So the man was going to call the herd now...and then the exciting part would begin where they would be face to face with the magnificant creatures. Granted they were a part of Hogwarts, yet it wasn't an everyday occurance to be so close to them. Gideon waited as the ministry man hopped the fence and wandered off to retrieve them, soon returning back to the fence with the creatures in tow. One was particularly friendly and as Mr. Aldredge explained it was because that one was his own and a little more tame them the others.

As he described what they were to do, Gideon was thankful he had his gloves with him. He might not mind touching dead or dirty things for potions and herbology but gloves were always helpful for keeping any smell away later on. Briefly debating his choices since their substitute had offered his hippogriff or one of the herd, the fourth year finally figured he could handle a creature on his own, slipping on his gloves in decisiveness. Now all he had to do was follow instructions and follow the procedure letter for letter to avoid any unneeded mishaps.

Kennedy's green eyes twinkled with excitement when he saw the Hippogriffs. They were AWESOME! He couldn't believe that he was actually going to get the opportunity to interact with a cool beast creature like these ones.

He tugged the gloves to make sure they were on right. Right about now he began to grow nervous. What if he didn't bow correctly or what if they hippogriff didn't like him and decided to fly away with him, and keep him as a prisoner in its nest? They did have nests right? Eh.

The snake looked around and noticed that his classmates were approaching the creatures. He gulped and made his way to retrieve a ferret... a dead one. Ew.

Kennedy listed all the steps of how to approach a hippogriff in his mind while building up the courage to go up to one. He looked side to side until he spotted a beast scratching at the ground with its talons. It was probably looking for insects to eat. Well, that one will do then.

Harvey couldnt believe just how BIG these magical creatures were. He put on his gloves and walked to the wheely bins. He looked into both the wheely bins Well, out of these two foods, the ferrets ARE dead, but the insects dont look that inviting either. With the insects it would eat out of my hands, with the ferret, it could just take it from me and eat the thing. Which one to choose is the question. The ferrets or the insects. Well since we have to offer the food and show it my best choice would be the ferret so that it would be able to see that I ACTUALLY have food for it to eat. Right a ferret it is then he thought as he reached in and grabbed a ferret and then turned to the herd of Hippogriffs. There was one that seemed to just stare at him, and it seemed to like him. So he gave a small smile and stood in front of it obviously several yards away as instructed.

The hippogriff dropped the ferret onto the ground and began eating it quickly. He certainly was hungry! Probably hungry enough for two or more, if one really thought about it.

The girl stood by quietly, simply watching, occasionally glancing around to see how the others in the class were holding up. No need to disturb his meal. Once he finished, she could possibly pet him. Maybe. She was currently working up the nerve to do so.

It wasn’t long before Chessy finished eating. He lifted his massive head and stared at her again, another sound emitting from him. If she really thought about it, he sounded content.

Her right hand slowly rose as she kept a wary eye out. When the hippogriff made no movement to object, she lifted it higher before settling it on its neck. Still no movement of objection.

Her fingertips slowly rubbed across the feathery neck. The only indication from Chessy was the swishing of his tail. A smile slowly slipped across her face. This was pretty cool. She couldn’t reach very high, but she could at least reach a part of his neck.
And the hippogriff seemed to enjoy it.

Heading over to the uncovered bins, Gideon looked between the bugs and vermin. Both had been given as food items for their responsibility and looked between them and thought of which might be easier to work with or more appealing to his would-be charge for the moment. The idea of using ferret seemed to stick out to him so he opted to go that route. Once the Gryffindor had picked up a dead ferret, the boy stepped away from the bin so others could easily get to them for their own.

He then looked over the herd to chose a creature to interact with, a great variety of animals were present His gaze finally settling on a roan colored one and his face alighted with a smile as he picked it to be the one he would work with. Gideon slowly made his way over to his chosen hippogriff, glad to see as the rest of the class started to dispurse that no one else had decided on his own themselves.

Alyssa was absolutely delighted when she saw the herd of Hippogriffs. They were such beautiful majestic creatures. She waited while the others picked the ones they wanted to work with. Alyssa didn't want to get caught in the rush. She looked at the Hippogriffs as they walked around and noticed one that tended to stand a little apart from the rest. She wondered whether it was because the others in the herd had chosen to ignore it for a reason. Maybe it was an outcast. For some reason it seemed to look sad and lonely on it's own. Alyssa somehow felt an affiliation with it. She took felt alone in this school.

