Alyssa was sad that she had missed out on the opportunity to answer the question about the Merpeople so she decided that she wasn't going to wait too long to give her answer. She raised her hand and answered."Professor, A Grindylow has long fingers which although though they have a hard grip, that grip is still breakable." 'One characteristic, Lyssie' Alyssa reminded herself.

Kennedy thought about the lobalugs and thought to himself. He didn't know much about them, so he would offer his answer for Gryndylows instead. He raised his hand before speaking. "Gryndylows are known to mostly eat fish, algae, and small sea creatures, but they also eat humans." It was a very creepy truth.

He wondered if a small Gryndylow could eat a person his size. Wouldn't that be hard to digest and fit inside its stomach? Maybe their digestive system used a potent acid to break down foods. Eh, that was the best theory he could think about.

"Merpeople get along with them!" Sophie said after raising her hand. "Well, at least they have Grindylows as pets or something, and use Lobalugs more like weapons or... or something." she almost frowned when she finished. Oh well, hopefully they would understand her.

Ira raised her hand up and answered, "Professor, grindylows are considered dark creatures as they are known to eat human flesh.." Ira shuddered at the thought. She better not swim in the lake!

Selina rose her hand, "Um... don't merpeople use Lobalugs as weapons?" Which was sort of a scary thought. Creepy little creatures helping even creepier little creatures. The venom sac that everyone else in the class was mentioning was just weird and creepy. But her father had always warned her merpeople, merpeople are no fun, they use their lobalugs on everyone.

Luckily Adam had read some of his books material. He raised his hand an answered, "A lobabug is classified as triple XXX, which means Wizards an Witches should be able to handle one. It has venom within it an whenever it feels threatened or attacked it will spit out it's venom at the attacker.I believe it's also used in potions."

Now, onto describing a Grindylows characteristics. "Grindylows have strong fingers, but I think on contact they can easily fall apart even though their fingers exceed strong grip.It also likes to eat fish an can be aggressive to muggles an wizards."

The thought of grindylows made Hades to grin to himself. He still remember his first year, how he had to serve detention for three months for releasing a captured grindylow. He didn't do it on purpose, but to consider that it belonged to the professor he disliked... He lost count how much trouble he gave that man. "Merpeople domesticate grindylows and even keep them as pets," answered Hades after raising his hand and waving like a boy desperate for attention.

Barty was tired of hearing everyone talk about all the boring creatures of the lake and not about him, the largest and most important one.

He raised a large tentacle up and this time deliberately smacked the back of the head of the Care of Magical Creatures man, making a very wet, squid-like sound at the same time. The sound of a squid clearing its throat.

"And?" he prompted the W man loudly. "And? Merpeople, grindylows, and lobalugs all interact with the Giant Squid how?"

SPOILER!!: Lobalug Answers

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOPEendures

Jezzabelle raised her hand," Lobalugs are creatures that are 10 inches long with a rubbery spout and a venom spout." Yeah she did her Care of Magical Creatures reading very well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starbreeze

Lobalugs were one of those creatures that were often sought and killed for their vemon sac. This was extremely useful to both wizards, in potions, and merpeople, as weapons. Eino had actually used it before in a potion and it didn't smell very pleasant from what he could remember. "Lobalugs are characterized by their vemon sac, which they use to defend themselves by, well, expelling the vemon." Eino said with his hand high in the air.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lislchen

Squinting against the sunlight, Lewis hastened to copy down what the CoMC professor had written. Why was there suddenly a part about Hippocampus as well? He hesitated for just a second but then resumed his copying. There was obviously a good reason the professor had included it. And as long as they weren't going to cover Shrieking Eals he was good.

