It seemed that Freddy wasn't satisfied with sitting on her palm, because he started scurrying all over her. One second he had hopped down onto her lap, and the next he was climbing up her arm so that he could perch on top of her head.

Snort.

"Guess you like the view," she said with a laugh before wincing slightly. His little claws were digging into her scalp, but fortunately it wasn't too bad. "You're lucky you're so cute." Nah, she didn't mind it really; not like he was hurting her or anything. Arya's scratches could be a lot worse.

Trying to not too make much movement, Lux sat herself down in a more comfortable position. "Hey, do you mind helping me roast my marshmallow, Freddy?" Or they could just stay like this because he looked really comfortable where he was.

Looked like Adialso had his work cut out for him.She smiled at him. "I like your new hat." Wink.

Smoothing a finger along Boo's spine Hady continued to speak with her newest creature friend. "I've ridden on a dragon before, twice actually. It was really epic. Probably one of the most best experiences I've ever had..." she whispered truthfully. What was better then getting to ride on the back of a dragon? Nothing. Nope nothing. Well expect maybe this. Just sitting here with one on her lap.

And well Boo wasn't sitting. No. She was currently scampering back and forth across Hady's lap stretching her wings out and then folding them back in. Laughing quietly Hady slipped her hands underneath Boo scooping the dragon up as she moved to stretch her legs out in front of her, the action earning her a annoyed hiccuping sound from her dragon. "Alright, alright there you go." Shaking her head trying not to lay she set Boo down on her lap once more to which said dragon began to scamper down her left leg to her shoe and then right back up over her right leg. Not one. Not twice but three times this was done before Boo looked at her.

"Having fun there?" Hady asked setting her hands down on the ground behind her and leaning back slightly on her palms. Her answer was simple. The continuing of down e leg and up the other. Clearly this was fun to her friend. At least she wasn't digging her crawls into her.

Okay. He was officially stumped. This naming thing was going to be a lot harder than he thought it'd be. Which was saying something because he wasn't exactly expecting a walk in the park. HM. Dragon. What would a dragon want to be named? Something epic, probably. BUT WHAT?

"How about... Scales?" The tinsy dragon let out a snort of fire at that one. "Okay, okay... Maybe not..." Uh. Merlin. Where was the creativity? He needed a Ravenclaw. "Thrasher? Do you like that?" Man. If dragons were capable of pouting, Zander was sure his was. So maybe not that one either. These names were GOLD though. Much better than anything he could come up with for his crup.

"I could just call you noname too, if you want." OKAY, OKAY IT CLEARLY DID NOT WANT. That much was evident with the fireballs he was spitting out aga-- Wait a minute. "Fireball!" Perfect. A perfectly feisty name for a perfectly feisty minidragon. Ha. Zander did well.

"So fireball, y'wanna help me roast some marshmallows?" Y'know, despite popular opinion... Dragons are very cute. Or maybe that was just the mini ones.

Toby's dragon's name was Sparky, apparently. And he definitely knew this because Sparky had said so, and not because it was just the first name that came to Toby's head when the dragon made it's tiny smol dragon noise. No idea about the cuddles, though, because apparently Sparky hadn't had much in the way of those before. "I know the feeling, Sparky. I get them now, though. And they're super great." That part was whispered, in case anyone had heard the dragon 'talk'.

Hmmmkay, so... Toby supposed it would be a good idea to find out if Sparky was a boy or a girl. He'd only sort of been half paying attention to what Thompson had said in response to Lux earlier, but he knew it had something to do with the teeth.

"Show me your teeth, Sparky," he said to the teeny tiny dragon, baring his own to demonstrate. Sparky declined the invitation, and instead began scaling Toby's arm to get up to his shoulder. "... This can count as a hug, if you like, 'cause you're kinda hugging as you climb."

Sparky seemed to ignore him, and soon enough was perched on his shoulder, so close that when Toby turned to look at the creature, he had to lean his head back and go a little cross-eyed to be able to see. At least, with sparky this close, it was easier to see the teeth because of the cute way the dragon's mouth hung open a bit. Of course, Toby had no point of reference, which made it... tricky. In the end he settled for watching and listening to those closest to him, to see if their dragons' teeth (and ridges, yes, Toby remembered that now) resembled Sparky's.

"I think..." Toby finally declared, addressing the dragon who had by now climbed up to the top of his head and perched there. "You're a boy. I mean... I'm sure you knew that. I guess I could have asked, but I didn't want to be rude."

