Lesson 1 for Third and Fourth Years on Care of Magical Creatures

Professor Kijewski

September 18, 2007 7:34 PM

Lesson 1 for Third and Fourth Years by Professor Kijewski

Kiva stretched her body as the last of the first years ran off to their next lesson. The one good thing about having the first years as her first lesson was that they made her much more energetic than she might have been had she taught the older students first. She could still remember the last couple of years at Sonora, always anticipating the end of the lesson so that she could go off and do whatever it was that had her preoccupied for that day. The students these days were no different. They had friends to hang out with, significant others to see, a future to look forward to. They didn't like to be cooped up in a classroom (or out in a clearing in her case) listening to lecture after lecture.

Kiva always hoped that they thought different of her class though because she brought them rare creatures (obviously when they grow older, the younger students still had to learn of the usual every day creatures) to observe and interact with. But, she knew she was only fooling herself.

It was even harder to teach the third and fourth years because Kiva was uncertain as to where they stood with her classes. They either loved it or they hated it and they weren't afraid to make it obvious. Thankfully though, they were also in the age range where Kiva could start introducing them to all knew creatures that only select few could be privvy to outside of a classroom. Kiva had plenty of contacts all around the world and had studied so many animals that she felt lucky. Priviledged. She had seen Dragons upclose. Touched their hard, scaley skin. Felt their hot breath of fire. She had flown on an Aethonan and felt its great strength beneath her. She had been face to face with a Sphinx and answered the riddles asked of her.

Yes, Kiva had many experiences with beautiful creatures and she only hoped that she could capture her students attention young so that they too can experience the wonders of Mother Nature as she had.

"Hello everyone and welcome back to Sonora." Kiva greeted when the last of the students made their way into the clearing. The Kneazle had been put away, out of sight until Kiva could take her back to her office for some well needed rest before the trip back to her owners. In the kneazle's place, however, was a large cage. In the cage was a strange looking bird. It was one of Kiva's favorite birds because of the Muggle legend that surrounded it.

"This bird here, is a magnificant bird." Kiva began. The bird was fat looking with smallish wings. "This is a Diricawl. They are flightless, but they have the extraordinary ability to vanish at will. It's their defense mechanism when being cornered by a predator." A grin spread eagerly across Kiva's face. "The Muggles have believed this bird to be extinct. Gone away with time." Kiva paused and looked around at the third and fourth years. "Can anyone guess what the Muggles call this bird?"

OOC: Okay, you all know the drill. Three paragraphs per post, 3 to 5 sentences to each paragraph. Use as much detail as you can and have lots of fun with the Diricawl.

Subthreads:

I know this one! by Saul Pierce

Question for the Professor by Briony O'Leary

D'ohD'oh by Paul Tarwater with Eavan Valentine, Paul

Er...can't think of title so just...(Wotw) by Adam Brockert

I can still post here, right? by Elly Eriksson

Part Two by Professor K

0 Professor Kijewski Lesson 1 for Third and Fourth Years 0 Professor Kijewski 1 5

Saul Pierce

September 19, 2007 12:10 PM

I know this one! by Saul Pierce

Saul loved this class. Mostly because it was outside and didn't require much writing. Also, he found it slightly easier to pay attention when there was an animal to look at and keep his focus. Despite all this, he was still only average in his grades and he could almost never offer up correct answers when called on in class.

Today's bird, though, looked familiar. Saul could have sworn he'd seen it before. Not in the flesh (er, feathers), but pictures. Possibly on t-shirts.

And then she said muggles thought they were extinct and it all came clear to him. "It's a dodo bird!" he called out, so surprised that he actually knew this answer that he forgot to raise his hand.

1 Saul Pierce I know this one! 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Briony O'Leary

September 19, 2007 11:56 PM

Question for the Professor by Briony O'Leary

Briony adored all of her classes. She didn’t know if it was, because she had a professor for a father or just had a general love of learning. Either way, she couldn’t wait to get to Care of Magical Creatures to see what amazing creature Professor Kijewski had brought. She couldn’t quite make herself say Professor K, probably going back to her father and respect, etc. Anyhow, she still brought the best animals. Last term, she had gone away, but left her lesson plans, which included a unicorn foal. It was the most beautiful thing that Briony had ever seen.

The only bad part about the class was the fact that it was outside, which meant having to apply a sun protection charm before going to the class and sometimes she forgot, which meant her fair skin turned red. Luckily, the class wasn’t long enough to cause a full out sunburn. Arriving at the class, Briony saw Saul and took a seat near him. She only had time to throw him a smile before class began.

Professor Kijewski pulled out a bird that Briony recognized, but couldn’t remember the name. She had seen it in pictures when she was doing muggle research. Her friend got it easily, though, as he called out dodo bird. That was it! Though, what the professor had said about its defensive mechanism got her thinking.

Raising her hand, she waited to be called on before asking, “How do wizards catch the bird if it becomes invisible?”

