Being warm is nice? on Care of Magical Creatures

Professor Tallec

June 27, 2015 6:35 AM

Time to spread your wings! [Beginner Lesson] by Professor Tallec

Richard was in a little bit of a daze as he sipped at his teacup. Ever since Pye borrowed his Kneazle, Cindy, for a lesson, Richard realized that Alfie Pye was exactly the type of friend he had been seeking. Dates were fun, but sometimes he just wished he had a buddy to grab a drink with. After tracking down the illusive Pye, Richard had finally managed to get him to agree to get a drink with him…sometime… when they both weren’t swamped with work. As Richard petted Cindy, he wondered just when the two of them would have time to get off Sonora grounds for that drink. “Perhaps the next three-day weekend,” he thought to himself as the beginner class made their way to their seats.

“Hello, and welcome,” Richard’s deep voice resonated throughout the classroom as he stood up, carefully moving the snoozing Cindy off his lap and onto his desk. “Today we will be discussing the importance of keeping a good notebook,” he said as he waved his wand towards the stack of notebooks on his desk. The dark bound books then distributed themselves, one to each student, as he began the lecture.

“Notebooks are an essential part not only in researching magical creatures, but also in caring for them. If any of you hope to have a career with magical creatures, or to get an O in this class, you must practice taking good note taking and maintaining a well organized notebook.” He knew that this probably wouldn’t be the most entertaining lesson for a bunch of pre-teens, but it was essential that they have a strong foundation for intermediates, and hopefully Advanced COMC. Turning to the board, Richard then began to write down the expectations for the notebook. “You should have your name, house, and any contact information on the inside cover in case it gets lost,” he said as he referenced his own worn out notebook from when he was in the field. At this point writing a good notebook was second nature to the young professor, however that made it a little difficult to explain the entire procedure to someone else- let alone an entire class. “For each lesson in which we observe a creature- and that includes today,” he clarified, “I want an Observation section, where you chronicle any and all notes. As well as a short Discussion section that explains the significance of your results, as well as explain any inferences or patterns you notice in your observations,” he said setting down the chalk.

“Remember, your Discussion section shouldn’t be more than a paragraph,” he said with a smile. “The most important part of this class is to observe and try and understand the creatures, so don’t worry too much about the notebooks. Although, I will be doing a notebook check once a week to make sure you are keeping up to date,” he warned with a grin, despite the fact that he didn’t plan on grading their notebooks that hard since they were still beginners.

“Alright,” the dark haired professor said smiling at the group, “The rest of today is going to be pretty easy, but I want you to use it as a chance to practice good note taking skills,” he said as he pulled out a cardboard box from under the desk. He then waved his wand to close all the windows and doors, making the room slightly darker than before. “We are going to be observing Flitterbies,” Richard said as he opened the box releasing a glowing mass of the moth like creatures. They immediately began to hum lightly as they flew to all corners of the room. Richard smiled, he had always thought the creatures had an underappreciated beauty.

“As most of you can tell by now, Flitterby moths have a characteristic hum when in flight,” he stated while he pulled out another box from his desk. “These stones are enchanted to give off a little heat, and will attract the moths so you can get a closer look at them,” he explained, waving his wand to disperse the warm stones to the students.

“Now, I would like you all to take notes on what you observe about Flitterby behavior and appearance, as well as a hypothesis in your Discussion section as to why they are attracted to heat. I would also like a detailed drawing of one from each of you, and don’t just copy the picture from your book,” Richard added in case there were any students hoping to get off easy. “You don’t have to be a great artist, just do your best to get the important features down. But for the most part, have fun and feel free to chat while you work,” he said, trying to reassure the students that it was just supposed to be a relaxing assignment to get them back into the groove of school. Now that his instructions were over, he took the time to relax into his chair, enjoying the orange glow that filled the classroom.

OOC: Creative, realistic posts are worth more points. If Richard is needed, please tag Professor Tallec in the subject line. Posting rules apply. Please add house after name.

Permission given by Professor Pye to address him as such.

Subthreads:

Being warm is nice? by Jemima Wolseithcrafte, Teppenpaw with Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw

Just what I was hoping for by Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, Pecari with Emilia-Louise Scott, Aladren

Doing what I must. by Kelsey Atwater, Crotalus

Mine don't work that well. (Tag Caelia) by Kira Spaulding, Crotalus with Caelia Lucan, Crotalus

And fly? by Ginger Pierce, Teppenpaw with Fabian Brockert,Pecari

Not the best observer by Micah Breckinridge, Crotalus with Gia Donovan, Pecari

Phototaxis vs Thermotaxis by Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren

0 Professor Tallec Time to spread your wings! [Beginner Lesson] 0 Professor Tallec 1 5

Jemima Wolseithcrafte, Teppenpaw

June 30, 2015 11:07 PM

Being warm is nice? by Jemima Wolseithcrafte, Teppenpaw

Jemima generally enjoyed Care of Magical Creatures. She had a compassionate and gentle nature that was well suited to the class, and enjoyed a subject where those skills were valued at least as much as being purely smart or powerful. It was also the class where her artistic abilities were most often put to use. They came in handy sometimes in Transfiguration, when they had to add designs to their work for extra credit but that often frustrated her because currently what she could conceptualise was usually far greater than what she could achieve. Perhaps one day she would be as deft at weaving patterns with her wand as she was with her paintbrushes, but she most certainly was not there yet. In Care of Magical Creatures, however, being good at drawing was a valuable skill, and one she got plenty of chances to indulge.

She eagerly took the notebook as they were distributed, her mind already wandering to how she might liven up the plain, dark cover. She felt a craft session in the MARS room coming on, and made a note to ask Ginger and Lauren if they wanted to join her after dinner. She hoped Professor Tallec wouldn’t mind, so long as their decorations were suitably themed. She was already thinking how handsome some silver unicorns would look on the dark background, and how could a Care of Magical Creatures teacher object to that? She saved writing her details on the front page, just making a note to herself of what information was expected, so that she could do it in nice script, with further decoration.

