au_hogwarts | The Room of Requirement

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The Room of Requirement

After arriving on the Quidditch Pitch, Dinah doesn't waste any time heading to the seventh floor, still carrying the bundle she brought back with her.

When she told Leonardo he wanted the gym, she meant a very specific gym. Ever since her second year when her mother was in St, Mungo's for the first time and all she wanted was to be with her uncle Ted, she's taken to using the Room when it looks alomst exactly like Ted Grant's gym in the East End. Except that many years of use as a training spcace for her nad her friends have given it a specialist twist. The punching bags, for example, punch back.

Elbowing her way in with the bundle in her hands, she glances around the room for Leonardo. She's not late, but she wouldn't put it past him to be early.

[OOC: Plot locked to Leonardo]

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He would have been earlier had he been able to get himself into the proper room on the first...second...dare we say third time. The fourth was the charm, though...he'll probably not tell Dinah that.

Leo can be found meditating in the far right corner of the gym. When the door appears and Dinah enters the room he looks up. When he sees she's got her arms full, he's on his feet and heading towards her.

"Can I give you a hand with anything?"

He's barefoot, and his footfalls seem to generate no sound as he walks.

"Thanks," Dinah says. It's probably no easier giving it over ot him than just setting them down herself, but...

"Just leave them on that table? They're not for us, unless you really want to."

Inside the bundle, wrapped up for transport, are about eight European broadswords. Once you're holding them, it's hard to mistake it for anything else.

Yeah, Leo can't help but admire the swords. It's his way.

"I'm afraid I'd hardly be a worthy opponent. I've only ever studied katana sword play."

A reply that only prompts Dinah to smile.

"Then maybe we can exchange styles one day. I've never tried katana."

'One day' being the operative word there; they've had one conversation and all she has to go on is his confidence. She still has no idea what she expects.

Still by the doro, she drops her travelling cloak from her shoulders and removes her shoes; underneath she's wearing loose Muggle clothing that emphasise movement, with her wand tucked into an armband on her forearm.

"So I know you said you didn't want to duel, but unless I can see what you're starting with, I don't know where to go."

He's just putting the swords down when this request hits him. Instantly his shoulders tense, and it's a good thing his back is to her because she won't see him wince.

"I'm afraid that's not a good idea."

"No, you said," Dinah says, with mild resignation. There's no point in pushing him, after all.

"There're books on the table, there. They're my personal copies, because the ones in the Library are in the Restricted Section."

They're mostly books on high level curses and defence against them. With a great deal of dueling techniques involved. Some of them are written by A. Scott, and one by D. Drake.

"I'm hoping there's something in there that's new to you."

Meanwhile, Dinah's walking around the ring in the middle of the floor, towards the hanging punching bags.

Books! Always a welcome distraction from the self loathing that comes with knowing he can't control himself.

"I'm sure there is, thank you."

He picks up the book by Scott first, and then moves back to his meditation corner to read. It's only after he's seated on the floor that he loosens his tie.

Dinah picks a spot so she's facing Leo's corner and throws a good old fashinoed boxing punch at the bag in front of her. Her attention, obviously, is on her technique, but it just so happens that he's also in her line of sight.

Not getting her wand out, she starts pummeling the bag with all the techniques Ted taught her; a very thorough warm up.

He seems to give her no attention as he continues to read. Every so often he reaches for a parchment and quill to take some notes. Each note, in turn, has a proper Ministry style citation.

It seems like an absent minded action, but in between notes he also manages to remove his tie and unbutton his shirt.

Dinah is in no way interested in the progressive disrobing of a Slytherin in the year below her. She's interested in stilling the bag and finally getting out her wand - this time to animate a dueling homunculus at the far end of the gym.

(This was not a feature of the original gym. But it is common enough in classrooms.)

She continues her workout without him.

