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CoMC: TBA The very first creatures lesson of the new term! Were the students excited? Hadleigh certainly was. Then again she was always excited for every lesson that she taught. Which could explain why she had been out in the pasture long before the students were set to arrive for the start of the lesson. Several clouds crossed the afternoon sky but the sun was peeking out and a gentle breeze occasionally blew through the trees that were scattered about the pasture. Professor Paton was sat upon a swivel chair that she had brought out from her cabin a warm smile on her face in greeting, the usual large white board off to her right that currently held no clues to the days lesson. Scattered around in the grass were many comfortable beanbag seats in various colors as well as different colored mats to sit on if the students preferred those. Should the students run their hands over the very soft material of beanbag chairs or mats they might be confused and think it feels more like something else. Dragon scales perhaps? And yet it didn't look at all like that's what they were sitting on. Surely it was a trick. Or a hint of some sort? OOC: Hello, hello! This is indeed the very first CoMC lesson of the term! The students are only just arriving and are welcome to take a seat on any of the colored mats, beanbags or the grass if the prefer! I'll be moving us along in about 24 hours xD |
You know what she was really going to miss when she was graduated? Classes with Professor Paton. Because of the shared interests in scaly reptiles, Vera always went into the lesson knowing there was a high probability that it was going to be something she was acutely interested in. Which made the class THAT much more exciting. Plus, she happened to like Professor Paton a lot - hardly a surprise given her adoration for the entire Paton clan - but still. Professor Khanna and Professor Paton both were classes she always felt lighthearted enough about that she could skip into them. Which is actually... Exactly what she did today. She might have been nearing 18 years of age, but who said a nice happy skip had an expiration? Besides, she'd take those where she could get them - it was often anymore she could push away all the "Hey, Professor P!" She greeted, giving the woman a bright smile as she headed over towards the beanbags. Flopping down into one, she ran her hands over it immediately before... Frowning a bit. Was that dragon scale?? "I think you should probably request a return of your galleons on these seats, Professor. They're not nearly as soft as you'd think." False advertising at its worst. |
Kion arrived for the lesson. He was naturally cautious in general, but after enough years in the class, he grew comfortable with expecting the unexpected. "Hello Professor," He greeted upon entry. "Hey Vera," Kion smiled at his friend and teammate.. well, former teammate since they enjoyed a grand finale of a Junior season. He went to sit in one the chairs when... hm. They feel quite different. Curious at the texture, least he knew his chair wasn't the only one on the rough side. Maybe he'll just take the grass this time. |
Normally, Ary was excited for CoMC but today, he wasn’t so much so. He just wanted to keep to himself and even more, he wished for the first time that Aunty Hady was not his professor for this lesson. He already knew she figured something was off with him long before anyone else had. And he knew that sometime soon, she was going to firmly but gently ask to speak privately to find out what was bothering him. Ignoring the weather, he put on a bright smile as he approached the woman. Aryan gave her the usual finger wiggle-wave before he hurried off to grab a spot. Please no question about his well-being, professor. Vera got a wave from him as well but not being in the mood for much interaction with anyone, he found himself a patch of grass somewhere at the back of all the beanbags and mats and sat down. Hugging his bag to his chest, and hoping to be invisible to everyone that would soon gather, the third year tried to figure out what creature would be today’s focus. |
One subject that always got Sabe Ileana in better spirits was CoMC, and even though her career plans were veering away from the oceanologist ones that the career planning meeting of terms earlier had given her, it didn’t change her opinions of the subject. Or their former head of house, and she didn’t like Professor Paton just due to the obvious reasons either. Like Vera but also not, since yeah. That wasn’t happening. She wasn’t even certain that her actual crush would lead toanything, and he wasn’t even at Hogwarts anymore. Okay, she did miss Enzo a bit more for creatures reasons, mostly beacuse it had been the usual lessons she’d gravitated toward the former Slytherin during. She still had Bestie, though, and the blonde bounced toward the beanbag next to Vera after sending a grin the professor’s way. “Hey Professor!”, she’d also called out, even as she spun to drop into said beanbag and leaned over to nudge Vera in greeting. “Are we finally studying dragons?” Something dragon-like, anyhow. Not that she minded the texture of the beanbag, it was just curious. |
Sydney nonchalantly walked down the path to her first ever Care of Magical Creatures lesson at Hogwarts. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but if her textbook was anything to go by, this could be either very fun or very boring, depending on the type of creature they were studying. Cute, cuddly animals were not her thing! “Hello, Professor,” she greeted politely. She tilted her head to one side, studying the woman’s expression just as she always did when someone smiled at her. Was that a real smile or a valuable tool smile? Only time would tell, she supposed. Beanbags? Hmm, not the type of seating she would’ve chosen. Sydney sat on a red beanbag - her favorite color - and waited for the lesson to begin. Running her hand over the beanbag, she noticed the material was a strange texture, almost like scales. Ooh, was this made of some creature’s skin? Were they going to be harvesting hides today? Now that sounded like fun! |
Natasha was excited for creatures. It wasn’t aaaas exciting as herbology, obviously, but it was her second favourite subject. Kind of. “Hiiii, guys.” She greeted loudly, almost obnoxiously, as she plonked down on one of the beanbags. “Hello, Professor.” … wow, this beanbag was super comfortable. She stretched her legs out, wiggling them a bit, waiting for lesson to start. |
Alfie made his way to the grounds with his books clutched to his chest. He didn't have enough time after his last lesson to pack his bag back up and not wanting to be late for the one that followed, he made the best of it. The colorful set up caught his eye, but he tried not to think too into it as that never worked out. Instead, he made his meager way towards the group, stopping by to greet his professor first. "Hi, Professor Paton," he ducked his head politely before scurrying off to find a place to sit. Seeing Natasha, Alfie made his way towards her and sat on a nearby mat. "Hi." Maybe he could save the other mat beside him for when Brooks came. ... Did Cyprien Grimaldi take this class? |
Unlike some of her peers, the subject of a Care of Magical Creatures lesson could be as fluffy and as mundane as possible and she would still get excited. Just as long as it wasn’t something Gnome-y which she doubted as they were seen as pests (and for good reason in HER opinion) or Squirrel-y, which once again was highly doubtful considering they were as muggle as can be. Sauntering her way out from Ravenclaw Tower and towards the paddock, the fifth year was relieved that there had been few distractions along the way and she had arrived perfectly on time. Although it was never her intention to be late, Hogwarts was magical and you never knew what you were going to come across, especially on such a loooong journey. There was a fleeting look of disappointment on her face that none of her close friends (except for Vera who appeared otherwise preoccupied) were yet in attendance and the majority of the students were in their younger years. Still, she took a seat on one of the beanbags and settled in for the few minutes before lesson began contemplating why the material felt so.. smooth and shiny. Oh and Professor P was recipient of a friendly smile too, Aurora wasn’t rude. |
Maria arrived in the pasture for the CoMC lesson, her hair and colour was back to normal, but her skin still had a very faint golden glow. She loved creature classes with professor Paton so it was with a big smile that the seventh year badgerette greeted her professor "Hello Professor P!" on the way over to take a seat next to Kion and Vera. "Hi Kion, Hi Vera!" Maria greeted her boyfriend, and bestie before plopping down on a pink beanbag chair, and then immediatley standing up again with a frown before looking over at their professor "Aren't bean bags supposed to be comfy Professor? Mine feel's like someone has put rocks or scales even in it." |
