Famous familiars wasn't exactly one of those topics covered in most books, and Mo wracked his brain to come up with SOMEONE with a pet. He didn't agree with everyone's examples, which sort of made Mo believe that he didn't really understand the concept.

Ehh... Mo finally raised his hand. "We read about Arabella Figg, who was a squib in the Order of the Phoenix during the first and second Wizarding Wars, and she kept kneazles who would follow Harry Potter for her. They were sort of an extension of her and could go places she couldn't go. It's interesting, on account of her not being a witch, that she could still have familiars."

Jeremiah had, by this point, stopped pacing, and he moved on with the seminar. Now he felt kinda bad because...

"That was maybe a trick question; it was perhaps unfair of me to ask you that without giving you more information about the indicators we use." Perhaps, but Jeremiah had planned it this way, and in this order. Sometimes it helped to have a wrong answer, and then go back and re-evaluate it.

But first for more information on the last question.

"Curiously enough, one of the most notable instances of a highly probable true familiar is the Hogwarts caretaker from around the late 1900s, who was known to be a squib," Jeremiah explained, his voice ringing out through the seminar room. "It is true that it is not the most powerful or skilled witches or wizards who have true familiars, or even the kindest, but does this show that some non-magical animals do indeed contain some magical characteristics or pre-dispositions? Or, in the case of squibs, is it a case that they do indeed have magical energy, but it is simply being expended another way? I'm not expecting an answer for this, as this is still a disputed topic, but maybe something for you all to think on."

Okay, so... Jeremiah was forgetting something, and he paused for a moment to think back on what he'd said until he remembered. Ahhhh, yes!

"Experts in the field have come up with a list of 'guidelines' for determining whether or not a pet is a 'true familiar'. These guidelines include, but are not limited to: that they should be non-magical creatures, they do not fully comprehend the human's spoken language, or sign language, they are not under any spell that influences their behaviour, and they are not an animagus. I want to focus on the point that states animals should not be classed as magical creatures, as I've mentioned it a few times," Jeremiah added, nodding to the few students in the class that he'd pointed this out to when they'd made their suggestions.

"Remember that there is a difference regular familiars and true familiars; true familiars have a very strong connection with their witch or wizard, and specific characteristics," Jeremiah tried to reiterate, hoping he wasn't being too confusing, but realising that he probably was. "With that in mind, can anyone tell me why it is generally agreed that creatures classed as magical creatures' would usually be considered as regular familiars rather than true familiars?" Jeremiah asked, looking carefully at them all. "Again, it's perfectly okay to just guess."

Marigold smiled at the... kind of affirmation her previous answer got. This question was harder though. Marigold squinted and assumed a puzzed expression. So she had to just guess. Because they were magical?

"Because of the fact that they are smarter than normal animals?"

As she listened to the man's response to Ella just as attentively as her own, Alice heard the magical animal bit. So those kinds of creatures usually weren't familiars? It couldn't be a basilisk, then.

And Jeremiah confirmed that assumption. Oops. She nodded to everything he said, though. Guy knew what he was talking about.

"Maybe because magical creatures already have something special to them. As for regular animals, does being a familiar make them special? Some of the characteristics normal ones gain when they become familiars might already be possessed by special beings...." .... or something. Whatever. It was a decent guess, right? Sort of?

Delilah took down whatever he said.. because it was all rather interesting. She didn't know a lot about the familiars so she found this class rather interesting. And.. Jeremiah's question. Tricky one, at that.

She hesitated before raising her hand, "Well.. I'm going guess and say that magical creature or regular familiars connect or bond with their owners better? Unlike the true familiars..." Yeah. She wasn't sure she was making any sense. But, he'd asked them to guess and she did. But she was pretty sure she was wrong.. Oh, well.

Adi raised his hand. "I'm going to guess and say that Magical creatures are not meant to be pets even though some people do keep them as pets. Regular animals are the opposite, on the other hand. They probably like human connection so that's why they form such a deep bond with their owners.''

That was a totally wild guess so Adi shut up now and listened to the others give their answers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

A pet................... rock.

...

