COMC Basic Level Lesson #1

Eleonora gazed longingly out the window in her classroom. Her fourth floor room had a wonderful view of the grounds and she couldn't help but let her eyes roam there now and again. Specifically the Forbidden Forest drew her attention over and over. Its dark cool shadows almost called her to it. There must be so much to learn inside the  forested depths. As a student in Hogwarts she would have given anything to be allowed inside, but now as  professor she wondered if she could manage to explore it without fear of  punishment.

It was this that Eleonora was thinking about as she waited for her class to begin. There was still a while before it officially started, for which she was thankful. Her first real class had her nerves on edge. No matter how prepared she thought she was for the lesson there was always a chance it would go horribly wrong. She wanted so much to succeed, to help these students see the wonder of magical creatures. Still, she was worried she would run out of things to say, be stumped by a question, or simply say the wrong thing. Trying to banish those thoughts from her mind, she did one last check around the room.

The desks were all in order,  carefully placed so each student would get a good look ahead of them. Upon the table at the front of the room sat a large cage covered with a dark cloth. Faint cooing noises could be heard from inside, soothing and gentle. The walls around were adorned with charts and diagrams of magical creatures, some showing their internal structure, others mapping out their natural habitats. Examples of pelts and feathers were laid out on a counter, labeled by their origin. A slight odor  filled the room, reminiscent of the damp ground after a rain and wet fur.  Overall Eleonora was satisfied wit her classroom and hoped the students would find it a place conducive for learning.

Returning her gaze to the window, Eleonora mindlessly twirled her red hair between her fingers, a habit she had when her heart was racing. All that was left to do was wait for the students and try her best.

Alexandra entered the room, excited for her first class back at Hogwarts. She smiled at the prodessor. She had met her the day before, and was looking forward to wowing her classmates with her extra knowledge. "Morning," she smiled, breezing in.

Eleonora was still engrossed watching the wind sway the trees outside when Alexandra, the girl she had met yesterday by the lake, walked into the classroom and took a seat. Getting up from her perch on the windowsill, she made her way to the table in the front of the room. It was better to be in a presentable position as the students filed in than off day dreaming.

She watched as more students took seats at the desks, trying to place a pattern to the way they chose to sit. It might come in handy to know which of them could work well together. There was nothing more dangerous than a pair that couldn't get along while working with dangerous creatures. One of the boys in the second row gave a friendly hello to her as he took his seat. She smiled back and nodded slightly, uncertain whether it was appropriate or not to single out students right away. A few moments later most of the desks were filled and it was nearly time to start the lesson. One more girl walked through the door and headed to the seat farthest from Eleonora, looking none to happy to be there.

Well, it's now or never, I guess.

Putting on the the most winning smile she could muster, Eleonora looked at her new students all in turn. “Welcome to Care of Magical Creatures. I'm really glad you all chose to take this class. I bet we are all going to have a really great and knowledgeable time this year!” She grimaced inwardly as how fake and cheesy she sounded, hoping none of the students noticed her fingers digging into her palm, another nervous habit.

Alena had opened the door, peeking through to be sure that she had the correct one. She was excited to attend a Care of Magical Creatures Class,  and thrilled to have such a wonderful learning opportunity.

She did worry some, however, because she knew she was late. Alena had been stuck up on the fifth floor, misreading the four and five when it had appeared on her class schedule. She felt guilty, and as soon as she appeared through the door, spoke.

"I'm terribly sorry! I was on the wrong floor..."

Eleonora was just about to speak again to try and make up for such a horrible introduction when a small girl burst into the room, apologizing quickly. She looked out of breath and mentioned something about the wrong floor. Eleonora smiled warmly over at her.

“Oh, its no problem. I was just about to start so you're right on time, actually. Please take a seat.” She motioned to one of the few empty chairs left near the front. As the girl quietly took her seat Eleonora faced the rest of the class again.

“Before we really begin here, I need to know everyone understands that this can be a dangerous class. You will need to always be aware and focused when you are working with magical creatures, not matter how cute or docile they appear. It's really very easy to get hurt and I don't want to see anyone get any lasting scars or injuries.” Here Eleonora made a quick decision to drive in her point and make sure they understood. She held her arm out to the class and pulled the sleeve of her robe up just past her forearm. It was littered with small scars the same as her hands. “This is from working with dangerous creatures for so many years, and I promise you I was on my guard at all times.” This was not strictly true, but the students didn't need to know that. There were times she had not been as careful as she should have been.

Eleonora pulled her sleeve back down and looked around at her students before continuing, “Now, first thing we need to know is how to classify these magical creatures in order to give us an idea of how dangerous they are. There are five classes of creatures, going from least to most dangerous. Can anyone give me an example of a creature and which class they are in?”

