"Ethan Trubridge?" Barry said with supprise. Then realising he forgot the professer part he said "Professer Ethan Trubridge?" Oh that just killed it, dead, his enthusiasm gone, if it was a local guest then the school must just be getting poor, but still he could learn something "Ugh Welcome professer?" he said not sure what to say

Professor Dumont had sugar quills! No fair! Tugging on his lower hungrily, Clifford tore his eyes away from the Muggle Studies teacher, turning his attention back to Professor Morgan.

... eating sugar quills now probably wasn't a good idea anyway. What if they made him smell sugary? He'd be dragon food. Shudder.

Oooh. Professor Truebridge had worked with dragons? AWESOME!

"Sir, did you ever ride on a dragon!?" The Prefect asked excitedly, waving his arm in the air. "Cos that'd be totally COOOL!"

Ethan Truebridge had worked with dragons? Obviously this lesson was going to be full of surprises - Kiri hadn't known that. The professor certainly looked as if he could handle dragons, but how this would have led him to teach History of Magic, which in Kiri's eyes was rather more down-to-earth subject. (Which was a good thing, in her opinion. The only danger in leafing through dusty tomes was having to sneeze. And possibly bad eyesight.)
She wondered what the professor would have to tell...

Tobi had a question. With al seriousness, he raised his hand and asked, "So do you have, like, nerves of steel or something?"

Because HE couldn't do soemthing like that. Nuh uh.

"Oooh. Sounds good!" Celandine told him enthusiastically.

Cela listened to Professor Morgan and felt all inspired to applaud. She shoulda been a quidditch captain, no doubt she'd be able to inspire a team easily! Unable to actually resist for long, Celandine did applaud, adding a WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! For good measure.

Her attention was diverted by Professor Dumont nomming on a sugar quill. SHE WANTED ONE!!!!

And next thing, the smell of chocolate wafted towards her and Celandine let out a little whimper, wondering if she'd be able to escape to her nearest candy stash to get her fix and return to class without being noticed.

She took a deep breath and raised her hand to ask a question, "How do you accidentally impress a dragonkeeper?"

Tony perked up at the thought of the professor riding on a dragon. Man, that would be the most awesome thing of all to do, to ride a dragon across the sky. And, suddenly he thought of something. What if you could play quidditch while riding dragons? That would be the most awesome thing EVER!

He started daydreaming about what that would be like, just kind of listening but only paying attention to the good stuff, the stuff he wanted to hear.

William put his hand in the air, "Sir,I heard it's more dangerous to be around the younger dragons, since they aren't as ... manageable as the full grown ones. How do you deal with the stress of being around them?"

If he was anything like his cousin, then his reply should be interesting to say the least. It was William's dream to see a dragon up close, but not close enough to be eaten of course.

Chris had remembered talking to Professor Truebridge towards the beginning of the year about dragons and vagely remembered him saying he had worked with them. "Um Professor Truebridge have you ever been to the Chinese Fireball dragon Reservation in China?"

Abby's surprised to see Professors Dumont and Trubridge here. She hopes Trubridge isn't still mad at her. Abby raises her hand. "What species of dragons did you work with in Romania?"

The cloudless sky gave his eyes a clear, bright blue look as he stared skyward. Waiting for something to come over the horizon.

Though these professors seemed to be in their right minds, Helios didn't notice. He could barely hear their words, his heart was pounding under his vest so loudly. Without his wand, he was reminded of summer.

Ah, the rush of adventure.

"That's my name and gee whiz, thanks Barry. Welcome to you too." Ethan answered, completely serious.

"Yes. It isn't something dragonkeepers do often, but it is the easiest and safest way to observe dragons in the air and study the mechanics of flight. Also if a dragon has been sick or injured, when they are able to fly again it is a good way of checking how they have healed. Obviously we used brooms to fly with them too, but if you are spending most of the flight dodging the dragons and avoiding imminent death it makes it a little difficult to get any worthwhile research done. It is much easier to cast certain charms so that the dragon cannot feel you riding on it. I have an old harness in my gallery actually."

"Not particularly, I just ensure that I am educated and aware. If you are informed, you know the risks and how to avoid them."

Nerves of steel applied, sure. Except around women. And Krazimeriz.

Ethan nodded once in acknowledgement at Celandine got all excited and applauded. Ah. Her question was a good one. "Well, I didn't want to go around the reserve, so I broke through the wards. It was about ten minutes after that when I was attacked by my first dragon. It was a Hungarian Horntail and lucky for me it was being studied at that time. The keepers were hidden and I had no idea they were there. Even if I had I doubt it would have comforted me, what with a full grown angry nesting Horntail breathing spirals of fire at me. I impressed them because I managed to fireproof myself on fairly short order and cast obscuro on the dragon."

Ethan paused, "It isn't easy to cast a spell successfully at a dragon, they have very strong protection against magic. In any case, they were impressed that I did not attempt to run away and I did not harm the dragon. Or die. I think they were quite impressed that I didn't die." Ethan explained.

