Students at Hogwarts start Care of Magical Creatures in their third year. They study the life cycles of various magical creatures, some of which can be rather dangerous. They learn to care for, feed, and manage the creatures, and also learn lore about them and how to use them (or parts of them) for magical purposes.
The classes take place outdoors, although on one occasion the class was moved indoors when the weather was particularly bad. Some activities are conducted on the lawn or in the pumpkin patch near Hagrid's cabin, while other classes require a trip into the Forest.
NEWT, OWL's and normal students will each take different classes. Each class has its own difficulty and subject. In this term the classes will be studying the following subjects:
NEWT's - Extremely dangerous creatures and dark monsters, eg: Acromantula's, Dragons, Dementors
OWL's - Rather Dangerous creatures eg: Unicorns, Blast ended skrewts, Griffins
Normal classes - Calm, controlled creatures, but interesting nevertheless. eg: Hypogriffs, nifflers.
The Alchemic Arm is notable for it's many uses- the first and foremost being that it is the principal component of the Philosopher's Stone. The Philosopher's Stone requires a great amount of components, and therefore requires careful precision. The Alchemic arm was once the most popular method to maintain the numerous ingredients of the Philosopher's stone, namely the 1001 souls. The souls contained within James' Alchemic arm are fewer than expected, but James normally disregards them.
The Arm can unleash the hand in a grappling hook-like manner. James can still use the hand with the same precision, but the feeling is distorted along the line. He has to be very careful with the Grappling Hook.
The Arm can also transform into any shape as long as the user makes the proper alchemic circle. James usually makes a blade at the point where his hand and wrist meet. The alchemic arm can also become a useful shield against a variety of spells, such as Dark Magic, whose spells usually require direct contact with the body.
by Kingsley Shacklebolt Sat Feb 07, 2009 6:04 pm