From Tuesday to Thursday Hagrid felt like he was bogged down with with classes, because while he had the third years and  fifth years n Monday, not many showed up. Maybe they were lazy, or it was a bad first day, but most of them seemed fairly nervous about the whole ordeal. It almost caused Hagrid to lose his nerve, and he was considering a review about flobberworms, but then Yang was quick to chide him and to tell him to act like a "proper" professor. Then she left him alone, or she went to lecture a few third and fifth year Salem students on how to be "proper" students (Hagrid was almost quite sure that Bai Li Yang had a pair of fangs hiding behind her pearly white teeth). So the half-giant had sulked around in the forest with his brother, Grawp, for the remainder of his Monday, and then spent most of Tuesday trying to prepare for class. Then he decided to just sort of make things up as he went along--play off the students. That sounded good.

Once the fourth years arrived to the edge of the Forbidden Forest Hagrid directed them inner edges of the forest, where the roots of trees became gnarled int the ground and overgrowth was rampant. At night it might be dangerous, but during the day it was relatively safe and practical, especially with two professors attending the class. After the students had all caught up and settled down, Hagrid looked down at the faces. He felt massive and looming, with his leather coat draped from his shoulders, and strapped around his wide waist was a monstrous belt buckling his tunic to his tall and thick sides as it hung over a baggy pair of pants tucked into boulder-like pair of boots. Despite how looming he was, the half-giants' fingers were rather fidgety as the students waited and watched him, and in the awkward silence he finally cleared his throat.

"Right, so first things first," he took out several scrolls of parchment and handed them to nearest student, "Pass these around--it'll be the syllabus fer this semester. Charmed to change if I see fit to," his authoritative voice seemed forced and stiff, and edging on the tone of casual, but Hagrid kept his nerve and continued.

"Outside of class you'll be writing essays and doing 'labwork' with older students or teachers--" Hagrid spoke the term as if he wasn't sure it was the best word to use, and then continued to explain it, "doing things you didn't get enough time to learn in class or just learnin' somethin' mentioned by your book." He stopped for only a minute before he finally added on, "You'll all pick out some little things to breed this semester. With short lifecycles. To get a hang of it," Hagrid fidgeted again as he decided to name a few, "Salamanders, scarabs, small magical birds," he drummed his thick fingertips together before cautiously and stiffly adding, "Maybe some Ashwinder if you lot are bright."

"Anyway, the biggest thing is the Tracking Project," a heave of relief began to support his voice as he was almost finished speaking, "You'll need to know how to find individuals--creatures--from their own kind, be able to identify and recognize where they've been--that sort of thing, so," he clapped his hands together, "Yer books fer this semester will be a good example. Anyone got any unique experiences with them?" then more weakly added, "Or, you know, got them opened?" he brushed his beard and then hopefully looked between the kids, "Gimme yer name too when you speak."

Dear, dear, dear, the infamous oaf Hagrid. That was the story about him, large and wild and supportive of any house but Slytherin, mostly Gryffindor. Casey didn't feel like continuing this saga but he couldn't say he was too impressed with Hagrid. He was just another teacher that taught a class where there was no new wand magic, proper magic, to learn. He just happened to be the largest. But who knows, classes might be more exciting because of this instead of being boring.

Taking a syllabus, which smelled like several things that might made him sick because it had been stuffed in a Salazar-knows pocket of unmentionables, Casey skimmed it over while listening. He frowned at these 'labwork' sections with older students. It made him feel like he was going to be a lackey and Casey O'Doherty was not going to be anyone's lackey.

An example for how they were handling the textbooks was called for. "You mean these?" Casey asked snidely, holding up a petrified book with green scales and a few leftover patches of blue fuzz from its former state. "The book that destroyed the ground floor sitting room, holed up in the closet in my grandmother's hatboxes, latched onto the House Elf's head when we were looking for it and took a combination of diving tackles and Body Bind spells to sedate? It's been marvelous. Luckily I convinced the other O'Dohertys not to sue."

"Casey, by the way." He had played the annoyance card but the adventure had been invigorating, and another good reason for Dingy to wear that pot on his head.

When Naomi took the syllabus she noticed Casey's disgust and silly expressions while mulling over the syllabus. It smelled like hair-care products and freshly cut hair clippings--not a surprising from how nicely barbered the giant's beard seem to look, but she supposed Casey's multiple allergies made him twist his nose in disgust and frown. Naomi was quite interested in this professor's new teaching style, as well as the Magizoology professor that she heard arrived with Salem, but only time would tell if the two got along or if they started going at it like a pair of snakes.