He couldn't tell how Sparky responded, being that he was... on Toby's head and therefore out of sight, so the Hufflepuff cupped his hands again and held them out to make a new perch. The result was instantaneous, and Toby heard the flapping of wings and felt his hair ruffle as the air was disturbed, and then Sparky was back in his hands again and-...

"Ow." Toby blinked and lowered his hands again to see the dragon. Sparky had landed, and then proceeded to go straight for one of Toby's fingers and give it an experimental bite. It sort of really hurt, but Toby didn't mind. He watched for a moment as Sparky gnawed at his finger, looking back at Toby out of the corner of his eye like a puppy who was knew it was doing wrong.

...

"I'm gonna need that back soon." Just, y'know... FYI. But he could keep chewing for now, as long as he didn't, uhh... break the skin.

Dragons...

Dragons.....

They were going to work with mother freaking DRAGONS. Beverly had to remember to breath and calm herself down before receiving the creature in her hands. Too. Much. Excitement. She was going to explode from it, she was sure.

Beverly didn't want to name it. Naming something builds attachment, but it also builds a bond, and she had a feeling that was part of whatever activity they were going to do. Welp. It was going to be a long while until she was this close to a REAL dragon, might as well indulge in the moment.

NAME. She needed one. "Are you a boy or girl?" she asked it, mimicking its wide-eyed gaze and head tilt. HI!

Well it was official. Janelle thought she had the cutest, smartest and generally best overall dragon of all the mini Norwegian Ridgebacks. There was no doubt in her mind that it was true. Sparky was frisky and energetic, but he still liked to be cuddled. What more could a girl ask for?

Janelle took turns playing with Sparky and petting him. She could do this all day. Janelle loved, loved, loved her animal friends. The only bad part was, she got super attached to them and then had to give them up. Well, she would make sure to enjoy Sparky while she could.

"Hey Sparky", Janelle said. "You want to play a game?" Janelle sat down and let the dragon climb over her. It was kind of like a dragon obstacle course, no? Sparky seemed to like it. He climbed over one leg and then onto the other. Janelle paused every now and then to give him a pat. "You are the best dragon ever, Sparky. I hope you get to stay here for a while." That way they could become even better friends.

Females had sharper ridges and teeth. Yes, yes. She knew this, as well as the females being more ferocious. Beverly just loved that. Carefully she tilted the dragon's chin up, and smirked when the scaly creature bared its teeth at her. "You don't like that, do you."

From what she's observed, her dragon seemed to have an edge on the teeth and scales meaning it was a girl. And if it wasn't, well, she'll do her best to give the dragon a name for both genders.

"Ash." That works. And as if on cue, Ash breathed small flames. "Are you boasting? You're totally boasting." Her dragon was boasting. This made her proud.

He didn't... seem... to be letting go.

Um.

Uhhhhhh.

What do?

Toby looked around at everyone else, interacting with their dragons and stuff, and then glanced at Professor Thompson. No. NO. He, TOBY, LORD OF THE DRAGONS, would sort this out himself. He was the Creature Whisperer, after all. Well... actually he was the Fairy Whisperer, BUT really dragons were just misunderstood fairies except bigger and with more Xs and liked to bite fingers and breathed fire and-

WAIT.

That was it. THE PERFECT PLAN. FOOL PROOF.

Maybe.

Toby uncupped his hands and Sparky, still with his teeth firmly clenched on his finger, simply dangled there, quite clearly happy. THEN Toby put his MASTER PLAN into action. Professor Thompson had told them how to make the dragons breathe fire, and Toby, in all his wisdom, reached out with his free hand to rub gently at Sparky's neck with the back of one of his fingers.

At once, Sparky inhaled through his itty bitty nostrils and blasted a jet of fire from his mouth, letting go of Toby's finger in the process.

"... OW. OW." WOAH BOY. Toby had attempted to get his finger out of the way, realising at the last second that he would, quite literally, be in the line of fire, but managed to catch a decent blast of it seeing as he was being careful not to accidentally fling Sparky across the room.

Sooooooo... yeah. That hurt. More. It wasn't a terribly bad burn or anything; it mainly felt like that one time he'd trying to grab a pan from the oven with his bare hands, except all concentrated in one finger. Toby, having made sure to carefully catch Sparky with his good hand so he didn't fall while breathing fire, did his best to shake it off. Just shake off the pain like nothing happened. Nothing to see here. Nooooope. But also ouch. BUT ALSO NOTHING HAPPENED. But ouch.

