Beginners: Cruppies! on Care of Magical Creatures

Professor Taransay

July 06, 2017 12:41 PM

Beginners: Cruppies! by Professor Taransay

Rory was in a particularly good mood today. He’d just reviewed the final edited version of the book he was writing with his friend Brett, and had sent it back to the publishers. Barring any unexpected problems, the book should be finished, and would be out for sale in the next few weeks. Assuming it met with success, Rory was hoping to write a few more books. He found that it went well with teaching, as he was able to do the research during the holidays and then balance writing with his teaching duties. He tried not to dwell on the fact that his original reason for writing was no longer applicable, and focused on the enjoyment he got from finding out more about his favourite creatures.

Originally, Rory had taken on the writing as a way to supplement his teaching income. Despite his fairly well-off background, he didn’t want to rely on family money, but still wanted to have enough to comfortably support a family. However, due to Amelle leaving Sonora, his plans to propose to her and start a family had fallen through. It had been a hard blow to the young man, and he had thrown himself into his work even more than usual in an attempt to get over the end of his relationship and the loss of the woman he loved.

“Hello, everyone,” he greeted his beginners as the students streamed into the classroom. After they had settled down, he took the register and began the lesson. Today’s lesson was more of a fun one, as they’d spent the last few weeks without any practical classes. Rory had got in touch with a local crup breeder, who had been happy to bring his some of his newest litters to visit.

“So, recently we’ve been looking at domesticated magical creatures,” Rory reminded his class. “Can anyone provide me with any information on crups, in particular?” Rory picked on various hands until he had a few facts on the animal in question. He liked to start the lesson by checking what his class could remember, seeing it as an opportunity to check that the class was doing their research and actually listening during lessons.

“So, today we have a litter of crup puppies for you to meet,” he announced, expecting excitement to follow. Even Rory, experienced as he was in the world of magical creatures, hadn’t been able to stop himself cooing over the cute little crup puppies (cruppies, as he’d renamed them).

“There aren’t enough for you to have a puppy each, so work in pairs or threes. You’ve got all the lesson to interact with them, and whilst doing so, I’d like you to complete this observation sheet.”

The observation sheet was split into various parts: physical appearance, behaviour, age, species characteristics, and so on. Rory liked to get his students used to observing the creatures, thinking about more than just how cute they were.

The puppies were about four months old, so able to be away from their mothers. Rory trusted his students to behave well around the animals, but still kept a close eye on them, just in case. You could never be too careful when there were creatures involved.

OOC: As usual, Rory will be there immediately if there are any problems or mistreatment of the animals. Feel free to call him over if wanted. You can decide the behaviour of your student’s puppy, but please don’t make them too wild or savage – assume they behave as standard muggle puppies of that age. House points will be given for students volunteering information on crups, and more information can be found here:http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Crup

Subthreads:

The short version is that I like crups. by Winston Pierce, Crotalus

9 Professor Taransay Beginners: Cruppies! 33 Professor Taransay 1 5

Winston Pierce, Crotalus

July 13, 2017 3:23 PM

The short version is that I like crups. by Winston Pierce, Crotalus

Winston did not see himself engaging with animals on a professional level. He expected he would go into finance, like his dad, and spend most of his day talking about investments and arguing with goblins. It would doubtless be a fairly dull career, but it was respectable and paid well, and it was what most male Pierces did when they grew up. Winston did not dare buck the tradition, not when his father's best claim to the Pierce estate was that he and his family were better at following Proper Traditions than Thaddeus and the Other Alicia were, and even Thaddeus went to work at the Pierce financial firm.

Uncle Duesius had not. Uncle Duesius was not Grandfather's primary heir, either, despite being the firstborn son. Winston was pretty sure that was because Duesius was a bit slow in the head rather than because he worked with animals instead of money, but he wasn't entirely sure of that, so thought it prudent to follow his father's example rather than his uncle's in terms of employment.

When Winston was being totally honest with himself, though, he kind of thought Duesius had the better job and was secretly envious of the dimwitted recluse. Duesius was usually happy. Father was often stressed. Duesius had fascinating stories (if frustrating to listen to given how slow Duesius talked). Father just brushed off questions about his workday. Duesius sometimes let Winston help out over the summers, feeding the less dangerous creatures he currently had boarding at his respite home and it was pretty cool. Father let him come in to work once a year, too, and it was all filling out forms and negotiating and it was unequivocally the most tedious day of his summer, especially when Father had him sit out in the hall doing nothing while he conducted 'important confidential meetings that children cannot attend.'

Hrmph. Winston was not a child. He was twelve. That was basically grown up.

But until he graduated, anyway, Father and Grandfather saw it otherwise, which, in this one respect was probably for the best. Because until that time, Winston could spend time at Duesius' respite home, and take Care of Magical Creatures at school for no other reason than because he liked it, and not have The Most Boring Job On Earth^TM.

Crups were probably the single most common animal Duesius took in. Kneazles were a close second, but he thought Crups had the edge. Kneazles were more independent, wizards could leave them home unattended for a few days without worrying about them overmuch. Crups, less so. Wizards with Crups usually wanted someone to watch their pet if they'd be away for more than a day, and the Mount Pierce Temporary Respite Home for Magical Creatures gave them the supervision and care they needed and lots of open space for running around.

So when Professor Tarnasay asked for information about crups, Winston's hand was one of the first in the air. As Duesius only took in domesticated magical creatures, Winston was doing very well this unit, and hoped it would secure him a solid O for the whole year. He normally performed at a high E/low O level in this class so he didn't think it would be a stretch.

"Crups are born with a forked tail," he disclosed to the class when he was called upon, feeling quite pleased with himself.

Once the short lecture was over, he went up to the front and collected one of the crup puppies. He gave it a little snuggle, partly so it would think well of him, but mostly because he couldn't entirely resist doing so. It was a puppy. It was basically instinctual behaviour. He checked the tag around the pup's collar and saw it was named Rusty. Not exactly original, but it suited the little dog.

Walking back to his seat, he caught the eye of one his classmates who didn't have one yet and asked, "Want to partner with me and Rusty here?" He pointed the puppy's face toward his future partner, feeling fairly certain nobody could say no to Rusty.

1 Winston Pierce, Crotalus The short version is that I like crups. 370 Winston Pierce, Crotalus 0 5