FINAL MATCH: Closes February 18th,2007

Amy walked into the duelling arena, and peered around. There didn't seem to be anyone there yet, and so she took the opportunity to examine her surroundings.

The room was very large, with a high ceiling and stone walls. There were sconces lining the walls, an orange flame flickering in each of them, even though it was still daylight outside. The high windows near the ceiling let the sunlight in, streaming through and creating shafts of light onto the floor.

She pulled out her wand from the holster on her arm, and cast several protection spells on herself, starting with the strongest shield charm she knew. It worked better than normal shield charms in that instead of forming a bubble-like shape around her body, it formed a sort of second skin that was nigh on impenetrable.

Then, she cast a second defense charm that would send any spell cast on her back to its owner. Satisfied that she was sufficiently protected, for the start of the duel at any rate, she dropped her wand arm to her side and started walking around the room, checking that there were no nasty surprises.

Nancy slowly strolled into the dueling arena. She sported her beloved Slytherin robes and her long blonde hair was flowing down around her shoulders. Her bright green eyes scanned the room carefully. She spotted Amy right off and nodded to her. Amy was the first to arrive and no doubt had casted a protection charm on herself. "Good luck my friend." She poke softly to her. There were only four left in the duel and this was the final showdown. They were all good friends and Nancy would be excited for whoever made it to the top.

Nancy quickly pointed her wand at herself and quietly uttered the words, "le rotture de Phoenix lo circondano e proteggono" (Italian for Phoenix tears surround me and protect) She then uttered," il periodo casted contro di me lo ha lasciato assorbirlo è alimentazione e diventato più forte in tal modo" (spell casted against me let me absorb it's power and become stronger in doing so) And then, just to be on the safe side Nancy spoke the words, "Schermo forte come dente dei leoni" (shield as strong as a lions tooth) Nancy was now well protected by the phoenix tears protection spell, the shell armour from the lions tooth protection and any spells casted apon her would absorb into her body and it's power would strengthen her.

She figured she would attempt a spell against Amy to see what would happen. She snapped her wand forward and pointed it towards Amy and shouted, "il serpente slythering circonda il thee" (Slythering snake surround thee) A large black snake shot out of her wand and began to approach Amy but as soon as it touched her feet the snake started to head back towards Nancy. "Very good charm Amy, I see you have a repelling charm." She quickly pointed her wand at the snake and shouted, "immediatamente attacchi vicino a entrano." (immediately attack the next to enter) Nancy smirked a bit at this spell. As soon as someone entered the arena, the snake would quicky surround them.

Nancy had to think about what she could do in this situation. Any spell casted apon Amy would just simply bounce off of her and return to it's sender. She decided that she would just sit back and watch and wait for the next opponent to arrive for now. She kept her sharp mind focused and held her wand tightly in her grip, pointing it straight forward at the door to the arena. Both finalists that were here now were well protected.

Amy kept her eyes on the door, eagerly anticipating the arrival of the next dueller. Soon, she saw Nancy enter the room, and inclined her head to the Slytherin.

Nancy kept her distance, and Amy watched as she muttered some spells. Like Amy had done earlier, Nancy seemed to be casting protection spells upon herself. Amy watched as Nancy cast a further spell, causing a large black snake to shoot from her wand and slither over to her.

Amy wasn't worried, she knew that her repelling spell would send the snake back to Nancy, and it did, and Nancy cast another spell on it.

Amy knew that Nancy would have cast protection spells on herself, so anything Amy sent at her would more than likely not get through. This would take some thought. What could she do that would get through, or more accurately around Nancy's shields?

All of a sudden, inspiration hit her. She closed her eyes, and whilst she knew that might leave her susceptible to attack, it had to be done. So, she closed her eyes and muttered "sentez son aura". When she opened her eyes, she was able to see the many layers of magic making up Nancy's protection spells, and was able to see where the tiniest chinks lay.

She then aimed her wand at the chink, which came out around Nancy's shoulder, and whispered "entrez dans le fil". A thin filament of black thread shot through the chink and attached itself to Nancy's shoulder. Amy then muttered "rotation comme un tourbillon", and Nancy began to spin around and around, the thread following and wrapping itself around Nancy's shields.