He hadn't said 'ow', he'd said 'cow'.

#moo

"It's okay, look," Toby reassured his kinda baby dragon, who was looking curiously up at him, and held out his burned finger to show he was still in one piece. But... not too close to the dragon, in case he wanted to bite again. The Hufflepuff grinned despite the double injury (teeth + fire), and held Sparky up to his face. To nuzzle. He was nuzzling a dragon, yes. They were best friends now.

"I love you, Sparky."

Even if you did try to eat me.

The fire was my bad, though.

Huh. Iiiiiiiiinteresting. Norah tried to make Professor Thompson's words stick in her brain because sitting cross-legged on the floor with some very delicious marshmallows to attend to really wasn't the best situation for note taking. She looked down at her sticky fingers and opened and nibbles a lingering bit off marshmallow off her thumb as Professor Thomsoon talked and talked about all the X's (but not O's, which was a shame because X's and O’s were the best when they were together). At the word dragon, though, she looked up so quickly that a stray curl for stuck in the stickiness that was her fingers. Whooooops. With a grimace she yanked her hand away, which was totally worth the pain because DRAGONS! That was RADICAL.

The fourth year slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from squealing like a CHILD (which she wasn't) would at the sight of the pure AWESOMENESS that was the baby dragons. She reached the other hand out to one, eyes widened in awe. This was even cooler than those dragons in transfiguration that time. This was the REAL DEAL.

Beverly had a feeling her dragon knew it was the deal. She gently rubbed the side of Ash's neck. The creature roared, letting out a stream of flames. CAN SHE PLEASE KEEP IT? Her dad would pay all the money asked. Beverly wanted this dragon.

Maybe she could sneak it out. Maybe.

In the meantime, she set Ash on her lap and levitated a marshmallow in front of the curious dragon. "Burn it. Roast it if you please."

Ash tilted her head, looked up at Beverly, and flapped her wings. She made to snap at the marshmallow, but seeing Beverly wasn't going to give it up so easily, the Norwegian Ridgeback huffed a stream of flames toward it, effectively turning it close to ash.

Beverly wanted to keep it.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

Down her left leg, over onto her right and up the leg. A glance at her was followed by a snort, did dragons snort? Maybe it was a huff. Hady didn't know but Boo did this over and over again until Hady was getting dizzy watching.

"Okay, let's do something else, yeah?," the Slytherin suggested laughing. "How about peek-a-boo hm? You kinda played that before..." If hiding on her shoulder in her hair counted for anything.

Sitting up she reached forward with her palm up gently nudging Boo's foot with her hand. As if the teenie dragon knew what she wanted it stepped right up onto her hand curling its front claws over her thumb causing her to winch a little bit. "Easy there..." Lifting her free hand she held it in front of the one with Boo blocking the dragons view of her. And that wasn't a good idea! "Ow.." She muttered pulling her hand back when her fingers came in contact with a small but very hot burst of flames from her little friends mouth. That she hadn't expected...

"Uh I guess that game is out..." Hady muttered shaking her slightly burnt hand a little. Boo didn't seem to take notice to what she'd done using this moment to once more make her way up her arm onto her shoulder where she seemed to kinda lay, pushed up safely against Hady's neck, claws clinging into her robes.

"Well I guess if you really like it up there..." Might as well leave her be. It was better then getting burnt again.

Now that she had her dragon's name down, it was time to get acquainted. "My name is AJ. AAA JAAAAY." Easy, yeah. "And you are Regina." Yeah, she had already told the dragon that, but a little review never hurt anybody. Unless it was AJ that had to be the one reviewing. Then PFFFFT... you could forget that.

AJ pet the dragon over and over. It felt so cool to the touch. Beaming and petting, the dragon probably thought she was mental. And really, she wouldn't be wrong. Mental people made things more fun though. Never a boring day with AJ around. Nope. The fourth year leaned in and kissed the dragon on its little dragon head. This was so cool.

"How about you roast some marshmallows for me?" As is she was going to roast them the muggle way when she had a flippin' dragon in her palm. She set Regina down in her lap, and got a marshmallow ready. "All you have to do is be super cute, and let your fire out." Be one with yourself. You can do it. AJ rubbed the dragon under its chin. Come on. Come on. Puff went some fire. "Wicked job, Regina." AJ slapped that baby on a graham cracker and...

