With the holidays approaching, Professor Flitwick decided out of the kindness of his heart, that he would allow his students to have a bit of fun in his class. In all classes, they had been focusing on non-verbal magic and while some had managed to catch on quickly, others still managed to struggle with it. Professor Flitwick continued to stress the importance of silent magic, especially when it came to duelling. And what a better way to have the students learn than to practise with one another? Pairing up the students at random, Professor Flitwick cleared the room of all the tables and seats, giving everyone enough room.
Facing their partners, the students were able to practice duelling but they had to be quiet about it. And it just so happened that afternoon, that Elspeth was paired with James, causing both of them to sigh in relief.
They could easily duel each other, with the hopes of knocking each other on their arses, they were just thankful that they hadn't been paired with Sirius or Lily.
"Alright, Potter," Elspeth called out to him, "prepare to carry your sorry arse out of this classroom by the end of the lesson because I'm ready to kick it!"
James couldn't help but laugh after rolling his eyes. "Yeah, we'll see about that, I promise I won't go too hard on you, just promise me you won't cry when you lose."
While the two sized each other up playfully, Sirius and Lily, who had been paired up as well, looked on, both of them appearing rather worried. However, it was both for the same reason, they were both nervous about James getting his arse handed to himself. There was no sense in denying it, at least to themselves, James was a fantastic student, one of the top students of their year, but Elspeth had not come to play when it came to her classes that year.
After receiving top marks in her O.W.L.s, she was very much on her way to making top marks on her N.E.W.T.s as well, and Sirius knew how important it was for her to make the marks, in order to pursue her dream as an Auror. She had been studying non-stop, practising spells when she could, and he didn't think she was going to let anything or anyone get in her way. And as for James, while he was one of her best friends, in the classroom, he was just another obstacle she had to get through.
"Maybe you two should take it easy on each other," Lily called out to them, " no sense going all out. There are other people in the classroom too!"
James and Elspeth waved her off as they took the proper duelling stance and Sirius reached out to place his hand on Lily's shoulder, gently pulling her back.
"There's no sense in talking to them," he told her, " we can't talk them out of it. We'll just have to stand back and watch. Don't worry about El-"
"I'm not worried about her!" Lily blurted out. "I'm worried about James!"
The two of them stood before one another, their eyes widening at Lily's slip. She quickly turned red in the face and cleared her throat, thankful that James nor Elspeth had heard such a thing because they would never let her live it down.
"I mean, what I meant to say is, I-I-I am worried about Elspeth hurting James because I know how much James means to her. They're like siblings so if she ends up hurting him, I know she'll be upset. That's all."
Before Sirius could flat out call her a liar on her terrible cover story, the two could only watch as James went crashing back from Elspeth's first spell cast. Luckily, Professor Flitwick had decided to replace the chairs and tables with pillows and cushions, to soften any blows. But it didn't stop from Lily nervously grabbing Sirius' hand as a little squeak escaped from her lips. He had no choice but to stand there, as she squeezed his hand tightly, nearly bringing the boy to his knees as he internally screamed for mercy.
Of course, Elspeth and James were just having fun with each other, whether it was using some rather harmless jinxes or hexes. They went back and forth, but most of the time, Elspeth had the upper hand with speed. Professor Flitwick continued to praise them for their work, noting that they had yet to say any of their spells out loud, but they completely ignored him.
But as many siblings could attest, there was always just that one moment, where things crossed the line, and a quick game could turn quite serious. And that moment happened when Elspeth managed to get in another hit on James, knocking him back once more. However, this time, he did not land on one of the soft cushions but rather on the hard floor.
Elspeth placed her hands up in triumph, facing Sirius with a thumbs up, who was still trying to pull his hand free of Lily's grasp. Lily did finally let go, taking a step towards James to see if he was alright, but she stopped herself at the last minute.
