her wand was much brighter, and when it hit the dummy, the wand actually whirled out of his hand. Not as far away as Bridget's, but already much farther than before.

Ileen blinked, slightly impressed by her own improvement. “Wow. Thank you so much. I think you figured out one of my general problems. You would make a damn good teacher. Ever thought about it?” She gifted Bridget with a bright smile and stepped away to create space for Bridget to have a shot at the dummy as well. “May I ask why you joined the dueling team?” The question had escaped her before she could hold it back.

Interacting with | @Bridget Collins

@Ileen Knight

Bridget nodded when Ileen asked if she could try the spell again; she was just as eager to see if her advice worked. As the younger girl closed her eyes to concentrate, Bridget watched quietly. The visualization process would probably have to be sped up a bit once she got to an actual duel, but for now it was fine. Better to get the general concept down first and then work on speed. Ileen reopened her eyes and cast the spell, and while Bridget was still paying close attention to her movements in case she'd given the wrong piece of advice, there was no need. Contrasting with the limp drop the wand had made last time, it twirled away and out of reach.

She turned to Ileen with a grin. There was something so satisfying about the success; maybe she wasn't the one casting the spell, but she was still a part of it. A blush rose to her cheeks at the compliment. "Not really," she admitted. For a Slytherin, she had surprisingly few ambitions for the future, a direct result of both growing up in what was practically a different world and having too much to worry about presently. If anything, her current goal was to survive until adulthood. At some point she would have to think about it, though, and maybe she had an idea now.

"It helped that you're such a fast learner," she added. Visualization wasn't exactly the easiest thing to figure out, so she was genuinely impressed with how quickly Ileen had picked it up. Ileen moved aside and Bridget took the cue to take the spot in front of the dummy, raising her wand. Before she could decide on what spell to cast, Ileen piped up again with a question.

Lowering her wand to give the question her full attention, she frowned slightly. Not many people had asked her that question yet, and she hadn't given the complete truth to those who had. The simple answer was that she wanted to improve her spell-casting, and it was easy enough to point to the state of the school as the why. But it was more than that. The deciding factor had really been Victor Moore's death and the fact there was a chance she could have prevented it if she hadn't messed up such an easy spell. Or maybe there wouldn't have been that chance at all, maybe she was too caught up in the what-ifs, but she couldn't help but feel some amount of guilt.

The question was, how much of that did she want to share with Ileen? She wasn't a stranger, wasn't a friend. She trusted her... tentatively. It was more respect, really; trust took more than a good impression. At the same time, she didn't see what harm could come from being honest. "It was the fight club, I think. I know that sounds kind of weird since magic didn't work in the basement, but it did in the tent. When I went up there, there was a shadow... thing, and it was attacking the students up there. I wasn't sure yet if the no-magic rule applied to the tent, too, so I chose the Umbrella Spell to test it, figuring nothing bad could happen if magic was blocked. The spell didn't work," technically it had become a sort of electricity bolt that had struck Jack Burnett, "so I assumed magic didn't work at all. Just... I'd failed the spell and by the time I figured that out, Victor was already dying."

She shrugged. Bridget had decided to share with Ileen, but she didn't want to seem pathetic. "I guess that made me realize how dangerous things could get and I wanted to be prepared in case there's a next time. And, I mean, on a less serious note, duelling sounded like fun." Although still slightly apprehensive about how Ileen would react, it did help a little to have the truth out there. She had no intention of dwelling on the topic, though. If Ileen asked another question, she wouldn't just ignore it, but for the time being her attention had returned to practicing.

She had just the spell in mind, too. Since Ileen had mentioned Ventus as a good spell to start a duel with, it seemed likely it was something she could cast. Her learning spells beyond her year would hardly be novel; Bridget knew several others who had advanced knowledge, herself included in that. And if she was right, perhaps Ileen could help her with her Wind Jinx as it was definitely in need of work.

"Okay, so you mentioned Ventus earlier, and I was wondering if you can cast it. Because if you can, I could use a bit of help with mine." The spell had only just been introduced in Charms class, meaning she hadn't had much time to work on it. At this rate, she wouldn't trust herself enough to cast it in her quickly approaching duel. Maybe Ileen could change that. "I think I've got casting it down, but something about the wind leaving my wand messes up my aim. Here, watch." With a twirl of her wand, she incanted "Ventus." The spell worked and seemed to have plenty of power behind it, but missed the dummy entirely, only barely skimming its edge despite the care she'd put into lining her wand up with her target. Turning to Ileen, she tilted her head slightly. "Any tips?"