Jeremiah honestly didn't know what to say to this one, but the kid looked so convinced, he didn't really want to just completely tear the answer apart.

"Perhaps," he finally said, looking unsure. "Not exactly one I'm aware of."

That would do, right? Right.

Pet rock?

OH! THAT WAS HIM! OVER HERE! Cane in the air and waving too. Yep. Pet rock was his.

The man had been asking who had the pet rock, right?

Maybe not. To be honest the professor had sort of fallen asleep, but not because the topic wasn't interesting or the man boring. But class just so happened to be around the time that he had been taking his naps recently. After having some prunes that is. Yummy prunes before nap time. MmmmmmmHMMMmmmm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

"Remember that there is a difference regular familiars and true familiars; true familiars have a very strong connection with their witch or wizard, and specific characteristics," Jeremiah tried to reiterate, hoping he wasn't being too confusing, but realising that he probably was. "With that in mind, can anyone tell me why it is generally agreed that creatures classed as magical creatures' would usually be considered as regular familiars rather than true familiars?" Jeremiah asked, looking carefully at them all. "Again, it's perfectly okay to just guess."

Errr....pardon?

Airey finally put his cane down and leaned it against his desk as he squinted towards the front of the room. The astronomer had no clue. Not a single one. But this was starting to get into the meat of what he had come here for. Historical context was nice and all, but THIS right here seemed like the introduction to information that was actually going to be useful to him.

The astronomer was all ears now. Well, all EAR now since he only had one good one.

Sander liked this seminar. Not only because of the subject matter but also it challenged his knowledge, of which he had none regarding this subject. So he first listened to the answers his fellow school mates shared. Then he thought some more before raising his hand.

"I agree with Alice. I think magical creatures are considered natural familiars because they already have magic and would have some kind of natural ability that bonds with its owner. Like the psychic ability thing that you mentioned about."

Okay. Sander wasn't sure whether his answer actually made sense or not.

How long had he been talking now? It had been a while, and Jeremiah didn't want to get boring, he knew kids could have short attention spans... as could old people, and didn't he have the full package here? Jeremiah checked his watch to make sure he wasn't about to run over before looking up again.

"There are, in fact, several answers to the question I just asked you," Jeremiah informed those sitting before him. "One of the main reasons that for this criteria, is that many magical creatures have certain characteristics which mean they already act in a way similar to a true familiar. Kneazles are a particularly good example of this, as they are very intuitive, highly intelligent, loyal and have that knack for detecting untrustworthy people and making their owners aware. They're also quite independent. A regular cat behaving the way a kneazle does would probably considered a true familiar, depending on the way it acts with the witch or wizard."

Jeremiah looked around all the kids' (and Professor's) faces. Hopefully, that all made sense. "As I've mentioned to some of you, true familiars are thought to be quite exceptional, and the magical bond between them and the witch or wizard is considered special, or even coveted, because a non-magical creature is often thought to not be magical," he explained, finding himself pacing again, but eventually returning to his starting position. "Magical creatures are thought to be much more in tune with wizarding folk, which would mean that they have this sort of 'head start' that I've mentioned a couple of times."

Jeremiah was talking a lot, and he was quite aware of this. He cleared his through again and started to wrap up this point. Maybe they could start the mini-activity soon. Yes, that sounded good.

"There are exceptions to almost every rule, and the case of Albus Dumbledore and his pet phoenix could well be an exception to magical creatures rule. If you think about the documented behaviour of Fawkes compared to a general overview of phoenixes, or maybe that particular phoenix is very well trained/domesticated. Magical creatures as familiars are therefore much much rarer, but much easier to spot. When an animal is a true familiar, it will not typically act like that of the rest of its species, breed or close relatives. This is why it’s often easiest to tell when a cat is a true familiar; I don't know about any of you, but in my opinion, cats can be quite headstrong and stubborn when they want to be. A constantly obedient cat is hard to come by."

Jeremiah gave a smile, and quickly appraised the situation in the room. It shouldn't take too long for everyone to clear a space, but he saw how slow everyone was when they entered.

