Lachlan felt his teeth sink into his bottom lip, which was followed by him clearing his throat. It was all he could do in order to stop himself from laughing heartily. "Perhaps at the end of the class, then?" He inquired, atempting and failing to sound perfectly serious. "When you've gotten used to the idea of performing in front of your classmates?"

No? No? Most likely not. He smiled at the boy all the same, patted his shoulder a couple of times and then moved back towards the stool he'd previously been sitting on. "Is everyone ready to share their thoughts about Sphinxes? If you are, please raise your had and do it." Lachlan flicked his wand toward the blackboard and erased what had previously been written on it.

Rosamund wagged her tail and stared levelly at the young girl. "The first thing you should learn, young one," And she was being quite the hypocrite, seeing that Rosamund was quite young herself, too. "Is that my kind does not accept nicknames from most. They are unwelcome and frowned upon by us."

Bleu thought for a moment before scribbling notes on her parchment. Sphinxes were amazingly beautiful and highly dangerous...

SPOILER!!: notes

Sphinxes

- From Egypt
- Tresure Protectors
- Can be Violent
- Enjoy riddles and puzzles

She couldn't think of anything else, but she was sure there was way more to learn about them then that. Especially since one was sitting in front of them.

The thingy was talking to Kurumi! Alex watched with wide eyes before slowly raising his hand. No way did he want to say anything about sphinxes that would upset the creature in front of him, she might bite his head off. Or something that sphinxes did to fourth year Slytherins.

"Um I believe, they like to talk in riddles and such?" he said, but it came out more as a question than a statement. "Because they're intelligent and... stuff." he added ´quickly. "They do like that. Don't they? I mean... Do they?"

SHE WAS SCARING HIM! He liked his head and did not want her to have it.

See? They were just saying their answers aloud. There was no need to waste parchment.

Ever, really, in Ellie's opinion.

Maybe homework was an exception. And Arithmancy. But that was pretty much it.

"Sphinx's have a XXXX rating because they can be violent when someone threatens the treasure they're guarding. Personally, I'd just call that protective. If they were given treasure to protect, I hope they'd protect it, even if it meant becoming violent." Basically, Ellie disagreed with the Ministry there.

Wait--someone was going to sing?! ...but whhhhy?!

Sierra rolled her eyes in the direction of her parchment as she thought about something to say about sphinxes. Something no one else would think to write... She felt the need to be unique, since she'd apparently spaced out and missed a few questions here and there. She frowned as she tried to balance the name card and her parchment on her small lap. Shouldn't they have desks for something requiring writing?!

Oh, they were meant to share now? Hmm...couldn't they have just verbally done this in the first place rather than writing it out? She eyed the new professor, and then she raised her hand to share. "The private ownership of sphinxes is--or maybe was--illegal. Crispin Cronk once got sent to Azkaban for having them in his backyard," she read aloud. Are you going to be sent to Azkaban, Professor!?

Kurumi PROBABLY should have been frightened by the look the sphinx was giving her, but she was just so overwhelmed by it that she just looked back at the sphinx with googly eyes. "Oh! I-I-I'm s-s-s-s-s-so s-s-s-s-s-s-sorry!" Kurumi squeaked bowing several times deeply from her sitting position. The sign on the professors door had mention that fact, hadn't he? Kurumi should probably go crawl under a bush somewhere and hide. "What would you prefer I call you?" If anything that is.

Still, the Sphinx HAD given her another nugget of wisdom which she added to her parchment.

Looking up again, and flashing another apologetic smile and bow towards Rosie the sphinx, Kurumi's hand shot up in the air. "Professor," she chirped. "Sphinxes love puzzles, riddles, and enigmas."

Arya had turned her attention away from the boy and back to the creature the moment he'd decided not to preform.... or two seconds after she'd turned her eyes on him. He didn't fascinate her like the Sphinx did. The new professor did, only a bit though, and when he asked for answers she raised her hand. "The Ministry classifies them as Beast because of their violent nature."

Kita's eyes bulged. It can... talk?! Like a human?! Well, obviously, seeing as it's got a human head. But still. Wow! Just... WOW! And to think she thought that the Professor was scary. She sighed. Hopefully she wouldn't have to go anywhere near the sphinx... who knows what could happen. She shook her head, trying not to let her imagination run free.

Share? But... but.... but she had only written down one thing. Ok, that was what he asked for but... share?! She bit her lip and raised her hand. "Um... I wrote down that sphinxes come from Egypt," she said, "At least, some of them do." That had to be good enough right?

Lola raised her hand, wanting to be the FIRST to share her knowledge about this Rosie first. Obviously, she wasn't. But still--the sphinx would get so impressed by her sheer knowledge for them (even if it was just one fact) and that they would become friends for life! Yeah?! YEAH!

PLEASE ROSIE PLEAAAASE BE MY FRIEND.

Ahem.

Raised her hand.