OMNOMNOMNOMNOM

How rude. She didn't even offer Regina a bite. Sorry, dragon. It wasn't anything personal. AJ was just REALLY in love with food. It was lucky thing she didn't bite her own finger while she was shoving the fluffy goodness in her eager mouth.

It was probably time to check and see if her little dragon was a girl or boy. This was so different seeing them in miniature form, she was used to seeing the full sized adults at her uncle's facility. She looked around at all of the dragons, mentally comparing their ridges to her own dragon. It seemed to be decidedly female, her ridges were quite sharp and as Ilia prompted her flame.....it seemed that her little pearl daggers were very pointed indeed. "So, you look female.......but I suppose you can't tell me." She stroked its head and back, giving it a mixture of scratches along with it. Her lovely scales scintillated in the firelight , a beautiful sheen seemingly rising off of her delicate little features. "You are one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen, so how about Astrid?" She asked as though the little dragon would mind, though she knew it wouldn't. It probably didn't even understand her, let alone in English. Out of habit, she started singing softly to her in Norwegian. The dragon appeared interested in the vocal change, and looked up at the fourteen year old in seeming curiosity. 'Astrid' chose to climb from the forearm laying in the girls lap and up her long golden locks, peering more intently at her face. She made little sounds of her own, which made Ilia smile. Her singing grew just a little louder, probably no more than Henric and perhaps Benny could hear. This seemed enough to keep Astrid engaged though and she began swinging a little holding onto her perch's hair, stretching her petite wings. Freya was glad that her hair was strong and thick, elsewise she might be losing some of it right now. Hopefully Astrid didn't decide to have a fire spurt while she was entertaining herself either......she rather liked her hair and keep her eyes on the dragonette as she sang to her.

Angel was scared, very scared, she didn't want the dragon and she wondered why the Professor had put one on her knee, she had got up as soon as she got given it, she looked around at Benny.

"Hey Benny!" Angel was nervous very nervous. "Do you fancy another dragon?" Angel was totally hoping that her boyfriend would say yes, right, she had read about dragons and even small one's well they could be crazy. "I'm calling this dragon, Crazy!" Angel said truthfully because boy was she crazy for coming to lesson that was about dragons and has dragons in it.

It seemed he had looked over at Adi while Adi had looked over at him because their gaze had met even before his question had been fully posed to his friend. And of course his bestie had to remain stubborn about it. That was how they rolled. "Yeah...sure." Like he would let his friend do that after the other spell was cast. Adi would face one angry dragon putting his foot down in that respect. Benny might have thought to say something more when the Hufflepuff mentioned talking to Henric, his gaze flicking almost involutarily at the younger boy.

Nudge---nudge.

His attention drifted back down to his lap where Aidan was pushing his snout up against his arm. "Hey little guy..." he said, trying to decipher if there was a meaning to the action other than exploration or trying to get his attention. "Um...do you want to see a friend?" he asked, gingerly lifting him up in both his arms to see Henric and his dragon a little better. Did they actually know each other before and after being brought here? Or just gathered up and coincidentally together.

"Aidan meet Thumbelina." That was the name the younger boy had given her...right?

Seee...he was trying to connect with Henric...remotely.

And then Angel was calling her name, causing him to look in her direction. "Always..." he said before catching himself. The sixth year looking mildly uncomfortable about that unconscious slip. Sure he watched dragons...when he was older and out of school...if he could manage it. "Why?"

And was that singing?

Angel looked at Benny. "Because I don't like dragons, they are very scary, I've seen them on enough TV Programmes to know now that they misbehave." Angel pouted seriously she didn't know what her dragon would do and that was freaking her out even if she knew the Professor wouldn't let anything happen to them.

"Nice crazy!! Nice crazy!!" Angel smiled as she looked at her boyfriend, this was going to be hard when they were older if her boyfriend wanted his own dragons, though she was hoping to go and explore all over the country.

Right so anyways, now that the whole name thing was solved... It was marshmallow time as far as Zander was concerned. Plus, Fireball seemed to be all for it, so why the heck not? He tried to remember how Professor Thompson got his minidragon to blow fire at the marshmallow.

And in his own attempt at doing so, he gave Fireball a gentle rub on his neck until AHA fiiiyaaaaa!!! Yo marshmallow, consider yourself FULLY ROASTED. Ha.

