Fire at the Unicorn Paddock

[Astrid Osborne]

During her first two years at Hogwarts, Astrid had discovered--and come to accept--that she was magically weaker than her peers, leading to her struggling whenever she was required to use her wand in class. That was why she'd been so excited to attend Care of Magical Creatures starting in her third year, as she knew it didn't rely heavily on wand usage.

Unfortunately, the regular CoMC teacher was not around anymore, and Prof. Grubbly-Plank was filling in as a substitute until a permanent replacement could be hired. Her priority was to teach students to care for those beasts that Hogwarts kept on-premises, to lighten her own burden.

As Astrid was nearly seven feet tall (and strong), she was naturally suited to the larger beasts kept in the paddocks. She hadn't yet seen death, so thestrals weren't the best match for her. But she was a girl, who still had her innocence (that had made for an awkward conversation, but it needed to be confirmed), so Grubbly-Plank asked her to look after the unicorns. Astrid was very happy to receive this special assignment.

...

Early on Saturday morning, Astrid walked down to the unicorn paddock, carrying two large baskets of root vegetables. The paddock was generous in size, and in a wooded area adjacent to the Forbidden Forest, providing the beasts with an ideal habitat. A barn-like structure on one end provided shelter and warmth during colder weather.

She was trailed by one of the Aurors, who was aware that he had to keep his distance because the unicorns wouldn't allow him to approach. Astrid paused as she came up to the fence, and took note that only one of the unicorns seemed to be wandering around the paddock's clearing. She recognized it as Sparkles, one of the females, named by a previous student. Unicorns didn't have any distinctive markings, but Astrid could identify her by its size (it was relatively young) and the appearance of its horn. She climbed over the fence and waited for it to look at her and acknowledge her presence, and only then did she attempt to approach it.

As Astrid drew closer, she felt the unicorn's aura of innocence as a warm, fuzzy feeling washed over her. She set the baskets down and took a handful of carrots from one of them. "Hey there, Sparkles. Why are you out here all alone, hmm? Were you waiting for me to show up and feed you?", she cooed to it as she gently stroked its neck. She began feeding it some carrots, which it accepted eagerly.

Sparkles seemed content as she chewed. But then, suddenly, its ears flicked and it turned its head toward the forest. Astrid followed its gaze and was horrified to see smoke and an encroaching brushfire. The unicorn turned and retreated into the barn, where it made a loud, panicked sound that Astrid had never heard before.

This awoke the other unicorns. Astrid watched as they all poured out of the barn, and then, seeing the imminent danger, they all repeated that same panicked sound in a kind of strange, harmonized chorus and quickly moved to the farthest corner of the paddock.

Not sure what to do, she made a snap decision. Protecting the unicorns from the fire was her top priority. She sprinted over to them and opened the closest gate so they could escape onto the castle grounds; they could always be rounded up again later. They began slipping through the gate, in a more orderly fashion than one might expect.

Then, recalling that an Auror was nearby, Astrid turned to face where she expected him to be lingering. "Fire! The forest is on fire!", she yelled to him, unsure if he'd be able to hear her voice over the unicorns.

[Louis Harrigan]

After three gruelling years of Auror training, Louis found himself doing Hit Wizard work all over again.

He had been looking forward to investigating crimes, but here he was, stuck at Hogwarts as a glorified security guard. Doubtless it would be monotonous and boring more than half the time. Not that it was unimportant in any way: the security of Hogwarts and the safety of her students were crucial to the stability of the wizarding community here in the British Isles. Furthermore, his current ward – a Hufflepuff Third-Year by the name of Astrid – had been tasked to take care of the unicorns that resided on the castle grounds, and those noble and majestic creatures were wont to attract the wrong kind of attention from practitioners of the dark arts.

As the duo neared the paddock, Louis hung back and let Astrid proceed ahead alone, all the while keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of trouble. He wasn’t keen to learn firsthand how unicorns would react to his presence, especially not after a previous less than pleasant encounter with a winged horse. Besides, he didn’t need to stick that close to Astrid to see to her safety; many times he had been tasked to covertly guard a VIP, and there were established protocols for that.

“Expecto Patronum,” he intoned as he traced a circle in the air using his wand. With a gleeful bark a sparkling dog-shaped being of light burst forth, and quickly sprinted off to keep watch at the other side of the paddock. Usually a few Hit Wizards or Aurors would be needed to form a safety perimeter, but he was alone today and had to improvise.

While he waited for Astrid, he scanned his surroundings and double checked the possible routes of ingress and egress. He had just looked away from the paddock when a loud, panicked sound rang out. He spun around, just in time to see the unicorns pouring out of the barn and gathering at one side of the paddock. Instinctively he checked the opposite direction, and saw a raging bonfire in the distance.

Dammit. Maybe he shouldn't have wished for any excitement on his first day of work here.

Swearing aloud, he raced towards the fire and took stock of the situation. Astrid was already opening one of the gates, and the unicorns filed out of the paddock to safety. His patronus sprinted over to join the unicorns, alert and on the lookout for any danger.