Soon, as Amy span her opponent faster and faster, the thread ever expanding from her wand, Nancy was cocooned in the thread from top to toe, and the cocoon was at least three inches thick. Nancy would still be able to breathe, for she was insider her shields, but the weight of the thread would more than likely be too much to bear, and it would only be moments before Nancy toppled over.

Better yet, the filament was as strong as diamonds and as tough as mithril - it would be nigh on impenetrable. Amy stood back and wondered how her Slytherin friend would get out of this one.

Amy was glad to see that Nancy hadn't managed to get out of the cocoon, but Lily had arrived...great.

She watched as Lily dissipated the Snake, and then cast some protection spells on her. Then, Lily raised her wand and aimed it at the ceiling. But there was some ambiguity...the ceiling would crack or it did crack?

It didn't matter anyway, Amy waved her wand and whispered "animation suspendue", which put the rocks into suspended animation, so they didn't fall.

Next, Amy thought she would use Lily's spell to her advantage, and made the chunks of ceiling invisible. Then, she made them float above Lily, always tracking her, and set a time delay spell on them - they would fall on Lily when she least expected it.

Then, she turned to look at Nancy...who was still in her cocoon. Nothing to worry about there yet. Lily looked a little too cocky though, so Amy thought it would be good to bring her down...undoubtedly she would have put protection spells on herself, and so Amy used the same Aura-searching spell that she had used on Nancy, and discovered that Lily was wielding a spell that enabled her to see what spells were coming before they hit her.

Well Amy knew how to combat that! She whispered "la magique avec le temps retardent", and now every spell she shot at Lily would be delayed by a miniscule second, tricking her split-vision spell.

Finally, Amy launched on the offensive, and sent a volley of fireballs at Lily.

::elly stood at the door of the duelling arena. She was uber late. She had already protected herselves with an elements spell. And She decidedto bring back her protective bubble

"Bulle Protectrice," she had said before entering the arena. The bubble could withstand all but the unforgivable spells which only slytherins would use.

But then elly decided to trick the two in the arena.

"Παχιά ομίχλη" (thick fog) A fog decended onto the room. You couldn;t even see your hand if you outstretched it.

"Vision De la Chaleur," (heat vision) Elly could see two blurry red shapes outlining lily and amys bodys. She then muttered, "Spaccatura del corpo"(body split)

Ellys body split into two bodies. Her copiedself stood facing her, awaiting orders. She told it to walk through the fog and distract the other duelers. The other elly obeyed and dissapeared itno the fog. She was only a dopy so she gave off no heat. Elly was now alone, with two bodies of heat in the distance::

Nancy stood there watching Amy and noticed her moving out of the corner of her eye. Amy had her wand pointed at her and although Nancy had thought she had protected herself fully, Amy some how managed to find a weak spot.

Nancy was quite surprised that Amy had hit her with this thread coiling spell. Within seconds Nancy was spinning around fast being wrapped in black thread. The faster she was spinning, the tighter the thread wrapped around her. She could not move any part of her body, including her wand hand. Her body was stiff and it was all she could do keep herself balanced at an upright position.

Just when Nancy's mind was racing with an idea, her body began to grow very warm. Warmer and warmer it grew. She also began to feel herself becoming stronger, like a power was wrapping itself inside of her. "The spell I cast." Nancy thought in her mind. Earlier, when she first entered the duel she had casted a il periodo casted contro di me lo ha lasciato assorbirlo è alimentazione e diventato più forte in tal modo" (spell casted against me let me absorb it's power and become stronger in doing so). The power from Amy's spell was penetrating through Nancy making the thread strength one with herself. Then Nancy concentrated hard and felt her body growing even warmer. Soon the thread began to melt into her body, giving her a binding protection.

Nancy then spotted Lily walk into the dueling arena. She smiled at her friend and her heart raced with excitement. She had not yet had the pleasure to duel with one of her dearest friends.

Lily wasted no time in throwing protections over herself and had casted a spell apon the ceiling, causing a large chunk of it to break away towards Nany's head. Nancy jumped back and thrusted her wand straight upward. She pointed it at the chunk of ceiling and shouted, "Congeli in metà di aria e sparisca". (Freeze in mid air and vanish)

The chunk of ceiling falling towards Nancy froze in mid air and vanished. Nancy sighed with relief as the peice had almost hit her and would knock her out for sure.

