Skyler was not pleased to be in COMC. She did not really like the professor anymore. Either that or she was still a bit angry that he sat back and did nothing as all the students were being tortured last year. She guessed it was a lot better then having the previous professor but still, she knew he was spying and all but he could not step in? Even in an emergency?
Could I help? Sam had asked her in her head. By now, she had gotten used to hearing him in her head. Skyler shook her head in real life.
No, I'm fine
She sighed and gave the professor a respectful nod, a slight glare in her eyes. Did he catch it? She hoped he did.
"Hello Professor Wayland, how are you doing?" she asked.

Thank Merlin that Professor Wayland had used sufficient warming spells, because even though Madison had made sure to bundle up before making her way to class, she didn't particularly want to be cold.

Smiling, she joined the others. She couldn't wait to find out what they would be learning about today. "Hello, Professor Wayland." This should be fun.

Tristan quickly drank the rest of his tea and with a flick of his wand the cup disappeared. With another flick, his hay bale throne dismantled and made it's way back to the pile of hay bales just outside of the barn. As he turned away from the deconstructing throne, he gave the class a very excited smile. "Hello everyone! Welcome to Care of Magical Creatures...and have I got an exciting lesson for you all today!" He was so excited he was bouncing on the balls of his feet.

The man paced a little in front of the class, knowing he had to tell them what it was. The creature could be deemed...potentially dangerous. But the specific one that they would be working with today was around humans all the time. That being said...“Because the creature we are working with today is potentially dangerous, I will be telling you what it is before I bring it out for you.” He paused to clear his throat, his nerves of having this creature around his students was getting the better of him, but they needed to learn about these creatures too. “Today we will be working with the Zouwu. But before we do I have some questions for you.” His excitement and nervousness was starting to be visible and he knew he needed to calm down.

As he took a breath, he stopped in the middle of the semi-circle and looked around at all of his students. Tristan took a deep breath, and asked, "Other than the Zouwu, what other cat-like magical creatures are there? That can include big cats and small cats and from anywhere in the world, not just here in the United Kingdom." He said with a grin, and waited patiently for hands to shoot up into the air.



OOC: Alright lovlies! You have 24 hours to answer the question! Make it interesting! Make mistakes! Please, limit it to one creature so everyone has a chance! And just have fun!

Skyler blinked as she thought of an answer. May not be a good answer but she'd at least try.
Why are we answering his questions?
So he doesn't say anything about it
"I know they're technically not magical cats but an animagus sir," she had an idea and ran with it.

Torii watched as the professor poof'ed his cup into thin air then dismantled his hay bale throne in the blink of an eye. Well, somebody was being a little extra today, now weren't they? Torii bit her lip to hold back a light laugh. This professor was so full of life, and Torii thought that was great.

The fourth year blinked. Potentially dangerous? What in the name of Merlin did he have back there anyway? She craned her neck to try and see something, but whatever it was, was well-hidden.

A ZOUWU?!

As in, those cats that were basically the size of an elephant? Okay, okay. She was out of here! Everybody else could play fetch with a giant cat if they wanted to, but this Slytherin was OUT.

Just kidding.

Her curiosity was getting the best of her, and that was the main reason she was staying. The other reason was that this was a class, and she couldn't just get up and walk off. As for his question... "There's kneazles," she said, her hand in the air. She could say a few facts about them, too, but he'd only asked them to list a creature.

Also...WHY was she suddenly itching like her life depending on? Seriously? She clawed at her arm a little as she sat on her hay bale.

Nettie had a cat. She LOVED cats. She loved all animals, really. Hopefully this meant they got to play with some cute kittens! Even if they were magical, that would be the BEST lesson ever!

She raised her hand. "The sphinx is kind of a cat, right? It's like a half woman half cat thing," she explained. And apparently they gave riddles that you had to solve, and if you didn't, they...ate you? Or something?

Something out of the corner of Nettie's eye caught her attention. She looked at Torii, raising an eyebrow. "Are you allergic to hay?" she asked her in concern. If she was, maybe she should ask the professor for alternative seating arrangements?

Stella's eyes widened with wonder, she heard her cousin tell her about them but never seen them before. They looked so big and cuddly like a big cat that wanted cuddles in the books she read about them. Stella loved cats just as much as she loved dogs, they were so friendly and cuddly. She never seen these up close before, she only seen them in pictures and books she read. This was going to be a good lesson she could feel it!

Listening to Professor Wayland's question she raised her hand. "What about a Wampus professor? My cousin said he studied them in America." Besides all the others ones were said, that was the only one she knew of.

