Being a bad human and counting the words I did for a blog post towards my daily count, so this only, like, 400 words. But I'm really proud of my blog post, and this makes a funny point, so ... it is wha it is. Hopefully tomorrow you'll get something full-length 1k.
Hilary nearly fainted when she first saw the Hogwarts dragons close-up. There were two of them: huge twenty feet long reptiles with ridges all along their backs and a sharp pointed tail. Their eyes were huge and bright purple. All in all, they were exactly the sort of beast that Muggles made scary drawings of and told cautionary tales about experiences with medieval virgins. Hilary waited for a good few minutes for someone to tell her that it was ok. Almost everything she had met so far in the wizarding world had been briskly defused of any of its Muggle world power and mystique, so she was hopeful this would be the case here. Maybe it was friendly really. Maybe it turned intangible when it got annoyed so was completely safe. Maybe it only ate a very specific magical animal. Surely it didn't breathe fire?
So she listened with dismay to the safety lecture by the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, with ocassional comment as usual by Professor Dickenson, as it quickly became apparent that this was not going to be a nice surprise. These were dangerous animals, more aggressive than the UK's other species of dragon (other species of dragon? Hilary thought frantically), and they liked to eat deer. If they were ever allowed to roam uncontrolled, they might eat cows. Or groups of people. And yes, they breathed fire.
By the time the teachers reached the list of rules for students who came across the dragons in their wanderings, Hilary was stood right at the back feeling sick. Somehow she felt even sicker when she saw that Tyson was right at the front, eyes shining.
Don't go to this particular area of the grounds, where they have their nest. They are sterile but still highly protective of it.
Don't meet a dragon's eye
If you do, drop your vision to the floor and stay stationary unless you have a solid stone structure to duck into immediately. Do not run.
Don't try to repel them using spells; they are highly resistant and find most spells irritating to their skin and eyes
"Why do we have them?" Hilary cried out, interrupting Tyson's question on flight patterns. "If they're so dangerous, so lethal, why are they here in a school?"
Professor Dickenson smiled paternally at her. "Why, my dear girl, what should we have for guardians instead? Dementors?"
Everybody chuckled at the very thought.
All opinions welcome!
xIlbx