so far Bay listened to everyone so far they all pretty much seemed that fire would be the best way to stop "them" and he totally agreed with the whole lot.

Raising his hand "Professor I agree with everyone that Fire would be a good way fight them" he hoped it was at least.

Whoa! He whole named her. Beverly fought hard against the amusement she was feeling. Cutty Mordaunt says he didn't care, so why did he have to repeat that THREE times? Shooting him an eyebrow raise, she turned her attention back to Romanos. Beverly decided on something: Cutty Mordaunt did care.

Cherry blossoms, were after all, a delight to smell.



Despite things, Beverly was intrigued in this subject more than she would have ever imagined. Her gaze followed professor Romanos as she went about the class, her eyes glued on her, as if that would make the words engraved in her mind. Which probably might, the important bits anyway.

The Slytherin raised her hand. "Some sort of fire spell or..." Hehe, "dragon fire?" Because dragon fire was INTENSE. Not that she knew from experience, but having a dragon tamer for a cousin had perks to information.

That whole freezing heart thing sorta reminded Penelope of an old Disney movie she'd watched a couple times. It sounded a lot more serious in this situation though, maybe just because it was real and probably not something that could be cured by an act of true love or something. So what could defeat these things? She sorta agreed with most of the answers but raised her hand anyway.

"Definitely could be something with fire or just heat in general, or maybe you could defeat them by tying them up? Especially their hands, so then they can't touch you. Or make them wear gloves." Hmm... "Or could you just wear gloves and a lot of clothes? Does the frozen heart thing only work if they touch your skin or does it still happen even if they just touch your sleeve?" That was important to know, yeah?

When the Professor asked the next question, it involved how to defeat the Cold Ones. Jasmine gave the question quit a bit of thought while listening to others present their theories. She decided on an answer and raised her hand. "Using a spell involving heat would be the most obvious answer, but I have to agree with my first year classmate. If the Cold Ones' hands could somehow be neutralized or removed, it would solve the frozen heart problem." Jasmine wasn't 100% sure of her answer, but it made sense to her.

This information was interesting and pretty awesome that you could not turn into a zombie from bite and they even had a name. Pretty cool Norwegian name also for the sub division of the creatures. Not like that yeti thing from last term. that thing was just weird.Really only witches and wizards could becomes these things.

She did ask the most concerning questions. I guess that was something he gain in time as a professor. Or you will be gone.

"Using Partis Temporus with the Firestorm Charm." NEWT studying he was been doing. And maybe not what they would be doing in class. Since not everyone could use those two spells. But it was worth a shot

Plus it would be fun to pratice.

"If only." she grinned, a chuckle or two escaping her. "Though unfortunately no. Not yet at least."

Opening her mouth to speak, she slowly shut it, thinking over the question for a moment. "You can. It would be a smart thing to do, though I'd say only as a last resort. The Cold Ones are not unintelligent creatures. They do know how to summon their fellow members for help when they feel they cannot do something alone. But the process in which you can even remove the hands in the first place...it'd be easier to put an end to them altogether. I'll explain in more detail in just a minute."

"As far as contact goes, it doesn't particularly matter if it's through touch of skin or clothing. If the Cold One is strong enough, they can pass their magic through clothing...though we wouldn't particularly want to risk that, would we." The odds weren't in their favor with those percentages.

Oh! "Very clever, Miss Petersfield." She smiled to the first year. Very out of the box type of answer. "Unfortunately no, the patronus charm has no effect on the Cold Ones."

Here we gooooo.

"Yes. Keep these thoughts in mind." They'll be talking more about them in a minute.



Quite a bit more fire answers than she expected!

"Never should one use fiendfyre, Mister Strand." And...yes. That was that.

"In this particular case, Mister Hazelwood, it would depend on the process you decide to use a cold spell against these creatures..." With a pause in her reply, her gaze settled on Kyroh for a moment. Do keep those eyes ooopen! "What I mean is, cold spells are not useless, depending on which one you choose, but there is one particular step you must do beforehand, which involves not only fire...but iron arrows as well. And when I say fire, I mean simple spells such as incendio."

