Quote:
Originally Posted by
Melanie Roman 
Professor Roman was really taking a liking to West. He was inquisitive and thought outside the box. However, that the thought occurred to him of a rating for Wizarding, although completely brilliant, she had to admit was also slightly disturbing and for lack of better word - creepy.
...As could the discussion on giving Wizardkind a rating. Professor Roman's eyes travelled among the students who commented on West. "As interesting as it would be to hear all your opinions on the matter, I'm afraid of falling too far behind in the lesson. Please, no more discussions in class. Feel free to talk among yourselves afterwards." Points would be taken next time.
Professor Roman wrote on the board while everyone re-settled.
She turned back to the class, "For today's lesson, we'll be learning about this little guy right here," she nodded at the bird in the cage. "This, as some of you may have suspected, is a Jobberknoll. They have a classification of two X's, as they're really quite friendly. We are fortunate enough that I have a connection with a Jobberknoll specialist who sent me this one. It's fortunate because he is very, very old, though he may not look it. I'm hoping, as morbid as that sounds, he'll pass in this very class and we can all bare witness to his scream.
Jobberknolls are known for being completely silent birds until the moment of their death. Then, they release what we call a 'scream' of sorts, of every sound they've ever heard, played backward. Most likely, you're going to hear exactly what you've all just said through the bird's beak.
Remember, death is a part of life and it is well near his time to go. We have not done anything to further along this process and it would happen anyway and in a sense, we are all extremely lucky to be able to witness it.
Before that happens, though, I'd like you all to please sketch the Jobberknoll. Just black ink, with as much detail as you can. If you need or want to come closer to the cage to get a better look, you may. You can color your picture in later, but for now I just want you to have your own variation of what it looks like. You won't be judged or graded on your artistry." With those instructions, Professor Roman stepped aside to give them plenty of space to gather around the birdcage.
.... Honestly West hadn't expected people to get all into his out loud musings or whatever. He sort of blinked warily as more and more people commented, but kept his own mouth shut. He wasn't trying to hijack the lesson after all. It was just one of those things he supposed; people listened to him. Sometimes it was
probably a good idea to just not say anything at all. And now he was getting odd looks from the professor. The sort of looks that most professors gave his sister actually.
Hmm. Wonder if there was any significance to that.
Meanwhile, they got to sketch the dying bird. Sweet. West was into sketching and whatnot, he got his things out, parchment and pencil, and then went over to take a closer look at the Jobberknoll and start drawing it, aiming to get it done before it keeled over.