China and Chinese myth were among the many things that Jaemin was not really aware of. Like the Japanese stuff in Transfiguration class, things like this were vaguely related to his own heritage in some ways, but still completely and utterly different when it came down to most everything. Still, the small boy tilted his head and continued to staaaaaaare at Draper as he explained the myth, listening intently.

"Stories like that are usually symbolism for other things or lessons that people are supposed to learn..." he murmured after James had finished off his question. They weren't meant to be taken literally. But, he supposed, for the sake of this class they were suspending their disbelief, which was totally fine with him. The small Slytherin chewed on his lip for a moment, staring at James blankly without really seeing him as he considered the question. "Would it be possible for a wizard to put up a sorta... field or something, at the waterfall? And when the fishes jumped through, they'd be transfigured? Because grown up wizards can transfigure loads of stuff, like people into objects and even animals, but animals can't really do magic... right?"

Could animals do magic?? Because if they could, he was totally teaching Sniffler.

Dot had to convince herself she was actually better at Transfiguration than she thought. She'd managed some pretty impressive spells, and while it didn't come to her as easily as Charms did, she'd done it. Hard work had paid off. It was just that Transfiguration took more focus and practice and a lot more understanding of theory.

Maybe she was a little lazy?

She considered the story Draper told before raising her hand. "It sounds like Transfiguration, sir, but generally we see that items being transfigured have the same general mass as the object they change into... not to mention some similar properties on occasion." Not always... but it seemed like they made pincushions into porcupines for a reason, right? "There's a big discrepancy between one fish and even a baby dragon, just in terms of size. That just makes it hard for me to believe. But if any kind of spell, it would involve Transfig."

He was fine with the lesson starting, he was, but he wasn't yet sold on the whole magical myth thing yet. AND... they apparently had to take notes. lots of theory? Boooooooo. And to think he liked DADA and CoMC for their hands-on-ness. Not today it seemed.

To top that, the first question was a Transfiguration one, and so naturally he opted NOT to answer. No, he'd just listen to the others and their ideas first, not writing anything down until they were given nods and approval and YES's.

Kind of sounded like a forcefield thing though... like an age line, only for transfiguration obviously. Or not. What did he know anyway?

Henric took out his parchment as they were told. He noted down the things that were being said by Professor Draper about muggle myths around the world. It was interesting to know about them truly, he wished to learn more. No way...there was a myth about fishes transforming into a powerful dragon?! Cool! They called them 'Dragon's Gate' in China! Wow...

Alright, question time.

Well...of course! Transformation is possible with magic! Why did they have Transfiguration class in school if they weren't any? But...animals couldn't do actual magic, unless they were born magical creatures themselves?....Maybe that river had some kind of ancient mystifying magical power or something. What else could they be able to transform those fishes into dragons? Perhaps they went into another world? Honestly, he had no idea.

He raised his hand,"Transfiguration...?"

What was it about Draper that he did not like? Perhaps it was his demeaning personality. Oh yes he noticed how he was looked at, that smile could not fool him just like he was sure that his smile did not fool the professor’s. Had something happened during his education years at Hogwarts that he disliked the school Leaders? Or was it because he hadn’t exactly acted like a leader when they had first met outside of the classroom? If It was the latter he was disappointed because he was a human with emotions and got stressed out just like everyone else. Perhaps even more because he had more on his minds then just homework and NEWTS exams.

He continued to smile as the Professor greeted him a good day as well and waited for the class to begin. As the rest of the students arrived and the man started the joint lesson, he automatically took out his notebook and self-inking quill to write down some notes. Muggle myth. He knew the muggle population had myths about all kinds of legends. It was funny how nearly all their myths and legends were the truth for the wizarding world. He noted nearly everything down about fish swimming upstream becoming powerful dragons muggles had funny imagination

His answer had also been Transfiguration. It was pretty obvious wasn’t it. But since the majority of the students already said that he decided to go with a different answer. “The Dark Arts is a kind of transformation. Perhaps not drastically like fish turning in to dragons like” he snapped his fingers, cause why not “ that. But its subtle, making you stronger and more evil as time passes until eventually you’ve changed. Even in appearance.” Look at You-Know-Who. He basically became a snake.

And if that wasn't the kind of answer he wanted, too bad cause he thought it was awesome. His answer, not the dark arts. Eww!

