Be my friend! on Care of Magical Creatures

Prof Adrian Meade

July 04, 2013 6:41 AM

1, 2, 3 GO! by Prof Adrian Meade

Adrian Meade had to be honest with himself and stop pretending he liked teaching the beginners class. It wasn’t that he hated his students, because he loved them, but he found the lower level creatures a tad bit more boring. All of his adult life had been spent going after and studying more dangerous creatures so planning his beginners’ class was a tad bit more tedious than he had ever imagined, but it was part of his job. The COMC professor gave that particular task everything he was able considering the circumstances.

The middle-aged, brown-haired professor worked very hard in every one of his classes to make them fun for his students and this one wasn’t the exception. Adrian had charmed a big space of the gardens near the Quidditch Pitch for this particular class. The bushes, trees, rocks and flower beds were the perfect hiding spot for their object of study: The Gnomes.

The class Adrian had prepared was going to be a mix between a scavenger hunt and the usual research that was part of every class he had ever taught. He was trying to make the time with his students a little more dynamic in order to prevent them from dying of boredom inside a classroom. Fresh air every once in a while didn’t hurt anyone, especially him. He had made a promise to himself this year that he would try to make his classes more interesting.

In order to have everyone arrive safely to their destination he had told his students last class what they would be doing and even stuck a note with directions on the door of the classroom for those who had forgotten. He was going to be lenient and give them an extra five minutes to arrive. He was that nice.

Adrian smiled at the punctual students and, like promised, gave the stranglers a few more minutes before starting with the class. He took a deep breath and charmed the entrance to stop any late comers from entering. By now the students should be used to this measure. Adriana hated unpunctuality.

“Hello!” he greeted the gathered students with a bounce in his voice. He was rather excited to make such a boring topic something more enjoyable for the students and himself. “Like I told you last class we are studying Gnomes today. I hope you read ahead!” Adrian chuckled a bit.

“Today you will have two assignments. The first one, is to catch the gnomes and the second one is to write an essay about your experience doing it while using the knowledge you acquired by reading the material I told you last class.”

“In order to catch the gnomes you need a team of three. The team should be made of one third year, one second and a first year. You should help each other because gnomes are tricky little creatures! The team that catches the most will win a surprise! You can start NOW!” Adrian’s voice boomed at the end with excitement. He actually wanted to see how the students fend off for themselves during this task!

OOC: Posting rules apply. Have fun with this lesson and the information about gnomes can he found here

Subthreads:

Be my friend! by Eleanor Vandenberg - Crotalus with Alexandra D'Alesandro, Crotalus, Nellie Vandenberg

Graw gerr gripp! by Wendy Canterbury - Pecari with Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw, Wendy

Run, little gnomes! Run! by Julian Umland, Teppenpaw

0 Prof Adrian Meade 1, 2, 3 GO! 0 Prof Adrian Meade 1 5

Eleanor Vandenberg - Crotalus

July 04, 2013 8:25 PM

Be my friend! by Eleanor Vandenberg - Crotalus

From what Professor Meade had said in the last class, Nellie knew that today was not going to be a very good class period. She really, really hated gnomes. It was the kind of work a gardener was supposed to do, though her dad always had to do it himself. Having lived in the English countryside for most of her life, she was used to seeing those intolerable creatures everywhere. Degnoming the garden was the worst activity possible and now she was supposed to be doing it for credit.

Nellie sighed, trying to keep in mind that maybe she could finally work with Leo on something. She couldn't even remember when she had started crushing on her childhood friend, but she had to start wooing him now if he was going to ask her to marry him by their seventh year. However, he knew that she hated degnoming gardens with a passion so maybe working with him wouldn't be the best idea. Sometimes Nellie had uncontrolled fits of tantrums and she didn't want to throw a tantrum in front of him even if he had seen them before. She was supposed to be a lady now, not a petulant child.

She had to keep remembering this as she made her way to COMC class outside. The first-year was getting a little more familiar with the grounds and she enjoyed taking walks outside. She did not like encountering unfriendly magical creatures, however, but had read up on the gnomes chapter anyway to prepare herself. She was wearing her mid-shin boots today in case a gnome tried to gnaw at her leg and had her long dark hair in a bun so it wouldn't blind her if one of those stupid creatures tripped her.

