Lesson Two - Le Rrrawr

[Dinah Mills]

Care of Magical Creatures class was held in the empty clearing once again. This time Dinah had conjured up stools and a long table they could sit at. At each stool lay a dragon hide apron and pair of dragon hide gloves. Dinah was running late today and the students had already gathered around the table. Hefting the large box that was emitting strange growls and occasionally a burst of flame Dinah placed it on the table.

"Whew! That was heavy. Sorry for being late. I didn't realize that this much magic in a box would not tolerate a simple levitating spell." With that mysterious comment she crossed to the other side of the table and slid the box over to her. Sliding on her dragon hide gloves and apron Dinah looked around at the students. "I suggest you put yours on as well."

More growls emanated form the box and it shook a little. "Shh, my darlings. Patience." Hopefully the students would realize the soft crooning was meant for the box not for them.

Lifting one of the creatures out of the box Dinah waited for the oohs and aahs to settle down. It was a miniature dragon. One of her first successful experiments that had gone off rather well. Pet-sized dragons. This one was a beautiful silvery-blue, it's scales shimmered in the sunlight that broke through the trees. It rubbed against Dinah's hand and hopped gently to her shoulder blowing out a small spurt of sapphire flame.

"I have a couple of questions for you today before we get into homework. " Reaching up a hand she again petted the little creature on her shoulder.

"In the box are one of each of the ten types of dragons, a mini breed that was very difficult to make." Dinah had a minor flashback on trying to force two dragons who didn't like each other to breed. Not to mention trying to get their eggs away from them.

"Before we get into what we are doing today I want someone to list at least two of the ten types of dragons. The second question I have is can anyone identify this little beauty on my shoulder?" Dinah smiled at the little silvery-blue beauty in question.

((Go ahead and post coming in before Dinah and RP for a bit if you like. I won't post homework until after someone answers the questions to give RP time if you like... five points per question today so if you can't answer one leave it for someone else and you will still get five points))

[Moki Kagawa]

Moki decided it was a good idea to actually be on time to the second Care of Magical Creatures class, considering she had been appallingly late for the first. To her unpleasant surprise, however, she had overestimated the amount of time it would take her to reach the clearing and nobody was there yet. Oh well. At least it wasn't just her and Professor Mills. It wasn't that she didn't like the professor, it was just that Moki alone anywhere with a professor of any kind was always a very unnerving thing. She never knew what would happen to her. Some had bad habits of racking up a list of her offenses but never saying anything about them to her until they had the opportunity to catch her off guard and by herself. After waiting a minute or two for the arrival of her classmates, plopped down on her arse in the grass and began picking it while she waited. A juvenile activity, perhaps, but picking grass was better than... well, picking something else.

[Maeve Campbell]

Maeve dashed into the Care of Magical Creatures clearing because well she was Maeve. She dashed, ran, skipped, jogged, anything but walked to get where she was going. Tripping over Moki she landed on the grass. Laughing she tugged her coppery mess out of her eyes. "Ooops." Seeing who it was her smile got even broader. "Hey, Moki! Haven't seen you in awhile! Homework getting you down? At least first year homework isn't too bad, even if some of it is weird." Realizing she babbling she clamped her mouth shut and looked at Moki apologetically.

[George Knox]

George had imagined that attending classes for the second time would be a little better but yet they still seemed torturous. He was quite intelligent but that didn’t mean that he would like his class. His extremely brainy older brother had put a slight damper on the whole idea of class. Even if George was the number one student in all of his classes it would never been enough to impress his parents more than his brother had. Even if they did say they were proud of both their sons and both their daughters George didn’t believe it. Joey had always had that edge even over their twin sisters who had been the first borns. George’s mind was probably making it all up but he had seen and heard it and his sisters agreed with him. It was just one of those things and something that he had to deal with much to his disappointment.

Care of Magical Creatures class however was something that George actually felt he was good at and had surprisingly enjoyed the first lesson. Grabbing his stuff George started walking down to the grounds which took a little longer than it perhaps should have due to his dawdling’s. Eventually George arrived at the clearing to see Moki and Maeve already there. He was nice having two great people in the class it helped make things move along a little quicker. Standing next to them George listened to Professor Mills as she explained the lesson for them. The lesson was on Dragons, which George felt a little more comfortable with than he had with the Bowtruckles. He would rather get burnt by a dragons flames than be scratched by the sharp pointed hands that the Bowtruckles had. Even though Dragons also had sharp claws that could probably rip your eyes out easily.

The professor had asked the class to answer some questions, two in fact. George knew the answer to both but he didn’t know whether he should blurt out the answer for both or let one of the other students to have a go. Deciding to answer just one George spoke him up. ”I think the dragon on your shoulder is a Swedish Short-Snout if I am correct?” George felt a little geeky answering questions two weeks in a row but it was better than him standing there quietly and getting no credit for something that he actually knew, or thought he knew. His parents had told him to apply himself more in class and this was his compromise. He’d always like Magical Creatures so the lesson was slightly more appealing that the others he took.