It was time for class to begin and Janelle was glad of that. Taking out her parchment and quill, she was all ears. She started taking notes when the professor began to talk about muggle myths and legends. Janelle had never heard the one about the Dragon's gate, but it sounded very cool. Fish turning into dragons, why not? She had seen stranger things than that, when magic was involved.

When the first question was asked, Janelle raised her hand to give her thoughts. "I absolutely think that could be possible. Transfiguration would be the way to do it." Almost anything was possible with magic. And if you couldn't make it happen, you could always create a daydream spell to make people think it was happening. In that case though, it wouldn't be transfiguration. It would be Charms.

Ava wondered why on earth Professor Draper looked so... bitter. Not only in this class, but every time. Like, there's nothing that could make him smile. Perhaps he was broke? or had a toothache? Or maybe brokenhearted? Impossible. Well, it wasn't her business anyway. But maybe a little smile would be appreciated, right?

And now the class had started. The young lioness just listened to Draper mentioning the muggle myth that related to wizarding world.... Yeah, living around muggle neighborhood makes her quite familiar with that. Once she heard about young girl saying that unicorns were fluffy and puking rainbows and glitters and it was just... silly. Hehehe. "Well, I think the transformation is possible." She raised her hand and answered the question. "And obviously it's related to transfiguration."

Nana was content to stand by and let James take the reigns as the lesson began. Though the two had their differences (less than Nana would admit) through their time working together she had grown to respect him well enough to trust him… The same was true of Hirsch, though that respect had been won far more quickly with his work ethic and more congenial manner (though she did her best not to be too close to bodies of water when he was near). She turned her eyes from the figures of her colleagues and instead turned her attention to the students themselves as Draper began to speak, explaining the myth and getting to the question in a professional, albeit rather short tempered, manner.


Clearing her throat, Nana stepped forward as the questions began pouring in. This was her part. Just watch a real professional, boys.



“Well said, Miss watson.” Nana offered the young girl a quick nod.



“A sound theory, Miss Lynch.” And quite to the point as well.



“Miss reynolds…. That is a very… Interesting theory, but it is not at all a correct one.” Nana calmly said, not sure what to exactly make of it. “Your creativity is appreciated, however.”



“Yes, but Trans-Species Transformation is generally performed on humans, Miss Darcy. However, your point still stands.” Nana offered her a small smile.



Nana pursed her lips as Miss Valentine spoke. “Remember that there is no spell that can permanently transform a creature or person into something else. You may change the aspects of the object in Transfiguration, but you cannot change it’s essence, Miss Valentine.” Nana simply said. “No, that will not be today’s lesson,” Should she cover basic Transfiguration again next term? It seemed not to have sunk in.



The way miss Daneker was eying James. Nana had to bite her lip not to smile with amusement. She offered the young girl a nod. “Correct.”



Ah, Mister Song. “Magical Force fields are indeed something that exist, Mister Song, but in this scenario it is not the case. There are waters magically infused to throw off enchantments, some that befuddle those who dare to wade in… and some that nastily charm the unsuspecting individual, but none so far created expressly to change fish to dragons.” She shook her head just a bit before getting to the second part of things.[b] “They absolutely can. It’s simply not the same magic you or I employ, Elf magic for example is a natural magic that only House-Elves may tap into. Many magical creatures are able to change their appearance in both the magical and muggle world.” [/b[



“This is not always the case, Miss wojak, and yet… It is at the same time. You can easily Transfigure a dog into a rock and many would say that the two bare absolutely no similarity at all… Except that we are all built of the same stuff.. Sodium, Iron, Carbon and many who study Transfiguration on an atomic level believe this to be the reason it is possible to Transfigure something into something wholly different.” Nana tucked back a lock of her dark hair and turned to face the ginger snake properly. “As for your other question. Take into account the fact that many Animagi can shift into forms far larger than themselves with the same hard work and dedication as someone who shifts into a human sized animal.” Still, excellent thinking, quite keen.

Nana offered the young man an encouraging nod. “Transfiguration, but we’ll be talking about a particular subset today.”

She raised an eyebrow at the Head Boy’s answer. “A very interesting idea, Mister Hyland. Dark magics can transform the user over time, making the user less and less human in their appearance and their nature. It is not the case here, but your theory is very much a clever one.” Nana offered him a rare, true smile.



