Cassandra hated that she agreed with Xana. "I guess the worse thing you could do is look in the eyes of a basilisk..." Cassandra sighed. "But as you said before, professor, Thestrals got a bad rep, and HellHounds have been known to be tamed..."

Merlin, did Trelawney just agree with her? HAD Hell frozen over? She felt the urge to check the forecast, or see if perhaps Trel had been placed under some kind of strange agreeability charm... She nodded. "Yeah, eyeing a basilisk-- or a gorgon -- would be a bad move, indeed. " She looked Trelawney straight in the eye, smirking. "But without the classification I guess the question is, how do we know which creatures are truly dangerous as a species and which are ... merely 'paper dragons'... and not to be feared?"

"Yes," Cassandra said looking away from Xana. "I wouldn't look in the eyes of a Gorgon as well..." Red headed or not...

Xana looked to Dia and smiled, then returned her eyes to the Professor.

Sana was mesmerized by both the Professor's teaching and him as well. But she managed to tell the answer, raised her hand, "I think, the dark creatures attacks needs heavy remedies though mostly fatal than the moderate and normal creatures."

She smiled at him, still caught by his weird behaviours, he looked so different.
But she had not panicked that much as she was before in the Great hall. But keeping an eye on him, for in case if he need any help.

Sana laughed at Marco's comment, "I think, the creature might love you, Marc"

Apedemak raised one of his newly regrown eyebrows. “My apologies ladies, but, it isn’t a question of nature verses nurture. Dark Creatures by definition do not have a complete life cycle and thus are neither raised nor nurtured. They do not cause harm because they feel threatened, the do injury for the sake of doing injury. Such malicious intent is a palatable feeling that is usually easy recognize and as Miss Black affirmed earlier, many have a ‘disquieting' appearance. As to the issue of taming some of them, like hellhounds. With respect to Prefect Trelawney, that simply means that they have been trained and does not change that they are a physical embodiment of harmful intent. Admittedly, some creatures blur these lines somewhat; but, those are the cases where the exception proves the rule.”

‘Poor wee creatures,’ she furrowed her brow. “But surely all carnivores are attracted to the scent of blood, sir… magical or not. And thestral’s don’t meet any of the other criteria to make them dark. ...Surely that’s just what it is - a superstition… because they’re associated with death, and death is associated with darkness.” Emily scratched her head, she was confusing herself here.

Most dark creatures seek to cause harm, whereas creatures which do not carry the classification only hunt for survival. For example if a Maticore attacked it would be for food. Dark creatures seem to attack for no reason. ...Just out of nastiness."

Rhiannon snapped back into paying attention to the discussion in class. She seemed to be zoning out more often lately. Other things to think about, maybe?, she thought to herself. Sighing about what she might have missed, she looked down at her notes. She was shocked to find out that somehow, even though she had been out of it, she had still taken notes. That made sense, from what she could tell by the current discussion.

Finn smiled as Hermy came over. He was still worried, but it was good to have her close by.

He smiled at Sana. He wasn't particularly hapy to be in class, but he wanted to talk to the professor.

As he listened to Marco talk about a snake trying to eat his hand off, he giggled and wished the blasted snake had accomplished it's mission.

"I don't think that it's fair that younger vampires are considered dark, and niether the older ones. Younger ones didn't have a choice in the matter, and older ones can restrain themselves. I should know, my cousin has a vampire as a sectional head working near him." I say, slightly disturbed with the whole dark creature description, "And couldn't werewolves find some way to control themselves when in wolf form?"

Cassandra's head turned slowly to the boy. "So by what you are saying a Thestral is the physical embodiment of harmful intent? I beg to differ Apedemak. These creatures have acquired an undeserved reputation as omens of evil. They are merely invisible equines whose only fault is that they are visible only to those who have witnessed and accepted a death."

Cassandra crossed her arms and turned to her professor, "How could you tell these creatures were classified as Dark? I mean it was merely on the stupidity of some supersticious, probably muggleborn wizard, -- No offence to the muggleborns in the room -- that these magestic creatures were marked as dark..."

"They can, using the wolfsbane potion," Gwen said. "Whether a creature is considered Dark has to be a combination of nature and nurture. I would be on the lookout for any distinguishing physical characteristics, and be aware of my surroundings. A lot of what defines some Dark creatures is where you can find them."

"I understand what you're saying about some creatures, like dementors-- but I wonder if the classification is fair to all creatures within it? For example-- Vampires. There are vampires who are not our for injury only, who are good. Do they deserve the classification? What about other misunderstood creatures that are called 'dark'?"

Xana nodded, still astounded to have common ground with Trelawney- wonders never ceased. "Exactly... Professor, do you feel all 'dark' creatures are deserving of the label, and if not- such as in the case of thestrals or vampires, where it seems to be prejudice and ignorance that causes them to carry this label... Should we, as responsible young wizards and witches, be perpetuating such stereotypes?"

Ems nodded in agreement with Xana and Cassandra. This was what she was trying to get at, albeit not very successfully. “Thestrals have been labelled dark because of a human superstition. Not because they possess any characteristics of a dark creature. she piped up again.