Notes were being taken, correct? "Before we go into more detail on spells, you must know... a Cold One is not merely a tough skinned creature. It appears as though they have some sort of shield upon them, so to speak, that prevents spells from actually making contact. So, how do we get around it without subjecting ourselves to the dangers of being too close?.........Through flaming iron arrows. Specifically in their heart region. From what was discovered, this act alone doesn't kill the Cold One, but it does bring down the shield protecting them. It's been theorized that the heat from the iron warming them on the inside through their iced heart is far more damaging than what it could do on the outside, thus breaking their concentration on their protective shield."

"Once that shield is down, using the spells such as the blasting curse or reductor curse will ultimately...lay it to rest." Destroy was such a powerful word. She took a moment to let those words sink in before clapping once to bring their attentions back forward and perhaps wake some of those sleepy eyes. "Which brings us to our activity today."

"We'll be practicing the reductor curse. Does anyone know the wand movement and incantation?"

Kace heard all the information and agreed with everyone. He even liked the first year's answer about getting rid of their fingers. It did seem logical. He heard Grayson's answer and agreed with that. But first he copied down all the information first and then raised his hand. "Professor I agree with Grayson and I would guess to use Confringo to blast away the cold ones.."

He wondered how he was gonna react to fighting these creatures. He hoped they wouldn't be too creepy.

He heard the professor ask another question and moved on about the reductor curse. He made notes about what she was saying about aiming the arrow to the heart. He remember the incantation for the Reductor charm though. He raised his hand again and said, "Professor I know that the incantation is Reducto! But i am kind of hazy on the wand movement..." he grinned sheepishly.

Although she didn't comment much, Sophie hung on to every word the professor was saying. Sure, this lesson wasn't about a Nundu, but...it was almost just as interesting.

O_O.

Also, these things were creepy. Sophie followed the professor's gaze to the arm and cringed. She had no idea these particular creatures existed. She only turned away from the arm when the professor asked about the Reductor Curse.

"The incantation is Reducto," she said, raising her hand, "and the wand movement is a move to the right then a sharp move to the left." She moved her arm in that motion as she said it. It looked like the tip of an arrow. Did the professor get all that?

Bay thought that learning reducto was a really cool thing. He's heard about it before but he didn't know the wand movements or incantation, so instead of answering he kept mental notes on what everyone else was saying… Nothing wrong with that. so far he's learned that the incantation is Reducto. so he was still learning.

The Reductor Curse. Cool!Adi glanced at AJ. It figured she'd suggest blasting the things away. He liked the way she thought.

Adi raised his hand. "The incantation is Reducto and the wand movement is a swipe to the right and then to the left.'' Sort of like that "more than" sign in Mathematics, yes? Anyway, he hoped the Professor understood what he meant.

You know that feeling you got sometimes...like the lessons you took foreshadowed the term? That was the feeling the Gryffindor was getting right about now and it made her even more keen to scribble down everything everyone was saying about these 'cold ones'. She could see it already, walking the grounds then suddenly having a zombie invasion. Kinda like the term they did laugh yoga and talked about Dementors then BAM infestation like no other. Lex was on to this term already. Never trust a topic you learned in DADA class.

Her face lit up considerably at the mention of the curse they'd be learning. Truthfully, she'd already taught it to herself. Alexa was a fan of explosions. This curse was known for blowing things to bits. Why wouldn't she have already known it, especially with it being in that big book of curses her father had gotten her when she got badged?

There were others already giving the incantation and wand movement so she wouldn't bother, instead she focused on trying to not look too eager about the fact that there would be a potential for blowing things up this lesson. Finally a Professor that took the Gryffindor's needs into careful consideration.

Bring on the blasting casting.

The Reducto curse was the spell that would be their downfall? Cris reviewed the many spells he knew, until he was sure he had the correct wand movement and incantation.

Even though a few others had already given the correct answer, Cris still raised his hand and gave his.

"Professor the incantation is Reducto. The wand movement is a sideways V shape or what most people call a greater than sign, like this," Cris demonstrated with just his finger, creating a sideways V with the pointed end facing right.

Hayden hastily, but as neatly as possible, took notes on what the professor was saying. Well not all of it, but what she thought was important. She listened to her classmates questions and answers, drinking in knowledge that could one day be helpful for her. But hopefully not because she didn't particularly want to find herself face to face with one of these Cold Ones.

