You probably wouldn't think it, but spinning around in circles trying to detach a flame-farting fire crab from your nipple is one of those times one really takes time to THINK. Yes, think. For instance, Elijah couldn't help but think that this was now the SECOND time he had been shirtless in a class and both times had not ended well, albeit this time was resulting in a lot more PAIN.

But, despite all those SMALL thoughts, it was Aspen who had really got him thinking. He had gone through all of this because she had instructed him to. This wasn't the first time this had been the case either. He had eaten raw garlic as per her recommendation, also. He was starting to think that perhaps he was being made a fool of...

Was he even a vampire?

His peaceful, yet painful, moment of thought was interrupted, as he spun for around the fiftieth time, by the sound of applause. Elijah could JUST make out a Ravenclaw (Ethan) between spins, slapping his palms together as if he were at some show. Ugh.

Elijah contemplated meandering closer to the Ravenclaw in an attempt to get the fire crab to burn the boy's face off, but it was at this point that the Professor came on the scene. ABOUT BLOODY TIME PROFESSOR GORGEOUS-FACE.

Her instructions were to STOP spinning, which was reiterated by Vickers who also seemed to be enjoying this free entertainment he seemed to be giving the class. Elijah, however, thought that their suggestion was easier said than done and didn't much feel like stopping when there was a high chance he could get burned with this flame throwing crab still going strong.

He didn't have much choice, though, when his best friend made a well timed tackle. The impact of the tackle forced the crab to release it's clasp on Elijah's nipple (which was now RED raw. STUPID CRAB) and go flyyyyinnggg through the air as Vickers and Elijah both fell to the ground.

Oh hey! Someone had made him a shirt! And it was pretty nice! He picked it up, holding it up to his chest to see if it was a suitable size. It seemed okay.

Oh, right... SOMEONE CATCH THAT FIRE CRAB!

He could only imagine what Professor Gorgeous-Face would do to him if he ended up killing the bloody thing during her first ever lesson.

After the crab had soaked a few minutes, Elise flexed her fingers. It was time to look for those cracks that the professor told them to look for. Holding the fire crab steady with her right hand, she used her left to gently search for any cracks or soft spots.

A few moments later, Elise concluded that the crab was perfectly fine. Looking up at Nessie, she beamed. "Thanks. You are too," she said, nodding towards the fire crab in the older student's hand.

Ewwy? Elise would just assume that that meant disgusting. Shrugging, she cocked her head a little to the side. "Maybe that's just because they're a little dirty. They're actually really pretty." Elise knew. She'd sketched one in the Sanctuary last term.

Picking up her brush for the next step, Elise stretched a little. All this crouching wasn't really doing well for her posture. Once her back was all stretched out, Elise squatted by the bucket, smiling at her fire crab. "Okay. Time to clean you up."

Dipping her brush in the water so that it would get rid of grime a bit more effectively, Elise held the fire crab again with her right hand. Gently brushing over the shell in circular motions, she guided the brush around the gems and under the rim of its shell. Brush. Brush.

"Yeah," Elise smiled in response to Nessie's question. "You doing okay?" she asked, before looking down to scrub around another jewel a little. Nessie seemed a bit uncomfortable.

He felt his arms and shoulder connect with Elijah's legs and both boys lads were sent tumbling to the ground. When he got his bearings he pulled himself up to a crouching position, gave Elijah a quick glance over and-- hearing that the Hufflepuff WASNT screaming in sheer agony meant that he was relatively OK, started pushing and lifting his buddy around "The fire crab! Are you crushing it? Geroffit!" Because the firecrab is like, 1/16 Elijah's size and itswouldbehelpless!

... even if it did nearly take out one of Elijah's best assets.

Oh and a belated "Are you ok buddy?"

Surya has now come to the end. He continued reading the instructions. He placed the crab back in the cage while it is still wet. Then he covered the cage with a dark colored cloth he had used earlier. He then rinsed out the supplies. He was very happy to see that he had done it well. He must actually thank the crab for letting him complete without any disturbances.

