Care of Magical Creatures: N.E.W.T Class 001.

It was just a but after noon and it was time for the afternoon classes to being. This time Jake would have to deal with the N.E.W.T students. Although he knew they might be a bit tougher to handle than the younger students, he had to admit he was looking forward to this class. These students were at the most two years younger than he was and he was willing to learn from them if they learned from him. After all school was not only for students to learn but for the professors to learn quite a bit as well.

Much like he had done with the younger students in the morning, his plan for this class was to introduce the class to a hippogriff. He, again, wasn't sure if the previous Professor had done this with them, but he was sure that they learned about these creatures somewhere in their Hogwarts career. As with the morning class he was going to test what they know about hippogriffs and what they retained from previous lessons with them. If they had time they would also get to ride the hippogriff for a short time.

Everything was in place for the class to start. The students would be coming any minute now and Jake walked to the entrance of the padlock to wait for the students to arrive. He couldn't wait to see what they knew about these magnificent creatures and how much ground he had to cover with the students on them.

Cecilia skipped down toward her care of magical creature’s class. She didn’t really wish to attend this class but she was happy to be outside instead of stuck in the cold dark castle. But her almost joyfulness came to a complete halt when she reached the paddocked. “What are you doing here?” She asked narrowing her eyes at the person who was obviously the new professor. Not long ago she had run into him in Hogsmeed, not the most pleasant run it in her life. At the time he had seemed to be stalking her. Today she wore a black pleated skirt with a blue sweater. She had left her hair down so that the wind picked up the ends of it and keep blowing it around. She could already tell that this class was not going to be a good one.

Soon enough the NEWT students began to come into view as they made their way to the paddock. They all seemed to be bursting with joy and happiness about something. Ah that's right it was nearing Valentine's Day, of course the couples of Hogwarts were all beaming with a bright happiness at the thought of this day. The day had never really had any interest in that day, but he enjoyed watching the younger girls and boys so happy because of it.

He moved back into the paddock toward the hippogriff and extended his hand to pat it softly. His back was turned for a moment and when he heard someone call attention to him he didn't turn back for a moment. The comment seemed somewhat rude and the voice that said it sounded familiar. The young Professor took his hand away from the hippogriff and turned around again. His eyes widened slightly as the sight of the girl in front of him.

Not again.

His eyes closed in frustration, he shook his head and sighed. "I'll get to that when your classmates are all here." Jake stated professionally. He waited until a few more students walked in and he smiled at the lot of them. "Good afternoon. As you may have noticed your previous professor, Professor Pattinson, is no longer here. My name is Professor Collins and I am your new Care of Magical Creatures Professor." he said to the students, obviously answering Cecilia's question. "I shall give your classmates a few more minutes before I begin with the lesson."

[OOC: Class will continue until next Monday, so please try your best to attend class until then.]

The Ravenclaw rolled her eyes at the man that stood before her trying to answer her question and introduce himself to her fellow class mates. “That’s not what I meant,” Cecilia said crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him. “Why did it have to be you of all people?” As he talked she didn’t move her eyes off of him. The Headmaster and Her Father would be hearing about the stalker that was now teaching this class. There was no way she would be addressing him as Professor nor showing him any other form of respect until she knew exactly why he was there and why he was stalking her. Wondering why they had hire him of all people she took a step farther way from Collins acting as if he smelled horrid.

The ex-Gryffindor watched most of the other students walk in a bit late and he sighed. He heard Cecilia's comment about him and he turned to her. "I have expericence as a Beast Specialist that's why I have taken this position." he answered her. Some of the other students stood in awe as he mentioned Beast specialists. So they have heard of them, that was good, he thought. Maybe some of them wanted to be Beast Specialists and that was why they took this class.

He thought Cecilia must still think that he was stalking her. And as this rate he wouldn't blame her, after all he appeared everywhere she was. Although he had one question on his mind, how did she even forget about him? Shaking his head quickly to clear his head, Jake cleared his throat. "Alright, I think enough time has passed for your classmates to get here, so what do you say to starting the lesson?" he asked the class.