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"Hey Professor," she greeted. "Lovely day." It was quite the interesting set up today. Smiles over at the seventh years - Vera, Kion, Sable, Maria - she almost was going to sit beside her older housemate, when she caught sight of Ary. Plopping down on the grass right beside him and ignoring the beanbags, she spared a glance over at him. "Talk later?" she asked quietly, hopeful. |
One might think that from her seat she might have a difficult time seeing clear across the pasture, but that wasn't at all the case. Paton had a perfectly clear view of each and every student as they made their way towards where this afternoons lesson was being held. Starting with one of the seventh years. "Hello Miss Thanatos," Hady greeted the Gryffindor with a smile. "Really? Are you sure? I could've sworn they were all wonderfully soft and comfortable when I set them out myself not too long ago..." No, she wasn't about to laugh and there wasn't at all a teasing gleam on her eye that was exactly like her youngest daughters. Ah, the next to arrive was another seventh year. And a Gryffindor as well. "Hello there, Mister Ingebretson." Hady greeted him warmly taking notice that not only did he not comment on the texture of the beanbags or mats but how he chose to sit on the grass. Not that there was at all anything wrong with him doing so! Now now, what was this? Hady knew how much Aryan normally looked forward to her lessons so to see him looking less than enthusiastic this afternoon was a bit curious. Everyone had the right to an off day or two here and there, however something really wasn't sitting well with her. It wasn't at all like him to sit how he was, clutching his bag in that way. Had he and Bry perhaps had an argument? Maybe he wasn't feeling well? Hady offered Ary a soft smile and a finger wiggle wave in return, her eyes silently asking if he was alright. Should he need anything at all, he knew he could come to her, yes? These seventh years are coming in strong today! Hady knew once she saw a Thanatos she would be seeing those that usually stuck close with her. And she wasn't at all wrong. Each year they all proved how strong their bonds were. "Miss Armstrong, hello." Ah, and what's this? She's curious about the day's lesson is she? ”What makes you ask that?” Had she done something to suggest that was the topic of this afternoon's lesson? ”Should that be the subject for today? Who thinks we should learn about dragons today? Can I get a show of hands? Yup, she was asking the class! What did they think? A fresh new face! Hadleigh loved seeing new faces and getting to know the new students just as much as she did all the returning ones. ”Good afternoon, Miss Masters,” Paton greeted warmly , her smile never wavering. It shouldn't take young Sydney very long at all to learn that this was the true Professor Paton. Always with a true smile on her face. If she wasn't genuine, then what sort of Professor would that make her? ”Hello, Miss Shenoy. No issues with the beanbag chair?” Hady asked, her tone mildly curious due to how several students before the young Slytherin had questioned them. She might just have to ask them all in a few minutes and see what they all thought as a whole. Was it a new trend to be carrying their books in that way? Surely that couldn't have been enjoyable all the way across the grounds. Good for him for making the long walk and appearing to not have forgotten anything. ”Good day, Mister Adair.” Having a silent arrival here or there wasn't at all unusual. Not everyone could be in the best mood all of the time. Or maybe they just didn't feel like talking. Whatever the reason, Paton didn't mind. A warm smile was sent Aurora’s way as she watched the Ravenclaw take a seat. Did she suspect a look of questioning curiosity or was it something else that had caught the teens attention? Yet another face that would be graduating this year. How fast these students all grew up. ”Hello, Miss Dolph,” Hady greeted softly, holding back a laugh. ”Really? I set these out myself and they were all as soft as fleece. Did Maria see that playful twinkle in her eye? The final student arrived right on time. ”Hello, Miss Montmorency. It really is, not too warm or too cold.” It wasn't raining either which was another huge plus in her book. This was the perfect weather to be having an outdoor lesson. Hadleigh waited a few more minutes after the last student arrived before giving one single clap of her hands, swiveling her chair around to face them all. ”Good afternoon everyone, welcome to our first Care of Magical Creatures lesson of the year!” Who was excited? She was! ”As a few of you noticed, something is a little off with our beanbag chairs and mats this afternoon. If you could all take a second to run your hands over one now, you don't have to but if you do you'll understand what your peers are all talking about. This was a small hint towards today's lesson. This was where Hady stopped talking for a few moments to give them all a chance to touch a beanbag or mat if they chose. ”Cold, shiny and very strong. If you run your fingers over it just right it feels very scaly. And there was a reason for that. Removing her wand from the holster on her wrist, Hady lightly tapped the white board beside her chair revealing many posters. Each one was the skeleton form of a different.. DRAGON! ”What we have here are pictures of dragons. Or.. rather their skeleton forms. Now this is just for fun and you can work together if you like, you can also get up and come closer to have a better look if you need to. I'd like you all to each write down on a sheet of parchment which poster belongs to which dragon. Are all the dragon breeds shown up on the board? And yes, you may use your textbooks.” She didn't expect them to be able to identify each dragon by its skeleton perfectly without any help at all. Though some of the students might not have any trouble with this. Posters Hungarian Horntail Romanian Longhorn Ukrainian Ironbelly Common Welsh Green Norwegian Ridgeback Antipodean Opaleye Peruvian Vipertooth Chinese Fireball Swedish Short-Snout Hebridean Black OOC: Heyyyy! Thank you all for joining in on our lesson! We have begun and the kiddos are welcome to go ahead and touch the beanbag chairs or mats OR don't.. it's up to them! Hady is kicking this lesson off with a little mini activity, asking the students to identify the dragon skeleton forms on the posters. I'll be moving on in about 48 hours :) |
Kion smiled at his girlfriend's arrival, "Hey Maria," After some time it looked like her complexion was returning. But she did have a glistening look, maybe it was from the sun. He was more attentive to her discomfort though, "It's okay, you can use my jacket to sit on, Maria, if you want," He had it wrapped around his waist before he unraveled it for her to have some cushion. Then the lesson began, as Kion listened to hear about the texture infact being the dragon scales.. or replicating the feel, since the beanbags looked normal otherwise. It was nice to know they could use their textbooks for help, as he examined some of the skeletons and names. Taking his notebook to scribble some ideas out to start with. He was quite intrigued with the spikey head of the Hungarian Horntail for starters and attempted to match the skeleton with the most likeness for starters. |
Ary arched a questioning eyebrow, despite himself, at Maria complaining about the beanbag. Had he gotten there earlier to hear Vera complain of same, he would have wondered if Maria was having a teenage personality crisis. She seemed intent on switching her personality to Vera’s. It didn’t help that the two had also been outrageously dressed at the Feast. Oh well. It wasn't his problem, but he did know that Aunty Hady {whom he did know he could always talk to about anything, yes} would never provide uncomfortable anything for anyone. Not intentionally, anyway. Emma’s presence beside him had Ary looking around. “Hi, Emma.” She was offered a smile. “Sure.” He now fixed her with a curious gaze. Did she want to talk about anything in particular? Now, had Ary felt the material the beanbags and mats had been made from, he would have known in a heartbeat what it was. But since he was all too familiar with the great reveal of dragons, he didn’t need to do so now. How did he feel about today’s topic? For starters, it certainly lifted his mood; Ary even began to grin a bit. He was so going to excel at this lesson! On a slip of parchment labelled with his name, the Slytherin got to work. Did he have any trouble with the activity? Some amount since it was just the skeletal forms of the dragons shown to the class. He refused to use his textbook for help, relying on his extensive knowledge of dragons {thank you, dad and papa!} instead. Ary took his time in analysing each skeleton and picturing actual images of each dragon breed so that he could arrive at his answers. |