Instinctively, Louisa pushed herself up on her knees when Vickers and Elijah fell to the ground and were squirming on top of each other. But that was a good sign, it meant neither one broke his skull or a hip. Other than that, it was simple injuries. However, she put her Fire Crab back into its cage, the creature glowing with joy for going back to its home away from that cruel human person, and shot it a squint-y look just to make it lessen that glowy happiness, the entire class didn't have to notice her failure in dealing with creatures so openly.

On to the equipments, she filled her bucket with water and started using it to rinse the bristle brush. Then vanished the water and refilled the bucket to rinse the washcloth. Then the same process again for the bucket itself before collecting her clean equipments near her cage and moving to where Vickers' Fire Crab was.



She glared at it for one second, the creature seemed to pick up that this was the threat its owner used while ago. Before it could make a sound, Louisa clasped her hand on its shell and started inspecting it for any irregularities and imperfections just like she did to her Fire Crab. Vickers would probably want to do it for himself but just in case he didn't have time or got involved with Elijah's nipple-biting one.

Oh for the love of Merlin!

All she wanted to do was have the students wash the Fire Crabs. Place the things in a bucket, check to make sure they were in good health and douse them with a little bit of water. Where this Elijah kid got the idea to rip his shirt off and let the creature go for a ride, or a spin, she had no idea. And quite frankly, she didn't want to know. She just wanted her Fire Crab off the boy and well.. she got just that when Vickers decided to tackle him to the ground.

Was it mean of her since she didn't care if Elijah was hurt? Or if she didn't want to stick around to see if that certain body part of his was still attached? No. She didn't think it was either.

Watching, in HORROR as her BABY Fire Crab went FLYING right off of the Hufflepuff, Vanora, quicker than she had ever done in her entire life, whipped out her wand and placed a cushioning charm on the creature right before he hit the ground. The little guy went rolling just a little bit, and with half a mind to kick Elijah while he was down, not that she would, of course. It may have been an.. interesting lesson, but she didn't want to lose her job!, she rushed her way over to him, picked him up and cuddled him in her arms. He was still shooting a few flames from his rear, but the Professor didn't seem to be bothered.

"What did that mean ole' Hufflepuff do to you?" Her voice was soothing, as if she was talking to a baby, and once again in her own little world as she checked the creature over, she made her way back to her spot in the middle of the pasture.

Still cuddling the little guy, who seemed to be calmed down and not shooting anymore flames, Vanora glanced up at Ella when she placed her cage down beside her. Right. There were other creatures that were injured. And she lifted the sheet covering the cage to get a better look at the crack. If she was in any type of mood, she would have laughed at the question of can she fix him. "I sure can." she did manage a small smile before dropping the sheet, though.

"And the shell of the Fire Crab is actually bone." And it also contained some nerves and some other big worded things, but no need to upset the girl. "So I would suspect the cracks do hurt. But I think we found all these in time. It won't be that bad."

And once they were fixed, they would be good as new! No worries.

Just a crack and no blood. That was good.

Although, she would have been more pleased if there was nothing wrong with the Fire Crabs, but at least there was nothing majorly wrong with any of them. Too bad she couldn't say the same about the students of Hogwarts, and she sent a glare in the direction of Elijah. She also gave the Fire Crab she was still cuddling a loving pat, pat, pat on the head. Poor little guy must have been traumatized! She decided she was going to keep him.

And she momentarily forgot about Kurumi standing in front of her. Kurumi who was asking about.. temporary adoption of the Fire Crab? Blinking a few times, since she was never asked something like that before, Vanora glanced at the Prefect before glancing at her creature in the cage. "Umm.." Hmm. "Actually, I think that may be a great idea." And why just let Kurumi be the only one to adopt a creature, right? "It'll take me a few days to get something ready, but for now, there are plenty of creatures in the barn and stable you could visit." They did know that, didn't they?

