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(16/2/04 9:36 pm) Reply
Second Class: Unicorns
Tarus Kettleburn beat his students to the enclosure nearest the Forbidden Forest with a good ten minutes to spare. He was a good deal calmer this class, he thought with a sardonic smile, than he had been last time. Blast Dumbledore for making him do sphinxes - and blast himself for choosing to do them the first class of term. Oh well, at least they were out of the way. He wouldn't mention them again once this term, see if he did. Although they did come up in the exams...
His train of thought was cut short by a welcoming noise, somewhere between a horse's nicker and a low chime, from the unicorns in the enclosure. There were two of them. They were a mother and her foal; the first was the size of a large horse, purest white, and the second was deep gold, about half the size of its mother.
Kettleburn reached forward gently to stroke first the mother's nose and then her child. Unicorns were generally distrustful of humans - especially men - but these two were different. Kettleburn had rescued the mother the previous year from the Forbidden Forest, where she had been lying wounded. He assumed that her very pregnant state had slowed her, although he did not know what it was that had given her the long cut along her side. Remembering it, Kettleburn felt a shadowy uneasiness - things that went around hurting unicorns did not belong in the Forest. He shrugged the feeling off, gave the unicorns a last gentle pat, and turned to greet the students.
The class filled in fast, crowding as close to the enclosure as Kettleburn would let them (which was not very) and craning their necks to get a better view of the unicorns.
"I know you're very excited, and today will be an interesting lesson," Kettleburn said with a hint of a smile after the class had quieted down. "However, unicorns are highly distrustful and easily frightened creatures, and so I must ask you to follow my directions to the letter." He shot a sharp look at the place where Sirius Black and James Potter and the rest of their friends stood, and another in the direction of the handful of Slytherins grouped slightly apart from the rest.
"Unicorns are very gentle and intelligent creatures. They are largely mistrustful of humans, as humans are known in the beast world for their ruthlessness and cruelty. However, a unicorn is also a very good judge of character, and can often tell when a person's heart is free of malice. You will find," he added with another glance at the older Gryffindor boys, "That they do not often feel comfortable around causers of mayhem.
"Unicorns prefer the woman's touch to the man's, and will often shy away from someone they deem shifty. Younger unicorns are more trusting, which is why we will be dividing into groups of boys and girls in order to get closer to these unicorns - girls to the mother, boys to the foal. But not yet," he added and raised a hand as several of the students made to follow his instructions at that second.
"Besides being beautiful and creature-wise, unicorns are extremely useful creatures. The horn and tail hair are used in many potions, as is unicorn water, as you have probably experienced." Kettleburn's face tightened as he continued. "The blood of the unicorn is also highly valuable as it has life-prolonging properties. Unicorn blood is extremely rare and brings scandalously high prices on the black market, as people rarely sell it. Only those who are desparate and devoid of feeling will seek unicorn blood, for it is a terrible thing to kill a unicorn. Although its blood may prolong one's life, it will be a life haunted by guilt and misery, and the knowledge that one has killed something purely innocent."
There was a silence. After a moment, Kettleburn resumed his lecture. "These particular unicorns have lived for a year at Hogwarts. The mother I found in the Forbidden Forest last year, wounded. She was cared for and healed here, and the foal was born here as well. After this class they will both be released back into the Forest.
"Now, please separate - boys to the right and girls to the left. When I call, you may come one at a time to see the unicorns. Please keep your voices low and your touch gentle. One moment, please."
Kettleburn vaulted over the fence several feet away from the unicorns, anxious not to startle them. Slowly he approached the two creatures and, as slowly, led the foal to the other side of the enclosure. Kettleburn sighed with relief; the mother apparently trusted him enough to let him move her child. He hopped the fence again and returned to the assembled class.
"You may go now," he said. "Please stay in groups of one or two - too many people together will frighten them. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me."
Ali and Mari paired together and walked over to the mother unicorn.
"She's so pretty," Mari said.
"Yeah," Ali agreed. "Professor," She said aloud. "You said that adult unicorns prefer a woman's touch, well, why is that? And does that go the same for male unicorns?"
Ali heard a few unsuppressed laughs coming from the pairs of boys, but ignored them and looked at the professor expectantly.
Proud Resident
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(17/2/04 8:43 pm) Reply
Re: Second Class: Unicorns
"As a general rule, women are believed to have less aggressive natures than men," Kettleburn said wryly. "This is not always true, and unicorns will not go to all women. Likewise, some men are able to approach a unicorn with far less trouble than many women. And yes, it is true of both male and female unicorns.