She then looked as Elly had come into the duels and Nancy smiled yet again. The four members in this final round were all here now. They were all friends and great duelers.

Elly had casted a fog charm and Nancy saw the room immediatley grow foggy. She pointed her wand at her face and muttered, "Affili la mia visione per penetrare attraverso la nebbia." (Sharpen my vision to penetrate through the fog)

Nancy could immediately see through the fog that Elly had cast. It was still there but Nancy's spell enabled her to see right through it.

Nancy then pointed her wand in front of her and shouted, "Il pacchetto dei lupi compare ed attaca." (Pack of wolves appear and attack) Nancy watched as a pack of wolves appeared and they stood there looking at her. She then uttered "attacchi l'altri e tenga alla baia." (Attack the others and hold at bay)

Nancy watched as the beautiful wolves began making their way across the dueling arena, heading towards the directions of the others.

Amy frowned as Nancy got out of the cocoon spell...oh well, at least it had kept her busy for a while. Lily was still busy dealing with the fireballs, but Elly had arrived and set a fog in the arena.

Amy conjured some goggles that had a spell on them that cut through the fog, giving her perfect vision. She saw Nancy performing some sort of similar spell on herself, then her eyes widened in horror behind the goggles as Nancy conjured a pack of wolves.

Some of the wolves came racing towards Amy, and for several moments Amy stood there frozen, terrified. Then, she jumped into life, knowing exactly what to do.

"Diminuation!" She called, and the three wolves advancing on her shrank to the size of kittens. They kept coming towards her, but when they snapped at her heels their baby teeth left no marks on her shield. Perfect!

Then, she had to think of something to do. Lily was still dealing with fireballs and now Nancy's wolves, and Elly had to deal with Nancy's wolves too. That left Nancy to deal with.

Amy wracked her brain trying to come up with something she could do, something original and unique. So far Nancy had called on friends from the animal kingdom, Elly had used the elements and Lily had used the surroundings...what could Amy do?

Suddenly, inspiration hit her. What if she did all of those things? Conjured a beast from the very rocks of the hall itself sheathed in a destructive element?

She took a few moments to plan the spell, it would have to be intricate and detailed, and then she closed her eyes and murmured "La bête de la pierre, venue en avant à mon appel, tressé en feu, a craint par tous!"

A great rumbling emanated from the hall, and then, a cavernous hole appeared in the stone floor, crumbling at the opposite end of the hall. Then, a huge beast began to form, it's body made out of the stone, and entirely covered in flames. It put Amy in mind of the balrog from Lord of the Rings, and as it roared Amy felt a shiver go down her spine.

As she had created the beast, she knew it wouldn't harm her, but the same couldn't be said for the others...

Nancy watched as Amy quickly turned the wolves who went after her into fearless kittens and she had to smile at this. Amy was a quick thinker, she would have to wait and see how Lily and Elly handled the ferocious canines.

Then Nancy watched as Amy did some kind of powerful spell. An ear splitting rumbling could be heard all around the dueling arena and Nancy gasped as a huge hole formed in the middle of the floor. A huge stonelike flaming beast began to form in the hole. The beast let out an alarming roar and Nancy knew this was not something that would be easily dealt with.

Nancy took a few steps backward, her eyes wide with this amazing spell Amy had cast. She thrusted her wand forward towards the beast and shouted "acquazzone dell'acqua." (water shower) A jet of midnight blue water began to spray from her wand onto the beast in an attepmt to douse the flames. This, however did not work. It only appeared to make the beast more angry. Nancy had to think and quick. She had no clue what to do about this. She thought long and hard and then came up with an idea. The beast could work in her favor, as well as Amy's. She wanted the beast there to act as an obstacle for the others to deal with.

Nancy pointed her wand back at the beast and uttered, "non vedrete che me per io sono invisibile a voi." (you shall not see me for I am invisible to you.) Nancy hoped with all her Slytherin heart that this spell would indeed block herself from the eyes of the beast. She stood there with bated breath as she watched the beast come out of the hole in the ground and began moving around the room. It appeared to look straight at Nancy and she held her breath but then it began moving in the opposite direction. It was heading away from her. Nancy sighed with relief.

