Lux stood on the dueling platform, slightly elevated from the benches where the rest of his class sat, watching himself and Lindsey about to face-off in their first practice duel. With the mid-semester tournament starting in a little over a month, the Battle Magic class was beginning to evolve into practicing the spells learned from their classes.

It had been an awkward week between him and Lindsey. She had apologized, sort of, but Lux wasn't fully sold on her attempt to make amends. She clearly knew who he was, even without him saying anything, and that scared him. Lindsey seemed to be fine with it, but her lackadaisical way of mentioning it really irked him. She knew damn well the stress and fear muggle-born wizards have, and with her elevated position in the wizard hierarchy, Lux felt like she couldn't wrap her head around his situation. He didn't trust her to not accidentally say something she shouldn't.

I really should find out who her parents are... It might bite me in the ass if they are somehow involved with Purists in any way.

Lindsey, who stood 20 meters away, pulled out her wand and gave him a half-hearted smile. Her usually sarcasm had been muted the last week, trying to show Lux she truly did feel bad for the interaction, so she tried to stop busting his balls as much.

"To reiterate," the professor began to speak to the class, "If you have learned spells outside of the confines of the first-year curriculum, they are fair game as long as none of them have the potential to cause death or serious maiming. This isn't the Arena and is only a practice bout for your tournaments. Let's make sure everyone leaves with all their body parts attached. Understood?"

The class murmured in agreement. Not that any of those rules would be an issue for Lux - he still couldn't cast spells with his wand and he still hadn't crafted any rings yet. He read in the tournament rules that artifacts could be used as long as it was made by the user. Clearly, this rule was made so the rich didn't just buy their way into a victory with powerful items.

"Students! Wands at the ready."

Lux looked at Lindsey, assuming a sideways stance with her wand held in front, trying to slim her available mass that Lux could aim for. He mimicked the same stance in return.

This won't go well.

"Begin!"

Lux flicked his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

The brief flash of a white ball flew from his wand, off-target, and went directly over Lindsey's left shoulder.

"Locomotor Mortis!" She answered Lux spell just as it passed over her, trying to lock his legs with a charm spell she had just learned on her off-time. A line of light, almost like lightning, shot from her wand. It had a bright yellow-white color to it that lit up the area around her as if rays from the sun were finding their way into the closed room.

Her aim was true, and Lux didn't have time to think of how to dodge as it approached.

"Finite!" He tried the use of a general counter-spell, but unfortunately, the power of his attempt wasn't enough to completely break the spell.

Lux's wand shot a dark green burst of energy that tried to wrap itself around the Locomotor charm, which did seem to have weaken it as the color and brilliant light faded slightly but didn't slow it down as it burst through his feeble attempt and hit him in the stomach.

His right leg instantly seized up, with his left feeling like it weighed double the amount it had before.

Awesome, one round of spells, and I essentially can't move.

"Nice shot," Lux admitted as he tested out his capabilities. Since they hadn't practiced that spell yet, he was shocked at the results.

Lindsey hesitated, seeing Lux glance down at his useless legs. She cleared her throat slightly, which allowed Lux to get back into fighting mode, "Expelliarmus!"

She aimed slightly high, so Lux crouched low to the ground and raised his wand as he saw the light from her spell pass over him, "Incendio!"

The fireball shot from his wand, accurately, but with little power. The flame died around 10 meters across, just about halfway. This earned a few laughs from the class, which caused Lux's cheeks to flesh red, and his blood to boil.

He could feel his magic responding to his emotions, the swirling sensation he had grown used to causing him to feel like his skin was crawling. Lux couldn't explain it, but he had issues with controlling the flow whenever his emotions flared, and in this situation, it felt like it was growing increasingly frustrated with its owner failing to use it in the proper fashion.

In the moment, he thought of something he could try, but Lindsey didn't give him a chance.

"Aguamenti!"

A jet of water flew toward Lux, still crouched, and it hit him directly in the chest, soaking him and throwing him back a meter, still within the boundaries of his circle he couldn't leave. He had seen her use that spell before, and he could have sworn it was stronger than what she fired off at him.

During his backward roll, which looked ridiculous since he couldn't feel one and a half of his legs, he aimed his wand when he landed on his stomach, shooting off a weak stunning charm.

"Stupefy!"

A bright light shot from his wand, similar to the Expelliarmus spell, and Lindsey wasn't able to dodge. She stood, frozen in place, her eyes wide.

Lux's eyebrowed furrowed as he saw his spell take place; it was the first time he had successfully caused a true stun on anyone. Not trying to think too hard on it, he cast Expelliarmus and disarmed her, ending the duel.

The class clapped politely, a few sneers and chuckles directed toward Lindsey as the professor crouched next to her and used a counter-spell to end the effects.

They bowed to each other afterward, as proper, and returned to their benches to watch the rest of the class.

"Lindsey, wait up."

She turned over her shoulder to see Lux approaching her after class. He took her by the arm and led her down a hallway where fewer people could overhear them.

He let her go and gave her a stare. She looked innocently right and left before shrugging her shoulders, "So, what's up?"

"Don't play dumb," Lux said, pointing at her. "You threw that fight."

She scoffed, "Why the hell would I throw a duel? You caught me off guard."

He responded with silence, crossing his arms.

Lindsey clicked her tongue and blew out air in frustration. "What do you want Lux? Fine, yeah, I might have exaggerated the effects from your spell."

"How much did you exaggerate?"

She looked at the ground and shuffled her feet, "Well... like, completely?"

Lux laughed in irritation, "Fuckin' knew it. Why would you do that? Trying to give me a petty win because I'm going to lose to everyone?"

"No! I let you win because I feel like a piece of shit, and I've already tried to apologize, and it's still fucking awkward between us. I miss hanging out with you and Caleb. Everyone else just jockeys for position with me, trying to ask about my family and stuff. I get to just be with you two... I didn't realize what kind of a breath of fresh air that was until this last week..."

"Then actually just hang out with us. Quit bugging me about things I don't want to answer. You bring humor into our weird friendship, and Caleb and I have missed hanging with you too. Stop trying to ruin it by being an ass."

She laughed, "Alright, alright. I promise I'll only be an ass to Caleb."

Lux gave her a look.

"I'm kidding!... kinda."

He shook his head and let out a laugh. "Not that he would care. Or notice."

She smiled and held out a hand, "Peace?" she asked.

He clasped her hand in his, "Peace. But, I have a question." she gave him a raised eyebrow, indicating for him to continue. "Who are your parents, exactly? I don't really care, but maybe it would help give me an idea of why you can be..."

"Annoying? Entitled? Arrogant?" she offered.

"Those are good."

She laughed awkwardly, "Well... my family all have different leadership positions in a variety of UW departments. My mom is the head of the Bodyguards, employing wizards to the highest bidder, whether they're a muggle or a magic-user. My dad runs the research department for Magical Genetics. He is one of the lead researchers in the fight against The Decline."

Lux whistled, to which she said, "And they are the least famous."

"You're kidding?"

"Nope. My grandfather... well, he's the president of the UW."