"We're going to have a small activity now; any questions you may have, you can ask in a moment once we've started. First, if everyone could move to the edges of the room, just outside of the square marked on the ground please." Pause. "Don't worry about moving your chairs, I will handle that."

Didn't want anyone to break a hip trying to be a chair!hero.

O_o Activity time. Sander was all for any kind of activity right now even though he knew it would tire him out very quickly. He didn't know whether sitting down or standing up was worse. Lately, even sitting during classroom lessons was becoming uncomfortable. First his back would hurt and then his bottom would start to get numb, and then worst of all, the horrible pins and needles tingly feeling he had to bear, when he finally stood up and allowed the blood to circulate to his legs.

Yes an activity was good right now. He slowly got up and slowly walked over to stand at the edges of the room, just outside the square that was marked off on the ground. Then he waited patiently.

Listening intently, Lux tried to take in everything the instructor had to say. It seemed to make sense to her, which was a relief because some of these lessons went way over her head.

Oooh, activity time! Excited, Lux got to her feet and went to stand beside Sander again, making sure that she wa outside the marked off square. She really hoped that this activity would be loads of fun.

So magical animals were out, then. Ella nodded her head and listened as best she could to the following question and the answers offered. She agreed with what Alice had said so she didn't bother repeating the idea again. Instead she took down some notes for her own piece of mind and looked up only when mention of an activity happened. This meant she'd have to move now, yeah? ...Wonderful.

The eighteen year old very slowly moved from her seat and made her way over to the edge of the classroom, outside of the square area. She was definitely curious to see what they'd be doing but not all that keen on standing. Achy bones, y'know.

Yay! Finally, activity time! Did the instructor bring creatures in? That would be really fun.

Leah stood up, stretched twice and backed out of the square quickly. She stood on the edge of the square, peering around the big students. Nothing was happening right now. Ok, one more step back. Just in case.

Oh, that Hufflepuff guy was agreeing with her? Hm. Alice gave him a grin, and an invisible stamp of approval went on his head, even though he usually answered before her in Astronomy. Mhm.

And the instructor liked her answer too? Man. Good day. She grinned at him too, then rose from seat and moved outside of the square marked on the ground, attempting to look like she wasn't completely exhausted by just that small bit of movement.

From everything she was willing to gather she was gonna say Felix could be her familiar. Yup. How many other kneazles did you see planting shrunken heads in the neighbour's houses, hiding stolen gems and the like? Not many. Exactly. Even if it wasn't true as of now it was true to her and she liked the sound of it. This brought her to a very important question--nevermind that she'd stopped answering any of his. "Would you say Familiars live longer than the average pet as well?" After that Christmas break she couldn't stop paying EXTRA close attention to her kneazle.

HE WAS NOT ALLOWED TO DIE OKAY?!

Ahem.

Alexa reluctantly pulled herself up from her chair and followed everyone to the edge of the square. Professor dude said they didn't have to worry about the chairs. Quite a relief because her joints were not about that life. Lifting and such...just no.

She did wonder how this activity would work though given her uncooperative joints but this couldn't have been too hard so she wouldn't worry about it.

Well of course true magical familiars were different then just magical animals. They are familiars. Not just animals. Or at least that is what Nigel was understanding so far. And did they really live longer than a normal pet. Lex's question did need answering. All this lesson was doing is making Nigel wish he had a familiar.

Random thought time. Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to nap with your eyes open. Nobody would never know if you are sleeping or just paying attention. Yeah he should really try and master this. It sounded awesome.

Ah, Activity Time.

He got up and walked outside that square on the floor. When did that get there?

Merlin he really wished he could sit down.

Moving? But this chair was so comfortable and Mo was so sore. He made complaining noises as he stood up and rubbed his back. And then rubbed his legs and his elbows. Why was he in so much pain all the time?

UGH. In spite of his stiff joints, Mo inched up to the edge of the square, elbowing in next to Nigel, and tried to look attentive. Pained, but attentive.

Okay, let Caelen get this straight. Familiars were like a REALLY special bond. Something rare between human and animal. She read an old book about this once. Something about vampyres that had cats that were familiars. The cats chose them or something. It was a weird book.

