Independent Studying on Care of Magical Creatures

Jose Hernandez

November 20, 2011 11:11 AM

Independent Studying by Jose Hernandez

With Professor Kijewsky's return last year, Jose had opted not to abandon Care of Magical Creatures entirely. He had enjoyed her class during his first year, and she remained one of the professors Saul still spoke of fondly, so Jose hadn't been able to make as clean a break with the subject as he'd originally intended when he chose his RATS level classes.

Instead, he had chosen to make an independent study of animal potion ingredients and either find a way to harvest them without causing any harm or distress to the animal, or figure out enough of the properties to find a way to replace it with something else. Obviously anything involving an internal organ, or an entire tail or eye, fell into the later category.

Now, though, Professor Kijewski was Headmistress, and had given up her class to a new teacher. Jose could only assume her Independent Study students were also being shunted over to the new guy. This one in particular involved Professor Fawcett as much as Kijewski, as it was sort of a CoMC/Potions hybrid class, but there were parts of it that involved Creatures, and he'd met with Kijewski almost as often as he did Fawcett.

So he stopped into the new teacher's office the morning classes began, just after he got out of Charms, and knocked on the door, hoping he was in. Professor K had lived at home last year and hadn't been around outside of class hours much. About a quarter of the time he'd stopped in for a quick word, she hadn't been around.

Maybe he just got lucky, but today, he got a response and he came into the office.

"Hi," Jose greeted. "I'm Jose Hernandez, a seventh year here." The Head Boy badge on his robe (worn on the right side of his robe with his prefect badge, while his Quidditch Captain badge was on the left side - he wasn't sure he liked the lopsided configuration and was still trying to figure out the best way to fit all three on at once) made that somewhat obvious but he didn't feel the need to draw any more attention to it than Profes- er - Headmistress K had by introducing him to the school. "I just wanted to let you know I'm doing sort of a Potions and Care of Magical Creature joint Independent Study. I'm trying to figure out ingredient alternatives that don't interfere with the well-being of animals. I guess I'll be working with you on that, now that Professor K is Headmistress K." There was just enough of a rise on his last syllable that it could be taken for a question rather than a statement.

1 Jose Hernandez Independent Studying 149 Jose Hernandez 1 5

Kerry O'Shaunasey

November 23, 2011 2:20 PM

Hmmm... very interesting by Kerry O'Shaunasey

Kerry was in his office, in fact the door had been open and little response even required, but when the knock came he called 'come in' anyway. When the boy stepped in Kerry started to gesture for him to have a seat, but stopped when the boy started talking, nodding as he listened.

"Jose, please, have a seat," Kerry said with a smile. His office was comfortably appointed. The worn wood floor had a blue and green rug that had obviously seen some wear but was soft under the feet. His large oak desk sat an angle from the left back corner of the room. The surface was carefully organized, a wizarding academic periodical 'Magical Beasts in the North American West' was open on his blotter, what he had been reading when Jose knocked. Directly in front of his desk were two comfy stuffed chairs, like the rug, they'd seen some wear and were a bit threadbare in places. They didn't particularly match, one was blue with tiny white square dots, the other was striped in shades of purple. An end table sat between them with a box of tissues and a jar of candy on it. The far right wall was floor to ceiling books. Many of them were on animals of course, magical and muggle alike, but there were also many many defense against dark arts type books, as well as books on Philosophy and Ethics. There were lots of other subjects represented there, but those were the main ones. The back wall had several large windows that looked out on the school grounds, letting lots of sunlight in.

A black and white cat that was sprawled on the floor in a patch of sun. To say it was huge would be an understatement. When the cat wasn't stretched out, he was two and a half feet long, plus almost another foot of tail. He weighed at least 25 lbs, though copious amounts of thick long fur made him look even heavier. The cat was on the large end of the scale for a Maine Coon cat, which is what he appeared to be, but not out of the expected limits of his breed. The cat raised his head for a brief disinterested look at Jose, before returning to his nap.

A puffskien was also in evidence, sunning itself up on one of the window sills, though how it had gotten there was anyone's guess. There were also cages containing a few other small and mostly harmless magical creatures along the back wall under the windows. There were framed magical pictures on the bookshelves and also on the wall near his desk, most of them contained pictures of what had to be relatives, and most likely siblings, of Kerry's. All of them were varying shades of ginger, and although there was no single uniting feature (they didn't all have the same nose, for example) they all seemed to share different resemblances with each other. Two or three of them might have the same eye shape or shade, another two might have the same chin, and so on. They ranged in age from Kerry, who was in his early twenties, in fact was probably only a very few years older than Jose himself, to the youngest who looked like she was about ten or so.

