Unicorns? Again? on Care of Magical Creatures

Professor Kijewski

July 06, 2009 10:12 PM

Lesson 1 for Advanced (6th and 7th Years) by Professor Kijewski

The day was drawing to a close and Kiva only had one last lesson to do. The oldest students were the ones who wanted to learn about the creatures. It was a choice that they had made after their C.A.T.S. exams. Plus, they got to learn about all the more dangerous creatures that they normally wouldn’t be able to interact with on a day to day basis. “Good Afternoon everyone. Welcome back. I hope all of you had great summers.” Kiva greeted once the last of her small class settled into the clearing.

“Today we will be learning about Unicorns.” Kiva announced with a wide smile. “Unicorns are the purest creatures on Earth. Unicorn foals are pure gold. They turn silver when they're about two years old. They grow horns at around four. They are considered fully grown around seven years old, and turn pure white and have golden hooves. Now, it is said that they are so white that when compared to snow, the snow looks grey. ” Kiva had seen Unicorns before on her travels and had always been taken aback by the beauty the Unicorns gave.

“Unicorn horns and tail hair are often used in potions or wands. How many of you have Unicorn hair as the core of your wand?” She nodded at those who raised their hands before continuing. “Unicorn blood is said to give a person immortality, but it would be at a price. Slaying of a Unicorn is a terrible crime. You will live if you taste the blood of a slain unicorn. But it would be a half-life, a cursed life. Meaning, your life would not be worth living in the long run.” She doubted any of her students actually ever intended to harm a Unicorn, but incase that thought ever did pop into their heads, she hoped her warning was enough to throw them away from such a crime.

“Now, I do not have a Unicorn adult with me, but I was able to obtain a Foal for us for the day.” Kiva advised her students. She walked out of the clearing for a moment and returned with a golden foal trailing behind her. “Unicorns, in general, are skittish around humans, and more so around males, but foals are more trusting and will allow humans of either gender to be in their presence. I want you each to count off to 4 and then whatever number you are that will be your group. In your group, I will call you up so that you can spend time with the foal. Ready?” Kiva asked, before pointing to a student. “You start.”

OOC: You guys can decide whatever number you wish to be. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, but be sure to visit with the Foal as well. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. Remember that your posting rules still apply. All posts should be at least 200 words with detail.

Subthreads:

Unicorns? Again? by Elly Eriksson with Geoffrey Layne, Elly

Deja vu? Is that you? by Alexandra St. Martin

How shiny by Amber Carey

0 Professor Kijewski Lesson 1 for Advanced (6th and 7th Years) 0 Professor Kijewski 1 5

Elly Eriksson

July 11, 2009 3:25 PM

Unicorns? Again? by Elly Eriksson

One of the best things about Care of Magical Creatures was >i>still that is was taught outside. Elly also was a fan of Professor K, but not because she was a pushover - that sort of teacher wasn't even any fun. No, she liked Prof K because she'd stuck around since first year, and she was fair, and she seemed to have time for everyone. Of course, the subject material was fun, too.

Though actually, it turned out they would be covering unicorns again. Not that Elly was complaining too loudly because unicorns, especially foals, were truly beautiful and rare creatures. However, Elly had studied them with that sub teacher already. The class hadn't been brilliant, but, being a girl, Elly had been fully able to participate, and had already done the reading.

So, once they'd counted off and Elly was in the fourth group, she found herself wondering what to do to pass the time. She sat down on the grass, stretched her long legs out in front of her and tried to make light of the situation. "And they told me sixth year would be hard work," she joked to her neighbour.

0 Elly Eriksson Unicorns? Again? 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Geoffrey Layne

July 23, 2009 11:21 PM

Again, and again, and again. by Geoffrey Layne

Though his official reason for taking it was the frequency with which animal parts appeared in Potions, Geoff thought he might have continued with Care of Magical Creatures out of pure masochism. There was no other explanation for why, having been busy enough the year before to think about the possibility of dropping a class, he was continuing with an option he could get by without and continuing Runes as an independent study.

At least Care of Magical Creatures wasn't overly difficult. In Creatures, material progression was more in terms of how dangerous things were, not what the danger of stroke during the homework was. Besides, dropping the class might even be more painful; when he was in class, he had a reason to fail to be working on homework. If he had a free period, he knew it would become a period to try to work in one hour when he always needed two to focus properly.

