I do not own Harry Potter, that lovely privilege goes to one J.K. Rowling. Thanks to Masa for his help on dialectical and proofing.
Chapter 21: Of Pegasi
Harry wandered into the Great Hall just before the tables were cleared, moving to his seat beside Ron, who was absentmindedly nibbling on a roll as he contemplated a chapter on Dueling. He waved distractedly at Harry as the other boy sat and piled some food onto his plate. It looked and smelled as delightful as always.
"What'd she want, Harry." Ron asked as he flipped a couple more pages and began to read again.
Harry took a moment to swallow a forkful of sausage, "She wanted to talk about the details of the DA."
Ron let the book close and turned to give his friend his full attention. "What did you tell her?"
Harry chewed, thinking. "Pretty much everything," He replied after a moment. "Though I was reluctant to tell her about the Room of Requirement. She said Dumbledore mentioned it to her, but, well, it's a special sort of place, you know."
"Yeah, mate." Ron told him, snagging a biscuit and munching again as though the activity helped him to organize his thoughts. "Can't be helped."
"Yeah, I'm supposed to show it to her this week. But it's such a thoroughly magical room that I somehow doubt it will be reserved merely for the activities of a student club."
Ron agreed reluctantly but soberly. "Still hope for it, though." He told Harry bracingly. The he stood, stuffing the book back into his bag. Harry finished stuffing in a few more mouthfuls, he was a growing boy, after all, several more inches this summer. If he didn't want to look ill, he had to eat a lot. This year he understood Ron's obsession with food.
Finally, he too stood, slinging his bag over his shoulder, and walked with Ron out into the Great Hall, then down and out onto the grounds towards Hagrid's hut.
As they walked, they wondered what consequences would arrive due to the addition of Tainn as an assistant professor. This was particularly because Hagrid's love for interesting creatures, i.e. dangerous monsters, made the class particularly hazardous at times.
Harry didn't have high hopes that the addition of Tainn would temper their professor's tendencies. Neither did Ron, but another skilled professor at the site of the classes could perhaps help if one of the 'interesting creatures' got out of control.
They reached the lawn and found a scattering of students. The majority of these were Gryffindors with a few hardy Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. There was not a single Slytherin in the group.
Harry assumed that they only took this class because their careers of choice required it. He, on the other hand, took it because he was friends with Hagrid.
He did like being outdoors, though. This class was always a refreshing change from musty classrooms, windy tower tops or stifling greenhouses. And there was always a chance that there would be a stellar session, such as the one with the fire salamanders.
He joined the group of other nervous NEWT level students, all of them looking apprehensively around for their dubious professor and his unknown assistant. Harry noted particularly Lavender and Parvati, whom he hadn't expected to remain in this class, looking eagerly for the assistant professor.
He, even knowing Tainn, perhaps BECAUSE he knew him, was rather edgy about this class. He knew from Ron's uneasy glances and slightly off color that he was feeling the same way.
The forest loomed ominously before them a few minutes later without a sign of Hagrid, Tainn, or even Fang. Harry shook his head and looked around at his classmates.
He recognized a few of the students from the other houses, but by sight and casual acquaintance only. The Hufflepuffs were talking among themselves, stopping now and then to look around, searching for the approach of their teachers.
The Ravenclaws looked slightly annoyed, one of them had pulled out a book and was rifling through it thoughtfully. Harry risked a careful glance at the cover and saw the familiar runes that graced the front of Hermione's Arithmancy text.
Despite his care, the Ravenclaw looked up and caught his eye. After a moment, she smiled, nodded, tucked her book under her arm and walked over to offer Harry a hand in greeting. She introduced herself as Melanie Johnsburg, and her two companions, who wandered over to see what was about, as Robert Lanning and Keilie Highturn.
They knew him, of course, but didn't stop him when he introduced himself, Hermione and Ron, while the other Gryffindors sidled over and introduced themselves, and then the Hufflepuffs.
The atmosphere became much lighter as they chattered among themselves, often about classes, and the Slytherins, which was a safe subject as there were none in the class. Harry truly hadn't expected to see Malfoy there, but still, his continued absence was beginning to become worrisome.