[Dinah Mills]

Dinah almost grinned but restrained herself to a small smile of approval at George. She didn't think he was being a suck up or prat. she figured he just wanted House Points and that was why she asked these questions, to get a bit more of action out of her students.

"Thank you, George." She said in a cool voice. "Five points to Ravenclaw. Now can anyone name two more breeds of dragons other than the Swedish Short Snout?"

She looked aorund at the other students. She figured correctly that perhaps George was giving them a chance to earn points for their Houses and give him a chance not to look like a teacher's pet. So instead of waiting for a response to her question, she singled out a young Slytherin girl. "Moki...do you know of two dragon breeds that exist today?"

[Moki Kagawa]

Moki was becoming more and more impressed with George's knowledge. Apparently there was a reason he was in Ravenclaw, even if he didn't admit to being really smart. She was contemplating this when she heard her name being called.

"Moki...do you know of two dragon breeds that exist today?"

Ah, shit. Moki hated answering questions in class. Usually she knew what she was talking about but managed to mangle the words enough so it sounded like she didn't have a clue. Aaaahhh. Okay, so what did Professor Mills want again? Two dragon breeds? She had to know of at least two dragon breeds. She had an uncle who did something with dragons in Japan. Once he'd let her see some of them behind her mother's back. That was awesome. Her favorite was always the- "Antipodeon Opaleye," she said aloud. That thing was gorgeous. What else had she seen? That one from like... Turkey or something... no, Norway, that was it. The only reason she remembered that is because she knew it had its origin in its name. It was like a... Norway Hornback or something. Good grief, why couldn't she think on her feet? She had a terrifying feeling she was confusing two types of dragons. Okay, forget that one, then. What was the one everyone knew? That funky green one? She made a face and painstakingly answered, "Welsh Green?" She thought that was right, but she wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't.

[Dinah Mills]

Dinah's dark eyebrows rose into her dark hair. Apparently Moki knew more than Dinah had given her credit for. She would have to watch this girl. She might just have brains after all.

Allowing a small smile to curve her lips she replied, "Good, Moki. Five points for Slytherin." Lifting Beauty off her shoulder Dinah replaced the dragon into the box. Immediately growls and bouts of fire emitted from the box. Dinah leaned over and lovingly whispered, "Shh, my dears. You'll all get out soon enough."

Turning to look at the students she spoke decisively, "All right then. No more playing around. Time to get to work." For all the world as if the children had been delaying class. "Your classwork today is to come up front and pick out your favorite dragon. Take it back to your seat and demonstrate how to clean their wings and claws. If you wish you may take your dragon with you and care for it the entire day. Just remember not to let them get too hungry."

Waving her wand a blackboard appeared behind her. Another flick of her wand and a large paragraph appeared. "On the board behind me is a brief description of the different breeds of dragons so you know which dragon you are picking."

Antipodean Opaleye: New Zealand and Australia, iridescent pearly scales, flame: scarlet red

Chinese Fireball: China, scarlet scales with golden spikes around the face, flame: mushroom shaped

Common Welsh Green: Wales, green scales, flame: narrow jets

Hebridean Black: Hebrides Island, scales are dark and rough with spikes on the tail, eyes: bright purple

Hungarian Horntail: Hungary, black scales with bronze horns and spikes on tail, eyes: yellow

Norwegian Ridgeback: black scales, bronze horns, black ridges on back, fangs are generally venomous (Dinah notation: my mini- Ridgeback is not venomous due to Ministry regulations, the fangs are still sharp though)

Peruvian Vipertooth: Peru, smooth scales, copper colored, short horns, venomous fangs (see above notation)

Romanian Longhorn: Romania, dark green scales, long glittering golden horn

Swedish Short Snout: Sweden, silvery-blue scales, brilliant blue flame, sweet disposition for a dragon

Ukrainian Ironbelly: Ukraine, metallic grey scales, deep red eyes, largest breed of dragon even in miniatures

((ASSIGNMENT IN MUNDANE TERMS: just do an RP post picking out your dragon and describe what happens. Get creative and enjoy some havoc if you like. >_< No PMs necessary and your character can carry the dragon around for the day if you want. I will post again if injuries occur otherwise it's all up to the students.))

[Moki Kagawa]

[ooc] Sorry... missed Maeve's intro there!

Oh thank goodness. There was some justice in the world. That answer was right. She really nearly laughed, because Professor Mills looked so utterly surprised that it was. Moki was too, honestly, but, still. It was funny.

"Hey, Moki! Haven't seen you in awhile! Homework getting you down? At least first year homework isn't too bad, even if some of it is weird."

She laughed at Maeve's sentiments. "Yeah, definitely agreed. I've had a bit, but nothing too horrible. One or two assignments have left me banging my head against the wall, though, admittedly. Sometimes I wish I'd been a Ravenclaw, they've got lots of brains." Moki wrinkled her nose.