Nellie was punctual and she received a smile from Professor Meade which made her smile in return. She liked receiving approval and positive reinforcement. It made her want to follow the rules, something her dad had learned awhile back. The started later than usual today and Nell thought it odd. Maybe Professor Meade was just being nice today because they weren't in the classroom.

Their assignment sounded just as painful as she had assumed it would be. Weren't they supposed to have gloves or something or a bag to put the gnomes in? To top it all off, she couldn't even work with Leo. She had to work with a second year and a third year. She huffed. She didn't even know any of her older classmates, but she supposed making some connections with older students wouldn't hurt. Winning a surprise, too, wouldn't hurt either. With that, the outgoing first-year marched over to an older-looking student. "Hello, my name is Eleanor Vandenberg. Would you like to work together?"

0 Eleanor Vandenberg - Crotalus Be my friend! 0 Eleanor Vandenberg - Crotalus 0 5

Wendy Canterbury - Pecari

July 05, 2013 9:02 PM

Graw gerr gripp! by Wendy Canterbury - Pecari

After being introduced to the Intermediate level classes, Wendy found it a little strange that she was back with the beginners in COMC. It gave her some comfort, some familiar ground to walk on, but she soon found herself bored. It was all the easy stuff again and she was a third-year this year. COMC was one of her favorite classes, but she wanted to do something more interesting. She was still waiting for a class about unicorns and believed with all her heart that maybe one day Professor Meade would bring in a real life unicorn. It would so not be fair if he did it the year before she went into the Advanced class.

This time around they were meeting outside and Wendy was glad. She liked learning, but she hated being in the classroom all the time. She thought Professor Meade might understand since he worked with animals and animals did not like being inside all the time. At least the animals she knew. Wendy wondered if COMC professors who had worked many years with magical creatures ever thought of their students as animals. Wendy would have probably pretended it once or twice if she had been a professor just to entertain herself. Grading essays all the time had to be pretty boring.

They were going to be studying gnomes today and Wendy had learned last year that they were not the kind of gnomes she had seen in front of houses or in gardens. They weren't even the kind that she read about in fairytales. She had seen a few of these magical creatures in Labyrinth Gardens when she'd found Rupert Princeton being attacked by them. They were not nice creatures and Wendy was almost a little afraid of coming into contact with them, but she knew it couldn't be all that bad. After all, they were going to be catching them in class for their lesson.

She had arrived a little earlier to their informal classroom just to catch a little sun. She loved living in such a sunny state. There were more trees here than Wendy would have liked, but she found a nice sunny spot. She stood for a moment with the sun on her face as it reflected off her short blonde locks. She closed her eyes and soaked it up like a reptile and then sat down to focus more on Professor Meade's lecture. Being outdoors always made Wendy's hazel eyes a little brighter.

His lecture was really short and she scrambled to her feet to find two partners and begin the gnome hunt. Didn't they get any supplies? She didn't mind getting dirty, but she didn't want to get bitten by a gnome. Wendy tucked her hair behind her ear and turned to the person next to her. "Um, do you want to work together?" she asked, hoping the person was either a first or second-year. She had more or less familiarized herself with her fellow yearmates, but she was still having trouble figuring out the firsties and second-years.

0 Wendy Canterbury - Pecari Graw gerr gripp! 0 Wendy Canterbury - Pecari 0 5

Alexandra D'Alesandro, Crotalus

July 07, 2013 2:00 AM

If you insist. by Alexandra D'Alesandro, Crotalus

Alex made her way reluctantly to the edge of the Gardens for her COMC class. She was NOT looking forward to today’s class, for she knew they would be looking for gnomes. Why on earth her professor thought this was a good idea, she wasn’t sure. Alex dressed a little unlike herself, with brown leather boots that went up to her knees so she could tuck her khaki colored pants in. She also wore a cute flower print white button up shirt and braided her hair.

Once Professor Meade enthusiastically explained what they would be doing, Alex sighed internally and rolled her eyes. Her family had people to de-gnome their yard and property, so she didn’t understand why this was considered a practical lesson for everyone. It should only apply to those who would actually be in contact with the disgusting creatures.

To make things worse, Alex would have to work with two younger people. She would be the eldest in her group, so maybe that could work to her advantage. She could always try to manipulate the younger students so that they were the ones touching the foul gnomes. She would do just about anything to get out of touching them herself.

