Cruppies? Niomi has never heard of them before. She loved this class because of her deep love for animals. Each lesson she attends she loves them even more. There is so many creatures to discover.

After Professor Draper aloud us all to grab a crupper, Niomi studied hers. She loved him (was it a him?) already. She saw he (she will call it a he) had a name tag. "I wonder what your name is," she said, right before she looked. "Nicey," she read. Hmm, she hopes that means this cruppy is nice and not mean. Niomi continued to pet it and study Nicey until Professor Draper continued with the lesson.

Like that was true. He just did not want the students to hate him. That was the real reason it was slightly warmer here. But sure Draper. Dante will believe what you said. Whatever. So they would be taking care of a crup today. Well better than flobberworms. Dante expectations were not high in any classes. Dante calmly got into line like he would run anywhere. Please. And waited his turn till he got his crup. He was not the animal person. His girlfriend was but he did not hate them or he would have dropped Draper's class.

"Your name is Dr. Doom. You will rule your own crup country one day"

Well technically his name was Victor Von Doom. But that was too long a name for a crup.

Time to teach the crup how to do this.

Another messy class playing with dirt, great! Echo eyerolled and went over to get her crup. Holding out her hands she had to fight back the urge to throw the thing once it was in her hands but once the Professor had placed it there she didnt think it was that terrible, opening up her eyes she looked down at the collar, trying to figure out its name.

"Spike.....very intersting" who would name a crup Spike. shrugging she started to carefully move her hands around. "you arent so bad, im Echo" she had hoped that the other students were talking to their crups as well because she didnt want to come off as crazy.

Crups?! Crups! CRUPS! Olly jumped up from where he was sitting on the ground at the first sign of the crups. He was so excited! He loved crups. And this was a perfect time for a lesson on crup care, considering he had just adopted one and wanted to give him the best care possibly. He could barely contain his excitement but somehow managed to get into line and walk toward the pen without exploding. He beamed at the professor when he was handed a crup.

"I have a crup!" He declared. "I just adopted him!" Well it had been a couple of months ago now, right at the end of summer. But since he had been at school he hadn't been able to see him much. He couldn't until Christmas. He liked that there were all these crups for him to see and play with and love. He snuggled the one he had been handed and went to go find them a spot on the grass to sit.

"Hello buddy," he crooned. "You're so cute, what's your name?" He looked at the tag on the collar. "Well hello Henry. I'm going to take good care of you today." He wished he had some sort of toy so the crup could play. He looked eager to do something, but Olly didn't carry dog toys around with him. That would be weird.

It was nice to see Professor Draper in a better mood than usual, and on top of that they were going to be working with CRUPS. To say that Esme was happy was an understatement.

Practically squealing, she had to resist the temptation to rush over to the pen and snuggle them all. She was going to be calm and get one from the Professor when it was her turn. Right. She could be good. BUT CRUPS. So much more exciting than creatures like Flobberworms and they were adorable. Dogs were adorable.

"Hello, little guy," she cooed as she held her Crup. It was probably a good idea for her to know what the name was... and if it was a boy or a girl. Esme glanced at the collar. "Stacy." Okay. It was a girl then. "Hello, Stacy, I am going to look after you today and we are going to become the best of friends." As she talked she petted the cute little Crup.

Could she keep it?

Fiyero waited patiently as the line inched closer to the pen. He'd heard of crups, but he'd never seen one up close before. They looked a lot like the jack russell terrier that belonged to the little old lady who lived across the street back home. Hmm... maybe the neighbor lady was secretly a witch.

"Thank you, Professor," Fiyero said politely as Professor Draper handed him a particularly hyper little crup. It squirmed a little in his arms, si he gave it a scratch behind the ear, just as he'd seen Professor Draper do earlier. There... that seemed to calm the crup down a bit.

;Hey, girl," he whispered, still stroking the cruppy's ear. Well, at least he assumed she was a girl... she was wearing a pink collar, after all. "What's your name?" He turned over the gold tag. "Glinda..." The cruppy's ears perked up at the sound of her name, and Fiyero suddenly had to stifle a laugh. Was that a joke? Pairing a crup named Glinda with a kid named Fiyero... his dad would get a huge kick out of that when he told him!

Fiyero sat on the bench next to the nearest tub, and Glinda snuggled into his lap, licking his free hand a few times as he continued to pet her. "Well, you're just full of sweetness, aren't you?" he said. He guessed that must be why her name was Glinda... it was rather fitting now that he thought about it.