Of course, it didn't take long for it to become clear that he might spend this class period that way, anyway. It was, most disappointly, a repeat lesson; if his memory served - and he generally trusted his memory - there was nothing in addition or variation to what he'd learned from a sub back in the Days Before Fawcett. Dividing into groups failed to help his situation; he landed in group four.

Resigned, he sat down and set himself to an internal debate over whether or not he should start reading ahead a chapter in his Charms text. On the plus side, he might be ahead for class, but on the negative...When was he going to have such a prime opportunity to sit around and do nothing again? His summer was even going to be taken up with academia, if Lena and their father had their way.

"And they told me sixth year would be hard work," Elly Eriksson joked.

Geoff laughed, liking her for the moment. Debate settled in fifteen seconds. Had to be a record, even for him. "Wait on seventh year," he promised. "You'll throw a ball any time a professor disappoints you." He looked back at Kijewski in a failing attempt to picture her in dress robes. That she had worn them to the Midsummer Ball was likely, but he'd been a little too thrown by the spectacle of Anne in a nice dress to pay much attention to what the staff was doing. He thought that might have been good for his mental health.

16 Geoffrey Layne Again, and again, and again. 72 Geoffrey Layne 0 5

Elly

July 24, 2009 4:36 AM

Yay for routine? by Elly

The reply of, "Wait on seventh year," made Elly smile, but at the same time she was talking to Geoff Layne - arguably the person with least free time in the entire school. Elly really didn't know how he did it. She was only taking three classes, and while she wasn't swamped, she found it plenty of work. She could have taken DADA, too - indeed she probably should have taken DADA, but in all honestly she was just too lazy. Besides, she'd only managed an A in her CATS anyway. It seemed a much better idea to stick to her strenghts: potions, naturally, charms, and sitting outside in the sun petting magical creatures.

"Well I like a good party," she continued the joke. Though in reality, being busy was definitely an excuse for a good party. Elly hadn't thrown one yet this year, but there would be at least two after midterm: Novelling Fury for one, and she was going to throw a huge bash for Saul and Morgaine at the end of the year. She idly wondered whether any of the other Houses would be doing the same, or if magnificent send-offs were restricted to the Pecari Commons.

"So," Elly said, her familiarly mischievous smile indicating she was unlikely to be serious, "What do you do in your hours per day of free time?" As well as messing about with Saul and Irene and researching future pranks, Elly assisted with the running of the charms and creative writing clubs, and got as much Quidditch practise in as she could. Then there was staying in touch with her parents, Merry and Echo, and occasionally she found time to clear under her bed. She knew Geoff shared the Quidditch pasttime, and assumed he must have some Head Boy-type duties to perform, but that aside, despite being in some of the same classes for nearly six years, she didn't know him all that well.

0 Elly Yay for routine? 0 Elly 0 5

Geoff L.

July 24, 2009 2:26 PM

It does make the world go round. by Geoff L.

Hours per day of free time. Geoff decided to assume she was including all times not spent in class, because if homework time and Quidditch practices were figured into his non-free time, he didn't get hours per day of free time, at least not on a regular basis. If he wasn't President inside the next fifteen years as a result of all this, he was half-inclined to sue his parents for false advertising.

"Not much," he said with a shrug. "Homework every night, of course, Quidditch on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Head Boy stuff, and research on the weekends. Oh, and plotting a world takeover on Tuesdays. That's fun."

He, too, was not being entirely serious. He thought the bit about plotting ways to take over the world on Tuesdays made that relatively clear. Geoff didn't consider ambition a bad thing, but plans for world domination never went well. He'd never been a bona fide history geek, but even he knew that, and he didn't often do things that were bound to blow up in his face. Potions experiments didn't count. He insisted the chance of any given concoction exploding on him was, at the very worst, fifty-fifty and usually less.

"What about you?" he asked. "Aside from poisoning rivals for Head Girl, of course." He'd observed, over the years, that she was good with a cauldron; Geoff considered it his business to know who else in the school was good at his subject.

