Laura looked around and realized there wasn't any desks since they were outside how on earth had she missed that, well never mind she looked at the Professor and decided to answer the question. "I think we will be teaching the Giant Squid all about how to defend itself in the lake."

Kommoto raised his hand. It shook a little, and he looked at it surprised. He didn't feel nervous.
"I heard about grindy-whatists. Grindylowe I think? Is that what it is?" He looked at the professor, hoping he was right, hoping he'd stand out. Giant squid his butt.

Back to the lesson. "Can anyone venture a guess on what we'll be learning today?"[/color][/QUOTE]

Nerida smiled "Thats good. Yes mine was." Though next summer she would hope her mum wouldn't drag her everywhere. Though she was happy her mum was finally feeling better where she could get out of the hospital.

She raised an eyebrow, wait a second where did her accent go? She spoke like them now? What, the Professor was faking the accent??

"Are we going to b..." ACHOO! "Be learning about," ACHOOO! "About water creatures and how to..." she took a breath trying not to sneeze again, "how to protect ourselves against them?" ACHOO!

Why was she suddenly sneezing so much? She never had problems with the outside before....

"My summer was really great, thanks," Jake replied to the professor with a grin of his own.

He leaned back on his hands, looking around the 'classroom' space as a he listened to a few people talk. Grindylows seemed like a good guess to him, personally. But he didn't want to sound like a broken record so he just raised his hand and said the first thing that came to him. "There are merpeople in the lake, right?" He didn't know if they would be considered something they would need to defend themselves against... but it'd be cool to study them anyway. Jake had thought about learning Mermish before, even.

Garrick turned to smirk at his cousin as he nudged and whatnot. RUDE. No need for the nudging. And well... the person on the opposite side of Lotus didn't exist so Garrick was unsure who Benjy was waving at, wasn't he? MHM.

Then Professor Romanos spoke and well... he was not entirely sure. "Perhaps as others have suggested you are going to teach us about many of the water dwelling creatures." Though he doubted she would sit them beside the lake in hopes of dealing with a Dark Creature that could potentially harm them. And well... couldn't she teach a lesson on those things inside?

"Are we gonna learn about water demons? Like Kappa or something? Or are we just getting fresh air because its cleaner out here than in the castle?" Hand up and stuff. West well knew that Romanos kept her parts of the school clean and everything but still, something could have happened to make that true.

Minerva had sat down on her mat. While she was taking out her parchment and quill she felt something tickle her nose. Sniffing and scrunching her nose a bit, she carried on. Laying her parchment in front of her.. there is was again, another tickle.. "Achoo" Oh thankfully she had pulled her elbow to her face to block the sneeze, that wouldn't be very nice. Turning back to what she was doing, she laid out her quill. "Achoo... Achoo.. Achoo" Sniffing after the last one she looked around, what was wrong with her today. Wiping her hand on her face, she hoped she wasn't getting sick or something. She had never had allergies so it couldn't be that.

Oh the lesson was going to start. Sitting up straighter, but still feeling that annoying tickle in her nose, she tried to listen, "Achoo" Honest to goodness.. she turned red embarrassed to have sneezed so much.

Now what were they doing today, hmmm what could they be doing today. "Professor in a class before we had learned about different animals that are considered to be part of the dark title. Grindylow was one of the ones that was discussed, and I Achoo.. achoo.. achoo oh, excuse me.. I'm sorry" sniffling a bit, she couldn't figure out what was going on. "anyway, I know they live in the black lake, could we be discussing how to defend against them today?" They had done that once before though, in their Care of Magical Creatures class so she wasn't sure she was right.

Professor Romanos sure was smiley and Ella grinned, happy to hear that the woman had had a nice summer. "That's great, Professor!" Nodnod. Oh and congratulations? BEAM. "Thanks! I'm quite excited about it." And nervous too.

Ella stretched a bit on her mat, green eyes flickering up to Professor Romanos when she started the lesson. The blonde considered for a minute or two before raising her hand. "Will we be discussing Kappas and grindylows, Professor?" Both quite nasty little creatures, in Ella's opinion. Oh and West was probably right about the fresh air stuff too. The castle was quite dusty.

Errrrr....

Theo really hadn't taken his surroundings, and until now, hadn't linked the location of the lesson at all with DADA. But he ventured a guess after thinking about it, and raised his hand. "Are we defending ourselves against creatures?" That could definitely come in handy.