"There is, however, another factor contributing to this preference," he added, raising his voice to make sure that everyone caught this. "Historically, domesticated unicorns were kept by noble wizarding families - it was rather a status symbol. Most often these unicorns were the especial pets of the daughters or sometimes the young wives of the noblemen - certainly, the women of the household found more time to give to the creature than the men. As any creature's temperament may adapt to its surroundings, this preference has stayed.
"It has been a very long time since unicorns were domesticated, though -" he didn't want any of the students getting any ideas - "And it is now considered a crime worthy of investigation and punishment to capture or keep a unicorn for reasons not declared Reasonable and Acceptable by the Ministry of Magic."
bookworm Professor
Posts: 163
(18/2/04 8:44 pm) Reply
Rose
Rose and her friends were about halfway back in the girls line. She was on her toes, craning her neck to see the unicorn better. bookworm
Lizzie
Lizzie slowly walked up to the mother unicorn. She's so beautiful, Lizzie thought. She looked over to where the boys were approaching the baby unicorn. The boy who was examining the foal right then was very jittery. The unicorn extended his nose in a friendly curious way, and the boy almost jumped out of his skin. Poor foal, she silently said to herself.
bookworm Professor
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(19/2/04 7:16 pm) Reply
an impatient Rose
Rose bownced up and down on her toes. she hoped that the girls in front of her would hurry.
Proud Resident
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(19/2/04 8:34 pm) Reply
Unicorns
When it came her turn Morgan moved to the unicorn slowly and quietly, as Kettleburn had advised. Unlike many of her friends, she had never had a passion for animals...but the unicorns seemed practically to invite you to come up and pet them.
Cautiously she reached out a hand toward the brilliantly white animal and let it come to rest on the soft, short hair of the unicorn's nose, a handsbreadth below its large dark eyes. The unicorn was soft, much softer than any horse she had ever felt (which didn't say much, but still). Morgan kind of liked it.
~*~
"How much you think you could sell that thing for?" Sirius asked James. "It looks like solid gold. Reckon it'd ring if we banged it?"
"That's not funny, Padfoot," Remus reprimanded from behind the pair. "Unicorns are really, really, really protected by every creature-protection law you've ever heard of. Especially baby ones."
"Are you implying something, Moony?" Sirius asked with an injured air. "I am a paragon of integrity. I wouldn't dream of selling a poor, helpless, little solid gold baby unicorn that could quite possibly put food in my mouth, feed my starving children, and see me through school."
"Right, because you're so destitute," James interjected in a voice laden with sarcasm.
"Well, I obviously am," Sirius pointed out philosophically. "After all, you're the one whose hospitality I intrude on every summer."
LDSPrincess924 Supreme Ruler
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(19/2/04 9:08 pm) Reply
Re: Unicorns
Aiden patted the golden foal on the nose - he could understand why someone would want to keep one as a pet. But, as he continued petting it, he was sure it would be more endearing free and wild than in some enclosure to be coddled endlessly. "Professor, what do unicorns eat? Just general shrubby stuff, or what?"
~~~
Marti approached the unicorn slowly. It eyed her carefully, and Marti held out her hand. The mother studied it carefully for a moment and touched it with her nose. Marti smiled softly and gently rubbed the unicorn's smooth, shining white hair. The unicorn snuffled at her hair and she giggled - but stopped quickly and took a step back from the unicorn. Several heads had snapped to stare at her, eyebrows raised. She looked about coldly and retreated from the enclosure.
~~~
James, ignoring Sirius' philosophic comment, nudged his shoulder. "Hey, look, Marti's stomping off." James grinned, "No time like the present to begin wiggling your way into her affections."
LDSPrincess924
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Proud Resident
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(19/2/04 9:21 pm) Reply
Re: Unicorns
Sirius eyed Marti uncertainly. "Right," he said, assuming an air of bravado despite the overwhelming odds. "The noble knight, off to rescue his princess. Although I think it might be more along the lines of slaying a dragon with this one."
Pulling himself up grandly and gathering every ounce of his irresistable masculine charm, he strode confidently over to where Marti skulked at the edge of the group.
"Hello, Marti," he said grandiosely, giving a small bow. "You look distressed. Something wrong?" Carefully he molded his face into a perfect mask of sympathy. He was confident she'd end up crying on his shoulder. It never failed.
bookworm Professor
Posts: 179
(20/2/04 6:43 pm) Reply
humph.
OOC: he is a stuck up prig. Not much for Rose to right now, thoug, it would only interrupt.