"Indeed, transfiguration would be it." Nana said, nodding her head as she spoke.

“But why do you think it’s possible? What evidence do you have to support your belief, miss Burton? We cannot work on belief alone, we must have facts to support our reasoning.” Nana said, not unkindly. “But as you said it is obviously connected to Transfiguration.”


-----------



Nana paused to give anyone else who might like to answer a chance to do so, when it seemed no further questions were coming she uncrossed her arms. “As many of you correctly guessed in your answers this particular branch of magic would in fact be Transfiguration.” A bit obvious considering she was here, but that in no way made the students accuracy any less accurate. “Many of you expressed doubt that a larger and very foreign creature could be Transfigured from a smaller, dimmer one, but as I mentioned this is not the case. Transfiguration at it’s core is a sister science to alchemy in that it works on almost an atomic level, which is why some Animagi can shift their forms into varied species of animal and not simply mammals. Now many creatures that we know to be magical were or are believed to be mundane by Muggles. The Dodo, is a prime example of this… as is.. To an extent the Lochness Monster, which we know with certainty to be in actuality a Kelpie much fond of changing it’s form to appear as a sea serpent.”

That was a hint, students. ”The Kelpie, like our carps have learned through natural evolution to Transfigure themselves without aid of a wand or wizard into any shape they so choose… Though most do tend toward horses. Our creature, which is where the chinese muggle myth originated, is an Echinokarp. A creature that when swimming along is as harmless as any river carp, but when threatened transforms into a fearsome, quilled creature that is impossibly dangerous to say the least.” Did she have their attention now?

“These quills are something the Echinokarp have even before it’s transformation, but they are much more potent in the post-change form causing the victim of the quills to fall into a deep, deep sleep much like the one experienced after ingesting dreamless sleep potion. The quills themselves are used for their potent sleep-inducing toxins to enhance their strength.” But more would be said on that subject when it was Hirsch’s turn at the bat, for now it was time to get into the messy parts of this explanation.

”The Echinokarp is a product of what we call Evolutionary Transfiguration or Natural Transfiguration. The concept is no different from an Iguana changing it’s color to blend in with the surrounding territory. It is a reflex, much like the reflex to put your hands out when you take a tumble. A survival instinct that for Echinokarp and many other magical creatures enables them to temporarily change their forms to flee, intimidate or even kill their predators.” there was of course, much more to evolutionary transfiguration than these simpler aspects, but that was for a more advanced lesson as the concepts were quite tricky to follow even for the best of wizards.

“Now.” Nana said, clapping her hands together. “what other creatures do we know that use this same defensive tactic to hide, protect themselves or even hunt? There are quite a few that employ this particular tactic.”

And that was how you taught a subject, gentlemen.



OOC: hie guys, still plenty of time to jump into the fray. Go right ahead and post as if your student as been in attendance the whole time. If you choose to play it as your student has arrived late there will be IC consequences for this action, so please keep this in mind.

Rachel acknowledged Ichihara's smile with one of her one. It seemed as though he answer was ont he right path and this was confirmed by other students as their answers were almost similar to her thoughts. At Ichihara's mention of 'dodo', Rachel shot Haddie a warning look. No David jokes, Haddie.

She bent her head, making as much notes as possible as the Professor continued. She found it all rather interesting information but she had no answer to the next question being asked. Try as she might to rack her brain for one, she could not come up with any. It was for this reason, Rachel opted to sit out of providing one this time around.

Ohh Fwoopers!

Azura was sitting there.. Wracking her brain trying to come up with a creature that did all that when threatened! She could come up with a few non magical creatures, such as porcupines cause.. Quills obviously, ostriches, who bury their head in the sand, Even opossums who literally get scared to death when they got threatened and so they pass out!

But Magical creatures??

She raised her hand I can think of many non magical creatures who do things like that, but the only magical one I can think of right now is the Bundinum, they spit acid at anyone who bothers them."

Let's hope that worked.. She didn't want to stay fully silent this class!

Yeah...Muggles DID have a tendency to make up fairy tales about magic. They thought everything was the Cinderella-type magic and that it only consisted of pumpkins being changed into fairies and things like that. Plus, they thought Mermaids were super pretty and sweet, and...THOSE THINGS WERE FREAKY!