After he put his hand down, he wished he had said SEA creatures like everyone else was.

DUH, it was so obvious now.

They were near the lake, so many they were going to learning about mermaids? Yes that was it!! "Professor, are we going to learn about merpeople?" It really was the best should could think of, she had heard about their being merpeople in the black lake.

SPOILER!!: Le Prof

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roselyn

Having taken some time to stand and stare out across the lake, Medea returned to her mat after awhile and waited quietly for the students, half wondering if she should be up at the castle pointing down to the grounds. The appearance of the first student however had her relaxing a bit in relief, but...

Oh dear. "Good day, Mister Turner." she smiled and nodded in return, eyeing the wet streaks formed on his shirt and hair. Oh erm, hopefully that was just from a late shower. "How vos your summer?"



And just like that, one student shows up and the rest of them follow. "Good day, Miss Hudson. Congratulations on your prefect badge." Medea greeted as brightly as a sunflower. If she wasn't mistaken though. She did make an effort to know who the year's student leaders were.



Oh, a new young one joining her class! Goodness, it seemed like there just weren't enough of them. The others were growing up too quickly. "Good afternoon." she returned the greeting warmly, smile growing slightly as she nodded. "Yes, anyvhere you like."



Speaking of students growing older, another seventh year joined them. Could they stop the aging thing? It was making her feel old. "Hello, Mister Stonewall." She smiled in return, squinting a little in the sunlight. "And it's alvays a pleasure to haff you in my class."



Oh! This certain Hufflepuff came with good news. "Good afternoon, Miss Bishop!" Perhaps the defense professor's smile grew just a bit more, or perhaps it didn't. It was hard to tell already since she was already beaming. "I had a simply marvelous summer, thank you. I hear a congratulations is in order for you though... Captain?"



"Hello, Mister Barrington!" Oh, would you look at that? He was stretching! Without her telling him to do so.

A gold star to you Mister Barrington!



Flicking off a piece of what looked to be dirt from her mat, Medea glanced up at the greeting given. "Good day, Miss Jung! It is, it is! Perhaps ve should haff more lessons outside during the end of term." An idea she would soon be mulling over, especially when the warm temperatures started to return.



Oh good, another one of their prefects showed up. She did love when they did. Give a little boost to the other students to do so, right? "Good afternoon, Miss Castell!" Medea's smile grew a little. "And it's vonderful to haff you in class again."



Ahem, one of the less enthusiastic students today...

"Good afternoon, Mister Kingsley!" Though Medea could more than enough make up for his lack of excitement today.



Medea had to give a double take to the fourth year before squinting her eyes a little. Mostly due to the sunlight, however, she had to make SURE on something. AND SHE WAS SURE! He was a new student in her class. "Hello! It is a vonderful day, isn't it?"



After flicking another piece of supposed dirt off her mat that she missed, the defense professor glanced up to see who else had joined them. Of course, sixth year Minerva was next, making Medea sigh a little. SIXTH year! When did that happen? "Hello, Miss Wheatborn! I'm doing simply fantastic. How vos your summer?"



Ahem...

When did the older students become older students!?

"Good afternoon, Mister Summers!" Fifth year wasn't he? Goodness...



Oh! Should it have been a surprise to see Gwendolyn so early to the lesson? Medea was a little surprised, though she couldn't put her finger on exactly whyyyy. "Hello, Miss Greene! How has your day been so far?"



Glancing out across the class, she noted the lack of red in the uniforms. Goodness, where were all the Gryffindors? They had a healthy dose of green however, and Ariana just added to the mix. "Good afternoon, Miss Logan!"



Was it by chance her thoughts on the lack of Gryffindors had them suddenly showing up? "Good day, Miss Edwards!" Alas, some red in the group. The young girl's question had Medea chuckling merrily however. "No, unfortunately not. Ve are far enough avay so no one vill fall in, unless they roll in there themselves."

It was too chilly to do so though, in her opinion.



Alas! Some younger students!

One right after the other, however, the Hufflepuff joined them first. "Good afternoon. It is indeed! You're right." The perfect reason to have their lesson outdoors, wasn't it?



Another Gryffindor joining them, and it was even more perfect that it was one of the new first years. "Good afternoon." She beamed and nodded to the youngster. "It's a pleasure to meet you as vell, and may I say, vot a lovely bag." They didn't see many colorful ones like those around here.