Dangerous creature? Was it a unicorn? Unicorns were rated at potentially dangerous creatures, possibly due to the difficulty in capturing them or taming them. All year Cordelia had been hoping to see a unicorn. Oh, it still wasn’t unicorns. Not even winged horses. A zouwu? What was a zouwu? From Professor Wayland’s question, Cordelia inferred that it must be some sort of magic cat. He said he was going to bring it out, and she was imagining something no larger than a golden retriever. Cats were not exactly Cordelia’s area of expertise. She could name all sorts of horses, magical and mundane, but cats? Cordelia didn’t know that much about cats. She desperately wished that they would have a lesson on unicorns or the winged horses. Unicorns and horses were her favorite. But no, this lesson was about stupid cats and she needed to think about cats instead of unicorns. ”Kneazles!” Yes, someone had already said that but she couldn’t think of any other magical cats. She had seen kneazles in the pet shop before. Did lions or tigers count? No, too mundane. So kneazles it was. That was why she was here to learn, after all. Now, when were they going to have a lesson on equine creatures? Dogs would be good too. Dogs were one of her other favorites after unicorns and horses. Not being able to keep a unicorn as a pet, Cordelia had always wanted to get a puppy but of course she had never been allowed to get one, no matter how much she pestered Lorelai Stemp on the subject. Maybe in the future they would learn about crups? Honestly Cordelia was upset that it still wasn’t unicorns. Where was her unicorn? She was too tired to deal with not unicorns today, but she was trying her best to have the appearance of showing some interest in cats. Was she allowed to cry because it wasn’t a unicorn?

There still were no clues about what sort of creature they would be studying today, but luckily Indigo's curiosity was settled almost as soon as the lesson started. A Zouwu, huh? Indigo didn't know much about that, but he did know that it was some sort of cat dragon thing, and he was actually pretty excited to see one. Other kinds of cat-like creatures though... he tried to think. The first thing he thought of was a sphinx. Someone else said that, but he decided it would be fine to elaborate on that answer. "Sphinxes are cat-like. Body of a lion, I believe, and lions are a type of big cat. Sphinxes are native to Egypt." And, if he was remembering correctly, Zouwus were native to...China? He was pretty sure that was it.

To be working with a Zouwu certainly piqued Daisy's interest and admittedly, her nerves. She listened attentively to the other student's answers and was struggling to find an answer that hadn't been said. She adjusted herself on her haybale seat and then raised her hand. "Chimaera? It is just that they have the head of a lion."

Sitting on one of the Hay bails, next to Maddy, she was glad to be getting started. Professor Wayland definitely seemed excited for the lesson, so of course she was too. However. The word dangerous gave her a fluttering of nerves deep in her stomach. She didn't want to be killed or hurt by a dangerous creature. Trying to keep her calm, remembering that there was a very capable Professor with them, she pushed her worries aside.

Zouwus. Yes, they were dangerous. But they also looked... somewhat feline. Hanna's favourite family of animals. She listened as some of the other cat-like creatures were listed off. They were all suggestions she knew, and the only other suggestion she could think of...

Raising her hand Hanna said, "The Griffin has the body, hind legs, and tail of a lion." So it had... cat-like body parts.

Tina watched as Professor Wayland got rid of his mug and hay bale throne, and... was she seeing things or was he actually bouncing? Well, someone was in an excitable mood today! Tina wasn't sure whether to be amused, put off, or just plain confused. She wondered what the subject of the lesson could possibly be to get the professor so excited.

Blink, blink. Wait a minute, did he say potentially dangerous?! Tina could feel her heart already racing as panic set in. Please don't be a dragon, please don't be a dragon! she thought as her mind wandered back to a story her dad once told her about a dragon. So the dangerous creature was a zouwu? Well, it was better than a dragon, but that still sounded unsafe. Tina liked creatures, but the bigger dangerous ones made her nervous! At least Professor Wayland hadn't kept everyone in the dark about what they were facing. If he had, she would've been done with this class forever!

Tina was only partly listening to her classmates' answers.
Mostly she was taking her time to mentally prepare for the zouwu, but she also tried to come up with her own answer. Hmm... a cat-like magical creature? One thing came to mind, a creature near and dear to Tina's heart - a crrature she was surprised nonody had mentioned. Her hand shot into the air. "The matagot looks like a big black cat," said Tina, "and when it leaves the wizarding world, it takes the form of a regular cat."

The wink had only teased a grin out of Stasya, even as she wasn’t entirely sure what had caused it. Aside from the fact it seemed that nobody else had inquired about the phoenix as ide from herself, or maybe it was that Professor Wayland had expected her to ask about the bird. Either way, she honestly had been curious about the answer to the question, and knowing Ash was doing well made her feel good. “Maybe I’ll have to pay him a visit the next time I come down to the barns,” she replied, still smiling even as she trailed off when the lesson had begun.