She turned to the first note-taking sheet, trying not to be intimidated by the blank page staring up at her. The actual note-taking part of using the notebook was a little more challenging. She jotted things down as Professor Tallec talked, about the fact that the flitterbies hummed in flight and were attracted to heat. She felt a little annoyed that he had to point that first one out, as she was sure it was something she could have noticed by herself - now she had the challenge of finding more, less obvious things, the Professor having taken the easiest answer. She also noted down that they were fast, although that seemed a little dumb as she couldn’t ever recall seeing a moth or butterfly that she would class as slow moving. It was hard to know what else to say… She took a rock as they flew around, waiting for one of the creatures to land on it. She readied her drawing supplies - she had got into the habit of bringing colouring pencils, crayons and charcoals with her to this class - pondering why the creatures might be attracted to heat. Because they like being warm was all she could come up with, which seemed rather obvious. Most things liked being warm. It was necessary to survival. She suspected that the real question Professor Tallec was getting at was why being warm was especially important for this animal, and of that she really had no idea.

“Why do you think they like being warm?” she asked her partner, retucking strands of blonde hair behind her ears. Her hair was tied up and even those bits that had worked their way loose of the ponytail weren’t really bothering her, but she tended to be a little nervous about admitting ignorance to those around her - a side-effect of growing up with very academic older siblings.
“I can only think of ‘because being warm is nice and generally good for most things.’” she sighed, whilst waiting for one of the creatures to settle, so that she could get on with what she was actually good at.

13 Jemima Wolseithcrafte, Teppenpaw Being warm is nice? 304 Jemima Wolseithcrafte, Teppenpaw 0 5

Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, Pecari

June 30, 2015 11:40 PM

Just what I was hoping for by Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, Pecari

Ingrid wanted to like Care of Magical Creatures. On paper, it was going to be her favourite subject after flying. Care of Magical Creatures was where she would learn about dragons - a creature that had always fascinated her, and which she wanted to work with if being a pro-Quidditch player didn’t pan out. Or alongside…. Ingrid wasn’t really one to dwell on the option of failure when it came to Quidditch but she definitely had daydreams that saw her being a dragon handler. Pro careers were short. Maybe she’d get into dragons after that, instead of the usual options of coaching… Standing around telling everyone else how to have fun instead of being a proper part of it had never seemed like the most appealing thing. There were plenty of other magical creatures that were cool too, like Abraxans - the giant winged horses - and phoenixes. The trouble was, none of these things were likely to come up in a beginners class. Instead, they had things like butterflies.

And, because you couldn’t handle butterflies, there wasn’t anything to do except stare at them and write notes in a notebook. She took hers unenthusiastically. It was not the fun, hands on experience she had envisaged. She scrawled her name, year and house on the front page, skipping over the contact details part, as she assuming that her house pretty much covered that, as anyone who found her notebook would just owl it back to her or give it to her when they saw her in class.

The noise as the butterflies - or moths, apparently, was there even a difference? - were released caught her attention, and she stared up at them swirling and humming above her. Ok, she had to admit it was kind of a cool sight, though she didn’t see herself getting an hour’s worth of entertainment out of it. In fact, after the initial moment of surprise had passed, she was done with the whole thing. She noted down that they hummed. She tapped her quill impatiently…. At least Professor Tallec’s lecture had included the words ‘don’t worry too much about the notebooks.’ It was advice she planned on taking to heart….

When one of the creatures landed she drew out a two dimensional butterfly, trying to vaguely copy the shape of its wings. She didn’t have any colouring pencils with her, so just labelled the wings ‘orange and glowy.’

“Do you think they have some kind of fire related power?” she asked her neighbour, almost hopefully, as she watched the gentle orange pulsation of the creature’s wings. It would make sense with it needing heat, and would make it far more interesting.

13 Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, Pecari Just what I was hoping for 322 Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, Pecari 0 5

Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw

July 04, 2015 1:52 PM

As long as it's not too warm. by Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw

Owen was quite frankly glad that Care of Magical Creatures wasn't going to be a very active lesson today. He always felt awkward when those came up because he knew he'd get sick and he'd had really rough summer with his asthma. The second year had spent a good deal of time in bed, genuinely not feeling well, and had even had to have his medication adjusted. It had been really awful.

He did feel better now...physically. It was just that being sick made him feel weak and pathetic and not like other kids. Not normal. Plus, instead of being more independent, as someone his age should be getting, it made Owen feel just the opposite.

At least he was back at school now and people didn't have to know about his summer. The Teppenpaw had written to Jemima but hadn't told her much, instead writing to her about his writing, even sending her a few short stories he'd written. Owen didn't want her to worry or think less of him. It was bad enough that he kind of thought less of himself.

Now, he found himself a spot next to Jemima in class. He usually preferred her company to his other classmates. Not that he wasn't friendly to them, it was just that he considered the other Teppenpaw his closest friend, no matter what the yearbook had said about her being best friends with Ginger.

Owen carefully wrote down some notes about the Flitterbies before turning to attempt to draw one. He'd always liked to color as a child being that it was a quiet sitting down activity that he was allowed to do as much as he wanted but his drawing wasn't that great, about average. But then, if it was average it couldn't be worse than most of his classmates, right? Besides, Professor Tallec had said they didn't have to be great artists. He did feel it was a bit difficult to draw something that was moving around though.

The second year looked up at Jemima as she spoke. "Maybe it's...like part of their biology that they need more heat to survive." Owen replied. "Like some animals like colder climates. Such as polar bears." They happened to be his favorite animal. He didn't know why exactly, he just liked them. "And worms like burrowing in the cold dank ground. What I wonder is how the flitterbies are different from regular butterflies other than humming and glowing. I mean, maybe they do different things in Potions than butterflies or moths? "

11 Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw As long as it's not too warm. 300 Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw 0 5

Jemima

July 04, 2015 11:48 PM

As long as there's cocoa by Jemima

Jemima was glad that it was Owen who had sat with her. Partly because she was always glad to be around Owen but also that meant she was more comfortable about admitting things she wasn’t sure about. Owen was too kind to look down on her for that sort of thing. She had enjoyed his letters over the summer, and had returned them in kind - with news of her own adventures, and little drawings either of her surroundings, or illustrations to go with his stories. She was glad that he had had, as far as she was aware, a nice summer.