"Good day, Miss Jones! Yes, it vos rather excellent, thank you." Medea beamed, making herself a little more comfy on her mat. "How vos your summer?"



Another familiar face to join them! "Good day, Mister Branxton." Medea beamed and nodded in return. "It is, isn't it?"



Oh, this one was certainly quiet, though it didn't look as though he wasn't interested. "Good afternoon." Medea warmly greeted anyhow, perhaps a little quieter than how she was greeting the returning students.



Three prefects down, five more to go.

"Good day, Mister Keller." Medea grinned and nodded at his question. "Yes, it vos vonderful if I do say so myself. How vos your summer?"



OH! Oh this must be the most enthusiastic greeting she got today so far! "Good afternoon, Miss Cambridge!" Medea beamed in return, eyebrows raising a little. Well, that was excellent news, wasn't it? "I'm pleased to here so."

She'd been mulling over the idea of giving the girl a pop quiz after the class, though had yet to officially decide. Perhaps it was too cruel to do so? On a day like this!! There was still time to figure it out though.



Speaking of time, the professor glanced down to her watch to check the time, shaking it a little as she did so. Good Merlin, how time flew by. There was still some for the stragglers to show up though. Oh? Glancing up, Medea's gaze landed on the first year Ravenclaw. "Oh, it's very nice to meet you as vell, Miss Gallaway. I hope your day is going vell so far."



Stretching her legs out in front of her so her foot didn't fall asleep, Medea smiled and nodded to the third year Hufflepuff joining them. "Good afternoon, Miss Wisteria!" THIRD YEAR. That happened fast.



...

"Good day, Miss Johanson!"

Familiar faces were always a welcome to see!



"Hellooooo." She beamed in return, noting the notebook that was taken out. "Haff a nice summer?"



Their fourth prefect to show up. Excellent! "Good afternoon, Mister McCarthy! Congratulations on the prefect badge." If only the others would start showing up. They didn't have a lot of time to do so.



Oh? "Oh, it vos!" she said excitedly, hardly taking note on just who was talking until her gaze actually landed on the student. Oh yes, Nerida. Fantastic! "I do hope yours vos the same."



Goodness, another seventh year. Can they stop turning into seventh years?

"Hello, Miss Hawkin-" Oh dear.

Medea moved to help the poor girl, but, it seemed she had everything handled in a matter of seconds. Moving back to her comfortable position on her mat, Medea smiled and nodded in return to the Gryffindor. With another glance to her watch, the professor sighed contently and glanced towards the castle to see just who else would be showing up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roselyn

Oh ho, he almost sneaked right onto a mat without a greeting from her! Granted, Medea was already looking in that particular expression, but there wasn't even a hello from him. "Good afternoooooon, Mister Stone!" The professor raised her voice a little, waving. Yes, we see you!



Oh?

Looking up to the newcomer, Medea's eyebrows raised momentarily before her usual warm smile played across her face. "Vhy thank you. Good afternoon, yourself." She'll remember his name later.



If she wasn't feeling old already, being called "ma'am" definitely did the trick. "Good day, Mister Yarborough." Medea beamed and nodded to the Hufflepuff.



Ohh! One of the more positive greetings on this fine afternoon. "Good day, Miss Dawnsel!" Medea beamed in return, not quite minding the late stragglers coming to the lesson. It was a nice day and they were going to have a loooot of fun in today's lesson. Hopefully.



"Hello, Miss Duvessa!" Medea smiled happily and even waved a little to the young Slytherin.



Taking note of the time, Medea moved her legs back under her into the lotus position, shifting a little until she was sitting upright. Oh? "Hello, Miss Quinn." The question though, having been asked plenty of times previously, still brought a bright and happy smile to the woman's face. "It is! Perfect for our lesson if I do say so myself."



"Good afternoon, Mister Barton!" Oh yes, class was almost ready to begin.



Having taken another glance to her watch, tapping it a few times to make sure it was indeed working properly, Medea glanced up as another greeting reached her ears. "Good daaaaay! Vhy thank you." She felt good too!



Just about to start the lesson, Medea paused momentarily as she noticed another youngtser running down to their general area. Another Gryffindor! A first year at that. "Good afternoon." The woman said merrily, though a bit concerned that the girl was going to keel over. Thankfully, all seemed well after a few moments.