O'Doherty as chiding and irritating as ever just seemed to be interested in throwing his weight around on the first day, as always, and Naomi just shook her head and pulled her own book out of her bag, but the giant just seemed to chuckle at the shorter Slytherin's sarcastic taste in dialogue, (or he was laughing at the boy's expense, she couldn't really tell, being over six feet below his hairy face.

"Careful O'Doherty," Naomi added as she pulled out a snoring tomb, that sounded more like it was calmly growling than anything else, "Am sure you skillfully added to your list of allergies when 'dem spells wear off."

Naomi then held up her leathery skinned book, it's cover loose and heavy with its rough and hard texture, "Naomi Foley, Mine's got 'dis weird t'ing for Astronomy books and Arithmancy homework--like th' munchies kind of weird," and it just had a bite of both of those kinds of things from her older brother's bag, before she had arrived. And if it went after O'Doherty's petrified book, all the more amusing.

"Finds weird hiding spots too."

Zoe had to admit, she liked Care of Magical Creatures. It wasn't her best class, but she enjoyed it. It was her two of her uncles which led her to being in this class the previous year, and she had largely enjoyed it. It didn't matter to her that Hagrid was teaching it, or Hagrid reputation for choosing dangerous creatures. Her uncle worked with dragons, so she could understand someone liking dangerous magical creatures.

What Hagrid talked about excited Zoe, as well as the things on the syllabus. She didn't care about the smell Casey soon destroyed every ounce of happiness she had in her. An ice cold glance was immediatly directed at him. She had hated Casey pretty much for as long as she was at Hogwarts. The thing that most frustrated her was his allergies. Her mother had given her a natural want to help those who were sick or hurt with all the work she did at St. Mungo's as a healer, but Zoe didn't want to feel sympathetic around someone as awful as Casey. Every urge to help him she ever had was always surpressed.

Though she didn't want to insult Casey openly for his comment, she did speak up. "My book has been pretty good. They are pretty easy to handle if you know how." Zoe held up her own book. "Just pet the spine a little." She did so and opened the book, without being attacked once. Feeling a bit brave she added in Casey's direction, "I'm not sure stupidity is a logical reason to sue. My own father would have not taken kindly to a waste of his time." With that rather sharp remark Zoe closed her book and lowered her. Hopefully Hagrid would let those comments slide.

Ayla trudged through the forest glad that she had gone with her mid calf boots that day instead of the usual flats that were part of the dress code. Trucking through the Forbidden Forest was messy work and she didn't need to ruin a perfectly good pair of shoes, even if it was for her favourite subject. The whole time since arriving at class Ayla's green gold eyes were locked on Professor Hagrid. He wasn't as easy on the eyes as Professor O'Morain had been but he was just as mesmerizing. Having been born in another country Ayla had no stories of the old Gameskeeper turned Professor during the days of Harry Potter to go off of. Most of her classmates had heard of him through older siblings, or cousins, anyone that would have been going to Hogwarts more than a decade ago. However that didn't stop her from thinking that he was all together fascinating.

She took the syllabus and looked it over, intrigued by what they'd been learning throughout the year. Especially when it came to breeding their own animal. She had heard of the egg project the fifth years had done the year before but this was much more intriguing. She could already tell this was going to be a better year.

Ayla made no pretence to hide rolling her eyes at Casey's drawl. The Slytherin was simply insufferable at the best of times. However she smiled when Zoe spoke up, wondering if the Ravenclaw was speaking like that intentionally or not. She had a feeling Casey wasn't going to like it either way. She took her own book out, who seemed to be well groomed, the green scales looked healthy and shined in the sunlight. Ayla hadn't bothered trying to open it. Dahlia had stunned it for her long enough to strap a rather fancy looking belt around it but she did what she could to keep it happy while bound, waxing it's scales and what not, "I think they're kind of cute." She turned to the Professor, "Ayla Collins sir, Hufflepuff. I'm afraid I haven't actally opened mine. I spent most of the time trying to keep it away from my brother." Ayla didn't even want to know what Erik could get up to with such a book.

Kelvin had enjoyed the class year, but he couldn't help but be a bit more excited since it was The Hagrid teaching the class this year.  He'd heard stories from his brother, though his brother was never actually taught by him. He took the syllabus and read it over while the professor talked about the plan for the semester.  Kelvin didn't mind that he would have to do labwork with an older student, he just hoped it was someone he could get along with, and the breeding sounded interesting, maybe even fun.

