Birds of a Feather on Care of Magical Creatures

Professor Taransay

November 26, 2016 4:13 PM

A tonne of feathers [Beginners] by Professor Taransay

It was nearing the end of term and, as much as Rory was enjoying teaching, he was looking forward to the winter holidays. Things between him and Amelle were going really well; they’d had some lovely dates, and he was hoping to take her away for a short break soon. He’d been working out what they could do, wanting to have some ideas before they properly discussed it, even though he was of course wanting her to have input too. All things considered, he was in a very good mood as he started his beginners’ class that day.

Today would, hopefully, be a fun class. It was sometimes hard to work out which creatures were suitable for the younger students whilst still being interesting, but he liked to think he generally succeeded. For today’s lesson he had been in touch with a friend of his who dealt with magical creatures nearby, and had managed to procure 16 jobberknolls.

“Good morning class,” he said, bringing their attention to him after giving them a couple of minute to sit down and get ready.

“Today we’re going to be looking at Jobberknolls,” he announced, gesturing dramatically towards the row of small cages behind him, each containing an individual bird. “Now, can anyone tell me what’s interesting about their scream?” He paused to let someone answer, expecting them to have done the week’s reading, and awarded house points to the student with the correct answer.

“Jobberknoll feathers are used in Truth Serums and Memory Potions, so we’re going to help out the potions department and collect some for them. Obviously the birds should be handled very gently, but these ones are fairly used to humans and it shouldn’t prove too hard to pull off a feather.”

Opening one of the cages, he pulled out a bird, demonstrating their task by cradling it in one hand whilst carefully removing a feather with the other. “There aren’t enough jobberknolls for one each, so please work in pairs or threes. Feathers are to go in the box on my desk, but don’t remove too many – we don’t want any bald birds! I’ll be walking round helping people, and please come get me if you need help or have any questions.”

With that, he set the class to work. He’d definitely be keeping a close eye on the students, as he didn’t want the birds to be distressed or hurt, but he didn’t expect any major problems. “Oh, and please don’t let them escape!” he added. “They’re just on loan, and I’d rather not have to explain that we lost any of them!”

OOC: Normal class rules apply. Feel free to call Rory over/ask him questions, and he would be there immediately at any sign of animal cruelty.

Subthreads:

Feathers in Snow by Sawyer Matheson, Teppenpaw with Winston Pierce, Crotalus

Birds of a Feather by Farrah Welsh, Aladren with Ayla Tremaine, Teppenpaw

9 Professor Taransay A tonne of feathers [Beginners] 33 Professor Taransay 1 5

Sawyer Matheson, Teppenpaw

November 30, 2016 12:13 AM

Feathers in Snow by Sawyer Matheson, Teppenpaw

Sawyer sat down on the grass and took a deep breath. He enjoyed the Care of Magical Creatures classes that were held outdoors. Some people might have preferred being inside, but Sawyer was not one of them. He loved being outside. It was a type of invigorating mixed with calm that couldn’t be found elsewhere. If all of his classes could be outside, he felt like he probably would do better in classes. Inside, he always felt like he had difficulty concentrating on the subject. Maybe he just wasn’t very good at school.

In classes, Sawyer was never the student that knew all of the answers or even close to. However, he seemed to have a knack for this particular class. He still felt like maybe it was the outdoors that had to do with it or maybe it was just that he liked animals that he did so well. So, when the professor asked if anyone knew what was interesting about their scream, he was able to raise his hand. “They scream only when they are about to die and then they repeat everything they’ve ever heard. Backwards.” He wasn’t sure what he thought about that. It seemed like a weird and very winded way to die. He had no idea what the very first words he ever heard was. It was probably something like ‘It’s a boy!’

He jotted down what the professor said about the feathers being used in Truth Serums and Memory Potions. He wasn’t sure why the feather would be effective in a truth serum, but if they repeated back everything they ever heard, then it made sense for why they would be used in Memory Potions. At least, that’s the correlation he made. He wasn’t sure if it was entirely accurate.

Looking down at his notebook, he noticed his plaid shirt was buttoned wrong. He had somehow skipped the first hole and put every button in the one below where it should be. He choked back a sigh. It seemed like things like this happened to him all of the time. At least it wasn’t torn, but the day was still early. Trying to be nonchalant, he unbuttoned the shirt, glad he had another shirt underneath and decided to just leave it open, though, that seemed like it would also somehow end up in disaster. He could just picture the shirt getting stuck on something.

Sawyer watched carefully as the professor demonstrated how to remove the feathers. He wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t hurt any of the birds whenever they had to work with them. He had a soft spot for animals and didn’t want any to be in pain, especially because of him. He hoped that whomever he ended up working with had the same appreciation for the birds as he did. Looking to who was seated next to him, he asked, “Would you like to work together?”