She started jotting down notes about what he was saying, nodding along as he spoke.

Did she think this kind of thing was possible via THEIR magic? No, but...probably YES, because why else would he start off the whole class with an introduction like that if he didn't plan to teach it?

So, YES. Ariadne was going with YES.



Okay, so yeah...it was possible.

Ariadne jotted this down in her notes, too. Then she looked up at the professor and nodded along as she described in detail all about the Lochness Monster and then the Enchinokarp. Her facial expressions matched the professor's words, too. First her eyes were just attentive, and then they were wide, and finally her eyebrows were arched upward in surprise.

A fearsome, quilled creature that is impossibly dangerous?! MERLIN.

Then there was a question. What other creature used something similar? Hmm... She raised her hand. "Definitely the Blast-Ended Skrewt!" she said, remembering those stories she'd heard about them on the school's bridge. "They use their blasts of sparks to throw themselves at their enemies."

Professor Draper returned her nod without words and she took that as a halfway decent sign. Rachel on the other was a bit more enthusiastic. And apparently just as curious as she was. “Guess we’ll find out soon." Olivia waved back at Kitty as the slightly older girl gave her a wave of greeting and her seat mate played around with her best friend on the other side if her. It was good to see her dueling partner didn’t seem hindered by any lingering effects of their duel. She had felt so bad after it and her part in hurting her friend and fellow Ravenclaw.

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

And then the class was begun, her parchment and quill for notes already out when the professor mentioned taking them out. Hello…Ravenclaw here. Although muggle myth…that certainly caught her attention as it seemed like it would make things more interesting. A mix of muggle and magical. Olivia listened intently to the story that was shared, thinking it all neat before registering the question directed at them at the end.

“Definitely possible,” she remarked agreeing with the general consensus. And transfiguration, transformation or transspecies transformation to be precise, seemed right. A thought that was confirmed as Professor Ichihara spoke up and further spoke on the matter. Her quill busily writing down notes as she listened to the woman. Dodos and kelpies and Echinokarp oh my! As for the latest question being posed to the group, she raised her hand to answer.

“A chameleon ghoul.”

Soooo TECHNICALLY she was off with her answer but it had been in the right ball park. Kind of. Transfiguration could be really HARD, so Esme was taking this and running. It was enough to make her feel proud that she had even remembered that there was such a thing as Trans-Species Transformation.

She beamed though the expression faltered somewhat at what Professor Ichihara had to say next. There was a lot of words and some of them made sense though she had never heard of an Echinokarp before. It sounded rather... interesting. Yeah, she would stay away from them as much as possible if she could help it. This lesson wasn't going to be very much fun if there was the all too real possibility of falling into a deep sleep. This wasn't a Disney movie and there would be no Prince Charming waking her up. Esme didn't NEED a man to rescue her from danger unless it was her father.

No examples were coming to mind besides Chameleon Ghouls - which had already been mentioned by Olivia. She was just going to stay silent on this one and listen to what the others had to say.

Henric was captivated hearing Professor Ichihara explained in further details about the wonders of the magical creatures esepcially one called the Echinokarp. He had never heard of them before and wished he could see one up close! Kelpie! Didn't they travelled to the lochness lake to see them before?! It was quite an adventure as he remembered fondly.

He raised his hand once again,"A demiguise, professor, it becomes invisible when threatened? Is that a form of transformation?"

Yoongi knew that his answer hadn't been right but it gave him great satisfaction to hear that his theory was a CLEVER one and he certainly had not missed the Professor's rare smile either. His eyes glanced towards Professor Jerkface Draper for a split second because he wanted to see the look on his face before he began to write down more notes.

The talking took long and the Head Boy had trouble writing everything down. He had missed a few things but he got the main idea. He just hoped that the things he hadn't written down weren't coming up in the exams. He placed his quill down and raised his hand after some thinking. "A bowtruckle, Professor?"

As soon as Professor Draper started the class, Jace discreetly took a seat nearest him, and just…listened to whatever he was saying. Myths were really interesting, and it was amusing to the boy how muggles interpret things that can’t be explained the bizarreness of events and such. The Ravenclaw just sat in his seat, hands neatly placed on his lap, his short legs dangling from the bench. He made a mental note to read more myth stories during his summer break.