Bethany was definitely happy. As soon as the word "crup" had come out of Professor Draper's mouth, her ears (as well as her mood might she add) had perked up. Who could resist adorable little cruppies after all?

She cooed at the cute, albeit jumpy, crup as it was placed in her arms and walked toward the closest tub station, turning its tag around eagerly, "Taffy?". How Cute! Clearly whoever had named this one was as much of a clever taffy lover as she was. She cooed once more at Taffy and stroked its fur back into place, cursing the cuteness of these things that turned her heart into mush, but secretly, or maybe it wasn't so secret with all the cooing she was doing, she couldn't wait for the rest of the lesson.

Proper crup care. That was what they were doing in the lesson. Had Brooklyn not been relatively certain that there was no reason Professor Draper would be joking about that, she would have given him an incredulous look. That was almost insulting, really. It wasn’t like she actually had a crup, but she knew how to take care of her cat. That had to be almost the same thing. She wasn’t about to leave the lesson, though. She wasn’t half as excited as it seemed like nearly everyone else in the lesson was, but she’d give the professor the benefit of the doubt. There had to be a reason why they were stuck learning this. Maybe he was directing the lesson toward the firsties more than the rest of them. In any case, she’d suffer through it.

Joining the queue, she took the crup carefully into her arms as it was given to her, cradling it against her chest as she turned to head for an available tub. “Hmm,” she said quietly, glancing down as she felt it lick her chin. It was definitely cute, in a hyper wiggly way. Nowhere near how Tywin was when he was a kitten. It wasn’t like she had to adopt it. Just care for it in the lesson. The cuteness helped, however, and she settled the crup into her lap as she sat down next to the tub. What’s your name?, she thought, trailing her fingers around the collar until she found the tag. “Caramel,” she read out loud, softly, scratching the crup between its ears as it had turned to look up at her.

Cruppies cruppies cruppies! Did anyone see the cruppies?! Was the Professor REALLY let them HAVE the cruppies?!

She did hear they had to walk to the pen calmly but Bec looked like she was going to explode soon because she wanted to squeal so loudly at this situation. CRUPPIES! She looked at the creatures with her hand over her mouth to keep silent as they bounced around and jumped over each other. Her eyes seemed to sparkle though.

In short, Bec was excited for this lesson.

As she waited in line behind a random student whom she didn’t know, the Gryffindor positively BEAMED at the Professor as she was handed a cruppy when it was her turn. She held the creature in her hands and staggered to another place for herself cause this one was a little bigger than she had thought.

Sitting down on the ground, the eleven year old checked the name tag that the cruppy was wearing. “Ace?” the cruppy lifted its head up and licked her face. “Eww!” she wiped her face with the sleeve of her uniform but she was smiling.

“Can we keep them Professor Draper? pretty please?”

"CRUPIES!" Kitty squealed with joy, jumping up from her sitting position on the grass and trying to get ahead in the line. She beamed with delight as the Professor handed her a crup. "Thank you Professor!" Her crup was excitable, wriggling in her hands and flaying his paws around. She ran her fingers across his adorable little color and read his name. "Tickles! What a cute name." Kitty gently ruffled Tickle's fur, amazed at how soft it was. Tickles licked her hand affectionately.

Looks like Hads wasn't the only one super excited about the Crups. Giving the boy a small laugh, Hadley followed Tenacius up to Drapes and the line. She was grinning like an idiot by the time she reached the man; her sour mood was long gone by this point.

"Thank you," Hads said, gently receiving the puppy-like critter. "Professor Draper." See what happens when you do awesome things like this Drapes? Keep it up. By now though, her entire attention span was consumed by the adorable fluffball in her arms. "Hi," she beamed and carried him away the grumpy man and line.

Hadley sat down at the first open tub station and gave her crup a scratch behind the ears. "Hello...Dorian?" Interesting name. "Hello Dorian. I'm Hadley. And you're adorable. Yes you are."

In all honesty, crup care was probably an incredibly easy way to have this lesson. It wasn't anything monumentally difficult, but it was a fun way to teach the needed material. And given the fact that so many students seemed to be down in the dumps lately, he decided something light and enjoyable was the way to go. So he cared a little bit... Sue him. As he handed Ms. Meadows her little one, he considered the question with a small grin forming on his face. SMALL. "We'll be discussing this at the end of the lesson." He knew someone would ask eventually.

**********

For once it had appeared that James had done something to please almost everyone. Never thought he'd see the day.