She knew that it was obviously caught by some form of magical means, but she was wondering exactly what they were.
\r\n\r\n

0 Briony O'Leary Question for the Professor 75 Briony O'Leary 0 5

Paul Tarwater

September 22, 2007 10:54 PM

D'ohD'oh by Paul Tarwater

Paul stood outside in the Care of Magical Creatures area, where Professor K (or his HoH) stood with a rather fat bird. Paul stood a little bit away from the group, his bag by his feet, and his Magical Creatures book out to the section on the Diricawl. Such an odd little bird, small and weak and fat, couldn't even fly. You'd expect it to die out immediately. But no, instead they make you believe they were never there. They disappeared.

Paul wished he had that good of a defense mechanism. He wasn't fat, and with a broom he could fly, but he was rather weak and defenseless. Instead of having many predetors, he had one. One that he would just love the power to disappear whenever he saw her. Paul went from indifference towards the bird, to a frown, to looking back at the book. "Lucky bird," he mumbled almost silently under his breath.

Paul slid his fingers into his pockets and walked closer to the group, and the bird. He tightened his lips, not liking being so close to all the people, even if it wasn't a huge amount he was near. Paul started to take a step back and tripped backward, falling to the ground. He tightened his lips harder, bitterly glaring at the ground as he picked himself up. Somebosy touched his shoulder, and he tried not to look at them. "Hm?" he posed, just wanting to slip farther from the group again.

0 Paul Tarwater D'ohD'oh 0 Paul Tarwater 0 5

Eavan Valentine

September 24, 2007 3:22 AM

D'honut? by Eavan Valentine

Eavan laid out her robes on the grass and sat back, enjoying the sunshine. She liked this class more than most for the sole reason of it being outside. It was too stuffy inside the school to make it nice. Grass, and wind, and strange animals were always preferable to dusty books and dank corridors.

As everyone else sat down, Professor K began. Eavan looked above the person's head in front of her and saw a cage with the funniest looking bird she had ever seen.

She stared at the bird having no idea what it could be. A Diricawl, the professor said. Eavan stared at it curiously. A boy said that muggles called it a Dodo bird. From the looks of the bird, Dodo seemed to go with the pudgy bird a lot better than Diricawl.

She began searching through her bag for her book and upon finding it, flipped through until she fond the section on Diricawls. She lay flat on her stomach reading the chapter, when the sound of something falling to the ground caught her attention. She looked up to see a boy on the ground, apparently having fallen. She recognized him as an Aladren in her year, but she didn't know his name.

She got up and went over to him. When she got to him, she tentatively reached out and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You all right? I saw you fall, and you're back here all by yourself..."

0 Eavan Valentine D'honut? 86 Eavan Valentine 0 5

Paul

September 25, 2007 7:48 PM

D'oh :D by Paul

Paul looked at the girl, and of course it was another girl Paul would meet. She was definately a third year, not fourth. He'd known she was in his yeah, he remembered it form somewhere. Paul shrugged her off lightly and looked away. "I'm fine," he muttered. "Just... I tripped backward. That's all."

Dodo, Muggles called the bird a Dodo. What a weird name.He blinked away from it, and back to the girl. Trying to place her. Paul thought, she was, she was. She cried the first day, first year, didn't she? She was... Teppenpaw, right. Paul disliked Teppenpaws less than all the others. Mainly they were supposed to be genuinely nice. Though some were probably just annoyingly nice. Though, they didn't scare him like the Pecaris did. So Paul would be decent until he was proved wrong.

Paul shook his head. "What's your name again?" he asked simply. "You're a Teppenpaw, right? I think I have that correct." Paul didn't dwell on that, and he certainly didn't offer his own name. Until he was asked, Paul didn't have to tell anyone much of anything. And even after someone asked him, there were some things he wouldn't tell. Why he had so many scars on his front and back, hidden by his shirt. He wasn't to show-and-tellie to people, to be honest.

Paul kept looking at the bird. He was a little bit away from the crowd, thankfully, so it wasn't like he was going to lose his temper being too crowded. It was only one person. But still, Paul wasn't good with a singular person either, granted it was better than crowds. The Diricawl seemed antsy too. Like it wanted to disappear as well. Lucky thing, he thought, at least you can disappear.

0 Paul D'oh :D 0 Paul 0 5

Eavan

September 26, 2007 3:28 PM

D'oh, a deer by Eavan

Eavan smiled at the boy. She thought he would start freaking out like Adam did that one time they were partnered up in Charms. Tripping was fine. She backed up a bit, now no longer worried about him, when he asked who she was. Come to think of it, she didn't know his name either.

"Eavan Valentine. And yeah, I'm a Teppenpaw. Who are you?" She knew she'd seen him around school, but didn't think he was in her year or house.

It was a bit awkward, talking to this boy. He seemed distracted, or not interested in talking to her, but Eavan tried anyways. She just had to come up with a topic that interested him. What would he find interesting? She then realized he was staring at something, she turned to look at what it was and noticed it the bird.