Kyoya was enjoying sitting on the beanbags. Are they allowed to take one of these back to their rooms? Maybe, but maybe not. Startled by the professor's clap, Kyoya redirected her attention back at the professor who was transitioning to start the lesson. He quickly straightened up his back and made sure that he's attentive because today they'll be learning about something he is definitely excited in learning about more... DRAGONS! He took out his parchment and took a long look at some of the posters that the professor showed them. Hmmm... he paused and tried to think of all the dragon breeds he can list in his head. It isn't a lot and having to match them with their skeletons is a lot harder. He tried to at least write down what he thought matches the Common Welsh Green dragon. Are the horns a dead giveaway for that? Most of them have those but he feels like the Common Welsh Green dragon has a very specific one, no? He's making a guess at this point, so he's hoping that that one is correct. |
Sydney quickly noticed that Professor Paton’s smile never wavered. Either she was a very good actress or that was a real smile. She didn’t dwell on it for long, however, as the lesson was starting. She ran her hand over the beanbag once more. It kind of felt like her alligator wand holster, only harder… and shinier. Her eyes brightened at the sight of the dragon skeletons on the board, though her expression remained as stoic as ever. Dragon skeletons on the board, and dragonhide (she presumed) beanbags… this just got interesting! Would they be working with other dragon parts later? Or actual dragons? Either one could be fun, especially the former! For now, Sydney would have to settle for identifying pictures of dragon skeletons instead of actual ones. Determined to do the activity without any help from the older students, she numbered a piece of parchment and got up to take a closer look at the board. The second dragon from the end caught her eye. That one was definitely a Swedish Short-Snout, like the one that provided her wand core. She immediately recognized it from the research she did after she got her wand. The third one caught her attention next, and she noticed its wingspan. Probably a Ukrainian Ironbelly. If she recalled correctly, that was the largest dragon breed. Sydney tilted her head to one side as she studied the board. Dragons #5, 7, and 10 looked kind of similar, all of which having ridges down their backs. So, Norwegian Ridgeback, Hebridean Black, and Peruvian Vipertooth… but which one was which? She noticed that number 7 looked smaller than the others, and she was pretty sure that the Vipertooth was the smallest. After jotting that down, she consulted her textbook to help her with the other two. So apparently the Hebridean Black had arrow-shaped spikes on its tail. Glancing at the board again, she saw that that feature matched dragon #10… which meant #5 had to be the Norwegian Ridgeback. As Sydney studied the board again, a thought occurred to her. Was it possible to combine features of all these types of dragons to produce an ultra-powerful hybrid dragon? Envisioning a Frankenstein-esque dragon, she began to sketch her ideas. Size of the Ukrainian Ironbellly, spiked tail of the Hebridean Black, blue fire of the Swedish Short-Snout… SPOILER!!: Sydney’s notes |
It wasn’t that Aurora was usually silent but the lack of friends in the vicinity did seem to influence the level of volume that the blonde was able to produce. Sit her amongst her nearest and dearest and it might’ve been a different situation altogether. Perhaps it might do her well to not have so many distractions but Merlin was it lonely. Thankfully the lesson moved quickly on and Professor Paton didn’t dwell long on the subject before they were left to their own devices. Even though she was considering a career in the field, Dragons weren’t a creature that the fifteen year old had ever thought of working with. Sure they were magnificent and majestic but they were also fierce and impulsive and unpredictable and she herself was only petite. She was no match for a Dragon. That didn’t mean that she was planning on disengaging from the lesson despite the brief look of disappointment in her expression. Her eyes scanned over the posters before writing on her parchment the likeliest match starting with the easiest. With a spiked tail like that, that had to be a Hungarian Horntail and the littlest (although size didn’t necessarily mean weakest) was likely the Peruvian Vipertooth. |
As soft as fleece? Maria ran her hand over her beanbag chair again as Professor Paton suggested, and noted the scale like feel again before she looked over at Kion with a smile pursing her lips at his jacket offer. "Thanks, I'd like that." Maria mumbled before the lesson took off and Professor Paton confirmed her suspicions that the bean bags texture was dragon scales or at least replicating the feel which her bottom had noted. Yay a lesson on dragons! Maria's excitement at the prospect was only slightly dimminshed by all the skeleton dragon posters that they had to identify. The ninth one she guessed was the Swedish Short Snout because of the blue fire which she scribbled down on a piece of parchment with her name, house and year. Maria opened her textbook to get more clues. The Hebredian Black had arrow shaped scales which meant it was the skeleton on the tenth poster. The 8th poster's skeleton had protuberant eyes unlike the others which she matched to the Chinese Fireball. The 7th skeleton poster Maria matched to belong to the Peruvian Vipertooth since it was the smallest dragon breed in existence plus the smallest of the skeletons on the posters on the board. Now on the 6th which Maria felt was hard to match with any of the dragon breeds in her textbook. There were no easy characteristics to spot on the skeleton so she she decided to skip that one for now. If she matched the other skeletons to dragon breeds maybe simple elimination would give her the sixth skeletons dragon breed. Leaving that space blank on her parchment Maria studied first the 5th poster, and then looked in her book. A long snout and wide nostrils, yes this was a Norwegian Ridgeback. The 4th poster's skeleton was a hard nut to identify just like the 6th one so she skipped over it and studied the 3rd dragon poster instead. The large skeleton that almost filled the whole poster had to belong to a Ukrainian Ironbelly since from reading in her textbook it was the largest of all dragon breeds. The 2nd poster's 3 horns, where two were long and shot out like a bulls made Maria clearly identify it as an Romanian Longhorn. It seemed unlikely that it was another breed since none of the other skeletons looked like that. The 1st poster she matched to be an Hungarian Horntail because it unlike all the other skeletons resembled a lizard most. Finishing up her notes Maria turned to her boyfriend with furrowed brows of concentration. "Kion, I have no clue which breed of dragon is the 4th or 6th skeleton. I see no defining characteristics in them do you?" SPOILER!!: Maria's notes |
Sydney continued working on her Franken-dragon sketch. She knew she wanted the creature to have ridges along its back, but she wasn’t sure if she liked the Norwegian Ridgeback’s or the Peruvian Vipertooth’s better. Then an idea came to her! If the creature was made out of various dragon parts, why pick just one? It could have two rows of ridges stitched together, one from each dragon breed. Fresh out of ideas for her Franken-dragon for now, she turned her attention back to the board to identify the remaining five dragons. Dragon number 8 looked interesting! She liked its snub nose and spikes. A Chinese Fireball, if she recalled correctly. Whatever it was, that was just the face she wanted for her Franken-dragon! Dragon #2 was also quite distinguished with its horns protruding straight out. More efficient for gouging and stabbing things, Sydney thought. But what kind was it? A quick look at her textbook told her it was a Romanian Longhorn. Only three dragons remained. Sydney tilted her head to one side, studying the pictures. The first one’s bronze horns and spiked tail caught her attention. Those horns were a nice color, but she liked the shape of the Romanian Longhorn’s better. Maybe there was a way to combine the two? She had no idea how, nor did she know off the top of her head which dragon that was. She glanced at her textbook to see it was a Hungarian Horntail. The most aggressive breed of dragon, if she remembered correctly. Now she knew which brain to use for her Franken-dragon! Sydney’s eyes darted from one dragon to the other, trying to guess which was which of the two left. One skeleton had spiked horns and a pointed tail; the other skeleton didn’t have any distinctive features at all. Spiked horns, pointed tail… that sounded like a Common Welsh Green, which meant by process of elimination, the other had to be the Antipodean Opaleye. After jotting down the remaining dragon breeds, Sydney turned her attention back to her Franken-dragon sketch, new ideas buzzing in her mind. Head of a Chinese Fireball, horns of a Romanian Longhorn, skin and eyes of an Antipodean Opaleye, ridges of a Peruvian Vipertooth and a Norwegian Ridgeback… She sketched, looking over her design so far. It looked pretty good, but it needed something from the Common Welsh Green. She thought for a minute. What about its roar? That was it! Her Franken-dragon could lure unsuspecting victims with its pretty scales and musical roar, then attack with its aggressive Hungarian Horntail tendencies. She made notes on her sketch, indicating the creature’s Hungarian Horntail brain and Common Welsh Green roar. Now it was perfect! SPOILER!!: Sydney’s notes |