As a fltterby settled on the warm stone, she got out some pencils, placing her supplies (held in an orange floral pencil case) between them. Jemima’s natural inclination to share was sometimes a little at odds with her inclination to protect her art supplies from people who would misuse them. The former usually won out, though if she’d found herself partnering one of the more boisterous Pecaris, she might not have offered. She included her own sister in that, as no matter how many times you told her, Ingrid always pressed too hard and broke things. She trusted Owen though, and he had worked with her often enough to pick up tips. She hadn’t patronised him by assuming he didn’t know how to use a colouring pencil, but when she’d first worked with charcoal in a lesson, she’d shown him how she handled it, so that he could try if he wanted.

“Do you think polar bears like it?” she asked, “I always figured they had ended up living there and had just had to make the best of things. They have all that thick fur and blubber to keep themselves warm - I always picture them hiding in their little snow caves, snuggling up and wishing that they had hot cocoa,” she said sadly. “Poor bears.

“Still, it’s a good idea, about the flitterbies,” she noted ‘more heat to survive?’ on a scrap piece of paper, under the note about the front page of her book. That was an idea for the discussion section, and she didn’t know how many observations she was going to have, so didn’t know where on the page that would need to go. Plus they might have other theories by the end of the class period. “I want to make sure my page is neat, and I don’t know where I’ll be starting the discussion,” she explained to Owen, in order to reassure him that his idea hadn’t been relegated to scrap paper because she thought it was no good.

13 Jemima As long as there's cocoa 304 Jemima 0 5

Emilia-Louise Scott, Aladren

July 05, 2015 11:15 AM

I think it's more interesting than it sounds. by Emilia-Louise Scott, Aladren

Note taking was something that Emmy-Lou had begun to think she was actually quite good at and she took care in keeping her work organised and neat. Having an artistic side to her, Emmy-Lou had decided to decorate her notebook for Care of Magical Creatures with colourful paper and patterns. She also had a variety of different coloured inks to write with so that her notes would be visually appealing and perhaps help them to stay in her mind. She hoped Professor Tallec wouldn’t mind. It wasn’t as though she’d done a bad job; in fact, she was quite pleased with the appearance of her book. And Professor Tallec seemed like a nice guy… and nobody had ever said students weren’t allowed to add a little brightness to their notes.

Generally the prospect of having a relaxed lesson was a good one but when it came to Care of Magical Creatures, Emmy-Lou wasn’t quite so sure. Wasn’t every Care of Magical Creatures lesson relaxed? More so than the more academic subjects like Transfiguration which was the main class in which Emmy-Lou thought she would struggle to uphold her Aladren status. Care of Magical Creatures was meant to be fun and exciting and not very difficult.

Flutterby moths didn’t seem particularly exciting. But just because they weren’t fluffy and cute or potentially dangerous, that didn’t mean that Emmy-Lou found no interest in the lesson topic of the day. It was a bit of a challenge because she really didn’t know why they were attracted to heat. Surely for the same reason that humans were? But then again, why were humans attracted to heat?

The first year moved her warm stone closer to her and waited for a moth to come head towards it so she could get a good look at it. Emmy-Lou didn’t possess any particular talent for drawing but she took care as she sketched out the glowing creature into her notebook so she didn’t mess up her plans to keep it neat. She thought that maybe she should label her drawing but she realized she didn’t know enough about Flutterbies yet to be able to do so.

Emmy-Lou grinned when the girl beside her suggested that these cool creatures had fiery powers. “I don’t know.” She spoke honestly, wishing she could have at least some wisdom on the subject. Usually she was quite a knowledgeable person but it had never crossed Emmy’s mind that there was enough to a moth that it could actually be studied further than its appearance. “But maybe. That would be cool if they do…” She added a little more to her drawing as she spoke before looking to her companion. “I should think there has to be some connection between their glowiness and the fact that they like heat.” She was fairly sure that she’d made up the word ‘glowiness’ but continued on all the same. “Do you think it’s possible to touch one?” Emmy-Lou thought the moths would likely fly away quickly if she attempted and didn’t want that to happen so ignored the impulse she had to reach out and touch the one in front of her. “Only I’d be interested to know if they are actually hot themselves,” she explained further. Then she frowned because saying her thoughts aloud had made them sound stupid to her. Moths weren’t hot. Yet the Flutterby was a magical creature and therefore an exception when compared with ordinary moths. After all, what kind of butterflies glowed anyway? As she argued with the thoughts in her mind, Emmy-Lou resolved not to take back what she had said because she didn’t really think a Pecari could accuse an Aladren of being stupid if she did turn out to be wrong.

8 Emilia-Louise Scott, Aladren I think it's more interesting than it sounds. 313 Emilia-Louise Scott, Aladren 0 5

Owen

July 09, 2015 8:43 PM

That sounds good. by Owen

He smiled at Jemima, his thank you unspoken. Owen was sure she knew he appreciated her sharing with him by now. It was the sort of thing he really liked about Jemima, her generosity. He'd loved her illustrations in her letters to him too and was very happy that even though his summer hadn't been the greatest, hers had seemed pretty good. Of course, Owen especially loved the illustrations accompanying his stories. Maybe some day, they could do a longer project, a whole book together. He did, of course, want to write books some day.

The second year briefly switched his attention to the flitterby that landed on the warm rock. He honestly thought it was a pretty creature. Owen had always really wanted a pet but because of his asthma, his mother wouldn't let him have one. Even though his Healer had said pet dander wasn't one of his triggers. Instead he'd had to be satisfied with stuffed animals. While he'd had his favorite teddy bear, Softy, he'd also had stuffed dogs and cats that he pretended were real ones. Granted, they were magical so they acted much like them. Except that nobody had to feed them or clean up after their messes. Come to think of it, that might have been a good alternative.

It wasn't something Owen could have here at school though. People would laugh at him for having stuffed toys. Girls probably could, but boys were supposed to outgrow that sort of thing by now.

