Professor Kijewski
September 18, 2007 8:13 PM
Lesson 1 for the Fifth Years by Professor Kijewski
It was now after lunch and Kiva felt refreshed. The Kneazle was now dozing up in Kiva's quarters and the Diricawl was happily back with the other creatures in Kiva's corridor. She even had a chance to change out of her cords and into a pair of shorts and a pair of sandles. She was going to be handling the Fifth years and knew that they were going to be on edge due to the exhausting exams at the end of the year.Kiva felt guilty over everything that had happened last year and having left the fifth years back then to figure things out on their own. This year, Kiva planned to be available for the students whenever they needed her and she would do her best to review the materials for their exams so that they all did well on them.
Plus, she had a major surprise for them that hopefully they would all enjoy. She knew that most of them probably wouldn't return to her class next year, as sad as that was, but she wanted to make their fifth year with her as enjoyable as possible since the rest of their year was going to be straining and depressing.
The clearing was slightly different for when the Fifth years were to arrive. In the center, instead of the usual table or crate, was a large pool with a small bit of sand on one end of it. Kiva was wearing thick dragonhide gloves and was standing slightly away from the pool. Because the pool was deep, the students wouldn't be able to see what was in it unless that were looking directly into it. Kiva liked to keep her lessons as secretive as possible to give herself an edge and invoke the students' curiosity.
Once the last of the students arrived, Kiva shifted on her feet and grinned. "Good afternoon everyone." Kiva greeted in her usual friendly tone. "As I'm sure you are all aware...and sick of hearing... that this year is an important year for you. The C.A.T.S. examinations are finally upon you, which means lots of studying and a lot of stress." Kiva gave them a look of sympathy. She was once in their shoes. "I'll be available to you during the day incase you need to ask me anything. I may be the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, but I do have knowledge in other subjects. I can also offer my office as a place of study if you require it."
Kiva looked around for a moment. They may not recall what had occurred four years ago with the weather conditions that forced Kiva's lessons into a classroom, but she had the charm and transfiguration skills to turn that classroom into the outdoors. Although, she can't claim to be as good with potions as she was with her wand.
"I wanted to tell you right off the bat that this year we will be taking a trip to a ranch." Kiva informed them. "I'm not going to tell you what sort of ranch, but it'll be for an entire weekend. I wanted to let you all know so that you can prepare yourselves before hand. It won't be until after midterm, but plan on having a study break for the weekend and instead, having some fun." Well, Kiva hoped they would have fun. Some of them might not all be happy at the idea of spending the weekend away, not able to study, or relax. But, Kiva could still hope, right?
"Anyway, let's move on with the lesson. I'm sure you're all eager to get some learning done for today." Kiva mused. She turned so that she was facing the pool and bent down to scoop up whatever was in there. When she reappeared and turned to face the students, it looked as though she were holding nothing more than a mere lobster.
"Now, who can tell me what this is?"
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 Mackled Malaclaw.
Subthreads: Visualzing the magical creature doused in butter by Earl Valentine with Nicoletta Dupree, Earl
Just my luck by Jordanna Howard with Chris Dupree, Jordanna
The best seats are in the back. by Anne Wright with Bella Santoro
Green-Gray Lobster? by Connor Pierce with Gwen Carey
0
Professor Kijewski
Lesson 1 for the Fifth Years
0
Professor Kijewski
1
5
Anne Wright
September 29, 2007 6:48 PM
The best seats are in the back. by Anne Wright
Though she was one of the first to arrive for her Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Anne still took her usual place near the back of the meeting area. She might have started bolting down her food as if eating was about to go out of style, but she had no plans to start acting eager in this class. It wasn't safe. The creatures, in keeping with the generally increasing difficulty of lessons, were bound to be larger and more dangerous than ever, and while she had never heard of any accidents happening, there was a first time for everything.In the interests of time - she was increasing the number of practices this year, which left her with virtually no extra hours - she began going over materials for other classes in the time left before class. Keeping up with her work was as important as avoiding Geoff, and they both got her to class quickly. She felt a surge of resentment when Kijewski began class by wishing them all a good afternoon, but put all her notes back up and prepared to take new ones anyway. She was only in this class for the rest of the year, but she had no intention of doing poorly just because of that.
The parts about CATS and Kijewski's office were processed as quickly as possible and shoved aside hastily. She felt quite nervous enough about the tests without the reminder of their importance - the sensation of having a weight at the bottom of her stomach had been sneaking up on her for weeks - and she wasn't likely to take the professor up on her offer. She couldn't get rid of the idea that being in an office meant something bad was happening, and it was a shade too likely that a magical creature would be in that office for her to ever focus on work in there.
The next part of the lecture, however, could not be pushed aside as easily. It took an effort not to let herself look horrified at the thought of a field trip. Quite apart from the visions of mad erumpents floating up in her mind, Anne was sure she wouldn't have time for something like that. A week day might have been acceptable, but she held the long practices on Saturdays, and she was bound to get behind if she took an entire weekend off from studying. She pulled a lock of her hair so hard she made herself wince, trying to think of a way to handle the situation.
