Gryffindor
Lua Taylor
Ambrose Pepper
Gloria Gibbon
Daisy Attaway

Hufflepuff
Moira McBoid
Ayla Collins
Angie Lemon
Katy Bevans
Bryony Bishop

Ravenclaw
Connor Todd
Kelvin Watkins
Zoe Torret
Juni Zamperia

Slytherin
Naomi Foley
Casey O'Doherty
Amara Báthory +5
Nick Mensforth
Rose Holloway
Erin Dark
Abbey Rohde

Not on the list? Don't sweat it! Hop on in!
Shoot me a PM if you'd like your character to run late, but otherwise, all students should be on time to class.

---

Dallas stiffly shuffled about the classroom, uncomfortable in the clothes he was wearing, but it was all an act, he’d surprise the students later once he’d gotten them all settled down. Sitting on the desk was a large plastic bin full with balls of fluffy adorableness. He intended for the first class with the fourth years to run quickly and smoothly, as well as the students having fun as well. He opened the door a few minutes early, just in case an early bird wanted to get here in time to pick whatever seat they so choose.

Dallas’s precious hat was tucked under his desk. On the board were the instructions, written as neatly as Dallas could in white chalk.


Dallas didn’t want to appear too formal, he decided that standing up, facing the door, or sitting at his desk staring forwards were all a little stiff, instead, Dallas sat on top of his desk, playing with his favorite puffskein. The room had been rearranged a bit, tanks and small perches had been placed near the windows, his augurey sat on her perch, her sad little head tucked under her wing. Pictures and posters of creatures were hung up around the room, the windows were slightly ajar, letting a light, cool breeze circulate through the room.

The desks were in a circle, so he could see everyone and they could see him, also in case he brought any bigger animals into the classroom, there would be space.

Dallas was a little nervous about his first day, he noticed a few familiar names on his roster. Dallas strode to the back of the room and opened the shades so that the nature light could flood in, it was much too cold to go outside yet, but Dal loved the outdoors too much to block it all off. He felt stiff and rather uptight in this vest, but it was dresscode, which he wasn’t such a fan of, he rather wished the students could wear whatever they wanted, within reason.

Dallas picked up a few pieces of colored chalk and started to sketch different creatures on the board, liking how he could smooth the green on the kelpies mane and the sharp lines on the dragons crowns.

He heard the white noise of passing period and waited for his fourth year class to begin.

Always the overachiever, or at least when it came to showing up to their first class with Dallas, Angie arrived first to the classroom and was greeted by the sight of the brand-new professor in a suit! What was this nonsense? "Did they make you dress up for your first day, professor? Where's your hat?" She teased lightly, but minded her place now that he was actually a professor. She couldn't just outright jab at him now that he would be teaching Care of Magical Creatures.

She set her bag down at a desk near the front and noticed the box of furry, poofy little puffles. "Is Delilah here? And Diego?" She plucked out a little orange puffskein and it hummed happily in her hand and rolled around like it had done when she first met it. "Delilah!" She said happily as the puff purred and rubbed against her soft hands.

This was going to be a great class, Angie thought. But if Dallas didn't fix his wardrobe soon, then she was going to be a bit worried about him. No cowboy hats? Only fancy, adultish clothing? He didn't look like Dallas without a hat. Or... "I think Diego is just dying to give you a new hairdo." She said, plucking out the little lime green puffle. "But maybe you should wait until after class." She said, returning Diego to his box of friends.

A new teacher always meant different expectations, not that she really minded right now. This was her favorite class and as such, one of the only classes she always - with some exceptions of course - made high marks in. If they were shown a creature she had little knowledge about and was interested in Moira would make a trip to the library first chance and do some extra research.

Arriving early as usual she noted Angie already there, which didn't surprise her. Glancing at the board first she nodded to the new professor in acknowledgement then found a seat at the edge, that way she only had to sit beside one person instead of two. After that her eyes fixed on the box of Puffskeins. With something as adorable as those things, maybe the first class wouldn't be terrible. Their year could be rather disastrous at times.

When Gloria Gibbon walked into the classroom to set down her things the first thing she noticed was the box of puffskeins on the professor's desk. "Puffskeins," she said with a forced smile.