Once again raising his hand at the next question, Lewis replied, "Well, Lobalugs have like a venom sac so they can shoot venom at their enemies." He REALLY didn't want to be the reason for a Lobalug to feel the need to shoot its venom at him. He REALLY didn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Random Gal

nicki rasied her hand "Lobalugs have a venom spout...." nicki said sweetly she thought she needed to get more of her anwsers out well at least the part she knew anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermione Lily Potter

Lily got excited to know that her answer was brought up as the next question. If only I could have gotten a few points for being the only one to bring it up... Lily though to herself. Oh, and characteristics. Lily raised her hand, "Lobalugs are typically found at the bottom of the north sea." After answering Lily wondered, I wonder if there are any lobalugs in this lake? but she wasn't quite ready to ask that yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy ♥

"Lobalugs have venom sacs which they use to shoot their enemies," Amelia said after raising her hand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by natethegreat

Nate started to write down the notes. Nate raises his hand, and says "Is a simple creature, ten inches long comprising a rubbery spout and a venom sac. It uses its venom sac as a weapon, contracting it and expelling the venom in the direction of an attacker if threatened. A Grindylow is a small, horned water demon that lives in the weed beds at the bottom of lakes.It has green teeth, pointy horns and long fingers, which are used to strangle their prey. They attack witches, wizards, and muggles although merpeople are known to domesticate them."

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict

Selina rose her hand, "Um... don't merpeople use Lobalugs as weapons?" Which was sort of a scary thought. Creepy little creatures helping even creepier little creatures. The venom sac that everyone else in the class was mentioning was just weird and creepy. But her father had always warned her merpeople, merpeople are no fun, they use their lobalugs on everyone.

"Yes! Very good." William had managed to tone down his enthusiasm about the magical creatures into more subdued..... enthusiasm about students' correct answers.

"Lobalugs are small creatures, about ten inches long as you all said, usually found at the bottom of the North Sea. But we are north enough here that they're found in Hogwarts lake. They DO have a venom sac and they ARE used as weapons by the merpeople. But this venom is also extremely valuable and useful in potions, so the collecting of it is a strictly regulated activity."

He paused, wondering if Lafay would find him less childish if he brought her a live lobalug? Hmm, food for thought.

SPOILER!!: Grindylow Answers

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarahb

Isabelle took out a piece of parchment and copied down notes quickly. She didn't want to miss anything.

SPOILER!!: notes

Merpeople
-are sentient beings
-refused to be classified as ‘beings,’ preferring the status of ‘beast’ like Centaurs
-society is based around organized communities
-have a great love of music
-language (Mermish) sounds like screeches above water
-have grayish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes are yellow, as are their broken teeth, and they wear thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. Their powerful, silver fish tails allow them to swim expertly, while the upper parts of their bodies resemble those of humans. Merpeople are also very tall, and during the second task, Harry encountered one in the lake near Hogwarts who was seven feet tall with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs, carrying a spear
-keep grindylows as pets
-use lobalugs as weapons
-[at least] one tribe domesticated a hippocampus
-Sirens of Greece are the earliest recorded Merpeople and most aesthetic
-Selkies of Scotland and the Merrows of Ireland are less pleasing to the eye.
-all share a love of music though
-MoM classification: XXXX

Hippocampus
-beast with the head and forequarters of a horse, and the tail and hindquarters of a giant fish, making it somewhat similar in appearance to an over-sized seahorse
-generally found in the Mediterranean, a blue roan specimen was caught by Merpeople off the coast of Scotland in 1949 and domesticated.
-classification: XXX

Isabelle shot her hand up in the air. Of course she was going to answer Professor Smexyness' question. "Professor, grindylows are water demons that live in the weeds at the bottom of lakes like the Black Lake," oh yeah. Isabelle answered well for her favorite teacher in the whole entire world. There was no way she was going to be failing his wonderful COMC classes. Yep she would catch every word he said.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga

Minerva put up her hand "Professor grindylows have green sharp pointed teeth."

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

"I've heard that Grindylows are quite a dark creature." Ella said quietly, shruddering at the thought of them and continuing. "I guess you can get away from them if you can escape their grip. They have quite long fingers that pull you down to the depths of the lake...or at least that is what I've been told."

Quote:

Originally Posted by EW_FAN

Harvey thought for a moment and then put up his hand "Grindylows are pale green in color" he answered the question.. he had read about Grindylows somewhere while looking for something else and this information had got stuck in his head for some reason..

