It was obvious that under the influence of Malfoy's injury incident, Hagrid was not in a very good state today.
After all the students had arrived, he led them along the edge of the forest, and five minutes later, they were outside a paddock-like enclosure.
"Everyone, get over to that fence!" he called. "Stand where you can see. Now, the first thing you've got to do is open your books—"
Marcel saw that most of his classmates had gloomy expressions, so he decided to take the initiative and give everyone a demonstration.
"Everyone, you just need to stroke the spine," he said, while using his own actions to show everyone the correct way to open The Monster Book of Monsters.
Immediately, everyone did the same.
It was clear that some students found this quite interesting, but the shadow these books had cast over them was not something that could be eliminated in a short time.
A book that could bite—it really was a bit frightening.
"Oh, yes! Marcel did very well. Five points to Hufflepuff!" Hagrid looked a little happier. "Oh, I mean, Mr. Maclean."
He paused, then continued, "So next, um..."
It was time to bring out the Hippogriffs, but at this moment, Hagrid was a bit hesitant. Marcel knew he was still worried about someone getting hurt again.
"Well, in fact, Professor Hagrid just invited me to be his teaching assistant for this class..." Marcel suddenly stepped forward, facing everyone, and said calmly, "I think, for certain strange reasons, you all probably already have some understanding of the course content."
Marcel's teasing tone made the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students laugh quietly.
Indeed, except for Slytherin, not many people liked a clown like Malfoy. They all had a bad impression of him.
Although there would always be people who worried about getting hurt, after all, this seemed to be a fact.
"Ahem, but I want to tell you all," Marcel cleared his throat, "the course content that Professor Hagrid has prepared for everyone is still very interesting."
"Yes, he prepared some rare materials for me, which allows me to tell you some content that is not in the books."
As he spoke, Marcel turned and signaled to Hagrid to bring out the Hippogriffs.
"Oh, alright."
Seeing that he spoke with such composure, Hagrid subconsciously turned to act.
"That's right, everyone has heard that today's course content is 'Hippogriffs,'" Marcel continued. "This is a creature born from the mating of a male griffin and a female horse. And we know that griffins themselves despise 'horses' as creatures, so the birth of Hippogriffs has to be said to be an unbelievable thing..."
Marcel saw that some smart Ravenclaw students were nodding, and it was clear that the studious little eagles also knew about this.
"And because of this," he continued, "the Hippogriff has always been regarded as a symbol of miracles and love—"
"Isn't that romantic?" Marcel said, spreading his hands.
"Oh, yes! This creature sounds wonderful!" Several girls suddenly said, their eyes shining brightly.
Clearly, Marcel's rhetoric was very popular with the girls.
"Hey! Teaching assistant! Although that is indeed interesting, doesn't the book say that the natural enemy of this creature is the griffin?" A Ravenclaw boy wearing glasses couldn't help but speak.
But Marcel was not worried at all. He calmly explained, "...This precisely shows the cruelty of survival. Everyone must understand that anything has different sides. Just like us wizards, while we kill magical creatures and use materials from their bodies to make various potions to cure diseases and make life convenient, we must also take responsibility to protect them and allow them to continue to survive, rather than becoming extinct one by one as time goes by and disappearing into the dust of history. This is also one of the important meanings of the 'Care of Magical Creatures' course."
The students listened to what Marcel said and unconsciously became serious, all pondering the meaning contained in it.
"Of course," Marcel added, "it is also because of this cruel side that we can feel how precious the beautiful side is, isn't it?"
At this time, Hagrid had already brought six Hippogriffs to the open space. It seemed that because of yesterday's lesson, he finally decided it was more appropriate to reduce the number.
You know, yesterday when he taught Gryffindor and Slytherin, he brought a full twelve of them!
Although everyone had more or less some understanding of these creatures, it was still the first time they had seen what they really looked like, and for a time, everyone's attention was focused on them.
Hippogriffs had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but their front legs, wings, and heads were still like eagles.
They had steel-colored sharp beaks and bright orange eyes. The claws on their front legs were about half a foot long, and they did indeed look very dangerous.
