It was early March and the weather was finally starting to look up a little. It was rather warm for a March day, which made it as good a day as any for this particular task. The class was gathered on the grounds of the castle, and he had a large cage sitting nearby filled with jarveys. Hopefully the class would find them entertaining but would be mature enough to mostly ignore the rude taunts and phrases of the creatures. "Good afternoon everyone!" he greeted after a large proportion had arrived. "Today is going to be fun- but before we get started, I would like for one person from each house to volunteer to describe to everyone the specific traits of your house. What makes a Hufflepuff a Hufflepuff, or a Slytherin a Slytherin?" Declan waited on a person from each house to volunteer. "Alright- let's hear what each of you has to say."

((The first person to volunteer from each house was called upon. Explain in your post the traits of your house as Declan has already called on you.))

Sophie carried herself with a little more dignity into CoMC. She had an image she wanted to uphold. She had earned a degree of favor with the acting Headmaster and she wanted to keep that up. No amount of having to see Fig was going to make her go all weepy again. It was a stupid girlish way to behave. Taking her seat quietly she watched as the others filed in; every so often her eyes skittering toward jarveys. If one of them happened to say something about her bum... no she would be calm cool and composed. She could do that. She was a Flickwick after all and Flickwick women were known for keeping it together in the face of disaster (at least her Nana, Mother, and Ruby could).

She raised her hand at the Professor's question and cleared her throat, "Gryffindors are most known for bravery, loyalty, which can often be confused with reckless stupidity," she gave Professor Ó Móráin a small smile. She wasn't really being cheeky - sometimes doing the brave thing meant doing the thing that was least safe and hardly sensible. Ruby got after her constantly; always telling her to be more careful, pick her battles better. But for Sophie there was no battle to small; to ignore any injustice was like granting permission for it to happen. First to fight, first to die; but better to die on your feet than live on your knees. There were all sorts of cliches that summed up what Sophie thought being a Gryffindor meant but she kept them to herself.

Talia found her way to CoMC class and settled in the back of the group, as usual.  Anything to stay out of the lime light.  She was rather fond of her role as the wall flower.  When the professor asked his question, though, and no other Hufflepuffs spoke up, she raised her hand.

In her soft tones, made softer by the Irish accent, she said, "A Hufflepuff is loyal and just.  They aren't afraid of a little hard work if that's what it takes."  Never mind that she could think of a fair few off the top of her head that didn't have that last trait.  That being said, she fell silent once more and watched the jarveys as she listened to the rest.  Though she had been doing a decent job of ignoring their words, her cheeks did tinge with a hint of blush.

'So, a priest and a rabbi went into a bar...'
'Gah!  That one's older than Brunhilda!'
'Is that your nose, or are you eating a tomato?'
'I've seen sweeter expressions on a lemon!'

Freya wasn't sure what the nasty little ferrets in the cage and their trite insults had to do with Gryffindor House traits, but she wasn't one to interrupt a teacher.  No, she was the one to sit in the back and think how stupid the world was.  Since Sophie seemed to have a handle on the question, she remained silent.

On the other hand... the little buggers in the cage fascinated her.  She wondered if they were naturally bad comedians or if the rating meter on their insults could be turned up to, say, PG-13.  If so, this class might not be a waste after all.  She rummaged in her satchel for a parchment and quill to take notes, just in case...

It was hard to concentrate on the professor when being thoroughly cursed by the jarveys; Erin hardly made the effort to try. The things were fascinating. He couldn't decide whether he wanted to take notes for later or try and argue back, see whether he could work the things into a right tizzy.

But no one had yet spoken up for his own house, so Erin dragged his attention back from the foul-mouthed little creatures in the cages to answer. "Slytherins are ambitious," he drawled. "Usually pureblood. Usually perceptive, cunning, tricksy, some flavor of the above, and we do what it takes to get what we want."

Of course, he didn't fit all of those qualifications. But if they were going on generalizations...

Declan waited on those to speak. It seemed none of his Ravenclaws wanted to pipe up, so he decided to just continue the lesson. "Five points to Miss Flickwick, Miss Byrne, and Mr. Harper! Since it seems none of our Ravenclaws have anything to say- I will do it for them. Ravenclaws are often considered to be witty, intelligent, and studious."

"But houses are more than their stereotypes. Gryffindors can be ambitious, Hufflepuffs are generally as loyal, if nor more loyal, than Gryffindors. Slytherins are studious and intelligent, and Ravenclaws can also possess courage and bravery. We are sorted into our houses based on our personalities, but most of us are very different from how we were at the age of eleven."