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

Sky honestly didn't know anything about lobalugs and very little about grindylows. So she stuck with what she did about one of the creatures… "Grindylows have tentacles that they use to pull people into deep water so they drown," she answered, cringing at the unpleasant thought.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Kurumi had been busy taking notes up until now and her hand had finally caught up with Professor Williamson when he asked for characteristics. She listened for a moment as student after student raised their hand and answered. Raising her hand as well, Kurumi offered up an answer - and hopefully one that hadn't been said already. "Grindylows are considered dark creatures because there have been instances where they have eaten humans, although they usually pose no threat."

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

Alyssa was sad that she had missed out on the opportunity to answer the question about the Merpeople so she decided that she wasn't going to wait too long to give her answer. She raised her hand and answered."Professor, A Grindylow has long fingers which although though they have a hard grip, that grip is still breakable." 'One characteristic, Lyssie' Alyssa reminded herself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubbles

Kennedy thought about the lobalugs and thought to himself. He didn't know much about them, so he would offer his answer for Gryndylows instead. He raised his hand before speaking. "Gryndylows are known to mostly eat fish, algae, and small sea creatures, but they also eat humans." It was a very creepy truth.

He wondered if a small Gryndylow could eat a person his size. Wouldn't that be hard to digest and fit inside its stomach? Maybe their digestive system used a potent acid to break down foods. Eh, that was the best theory he could think about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nups21

Ira raised her hand up and answered, "Professor, grindylows are considered dark creatures as they are known to eat human flesh.." Ira shuddered at the thought. She better not swim in the lake!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sevensnared

The thought of grindylows made Hades to grin to himself. He still remember his first year, how he had to serve detention for three months for releasing a captured grindylow. He didn't do it on purpose, but to consider that it belonged to the professor he disliked... He lost count how much trouble he gave that man. "Merpeople domesticate grindylows and even keep them as pets," answered Hades after raising his hand and waving like a boy desperate for attention.

And moving on to grindylows! William had some notes for the class on them too, even though he had a feeling the class was starting to find him just as boring as Scabbers with all their notes.

"Note taking is optional," he pointed out awkwardly, "but I assure you, ALL of the information I am sharing with you at present WILL be highly useful before the end of the day."

Just a hint, kiddos, just helpful hint. He flicked his wand where the silver text from earlier was still hovering, adding on two more sections to it.

Quote:

Grindylows

• small, horned water demons that live in the weed beds at the bottom of lakes in Great Britain and Ireland
• has green teeth, pointy horns and long fingers, which are used to strangle prey
• are violent and aggressive towards wizards and witches and Muggles, although merpeople have been known to domesticate them and keep them as pets
• the trick to combating them is to break their grip; their abnormally long fingers are strong but very brittle
• mostly eat fish, algae, and small sea creatures
• have been known to eat humans; thus the status of “dark creatures”
• classification: XX

Lobalugs

• aquatic creatures found at the bottom of the North Sea
• simple creature; ten inches long comprising a rubbery spout and a venom sac
• uses its venom sac as a weapon, contracting it and expelling the venom in the direction of an attacker if threatened
• merpeople use it as a weapon
• collecting their venom for use in potions is strictly prohibited

"You all have covered pretty much everything there is to know about these two creatures..." Williamson glanced at the lists. "But how does one defend oneself against the lobalug or the grindylow? Specifically, what spells would you use against them?"

He looked toward the older students for leadership on this question.

SPOILER!!: Answers About BOTH

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Laura looked at the Professor and smiled. "They both love swimming and going under water." Laura had no idea if this is what the Professor meant but well Laura wanted to answer the question.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimalia

Kimalia raised her hand, just to give one trait on how each may attack enemies. "A Lobalug has a venom sac used as a weapon, and a Grindylow may use its long fingers to strangle people."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Sierra glanced up at the mile-long list of notes that had suddenly appeared at the front of the room. Did they have to copy them down?! Wasn't all of this in the textbook anyway?! She frowned and quickly made a copy of the list, hoping WWW didn't suddenly give them another mile-long list. Honestly, the man's hotness was slowly dwindling thanks to his annoying excitement over his subject area.