He was discussing potions with Robert when he, facing the forest, saw a shadow move at the edge of the forest. Another moment went by and he saw another movement. Curious and a bit concerned, he stopped speaking, occasioning Robert to question him as to the state of his health.
The movement became more pronounced, low to the ground, approaching them. Then, just as Robert turned to see what Harry was looking at, Harry heard a faint pop and Tainn bounded from the edge of the woods.
He was dressed much as he had been when Harry had first met him near the launch at Stepenwolv. He had shed the robes he had worn at the Welcoming Feast and was now dressed in a faded purple-checked button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up around his forearms. His jeans were worn and faded, and his feet were still bare beneath them. His hair was tied back with an odd-looking leather thong with feathers, stones and beads decorating it.
He stood before them, waiting for the less fleet Hagrid, who, though he took one stride for any normal man's two, didn't have Tainn's lightness of feet. When Hagrid arrived he beamed at them proudly.
"Sixt years, we'come ter NEWT level Care o' Magical Creatures." He boomed, grinning at Harry and his friends especially. "We've got a treat fer th' lot of ya." He nodded at Tainn, who grinned his feral smile. "Firs, this year, as Professor Dumbeldore tol' ye, we've an ad'tion of Tainn, oo be wantin' yes ter be callin' 'im Tainn."
Harry closed his eyes in resignation at the expected giggles from Lavender and Parvati. Tainn winked at Hermione surreptitiously, and she glared at him, obviously wishing that he would show a bit more professional decorum.
Hagrid cleared his throat. "The creatures tha'll be studyin' fer a large part o' the term will be th' pegasi."
Lavender 'oohed' at the thought, being a big lover of horses of any kind, particularly of their Divination professor, who happened to be a centaur. The rest of them certainly looked rather less leery. Most of them looked delighted. They had expected something, at the very least, with claws, fangs and poisonous venom. Pegasi, as far as they knew, had none of those, or at least few. And Harry was fairly sure that none of them were venomous.
Tainn trotted off to retrieve their first subject of study, and Harry wondered if Hagrid had managed to borrow one of Madame Maxine's giant, beautiful, palomino pegasi. He wouldn't put it past him to have brought in a wild one, if not. After all, thanks to Hagrid, there was now a giant living, most unwillingly, in the Forbidden forest.
And then there were the pegasi he knew from some of the lectures in History. They were native to Greece, and very nearly as rare and valuable as a unicorn. They were pure white with wide white wings, though the feathers were sometimes flecked with gold. He had heard that they fairly glittered like pearl in the light and were revered and rarely domesticated. When they were, it was only to riders of their own choosing.
Then Tainn returned, a wicked smile on his face and his hands on the lead rope of the creature emerging from behind Hagrid's hut. And attached to that lead rope was the halter of the ugliest little Pegasus Harry had ever laid eyes on.
It was a dumpy looking creature, no more than fifteen hands high. Its coat was black and shaggy, unevenly so, so that it looked as though someone had taken an old piece of shag carpeting and tied it onto a pony.
Its nostrils whiffled as it swung its head up to inspect them imperiously, as though its were condescending to be there. As its head turned, Harry could see that its left eye was cast and a milky blue. This eye stood out like the blank eyes of the Thestral while its other eye was deep and liquid brown.
He followed Tainn over to where Hagrid was beckoning them closer, his oddly wide hooves clumping heavily on the turf and the longer hair on his shaggy fetlocks swinging. Harry noticed it limped slightly.
His long tail swished when he stopped, still looking them over. He shook his head, flipping his long black mane, his ears, small and pointed, twitching. His huge wings, a dingy, sooty gray, fluttered once, then returned to their relaxed position at his sides.
Tainn and Hagrid both looked at him like he were one of the most glorious creatures on the planet. "Led'ge'tis would be th' name o' this yere fine fella," Hagrid told them, rolling the word in an odd manner. "But 'is owner says we kin call 'im Tilt. Easier, I'm thinkin'."
There were murmurs of agreement from the students, though Harry could hear the Ravenclaws, and Hermione, trying out the name. Harry, listening to them, thought that it wasn't likely that Hagrid's pronunciation was anywhere near accurate.