Should she have said something!? Probably.



Deciding that now would be a good time to end the lesson, since it seemed everyone had finished washing their Fire Crab and their supplies, Vanora, still cuddling the creature in her hand, she probably wasn't going to let him go anytime soon, stood and cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "If you are finished taking care of your Fire Crab, and washing your supplies, bring your cages up to me and then you are dismissed. Homework will be posted on the noticeboard in a little bit." And something else, thanks to Kurumi. But she wasn't about to mention that just yet.

"And so you know, the barn and stable is open to anyone who wishes to use it." Use it? Go inside of it? Ehh, they knew what she meant.

OOC: This thread will remain open for about another 18 hours for anyone who needs to finish their task. AND thank you all for coming, and playing and making me laugh sooooo much! Best first lesson ever! *GROUP HUG*

Elliot glanced up..had Professor *what's her name again?!?!* really just said THEY COULD KEEP THEIR FIRECRABS! Merlin! Elliot was FLAILING ABOUT ON THE INSIDE! She smirked..."Really? We can keep them for the term?!" she flashed the Gryffindor Prefect a RARE approval nod...

Rare, Hollingberry. As in, don't get used to it!

And she picked up Artemis' cage...the cleaning supplies, and everything, and strolled up to the the professor..okay! She was totally happy now! Yay! Artemis and Elliot FOREVER! ...well, not really. But maybe..would the professor really notice if Elliot took Artemis home? Would she?! No! Hmm....

Minerva sighed with some relief it didn't look like the shirtless wonder got any points taken from him. Thank the good Dumbledore for that. Once the professor was done speaking Minerva stood up and brushed the grass off her pants. Looking at Ethan she smiled, "Thanks again for being my partner. I really hope to see you around the school, maybe we could..ummm. hang out sometime." She blushed a bit.

Once she had the cage in her hand she moved to the front, "Here you go professor, this was a great lesson. Do you need any help taking these little guys somewhere?" she had some extra time, so she figured she could at least ask.

This was Alex's FAVORITE part of Care of Magical Creatures--the hands on part. Over the summer, he'd gone with Cale to a muggle animal shelter and played with some normal dogs and cats, and it had been SO much fun. Ever since, he'd been thinking that maybeeeee being an animal expert in the wizarding world would be a good career choice for him. That was still a little ways away, so right now he was just focusing on this fire crab.

"Hey Spike, let's get you a bath going!" he said with a smile. This crab definitely seemed like a Spike. Spike was a cooooool name, a tough name. Just like fire crabs. He pointed his wand at the bucket and muttered "Aguamenti!" and watched the bucket fill up, stopping when it reached the appropriate level. "There you go little guy, let's let you soak for a bit," he added. He put his wand away and watched Spike react with the water--he clearly didn't like it. Who would if you like to play with fire instead??

As the crab soaked and turned around it's bucket, looking for a way out, he gently touched the crab's shell to see if he could feel any cracks or soft spots. Nothing he could find...Spike seemed to be in tip top shape!

Ells smiled at the Professor, clearly relieved that Martin wasn't going to be suffering for too long. She did wince a little when she was told the cracks probably hurt. Frown. Poor little Martin. He'd be good as new soon enough, though. This put her mind at ease. "Okay, good. I'm glad he won't be in pain for too long." The third year said sincerely, gazing down at the cage before going to collect her things.

Since she'd already cleaned up her supplies, the badger placed her bag over her shoulder, ready to head back to the castle. "Thanks for the lesson, Professor." Smile. "It was really interesting." And Newlin officially had Ella's seal of approval even if the third year still missed seeing Professor Williamson's handsome face.

Oh! And she'd definitely be visiting the other creatures in the barn and stables. That was for sure.

And so they were done. Cassia carried her cage and walked towards the Professor. You know she was still upset because Newlin didn't let her pluck a jewel. And Cassia wasn't convinced. So what if one died? There were plenty so if they plucked jewels out of one to get souvenirs, that wouldn't be the end of the world, would it?