Once the first question was asked, Jace knew that the phenomenon was a work of magic. Transfiguration, to be exact. The answer was already given…even repeated many times by his classmates; therefore, he opted to stay quiet and passed the first question. That was easy enough to be answered anyway.

Brown eyes shifted from the muscly adult person, to the only female professor up front. Jace suppressed a grin, and berated himself mentally for being distracted by her beauty. Her eyes were captivating!

Ahem.

The Ravenclaw cleared his thoughts, and received the information being fed to them by trying to understand and memorize things in one go.

When the second question was asked, Jace had to look around first…and listened to his classmates’ answers. He nodded once, as soon as the Chameleon Ghoul was mentioned. He would’ve said the same thing, but since Draper was around, he did not dare repeat the same answer.

The Ravenclaw slowly raised his hand, and answered when it was his turn. “Demiguise, professor.” He said, lowering his hand as he continued to speak, “They go invisible when threatened.” Now that…was some cool stuff. He’d love to have that ability.

Why it was possible? Well, honestly she don't really have an idea. Ava just said it was possible because... everything is possible with magic, okay? But she wasn't gonna say that to Ichihara. So yeah, she's just gonna listen to her explanation and paid attention. So many things that the Transfiguration professor mentioned... Her brain couldn't take this, ugh....

“what other creatures do we know that use this same defensive tactic to hide, protect themselves or even hunt?"

Hmmmm....

People already mentioned demiguise and since Draper didn't approve the students repeating the same answer, the young lioness tried to find another answer. "How about.... Thestrals, Professor? I mean, they are invisible and only some people can see them." She raised her hand and tried to answer.

Was he interested yet? ... Maybe.

It sounded as if the Echinokarp thing had promise, but he was a little confused about the 'quill' thing initially... before he had his lightbulb moment, of course. Sense, it was make sense. Doing as he'd been instructed by Draper, Zeke took some short notes as Ichihara did her own little Transfiguration spiel.

He even went as far as to write down the other transfiguration examples, and the whole evolution transfiguration thing.

Alchemy and changing cells did interest him to some extent, but it wasn't enough to entertain him beyond a few casual thoughts.

Did he have a response to offer? Other, similar defensive techniques? ... Nah, he's let the others answer.

He knew that creatures could do some kind of magic... it was just very different from their kind of magic, and he didn't think it was strong enough to turn an animal into a dragon. He watched Professor Ichihara as she spoke, nodding his head slowly. They didn't have something like that already, but that didn't make it not possible! Magic did lots of weird things. They'd probably be in a bit of trouble if there were a spell for a field that could turn things going through it into dragons.

As for creatures that had transformative defensive things... the talk of quills had him touching his pocket, because Sniffler did a sort of non-magic transformation if he got really scared. He was one of the breeds that didn't curl up unless it was a last ditch attempt to protect himself, so Jaemin hadn't really seen it very often, but... the small creature turned himself into a very small ball of spines. He always had the spines, of course, but they weren't ouchy on a regular basis. But... they wanted to hear about magical creatures, and all the ones Jaemin was aware of had already been named off so he kept silent.

Answers were given and Hady quickly jotted down everything that was being said. When Professor Ichihara took over for Draper she made sure to listen just as closely or almost more so. A lot of important was being said. A small mention of animgi which peaked her attention a bit more.

Hmm. This was an interesting question. It caused her to take pause and seriously think about it a minute or two. Nana was correct of course in saying that there was quite a few creatures that used tactics like changing appearance or using something to defend itself. Most of what she taught of was already being said. Except one.

"How about the Moke, Professor? They have the ability to shrink themselves whenever they like." Rather useful honestly.

Kitty felt that Professor Ichihara disliked her answer, and that made her upset but she tried to hide it. Hopefully the professor would forget her lapse of knowledge about transfiguration when the class was over. For a moment she considered not answering the next question so she wouldn't make another mistake, but in the end she changed her mind.

"I don't know about magical creatures, but porcupines also shoot quills at you. I read about them in a wildlife book in my mom's book collection."

