Duel?

Bellatrix behavior got a complete overhaul, she changed into more composed mature woman. Her eyes didn't lost small trace of madness, adding uniqueness to her natural charm.

"Ah… I hope you will keep your promise."

"You mean one about creating mind healing spell? Don't worry. If the spell doesn't exist… I will find a way. Potion or new spell. It doesn't matter." Severus had habit of creating counter curses to his own spells, not having one would be extremely risky.

'What if my ally got struck by a certain curse…' Considering his talent in dark arts, he couldn't be irresponsible.

"I forgot to tell you. I feel like Lestranges won't give up. Rudolphus was really pestering me for two years… I was going to give up and satisfy him and my family. You prevented this from happening. They won't accept such situations. It was basically set in stone… He is working for Dark Lord. His influence caused fear among other marriage candidates…" Lestrange brothers were important followers of Tom, although he wasn't really considerate for his subordinates. They could enjoy some perks of being in inner circle, ordering group of death eaters to hunt someone down was one of their privileges.

"That's little problematic. Don't worry. If they come after you. I will deal with them." He could disguise himself as anyone, getting rid of couple death eaters wasn't problem. He wasn't going to be merciful either, usable wizards would be brainwashed or experimented on. Rest would disappear from this world after few tests.

"What makes you think that I cannot deal them on my own? You might have defeated me in the duel. I wasn't even completely myself. Don't underestimate me!" Severus didn't really meant to insult her ability to fight.

"I didn't mean to underestimate you. I feel responsible for your current situation. I am not fan of Death Eaters either."

"You think… you are stronger than me. Do you really think? I am the helpless damsel from those muggle books? Duel me!" It looks like Bella used his words as pretext to challenge him.

"Fine. Any rules?" His refusal would produce even more violent reaction.

"Rules are for fools. Don't be pussy and fight me!" She didn't even know what she got into by removing rules.

"Let's apparate into some secluded place."

"Eh… I have no license… You know about Splinching right…"

"Oh… You apparently forgot that I didn't even receive official education yet. I can side-along apparate you with me. Don't worry…" Not waiting for her reaction, he teleported them both into the secluded valley.

'Perfect.'

"Hahaha! Never ever do it again. It was fucking scary…" None likes being transported without permission, she little panicked about getting into accident.

"Take out your wand!" After taking out her wand, she pointed at him to start the battle.

"That won't be necessary."

"Arrogant prick! Crucio!" Starting from torturing curse was genuinely sign of her anger.

Severus didn't use any magic at beginning, and he decided to test limits of his mobility. Avoiding her spell with ease, she didn't stop with one unforgivable. Assaulting him with spells like last piece of pizza was stolen by him.

"Protego." As she couldn't hit him, he stopped dodging and changed to defense.

'Let's play a little with spells.'

"Nebulus." His surroundings were covered by dense fog, he wanted to assess his own ability to move with obstructed vision.

Bellatrix started to panic and shoot spell in random directions as Severus disappeared in the mist.

"This is cheating! I don't know counter-curse!" She felt like not establishing any rules made this duel pointless.

"You wanted to prove yourself that you are stronger than me." Using voice charms to confuse her about his position.

"Dueling is for show. Real battles are decided by wits and resourcefulness." Her current way of dueling was fine in one versus one battles. Real world is little more unfair, you need to fight with multiple opponents at the same time. There were fantastical creatures with great mobility and wild way of fighting.

'If she didn't expose her position all the time. I would have problems with localizing her.' Most of the spells were really eye-catching light, their source was visible even in fog.

"Stupify!" He was rather teasing her from within fog, using random basic spells.

"Protego Totallum." Bellatrix wasn't able to predict his position as he moved around and used spells from various angles. Making things a lot harder to defend, only way was protecting area around her.

Dispersing the mist to let her suffer another part of battle, planning on displaying using environment for battle.

"I can see you now! Petrificus totallus! Crucio! Stupiefy!"

"Bombarda! Stupiefy! Bombarda! Confindo! Bombarda! Stupiefy!" She was defending with protecting charm with some confusion about his missing spells.

"What is this? Are you tired? You more than half of your spells. Crucio!"

"Do I? Look around yourself. You already lost the battle. I would need to cast one spell unblockable spell and you wouldn't be able to dodge." Bellatrix ultimately realized his target of explosion charms, and she would lose her balance in any attempt to dodge attacks. Presenting opportunity for final blow with random spell.

"Those methods aren't wizard-like…" She admitted her loss in this duel, feeling weak against realistic fighting style of Severus.

"What's a wizard-like? Using numbers to gank up on the victim? Maybe, werewolves will utilize wizard-like methods ripping your body into pieces. Wizard-like goes only to lawful wizards without real experience on a battlefield. It's privilege not reality. I played with you without problem. What if there were many opponents? You didn't even try to dispel my fog…" Expecting a random dark wizard to respect rules of dueling would be quick way to die.

"You are doing it again… Most painful is fact… You are fucking right. I would die in seconds. Who taught you fighting in such tricky way?"

"RTS and MOBA." Referring those two names without any explanation.

"I didn't hear about them. They must be powerful wizards…"

"They aren't wizards themselves…but they nurtured many 'wizards'…" This sentence was even more confusing, she thought that they were magical creatures.

"You have some basics in dueling. I might say… If we played by the rules. It wouldn't be easy to essentially take you down. Things are as you said. Rules are for fools. I doubt anyone intelligent would play by the rules on real battlefield." This situation would transform their dynamic battle in an odd turn based game.

'This is real life. Adding the fact that winners record the history. None cares about methods. Leaving only self-righteous morons. I doubt their ability to cling to those rules if their life is in danger.' Most of the things get overwritten by will to survive. Not counting exception of certain individuals with a tendency to prove Darwin's theory.

'Humankind is superior because of intelligence… Unfortunately… Stupidity is incurable.'