Man. Zander could just keep his dragon around all the time. Then he'd never have to worry about marshmallow roasting technicalities. Well, er, not that he ever had to worry about that in the first place. But this would be like avoiding the problem before it was even a problem. Y'know? Or had he stopped making sense again? Erm. Yeaaaaaah.

Well anyways, Zander was definitely a happy camper. And this much was obvious just with one look over at him. He was happily eating his roasted marshmallow, whilst giving Fireball a massage. Oh and the juice. He was sipping his juice as well.

Best. Lesson. Ever.

Kuddos to you Thompson. And WAIT it wasn't even over yet! This was even better than playing with that Hippogriff a while back! Or even better than that unicorn lesson. Man. This was actually the greatest.

Norah beamed and watched the little dragon closely. The ridges she was reaching out a sticky finger to touch looked extra sticky out ish and sharp. So female it was, yeah? Hehehe little baby girl dragon. "Aren't you the loveliest little thing," she cooed, running her index finger over the smooth scales. Man. That was probably the coolest thing anybody had ever felt EVER. Except maybe dinosaurs except nobody got to feel those which wasn't fair.

She eyed it carefully. Naming things was not exactly something to be taken lightly. Naming a DRAGON was probably the heaviest thing she'd ever take. It looked like a Posy. She wasn't entirely sure why, but it just did, okay? Sometimes stuff just did. So, Posy it was. "You're Posy, it's official. " The fourth year beamed again and gave her a soft pat just to show how very official it was. She looooved her Posy, oh yes she did.

Marsha was excited.

Ecstatic. Over-the-moon.

Shocked. Faint. Elated.

Delirious. Thrilled. Nervous. And maybe a little bit crazy.

‘cause Dragons. Norwegian Ridgeback miniture baby dragons.

Was there anything better in this world? EVER?

Looking up at Professor Thompson. Marsha couldn’t help the shock and awe and love and OMGGGGGGOD that she was sure was plastered over her face. Had Professor Thompson known this day was going to be happening when they had talked in his office about her working with the dragons? ‘cause he hadn’t mentioned it and that was sneaky.

Gosh. DRAGONS.

Her dragon. Who was a…. girl. Her second hand Grinning wildly at the baby who was moving from her cupped hand to wander up her wrist and to sniff!snort!huff at her arm. Hehe. ”Hi baby girl.” She said watching her wander around getting comfortable. ”You...need a name though… Hmmm.

As regards to the next question, "The dragons will return to their normal size once they are safe back home." Which wasn't right now, thankfully from the looks of things. Javier looked on this particular student among the others, especially after a particular action happened. "Mr. Fuller-Thompson, come here." The dragon was tiny with its own teeth, yes, but still a dragon bite was a dragon bite. Waiting until the Hufflepuff approached him did the Creatures Professor took him by the wrist to examine the finger. Hm. It looked alright, with the exception of the little poke imprint. "See me after class." Before patting his shoulder letting him return to his original spot.

"Now, who is ready to attempt to train them?" Professor Thompson then asked the whole class before continuing, "Typically the Norwegian Ridgeback has grown its wings shortly after emerging from the egg, but doesn't put any use to them for another year." So, "These dragons due to being in captivity haven't had as much opportunity to stretch their wings. So we're going to allow them the chance to." With that, Javier then held his wand up to cast a lighting spell showcasing the floating glimmering silver hoops suspended in the air all around the whole Creature Housing stable that they were residing in. Suddenly, the coverings had another use today.

"Now those with longer hair will want to tie their hairs back as we will be guiding them to fly in the air through the hoops." How exactly? "A dragon gains their ability to fly with the help of their mother or father who flies below them, breathing fire out to encourage them to stay up longer." Before the worries could kick in, "Not to worry, as mentioned before the heat is very soothing to the dragons as their tough skin can endure the highest of temperatures. So with our wands we will be using the fire spell, Incendio in their direction to guide them through all the hoops to the finishing line right into the tank." Which he then pointed out to be in the far end near the other double doors that led to the Walkways. The tank was sitting perfectly perched on a table. Empty for now.

