Magical Creatures Lesson 1.

Jayden felt a bit odd sitting there with the other students. He would really just prefer to be in the Ravenclaw common room without anyone there, but he had to be in the classes if he wanted to get through the year. He decided to sit next to one of his housemates, at least he was more comfortable about them than anyone else. There were two of them there but he chose to sit next to Faith, because she was in his year.

He sighed softly when he sat next to her and smiled, "Hey Faith." he said with a nervous voice. It was typical of him to be like that during classes. He wondered how he would get through Quidditch this year as Captain since he really didn't want to be around people and Quidditch was a team sport. He looked at the Professor, his Head of House, when she asked what some of the safety rules were.

He lifted his hand and said, "We shouldn't handle any creature without permission."

Cecilia walked down to the paddock where they would behaving Care of Magical Creachers class and stood in the back set apart from the rest of the students her arms crossed over her stomach the other resting on the first while she twisted her hair around her finger nervously. Yawning she stood up on her toes trying to see over her fellow class mates head trying to see what was going on. The year before this had been her favorite class but since the change in professors. She didn't know how she would like this new professor. So there she stood waiting to see what would happen.

Great Merlin, this lot were worse than Greenman's. At least at Greenman's you could be guaranteed of a response, even if it wasn't the response you were hoping for.

"One person in the entire class who has come prepared," Melinda observed.

"Very good; take five house points Mister Volkov. You may also have five, Miss Malfoy, for attempting to answer the question, although in future I would prefer you to learn them by reading your textbook rather than by trial and error."

The rest of the class seemed loathe to interact in any way at all. This was not a good beginning to a care of magical creatures class, where they would have to be interacting with each-other and the animals quite a lot. They would need some motivation.

"Francesca and Jayden have both now earnt their passes into the paddock to handle the animals before the end of class," Melinda declared.

"For the rest of you, you will find the Care of Magical Creatures safety rules outlined on the first page of your textbook. I want you to go over those rules and consider them. On your parchment, write down any rules you would add to the list or any rules you would change. We will be going around the class and sharing our ideas, so make sure you include your reasons."

---------------------
attendance
Ravenclaw: 20
Slytherin: 10
Gryffindor: 15
Hufflepuff: 0

in class points
Ravenclaw: 5
Slytherin: 5

Serge managed to smile back at the girl who sat beside him. She was in his house, but Serge had always been horrible at memorizing names. "Uh.. Hi," he said, a bit nervously to the older girl. He bit his lip as the teacher asked the first question. He thought he knew some of the rules, having skimmed through them a couple days ago, but was not sure and did not want to embarrass himself. He cursed mentally as the Ravenclaw said the exact thing he was going to say and earned a few points. Taking out his book, Serge looked through the rules again, but found nothing he would add or change. He had to admit, the news of them simply handling muggle creatures for the first lesson was a bit disappointing, but Serge supposed it was necessary.

Candy couldn’t believe she was late. She couldn’t believe she had to chase her essay half way across the grounds. She wasn’t sure her Head of the House would understand her when she said she was chasing her essay. She couldn’t believe that she was having such a bad day. First she couldn’t sleep, she had to figure out who stole her Charms textbook this morning, fell asleep in the library, was nearly late for every class she had and her essay nearly ended up stuck in a bush. She was sure she still had parts of bush in her hair but she was worried about the class not her hair.

She opened and started to write the rules without any fuss. She didn’t want to draw attention to the fact she was late. She loved the class and was hoping she’d still love it even with a new professor.

To hear she had earned a chance to play with the creatures who had initially caused her little injury in the first place put a smile on her face. She glanced at Dani, trying to find someone to share her excitement with. Perhaps this boy, Jayden, who was also invited in. She glanced at him and realized he was a social reject, whoops.

She slowly put a hand up. "So we can go in now?" She would so much rather be around the creatures than her peers. Amongst the creatures she had less worries and her self conscious issues dissipated.

"At the end of the lesson," Melinda replied to the littlest Malfoy. "You still have classwork to do."

"Why can't I hear voices?" she raised her own voice as she walked among the students. "You children are the least social creatures I have ever seen. Look!"

She pointed to the camel in the enclosure, which was at that moment attempting to chew on some hay caught in the pony's mane.

"How do you expect to think up any answers without talking to your friends?"

She clapped her hands together to get their attention and almost winced at the gesture. Thirty five years in teaching without ever doing that, and already Hogwarts had her acting like a stereotype. Hideous.

"Come on. I want to see some groups forming and some conversations happening."

-----------------
attendance
Ravenclaw: 25
Slytherin: 10
Gryffindor: 20
Hufflepuff: 0

in class points
Ravenclaw: 5
Slytherin: 5

Right now as it was looking Damitrius really only had Serge to talk too. She wasn't going to talk to the Slytherins and the others there were probably going to go with their friends, and really Damitrius only trusted her housemates in most situations. She smiled at Serge and glanced at the professor when she said she wanted them to form groups and start talking.

She placed her index finger on her lips for a moment before looking at Serge again and lowering it. "You know any of the rules?" she asked. "I know a few." she added softly. She should probably say one of them, because it would earn her house some points but she always got a bit nervous answering questions and she usually ended up messing something up in her explanations.

Cat sat in the grass, shifting awkwardly. She had no one to talk to, really. Sighing, she pulled the hair out of here face and pinned it back. Looking around, she noticed a small group forming, and she hugged her knees close to her, looking through her bag to find her text book.

Cat did know all the rules, because she had studied them the day before. Yet, no one was there to talk to her. She looked at the blonde girl near the stall, wondering why she was making a fool of herself.

[OOC: Catalina, Molly is a new character on the site, but since she's a fifth year Gryffindor am assuming the two at least vaguely know each other.]

Molly rushed towards Care of Magical Creatures. She never seemed to be very good at being on time, though she had sworn to change that this year. It seemed to already new going badly though. Ironically, she had been reading her new book on magical creatures that her mother had bought her over the summer. Care of Magical Creatures was her favourite subject by far at Hogwarts.

Molly looked around, recognising Catalina. She walked towards her, hoping she'd catch her up.

"Hey, what did I miss?" She asked, sitting next to the girl.