She then knew that Amy would be quick with her wand again so Nancy had to think of something to occupy Amy so she could not easily attack her. "Venti di torcimento grandi." (great twisting winds) Nancy shouted as she thrusted her wand forward towards Amy. A huge tornado like cloud shot out from the end of her wand, it was spinning with a vengeful fury. "Avvolgala nel thee." (envelop her into thee) Nancy screamed and the twisting wind quickly headed towards Amy.

Amy watched as her magnificent beast rose from the ground. Nancy was the first to react to it, and at first she seemed stricken with fear. Then, Amy heard her Slytherin friend mutter an invisibility spell, that would make her invisible to the beast. Amy had to admit, that was good thinking.

And so the beast turned its attention away from Nancy and to Lily and Elly. Amy raised her wand to get the first spell in, but Nancy was quicker, and all of a sudden Amy felt gusts of wind enveloping her, getting fiercer and fiercer, spinning her around and around.

It was dizzying, so bad that she could barely catch her breath, let along think of a way out. What was even more disconcerting is that she had no idea which direction she was being blown in - she could be heading towards the wolves for all she knew, or even in the direction of her fire beast. And that could be dangerous - even though as the creator she'd made it so that the beast wouldn't purposefully go after her, if she got in its way then it would almost certainly lash out.

The windstorm was buffeting her this way and that, hither and thither, and it was getting annoying. Amy felt her limbs snapping backwards and forwards as she was thrown about like a rag doll, and then - as she had feared, she felt the heat of the beast. She'd been blown to the other end of the hall, and ended up too close.

But...what was this? The wind seemed to be dying down, certainly it felt a lot less strong. And then, it was nothing more than a breeze lifting strands of her hair into the air. Looking up at the beast, she saw that it wasn't actually that close, still several meters away, but close enough to have felt the heat. And then she understood..the heat from the beast had pierced through the winds, breaking them up and dissipating them.

The beast didn't seem to be taking any notice of her, still preoccupied with Lily and Elly, and so Amy ran back up to the other end of the hall, where Nancy still stood. On her way, she cast a dome spell over Lily, Elly, the wolves and the beast, so they were enclosed in a diamond-hard dome...with the monsters she and Nancy had created. That could be trouble...

Then, as she neared Nancy, she wracked her brain for what to throw at the Herbology professor. Her first thought was Devils Snare, but that was too amateur, especially as her profession was in plants. And then it came to her, and she lifted her wand.

"essaim des sauterelles!" She called, and a swarm of hundreds and thousands of locusts sprang forth from her wand and headed towards Nancy. They encircled her, and Amy had to grin as she wondered how she would escape...

Amy wondered how Lily had managed to entrap the beast when it had been doing other things (for example dissipating the wind Amy was trapped in). It didn't make sense, chronologically or physically.

No matter, Amy knew that the duel would be ending soon and she had to give it her all. She conjured suction pads to her hands and feet and then began scaling the walls, until she reached close to the ceiling. From there, she had a great view of what was going on. Then, she began to rain a volley of spells on her fellow duellers.

She sent expelliarmuses, stunning spells, balls of fire, conjured spiders...anything she could think of that would cause harm to the others. She sent a scalping hex at Lily, a skinning spell at Elly and a spiking spell at Nancy.

The duel was going to end soon, and she hoped she'd done enough.

::Elly felt water around her ankles and realised what was happening,

"Unterwasseratemgerättaucher." (scubadiver) Elly suddenly felt the weight of an endless oxygen tank on her back and a mouthpeice in her mouth. the water was now up to her chest.

"Nessuna nuotata ortografa" (no swim spells) Elly giggled in her mouthpiece as she sawthe others try to make themselves be able to breathe underwater or able to swim better but every spell they made just made the water fill up quicker.

~Tehre we go~ elly smiled::

Elly felt the water start to pull onher. She started to swim away from the force, her scuba diver flippers giving her an extra force. Through her gogls she saw soemthing else apart from amy and anncys bodies swirl round and round,

"sharks!" elly gasped. She was away from tehwhirlpool holding onto the torch holders on teh walls, but if a shark strayed she would be vunerable. Butthen she saw lily and decided to use a bit of a mafia sparkedspell,

"Pesi del piede," (foot weights) Before lily could feel the new weight added to her and before she could take a breathe lily went under. and was stuck there,no escape. But jsut incase elly shouted

"Gabbia," (cage) a strong cage followed lily underwater, trapping her there, unable to escape::

Amy wondered why the duel wasn't over yet.

