Jasmine entered the Dueling Arena, ready to get her homework done. Once she got inside, she set down her bag and took out her wand. Hopefully she would get a chance to practice all three of the Glacius spells. Seeing the salamanders scurrying around the room, Jasmine knew it was showtime. Anxious to get started, she spotted one particular salamander that she wanted to target.

Pointing her wand in its direction, she shouted, "Glacius". Missed. Jasmine guessed that the little critter was faster than she had expected. So, he was going to be a challenge. Well Jasmine did not give up that easily. She stalked the salamander once more and when she thought the time was right, she raised her wand. Jasmine pointed her wand at the salamander and said, "Glacius". This time she made a direct hit and the animal froze in its tracks. One down, two to go. Jasmine went over to the salamander and returned him to the fire.

Practicing a newish spell on an honest to goodness creature that could set you on fire seemed like a super fun thing to do... until you had to do it and remembered you were 12 and that your partner for the task was already prone to firestarting. Dot had seriously considered wearing something fireproof to this effort, but instead...

Well. She'd just shown up and tried to think positive thoughts. Now she was waiting on her partner, as well as keeping an eye on the fire. Next salamander to escape was ALL HERS. Ahem. No sharing.

Jasmine had frozen one salamander and was on the lookout for number two. She had her eye on her next victim, but she had learned her lesson from her first unsuccessful attempt. Deciding to sneak up on this salamander, Jasmine tried not to be obvious. She'd have to be sneaky and quick this time. Better to catch him when he least expected it.

Jasmine was going to try Glacius Duo this time. That spell had given her a bit of trouble in class so the more practice the better. She made sure that she was concentrating as hard as she could before she began. Tiptoeing up behind the salamander, Jasmine raised her wand and made a forward slash. "Glacius Duo", she said, carefully pronouncing the incantation. Fortunately, this time she got it right and the little salamander was quite frozen. Jasmine made sure to return the little guy to the fire so he could thaw and return to his normal self.

Keeping her eyes out for salamanders, Lux started making forward slashes with her wand in a way that other people would probably think resembled muggle sword fighting. She wanted to be prepared for her next target when it showed up.

Two scampered across the floor, and she sent the Glacius Duo spell towards the one closest to her. At first she thought it was a miss, but the tiny creature was frozen. Excited, Lux bounced up and down on the balls of her feet; she only had to practice with Glacius Tria now. Though maybe practicing all three spells some more wouldn't hurt.

Cinna laughed when Lux made the we're on fire joke she totally got it call in the bestie connection or whatever you wanted to call it. She did watch Lux as she did a Glacius Duo charm on a salamander and watched as he hit the wall. Oppss.

The gryffindor was glad that she had done that and she got to see the wand movement. That was always the hardesst part of doing charms and spells the wand movements. So Glacius Duo was a forward stash.

She waiting around for a salamander. Once she found one she took her wand and made a forward slash. "Glacius Duo!" Did she hit the salamander? It looked froze to her.

To be honest, Dima was nervous. He and flames were never a good pairing, and the last thing he wanted to do was set his best friend on fire (which was probably possible, despite the charm's nature). It would be best for him to stay as far away from those salamanders as possible, but working with 'em looked SO fun. And he wasn't one to skip out on homework.

If worse came to worse... well. They knew the Water-Making Spell. No sweat.

"Hi." Pause. "I still can't cast this spell." Just... if she wanted to know.

Oh, look, salamander!

The beeping of the alarm he had set caused him to jump out of his focus and the spell he had casted towards another salamander had missed and hit the wall. He groaned as he clicked on his watch and turned to Adi. So he had three? Kevin began to round his own frozen salamanders and counted them as he did so.

"I've got...three?" he counted them again , which wasn't so hard but SURELY he had gotten the same amount of salamanders as the Prefect? Kevin was WAY BETTER than him....he KNOW he had at least 10! "We never said anything about a tie so i say i win, now go get me some hot chocolate from the kitchens" demanding kevin was demanding.