0 Sawyer Matheson, Teppenpaw Feathers in Snow 365 Sawyer Matheson, Teppenpaw 0 5

Winston Pierce, Crotalus

December 02, 2016 12:33 PM

That sounds cold by Winston Pierce, Crotalus

Winston pulled his robes tighter around himself as he headed out toward the Care of Magical Creatures class. It was approaching winter, and he probably should have worn a coat, but this was Arizona and a dessert and a school protected by weather charms, and it felt silly to wear a coat when it was still well above freezing while Mother had written that the first snowfall had come down already at home.

So here he was now, outside in December, wearing nothing heavier than a light sweater and school robes, and trying not to look like he was huddling for warmth in his robes as the professor started the lesson. It was just a bit colder than was really comfortable, especially now that he was sitting still, and he worried that if he was cold now, then when he got back to the mountains of New Hampshire he was going to freeze solid like an icicle.

He scowled a bit at his neighbor who drew attention to himself by answering a question, then decided it was somehow appropriate to unbutton his outer shirt, and leave it undone, like he was sitting out on a clear spring day and he was feeling a bit warm in the sunshine. Granted, the sunshine was helping a bit, especially as the rays were beating down on his own dark green robes, but Winston thought the guy was just being macho to rub it in that Winston was a wimp who couldn't handle even a mild December without a coat.

Grumpy, he focused back on the lesson. Jobberknolls. Feather harvesting. Yadda yadda. Don't get him wrong, he liked most of his classes, and these outdoor ones with actual animals were absolutely the best part of Care of Magical Creatures, but he couldn't really get into it today. He wasn't even really cold even, just mildly chilled, but it was somehow even more distracting that way than actual discomfort.

Then The One Who Rubs It In asked if he wanted to work together. Winston hesitated, torn between reflexive politeness (even if Sawyer Matheson wasn't high society, he was from respectable wizarding stock, and shouldn't be rudely dismissed just because Winston was in a sour mood) and the desire to be snappish at the guy seemingly unaffected by the slow approach of winter. The first fraught moment passed without rudeness and the subsequent ones got easier after that, so when he did answer, a brief pause later, he managed magnanimity. "Certainly."

He eyed the unbuttoned shirt the other boy was sporting and asked, as the idea finally dawned on him, "Is that charmed with a warming spell?" He rubbed his hands together, partly to keep his fingers limber for the feather plucking ahead of them, but mostly as subconscious gesture that just happened when he used the word 'warming'.

"Have you handled jobberknolls before?" he added, trying to stay at least a little bit on topic.

1 Winston Pierce, Crotalus That sounds cold 370 Winston Pierce, Crotalus 0 5

Farrah Welsh, Aladren

December 02, 2016 6:20 PM

Birds of a Feather by Farrah Welsh, Aladren

Farrah had a fondness for creatures more so than she did people sometimes, but she blamed her father for that. He was a Veterinarian, owned his own clinic, and he let her and her sister ‘help’ him sometimes with some of the clients that came in. Farrah just loved it. She loved snuggling with the kitties that had recent surgery and couldn’t go home just yet with their families. She loved walking the dogs that needed the exercise. She loved seeing the hamsters and pigs and all sorts of animals come into the clinic to seek the help from her father. She just loved all of it and it was often why she thought about following her father into that line of work. She knew it was difficult though and she didn’t know if she was smart enough to follow through with it.

Her love of her father’s passion for creatures was why she really loved Care of Magical Creatures and why Professor Taransay had a special place in her heart. Farrah walked to Care of Magical Creatures with a bit of a happier step. She had been feeling down for a large part of the first half of term but now that the holidays were approaching, she was feeling so much better about it all and she felt like things with her friends were getting better. At least with Kellen, she still needed to make sure Georgia was alright. Farrah felt like she hadn’t spent nearly as much time with her Teppenpaw friend as she used to and she definitely wanted to rectify that.

She took a seat and pulled out her pen and notebook for this class. Farrah always took detailed notes in all of her lessons, but this lesson included pictures of the creatures (not very good pictures, of course, Farrah had no real artistic sense, but it was an attempt and it made her happy). Jobberknolls were interesting creatures and Farrah eagerly raised her hand to answer the question, but some first year boy whose name she couldn’t remember spoke up and Farrah lowered her hand with a frown. People were always answering it faster than her in the lessons that she was really confident in. This was why she didn’t like to participate in answering questions; she was rarely ever called on anyway and why bother trying if it didn’t mean anything anyway?

Farrah’s irritated feeling immediately went away, however, when the Professor started discussing their lesson for the day. Her face lit up at the thought of being able to hold those precious little birds! The excitement of it radiated off of her as she went off to grab a cage, only remembering after the fact that she would have to work with someone. She set the cage down and opened the door, coaxing the bird into her hand and tried to keep herself from squealing with glee. “Would you like to work with me?” Farrah asked somewhat quietly, afraid to startle the bird. “I’ve handled birds before at my dad’s Vet Clinic, so this shouldn’t be too hard. Look how cute he is!”

