Professor Marsh
September 26, 2019 10:05 AM
No Such Thing As Monsters [Advance] by Professor Marsh
Half a pig? Check. Sturdy gloves? Check. No obvious bleeding cuts? Lawrence rolled up his sleeves and looked at his face in the mirror to make sure he hadn’t nicked himself while shaving. Check.He waved his wand over himself to ensure that none of the pig blood stuck to his clothing. It was a trick he’d learned back in Australia. Or was it Thailand. He couldn’t remember, but it was a helpful one for Magizoologists to know. And it was important for today’s lesson, since the creature reacted to the smell of blood.
Today’s lesson was one more of show and tell, than the interactive ones Lawrence normally embraced. Still, this lesson was illuminating to both to the teacher, who would see the invisible scars on students faces and to some of the students, who would understand a bit more about themselves. For the rest of the class, it would be a bit like Transfiguration, an exercise in using their imagination.
Lawerence understood people’s distaste of these beautiful animals. He’d had trouble finding a spot for two of them on the campus after he’d ordered them. He could have used other means, but there really was nothing quite like seeing the animals in the flesh as it were.
So over the holidays, which he found he was often one of the only people still at school,
he’d found a spot in the gardens, hidden it as well as he could so students wouldn’t appear on the animals by accident, and prepared for this class to be the first for his advanced students coming back. Something to get them right back into Caring for truly Magical Creatures.
He remembered the first time he’d seen a Thestral in the outback of Australia. He’d nearly had a heart attack. The suddenness of it all, the fact that he still had the societal programming that they were bad luck, and more importantly, he didn’t remember seeing anyone die at that time. Though if he was honest with himself, at that point in his life, he rarely remembered much of anything that happened. So the fact that he’d seen someone die and not remembered didn’t surprise him now, but then. He thought he was hallucinating. This class would hopefully let students get to know the animals without the sudden urge to run and hide that he’d felt.
As students came in he made them stand by the door instead of sit down.
“We aren’t staying in here today. We’ll be heading outside so please line up against the wall till everyone is in class. And if anyone has any cuts or is bleeding, please stand towards the back of the line, thank you.”
Once everyone, was there made sure the note on the chalk board stating that they were headed to the Labyrinth and how to contact him if need be was there and headed out the door with the pig over his shoulder.
Once they were outside in the part of the gardens nearest the buildings Lawrence began talking to the class.
“Many creatures we study in books are sometimes described as monsters or because society thinks of them a certain way the mere presence of them is considered bad luck. Today we will be seeing one of these animals.”
He waved his wand and a hedge and wall parted as he walked his class through and then closed it after they were all in.
“This creature is actually quite lovely and has been domesticated many times. They have been shown to be loving parents and when treated with respect, good companions to those around them.”
The group had made it to a clearing and Lawrences hoisted the half a pig off his shoulders with his gloves on and threw it on the ground. He stepped back and waited.
“Ok, they will be attracted to the smell of the pigs blood,” he said softly under his breath as he took off the gloves.
He turned towards his class so he could watch both them and the pig.
“I know some of you have no idea what I am talking about and some of you may not see much today. Both are ok. What I want you to learn today is that there are no such things as monsters in this world. Merely things we’ve yet to fully understand.”
He could see one of the two Thestrals step out of the woods beyond and begin to walk out into the field.
“Ok,” Lawrence whispered, “Who can see something right now?”
OOC: You can find more information on Thestrals here: https://harry-potter-compendium.fandom.com/wiki/Thestral
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No Such Thing As Monsters [Advance]
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Amelia Layne, Aladren
October 10, 2019 9:42 PM
Some people probably count. by Amelia Layne, Aladren
Amelia was not particularly squeamish. She had grown up around her uncle's potions lab. She had done well enough in Potions herself that said uncle had since agreed to take her on as an apprentice after her RATS. She had also grown up only with a brother, and so had spent her fair share of time with various creepy-crawlies in the yard for lack of anything much better to do, combined with the inevitable complications of the climate of Charleston.Amelia was not particularly squeamish. Half a dead pig, however, was pushing her limit, especially being carried about like that. Her mouth visibly twisted as she stared at the retreating back of Professor Marsh. What. The. Heck.
Somewhat reluctantly, she followed him and the rest of the class unfortunate enough, at least today, to need a RATS in Care of Magical Creatures. She stopped when he stopped, looking at...absolutely nothing.
The reason for that, of course, became clear soon enough. Thestrals. Ah. Well, that would explain why she didn't see anything. Amelia was quite confident she had never in her life seen anyone die. She hadn't even seen that many things die, come to that, but definitely no people. She supposed at some point, she probably would, but all her relatives that she knew of were in pretty good health at the moment, and none were involved in anything so dangerous that she expected them to die presently. Plus, even if Uncle Geoff did blow himself up or her mom did end up in a ditch somewhere or Alicia broke her neck clambering around on mountains like some fool Pecari, Amelia wasn't likely to actually see it happen. So no thestral viewing in her near future.
She could, though, see their effects. Logically, she knew there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the things. In reality, it was kind of creepy, watching strips of dead pig just start...disappearing. "This is a little spooky," she said under her breath to a classmate.
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Amelia Layne, Aladren
Some people probably count.
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