[Sixth Years!] If You Go Down To The Woods...

[alsa]

The addition of a Ravenclaw and even a Gryffindor just served to hit home that little harder – his own students were utter cowards. What had happened to the noble house of Slytherin? Did no one listen to him anymore? He kept his despairing silent, choosing instead to raise an eyebrow at the girl. Siren. Bloody Ravenclaws, thought they were better than everyone else. He had a good deal of respect for them, usually, but he didn't take students treating him like an idiot.

”Five points from Ravenclaw for lip, Miss Allaway; the other students can speak for themselves, and if you hadn't noticed, with Mr Jensen around it's entirely possible we're all going to fall into a giant pit trap the moment we take a step towards the forest,” he grumbled, ever so slightly angry. He wasn't pompous, he was grouchy and hated the students, what was wrong with that? Not that he knew she thought that about him, of course. He sighed and shook his head once more. ”If you're all done talking amongst yourselves...”

He trailed off as he saw Tenebrus galloping up from behind the Hufflepuffs and couldn't hold back a grin, just before the Thestral broke through the small pack and started sniffing him. He laughed – one of the only times he seemed even remotely happy was with animals – and petted the creature on the head, likely looking like he was petting thin air to at least half the students. The Gryffindor girl had shrieked, which was slighlty ear piercing, and he looked at the students to check on their condition. He probably ought to.

”Are you alright?” he asked, and then without waiting for an answer, he continued. ”How many of you were around for a lesson on thestrals?” He grabbed his bag and opened it – he'd learnt long ago that it was a bad idea to bother going into the forest without some kind of food for the thestral, as he always seemed to appear, and out of his bag came a couple of dead mice. He wondered if any of the students would now complain about a smell? There wasn't one, it was one of the few times he used his wand for anything; this being the preservation of food. He held out the mice to the thestral like they were sugar cubes. ”Yes, it's nice to see you too, Tenebrus.”

How dull would Hogwarts be without that creature, eh?

”Anyone want to try feeding him before we go?”

[roxanne]

Roxanne generally didn’t make it her business to be on time for anything, let alone something as unimportant as class. And she didn’t even particularly want to be at this one. If it hadn’t been for Rose’s hopeful expression when she’d met her on the steps ten minutes previously, she would definitely have given this a miss. Why did the girl have to be such a goodie two shoes?
”I’ll be right down,” Roxanne had said through gritted teeth, ”Just let me get my scarf.” Not even Roxie could bear to stand up Rose and she had plodded faithfully through the dewy evening grass to the small gathering on the edge of the forest.

She didn’t particularly feel like talking, but she pushed a Ravenclaw out of her way and touched her cousin’s arm in greeting. Argall was droning on about something. Thestrals, presumably, since he was now feeding one. She met his eye and smiled a little provocatively. If she was going to have to be present at her lessons she was at least going to eye the teachers up inappropriately. Otherwise what was the point? She looked at the thestral again, examining it more closely. She’d been able to see them since the summer after fourth year when some kid in her dance class had dropped dead in front of them all; apparently there had been something wrong with his heart. Roxanne hadn’t known him personally. His first name had been Peter. Or was it Paul? Still, she’d been fairly traumatised. She frowned at the horse-like creature. Creepy little gits.

[fallensiren]

Siren, after throwing a short glare at the professor when he was distracted by the thestral that had come charging up, dug around in her messenger bag for the spare food that she'd brought. It was fortunate, being bright enough to listen around and realize what would occur in lessons before she showed up.

"Tenebrus," she called, holding up the dead ferret she'd found recently on the grounds - poor thing. All of us are bait for the worms someday, anyway. Might as well serve a creature that does some good.

She didn't usually make a point of hanging around thestrals, and wouldn't have known this one's name had it not been for Argall greeting it, but she didn't mind the creatures. Sometimes she even felt sympathy for them, and sometimes jealousy. What would it have been like, to only be seen by those who'd seen death?

She shrugged it off mentally and held out the dead ferret, tempting the thestral to take a bite.

[Tenebrus II]

Thanks to his magical nature, Tenebrus was usually quite good at guessing what people was saying or what was going on in any situation. After all, thestrals could be told where to go with just a name. When it came to people’s opinions on Idris however, he was happily oblivious to just how much the man was disliked. If someone were to tell him that everyone thought Idris was a cranky old sod Tenebrus would probably faint. Idris was like, totally awesome! He was always happy, and smiled, and had food, and was unusually patient, and was always willing to be social, and, and, and... well, he was just a really great guy! Wasn’t he like that with everyone?

Today was proving to be the usual buffet of yummy goodies. Tenebrus chowed down Idris’s offering of whole mice gleefully. They weren’t the best for the hungry, little portions really, but they tasted all right and could be likened to little fun sized bits of chocolate. Plus, it kept him off Idris’s back for a moment. Still, food always tasted better when you could smell the blood under your nose and Idris had an annoying habit of having his mice not be cut open and bearing their pint sized entrails first.

He was just about to go nose Idris’s hand for more when a girl down the back suddenly called his name. Tenebrus turned his head immediately, and locked eyes on something much bigger. This was one snack he could tell hadn’t been through the ComC teacher’s usual hygiene and preservation practices.

The ferret was already rigid; the glassy little eyes bugging out of the skull, mouth open, fur mattered, and a small open sore on the side that revealed flies had already started depositing their eggs. It didn’t smell at the moment, the body hadn’t been allowed to sit long enough for the growing gasses caused by its own stomach acid digesting its own organs to either blow a hole in it to cause it to start leaking bodily fluids. It would have been quite messy if that had happened inside Siren’s bag. It could only be a few hours old, any longer than a day and the thing would be crawling with maggots already. Those damn things hatched quickly.

In any case, Siren had to be admired. The thing was utterly disgusting to look at, probably loaded with diseases already, and the amount of breeding flies she would have had to bat off it to even grab it would have been somewhat frightening. Then she’d put it in her bag. Hmm, okay.

Tenebrus was a thestral, and as Thestrals were partly scavengers it thankfully rendered him safe from the myriad of problems that usually came with consuming decomposing flesh. Incredible immune system for the win! Jubilantly he turned around on the spot and made his way towards Siren, eyes locked on the carcass of the ferret as though he was one hypnotised. Once in striking distance he snatched the body from her hand so enthusiastically Siren became just another in the list people who had only just managed not to lose their fingers to his sharp teeth.

He wasn’t happy to eat it yet, no. Tenebrus had to show off his prize! It would be a very strange sight, seeing a dead creature waving around in the air on its own, but that was pretty much what was happening. Triumphantly, with his head and tail high and a noticeable spring in his step he totted back over to Idris (taking the long way to ensure the rest of the class could see too) to practically wave it in front of him as though to say LOOK WHAT I GOT! LOOKLOOKLOOK!