2028 Basic Lesson 1

He didn't know whether to be pleased or suspicious at how quickly and quietly the students took their seats. Apart from one girl poking ineffectively at her snidget, the tiny bird dodging around her wand easily, none of them were even acting up.

Selwyn fancied it gave the class an eerie feel, though probably not for the students. Of course, he'd been a little arsehole in his own schooldays and probably quite vexing for most of the teachers, but if anyone had asked whether he deserved karmic retribution, the answer would be decidedly not. That didn't explain this constant feeling that the proverbial other shoe was about to drop, though.

Maybe he ought to seek counselling from Hayes. Not that he could do that now.

He coughed, cleared his throat, and strode over to the sleeping furball in the corner. After a good prod with his foot, the creature uncurled into the form of a Newfoundland dog.

"Everyone, this is Cù-sìth," he said. "Um, you can call him Cù, I suppose."

Whether the noise had doubled because the large dog was awake, or because Selwyn was speaking again, it was hard to tell. Perhaps someone was trying to handle their creature before he'd given them the all clear? So many of the cages rose above people's heads that it didn't just block their view of him, but vice-versa as well. Perhaps Karma was more subtle than he'd thought.

"So, what do you think makes Cù-sìth different from the animals in front of you lot?" he asked them. "Why can I just leave him in here not locked up?"

Vaughn looked at the dog and said, "Sir isn't that just a regular dog and not anything like these animals." He gestured to the animal in front of him. "I don't know much about dogs but he looks like he has mastiff in his blood line considering his height and the size of his head. Is he a guard dog for the animals that are in the cages? Or in case someone sneaks in thinking it might be fun to let one of them out?"

Vaughn looked at the dog then back at the teacher wondering if he was correct in the dogs bloodline. He wondered also if he was going to get in trouble for speaking out loud instead of raising his hand.

Casey couldn't look at Dakota and Vaughn the same way now. It seemed that every time she saw the two, they were auditioning to get on some teenaged pregnancy reality show. Casey didn't think she was a prude. But young "love" certainly disgusted her.

So, here she was, trying to look past her own creature and at the professor without making eye contact with either of the urchins - she didn't know if what they had was contagious, but she wasn't risking it.

The gnome in her cage was gripping the bars, scowling at her, and she began glaring back at it. "I'm not afraid of you," she warned, but had to look up as the professor began to speak.

She tilted her head in interest at the dog. She liked dogs. Her brother had a big dog. If it wasn't a dog, she wouldn't have bothered. But she was also afraid that the couple would make out if they had an audience, so she tried to pipe up first.

But he beat her to it. Casey shot Vaughn a glare. He didn't even answer the question. Ooh. She could add insult to injury. She put her hand up in the air and spoke.

"To answer your question - Cù's not magical. So he's more predictable, I guess. And doesn't have any properties that are hard to control. Also, he's your pet, so you know how to handle him."

Yeah. A little bit of a smart ass. What were you gonna do.

"You," Selwyn pointed to the Gryffindor boy.  "One point for effort."

"You," He pointed to the girl.  "Two points for being on the right track."

He really needed to learn these kids names.

"Cù-sìth is over half my height and more than twice my weight.  If I couldn't control him, he could easily kill me without magic," he stated.

"No animal is predictable," he went on.  "But if you learn to handle a creature properly, you can predict how it's likely to behave."

He walked between the desks with the dog, so that everyone could get a clear view.

"Cù here is more calm than most of your creatures.  But the reason he's calm is because I am.  Animals, especially magical ones, take a cue from you.  Your body language and your nerves are going to tell the creature how to react."

"Unfortunately for us all today, they also take a cue from all the other creatures around them, so you'll need to remain in control. Given the chance, most creatures will try to dominate you. Don't let them."

"Now, if you're comfortable, you can try taking your creature out and handling it.  If you have any troubles, just call on me.  Or if you prefer, you can come up and pet Cù-sìth."

Nathan was in the back of the room listening to what the professor said as he explained everything about his animal. He took a good long look at the animal in his cage and then he realized what it was. It looked like a regular hedgehog but he knew it was a Knarl. He opened the cage and waited for it to come out, he kept everything calm. The Knarl walked out staring at him, holding out his hand to it then petted it carefully but he showed no negative emotions to it. The animal ventured closer to him trying to get used to him as it sniffed his shirt then proceeded to walk along the desk. He made sure that it didn't venture too far away from the sides of the desk.

"Pretty cool huh?" Nathan said to the Knarl as it came back towards him as he petted it.