Wait. Hayden heard Professor Romanos tell someone that they should never use..fiend-fire? She raised her hand. "Sorry if it's off topic professor, but what is fiendyre?" If she should never use it, it probably didn't matter what it was. But she was curious, and she hoped she wasn't asking a question too off-topic from the lesson. She didn't know anything about the reductor curse - or any curse for that matter - so she remained silent and waited for further instructions. She was excited for the practical portion, she was sure it would be much more fun that the practical portion of the Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

Oh, so they would be practicing Reducto today. Lux had been wondering where this lesson was going, and she was all for the practice. Of course she had read up on spells like this before, but she hadn't really had experiencing trying them out. So this was a perfect opportunity for her. Raising her hand, she said, "The Incantation is Reducto, and the wand movement is a move to the right, and then a move to the left." Or at least she was sure that was what it was. Maybe she was mixing this up with another spell.

...Did someone really suggest Fiendfyre? Soph snorted as the guy said it. Yeah, really bright to give an answer of super dark magic in a defense against the dark arts class. She shook her head to herself - she might've expected that sort of answer from Cutty, but a Hufflepuff? Totally weird.

Flaming iron arrows? That sounded way too cool. Where did one even get those? How did it work? Was the iron somehow on fire, or did the fire of the arrows come from a part that wasn't iron? Sophie was wildly curious about the whole concept, but they were already moving onto the next part - learning the blasting curse was cool and useful, though - so she refrained from asking. She did make a little note on her parchment to research those flaming iron arrows later, though.

She knew the incantation off the top of her head, but she was unsure of the wand movement, so when the others chimed in with their individual demonstrations of how it went, she slipped her wand from its holster and made the tiiiniest of movements the way they demonstrated. Right, sharp left. Easy peasy.

Norah scribbled notes on her parchment as Professor Romanos spoke, trying to ignore how morbid everything she had written seemed to be. She had to admit it was pretty interesting, even if her eyelids began to droop every now and then.

Ooooh! She sat up straight on her mat and bounced a few times, grinning. They were going to blow stuff up? COOL! She would so be ready for a Zombie Apocolypse now. She shoved her notes aside gratefully and took her wand out from her bag. She listened intently for further instructions, watching the other students' demonstrations. Having no idea about most spells, including the Reductor Curse, Norah figured she would need all the help she could get, muttering "Reducto" over and over. Wouldn't want to get the incantation wrong and accidentally turn her hair green or anything. Yeah, they didn't need to bring that incident up again.

Scribble. Scribble. Scribble.

Doodle. Scribble.

Didn’t Mordred tell him time and again, that to defeat a dark creature, one has to keep in mind to focus and target on the creature’s very life essence. In this case, Ethan nodded as he listened to Romanos tell them that the target should be the heart.

He’s got questions though, but he will raise those in a few. They were close to doing the practical part of the lesson anyway.

Stowing away his quill and notes, Ethan raised his hand. “The incantation, professor, is ‘Reducto’. The wand movement is similar to a ‘greater sign’ like this…” he said as he demonstrated it with his arm. “When done right, the target blows up into smithereens.” Not really part of her question, but he simply had to say that word out loud.

It’s his favourite word, you know. Hehehe.

This was all note worthy. So note worthy a small story was forming in her head. The professor clapping her hands broke her concentration, bringing the Slytherin out of story land. She internally grinned at the prospect of the lesson not being just a lecture. They were going to get to practice a spell. A curse.

Beverly enjoyed blasting stuff. ^__^

Her hand went up into the air. "The incantation is: Reducto." Could they try it now? She was ready!

Oh?

"Fiendfyre, is a type of cursed fire that in a sense, has a mind of it's own, seeking to destroy anything flammable in it's path. No amount of water, magical or not, will extinguish it. Very dark, very difficult to control, and very dangerous." Hence why no one will be using it. Ever.


But, moving onwards. "Right. Everyone is correct. The incantation is reducto, and the wand movement is a sharp flick to the right and a sharp flick to the left. Like so." Demonstrating the movement, she traced the movement in the air with her wand, a golden glow of a line trailing in it's path. "Someone mentioned it looked like a sideways V shape, in which you're very right. Hopefully that'll make it easier for those who didn't know the wand movement to remember."

Looking up towards the ceiling, the professor flicked her wand up at seemingly nothing, and waited. Not for long though. In the next second, a ZOMBIE PIÑATA WAS REVEALED AAAH! However, a clear blue-ish hue of a circle surrounded it, as if it were....you guessed...a shield. "Your job, as a team, is to get through the protective shields and to the piñata using the reductor curse. Do so before the end of the lesson...and you can keep whatever is on the inside. Sound good?"