Each Hippogriff had a thick circle of feathers around its neck, with a long chain attached to it. The ends of these chains were held in Hagrid's big hand, and he jogged slowly after these animals into the paddock.
"Over there!" he roared, shaking the chains and driving these guys to the fence where all the students were standing.
As Hagrid walked forward and tied these guys to the fence, most students couldn't help but step back.
"Hippogriffs," Hagrid shouted loudly, waving his hand to everyone, and then said cautiously, "They are really beautiful, aren't they?"
In fact, these half-bird, half-horse creatures did look quite good. They had shiny coats that gradually changed color from head to tail, making people want to touch them.
Of course, you had to ignore their sharp beaks and sharp claws first.
"Right, the first thing you need to know about Hippogriffs is that they're proud," Hagrid said, his voice getting lower and lower. "You know, when you first make contact, it's very easy to offend them. You need to..."
Marcel couldn't help but shake his head secretly.
At this rate, this lesson would be over. Although Hagrid was a half-giant, his heart seemed to be inherited from his human side—it was a bit too delicate.
He was always worried that he would leave a bad impression on the children.
"...As Professor Hagrid said," seeing Hagrid's voice getting lower and lower, Marcel had to speak again, "Hippogriffs are proud creatures, which is inherited from their paternal bloodline—that is, griffins."
"But also because of this, they, like griffins, can be tamed by wizards. They do not have preconceived hostility towards humans. As long as you understand the correct way of communication, they can become your friends and even protect you when you face danger."
"Oh, yes, that's right! Mr. Maclean is absolutely correct," Hagrid said happily. "And the way to communicate with them is to wait for them to make the first move. It's politeness, you understand? You walk towards it and bow."
"Note that your eyes must always be in contact with it! Then you wait. If it bows back to you, you can touch it. If it doesn't bow, get away from it quickly, because that means it's not in a good mood right now."
"Or, you did something wrong," Marcel added.
Then, Marcel said loudly, "Next, I'll give you a demonstration first. I hope everyone can watch each step carefully."
"Wait, let me untie it first—"
But before Hagrid could finish, Marcel had already walked in front of the Hippogriff. He stared at it without blinking, then bowed slightly.
In front of him, the Hippogriff, which had been a little angry because of the restraint of the leather neck ring, tilted its head to look at Marcel, and then immediately quieted down.
You could see that the Hippogriff was staring at Marcel's eyes. It looked a little strange.
"Oh, what's wrong?" Hagrid hurried over, only to find that this Hippogriff seemed a little uneasy—all the feathers on its neck were standing up.
"Forgot about that," Marcel said, frowning slightly.
Hippogriffs were creatures that were very sensitive to gazes. They could judge from them whether it was goodwill or malice, timidity or ferocity, and thus avoid danger.
But this Hippogriff could not feel any emotion in Marcel's eyes that could be used for judgment, which made it uneasy.
"Professor Hagrid, do you have food? You know, the kind that Hippogriffs like..." Marcel maintained eye contact with the Hippogriff and asked.
"Oh, of course!" Hagrid took out a ferret from the big pocket behind him and put it in Marcel's outstretched hand.
Marcel dangled the ferret in front of him, and the Hippogriff was immediately attracted by its favorite food.
Marcel took the opportunity to walk forward two steps and threw the ferret to it.
The Hippogriff quickly spread its wings, flapped them a few times, raised its neck to catch the ferret that Marcel threw up, and then swallowed it in one gulp.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Marcel bowed again.
As it turned out, for creatures like Hippogriffs with slightly lower intelligence, giving them food was actually a more appropriate means of making friends.
This time, it hesitated a few times, then bent its scaly front knees and lowered its head.
"Well done! You did it!" Hagrid was so excited as if he had succeeded. He waved his hand, telling Marcel to hurry up and touch it.
And the students outside the fence also seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and started chirping and communicating with each other.
The full story so far is available on Patreon!:
now at 35% OFF!
promo code: C1DA2
patreon.com/Zefyrus