You know what was just as pleasant as getting to go to her favorite class? Getting to see so many of her favorite people, of course. And as Vera had gotten herself comfortable in her seat, those she was most familiar with just kept coming after. Starting with her favorite team mate (which she was NOT calling former teammate yet, okay? Even though they had already passed their final year of play). Kion got a wide smile and a grin, which was also then turned to Aryan who arrived soon after. One of her two favorite slytherins, as it so happened! Though... while she wasn't a master of reading people's auras or anything, the body language she was picking up from Aryan had her mildly concerned. Especially as it appeared he was trying to fold in on himself. He was quiet, absolutely, but... this still seemed different. She kept her smile in place however, as class was not the time to sidle up to the boy and check on him. Besides - it's not like he might even want to talk to her. But she'd still find a time to tell him that if he did, she was happy to listen. She was distracted from all of her thoughts as Sia joined the At the question of if the subject of the day should be dragons, Vera's hand SHOT up in the air as she grinned widely. Anything in the reptilean family was something she was adamantly agree should be the study of the day. And she certainly hoped that Paton wasn't just teasing them - though that did not seem her style. And it certainly wasn't! as the first activity was introduced and they were matching dragon skeletons with the posters of different breeds. Ve looked to her friends seated around to ask if they wanted to work together, but she quickly changed her mind and decided instead to see if she could challenge herself to do it on her own. And with that. She got to work. The peruvian vipertooth and the hungarian horntail were the first she was able to identify, having looked for the particular tail end of the second and the smallest statutre for the first. The antipodean opaleye was the next she was able to find, thanks to some photos Alouette had previously shown her of the dragons on her family's reserve in New Zealand. The others took a little bit longer to work through, but she kept at - slowing making a list of notable characteristics for each dragon so that she could then look for those items on the different skeletons. It was interesting how much more difficult this task was however when you couldn't see the color of scales. |
The way each student got right to work in their own way, had Paton smiling to herself as she watched each of them from her chair. Some of them chatting quietly with their peers, a few coming up to study the posters on the board and others referring to their textbooks. This wasn't for a grade however so it wasn't too long before Hady spoke up addressing them. "Alright everyone, we need to be moving on with our lesson now. It's perfectly alright if you didn't get to finish or if you got any wrong, this was simply for fun and not for a grade." Best to get that out there again so no one worries themselves over it. "Shall we see which skeleton form is which now?" Surely they were all curious if their answers were correct or not. A simple tap of her wand against the white board once more now revealed a colored photo of dragon beside each skeletal form, the dragons breed written on each one. She would give them all a few moments to check their answers before she moved on with the lesson. "Now you don't have to tell me how you did but I would like to know a few things.. Which skeleton form was the easiest to identify and why? Which was the most difficult and why? What can we learn by simply studying a dragons skeletal form?" It was Q and A time. Hadleigh enjoyed this part of lessons as much as she did the activities, sometimes the answers that were given were very.. creative. OOC: Thanks for sticking with us! We now have a reveal of dragon photos and names! Along with some questions as we move on in the lesson! The kiddos don't need to answer them all.. I'll be moving us along in about 24 hours :) |
Kion had been slowly working through the identifying. He did the easiest ones first, eventually ending up with 2 left like Maria. But different ones. He glanced over at what she wrote, "Oh, I have that one as the Common Welsh Green. I looked at how pronounced the top of its horns were. It's also big, but not as big as the Chinese Fireball," With that, he shared the rest of his written notes (some did resemble chicken-scratch out of feeling rushed). But it turns out, they weren't being graded on. So he quickly filled out the other blank spot before the question. Waiting until it was his turn to speak, "I thought the Hungarian Horntail was the easiest, it had a lot of spikes on his head.. or horns, whatever it's called. I wasn't familiar with Antipodean Opaleye, but mainly because it's not talked about as much as the other breeds. I guess it being extinct has something to do with that," Kion said. He hoped that sufficed, but he did listen to hear what others thought. |
Ary finished up his task quietly, ignoring everyone around. It was just him and the skeletal dragon images. Until Professor Hady called the class to attention once more, that is. Eagerly, the third year compared his answers to the ones on the board. To his great delight, he had all of them correct. All of them! His knowledge on dragons certainly was paying off. The instant Aunty Hady’s questions were asked, his hand shot up. He knew a few answers on how to identify the skeletons. “The Common Welsh Green has two spiked horns at the top of its head.” Ary made sure to empahise the word ‘spiked’ because while other breeds of dragons had horns on their heads as well, said horns were not necessarily spiked. |
Ve had just finished up writing in her guesses when Professor Paton was moving them along. Once the answers showed on each poster, she quickly checked her sheet - before grinning when she saw she'd actually managed to get them all right. She was feeling a strong sense of accomplishment and perhaps had a bit of a grin to go with it. It wasn't often she did well on something intellectual, and especially on her own - even with her favorite subject. Perhaps all the extra studying from Fifth year to now really DID pay off. At the question of what was easiest to identify, Ve's hand raised in the air. "The Peruvian Vipertooth was one of the easiest for me. They're known for being one of the smallest breeds of dragons, so finding the smallest looking skeleton made it easy to match." |
SPOILER!!: Professor P + Kion "Oh?" Maria murmured as she glanced over at Kion's notes and scribbled sketches of dragons. "I guess that makes sense since the Common Welsh isn't too big or small and has pronounced horns now that i look at the picture in the textbook and then at the skeleton." Putting the 4th one down as the common welsh green she showed her boyfriend the rest of her notes while she added in the Antipodean Opaleye in the blank spot on her parchment. Next minute Professor Paton moved the lesson onwards and Maria thoughtfully considered the skeletons she had matched with dragon breeds on her parchment. Awaiting her turn she then raised her hand to say "The easist skeleton for me to identify was the Romanian Longhorn with its three distinct horns that looks like they shoot out like bulls from the head. The hardest to identify was a tie between the Common Welsh Green, and the Antipodean Opaleye because their skeletons looked to me to be very similiar in appearance. Also the Antipodean Opaleye isn't a breed you can come come across in any reserve like Kion said so I'm not very familiar with it." After a short considering pause she added "Maybe we can learn where the dragon breeds have lived, and what they've eaten from studying their skeletons?" Hopefully that sufficed as answers to the questions. |