Then, from her position still at the top of the ceiling that she had climbed to with her suction pads, she watched as a whirlpool and sharks were conjured and the other duellers tried to avoid them.

She decided to make the situation worse for Elly and Nancy, and added piranha fish into the mix. Then, she muttered "cent degrés", and the water turned to boiling point. It was now scalding hot...and would not be pleasant for anyone.

Unfortunately, the boiling water had the effect of killing the sharks and piranhas. Pity it didn't get Elly. Amy then conjured a heat proof boat, and lowered herself into it so she could havea better access point for her spells, and awaited the others' next move.

Elly climbed out the water as she felt it stop filling. She balanced herself on a window ledge high in the hall.

She coudl see all that was ahppening and thought what to do next...Lily was the problem. She always escaped...what to do...

"Expelliarmus! Accio lilys wand!" the two actions performed at once and lilys wand flew over to her. She dropped it into the water then did the same to amy and nancy. All were wandless. "Παλιρροιακό κύμα!" (tidal wave) from ellys windowsill elly wassafe but the otherswere all engulfed by the water. All tossed around,helpless::

Amy wondered why Elly had ignored the boiling water...it was most peculiar. Suddenly, she felt her wand being ripped from her hand, but that didn't matter, she was proficient in wandless magic.

Then, Amy felt the water begin to rock her boat, and as she glanced over to the left saw a tidal wave beginning to form. Thinking quickly, she added several charms to her boat wandlessly, the same charms that you put onto a broomstick. She then whispered "up", and the boat began to rise, higher than the wave itself. But that still left Lily and Nancy in the water.

Now she had to deal with elly. Wandless, her magic was quite weak, and so she accio'ed her wand back from Elly. Next, she performed a "boxing ears" spell, which would give some pain to her, followed by a vomiting spell aimed at elly's stomach. It would take some time for elly to get over that.

::Amy wondered how amy had managed to accio her wand from under loads of water with no wand!

She had spells shot at her but thankfully elly had her protective bubble.

"HA!" She yelled then screamed, "Το σχοινί δεσμεύει!" (Rope binds) Amy suddenly was wrapped up in tight rope.

"Compressione!" (squeeze) The ropes tightened until amy was gasping for breath. Elly shouted a spell and samy fell into the water. " you;d have to be hudini to escape that!"

Having used her wandless magic during her last move, Amy failed to see why elly looked so confused. Anyway, the spells bounced off elly's protective bubble, and Amy frowned, before ropes began to wrap around her, compressing her chest wall.

Then, she fell into the water. She heard Elly yell "You'd have to be houdini to get out of that", and thankfully, that gave her an idea.

Muttering a body-shifting spell, she transfigured herself into Houdini and then was able to escape the ropes with ease. Then, she swam back to the surface of the water, gasping for breath, before chaning herself back to normal and performing the aura-inducing spell on Elly, looking for chinks of weakness. She found one by her left heel, and aimed her next spell there, a poison that she would not notice immediately, but that would send her to sleep within the next five minutes.

I wish this duel would end soon, she thought I'm getting fed up of having to think up new ways to harm the others!

A spell sent from one of the others bounced off ellys bubble just above her left knee. it was obviosuly intended for a weak point. Elly pinpointed it on her left heel. She quikcly restored it.

Elly saw the water drain around ehr and now she was trapped on the window sill. But it was a good poitn to be,

"Scoppio del ghiaccio!" (ice blast) A whitelight shot from ellys wand and spread over the hall turning each member into ice and freezing the hall. She then started with amy and workedher way round, "Pezzo!"(shatter) Amys body shattered into a million peices, she turned to nancy "Pezzo!" nancy did the same, then she turnedto lily "Pezzo!"

Elly felt a chill up her spine. She saw spirits circling her. She held back a scream and told herself to concentrate. She could use this power!

"vuoti l'alimentazione!2 (drain power) The power from teh spirits circling ehr and her alone was drained and the spirits disapeared.

"τα πουλιά καίγονται!" (birds combust!) The birds exploded into balls of fire and elly giggled as they fell onto amy burning her robes.