It was then that Alyssa decided that she would choose this Hippogriff to befriend.

William was interested in feeding a HippoGriff. William puts on his gloves. He
Decides to get a lot of insects. Now Willaim is trying to remeber how to approach the HippoGriff. He is wondering which one he would like to fees.

Oh.My.Chocolate.Frogs!

Kurumi sort of just stood there frozen in place when the herd arrived. It seemed almost too good to be true and it was enough to bring tears to the little Gryffindor's eyes. Yes, tears. Tears of joy for FINALLY being able to interact with a magical creature. Last term she had been able to meet Lady Rosamund, which had been FANTASTIC and then she had been eager to get to meet some flying horses the next lesson, but sadly the professor had had to leave and had never returned - something that still made the Gryffindor very sad since he had been one of the few people to actually be able to help Wanut deal with his kitty anger management issues.

Kurumi bend down and pulled her gloves from her bag quickly, shooting back up to standing position a little too fast and she instantly became a bit dizzy and she wobbled in place for a few moments before her vision cleared. Once it had, she pulled her gloves on and rushed over and grabbed a dead ferret, not allowing herself to look at it or else she would begin feeling bad for it and turned around to face the herd of beautiful hippogriffs and wondered which one to attempt to get to know better.

She saw a large one, probably one of the largest there, and instantly felt drawn to it...thus beginning an awkward sort of crap walk towards the side where the creature stood looking disinterested in everything. She would make sure he was interested in her, for all the right reasons of course. After all, her and her house elf kind habit of bowing should work in her favor this lesson.

Now that Alyssa had picked the Hippogriff, she quickly put on her dragon hide gloves and then went over to where the dead ferrets were kept. She almost gagged just from the stench of dead flesh but managed to hold her food in. She put her hand in and grabbed one by its legs and then slowly approached the Hippogriff.

As the hippogriff moved closer Justin stood without moving a muscle so he wouldn't scare it. Slowly it crept closer until finally it sniffed and then took the ferret from Justin's hand and threw it up in the air and caught it. With one gulp the hippogriff swallowed the treat . when the hippogriff stood in front of Justin he slowly raised his right hand again and held it in front of it . Justin waited for a moment and then the moment of truth occured. The hippogriff nudged his hand and Justin was allowed to pet it's head.

William looked down at the bag of insects he was holding in his hand, ready to offer to the hippogriff. It was disgusting that any creature would eat anything like that, but he supposed the poor hippogriff didn't know any better. They probably tasted as good as a Thanksgiving meal to him. Well, hopefully he would enjoy them.

William was about ready to feed the hippogriff now. He knew that he was supposed to bow to it and make sure to make eye contact, so he rehearsed doing these things in his head. He wanted to make sure and not startle the hippogriff before he approached.

Harvey then looked at the Hippogriff, but it was interested in something in the grass as he clawed at it. Harvey waited and waited, he made a noise with his foot to try and tell the Hippogriff that he was there waiting for it. The Hippogriff heard the noise and slowly looked up at Harvey, he got slightly frigtened as it seemed for a little bit that it may attack him, but it didnt. Harvey looked at the Hippogriff and made eye contact with it and he slowly bowed while keeping the eye contact he had established. The Hippogriff didnt bow back, which made Harvey wonder what he was missing in his technique, he was doing as he was told but it didnt seem to be working..

*waddle waddle waddle*

Completing her crab walk to the left, Kurumi stopped when she was in front of the hippogriff, but a good 20 feet away from him. That was plenty of room, right? Did he even notice her? He was sort of looking off into the distance not really paying attention to anything... Maybe her bowing would catch his attention?

Dead ferret in hand, Kurumi bowed at a perfect 90 degrees and waited, her eyes cast down at the ground. She waited to hear some sort of noise, the flapping or wings or a chirp, anything to let her know that the hippogriff had noticed her, but when nothing came, she peeked up. The hippogriff that she had decided on had turned his back to the crowd of students and was looking back towards the forest. Great, she had chosen the most apathetic hippogriff of the group, or the one that was the least interested in students.