As with every other piece of homework, Grayson had procrastinated with this one as well. Homework took a lot of motivation, which was something that the boy hardly had a lot of in the first place. So, yawning, the fifth year finally made his way up to the first floor and towards the Duelling Are--

Oh SWEET! It was NICE in here. Nice and toasty. Man, why hadn't somebody told him before? He would have been more than happy to start his homework sooner if it meant that he could get away from the chilly weather by being in here. Was there a cosy fireplace in here? It felt like it. And he kinda wanted to sit near it with a mug of hot chocolate while he was at it.

Now.............. what was it that he had to come in here to do a--

WAS THAT A SALAMANDER?

Grayson fumbled a little to take out his wand as quickly as possible before pointing it in the direction of the fleeing salamander. "Glacius! Glacius! GLACIUS!" Each of the spells flew out towards the creature and......

......... missed. Narrowly. That was annoying.

"It's okay. I'm good at it." Dot danced over to bump into Dima with her elbow and hip, 'cause she was so glad to see him. She wasn't ACTUALLY really good at this spell, but she was being confident for Dima's benefit. Besties forever, that's why.

"We're going to be amazing. SALAMANDER!" Dot spotted the one Dima had noticed first, which had slipped out of the fire when she was bumping him. With an excited eep, Dot pounced in the direction of the skittering creature. "I'll get this one. Glacius!"

Most embarrassing of embarrassing things. The spell slowed the reptile down, but only for a second. "I'm not super good at it. I lied."

"Glacius!" She cast reflexively as another salamander darted by her. You knew something was wrong--or right--when you started casting without giving it much thought. Clearly she had too much of this. It wouldn't be much longer before she called it a morning and went to have some breakfast with the others. That was where she'd find out about all the homework they had due for today...which she hoped wouldn't be much because haha she wasn't prepared to spend her day scrambling around to get things done.

Just behind her, she could hear the scurrying of other little feet and turned with her wand already brandished.

"Glacius!" And another. "Glacius!" It was almost like rapid succession only she probably wouldn't have caught that many because of the way they were moving. She was lucky enough to hit two and of course they were with separate spells.

Perhaps next time she'd attempt a more powerful spell to get more of them at once because she was getting nowhere with 'glacius' alone.

Next time. He was gonna get it next time.

Did he care that he currently looked like some sort of mad man with his wide eyes that were peeled out for a salamander? Not at all. Not even a bit. Those buggers could be FAST, if the last one was anything to go by. Or he was simply too slow and wasn't ready in the first place and they jumped out at him randomly. Surprise attack. It was a good form of atta--

SALAMANDER!

This was it. He was READY for this. A little faster than last time -- probably because he already had his wand in his hands and knew exactly what to expect now -- Grayson aimed his wand at the creature as precisely as he could and cried, "GLACIUS!" Intent was key. Lots of intent and focus and confidence.

There was nothing quite like the sweet satisfaction of watching the magical creature freeze over. HA! MUCH better than last time. Did he deserve a pat on the back? Yes, he did.

How many more of these buggers did he have to freeze?

Zander didn't really want to practice this homework and it wasn't because he hated all homework, which okay was sort of true. But he couldn't really get the spell down in class so spending time trying to freeze three salamanders did NOT sound like a fun time. Especially not today because he was still feeling really exhausted after all of these early lessons lately.... What was the meaning of all this anyways? How come Professors couldn't just teach at normal hours!? Was there something in their water or something?

But right. Anyways, despite how long it had taken him to force himself over to the Dueling Arena, he was here. And was gonna freeze some salamanders ready or not.

And before he knew it-- SALAMANDER AT 12OCLOCK!!!

The Gryffindor pulled out his wand and chased after it 'cause MERLIN that creature was fast. "Glacius!!...... Glacius!!!...... Glacius!!!" And instead of freezing the salamander he accidentally freezed a couple of places on the ground. Ahem. Oops. But why the heck was that salamander so fast?

WAIT O______O Another one? "Glacius!" GAH. Another miss. This time, the Gryffindor pointed straight at it, ran right up behind it, stopped then concentrating real hard he tried another time. "Glacius!!!" FINALLY.

