Well.... Char didn't specifically KNOW. She hadn't learned about them yet soooo she just sat back and looked around with great curiosity. This was new to her, she hadn't already learned about these creatures like some people seemed to have.

She shot significant looks right back at her BFF though.

It was like they had ESPN or something.

Of course they wouldn't have time for Davie's question. ANYONE ELSE'S QUESTION was valid, but his just had to be saved for office hours... office hours which Davie had conveniently been kicked out of and banned from, more or less...

The second-year shared another ESPN glance with Char, and then sighed deeply as he raised his hand to contribute again. "Flying seashorses were used in this inhumane game called flying seahorse fishing," he offered begrudgingly. "In the 'game,' if you could call it that, Hogwartians used the seize and pull charm to harvest the seahorses for potions ingredients."

Sam didn't know much about flying seahorses, it had to be said. But it'd be silly if she did, because otherwise, why would she need to be sat in this lesson? It was cool they lived in the lake though. Were they going to catch some in the jars?

As for answering the question? She had read an article in the newspaper once about mundane seahorses, and she figured these might be the same. "They 'av a role reversal thin' goin' on, don't they? Cos d'males give birf to the baby 'orses."

Well, Ava didn't really know about flying seahorses, or seahorses in general. She wasn't a type of student who's gonna read the book before the class started and being a know-it-all person, unless those topics are related about DADA, dueling and healing potions. (thanks to her father for the last one.) Sometimes she thought if those know-it-all people really needed to go to the class anymore because clearly, the main purpose of being in a class is to get some knowledge, right?

"Well... Since they live in water, I think fish and flying seahorses come from the same class..." The young lioness gave an opinion.

Rachel hardly dared to believe her eyes. Had Professor Draper really given her a tiny smile? No, it couldn't be. He didn't smile much, did he? But then again, that didn't mean he didn't smile on occasions. She decided her eyes weren't playing tricks and smiled back. He definitely had liked her answer.

The eleven year old's hand shot into the air again after a moment. "Katherine is right when she said they are native in Scotland but they are most commonly found in our Black Lake,'' she said with an inclination of hear head towards the said body of water.

Hadleigh smiled lightly glancing at both Jace and Esme. Their replies went along quite well with the one she had given therefore the three of them had made a nice solid point. Not to bad really.

The next question though was something she paused to think over. Two good answers so far meant she couldn't mess this one up, it had to be just as good if not better then her previous replies. There was just one problem though with this...she had no idea what to say. Chewing her bottom lip in clear thought for probably a second to long while going over everyone else's replies in her head the fifth year finally raised her hand. "I believe they eat much smaller invertebrates, sucking them into their mouths whole." If this was right she wasn't fully sure but it did make sense to her so hopefully it was.

Janelle was officially bummed. Everyone had pretty much covered all of the possible answers on the previous question and she was left silent. No intelligent answer given. This was her absolute favorite class and she couldn't come up with one coherent answer. That was not good. However before she was able to dwell on that fact too long, a new question was posed. Determined not to be left out this time she raised her hand.

This point had been mentioned during the previous discussion, but Janelle thought it was important enough to focus on again. "Flying seahorses......fly, of course. But that makes them different from the other lake creatures. They can survive outside of the water. The seahorses get oxygen from the water when they are in the lake. When they are flying they must have other means to breathe." Janelle thought that all of the other creatures would need to stay in water to live.

The Head Boy kept writing in his little note book, wanting to document as much as possible which could help him during his NEWT’s in a few months. While he was doing so, his eyes caught the sight of the quill Katherine was writing with and he smiled. He remembered that quill, they had bought it together. He didn’t say anything though because he didn’t want to interrupt the class.

He had been very disappointed in the Professor’s reaction though. The Gryffindor had expected him to look surprised at least by his rescue team comment but he had only gotten a mere glance over. And yes, he definitely looked annoyed again. Couldn’t they just start the activity instead of all these questions?