'So can anyone tell me what exactly a Hippogriff is?" he asked the simply question on purpose to see what they knew. Jake glanced over at Cecilia as she took a step away from him. He sighed and decided to ignore what she had done because he didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with his students.

“Wow,” Cecilia said rolling her eyes at him, “Do you really think we are that stupid. I mean what kind of question is that to be asking us? But if you must have us tell you…” She took a deep breath before stating everything she knew about hippogriffs, “A Hippogriff is a magical creature that has the front legs, wings, and head of a giant eagle and the body, hind legs and tail of a horse. It is very similar to another mythical creature, the Griffin, with the horse rear replacing the lion rear. Hippogriffs have cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly orange eyes. The talons on their front legs are half a foot long and appear deadly. They are also very proud creatures and before approaching one you should bow and wait for it to return the gesture. If you fail to do so you are likely to be attacked.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder wishing that this new professor would mess up just once and take a hit from one of these proud creatures or possibly one more dangerous.

Jake sighed and shook his head. He decided to again, ignore her rude comments. As he listened to her reply to his question, the young Professor held the reigns of the hippogriff a but tightly as he nodded with the conclusion of her answer. "Very good. Ten points to Ravenclaw." he stated. The hippogriff shifted its weight on its legs and seemed to be becoming restless. Well this was perfect, maybe he will get to do what he wanted after all.

"Alright, as Cecilia stated, before you approach one of these creatures you must show them respect by bowing and waiting for them to return your bow." he said. "However, if the Hippogriff doesn't see you fit it will not return the bow. Does anyone know what you should do then?" he asked the students. A girl in the back raised uer hand and said, "You should simply walk away from the creature, but you must make sure that you are not doing it in a way that the hippogriff thinks you are going to harm it." Jake nodded and smiled. "Correct. You always want to make sure you show the creature that you mean no harm to them." he said.

He loosened his grip on the reigns and took a step back from the creature. "Now who would like to go first?" Jake asked them, gesturing to the hippogriff. "And remember, show it respect."

“Better it than you,” Cecilia said uncrossing her arms and taking a small step closer to the hippogriff. She bowed before the creature. As she waited for it to bow in return she didn’t move nor glare she just stared at the animal with big eyes filled with wonderment. She wondered how it could stand being so close to someone so stalker-ish.
For once since seeing the new professor she didn’t seem to notice his presence. Neither did she notice the presence of her fellow class mates. It was just her and the hippogriff alone in the paddocked. For a few minutes it seemed as if there was no one there to interfere with their interaction, but Cecilia knew the peacefulness wouldn’t last long. Soon the Professor would speak again and he would break her trance.

The young Professor was starting to lose his patience with Cecilia. She was definitely not the Cecilia he remembered and he wondered what happened to her that caused her to change. Even if did not want to get off on the wrong foot with her or any of the other students, he thought he was going to have to do something to get her comments to stop, he wasn't to sure what he was going to do, just yet though. He watched her as she approached the hippogriff and as she bowed to it, he turned to watch the creature's reaction to her.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he noticed that the hippogriff was not bowing to her. The rest of the students began to murmur among themselves as to why the creature wouldn't bow back. Jake took a guess as to why it wasn't bowing back. A hippogriff would only bow back to you if you had pure intentions in your heart. It seemed that this hippogriff thought Cecilia wasn't enough pure of heart.

Not wanting to keep this going any further than it already had, Jake stepped forward a bit and sighed. "That's enough, Cecilia. The hippogriff did not find you worthy enough. I'm sorry, now please slowly step away from it." he instructed her and he pet the hippogriff, sighing again. "Anyone else want to try?" he asked.

Strigtening Cecilia shot a nasty look at the professor then looked back up at the amazing creature and speaking only to it said "Why on earth would i want to hurt you? You are a wonderful and amazing creature." She didn't move away from the hippogriff and she didn't look at anyone else. then after a few minutes she looked towards Professor Collins and said "You will be sure that My Father and the Headmaster will hear about how they have hired a stalker." she took a few steps backward before turning on her heel and walking away. She didn't leave but instead just moved out of sight. Out of sight out of mind. soon everyone would forget what had just happened.