He shook his head as Casey went on about the damage the book had done.  Probably not the best way to start off with a new professor.  And Zoe certainly didn't need to bait him further.

Pulling out the book, he stroked the leathery spine to keep it under control, it did have a tendency to try to bite him at times, and it had been much cuter when it was blue and fuzzy, even when it was trying to bite him.  "Kelvin Watkins, mine was mostly well behaved.  It only tried to bite me a few times,"  He said, before continuing with a smile.  "I did find it in the corner of my dad's study, it had built a nest with several other books and some socks."

Quick note about the books! Some of you guys seem to be confusing the 4th years' books with books intended for the other years, so I've copy and pasted what the fourth years' required book information from the wiki.

Version 2.2
Green and leathery. It's skin is similar to the texture and weight of a Komodo Dragon's and has pronged edges. It's much slower than the first version, but is much more skilled at hiding.

Hagrid looked between the girls and Casey O'Doherty and spoke with a deep and gentle growl, "Now, now, let's behave--it's just tha first day. And I'm glad you got some bonding time with yer book, lad."

Then he turned to the Slytherin who threw the first quip, with a hesitant hint of concern, "Errr, you might want to work on that diet." Hagrid's gaze then swept over the rest of the students, with a proud glint in his black eyes, "And am glad everyone seems to be able to keep their books calm, or away from dangerous siblings," the latter of which would not be covered in his class, but had always been a debatable topic, for Hagrid, considering his own brother's temperament. "It's good to know them a bit too, in case they get mixed up with someone else's," unbeknownst to the students, they were going to test that knowledge today.

"Now," the half-giant reached into his coat and pulled onto his pink umbrella with his large grip, "Fer your first lesson..."

Hagrid bent down and tapped his umbrella against the ground, with few hard thumps. A gust of wind suddenly jumped from the ground and an eerie silence befell the group.

Then a fury of snarling, growling, and shaking overcame the once calm books. Green and leather bound tombs launched from their owner's hand and hit the forest floor in a flurry of gnashing, biting, and struggling, and then took off in several directions until they had all vanished from sight and sound. Belts snapped and echoed through the trees before they echoed into silence, as Hagrid stood up and his cheeks puffed with a gleeful smile.

"Now catch 'em!"

Hagrid had grown more confidant over his years of teaching if the usual Slytherin suggestions didn't faze him. The 'congratulations' that he had 'bonded' with his book was certainly an odd way of shrugging off how dangerous the books could be. Also oddly encouraging.

Up until Hagrid did the spell to set them off. Casey had been stuff the smelly syllabus away, drenched in one of those hair potions he couldn't use no doubt, when the book revived.

Casey had several choice curses in mind, some magical and some not, but most could get you threatened with legal action.

This was excruciatingly annoying but Casey realized that his first adventure with the book back at the manor had prepared him for this. No wonder the oaf seemed to like his story. The going advantage for Casey is that he had wrestled with the book before, and the scrap of blue fur between its scales made it stand out in the rampage of green leather, so he caught sight of where it had disappeared in the trees.

The moment their ginormous teacher said "Now catch 'em!" Casey was off, wand at the ready, the first point of his charge between the trees. His book had a tendency for high and/or cramped hiding places, his eyes scanned what possible hiding places there would be.

Zoe was glad that Hagrid didn't give her a talking to about behaving and that Casey didn't go and hex her. Ayla did seem to appreciate the comment, so Zoe knew it didn't go unnoticed. That probably wasn't the end of Casey's comments to Hagrid, nor to any professor he disliked, so Zoe had to prepare some comebacks.

The activity of the lesson Zoe didn't expect at all.  Her perfectly calm book a few seconds prior was now violent and running, as much like running as a book could do. She watched her book dissapear with the others into the forest, far away from sight. At Hagrid's command Zoe ran off in the direction her book went, drawing her wand quickly. She had to show Hagrid that she knew how to handle the books after bragging to the class.

Zoe's mind raced. Ok, what had her uncle told her? This version of the book was slow but a hider, right. She didn't know any spell to detect objects, she'd have to look by eye. "Lumos!" The tip of Zoe's wand lit up, something she'd use to look into dark hiding spots. She lowered her wand towards the ground, moving it back and forth to scarn for any hiding spots. Zoe darted her eyes back and forth, searching for signs of movement. She had to do this.