This determination thing was clearly working. And freezing one salamander had given him a new bought of confidence. So much so, that he was currently poised there with his chest puffed out a little and a mean glare in his eyes. If he just had his hands on his hips and was looking off into the distance, he'd look like one of those heroes on the cover of a gladiator movie.

He could SO pull off one of their costumes. Or a toga.

Er. Right. Concentrate.

Clearing his throat, he resumed glaring around for the sight of a salamander. Come ooooon. Don't leave him hanging. He had some more of these bad boys to try and--

THERE! "Glacius Duo!" Why was he using this variant? No idea. Did it work? WELL. It LOOKED like it had when the salamander seemed to stop in it's tracks and he thought he could see some ice forming over the creature but then it started scurrying away again. Great. "Glacius Duo! Glaci-- GLACIUS!"

And another frozen salamander to go.

Sweet Merlin, he needed to stop shouting that freaking spell.

He almost fell over when Dot bumped him- probably not the smartest thing to do in a dueling arena full of fiery salamanders, but Dima still giggled. "Then you can cast for both of us."

Except... would she not? The second year must have jumped a million feet into the air when Dot screamed of the creature he had already spotted, slinking back so she could take charge of the situation. That was always how they did things, right? Dot dove straight into stuff and dragged him along for the ride, and it was best that way.

Maybe not this time, though. As the sluggish little guy tried to get his bearings after the redhead performed her spell, he extended the tip of his wand from his robe sleeve. It... it was just a point, right? And a quiet, "Glacius." The wand movement and the incantation were easy; it was the intent Dima had lacked prior to this attempt, but he really did want to do it properly this time around. And seemingly, it had worked, because the salamander had frozen over.

"Nah," Dima told her, carefully pulling his wand hand back inside his sleeve. "I think your spell was just working slow, see? Best witch I know."

Honest to goodness, she was.

Watching Cinna freeze another salamander, Lux sent her best friend a thumbs up. They were both doing an amazing job with the spells.

Humming to herself, she made counter-clockwise slashes with her wand. This would probably be the hardest one for her to cast, but Lux was a determined girl who would not let some little salamanders get past her. Wasn't like the freezing HURT them. Professor Romanos wouldn't let them hurt innocent creatures; she was way too nice for that.

Sending a sideways slash towards one of said salamanders, she called out, "Glacius Tria!" To her shock the spell actually made contact. Now she could practice some more with the other spells if she wanted to. How many chances would she get to work with the salamanders? Best to do it now. Pointing her wand at another salamander, she used Glacius to freeze it.

Maybe after another successful go with Glacius Duo and Glacius Tria and she would head off to get something to eat.

Eden was a bit nervous to face the salamanders. Since when did she have very strong reflexes? Never. She was very likely to get burned..a LOT. So she had her wand in one hand, and her backpack in the other as she stepped into the Arena.

A few other students were here--so if she got SERIOUSLY injured, she wouldn't be EATEN by a salamander. Though...she was fairly certain they didn't just eat people or anything. Hmm. She dropped her bag in the indicated spot and stepped out...looking around for a salamander....

SHOOT.

She should have gone over the spell beforehand--what was it again--and before she could THINK it through a salamander was upon her, and she did what came first---she ran the other way, until she couldn't run--a wall was blocking her--and she felt VERY scared. GAH SOMEONE HAAAAAALP. "AQUAMENTI!" she shouted quickly, without thinking---and water splayed the salamander in front of her. He didn't seem very hurt by it---in fact, he just seemed PEEVED more so, now what?! RIGHT. She needed to do the ACTUAL spell they had to learn--glacius--but--she was having a total brain meltdown right now.

But the salamander stepped closer, and Eden was FREAAAKING out--"Glacius!" she suddenly cried, thinking straight again, and she saw the spell shoot from her wand right to the creature--and it FROZE.

Oh thank Merlin. Eden panted heavily. She felt petrified. Wow. Okay. Eden was still very bad at reflexes. But at least she had done it...right?

