Not a chance on Care of Magical Creatures

Professor Kijewski

February 02, 2009 10:08 PM

Lesson 2 for 3rd and 4th Years by Professor Kijewski

She waited patiently in her clearing for the third and fourth years to arrive for their lesson. The days were growing longer, the sun shined brighter, and the air grew warmer. She so enjoyed spring. Winter had its moments, summer had its freedoms, fall had its colors, but spring had its beauty. Today she planned to used the nice weather to work with her lesson. Hopefully, the students wouldn’t hate her too much for actually making them work though.

Once the students arrived, Kiva got straight to the lesson. “Today we will be studying Jarveys. I want to warn you all, Jarveys are nasty little buggers when it comes to conversations.” Kiva paused and smiled, “They like to insult people. I want no one repeating anything this creature says or else it’s detention.” Kiva warned. She had faith that the students wouldn’t say anything, but she eyed some particular students with a stern look just to get her point across to them. “And if detention isn’t enough, an owl home to your parents might do the trick.” And a good threat often worked too. Kiva pulled out a Jarvey from the crate she had brought down with her earlier that morning. A Jarvey looked much like a muggle ferret except that it was larger in size. Immediately upon being pulled from the crate, the Jarvey went about saying short sentences full of foul insults. Kiva chose to ignore them, but she was sure the students would get a kick out of it.

“Jarveys don’t have much of a purpose.” Kiva informed her students. “Most people keep them around to rid themselves of gnomes. Now, someone of you may be wondering what a gnome is, and no, I’m not talking about those little garden statues that look like Santa want-to-bes. A gnome is this-” She reached into a sack and pulled out a wiggling potato with legs. “This is a garden gnome to the Wizarding population. They live in holes in a garden and uproot plants. They create havoc in a person’s garden. Every so often, a wizard or witch has to de-gnome their garden. By de-gnoming, you take the gnome by the ankles, swing them about so as to disorient them, and chuck them as far as you can.” Kiva had demonstrated all this with the gnome she had in her hands, sending flying off when she released him from her grasp.

“I want you all to understand that doing this doesn’t actually hurt the gnomes. It only disorients them so that they don’t come back to your garden.” Kiva wanted to make that a point to get across to the students. After her run-in with Zack Dill during her last lesson with gnomes, Kiva didn’t want anyone getting upset over thinking that they were picking on gnomes or harming them.

“Today, using the Jarvey, we are going to de-gnome the gardens. I want you all to pair off or go off in groups, it doesn’t matter, and take up a section of the garden. I will leave one group in charge of the jarvey, but first you have prove yourselves of the responsibility.” Kiva said, holding firm to the creature she was talking about and intent to ignore the rude remarks he was making. “Everyone head off to the gardens, try not to go off too far.” Kiva said, watching as the students began to locate their friends or finding somone new to work with. “I’ll walk around and be keeping tabs on you all. If you aren’t working, I’ll know. Those who I find are doing the most work will get the Jarvey for the remainder of the class period.” Kiva advised them, hoping they understood what a treat that would be. “Keep in mind that Jarveys actually enjoy chasing off gnomes, so if you get him for the lesson, you have an easy rest of the lesson.” Finished, Kiva waved them off.

OOC: You know the rules. No posts under 200 words unless you’d like points deducted. Be creative and have fun with the lesson. I’ll post who gets the jarvey once we get a lot of people posting.

Subthreads:

I want one of those by Oliver Abbott with Lucie Dupree, Oliver

Not a chance by Cynthia Smythe with Cissy, Cynthia

Holly Rating: Nasty by Holly Greer with Chelsea Brockert

This is pointless by Thyme Barrington

Class Closed, but feel free to continue posting (nm) by Professor K.

0 Professor Kijewski Lesson 2 for 3rd and 4th Years 0 Professor Kijewski 1 5

Oliver Abbott

February 03, 2009 12:10 PM

I want one of those by Oliver Abbott

Sitting outside in the sun in hit long sleeved tee, sunhat and shades, Oliver was already in a pretty decent mood. It could only improve when Professor K intorduced them to Jarveys. Now that was a fantastic creature! Oliver couldn't help the snort of laughter that escaped, and he found it very difficult to listen to his teacher while the ferret-like creature was making far more unusual conversation. He was going to learn from this thing and present his knowledge to Julian when he got back home. Would serve him right for not going to Sonora in the first place.