She looked back up at him when the next question was asked. Were they meant to discuss one or both? Well, since he'd asked about both, that's what she'd talk about. "There's one characteristic they have in common," she said, raising her hand. "They're both used by merpeople. So in a sense, both have lost the ability to act on their own free will when it comes to merpeople."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

"They're both MEAN," Alex replied as he raised his hand. "Grindylows like to scratch people with their nails, and Lobalugs use their venom against people," he explained. Alex had heard that a few years ago, Grindylows had actually gotten IN THE SCHOOL and had attacked students! How awful! He was so glad he wasn't there for that. SO glad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jujune29th

"Merpeople get along with them!" Sophie said after raising her hand. "Well, at least they have Grindylows as pets or something, and use Lobalugs more like weapons or... or something." she almost frowned when she finished. Oh well, hopefully they would understand her.

"Very good comparisons about both creatures, you lot," he nodded toward the handful of students who had made ONE remark about BOTH creatures. "They all DO share a connection with the merpeople, a menacing one too."

But then he frowned at the next two students' answers.

SPOILER!!: Frankie and Team Ronmione

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankie

Autumn loved this class, it was by far her favorout... though more on the magical creatures than history. She Put her hand up eager to get more praise and some points!
"Professor, the grindylow is a horned pale green water demon and is found in lakes all over britain, it is agressive towards wizards and muggles, but merpeople have been known to demesticate them, they have extremly long fingers which while good to grip break easily. As for the Lobalug it is around 10 inches long and has a rubbery spout and a vemon sac, when the lobalug is threatened it blasts the attacker with poison, intrestingly the merpeople use these as weapons so they must have been able to domesticate them to some degree, Some potions contain the poison of the Lobalug but it is closely watched at the ministry." Autumn finished hoping she didnt ramble on to much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

Luckily Adam had read some of his books material. He raised his hand an answered, "A lobabug is classified as triple XXX, which means Wizards an Witches should be able to handle one. It has venom within it an whenever it feels threatened or attacked it will spit out it's venom at the attacker.I believe it's also used in potions."

Now, onto describing a Grindylows characteristics. "Grindylows have strong fingers, but I think on contact they can easily fall apart even though their fingers exceed strong grip.It also likes to eat fish an can be aggressive to muggles an wizards."

William did not like taking points, not even when he HAD to, but if he didn't take them then surely Scabbers would.

"Er... I asked for one answer per person, about ONE of the two creatures," he frowned. "While I appreciate your enthusiasm, I need to know that everyone here can follow our rules and directions, if not for their own safety, then at least for the safety of their classmates. Five points each from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor."

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Giant Squid

Barty was tired of hearing everyone talk about all the boring creatures of the lake and not about him, the largest and most important one.

He raised a large tentacle up and this time deliberately smacked the back of the head of the Care of Magical Creatures man, making a very wet, squid-like sound at the same time. The sound of a squid clearing its throat.

"And?" he prompted the W man loudly. "And? Merpeople, grindylows, and lobalugs all interact with the Giant Squid how?"

Williamson sighed heavily and turned to the rest of the class, stumbling forward unexpectedly as a spongy, wet THING slapped the back of his head and drenched his shirt.

Whoa whoa! "Bar--- Mr. Henry!" he exclaimed, half-surprised and half-pleased. Wow. THE SQUID HAD TOUCHED HIM! He had been touched by a squid. He was SO HONORED!

"Yes of course, of course Mr. Henry, I hadn't forgotten you! I was saving the best for last!" he beamed at their friendly visitor and nodded toward the class. "As Mr. Henry, our resident giant squid reminded me, how do merpeople, grindylows, lobalugs, and all the other residents of the lake interact with the Giant Squid?"

Kurumi jumped and waved at the Giant Squid when he spoke up again. Merlin, she didn't know he could do that! Brilliant.

Seriously...could she hug him? Please?

"Are you...their leader? Sort of like the president of the Black Lake?" she asked him directly, her hand high in the air. Because that would be super neat! Her other idea was that he ate them...but she didn't want to think about that.