Casey flicked two fingers out, almost in a peace sign, to acknowledge the two points given, her face revealing no excitement nor enthusiasm about it. Still. Cool.

The professor seemed to know what he was talking about, which was a refreshing change. He gave them all leave to handle their creatures and she looked hard at the gnome.

"I'm going to have to kick your ass," she warned him.

She wasn't the only one talking to her creature. A Hufflepuff two years older to her had taken a seat next to her and was talking to his knarl. She reached out and unlatched the cage, deftly reaching in and sweeping the gnome's feet from under him and turning him upside down.

"We can be friends," she suggested.

The gnome swung its way up and sunk its teeth into her wrist. She immediately bonked it on its head with the heel of her palm and began to spin it upside down, hoping to get it nice and dazed before she had to deal with it anymore.

The Slytherin boy introduced himself, and Finn began thinking that she might need to develop a new strategy for avoiding conversation. It seemed that in the past week, people had suddenly decided it was about time they get to know their classmates, and the effort had been put onto getting to know her. She did not hear many new introductions around her - so why was this happening?

"Finn," she said, by way of introduction. She began to flip through her book, trying to look preoccupied. The boy spoke again and she glanced up, looking at the cage, before nervously looking up at him. Pink in the face, and seemingly scared for him, said, "F-fire crab."

And that was when the professor chimed in.

Two Gryffindors were quick to answer and Finn began scrawling notes down of what the Professor said.

Part of her desperately wanted to pet the large dog, having always wanted a dog of her own. But no one else seemed to be doing it, and no way was she going to draw attention to herself. She quickly patted her wrists and fingers down, finding she did not have any stray jewelry on her and took a deep breath, reaching out to open the cage.

The niffler rolled out, looking up eagerly at her. Part of her fear left her and she slowly reached out, but the niffler bounded into her hands before she could scoop it up. It began snuffling along her wrists and neck, causing her to smile, before it found one of the brass buttons on her coat. It gnawed on it, discovered it was worth nothing, and settled nicely into her arms.

Bertie was never a fan of care of magical creatures, usually because it involved being outside in the wind and pouring rain. Thankfully, however, todays lesson was different and allowed him to escape the bitter winds of the grounds. Of course this didn't mean the lesson would be perfect for the Ravenclaw found himself seated behind Casey Weasley: an annoying younger Gryffindor with an attitude Bertie preferred to not get involved with - he'd made that mistake one time too many.

Glancing around the barn Bertie noticed that each student had a cage in front of them, each with a different magical creature inside. One boy had a fire crab - Bertie did not envy him and was relieved to find a bowtruckle sitting peacefully in his cage.

Bertie had no experience with bowtruckles so was glad that he'd brought his trusted textbook along to the class with him. Rummaging in his bag the Ravenclaw pulled it out and began turning the pages whilst listening hearing the Professor talk about safety. He was never usually one to not give his full attention but it wasn't like he was missing much. He had the gist of the class: care when handling magical creatures.

'It says here you like to eat woodlice.' Bertie noted, not realising he'd began to talk in a cartoon voice. 'Do you think I should find you some? Do you? Yes I think you-' He stopped, flushing a violent shade of ruby as the boy besides him began to snicker.

Opening the cage Bertie extended a hand inviting the tree dweller to hop on. Sadly his bowtruckle took a step back and bared it's tiny teeth. Clearly he didn't appreciate being spoken to like a puppy.

Ariane had barely been listening to what the teacher said.  The creature she'd been paired with was a snidget, so apart from being crazy-fast, it shouldn't cause any trouble.

She poked her wand inside the cage again and fired a stunner at the tiny, spherical bird but just like all her other attempts to touch it, the spell missed, blasting a hole in the cage.

And the snidget was free!

That's right.  The tiny, GOLD bird was free and flying directly at Fiona's niffler.

"Oh no."

It wasn't even worth shouting.  Ariane simply let loose a low groan, her intuition telling her that this was going to cause some kind of domino effect and she was going to be held responsible for the entire kerfufle.

All was fine. If nifflers could purr, she was certain hers would be doing so. She was so incredibly grateful that she had chosen so well for herself. She could hear the struggles of her classmates around her as some of them wrangled with bowtruckles, blast ended skrewts, and Acromantula, amongst the worst of the chosen creatures in Finn's opinion.

Fiona turned her head to look around her, and was distracted by the Weasley girl swinging a gnome around her head like a mad woman. Finn stared in astonishment and suddenly her niffler began kicking its legs, scrambling to escape. She looked down, trying to clamp her arms more securely around the critter.

But it scratched her and lept from her arms, chasing madlu after the Snidget. "No! Stop!"