Rhiannon tilted her head to the side a little as several people start arguing about whether it was appropriate for some creatures to be considered dark. She remained silent, but found the arguments interesting. And, she was curious on if she would be able to see thestrals. She hadn't before, but she figured there weren't a whole lot of them in California.

In answer to the professor's question, Joseph raised his hand and said, "I would think that many dark creatures would have a darkish aura around them. Plus, most wild creatures are docile and not dangerous at all. I believe that dark creatures would have feelings of menace and attack towards you." Joseph was hoping his answer would work, it was only based on his own observations though.

Shel raised his hand before answering. "Well, if they spit fire, have claws the size of your hands and legs put together, and chew bones that don't exactly look like normal, non-human animals bones, I think they would classify as dangerous, Professor," he said, quite seriously. No, he was not intending to joke.

"That aside, I also assume instant reactions matter. That is, a harmless creature probably won't spring at you the instant it sees you - unless, of course, it enjoys a good cuddle. Dark creatures have more threatening reactions when they witness a human in their vicinity than regular ones, you can sense it. A lot of dangerous creatures possess poisonous fangs, as well. Their eyes and faces, too, tell a lot about what they are inside. If the thing has sharp teeth, sharper claws, spikier tail - Run."

Lyra sat and did nothing more than listen to her uncle's teachings. Clearly, if she were in better spirits at the moment, perhaps answering his questions would be fun. She sat back in her chair with her arms folded to her chest, not paying attention to some of the things that were going on around her. She was good at tuning people out when the situation called for it. When she took notes, she sat up in her chair, scribbled with her quill then leaned back in her chair once more.

Fabian coughed twice, the first was to clear his throat. The second was intentionally signaled towards the group of students that broke out into argument.

"These are all very good theories" he addressed the class, "To differentiate between dark creatures and what not there are four major keys! The first is that they are magical in nature, the second is that they do not carry full life cycles in which they only exist as a physical extension to evil. Thirdly, they actively seek to harm with or without conscious for the sake of harming and not survival, Fourth and last key is that they embody dark magic!".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenster

Marco raised his hand, "Sir are you suggesting that vampires are bad? Because I know for a fact that not all are bad. Some decide against it. I only know one that is controlled by the blood lust."

"A milder creature won't try to bite your arm off. That is why I am classing snakes as dark creatures. Especially basilisks. They are are bad. They will kill you. Also a dark creature will eat a steak if you hand them one."

Quote:

Originally Posted by XanaSnape

"Trelawney makes an interesting point. Is it nurture or nature that determines a creature's traits? Should we assume every hinkypunk is dark and therefore bad? And vampires-- what of those? I know of some nice ones... Is the label really a fair one? Though... I wouldn't want to stare down a creature just to determine its intent, that's just flat-out foolish. " She rolled her eyes at the idea. "But there has to be a better way... is casting the label of 'dark creatures' across all these species really the right thing to do?"

"Vampires are classified as intelligent creatures, wizards or humans that have been contaminated. I tend to agree with you that their attacks are milder, but in no way are less harmful. They have impeccable strength, and driven by Blood lust. True that they can only sink their teeth in one's skin, but thats enough to spread venom through bloodstream to keep you immobilized, or leave you bleeding to death. If one was lucky enough and the Vampire has a kindred heart he'll turn you into one, and that doesn't happen very often".


"Werewolves are another example similar to Vampires, they are not harmful when in human form. But once a month, during a full moon. Their intention is to spread their disease onto others and in out of controlled situations, may kill their prey. And thats when my friends, they constitute harm!"


Fabian cleared his throat one more time, "Interesting that we have some part human creatures that are considered dark in their nature, living among us with scarce or minimal features to spot with a normal eye. Other than Vampires and Werewolves, can anyone predict or tell which other part human creature is considered dark?"

Gwen raised her hand tentatively. "Erm, banshees, Professor. And erklings, perhaps?"

Marco was not impressed by Fabian's approach to vampires. He...knew someone. They would never hurt anyone. And neither would he. He just kept his mouth shut, before he said something he really shouldn't. Plus he didn't know what was part human.

"Banshee is one, 2 points for your answer. Erklings resemble elfs more. And they are in no way human" Fabian smiled tenderly at the Gryffindor.




"Marco, I can see your self control scattering, speak up!"

"My self control is not scattering at all Sir," Marco murmured, "I just feel you are grouping all vampires under one label. They aren't all as you say. I know few that are like that." He tried to collect his thoughts, "Are veela part human and dark?"

Though it wasn't readily apparent, even to those that knew him; the Sudanese boy became more guarded and more alert. His had tensed ever so slightly and his golden eyes were slowly scanning the room.

Rhiannon spoke up in a slightly confused voice, after the Gryffindor had spoken. "I think erklings are closer to elves than humans. But they definitely can be considered dark. Doxies have forms similar to humans, like fairies." She stopped, having tapped her memory for the moment.