Maddie was VERY interested in and also SLIGHTLY worried about all of this. She did her best not to SHOW it, though. She could worry on her own time. Right NOW, she needed to focus on what was beng said by Romanos and her classmates. Like the differences between a Cold One and a Skygge. The word minion had been used and THAT got Maddie thinking that maybe her, Dima, and Kyroh could use some minions. Y'know, for non-scary purposes and all. Did they have to wait until they were second years to GET minions? Hm?

ANYWAY.

She didn't particularly WANT to stand because Kyroh's yoga mat blanket was actually pretty cozy but she DIDN'T want to make the professor mad and PLUS, movement would probably help with warmth TOO. She nudged Kyroh gently and smiled a teeny tiny bit in thanks (y'know, for the warmth) and then got up to stretch. Arms raised, she reaaaaaached towards the sky. Oh yeah, this was nice. YUP. Also, "Impedimenta might work, Professor. Stop the Skygge right in its tracks so you could get away."

Okay, could they just go back to learning about REGULAR creepy creatures? Like the ones Sophie had known about her whole life? These Cold Ones were SCARY. Not that she'd tell anyone she felt that way, but yeah, she did. So how could they be defeated? "Why use just one method?" she asked, raising her hand. "I say we fire about at 'em with a stunning spell to stop them in their tracks, and then maybe a spell like...Confringo to get them away from us, and then..." She gestured toward Mo. "I agree with him. I think we should set 'em on fire."

Right. She was ready for WAR.

...well if they don't have shields like the Cold Ones, then yes, the Blasting Curse might do the trick. No more slowing down, blah blah blah. Make them explode and set on fire in one go. More time to escape, no?

Hand up.

"I agree with Lex, professor." So...is it time to blast away dummies and set them on fire? They could use some warmth anyway.

Oh jeez. Stretching?

At least the prospect of spellwork was a nice one.

Grayon started with his arms. He streeeeeeeeeetched them out as far as they could go, listening intently to what Romanos was saying about the Skygge and the Cold Ones. Wasn't it interesting that the Skygge was slower but had more physical strength? Interesting. It wasn't a win win situation going from a Skygge to a Cold One. And he didn't know which one he preferred: being faster or being stronger.

Besides. COULD they go from minion state to leadership state?

Moving onto his feet, the boy rolled his ankles around so that he could free his hands to take a note of that. This was very useful information, you know. Would be helpful in the future and whatnot. And he wanted to be as prepared as possible, thank you.

As for the question, he put his parchment and quill off to one side before raising his hand in the air. "I agree with New-- ............ Sophie. Confringo would be the BEST because you can blast them away AND set them on fire." Could she tell that he liked this spell very much?

And don't let your head get big from this, Newell.

Standing and stretching? But he was actually started to warm up under the blanket! He didn't want to leave it. With Maddie's nudge though Kyroh hesitated and slowly pulled off the blanket. Maybe stretching would make them warmer so they wouldn't freeze!? He quickly wiggled his arms and then bent down to touch his toes. Once that was done Kyroh raised his hand again.

He'd suggest stunning them because Kyroh didn't really want to hurt then even if they wanted to eat him and were technically dead, but a few people already did that. "Could we use a spell that conjures flowers to give them so they just become our friends?

Chuckling softly, Medea shook her head a little with a sincere smile. "Not quite. The most ventus vill do is melt the ice and snow off their bodies, but good guess, Miss Valentine. I do enjoy vhere your mind takes you." In other words, keep thinking outside the box!

....

"Actually, Miss Royal..." she took a short breath, but spoke in the same soft and warm voice as she did with everyone else. "I von't disclose vhether or not that spell vill vork upon a Skygge. It is in my opinion that there is no circumstance vhere it is necessary to use the killing curse ven there are other vays to manage a situation. However...you may feel free to search for the answer during your own time if you really must know."

No killing curses. Nope.

Oh my. How completely adorable an answer was that??

"If only, Mister Scabior. If only."



With the good handful of students answering with fire spells, Medea switched her stretching to focus on her arms. "Skygge, Mister Lecium. Ve are discussing the Skygge, not the Cold Ones. Although, fire spells do vork, though not in the vay you all are thinking. Remember this, a Skygge does not feel pain. Vhile burnt flesh vill stop many other creatures in the vorld, it vill not stop a Skygge. They vill continue to come after you, even if setting them completely on fire."