He tried to make a reasonably accurate drawing of the flitterby as he answered Jemima's question. "Well, I mean, they have fur and fat and that most likely makes it easier for them to stay warm." Owen himself had never really gotten to play in the snow and the cold. That really did make it hard for him to breathe and he really didn't feel he was missing all that much anyway. He thought for a second. "Maybe that's part of it. I mean, look at the flitterby. Like it's wings are thin, just like a moth or butterfly. They can't really keep it warm in cold climates. I think most animals want to be comfortable, just like people."

Owen nodded. "I understand, I want mine to be neat too." He couldn't help but smile though that Jemima liked his idea.

11 Owen That sounds good. 300 Owen 0 5

Ingrid

July 10, 2015 5:15 AM

Testing some theories by Ingrid

“If they did,” Ingrid expanded, on her idea of fire-breathing butterflies, “That would almost nearly be like studying a teeny tiny dragon..” she said wistfully. She smiled at the other girl, glad she hadn’t snobbishly dismissed her idea.

“I’m Ingrid, by the way,” she added, deciding that as they were halfway through a conversation about whether their object of study could breathe fire, it was one of those situations where you didn’t have to be super formal about things.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to, at least not with regular ones,” she explained, when the other girl asked about touching them. “I used to try to catch them with my hands and Jemima would tell me to be careful, cos their wings have some kind of powder on and if you touch them can’t fly afterwards or they die or something,” she was slightly fuzzy on what the details had been but knew that touching plus wings equalled bad,. “Which is a shame cos that’s a really interesting point…. Maybe if you just put your hand out close it’ll- oh,” as she had tried the idea, the flitterby had hastily taken off. “I was hoping I would be able to feel it from there and that it might feel threatened enough to show me its awesome fire powers. Maybe it just does the glowy thing,” she sighed.

13 Ingrid Testing some theories 322 Ingrid 0 5

Kelsey Atwater, Crotalus

July 11, 2015 9:29 PM

Doing what I must. by Kelsey Atwater, Crotalus

One might expect a proper young lady like Kelsey to want nothing to with the dirt and mess associated with animals of any kind but she didn't really mind animals one bit. True, she had no overwhelming desire for a pet and some of them weren't...appealing. Not to mention that she didn't find Care of Magical Creatures to be as overall as important as the other classes as it was an elective at some schools. However, here at Sonora, it was a required course, and therefore, Kelsey wanted to do well at it. It was important for a pureblood lady to be well-versed in many things and take every opportunity she was given. Nobody wanted a party guest who was unimpressive in some way.

Besides, she thought shuddering inwardly, a half-blood had been selected as Biggest Brain in the yearbook last year. Kelsey could not let that happen again and neither Caelia nor Jemima seemed like they were going make it in that spot. Her roommate was a very nice girl, very proper, but she didn't seem too academically inclined and the Teppenpaw just seemed to have other interests.

She briefly noticed the other girl was talking to her cousin Owen, and hoped that some day, he was included in those. Kelsey both wanted her relatives, even the distant ones, to not be disgraceful and to eliminate any competition for boys that were eligible for her .

Her attention focused in on Professor Tallec. There was no way she was going to be humiliated by that half-blood brat in the yearbook again. The second year had to beat Aislinn Nicolls-well, and the other non-purebloods but they really didn't seem all that threatening. Purebloods were supposed to do better, it was just the way things were. Even if the other girl was an Aladren. Probably the only reason she got it. Kelsey thought snidely.

She certainly had no trouble keeping a well organized notebook. Her penmanship was pretty much perfect and she excelled at organization. In fact, the Crotalus very much liked things to be neat and tidy. Her room at home was neat as a pin and the house-elves had to do very little to keep things straightened in there. They existed to serve wizards and witches but Kelsey didn't see any reason to deliberately make their lives more difficult. They were loyal creatures who knew their place in life and she had to be somewhat appreciative of them.

Once Professor Tallec released them to their work, Kelsey settled in, writing down all she could about the flutterbies, as she did, after all, want an O in the class. Under the discussion section Kelsey wrote down,

Flitterbies are cold blooded creatures, despite looking like they give off heat with their firey appearance. This means they need heat from outside sources to survive.

As she waited for one to settle on the warm stone so she could draw sketch one close up, Kelsey turned to her neighbor. She had of course, made sure to sit by a pureblood from a good family as usual. There was no way the Crotalus would sit by someone who wasn't pure if she could avoid it. "How are you today?" She asked politely. It was important to be on good terms with the right people.

11 Kelsey Atwater, Crotalus Doing what I must. 305 Kelsey Atwater, Crotalus 0 5

Kira Spaulding, Crotalus

July 16, 2015 8:17 PM

Mine don't work that well. (Tag Caelia) by Kira Spaulding, Crotalus

COMC was not a class that Kira was all that excited about. It wasn't that she hated animals-she quite liked cute cuddly ones- or Professor Tallec-in fact, he was quite nice-or notebooks or anything like that. It was just that she didn't get to use her wand and doing spells and getting them quickly was the only thing that made her feel good about herself at all. The one area where she might be actually better than Kelsey or Tristan.

Not that the Crotalus was all about being better than others, it was just that, they had so much, were complimented so often. Though quite frankly, Kira wasn't entirely sure what her brother had done that was all that spectacular. She knew he had some skills, he was a good flyer, though a bad Quidditch player apparently, a good dueler and got all right grades but still, the first year couldn't see what her brother had done that was special other than be born a male.

Professor Tallec reminded them about their journals. She wasn't sure that hers would be adequate as Kira's penmanship was far from perfect. Better than Scarlett's supposedly, but naturally not as good as Kelsey. Part of growing up with a lot of female cousins near her age had always made Kira feel as though she was being compared to them all the time and she'd always felt inadequate, especially given she was the youngest of the batch. It wasn't just Kelsey either, it was only mostly Kelsey. Kira also knew that she'd never be as funny or vivacious as Scarlett-even if she had better penmanship-or get as good as grades as Savannah. Even Aunt Jillian bragged about Chaslyn's accomplishments at dinners with the whole family, though Amity had said those were meant to make her feel bad, not Kira. Especially given that Amity said the fourth year never received compliments otherwise, because nothing either of them did could ever be good enough for their mother. The first year really disliked her aunt for it.

