CoMC Students Only: Lesson Three

[Emma Taylor]

[Sorry this is late Arri]

Having walked from the Care of Magical Creatures classroom to the forest, taking special care not to lose any students along the way, Emma couldn't help but wonder where Arri had disappeared to. She had thought she would walk down with them but she was no where in sight.

Hearing the sounds of an owl screeching, she looked up and spotted a snowy owl in the distance, flying towards them. She watched as it landed on the shoulder of one of the other students and the note was read out. She had no idea who the professor who would be acting as their guide was going to be and wondered what Arri had in store for them. It seemed strange to be told to go to the forest unsupervised then to have it revealed that another adult was going to be taking them through it.

As a man appeared in front of the students, she tried to figure out who it was but didn't recognize him at all. As she thought back, she remembered hearing some people talk about him after something which happened last year although his name still escaped her. He didn't introduce himself either so she had no idea who he was as they began to make their way through the forest. She listened to his rhyme but wasn't quite sure what to make of it so knew it was better not to say anything.

Hearing him say that the prefects and heads had to keep the other students in order, she immediately fell to the back of the group to keep an eye on the stragglers and slower students. She followed the group and the trail of red flags until they reached the stream.

Making sure the other students got across safely first, she jumped onto the first rock but it was slippery where some water had splashed on to it and she felt her left foot slip from under her. Just managing to steady herself, she stopped herself from falling in but it was a very close call.

Composing herself, she took her time jumping across the rest of the rocks and quickly ran to catch up with the others as soon as she was on the other side of the stream. They immediately picked up the trail of yellow flags and followed that until the group found the large boulder Arri had mentioned. Emma made sure the rest of the students were in front of her and were ok before sitting down and resting herself for a moment before carrying on again.

Seeing the blue flags lead deeper into the forest, she quickly took out her wand. "Lumos," she said and held the wand out in front of her to light the way ahead. It really was dark in this part of the forest and she hoped they had no one in the group who was afraid of the dark. Making sure the other students kept walking, she followed the group as the continued to take the trail of blue flags through the forest until they found the clearing and the green flag.

"Nox," she muttered as the other professor announced he was leaving and abruptly disappeared into the forest. After waiting for a few minutes, Arri appeared and revealed what they were really doing there. Smiling, she looked at the hippogriff and watched as a couple of the students walked over to Athena and stroked her.

Once the rest of the group had finished, Emma stepped forward until she was a few paces in front of Athena and bowed down as low as she could. As Athena eventually bowed back, Emma stepped forward and began stroking the creature gently, glad that she was able to meet another of her favourite creatures again.

Taking a ferret off the pile, she held it out to Athena and watched as the hippogriff immediately took it from her hand. She smiled before moving away and watched the others have their turn.

Once they had finished, Emma listened as Arri said they could either stay for longer or use the rock to get back. Knowing it would be getting late and having a lot of other stuff to do, she decided it would be best to head back to the castle. "Thanks for the great lesson Arri," she said with a smile. That had definitely been one of the best lessons she had been in for a while and wouldn't have missed it for the world. "Entrance hall," she said as she touched the rock and was immediately transported back to the castle.

[Nicole Miner]

They were in the middle of the forest. How were they supposed to find their way back? Arri was going to stay and make sure the hippogriff didn't attack anyone, right? And the strange man had already left...
Then Arri answered her question. She charmed a rock so it would take them back to the castle. "Thank you Arri, this was such a fun lesson!" she exclaimed before going back to the castle. "Entrance Hall," she recited while touching the large boulder. Nicole flet a tingling sensation and a pull, then she felt like she was flying off the ground...now she was spinning...spinning fast...
The scene changed from a blur of trees to a blur of brown, black, and peach. As the spinning slowed down she made out the large front doors, the fancy great hall doors, a large staircase, and many students. She landed smoothly on the ground and looked at her schedule to see where her next class was.

[Kit Kierson]

Kit did her Prefect duties and lead everyone out toward the forest, but she found herself quite befuddled to see that Arri wasn't present. "She did say the forest, right?" she asked a nearby student in a bit of a panic. Oh, God, suppose she'd said the lawns or something and she was out there now waiting and checking her watch and getting furious?! Kit would lose her title for sure... not even listening to instructions right, what kind of Prefect was she?

Of course, an owl flew in at just the right moment to shut Kit and her frantic thoughts up, bringing with it instructions on how to find Arri. Just when she was about to question the madness of it all, a foul stench greeted her nostrils and a scruffy looking man appeared before them and bared his vile armpits in the direction of their faces. Without a second thought Kit gathered her robes in her hands and lifted them to her face, burying her nose in the laundered black fabric. Why, why, why, why.

Although she wasn't too happy to have to follow the smelly guy into the forest of all places, Kit was relieved that at least she didn't have to take full charge. The third year skirted her way to the back of the class, assuring anyone who gave her a look that she was simply assuming her Prefect duties as asked and seeing that no one wandered off or was cut off from the group. Which was true, but most of her motivation was the desire to get as far away from the barely-bathed professor as possible.

Kit took note of all the flags they passed as they went in their hunt for Arri, listening with agitation every time the professor talked. As they passed the stream and began to look for the blue flags, Kit couldn't stop herself as she let her robes fall away from her face. "WHY WON'T YOU STOP RHYMING!" she called to the heavens. Blushing furiously as she realized how loud she'd been, Kit quickly dove back into the robes. As heads snapped around to stare, she shrugged and jerked her head in the direction of some unsuspecting student, shaking her head in disapproval.

She was forced to do without her robe mask again, however, when things began to darken. Kit drew her wand out of her pocket and pointed it ahead of her, intoning, "Lumos". As her wand tip shone with light and threw things back into focus, Kit sighed and continued moving along, other hand gripping her robes hard. She didn't know why she was so intent on covering her face with them... she supposed it was a sort of security blanket now.

"Nox," she barely managed as things began to lighten again and they were running madly all of a sudden. This was the most disorienting hunt she'd ever been on. Maybe that guy's stench affected everyone's judgment...

As they at last came to a halt, Kit couldn't help but have a mini panic attack as smelly dude abruptly left them. What if this had all been a trick? Maybe he was some mad guy who lived in the woods who wanted to get them all lost so they'd wind up starving to death, left to be eaten by centaurs... he'd said something about a carnivorous centaur before, hadn't he?

But when Arri suddenly reappeared on a hippogriff, Kit let go of her robes and spread her arms wide, tempted to break out into passionate Gospel music. But Kit didn't think she was much of a singer, and her passionate Gospel song would probably make everyone cry, and not the good kind of touched-my-heart cry, so Kit swallowed the shaky tune begging to come out of her throat. Instead, she tilted her head in wonder and reassessed the fact that the professor had ridden in on a hippogriff.

"Awww, Athena," Kit cooed, smiling. She'd forgotten how much she loved hippogriffs. And Athena was such a pretty name! Good old Greek gods. Kit waited on line to greet her and approached the hippogriff slowly and cautiously, locking her eyes with the creature's own before leaning into a low bow. After a moment's hesitation Athena bowed as well, and Kit smiled and approached her to gently rub at her head. She picked up one of the ferrets and gingerly tossed it to the hippogriff. "There ya go, girl!" she said with a grin, watching as she downed the ferret quickly. Giving her one last pat on the head, Kit moved off to allow someone else a turn, pretty much forgetting the whole spiel they went through to get to Athena. Ah, what the hell. It'd been worth it.

[Huzzah, thanks Arri xD. Sorry it took me so long!].