Anyway, she wasn't going to ask the Professor about it again because seeing how she hugged that one which the Hufflepuff guy was using it as God knows what, you'll get the impression that the woman considered the little creatures as her babies.

So it was obviously useless trying to ask again. As she neared the Professor, Cassia set the cage down near the woman and managed a smile. And yup Cassia was so sweet that she FORGOT to frown or express her sadness about not getting to have a jewel. "Thank you Professor, It was a fun task." Yup fun not so much helpful because Cassia didn't think that she'd run into any other fire crabs who need cleaning in her fifty upcoming years. And Cassia didn't care about academic stuff, those would be the Eagles. She mostly cared about having fun which she did this lesson. And that's why the new Professor earned a huge grin and a place on Cassia's best-lessons-list. Enjoy it Newlin. That list was editable.

Harlow watched her fire crab shuffling around in the bucket. Apparently they didn't like to get wet. Not that Harlow blamed the poor thing, but he did need a bath.

With her little brush she went to work on the dirt build up around the jewels on his back. Soaking in the water had softened the dirt a little for which she was grateful. She wasn't as strong as she looked, but she was going to put some elbow grease into.

With small circular motions she rubbed at the dirt. The crab snapped at her weakly which she took as token resistance and not anything sinister. "Oh come off it. This is for your own good." she told him as the dirt started coming away a little easier.

Jory grabbed the cage with Mr. Krabbs in it and carried it over to Professor Newlin. "Here you go, Professor,'' he he placed the cage in front of her. "This was a great lesson." It truly was. He enjoyed learning about Fire Crabs. He thought she was good as Professor Williamson.

"Can't wait for the next lesson,'' the Puff added as he began to leave.

It took her a few minutes of rubbing with the brush to get most of the dirt on his shell off. Harlow didn't know why she thought her crab was a male, but she was going to go with the flow on this one. She wasn't even sure how she would go about checking to see if she were right.

She set her brush down and massaged her arms. She hadn't had to work this hard in a long time. After she got the feeling back into her she reached for the wet cloth in her extra bucket. "Ok big guy I've got to get the dirt off your belly. Settle down now." she told him firmly. She did not want to get pinched or worse, set on fire. She had just finally managed to get the comb out of her hair this morning.

It took a minute of grunting, pushing and pulling to get the crab in a position where she could reach his belly to get him a good wash. His belly was feverish to the touch which warmed her hands immensely. Harlow worked slowly and gently. The crab seemed to enjoy the special attention she was giving him.

Everything was done. All set. Kat turned to Professor when she said the final instructions and then looked back to Tag. "Let's go return out crabs." Kat carried her cage all the way to Professor. Her crab wasn't heavy and don't you underestimate these lovely muscles of hers. Once she reached the CoMC professor, Kat placed the crab near Professor (but not so near because maybe the crab will go wild). "Here's my fire crab, Professor," Kat smiled. Then she was set to leave. "Thanks for the lesson!"

Kurumi's smile widened considerably when Professor Newlin said that she could. No, wait, that they could. Oh! Was this perhaps going to be likt the pygmy puff diaries that they had kept with Professor Williamson? Cue some internal wibbling due to how much Kurumi missed the man, but Professor Newlin was getting seriously high marks from the Gryffindor right now. Granted, it wasn't THAT hard to accomplish with this lion since Kurumi had a serious bias towards everything creatures, but Kurumi had almost come to the conclusion now that this fire crab loving woman was alright.

Especially if fire crab care was about to become a long term project!

"I look forward to it!" Kurumi chirped, an obvious sparkle in her eye. "Actually, professor, if it is alright...would you mind if I observed you fixing the cracks in their shells? It's just I want to go into the field of magizoology..." Although the woman already knew this.

Kurumi reached out and gave the little fire crab that the professor was holding a little pat on the head as well. "He...won't get sick, will he?" You know...from eating Elijah's...erm...nipple and all.