Shaking out her arms, she moved to glance to her watch but...no watch. Eh.

"On the other hand, fire is one of two vays to make sure that, once defeated, they cannot come back as a Skygge again. For one, a burnt heart vill defeat them entirely. Two, a Cold One vill not vont to bring back a body vhich has been damaged to such a great extent. The more able-bodied the human, the more likely the Cold One vill go after them."



"As long as you are only trying to stop the Skygge in their tracks, vould i recommend the stunning spell. Othervise, I'd suggest using the impediment jinx. Or, the freezing charm as Miss Bayless suggested, and the trip jinx as Miss Guidry suggested. Naturally, a trip jinx von't stop them, but it could buy you a few seconds." Nodding to the sixth year, she continued on.

"The reason vhy i'd recommend the impediment jinx over the stunning charm is due to the fact that spells that affect the Skygge's brain vill not vork; the confunduns charm in included. Vhy that is true, there has only been theories. One of vhich is that the brain is completely idle, or...shut off in other vords, and their only charge for being mobile and avake lies vithin their heart due to the Cold One's magic."

Though no yet confirmation.



"Going off from our fire discussion, I vould suggest any type of blasting spell beforehand. Vhile a burnt heart has been their downfall, haffing no heart at all from a blasting spell is just as...effective." She paused, glancing to each student. None of them looked green or pale white, did they? "Despite the after effects of a blasting spell being rather...scattered, they are fairly easy to cast and therefore, the desired spell to use. Although, the few of you who mentioned a combination of spells are more than correct as vell. The only process that has proven to truly defeat a Skygge is the burning of their heart if a blasting spell doesn't reach it beforehand. Othervise, there are a variety of vays to slow them down."

Rolling her ankles, she continued. "On the other hand...if the severing charm is more your style, keep in mind...the loss of their limb, or head, vill not stop them. In fact, that limb may continue to try and come after you as vell. Vhile it is truly very effective to escape a Skygge whom has no legs, just remember that they are still, in fact, alive and can direct their other members tovards you."

Happy thoughts y'all. "As a recap, aim for their hearts, and stay avay from spells that effect their minds since they vill not vork. The impediment jinx is rather effective as is the trip jinx, though also the body bind curse, leg locker curse, jelly legs jinx, incarcerous, and severing charms haff been used in the past with satisfactory results. Your goal is to stop them from moving if you cannot finish them off."

"Ve'll get to any questions you all may haff in just a moment, but, I do believe Miss Wayne had a very good question first." Oh yes, she had not forgotten. "Can anyone take a try at an answer? Vot happens to the Skygge ven the Cold Ones are defeated?"

This was all so interesting and Bay couldn't help himself but write everything down. making short form words to go faster he looked up as Professor Romanos asked what would happen to the Skygge when the Cold ones are defeated..

raising his hand he totally took a guess at it "Professor.. would they return to their normal state.. of being alive and being human.. kind of like old myths for Vampires.. if a the head of a vampire line is defeated they change back to normal." he couldn't remember where he read that but it was in a book somewhere.

Maddie worried about Kyroh sometimes, did he KNOW? Because if his idea of protecting himself from a Skygge was giving it flowers, she feared he'd probably get his heart froze or his arm bit off or SOMETHING unpleasant and she couldn't be there to look after him ALL the time, unfortunately. The small brunette sent curious looks in his direction before she focused on stretching once more. This time she'd work on her legs.

"I'd hope that if you took out the Cold Ones, the Skygge would follow shortly after." Like a domino effect, yeah! " I mean, the idea of turning 'em back to normal and everything is nice but they aren't actually people once they've been turned by the Cold Ones, not anymore." Nod nod SERIOUS nodding. "Plus just letting them wander around all mindless is sort of cruel, isn't it?" Death was probably the best option, sad but true.

For once Emmylou was at a loss for words in a class. She wasn't a know-it-all but she was the type to ask a question or two and even answer questions but she thought that it would be best to just be quiet and list to what the professor and the other students were talking about, mostly what the professor had to say. The one thing that confused Emmylou was why do people think you can fight icy people with iciness? Now she felt the need to speak her mind on that one but she wait a little bit longer to see if there was anything else that would lead her to an answer without having to ask.

