Lesson 3 NEWT

Today's lesson would not be so interesting as last week's, so it was a shame that nobody had turned up to last week's lesson. Calli shrugged at the thought and kind of hoped nobody would turn up today, either. She could do with the holiday.

Sadly, no such luck. An eager Hufflepuff was just the first in the flood of students trouping down from the castle. They took the loss of house points seriously, it seemed.

"Nice to see you all," she commented, allowing the implication to linger in the air.

"Feel free to put away your gloves and wands and make yourself comfortable on the ground. Today's lesson is purely theoretical."

"Of course, I'm sure I could find something to interest those of you who aren't satisfied," she added as somebody stifled a groan.

There was some shuffling as people put their work things away and took out parchment and quills. Or just leant back to listen.

"Today you'll be studying the Manticore. Of course, you won't be studying a live one, because that would result in your death. However, that doesn't mean you can't study one at all."

Nimbly, Caelani jumped off the front steps of Hagrid's house, revealing a large, leather bag. This she opened, and reached inside to pull out a teardrop shaped stinger, almost as long as her arm.

"This is the preserved stinger of a manticore," she explained, passing it to the nearest student. "When the manticore was alive, the tiniest prick of your finger on the end of this would have killed you. Now, of course, all the juices have been drained out, so it's completely harmless."

She reached back into the bag and pulled out a golden fur cloak, which she handed to another student.

"This cloak is made from manticore skin. It's very rare, and is impervious to charms. Try anything on it. You can see why, with defences like these, and with their reputation for ferocity, manticores are considered one of the most dangerous magical creatures around."

"It might come as a shock then, to hear that manticores were actually created by witches and wizards," she said. "I mean, who in their right mind would try to create a creature like that? Which, of course is the point of the Ban Against Experimental Breeding. It's that you don't know what you're going to get."

"So everyone get a good look at the artefacts, and for homework write me an essay on what sort of creature you'd try to create if you had the opportunity."


Do one or more of the following for your reply:

RP the lesson. You can include looking at the stinger or testing out charms on the cloak.
Post a graphic of a manticore. If you use resources, remember to credit them.
Write the essay.

EXTRA CREDIT: explain why things might not go to plan when you're trying to create a magical creature for a specific purpose.

The extra credit is just what I said, extra. You still have to complete one of the other options as well.

Brienne examined the stinger and the manticore cloak. She tossed on the cloak for fun, giggling a little. She tested a jinx on the cloak, which deflected. "Oh man, I so want a cloak like this" she commented. She tried another charm, which deflected once more. Manticore hide was tough, she liked that. Softly, she stroked the fur of it, murmuring how good it felt. Next came the stinger. It was a solid construction, though slightly worn from having been preserved. Dulled a little in color. It was larger than she'd imagined. She'd not seen anything quite like it. Not even in her wildest dreams. She thought the creatures were smaller than that.

She passed on the two items, taking out the sheet of parchment. She sketched the cloak, not overlooking a single detail. Next, the stinger. Though, instead of depicting it as dull and worn as it was in real life, she'd depicted it as it would've looked when the creature still lived. She had skills in art, though they weren't as great as her intelligence. She did a sketch below the sketch of the cloak and the stinger, that of a live manticore. She even animated the sketch. It looked like a walking-cycle animation, except that at the end the creature pounced to the other side of the page and turned heel to do the whole thing again though to the other side of the page.

Next, to do the essay. She had allotted a few minutes to do it, she'd take more time to do it if she needed to. She'd combine the essay and extra credit into one simple essay, just so she wouldn't need to really change much.

If I were going to create a magical creature, I'd choose to create the Alopione. It'd have the fore-body of a polar bear, the hind-body of a wolf, the tail of a scorpion, the mane of a lion, and the head of a fox. It'd have a nasty, nasty temperament, and would serve as a magical guard dog of sorts more maneuverable than the Cerberus, and not as big. A smaller size would enable it to move quickly and fit in smaller spaces. It'd need to be impervious to magic, like the Manticore, but also weapon-proof. It shouldn't be quickly defeated with bullets, or magic, as that would greatly reduce the usefulness of the guard-dog capabilities of the Alopione.

However, having such a creature created would not only put myself at risk, but the Wizard Community as well. Not only that, but the creature could come out the wrong way with severe impairments that would make it useless. Also, to be considered is how to house such a beast. It'd need to be able to be controlled somehow (perhaps a programmed trigger) so it can do its job and not go awry. Creating such a beast could also not come out as planned because of the obtaining of DNA for it. Some creatures are too dangerous to get a sample of uncontaminated DNA from, which is a definite problem.

She put her name on the corner of the papers, and handed them in. She smiled at the teacher, and returned to her seat.

Victorie had come doing to hagrid's hut and sat on the ground as the professor had said. she sat quietly listening to what the professor had to say and when she was passed the stinger. she looked over its quickly then passed it to the next person. it was really that interesting to her. it might have before the creature it had belonged to had 'died' and then deadly fluids drained out of it. but now it was just as useless and boring as a broken wand. Next she got the cloak. it was rather dull and lifeless just as the stinger had been. though the professor had said that it was rare and impervious to charms. Ronny didn't attempt to try any spells on it but just passed it on the the person sitting be side her. slowly she took out some parchment and a quill and started to carefully and sloppily draw the two items. the really weren't that good but it was faster and simpler than writing an essay.

Louis came to class. Prepared. "Ma'am" He greeted Proffesor Bittel. And he listened as she talked about the Manticore. Louis shifted his neck and kept on listening. He had a piece of parchment in his dorm. After class he would go to the study room and start writing his essay. Then he raised his hand. "Proffessor how do the Manticore's breed? And how were they created?" He asked. He hoped that he didnt cause a distraction.