Kerry himself looked like he was probably tall, though he was sitting down at the moment, and fairly broad at the shoulder. His own hair was a vibrant, almost violent red. It was a very dark shade, but there was no brown to the color that would make it auburn, just red. He was fair skinned but without the ruddiness some gingers have. A smattering of freckles on his face gave him a very boy-next-door sort of look. He was dressed mostly in muggle fashion, a button down dress shirt that was a deep purple, a loosely worn tie, and black wizards robes worn open.

"I would love to help you with your independent study," he continued when Jose had settled himself in a chair or decided to remain standing, "There is one but, and I don't know if its a major one or a little one without knowing more about your project. I'm not educated in the same areas of Kiva. She had a more scientific background from what I understand. My background is a lot more practical based. I can help you with understanding stress behaviors in animals, and practices for harvesting that won't stress the animal as severely, but I'd be less helpful if you're looking for 'how can I remove a unicorn horn without killing the unicorn' type things." He explained, or hoped he was explaining.

0 Kerry O'Shaunasey Hmmm... very interesting 0 Kerry O'Shaunasey 0 5

Jose

November 23, 2011 5:08 PM

I thought so by Jose

Jose's brown eyes swept over the room as he entered. The glance was merely curious rather than cautious, though it did pause briefly on the cat. Once he determined the feline wasn't a panther or something equally dangerous, he advanced on the blue chair and took a seat, though his eyes continued to wander over the animals in the back, the pictures and the books.

He couldn't help but access the critters for potential in his study - there were a couple, he thought, that might have fur or excretions that could prove useful in topical potions. The family pictures were remarkable for how alike the different people looked. The California Pierces were a mixed bunch that ran the gamut from Jose's darker Hispanic looks and Yoko's Asian features to the fair Tellermans' blond and blue. They hit everywhere in between as well.

When Professor O'Shaunasey began speaking, Jose returned his focus to the teacher. It was a little weird, having a teacher who looked younger than Saul. Saul was not that old. He'd been a seventh year in Jose's first. His comments, though, were professional and well thought out, which made any further comparison with Saul impossible.

"Practical is good," Jose assured. "I'm doing this study for practical reasons. My whole family is vegan. We can't use most potions because they have animal ingredients in them. So, I don't need to harvest any unicorn horns humanely. I just want to be able to create organic potions that my family won't object to using. So mostly, the animal bits I'm looking into are, like, fur clippings or antlers an elk would drop anyway or the residue slugs leave behind when they move or stuff like that. Maybe droppings," he added, making a slight face, "but that's kind of gross and nobody would use it if they knew they were smearing hippogriff feces on their arm or whatever."

"Mostly, my creatures part of this project is seeing if some common animals have anything that can be harvested without even remotely stressing the animal, and see if it has magical properties that can be used in potions. So far, not many have, but nail clippings from kneazles - which have to get trimmed anyway or all your furniture and bare skin gets scratched up - are showing some promise for some deceit-detecting properties."

0 Jose I thought so 0 Jose 0 5

Kerry O'Shaunasey

November 23, 2011 11:40 PM

I should hope so, if you're researching it :) by Kerry O'Shaunasey

Kerry's eyebrows shot up in surprised pleasure as Jose explained the details of his project. "That's... I'm more qualified to assist you than anticipated," he said with a chuckle. "My family isn't vegan, or even vegetarian, but we consume local and organic food, so I can appreciate your ethics on the matter. Its a very good idea. Unfortunately, the wizarding world doesn't seem to be all that much better at treating animals humanely and sustainably than the muggle world. I'd be pleased to help you in any way I can."

He didn't have the same issue with eating animals, but his family raised and hunted a lot of its meat, to ensure that the animal in question had been raised ethically and because Kerry had been raised to believe that if you couldn't handle knowing where your meat came from, and be willing to personally get your hands dirty, then maybe you shouldn't eat meat. It was disrespectful not to recognize something had given its life to sustain yours.

"If you haven't looked into it already bile would be a substance that in some creatures could be gathered in the natural course of the animals life, without harm to it." He offered. Heck, his cat barfed on a regular bases. It would take some distilling to extract the bile, but it might be well worth it. Kerry tried not to get carried away with the potential, immediately starting to brainstorm the possibilities, reminding himself that this was not his project.

0 Kerry O'Shaunasey I should hope so, if you're researching it :) 0 Kerry O'Shaunasey 0 5