Thinking about eating wasn't the best idea, because suddenly all Lux could think about was food. She hadn't eaten since lunch, and her stomach growled when she realized how hungry she was.

NO. She must not let the thought of food distract her when there were two other salamanders that needed to be frozen. Instead of focusing on the thought of Chocolate Frogs, she practiced more forward slashes with her wand. She was becoming such a pro with these spells with all the practice.

"Glacius Duo!" she called out as she hit a wandering salamander with one of the forward slashes. Now she had five frozen salamanders and only needed one more. Soon she would be back in her dorm and eating loads of Chocolate Frogs; she would need to buy more at Honeydukes. Smiling to herself at the thought, she made some more counter-clockwise slashes with her wand. The next salamander she hit didn't even see it coming.

Finished with her practical homework, Lux waved goodbye to her best friend before skipping out of the arena.

Okay, hold on. Just hold the freaking phone.

WHY was it that Glacius was working perfectly for him but Glacius Duo had to be a pain in the neck? He glanced down at his wand and frowned. Was it the wand movement? Couldn't be. He knew that it was different, since he had to slag his wand in the forward motion to try and get the spell to work but was that REALLY where he was failing at this? Jeez, he thought his wand movement had been fantastic.

Grayson ha a right mind to stand there and practice the wand movement but something told him that there wouldn't be enough time. Salamander's and all. He had to try and freeze them and practising and letting them get away was out of the question. So, he tightened his grip on his wand and kept his eyes peeled for those creatures. Needed to be alert in case any of them jumped out at him ran--

SALAMANDER!

"Glacius Duo!" UGH. No, come ON! Work! "Glacius Duo!" Forward slash, Whitty, forward slash! "Glacius Duo!!!!!"

.....................

He did it.

There was a frozen salamander there. All icy.

HE FREAKING DID IT.

The salamander DID freeze, but Dot wasn't stupid. Dima'd helped. They got that one together... maybe both of their spells did it, or maybe Dima was just actually a much better wizard than Dot. She gave him a very serious consideration before movement from the fire distracted her again. Staring at Dima was always fun. She'd do that later.

"I see another one." This time, Dot sat down hard on the floor and extended her wand, pointing it at the salamander and thinking very hard about cold stuff. The tip of her tongue protruded from the corner of her mouth as she thought about popsicles, icicles, snowballs... her common room. ColdcoldCOLD. And... "Glacius."

Did it work? Why... couldn't she see anything? OH! Dot opened her eyes and looked for the salamander she'd been trying to freeze. "DIMADIMA." She reached out to tug his pant leg. "I did it! I froze one!"

Ready with her wand in hand, Beverly stood at the entrance of the dueling arena. Her hair was tied up in a braid, all suit up in comfy jeans and leather ankle high boots. Beverly Wayne was ready for this practice shindig.

Her leather jacket had been a bad decision, it was too warm for her in here, so that was tossed aside into the stands. She would have folded it IF she had not seen something bright scurry across the room.

Then another...and another.

Eyes zooming in, she smirked. It was salamanders! Facts about them crossed her mind at once. Their blood in particular in potions. She stared at them almost greedily, her potion-wired mind thinking of uses for them.

As another little critter ran by, she shook her head, snapping herself from her thoughts. Right. She was here to practice. On that note Beverly decided to start out with a warm up.

Tracking a certain salamander, she waited until it reached the center of the arena and pointed her wand at it. "Glacius!"

Her spell froze as it. Unfortunately, it froze a spot on the floor, as the salamander scurried off, glancing back at her as if saying, "HA! LOSER!"

She'll show it. Hmph!

Why did she need ANOTHER one? She'd gotten that one.

... well, okay. Dot wasn't that gullible, and he should have known she would see right through that. But it didn't matter, 'cause Dima had meant it when he said she was the best witch he knew, and she was proving it with that spell casting. 'Cept was she trying to pants him while she was at it?