Did that squid just talk! How could a squid talk. I mean if it was by magic then he could understand. He thought to himself what in the world is going on here. Was it charmed or something? "They interact with with the giant squid by not attacking him." He didn't know what to say! He thought that might be it. Well it was worth a shot.

Points off of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw? Selena definitely liked that. Selena smirked at that however, there was a voice. SQUID. SQUID. SPEAKS. WHAT?! What was the world coming to?! Since when did the Giant Squid... talk?! When did it even start surfacing anyways because it seemed like every time Sel went looking for it, the squid was never around. She giggled as the squid smacked the professor though, and quickly silenced herself - what if the professor took points off from Slytherin for her laughing at him?! That would just be bad.

"They live together, so maybe they all work together somehow? And all creatures are connected some way by like... a food web... so maybe Mister Squid eats some of them?" Selena offered. It would make sense. Or maybe the Giant Squid... ate... students?!

She raised her hand when traits about the Merpeople was asked but seems like Professor Williamson didn't see her because even before she had the chance to talk, the new Professor immediately made a follow up question. Oh well..seems like most of them liked him anyway, that was why it was so easy to share answers.

Beatrice just listened carefully and intently as the discussion went on even without participating. She was so engrossed about listening to history and characteristics of there creatures which she had not seen even once in her entire lifetime.

She only came face to face with a Hippogriff last term.

Moving on, they were off to tackle about Lobalugs and Grindylows. And what are the characteristics of the two?

The Ravenclaw second year raised her hand, [B]"Professor, Grindylows appear as small, light green four-legged creatures with large heads and big yellow eyes. "Pretty much about their appearances. "Though if you say one common characteristic of both that would be being unnaturally violent once attacked or if their territories are trespassed." Beezus said.

Just a bit after she had given her answer, the Giant Squid suddenly appeared.

And..And it..talked?!

O__________________o

Was it just her imagination? No, clearly it wasn't.. Because now, their Care of Magical Creatures was entertaining that question. And poor Professor, the Mr. Henry literally smacked him in the back of his head.

Raising her hand once more, she answered. "Errr--maybe they interact with it," she looked at the Giant Squid, "By err--gestures?" Don't they all like have some kind of communication means to understand each other. "And just by..respecting each other's rights." The question was, did they even have rights?

Sierra smirked in amusement. Those tentacles--they were an interesting thing to have, yup. She wondered if the squid would smack a few people for her, too, if she asked nicely. What was his name again? Bart? Barty? Hey, you! Not knowing how to address him, and figuring 'Squid' wouldn't come across the right way, she just cleared her throat and looked in his direction.

"Do you get to smack them around them, too?" she asked the squid. You know, here a smack, there a smack, everywhere a smack, smack? "I've heard that you've saved a few people from this lake--so do you save them from the grindylows and merpeople? Do they listen to you, hmm?" Are you 'THE MAN' when it comes to this lake, Mr. Squid?! "Or, maybe you just all interact together in some way..."

Of all his interactions and knowledge concerning the giant squid, never had a TALKING giant squid entered his mind. And to slap Professor Williamson? That squid's got guts! Punny!

Keefer raised both hands. Unsure of if he should address the squid or the human, he just spoke generically. "Well, squids are awesome creatures, large and powerful. So I would assume that smaller creatures like grindylows and lobalugs would live in fear and reverence." So what if he was sorta buttering up the squid? He didn't want to get slapped in the head. "The Merpeople, as intelligent Beings, would likely have formed a peaceable relationship. At least, that's what I would do. Both parties can be beneficial to the other somehow, I'm sure."

Well, well, well.. First Ravenclaw and Gryffindor got more points taken away, then her along with other students got praised for their answers, and now.. There was Professor Williamson soaking head to toe with his clothes hugging him. Kimalia couldn't stop the rare blush creeping on her and had to stare back at the overly friendly Squid.

"Well, since they share the same home area, I can imagine they make compromises." Then she tilted her head in wonder, "Is er, Mr.Henry- Hopefully that was the Squid's name, if not, oops. Just don't slap poor Kimalia! "like the king of the lake? Making negotiations and stuff with them?" It was a thought.

