"The third are the honour duels. They were outlawed a century ago in the British Isles. An honour duel is to the death, Miss Potter. They began to fall in disuse after several Noble Houses began to circumvent the protocols to easily kill their enemies without waiting for the duel to begin."
"And the fourth and last is brawl duelling."
"Which is…?" She asked.
"No rules, no referees, just an appropriate name for wizards and witches to fight each other in small numbers until they escape or stay dead. If enough fighters are involved, brawl duelling and a magical battle are virtually undistinguishable from each other. Completely outlawed in the British Isles, there are some circles which allow a limited form of brawl duelling in South America. But it is very rare to hear a tournament organised in this form. It's also known as free-for all duelling, and you might not be surprised to know it is the type of Duelling which bears the most similarities to the incident which happened to you in the Ravenclaw Common Room."
"Four types of duels," she whispered. "Which one are you planning to teach me?"
Flitwick smiled. "Teaching you the first would be a waste of our time. From your fight in the Ravenclaw Common Room, your opponents have already moved past that stage." At her nod of approval, he continued. "Unless you want it, you will never find yourself in an honour duel. I will give you a book to learn the customs and the rules for it, but we will stop there. In this room, we will concentrate on the second and fourth forms, especially the fourth given what almost happened to you."
"Enough history for now," Flitwick said, bouncing on his feet with pleasure.
"Now, I want to have a good picture of what you can do. At my signal, come at me with the intent to kill."
She almost stared open-mouthed at her professor for one second, but managed to close her mouth in time. The man was a retired professional duellist. Of course, she could go at him with the intent to kill! Professor Flitwick could no doubt crush her with one hand behind his back. Alexandra would be lucky to give him a scratch.
"Begin!"
Alexandra decided that if her Head of House wanted a fight, he was going to have one. She shouted "LUMOS!" and closed her eyes. The explosion of light she had involuntarily made in Charms class was reproduced, and she ran towards her professor, trying to knock him out cold.
A blue-coloured spell came out of nowhere on her right, and she had to dodge it in extremis. Seeing her professor literally dancing at that location, she shot a Petrificus Totalus and missed him. The rest was a one-sided humiliation, as she couldn't seem to touch Flitwick, who was too quick and swift to be touched by her spells. She was forced to roll, evade, dodge, and jump in pure desperation before finally taking a red light in her chest from her Head of House. Alexandra collapsed and lost consciousness.
"Ennervate!"
"Ahhhg..." Alexandra groaned. She was on her back, starring at the ceiling. Her vision was blurry for a few seconds, then she recovered enough to see her Professor standing over her. She tried to move, emitting another groan of pain.
"How long was I unconscious?" She asked, massaging her muscles to decrease the pain.
"One minute," Replied Flitwick with a big smile. "You are very inventive, Miss Potter and I must admit your over-powered Lumos took me quite by surprise."
"You toyed with me." Alexandra accused.
"Yes." Flitwick grinned at that. "Don't sell yourself too short, Miss Potter, unless there was something very wrong with me, a first-year should not be able to best a Professor. Even with seventh-year students, I am not seriously threatened when we make friendly duels to see their casting skills and endurance. Though you have the potential to be more dangerous than them, I must admit."
Seeing her standing on her legs again without any help, Flitwick smiled again.
"Five minutes of analysis, and then we will have a second match. That will be all for the lesson today."
Alexandra groaned again wondering what she had done in a past life to deserve this treatment. She had thought her teacher was a sadist at the very beginning of this session and now she had the confirmation. Though Flitwick was a Duellist champion, he was also an excellent analyst, explaining that she had excellent precision but that she needed to eat a lot more food at each meal. Readying her wand, Alexandra prepared herself for a second dolorous meeting with the floor, which happened indeed twenty-six seconds later. She managed to get back to her bedroom on her own, but she couldn't have beaten a kitten in duel after that, much less Hogwarts students.
7 September 1991, Paris, France
Two people were walking on the street's pavement as the sun set in a crimson colour over Paris. In itself, the sight was not worthy of any inquiries despite the rather late hour. The City of Lights was excellent for shopping, and thousands of people were still outside at this time of day. It was only if an observer examined the scene with acute attention that there would have some anomalies to report. First, the two individuals were wearing clothes which could have been considered the norm in the eighteenth century at the court of a French King. More curious was the fact that no one noticed them or made a single remark on their getup. Even when a middle-aged lady just missed crashing into them. And third was their unreal appearance. One was a woman with blonde-hair and blue eyes, looking like she belonged in a magazine for super-models rather than the average street they were walking down. Her companion was less beautiful, but with average blond hair and piercing brown eyes, he was hardly unremarkable.
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