A Bit Of Grass

"I lost a duel." she said nodding. "In the dueling club you know." she rubbed her lips together. "I didn't really like losing." she said slowly. "So I'm not really sure what I want to do yet, but I can't just let me lose you know?" she questioned him. "I just know I probably shouldn't get caught with whatever I do." she shrugged.

Raven laughed. "Yeah, I saw and heard about your duel with Lawr. He was getting pretty frustrated and neither of you wanted to lose. Of course, neither did I with my duel with Will. Merlin, he was stubborn."
Then thinking, he smirked teasingly at her. "You know, if you want to get back at Lawr...I can't help you."

"Well." Alycia made a face. "You're no help." she said shaking her head. "Maybe...a little help?" she asked holding up her hand and spacing them a little bit apart. "Maybe just try and duel me again so I can beat him this time?" she asked tilting her head a bit.

"Nu huh!" Raven quickly stood and shook his head, waving his arms no. He was not going to duel another girl if he could help it. "I'm not dueling another girl. And besides," He grinned and prepared to run if he had to. "Didn't you have enough practice while you were dancing and wrestling Lawr?"

Alycia shook her head. "I didn't say I wanted to duel you." she grinned. "Are you scared that I might beat you?" she teased him. She made a face at him at the other response. "He didn't need to steal my wand. He was the one who wanted to dance and wrestle me to the ground." she shook her head and raised an eyebrow at why he was standing. She wondered if he was leaving already.

Seeing she wouldn't act violently like Harmy, or maybe because there were no books around to throw, Raven sat back down. "He stole your wand, because he wanted to win. The best way to win a duel is to make short and sweet. Most wizards are rubbish when it comes to fighting. They rely on their wands and magic too much, so..."
He gave her a pointed look.

"It's not like we know tons of magic at the moment." she told him. "I can see your point though, but i didn't want to lose at the beginning of the duel, so I probably made myself look stupid running around and trying to trip him and stuff." she raised a brow at him. "Did you need to stretch you legs or something? You stood up then sat back down." she said looking at him.

Raven looked away with embarrassment at her comment about needing to stretch. Looking thoughtful he shook his head. "Nah, you didn't look stupid, just funny," he teased.
"You both wanted to win, which is natural. Lawr is good when it comes to physical stuff, he outmatches you that way. He's also a quick thinker and could probably think two steps ahead of you."
Raven mused trying to see how the girl could possibly win. He gave up and shrugged. "Just try and do something that your opponent wouldn't think of. You know, surprise them?"

Alycia made a face at him. "Ha ha." she said and shook her head. "But yeah, I see your point unfortunately. Stupid boys and their physical stuff." she shook her head. She leaned back on her hands, shaking her head once to let her hair fall off her shoulders. "I suppose. Just have to make a plan or something. So do you like the dueling club?"

Raven thought about that. Did he like the Dueling Club? "Um....not really sure on that. I've been in two duels. I lost one, and won one. I only requested the one because I was asked. The other duel, someone challenged me."
A grin split across his face recalling his duel with Will. "It was fun getting a chance to have a go at Will. And we destroyed Prof Hunt's bookcase again."

Alycia laughed. "You like destroying Professor Hunt's things huh?" she asked. "But hey at least you're evened out, win one and lose one. "So how goes classes for you?" she asked him randomly, she turned her head and glanced over at the lake, before looking back at him. She had thought she seen something, but dismissed it.

"It was an accident," Raven defended. "That just so happened to repeat itself.....It was all Will." Raven nodded. At the mention of classes he sighed. "I don't know. DADA is good for now, second is History of Magic, then Charms....I dunno about the others. What about you? How are classes going?"

Alycia nodded. "I like Defense against the dark arts too, I didn't take History of Magic though. I figured it would be boring." she shrugged. "I haven't really gotten into all the classes yet, I'm more just sitting there and doodling on my parchment." she smiled looking over at him.

Raven's mouth twitched. "Good thing you're not a Slytherin then. Lawr really went off about those that had signed up for classes but hadn't even shown up for them. I don't blame him. I was really angry too. Especially since we have so little in our House compared to the others. Its like the Slytherins are boys, and the rest are all girls. Kind of like it was on the train. We're vastly outnumbered."

"Nah, I show up to class and I do the work they assign so that counts for something right? I don't just skip class, I show up." she told him. "And what would Lawr have done to me? Hug me again?" she asked looking over at him and raised a brow. "But yeah, you never see that many boys around here." she commented.

Nodding, Raven wondered why that was. Maybe the boys were being sent to Durmstrang? He briefly wondered what it would have been like if his father had had his way and he'd been sent to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts. He certainly wouldn't have met any of his friends. "So, which classes are you currently taking then?"

"Charms and Astronomy." she said with a nod. "I didn't really want to take anymore. Figured I'd have my hands full with those two classes you know." she shrugged and gave him a smile. "What about you?" she questioned. "What all are you taking?" she said pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

Raven blinked at her. Just two classes? She must have so much free time! The possibilities of stuff he could do if he only had two classes! Instead he had to sign up for all the classes or face a Howler. Sighing, he stated, "All of them, or I was. I don't have Transfiguration anymore. What do you do with all your free time since you only have two classes?"

Alycia shrugged. "I stay in the common room or hang around the fields. But it doesn't even really seem like that much free time, you know." she stated. "I was going to take all of them but I didn't think I was going to have any time to have them all."

Raven nodded. He could see what she meant. Especially when Potions and Herbology took a LONG time. Or seemed to anyways. "I wish I could that," he murmured wistfully. If he was only taking a few classes he could explore much more than he had! And there was also the chance of getting into all kinds of things.

"Why can't you do that?" she questioned looking over at him. "Just drop a few more classes and there you go, just like me." she winked at him. "Only need two to go up a year, thank goodness." she smiled. "Besides you could use the free time to get into that trouble you like to want to get into." she teased him.

Raven winced just thinking about dropping more classes. "I can't. My father would kill me. I'm surprised he hasn't sent a Howler yet from me taking my own initiative and dropping Transfiguration."
Wanting to get away from that subject and thinking about it, he feigned hurt at her suggestion that all he looked for was trouble. "Hey, I resemble that!" He grinned. "For your information though, trouble finds me, so there!"
He stuck his tongue out at her.

Alycia laughed at that and stuck her tongue back out at him. "How childish." she teased him. "You resemble that huh?" she asked. "Curious though, how does trouble always seem to find you?" she asked. "Does it just stalk you and when you stop BAM there it is?" she asked curiously. "Is there trouble around here?" she asked looking in either direction for something that would cause trouble.

"You could say that," Raven grinned. "I don't always go around looking for trouble you know. Some things start off simple enough like wanting to find out what makes Exploding Snap cards explode."
He shrugged. "Next thing you know, you're the first one in Hogwarts History to have blown up the Lake. And you've accidentally killed one of your professors' pet fish and are serving detention for a week."

Alycia laughed at that. "Yeah, I heard about that happening. I don't know who hasn't heard. How do you blow up the lake? Bound to get caught it makes a big explosion. Though why you would throw exploding snap cards in the lake in the first place..." she shook her head. "Where do you come up with these ideas Raven?" she asked him.