Even the work part of the lesson was fun. Oliver had done some de-gnoming of his uncle's garden when he was younger, and it had been one of his favorite things to do. Julian had loved it, too. Seeing as his home didn't even have a yard, let alone gnomes, this wasn't a chore for Oliver like it might have been for some of the other kids from wizarding families (but not the sort who had gardeners, because they obviously wouldn't have to do the de-gnoming themselves). This lesson was going to be great - throw gnomes around and maybe get a Jarvey to help. Awesome stuff.

All Oliver had to do now was to find a partner who didn't mind a bit of work at the start of the lesson. He stood up to better find a suitable candidate. "De-gnoming squadron is recruiting. Any volunteers?"

0 Oliver Abbott I want one of those 99 Oliver Abbott 0 5

Lucie Dupree

February 03, 2009 8:03 PM

We should try to get one by Lucie Dupree

Even though Lucie grew up in the magical world, she had never actually seen a gnome or a jarvey. This was because while they had a garden, her parents hired a specialist to come out twice a year to degnome it, once in early spring and once before winter hit. While the specialist worked, her father would take Devian, Danae, and her out to lunch and shopping. She always wondered why, but upon hearing the jarvey’s language, she suspected this was largely the reason. It was the type of language that her mother would say only common people used.

Whether or not it was true, she didn’t know nor did she really care, because it didn’t matter since she would never say such things herself and she would expect any company that she kept to not to either. However, it wasn’t the creature’s fault that it said such things and she really wouldn’t mind getting to have the jarvey for the rest of class. It seemed like an otherwise fun creature, but even finding the gnomes and tossing them seemed like it would be fun. Now, all she had to do was find a partner, which would preferably be a boy.

It didn’t seem that she would have very far to look as Oliver Abbott stood up asking if there were any volunteers for the degnoming squadron. Standing up, Lucie straightened out her t-shirt, brushed off her jeans, and fluffed out her long blonde hair before heading over to where Oliver was standing. “Reporting for duty,” she said with a small salute then gave a brilliant grin that would make it hard to say no to her as a partner. Of course, there were still those that would. After all, Paul had seemed awfully uncomfortable as her partner in Potions.

Though, that could have just been the boy. Not all boys were like Paul, were they? No, that would be silly to think they were. She talked to Grayson and he was nothing like Paul, so it was reasonable to think that Oliver might react differently from both of them for various reasons. Looking up at Oliver, she noticed something she hadn’t before and one that she felt was the easiest starting point for flirting, “Hey, I like your hat,” she said, reaching up to touch it for a moment, before turning away completely to look over the area, her hands now on her hips. “So where do you want to start?”

0 Lucie Dupree We should try to get one 114 Lucie Dupree 0 5

Oliver

February 04, 2009 1:52 PM

For sure by Oliver

"Reporting for duty," a voice replied, and Oliver found himself greeted by a cheery Lucie Dupree. He didn't know much about her other than she was on the Tepp Quidditch team and he'd shared classes with her for a couple of years without saying a great deal to her. She didn't seem to be one of those creepy third years girls that flocked around together (probably in a bid to take over the world) so no harm done.

"Excellent," he replied, smiling back. He wasn't expecting her to reach out and touch any item of his clothing, but the compliment to his hat wasn't unwelcomed. "Thanks," he replied, and left it at that. It was a hat; not even one of his favorites, but he did happen to agree it was likeable.

Oliver followed his partner's lead and surveyed their terrain. "Let's not head off too far," he suggested, picking up his bag from where he'd dumped it on the floor and ambling to a nearby hedge. While he walked, one hand rummaged inside his worn school bag, fingers fumbling over its contents until he found what he'd been seeking. "Ah, here," he exclaimed, pulling out a lumpy parcel wrapped in paper napkins. Oliver unfolded the napkins and discarded them to his pocket, unveiling the pumpkin pasty than had been wrapped within.

"It'll tempt the gnomes out," he explained, and broke small pieces off from his snack before placing them on the ground.