With her back turned to him, Elspeth was unaware that James had forced himself up to his feet and had his wand at her. He muttered the Knock-Back jinx before Sirius could tell Elspeth to look out, and she was struck from behind, hitting the floor roughly. But James didn't stop there either as he followed up with a tickling jinx as well.
Like many people, Elspeth hated being tickled, even if her initial response was to laugh from the sensation. Her fingers loosened around her wand, allowing it to drop to the floor as she wrapped her arms around her sides as if that would stop the tickling. But it continued, leaving her almost out of breath from laughing so hard, she was trying to tell James that she surrendered, but she couldn't manage to talk. And eventually, anger overcame her because she couldn't get it to stop.
She gritted her teeth, as the tickling became painful but she couldn't stop herself from laughing, even as tears streamed down the side of her face. James and the others, more than likely thought nothing of it at the time as she was crouched over and visibly laughing from where they stood.
But the playful duel was over in Elspeth's mind, and suddenly, she felt something take control of her body.
From where James stood, he was about to lift the Tickling Jinx and relieve Elspeth from the spell, however, he could only watch as Elspeth's laughter suddenly died out. Her body was no longer shaking as it became still, but James was unsure of how she had managed to stop the jinx since her wand was on the floor. He looked over to see that Professor Flitwick wasn't paying them any mind anymore as he assisted two students on the other side of the classroom. Suddenly, she was shakily pushing herself up to her feet and made a grab for her wand.
Thinking she was going to retaliate harshly for the Tickling Jinx, James lifted his wand to block any incoming spell but his wand was abruptly knocked from his hand. He didn't even see Elspeth move her wand before it happened, leaving him to quickly dive for it before she could cast another.
James went to turn only to find himself knocked to the floor again. "Alright, El, you win!" he called out to her as pain shot through his arm after landing on it. " You about broke my arm just now!"
Only, Elspeth didn't seem set on stopping as he slid across the floor towards her. His irritation grew, thinking that Elspeth was still fooling around until half of his body slid under her and he was forced to look up at her as she glared down at him.
"E-E-El," he stammered, "what are you doing-"
His voice trailed off immediately and James swore he saw Elspeth's eyes change colour from the usual hazel to what appeared to be an icy grey.
And maybe he was seeing things, but it also looked like her skin on her face was cracking, almost like she was wearing a mask that covered another face underneath.
"El!" Sirius called to her. "What are you doing? You won! You won! Come on, James was only playing, you don't have to be upset. I-"
While Sirius tried to reason with his girlfriend, thinking she was upset, he wasn't a witness as to what James was seeing, watching as Elspeth's eyes shifted back and forth between colour, and through the cracks of her skin, an entirely different face appeared. Hair that appeared almost white, poked through her normally brown hair, and James couldn't help but let out a little yelp. Using his hands, he attempted to push himself away from her as Elspeth lifted her wand and pointed it directly at his face.
"El, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
And just before James thought he was going to witness his life flash before his eyes, there was a blinding light, but it wasn't his life.
"Artemis?"
The Ceryneian Hind, the sacred animal of Artemis, stood between James and Elspeth. Her massive, golden antlers kept Elspeth at bay, and James was unsure of what to do at the time. He had been made aware of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, looking over the Potter family for centuries back when he was younger. She had revealed herself to him as his protector and the Ceryneian Hind was known to come during times of need and protection when Artemis herself did not show.
The presence of the Hind was clear, James could see that she was attempting to protect him from Elspeth. But James didn't understand why Elspeth was so set on attacking him, or even if that was Elspeth before him. An image of a different woman continued to emerge and she didn't seem fearful of the Hind at all. In fact, it looked as though Elspeth was about to challenge the Ceryneian Hind, which was not a wise thing to do.
But just when James thought they were in the clear and the Hind would save the day, he couldn't help but notice as he looked around the classroom that everyone was gone. They were suddenly surrounded by heavy darkness that wrapped around the area.
"El?" James whispered out. "El, what's going on?"
Elspeth didn't answer as she attacked the Ceryneian Hind head-on.