Anyway, familiars were different than other pets because they had that special bond. Regular pets didn't have that special bond. They had a bond, for sure. But not the Voldemort and Nagini bond. By Geroge she thinks she has it!

Okay, activity time. So they had to move to the edge of the room outside of the square. She hoped it would be interesting. Because most things at Hogwarts WERE interesting. Hogwarts was one of the most interesting place in the world according to Caelen.

But the redhead kind of hoped it wasn't going to be a partner activity. She didn't know anyone in this seminar and she was kind of awkward. But homeschooled kids always needed reason to make new friends. And it wasn't like she was a complete loner. She could manage with people.

And this activity raised a lot of questions. What were they doing? Did it involve pets? What was going to happen? Her heart started to race in excitement. Because Hogwarts was ....exciting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

This brought her to a very important question--nevermind that she'd stopped answering any of his. "Would you say Familiars live longer than the average pet as well?"

That was a good question.

"There is certainly evidence to suggest that this might be the case," Jeremiah said carefully. "In the natural course of things, at least. Maybe slightly longer. Of course, this doesn't account for external variables, such as accidents and what have you."

Uh, best not linger on that topic for long. Seeing as these were kids. Still, if she wanted to know more, he'd be wandering around until the end of the seminar, during the activity.

Speaking of which...

... this wasn't really a lively bunch, was it? Jeremiah frowned in concern at the kids who moved more like the elderly. His original plan had been the vanish the chairs to make more room to move about the edges, but it was probably a better idea to keep them around for anyone who preferred to sit.

With a wave of his wand, Jeremiah carefully sent the chairs to the borders of the room, all around the large square outline that had been already set up.

Once everyone was well out of the way and the space inside the lines of the square were empty, Jeremiah flicked his wand again and the square was suddenly cordoned off by a clearly magical gold rope of sorts. At the same time a bunch of small, moving models of humans appeared inside the square. Each model human was paired with a model animal (including cats, dogs, snakes, rats, mice, owls and so on) and the paired models each had a very clear corresponding number and colour, so it was quite plain which animal was paired with which human.

The models began to move around and silently interact with each other inside the roped off area, and it was much like looking down onto a busy, albeit small, town square.

"Now," Jeremiah said, looking around at them all, as he noted Leo winding his way around his ankles again, eyeing the teeny models curiously. No Leo, you can't eat that. "I have roped off this area with magic. You cannot enter the square, nor can you remove the models, and they cannot leave the square. However, if you lean over the rope to better point out some of the models, the magic will not stop you doing this."

He took a moment to watch the figures inside the square. This could be interesting; Jeremiah might even join in.

"What I would like for you to do is observe these figures. Focus on at least three pairings, closely observe them and perhaps note down your observations of each one, and come to a conclusion about whether or not any of the ones you have observed would be cases of 'true familiars' in real life, based on what we've discussed today.

"There are varying degrees and strengths of wizard/animal bonds demonstrated by these figures; there are some that can be considered true familiars, and some that are not. I will not be quizzing you on this, it's more of a fun observation activity. Feel free to work in pairs or a group, or on your own if you prefer. I'll be walking around if you'd like to share your findings, or in case you have any questions about the activity or the seminar in general."

He made to start moving around, but then quickly remembered something.

"Oh, and you may sit back down for this activity, in case any of you are... tired."

Ahem.

Then he started making the rounds.

OOC: Hiiiiii guys. Okay, so there's about 48 hours of this left. This activity is just a fun RPing thing for your characters to put the things they've learned in practice. Feel free to have them ask Jeremiah for his opinion, or to ask any questions, just keep in mind that I have a tendency to post slowly.