Laying out her things she thought of pulling out her monster book of monsters, thought better of it and let it sit bound in the bottom of her bag. Then she noticed how the board's instructions said they didn't need their class materials today and she sighed heavily. Had she known she might have made her bag lighter by not having anything for creatures. Gloria was in every class but muggle studies so her bag was heavy.

"Mr. Locksley," Gloria asked with a raised hand trying to not sound nervous, "are puffskeins the only creatures we will be examining today?"

And are they going to sit on our faces and eat our boogers with their long tongues? But that wasn't a question asked, although the memory made Gloria remember the scent of puffskein.

"Its true!" Ambrose exclaimed on entering the room - with glee and gusto. "O'MORAIN'S GONE!"

Ambrose hadn't hated Declan, but he hadn't been the most popular of Professors (even if he'd probably enthused Ambrose to pull his finger out to avoid turning his favourite subject into a detention-filled nightmare of under achievement), but he had been excited at the Hogwarts grapevine suggesting someone else had taken his place.

For Ambrose, gullible thing he was, had actually been told and believed Hagrid was back, but instead it was the groundkeeper chap that the girls swooned over and begged Zeta to draw for them so they could... well... he could only assume frame and treasure, until he overheard a conversation about lipstick and parchment and felt a little green at the thought. Locksley was nice and all, but he was a lot older than them all, and that'd be like fawning over someone's parent in a romantic way. Ewwwwwwwwww.

He jogged across the room with a grin on his face, spotting Moira and seized the seat beside her.
"Hey Moira!" He greeted with far too much glee, and then looked to the fawned over wizard,
"So do we get to call you Professor Locksley now, or is this only for today, Sir?"

Dallas smiled as the first few students trickled in. They would have the first pick of critters. Angie was very enthused to see him, and he was rather glad the hufflepuff was excited about his new position and shared her...dislike for his ensemble. "You can call me whatever you prefer, Professor Locksley, Dallas, Dal, but when you're around the other professors, it'd be best to just stick with the last name," he winked at Pepper. Honestly, Dallas was uncomfortable with being called sir, or any position of authority title.

"We'll focus mostly on the puffs today, but we may briefly covered a few other creatures." he answered Gibbon. "We'll get into better stuff next week, I just thought since it's our first class, we'd have a little fun, don't worry, you'll be covered in bite and scratch marks in no time."

They'll be covered it bite marks and scratches in no time. Casey made a mental note to skip class.

Creatures did not always aggravate his allergies the way Herbology would, where just being the the stifling air of a greenhouse could alter his breathing. The fun of creatures, learning their abilities and weaknesses, was countered by Casey never being able to have the right gear for handling on account of his skin reaction to leather. Or when the class decided to be about balls of fluff that nearly all of the girls (Ambrose Pepper being shuffled to this category as well) were fawning over.

Casey settled into his seat with a huff. Why was the term fawning over? What did immature deer and/or half goat demons cousin to centaurs have to do with unwarrented overeager fascination with something?

"So what fun is there to be had with puffskeins?" Casey asked as ideas came to mind. Seeing if they exploded with a heating spell? Charging them with static and sticking them to the ceiling?

"Okay." Gloria tried not to sound disappointed. Sometimes she thought it was a very odd thing indeed to not like puffskeins like other people. To have rather strange childhood experiences that made her not like puffskeins all that much.

Well, the unit wasn't going to be long. Gloria reserved herself to sigh, blowing up the lock of hair frequently missed by her headbands as she propped her head in her hands.

It wasn't enough that Hogwarts seemed to change CoMC professors like one would socks, but now they were presented with this ridiculous character that was supposed to pass as an instructor? Amara was not one to care for such fickle things like fashion, even if she would never be caught dead wearing something less than acceptable, but who even wore flannel in this day and age? Much less in a classroom. To make matters worse they were supposed to study puffskeins. Amara felt like she was ten all over again. It was distasteful and disrespectful to their education. Even a five year old raised in the wizarding world knew how to care for the creature, for Circe's sake...