And with that, James handed off the last of the cruppies and made his way back towards the center to get everyone's attention once again. "If you look into each tub, you'll see all the supplies we'll be requiring for today's lesson." He had gone through and made sure each one had all the necessities right before class. "But first, let's start with a brush."

Thank Merlin this stuff was simple. "These crups shed, so it's important to brush them once a week to make sure all dead hair is removed." Make sense? They only shed a little, but nevertheless this was highly important. "Go ahead and give them a brush," he watched, waiting for everyone to pick theirs up and go for it. They knew well enough to be gentle, yeah? Though they didn't look like babies, these ones were still quite young.

"And Fifth Years, I'd suggest you pay very close attention to your crup. I can guarantee this will come up on your OWLs," it was almost a fact crups were amongst those creatures that came up most often on the test.

OOC: Sorry for keeping things slow! I should be posting in another 18+ hours to move us!

This is a really easy lesson to hop into (and even play catch up with), so feel free to join at any point!

now they are supposed to be grooming them, her spike.

and WHAAA----- Echo was wide awake now! this was going to be on her OWL's! okay okay, dont panic Echo you can stay awake and pay attention.

"right brush them once a week" she wished that she grabbed her quill and parchment on the way down, she had hoped that a few of her friends were writting this down for her so she didnt have to remember it all by hear.

Bringing Spike closer to her she gave him a warning. "im going to brush you, dont bite me.. its not going to hurt" well she hoped that it wasnt going to hurt him.

Showing the little crup the brush she started with his back, with slow soft strokes. "see its okay" she said while moving around the body, then her Crup started to make noises once she got to the belly. "ahahah, mines ticklish." she stopped brushing the belly and continued on Spikes back.

"there you go, no more tickles" this little crup was starting to pull on her heart strings.

Azura was still trying not to cry as she snuggled her cruppie. For it to have her mothers name.. Perhaps it was a sign that her mom was still here... Watching over her. A soft sort of cry slid from her lips but she contained it and started to gently pet her crup..

She looked up at the Professor as he spoke about brushing the crup and she leaned over the tub and rooted around in it. And found the brush.

"All right little girl, lets brush you okay?" She said as she gently started to brush the wiggly little thing! "Hey now! Calm down a little! " she said with a soft giggle as the crup started to lick her face. She sent a grateful glance up to Professor Draper, this is exactly what she needed! Especially now.

Fiyero looked up as Professor Draper started speaking - so did Glinda. They were supposed to brush the cruppies? Okay, that sounded simple enough. He just hoped Glinda wouldn't hate having her fur brushed as much as his mother's cat did and bite him every time he came near her with the brush.

"Will you let me brush your hair, please?" he said, picking up the brush. The little cruppy's esrs perked up. He guessed that meant she liked the idea.

Fiyero started to brush Glinda's back, but her head whipped around suddenly. Uh oh... was he hurting her? Had he pulled too hard? He didn't hear any whimpering or yelping... Glinda nuzzled into his hand, nearly causing him to drop the brush. Oh, so that's what it was! This little girly-girl just really liked being brushed.

Trying to brush Glinda with her constantly nuzzling and licking him was proving to be a bit more difficult than Fiyero originally thought. As cute as her displays of affection were, he needed her to hold still! When he finally finished, Glinda jumped up, placing her front paws on his chest. He could see in her eyes what she was about to do. "No, not the face!" he begged. "Please... anywhere but the face!" But Glinda wasn't listening and gave him a big wet cruppy kiss on the cheek.

Beth set Taffy down into her lap and rummaged around her bag to find a quill and parchment, she really should be writing all of this down for the upcoming OWLs and it wasn't helping that her school bag was a mess of papers and spilled ink stains, obviously she'd have to invest in a new bag the next time she was in Hogsmeade since her stubbornness hadn't allowed her buy a new one when she was initially shopping for supplies in Diagon Alley.

Aha! She pulled the wrinkled parchment (she swore to Merlin she would organise her bag later) out, along with her quill and wrote down the first step.

Caring For Crups
1. Brush fur at least once a week

Well that was easy enough, she would ace her OWLs...hopefully. Now to really do it, she picked the brush out of the tub and looked at Taffy, who's gaze was switching between her and the brush in her hand. "Time to remove all this dead fur!" She told Taffy, and began to gently brush through all the dead hairs. Beth's heart practically melted when the little crup started to purr as soon as the brush touched its head, he nuzzled her hand and really she was quickly becoming attached to the little cutie.