"Funny looking things, aren't they. I think the name 'Dodo' suits them."

0 Eavan D'oh, a deer 0 Eavan 0 5

Adam Brockert

September 27, 2007 1:25 PM

Er...can't think of title so just...(Wotw) by Adam Brockert

Care of Magical Creatures was not a favorite class of Adam's. He didn't mind animals if they weren't the kind that were dangerous. In fact, he rather liked them and more importantly, most of them liked him. Professor K didn't bother him too much as she wasn't the least bit scary. The only issues he had with her was that she sometimes had them working in groups or pairs (which was an issue with all classes, really.) Adam's greatest success had even been in this class last year when he and Allie had won. Of course he was certain that was all because of her. He really wished he had the courage to talk to her and get to know her better since she seemed nice.

What Adam didn't like was that the classes were outside . He didn't know quite why, but he had never been much for the outdoors, perhaps because they were too open and he felt exposed. Weirdly enough, it was one of the rare things he and Chelsea had in common, though it was for totally different reasons and they never really bonded over it.

He pondered whether today's lesson would be with fifth years or third years and was disappointed to see it was with the latter rather than the former. While being with the older class meant Adam had to see that guy, and feel flashes of anger and desire to hurt him, which were feelings that scared the Crotalus quite frankly, the third years were far worse. They tended to yammer on and on, and while Adam was never quite sure what they were saying due to the fact that he was unable to stop his own internal paranoid thoughts that it was about him , it still made him very anxious to be around them. He knew that Echo Elms, at least, disliked him and the others were the type of loud, outgoing people who intimidated him most.

Adam took a spot in the back where he couldn't be seen as usual and tried his best to concentrate on nothing but the teacher's lesson despite his nervousness. He was glad to see that it was the type of lesson where it was discussion and being taught about something rather than the kind that involved interacting with others. That meant he didn't really have to say anything at all.

11 Adam Brockert Er...can't think of title so just...(Wotw) 78 Adam Brockert 0 5

Elly Eriksson

October 27, 2007 2:48 PM

I can still post here, right? by Elly Eriksson

Care of magical Creatures was a fantastic class, and not only because it was held outdoors (though that was a fabulous perk), and not only because Professor K was pretty cool, and not only because they didn’t have to wear uniform, and not only because it was about some often impressive animals, and not only because it didn’t involve any practical magic, but a great deal of all these factors combined.

Elly slung her bag onto the ground near the back of the class (she was tall enough to see over almost everyone, anyway) and flopped onto the ground. She took out a lined notepad and chewed the end of a biro whilst she listened to Prof K’s opening speech.

When the bird was introduced, Elly craned her neck to get a good look at the creature. It certainly wasn’t a pretty critter – Elly couldn’t remember having ever seen a more ugly bird. Still, she wouldn’t hold that against the Diricawl – it probably couldn’t help being ugly.

Huh. The Dodo didn’t die after all… it just went invisible. Magic was crazy like that sometimes – Elly sometimes felt like being a Muggle was like living a lie – you just didn’t have a clue about stuff happening right around you. Elly thought her Dad would never believe her if she told him she’d seen a Dodo. Suddenly more interested in the bird, Elly stood and headed over to the creature for a closer look.

0 Elly Eriksson I can still post here, right? 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Professor K

November 27, 2007 12:31 PM

Part Two by Professor K

Kiva's grin widened when Saul shouted out the answer enthusiastically (and maybe a bit surprisingly). "That's right, Saul. The muggles refer to this bird as the Dodo bird. A prehistoric bird that hasn't been seen since the time of the great Mammoths. Obviously, they still exist. It was just easier to let Muggles believe the bird died out rather than explain that they can vanish."

The bird sat lazily in its cage, clearly not at all afraid of Kiva or the students. The bird had been around humans for much of its life and no longer felt the sense of danger in their presence. Kiva's attention went from Saul and the class to just Briony.

She pondered the question for a moment. Her class was designed to teach what a creature was but not on how one captures them. She preferred not to give them ideas on that aspect. Her career before becoming a Professor had been a dangerous one where she was constantly on edge when it came to studing specific creatures. Not that she would ever regret having ever done it and often wished she had simply continued with it. There were days when capturing a Dragon seemed much easier than teaching students.

"Magic is the main source for capturing any animal. Specific spells designed to help prevent a creature from escaping. Most of the time, though, it's sheer will and determination. Hard work and strength. This bird was captured because he was alone and his capture was able to lower his defenses. He's been well cared for though, so no need to worry about him. The creatures I've come in contact with are captured, studied, and then released, or kept as a family pet. Unfortunately, there are many creatures who are captured for the wrong reasons." Kiva paused and frowned for a moment. "I do not wish to teach you how to capture an animal, but only to learn everything you can about them because, like it or not, these creatures are apart of our Communities."\n

0 Professor K Part Two 0 Professor K 0 5