She sat next to Angie and gave a her a short nod and a tight smile as she dropped her bag at the foot of her desk. The lesson was sure to be a bore, but she could at least entertain herself with Miss Lemon. Perhaps she'd test her charm again, if only just a little bit. She smiled to herself, and straightened her back, crossing her legs and leaning her elbows on the desk. She listened to her colleagues easily converse with the new professor, Locksley, as he introduced himself and she was seconds away from laughing out loud at the man. Professors were not there to make friends with students, or have fun with them. They were there to educate and instruct and they had already lost enough and wasted precious class time since Professor Hagrid had left.

Amara rolled her eyes at O'Doherty's comment. Of course he'd inquire as to what fun one could have with puffskeins. The boy was outrageous. Finally the vein in her temple was twitching rather violently and the tapping of her fingers on the desk was proving too much for her recently shortened temper. "Spherical in shape, covered in soft fur of varying color. Can be found worldwide. Omnivore, tendency to scavenge. Its tongue is very long, pink and can be extended over large areas to search for food. It is very docile and ridiculously easy to care for, fact that over the years has made it a highly popular pet. It will emit a low humming noise when satisfied. It holds a M.O.M classification of XX" she said completely unamused and a bit aggravated, while looking at one of her hands and noticing she could use a manicure.

"I'm sorry, Professor Locksley" she said, finally raising her head to look at the man and gave him a bright smile. Internally, she was grinding her teeth and crying over Hogwarts' lost standards. "I didn't mean to be rude, sir." Yes, she had. This man ought to be teaching ten year olds. "But I think most of us could agree that puffskeins are a bit under our level..." she mused, trying for a slightly embarrassed voice. She wasn't yet getting the hang of expression, but she hoped she was improving. She had gotten to work with a thestral the past semester, back in the good days, when capable professors like Rubeus Hagrid were teaching. And now they were doing puffskeins?

Dallas frowned, apparently puffskeins weren't the best idea, and he wasn't all that thrilled with Miss Báthory's snarky response, but she knew her stuff. "Alright Miss Báthory, I will award you 3 points for your house for an outstanding answer, " Dallas shed his stuffy professor robes and grabbed his wand off the desk, transfiguring his clothes into his normal, comfortable garb. "Would you join me at my desk please?" He grabbed his cowboy hat out from underneath his desk and plopped it onto his head.

He also grabbed a small wire cage from a slightly ajar drawer. A teeny, tiny kelpie sitting inside, fast asleep by a sleeping spell. A small leather bridle around it's thumb-nail sized head. Locksley waved his wand and the tiny equine beast awoke. He opened the wire cage and let the kelpie step onto his hand, he placed it down on the floor. "Engorgio" The beast swelled to it's normal size, tossing it's seaweed mane about it's noble head. It looked at Dallas like an old friend, a glint of mischief in his eye.

"Now, what do you say about this Miss Báthory?" He gestured for the rest of the class to come down from their seats and stand near the kelpie. "Would you care to demonstrate how to properly mount a tamed beast like such?" He said to the almost-white haired slytherin.

---

Everyone react however they seem fit!

She nodded tightly at the professor. This was something she could definitely do. Her work with Layla, the thestral in her care was getting so much better and she was a relatively experienced horsewoman. Amara relaxed her posture and lowered her gaze as to not look the creature directly into its eyes. She slowly took a few steps, with her body tilted away, walking into the kelpie's visual field, looking as disinterested as possible in the animal. As soon as she was sure the creature had not rejected her, by either turning hits head or moving in the slightest, she raised her eyes to watch its ears. Seeing as they were pointed towards her, she started walking slowly, with a sincere smile on her face. Continuing to keep its attention and watch for any tell-tales of her presence not being wanted she continued to approach it.

Once she was fairly close to the animal she stopped and waited a couple of second for its reaction before carefully presenting her hand for a sniff. Amara's face broke into a full smile the second the creature's nose touched her hand. "Well, aren't you the loveliest" she said softly, letting the kelpie sniff her. She turned her body to move her hand to its neck, giving the kelpie a nice scratch. "Okay, lovely, how about you let me hop on now, hmm" she said just as softly, giving it a nice pat as she moved to its side. One hand still on its neck she looked around for a few moments, brows furrowed in concentration. Finally, she very silently and with as few moves as possible, levitated one of the chairs as close to her as possible and just as carefully placed it next to her. The chair would have to do if no mounting block was available.