Although, her beginning of the lesson had to wait just a few more.

Oh? Oh dear. Who in the world said that horrible horrible thing? "Oh, no dear. No." Despite the serious question, Medea still had the warm smile on her face. "I encourage creativity in this class, and if you say something vrong, than you can alvays learn from your fellow classmate's answers. Though I do hope you'll participate. Even if you may not know much about the current subject being taught."



With a final glance to her watch, and a quick tap on it again to make sure it was indeed the correct time, Medea sighed in happiness and looked up to the class. Ahem. Time to go all British accent on them, right? Aheeeeem. "Alright everyone! Settle in. I think it's about time we get started."

Shifting on her mat as she waited for the students to settle on their own, perhaps take out a notebook and quill or whatever it was that they were going to do, Medea glanced down to the other dirt particles on her mat. Good Merlin, didn't she already wipe these off? Or were these ones that she missed?

Shoo! Off her mat!

Ahem.

Back to the lesson. "Can anyone venture a guess on what we'll be learning today?"

Mika couldn't help but feel that her eyes were suddenly going all watery as she sat there in class listening to Professor Romanos greet everyone and her in return. She just sent her a smile - as soon as that smile fell into place her face scrunched up suddenly. And then it went away the feeling and the face scrunching.

It must have been the sun in her eyes. She knew it had to be that. There were no other reasons. She brushed her hand through her hair and felt her face tingling once more.

Raising her hand she tried her best answer. "Professor are we..." she paused as she scrunched up her face again and made a weird look. "learning s-se-se-eelf defense" she finally stammered out. This was peculiar she had no idea why she had stammered over saying self. She didn't have a stutter and now people would think she did.

Kace was glad that the professor seemed nice and friendly. She agreed with him that it was a nice day and then he replied, "I like the way you think teaching a class outside on this gorgeous day." he smiled.

Then the class begun. She asked the class what they thought they were going to be learning today. Well...they were near a lake...and it was defense against the dark arts....Kace had one idea. "Professor will we be learning how to incorporate water in our spells to defend ourselves?"

Forrest LOVED it that they were out on the field rather than be suffocated in the dusty castle, and he did read the first few pages of DADA textbook for a change, something he had never done for other classes, so that he'd have an idea about what it was.

And he did have an idea. They were going to do...

"Duel!" The open air, the mats and lake. It was the best place for safety and duelling, for sure.

Why..

.. was everyone sneezing?

Rhodes made sure to sit as far away from those people as possible, and as she settled down on her very uncomfortable purple mat, she picked up an extra, unoccupied one that was sitting next to her. If all those sneezers were carrying some kind of DISEASE, she did not want to catch it, and the only way to make sure she didn't was to protect herself. She flicked a few pieces of dirt and grass, and probably a few bugs off the extra mat before draping it over her head and around her face. No disease for her, thank you very much.

And because of the mat covering her entire face, she couldn't really hear what the Professor had to say. And even if she could, she doubted the Professor would understand her. Instead, she just nodded her head the entire time. Uh-huh. She was so paying attention.

What could they possibly be learning about outside? Oh, dunno... what couldn't they learn? Any lesson inside could potentially be taught outside, right? Mo dashed at his eyes with the back of his hand as he considered the subject. Must be the sun off the lake making them water.

"Oh, professor," Mo raised his hand, then immediately lowered it to rub at his nose. "Professor. Dueling in water would signif... achoo. 'Scuse me. Would significantly hinder our movements. Are we going to... sniffle be practicing dueling techniques in less than ideal conditions? ACHOO."

What would they be learning? Well part of it was obvious. Raising his hand, he answered. "stretching and Yoga, Ma'am? And maybe something with the lake? Like creatures or how to swim?" He wouldn't be surprised if there were swimming lessons or something. though, soo it would be too cool for that.

Jory had actually seen Ronnie trip and had been grinning foolishly to himself. She was so clumsy! In a good way of course. "Hi You okay?!'' he greeted when she came over to him. "Of course not. Make your self comfortable.'' Before he could say any more, though, Professor Romanos began to speak.

Hmmmm. What could they possibly be learning today? It could be anything! But Jory raised his hand. Given the surroundings, his answer would make sense. "Are we going to learn about creatures that live in the Lake, Professor?'' Kappas or grindylows, perhaps?