"Leah-tess, is as close as I can come to pronouncing it." Tainn provided them, proving he had been listening in. "Lejtes. But I think it would be simpler to call him Tilt as well." Hagrid looked relieved to not have to wrap his tongue around the name.
"Tainn 'll be givin' yer th' lecture thi' lesson. Ah'll be listenin'." Hagrid told them, "An' 'elpin out me assistant." He chuckled, a veritive rumble.
"Thank you my fine professor." Tainn said in his deep voice. "I hope that I shall live up to your expectations."
He turned to the class, patting Tilt's nose as he looked them over. "There isn't much difference, I think, between students in America and students in England." He grinned, "It's up to you to prove me right or wrong. It'd be fun to see which it is."
Hagrid sidled, as much as he could, over and stood behind Harry and Ron, clasping them both by their shoulders like a proud father. But he did not interrupt Tainn to express his happy greetings to his arguable favorites.
"This is a Monglian Pegasus. Not a perfect example, I must say." Tilt bared his teeth and attempted to take a bite out of Tainn's ear. Hagrid started forward, but Tainn simply slapped the muzzle away with a laugh. "Simply because he is slightly lame in his left fore and hind, this most likely being the reason that he was caught. His wings are perfectly functional." He scratched Tilt's ears, which the Pegasus seemed to accept as suitable apology for the insult.
"Monglians are most commonly found in, Mongolia, to be obvious, and certain mountainous eastern European countries, in the mountainous areas." He beckoned them closer.
Harry, beginning to find observing female behaviors amusing, watched as Lavender jockeyed for the position closest to the crouching professor.
"See how the hooves appear to be oversized?" He lifted one of Tilt's feet, his left fore so as not to unbalance him, and showed him the underside. "The frog is dually protected, much more so than is usual in pegasi or even normal horses. It's very soft and flexible." He pressed with a calloused thumb to demonstrate. "This gives them a superior grip on rocky, mountainous terrain, enabling them to perch precariously to reach the choicest vegetation." He let the foot drop but allowed them to stay close.
"And this is why I say his lameness allowed him to be caught." He looked them over, "tell me why."
One of the Hufflepuffs raised their hand, Howard, Harry recalled. Tainn nodded at him. "He wouldn't be able to find his balance on the crags, since he has to favor two of his legs."
"Precisely." Tainn glanced at Hagrid, then back. "Five points...er...what's your house?"
"Hufflepuff, Prof- Tainn." He checked himself.
"Yes, five points Hufflepuff."
Tainn continued, and Harry took a moment to glance around, finding rapt faces and an approving Hagrid.
"So in other words, he went tumbling down the mountain." Tainn said in sing-song. Tilt laid his ears back again. "But anywho, this probably made it worse. The little fellow is lucky someone happened to come around otherwise he would have been fertilizer. 'Course, he still does produce fertilizer."
Tainn's voice grew jollier, and Harry knew he was relaxing. "This little dustmop is very typical of the coloration of his species. They all look like they rolled in a chimney sweep's disposal pile and used their wings to dust the Louvre. Only once did I ever see a pure white Monglian, and she was blind in both eyes. She was also lucky to have someone come across her when she went a tumbling."
And so the lecture continued, Tainn amusing them, and even Hagrid when he told a story about a mare he had been observing, who dropped her foal at the very top of a very tall mountain, literally. Very lucky indeed that it had been a tall mountain, for the wind dried the foal's wings before he reached the ground and he managed to teach himself to fly in record time to save his fuzzy little neck.
"Bad mothers." He told them, more soberly, "That's why they're so rare. There's a small preserve in the Rockies." They looked puzzled. "The Rocky Mountain range in the western United States, and they have been making some progress."
He chuckled, "In an admittedly odd twist, the males of this breed are vastly more intelligent, such as this brilliant dust bunny here. And as most of us know, this is fairly atypical in the animal kingdom, where the females are generally more practical." He shook his head, "The silly little muffin thought it was a GOOD idea to bear her foal on the top of a mountain."