Did she...? Was that...did the corners of Professor Ichihara's mouth curl a little before she bit her lip. The fact Haddie had actually made the transfiguration professor have to bite her lip to keep from smiling was the highlight of her month. Maybe even of the school year. Sure, Haddie could have been imagining it, but she she was utterly convinced she had regardless of reality. That was Hadley's way. The girl beamed, a slightly proud and quite surprised little grin spread across her lips.

Oh, and now Professor Ichihara was continuing the lesson too. Thank God! Haddie was paying full attention now, diligently taking notes the way she always did in Transfiguration class. Was Drapes paying attention to this? He probably thought Hadley was the same way in all her classes as she was in Draper's class. But nope. Did he see? This is how Haddie is with professors she actually respects. Of course, Haddie had only paid rapt attention at first to help persuade the Transfiguration professor to train her to be an animagus. But she really did enjoy the subject and she really did like Professor Ichihara.

Hadley frowned at the mention of the Dodo bird as a magical bird. Of course being muggle-born, Haddie hadn't known that little fact, until she tried to win back a bit of ground from Davie Truebridge by calling him a Dodo bird, because he was literally too dumb to live, like the Dodo bird, which was why, she thought, they were extinct. Easy to imagine how that went... and why was Rachel shooting her a warning look? Haddie shot her bestie her own look back: What? But there wasn't really any chance to get that answered.

And great, Haddie didn't know the answer to Professor Ichihara's question. There went the girl's chance to impress her this lesson. Hadley was convinced that if she managed to impress Ichihara every class (though she would settle, realistically, for most classes) then the Transfiguration Professor would be more willing to train her next year. The only real example Haddie had was the octopus. Which so wasn't magical (her neighbor's adorable little 4 year old excluded). At least she didn't think they were. She had been wrong about the Dodo bird...

"I know this isn't the same thing...but an octopus is able to completely change their shape, the texture of their skin as well as the color of their skin to hide seamlessly into any setting. I'm kinda curious, though. Why did some creatures develop magical abilities while others didn't?" It seemed to Haddie that magical ability was an evolutionary boon to any creature. And all life evolved from the same simple, single cell... so why did some creatures evolve until the entire species was magical, and others didn't?

Was James impressed by his colleague? Absolutely. Would he admit that he was impressed by his colleague? Absolutely not.

But he did wonder how the heck she did it. All that thought she put in seemed entirely effortless. James had a harder time translating everything into words simply because he externalized before internalizing. That stupid quality of speaking without thinking that most Gryffindors possessed, yeah that, he had that. It's why he had to take extra effort to think about what he'd say to the class and then only spoke such few, precise words. If he had to say extra, who'd know what he'd end up with.

So yes. Impressed. Also jealous. Also would never admit such a thing out loud. Or with his facial expressions. Which he was able to get in control of before Nana was able to turn to give him another look. Right well, anyways, it was his turn now yeah?


James acknowledged the diligent notetakers, glad to see they were following instructions. Which was something you'd think most of them would have gotten very good at by now... Which was incorrect. Following instructions and Hogwart's students didn't always go hand-in-hand. Something James Draper had been a part of as a student and something he had come to expect as a Professor. Anyways. Notetakers were appreciated. Though if they thought they could get through the entire lesson without any participation, then they were wrong.



"There are quite a few of them," the nonmagical creatures. "Though without magic, they change their form naturally without the use of transfiguration." That much was self explanatory, yes? "For example, chameleons change their color and a puffer fish, that puff up in face of danger, increasing it's size." Hopefully those two examples were enough to get her thinking.

So a lot of creatures do it, change their form in order to ward of potential threats. That much made sense, yeah? He hoped so because he wasn't about to go over it again just yet. "Correct, the Bundimun does excrete acid," he nodded encouragingly. It was true, but also... "however for the purposes of this lesson, we want to focus on the creatures that may not possess such qualities in their original forms. The Bundimun doesn't need to change anything about it's appearance in order to spit the acid." He did like her outside thinking, though.

"Good," he nodded. "In a manner of defense the use their blasts," which was similar to the way the Echinokarps used their quills.... Sort of. Not quite, but it was apparent that she tried. "But the skrewts don't necessarily change their form in order to do so, and in that sense their defense is different than our creature." Or well, the one they were focusing on today.

Did that make sense? Good.