Having literally written two answers down on her parchment paper and spent the rest of the time tickling the tip of her nose with her quill, the fifth year was slightly alarmed when she was snapped back into reality and it dawned on her that perhaps they would be swapping parchments for grading. Care of Magical Creatures was supposed to be one of her best subjects and yet the most she could achieve would be a mortifying 20%. A wave of relief washed over her as they were allowed to mark their own work, eyes scanning between the posters and the answers as if she would remember any of this in her later exams. How she wished to have a photographic memory but she’d have fun creating flashcards later complete with (not so great) drawings of each of the dragons. The two that she had managed to identify in the timescale had already been mentioned and the others she had not managed to give much thought over and therefore couldn’t answer the proposed question. She could however come up with something for the other, a surprisingly intelligent answer for a ditsy blonde. “I suppose it depends on whether we are studying the actual skeleton or just a picture but don’t teeth survive well? As in we could determine a creatures diet just by examining their teeth.’ Carnivore, herbivore, omnivore.. Although she was surprised that Dragons even had teeth after breathing fire daily. How was it possible that they didn’t burn their own mouths? |
Sydney returned to her seat as Professor Paton moved on. Her eyes darted from the board to her notes, cross-referencing her answers with the correct ones. Shifting her quill from her right hand to her left, she prepared to correct her mistakes… but she got them all right. She was mildly surprised, not because she doubted her intelligence but because some of the skeletons were indistinct in their features. She didn’t have to think too hard to come up with an answer to the professor’s question. Her hand shot up, and she said when called on, “The Antipodean Opaleye was definitely the hardest to identify. All of the other skeletons had some distinctive feature… their spikes, horns, or size. The Antipodean Opaleye’s distinctive features are its scales and its eyes, which don’t show up on its skeleton…” It would be cool if they did, though! Suddenly inspired, Sydney turned her attention back to her notes, drawing a skeleton-like creature that resembled the Anitpodean Opaleye with multicolored, pupilless eyes. |
been here all along *arises from the ashes of illness* *elmo fire meme* Sage's interest in creatures big and small, mundane and not was a profound one, which would make one assume that she would always be well prepared and eager for lessons. Typically, she was. Sage found her head of house pleasant enough and compounded with the subject it really was a winning combination. But today...there was just SOMETHING about the way the beanbag chairs were reminding her of the obnoxiously loud breakfast cereal being consumed by one of her peers across the Slytherin table in the most obnoxious lip smacking milk spluttering manner that had the sixth year feeling a bit like a sleeping dragon that had been poked. Wouldn't the crups just love to have a go at them all and tear them to absolute shreds? Gosh, sure would be a shame if such a fate befell the colorful traps... Needless to say, Sage had settled on a mat for the start of the lesson and was left wondering for a hot minute why Professor Paton had decided to alter the texture of said mat. She preferred stroking Aspen and thus only gave her mat a callous pat when prompted to do so. While she hated to admit it, the reveal of dragons did elicit a twinkle to her eye - though she had often been more concerned with the study of their heartstrings over skeletons. Still, she had collected bones from the kitchen (mostly chicken) after one of her dads had finished cooking to reconstruct the skeleton of an Antipodean Opaleye during her primary school days as part of a school project. Despite not sitting in one of the beanbag traps, Sage still did not feel inclined to get up and move and this elected to perform a quick Bestiar Charm on herself for a temporary swap of her own eyes for that of a falcon's so she could see the details of the posters from where she sat. Scribbling down in her notes a bit until Professor Paton moved things along, Sage ran her tongue over the spot on the inside of her lip she had positively CHOMPED down on this morning while glowering at the cereal eater - lot of good it had done her because now her lip and tongue were suffering...which made it rather difficult to keep up the techniques the Transfiguration professor had bestowed upon her. But she was so close...soooooooo close to meeting the next milestone and no sturdy jawed Straightening, and oh la la some fluttering eyelashes towards you Mr. Kion Ingebretson for the unknowing compliment and subsequently everyone else who said the Antipodean Opaleye was the hardest to identify, Sage raised her hand to add her two knuts to the discussion - after removing her falcon eyes with a quick Finite, of course. "One could make a case that any and all are rather difficult to identify by image alone, especially since you cannot really see the wingspan based on these posters which is often another ease go to for identifying a dragon species outside of horns and teeth," she began while twirling one of her braids around her index finger. "I tend to find that examining the mouth and jawbone shapes a good indicator as well as the bones around the eye. For example, the Swedish Short-Snout is going to have, as the name indicates a smaller skull in which the naris and mandible are closer to the orbit and brain case. The Romanian Longhorn may edge on a shorter length skull as well, but it will be wider than other breeds. The Antipodean Opaleye will be both long and narrow...more of a rounded diamond shape orbit compared to the more spherical ones seen in other breeds and simply look the most majestic." Sure would be great if an Antipodean Opaleye were in the cards for her but...even Sage's wild aspirations were tamed by healthy helpings of realism. There was something to add about how skeletons could provide evidence of age and whether or not the particular dragon was an egg laying dragon or not...but Sage was currently distracted by a thought. Were these portraits simply enchanted objects and those actual skeletons would soon be out of the frames and in front of them for them to explore first hand?! Granted, Sage had absolutely zero aspirations for being a dragonologist, but being able to get up close and personal with even just one dragon skeleton would be pretty amazing. The Slytherin may even be leaning over, elbows to knees, in eager anticipation now. |
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Taking a quick look around to ensure that no one else had their hands raised, it was time to move the lesson along. "Before we move on to the main activity I have another question for you all. Let's think about each dragon species as a whole. What's one thing that really makes each dragon stand out? Something about that dragon that if someone mentioned it, you would know immediately know which dragon they were speaking of right away? It makes that dragon unique and not like the others." It was time to really think now. |
Ary wasn’t sure if he should make notes. He did know fairly a lot about dragons but he didn’t know everything. But as the answers continued flowing, he decided that notes would be good because he had forgotten some of the features that were being mentioned. Not to mention these notes would be helpful when OWLs came around. The Slytherin’s left hand went up again, his quill still clutched at. “The way the dragon blows their fire. For example, the Chinese Fireball got its name because of the mushroom shaped flame it can emit from its nostrils and mouth.” Despite himself, there was a bit of enthusiasm lining his words. How could he not love a lesson on dragons? |
Small, mighty and fierce could certainly describe plenty of people Professor P knew. In fact, as someone fun sized herself she was certainly not one to underestimate how dangerous something could be because it was smaller. Plus, she WAS a reptile enthusiast and snakes while often much smaller than the dragons, could be just as dangerous. And thinking of their other similarities, and the latest question, Vera's hand shot into the air. "Scale color. While some are more obvious than others like the Chinese fireball or the Antipodean Opal Eye, if someone were to mention a dragon with black scales you could still use power of deduction to narrow down what breed they're talking about." Like, a Hebridean Black, Hungarian Horntail or a Norwegian Ridgeback. |
Thinking about skeletons wasn’t exactly something that the Ravenclaw enjoyed doing anyway. In order for it to be skeletal, the dragon would have to be dead and she’d much rather it not. That wasn’t to say she’d enjoy being faced with a live dragon either, maybe from a safe distance. The second question was similar to the first in that a lot of the answers she could come up with were mentioned previously. One thing the fifth year was good at was thinking outside the box.. far FAR outside of the box to the point of obscurity and yet somehow being relevant. “It’s not about how they look physically because looks don’t always matter.” A little touch of therapy for everyone in CoMC. “But if you’re lucky enough to hear a dragon, they all have distinct roars. Like the Welsh Green sounds musical.” A personal favourite for obvious reasons and quite frankly the only one she was sure of. It reminded her of Elliot in Pete’s Dragon, big and green and enjoyed singing. Maybe she would like to meet one. |
