Lesson 1 - The Most Common Creature of All!

[Alec Linus]

Professor Alec Linus energetically swept through the heavy wooden doors and into the large stone chamber that was his classroom, his dark crimson robes billowing out behind him as he strode casually over to his ornate oak desk at the far end of the room. His desk (dark brown in color with carvings of sitting hounds for legs) seemed out of place in the relatively empty chamber; there were no other desks or tables to be found, only several wooden stools scattered about in random fashion. On the wall behind the desk was a giant stained-glass window depicting several noble dogs, most likely Mastiffs, in dark colors. It was the only source of natural light in the room, the rest of the dim lighting coming from bright torches burning along the walls. Of all these curious features, the one that dominated the room the most was the massive dragon skeleton that hung from the ceiling, positioned as if it were about to breathe fire at the entrance of the room. It was this skeleton that Professor Linus glanced at after taking a moment to appraise the various young witches and wizards on the stools before him, their gazes more-or-less locked upon the intimidating mass of bones in awe.
"His name was Thade." Professor Linus stated with a charming English accent, fighting a grin as several students jumped from the shock of his voice suddenly breaking the silence. "He was a Ukranian Ironbelly; the largest breed of dragon known to exist. Not an easy party to bring down, let me assure you. But, that's a lesson for another time!"
He clapped his hands together (causing a few more students to jump) and chuckled a bit, smiling warmly.
"Welcome to the Care of Magical Creatures class at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Allow me to introduce myself! I..." he bowed dramatically, "...am your professor, Alec Linus!"
Rising, Professor Linus began to slowly stroll around the room, moving his arms in a very animated way as he spoke.
"To briefly give you some insight into my background...I graduated from The Durmstrang Institute in northern Europe with excellent marks in The Dark Arts, History of Magic, and the field that landed me this position: Magical Creature Studies. Since graduation I've traveled the globe, getting loads of hands-on experience with magic and creatures that most witches and wizards will never see in their life times..." he leaned in and dropped his voice, as if offering a side-note, "...and had more racy fun that most ever will as well!"
He laughed along with a few Slytherins, and then motioned to the front of the room where his desk was.
"Finally, as you may have noticed from the legs of my desk and the depiction on my window, my favorite creature is the English Mastiff! The largest breed of dog in the world, as you'll soon see when my own pet Mastiffs arrive from my previous residence!"
"Now that you know who I am..." Professor Linus clapped again, but the mood was much lighter this time so no one jumped. He returned to the front of the room and faced the class. "...we come to our very first lesson of the year! We shall be starting relatively easy, learning about the most common magical creature of all: Us!"
He waved his arms, motioning to the class with a knowing grin.
"After all, we are creatures. Magical in nature. Therefore, we are magical creatures! And, literally the most common ones you shall ever encounter, especially here at wizarding school!"
Professor Linus leaned casually against his desk, holding himself up with one arm while he placed the hand from the other on his chest.
"Now, I've told you three important things about myself. So, your first lesson will be this: Pick ONE of your fellow classmates, get to know them, and write down THREE facts about them on a piece of parchment. Simple! You'll have the entire period to mingle with your peers. Your facts can be any facts you want; Favorite color, favorite food, favorite animal, etc. But know this! I shall be watching and checking to make sure that your facts are valid! So no cheating, or you'll find a hellish number of points deducted from your respective House!"
With that, Professor Linus hopped up on his desk and smiled, a sparkle of red glimmering in his dark eyes.
"Begin!"

*****

((OOC: Now obviously, you don't HAVE to ask another Player Character in the class for your facts, although that would be more interesting! You may play a Non-Player Character "student" to use in this one lesson.))

[Griffin Sosario]

As Griffin walked into his first lesson of Care of Magical Creatures, his eyes were immediately drawn to the large skeleton of a dragon hanging from the ceiling. He stared in awe for a moment, blocking the doorway. "Uh, you wanna move sometime today?"said an irritable Slytherin behind him. He blushed and walked to one of the stools that were positioned around the room, careful not to walk under the dragon.

His first opinion of the professor was, overly cocky and slightly annoying. He was so dumb, here they were in a class to learn about magical creatures and here he was teaching us about the human race of witches and wizards. He had a feeling that he wouldn't learn much in this class.

When they were told to pick a partner and to ask them three questions, he just asked a Hufflepuff boy that was seated closest to him. "Okay," said Griffin to the boy, "What is your name?" He answered Luke. "What is your favorite color?" He answered green. "What is your favorite animal?" He answered lion. "And what is your favorite food?" He answered Shepard's pie.