Returning to her standing position, Kurumi rubbed the back of her neck and swung the ferret by its tail. Nope. Not really interested in that either. Not knowing what else to do...Kurumi cleared her throat and....

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

That had done it. The hippogriff spun around, its fiery eyes locked on hers and he didn't look all that pleased. Kurumi blinked in surprise, STUPID, and the hippogriff retreated back a few paces. Calm down Hollingberry...you are too excited for your own good... She needed to start over, so she too took a few steps backwards before bowing once more at a perfect 90 degrees and waited. This time, she knew it was watching her because the familiar sensation of eyes burning a hole in the back of her head was present - who knew that she could compare the Head Girl to a hippogriff?!

Justin was elated that the hippogriff he had chosen had taken to him so easily because he had glanced over at Harvey who seemed to be having a bit of a hard time with his. Justin began to pet his hippogriff and talk to it as he touched it. " you're a nice hippogriff. Do you mind if I give you a name? " said Justin as he continued stroking it's feathers. " How does Murtock sound to you?" he giggled and the hippogriff seemed to acknoledge the question and seemed to nod his head in agreement. " Well, Murtock it is then. "

She waited...and waited...and waited...hoping that somehow the hippogriff would react to her bow but was too afraid to look up. What if the looking up offended it in some way? Then again, what if her bowing for too long did resulted in the same thing? Dealing with these hippogriffs was quickly reminding her of when she went to meet her grandparents on her mother's side for the first time. Her grandfather had this cane that he would use to whack your body into proper position and got upset when she bowed at what he considered 89 degrees instead of 90. He had even once yelled at her for bowing for 10 seconds when the situation called for 12.

Deciding that she would have to look up eventually to see if she was allowed to proceed closer, she peeked up, her eyes wide and unblinking like an owls, and looked into the hippogriff's. Nope, he wasn't bowing, not yet at least, so she bowed a little deeper, craning her neck so that she could keep eye contact with him while she did.

And now...she needed to wait some more.

Alyssa slowly approached the Hippogriff making sure that she kept eye contact with it at all times which was hard to do because this Hippogriff kept turning its head and looking away!! So Alyssa had to keep following it, trying to get eye contact and at the same time avoid walking into another student, or worse yet, another Hippogriff. Finally the Hippogriff turned its head and looked at her.

Alyssa quickly caught its eye and maintained eye contact as she slowly approached it. This time the Hippogriff contined to look at her. When she reached a safe distance, Alyssa bowed, making sure that even while she was doing that, she continued to keep eye contact with the Hippogriff. She stayed in her bowed position with her head cranked in a weird position as she tried to maintain eye contact and waited to see what the Hippogriff would do.

“Good hippogriff.” She spoke quietly. “Good Chessy….” At the sound of the name that she had dubbed him with, the hippogriff turned its head towards her and snapped its beak once, and then bobbed its head. Did it like that?

With another small smile, Kourt continued to gently stroke Chessy’s neck. How often did she get to be in the presence of such a creature? Half eagle, half horse. And though she hadn't initially thought of it as physically beautiful, she had to admit that she was wrong. It was actually very beautiful. His neck was soft, his body sleek with a color hue that shone.

"You really are a beautiful creature." She spoke aloud, though softly, staring up at the hippogriff. It stared at her before folding its legs underneath itself and settling down in front of her. Delighted, Kourt continued to pet Chessy, but now on his head instead of the neck.

She didn't want to make any loud noises, but simply remained quiet, enjoying the moment of having the creature trust her enough to allow her to continue the gentle stroking of its head and neck.

Alyssa felt like her back AND neck was about to break from all the bending both were required to do. But she continued to keep her bowed stance while maintaining eye contact with the Hippogriff WITHOUT blinking, which was getting harder to do as the seconds went by. Humans, even magical ones, needed to blink...and of course the more you forced yourself not to blink, the more you needed to. 'Typical Murphy's Law' Alyssa thought to herself. As she waited, her eyes started to water which made her want to blink even more, but wait. Through her watering eyes, Alyssa saw that the Hippogriff had taken a step forward and was curiously looking at her. 'Bow. Please bow,' Alyssa thought to herself, 'before my back and neck breaks and I blink!!'. And then right before her very eyes, the Hippogriff bent one of its front legs and bowed its head. It had bowed back!!