Even if it didn't, it was what they were doing. "Come on then. On your feet. We'll start in a minute's time."

Yeah that sounded good! But what if there was nothing in the pinata? What if Romanos was just using it as bait to get them to work hard on the activity, only to find NOTHING IN THERE? What if they forgot to fill it? What if there was something weird in there like quills and spare rolls of parchment instead of sweets and candies?

...Romanos wouldn't be that mean, right?

Hopping to her feet and stretching big, Sophie practiced the wand movement in a full motion this time. Sharply to the left, then sharply to the right - no, that was wrong, and she shook her head as she did the sideways triangle in the opposite way with a sharp flick to the right, then a sharp flick to the left. She did some repetitions of that - it'd be embarrassing to mess that up in the future, wouldn't it?

Flaming iron arrows. Heart.

CURSE!? Kyrohs eyes flickered open quickly. What did he know about curses? What did he know about them!? What did he remember from his reading? Curses were worse than charms. Curses were used when you purposely wanted to cause harm. Curses were dark magic. Which would make sense if you didn't want a Cold One to get you.

Kyroh scurried to his feet and looked over to Dima and Boddie. LOOK THEY WERE GONNA LEARN MAGIC! They were going to learn the Reductor curse!

The incantation was reducto. The wand movement is a sharp flick to the right and a sharp flick to the left. Kyroh quickly leaned over and wrote this information down, and paused before writing the bit about the Fiendfyre down too because that seemed cool. Once he was finished he pulled out his wand, and raised his hand excitedly "Professor! Do you use the Reductor curse to break the Cold Ones barriers and then light the broken barriers on fire and does that make the flaming iron arrows?" Or was it just a completely different spell? He was kind of confused. But not because he had been drifting asleep. .....Okay maybe a little bit was because of that.

Flaming arrows sounded waaaaaay cool and Marigold dropped her quill when she heard that for the first time. Flaming arrows. Flaming arrows. Sounded like a name of a band or something, actually. Flaming arrows.

Oh. Spells. She took her wand out and decided to practice the wand movement first, then the incantation. Sharp to the right, sharp to left. Flick, flick. Flick, flick. She practiced a couple more times before she felt good on that spell. "Reducto," she said after dropping her wand because didn't want to just cast that spell randomly. That would be bd.

Waiting on the piñata. Now that sounded like a song. Waiting on the piñata, by the flaming arrows. Had a nice ring to it.

The astronomer had continued to rock back and forth as the discussion had gone on, venturing glances towards students now and again as they answered or said something that he found particularly amusing. He appreciated all the throwbacks to muggle cinema - even if he found the majority of the zombie related films and whatnot to be highly,well, illogical. They were still amusing to watch and provided some stellar insight to muggle culture.

Mention of the Reductor Curse cause the rocking from left to right to shift to forward and back. Made is easier to jump up on his feet that way. Would have had to roll or something if he kept the horizontal movement. He was still a fan of using Bombarda, by the way. It had proven effective in a pinch last time. Heh.

Rocking forward with a bit too much zest, and summersaulting, Airey was back up on his feet with a look that read 'I totally did that on purpose' and twirled his wand between his fingers. GAME ON!


When Medea said it was time that is.

Reductor curse curse? They're going to learn how to do the reductor curse? WICKED! After she finished writing down the incantation for the reductor curse and the wand movement on her notebook, Candice quickly got up on her feet. Pinata? So pinata was their target today? She wondered what's on the inside the zombie pinata?

But first thing first, she needed to pronounce the incantation correctly. "Reducto." The incantation was pretty easy to remember. Now the wand movement, Candice took out her wand and practiced the wand movement, sharp flick to the right and a sharp flick to the left without saying the incantation because she didn't want accidentally cast the spell and blow something.

Lookater! Lookin' all chuffed.




Alexa was silent and that was either a very good thing or perhaps it meant that they were all going to die. If they were dividing into teams, Cutty was mentally staking his claim.

Cutty watched as the zombie pinata was lowered down slowly wearing it's protective blue glow and illuminating the space like a disco ball. In general, it gave the Defense classroom a rather festive look, Cutty thought.

He was peering deeply at the zombie pinata willing there to be dragon blood in phials inside of it. That stuff was worth quite a bit on the market. This thought was broken by Professor Flamsteed's somersaulting. Yes. Gryffindor. Attention. "8.5." He said rating it outloud.