Niomi's ear really turned on when Professor Draper said this would be on the O.W.L.S. She really needed to pay attention so she can do good on the care of magical creatures O.W.L.

Okay, next step, cruppies need to be brushed one a week. Niomi got the brush out. She didn't start brushing Nicey until she thought it was okay. Niomi gently continued to pet the cruppy until it seemed calm and comfortable. Slowly, Niomi started brushing Nicey. If she started to act uncomfortable, Niomi would stop for a second. She didn't want Nicey getting upset with her. Niomi would like to keep this lesson good. She didn't want there to be a problem between her and her cruppy. Niomi continued to brush Nicey, until further notice. In the mean time, Niomi noticed a lot of dead hair being brushed away already. She was surprised at how much hair there was. Not even Mittens, Niomi's cat, lost this much dead hair.

PROFESSOR AMAZING SAY WHAT NOW?

Puppies on his OWLs. PUPPIES ON HIS OWLs. THIS WAS NOT A DRILL, HE GOT PUPPIES ON HIS OWLs. Starry-eyed, Brian coooooooed down at the bundle of fur in his arms. "They're gonna grade me on taking care'f you -" Oh dear, he hadn't checked the name of this cruppy. "Woofgang Amadeus Mozart." That was a clever name. More heart eyes. MUSIC PUNS, YES. HE WAS ALL ABOUT THOSE MUSIC PUNS. Up in 'em, livin' em like PAGANINI.

Tickling the cruppy's belly, he grinned. Class hadn't been this cool in AGES. "I'm going t'brush you, 'right? Try not to squirm." And picking up a brush, he started brush brush brushing. With all the tender love and care he brushed fanged geranium teeth with. ALL THE TLC. Was he singing Shostakovich at the crup puppy as he did? YES HE WAS. All the Shosty.

He was interrupted every few seconds with a lick to the face, but otherwise MORE SINGING.

OMG STOP. They were going to get to play with CRUPPIES?! Scarlett didn't care what they did with the cute pups, as long as they got to PLAY WITH THEM! She'd even do potty pick up duty. She did NOT care now that she knew what creatures were the main topic of this lesson.

When it was finally her turn, she took her cruppy in her arms and held her close (at least, she thought it was a her...yup, it was a her) and checked her name on her collar. Clover? AWWWW HOW CUTE! "Hi Clover! I'm Scarlett, your new friend," she told her with a grin. The cruppy responded with a lick on Scarlett's nose, and she was totally smitten.

Could they adopt these crups after the lesson???

Brush every week, got it. He would have to be very careful to remember everything from this lesson so he could care for his own crup. Brushing was simple enough. Olly looked into the tub next to him and found the brush. "Ready boy?" He asked the crup. Henry gave a little wag of his tail which seemed like a good sign to Olly. He grinned and began brushing. There was a lot of hair that came off, and Olly made sure to turn so the hair would go downwind and not directly onto him. Maybe when this lesson was over he'd have to go borrow Flamsteed's lint roller.

Continuing to coo at her little cruppy puppy, Esme snuggled into her. If all Care of Magical Creatures lessons were like this she would NOT complain. Too bad that couldn't do Baby Unicorn 101 because it wouldn't go over so well for the boys. Whatever though because she was SNUGGLING A LITTLE FLUFF BALL.

"Okay, time to give you a nice brushing!" she said as she patted Stacy's head gently. Fortunately Esme knew how to brush a dog's fur because of Lucy. It was important to be gentle because otherwise she might hurt the poor animal. It would be the same thing as if someone brushed her hair and yanked and tugged hard at it; plain rude and inconsiderate. It was a good thing that she took care of her own hair. Gently she began to give Stacy's coat a thorough brushing. Even though she hadn't shed a lot it was making a world of difference. She made sure that all of the fur ended up on the ground as opposed to clinging to the little crup.

While she was waiting for the rest of the students to receive their cruppies, Vivian was having waaaay too much fun with hers. She got all kinds of crup appreciation, from snuggles to licks. The little blonde girl giggled at all these gestures. However, it sure made her miss her lovely Prancer at home. Prancer wasn't a crup, but Vivian loved him to bits... just like she was enjoying the company of cruppy Pepito.