Oddly enough, as the topic of the lesson had been introduced, she thought of two things. One: that Zoryn had apparently stopped asking about dragons either in this class or DADA, and two: she remembered the Zouwu from the carnival over the summer and it made her curious if they were going to be riding these Zouwu too. Actually, she was curious as to what exactly they would be doing with the Zouwu during the lesson at all, if they were working with young Zouwu or old…all the questions, but she held them back for the time being. Odds were she’d get her answers whether or not she asked eventually anyhow.

“Manticores are part-lion, but they’re capable of human speech and sentience, probably because of their human heads,” she offered instead. “Their skin repels most known charms too, which might make them even more dangerous than just because of their venomous tails.” Not that she was particularly scared by the idea. Manticores were just creatures like every other, after all. Even unicorns could be dangerous if they needed to be.

Aaaaand there it was. The professor dropping the grinning persona and noticeably wilting at the seventh year's presence. Here he was TRYING to not be, you know, anything other than the eager student. That was his job, you know? And this class a massive part of his future. On top of Professor Wayland's reactions...there was also the mooncalf under a Lumos spell look in Natalie's eyes when he sat down next to her (and then Bel on the other side of her a bit later). Why was she...looking at him like that? Should he NOT have sat here? Did...what happen between them mean that he wasn't allowed to be her partner in this class anymore? Was HE being insensitive and forcing his presence on her now?

But before he could ask anything, class began and Derf forced his attention back to the professor while he tended to a rather persistent itch on the back of his hand.

Feline creatures. That was...well...wow. Glancing at Natalie out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but feel like they had just come full circle. First lesson of their first year had been kneazles...and he had blown up a litter box and got feces all over her. Now, in their seventh year, they were revisiting felines and on a much larger scale. Maybe...maybe this could be an almost symbolic sort of restart? He wanted to think that way at least. Maybe this time they could do things right by one another. "Reminds me of our first year," he whispered to her as a few of their classmates mentioned kneazles. But soon his hand was up to offer up a different answer of his own. "The nundu," he spoke confidently. "Native to East Africa and an incredibly powerful and beautiful feline creature...stronger than a dragon when it comes to magical resistance really...seeing how many wands it takes to effectively subdue them and their poisonous breath."

Malachi listens to everyone else as he sits as the professor had asked then starts thinking, he doesn’t know many real mythical cat creatures but he does know folklore. "In Japan they have this thing called a Bakeneko, they’re cat Yōkai or demons/ghosts. They look like cats but you can’t hear them walking, when you pet them they’re very static electricity, their eyes also change according to the time of day."

Caolan had turned up at the lesson on time and greeted the Professor as was expected of them. He had sat on a hay bale near the edge of the group and remained pretty much silent amongst all the chit chatter and mumblings of the other students. The sixteen-year-old was pretty good with animals having been brought up on a farm. He was the proud owner of a pair of border collies that used to run around after him on the quad bike as he checked over the land. His Da had loved animals (not as much as he loved plants but still..) and so he had chosen to do Care Of Magical Creatures in honour of him which explained why he was there today.

The Professor started talking about a creature he was only vaguely familiar with however the words ‘potentially dangerous’ definitely stuck out to him and his ears pricked up and interest sparked. Caolan didn’t mind cats, they weren’t his favourite but he certainly didn’t dislike him but the thought of getting to experience a potentially dangerous cat was pretty awesome. As for the question he could think of a lot of cats that weren’t magical but trying to think of one that was magical and hadn’t been mentioned by his peers was a little more difficult. He’d heard of kneazles and the Wampus. He couldn’t think of anything else and so he remained quiet for fear of saying something stupid.

Silent was better than getting something really wrong, right?

GASP. Cats.

Abra loved cats, and all feline creatures, so he suddenly felt about a bazillion times more interested in this lesson than he might usually have been. He was pretty thrilled to be able to see a Zouwu today, that was for sure.

At the question, Abra paused to think, sitting quietly as answers were given around him, before eventually raising his own hand. "A Kelpie could be catlike, as they can take any form?" he said, phrasing it as a question as he knew it wasn't exactly the kind of answer Wayland was looking for. But, you know, worth a shot. His other idea was 'a cat', but that wasn't necessarily magical.

Oh, so they would be working with cats today?

That should be interesting. Madison liked cats and she liked dogs, though of course she had never interacted with a zouwu before and had NO idea how that would go. Generally the idea would scare her at least a little, but she knew that there was no way that Professor Wayland would put them in danger. So everything should be okay.

Annnnnd someone had said nundu, which would have been her first reply. And all the OTHER kinds of cat-like magical creatures that she would have thought of had also been mentioned. Darn. Not really having anything else to add, Madison instead stayed silent and took note of what the others had to say.

Patrick shook his head ready to pay attention to the lesson. He would learn about, A DANGEROUS CAT?!? Why? He just needed tame. He sighed rubbing his shoulder again. He wondered if they would be okay. I mean I’m the history books Draco Malloy nearly got bitten by a hippogriff so he figured anything was possible.

