Josh was, as he could often be found, sitting by the lake under his favourite tree. He was exhausted from a long day, though fortunately, he had his homework done- so, somewhat predictably, he was reading ahead in the textbook. He was wondering about Dementors- the Patronus was supposed to be the only thing that helped, but Professor Storm used fire to great effect. How did it work? was it heat? does it need to be a specific type of fire? could it be used to help prevent Dementor attacks?

"You look tired," a voice commented from behind Josh. Camelia, Josh's friend and fellow Gryffindor, was standing behind him, holding a couple of books and looking rather worn out herself. "Always the over achiever, aren't you, Josh," Camelia teased dryly, shaking her head at him. She set her books down on the grass before sitting herself down beside Joshua. "You look preoccupied, what's on your mind?" she asked. She always enjoyed her intellectual conversations with Josh, she rarely found them with any of her other peers.

"long day, Cameila" Josh replied when she said he looked tired. Josh smiled at Cameila's gentle teasing, though made no comment. " Just remembering how Professor Storm used fire when us Prefects were out putting Rowan branches up to help fend off Dementors and got attacked by said Dementors. I was wondering if it was fire specifically, or heat that made it work." Josh said simply. Cameila might be able to help him figure it out, actually.

"Yeah, same," Camelia replied, dipping one of her hands into the water. "Ah, yeah," she murmured, shaking her head. She remembered hearing about that, straight from Josh nonetheless. They were such incredibly lucky no one had been hurt. "Hmm," she hummed in the back of her throat at Josh's words. She furrowed her brow, thinking about it. "I think perhaps it was the fire specifically, otherwise Professor Storm would have used a less volatile source of heat to fend them off."

Josh smiled " This IS professor Storm. Didn't he dump the 4th years in the lake a few weeks ago?" Josh said. " even if it IS fire, though, does that mean any fire would do, like with Devils Snare? or does it take a specific kind of fire? would flames with a Flame-Freezing Charm work?" Josh said, considering if it would allow the creation of a more reliable dementor-proof area than Rowan.

Camelia snorted in amusement, nodding. "They deserved it though, they were all being dunderheads. He had every right to dump them in the lake, if you ask me." Camelia admitted she was a bit biased, Professor Storm liked her, unlike most of his students. "I don't know," Camelia admitted, loathe as she was to do so.She hated when she had to confess to not knowing something. "Perhaps we should ask him about it?"

"I don't know- the lake's pretty cold..." Josh relied, unsure how he felt. " It might be worth asking Professor Storm- I imagine he'd appreciate students using their heads, at least." Josh said, wryly. Even he occasionally caught the Professor's ire. " I suppose it'd depend on how the Flame-Freezing Charm works- Dementors are cold, so if the Flame-Freezing Charm removes the heat, it'd counter the effect..."  Josh mused.

"It's bracingly refreshing," Camelia argued, but she couldn't quite manage to keep the grin off of her face. "I'm sure he would, according to him that almost never actually happens. I suppose you're one of the exceptions," Camelia stated, musing a bit. "Yes it would. Perhaps any heat works, but flames are the most effective?" Camelia suggested, idly picking at some grass beside her.

"when you;e ready for it" Josh retorted to Camelia calling the lake's temperature bracingly refreshing. " I'm not always an exception- I've caught his ire a couple of times." Josh replied ruefully. "Could also be that flames are the easiest heat to create quickly- the Warming Charm CAN be slow sometimes. Can't be the light, though- Dementors are blind." Josh said, still thinking.

Camelia smirked, poking Josh with the tip of her wand. "Gotta be ready for anything and everything, Joshua," she told him, with mock severity. She pulled her wand away and set it back down in the grass. "No, I feel very confident it has nothing to do with the light. The speed of heat could have something to do with it, but perhaps ultimately it's the degree of heat as well as the speed. A perfect combination."

"which brings us around to the question of if any fire spell will do, or if it has to be something more powerful than bluebell flames. And of course, the question is moot if the fire would do more damage than the Dementors would- for example, I doubt anyone would want to use Fiendfyre on Dementors, even if it killed them." Josh said wryly. FiendFyre was notorious for being an absolute bastard to control- regardless f if you were the one who started the fire or not.