And her journal as well as any written work was something else that Kira wasn't sure she'd be able to measure up on. So far she hadn't had any problem grasping concepts but they were just going to get tougher, and even if she had the magical skill, she most likely wasn't as smart as some of her classmates. She didn't have to be the best, but she didn't want to be the worst. Kira just wanted to feel good about herself again, and she rarely ever got to.

Today they were studying Flitterbies, which at the very least weren't scary or gross. They were oddly pretty. However, her heart sank when Professor Tallec mentioned drawing them. She knew that like most things she did, her sketching was mediocre at best and while Kira didn't hear Kelsey praised for it as much she did the older girl's manners and propriety, she was certain her cousin was better than her at this too. She usually was better than Kira at most things, so she figured this was a fairly accurate guess.

Kira sighed loudly and then blushed as she realized it was probably loud enough for Caelia Lucan who was sitting next to her to notice. She was kind of intimidated by the older Crotalus who was friends with her cousin. She could only imagine the other girl was comparing her unfavorably like everyone else did.

OOC-Permission to mention Caelia given by her author.

11 Kira Spaulding, Crotalus Mine don't work that well. (Tag Caelia) 320 Kira Spaulding, Crotalus 0 5

Caelia Lucan, Crotalus

July 17, 2015 1:01 AM

Hopefully I can help you? by Caelia Lucan, Crotalus

Flitterbies. Even the name was pretty. Caelia liked pretty things. Care of Magical Creatures was not something that was known for very many pretty creatures and that was one of the reasons she wasn’t a huge fan of the class. Another reason was that a lot of it was memorization and stuff like that which meant she needed extra tutoring from Emrys in this class in particular. Luckily her penmanship had greatly improved over the summer as Grandmother Viviane had seen some of her messy scrawl and taken it upon herself to educate Caelia in forming perfect letters. At least, she thought to herself as she looked at her notebook which was a mess of misspelled words, even though she didn’t use proper spelling or grammar her letters still looked nice.

Today in class she was sitting next to Kira Spaulding who was a first year in Crotalus House along with Caelia. Though she had not yet talked to the younger girl she did know that she was a relative of her roommate and closest friend at Sonora, Kelsey. Whether Caelia had learned this information directly from Kelsey herself or from some of the pureblood family charts her grandmother had asked her to study that summer so that she would pick more appropriate friends than her older brother had, Caelia wasn’t sure but nevertheless it was good information to have and she made up her mind to be quite pleasant to the younger girl because she liked Kelsey and thought her to be a very kind, genuine person so anyone related to her roommate likely had to be just as equally nice.

So, when the first year sighed rather disconcertingly next to Caelia, she turned to her with worried eyes. “Are you alright?” she asked, pencil in hand as she had just been starting her sketch of the flitterby. She had picked a rather pretty flitterby to draw and the light that was emanating from it illuminated her page enough that she could see the faint lines that had already been put on her paper. Art was one area in which Caelia felt like she actually excelled in. She didn’t have to remember anything for art, she was able to sketch whatever was in front of her and as long as her pencil was properly dulled then there wasn’t anything she felt she couldn’t do.

Sketching was one of the things her grandmother felt a proper young witch ought to be educated in. Fine penmanship, elegant dress, music, dancing, and a grasp on at the very least French also ranked among things that Viviane Lucan thought young witches needed to know in order to be successful in Society, however Caelia had long given up on being able to fluently speak French. Though her grandmother had given her many lessons her small brain had not been able to wrap itself around the awkward language which was fully of rough throaty noises and disappearing letters. Dancing was an easy one and with a brother like Emrys, Caelia was able to recognize many a classical song. However, of the talents she was expected to know, the only one she felt fully secure in was sketching. Art in general was something Caelia enjoyed—it was something she had to share with her father, something that let her stand out from her brother, something that made her feel special.

“You know,” she said with a friendly smile. “I’ve been meaning to make your acquaintance for awhile—” the word acquaintance was a rather large one for the kind of stupid twelve year old but one her grandmother had explained to her and said was proper to use in such an instance. Much of Caelia’s manners came from copying what her grandmother said to others and she was altogether too stupid to understand many of the words she said though she knew enough to know that they were polite words. “I’m so pleased to be able to sit with you today.” Caelia’s innocent, earnest manner of speaking could not be mistaken—she was interested in Kira Spaulding, and she wanted to be her friend.

10 Caelia Lucan, Crotalus Hopefully I can help you? 307 Caelia Lucan, Crotalus 0 5

Ginger Pierce, Teppenpaw

July 19, 2015 7:26 PM

And fly? by Ginger Pierce, Teppenpaw

Ginger liked Care of Magical Creatures. She wasn’t sure if she’d call it her favorite class - she didn’t really have a favorite - but it was definitely up there. She’d gotten used to the notebook concept last year, so Professor Tallec’s explanation for the first years was all review to her, but she listened anyway, though she was mildly distracted by doodling around her name on the front inside cover while he talked.

She looked up though when the room got darker, and paid better attention to the overview of the Flitterby Moths. The warm rock got a quick inspection when it landed on her desk, then she started writing down observations in her notebook:

Professor Tallec darkened the room before bringing them out, so the moths are probably nocturnal like most other moths. They have a reddish glow, mostly around the wings. They hum in flight. They like heat, landing on warm rocks.

When one of the moths demonstrated that on her own rock, she bent in close to get a good look at its wing patterns, which almost made it fly away again, but then it settled once more, and Ginger began to draw the moth into her notebook. She was decently good at pencil sketching, so it came out reasonably good if she did say so herself.

She tried to touch it, to add a tactile observation to her book, but it flew away too quickly, so she added, Flies away from approaching fingers, instead, which was probably fairly obvious, but she’d observed the behavior, so she included it.

Then she covered her rock with her hand and tried to hold really still - this was a skill she had very little experience or success with, so her feet were still kicking the floor, but at least her hand wasn’t moving - and hoped it might land on the back of her hand this time instead of the rock, and she would be able to tell if it had tickly feet.