Alyssa almost wanted to jump up and shout with glee, but then she remembered that she had to not only maintain eye contact, but also remain silent while she offered the food to the Hippogriff. So still maintaining eye contact, Alyssa slowly moved her hand that was holding the dead ferret forward offering the food to the Hippogriff and then waited to see whether it would come forward to accept her gift.

Kurumi's neck was cramping from the strange position she had found herself in and would probably be stuck like this for the rest of the day. She continued to wait, eyes watering now from her inability to blink. Although, she was still pretty sure that some excitement and glee from this opportunity was also contributing to her tears. This was, after all, a very monumental event. Merlin! What if it let her ride it?! The man hadn't told them that they weren't allowed to do that if the hippogriff allowed it...

She needed to stop thinking, she was getting even more excited now and her eyes were watering a bit more. Wow...she might be able to ride on a hippogriff...could she cry? Wait, she already was. Could she...bake this man cookies? Yes, baking him cookies would do just fine.

Then...something AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAZING happened. Its orange eyes still locked intensely on her own, the hippogriff lifted its right leg, bringing it forward just a bit while its left one bent at the knee, bringing its body forward until its head was below shoulder level. Kurumi had to bit her tongue to keep herself from squealing with glee. IT WAS BOWING TO HER!

Slowly, she lifted her body up, making sure not to blink and kept her violet eyes on his. Legs firmly planted on the ground, Kurumi lifted her arm holding the ferret to about her shoulder level and remained very still. Wait...what if this one wasn't hungry and therefore had no inclination to approach her. She would cry, erm, cry more....for different reasons obviously. The hippogriff's eyes followed the ferret as it was lifted higher into the air. Well, at least she had its attention. Kurumi waited in that position, shaking the ferret every now and again to try and intrigue the hippogriff to come closer. Her already wide eyes widened a bit more when the creature lifted one of its legs.

Come on...come to Kurumi...

Kennedy took a deep breath. He had a mixture of excitement and nerves. He was excited to have finally been able to see a magical creature and nervous because he wasn't sure if the hippogriff was going to bite his head off.

He approached the area of where the hippogriff was still scratching at the ground. Now he noticed its color. Its paw/talons whatever they were, were a very light gray and it was almost a gradient of dark to light silver from head to toe...paws...talons. Whatever. Kennedy stopped several feet before it.

Immediately, at the sound of his feet stepping on a twig the hippogriff stopped what it was doing and froze on spot. Thinking the creature had spotted him, Kennedy froze as well and bowed real low until he estimated his angle to be 90 degrees... Maybe 91 degrees would be better?

He didn't know, but tried it anyway.

Just as he was about to bow lower, he heard what sounded like talons scratching the ground. Oh no!

Was the hippogriff was about to charge at him?!

...But, then the sound continued. He lifted his head up, his glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose, slightly.

o_______O

At the sight of the Hippogriff scratching at the ground again, Kennedy scoffed silently. That THING had scared the living day lights out of him. Soooo, it was just ignoring him? PFFT! Two can play at that game.

Oh wait, he couldn't. He needed good marks in this class.

Oh crud.

As Gideon walked over to the part of the paddock where his chosen hippogriff was, he was reminded of the precautions and proceedures there were to take. His step slowing as he got closer, finally stopping once he was a number of feet away and the creature and shifted noticing his presence. It had taken a lot for him not to suddenly freeze but he was certain the sudden movement would have made things worse and so had done it as subtlly as possible.

Ok Gideon...now you're on.

The Gryffindor swallowed, running the list of what he should do through his head as he did so. Taking a deep breath, he slowly moved, bowing to the creature with one leg moving back behind him as his body lowered. His eyes flickered up to try and catch the gaze of his hippogriff companion, doing his best not to blink or even breath too heavy as he awaited a response. Did he do it right? Was the hippogriff going to approve him? Gideon wasn't all to certain of his chances especially when the first thing he registered was the creature seemingly dance-stepping and shifting backwards.