Once up on the chair she placed her weight on the left foot and swung her right leg gently over the kelpie's hind quarters, careful not to kick the creature while doing so. Settled on its back, she firmly but without much pressure anchored her weight round the kelpie's middle and gave it a firm pat on its neck. "Is this satisfying, Professor?" she asked, still focused on the creature, smiling absentmindedly.

Dallas admired Amara's courage in mounting the beast. It seemed almost second nature to her as she swung her leg over the kelpie's back. "Very good Miss Bathory, 5 points to Slytherin for a perfectly executed mounting of a fantastic beast!" Dallas went to his desk and made five tally marks next to Amara's name in his attendance list. Locksley clapped his hands together one loud time. "Now then, who can tell me where the largest Kelpie can be found and what form is prefers to take?"[1]

"And what is the other water dwelling relative of the Kelpie? Miss Bathory, you may dismount, thank you for the demonstration." The class wasn't going terribly, not as he had planned at all, but this seemed a bit more interesting than puffskeins rolling around the classroom.

1.	Hint Hint: Nessie

In a moment class veered off like a wayward broom from puffball puffskeins to enlarging water horse thingies that the professor kept in cages under his desk. The shock of seeing one enlarge in class nearly knocked Gloria Gibbon out of her seat. A shock seconded by the mysterious Báthory taking the saddle as if she rode muder water horses to her Sunday bath.

Just where was Gloria getting these analogies today?

"Um," Gloria remembered to raise her hand, frantically recalling somnething she had skimmed in the textbook and mangaling the name in the process. "Hippokrampus? Grows up out of those tadfools. I mean, tadfoals." Giggle *snort*

Her answer broke into giggles when something tickled her leg, then the giggles broke into a shriek when she realized it was a puffskein that had been knocked astray when the kelpie enlarged so Gloria reflexively punted it away with her foot.

Bathory once again took everything in her stride, and Ambrose found himself, not for the first time, wondering what could trip her up in life. Gibbon tried to answer their new professor's question, and he too found himself giggling at the way she had pronounced tadfoals as tadfools but he was startled as she jumped.

The puffskein shot away from Gloria's foot and back towards the hooves of the kelpie. Ambrose gave an involuntary squeak from beside Moira, worried it would be trampled on the classroom floor.

"Mind out!" He called a little too loudly, and pointed with his wand without a second thought, a reflex reaction, and then noticed the whole class taking cover instinctively.

Dallas patiently listened as Gibbon tripped over her words, “Yes, very, very good Miss Gibbon. A point to Gryffindor for a correct answer.” He tried not to laugh as the girl squeaked and kicked the puffskein away from her. He’d never heard of someone who had a fear of the little fur balls. He held up his hand to prevent Ambrose from hexing the poor little puff and to grab the reins that jerked upwards as the kelpie sharply pulled back its head. Dallas laid his other hand gently on the beast’s cheek and rubbed a finger counter-clockwise on the kelpie’s forehead.

The Scottish cowboy crouched down, making sure to keep one hand on the disgruntled water horse as he picked up the small puffskein and straightened himself up, blowing dust off the puff’s head. “Well, this has been a very exciting class.” Dallas said, walking through the small mass of teenagers, holding the puff out to Gloria. “These will be your first project for me.” He walked back up to the blackboard and scratched the assignment on to the board.


“You can choose to make observations in a data table, or simply bullet points. You will be graded on thoroughness and the level of detail in your observations. Carry them in your pockets, bags, keep them in your dormitory, and keep them well fed, or else they will lick the insides of your face.” He warned them.

Dallas placed his hat on top of his head. “Class dismissed”.

That wasn't bad at all.

---

SLYTHERIN
AMARA BATHORY + 9 (Attendance and Participation)
CASEY O'DOHERTY + 1 (Attendance)
TOTAL = 10 POINTS

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GRYFFINDOR
GLORIA GIBBON + 2 (Attendance, correct answer)
AMBROSE PEPPER + 1 (Attendance)
TOTAL = 3 POINTS

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HUFFLEPUFF
ANGIE LEMON + 1 (Attendance)
MOIRA MCBOID + 1 (Attendance)
TOTAL= 2 POINTS

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RAVENCLAW
NO RAVENCLAWS IN ATTENDANCE