After a few seconds passed without drawing in a moth - patience wasn’t her strong suit either - she sighed and let go of the rock. Turning to her neighbor, she asked curiously, “Does the humming sound like they’re laughing at us to you, too?”

1 Ginger Pierce, Teppenpaw And fly? 302 Ginger Pierce, Teppenpaw 0 5

Micah Breckinridge, Crotalus

July 20, 2015 7:08 PM

Not the best observer by Micah Breckinridge, Crotalus

Morning classes did not agree with Micah. He was more of a night owl than an early bird. He had no idea how people could be so obnoxiously chipper at that time and he hated the phrase the early bird gets the worm. It was misleading, really, when one thought about it. What made someone that arrived early better than someone that arrived later? Why did they deserve to get the worm? Maybe the worm didn’t want to get up early either. Micah rubbed at the bits of crust left in his eyes. It was still too early to even be having such thoughts.

It was also still too early to be having notebooks flying about and having discussions about them. He frowned looking down at the dark colored book. Being detail-oriented, taking notes didn’t bother him. However, taking them in the morning and having to do them in a particular way did. He preferred to write down every thought, even if some were a bit of a tangent. He found that it helped him to trigger the details that were actually significant when needed. Perhaps, that was strange, but then, that was the story of his life. He had never thought like other children his age.

When other children had been running around playing hide and seek, Micah had been off playing with building blocks. He had been building elaborate castles to towering skyscrapers, each one more intricate than the last. Being magical blocks, he got to have miniature flying dragons and running moats and hidden rooms. It had created a bit of a loner situation that had freaked out his parents. They didn’t want a son that was merely capable of such creativity. No, that wasn’t enough. They wanted him to be exceptional at everything. After all, he had a family name to live up to.

So, no matter how much he frowned at this new addition to his life, Micah had to follow the norm, be like everyone else and that meant keeping a notebook. It also seemed to mean group work for some classes, but thankfully, it didn’t seem to be a requirement for this particular lesson. He opened his notebook to the beginning and wrote down the required information.

Micah Breckinridge
Aladren
First Year
Care of Magical Creatures

He had just finished writing when more dispersing occurred. Stones this time. Micah picked up the stone, feeling the warmth that the professor had mentioned. He pondered the question that had been asked. Why were the moths attracted to heat? From the book, he knew that the moths were native to Scotland and Great Britain. Maybe it had something to do with that? He didn’t have long to think about it though when a moth fluttered up to him. Well, more to the stone really. He held it flat in his palm to allow the moth to settle on it. It gave him a chance to see it more closely. He blinked a few times. It really was a brilliant shade of orange.

Micah moved the stone, causing the moth to flitter and hum about, and set it down on his desk. He hadn’t meant to startle the moth, but he couldn’t very well write down any observations if he continued holding the stone. Thankfully, the moth didn’t seem to agitated by it and settled back onto the stone. Flipping the page, he began with the first part of the assignment.

Observations:

The flitterby moth appears to enjoy the stone and prefers to stay on it, probably because of the heat. It moves its wings quite frequently in a slow pattern. Maybe it’s communicating with the other moths.

The Crotalus wasn’t sure what else to add in the observations. The moth seemed content to stay where it was and he wasn’t inclined to try and move it. Maybe he would be able to add more later on. For now, he would work on his discussion section. He had a little more thought for this one.

Discussion:

The flitterby moth is native to a colder climate and may be drawn to heat sources for survival.

After he put his thoughts into the discussion session, Micah put his focus into the drawing. He was decent at drawing and could probably be better if he practiced. His eyes drifted between the moth and his paper. He began drawing each line, a shadow here and there. He was so concentrated on his work that he failed to notice someone else was talking to him. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

0 Micah Breckinridge, Crotalus Not the best observer 0 Micah Breckinridge, Crotalus 0 5

Fabian Brockert,Pecari

July 23, 2015 11:28 PM

That would be better than this. by Fabian Brockert,Pecari

Fabian had always thought Care of Magical Creatures would be one of his favorite classes, he liked animals and for someone who spent a lot of time outdoors as he tried to, it was important to know whatever he could about them. Unfortunately, Professor Tallec had to make it boring by talking about well-maintained notebooks Organization was not one of Fabian's strengths. He had a tendency to leave his room an utter mess. That was what house-elves were for, after all. Not that he wasn't kind to them, he just hated cleaning so he was glad to have someone else to do it. It was just too much trouble when he had better things to do and couldn't use cleaning spells on his own yet.

Just the mention of keeping the notebook made his mind begin to wander. His eyes drifted around the room and towards the windows. Fabian could be out there right now, he'd heard that at one point this class had actually taken place outside. Why couldn't it be like that now? As it was, all he could think of was escape like he always did at home when there were lessons he didn't want to do, boring stuff on etiquette and the like.

Unfortunately, the consequences of skipping out on a school lesson would be far more dire. While his father was much younger than his cousin Mortimer, the school Headmaster, he'd always described him as being quite stern, no-nonsense and his sister and cousins had backed that up. In fact, Serena seemed a tad scared of him but then she was scared of lots of things. It had always made Fabian feel protective of her, even though she was a lot older than him.

Not only that, but Fabian was already in class, which made it much harder to leave. He was well aware of what happened to Carrie when she'd attempted to leave Flying Lessons and he neither wanted that to happen to him-even though this was a different professor-not to be like her in any way. The sooner they all forgot she existed the happier they'd all be, even though for Fabian, she was mostly a collection of stories, some of which were horrifying and some where she was the butt of jokes. He much preferred it that way.

That did not , however, prevent him from staring out the window, wishing he was out there, climbing trees and examining flitterbies up close in their native environment. Or whatever had been recreated to be like it. Fabian wasn't sure they were native to this part of Arizona, but he was sure that they, like him, would be more comfortable outside.

The girl next to Fabian spoke. "Huh? Oh, no, my theory is that they're crying to be let out, that they feel trapped in this classroom. It's not really where they belong and who wants to be where they don't belong?" He paused, realizing he should introduce himself. "I'm Fabian Brockert, of the Western Brockerts." The last part fell out automatically, as nothing but habit.