Had he annoyed it?

Alyssa to see whether the Hippogriff would come forward and accept the food that she was holding out in her hand. 'Great! Now besides my back and neck already hurting, and my eyes watering, now my arm is getting heavy!!' Alyssa thought to herself. But patiently she waited and her patience paid off because the Hippogriff came forward and with a flick of its head grabbed the ferret out of Alyssa's fingers. 'Oh Merlin! thank goodness it didn't go for my fingers as well.' Alyssa thought to herself.

As the Hippogriff ate, Alyssa slowly stood up from her cramped position and approached the Hippogriff. She made sure that when she approached the animal, that the Hippogriff could still see her. She didn't want to come up on it's blindside and freak it out. That would mean BIG time trouble for her.

As she got nearer, she slowly reached out her hand, making sure that the Hippogriff could see what she was doing. It didn't seem to care as it continued to chew on the ferret. Alyssa slowly touched it's head and ran her fingers through its feathery head. "You are a beautiful one aren't you? You are so majestic and amazing. I hope that one day you will allow me to come fly with you." Alyssa whispered to the Hippogriff.

She continued talking with it as the Hippogriff finished it's meal and looked at her. 'Uh oh! what do I do now?'Alyssa thought to herself. Alyssa didn't know what to do, since she didn't have any more food with her, so she continued to talk with the Hippogriff and stroke it's head.

Ira was really excited at the prospect of meeting hippogriffs! When professor brought the whole herd out, Ira's mouth was gaping open... So many of them!

Then those bins of dead insects and dead ferrets...yuck! that was looking so ..gross! But Ira was eager to go meet hippogriffs. So she quickly removed her own gloves from the bag and put them on. She grabbed a ferret in one hand and a dead insect in other. It was better to give the hippogriff option of choosing according to its mood, right?

William finally decided that the time was right for him to begin approaching the hippogriff. He gave his best bow, but then realized that he had accidentally blinked instead of keeping constant eye contact with the hippogriff. What if it decided to attack him? This could be very bad indeed, for the creature might want to eat him instead of that bag of insects he was clutching.

To William's relief, the hippogriff didn't do anything. It was if it hadn't seen William at all. William gave a sigh and tried to muster up enough courage to attempt to approach once again.

Come to Kurumi...Come to Kurumi....Come to Kurumi...

Kurumi was no Legilimens, but perhaps something in the young Gryffindor would be able trigger some hidden talent and she could send that message to the hippogriff or even send him an image that he wanted to get closer to her. Voldermort had been able to do that, right? Wait, did that imply that she had to have some sort of connection with the hippogriff? Did being fascinated with them count? Hippogriffs were proud creatures, so they were really into themselves, yes?

While Kurumi was thinking about all this, still in her 90 degree bow, she failed to notice that the hippogriff was slowly marching towards her with its brilliant orange judgmental eyes watching her the entire time as he edge forward. Her eyes were still on his, but they were a bit unfocused...until the hippogriff was right in front of her. She lifted her head ever so slightly to meet his gaze and the creature cocked its head to the side, squawking once and pressing its menacing beak against her forehead. Kurumi let out a high pitched squeal that lasted for several blissful seconds.

The hippogriff was a bit startled by this noise, and stepped back a bit, but the smell of the dead ferret being held out by the prefect didn't keep him that far away. Squeeing done, Kurumi moved her hand slowly so that the ferret was dangling in front of his beak, but the hippogriff didn't seem to want to take it? Huh? Was he not hungry? Kurumi frowned a bit and took a timid step forward, dangling the ferret back and forth, but the hippogriff wasn't interested and even snorted at her to emphasize this fact.

"Um...forgive me...sir...but aren't you hungry?" she asked shyly, sort of bowing again after speaking. The hippogriff snorted again and then threw his head back once, stared at the ferret, threw his head back again, and then poked the ferret with its beak. "Do you...want me to throw it?" Like how one threw a dog a bone? She didn't say that out loud though, it might offend him. The hippogriff snorted once more and took several steps back as his eyes devoured the ferret. "I guess so," she laughed, lowering the ferret slightly as she tried to judge just how much force to use in her toss.