"That is right. A juvenile dragon does not a good pet make. Though it actually varies from breed to breed. Again, the most important thing is to be educated. If you know what you are doing you can manage quite easily. Another aspect which makes handling juveniles difficult is that you need to ensure they do not get overly familiar with the keeper. They cannot be tamed, but it can seriously effect the bond with their parents. The concern is more that they begin to look at a keeper as a favourite toy, which they can tire of and chewed up in an instant. Literally." Ethan nodded.

"As far as dealing with the stress, as with any juvenile creature, the concern is more about their stress levels. They can seriously hurt themselves if agitated."

"I have visited. My specialty are the venomous dragons, however. So it was only a visit of curiousity."

"In Romania? I worked with Hungarian Horntails, Norwegian Ridgebacks, Romanian Longhorns, Ukranian Ironbelly and a few Swedish Shortsnouts. My focus was on the Hungarian Horntails and Norwegian Ridgebacks in particular."

He'd ridden on a dragon.

Clifford's jaw hung open as Professor Truebridge rambled on about his dragon riding.. the sixth year barely paid attention to what it was he was actually saying though...

... He'd ridden on a DRAGON!

That was BEYOND cool. Whoa.

"Sir.. you are THE man!" Clifford exclaimed, punching a fist in the air enthusiastically.

Immenent Death? Chew Toy??? Tobi swallowed hard. I shouldn't have taken this class. I should be doing my nice safe astronomy homework like a good little Tobi...

Tobi's hands shook and his usual olive tone had taken a pale splotchy look. He raised his trembling hand once more. "Sir, what would move you to take on such a dangerous profession?" he asked.

Perhaps a deathwish?

Oh mygosh dragons! Miranda gaped.

She almost fell off her chair when Professor Truebridge appeared. Gosh, where's my camera!? Ofcourse she had left it in her room, it wouldn't be good if it was trampled by a magical creature. Sigh.
Miranda would have to catch him soon, or else her deadline wazzup.

"Oh they really are spectacular aren't they? Cause i have recently been there and found them fascinating!"

"Obscuro? You blindfolded a dragon? Wow!" Celandine momentarily forgot about the sugar quill Dumont was eating and the smell of chocolate frogs wafting around. "But don't Dragons have other really strong senses? So you were like really lucky, huh?" Cela asked, raising her hand.

"Well thanks, Clifford." punched his own fist half heartedly, still clutching the wand case.

"I didn't intend to. Once I got there I sort of forgot to leave." Ethan answered.

"Right. But Liondragons are not poisionous, my favourite breed is something else entirely."

"Thats right. They do have very strong senses and I was very lucky."

Tony was hanging on every word of this now, even though he was a wee bit disappointed to know that dragons probably weren't that good to play quidditch on. Still, Professor Truebridge knew A LOT from being around dragons, he was totally impressed, but then somebody had to mention that word hungry again. Tony began to fish in his pocket, he was sure he had seen a sugar mouse in there.

Abby smiles at the professor. I thought in was the right preposition. I mean he worked in the Romanian countryside. Wouldn't that qualify as being in Romania.

Herminny was in awe thinking a professor at this very school worked with dragons and survived a dragon attack, this professor was so awesome.

Herminny was so much in awe of professor Trubridge all she could do was stare at him.

"Well Professor Truebridge, what would you say your favorite species of dragons is? he asked interested

Miranda wasn't really paying attention to what the Professor was saying, something she'd probably regret later, but instead thinking out a way to maybe sneak up to her room and get the camera. How exactly she would go unnoticed, Miranda had no idea, it seemed impossible. Unless I did that nifty spell he did...

Arrrgh, the choices!
Lucky? What was lucky? Ah gosh...

Alessia was walking by when she heard... not Ili's voice... a boy's voice? TheEthanZanManBridge! Why... was he teaching Ili's class... Wait... Did he say... DRAGONS!?!?!

"OOOoooo Oooooo Oooooo!!! I wanna play with the dragon too!!!!" She said bouncing in. "I can play too, cause I'm a professor!"

Joanne listened to every question made to the professor with her eyes shinning. Dragons. Her favorite magical animal on top of them all. She nodded at each question and let out short gasps of amusement as the professor answered them all. She then raised her own hand and asked " Professor Trubridge did you ever got injured by a dragon? And did you ever deal with them like we're about to do? "Empty handed", so to speak..." she raised herself a little, on the tip of her shoes, to be able to look at the professor's face better.

All these people, gazing at Truebridge like he was a hero or something. Really, sure he's probably made mistakes? Which brought Freya to ask her question. She raised her hand, "Sir? What would you say is the worst, and by worst, I mean most foolish thing you have ever done while working with or being around dragons?"

She looked around as more professors entered the class. 'Wait? Are THESE the people who are going to be protecting us?!' Freya shivered slightly at the thought. 'I hope the dragon is no more than three feet long if that's the case.'