Once everyone was done, Vivi stroked the cruppy's hair. "Alright, alright. I enjoy your love but I have to listen to Professor Draper," she said to him, then leaned forward towards his ear to whisper. "And also, I don't wanna lose house points, okay? Good Pepito." Merlin, Pepito was such a hyper little doggy! Not that the Slytherin complained about it. She'd rather have an active one than a shy one, to match her own personality too. She kept petting the cruppy while paying attention to the Professor.

Ah, so they were going to care for the CRUP. The tub stations weren't for human use, but for cruppy bathing purposes!. OH LOL. Vivian blushed a bit and did a peace sign at Professor Draper. Sorry. Silly her! Anyway, the Slytherin did double check the supplies inside her tub. Nothing missing, as far as she knew. But now, it was cruppy brushing time!

"You have really nice fur, Pepito, did you know?" Vivian said as she stroked and brushed the cruppy, the dead hair falling off. Yeah, she was just going to make sure none of them fell on her clothes.

Brush brush brush... and cruppy wiggles and tail wags, of course!

This little cruppie was a wiggly bundle of joy in her arms. Any left of sadness or anger that she might have been holding bottled up inside her was gone. A small wet nose nudging itself into the palm of her hand whenever she would stop petting the crup for even a fraction of a second. This alone was enough to make the teen laugh softly and continue with the petting her attention only being pulled from her newest friend when Draper began to talk once more.

Brushing. Once a week. Got it. She already knew this. It never hurt to be reminded though which is why Hady made sure to pay close attention to what was being said. "Alright Sammie, it sounds like you're in need of a good brushing," she told the cruppie baby giving it him a gentle scratch behind the ears. Rising to her feet carefully from her seat on the bench she walked over to the least crowded of the large tub stations. Sitting down on the ground she cradled Sammie in her lap.

"Okay so it's really simple. I'm just going to brush your fur and remove all the unneeded old fur so your coat stays nice and healthy. Not only will it make you look even cuter as if that's even possible...buuuutttt it'll make you feel better too." Yup she was talking to the crup and telling it what she was going to do. Nothing at all unusual with that. In fact it was very normal and a lot of people did this.

Reaching into the tub she felt around for a brush finally closing her hand around one and pulling it out. Starting at the top of Sammie's head she worked her way downwards. Slowly and very gently brushing his fur all the while continuing to talk softly to him about random things like her summer, her new siblings and family, lessons, her music or whatever else came to her mind. Small yips and playful licks to her hand were giving letting the Slytherin now she was doing it right.

Crups shed. Use the brush. Yup Tenacius knew that for a fact. Early education courtesy of the family crup Maple hehehe.

He picked up the brush and started going over the little cruppie's body with short gentle strokes "We still havent picked a name for you boy." he spoke to the little furball which he was trying to keep still. Apparently this crup doesn’t like being brushed much, and kept trying to either wiggle its way away or take out the brush itself "Calm down boy quit moving...." he said trying to sooth the two-tailed tyke, but the little cruppy just kept trying to dodge each stroke, take out the brush or trying to jump onto him. And barking! Oh boy this is one vocal crup "Shhh ok boy I hear ya I hear ya.. Yeah yeah totally agree arf arf bow wow...." he was talking to the crup. And if you’ve ever been a pet owner, you know there was nothing unusual about this.

But epiphany! "Hey boy, how'd you like the name Bowie? Yeah? Sounds good?" And moarrr barking and tail wagging. Alright cruppie approved!

Though James was treating this lesson as if the most important bit was learning how to take care of the crups, it was really about the indirect learning they did by observing the creatures' mannerisms and behaviors. See there was a trick here. Of course lecturing could have taught them the same material, but at least this way they were doing the shelter a favor too. And no one had complained yet.

It was interesting to see how each student approached the task. It all depended on the crup too as it seemed some were much more energetic than others. This was normal. "Alright, now if you look at your supplies, you should find a toothbrush.... And some paste," yes there was specialty cruppy toothpaste. That stuff existed. "Just like us, it's important that these cruppies get their teeth taken care of." He walked around, weaving through the various stations set up on the ground.

"You should apply a pea-sized bead of the paste onto the brush. And gently hold your crup's mouth open just wide enough for the toothbrush. Brush along their gums and then move down, but it's easer to work your way from the back of their mouths to the front," he paused to make sure they were getting all of this. "Rinse with some water as you go." Aguamenti, the younger students knew that one by now yeah?

Oh and, "This may be difficult as the crups haven't become accustomed to it yet," but what's fun without a little bit of challenge?

OOC: Either 2 posts or 1 detailed post for this task. I'll be posting again in 18+ hours to move us forward