Boo! Welcome to October!

A/N: While Malfoy being attacked by Buckbeak is his own fault for calling Buckbeak that offensive "U" word after Hagrid explicitly warned the class not to insult hippogriffs, I agree with the Hogwarts Board of Governors assessment in the book that he did start too big for a first lesson. This chapter shows what I think would've been a better first creature to start with.

Rebus Hagrid was both proud and excited.

After his name had been cleared after the events of the previous year, Hagrid had been hired to the post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher to succeed the now retired Professor Kettleburn.

His first class would be teaching the third year Gryffindors and the third year Slytherins.

He didn't want to bore his first class by making flobberworms their first lesson, but he knew he couldn't be too bold either.

He had to start somewhat small and build his lessons from there

"So," said Hagrid after the class had all managed to open their books, "Yeh've got yer books so now yeh need the magical creatures. So, I'll go and get em. Yeah. Hang on.

Hagrid disappeared for a minute and a nanosecond and returned to the class with a cage containing a set of beautiful brightly colored birds.

These birds came in four vivid colors. They were gorgeous tents of orange, yellow, pink, and lime green.

"OOH." sighed Lavender to Parvati, "These birds are so pretty!"

"They're beautiful birds, " agreed Parvati, "I'd love to have one as a pet!"

"They can be kept as pets, " said Hagrid matter of factly, "But yeh have to be a responsible owner. Can anyone tell me what these sweet little birds are called?'

"Fwoopers," answered Hermione a nanosecond later.

"Excellent, Hermione," beamed Hagrid, "Ten points ter Gryffindor! Can anyone tell me what Charm these birds are sold with?"

"The Silencing Charm," replied Hermione instantly, "That's because-"

"Yeh're right, Hermione, " said Hagrid in a businesslike voice, "But why don't yer let someone else answer. It's a bit off putting to yer classmates by answering every single question and showing off. I as a teacher also need ter know that all of my students are engaged in the class, not just yeh."

Hermione shook her head looking disappointed. \

"Neville, " called Hagrid, "Do yeh know why fwoopers are sold with Silencing Charms?"

"Fwooper song will drive the listener to insanity if he or she listens to too much of it, though it can be enjoyable at first."

"That's right, Neville, " smiled Hagrid, "Ten points ter Gryffindor."

Neville gave a small smile. Hearing himself complimented by a teacher made him feel a bit better about himself. He rarely got that except from Professor Sprout."

Now, Daphne, do you know what a common use fwooper feather is?"

"Fwooper feathers are popular for use in quills," said Daphne glowingly, actually retrieving her green fwooper feather quill from her left hand pocket with her left hand and showing it off to the class. Tracey followed her BFF's lead and showed the class her green fwooper feather quill."

"Excellent, ten points ter Slytherin fer yer correct answer, Daphne, and five points each to Slytherin to both Tracey and Daphne for actually showing us their fwooper feather quills."

Daphne and Tracey smiled at Hagrid.

"Just the type of foul thing we don't need, " sneered Draco Malfoy, "Birds that drive us insane because they won't shut up!"

"Fwooper owners are required to have licenses because the creatures must be handled responsibly, " explained Hagrid.

"I don't remember having learned Silencing Charms," piped up Harry.

"They are taught to fifth years, " said Hagrid seriously, "This lot already have Silencing Charms cast upon them."

"How often do the Silencing Charms have to be reapplied?" wondered Dean.

"Monthly," replied Hagrid simply.

"Are we actually going to get to handle them though?" piped up Seamus eagerly.

"Not today," said Hagrid calmly, "That's next class. Today I just wanted ter introduce the creatures and show em to yeh. Nest lesson I'll give yeh lot the opportunity to handle them with a bit of up front instruction first."

"You're doing a wonderful job, " Harry told Hagrid approvingly, "Start us off with a small but interesting creature, just introduce it in the first lesson, and then let us handle it in the second lesson. "

Thank yeh, Harry," said Hagrid warmly, "I thought fwoopers would be an interesting lesson for the first week without trying to test anybody's limits."

"Fwoopers were a good choice to start off with," agreed Harry.

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