Oh, so there was a way to distinguish the Antipodean Opaleye’s skeleton from the others. How did she not think to look closer at the orbits and jawbones? Between the professor’s correction and one of her older housemates’ (Saige) overly detailed answer, Sydney felt… stupid. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and she didn’t like it! Not that she let it show in her ever-stoic expression, however. One must never show weakness or doubt! She was only half listening to the next question. She’d completely lost enthusiasm for this lesson. She was no longer interested in dragons and certainly no longer interested in looking stupid! Besides. She’d kind of answered that question twice already, once with her answer to the last question and once with her Franken-dragon sketch. Speaking of which, she turned her attention back to her sketch, now drawing a burning village for her Franken-dragon to attack. While she was drawing, she raised her free hand and said when called on, “Their horns. The Romainian Longhorn has horns that protrude outward. The Hungarian Horntail’s are bronze. The Peruvian Vipertooth’s are short, and the Welsh Green has two spiked horns.” While she didn’t care about the question, she would still answer it. If she didn’t, one might think she was either too weak to voice her thoughts or too dumb to come up with any, and she was going to prove to everyone here that she was not some weak, dumb little firstie! |
Sage was forever waiting on baited breath for elaboration with Professor Paton and she would simply have to take a side quest to the library later to find such fulfillment. Continuing to twirl and twist a braid around her index finger, Sage's thoughts drifted to wondering just what sort of enchantment would be required to get those skeletal forms to leap out from the posters. She really just wanted to compare the height of a first year to the femur of any of the dragon breeds and perhaps later tonight she would conduct a bit of experimentation in her dorm using her either her Witch Weekly or Teen Witch magazines. Signing a bit, the Slytherin considered other options to help with identification and uniqueness for each dragon - though a lot had already been covered between the two parallel questions already - and finally settled on something not immediately visible but was also a mild call back to an earlier thought she had had. "Dragon eggs are incredibly unique among each species and it is quite literally impossible to confuse one egg for another," she offered with puckered lips. "Whether that be the vibrant red resembling a large dragon fruit of a Chinese Fireball or the lustrous and smooth ebony color of a Norwegian Ridgeback or the turquoise gemstone-like quality of the Peruvian Vipertooth, dragon eggs are incredibly distinct and should you happen upon a nest in the wild...you will know precisely what sort of mother will come and BBQ you if you don't get out of there ASAP." |
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With no more hands in the air, Paton smiled and rose to her feet. "Wonderful answers everyone. As we can all see, each dragon is different. It could be it's horns, tail, scale color or musical roar." They had complied quite the list from their previous questions. "It is now time to move with our lesson so let's all get to our feet please and follow me, we will be taking a short walk where you will all get to go digging for dragon bones to reconstruct your own dragon skeleton!" Were they all excited?! "Now before any of you ask, these are not real dragon bones, they are replicas and on a much smaller scale.. otherwise I wouldn't have enough for you all and for the very obvious reason that giving everyone dragon bones to create a skeleton just isn't likely." Sorry to disappoint. This would be fun though anyhow. "This way now. Come along." Hady gestured for them all to follow her out further into the pasture where there were more trees and some plants as well as little hills. When she came to a stop there was a box at her feet with gloves and another box of 'tools' used for digging and cleaning off the bones when found. "You are welcome to use the items in the boxes here or magic if like, as long as you're careful." She didn't want anyone getting hurt. "Keep in mind these dragon bones aren't huge but you shouldn't have too much of a hard time in finding them. Feel free to work alone or in small groups of you like." This was a learning experience but also meant to be fun. OOC: Heeeeey! Thanks for sticking with us! We made it to the main activity! The students get to dig us 'dragon' bones to recreate their own dragon skeletons. There will be about 36 hours for this part. Hady will be checking in and is around if anyone needs help/has questions :) |
They would get to piece together their own dragon skeleton? Ary couldn’t have loved Aunty Hady more in that moment! Not to mention this activity would be exactly the distraction he needed for his overly active mind. He followed the group, taking care to continue sticking around at the back. Even if they didn’t get to work with real dragon bones, he was impatient for them to get to the designated spot. When they finally did, his gaze travelled over the boxes. The tools would be useful, which is what he’d use to start things off. Well, maybe he’d use a trowel only and use magic to clean the dirt from the bones. Yes, that sounded like a plan. Grabbing the first trowel he caught sight off, the Slytherin selected a spot and got to work. |
Oh. This wasn’t at all the lesson that Aurora had expected. She was sure that there were others out there that had a keen interest in paleontology, if that could be applied to Dragons, but she just wasn’t one of them. She much preferred the idea of working with live creatures, of learning how to care for them and nurture them and be the mother of creatures she had always dreamed of becoming. She’d seen fossils before, had even been to the Natural History Museum where huge displays of skeletons were held and they had always made her feel a little uncomfortable. She followed, albeit a little hesitantly and on the lookout for a friend to converse with whilst they accomplished the task at hand. At least they weren’t real bones they’d be looking for, the Ravenclaw would spend the rest of the lesson saddened over the thought of the poor creature perishing and wondering whether anything could have been done to prevent it. She found a spot and knelt down, opting to at least use this opportunity to practice some of her magic instead of using the tools. |
Did Emma know any of the dragons by the posters? Definitely not. But she was able to pick out the Peruvian Vipertooth, which was recognizable to the blond by its small size. Which as Vera mentioned was the easiest for her, it was likewise easiest for Emma. Something that made each dragon stand out?? Emma frowned. How was one able to tell by its ROAR??? She was definitely not attune enough to recognize dragons by its roar? Or perhaps it was simply that she hadn't studied dragons enough to know the difference, but still impressive that some of her peers knew that you could recognize a dragon by its roar. Scales actually she knew - not well enough to know which was which, but she did know that scales differed among the different dragons. Oh they were moving onto assembling dragon bones into a dragon?? This reminded her of one of those 3D puzzles, which made her somewhat curious about something... "Professor? Will the bones not fit together if it's incorrect?" She hoped that question made sense, because looking at a pile of bones seemed rather daunting. |
Ary took his time digging with the trowel. He knew that the buried bones weren’t real yet he could not help but be careful in ensuring the tool did not damage them. On occasions, he would stop using the tool and he instead used his hand to check to see if the digging had brought him closer to the prizes. In most cases it had. Each piece was retrieved, magic used to clean the dirt away before it was set on the ground beside him. Once there were enough pieces, the third year decided that an attempt could be made to piece the puzzle together. By the looks of the one he had dug up, they were facial bones. Interesting. Ary thought this worked in his favour as he just might be able to identify the dragon should there be spikes within the structure. Like a jigsaw puzzle, it was thought to best start with the outer bones. These were pieced together before Ary worked inward. By no means was this process a smooth one. Indeed he shifted bones around a few times because he thought the shape of the face seemed all wrong. Eventually, he was satisfied that he was on the right track. Ary noted that the nose bone seemed rather short which made him think that there was a possibility that this was a Chinese Fireball - since said dragon was snub faced. This thought was further strengthened when he added bones that would have been spikes around the face. |