"Τίποτα δεν βράζει!" (nothing bubble) a bubble formed over lily. inside this bubble was actually...nothing, like space. No air, no gravity, no sound. Nothing. The actually bubble shouldn;t exsist...but it did. Just there! Nomass, no weight no heat it gave off...nothing! It was virtually imposible to escape this and elly smiled. She liked this spell and was bound to use it again.

Elly felt breathe leaving her fast ~what to do. maybe if I concentrate~

Elly thought ~Αεροφυσαλίδα~(air bubble) ~pleasework please work~

"Please work please work, wait I'm talking woo it worked!" Elly sucked in a deep breathe and laughed. She then conjuredsoem ear muffles and screamed, "asta sonic!" (sonic boom) power pulsated off elly in all directions, stunning all other duellers, defeaning them and throwing them back against the wall. Elly stood with her airbubble and breathed heavily. The spell took alot of power and she was a little tired now,

"svegli" (wake up) she whispered pointing her wand at her head, she immediatly felt better

Elly felt a new force pulling her in the wrong driection, "no not up! I want to go down! Up is bad down is good!" ELly held onto the window before she could go anywhere. She ntoiced lily and her boots and ely got an idea

"ancora materiale di riempimento!"(refill) the hall began to fill up with water again but really quickly. Lily was stuck at the bottom and the water filled above her head until it reached the window sill, "arresto!" (stop) the water stoppped rising and lily was trapped underneath

Amy saw Lily get trapped under the water due to elly's spell, and smiled. That was good, one less dueller to worry about for the moment.

She then turned her attention to Elly, and thought of what she could do to her...perhaps start out with an expelliarmus so she would only be able to respond with wandless magic, which would weaken her reserves.

"Experlliarmus!" She shouted, and elly's wand flew out of her hand. Then, she conjured some Devil's Snare - what might not have worked on the herbology professor would more than likely work on a student who'd never done a herbology class in her magical career.

So she conjured the malevolent plant, and watched it weave its effects on Elly.

Something green wove round ellys legs, it was devils snare! Elly thoguht quickly and yelled "fuoco!" (fire) the blant burst into green flames then dissapeared. Elly giggled at amys attempt.

"arco e freccia"(bow and arrow) Elly now grasped an el;aborate bow and a bnag of arrows. The arrowheads were tipped with a poison that would cause amy to pass out immediatly. But she did not want amy to die so elly muttered, "mortale non,"(not fatal) as she let go of the arrow. It peirced amy and she colapsed in a heap.

Amy was just wondering why the poison she used on elly earlier hadn't taken effect yet, when she saw elly take out a bow and arrow and shoot at her. Then everything went black...

She woke in a beautiful garden, the sun shining through the leaves of trees, creating a dappled effect on the grass.

A river was flowing along the one side of the beautiful garden, and the lawn was smattered with crocuses. It was like something out of another world, and as Amy looked down at herself she noticed she was dressed in a long, flowing, white gown.

She wondered what had happened and where the duelling arena had gone. Was this a dream? A hallucination? She had no more time to wonder when she saw a tall figure approaching from the other end of the garden.

It was an astonishingly beautiful woman, with pointed ears and long, shiny hair.

"Who are you?" Amy said.

"My name is not important, you do not need to know it. However, I must tell you that you are not in danger. You have been pierced with a poisoned arrow, though it has only caused you to slip into a deep sleep and enter this vision."

"Is this place real?" Amy asked, frowning.

"Yes," replied the tall woman, "and no." She smiled, "All you need to know is that there is nothing to worry about. You will re-enter the duelling arena a split second after you were shot with the arrow, but for now, you will rest and recuperate."

Amy nodded, and drifted into a deep sleep. When she awoke, it was dusk and the dark night sky was smattered with stars. The tall woman was seated, cross legged a little away from her, her eyes shut.

"Erm," Amy said, not sure how to address the woman.

"You are ready to go back," the woman said, "Good luck in the duel." She then waved her hand and Amy felt herself floating, and then all of a sudden she was back in the duelling arena, and the woman had been right - no time at all had passed.

She whirled around on Elly, who hadn't been expectiing her to recover so quickly and muttered "Aguamenti fuerte", which sent a tremendously strong jet of water at Elly, strong enough to knock her over.