Getting Your Grade
This test and individual grades are graded in one of two ways:

• Reply to this thread.
  Follow the instruction and form on how to complete this exam, and then reply to this thread with a role played post of your student taking the test. Based on that post, I will determine their grade for the test and then add it to their overall grade for the class.
  
  
  • and/or
  
  Send Rubeus Hagrid a PM.
  Title your pm with "Year / Student Name" and then fill out the following form.

[b]Student Name: [/b]
[b]Requested Grade: [/b]
[b]What have they done to earn this grade?:[/b]
[b]Describe how they completed their exam:[/b]


• 
  Provide as much detail as possible on your student's performance, this will make it easier to determine a grade. If I feel it is necessary, I may question your reasoning, especially if your requested grade is sharp contrast to your student's performance in past class threads and on the board as a whole. 

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2:30 PM - 4:00 PM

Name:
House/School:

For this exam, the sixth years will be presenting[1]  their Ancestry Projects[2] and the seventh years will be presenting their own unique projects[3]. The projects will be graded based upon supporting sources, extent of research, and how focused the project is on the chosen topic pr thesis.

1.	There won't be a question and answer portion to these presentations, and I won't be posting Hagrid unless something outrageous and out of control happens that requires intervention. So feel free to have your student step up, complete their test, and then get permission from the professor to leave.
2.	Sixth years would have chosen a type of creature to study and would have mapped out how that creature inherited its traits. They will then write a thesis (IC-ly approved by the professor) about this topic in order to write a paper about it.
3.	After reviewing and studying academic journals, they will have chosen any topic (magical traits, behavior patterns, diseases, a creature and its habitat, and etc. ), written a thesis (IC-ly approved by the professor) and then written a paper.

 Derry chose his topic to be Thestrals, a creature that he was able to see due to his grandmother's death.  Thestrals had always fascinated him and, despite their looks scaring most people, Derry felt they were beautiful.  He began writing his essay on the ancestry of the animal, talking about its evolution from horses. 

"Thestrals are evolved from horses.  Unlike horses, they are carnivores.  Horses began living in forests and started developing wings in order to better catch flying prey (birds).  They also developed speed in order to catch their prey.  Since they lived in dark, deep forests, they developed a dark, bony, and bat-like exterior that allowed them to blend in.  They also are invisible to humans who haven't seen death.  Maybe this evolved as a protection from humans.  There are Thestrals in the Forbiden forest.     

Derry re-read his paragraph, happy with his work.  Referring to his Care of Magical Creature textbook, a couple of academic journals and books from the library, and his own imagination and knowledge, he continued to write on like that for another few paragraphs.  He then tackled the second essay question, which he wrote on the Thestrals' behaviour.

"Thestrals are very inteligent.  They understand humans when they talk.  They can take you where you want to go.  They comunicate with each other with a shrill cry.  It sounds a bit like a bird's cry, but creepier.  They can be loyal to humans they see as friends.  If they don't see you as a friend and see you as a threat, they can atack you."

Even though his thesis was supposed to be on Thestrals' behaviour, Derry added any and all information he knew about Thestrals' diet, appearance, and behaviour.  His writing was simplistic and contained several minor spelling and grammar mistakes.  Once finished, he handed it in to Hagrid, satisfied that he had performed his best.

"Sellaphix."

Figaro jumped up  when Professor Hagrid called his name, and inclined his head to a couple ironic claps from his mates. 

"Thank you, thank you," he greeted with a happy, but weary grin.  It had been an incredibly long week with all their classes having end of year exams and projects all due at the same time.  Plus with the Yule Ball only two days away, Figaro was having to make sure he did things right like learning to dance for the Champion's part in the ball, and that he made to ask Sophie to the dance in just the right way.   

At least here he was in Creatures class - it was his favorite class.  The most fun and the most interesting.  Even though their project was very research oriented (and not outside and hands-on as he preferred), it had been almost worthwhile none-the-less.  He'd willingly gone to the library to make sure he got all the sources Professor Hagrid had required.