A few things just to clarify

SPOILER!!: words

• The little figures can be matched up by the colour/number. For example there might be a figure of a human that is red in colour, with a '1' on it, and a figure of a cat which also red and with a '1'. These two are a pair whose behaviour can be observed. There would be no other red figures in the squares, and no others with a number '1'. It sounds confusing, but it's just so it's clear IC which pair of figurines they'd be observing/how to note it down if they want to.
• The model animals won't necessarily stay right beside the model human they are paired with; they could wander right off.
• It's up to YOU to RP what the little figurines do, what animals are there, and the observations. For example: 'Jeremiah stood at the sidelines and watched a small powder blue figure of a human. He looked around for its animal but didn't immediately see it. It was a few moments before he spotted the matching powder blue cat wandering about some feet away.'
• If two different people/groups both talk about the same colour/number but RP different behaviours/observations, don't worry about it. It's all pretend after all.
• It doesn't actually matter how many pairs your character observes, so don't worry about having to post a certain number of observations, and don't worry about actually making notes unless you want to. This is just a fun RPing bit.
• Jeremiah will be walking around and may randomly help out and will answer questions
• If I've confused anyone OOC about anything just hit me up with a VM and I'll be happy to help; I'm not all that great at wording stuff so it's understandable if you need to

Observation.

Ella was good at that. Well, normally she was. Her vision being what it currently was, she was doing a lot more squinting than she liked but hey, as long as she got the job done. She could deal with the discomfort a while longer. No problem.

And so when it was time, the eighteen year old very slowly stepped up to the marked off area, making her way to the floor so that she could observe in mild comfort. Her eyes narrowed in on the little figurines and she smiled slightly when she noticed the animals ones. A toad stood out to her the most and her green eyes followed its little green form as it moved about the square. It seemed to know what it was doing too because after a while, it moved back to the figure of a girl. At least Ella thought it was a girl. Squinting, remember? She couldn't exactly be sure. The important part was that this girl was the same shade of green as the toad. That meant they were a pair, yeah? So Ella could just watch how they interacted and try and make a conclusion based on that? Cool.

Eyes on you, little toad and green person.

Sander listened up when the instructor began telling them what they were supposed to be doing. Okay observation. That he was good at...when his vision was clearer than what it was now. Sander shuffled as close to the line as possible and began looking around.

He saw a purple colored man with a number 7 on it and then looked around to see whether he could find an animal with the same corresponding color and number.

Ahhh...there...a purple colored cat with a number 7 on it. Sander sat down to observe both of them.

OH! An activity! He could really use some hands on experience with the matter and watching to see how they interacted and just, yes. This was good.

Hershel and him were going to be bros yet!

Cane in hand, the man hobbled over to the area and leaned against the wall as he watched things unfold. It didn't take long for his eyes to feel as though they had crossed and like he had been staring at a muggle computer screen for hours and hours on end. Maybe he would stand by a student and 'help' them. Seeing as Mr. Strand was observing a feline - no thank you - he opted to go stand by Miss Ella.

"Interesting choice," he said after clearing his throat to announce his presence beside her. "Tell me, how is the blue pairing doing?"

Observing. Okay. Alice was good at... observing.

She chose a nearby seat to sit in, seeing as her knees most definitely couldn't keep her up for long, and tried to find a pairing. Hmm. Hm. Soon enough, she spotted a lizard that seemed decent enough, so it was now hers. Hers to watch. Mhm.

Noticing that it was also labeled with a number three, Alice glanced around for an orange person to go along with it.

There! Man. Was it a man? Men could have ponytails. Did he only have one leg, too? No, four! He had... what? Squint.

The important part was that she was 'observing'. Sort of.

Leah sighed. No animals then? No real animals for now. She was really bad at observing, and hated taking notes.

Frowning, the girl walked around the square, looking for a pair she liked. Her favorite color was pink, so obviously she chose a witch in pink and... a pink pygmy puff, somewhere far away from its owner.

Interesting choice?

Ella glanced up and saw a very aged Airey by her side, causing her to smile. "Hello, Professor." Beam! She liked the company so no complaints here. But blue? Ella looked at the toad and then her eyes scanned the area for a blue animal. Well, the only one that she could see was an owl and she definitely wasn't observing that. Hm. "Um, the toad is green, Sir. Green toad and green girl. Well, I think it's a girl. Long hair and all but boys can have long hair and in fact, I quite like-" Oh gosh, she was rambling. "Anyway, they're green and I've noticed that while the toad goes off and does its own thing once in a while, it always returns."

Nodnod.