Oh Merlin, Jory had seen her trip. Well wasn't that just....great... *blush blush blush* "I'm fine, I'm fine. This happens all the time." she said with a tiny chuckle. Oh how embarrassing...who else had seen? Hopefully the professor and Jory had been the only ones...

Aaaand then the professor was speaking.

What they'd be learning? Hmm... Ronnie glanced around herself. Well. They were at the lake. So, obviously something to do with the lake. She raised her hand. "Perhaps something in the lake?" she asked.

Dylan was enjoying the sun on his face...and not really paying too much attention to those around him. It was brilliant of Professor Romanos to hold class on the grounds. For one, the crisp air had effectively woke him up...and another...Well, the castle had been gross. So, there was that.

...and they were getting started.

Scourgifying his mate, the Slytherin Captain settled down and just crossed his legs...She hadn't specified a movement like she usually did...So, he was just going to sit here until she did.

...and answer the question, of course. "We're going to either learn about defensive spells that work against water creatures....OR....duel in open terrain." GRIN.

Good answer, Dylan....Good answer...

Susan noticed that Min was sneezing a lot. Sue hoped she wasn't allergic to anything in the area. "Bless you." Sue whispered to Min after she finished talking to the professor. Susan had absolutely no clue what they would be learning today at the lake. Maybe with something with water. Unless the professor was trying to trick them and they were learning about something totally different. Well Sue decided to go for the totally predictable answer "Will we be learning about defensive spells that deal with water?" Even though it was predictable Sue thought it would be cool to learn water defensive spells.

Sophie really liked outdoor lessons. They had been great since her first term!

Only... when they went into the Black Lake itself. It wasn't that fun because the underwater there could be quite scary. Terrifying even.

What they would be learning today? "Grindylows?" There were grindylows in the Black Lake, Sophie remembered seeing them when they went in there.

MERLIN! Hopefully they weren't doing any practical things.... IN the Black Lake... Oh Merlin, please, let her be wrong!

Sonea stared at the professor and tried to think about this lesson and what the subject would be, but she had really no idea, she knew of course that it has something to do with Defense against the dark arts, but what exactly she didn’t knew, it could be everything! They could learn about dark wizards, dark creatures and even spells!

The young girl scratched behind her ear and tried to answer, even if her answer was fault, and raised her hand before she answered, slowly and hesitant. “Are we learning about pixies?” Sonea had just made a guess but she was really curious about the blue little creatures, she had heard a lot about them!

"Defense against creatures that dwell in the water, Grindylows and Kappas, like everyone else said?" Alice paused for a moment before adding to her guess. "Kelpies, too, they're water demons as well, yeah?" Even though she hadn't heard them mention yet? The ones that shapeshifted and dragged their prey underwater to eat them and all, right? She made mental notes to go read up on those more during study time and all.

OWLs, y'know.

They required effort.

Wade had been bent over stretching as he touched his toes with his finger tips. Whilst doing so, he looked out into the Lake water, it was very nice today and he could practically lull himself to sleep there if he wanted..

But it was class after all, so Wade wasn't going to do that. Instead, he rose up at the first question. "A new spell relating to the Lake or... whatever's in it?" He sort-of-answered-sort-of-questioned. He knew of the merepeople, gindylows, the Giant Squid, and the alike... hmm.. Seeing something come out for the Lake for them would get Wade's attention, alright.

Maybe they were going to take a dip in the lake!

No, not likely at all.

"We're going to meet the merpeople."Seemed reasonable, and clearly a lot of people had the same idea. "Perhaps they're going to share with us what a better time they are having underwater, than us--" which wasn't all that difficult, considering he was pretty sure merpeople didn't have to do their own laundry, "--in the castle with all the..." Dust! Filth! Sub-par conditions! "...stuff."

Stuff. "Maybe they're hoping it'll make us feel a little bit better." Or probably worse. Ezra had never seen a merperson but he'd read about them and he couldn't say they sounded all that pleasant. "I s'ppose we could be dueling, too, though, learning how to defend ourselves from multiple threats, all at once!" It sounded exciting enough, Ezra supposed - like a battle! But Ezra was only interested in battles as long as battles involved swords, and he was pretty sure this class wasn't about swordsmanship. Which, of course, explained his completely unexcited tone of voice.

He actually looked a little pale.