After this he moved on to the practical treatment and care of the Monglian Pegasus, showing them the proper way to clean their hooves, though this was rarely needed due to their foot structure, and how to brush them properly. He informed them that the shaggy coat was shed only during the month of June, on the first full moon, and their coats were sleek and short for approximately two months. The long unkempt hair grew back promptly on the night of the first new moon in August.
He taught them how to dust the wings, they only needed a washing once a month, carefully pulling soft rags from the inside of the wing to the very tips. This proved to be a tricky procedure, as it apparently tickled horribly. Tilt would fling his wings up suddenly, catching a student in the face with one once or twice, in protest, or perhaps in enjoyment.
Harry was working at a knot in Tilt's mane, while Ron was working on the tail. Having heard the warnings from Tainn about kicking, and how very painful it could be, Ron was dancing nervously about every time he had to pull hard on a stubborn knot.
Hermione was carefully dusting the underside of Tilt's wing, where the hair became feather, with Tainn leaning in beside her, ostensibly to help her do it properly, but Harry could hear some of the ribald comments he was murmuring to her.
Harry watched in amusement as Hermione's face grew red. But he also automatically looked to Ron to make sure he was unaware. Although Harry, and, he was sure, Hermione, knew that Tainn was just a terrible tease, Ron, apparently, did not.
When Tainn had told Hermione to call him love monkey, Harry was almost certain that Ron was going to leap out of his chair and throttle the young man, assistant professor or no. Only supreme restraint, restraint that Harry was quite impressed with, had kept it from becoming an incident.
Perhaps, he thought, he should ask that Tainn tone it down a bit, for the sake of his own sanity.
He was aware of someone watching him, and looked around to see that Tilt had twisted his neck around to peer at him with his non-cast eye. Harry could see the intelligence sparkling in it. The Pegasus sniffed at Harry clothes, then took his sleeve in his teeth and yanked, pulling Harry off his feet and tossing him on the ground in front of his forelegs. Hagrid yelped and trotted over, but all that Harry could see, as the Pegasus looked down on him with the liquid brown eye, was amusement.
Harry was just glad that there were no Slytherins around.
Please, please, please review.
Chapter 21: Of Pegasi
Harry wandered into the Great Hall just before the tables were cleared, moving to his seat beside Ron, who was absentmindedly nibbling on a roll as he contemplated a chapter on Dueling. He waved distractedly at Harry as the other boy sat and piled some food onto his plate. It looked and smelled as delightful as always.
"What'd she want, Harry." Ron asked as he flipped a couple more pages and began to read again.
Harry took a moment to swallow a forkful of sausage, "She wanted to talk about the details of the DA."
Ron let the book close and turned to give his friend his full attention. "What did you tell her?"
Harry chewed, thinking. "Pretty much everything," He replied after a moment. "Though I was reluctant to tell her about the Room of Requirement. She said Dumbledore mentioned it to her, but, well, it's a special sort of place, you know."
"Yeah, mate." Ron told him, snagging a biscuit and munching again as though the activity helped him to organize his thoughts. "Can't be helped."
"Yeah, I'm supposed to show it to her this week. But it's such a thoroughly magical room that I somehow doubt it will be reserved merely for the activities of a student club."
Ron agreed reluctantly but soberly. "Still hope for it, though." He told Harry bracingly. The he stood, stuffing the book back into his bag. Harry finished stuffing in a few more mouthfuls, he was a growing boy, after all, several more inches this summer. If he didn't want to look ill, he had to eat a lot. This year he understood Ron's obsession with food.
Finally, he too stood, slinging his bag over his shoulder, and walked with Ron out into the Great Hall, then down and out onto the grounds towards Hagrid's hut.
As they walked, they wondered what consequences would arrive due to the addition of Tainn as an assistant professor. This was particularly because Hagrid's love for interesting creatures, i.e. dangerous monsters, made the class particularly hazardous at times.
Harry didn't have high hopes that the addition of Tainn would temper their professor's tendencies. Neither did Ron, but another skilled professor at the site of the classes could perhaps help if one of the 'interesting creatures' got out of control.
