CoMC Lesson 1 (1st-3rd Years)

Kira was back at Salem after getting a good rest over the summer. Even though she loved sitting around all day, not doing anything, she loved being busy more and she was glad she was back. Her first lesson back was with her youngest students and she had something nice planned for them.

She was standing next to a big cage filled with brown and grey birds, waiting for the kids to arrive.

Gillian wasn't really fond of animals in general, but her parents had told her to try harder at CoMC. so here she was, standing outside on the grounds, in front of the professor, next to a cage with really weird looking birds.

She waited patiently for the rest of the classmates to arrive, shifting uncomfortable on her spot, while she twirled her wand in her hand slowly. So far, she didn't really had a lot of friends and she was currently wondering if the class was going to be paired up.

"Good morning, Miss Arkanian!" Kira greeted the first student. "Had a good summer?" Some small talk before the lesson started never killed anyone and Kira wanted to get to know her students a bit better. The girl looked quite uncomfortable and the Professor hoped she wasn't afraid of birds.

After a few minutes, it didn't look like there was anybody else coming. Kira was a bit disappointed, but small classes proved to be just as nice and maybe ever more efficient.

"Do you maybe recognize these birds? Perhaps by the name of Dodo, as the Muggles know them?" She asked kindly, letting the girl know it was alright not to know the answer.

No one seemed to be coming their way, and it puzzled her. why would no one else come to the class?, from what she'd heard, a lot of people liked it, and the professor was really nice and all; although she could understand people not wanting to interact with weird animals, when she didn't even like regular ones.

She turned to the professor, and offered a small smile "erm, it was good, thank you, nothing out of the ordinary to be honest" she answered, wondering how summer was for people who had magical families. "how was yours?" she asked back remembering to be polite. Did professors leave on vacations like the rest of them?.

Gillian turned to look at the birds inside the cage and shook her head "no Ma'am, I've never seen them before, but I have heard about dodos, my mother used to tell me a story that involved dodos, but I imagined them like big ugly ducks mixed with chickens" She answered, not really ashamed about her lack of knowledge about them, although, now that she thought about it, she should have read something about her classes beforehand.

"I've had a lovely summer, thank you." Kira replied, smiling.

She listened to Gillian and fought back laughter at the reply. "Your Mother probably mentioned them being extinct? Well, they're not, even though Muggles believe they are. See, Diricawls have the ability to vanish at will and Muggles believe they've hunted them to extinction because of that. The wizarding authorities never told them otherwise, because that has lead the Muggles to raise awareness and reinstate hunting laws." Kira explained.

"As it happens, the Diricawls often suffer from mites. Luckily, the solution is quite easy, there is a spell called Minuta Evanesco. You need to check the birds for mites by gently spreading their wings apart so you can see the skin. If you see any mites, you just flick your wand sharply and say the incantation. This part is easy. However, you have to get them to trust you first." Kira smiled. "I've put up an Anti-Apparition jinx on the cage, so they can't vanish, but once they're out, they will be able to disappear. So, you have to calm them down, make them trust you. Good luck." The Professor said and with a flick of her wand, she unlocked the doors to the cage. "If you need any help, don't be afraid to ask."

Gillian nodded as professor Reid explained about their real names and that the birds weren't in fact extinct, and it made her wonder what other animals that were thought to be a myth or extinct still existed under the secrecy of the magical community. Frowning, she wondered silently if the little coconuts that the dodos digested and were supposed to be awesome.

As the lesson on what she was supposed to do, Gillian grew nervous; not only was she supposed to try a new spell, and get rid of disgusting mites, but she had to get near enough to the animal, that besides from being huge, had disgusting little animals on it.

Her stomach was a little revolted and the color drained from her face, while her palms grew sweaty. "how are you supposed to gain a Dodo's... sorry, a Diricawl's trust? and how can I know if it has mites indeed? would the spell work for other kind of animals?" she asked in a low voice, trying to delay as much as she could getting too close to the cage and the animals inside it.

Kira could see the girl wasn't exactly bouncing from excitement to go near the Diricawls and she smiled warmly at her. Not everybody would be as enthusiastic about magical creatures as she was, she knew that when she signed up and it didn't really bother her. Everybody had different interests.

"how are you supposed to gain a Dodo's... sorry, a Diricawl's trust? and how can I know if it has mites indeed? would the spell work for other kind of animals?"

"You gain their trust by trying to be as calm as you can be, maybe mutter something in comforting tones... You know how your Mum calms you down if you're upset? She probably strokes your hair, tells you everything will be alright, things like that? Just try to be like that with the animals. They won't harm you, I promise. If you're not calm, just try to breathe deeply and evenly, it gives the impression of calm. Here, I'll show you."

Kira knelt down next to the unlocked cage and opened the door. One of the Diricawls immediately came up to the door, trying to get out to disappear, most likely. The witch held out her hand so that it could smell her and get used to her smell. "There you go, it's alright, little munchkin. Yes, it's okay, it's okay, I won't hurt you. Come on, little buddy, I won't harm you. It's okay..." she whispered while breathing evenly so she gave out calming vibes. The Diricawl considered her for a few moments and then made its way towards her and she stroked him gently.

"As for your other questions, yes, it works on every animal and you can check it has mites, by doing this." The witch demonstrated by gently and carefully spreading the creature's wings apart. She did it until she found a mite and she took her wand out of her pocket. "Minuta Evanesco!" Kira flicked her wand upwards and the mite disappeared.

"You can work on this one, if you wish. Approach us slowly and do as I've said before. You don't have to do this, if you really don't want to." She added, afraid the girl was scared.


Kira glanced at her watch and saw it was only five minutes until the end of the lesson. "Well, it's time to go. Don't want you to be late for your next class." she dismissed her student with a kind smile.