Alex was just about to seek out two people to work with, when a younger student approached her and introduced herself as Eleanor Vandenberg, and asked if she would like to be in her group. “Sure,” she began, looking over the younger girl slightly, “I am Alexandra D’Alesandro, but you can call me Alex. Are you a first or second year? I am a third year, so we will need to find one other person. Maybe in the meantime, we can start looking for the nasty gnomes. The sooner we are done with this assignment, the better.”

0 Alexandra D'Alesandro, Crotalus If you insist. 0 Alexandra D'Alesandro, Crotalus 0 5

Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw

July 07, 2013 2:46 PM

Would you like me to do the gripping? by Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw

Dimitri grabbed his bag and headed out of the Teppenpaw dorms towards the Pitch. He remembered that from last class they would be doing their COMC class out on the Pitch near the gardens. He figured it made sense since they would be working on Gnomes this time. Dimitri grumbled at little on his way out there. “Horrible little boogies,” he grumbled to himself as he thought about the few times he had to help his father clear them out of their garden. His dad always warned him to be careful because they had been known to bite and trip people. Dimitri always thought that part was a little funny. He had changed his tune the day one of the little creeps in his grandparents garden had tripped him after biting him in the ankle. He had tried chasing down the little creep, but it had been quicker than him and disappeared into the bushes along the edge of his grandparents property. Dimitri laughed to himself as he arrived for class slightly early and waved politely to the professor.

He glanced around the site and nodded appreciatively to himself. Nice he thought to himself as he glanced around. He found himself a spot to sit and waited for Professor Meade to tell them what they would actually be doing for class that day. He grinned slightly as Professor Meade reminded them they would be dealing with the Gnomes today. Dimitri absently nodded as the Professor asked if they had read ahead. He actually had read the chapter on the Gnomes before coming to class and felt pretty good about it. When Professor Meade finished talking Dimitri got up and glanced around for a second year and third year to work with. He was about to look around for partners when what Dimitri was sure was a third year asked him if he would like to be partners. Dimitri smiled and nodded politely. “I’m Dimitri Porter. It would be a pleasure to work with you.” He smiled friendly at her. He wanted to make her feel more comfortable with their assignment since they would be dealing with an unpleasant little creature.

“If it would make you feel better about this assignment, I wouldn’t mind being the one to catch the little devils if you would be kind enough to point them out for me,” he offered. There had been a very good reason he had put on a pair of blue jeans, his long sleeved rugby shirt and his high topped sneakers under his class robes. He had a feeling that their assignment might include trying to chase or catch the Gnomes. He was glad that he had taken the opportunity to put on longer clothes just incase the little creatures tried to take a bite out of him again. He hoped that his offer of Gnome retrieval was acceptable to her. He really didn’t mind being the one to grab them if it meant they left his partner alone. Besides he was incredibly curious as to what the prize would be if they managed to catch the most Gnomes.

0 Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw Would you like me to do the gripping? 0 Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw 0 5

Wendy

July 11, 2013 9:33 PM

Sure. I'll make the gnome sounds by Wendy

Dimitri Porter was not a familiar name around Wendy's hometown. Dimitri sounded like a name from Russia though the boy in front of her did not sound Russian. She liked meeting all of these new people and she smiled at him. "Nice to meet you Dimitri. I'm Wendy." That was lucky. "Are you a second-year or a first-year? We should look for the third person we're missing." Wendy liked dealing with the younger years, but she felt most comfortable with her own age group and people older than her. Half of it could be because she was the baby of her family.

"That's very nice of you," she said to his offer. "You totally looked dressed and ready for it." Wendy was wearing a plain white shirt and shorts along with her Chucks. Not a very gnome-friendly outfit. "I wish they had given us gloves or something. One time I saw a gnome bite someone and there was all this spit on his hand and his hand turned really red." Wendy shook her head. "I don't mind the spit as much as I mind the biting part. Do you know if gnome bites hurt?"