They reached the lawn and found a scattering of students. The majority of these were Gryffindors with a few hardy Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. There was not a single Slytherin in the group.
Harry assumed that they only took this class because their careers of choice required it. He, on the other hand, took it because he was friends with Hagrid.
He did like being outdoors, though. This class was always a refreshing change from musty classrooms, windy tower tops or stifling greenhouses. And there was always a chance that there would be a stellar session, such as the one with the fire salamanders.
He joined the group of other nervous NEWT level students, all of them looking apprehensively around for their dubious professor and his unknown assistant. Harry noted particularly Lavender and Parvati, whom he hadn't expected to remain in this class, looking eagerly for the assistant professor.
He, even knowing Tainn, perhaps BECAUSE he knew him, was rather edgy about this class. He knew from Ron's uneasy glances and slightly off color that he was feeling the same way.
The forest loomed ominously before them a few minutes later without a sign of Hagrid, Tainn, or even Fang. Harry shook his head and looked around at his classmates.
He recognized a few of the students from the other houses, but by sight and casual acquaintance only. The Hufflepuffs were talking among themselves, stopping now and then to look around, searching for the approach of their teachers.
The Ravenclaws looked slightly annoyed, one of them had pulled out a book and was rifling through it thoughtfully. Harry risked a careful glance at the cover and saw the familiar runes that graced the front of Hermione's Arithmancy text.
Despite his care, the Ravenclaw looked up and caught his eye. After a moment, she smiled, nodded, tucked her book under her arm and walked over to offer Harry a hand in greeting. She introduced herself as Melanie Johnsburg, and her two companions, who wandered over to see what was about, as Robert Lanning and Keilie Highturn.
They knew him, of course, but didn't stop him when he introduced himself, Hermione and Ron, while the other Gryffindors sidled over and introduced themselves, and then the Hufflepuffs.
The atmosphere became much lighter as they chattered among themselves, often about classes, and the Slytherins, which was a safe subject as there were none in the class. Harry truly hadn't expected to see Malfoy there, but still, his continued absence was beginning to become worrisome.
He was discussing potions with Robert when he, facing the forest, saw a shadow move at the edge of the forest. Another moment went by and he saw another movement. Curious and a bit concerned, he stopped speaking, occasioning Robert to question him as to the state of his health.
The movement became more pronounced, low to the ground, approaching them. Then, just as Robert turned to see what Harry was looking at, Harry heard a faint pop and Tainn bounded from the edge of the woods.
He was dressed much as he had been when Harry had first met him near the launch at Stepenwolv. He had shed the robes he had worn at the Welcoming Feast and was now dressed in a faded purple-checked button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up around his forearms. His jeans were worn and faded, and his feet were still bare beneath them. His hair was tied back with an odd-looking leather thong with feathers, stones and beads decorating it.
He stood before them, waiting for the less fleet Hagrid, who, though he took one stride for any normal man's two, didn't have Tainn's lightness of feet. When Hagrid arrived he beamed at them proudly.
"Sixt years, we'come ter NEWT level Care o' Magical Creatures." He boomed, grinning at Harry and his friends especially. "We've got a treat fer th' lot of ya." He nodded at Tainn, who grinned his feral smile. "Firs, this year, as Professor Dumbeldore tol' ye, we've an ad'tion of Tainn, oo be wantin' yes ter be callin' 'im Tainn."
Harry closed his eyes in resignation at the expected giggles from Lavender and Parvati. Tainn winked at Hermione surreptitiously, and she glared at him, obviously wishing that he would show a bit more professional decorum.
Hagrid cleared his throat. "The creatures tha'll be studyin' fer a large part o' the term will be th' pegasi."
Lavender 'oohed' at the thought, being a big lover of horses of any kind, particularly of their Divination professor, who happened to be a centaur. The rest of them certainly looked rather less leery. Most of them looked delighted. They had expected something, at the very least, with claws, fangs and poisonous venom. Pegasi, as far as they knew, had none of those, or at least few. And Harry was fairly sure that none of them were venomous.