Ileen's dark eyes were fixed on the older student and her facial expression became serious. So many people she had talked to already knew what they wanted to be later. Most of them just wanted to be cool and become an auror. Bridget hadn't said what she wanted to be, only that she hadn't thought about being a teacher yet. Ileen herself knew her call and there was no plan B, only plan A.
“Hmm, maybe you should consider it. It would be great to have a reasonable and capable influence to get a grip of this bunch of idiots.”
Not even in her dreams did Ileen want to tell Bridget what to do, she just spoke her mind very honestly. And Bridget was a capable teacher, but just because you were good at something didn't mean you wanted to do it.
As the brunette called her a fast learner Ileen blushed and gave her a small proud smile. There was no need to add her thoughts about Bridget’s teaching skills again - she didn’t mean to step the line. To her it was perfectly clear that she had had success because the explanation had been very helpful. “Thank you. I give my very best. Certainly, I don’t want to slow my team down or cause any failure.”

She respected that girl a lot. Not only because of her behavior in the fight club but also because of her support right now. Her guts told her that this girl was one of the good people of hogwarts. But there was more. And that was why Ileen had had to blurt out her next question and thus interrupt Bridget's exercise.
She herself struggled a lot with the conflict of being a healer and fighting in the dueling team at the same time. In her head, she could not yet unite the two roles: the one that wanted to relieve the pain and the one that caused it. Of course, dueling was bound to clear rules and no one would suffer long-term damage, but still.
Ileen struggled with this day after day. This conflict tormented her, and now she wanted to know what drove another student who she had the impression was not indifferent to the health of others. Maybe it would ease her conscience a bit if someone else could confirm that it was an exercise to defend herself and others.

The young Slytherin noticed the hesitation and the time Bridget took to answer her questions. Sure, it wasn’t a simple one after all and as she mentioned the fight club, Ileen could relate to her even more.
A cold shiver ran down her spine and she grabbed her wand more tightly. The fight club. The shadow. So, Bridget had seen it, too. In her mind, Ileen was immediately there again, seeing the shadow making its circles around the room, entering Victor, causing him pain. The hand that had held the boy up, the boy she had tried to persuade to come with her. The one who was now dead.
This situation haunted her night after night in her nightmares. A dark shadow gilded over Ileen’s face and as she looked up to catch Bridget's gaze, her facial expression was a mixture of terror and determination. “No…” Her voice was not loud but careful and serious. “I can totally relate.” She chewed on her lower lip, not sure if she really wanted to talk about the fight club. She hadn’t talked to anyone about it yet. “You saw the shadow, too? You saw Victor die?”
The guilt hit her so hard and unexpectedly that she blanched. “I’m sure it was not your fault. I tried to talk him into leaving with me. But he didn’t want to. Or couldn’t. I don’t know.”
The other girl had experienced something very similar and the reason why she was here seemed to be connected to Ileen’s. She hoped the other girl could see how much Ileen appreciated that she was sharing her motivation. Maybe she could even notice the sympathy.

The topic was pressing the mood, so Ileen was glad when Bridget shifted the focus back on spellcasting. A smile plucked on the corners of her mouth as she mentioned Ventus - the spell Ileen had taught herself lately.
She didn't know if she could help the older student, but she would definitely do her best. So she stepped back and watched closely as Bridget performed the spell. At the same time, she tried to remember exactly how she had fared during her first attempts.
In her case, it had been the other way around than with Bridget. Similar to Expelliarmus, she had hit the target with the wind, but not enough power behind it - and that wasn’t a problem with Bridget’s spell. Ileen was impressed how powerful it was..
She had had too little bower because she had been afraid to really harm the target. Maybe something similar was the case here?
Thoughtful, she chewed on her lower lip and tilted her head before she turned to Bridget. “Hmm. It can't be because of your accuracy with the wand, you did a great job with Expelliarmus. In my case, I was able to direct the gust of wind with my own attitude - at least that's how it felt. Maybe you don't want to cause any damage? That's how it was with me. And that's why the wind turns away, more of a threat than an attack." Ileen frowned, wondering if that made any sense. "Maybe you have to be willing to inflict that damage?" She shrugged. "It certainly helped me."

Interacting with | @Bridget Collins

@Ileen Knight

Bridget couldn't have agreed more with Ileen's statement of striving to give her best. She always wanted to put forth her best effort and didn't want to feel like she couldn't really help her team like she had in Quidditch. That was probably her biggest worry going into the duel in a few days: that she would hurt her team, cost them the victory.

