William hung back not answering the question since his classmates had done so for him. He was growing slightly annoyed by that fact, but there was nothing he could do about it really. So instead he poised his hand, ready for the next question bound to get something.

Cordova smiled quickly at the Professor's acknowledgement of his work and then returned his focus back towards the notes on the board. Knowing that his art work was a bit childish and pathetic, he felt embarrassed and ashamed of allowing anyone to see such a worthless piece of paper. Cordova tucked away his waste of space artwork and pulled out another blank piece of paper.

He wrote franticly trying to jot down all the key points of the lesson as well as hear the side notes that his peers were saying. Even though he had already knew the answer, he was not one for shouting out information, or really participating at all. He had recognized a Ravenclaw girl (couldn't recall her name) that spattered out the answer first so in his mind, as long as someone said it, it was good enough.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aussiegirl

"Excellent answers and you are all correct so you can all have a point each. Kappa's strength comes from the hollow in its head where it holds water and the way to defeat it is to get it to bow so the water runs out." Lawson pushed off his desk and moved over to Plymouth. "While Mr Morgan, is telling me how he would out wit a Kappa, who can tell me the M.O.M. classification of a Kappa and what the classification stands for?"

Marcus looked over at Mr Tipps and stared at him for a moment. "And I prefer my Bloody Bunbury, with a little something sweet added to it, otherwise it's extremely sour." He smirked a little before looking back down at Plymouth waiting for his answer.

Plymouth slid his arm over the drawing he was making for Tino when Professor Lawson came his way.

"Ummm.... well. To be honest with you, my gut answer is to never go anywhere without Celandine Toussaint. She'd know what to do. She hogs the wit in our class. But, since that is no longer an option, and assuming I'm all out of cucumbers - and that I had my wand - couldn't you just siphon the water out of its head? I mean, not that I'd want to take his magic or anything. You could probably take enough to get away. Hey, what do you suppose the magical head water of a Kappa tastes like? Hmmm... I think they just want a friend really - so I could introduce them to the grindylow and they could have brittle finger thumb wars and everyone would be happy."

"Yes very good Celandine and Wesley, both correct and that will be another point each."



Lawson moved Plymouth's arm out of the way so that he could have a look at his other picture and he raised an eyebrow. "Oh dear poor Mr Kettleburn. He doesn't seem to have a lot fans, I wonder why that is?" He turned slightly and his eyes rested on Celandine Toussaint for a moment before turning back to Plymouth.

"Well, well Mr Morgan seems like Miss Toussaint is not the only smart one in the class. Maybe some of her brain power has rubbed off on you. Take a point for your answer Mr Morgan, very good." He was about to make his way to the front of the class again when he stopped. "I'm afraid my tastes aren't that exotic, if you happen to taste one be sure to tell me all about it."

Marcus walked back to the front and rested against his desk. "Okay so moving on. Who here can tell me about Kelpie's?"

"Kappas have a Ministry of Magic classification of XXXX," Anna said, her hand in the air. "That means they are dangerous, require specialist knowledge, and should only be handled by skilled wizards."

Cope's jaw tightened, but he didn't show any other emotion. Great. It was bad enough when the little punk drew 'death-to-Kettleburn' pictures, but now apparently his former-best-friend was doing it too. It stung more than anything else.

He raised his hand, eyes to the front of the room. "Professor, the kelpie is not considered to be a dark creature by the Ministry of Magic, although Muggle legends occasionally take a very dark turn."

Oops. She'd been a little bit late on that last kappa question, hadn't she? Ahh, well. At least she'd tried. Raising her hand again, Anna said, "The kelpie is a British and Irish water demon. It can take on a variety of different shapes, but it usually appears as a horse. Oh, and the horse it appears as has bulbrushes for mane." She thought a bit more, then added, "It harms others by luring them onto its back, then diving all the way down to the bottom of the water. When they get to the bottom, they devour the person. You can protect yourself from a kelpie by getting a bridle over its head with a Placement Charm."

Celandine raised her hand, "A Kelpie drowns people by turning into a horse and luring riders on to their back then going into the water. Then they eat you except for your entrails."

Raiden raised his hand slowly, eyes still slightly crossed as he was still staring at the picture on his desk.

"Kelpies can change shape and stuff, and they drown people by looking like a horse and getting a person on their back, sir... and they have reeds and stuff for a mane, right?" he said softly, before putting his hand back down on the desk. That was something he remembered easily at the very least. He went back to staring at the drawing, to keep himself from looking around at everyone else. But something caught his attention; a slight grunt, probably of annoyance, in his vicinity. He uncrossed his eyes and turned his head slightly to look at the source.

Oh. Copernicus Kettleburn. How... how had he sat down next to him without realising it? Raiden sat very still in his seat, eyes on the older boy's face. Staring. Manners? Right now he couldn't remember most other things, so manners were unimportant, it seemed. Copernicus Kettleburn looked really really unhappy... Why did he look so unhappy?

... ah wait, he was... Plymouth's... brother. Forgot. Yes. That would... and now the professor was saying Copernicus Kettleburn didn't have many fans, after being at Plymouth's desk, and Copernicus Kettleburn looked even less pleased.

Raiden's bottom lip stuck itself out. Pout. Nobody should look so unhappy as Copernicus Kettleburn looked right now.

"And what do you think Mr Kettleburn? After hearing your peers answers and what it says in the text book. Do you think it should be considered a dark creature?" Lawson hoisted himself onto his desk and waited for the boys reply.

Plymouth sunk down into his desk. Ooooops. That was for giggles with Tino - not for giggles with Lawson. Plymouth's ears went a lovely shade of pink. He wasn't trying to pick a fight... with Copernicus ... but whatever. It's not like Copernicus .. cared.