"Dragons."  He began.  He shot a boastful look at one of his friends in the class - there had been hot competition for that topic, but Figaro had gotten to it first.  He shuffled through his note cards and then began again.

"Dragons.  Dragons are one of the most ancient creatures that walk the earth.  Dragons have been around for tens and thousands of years and once thrived in every part of the world, from here in Britain to all the way in Antarctica and deep in the oceans."

"Dragons are not dinosaurs," he said as if it was some great discovery, "even if some dinosaurs look like dragons.  Dragons have always been magical creatures whereas dinosaurs have never been magical.  Magizoologists don't know exactly when dragons first began, but the oldest type of dragon known to exist was the Chinese Fireball."

Figaro went on to name about a half-dozen or so other dragon species and their connections to each other, and an adaptation or feature that distinguishes them.  His paper would have gone into each one further, for full credit, but he wanted to be sure he shared the most interesting bits in his presentation.

"And the Hungarian Horntail - that's a lethal bloke, i'n't he? Like most dragons, he can breathe fire, but it's tail and head are covered in bony spikes.  Magizoologists know they used the spikes to fight for territory and protect their eggs.  Turned out they were also pretty useful for wrecking human villages."

Titters.

"Last and the best is the Ukranian Ironbelly.  Some people think that the goblins of Gringotts use them deep in the bank to guard vaults, because they're so well adapted to deep dark places.  Ironbellies are the largest type of dragon you can find today, but they're not the best flyers - they spend so much time guarding their own hoards in mountain caves that flight became less important for them."

Figaro wrapped up his report and took a deep bow.  On his way out, he handed his report scroll to the Professor and headed merrily out to finally get his holiday on.

Given her usual habits of underachievement and snark, the fact that Georgiana actually enjoyed Care of Magical Creatures could be considered a bit surprising. At least until it was considered that much of her activity in the class this year had involved raising petulant, fire spurting creatures to which she had given terribly Muggle names.

When her name was called she pulled out a small pile of pictures to pass around the class, then took her notes and headed to the front. The pictures largely displayed Fire Crabs with sapphire or ruby gem patterns on their shells, though there were shots of numerous other patterns as well. Two larger crabs, one with sapphires and one with rubies, showed up the most prominently. She coughed slightly before beginning. "I chose to study the inheritance of shell patterns among Fire Crabs, who despite their name more closely resemble a six-legged turtle. The species is most known both for its jeweled shell, something prized for making cauldrons, and its habit of shooting fire from its rear end when threatened."  The last was delivered with a bit of a smirk. Just because she'd gotten those second-degree burns didn't mean that habit wasn't still amusing.

After continuing on into a brief introduction regarding the basic nature of Fire Crabs, it was time for the meat of her presentation. The fun part. "With my thesis for this topic, Professor Hagrid was kind enough to help me with breeding Fire Crabs to obtain data. The largest portion of this was involved two males, one with a sapphire pattern I call 'the Chin', and the other with a ruby pattern named 'Garrosh'. I've been studying the mating habits of these two over the past few months, and correlated my records with scholarly journals and findings." By this point she'd loosened up a little, smiling more than smirking. Gems and and explosions of fire were cool. And hey, she could speak school when she wanted to-in other words, when not trolling.

"One difficulty I ran into was that poaching historically had drastically reduced the populations of specific patterns and sub-patterns. This seemed to particularly impact patterns such as diamonds which were viewed as more valuable. The weather at Hogwarts is also different from that in the crab's home climate of Fiji, something which seems to impact what traits are viewed as desirable, something I will expand on later." She shuffled through her notes a little and took a deep breath.

This was followed by a short review of the various history and potential evolution of the fire crab, and their relationship to other creatures such as turtles, and a few general factors possibly involved in their development of six legs. The sort of speech that might have invoked comments from her brother or other teachers about if only she applied herself.