Flying seahorses. He knew a thing or two about these creatures thank merlin. “flying seahorses are potion ingredients and i read that in order to catch them, the students had made a game out of it"

Yeah, Olivia had become aware of the various species of creatures on the grounds. Mostly through previous classes though a few on her own visiting the creature area as she explored the school in her free time. She preferred to listen though, especially as her classmates around her were already speaking of the ones she thought of. The Ravenclaw was copying them all down into her notes however, her list roughly based off of the one appearing on the board.

Flying seahorses?!

Now those seemed cool. A combination of air and water in one animal but not quite like water fowl the most common example. At least that was her first interpretation of the name. But first they were talking about the characteristics of lake creatures, and as Olivia listened, she got the impression, the flying seahorses might remain more fish. Again went the notes onto her parchment and when the last question was raised, the first year tried to think on some sort of answer. At least something new.

Had Chantel ever mentioned them…

Matt shrugged at a random girl who said she didn't agree with his answer. He didn't mind her saying that because just SAYING it didn't change anything. Water creatures were still evil no matter what any girl said.

And a matter of opinion?? "Nuh-uh, it's a fact." He stated seriously. He was being SERIOUS here. People's opinions wouldn't change ANYTHING. "I mean, they breathe UNDERWATER. That's not NORMAL."

asdfkfjldnkljsfl HORRIBLE CREATURES.

The next question was specifically about Flying Seahorses and what they knew about them. Truth was, Matt knew hardly anything about the creatures. "I guess they aren't that bad. IF they are tiny like normal seahorses and don't like being around people."

Madge sat silently, wide-eyed thinking, and looking vaguely in the direction of the professor. She was already lost. She knew nothing of magical creatures, she had never even seen or heard of a flying seahorse before this class.

Drapes' smug little nod was only met with the dirtiest of looks. From a girl who was an expert at giving dirty looks. She was not fooled by him. The others might be, but she wasn't.

Haddie said nothing about the topic of flying seahorses. She hadn't even known they were a thing until now. She did have a question though. Did they actually flying, or was it like flying fish, where they just jumped out of the water in a way that gave the impression of flying. She was very curious about this, but wasn't about to ask it. There wasn't any way she was going to give him that satisfaction. Instead, Haddie just folded her arms across her chest, even more than they had been, and kept giving Draper that look of utter disdain.

Austin had been called on again, and this time he wasn't in trouble. That was a good thing, right? Since he had answered the question early, and he didn't know much more about flying seahorses, he just went on sipping his tea. But he wasn't going to doze off this time. Not today. Today he was going to pay attention, hoping to gain something from his peers. The professor was paying attention to him, making sure he didn't fall asleep. So that was the last thing he was going to do.

How did they breathe in the air? He thought to himself. Animals underwater have their own way of storing oxygen, through gills and what not. So maybe they store oxygen when they jump in the air? Their circulatory system must have a way to use the oxygen underwater.

The nod was enough to let Esme know that she had made a good point. Of course she had. Some people were acting like the creatures that lived in the lake were EVIL. They were just beasts - as Hady already pointed out - and lived among themselves in the way that people did.. Hags on the other hand... THOSE were evil. They threatened people and ate children. How much worse could you get than THAT?!

Flying seahorses weren't her strong suit but she DID know about them.

Listening to what others had to say Esme nodded along. There wasn't really much else that she could add to it. Instead she made note of everything since it might come in handy for later. Hopefully they would be moving on to the activity soon because she would much rather interact with the seahorses than brainstorm facts about them. That seemed to be something much more suited for Teddy.

There were so many answers going around. Jaemin listened to his classmates while he tried to remember things that he actually knew about the seahorses. He'd seen them a few times, but not really... up close and personal-like. And plants were his strong suit, not lake creatures. They weren't fuzzy. He was less interested if it didn't have roots or fuzz.