Merlin's beard - Hagrid's beard even. They were going to chase their books?! Ambrose had kept his locked in his trunk. One of those going off in a house in a Muggle town would have meant the police would have been asking some rather awkward questions, if not the Ministry later.

However, as he watched his classmates plunge into the trees, he bent down and unlaced his boots. To all intents and purposes it looked very odd indeed, but he wondered. Kelvin had mentioned socks in the book's nest, and Ambrose had kept a fair number of socks and other things in his trunk - the ones for school not always the ones he wore around the house in summer.

Peeling his socks off each feet, he pushed one into his pocket and slid his bare feet back into his boots, lacing them up. The other sock he held at arm's length, before he made his way carefully into the trees, keeping his body language submissive. With any luck his arm would not be bitten off in the process...

Naomi's once sleeping book had suddenly jumped to life. Its many eyes darted around the forest with a new alertness before it snarled and lept from her grasp.

After it disappeared with the rest of the books shes gave Professor Hagrid a questionable stare, before she scratched her head and started to quietly creep around some trees. Class suddenly felt like she had brought a piece of home with her back to Hogwarts. Her raven mess of french braids barely swung against her back as she tried to discern which way her text went. Nevermind that all the books looked the same, the only way she'd know where it was is if she started to pick a fight with it. Her book was distinctively brutal and sneaky.

Finally, the Slytherin slipped from a tall congregation of roots and let her tall boots silently sink in a patch of fresh dirt. Then that's when she heard a trio of growls.

With pouched lips the witch turned to see three of the class's books, in a standoff, in a very large nest. She couldn't tell if any of them were hers, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to get them going a little.

She reached into her boot and a twisted wand slipped into her hand. With a quick flick of her wrist and twist of the wand there was a rustle in the nest, and the creatures began to cautiously move around and hunt down the sound. She flicked her wand again and there was another rustle, but this time outside of the nest. And that's when the books started to run amok again tearing through the leaves and dirt in search of a rustling of leaves. Naomi was now dodging the three books and jumping out of their way as she watched their movements carefully, trying to decide which book was hers.

Zoe heard something come near her and immediately moved her wand to see what it was. Three books were racing her way. Think fast Zoe! Something that would knock them back. "Infligo, Infligo," Zoe whispered twice, aiming at two of the three books. Her first Smack Hex missed, but the next hit a book. The green scaled book was thrown back, and Zoe knew this was her chance.

Aiming her wand quickly, she attempting a Stunning Spell. "Stupefy!" As the spell was cast, one of the books bit onto Zoe's foot. She was set off balance, and the spell went over the book and now headed straight for Naomi. The young witch didn't know this, and took the opportunity of the book being on her foot. "Stupefy," Zoe whispered. The book seemed to notice and tried to get off her foot, but was a second too late. It stopped moving.

Too bad for Zoe that when the book moved her spell didn't hit it how she wanted it too. It hit her foot at the same time as the book, and Zoe fell over, her wand dropping from her hand and rolling away slightly. Leaving consciousness entirely and a book someone could take as their own work, Zoe lay sprawled out on the forest floor.

Kelvin watched as his book lept from his hands and raced off into the forest.  He cursed silently as he moved toward the forest with his wand drawn.  He wasn't sure why this was the first lesson, but he couldn't help but smile as he entered the forest.  Despite the difficulty of telling the books apart, let alone finding them, it was a bit exciting chasing after the books.

He slipped through some trees, he spotted a single book moving quietly through the underbrush, which was thick enough that he'd have to find another way around it or go crashing through it which would probably send the book scurrying away, or attacking.  He looked to his left and saw, Naomi dodging books and flashes of scarlet light beyond her.  Now, he'd have to watch for wayward stunners in addition to trying to track the book.  He looked back and the book was further off, and he turned to his right, away from Naomi and tried to quietly move around to flank the book as quickly as he could.

Slipping through the trees, he aimed his wand carefully at the book, which was resting in the dip in the ground, but as he moved toward it, his robe caught on a bush and the book turned to look at him.  He stared at the book, as still as possible, but the book wasn't fooled and turned and quickly took off in the opposite direction, toward Naomi, not bothering to stay quiet now.  Kelvin shrugged out of his robe and sprinted after it.  He thought about trying the stun the thing, but decided it was probably better not to send spells flying through the forest unless he had to.