Pam beamed at the Squid excitedly. "Are you some sort of translator? Can you communicate with both underwater creatures, and those on land?" If so, that would be epicly neat. She would love to be able to talk to some merpeople.

Sophie's eyes opened wide again and she gave her biggest smile at the Giant Squid. It was sooo pretty and cool!

"Is he their King?!?!" she was so excited! "He SOULD be their king, if he's not!" Sophie really liked the Squid. It was really awesome!

Eino waved enthusiastically as the giant squid popped up to the surface, completely unaware that the giant squid had spoken. He had never doubted that it couldn't anyway, so he wasn't surprised. A sudden question popped in Eino's head, but he hesitated to raise his arm because the professor was speaking. By the time the man concluded his speech, Eino was torn between replying to his question or ask his previous question. He would do both.

"Professor," Eino began after raising his hand high in the air and receiving permission to speak, "Sir Bartholomew Henry doesn't appear to be a harmful creature, since it has a track record of helping students who fall in the lake. According to those actions, I would suspect he is generally a docile and mild creature, with no intent to harm other creatures, other than to fill his belly with succulent fishes."

The boy paused for air, then proceeded. "But... then, does this make him a candidate for the 'being' classification? Professor Scabior explained that the classification is based on the creature's or being's intelligence and their ability to understand and follow our laws. Sir Bartholomew Henry can speak, so that puts him at some level of intelligence. However, this shouldn't be enough because Sphinxes can also speak. The difference between them is that Sir Bartholomew Henry is not hostile towards people, as Sphinxes are known to be. In addition to that, he does, I supposed, as much as a giant squid can, follow our laws. He doesn't expose himself to muggles, for example, and he doesn't seem dangerous to anyone. So, what prevents him from being categorized as a being?" He would understand if the squid couldn't speak, he supposed. Plus, didn't hags eat children? They were even more dangerous than Sir Bartholomew Henry!

Alyssa thought for awhile, still rubbing the place where the tentacle had hit her on the head before she raised her hand. "Professor AND Mr. Henry, I would believe that because of his large size, and because chances are he is the oldest and wisest creature in the lake, that the merpeople, grindylows, lobalugs and all the other residents of the lake, respect him, and have made a pact not to attack or hurt him, despite that the fact that he is very harmful and wouldn't hurt anyone."

O______O

Who knew the squid could talk!? That was brand new information! And did he just smack the CoMC professor?! Okay then…

Sky didn't know rather to address the professor or the squid, so she just stated her answer. "Maybe there's a hierarchy? Like, Mr. Henry here is the most important creature, so gets first choice of food, then the merpeople, then the grindylows, and the lobalugs." Maybe not the correct answer, but maybe it'd keep her from being smacked…

Mr Henry? The giant squid had a name? And could it talk too? Ira just blinked, and then blinked some more as she observed everything going on!

Kennedy's eyes widened and he took a step back when Mr. Henry the squid spoke. That was wicked COOL! Who taught him to talk? Did he read books too? That would be awesome!

He turned his attention back to the professor when he got smacked spoke. After thinking about the question he raised his hand and voiced the only thing he could up with that was a biiiiit logical. "They probably interact by following a sort of treaty." Not written of course, the paper would just dissolve under water. "Like Mr. Henry doesn't eat them and they don't harm him in return?" Something like that.

OMGTHESQUIDTALKED!!!

Hades startled when the giant squid suddenly talked. He understood that merpeople and centaurs can talk human language, but a giant squid? If it was any smaller, it could've been his dinner! And his dinner had never been able to talk. On the second thought, messing around with it seemed like a bad idea. He made a mental note of 'not to be messed with' list.

"Did you save people from grindylows and merpeople?" he asked the gigantic creature. If it didn't, he'd forget his plan to swim in the Black Lake. Hades didn't want to die before he graduated.

The Giant Squid could talk?! Adam just thought it was a Giant Squid floating in the lake. But the fact that the Giant Squid could take was outstanding.

"Maybe they have some sort of agreement.The Giant Squid could protect the other smaller creatures from the more dangerous ones and in return a pact is made. Smaller creatures retrieve Mr. Henry food to eat." Though that kind of made the Squid sound like the boss of them all.