Care of Magical Creatures
7th Years
8:00AM-9:00AM
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

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The seventh years deserved a treat, Declan thought. NEWTs were coming up soon and although they would certainly need to do a review class (or two or three) he wanted to have one big review about one of the most often asked about creatures on the tests: dragons! So he had managed to get permission from the RCMC, along with a couple of their employees on hand, to have a couple of dragons. When he'd owled Griffon Manley the request, the older gent had been happy to oblige and lend out a few employees. And, of course, the stipulation was to have dragons of the more gentle types, and that they all be very young. The dragons were also sedated- so that they would be quite dull in comparison to standard dragon behavior.

Chained up out on the grounds were two young dragons- a Common Welsh Green and a Swedish Short-Snout. Declan hoped they would enjoy the class. It wasn't often a person got to meet a dragon face to face off of a reservation and in a safe, controlled setting. "Everyone gather round, don't be rowdy today- we have two very special guests for this class period."

Chance Ryker had been rebounding and returning to his former promise for awhile now.  The Gryffindor prefect had been socializing and getting out and about more.  He was trying new things, meeting new people, and all other manner of things that seemed shocking for the former "King of Slackers."  His grades and attendance were certainly improving...and now CoMC was going to be featuring one of his favorite animals: dragons!  Things were looking up for Ryker...and hopefully the trend would continue.

The unnaturally green eyed, spiky haired youth glanced about the scaly creatures...but couldn't help but keep that infamous half smile of his from appearing.  Chance popped his black, leather jacket collar with a playful enthusiasm.  It seemed he could barely stand still and was shifting his weight back and forth between his ebon, leather boot clad feet.  He muttered under his breath with his Irish brogue rolling right through...

"Oh yeah...let's do this thing!"

Fauna had gotten the sleep out of her eyes very quickly when she'd spotted dragons on the grounds this morning. The young dragons watched the students with heavy-lidded eyes, flicking their tails and making snorting sounds every once in a while. She grinned, looking forward to this. Professor Ó Móráin likely had everything planned, so she wasn't worried much about danger, and gathered around when he told them to, studying the creatures with interest.

Chance looked about ready to jump out of his skin with enthusiasm. Fauna smiled at him, lips pursed to keep from laughing at the popped collar move. It was good to see him happy again.

Dragons. Dax didn't know if that was awesome or if it was....well, of course it was awesome, they were bloody dragons!

Dax grinned his usual lopsided grin, standing with his hands in his pockets. They weren't full size, to his disappointment - the possible danger of a full adult not crossing his mind. "What're we doing with them, Professor?" He asked - the smarter part of his mind piping up to point out there wasn't much to do with dragons other than look at 'em...well. There were plenty of things to do with dragons, but he needed all of his fingers. The ladies would be so disappointed if he lost some or got lit on fire.

Lit on fire! That'd made this lesson interesting, all right.

"Oh yeah...let's do this thing!"

Merlin's knickers, thought Eveline. I just barely get back from spending the full moon in werewolf jail, and now it's dragons?

Fortunately they didn't seem to be full-grown dragons, and in fact they were rather cute. If you like dragons, which from the looks of things Dax and Chance did. Eveline wasn't ready to commit herself, one way or the other; and she was glad to note that she wasn't the only one. Fauna appeared to be about as wary as she was.

It was too bad the dragons had to be on chains, but of course you couldn't have dragons running loose around people. Or could you?

"What're we doing with them, Professor?"

Eveline looked to Professor O'Morain for the answer to that. She hoped it wouldn't require getting too close...

Declan was quite pleased with the way the students reacted to seeing live dragons. "Don't get too excited, Mr. Ryker. Dragons- even whelps- can be quite dangerous." But even with the reprimand, the deputy headmaster kept smiling. Even the students could tell that he was in a particularly good mood and rather excited for the lesson.

"As you can all obviously see we do have two dragons available. We also have some employees of the RCMC on hand to help us with them- for safety reasons. These are young dragons and they have been sedated to help ensure the safety of all students."

"Before we launch into what the dragons are doing here- can anyone tell me which breed of dragons we have in front of us, and what they know about that particular breed?" Declan asked- eyeing his seventh years. It should be a relatively easy question, since dragons were one of the first things that witches and wizards learned about- even before coming to Hogwarts.

The Gryffindor prefect grinned and nodded in an acknowledging fashion to the professor's warning.  Nevertheless, his excitement was still rather obvious.  Chance typically didn't chime in first thing, but this was a time in which he didn't want to wait around while everyone held back and waited around until it was awkward enough that someone had to answer.  He wanted to get this lesson underway!  Ryker gestured to each dragon as he answered the professor's question.

"Common Welsh Green's a pretty subdued breed...typically nests in th' mountains an' prefers lamb chops fer dinner...
Swedish Short Snout comes from Sweden, pretty intense flame, not as mobile on its feet since it's not got th' front two limbs..."

If there was anything Chance hated, it was sounding like a know-it-all.  Here however...he just wanted the task out of the way.  He wasn't showing off by any means.

Declan smiled. "Excellent answer, Mr. Ryker! Ten points to Gryffindor for identifying both dragon types and for the extra information."

"The Welsh Green is native to Wales. Their eggs are usually brown colored with green speckles. Mr. Ryker is correct that it does tend to nest in the mountains and prefers to eat sheep- which is why Wales is such a nice place for them, due to a lot of the cattle and sheep farming. Their flame comes in narrow jets. It's one of the least dangerous breeds of dragons- though it is important to note that all breeds can be dangerous. Dragons are not something to be trifled with!"

"The Swedish Short Snout is from Sweden. It tends to live in wild, uninhabited areas- it's not very people friendly, because it isn't used to having anyone to answer to but itself. It's usually a silvery-blue in hue, and its flames are also bright blue. It is a particularly dangerous dragon."

"What are some common uses for dragon parts in our world, then?" he asked. "And which parts are often harvested from dragons?"