Other students kept mentioning the breathing thing though, which made Jaemin wonder. The small boy wrinkled his nose and looked up at the professor.

"Do they really breathe outside of the water though? There's lots of creatures that come out of the water to do stuff and then go back in after a little bit. They don't breathe the regular air though, they just... kinda hold their water breath, right? Sort of the opposite of what humans do."

Kitty had never heard of flying seahorses before so she kept silent, but she knew she would love them. It was good to know that they were in the Lake because now she could go looking for them when the weather got warmer.

Chloe flushed in embarrassment. The only thing she properly knew about them was that they lived in the lake. She wasn't as interested in magical creatures as she should have been in her studies. Especially for someone whose father's job dealt with animals. Loosely.

For the second time around, Chloe was reduced to silence. But she dutifully scribbled down everything everyone said about the creatures.

OHHH, she was on the right track now! At least...she got a response from the professor, and he didn't just nod along and seem annoyed. This earned a fidget in her seat from Ariadne. She was getting super EXCITED and really into the lesson now. What did she know about flying seahorses? Well, ...nothing. It was the start of the lesson, and she had STUFF to learn!

She had one small little detail to offer, though, so she raised her hand. "When it's not flying and actually in the water, it uses it's curly-shaped tail to propel itself along," she said. As she explained this, she made a little waving motion with her hand. She was trying to show the motions she'd learned it did--it's curly-shaped tail would straighten out a little, and then it would re-curl the tail to help it move along in the water.

...and that was all she knew so far.

Oh so they were talking about the equine counterparts of the lake. Which is FANTASTIC for this curly top as he was a fan of all things equine.

So what factual tidbit does he know about them? Well other than the obvious fact that they flew AND are inhabitants of the lake? A fact already pointed out in this discussion by the Professor himself no less.

"Uhm some of the mariners and fishermen that hang around the lake near my home says they catch flying seahorses and put them in stews, or if they're super fresh, they can just pop them in a beer batter then fry them and eat them like chicken nuggets." True story.

People knew a lot about creatures. A LOT. Hugo on the other hand...well, he knew some facts, yeah. He wrote down everything or almost everything 'cause he knew he was going to need it for his OWLs, also he already had someone to study with. Cough. Where was Jenna? Anyways...

Hugo was wondering what they were going to do for the activity. Maybe go and find creatures? That would be cool. And why were they talking about Flying Seahorses? Did Draper brought some of them? Were they going to feed them? Take care of them? Maybe that's what the jars were for. He didn't raised his hand on this question because everyone had already said what he also knew, so he listened instead.

James took note of those choosing to remain quiet for this particular question. As long as no one was falling asleep, they could stay quiet. He didn't care about that much. However, they'd have to start participating in a minute because the Q&A portion was nearly done. And James wouldn't allow anyone to sit idle for the rest of the lesson. Not unless they wanted points taken off their grades.


James nodded, giving the younger boy confirmation to the information he offered about their harvesting. And he wasn't at all surprised when the kid raised a question. It was also a good question. They didn't get much of those. "Well, their flight in response to being provoked is first and foremost their defense mechanism. It's their response to a threat in order to get out of any danger they may deem immediate." Did that much make sense? "For the purpose of harvesting, they can easily be raised to the surface with the introduction of bait, or the use of a seize and pull charm into the water can pull them up. They aren't often caught when flying in the air." He paused momentarily to make sure that he had answered the boys question adequately. Did all of that make sense? "And take two points for the deeper thinking," questions meant deep thought. James liked that.



James considered this one for a few seconds before nodding and commenting, "That's not a far-fetched assumption to make." He nodded. It was a fair thought. However, "We can't, however, assume that right away. As the Seahorses show much different characteristics than your traditional fish would. It wouldn't be entirely correct to classify them as the same. But we can most certainly say they most likely derived from a common ancestor." He nodded, not discrediting her idea. Instead simply offering some more perspective to it.