Ileen had seen the shadow too? Her words came as a surprise, since the younger girl hadn't been there when it had happened, but paired with everything else she'd said, it made some sort of sense. Though Bridget must have missed it, Ileen had seen the shadow before it made its way up to the tent. It couldn't have just come out of nowhere, so maybe it was another sickening, suspicious part of the fight club they'd been thrust into. It was pretty clear on Ileen's face that she too had bad memories from that day. In a way, it was a little reassuring that she struggled with it as well. A reminder that what had happened really wasn't her fault. She knew that, of course. But she was still certain she could have stopped it and the fact she'd failed meant she was left with... well, she wasn't sure what, exactly. A need to figure out what she could have done differently to change the outcome even if she couldn't. "Yeah. And, just remember it wasn't yours either."

It was a relief to move on from the topic. That was really all they could do, anyhow. Move on. Try not to make the same mistakes. Having demonstrated her problem with the spell, she listened attentively to Ileen's advice. She really did an excellent job of noting how she'd done on other spells and applying it to this one. It made sense: her accuracy seemed to be otherwise fine, the spell was well cast. She'd spent time perfecting the incantation and wand movement, so she was pretty sure that wasn't the problem. That meant it was mental.

She nodded as Ileen suggested a sort of mental barrier to inflicting harm. The hesitation with causing harm in a duelling setting was something she'd mostly gotten over, but Bridget thought Ileen still had a point. Just because she wasn't unwilling to use more damaging spells didn't mean she had the intent to inflict damage either. The concept triggered a memory of something they'd learned very early in her first year in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Jinxes, Hexes, and Curses all fell under the classification of Dark Arts, technically. Ventus, or the Wind Jinx, was a jinx, so it was part of the Dark Arts. Like their professor had described, you didn't need to be a dark wizard to use such spells, but you did require a sort of malicious intent. She had to want the spells to land. Had to want their harmful effects to play out.

Even if this wasn't the right solution, which Bridget was pretty sure it was, there was no harm in trying. Squaring up at the dummy, she narrowed her eyes slightly. It was just a dummy. And yet, she had to want this dummy to get caught up in a vortex of wind, pushed back, rattled around. "Ventus." The spell shot out of her wand straight, but veered at the last second. "Hold on." Maybe a bit of visualization would help... Exhaling, she closed her eyes, picturing the spell working.

"Ventus!" This time, her spell hit, and she watched as the dummy was trapped in the mini vortex. The corner of her mouth lifted in something of a smile, but it didn't feel quite so satisfying as getting a spell down normally did. She'd managed plenty of lower years spells without thinking too much consciously about malicious intent and all that, and Ventus wasn't necessarily more harmful than any of them. Maybe just the more advanced the spell was, the more focus was needed. Maybe it stemmed from her own fears about how serious things could get. Like Victor. A Wind Jinx wasn't enough to kill someone, but who knew what could happen. A single spell could be the tipping point amidst everything else.

Well, it had worked. That counted for something, even if the idea of having to wish harm on someone to cast certain spells made her feel a little weird. Surely she could channel a want for the spell to succeed coupled with thoughts of how beneficial its effects would be for her to get it to work. She didn't have to actually wish legitimate harm on someone. "Thanks. I think you're right; it's a jinx, so it needs some amount of malicious intent to work."

Ileen watched closely as the third-year casted her spell… and missed. Hmm. With a slight frown she looked at Bridget, trying to figure out her thoughts. Had Ileen given the wrong advice? She felt a trace of disappointment rising in her - though she was a year younger she had hoped to return the favor and give some valuable and helpful feedback about the spellcasting.
In contrast to the young Slytherin, Bridget didn’t seem disappointed or frustrated. On the contrary, it looked more like she had an idea to solve her problem. And indeed, when she tried it the second time, her spell was successful.

Ileen returned the smile and tilted her head, wondering if Bridget was just polite and trying to give her a good feeling as she valued her advice. But she couldn’t find pity or deception in the other girl’s eyes, so she accepted it with an even brighter smile and a nod.
“Well, I guess jinxes are not for everyone, but ours are not really causing harm, so I guess it’s okay using them.” Her eyes were shaped like half moons as she turned to Bridget with a broad grin. “I just hope it will be of good use in the duels.”

With a look on her watch, Ileen decided to get going. It was late and since she was awake at 5am in the morning normally she needed to go to bed at a decent time.
“I think I will go to bed now.” She brushed a strand of her brown hair from her eyes and gifted the girl with a gentle smile. “Thank you so much for your advice. That helped a lot. It was nice to meet you, Bridget. I would love to practice with you again.”

The young Slytherin didn’t know that Bridget would become her Dueling Co-Captain, but she would approve of this decision. To her, the girl was a brilliant teacher and a clever person with a reasonable mind - a person she could trust… one of the few.
Ileen would leave the room without looking back. This night, she would sleep better than the other nights.

Interacting with | @Bridget Collins

Sorry I was so slow =/