"Wouldn't freezing something that's already frozen be defeating the purpose of trying to protect yourself from becoming one of them, Professor?"

She honestly could have used different words to say what she was saying. But to Emmylou it just seemed like freezing something that was already frozen was pointless and kind of dumb to do because they were already frozen so they could obviously live in below zero temperature unlike the blonde right here because she couldn't even handle sixty degree weather without being cold.

So answer had not been correct, but it was appreciated and that was something. It was definitely better than being dead wrong. She wasn't at all sure about the answer to the next question either but she was going to give it a go anyways.

Copying the professor she began to roll her ankles as well. "Maybe they are all connected in a way and once one kind goes they all just start dropping dead." She remembered hearing about something like that on a vampire television show. Maybe that would be the case here too.

Blasting at their hearts would stop them. Cris quickly wrote that down. That was something useful to know...if in fact, he ever had the misfortune to meet with them. However, Cris was glad to hear that his suggestion of the Impediment Jinx would also work nicely.

What would happen to the Skygge once the Cold Ones were defeated? Cris spent some time thinking about that possibility before raising his hand.

"Professor, with the Cold Ones gone, I think that the Skygge would die eventually, since there would be no magic now to keep their heart awake and them mobile. There may be the possibility that the brain is hopefully undamaged and is able to tell the heart to beat on its own. Maybe when that happens, the infected could return to their normal selves again. However, at the same time, I suspect that would be asking a lot," Cris shared his thoughts with the others.

Adi could think of two of the likely outcomes for the Skygge if the Cold Ones were defeated. He raised his hand. "Maybe they return to their regular selves or they die, Professor.''

Yep. Adi would want to think or hope that the first outcome was the one that actually happen. Otherwise it would just be senseless death.

Aw. That meant no. Kyroh tried his VERY best not to look disappointed but he was still. He swung his arm over his chest and started to press on his elbow to stretch it out. It was only when he decided to switch arms did he look over at Maddie and notice her looks.

What? Had he done something wrong?

"Maybe if they're really pretty flowers they'll work?" He mumbled to her. That was probably it. She was probably sad that the flowers wouldn't work either. Oh well. Blasting would have to do right?

Once his arms were all stretched up went his hand again. "Maybe they start bumping into each other not knowing exactly what to do cause their masters are gone? And eventually they just...wither away?"

Kace copied down all the notes from what the teacher was saying. He even commented, "They would still come after you? That is creepy.." He would not like that happening to him. But then he heard other student's responses and he was listening intently to all of them. He saw the professor intrigued by another student's question. What happens to the Skygge when the Cold ones are defeated. He had no clue. He heard Emmy's answer and went with that one. He smiled towards his girlfriend. He felt like not repeating the same answer twice. But then again...he had one idea....he raised his hand.

"Professor would the Skygge just will just die and plop to the floor and wither away in the snow?" he shrugged.

Jasmine took notes during the discussion and then continued to stretch. She thought about the question that Professor Romanos asked. What would happen to the Skygge if the Cold Ones were defeated? Jasmine raised her hand.

"I don't think that the Skygge would return to their normal selves. That would just be too perfect. I don't think that they would survive very long without the Cold Ones to guide them so eventually they would die."

Folding up her mat as they gave their answers, she slowly nodded in return.

"You all are correct in the vay that the Skygge are connected to the Cold Ones, and that something vill happen ven the Cold Ones haff been defeated. Unfortunately, they...do not revert back to their normal selves. The Skygge too vill decease immediately after their maker's demise. Mister Strand had put it quite vell. Since the Cold One's magic no longer reigns over their frozen hearts, there is nothing to keep it avake or their bodies mobile."

Ooh? "Not necessarily, Miss Duchannes. I do not mean try and lower their body temperature ven I say freezing charm. Since their body temperature is already so low as you mentioned, ice can build up upon their bodies. Enough of it may halter their leg movement or arm movement vherever you are aiming. Freeze their feet to the ground if you can. They may be a strong species, though it takes quite a lot to break ice."



A moment was taken to lay her mat upon the stands and let the information sink into the student's minds before asking, "Are there any more questions?"