When it was the boy's turn to ask questions, he decided to be lazy and just repeat the questions that Griffin had asked him. Griffin answered, "My favorite color is orange, my favorite animal is unicorn, and my favorite food is fish and chips." Griffin then proceeded to write down his questions and answers and turned them in.

Questions:
His name is Luke.
1. What is his favorite color? green
2. What is his favorite animal? lion
3. What is his favorite food? Shepard's pie

[Alyss Lockhart]

Alyss walked into class for her first lesson of Care of Magical Creatures. She immediately noticed the massive dragon skeleton that hung from the ceiling, this causing her to stop in her tracks.

Alyss continued to pace her way to one of the randomly scattered stools around the room, she hesitantly sat down, wondering what kind of a professor this one could be like.

As the professor walked in the room, Alyss drew her attention to him still watching the dragon out of the corner of her eye. Alyss got the impression that he was so assured of himself. As professor Linus began stating things of himself, the class and the first assignment, Alyss examined the room and the other students, thinking of who to ask the questions to for the first lesson.

Alyss noticed a Hufflepuff boy beside her. She leaned in and asked if he would be her partner, he shyly said yes. "So, What is your name?" asked Alyss. "Charles." answered the boy. "What is your favorite sport?" "Rugby." he answered. "What is your favorite food?" "Escargot." he answered. "What is your favorite holiday?"
"Christmas." he answered.

It was Charles' turn to ask Alyss and all he changed in the questioning was "What is you favorite animal?"Alyss thinking he was uncreative answered "My name is Alyss, My favorite sport is cricket, My favorite food is Scotch broth, and My favorite animal is a white tiger." Alyss finished her paper and turned it in.

Her paper read,
Questions:
My partners name is Charles
1.What is your favorite sport? Rugby
2.What is your favorite food? Escargot
3.What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

[Sophia Marianne]

When Narcissa walked into the room, she wasn't overly surprised about the presence of the giant dragon skeleton that her sister, Bellatrix, had told her about. The skeleton seemed a lot more... scarier than how Bella had described it.

Taking a seat and placing her books down in the desk, she watched as the professor swept into the large room and surprising most of the other students to attention.

'Hmm... This must be that professor that Bella had been talking about. What was his name again? ... Oh, I think it was Professor Linus. He is rather cute.'

Cissy blushed at this thought. How could she think about a professor this way? She mentally kicked herself and paid attention to what Professor Linus was saying, writing down notes as he spoke. She was a little shocked about the first assignment. She had to talk to someone.

Now, Cissy is a particularly shy girl. The only people she can openly talk to are her sisters, Bella and Andy.

Cissy looked around the room, noticing that other students had already started chatting with others and finishing their first assignment.

"Umm...Do you want to be my partner?" A quiet voice said.

Cissy turned around to face a girl that also looked shy.

"Oh! Umm... Okay." Cissy replied, smiling at the girl.

'Yay! Another girl that's just like me.'

"My name's Narcissa, but you can call me Cissy. What's your name?"

"Oh! I'm Melissa, but my parents call me Mel."

'Mel, what a cute nickname.'

"What house are you in? I'm in Ravenclaw."

"Really? Ravenclaw? That's the same as my sister Andy. I'm in Slytherin though, same as my other sister Bella."

'I feel sorry for Andy being in Ravenclaw. Maybe Ravenclaw isn't so bad afterall.'

"Yeah, I'm in Ravenclaw. It's not bad, the people are nice and smart too. Hmm... Slytherin, I haven't really heard anything much about them, I think. Bella... I think I've heard about her before."

"Umm... Well then... What else should I ask? Why did you choose this class?"

"I like animals, especially magical ones!" Mels eyes seemed to glitter at the response, her hands clasped together.

"Eh? I love animals too!"

"Okay, we're nearly finished now. How many sibling do you have?"

"Oh! I have two sisters that I've mentioned already, Bella and Andy."

"Wow, I only have a brother that's in the second year."

"Hehe, now we only need to write it down." Cissy said, pulling out a piece of parchment and writing down a title for the assignment.

Facts about a fellow classmate.

My partner, Melissa, is in the house, Ravenclaw. She had signed up for this class because she likes animals, especially magical creatures. Mel also has one brother and he is in his second year.

After correcting a few spelling mistakes, Cissy headed over to where Professor Linus sat and placed her assignment onto his desk, unable to look him in the eye. Blushing, she walked back over to her seat and sat back down to pack her stuff up for the end of the period.

'I'm glad I made a friend already.' She thought, glancing towards Mel and smiling at her.

[Na-Na-Na-Nathan !]