Fire crabs were no longer flying, and people had started packing up to leave. Apparently that meant the lesson was over, but Kendall still hung back a moment longer. Still worried about the earlier comment that Professor Newlin had made that her little fire crab's jewels might be discolored. That really didn't sound good, and she ventured a peek inside the drape over Midir's cage before she even bothered standing up again. She was supposed to bring the creature up so it could be checked out, and hopefully the professor hadn't forgotten amongst all the other chaos. Besides, apparently she was supposed to bring the cage over anyway before she left. She just had even more reason than everyone else, and probably even more concerns. Although her head came up at the thought that she might be able to adopt Midir. She didn't want her poor little fire crab dealing with whatever was wrong on its own.

Finally standing up, she carefully lifted the cage. "I'm just taking you up to see Professor Newlin, Midir. Everything's okay, and I promise I'll be here as long as I can. And I won't drop you," she said, making sure her head was close to the drape so the crab inside could hear her before standing up straight again to walk over to where the professor was, cradling the little crab that had gotten the flying lesson.

"Is he okay?," she asked, eyeing the crab in the woman's arms with a bit of concern before she gently set Midir's cage down by her feet. "You wanted to look at Midir? 'Cause my little fire crab's jewels might be...discolored?," she continued, the last word of her question dropping down to a whisper so her crab couldn't hear. She didn't think fire crabs had really super good hearing, at least. Not better than normal, at least, and she really hoped she wasn't wrong. She didn't want Midir to worry. She was worried enough for both of them. "Oh, and I also found a really, really tiny crack near the edge of Midir's shell, but it's clean and everything," she added, leaning forward to whisper to the professor. "Midir's going to be okay, right?" That was the important part.

Merlin...what was really going on in this class? She was glad that she was finally done with her task and was waiting for the magic phase that would allow them to leave the lesson. Although she had enjoyed this lesson. The fire crab was actually pretty cool.

Hannah listened to the professor when she explained about the male vs. female thing. Cool. She totally had a girl because her tail was very short and stubby. She still liked the name crabby though. It was so...fitting.

Ah so we will have homework, Eliza grumbled internally. And we can keep the crabs? She considered this for a moment but after thinking of all of the dangerous bathing and petting sessions, she decided these creatures were best left with the professor. She packed her gloves and pulled her hair to the side - didn't want the crab getting grabby with it now did we?

She carried her crab in its cage over to her professor and sat it with the others near her. "My crab had a little soft spot on her shell." She knew the professor had said it was an easy fix so she wasn't too worried about it. "Thank you for the lesson. It was nice to meet you today." She smiled, wishing they had gotten to chat a little more. She seemed like a nice young teacher. "I'll be eager to find out what the next lesson will be!" She smiled and turned to walk out of the pasture with the rest of the students.

Maybe she'd sneak off to grab a muffin from the kitchen before her next class...

Harlow's hair was plastered to her forehead by the time she was done wiping and scrubbing her fire crab. But he was shining like a spanking new galleon. He seemed rather pleased with himself as he preened around the little enclosure. "Well aren't you spiffy." Harlow giggled as she went to chase down a hose.

She had to wait till A Hufflepuff was done with it before she could grab one. The fire crab saw her coming and he took off across the ground. "Oh no you don't." she growled chasing him. The crab clicked at her and kept going. "You come here right this instance." She told him as she put her foot down.

The crab stopped and looked back at her. "Gotcha," she turned on the hose and hit the crab right int he shell. It squealed and shot off like a cannon. She giggled and chased him with the hose going. Sometimes she hit him and most of the time she missed, but she got all the soap off the crab.

Sarah brought her cage with Canon in back to the professor... still eying Elijah to make sure he had put the shirt on... yet all he did was put it up against him... What was wrong with him? Anyway, Sarah placed the cage by the professor. "Thank you for the lesson" she said to the teacher. "Bye Canon!" she whispered the crab before she left. "I shall use it, don't worry. I like helping out" as long as it did not entail dogs that is.