Getting back to business, she smiled as Professor Mills explained the assignment to them. They got to pick a dragon and carry it around with them??? That was awesome! She knew she was going to like this class a lot! With an excited glance at George and Maeve, she bounced towards the box where the dragons were, and gasped. They were all so beautiful. She wanted to check out a new breed. The Romanian Longhorn caught her eye, with its long and glittering golden horn... um, so that was where the name came from. Wow. She felt kind of stupid for not realizing that to begin with.

"Hi!" she said happily, as she carefully picked the little green dragon out of the box. "Oh my goodness, you're gorgeous!" The dragon seemed pleased and responded by showing her its teeth. That was a little unnerving, but if you really looked, it almost seemed to be smiling. So maybe that was alright. As long as it wasn't clamping the pointy things down on her, she wasn't going to worry.

[George Knox]

Reading the descriptions on the board George tried to decide what dragon he wanted to choose. Thinking about it in his mind he changed his choice a couple of times until he finally decided on the Swedish Short Snout. He liked their colouring and with them having a sweet disposition was even better. Hopefully that decreased the risk of him getting his eyebrows burnt off he was quite attached to them. Walking over to the boxes George picked the correct box and took out one of the Swedish Short Snout dragons. The silvery blue dragon seemed to appreciate being out in the open rather than shut away in its box. Now it was time for George to clean the dragon which he wasn’t too sure how to but he would try his best cleaning was quite self-explanatory afterall. If he was doing the cleaning wrong he could always get his technique corrected by the professor.

Taking the box and dragon with him George moved to an area away from the other dragons and a place with a little more space. Picking up a cloth George dipped it into some water and began wiping over the dragons body with it. This was the only way he could think to clean a dragon so if he was wrong he had no idea how else you could clean a dragon. While wiping over the dragon George had been a little unsure at first but the dragon seemed quite appreciative of the cleaning and didn’t look like it wanted to burn him. There were a few accidental hiccups of flames here and there but thankfully George was out of the way so he didn’t get burnt. Luck was on his side.

George used smaller sections of the cloth to wipe over the dragons head/face so that it didn’t get overwhelmed. It wasn’t long before the young dragons scales were nice a clean and somewhat shinning in the autumn sunlight. George though that the little dragon looked reasonably clean to begin with but now he had had another wash he was extra clean. Now all George had to do was to clean his claws. Picking up the dragon George set him down on a perch so that he could get to his claws. The claws looked just as harmful George expected his bright blue flamed breaths were.

Taking a small section of the cloth George dipped it in the water again and began wiping over each individual claw. It was quite hard considering the dragon was miniature so that meant its claws were also. Once he was finished George took the dragon from the perch and rested him on his shoulder. At first he had thought it wouldn’t be a good idea as the claws were sharp and he believed that they would dig into this shoulders. He couldn’t have been more wrong though. The dragon sat on his shoulder with ease George could hardly feel him. The professor had given them the chance to look after the dragons for the rest of the day. Catching Moki’s eye George smiled back at her, she seemed to like the idea of looking after the dragons. George had been a bit skeptical at first and thought about leaving the dragon in class but now he wanted to look after him as it would be quite an experience.

[Maeve Campbell]

As Moki and George both wowed the teacher with thei rbrians Maeve had been sitting staring at the little dragons. Her mouth had dropped open and her eyes were almost bigger than her face. Dragons! Not huge scary ones but cute mini dragons. So cool!

She looked up on the board trying to pick which dragon would suit her the most. The Antipodean Opaleye seemed really neat. As she edged closer to the box letting the other two pick out their dragons she smiled. A smally iridescent dragon was wrestling with a silvery blue one, a Swedish Short Snout, or so she thought. A birght scarlet flame shot out at the Swedish Short Snout and the pearly iridescent dragon hopped triumphantly onto the edge of the box. Maeve grinned and stepped forward. This one was her kinda dragon. Small but full of spunk!

The little redhead lowered her hand to the small dragon and watched delightedly as it hopped onto her hand. Bringing it close like she used to hold her pet rabbit Maeve stroked it softly and slowly.

She took it over to where George was cleaning his and gave her own dragon a quick once over. Glancing over at George every few seconds Maeve watched and did as he did. Wiping the small dragons scales dry Maeve stroked the small dragon who preened itself much like a cat. Arching its back into Maeve's hand the dragon really seemed to enjoy being groomed.

Maeve gathered the little creature back up and took it to Dinah for inspection. She wanted to take it around school with her but was fearful of what would happen if it got away from her. Reluctantly she handed the dragon back to Dinah. "Thanks Professor. I just won't be able to take it into my other classes with me. At least I wouldn't think so." Maeve smiled up and waved at the other two before leaving. They seemed thrilled with their little creatures and Maeve felt a sense of regret that she wouldn't be able to take hers with her.