Late late late late.
Jesus Christ - why in the world was there nothing so simple as a pocket watch in this school? Everything here was so weird and crazy and not practical in the slightest. Oh, you want the time? Look at this impossible to decipher sundial, or, you know, look at the sun yourself. Or, if you're feeling really overachieving, you can examine the results you get from boiling tea leaves, divide that by the position of the sun, multiply that by the position of the stars and the number of constellations in the sky, add the month, divide (again) by the state of the moon, and then bullshit some answer.
How that could ever possibly help anyone was simply beyond him - but hey, it seemed to work for Wizards.

With a shake of his head, Nathan stumbled into the classroom.
And promptly had a heart attack.

"GAAHHHHH!

[/color]"

Big scary threatening dragon that was aimed right at him oh god it was going to eat him and then he'd be dead and his parents would be sorry but no one would pay for the funeral anyway-
Nathan stood shock-still as his head fumbled with his state; scared out of his mind but not running or attempting to defend himself. Maybe if he was frozen still enough, the big, nasty thing would simply get bored.
W-wait. It was a bone dragon. Bones meant it was dead, right? Well, usually - he couldn't speak for wizard dead things. Uuuugh, knowing them, it was probably very likely to be alive... somehow.
Though, now that he was looking, the other students looked pretty calm, sitting on stools and not paying attention to the man-eating skeleton of the largest freaking dragon he'd ever seen (not that he'd seen many dragons, but still).

So, with the reasonable deduction that it was either safe to go on through, or the dragon had placed everyone under some sort of spell and was preparing to eat them all as soon ad he sat down, Nathan inched on past, eying the skeleton suspiciously as he made his way to one of the stools at the edge of the room.
Probably had made a fool of himself, screaming like that. Ohhh! What if that meant that everyone all ready had a poor opinion of him?
Great. Just his freaking luck.
Why had he had to get that stupid letter?

Nathan, deciding that he had embarrassed himself well enough for one class period, started acting very interested at the floor and didn't look up until the Professor swept his way into the classroom.

Okay, so... the dragon was most definitely dead. Also, he was from... another Wizarding school? There was more than one?! Damn it! That got rid of the whole, "hey, let's get expelled here and go back home and farm and stuffs" plan.
Durn.

Also, he liked... dogs. Okay. That was cool. Nathan was more of a rabbit person, but different strokes.
Wait, they were magical creatures? Nathan certainly didn't feel magical. This magic stuff... it was really confusing and he honestly doubted that he'd ever get the hang of it. Honestly, the entire "I put on my robe and my Wizard's hat" thing... it wasn't agreeing with him.
Though, if all he had to do was get to know someone maybe this class wouldn't be so bad. Yeah....
Besides, animals had this habit of agreeing with him, anyway. Usually. Not that he would even go within three miles of one of those Ukrainian Dragon thingie-ma-bobs if it was alive.

But, uhhm, who to choose? Who could he talk to? Oooh! He was getting some weird looks from some people... uhhhm.
They probably could just tell that he was muggle-born and therefore inferior to them. Probably. Knowing Wizards, they could smell it.
Weirdos.

Due to his dilly-dallying with finding someone, by the time he made himself look readily available, there was only one person left - some guy with dark, brown hair, yellow eyes, and a weird bandanna thing.
Just. His. Luck.

"Errm, hi! I-I'm Nathan, and I guess there's no one else left but us two. Uuuh... so... why did you take this class?[/color]"
The other boy shot him what could have been the nastiest look in the world, and started to chew on his wand as if in thought.
"I'm Leon, and I took this bullshit class because I was required to. I fucking hate animals, I'm allergic to most of them, and you smell like a barn. I bet you have animal fur just all over you - so stand far away from me. Come on. Leave.[/color]"

Nathan edged a little back, lowering himself and placing his hands behind his back. Great. Simply great. He talks to someone and they decide that he smells bad and yell at him. Also, they use words at him that his parents didn't allow in his house. Meaniebutt.
"But, uhm, wait - don't you need to get to know about... about me or something?[/color]"

The other boy rolled his eyes, and shot him another nasty glare.
"Pffft. I know all I need to know about you. You're obnoxious, a farm-kid, smell like germs, and, by the looks of it, are a total flamer. What the hell is up with your hair, kid? Seriously.[/color]"
"Oh, uhmm... if you're so sure....[/color]"
"Yeah. I am.[/color]"

Nathan wasn't going to even ask what a 'flamer' was. By the tone of the guy's voice, it couldn't be anything good.
Though, he did wonder what was so bad about his hair. He thought it looked nice, at least.

Not knowing what else to do, Nathan sat on his stool for the remainder of the class period, only remembering that he had to write something down at the end of it. Ooops.
He gave a little bounce as he turned it in, and then scampered off to his next class - probably going in the wrong direction.