"Sphinxes like to protect treasures! They're real good at protecting stuff."

ROOOOOOSSSSSSSIEEEE.

Realizing that the Professor wanted everyone to share what they had written, Kimalia raised her hand. "Well, Sphinxes are creatures with the body of a lion, wings of a great bird, and the face + chest/breast of a human." She didn't like sounding like she read off a card and decided to add more to it. "Culture-wise, the Greeks envisioned woman Sphinxes, whilst Egyptians envisioned male Sphinxes."

Selina looked down at her parchment and rose her hand to supply her answer. She was not the most creative person in the world so she just spoke word for word what she had previously written down. Besides it was kind of nice to have a script, "Sir, Sphinxs are different in every culture. The two most famous cultures to depict them in Greek and Egyptian. According to Greek mythology the sphinx brought on bad luck and destruction. Has the head of a woman, tale of a snake, wings of an eagle, and the body of a lion." Satisfied with her answer she turned to smile to Kurumi on her right. It was funny how the two girls always sat beside one another in every class, minus Potions. Selina sat as far away from Lafay as she could muster.

Just as she was about to say something to Kurumi she paused. Kurumi was talking to thin air, "...who are you talking to Kurumi...?"

Theodore, situated in the utmost center of the students, hadn't bothered to answer the first question with honesty. It would have sounded something like, "Tolearnhowtoprotectmyself, andsurvivearoundanyandallcreatures, becausetheyallkindascarememisterprofessorsirand... ermthat'samightfinesphinxpleasedon'thurtmesphinx." Yep, that would have been quite embarrassing.

No. Instead he scribbled furiously on his parchment, attempting to get his mind off of the dangerously beautiful creature that was a bit too close for comfort. Sphinxes have violent tendencies and come from Egypt.

Oh lookie. Millie raised her hand, someone had already said but stuff it, no harm in trying to get points. "Sphinxes are highly intelligent creatures, they're classified as dangerous and require specialist knowledge so only very skilled wizards or witches should attempt to handle one" she said, racking her brain for what she had read. Okay yup. That was all, she was satisfied with her answer. Yup she's done.

Nika had absolutely no idea. You'd think since it was her second year she would've learned by now to read some text books before coming to class. It's as If being a muggle born wasn't enough of an excuse for her. Still she sat beaming with her little "Nika Adler Second Year Gryffie" card on her lap. Maybe she'd think of something to add later on.

Sphinxes are very well known even among the muggles. So it is not too hard to determine their characteristics. Aiden glances over Rosamund before turning back to the professor. "The word sphinx origanates from Greek word sphingo which means to squeeze. There is a single sphinx in Greek mythology which is a unique demon destruction and bad luck," she pauses. "Sphinxes are best known to come from Egypt. However, there are also from South-East Asia."

Isobel thought about the question. Then she remembered something she had read in a muggle book once. She assumed it was true. So she wrote it down on the piece of paper. Then she raised her hand and said, "Sphinxes tell riddles." She hoped it was right.

Belle raised her hand and told the professor, "The sphinxes have a liking of telling riddles to travelers to let them pass or not. If they get the riddle wrong they can attack or if they get it right, they go away unscathed."

Rosamund would prefer if the young lion did not address to her at all--she'd prefer that no one there would, really-- but her enthusiasm was refreshing and almost what her dearest mother would refer to as endearing. "If talk to me is what you want, then Rosamund is the name you should memorize."

"She is talking of to me, that much is clear," Rosamund nearly snapped at the student. Honestly. She did not like to be ignored!

Rosamund was being as social as Rosamund could ever be, and Lachlan, not what to break the spell--for lack of a better word--pretended to be oblivious to it all. "You've all made some very good points," MacFusty enthused, after checking that all the facts the students had supplied to him appeared on the blackboard after a lazy flick of his wand.

He'd also noticed that some of them seemed to have included some traits that muggles believed Sphinxes had. Though they'd gotten all of the mostly right, muggles had definitely let their imaginations run free when thinking sphinxes had wings. "You should know, however--"

"That I do not have wings!" Were they not using their eyes? She was right in front of them, for Cleopatra's sake! She had no wings. "I am not an Abraxan or some Hippogriff," Rosamund concluded, sounding both irritated and deeply offended.

"And the only thing human about me, is my voice and the face I sport," For the most part. She did have a face that could have easily fit on any thirteen year old, freckled girl. Though Rosamund liked to thing that her exquisite face, all cheekbones and dimples, would only fit in the body of someone with Veela blood.

Almost restlessly, she began to pace around the care of magical creatures professor, her tail gracefully waging behind her.

"Lady Rosamund is of course right, though employing that tone was not." He gave her a look. "Now that we are discussing the physical appearance of Sphinxes, however, I want you to look at Rosamund, at Rosamund's face, to be more precise, and try to imagine her as a human." Lachlan paused again, and sent Rosie what he hoped was an apologetic look. "After you do that, after you successfully picture her as a human, give me an estimate of how old exactly you'd think she is." Almost wryly, he smiled. "You should probably take her behaviour into consideration, too."