0 Oliver For sure 0 Oliver 0 5

Cynthia Smythe

February 05, 2009 7:50 AM

Not a chance by Cynthia Smythe

The most insufferable time of the week was Care of Magical creatures. Outdoor classes would never be acceptable in Cynthia's book. It wasn't as if she had horrendously expensive clothes like some of the other students (her cousins included), but Cynthia would still prefer her attire to remain clean wherever possible. Besides, creatures such as these ought not be studied by students. No good could come of it; if Cynthia were ever to come encounter a creatue when one wasn't expected, she would cast a stunning jinx and that would be that. Jarveys included.

No, Cynthia's family were not rich, and no she would never admit that, but they certainly weren't poor enough to door their own gardening. Degnoming was hardly a respectable pasttime (even though Cynthia knew her brother liked to throw gnomes around if given half the chance). She certainly wouldn't be doing any work this class, and gave no care at all to whatever punishment she would receive.

Yet to make up for it, Cynthia acquiesced to herself that she would read the entire chapter in her textbook that referenced jarveys, and any extra material in the same book on gnomes, too. As she opened her book and began to read, a shadow loomed over her, blocking her reading light. "Is there any particular reason you're being so exceedingly irritating?" she asked the figure to whom the shadow belonged.

0 Cynthia Smythe Not a chance 103 Cynthia Smythe 0 5

Holly Greer

February 06, 2009 3:34 PM

Holly Rating: Nasty by Holly Greer

Holly arrived at the Care of Magical Creatures clearing with the same trepidation she always did. Her new pygmi puff was safe in her room and its acquisition gave her especially favorable feelings toward the Professor that hadn't yet worn off, but she knew that the introduction of any new creature was like playing roulette; it could turn out very favorably, or you could get burned.

Today, as sometimes happened, the creature was hidden from sight. Holly had eventually reached the conclusion that this was not intended to be sadistic, but a 'surprise'. In Holly's experience, it wasn't always a good surprise, so today Holly kept her distance.

This proved to be the right choice. As soon as the creature came out, Holly clamped her hands over her ears. Those were bad words! Granted, she was thirteen now, and therefore old enough for PG-13 vocabulary, but that didn't mean she wanted to hear it. Holly liked leading a sheltered life.

Unfortunately, with her hands clamped tightly over her ears, she couldn't hear anything Professor K was saying either. Holly tried lip reading, but that quickly proved impossible. Lip reading was evidently a skill that required a lot of practice that Holly did not have.

Cautiously, she eased open the hand around her right ear and tried to focus only on the professor's voice. This has limited success. She adjusted how much her hand blocked sound until she got it to a point where she could just barely make out the Professor's voice while dulling the jarvey to an incomprehensible buzz.

Holly wrinkled her nose at the even nastier looking creature called a gnome, but at least that wasn't cursing up a storm. She was not looking forward to touching it, but at least she had brought along a large supply of sanitized hand wipes for just this sort of eventuality.

Once the professor finished lecturing, Holly got up with a sigh and moved toward the bushes where there were presumably a bunch of icky gnomes. Humming loudly so as to drown out the words of the jarvey, she released her ears and began rummaging about the undergrowth until she found one of those living potato things.

With the same expression as she would have if she had to touch a worm or stick her hand in some slime, she grabbed hold of the critter by its ankles, quickly spun around in a circle for three or four rotations, then threw it as far as she could make it go. Then she quickly took out a hand wipe, ripped open the package, and wiped her hands clean with the moist cloth. She was still humming, so it wasn't until she looked up from her now sterilized hands that she realized someone had spoken to her.

"Sorry, what?" The sudden lack of humming caused a buzzing of its own in her head. She tried really to listen only to her classmate and nothing else.

1 Holly Greer Holly Rating: Nasty 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Thyme Barrington

February 25, 2009 12:23 PM

This is pointless by Thyme Barrington

Another day, another class that Thyme didn't care about. Sometimes she didn't know why she even bothered going to classes. She wasn't interested in them now even if she would have been at one time, she just didn't really want to get in trouble. Come to think of it, maybe being in trouble wouldn't even be that bad. Maybe then Thyme's parents would pay attention to her again. So what if she got detention? Would her parents even care? Did she even care anymore?

Thyme leaned back against a tree as Professor Kijewski began the lesson. Jarveys, what a thrill. Degnoming a garden, whoopee. Thyme had never degnomed a garden before and she was neither angry about the work nor enthusiastic about it. She wasn't going to repeat what it said, on the grounds that she had no reason to. Thyme had nobody to insult really. She'd never been one to insult people anyway and certainly not to their face. What if they came back with something harsher and she couldn't think of any retort (at least not until later when it would seem weird). If anything, Thyme would mock them in a story or write about it in her journal.