"There are about 15 hoops total. The real challenge however will be on actually convincing them to take flight." Javier then held his little dragon. She was getting the name Lotte as he finger stroked the top of her head. A fiesty one though as she just missed the chance to bite at his finger. "There are a number of ways to convince them. There's the Animal Friendship charm, or just simply finger stroking the inner lines of their wings. That'll get their attention." Which he then did so, making Lotte turn her head not in a happy mood. "Stop once they begin looking towards you and then slowly hold the hand out raising it towards the air-" Which as soon as he began doing so, Lotte did not hesitate to fly away from this man. Now Javier aimed his wand towards her tail, "Cast, 'Incendio' directly under them until they start to fly in the direction you want them to. You will eventually have to get up along the way." Now it became clear what the Professor meant by them staying on the floor for the duration. "You will find near the end they will grow tired and want to rest, so you can simply use the Levitation spell, Windgardium Leviosa to set them into the tank."

At last, the incentive, "Of course not everyone will finish at the same time. But to make the effort, the first three who successfully manage to guide their dragon all through the hoops and into the tank will earn extra points." Along with, "And permission to visit their new dragon friend this summer." Win, win. Yes? "Get ready and.. go."

---
OOC: As mentioned you will have to guide the little dragon into the air through 15 silver floating hoops. With the use of Incendio under them and Windgardium Leviosa to land them into the tank at the finish line.

This should take no less than six labelled posts. You will have roughly 48 hours from this post to complete it. Feel free to vm, pm, dm via Javy's twitter any questions you have. =)

As Marsha watched the little dragon scuttle up her arm, over her shoulder and down again and then over her legs and round and round, she began feeling very glad for the jeans and long-sleeved top she had opted to wear. See? See Professor? She was prepared for almost anyttthing.

”Now baby girl, what are we going to call you?” Hmm? That was the big question now. Thinking through the Welsh names that she knew, she contemplated over a few. There were names like her baby sister Alis’ or Aderyn… but that meant bird which she thought would be pretty insulting for her girl so that was a no go.

Marsha’s fingers started a soft, gentle path from the top of the dragon’s head to the base of its back before repeating. She didn’t really know she was doing it, she was simply lost in thought about the perfect name. There was Glenda, and that reminded her of their HoM Professor ‘cause she had mentioned the musical she had been named after once. Mabyn, … no. Meinir… now that was an option. It meant tall if she remembered properly. Hehe. That was fitting. ”Meinir?” She asked, moving to lightly tickle under the comfortable dragons chin. A small puff of smokey fire escaped and the red-head took that as a yes, laughing happily.

”Well then, hello Meinir… I’m Marsha. I’ll be helping to look after you.” Yup… ‘cause there was no way Thompson was keeping her from the dragons. Hehehe.

Ohhh, said man was talking to them… Okay. LISTENING.

‘cause y’know… Dragons needed attention.

Oh flying dragons! How cuteeee. And a dragon obstacle course! Wasn’t that even better?

Marsha grinned, her finger still moving over the back of Meinir’s back. ”Are you ready to fly, girl? I bet you can do this so well. You’ll be a star.” She said, rubbing under her chin slightly before taking a deep breath. Okay, wings. She could do that.

Still breathing calmly and steadily so that she didn’t upset Meinir, she smiled softly as she ran her finger over the inner wing. Woah, it felt so different. So different even, that she couldn’t figure out what to even compare it to.. however now wasn’t a good time to be distracted as Meinir wasn’t happy… Whoops! Hehe ….

But think not about me, Meinir! Fly! She thought as she lifted her hand into the air.

Would Meinir do it? Would she fly? Would she trust her? Would she?

Come on Meinir! Make Mama proud!

Ilia watched the other boys here and there, but was almost solely concentrated on her dragonette. She smiled as she saw Benny and Henric interacting, but refocused on Astrid swinging in her hair in short order. As soon as the professor mentioned training she stopped her melody and looked excitedly up at him. They got to train them too!? Astrid got impatient as Ilia focused on the professor and hopped back down onto her arm.

The silver hoops suspended all around the housing , which she had not noticed before, illuminated under the professor's spell. Oh my......this was going to be interesting. Ilia placed Astrid in her lap as she drew back her rather long locks and entwined them into braid. She didn't want anyone to singe it. Her dragonette appeared to be objective of the notion, her young handler had just moved her swing and she made a little grumble of her opinion about it.

So......they needed to sway a young dragon's attention long enough to get it through all of the hoops and into tank.....She paid close attention to his instruction and demonstration. At first she simply had the urge to do well.....but there were also extra house points at stake which was a plus. And WHAT!? She could see Astrid this summer if she won in the top three!? Her bright blue eyes set excitedly on her dragon. "Are you ready little girl?"

