Magical Creatures Lesson 1.

The Care of Magical Creatures Paddock looked like a petting zoo. It had been a while since Melinda had been in Hogsmeade, but it was good to know the shifty types in the Hog's Head could still procure anything from the black market. Melinda was actually shocked the black market sold Shetland ponies. Goats, yes. Everyone knew about old Aberforth's goat penchant, but... She didn't want to think of it; best to just assume she'd saved the poor creature from a life of harness racing.

"Settle down and take a seat on the grass, everybody," she called for attention from the students. "Or on the hay bales if you really must."

"Stay away from the paddock. You will be allowed to handle the animals before the end of the class, never fear."

Since taking it last year, Serge had found Care of Magical Creatures to be one of the most interesting subjects. It was definitely his favorite. Partly because it was the only subject to be held outdoors, but mostly because of all the amazing creatures he would get the opportunity to see. What he hoped to see most - a chimera. Or a dragon, perhaps.

Having headed straight to the class after Lunch, Serge wasn't surprised that he was the first one there. He didn't see anything interesting around, yet. "Good afternoon," he said politely to the new teacher, before sitting down.

This was a class that she was actually looking forward too. Care of Magical Creatures was one of her favorite - and best subjects besides Transfiguration. Dani always liked handling magical creatures, yes, even a prankster like her liked these sort of things. And the best part was that she could be around her best friend without anyone saying anything about their friendship.

When she got to the class, Dani frowned slightly when she saw that they had yet another new professor. She sighed softly, pity, she'd actually started to like Professor Collins. Not that it mattered anyways, whether she liked the professor or not she wasn't going to let that hurt her efforts in the class. She saw one other student there, a Gryffindor and she rolled her eyes before saying, "Good afternoon." to both the professor and the other student and sitting down.

Finally a class where she wouldn't be embarrassed by one of her siblings. Hopefully ... Damitrius just hoped that none of her other siblings was going to be a sub or professor. She had enough with Milo and Alistair being in there already. Besides, she liked Care of Magical Creatures, she didn't want that to be ruined by one of them. And as far as she knew her other siblings took different classes, maybe one other took CoMC, she wasn't sure. She'd never paid much attention to the others.

As she got to the class, Damitrius noticed they had another new professor and she sighed, shaking her head. They could never find a professor to stay in the class for too long, could they? She looked around and saw two others, a Slytherin and a another Gryffindor. "Good afternoon Professor." she smiled quickly, before looking at the Slytherin and saying, "Mulciber." with a slight nod and sitting down next to her housemate, Serge, his name was if she wasn't mistaken. "Hey." she smiled at him.

Faith really did enjoy magical creatures. In fact she was rarely seen without her Pygmy puff, unless she had to go to class, then little Nereus sat in her dorm, eating things from around her room, and overall just lounging around, waiting for her to get back to her dorm and set him on her shoulder and head off to read somewhere.

It really had only been this summer that Faith had gotten a look at the world of Magical Creatures however, because being adopted by Khaat Lupin had been a whole new experience into animals, magical and non-magical. Riding horses in the morning, taking care of their Unicorns in the stables. Feeding the other pygmy puffs, talking to Werewolves, and all those other strange creatures that just showed up at the house, they took care of, and sent on their way.

Faith loved magical creatures, so it was no surprise she was in class already.

Faith looked around at the other students in the class, before sliding onto the grass and setting her bag next to her. The teacher was already calling attention, and Faith sat forward slightly, listening in, uncomfortable because she had to sit in such a regular position, but excited to hear what the professor had to say.

Franki jogged down the slope to her next class and then strolled as she approached. She walked through he mass of students and said, "Morning all." She smiled pleasantly; yes, she was almost late, but the bell had not yet rung. Everyone else was sitting so she hurried to sit next to Dani Mulciber, when her eyes were drawn to the paddock.

"Ooh, ponies!" Her near tardiness had kept her from hearing the professor's instructions and before her bum had touched the hay bale, she was hurrying towards the paddock.

Murray didn’t really know why he had taken Care of Magical Creatures but he had. He liked animals for sure but he had so little experience with them. Growing up in the city had left him with a lot to learn about creatures. He did respect them but he knew so little of them. He just didn’t know much about animals or anything that didn’t come from a book.

He hoped that he would be able to balance all of his classes but he wasn’t worried about it that much. Long as he studies, he would be okay. He knew he’d have to study a lot to get through this year but he didn’t mind. This was the last year he would have to study an manic before he could start dropping classes.

Cat honestly didn't know why she had chosen to sign up for care of magical creatures. Yes, it was probably a class that she should take, just for the background information, but the animals that she had heard they would possibly be dealing with made her frown with concern. That day, Cat had chosen to change her signature red hair into something more subtle, opting to have bottle blonde hair and blue eyes. It was something.

Cat sighed out loud, happy she wasn't the first, and hopefully not the last. Only taking three classes made her feel a lot better about that upcoming school year. Sitting down on the grass, she decided to amuse herself by changing her blonde hair to purple, and her eyes to teal.

Melinda watched Francesca hurry away toward the animals with a sly smile. Not the quickest snitch on the pitch, that one. She'd get a shock when she reached the paddock, anyway.

"Today's lesson is nice and easy," she began. "We're just going to be going over basic safety techniques with some ordinary, muggle animals. Can anyone tell me what some of the Care of Magical Creatures safety rules are?"



[the safety rules are in the second post of the pinned class rules thread. Only one rule per student, please.]

Franki's hands reached out to grab the top post, to enable her to lean forward and view the ponies. On contact, however, her hands received a nice sting, causing her to yelp and withdrew. She clutched then and turned, listening to the professor as she ought to have early.

She raised a hand. "I suppose only trying to enter the paddock with permission is one, huh?" She should have remembered that rule in the first place. Whoops. She glanced down at her hands and saw long red scorch marks across them. Ouch.