Harlow's fire crab was happy with his new shiny shell and his clean body and Harlow was happy he was happy. "I think you need a name." she said as she squatted down to clean out his bucket and brush. "A man as pretty as you needs a name." He clicked his claws at her. She took that as a yes on the name issue.

She watched him scuttle around as she rinsed out his washcloth and the rest of the soap from when she had to chase him down to clean him. "I've already got a Appa and a MoMo." she said thinking. "How about Zuko. I mean Zuko was the son of the Fire Lord and he is a Fire Lord himself so it makes sense. I dub then Zuko the Fire Crab Lord." The crab clicked at her in approval and she smiled.

She packed everything away, "Ok Zuko my dear you've got to go back into your cage." This time it was less fuss and more elbow grease as she wrestled Zuko back into his cage. Trying to carry a wet fire crab was no harder than trying to carry a dry one. "I really need to work out more." she grunted as she closed Zuko's cage. Harlow draped the drop cloth back over the top of his cage. "Sleep tight Zuko." she kissed her hand and then placed it on top of his cage.

The fire crab! There it is!

Breathing a sigh of relief as the Professor carefully cradled the magical crustacean to safety, Vickers' suddenly remembered his own firecrab that he was supposed to be caring for. He turned his head momentarily at the buckets where he was bathing his crab along with Louisa's, and spotted the Head Girl checking on his firecrab. He smiled at her softly and mouthed out a Thank you. She didnt have to do it, but she did. All the more reason why he's head over heels for this girl.

He's a lucky man mmhmm...

Speaking of lucky men he couched down a bit and hefted his best bud by the arms "Do try not to be making a habit out of this Elijah..." he murmured to the Curly Puff's ear once the other lad was up on his feet "... goodness knows you might end up losing something really important the next time your clothes goes missing again." Need he have to spell that out? No.

This brushing wasn't too bad, and at least the crab was getting cleaner and cleaner by the second, which meant less feeling gross for Ness. The red head moved on to the middle of the fire crab's shell and continued to gently brush every bit of it.

Nod. They both seemed to be doing well and maybe this cleaning bussiness wasn't so bad after all. There were much worse things that they could have been doing. Cleaning fire crabs wasn't too bad at all.

"Hmm...maybe." There gems were sort of pretty, but still the creature's legs were a little odd and the whole idea of them farting out fire was gross in Nessie's opinion. "I've seen cuter animals though." Mhmm...like pygmy puffs and dogs and even cats.

There we go. Brushing done. Ness brushed the last gem and then looked back at the instrcutions. Step Three. Massaging the crabs? Lovverrlly noot and the fact that dead skin was possibly going to fall off was an evern grosser thought.

Cringing again, Nessie wettened her washcloth and began massaging her fire crab, starting off with it's tail and then moving her way to it's legs. Eww. Eww. Eww. Was all she could think as she carried on, but still fine she was. "Yep, I'm doing alright." She could do this...she just needed to stop thinking about the grossness of it.

Once Elise was done brushing, she put down the brush and picked up the washcloth. Dropping it into the water and wringing it a little, Elise made sure it was wet but not dripping. Nodding at Nessie, she shrugged before starting to massage the creature's legs.

Shuddering a bit as the skin flaked a bit, she continued massaging. Totally ignoring the skin flaking, she rubbed it gently to get rid of all that dead skin. It'd be better once it was clean, she assured herself.

Right. Once she was done, she pulled out her wand. Time to rinse the Fire Crab and its flakes off. "Aguamenti," she muttered, allowing a gentle stream of water to pour from her wand and over the fire crab. Once all the flakes had been rinsed off, Elise picked up her Fire Crab and cradled it a little.

"See! Almost done," she murmured, softly massaging the shell to check for cracks or soft spots. There were none, and no discoloring either. Brilliant! Now, what did they have to do?