This next answer got a good hum in agreement. Yes. "Excellent!" Okay, he hadn't shown that much excitement all month. Need to tone it down before he turned into Airey Flamsteed resident Astronut. "The chameleon goul," he was addressing the class here, "Has the ability to disguise itself as an every day object." Were they starting to get it? The chameleon goul could change shape, not necessarily in the same way that the Echinokarp did, but they both changed appearance as a defense.



"Good," he nodded. "Invisibility is a different form of changing appearance, but it is still a change nevertheless." After the first few lessons, Draper wasn't expecting a stroke of genius from this kid anytime soon, but he hadn't completely floundered. So it was an improvement.



..... Was that meant to be a joke?

"No."

James considered the kid for a few moments before continuing, "Although the Bowtruckles can camouflage well with trees, they don't change form to do so." Meaning the question was completely negated in his answer and James was having serious doubts about this Head Kid once again. He was sure he was a seventh year, right? Because that was a first year answer. James was not impressed.


This one was tiny. And incredibly amusing. Everything from the way he had walked in to the way he sat oogling Nana. He wasn't about to look at James like that, right? Because no offense kid, but you're not his type. "Exactly," he gave the boy a nod in confirmation before moving on.



He had been expecting this answer, actually. Just a matter of time until someone said it. "Not exactly," he shook his head. "The creatures we want to focus on change their form, but the Thestrals stay the same, it is just the human ability to see them that changes." Because those that witness death would be able to and the others won't. It wasn't anything the creature had to do to change it.



He had high expectations for this one. It was hardly fair to hold each student to a different standard, yes, but she had very specific intentions with her future in the field of Magical Creatures. Therefore, he had high standards. And she didn't disappoint yet. "Excellent!" he nodded pridefully. "Their ability to change their size is a good example for our purposes."

SPOILER!!: Kitty

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goblinfrog

Kitty felt that Professor Ichihara disliked her answer, and that made her upset but she tried to hide it. Hopefully the professor would forget her lapse of knowledge about transfiguration when the class was over. For a moment she considered not answering the next question so she wouldn't make another mistake, but in the end she changed her mind.

"I don't know about magical creatures, but porcupines also shoot quills at you. I read about them in a wildlife book in my mom's book collection."

"Yes, similar," he nodded, noting the connection she made. "Though the porcupines cannot shoot their quills exactly. That's a very common misconception. They can, however, release them upon contact." But all the same, very good.

SPOILER!!: Haddie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Callie

"I know this isn't the same thing...but an octopus is able to change able to completely change their shape, the texture of their skin as well as the color of their skin to seamlessly into any setting. I'm kinda curious, though. Why did some creatures develop magical abilities while others didn't?" It seemed to Haddie that magical ability was an evolutionary boon to any creature. And all life evolved from the same simple, single cell... so why did some creatures evolve until the entire species was magical, and others didn't?

This one looked entirely too happy. Hope she wouldn't mind that James would have to intercept her question here. Sorry, but the lesson structure was already planed. And James could care less that she had some silly sort of problem with him. "Interesting," he commented. "Many of them can," he nodded noting her-- for once-- USEFUL contribution to the class.

As for her question, "It's the same with humans. Some of us developed magical abilities and some didn't." But there were better answers out there, he supposed. "But that question casts a wide net. A common, widely accepted thought is that genetic mutations developed over time and those changes that helped survival stuck after hundreds of generations." In summary, anyways. "It also depends on the niche a species fills and whether or not they are better equipped to fill that niche with certain characteristics." He paused before adding an afterthought, "In other words, some creatures don't need to possess magical abilities in order to be equally as successful."

And that's how you do it.

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


If they thought they'd get a break from James Draper anytime soon, they were wrong. It was just how things worked out that he'd be stepping up again after having just spoken about the myth. Fortunately for them, however, it wouldn't be long until the apparent collective favorite Professor stepped up to take his own turn. But for now, they got Draper.

You're welcome.

"Alright, so now that we know a little about the Echinokarps already, there are a few more points I would like to stress for the purposes of my subject." Not that the rest of it wasn't important, it was all connected, but James had to look at the Echinokarps with the lens of Creatures, whereas Nana and Hirsch had a different viewpoint from their own subjects. "The name Echinokarp derives from the prefix Echino- which means spiny or pointed, while the root of the word is Karp- which derives from a family of deep-bodied, freshwater fish known as Carps." Made sense, right? Pointy for it's quills and Carp for being a type of fish. Yes?