Up until now, that moment when that pink umbrella thudded once, twice, three times against the ground and sent both students and books running in all directions, Bai Li had, for the most part, stayed on the sidelines.

Although she was one who was quite accustomed to teaching her own class as she saw fit, the magizoologist was also just as familiar with deferring to another’s authority—the prime example being one Headmaster Ferreole LeBeau. Almost immediately after she had been taken on to teach Care of Magical Creatures and general Magizoology, she had found herself hastening after a mad old man, doing what she could to fulfill the responsibilities he had entrusted her with, and ensuring that his orders were followed as they should be. Assisting him—making sure that the fine details were taken care of so that he could deal with the big print—was not easy. While her naturally controlling nature saw to it that she had her way at least part of the time in her dealings with him, Bai knew that in the end, the eccentric she bore down on with disapproval and mountains of paperwork was the boss. The thought, quite naturally, made faculty meetings a little more tiresome than they should have been.

It also irritated her more than she let on.

However, just as she preferred to be the one running the show—even behind the scenes—Bai also knew when, and how, to let others truly take the lead. First day of class was one such occasion, a time to step back and observe. Knowing how her colleague comported himself and the lesson was important; enthusiasm was one thing, but ability was quite another, even if she had gone over and approved of the syllabi he had made himself.

Still, there was really no helping what follies students got themselves into. At the first cry of Stupefy!, she turned toward its direction immediately. Without so much as an “excuse me” to the sophomore she had been hovering over, Bai bore down to where Zoe stood—or, had.

Lips pursed into a thin line of disapproval, she stood by the Ravenclaw’s prone form and pulled out her wand. “Ennervate,”  Bai murmured. When she spoke next, her voice was not the soft-spoken murmur her students were used to, but loud, even, and commanding, magnified by a quiet “Sonorous” modified to reach only the farthest of students as if she was right there beside them. She ignored the book by the Zoe’s foot entirely, even as it rustled back to life and fled.

“No one is to use any Stunning Spells from this point on,” she ordered, catching the eyes of those still within her sight. “No one. Just as the previous version was impervious to them, so are the recent editions. They do not work.” And, just as Kelvin had thought, “It is extremely unwise of you to be shooting spells just… willy-nilly-” Very, very slightly, her lip curled on the word, “-in the Forbidden Forest. There are other creatures out here that are not affected by them and are far more dangerous than your books. Should you actually manage hit one you will draw it here.”

Lowering her voice, she turned to look down at Zoe, eyes cool as they swept over the girl’s form and met hers. “You should all already know this. Do not put your classmates at risk like that again.”

   

Zoe had been stunned before, she knew the feeling. At least she had passed out before she hit the ground, so she fell no pain hitting the forest floor. Coming back to consiousness, the young witch expected Hagrid or another fourth year to be standing over her. "Tha-" Zoe opened her eyes at meet her's with the unfamiliar woman's. She stopped cold. There was only one place she had seen this woman, in the Great Hall the day of the Welcoming Feast. She had been saved by a foreign professor.

Quickly, Zoe broke her gaze to look for the book and her wand, when a loud sound surprised her. She jumped slightly before realizing it was a spell that was noise only. The book was gone, just great. She had stunned herself for nothing. Thank goodness her wand was intact, and Zoe grabbed it.

Not wanting to be turned away from the woman too long, Zoe spun back to facing her. The professor wasn't happy, not one bit. If only the young witch had not gotten so excited when she cast that Stupefy and yelled it, then when she was stunned herself she could have blamed some other student.

It was when the professor once again put her focus on Zoe she froze once again. When their eyes met there was a strong feeling inside of the young witch to cry or run away as fast as she could. It took a lot of courage, but she managed to keep her face relitivly apologetic and eyes semi-locked. "I'm so sorry Ma'am. I was acting on pure instints, because I was afraid the books would knock me over or..." Zoe's attention turned to her left foot, which had a small cut on it, and her shoe looked a little chewed. "Hurt me. I guess I deserve to have gotten stunned."

Mumbling undistinguishable words under her breath about what 'excellent' luck she was having, she brought her foot closer to her body and pointed her wand at it. "Episkey. Reparo." With those two spells, it was as if the book had never touched her foot. She got to her feet, glancing at her wand. If she didn't do something she would probably have house points subtracted. Thinking quickly, Zoe held out the wand to the professor. "Here. I'll do the rest of the class without my wand because I used the Stunning spell." Hopefully, as this American (she could tell by the accent) professor wasn't used to the house point system, she would accept this.