Carmondy/Narcissa/Alvin
Carmondy nervously chewed he fingernail and whispered to Rose, "It's going to bite me, I just know it. Will you stop jumping? It's making me nervous! I bet they can sense it when your nervous. Like dogs. And dogs always attack when they're nervous. Hen used to have a dog, and it attacked me when I was like five so Grandmother made him get rid of it. Or she thought she did. Grandfather actually kept it hidden for a good two weeks afterwards, but sooner or later she found out."
* * * * * *
Narcissa stood leaning against the gate waiting for her turn with a bored expression on her face.
* * * * * *
Alvin had always hated being short, but he hated it now more than ever. He couldn't see a THING.
LDSPrincess924 Supreme Ruler
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(20/2/04 8:12 pm) Reply
Re: Carmondy/Narcissa/Alvin
Marti gazed back at Sirius stonily. "Since when did you concern yourself with the distress of others?" And why on earth are you concerned with MY 'distress'?
LDSPrincess924
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bookworm Professor
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(20/2/04 9:01 pm) Reply
Rosalee
"I'm not nervous Carmondy." she said. "I just want to see the unicorn." she added with a smile, "You may have forgotten, bnut I do believe that you do have alot more to be worried about. I have grown up with Horses...you probably forgot, it isn't as if they come visit here or anything....I want to see the unicorn myself, see what is different, ans whats is the same." Caromndy continued to bite her nails. Rose allowed herself a small laugh. Animals rarely liked Carmondy, not that she didn't like them, it was just that.......Rose didn't know. Animals Just didn't like her. Period.
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(20/2/04 10:10 pm) Reply
Sir Sirius
"I always lend a hand to those who need it," Sirius said gallantly, and tried to wrap an arm around Marti's shoulder in what he thought was a comforting manner. To his chagrin, she just glared at him and shrugged it off.
"No need to get angry," Sirius said with a hurt expression. "In fact, that's exactly why you should talk to me. Get it off your chest, it'll stop beothering you. In fact, I know just the spot." He gestured toward a towering tree a few feet away. "You've seen the unicorn, I've seen the unicorn - well, mostly - and it'll be a minute before old Kettleburn takes up his lecture again. Just the right amount of time to get happy again." Sirius stealthily replaced the arm, smiling his most dazzling as he did so.
His plan was working. Mostly. There was only one hitch - otherwise, he was completely confident. The only problem was that the one hitch was rather a big hitch...black-haired, grey-eyed, named Katoka Martin.
Hannah
It was finally her turn. Hannah approached the mother unicorn carefully, not wanting to startle the animal. She held her hand out for the unicorn to snuffle. Then gently, gently, quivering with excitement, Hannah laid her hand on the beautiful creatures nose. The hair was softer than on horse Hannah had ever felt, which was saying something.
As a child, she had always dreamed of being able to touch a unicorn, and now she was here doing it. She could hardly believe it.
But other people were waiting in line behind her. Hannah tore herself away, keeping her hand on the animal's nose until the last minute.
Carmondy
OCC: er, bookworm, your reply to Carmondy didn't really make sense. She didn't say that ROSE looked nervous, she said that the jumping was making HER nervous.
bookworm Professor
Posts: 201
(21/2/04 4:10 pm) Reply
Rose
OOC: Rose wasn't really listening, she was paying more attention to the unicorn, alright?
Proud Resident
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(21/2/04 8:54 pm) Reply
Lily
Lily moved forward to touch the unicorn when her turn came. She had glimpsed the unicorns last year, when the foal had first been born, but this was her first opportunity to touch one. It was soft - nearly as soft as a plush toy or a fleece jacket. Although she wasn't much of a one for animals, she thought she rather liked this one.
LDSPrincess924 Supreme Ruler
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(21/2/04 9:54 pm) Reply
Re: Lily
Marti removed Black's arm from her shoulder and stared at him with disbelieving contempt. "Sirius Black, what do you WANT? I know perfectly well that you don't care two knuts for anyone but yourself, even your fawning admirers - all those girls who hang around you, AND Potter and Lupin and Pettigrew. So don't try to pretend otherwise, playing the gallant knight in shining armor. Go pester someone who will find it flattering. The only thing I find it is nauseating."
LDSPrincess924
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Proud Resident
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(21/2/04 9:57 pm) Reply
Sirius & Marti
"Temper, Martin," Sirius said, concealing his inward frostiness with an easily bantering - not to mention endearing - tone. "What makes you think it's so fake?" He lowered his voice, making his face a mask of concern and feeling. "I really care about you, Marti, and I hate to see you struggling so much."
LDSPrincess924 Supreme Ruler
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(21/2/04 10:09 pm) Reply
Re: Sirius & Marti
Marti stood and looked at Black blankly. "You are a moron." She shook her head at him and walked away.
LDSPrincess924
Supreme ruler of my own little world...
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