Maybe it wasn't good to keep asking a first or second-year this question. She looked around, wondering if it would be good to start. "Do you think we should just start? We can get another person in our group as we go on." She was eager to win the prize and be finished with this gnome-catching project. She fiddled with her brand new watch, wondering if a gnome would bite that off too. She didn't usually come into contact with the plastic or ceramic gnomes or the real ones very often and she was a little hesitant on how to go about catching gnomes. Maybe Dimitri would have an idea even though he was younger.

0 Wendy Sure. I'll make the gnome sounds 0 Wendy 0 5

Nellie Vandenberg

July 11, 2013 9:46 PM

You can do the catching, if you'd like. by Nellie Vandenberg

Nellie was glad she had gotten a third-year to partner with her. Hopefully Alex would know how to catch gnomes because clearly Nellie had no idea. "I'm a first-year," she told her as she scanned the area for a second-year. Like she would know who was a second-year and who wasn't. At least finding someone who wasn't in a group would be a start. "Do you know any second-years we could ask?" Nellie didn't really know any of her older classmates yet besides the older Princeton boys and even then only slightly. Hopefully Alex could solve that problem for them.

There was still the problem of who would catch the gnomes. She highly doubted she or Alex were fit to do the job. Alex didn't seem to like gnomes very much and Nellie wanted to avoid getting bitten or spit on by those nasty gnomes. The second-year had to be a boy to take care of the dirty work for them. That's partially what boys were for, right? To do the scary things for girls? Nellie thought so, anyway. That's what Leo was supposed to do, but because they were both the baby of their families, they usually left the work they didn't want to do to their servants or older relatives. It was so convenient that way and Nellie missed having that extra help around. If only someone could do her homework too...

Well, if there were only going to be two girls and they were going to start the de-gnoming, they ought to get on it. Or postpone it for as long as possible, but Professor Meade would probably notice that. "Should we start, then?" Eleanor asked hesitantly. Nellie planned to avoid touching the gnomes herself, but she would be more than happy to point them out for the third-year. Alex was supposed to be older and more mature and more daring so Nellie would give the job of catching those gnomes to her.

0 Nellie Vandenberg You can do the catching, if you'd like. 0 Nellie Vandenberg 0 5

Dimitri

July 13, 2013 5:35 PM

What sounds do they make other than growling? by Dimitri

Dimitri grinned at Wendy’s slight enthusiasm. He merely nodded at her first comment about them possibly needing a third person, then thought better of it. "I'm a first year," he told her. "I hope that doesn't bother you." He readily agreed when she came to the same conclusion he had that they didn't need a third person. “I agree. I think we’ll be just fine on our own,” he agreed. “Besides, I’ve had to pluck these little beasties out of my yard with my dad so I kind-of already know what to expect.” He tried to sound as reassuring as possible. He really had done this with his dad before. He had even gotten bitten on the ankles a few times as well. It was not fun, highly unpleasant and hurt like the dickens. It was kind-of like getting bitten by his little brother Caspian, who was only a year old now. Caspian had just started getting teeth and wanted to try them out on everything. He actually left teeth marks when he bit you. Dimitri thought about the last time his baby brother bit him and grinned to himself. Caspian had just seen one of the gnomes in the back yard try to bite their dad and decided that he was gnome too. He ran over to Dimitri, who scooped him up off the ground, and proceeded to bite him on the hand. Dimitri yelled out in pain, told his baby brother NO and set him back down. He grimaced as Caspian ran away from him giggling. Dimitri assessed the damage to his hand and shook his head. Luckily for him Cas hadn’t done any real damage.

Dimitri brought his mind back to the present and to Wendy’s question. “Its not pleasant when they bite you, that’s for sure,” he told her. “But I’ll do my best to make sure they don’t get to you,” he promised. He glanced around the area seeing if he could spot one of the little demons himself. He thought he saw what looked like the top of one of their tell-tale hats sticking up out of the ground. He leaned a little closer to her and pointed it out. “There’s one of them over there, I think,” he whispered. “I’m gonna try sneaking up on it. I need you to hold the bag or whatever it is we’re putting them in open so I can stuff the little booger in. Be careful though. It might still try to bite as I stuff him in,” he warned her. Dimitri turned from Wendy for a second and back to his bag. He dug around in it for a second until he found what he was looking for. “Aha…” he commented as he pulled out his spare pair of gloves. He handed the gloves to her. “Put these on,” he told her, handing her the thick pair of leather gloves. “These will help protect your hands and wrists should it try to bite you.” He waited until she had them on and was ready before he tried snagging their intended target. He crept up behind the little red hat sticking up out of the ground, trying to be as quiet as possible. He turned back towards her and placed his index finger over his lips. “Shhh…” he gestured as he turned back towards the hat.