My Questions:
My partner's name was Leon, and he was really mean!
He's allergic to lots of animals!
He's only takes this class because he has to, and in my opinion he seems rather bitter about it.
He likes to chew on his wand, and I think that means he has an oral fixation and I think you should really look out for that because maybe he'll start smoking or something gross like that.

♥ Nathan

[/color]


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[Samantha Jordan]

Samantha eagerly entered the stone classroom, as she was looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures class. She noticed there were no desks, only stools spaced randomly around the room, so she found one near the front of the room. She looked around at the other students in the room, as well as the ones just coming in. Like her, some seemed to be giddy with excitement, as was apparent on their faces; some of the others, a small Hufflepuff girl in particular, were looking around nervously, as though they were expecting some horrible monster to appear out of nowhere. All of a sudden, her eyes locked on the crimson robes the tall, pale, dark-haired professor was wearing.

When he clapped his hands, she jumped along with some of her fellow students. Her eyes became huge when he introduced the dragon skeleton hanging above their heads. While she thought dragons were cool, she hoped she would never have to face one. When he introduced himself as Professor Linus, with a flourished bow, she chuckled to herself. He then went on to explain about a very common creature: “us!”

When he was done explaining, Samantha looked around for a partner. She noticed one of the Hufflepuff boys had not been paired up yet, so she got up from her stool and walked over to him.

Pulling one of the stools closer to him, she started pulling things out of her bag. “Hi there! My name is Samantha, what’s yours?” The boy gave her a hesitant look, taken slightly aback by the fact that she wanted to pair up with him. In a nervous tone, he answered her. “Gerald Mostafavi, although my friends call me Gerry.” He then proceeded to take stuff out of his bag as well.

Prefers to be called Gerry, Samantha wrote on her piece of parchment. “What’s your favorite color Gerald?”[/color] “Gerry, please, and it’s silver. How about you?”

“Sorry, Gerry. My favorite color is brown, because I love being outside.” Gerry wrote this down on his piece of parchment. He then thought long and hard about his next question. He didn’t want to ask any other obvious questions, so he asked the first unusual one that came to his mind:

“What is your favorite spell to perform?”

Samantha had to think about this question, because she hadn’t had much experience with spells. When she had finally reached a decision, she said confidently, “Muffliato, since my sister and I didn’t necessarily like to be overheard,” as Gerry wrote down the spell name (with some difficulty). “Mine is Rictusempra, because I like making people laugh, even when I’m not funny.”

“Well that makes three for me; how about you?” Samantha asked Gerry. “I still need one more from you. What’s your favorite class of Hogwarts?” Without missing a beat, Samantha told him that she enjoyed anything outdoors, such as Herbology.

When they both finished writing things down on their pieces of parchment, they went to the professor’s desk together to turn them in. Samantha and Gerry proceeded back to where they were sitting, cleaned up their supplies, and left the room. As soon as they went out the door, they started talking again, as they were becoming fast friends.

[peanut]

Bridget was in class before the teacher and sat there patiently. She did, however, feel incredibly uncomfortable, as the room had ugly dogs in it as well as a giant awkward bone dragon. It actually made her jump when she walked in. She certainly hoped that the teacher wasn't some creepy weirdo.

She was, of course, happy to find out he wasn't. She was unhappy to see that the teacher was a male. Worse, an arrogant male. And even worse than that, he proved her theory that male teachers are incompetent by bragging about his own feats then asking the students to interview each other. It didn't help that Bridget was shy either.

Luckily, she didn't have to pick anyone to chat with. Some Slytherin girl sat next to her and started talking. "Yo. I'm Lorin," the girl said. Bridget managed to stutter out her name.

"Shy too? Heh, I suppose you don't like this assignment." Bridget nodded. She didn't like the assignment at all. She also was biting her lip and looking at the floor. She hated being shy.

Lorin nodded and said, "Then I'll make this easy. Just nod or shake your head. Do you like animals? Do you have siblings? I don't like this assignment either, I think animals are okay, and I have no siblings." Bridget nodded at liking animals then shook her head at siblings. After that, she managed to stammer out a thanks at the Slytherin girl, Lorin. In response, she said it wasn't a problem, scribbiled down her answerrs, winked and walked off.

Sighing in relief, Bridget wrote:
I'm Bridget Miller.
My partner was Lorin, from Slytherin.
She disliked this assignment, has no sliblings, and thinks animals are "okay."

Putting down her quill, she hoped that would suffice. After all, it was three facts about this Lorin girl. She turned in the paper, then happily left that horrid class, hoping next time it would be better.