["I saw! That was the best charm I've ever seen done!" He nodded sincerely, only glancing away from her when something red caught the corner of his eye. Was that...?

"Glacius Duo!" Point. Wait... no, it wasn't a point. Stupid.

Forward slash? "Glacius Duo!" Aha. Not only could this Toussaint handle fire, but he had mastered ice as well. Meet your maker, elements.

She heard a few people practicing the other spell, Glacius Duo...but Eden wasn't sure if she was quite ready for that one since she BARELY had a handle on regular GLACIUS.

Eden had her wand at the ready--"Glacius glacius glacius glacius glacius glacius glacius glacius glacius....GLACIUS." She said a lot. And she did the wand motion...she had to be READY and VIGILANT. If another little SALAMANDER thing popped out at her she couldn't FREAK out this time and tick it off with WATER. SHE HAD ALMOST DIIIIIIED LAST TIME.

Not really.

but Eden was sure setting a salamander on WATER was a bad idea. It's not like it hurt the thing--FREEZING was what they needed to practice. She wondered around a bit..where were those THINGS hiding, ehhh? She squinted around--until---

"HIAYH!" she cried suddenly, as a salamander JETTED out at her--they were quick little guys, weren't they?! "GLACIER!" she cried, and then she felt STUPID and her cheeks turned red and she had to LEAP out of the way of some major fire---"FUDGE--GLACIUS! GLACIUS!" she cried, and the spell whizzed from her wand, and the salamander was...FROZEN.

GLACIER. EDEN MCGEEE. GLACIER? REALLY? She berated herself. Her chest was moving up and down rapidly...and she honestly..UGH. Was disgusted with herself. She was the worst....FREEZER ever. And NOT the muggle kind...NOPE.

She gritted her teeth. That salamander was suppose to stay there and freeze. She would have unfroze it eventually. Jeez. What a butt-head.

Being the Wayne she was, Beverly tracked that same salamander, never lifting her gaze from it, and pointed her wand at it again. Her spell had succeeded the first time, it was the salamander who'd ruined it by running off.

Just before she was about to cast, Beverly switched from Glacius to it's sister spell. With a forward slash of her wand, she cast: "Glacius Duo!"

It required more focus, more intent, but she had done well casting it during DADA so she didn't doubt herself. Confidence came in handy when spell casting, her brother had told her that during training this past summer.

The salamander slumped in a heap, its tail being the only thing moving. It twitched, then stopped all at once. She was sure it was still alive, just momentarily knocked out.

She did it!

"What's the motion for that one? The Duo one?" Dot let go of Dima's pant leg and scuttled across crab-style to sit next to the salamander she'd frozen on the floor. Professor hadn't really specified what they'd do with these, and she was sort of thinking about keeping it in one of the freezers in the kitchens until she needed it for something else.

Like setting Zahra Kettleburn on fire for hurting Kyroh's feelings. Or Lex, if bad Lex returned. Or anyone who made her people upset. Kyroh's feelings were butterfly fragile, but Dot was evenly more protective of Dima's. If his big happy smile ever flickered, she'd put someone's LIGHTS OUT.

Anyway. "The best. Yes, thanks, it was. But you did a DUO, so you're the cleverest of the clever Ravenclaws, aren't you?" She shoved the frozen salamander towards him and followed on her hands and knees. "I'd like to try the Duo. Like you."

"Duo is a forward slash, and Tria is one to the side," Dima recited confidently. It had taken a while to memorize those movements, but DADA was one of his most difficult subjects, and Dot was smart. He certainly hadn't wanted to slow her down today; if that meant having to spend a while studying the spells and how to cast them, then so be it.

The cleverest? A beam crossed his face at the compliment, but they both knew he was far from obtaining that title. "Try it, then. You'll get it, and then we can find something more fun to do than sit around and freeze itty bitty salamanders."

Meanwhile... Dima was going to get this Tria out of the way. Side slash, right? "Glacius Tria!" Aaaaaand slash!

The creature he'd been pointing at was freezing over, and... it was obvious he'd been practicing, wasn't it?