Penelope somewhat remembered things about these creatures they'd learned before, but she definitely hadn't memorized everything, so she mostly kept quiet and jotted down some notes while Romanos spoke and the others gave out answers. Was this gonna be on her NEWTs? Merlin, so much to remember. Ugh.

When the professor suggested stretching a bit before they got to the spell casting, the Gryffindor was more than happy to do that. Way more fun than taking notes, though she still tried to take a few. Didn't wanna miss writing down something that might end up on that exam.

No questions here though so her silence continued for now.

Cris had mixed feelings when he heard that the Skygge would die once the Cold Ones did. He had hoped he had been wrong in assumption. But maybe it was best. He did have a question though, so he raised his hand.

"Professor, once the Cold Ones and the Skygge are dead, does that mean that whatever made the Cold Ones, dies with them too? I mean, if their bodies were buried, it wouldn't leech through the ground and infect other bodies, would it?" Cris asked. He shuddered at the thought of that happening....again!

Stretch....stretch...time to limber up to get those muscles warmed up.

Answers were given left and right...left and right.

His attention went from several students down to one. And that is Cris. Hi Cris! His question made his brain analyze the problem further. Based on their discussions, the Cold Ones can only be defeated by flaming arrows that are aimed at their hearts. This means that...they will get burned, right? And seeing that the Skygge can be defeated by a Blasting Curse which also meant destruction by fire, there is no way that these creatures will be buried without being toasted at least.

Hand up.

"I don't think a defeated Cold One or Skygge will infect the ground again once it is buried, because the fire that consumed them must have at least destroyed the infection as well." Orr...maybe not? Ethan scrunched up his nose and waited for Professor Romanos' opinion on this.

He did however did small stretching movements while still seated on his mat, and figured that they will be starting with the activity real soon.

oh wow.. yeah he guessed that made sense.. that they would just *poof* die because they were so old.. he had totally forgotten about that… Making notes of what Professor Romanos said was good ways he listened to see if anyone else had any questions because he had one..

he raised his hand "Professor.. if you had a charm on you to make you invisible would they be able to see you like dementors?" because if they couldn't that would defiantly come in handy.

A young Slytherin shared his own opinion on whether whatever had infected the Cold Ones would continue to infect other bodies buried in the ground with them. Ethan. Yes that was his name. Cris remembered hearing him introduce himself to one of the Professors in class.

While continuing to stretch, Cris listened attentively to his explanation about the fire burning any possible remaining traces of the magic that had created them in the first place. And it to be magic if they were still going on the assumption that it was a failed attempt at using the Rusurrection Stone that caused them to be infected in the first place.

Cris had to admit that Ethan had very good reasoning, but his answer got Cris to thinking on a different tangent.

Raising his hand, he asked,"Professor, can the magic from the Rurrection Stone be defeated by fire? I'm just running on the assumption that it was that magic that infected those buried in the ice and made them the Cold Ones," Cris paused to think further before continuing.

"Was it just its magic that created them or did it also empower them? Or did the Cold Ones have magic because they used to be wizards and witches and their magic has nothing to do with the Resurrection Stone at all?."

Questions? Oh, she had plenty, but nothing that was pertaining to this lesson. Jumping jacks counted as stretching right? This cold was really starting to get to her. She couldn'e even feel her nose anymore. AJ started to do jumping jacks in place.

"No questions for me professor." Jump, jump, jump.

Nope, nope, nope. Adi had no questions. He didn't need to bother anyway. His classmates especially Cris, seemed to have that aspect under control. He waited patiently and with interest for Romanos to answer those questions.

And was the Arena getting any colder? Adi certainly felt colder. Brrr!

Nope Nigel did not have anymore questions. He did not even have to answer. His quesiton were usually put forward anyway. Plus his answer. Like to the previous question. They drop dead. Which surprisingly was kind of right or wrong. He was not paying attention fully.

He took down all the notes need. Since he was guessing this would come up on a important test at the end of the year. Since it was all they were talking about the past two lessons. He will be shocked if he was wrong.

Still, No Questions.

Questions? Mo was still scribbling answers at the speed of... writing, and he was only barely keeping up. It wasn't his best day. Mo raised his hand the moment he'd finished with his notes.

"Professor... can you assume that Skygge in the area indicate the presence of a Cold One? Or are they mostly autonomous?"