Suddenly, he remembered the blackboard and all the notes he'd appointed there. "Make sure you scribble down those characteristics if you don't have them already." They would be in the final. Maybe. Possibly.

Probably not.

Caroline raised her hand. "Egypian sphinx has a head of a human and a body of a lion. For thousands years wizards have used them to guard valuables and secrect hideaways and are usually only dangerous when what they are guarding is threatened." She wrote down what she had said along with what some of the others had said.

Quote:

Simon Bennett
7th Year Gryffindor

Simon had been paying attention to the goings on in class, listening and taking down notes as well as trying his best not to stare at the creature out or the respect the professor had brought up in the converstation. He finally raised his hand as he thought of an answer to the guess as to the sphinx's age. "Well I would think she'd be a teenager like most of us," he supplied lowering his hand to continue taking down notes, his gaze still up ahead. Her behavior certainly seemed to lend towards that with a human teenager still learning and testing her boundaries.

Kurumi was practically bouncing in her seat as the creature spoke to her again. Why would anyone want to call her a beast?! She was FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR too amazing for such a word. Kurumi thought that she was probably more brilliant than some of the other students at Hogwarts, so did that make them beasts? There was a strong case to be made for some of the students to be sure.

Bowing her head once more to the SUPERAWESOME Rosamund, Kurumi was tempted to introduce herself when Selina spoke AND THEN GOT SPOKEN TO AS WELL!

"Isn't she amazing?!"

Kurumi returned to her parchment as the professor wrote a few things on the board and added the things she did not have as well as modify a few of her already written points.

Her eyes then popped out of her head when she heard his next question.

He HAD talked to her before hand, right? So, you know, she wouldn't leap across the small gap and claw a student to death for insulting her age.

o_______________0

Kurumi observed Rosamund and took note of her short temper and impatience, not too different from people in her own year to be sure. "Professor, she seems to be around the same age as most of us here." At least her mannerism echoed that.

Selina heard a voice and looked around. Where was it coming from? She couldn't tell. "Kurumi do you-?" But then she saw it, her, it, her. A sphinx. Where in Merlin's name did she come from? They were not allowed to be private property, Ministry orders. So how did this new Professor get one? But more importantly she was talking to a Sphinx.

Clearing her throat Selina said, "Sorry, I didn't see you. I just... wow. You know that you are fantastic right? Seriously just beautiful." There was something very majestic about her. No wonder the ancient cultures all idolized these creatures.

She then heard Kurumi's faint voice echo to her, "Yeah she really is amazing. Bloody brilliant."

Then the Professor addressed the class and Selina sat up in attention and looked at him. Um, well she is somewhat immature. But at the same time she has a quick tongue, which would led Selina to believe she is quite young. "Sir, actually she reminds me of my age group. So I would have to guess around one hundred and twelve?" That was young for a sphinx right?

Sphinxes.

Lola scribbled the notes down as fast as she could, very intrigued by these creatures. Maybe if she knew more about them, then she wouldn't have to play as background scenery and play the majestic Sphinx. HEHEHE. Then with a Sphinx costume, she could have easily fooled Rosie and then become one of her best friends in disguise! YEAH!

She leaned towards the Sphinx, inching nearer and nearer to her, studying her face.

"You're so pretty," she plainly stated.

All she needed was to sparkle and her face could have been fit for a vampire.

"Prettier than me even," she gladly accepted defeat, sighing--BECAUSE WELL, she was.

She studied not only her face, but her behavior. See, Rosie was clearly a HORMONAL teenager. That part she got. Very bossy. Very smart--or so she thought she was. Lola would know. She herself was a girl! Girls knew each other. She completely understood her, understanding how she disliked how they treated her like a hippogriff--Lola would definitely be offended if she'd been mistaken as a hag instead of a witch.

"You look like... I don't know, Rosi--" OH WAIT, RESPECT, yes Lola Jones was serious about befriending this Sphinx and her name was not Rosie at all, "Laaaaaady Rosamund. Are you fifteen? You look almost my age. You're sixteen aren't you? Or seventeen." Seventeen was as highest as she got.

Hmmm. Ellie studied Rosie's face, though it felt QUITE rude (not that she hadn't been doing so all class so far), for a while.

"Well, she's not OLD." Ick. "But she's not ickle. She's like...our age, no?" Then again, Sphinx years could be TOTALLY different from human's.

Tayla raised her hand straight away.

"Hello there Professor MacFusty and...Rosamund. I'm Tayla Barnhill. First year, Gryffindor," she said politely, trying hard not to be nervous. "I know that sphinxes are h-highly intelligent. They have a lion's body and a human head." Tayla bit her lip and continued unsurely, "Rosamund looks around...15?"