"It is important to form close friendships with those in your house- but it is equally important to befriend people from other houses. The negative stereotypes are not true for all. Not all Slytherins are purist and closeminded, not all Hufflepuffs are idiotic, some Gryffindors appreciate boundaries, and there are some Ravenclaws who have to work for their good grades and lack general wit outside of their books. The point is that we are more than just what our houses are thought to be."

"Todays lesson is hopefully going to help teach you how to work hand in hand with your housemates. Each house is going to be on a team for the first part of our lesson. Now, each team is going to need to split up. Part of you will need to grab a leashed jarvey, and the other half will be doing the leg work. I would suggest switching roles on occasion, preserve your energy. Right then! Who wants to tell us all about jarveys?" Declan asked, looking at everyone.

Callum felt himself nodding whenever the professor mentioned being different now than how you were at eleven. He had grown up a lot and was a much more mature and much less of an ass in comparison to how he was even earlier in the year. But sometimes you just had to grow up- you didn't always have a choice in the matter. And now that he was the quidditch captain he had to behave to keep his position. And, if he was ever going to be a prefect one day, then he had to get his act together.

He shuffled toward the other Slytherins, waiting on the professor to announce the lesson. Jarveys? All he knew about them was they looked like weasels and were insulting. And loud. Loud and annoying weasels. But Callum knew that wasn't exactly the appropriate answer to give the professor.

"Jarveys look similar to an overgrown Muggle ferret, and chase gnomes. they are noable for being one of the only magical creatures able to talk in human languages, certianly they are amongst the most harmless of creatures that can speak human languages[1], since they are primnariy insulting, although they have been known to inflict minor injuries when disturbed. They are noted for being one of the less humane methods for Gnome removal, although probably the most permanant[2]"Josh said in response to the professor's question.

1.	im guessing this based on that fact that four species in canon seem to routinely speak human languages. Only jarveys seem unable to significantly injure humans (sphinxes, goblins, jarveys and house-elves. if anyone's interested in a detailed reasoning PM me. This is getting long for a footnote.
2.	I'm assuming that Jarveys do more than chase gnomes.

Figaro clapped Joshua Harcroft on the back.  "Oh sorry, mate - thought you were choking on a textbook there.  No harm done."  Josh certainly knew his material and put the rest of them to shame.  One of those Gryffindors that was more Ravenclaw.  And Figaro certainly considered himself one of the less idiotic Hufflepuffs - had Professor O Morain been eating happy pills?  Probably was the nicest thing he'd ever said about Hufflepuff.  Not all of you are idiotic....  Be a great slogan for the next house banner...

"Suck an egg!" ... "Kiss my furry arse, fancy pants!" ... "Mouth-breathers!"

The jarveys kept on and Figaro had to stop himself from snickering more than once, covering his mouth with his hand and the laugh escaping like a snort-sneeze. They were kind of cute in a fanged weasel kind of way, so as soon as Professor O Morain told them one partner would be handling the jarveys he nudged his way closer to the pen, past a couple other classmates. 

"Ever go outside, pasty face?"

Figaro laughed and asked the class, "Where do they learn to do that?"

Declan gave Figaro a displeased look. "Insulting your classmates is not tolerated, Mr. Sellaphix. How many times am I going to have to tell you this? Three points from Hufflepuff. Just because a classmate knows an answer you do not is no reason to rib them... And to answer your question, Sellaphix, they're magical, what other explanation do you need as to how they can talk?"

"And you are correct, Mr. Harcroft. Jarveys do look similar to weasels, and they do chase gnomes. They are relatively harmless- apart from the fact that they have one mean bite if you're careless with them. As far as the humane factor is concerned, that depends on how they are used. They do eat gnomes if they dig them up."

"Today we are going to use the jarveys to help us degnome some of the gardens on Hogwarts grounds. You'll need to be in pairs to prevent the jarveys from killing the gnomes. When the gnomes figure out what is going on, they are all going to come rushing up out of their holes to watch. What we're going to do is have one person keep the jarvey on a leash and run with it to chase the gnomes. Another person is going to actually snatch up the gnomes. You'll want to switch off. Chasing a jarvey is tiring."

"After you grab the gnomes- by the ankles to they can't bite you- you'll drop them into one of the four large cages. The cage with yellow flags for Hufflepuff, crimson for Gryffindor, blue for Ravenclaw, and green for Slytherin. Whichever house manages to capture the most gnomes will win a prize!"

"Pair up, decide who gets the jarveys. After deciding, pick up one of the leashes attached to one of the jarveys and start chasing gnomes."