A pretty picture on Care of Magical Creatures

Lawrence Marsh

June 05, 2020 10:16 AM

Fire Fire Burning Bright in a cold and darken... room. [Advanced] by Lawrence Marsh

Instructions had been left on the board. He’d reminded students in the class before that they would not be meeting in the classroom but in the owlry. If he’d learned anything in his time at Sonora, it was that one of his students was going to be late. In his mind he’d laid bets on Parker, but he knew that wasn’t quite fair. It could be anyone.

Lawrence stood with his hands behind his back and the door closed behind him. He was already wearing his warm jacket, which was causing him to sweat a bit. That combined with the general anxious energy he had whenever he was about to start a lesson meant he was fairly warm underneath. Going through the door would be heavenly. He had warm jackets hanging outside the door for each of his students as well. Since it was an advanced class it meant they were a smaller group. One that was more focused on this sort of thing going forward.

As the students came he greeted each and waited. Once he was sure all of them were there, Lawrence started in.

“Good morning class. Raise your hands, how many of you read the chapter last night on Phoenixes?” he counted the hands raised. “Ok. What are some of their defining features?” He called on one of the raised hands. “That’s right. Red in color. Tail is hot, and of course everyone’s favorite it can rise from its own ashes. Thank you. Now, those of you who read the chapter earlier about Hoo-Hoos. Who can tell me some of their characteristics?” Lawrence called on someone else. “Thank you. That’s right, they are much more colorful with the five primary colors. They also are hot to the touch, and their defense mechanism is a fireball of some sort.”

“Now, these two birds seem to be fairly different and yet similar as well. So much so that there is an entire group of birds called “Fire Birds” classified by the Ministry. Today, we are going to document another type. One that has some of the same characteristics as the previous two and some different ones. For today I would like you each to split into groups of two. You will then create a list of characteristics about the bird through observation, including habitat, feeding, physical characteristics. You are doing field notes of the bird. So remember what I taught you about field notes. Details matter. Get as focused as you can. Work with your partner so you can split up what to observe. It is cold in there, so, the coats,” Lawrence said, indicating the coats behind him.

“You will then use those observations to write a five page paper, less fun I know. The paper can be on any aspect of Fire Birds that you would like. I’d like you to combine information you’ve been able to record yourself as well as research you do. This paper will be your final this term and we’ll be working on it throughout the fall. So for those who want to get a final out of the way before they have to study, you can do that. We will be discussing how to do research in the library and create a research paper. At the same time, Zhar-Petitsya here will be available for all advanced students to observe as you may need multiple observations to make a point. Today though, you do not need to worry about much of that. I merely want you to sit, or stand, and observe and note.”

With that Lawrence opened the door to reveal a room that looked far larger than the outside indicated and covered in ice, snow and fir trees. Sitting on the branch of the second tree back from the door was a bright bird. Reds and yellows flowing from it’s head to its tail. The brightness of the bird meant that there was no other light source in the room. The heat from the bird, though fairly high, was not enough to counteract the cooling charms. Steam did rise from the branch the bird sat on rising above them into the roof of the room only to cool down and fall as snow.

“Alright guys, I’ll be here to answer any questions.”

OOC:
Some resources

Information on the Firebird: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebird_(Slavic_folklore)
Phoenix: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Phoenix
Hoo-hoo (aka Fenghuan): https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Hoo-hoo and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenghuang
Tips on Field Notes: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/take-note-tips-for-keeping-a-field-notebook/

41 Lawrence Marsh Fire Fire Burning Bright in a cold and darken... room. [Advanced] 1462 1 5

Jasmine Delachene

June 25, 2020 11:43 AM

A pretty picture by Jasmine Delachene

Jasmine arrived at the owlry just about on time. She'd almost gone to the regular classroom but remembered partway there that today it would be held in a different place, so she was marginally later than she would have been if she'd remembered from the start, but not late enough to actually be late. Jasmine didn't like to be late. It was better to be on time or early, and so she usually was. Whatever other failings her professors might hold against her, her punctuality wasn't one of them.

When the professor asked who did the reading, her hand went up. She'd done the reading. How much of it she had accurately retained was a different matter, but she'd definitely read it. She did generally have a much better retention level for her CoMC readings than she did with her other subjects, though, so she might even be able to correctly answer questions about Pheonixes today.

Her hand stayed up as he asked about defining features, and she supplied that they burst into flames when they died, but then magically resurrected themselves as a baby pheonix from the ashes. Of course, she knew this from just basically knowing what a pheonix was in general, rather than because she'd done the reading. It was, as he'd asked for, a defining feature. To prove she'd actually done the reading, she continued, "Also, they're red, and they have tails that are hot to the touch."

She only preened a little bit as her answer was confirmed as correct. He moved on, reminding them about Hoo-Hoo birds from the previous chapter. She remembered less about the Hoo-Hoo birds, as that reading had been done less recently, but she did associate them with colorfulness and fire, so that should at least get her partial credit on the next test about them.

The five page final he described sounded like a lot of writing, but at the same time, Jasmine felt it was probably better for her than an actual exam. Fire birds would not have been her topic of choice, of course, but at least she wouldn't need to worry about a class final on top of the RATS at the end of the year. And really, there were worse things than fire birds. At least they were interesting and not terrifyingly dangerous.

She pulled on one of the provided coats (a much heavier one than anything the Southern Californian personally owned), and took a moment to cast two extra charms before going inside - one a warming charm to help keep the rest of her, especially her hands, comfortable while in the cold room, and another to make the coat look pretty.

As she entered, her eyes widened a bit. She had not known the owlry had a roost like this in it, and these were definitely not owls.

She pulled out a parchment and quill and began to take observations as they were supposed to be doing. *Sar Petsya is a very beautiful and regal bird, with brilliant vibrant feathers. It is a large bird, standing about two feet tall and having long flowing plummage that extends the tail out about six feet. It casts light, illuminating its surroundings with warm colors.* She looked to the side, noting another student standing near enough to converse with. As they were supposed to be working in pairs, she assumed the other had approached to be her partner, so she skipped right over to the practicalities of their partnership. "Do you want to take notes on the bird's behavior, and I'll cover the physical appearance? Or would it be better for us to both take notes on everything we see?"

1 Jasmine Delachene A pretty picture 1397 Jasmine Delachene 0 5