The boy in the second row was the only one to answer, most everyone else seemed to be off in their own worlds. “Thank you, Mr....” Eleonora paused, realizing she didn't know any of her students by name except for the third year girl she met yesterday, Alexandra. It was an odd feeling to her to call a teenager Mr as well, but she recalled that was generally how professors addressed their students.

“Most of the creatures in this class will be in the lower levels, between first and third and in the OWL class there will be more dangerous ones. As mentioned, some creatures are higher levels not because they are very dangerous but because they are either untamable or just extremely rare and endangered. Any creature above a level three should only be approached by a trained wizard who has studied them. Even a group of these trained wizards may not be able to tackle a level five creature, such as a dragon.”

Eleonora paused here, gathering her thoughts for the next part of her lesson. She glanced around the room to see who was paying attention and who was possibly day dreaming. She knew that this stuff wasn't that exciting. She herself couldn't wait to get to the more hands on part of teaching but she knew it was extremely important to lay down the basics before attempting any actual physical interaction with magical creatures.

“Now there are also three other categories which creatures will fall into. Beings are described by the Ministry as 'any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws.' Beasts are creatures that are not deemed to have the intelligence to understand or follow the laws set. The last category, Spirit, is mainly just for ghosts and was put into place after the first two had been made. Many ghosts were angry at being classified as beings since they were not alive anymore, so the Spirit category was founded. Can anyone give me some examples of creatures placed in the Being or Beast categories?”

Jackson slipped into the room, quietly shutting the door behind him, his cane ghosting over tiles with almost inaudible clicks until he found a table and quickly sat. He'd never been to Care of Magical Creatures before. He knew he was late and hoped the professor wasn't mad. He'd hoped the Headmistress had told them about him.

((Jackson is blind, though it might be hard to tell because his hair falls in front of his eyes a lot, and he's sitting at the back of the classroom. Eleonora would have to recognize his white cane.))

One of the girls sitting in the back of the class spoke up but instead of answering her question said something quite rude about her mother. Eleonora wasn't sure what to do. It had been a jest, and that was fine, but it had also been disrespectful to the lesson. Instead of furthering it along it had disrupted it and caused Eleonora to forget what she was about to say next.  Since she had never reprimanded anyone before in her life, she paused trying to think of what to do. She could take points away from the girls house but that seemed so extreme for such a small thing and she didn't want her reputation to suddenly be the new professor with no sense of humor.

“I've met some people I would have considered trolls myself, but unless your mother is fifteen feet tall and covered in a thick hide she's probably a being.” Eleonora though this would suffice as it brought the subject back to what she was teaching while allowing her to skip any sort of punishment.

While she continued her lesson another student slipped into the room. A boy with his hair covering his face quietly took a seat. She wondered if she should speak to him after class about being on time. Eleonora was feeling lenient since it was the first class after all. It was entirely possible he just couldn't find the room, but she still made a note of it in case it happened again. She nodded at the newcomer in acknowledgment and continued.

“So now that we have a general idea of what categories of creatures are, we are going to take a look at a level two beast,” Eleonora uncovered the cage on the table to show off a pile of  round furry creatures all different shades and colors. They hummed and purred and the pile seemed to move up and down with their breaths. “These little guys are puffskeins. I'd like everyone to come up and take one back to your table with you, please.”

Jackson frowned. Maybe he could talk to the professor after class to find out what he missed. She sounded pretty nice.
Level two creatures, that'd be pretty easy, right? He should probably move closer to the professor, though. Just in case. He stood and made his way towards the front of the room, his cane clicking over the stone floor and occasionally hitting a wooden table or chair with a soft tap. His other hand ran over table edges.

Rae rushed into the room. Late for her first class! She paused in the doorway and stared puzzledly at the room. Half of the students were daydreaming and one was staring daggers at the teacher, who looked nice, Rae supposed. She tried to slip in but only succeeded in making a loud clanging noise as her bag caught on a desk. "Er, sorry about that. I know I'm later Professor, um, is this the Basic Level Care of Magical Creatures Class?" She scanned the room. Most of the students seemed to be Third Years or higher...

Jackson turned toward running footsteps behind him, wincing at the loud noise as a girl entered the room. At least he wasn't the latest?

((I think we should wait for Eleonora to get online and reply to you before continuing this rp.))

(Yes good idea sorry)

Alena, who was vigorously taking notes throught the professors interactions with her students, had hardly noticed when she had asked for the students to come up and take a puffskein. Only now coming to the realization, Alena practically jumped out of her seat.