6 Farrah Welsh, Aladren Birds of a Feather 344 Farrah Welsh, Aladren 0 5

Ayla Tremaine, Teppenpaw

December 02, 2016 8:04 PM

Feathers are so in right now by Ayla Tremaine, Teppenpaw

“Of course!” Ayla replied with a hushed but happy tone when Farrah asked if she wanted to work together. She'd been hoping to get to know the older girl a little bit better considering they were also in spirit club together, but hadn't really had the chance until now. It also didn't hurt that the Aladren had experience with birds, whereas Ayla’s exposure was limited to one cat and horses. She liked animals though, mostly cats, but she was looking forward to expanding her horizons.

“He's so cute!” The first year gushed, as she continued to follow Farrah’s lead with her volume. “I feel really bad that we have to pull his feathers out though. Does it hurt them?” She asked, her green eyes looking to the older girl for guidance. “I've never seen one this close before. My cat Albus is definitely not a hunter, but we don't keep any birds at the estate. Aside from whatever happens by naturally, you know?” Ayla couldn't really gauge whether or not she was talking too much, particularly around Farrah who seemed a little on quiet side. Except when they were cheering of course.

“So your dad's a vet? Does he work with magical creatures or just the regular type?” Ayla asked as she leaned slightly forward to get a better look at the jobberknoll. She wanted to pet it but wasn't sure if that was the best idea. It was possible that she smelt like Alby, and the last thing she wanted to do was startle it and have it escape. Ruining Farrah's grade would definitely put a damper on things if she wanted to befriend her.

5 Ayla Tremaine, Teppenpaw Feathers are so in right now 367 Ayla Tremaine, Teppenpaw 0 5

Farrah

December 03, 2016 7:05 PM

Why would anyone want feathers? by Farrah

Farrah found herself partnering up with one of the first year Teppenpaw girls. She knew her from the Spirit club too, so she didn’t feel too uncomfortable around her even though Farrah thought for sure Ayla was one of those really popular girls who were meant to be a part of things like Spirit Squads and date the Captain of the Football team (or, Quidditch Captain in Magical terms). She was a pretty blonde and Farrah assumed she was also probably a Pureblood because if the Magical world, blood type mattered more than anything else.

She eased up even more when Ayla agreed on the bird, feeling like she would be a much better partner than someone who didn’t appreciate the cuteness of a bird. “Birds groom themselves by preening which entails pulling out any loose feathers on top of getting rid of any debris and oiling up their feathers to make them clean and waterproof.” Farrah said in a way that seemed like this was an everyday conversation for her (it was in a lot of ways whenever she was with her dad). “So I think if we just lightly stroke him, the already loose feathers will become more noticeable for us and we can just pulls those instead of like, actually plucking the feathers out.” Farrah offered as a solution. Birds needed their feathers for obvious reasons and even though when a bird loses feathers they regrow them over a long period of time, Farrah didn’t see why they had to do that at all because it did likely hurt the bird.

“Um, he mainly works on regular animals, the domestic kind, like cats and dogs. But he does help out local farmers whenever their animals need a vet.” Farrah replied.”Our neighbor owns a horse farm, so I get to go see them and ride sometimes, which is cool. But I’ve also seen my dad take care of a calf that had some sort of disease that I guess is pretty common for them to get and it made it, so that was like cool to see and some people have pet pigs that are just so adorable.” She was rambling for some reason. She supposed it was because she didn’t get to talk about her dad’s job all that often and it was something she really appreciated. Not that she didn’t feel the same about her mom’s job. But her mom was a nurse and people weren’t has nice as animals. “He told me that he does occasionally help out a magical creature should someone reach out to him.”

Farrah offered Ayla the bird to see if she would like to hold him. “If you want to hold him, I can stroke him to see if there are any loose feathers. Or you can stroke him while I hold him. I don’t mind either way.”

6 Farrah Why would anyone want feathers? 344 Farrah 0 5

Ayla

December 16, 2016 4:55 PM

Feathers are fancy! by Ayla

“Farrah, you are brilliant.” Ayla replied with a smile when the older girl explained about preening and offered up her solution for the lesson. “That is a much better idea than pulling them out. Poor little thing, I wouldn’t want to hurt him.” Ayla was very much a cat person, so it wasn’t lost on her that birds were often prey of her favorite animal (Albus excluded). That knowledge didn’t keep her from admiring the small creature though.

Based off of the description of her father's job, Ayla gathered that Farrah was at the very least, a half blood. Not that it mattered too much to the first year, Farrah was nice and vets were handy when one was a pet owner. “That’s really neat. We have horses at the estate. I don't ride them often, but I do think they're beautiful.” The young witch frowned when the older girl spoke about the calf, and was relieved to hear that it had had a good outcome. “I've never seen one in person, as we live in the city, but baby pigs are super cute. Your father sounds like a good man.” Ayla added with a smile. “My father is a lawyer, which isn't anywhere near as cool or exciting as what yours does.”

The first year bit her full bottom lip at the offer to hold the bird. She definitely wanted to, but holding something that small and delicate. Then again, it wasn't something she was likely to get to do again either. “I'd love to hold him.” Ayla replied as she extended her hands towards Farrah.

“Do have any tips on bird handling you could give me?”

5 Ayla Feathers are fancy! 367 Ayla 0 5