Tainn trotted off to retrieve their first subject of study, and Harry wondered if Hagrid had managed to borrow one of Madame Maxine's giant, beautiful, palomino pegasi. He wouldn't put it past him to have brought in a wild one, if not. After all, thanks to Hagrid, there was now a giant living, most unwillingly, in the Forbidden forest.
And then there were the pegasi he knew from some of the lectures in History. They were native to Greece, and very nearly as rare and valuable as a unicorn. They were pure white with wide white wings, though the feathers were sometimes flecked with gold. He had heard that they fairly glittered like pearl in the light and were revered and rarely domesticated. When they were, it was only to riders of their own choosing.
Then Tainn returned, a wicked smile on his face and his hands on the lead rope of the creature emerging from behind Hagrid's hut. And attached to that lead rope was the halter of the ugliest little Pegasus Harry had ever laid eyes on.
It was a dumpy looking creature, no more than fifteen hands high. Its coat was black and shaggy, unevenly so, so that it looked as though someone had taken an old piece of shag carpeting and tied it onto a pony.
Its nostrils whiffled as it swung its head up to inspect them imperiously, as though its were condescending to be there. As its head turned, Harry could see that its left eye was cast and a milky blue. This eye stood out like the blank eyes of the Thestral while its other eye was deep and liquid brown.
He followed Tainn over to where Hagrid was beckoning them closer, his oddly wide hooves clumping heavily on the turf and the longer hair on his shaggy fetlocks swinging. Harry noticed it limped slightly.
His long tail swished when he stopped, still looking them over. He shook his head, flipping his long black mane, his ears, small and pointed, twitching. His huge wings, a dingy, sooty gray, fluttered once, then returned to their relaxed position at his sides.
Tainn and Hagrid both looked at him like he were one of the most glorious creatures on the planet. "Led'ge'tis would be th' name o' this yere fine fella," Hagrid told them, rolling the word in an odd manner. "But 'is owner says we kin call 'im Tilt. Easier, I'm thinkin'."
There were murmurs of agreement from the students, though Harry could hear the Ravenclaws, and Hermione, trying out the name. Harry, listening to them, thought that it wasn't likely that Hagrid's pronunciation was anywhere near accurate.
"Leah-tess, is as close as I can come to pronouncing it." Tainn provided them, proving he had been listening in. "Lejtes. But I think it would be simpler to call him Tilt as well." Hagrid looked relieved to not have to wrap his tongue around the name.
"Tainn 'll be givin' yer th' lecture thi' lesson. Ah'll be listenin'." Hagrid told them, "An' 'elpin out me assistant." He chuckled, a veritive rumble.
"Thank you my fine professor." Tainn said in his deep voice. "I hope that I shall live up to your expectations."
He turned to the class, patting Tilt's nose as he looked them over. "There isn't much difference, I think, between students in America and students in England." He grinned, "It's up to you to prove me right or wrong. It'd be fun to see which it is."
Hagrid sidled, as much as he could, over and stood behind Harry and Ron, clasping them both by their shoulders like a proud father. But he did not interrupt Tainn to express his happy greetings to his arguable favorites.
"This is a Monglian Pegasus. Not a perfect example, I must say." Tilt bared his teeth and attempted to take a bite out of Tainn's ear. Hagrid started forward, but Tainn simply slapped the muzzle away with a laugh. "Simply because he is slightly lame in his left fore and hind, this most likely being the reason that he was caught. His wings are perfectly functional." He scratched Tilt's ears, which the Pegasus seemed to accept as suitable apology for the insult.
"Monglians are most commonly found in, Mongolia, to be obvious, and certain mountainous eastern European countries, in the mountainous areas." He beckoned them closer.
Harry, beginning to find observing female behaviors amusing, watched as Lavender jockeyed for the position closest to the crouching professor.
"See how the hooves appear to be oversized?" He lifted one of Tilt's feet, his left fore so as not to unbalance him, and showed him the underside. "The frog is dually protected, much more so than is usual in pegasi or even normal horses. It's very soft and flexible." He pressed with a calloused thumb to demonstrate. "This gives them a superior grip on rocky, mountainous terrain, enabling them to perch precariously to reach the choicest vegetation." He let the foot drop but allowed them to stay close.