She sighed and walked out to the garden in search of a gnome. Since Thyme had bothered to go to class, she might as well participate. Otherwise she was likely to sit and mope. It was pointless dreary work, but so what? Pretty much everything was pointless. Life just sucked that way.

Thyme found a gnome and picked it up. She whirled it around over her head and heaved it into the air.

11 Thyme Barrington This is pointless 101 Thyme Barrington 0 5

Chelsea Brockert

February 27, 2009 3:22 PM

Chelsea Rating: Agreed by Chelsea Brockert

Chelsea had to admit to one thing as she entered the clearing for Care of Magical Creatures and that was a new found appreciation for Professor Kijewski. Now, Chelsea felt a general indifference for the professor. The third year wasn't crazy about the outdoors and the hard work the professor seemed to value, even though she was mostly pretty kind. However, after having Flatt for a Head of House, Professor Kijewski looked just that much better and Chelsea even missed her being in the position a bit. Of course, anyone would have better than Flatt. Even Professor Taylor, who Chelsea also wasn't that fond of would have been better.

That didn't mean that Chelsea was thrilled about attending class. It wasn't that she hated animals. She liked the cute ones and the majestic beautiful ones like unicorns. On the other hand, she would rather not be outside where it was dirty.

Jarveys were not a favorite creature of hers. Growing up in a magical environment and her grandparents owning a ranch full of magical creatures, Chelsea knew full well what a Jarvey was and how it spoke. In fact, a Jarvey was a creature that did nothing but insult people.

It was like the animal equivalent of Flatt, without the prejudice. Jarveys at least were equal opportunity insulters. The creature also used less profanity than a Jarvey did but that was probably because Headmaster Bulla had probably threatened to fire him if he used such language.

As far as Chelsea was concerned, a Jarvey was also an ominous sign. She knew they only had one purpose and she knew what it was. The Aladren had a sinking feeling that today they would be degnoming a garden.

And she was right.

Chelsea sighed. This kind of manual labor was beneath her and she really didn't want to touch one of those disgusting things. At least they could work in groups. That meant spending the class period gossiping with her friends. Chelsea spotted Holly first and went over to the Pecari. Hopefully Anabel and Cecily would join them in a bit. "Disgusting, aren't they?" Chelsea asked, referring to the gnomes. She didn't bother asking Holly if she could join her, since she was pretty sure she didn't need to.

"Sorry, what?"

"I said, disgusting, aren't they? The gnomes, I mean." Chelsea replied, with grin. It was clear Holly wasn't fond of the Jarvey's language. Neither was she. Even her mother didn't think it was language she ought to be exposed to.

11 Chelsea Brockert Chelsea Rating: Agreed 108 Chelsea Brockert 0 5

Lucie

March 04, 2009 10:56 PM

Sorry for the belated reply by Lucie

When Oliver pulled what appeared to be a pile of napkins from her bag, Lucie looked over curiously as a pumpkin pasty was revealed. What did he plan to do with that? The answer, which should have been fairly obvious if she had taken a moment to think about it, was made known soon enough as he clarified that it would bring the gnomes out of hiding. It seemed as good an idea as any and if she were a gnome she would probably have been lured out by the tasty treat. Actually, if she were hiding now, it would more than likely have lured her out, but that was probably because she wasn’t allowed to eat them. Mother’s rules.

She had never thought about it before, but there seemed to be an awfully lot of rules at their house. Other kids that she had talked to didn’t have so many or the kinds that they did. There was the whole dessert rule, which basically limited them to only special occasions and then only very small portions at that, but that went in with the whole dinner etiquette thing, such as what and how much they could eat. Then, there were other things such as the beauty rituals she and Danae were supposed to do. Not to mention what had to be the worst rule of all and that was the restricted reading. It was the absolute worst thing she could think of.

But her mother worried that they would turn off suitors by possibly knowing more than they did. However, in her opinion, she wanted to know as much as possible and if whoever was picked for her couldn’t deal with that, then they weren’t for her. She had no intention of pretending to be a brainless twit just to land some guy. That wasn’t to say that she was above using certain tactics, like flirting, to get one’s attention, but once she did have it, she wasn’t going to pretend to be someone she wasn’t. It seemed a rather silly thing to do, because one was just as alone with the other person as if they weren’t with the person at all since it was all built on lies.