And then, her very favorite part. Besides the flames. Flames were, as she repeatedly reminded herself of, cool. "My own research, along with the references I discovered, indicates that environment and diet heavily factors into what shell patterns are attractive to mates. Darker gems seem to fare well in more dour environments. Lighting may be viewed as an indication of food availability, given the crabs' usual habit. There are also some studies which theorize that certain gemstones require more food to produce, meaning that those will be viewed as a less attractive in environments where food is scare." She stopped to catch her breath again. This was taking longer than she'd expected. "As the climate of their home is rather different from that here, this means that the location will vastly impact the patterns selected for."

When she finally finished, she handed the professor her rather lengthy paper, something extended even further by the  collection of references it referred to. She had done quite a bit of research, from such, along with her notes from hours of observing the crabs they'd raised. She'd even proofread the paper a bit. When she felt it was worth it, it seemed she could apply herself after all.

Then she collected up her pictures and made her way out. At least she had something that wasn't inherently boring.

Research, all things considered, was something Vladlena enjoyed infinitely more than the average seventeen year-old had any right to. And while she would have preferred to study something she was unfamiliar with, her family, even from so great a distance, had too much sway. When they had discovered the curriculum—and they had been keeping a close eye, owling her Durmstrang professors to ensure their daughter was still getting a respectable education in all subjects, particularly this one, the most important to their craft—they had immediately made it clear for her which topic she would focus on. The svyatilishche[1] required an heir. If she showed so little interest, she would cease to be in contention for the position she had otherwise been born into.

So she rose when the professor called her surname, handing the thick and appallingly heavy ream of scrolls in precise, tight handwriting to him, and lifted a mirror from her bag, which she placed in the front of the class.

Technically speaking, breeding dragons was illegal. Taking care of one that had just happened to become pregnant, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter. Vladlena had not questioned her family regarding the circumstances around the creature's conception, and did not care to. She had been given care of it’s schedule and diet, and her research had focused on such.

“I ‘ave been remotely supervising care of Ukrainskiy zhelezazhivot—you vwould say Ironbelly," Her expression suggested, ever so faintly, that the word was somewhat distasteful, or at the very least awkward to form from her lips. "She is expecting eggs in future." She didn't shrug, but every bit of her body language communicated the movement nonetheless, and there was the softest of sparkles in her usually blank stare, and the faintest curve of a w arm smile. "I believe March zey vwill come”  She tapped the mirror with her wand and a whispered spell, and the fog cleared to reveal one hugely stomached dragon with metallic gray scales in her far away home in northernmost Russia. She looked quite snarly and grumpy in appearance but it was dragon and she otherwise appeared in good health, a sheen to her scales and no untoward signs of distress or discomfort. "You may see, it ‘as been thusfar successful."

The view was shaking terribly—clearly held from about the height of a House Elf who wanted to go no nearer. Vladlena had not specified who would do the deed, only demanded that it be done. She had assumed one of the dragonkeepers would perform the task, but it had clearly been relegated to a more menial party. The dragon, dripping smoke, was lowering her head to eye the mirror, and the shaking became noticeably more pronounced. Vladlena, with some sympathy,  mmediately spoke in clipped, clear Russian. "Spasibo Slivy, chto dostatochno."[2] And there was a squeak that may have been a confirmation of the order, and a rapid retreat as the glass faded to fog again.

She tilted her head to Hagrid, and in the polite, detached manner that had come to mark the majority of her presentations, she added. "You vwill find research documented. I ‘ave focused on differences between procedures in journals and tracked zem to root cultural and climate, as vwell as approach I took that vwere different from standard of my ‘ome." She bit her lip, the first movement she had displayed that was unplanned or unpoised, and continued softly. "Ze mother, though you see only briefly, she is in good ‘ealth.”

1.	Sanctuary, as in the Savitsky Dragon Reserve/Sanctuary
2.	Roughly. "Thank you, Silvy, that is sufficient."