"And this is why I say his lameness allowed him to be caught." He looked them over, "tell me why."
One of the Hufflepuffs raised their hand, Howard, Harry recalled. Tainn nodded at him. "He wouldn't be able to find his balance on the crags, since he has to favor two of his legs."
"Precisely." Tainn glanced at Hagrid, then back. "Five points...er...what's your house?"
"Hufflepuff, Prof- Tainn." He checked himself.
"Yes, five points Hufflepuff."
Tainn continued, and Harry took a moment to glance around, finding rapt faces and an approving Hagrid.
"So in other words, he went tumbling down the mountain." Tainn said in sing-song. Tilt laid his ears back again. "But anywho, this probably made it worse. The little fellow is lucky someone happened to come around otherwise he would have been fertilizer. 'Course, he still does produce fertilizer."
Tainn's voice grew jollier, and Harry knew he was relaxing. "This little dustmop is very typical of the coloration of his species. They all look like they rolled in a chimney sweep's disposal pile and used their wings to dust the Louvre. Only once did I ever see a pure white Monglian, and she was blind in both eyes. She was also lucky to have someone come across her when she went a tumbling."
And so the lecture continued, Tainn amusing them, and even Hagrid when he told a story about a mare he had been observing, who dropped her foal at the very top of a very tall mountain, literally. Very lucky indeed that it had been a tall mountain, for the wind dried the foal's wings before he reached the ground and he managed to teach himself to fly in record time to save his fuzzy little neck.
"Bad mothers." He told them, more soberly, "That's why they're so rare. There's a small preserve in the Rockies." They looked puzzled. "The Rocky Mountain range in the western United States, and they have been making some progress."
He chuckled, "In an admittedly odd twist, the males of this breed are vastly more intelligent, such as this brilliant dust bunny here. And as most of us know, this is fairly atypical in the animal kingdom, where the females are generally more practical." He shook his head, "The silly little muffin thought it was a GOOD idea to bear her foal on the top of a mountain."
After this he moved on to the practical treatment and care of the Monglian Pegasus, showing them the proper way to clean their hooves, though this was rarely needed due to their foot structure, and how to brush them properly. He informed them that the shaggy coat was shed only during the month of June, on the first full moon, and their coats were sleek and short for approximately two months. The long unkempt hair grew back promptly on the night of the first new moon in August.
He taught them how to dust the wings, they only needed a washing once a month, carefully pulling soft rags from the inside of the wing to the very tips. This proved to be a tricky procedure, as it apparently tickled horribly. Tilt would fling his wings up suddenly, catching a student in the face with one once or twice, in protest, or perhaps in enjoyment.
Harry was working at a knot in Tilt's mane, while Ron was working on the tail. Having heard the warnings from Tainn about kicking, and how very painful it could be, Ron was dancing nervously about every time he had to pull hard on a stubborn knot.
Hermione was carefully dusting the underside of Tilt's wing, where the hair became feather, with Tainn leaning in beside her, ostensibly to help her do it properly, but Harry could hear some of the ribald comments he was murmuring to her.
Harry watched in amusement as Hermione's face grew red. But he also automatically looked to Ron to make sure he was unaware. Although Harry, and, he was sure, Hermione, knew that Tainn was just a terrible tease, Ron, apparently, did not.
When Tainn had told Hermione to call him love monkey, Harry was almost certain that Ron was going to leap out of his chair and throttle the young man, assistant professor or no. Only supreme restraint, restraint that Harry was quite impressed with, had kept it from becoming an incident.
Perhaps, he thought, he should ask that Tainn tone it down a bit, for the sake of his own sanity.
He was aware of someone watching him, and looked around to see that Tilt had twisted his neck around to peer at him with his non-cast eye. Harry could see the intelligence sparkling in it. The Pegasus sniffed at Harry clothes, then took his sleeve in his teeth and yanked, pulling Harry off his feet and tossing him on the ground in front of his forelegs. Hagrid yelped and trotted over, but all that Harry could see, as the Pegasus looked down on him with the liquid brown eye, was amusement.
Harry was just glad that there were no Slytherins around.
Please, please, please review.