16 Geoff L. It does make the world go round. 72 Geoff L. 0 5

Alexandra St. Martin

July 24, 2009 2:41 PM

Deja vu? Is that you? by Alexandra St. Martin

As far as last classes of the day went, Care of Magical Creatures wasn't a bad one to have. Though her schedule included several free periods, Allie spent them huddled over books in either the common room or the library and was, as a result, puffy-eyed and tired long before time lead her to Professor Kijewski. If the class had been a mental workout like Transfiguration, she wasn't sure it would have been passable for her.

Seventh year. It boiled down to a question of destruction or mutual destruction. There were no other options. She'd heard that before, but it was really starting to sink in.

As irritated as she was with Transfigurations of Motion at the moment, though, her eyes still lit up upon seeing that they would be working with a unicorn again. They'd had the same lesson a few years earlier, but that was irrelevant - it was pretty, and surely the RATS exam wouldn't be so big that one day of repeated material would spell certain doom for them all.

They counted off for groups, and she landed in group three. She went through the usual rounds of greetings with all her group members, and by the time they were done chit-chatting about all that, it was their turn to approach the foal. She went up to it with reverence, barely skimming her hand down the side of its golden neck. "It's even more beautiful than last time," she said in a whisper, not really expecting any response.

16 Alexandra St. Martin Deja vu? Is that you? 76 Alexandra St. Martin 0 5

Amber Carey

July 24, 2009 4:19 PM

How shiny by Amber Carey

Maybe it was just being in sixth year, where discussions of RATS and the future were par for the course, but it had, at long last, hit home with Amber that she had no idea what on earth she was going to do after she graduated.

She knew she didn't have to do anything. That seemed to be working out fabulously for Gwen, and the guy who paid for Gwen's celebutante lifestyle wasn't even her father. He was Amber's, and had a guilt complex the size of Texas when it came to her to boot. She was also in his will, so it was not imperative that she support herself even after he died. It didn't feel right, though, to contemplate living off her father for the rest of her life. Maybe it was just a middle class Muggle thing (this seemed to be the main opinion of a few family members she'd confided in, who had looked at her like she'd sprouted a second head), but she had always felt adults were supposed to take care of themselves.

Unfortunately, taking care of herself involved having skill and the training to validate that skill, and Amber felt out of the loop when it came to that. She'd picked her Advanced classes with an eye toward avoiding Morgaine as much as she could, not toward any specific career. She didn't even know what normal witches and wizards did with their lives; she'd no experience of the latter to be sure, but she suspected a few years with the Careys didn't really provide an accurate snapshot of life for the average witch in America.

When she went to class, this was what hovered on the edge of her mind, nagging. Class had become less about learning new material than seeing if the material was something she wanted to work with for the rest of her life. Potions was, without a doubt, out, but Care of Magical Creatures and Charms were about to drive her insane, and it was early days yet. Next year would be murder.

The current lesson, however, was not. It was enough to make her seriously wonder if she might not have found the thing to work with after all. Upon seeing the unicorn foal, Amber actually clapped her hands together in delight. This was going to be a great day.

0 Amber Carey How shiny 84 Amber Carey 0 5

Elly

July 26, 2009 5:41 PM

I attribute that to chocolate by Elly

Elly laughed again as Geoff claimed to spend his Tuesday evenings planning to take over the world. Geoff Layne was funny; who'd have thought? Of course, at the suggestion that Elly might be poisoning other girls in her year, she couldn't do other than pretend to be affronted. "Are you accusing me of foul play?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, but it was only half a second before she laughed again. Though at the same time her mind was whirring; it had been weeks since she'd considered one of her classmates would be the next Head Girl. There were a lot of them: Elly thought it was impossible to start guessing who it might be.

Rather than dwelling on that, she decided to answer Geoff's question. "Pretty much the same," she replied. "Except I tend to do my world domination planning on a weekend." Elly curled her knees up towards her, feet on the floor, and wrapped her arms around her legs. It felt a more social position, now they were chatting. "Quidditch any time I can, plus I help out with Charms club and I'm trying this creative writing club this year," she shrugged. It wasn't a hugely popular venture, but maybe the Fury after midterm would encourage more people to join. "Plenty of homework, writing to my fans," she grinned widely, "and I do research, too. Though..." she hesitated while she found the words. "My research is potentially less academic than yours," she laughed. Elly didn't know how much the general student body knew of her pranking. "Potatoes don't just up and dance on their own, if you know what I mean."

0 Elly I attribute that to chocolate 0 Elly 0 5