James gave this boy a hard look in consideration. Had his parents taught him that? Because in most experiences, James found parents to be annoyingly difficult. Passing on crazy superstitions to their children without having any accurate background to pull out that kind of information. "Well, again, opinion," he replied easily. "Breathing underwater may not be normal for us, but for a creature who knows nothing else but the water. It's their normal." And if he didn't want to believe it now, then they'd have to wait and discuss one-on-one. Because James was done with this matter. It would be a ridiculous waste of class time to discuss these sorts of philosophies when he had an entire lesson to address.

"Good question," James nodded, giving it a few seconds of thought. "They don't ever stay out of the water for very long. So you're right, their presence under water is where they do most of their breathing." He did have some more to add though, "though they do have means of breathing outside of water, it's a much weaker system. Like a plan B, if you will. It's their backup system if they need to be above water for longer than they'd be able to hold for." However, because they never stayed long it was hardly ever needed to kick in.

Had that answered the question?


.... Right. Where did these kids come up with this stuff? "... I'll take your word for it."

Not confirming nor denying. Let the kid dream.

James nodded along taking note of each answer. "Very good," he responded to all the answers. "You're all correct." Even Backpack Boy, surprisingly enough. It was hard to memorize all the facts all in one go, but there were a few key takeaways that would hopefully stick. And just to reinforce it, James waited for them to settle down so that he could add some more detail. "Flying Seahorses are a variant of regular seahorses and will share many similar characteristics to those seahorses found in muggle communities as Miss Tyler pointed out." He waited for the notetakers to write things down. "They are known for their ability to fly when provoked. It's their main means of defense as they are otherwise quite harmless creatures."

Were they getting all of this? Good. "As Miss Moss pointed out, they are native to Scotland and Miss Watson also mentioned that they are most notably found in our own Great Lake." Thus their change in location for the day. "As Mr. Truebridge mentioned, Hogwarts used to participate in an inhumane recreational practice of flying seahorse fishing as a sport. However, the sport has since then been discontinued." For all the environmentalists in the area. They could all sit down before they got their knickers into a knot.


*****

Alright, finally. It was activity time. Well almost. And good thing too, James was growing tired of all of these questions. Almost as tired as the kids inevitably were. Right then, moving on. "Alright, so I think that's enough for our discussion portion." Were they cool with that? Good.

"As we mentioned before," both himself and the infamous David Truebridge, "Flying Seahorse Fishing as a sport is very inhumane. However, if done for the purpose of harvesting for potions... It is often times necessary. As it was mentioned earlier, our Great Lake has a certain quality of balance. If one component is off or in excess..." he looked around, "It could be very bad for the rest of the community in the lake." Understood?

Hopefully.

He didn't want to go over it again. He had spoken enough.

"And as it is, the Flying Seahorse population hasn't been kept in control very well in the past few years. And thus, we're going to help with that control factor." Make sense so far? He wondered how many of them saw where this was going... "Before we get to do any of that, you'll need to have practiced the Seize and Pull Charm." It was normally taught at a third year level, however, it wasn't anything too complicated. And this class was meant for the more advanced ones as well, so those younger could hopefully handle it. Or maybe he was giving them too much credit again.

Only one way to find out.

"The incantation for this charm is KAHR-pay ruh-TRACK-tum and the movement is simple and whip-like," he demonstrated for them. Easy enough, yeah? "I want everyone to take some time to practice the incantation and the wand movement separately." Extra emphasis on the separately.


OOC: Sorry for the wait, y'all! Things kept popping up today and they were completely out of my control.

+ This Mini-Activity will take two posts
+ Please title your posts with the post number (ex: Post #1)
+ Feel free to divide it up however you want, however they need to pratice both the wand movement and the incantation (separately!)
+ You will have 24 hours to make these 2 posts

He was cool with moving onto the activity. Interacting with the creatures was more fun than discussing about them. Wait, they were going to do the Flying Seahorse Fishing? He did not want to hurt the poor things ... but apparently it helped with the population control thing, so it probably was not all that bad either.