Restructuring a dragon from it's bones? Vera wasn't entirely positive this activity was going to be something she could accomplish, but she was certainly excited to try. With some pep in her step she followed along after Professor P to the dig site. After hearing the instructions, she glanced around to see if anyone was looking to work in pairs and yet.. it looked like everyone had already started on their own archeological journey, so she supposed she would be embarking on this one solo as well. Collecting some of the tools Professor Paton had prepared for them, Vera found herself a section of dirt and kneeled down in it - slowly using a small shovel to poke around here and there to see what dirt gave more wiggle room than other areas. She encountered a couple of harder spots, and on those she used more gentle tools to slowly clear away the dirty from the top of what she could now see to be bones. Once the dirt was fully cleared away, she used her gloved hands to carefully extract fully from the earth and place them to the side of her little self proclaimed work area. After a small collection of bones was unearthed, she sat and tried to arrange them to anything that might have made sense. Which... was not going well. Were these extra spikes??? |
catching up.... Maria's answer was responded to by Professor Paton with a question. Thoughtfully she replied unsure of her answer. "Maybe the state of a dragons teeth can give us clues to what they have eaten during their lifespan like if they have mostly eaten hay vs eating sheep will have more impact on the teeth." Maria really felt like she was out on this ice with that answer, but she felt like she had to say something. Next Professor Paton wondered what they think of that would aid in identifying the right dragon right away. Her peers mentioned the ones that Maria also immediatly had thought of like colour, tails, horns, scales, musical roar and how their fires are shaped which she also jotted down in her notes. Raising her hand she added a suggestion to the mix. "Isn't size also an identifiable marker of breed since we have the Peruvian Vipertooth that is the smallest of all breeds, and the Ukrainian Ironbelly that is the biggest?" Then they all got orderd up on their feet, and Maria followed along with the others to another part of the pasture where they were going to be digging up dragon bones to reconstruct their own dragon skeletons. Retrieving some tools for herself Maria chose a digging spot next to Vera since being close to her bestie could be useful if she ran into trouble of any sort. Using the shovel she carefully begain clearing away the dirt. When the shovel connected with something hard she knew it had to be bones. Getting down on her knees she used her gloved hands to carefully unearth the dragon bones without damaging them. When she got all the dragon bone pieces up on the earth she began trying to assembling them like a puzzle, but i wasn't exactly easy since she had no defined frame pieces like in a usual puzzle so what to do? Just try and fit the pieces together and hope some would match? |
Sydney was still sort of… meh about the lesson, but at least she didn't get another answer wrong. Packing her notebook and pen back into her bag, she silently followed the rest of the group. She was mildly disappointed, though not at all surprised to learn that they wouldn't be using actual dragon bones to build a skeleton, but as long as she didn't have to interact with anyone, she'd play along. While she would've loved to dig with magic, she hadn't been at Hogwarts long enough to learn the proper spells, so she opted for tools instead. She retrieved a trowel, brush, and gloves from the box and stalked off to a spot away from the other students where she wouldn't be distracted. Kneeling down, she set to work digging out the “dragon bones” and carefully dusting off each one with her brush. Sydney found several vertebrae, some claws and ribs, a couple of leg bones… As she amassed a collection of “bones”, she decided the best strategy was to gather all of the bones first then put the skeleton together when she had all the pieces. She sorted the “bones” she found into neat little piles: one for the vertebrae, one for claws, one for ribs, and so on. As she continued to dig, she uncovered something big and somewhat rounded. It was a “skull”! She dug it out and gently brushed it off, intently studying its shape to try and figure out what kind of dragon it was. Snub snot, large eye sockets… probably a Chinese Fireball. Sydney set the “skull” in a pile she'd set aside for the bigger “bones” and got back to work uncovering the rest of the skeleton. |
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OOC: Great work so far everyone! There's still about 30 hours left for the activity but I'll be checking in again later tonight xD |
Oh. It turned out there was a much easier way to put the skeleton together. Now that Ary knew this, he figured he would definitely have better luck putting together the rest of the bones. But with the construction of the face bones already out of the way, he needed to go back to excavating. Ary did exactly that. Trowel in hand, he dug. As he came across a bone, it was set down next to his dragon’s head. After a few had joined the pile, magic was used to clean the dirt. Then, using the trick the professor had told them about, he began tapping on the bones to arrange them in their rightful places. |
When Maria found a spot to work in close to Vera, she offered her friend a giant grin, relieved a sounding board was right beside her when she inevitably got stuck on the arrangement of the bones. Which.. was actually already, honestly. She considered bothering Maria now in her own work, but before she opened her mouth to do so, she decided to hunt for a few more bones to see if it made things any clearer first. Small shovel in hand again, Ve went back to digging, quickly locating two more spots and... not so quickly removing them from the dirt, taking extra care to make sure neither were harmed in the process. With the added pieces, the shape looked like it was making a little more sense to her, and she began to arrange again. Until she stopped when she heard Professor P answering questions. And giving further direction to the rest of the class. The girls mouth nearly dropped in shock when it was revealed they could use MAGIC to piece together the puzzle she'd hardly started. And while it made sense to reveal that later, Vera was absolutely going to just use that for the get go now. Attention turning to her bones again, she tapped the pieces and began to fit them together, before she tapped a fourth bone and it did.... nothing. She was pretty certain that meant she'd ended up with something that did not belong to her dragon (who she'd wait to name until she figured out which type he was). Leaning over to Maria with the incorrect bone in hand, Ve offered it towards her friend. "This one doesn't fit my dragon. Want to try it on yours?" |
Sage still stood by the opinion that the skeletal forms stepping right out of the poster would be a whole lot more interesting than an pseudo archaeozoology activity but the Slytherin also admit that putting together a skeletal puzzle was a lot more interesting (not to mention accurate) than utilizing chickenbones. She also had never considered this particular branch of magizoology so her interest was tickled a bit more than she was willing to admit. Professor Paton providing a failsafe with this bones was a bit of a disappointment and Sage's pride would certainly get in the way of her utilizing her wand for solutions. So...guess it was time to search for some 150 bones. "Revelio," Sage mumbled to herself while waving her wand over the ground immediately in front of her. Using magic to solve the puzzle, that was off limits. Never thought anything about finding the dragon bone puzzle pieces! Little ripples of light akin to someone dropping a pebble into the lake appeared here and there on the ground and Sage shuffled her feet towards the closest one before kneeing down. She had opted to use tools this go around, though she had never used these kinds of things before for this purpose so she wasn't entirely sure what all she was doing, and began her digging with a scope and chisel to dig out what were clearly rib bones. It was difficult to distinguish what dragon she had uncovered based on rib bones alone, but the pieces were wider than they were narrow which made her think this may be a Romanian Longhorn...though confirmation would come once she unearthed the skull. Five rib bones unearthed....something like 20 more to go. This was going to be tedious. Casting Revelio again and taking note of the ripples, Sage turned to look at the rest of her classmates. "Oi, anyone fancy consolidating efforts and want to come play archaeozoologist with me?" |