11 Fabian Brockert,Pecari That would be better than this. 321 Fabian Brockert,Pecari 0 5

Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren

July 25, 2015 12:47 AM

Phototaxis vs Thermotaxis by Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren

Some would say that Care of Magical Creatures was a class that had little to do with the medical field. However, Aislinn would have had to disagree with the statement. Perhaps, last year, she may have even been one of the people who would have thought so, but slowly, she was beginning to see that most classes were connected in some way or another, thus, making nearly all useful. For this class, learning the structure of animals provided a stepping-stone to learning the structure of a person. And then there were learning properties of the creature, which could correlate to uses like potion making. These were just some of the valuable lessons that Aislinn was beginning to learn in her young life.

Therefore, when she received her notebook for the year, she made sure that her notes were meticulous. She even had a separate personal notebook to include other ideas, such as how the particular lesson could coincide to other areas related to the medical field. She bit her lip at the thrill of it all. It was exciting to even think of all the possibilities that could be discovered through study. Opening her class notebook, Aislinn began with the observation section. First, she wrote down a few key points from the book, which would serve as her basis.

After she was satisfied with that, she picked up the stone that had been distributed. Turning it over in her hand, she wondered what spell had been used in this particular instance. Would different spells cause the moth to be attracted or not attracted or did it not matter? She made a note of this in her personal notebook to look up for later. For now, the flitterby moth deserved her full attention and she was delighted when a couple of them flew near her stone. She took note of each bit of the moth. She started at the wings. They seemed to move like other moths, but the actual structure seemed different. It made sense since they gave off a glow. Perhaps, it was a bit like a lightening bug?

Observations

The Flitterby Moth gives off a distinct glow to its wings, much like how a lightening bug produces light. A process called bioluminescence, which is a chemical reaction, causes the light from a lightening bug. Maybe the moth produces the same chemical reaction in its wings. If so, then possible benefits to lighting up could be to warn predators and to identify members of its species. Also, it would allow them to be able to discriminate between the sexes for mating purposes. Watching the moths, this could be possible since they seem to have different glowing patterns.

There also appears to be a pattern with the stone. The moths settle for a few moments on it and then take flight again. This could be suggestive of thermotaxis, which allows an organism to respond to natural temperature gradients when useful. The attraction to heat may serve as a survival method for variances in temperature in the natural environment.

“So, how to state the hypothesis…” Aislinn’s voice drifted off, her pen tapping aainst the desk, as she pondered exactly how she wanted to state her idea. She felt that the attraction to heat had to do with something with thermotaxis, but if that were true, wouldn’t all organisms be attracted to the stone? In theory, they would be, but maybe there was a reason the moth developed this particular survival technique instead of like other moths that used phototaxis. Did flitterby moths give off heat? Did it have further survival purposes? Like how the peppered moth developed? It was rather interesting to think about and she would definitely have to continue further into it.

0 Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren Phototaxis vs Thermotaxis 297 Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren 0 5

Gia Donovan, Pecari

July 25, 2015 6:50 PM

Not a great drawer. by Gia Donovan, Pecari

Gia enjoyed Care of Magical Creatures classes as she was sure most of her peers did. She was able to sit around and play with creatures during the lesson and to her that beat any other thing for that day. Gia didn’t have problems with other lessons or anything; she enjoyed them sometimes as equally as she did this class, but she also loved animals. How could a person not love them? They were instinctual and loyal to those they felt were a part of the family or pack. They didn’t brew hate for others or make judgements on what they don’t understand. Some Magical creatures might have more depth to them like the Kneazle, but it wasn’t anything that really changed the fact of how their minds worked. Gia felt safer with animals than she did with Humans sometimes.

She took one of the floating notebooks and set it down in front of her. Gia was never the sort of girl who kept journals or diaries. She knew her mother did. Her mother wrote about their travels and about her love of Gia’s father. She wrote about the dreams she would have during the night and the wishes she had for their future. Her mother enjoyed writing. If their lives had been easier, Gia thought her mother might have done it for a living or even just for fun. Gia felt that the things she wrote were much too sad for anyone to read and it made her feel sorry for their lives, which wasn’t very fair because her mother did her very best for them.

Gia made notes on what they were supposed to be doing with the notebooks. She could respect the use of them, but she wondered how studious she would be about them. That was a silly thought to have. Gia was very critical about her work and she would keep this journal up to date and in good order until she had to hand it in. Gia didn’t want to have to bring home a terrible grade to her mother and disappoint her. Gia would do well with this journal and maybe in the end would better understand her mother’s reasons for keeping one.

Her attention turned to those of the flitterbies. Gia thought there was something soothing about the moths. It was probably the humming sound that they made, but she thought that if she had one by her side at night, she would be able to focus on the humming rather than the sounds outside her window back home in Seattle. City life was still something she was adjusting to. She had mostly grown up in small towns in Greece, so noise was new to her.

Gia started working on the model of the moth first. Drawing always took time for her as she wasn’t that good at it and she was afraid that she would run out of time before the end of the class to complete it. She could observe the actual creature while she drew, so she was really multi-tasking with the assignment. Gia set the warm stone on her desk and waited until a moth came around and landed next to it.

She began to happily sketch out the moth as it twittered about in front of her. While she worked, apparently another moth was attracted to her stone and flew across her line of sight, startling her as she worked. Her quill jumped from her hands and rolled under the desk of the student next to her. “Excuse me, is it okay if I grab my quill from under your desk?” She asked politely.

The boy apparently didn’t hear her, “I dropped my quill and it rolled under your desk.” Gia repeated. “Would it be okay if I grab it?”

6 Gia Donovan, Pecari Not a great drawer. 308 Gia Donovan, Pecari 0 5

Kira

July 26, 2015 5:39 AM

Perhaps by Kira

Caelia's question only made Kira blush harder. "Oh, no, everything's fine. I just prefer wand based classes,that's all." It wasn't the whole truth, but she certainly wasn't about to explain about her inadequacies and feelings of being inferior to her cousin to her cousin's best friend, even if the older Crotalus did seem genuinely concerned. It was just that Kira didn't want to make things complicated and speak badly of Kelsey to Caelia. Well, it wasn't exactly speaking badly of her, she supposed, given that it seemed everything Kelsey did was right . Still, Kira didn't want it to come across that way.