Carl watched Professor Draper's demonstration and repeated the incantation. "KAHR-pay ruh-TRACK-tum. KAHR-pay ruh-TRACK-tum. KAHR-pay ruh-TRACK-tum." Now to put it together. "Carpe Retractum!" It was a cool incantation. Almost as cool as Aguamenti.

Out of respect, Jace forced himself not to write anything down yet, until the professor was done talking. Eyes and ears were on him the entire time, his cogs turning and processing everything that he was saying. This is new-ish information to him, well, more of a clarification since he knew about the Flying Seahorses to fly when provoked. Jace nodded once in understanding...and was able to derive a conclusion in the end. “Am I right to assume that the Flying Seahorse Fishing was deemed an inhumane sport because of the unnecessary provocation just to make it fly, and make the fishing activity more challenging?” If true, then...it is rude. Poor fishies.

The points given didn’t go unnoticed. Jace was thankful that his ears were covered with his scarf, because he knew it to be a shade of red by now. In all honesty, he did not expect that. He was just curious, that’s all. The Ravenclaw inclined his head toward the professor and said his thanks, “Arigatou Gozaimasu...” It was a feat okay?

More notes, more scribbling and more side notes were jotted down on his parchment, not minding how messy his parchment looked like. It was his habit to re-write everything on a fresh parchment during his study time, just so the information will have its second pass in his brain. It’s a Ravenclaw thing, really.

Done with his notes, he got his wand out and started to practice the wand movement. Just like in Kendo, he needed to practice the movement as perfectly as possible. No sudden and unnecessary whipping. It just has to be the right blend to go with the incantation.

Whip...whip...whip.

Jace faced the lake and practised the movement some more. Whip...whip...whip.

There had been one reason, and one alone, that Brooklyn hadn’t participated in the discussion portion of the lesson. Well, aside from the fact she rarely participated in discussions. Dot had mentioned bowtruckles, and she hadn’t felt like sounding as if she was copying. Plus, she hadn’t really had anything to say about flying seahorses. They sounded a bit like pests, really, the longer they talked about them. Any animal that needed to be kept under control sounded like a pest to her. She’d been grateful when the activity had been introduced. It meant she could actually do something aside from sitting there dwelling on the idea of pests.

Practice sometimes annoyed her, especially when it was a spell she was familiar with. The Seize and Pull charm was hardly new to her, but if she had to practice, she would. Failure wasn’t something she entertained, not when it came to spell casting, or much of anything really. She did have a respect for the professor, in her own way.

“Carpe Retractum,” she said softly, reminding herself of the pronunciation, before repeating it again a few times just because. It certainly wasn’t the most complicated incantation they had learned. She didn’t blame Professor Draper for specifying they practice each part of the charm separately either. It left less chance for any spectacularly disastrous accidental casting, and it meant she wouldn’t have to risk her own safety in the class.

Oooh his answer had been right? Well then that did made him feel a little better. That meant the Professor couldn't think of him as a complete loser. He probably thought of him as a part loser ha!

He still wanted to know why he treated him differently than all the other professors. Had it been because of their first meeting? But he had been in a bad mood at that time! And Jerkface hadn't been friendly either with his sarcasm and trying to belittle him. Hmpf!

He snapped his notebook shut and grabbed his phoenix feathered wand. He wasn't exactly happy that he too had to practise the spell as he naturally already knew it. Learned it in his second year at charms school. Faster than when they taught it at Hogwarts. Which meant he had to look for any younger years having trouble but he couldn't exactly see that until the main activity.

"Carpe Retractum" there. Enough practise. He would do the wand movement in a moment. Now he was going to see how the younger students were doing. Which also gave him reason to look at Norah. Hey, she IS younger hehe.