She knelt upward, her torso extended with Astrid on her forearm. Touching her little girl gently under her wings to get her attention, she locked her eyes onto the dragons and gave a gentle lift to her arm for her to take flight. She seemed to understand and stretched her wings, but wasn't taking off just yet. Maybe she needed a moment. Ilia wanted to win.....but she didn't want to rush Astrid either. It wasn't fair to her and was no way to earn respect from a beautiful sentient being.

Because I don't like dragons

That statement confused Benny to no end. Since when? She did realize and remember what he was planning to do after graduation, and hopefully the rest of his life...right? Perhaps it was the idea of coming face to face with one, albeit a small itty bitty cute one that still breathed some fire and had claws, that got her a little nervous. She is a muggleborn Atreyu, he reminded himself. Muggles didn't always have the best stories about dragons.

"Just be easy with her," Benny instructed Angel from afar. "She's just like the gryffins, the hippogriffs or the unicorns," he added in assurance. Crazy just had scales and fire instead of talons and beaks.

-------------

He might have tried more but Professor Thompson was moving them onto an actual activity with their dragon friends. Guess Aidan would have to get to know Thumbelina later on or at least in the air. Benny momentarily strengthened his hold on his dragon as he moved to get to his feet, gaining a squawk and claws in his arm as Aidan scampered up to his shoulder.

Could people tell how natural that just felt to him? Benjamina Atreyu---Dragon Trainer.

"Now Aidan...will you fly for me?" Benny rubbing him as he moved towards the first hoop so they could begin working on the 15 of them that the man wanted them to work with. They could do this...they would work together. He knew how to show creatures that he was friendly and showing them the right way to go. Looking at the dragon on his shoulder, he opted to go for the non-magical way, his finger tracing first feather-light against the ridgeback's wings and then a little firmer. Aidan responded by opening his winds a little and watching him.

"Come on my friend," he said, trying the actions again to which the dragon spread them a little wider as if wanting the attention to go further. "There you go..." Benny then tentatively raising the arm of the shoulder he was perched on, jostling his rider ever so little until it was horizontal to the ground and spread out in front of him. When Aidan seemed reluctant, Benny shifted his arm up and down just enough to seemingly prompt the dragon up into the air and the Gryffindor to smile.

One flying dragon.

Oooh, they got to train the dragons! Awesome. Lux couldn't help but think of the movie How to Train Your Dragon. Of course there were a few differences: for one thing Toothless wasn't a tiny little thing. And for another she obviously wasn't a boy.

At first the thought of blasting Freddy with fire unnerved her, but then of course...he was a dragon so fire wouldn't exactly bother him the way it did people and most animals.

Curiously she watched Professor Thompson demonstrate one of the methods to get a dragon into the air. Maybe she would try the same one for the added challenge. First things first, though, her hair needed to be tied back. That was easier said than done with Freddy chilling out on her head. "Okay, buddy. Time to get to work." Gently she removed him from her hair with no small amount of difficulty. "Ouch!" Some of her hair had been pulled out.

With a small sigh, Lux set Freddy down in her lap, where he began moving around. "Don't wander off," she said, amused. The last thing she needed right now was to go on a dragon hunt.

After tying her hair back, she picked up up again. "Okay, buddy. We are good to go!"

Once he had Aidan up in the air, Benny lowered his arm back down to his side, hoping to keep the dragon from thinking of landing back on him. Plus he needed to get his wand from his pocket so he could use the fire spell to guide his charge. Or his son since they were supposed to be acting like the parents of the miniature ridgebacks with the flames up against their bellys. The sixth year had acquired it as Aidan tried to return to his former perch which caused him to step back.

"No Aidan...you need to fly," he told the dragon as he moved move behind the dragon. "Incendio!" he cast, trying to aim at Aidan but not directly hit him. Benny didn't care if they supposedly wouldn't hurt the creatures with the flames, it still took inner pressure to take aim at his new friend/child. The dragon reacted, climbing a little higher in the air in half-avoidance half-simple reaction. The action put him more in line with the target and going in the direction of the first hoop since it was in front of him.

"That's it..." Benny encouraged, "Come on little buddy...you can do it." He braced himself once more to cast another shot at his companion. "Incendio!" he cast again, aiming a little closer and nudging Aidan more towards the hoop. The dragon flew through it as if catching the hint and the Gryffindor couldn't be more proud.

"You did it, Aidan."

One hoop down...14 more to go.