"I know that," Plymouth started, then raised his hand, "if I ever see a horse-looking thing in the water - I'm high tailing it OUT OF the water! I do NOT need my entrails spilled, thanks. Heh. Then they'd be 'outtrails', right?"


Sigh. Plymouth turned around and gave Copernicus a little sorry look. Plymouth was sorry for drawing the squid eating Copernicus even if had felt good to hate him a little for just a minute.

Chris gave his answer about what a Kelpie was "The Kelpie turns itself into a horse to get is prey onto its back then it takes them underwater and then eats the ynfortunate person."

"No sir," Copernicus shook his head. "A Dark Creature isn't any old creature that causes harm. It's a creature of Dark intent that causes harm not for its own sustenance but because it was created to do so. I haven't heard anything that makes me believe the kelpie is doing more than finding a way to lure and trap prey for survival, rather than intentionally causing harm for harm's sake."

Abby peers around to try and get a look at Plymouths drawing. "Mr. kettleburn is correct although he left out that dark creatures do not have a natural life span like magical creatures, sir." Darn, I still cant see the darn thing.

Hmmm hmmm hmmm. Not Dark creatures because they were killing for... food? Still staring at Copernicus, without really meaning to, Raiden raised his hand.

"Professor Lawson, do Kelpies specifically target humans only, or do they go after any kind of creatures they can lure onto their backs?"

"Very good answers everyone. A point each for Anna, Celandine, Raiden, Daniel and Plymouth."

"And a point for you also Copernicus. You are correct it is the intent that makes either a creature or a person dark." Lawson slid off his desk and began to move around the room again. "Of course there are many water creatures we could cover but I think we will leave that for another lesson in the future." He paused in the middle of the classroom and looked around for a moment before continuing.

"Okay so let's have a little fun now. We spoke before on what spells we would use to break the grip of a grindylow." He pulled out a box from under his desk and pushed it to the front. "In this box you will find some rope, chains and muggle handcuffs. I want you to partner up with someone and tie your hands together and then use whatever spell you can come up with to free yourselves." Lawson looked at few select students and his eyes twinkled mischeviously. "If you can't find yourselves a partner I will assign you one. So come up to the front and grab yourselves some equipment." He moved around his desk and sat in the chair and propped his feet up onto the table. "Oh and if you can't free yourselves then it looks like your stuck together until you can." Hehe...how convenient he forgot to mention that he had charmed some of the handcuffs not to open.

Dem got up and walked over to her cousin Chris. "Hey, you want to be partners?" she asked. She hadn't talked to him in a long time. She walked up to the box and grabbed some handcuffs.

Chris walked up to the front of the room and gabbed some rope. He didnt like the looks of the hand cuffs and then walked over to Dem. "Sure." he asked.

Copernicus gave Plymouth a wounded look before turning to the younger Slytherin chap sitting next to him. "If you don't object to being attached to me for a bit, would you like to be my partner?"

Ohh, a game! Well now wouldn't this be fun! The only thing left to do now was find a partner. She glanced around the room, watching a few people here and there pair up. "Anyone still need a partner?" she asked, looking around the room for anyone still standing around by themselves like she was.

Ack. Copernicus Kettleburn was looking at him now, and Raiden had just realised that he'd been staring at him. Facepalm. He sat up rather abruptly, face slightly red, and glanced at the professor. Tying up? How... oddly unsurprising.

"Uhm. Sure," Raiden said, smiling and nodding. "Sure, that'd be fine! I'll... get the thing."

He went to the front and pawed around in the box. Metal, metal, metal... nobody wanted metal things, they were cold and hard to get out of, weren't they? Finally he pulled a rope out. Rope was much better, it wasn't... metallic and clanky and had far less potential to hurt you. He took it back to the desk and held it out awkwardly.

"Rope... would be easiest to start with," he said rather dumbly, trying to focus on what they were supposed to be doing. "That's okay, right?"

Cordova snapped his head from student to student who belted out an answer or merely said anything at all. He returned his attention back to the Professor and gave a hushed grunt in his throat because of the next objective he was told to undertake. "Working with others," he thought glancing around the room and immediately shivered from the thought of actually having to speak his peers or even work with them.

"Unbelievable," he said through gritted teeth as he stood and dragged his body from his happy place (the back of the room) and towards what he called the depths of hell. The front of the classroom.

"Why? People actually look or even stare at you in the front," he thought as he stood in front of the entire room with his head slightly bowed. "I'm like a bloody house-elf," he thought silently and waited for the Professor to pair him with someone else or...hopefully not!

Dem smiled and attached the handcuffs onto both of their wrists. Between the two of them, they were bound to get it undone soon. "I'll go first." she said and pulled out her wand from her robe pocket. She inspected the handcuffs, trying to figure out a way to undo them. There was a lock on the cuff around Chris' wrist. Before casting the spell, she took a deep breath and concentrated hard. Dem had a lot to live up to, being the prefects cousin and all. She opened her eyes and stared at the key hole. "Alohamora." she said and hoped it would unlock it. She wiggled the cuff around, nothing. *sigh* Your turn to try." she looked at Chris.

Sigh

Always. They always needed a partner in some class. And he always had problem getting a partner. Standing up from his seat in the back he looked around blinking incoherently. "Anyone wanna be partners?" He asked out loud. He had no idea how he'd be able to get unstuck but het it would be fun, right?

Sigh.

A partner activity. Hmm, this sounded interesting. Karma perked her head up to see who all had partners and who didn't.

"Okay, anyone still free and need a partner? Promise I won't bite." Hard.

Hehehe.