She made her way to the front of the room, but before taking a puffskein she looked at Professors Valenta.

"Should I just...pick one up? With my hands?"

(Sorry, I tend to get busy on the weekends and can't post as much)

Eleonora watched from the front of the class as the students slowly shook the cobwebs out of the heads and stood up, making their way to the cage. Her eyes followed the boy who had been late curiously as he took a cane and tapped the floor in front of him. He must have a visual problem  she thought. She would have to talk to him after class about it, not to be rude but to figure out how he could do well in this class. It had the potential to be dangerous and she didn't want to see anyone get hurt.

So focused on the boy Eleonora was caught off guard when a loud clanging noise echoed through the room. She looked over and saw a small girl with long hair rushing into the class. What did she keep in her bags, hammers? She motioned for the girl to join her up front with the others. "Yes, this is the basic level. We were just picking up puffskeins. It's ok you're late this time, but be more careful in the future. What's your name?" She was having a hard time learning all her students names.

As she was talking to the new student another one walked up to her asking about the lesson. "Yes, go right ahead and use your hands. They're soft but sturdy, they don't even mind being thrown around. But that doesn't mean you can be rough in a an aggressive way..." She hoped that mentioning that she wouldn't end up seeing smushed puffskeins laying around.

"Er, hi Professor Valenta, my name is, um, Rae, I'm a First Year. This is my first class, and are those living puffballs? They're so cute! They're like, like living, breathing stuffed animals!" Rae dropped her bag with another clang and bounded up to the front table. "Can I keep one?" she asked, looking at Professor Valenta hopefully.

Jackson made his way to the front, waiting a metre or so away from the others. He'd get a puffskein and find a seat in the front row. He was glad to hear they weren't fragile.

Alena took a creature with the brightest smile on her face. She was quite pleased to be able to interact with the creatures, being so small and soft. They were almost like bubbles!

Care of Magical Creatures wasn't her best or worst class, but it sure was fun for Alena. She liked being introduced to all of these new things that she had never seen before. In fact, when she was little these were all just stories that everyone said was untrue. But here they were!

"Oh how cute!"

She was excited, even speaking to herself as she sat down in her seat again. Alena would wait for someone to sit down near her so that she could talk to them, Alena having loved to socialized.

Jackson heard a girl nearby exclaim that the puffskeins were cute. He carefully moved closer to her voice. It'd be easier to talk to another student than the professor if he needed help.
"Er, this might sound silly, but d'you mind getting one for me? Also, I'd rather not sit in the back, could I sit by you?"

Eleonora stood by and watched as the class picked up their puffskeins. Not surprisingly the girls seemed much more interested than the boys. She knew this wasn't the most exciting creature but it was a good first look, a lesson on proper etiquette. A small first year, the girl who had just walked in, seemed particularly charmed by them. Eleonora enjoyed her enthusiasm.

“Welcome to your first class then Ms. Rae.  Actually, if you'd take a seat your question brings us to the next part of the lesson.” Eleonora waited until the students had found their way to to their desks, each holding the little balls of fur in their hands. The boy from earlier had switched seats and she could see him more clearly now. She hoped this assignment wasn't going to be a problem for him.

“Since they little guys are so resilient, I want you all to take care of the one you picked until our next class. They are very simple to care for since since they will eat nearly anything you have laying around and don't need too much attention. Just keep track of them and make a journal detailing what it eats and what it does each day. I will always be available if you have any questions during the week until our next meeting.”

Jackson frowned. He'd have to haul his typewriter out this early in the year? He hoped the puffskein and Taylor got on. Did puffskeins make noise? He'd stay for a few minutes and talk to the professor, since they seemed to be dismissed now.

(Continue on if you have any questions or want to converse with each other but class if officially ended! Check back for the next one next week please!)

Eleonora stood at the front of the room as she watched the students leave, some lingering by their tables. She figured now would be a good time to talk to that boy who had arrived late. He was sitting in the front, making it easy for her to walk over to him.

"Hello, I didn't get your name in class today," Her voice sounded tired to her, she wanted to be done with the students and get back to her office to rest. "I just wanted to make sure you don't have any questions or concerns about this class, you missed the beginning where we went over some things."

Jackson took a deep breath. He could do this. "Right, er, I'm sorry about being late. I'll try to get to class on time. I'm Jackson Smith. I don't know if you've b-been told about me, but I'm blind. I prefer sssitting at the front of the room, in case I need help. Um, I don't nnneed help a lot. I have a few questions about the p-puffskeins?"
He'd only stuttered four times. He hoped the professor didn't have another class to rush off to that he was keeping her from.