Dimitri bent down to grab the little blighter as it came a little further out of the hole. He had his hands positioned to grab it and was about to do so when he sneezed. Dimitri froze in place, cursing himself under his breath as he waited to see what the little creature would do. The gnome ducked back into the hole completely disappearing from sight. Dimitri tried snapping his fingers together which didn’t work so well with the gloves he was wearing. He crouched down for a moment to try and spot another one. He thought he saw another one a couple of feet from where he spotted the first one and pointed it out. He was in the process of standing up and completely missed the gnome that had tunneled up from underneath him. He went to stand up and the gnome lunged for his exposed rear end. The little creep knocked into him as hard as it could, knocking Dimitri off balance and flat onto his face. Dimitri lifted up his head and rolled over, facing the little monster. It bared its teeth at him and lunged for his leg. Dimitri managed to kick it in the head before it managed to bite his leg, momentarily stunning the little booger. Dimitri took the opportunity it presented to scramble to his feet and snatch up the little monster. He was hoping to have it in their container before it knew what happened and started biting again. “Get the holder ready,” he instructed, holding on to the little critter as tightly as possible. Once it was inside Dimitri let out a sigh of relief. “Whew..” he breathed. “Well, that could have gone better, but at least we got one,” he mused wiping the dirt away from his mouth. “Ready to try for another one?” he asked her, wiggling his eyebrows playfully.

0 Dimitri What sounds do they make other than growling? 0 Dimitri 0 5

Julian Umland, Teppenpaw

July 15, 2013 5:42 PM

Run, little gnomes! Run! by Julian Umland, Teppenpaw

The way she stumbled over her feet as she reached the class area might not have indicated it, but Julian had both remembered where class was going to be today and made it there without undue trouble, and before time, too. In first year, she had struggled with that a little, sometimes, but over last year, she had gotten to know the outside of the school pretty well: though she liked her roommates and was friends with Charlie, and had grown up with four brothers before all that, she did like to be alone sometimes, and the Gardens were a good place to sit and think, or bring a book and container of tea, or write a letter, or sometimes attempt to journal, though she had always been bad at that. Her parents both had long, neat lines of books of their thoughts and encouraged the four of their children who were writing fluently to keep up with theirs as well, but Julian found it difficult to write hers down – either she didn’t want to risk it, or else just felt like she had little to say. She knew the arguments she had been taught, but there was no point in journaling about those, and she hadn’t read enough yet to have much else, nothing unique to her. Mom insisted that everyone did, but Julian just didn’t see it, and there was no point in writing down in a book what she wore each day and what she had for breakfast. She carried a little notebook to draw in, or write down a funny line someone used or something, but that was the extent of her personal writing.

Smiling back at Professor Meade, Julian took a seat near a clump of flowers and waited for the rest of the class to finish arriving, doodling the flowers, or attempts at them, anyway, on the edges of her notes. Her art skills were, she knew, subpar at best, but she enjoyed drawing for its own sake, just as something to fill time with if she didn’t feel like or didn’t have the opportunity to read or spend time with people.

She did not, however, attempt to draw a gnome. She didn’t need to draw a gnome. She felt no desire to commemorate the appearance of a gnome, the way she might about flowers. She didn’t have to deal with gnomes all the time at her house, but when some did sneak into the yard, Julian and her brothers had to work extremely hard to drive them away so they didn’t attract undue attention. She liked their lifestyle, the mix of magical and Muggle and Canadian and American and German elements, but living on the borderline between those first two had its occasional complications.

Still, she knew de-gnoming well enough and guessed it wouldn’t have the same sense of urgency here, where they didn’t have to worry about nice people from the government coming to talk to them, which would be an improvement. So she looked for a first year, hoping that this time, unlike in Potions, she didn't end up comparing someone to a fictional villain. Seeing one, she smiled. "Hi," she said. "Would you like to work together?"

16 Julian Umland, Teppenpaw Run, little gnomes! Run! 254 Julian Umland, Teppenpaw 0 5