“A wolf... oh wait that’s a dog. Sorry. Ignore me.” Patrick blushed. It was so unlike him to mishear a question and answer t completely wrong. He rubbed his shoulder and prayed Professor Wayland would over look his answer.

Tristan looked around the semi-circle making sure that every student that wanted to answer had before he moved on. "Very good and creative answers, everyone. There are so many interesting cat like magical and non-magical creatures in the world, discovered or not, we could probably talk about them forever." He said with a grin.

"Now," he paused looking around the room, "Before I go on and on about the specifics of the Zouwu, I have one more question for you." He took a deep breath and paced in front of the semi-circle for a moment, before stopping near the blackboard.

"What are some ways of capturing a Zouwu’s attention?" This would question would give some very fun and interesting answers he was sure.



OOC: Y'all are amazing! Please answer the question! You have about 24 hours to do so. Make it interesting and fun!

Zouwu? There was only one response to that: "WHOOOOO!" But she also had a question. "Are going to get to ride one, like at the circus this past summer?" Because that had been fun. Also, she was slightly disappointed that no one had noticed her hair. I mean, come on people, really?

She had no answer to the professor's question because all of the cat-like creatures she could think of had already been mentioned.

As for the next question? "Approach it like a normal cat, with your hand held out for it to sniff. Then, when it deems you okay, pet it." She really had zero idea. For all she knew, that could get your hand bitten off. Also, itching? Still there, thanks for asking.

Whoa. How had he not even thought of that?

His eyes were stuck on Abra for a long moment. A Kelpie. One of this seventh year's favorites. That was such out of the box thinking and Eamon was fully impressed.

But things were moving on and so his attention was redirected as another question was posed. Zouwus were not sea creatures. So Eamon didn't have too much of an idea on this. Sure, he knew Zouwus were cat-like even before Wayland had said so. They had a funny tail too. But beyond that? He didn't know anything else. A photo could only take you so far.

"Something sparkly, professor?" if a ribbon on a stick could get a regular cat's attention, couldn't that be the same for most? "If you wave it, wouldn't it be curious enough to look?"

Stella beamed happily at the fact she gotten the answer right, she'll have to remember to thank Nate later on. Although she loved animals, magical or non magical it didn't mattered she loved them all. So... to say Care of Magical Creatures was her favorite subject here besides Charms of course, she thought she was rather gifted at both of the subjects. Thinking of Professor Wayland's next question she bit her lip thinking hard before she decided to raise her hand.


Surely Zouwu were just like any other cat right? They loved to play as well. What cat didn't like to play with cat toys and stuff? Her cat did, but some cats were different then others though. This was a big cat they were talking about, who knew on this one. Although it was worth a shot, if she was wrong so what? It wouldn't be the first or the last time she was.

Raising her hand she bit her lip. " What about a big ball of yarn Professor? Surely it'll chase after it like most cats do." she said blushing a bit at her answer. She felt a bit silly with her answer but it was all she could think of. Besides who knows, maybe they like chasing big balls of yarn.

Lenora miiight or might not be paying attention.. well actually, she wasn’t. She was busy observing her classmates, who were interesting to say the least. A couple of them were rather silly, though. Hmmm. She absently listened to the professor’s question, fidgeting with the ends of her curly hair. She was rather proud of her beautiful curls.. one of the many things she liked about herself.

“One could try singing.. maybe?” She answered, suddenly remembering to raise her hand. It was just a random guess but whatever.

Natalie had been briefly distracted by her thoughts of Derf when someone sat on the other side of her and cheerfully greeted her. Looking that way, she was relieved to see that it was one of her good friends, Bel. And yes, of course, they were still friends. She had been... busy. And distracted. But she loved Bel. She gave the girl a smile, which was clearly not in full force as it usually was around her, but it wasn't because of her at all. Just the boy on the other side of the prefect.

Speaking of the boy, Natalie was still slightly confused at his presence. The last thing she expected was for him to sit next to her in class. Staring at her notebook as class began, Natalie wondered... why. But, honestly, why was she surprised? It was Derf. The sweetest, most Hufflepuffy boy out there. And this... was sort of their thing.

So, when it was declared that class was going to be about cats and when Derf whispered that it reminded her of their first year, Natalie couldn't help but smile. She looked at him, remembering when they were both first years and he had exploded a kneazle litter box all over her. And all the years since then. All the drama. But... it was all okay, after all.

Briefly moving her hand, Natalie rested it on Derf's knee for just a second or two before returning it to her lap. It was sort of a "thank you", she supposed. For not hating her completely.

As for the class discussion, Natalie, to no surprise, knew anything about Zouwus, so she had nothing to add. Creatures were always Derf's thing.