Each of the Brothers Hamato study in their own ways. As one would likely expect, Leonardo adheres to a strict schedule of reading and revision. Fifteen minutes of intense, focused reading and note taking, followed by a brief period of some other activity, with a return to revise the notes he'd taken earlier.

We're now coming to the end of the first period. Leo book marks his place, moves his parchment over to one side, casts a drying charm on the ink to make sure it doesn't run, and then rises to his feet. He removes his shirt, folding it so that it will not wrinkle, and then looks about the room for an activity to occupy his body while his mind chews through the passages he's just read.

Well, there's no shortage of activities. Punching bags, duelling dummies, large areas of matting, a boxing ring front and centre, with an old, worn, Guy-type dummy hanging over the ropes.

Dinah pauses and turns to watch him, curious as to what he'll do.

Leo eyes the ring. Unlike the one they had at Arkham, this one actually appears lived in, used....loved. He smiles as he makes his way towards the ropes, and climbs inside.

The enchantment on the square circle springs to life when both of his feet hit the canvas, and the dummy rises to make its first attack.

Leo, who wasn't entirely prepared for this, does a good job at dodging the first couple of blows.

Dinah, mentally kicking herself for not having warned him about the enchantment, stills her own opponent and turns to watch him, obstenibly stretching her arms, and possibly checking to see if he needs help.

Really, she's watching his technique.

Oh well then, she's in for quite a show. The third swing from the dummy catches Leo by surprise, lands square on his jaw, and sends him reeling back a few steps. For a split second he appears dazed, but a quick shake of his head clears that up. Leo wipes at his mouth with the back of one hand just to make sure he's not bleeding, before leveling a gaze on the dummy...and then attacking.

At first it's simple boxing, but as he slowly manages to push the dummy back towards the other side of the ring, he brings the rest of his body into his attacks.

That is a show. Dinah steps up quietly, standing below the ring and looking up under the ropes to watch.

Boxing, she knows. But there's something there as well that she doesn't know; an offensive technique that's like Karate, but isn't. She stops wondering about what she can teach him and starts wondering what he can teach her.

And the dummy is taking quite a battering.

Indeed. And the battering doesn't stop. Not until Leo has managed to get the dummy all the way to the other side of the ring, and pinned up against the ropes. It's then that he draws his wand and for a split second there...looks as if he's got enough rage to utter an Unforgivable.

But...only for a second.
Because once that second is passed, his repression field goes up and he's back to his seemingly calm demeanor.

"Finite Incantatem."

Dinah smiles.

"Nice technique," she remarks.

"But I see what you mean." About not dueling.
He needs to work on self control.

He catches a glance of Dinah out of the corner of his eye, but quickly looks away. It's not shame or anything, he just needs to pick up the once again lifeless dummy.

Yes. That's it.

He sighs.

"It was a crucio."

Dinah's eyes drop down to the floor of the ring, then she pulls herself up, until she's standing inside the ropes with him, holding her hands out for the dummy. She'll put it away.

"What was?"

He shakes his head at her offer and heaves the dummy over his shoulder.

"The curse I used the last time I dueled. The one that got me expelled from Arkham."

You know, the reason he doesn't duel.

Mildly, "Oh."

It's surprisingly casual for the situation; namely that Dinah Lance, golden girl of Gryffindor is suddenly alone in an unmappable room, that only two people will think to look for her in, with a Slytherin who would use an Unforgivable curse in a duel.

It doesn't even sound forced. More like something it slotting into place in her mind.

"Who was he?"

He looks about the room for the place the dummy lives, and then back to Dinah.

"Chester Copperpot. Chet," he says "To his friends."
Leo was not one of his friends.

Dinah nods towards a cupboard by the wall, extracting her wand from the band for a quick "Alohamora."

So now she knows his name, but that wasn't really the question.

"What did he do?"

Leo nods and then begins to make his way from the ring, to the cupboard.
The dummy isn't exactly light, but you'd never know by how easily he moves with it.

"He was a bully. Probably still is, though I hope not."

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