Thankfully, there was school, where she was actually getting a decent education and better yet she was able to read as much as she wanted. She usually didn’t read about magical creatures, but on occasion she would run across something that she could relay later on and this was one of those times. “I think I read something about gnomes not being that smart, so we should see one fairly soon,” she said as she crouched down near to where Oliver had put the pieces of pumpkin pasty on the ground. Her arms rested on her knees as she watched in fascination as a creature just like the one the professor had showed them came out to inspect the pieces.

0 Lucie Sorry for the belated reply 0 Lucie 0 5

Cissy

March 15, 2009 10:07 AM

Coming out from my hole by Cissy

Her mind had been elsewhere all term, it was simply wandering. The only things she had really done was sit queitly in a classroom awaiting the time that school would just end. What else did she need here? She had Horace to do whatever she wanted him to do, she had Paul who was absolutely terrified of her and would, well, do whatever she wanted him to do. Really, she didn't need anyone else, and for now she had been sitting in the back, wondering why it felt like she did need more. Cissy wasn't supposed to ask for more of anything, she was supposed to stand tall and proud like she was of the upper classes, even if she wasn't.

But Dad didn't. And Paul didn't always, as she saw. So why not ask for more? Why not do more is what she thought. Her roommate had been living it easy as far as Cissy saw, and with her little boyfriend leaving Cissy felt an itch to add injury to insult. She had been holding back, because she shouldn't want so much, but why shouldn't she want so much? Here, in Care of Magical Creatures, these stupid gnomes, she had dealt with them before. Her area of living was wide and open had many gnomes. It was a good start, swinging those things, she didn't even want the jarvey Cissy could do it by herself. If you swung a gnome a little harder, and let them off at a nice quick declining angle to the ground, you may "accidentally" do some damage.

Cissy's clothes were already fairly rumpled, they were so much bigger on her than they should be, so the girl wasn't too mindful of them getting dirty. She could always take a shower, she could always have her clothes washed until threadbare. Apparently, some people didn't get that message. Cissy pulled her long dark hair into a ponytail, and almost rolled her eyes at the girl sitting off to the side reading. Fully prepared to walk away and leave the girl, Cissy remembered, why shouldn't she do what she wanted? So, with determination, the girl turned and walked up behind the other girl.

At first, Cissy had no idea what she was going to do. She couldn't very well start off by pulling out her wand and using the girl like she used Paul... she wasn't that stupid. She could just... push her, Cissy had that urge to just place her hands on the girl's shoulders and push. But the girl was faster than Cissy, and her newfound wanting. "Is there any particular reason you're being so exceedingly irritating?" she had asked, and Cissy wondered how she could answer that. Haughtily, the girl tilted her chin slightly upwards, "I'm not sure, is there any particular reason you're just sitting over here?" Funny, Cissy realized, it wasn't that she actually cared this girl was doing no work, if she had the chance to get away without working at home she would take it. Rather, Cissy saw something different, out of place, and the thing on her mind was play with it, and she wanted to, and she should do what she wanted.

0 Cissy Coming out from my hole 0 Cissy 0 5

Professor K.

March 16, 2009 9:53 PM

Class Closed, but feel free to continue posting (nm) by Professor K.

0 Professor K. Class Closed, but feel free to continue posting (nm) 0 Professor K. 0 5

Cynthia

March 23, 2009 9:48 AM

I'm so thrilled about that by Cynthia

This other girl was questioning Cynthia, in such a manner that suggested she held a position of authority. How quaint. Indulging her classmate, Cynthia replied, "I'm reading," in a dead-pan voice. Really, that much was obviousl. But then, it wasn't exactly what the other girl had asked, so Cynthia elaborated.

"Any fool can throw a gnome," she said. "So I'm learning about Jarveys, which," she emphasised, "is the point of this so-called lesson." Although Cynthia appreciated that the other students might have attention spans so short they required mundane activities rather than extensive reading, she was content to garner her knowledge from authorized sources. Also known as the Textbook.

"Is there any particular reason you're standing over here rather than doing something productive with your time?" Cynthia pointedly asked the girl who was thwarting her attempts at studying.

0 Cynthia I'm so thrilled about that 0 Cynthia 0 5