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She looked up, studying her older housemate for any signs of an ulterior motive. “Possibly,” she replied. “I don’t fancy digging again, but I have an uncovered Chinese Fireball skeleton over here. If you’d like to help me put it together, that would cut out the digging step entirely for you.” She did say she wanted to consolidate effort... |
While the students worked hard at digging up the dragon bones, each in their own unique way, Hadleigh walked around keeping an eye on how they were all doing. From what she could see, most of them were doing fantastic. None of them seemed to be struggling and several were even offering to work together. Others had figured out their own methods of unearthing the dragon bones and reconstructing the skeletons. As wonderful as it was to see most of them enjoying the lesson and making great progress with their skeletons, time was quickly ticking by. Unfortunately that meant their lesson was steadily coming to a close. "Alright everyone," Hady clapped her hands to get their attention. "We have about fifteen minutes left until the end of our lesson. So take the rest of this time to finish collecting the bones that you need for your skeleton. If you have them all already, keep working on completing your skeletons. Don't worry if you don't get to finish, you can take your findings with you. The skeletons are yours to keep if you want them." If they chose not to keep them, Paton would gladly keep them in her cabin/office or around the Reptile Room. "If you're already finished or finish before time is up, you're free to gather your things and go. I won't hold you here longer than necessary." They were all working so well and staying focused so she felt no need to make them wait around when they complete their skeletons. "There is no homework tonight unless you take your dragon bones with you and chose to complete them later." Which she didn't consider to be homework just finishing up a project. OOC: We are at the closing stretch here! The students still have some time to finish working on their skeletons. If they finish them, they are welcome to leave. I'll be closing up the lesson in about 16 hours :) |
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Pausing to push away some damp strands of hair out of her face Maria heard what Professor Paton was saying. They were allowed to use magic to piece together the puzzle. Mouth now slightly open in surprise mixed with a little irritation Maria unholstered her wand and gently tapped the first bone. The bone lit up in the same colour as another piece, so that meant they'd fit together? Testing and seeing it work she got a little happier. She contiued to tap each bone getting more happy and excited as it looked more and more like she was assembling the bones of a Ukrainian Ironbelly. When she was almost done, just missing one piece Vera the angel offered her a bone that didn't fit with her dragon. Accepting it Maria beamed "Thanks Vee, I'll see if it fits my dragon skeleton." Holding her breath she tapped the new bone with her wand, and then did a little dance on the spot when it was infact the last piece of her puzzle. Assembled the skeleton of the Ukrainian Ironbelly looked beautiful. Turning to her bestie Maria offered "Do you need any help Vee? My skeleton puzzle is complete." It was then she heard Professor Paton wrapping up the lesson. She wasn't leaving without Vera so if her bestie wanted to finish her skeleton then she'd assist and after they could leave for food together. |
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"That works for me, she nodded upon setting the rib bones aside entirely and moving over to where her housemate was working. "Excellent job on the vertebrae thus far," she nodded approvingly - finally someone she could work with and wasn't a project themselves. It was a relief coming off of tutoring and pulling teeth Reuben for a whole term with the most humiliating of results. Now if only she could get herself to give up on the tantalizing thought that he was a project worth fixing - a problem for future Sage at a future date. "I'll see to getting these legs together so they can attach to what you've finished," she nodded while shifting on to her knees and pulling the a ilium, ischium, and femur out from the pile and sliding them into place to start on one of the hind legs. She was honestly super eager to start fitting together the phalanges - she found that part of any and all skeletons to be absolutely fascinating. |
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”Thank you,” she replied, a slight smile cracking her usual stoic expression. Normally Sydney's smile meant one of three things: she was causing chaos, plotting someone's downfall, or trying to get someone to do what she wanted. This was not one of those smiles. Her smile came from getting the approval of someone intellectually superior to her, someone whose opinion actually mattered. ”I'll get started on the wings after I finish the vertebrae,” she said, snapping a couple more bones into place. If her partner was working on the legs, it made sense for her to work closer to the dragon's top half. As she placed the topmost pieces of the vertebrae, she mused out loud, ”Shame these aren't actual dragon bones…” |
Aryan sat back on his knees as Aunty Hady spoke up. Really? The time was almost already up? With a horrible metaphoric jolt, he was jerked back to reality. He had been enjoying the dragon skeleton reconstruction so much that he had quite forgotten that he had stress to go back to. But he was also determined to complete this task. All the gathered bones were cleaned magically, even if he was sure that he had dug up more than necessary. The guy would soon find out which of the bones did not belong. Using his wand, Ary tapped on them as he worked on figuring out where each piece fit into the skeleton. The leg bones were sort of easy but he had a lot of trouble fitting the wing and the neck and the rest of the upper body together. Still, he stubbornly refused to use his text book for help. Ary figured he would approach Aunty Hady tomorrow so that she may assess his work. The bones not matching his dragon, the Slytherin discarded them into a pile. Content that he didn’t need more for his skeleton, he addressed those near to him. “Got some bones here if anyone needs any.” |
When Professor Paton mentioned time was up and those there were already completed could go, Vera looked down at her thus far sad looking attempt, giving a small sigh. The idea that she was going to finish was laughable, and as much as she liked Care of Magical Creatures... let's be real, she was Vera Thanatos and the idea she was going to do any extra work outside of the class that was not actually assigned. Which meant... what were the odds she could just give up now and sneak away from the lesson a few minutes early? She'd been contemplating doing just that, when dear sweet Maria took the bone she'd offered and managed to complete her dragon. Ve clapped for her friend, giving an excited double thumbs up, before she nearly melted at the offer from her favorite badger. "Oh my gosh, yes I would love help!" If she were a better friend, she probably would have waved her away and told her to go find her boyfriend for a nice quick break before their next class buuuut since she was offering... and she DID enjoy time with Maria (and also would have been beyond soft that she was waiting for her too for the end of class - Mar was the greatest). "Do you mind seeing if you can find any other bones? I've only got a few here... and they aren't really fitting." Except BLESS sweet Aryan, because the minute she said that he was offering his leftovers as well for the class to pick through. Ve grinned at him and chirped a quick "Thanks!" before grabbing a couple. Those that didn't fit got put back in the pile for anyone else to check, but those that did she was able to quickly establish where they went with the help of magic. Her skeleton was even looking about done now! |
It was a good question? Emma beamed for a moment in pride when Professor Paton praised her before answering the question. Intriguing though that the bones had a magical element to it. If only all jigsaw puzzles were like that - with clues to help them along. Was this what paleontology was about - playing with dinosaur bones? A couple of the bones surprisingly fit together nicely without any sort of magical help. Once it was almost complete, Emma gaped in shock at the dragon she had assembled ... although it seemed to be missing something on its tail. While it was mostly completely, missing a few spikes it seemed slightly off. "I need something ... spikey .... oh... there ..." Emma looked over to the pile that Vera had taken from Aryan. "That's the one that's missing." Reaching over the older girl, "pardon me." And there, popping it into place, her replica Hungarian Horntail was complete. Let's just hope this wasn't a premonition of anything to come because she didn't fancy any encounters with a horntail anytime soon. |
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