Besides, it was also not appropriate to dump your feelings all over someone you'd only just met-especially if it got back to Kelsey about socially inept Kira was acting. Besides Amity had known-and disliked-a whole bunch of girls who'd been that and surely, Kira didn't want to be like people that one of her two favorite cousins-the other being Fabian-disliked. Amity had referred to them as parasites and the Crotalus didn't want to be a parasite. She only ever confided in Amity or Sophie, people she was closer too.

Most importantly though, Kira didn't want to open herself up to hurt and rejection and ridicule. Or having her private thoughts spread around the school. She knew what had been happening lately and even if Caelia Lucan was completely trustworthy, that didn't mean that someone less so wasn't nearby. Nobody knew who was spreading all these different rumors but she knew didn't want rumors spread about her . That was certainly not a good way to make an impression on others, if they believed them.

What Caelia said next caught Kira off guard just a bit. That wasn't really what she'd been expecting at all. She'd always thought that she was too akward for too many people to be enthused about being friends with her. When it came to making connections and friends, social skills tended to help a lot more than the ability to instantly enlarge or shrink a bit of fruit. In fact, part of Kira was just afraid that people would resent her if she did well, but at the same time, well, she felt good about doing good at wand work, and she should be allowed to feel good about herself! Even Father had seemed incredibly impressed and nothing had made Kira feel better than that.

She smiled at the second year. It was in her best interest to get along with Caelia Lucan given her friendship with Kelsey. Actually, Kira wouldn't be surprised if Kelsey set this up to prevent Kira from falling in with the "wrong sort" and keep an eye on her by absorbing her into a group with her and her friend. But from what she could see, Caelia was being quite genuine, that she wanted to actually talk to Kira. The first year just hoped that continued once they'd actually been speaking for awhile. "It's a pleasure to meet you too. So what's your favorite thing about being at Sonora?" Kira asked, hoping that question wasn't too boring or stupid or anything. She didn't want to mess this up. She needed a friend and she needed acceptance.

11 Kira Perhaps 320 Kira 0 5

Caelia

July 26, 2015 3:51 PM

I bet I can do you some good. by Caelia

Talking to the younger girl made Caelia feel good. Kira’s blushing and politesse was endearing and while talking to her Caelia didn’t feel the least bit inferior like she sometimes did with Emrys or Kelsey. She loved her brother a lot, but he was so much older than her and so much smarter than her and also so much more capable than her that sometimes Caelia felt as though she couldn’t do a lot of things. Likewise with her best friend, Kelsey, Caelia felt as though she were lacking something because Kelsey had always appeared to be more intelligent than the youngest Lucan. So, when Kira admitted her preference in classes Caelia was quick to nod her head in agreement. Wand based classes were easier for her because she could hide behind her magic and not have to worry about making inaccurate hypo-whatsits or mixing up different species of creatures or something like that. The only reason she was doing okay in that lesson that day was because it involved drawing which Caelia had always been rather good at.

“I agree,” she said. “There’s something very nice about being able to do something with your wand, isn’t there?” Though Caelia probably wasn’t the most powerful witch in the grade in the least, her abilities were slightly above normal which had pleased her because she knew intelligence wise she was far below normal and as such she felt the combination helped her to evenly balance out her academics so she didn’t make too awful of grades. She didn’t know Kira’s reasoning for liking wand work better than note taking like what they had to do in Professor Tallec’s class but Caelia was fine with not knowing. She was used to not knowing a lot of things, and so long as she didn’t know the exact reasoning she could pretend it was for similar issues with intelligence that Kira preferred wand-based work and that idea satisfied her quite well. It wasn't that she thought Kira was stupid nor that she hoped others weren't smart like she wasn't, but thinking in that vein sometimes made her feel less alone.

However, Caelia didn’t really know how to answer Kira’s question about her favorite part of Sonora. If Caelia was being completely honest, her favorite part was that her big brother was there and he could always help her whenever she needed. But that was more a reason as to why she liked her big brother. “There’s a lot of things to like,” she said diplomatically (or would have if she knew what that word meant). “I enjoy having my brother here the most, I think, but the dance club and the art club are also fun.” Caelia was a member of both groups even though she was more outspoken in the dance group. In art club Caelia kind of retreated into herself, trying her best to block out the others even though she loved to chatter as it helped her to concentrate. In dance club, however, she felt freer to express what she wanted—it was a safe environment.

“What about you? What sorts of things do you like about Sonora?”

10 Caelia I bet I can do you some good. 307 Caelia 0 5

Jemima

July 30, 2015 5:22 AM

I'm the chubberfly - feed me chocolate cake by Jemima

“Ok, so it needs warmth because it can't make it for itself, or it has trouble keeping it,” she mused, “Though that's not different to most butterflies. I don't think I've ever seen a butterfly that I'd describe as chubby,” she giggled at the thought, starting to draw such a thing on her scrap paper as she continued to talk. “So, why does this butterfly glow when others don't? It's magic... So, it just has a different ability to express what it wants and needs than non-magical butterflies do?” she pondered.

“I think most animals only develop things that are helpful to them to survive. Maybe it's a really sociable kind of butterfly, and when others see one that's not glowing so brightly they can help it out by leading it to warm places that they know about. Warmth isn't like food – it's not something you have to compete for – so it makes sense to share it.

“Unless you don't need it cos you're a fat little butterfly,” she grinned, holding up her doodle for Owen to see. It was kind of hard to make a butterfly look fat, given that there wasn't that much of them. She'd drawn its body fatter, emphasising chubby cheeks with a smile, and done big rounded wings, but in a two dimensional picture they looked more curved and cartoonish than actually fat. “I'm the chubbyfly,” she said, in a squeaky little voice, “Feed me chocolate cake!”

13 Jemima I'm the chubberfly - feed me chocolate cake 304 Jemima 0 5