The 'no studying' rule could probably be gotten around, if she could find and master the spell to expand interiors of containers without altering the exteriors. If a sack meant for clothes and other necessities became a bit larger, she could pack a book or two and some of her notes. She was no stranger to pulling long nights, and skipping a meal or so wouldn't kill her. Losing the weekend practices was not so easily fixed. If she extended other practices, she thought she might end up with a mutiny, but she couldn't afford to lose the time. Her hands started to itch. There was a good solution, but she wasn't seeing it.
She seriously hoped Kijewski was being sarcastic about the class' eagerness to learn. There had always been something old and cynical about her year, at least in her mind. They could get caught up in dramatics, but not learning about a beast that apparently lived in a pond. A fair few of their number didn't care enough to fake it, if past years were a reliable guide. She tried to force down the sudden wave of additional anxiety; she would need her wits about her, and there was plenty of time to figure out how to fix it, just like there was plenty of time until CATS. She stood on her toes to see what Kijewski was holding up.
The Care of Magical Creatures teacher was braver than Anne had thought if she was holding that thing. Normal lobsters were not magical, which made that one of the creatures she was least eager to meet. "That's a Mackled Malaclaw. 'Mal' is French for 'bad', so it's like 'bad claw'. You get sick and turn green if you eat it, and it gives anyone it bites bad luck for a while." She felt vaguely smart for managing to come up with all that. Anne wasn't entirely sure on the French bit, but it still sounded good.
16
Anne Wright
The best seats are in the back.
59
Anne Wright
0
5
Bella Santoro
October 03, 2007 7:43 PM
I'm too short for the back. by Bella Santoro
Bella was running a little behind everyone else due to the fact that her bag ripped and her books fell onto the path. She did a shotty patching job with her wand on her bag, declaring she'd work on it better when she wasn't in so much of a rush and quickly repacked her bag. No matter how quickly she had tried to get herself together again, she was still slightly late to Care of Magical Creatures. She only caught the tail-end of the CATs conversation.Exasperated with her luck, Bella dropped her bag on the ground and took a seat towards the back. Normally, Bella would be either in the front or in the middle because of her size. But it also might have depended on where Ben was. Sadly, today she wasn't near Ben or even Chris because of her bag. Instead, she was sitting by her one and only roommate, Anne.
Five years of sharing a room with the girl and Bella still knew little about her. Anne was huge on Quidditch and Bella knew she played the violin, and Bella would always tease her about her relationship with Geoff (although, not so much lately since noticing his name wasn't on the Quidditch list and the two of them hadn't been seen together), but that was all just friendly banter.
Bella figured the main reason why the two girls weren't better friends was because they were so different. Bella was loud, honest, could care less for what people thought. Anne seemed reserved, anxious, worried about how others thought of her. It could also be the fact that they very much so hung out with different groups of people. Bella had Ben, Chris, and by default, Lexi (though, at some point, she really ought to talk to the girl), Anne had Geoff...Geoff's sister...and whomever else Bella wasn't aware of.
She returned her attention back to Professor K. when she mentioned a field trip. The perked Bella right up. Already she was sick of studying so much. It was tiring. So many classes to do it for too. And Bella was already worrying about the practical parts of her examinations. She was book smart, but it always took her a bit longer to learn a spell with her wand. A field trip might revive Bella and give her a new look on things.
Possibly.
When the lesson started, Bella pulled out her notes and started taking detailed notes on the Mackled Malaclaw. She noticed around her people shift away from the creatures with disgusted looks on their faces. Bella could understand their discomfort, but it wasn't like it was the creatures fault for it's magical qualities.
Bella's gaze landed on her roommate when Anne answered the professor's question with more information than necessary. Bella supposed that's how all Aladrens were. She smiled over at Anne, "'Mal' means 'bad' in Spanish too." Bella quipped just for facts sack. "Wouldn't you like that for a pet, Anne? Come on, I'm sure it'll love a big squeeze." Bella joked.
0
Bella Santoro
I'm too short for the back.
0
Bella Santoro
0
5
Anne
October 04, 2007 6:09 PM
Therein lies the beauty of high heels. by Anne
Anne nodded amiably when Bella told her about the Franco-Spanish cognate. She herself only spoke one language, but that put her in a substantial minority in her family. Her grandmother had talked a lot in French when she had lived at Magnolia Grove, perhaps hoping she'd learn by osmosis, but her cousin Alban had once told her in confidence that Eileen's grammar was horrible. As she couldn't remember a time he had been wrong, she thought it was safe enough to take his word for it. It never ceased to amaze her that a child like that could have the same parents as the twins."Oh, totally," she said, glancing again at the creature at the front. "They're vastly misunderstood creatures, Bella. The whole 'fish-of-ill-omen' thing has obscured their real need for loving care." For one crazy moment, Anne felt sad for the ugly thing. She mentally shook herself hard. There was no way in heck that thing realized it was disliked for being a jinx. She was being stupid. "There's an old family story that we're all cursed with bad luck. D'you reckon it might cancel it out if I let the Malaclaw bite me? And the Romance languages are awesome for picking out word parts."
OOC: Sorry for the short post! And it's actually Geoff who plays violin. Anne played piano. It's not a big deal, just me being nitpicky.
16
Anne
Therein lies the beauty of high heels.
59
Anne
0
5