"Their native range is in Chinese waters, which reinforces the idea of the muggle myth." So the muggles weren't all that off. They were all taking notes, yes? This was rather dense material here. "As Professor Ichihara just explained," and she did a beautiful job of that, by the way. Not that he cared. Or noticed. Or was jealous of. Or-- Y'know what, forget it. "These creatures are harmless pre-transformation, as they resemble their closely related cousins the Mundane Carps. Gray and rather dim-looking." He waited for them to jot this all down. "However, it is in the details where they differ from their nonmagical cousins. Our unprovoked Echinokarps have the potential to grow up to 200 centimeters which is much larger than even the largest subset of mundane carps. And to the trained eye they give off a shiny, almost holographic glint so that wizards can tell the difference."

This was a lot of information. Even James was growing tired of talking. "After they have transfigured into their more threatening form, they take on the form of a sea-dragon. Because of their nature in the transfigured form, we classify them under the same classification as very dangerous creatures, such as the kelpies with a XXXX rating." Okay, he was done with this. "Because these creatures pose such a dangerous threat, we can't bring one here to show you, but I have a picture that you can all pass around." And he had MULTIPLE COPIES. Call him Mr. Preparation. Ha! He walked over to the ends of the benches to hand them over.

And almost ready to pass the baton on. "And while you're taking turns looking at it, what practical application do you think these creatures could provide in the magical world?" In other words, what can we use them for?

And Hirsch, tag you're it.

OOC: Hiii y'all! I know that was a lot, but just hang in there because we're about to get started with the activity REAL soon!

Awwww, man. Why did he have to be the one to answer? Because the universe hated her, that's why. Obviously. Still, he was actually answering her questions, without being all Oh, look at how great I am, insignificant mortals! For once. Wait, did this mean Drapes was actually becoming, you know...human? Err...Wizard...a person? You know what she meant. "So does that mean that all species have individuals in it that are magical?" Like humans did, as he pointed out. "Because, it's one thing to have no selection for magic versus no magic," again, like humans, "and quite a different thing to actively select against magic." Which would, from her understanding of evolution, be required for a species to actually lose all magical ability within it. It was quite easy to see how magic would be selected for, but she couldn't really picture it being selected against, given magic didn't really hinder survival, and magical individuals within a species, again humans since he brought us up, look identical to non-magical individuals. Hmmmm, Drapes?

Anyway, she was ready to listen to Hirsc---oh, he was going to continue talking. Alright. She doodled a bit in the margins of her notes, jotting down the important stuff, and the stuff that wasn't obvious. Really, Drapes? Really? Like none of us could figure out that Karp meant, shockingly, carp. She didn't just roll her eyes at that one, she actively gave Drapes an Are you serious? look at that one. And... he kept talking. About half way through, Hadley dropped her head with a quiet noise that might have been a scoff, or it might have been an exacerbated sigh. She snickered when he mentioned the Creatures rating though. Because muggles use X ratings for something WAAAAY different. And she was 12. And Muggle-born. Sue her.

It was pure coincidence that Haddie got passed the picture of the Echinokarp's dragon form as Draper asked his question. What practical application did they have for wizards? "Guarding your underwater fortress of villiany?" she offered. And by your, she meant you, Drapes. Though if he actually said yes to that, he might actually earn a bit of respect in her book. For more reasons than one.

As Esme took notes she listened as Professor Draper began talking again.

Goodness. There was a lot of information coming their way and it was a struggle to keep up with everything. Her hand was starting to cramp up, so she shook it a few times to ease the feeling a little. At least the subject matter was interesting - which wasn't always the case. Subjects like Astronomy came to mind. No offence, Professor Flamsteed but some aspects of space were rather dull.

As the picture made her way around to her, Esme's eyes widened. How scary looking. No wonder they hadn't been allowed to bring them to Hogwarts. They shouldn't be allowed anywhere near people. Shuddering, she contemplated the next question before raising her hand. "Can other parts of them be used in potions? I mean beyond the quills... Creatures have various parts that can be used in potions, for example Unicorns."

So long as they were dead when the parts were taken and no one with any sense would try to take them when the Echinokarps were alive.