“I’m on it!” Louis yelled back in response to Astrid as she alerted him to the fire. His first priority was still her safety: the fire could have been a diversion meant to lure him away from the girl and the unicorns. Pointing his wand skywards, he uttered, “Vermillious!” Instantly a brilliant red flare raced high into the sky with a loud whistling sound, signalling to the other Aurors in the vicinity that he needed backup.

Even though he couldn’t attend to the fire directly, the least he could do was to construct a firebreak. “Glacius,” he said, and his wand crackled loudly with blue energy as it emitted a concentrated blast of frigid air. Aiming his wand at the ground between him and the fire, he swept it in a wide arc and began to construct a barrier of ice. Hopefully that would stop the fire from spreading towards the unicorns and Astrid.

With that, he turned around to check on Astrid and the unicorns to see if they were safe.

[Matt Breaker]

Matt chuckled to himself as his large steed propelled him forward; through the very clouds to their destination. This was supposed to be his first day at Hogwarts officially and what better way to make an entrance as the new Professor of the Care of Magical Creatures than by arriving on the back of one of his very own beasts. If he wasn’t arriving at a school with students of different ages; he might have chosen his favorite to come in on. His Zouwu named Zeke. Alas, he knew that while Zeke was very calm with him on a normal basis; he was not a good chose to show off at first meeting. He would save that for when he was teaching one of his older classes; where he could more easily monitor the situation.

Instead he chose another beast to arrive in on for today’s occasion. He was flying in on one of his Hippogriffs. For today he had decided to fly in on his older male that he had named Aero. Aero was the oldest out the herd that he kept and was also the most mild mannered out of them as well; making him the ideal fit for this.

Besides, out of many of Matt’s beasts that he had reared over the years; Aero was one of the beasts that Matt was closest to. Along with Zeke; Aero had been one of the creatures that readily jumped to his master’s defense in the war. Between Zeke and Aero, Matt had a very well hidden defense against anyone who wished him harm.

With that thought in mind; Matt couldn’t help but chose Aero to accompany him in the newest adventure in his life. Has Aero touched down on the castle grounds; Matt patted his neck affectionately.

“Good boy Aero…it probably felt good to stretch your wings anyway huh?” He commented as idly as he gently nudged the beast to walk forward. Matt looked around with a slightly confused look on his face.

‘Huh…I thought that the headmaster was supposed to meet me here…that was the plan at least…’ He thought to himself as he decided to go to around the backside of the castle to see if there was anyone there. Aero, of course, trotted along the ground calmly as they made their way to the back of the school.

As he got to the back part of the school a particular smell hit Matt’s nose. He directed Aero towards the smell; which seemed to be coming from the forest.

‘It’s coming from the Forbidden Forest…why is that?’ He thought as Aero suddenly threw his head up and squawked. Since the Hippogriff was generally a quiet beast; Matt became instantly on guard. After all, Aero wouldn’t have reacted if something wasn’t up.

It was then that he heard the shout and a red flare burst into the sky above them. Matt’s blood ran cold. Having been around many Aurors while fighting in the war; he knew exactly what that signal meant. There was an Auror in the forest and they were calling for help.

“That’s trouble, Aero let’s go!” He shouted as he spurred the creature into action. The Hippogriff jumped into a gallop as the duo raced into the forest. As he approached the paddock; he saw the Unicorn running away from it and the flames that lashed at the dark woods. He spotted a young, taller, girl and a man that was clearly an Auror before him.

‘A forest fire…shit!’ He thought as he pulled out his wand and forced Aero to skid to a stop.

“Aguamenti!” He yelled as he neared the flames. Water burst from the tip of his wand putting out the flames closest to them. Jumping down from the Hippogriff he glanced at the beast.

“Aero get the Unicorn out of the area! GO!” He shouted as he battled the flames. The Hippogriff screeched as he trotted off; acting like a herding dog to guide the Unicorn to safety.

“We need to get these flames under control…and get the other animals out of harm’s way.” He stated as he glanced at the Auror and student nearby. They needed to come up with a plan and fast before the raging flames caused animals that lived in the forest to panic and stampede off. Stampeding animals would injure themselves or worse; other people who were just trying to help.

[Astrid Osborne]

Astrid was ushering the last few unicorns out of the paddock when she spotted a fox terrier patronus and a hippogriff approaching, presumably to help shepherd them. She could only assume they were somehow connected to the two wizards casting spells in the direction of the flames.

Her thoughts turned to the hippogriffs and thestrals in the adjacent paddocks. Fortunately, those beasts were winged and could simply fly to safety if they felt threatened, as long as they weren't caught unaware and trapped in their shelters. As there probably wasn't much she could do to directly assist the Auror and the other wizard whom she didn't recognize, she turned and sprinted to the nearby thestral paddock.

Of course, when she reached the thestral paddock, it appeared empty to her. Whether any of the beasts were roaming outside didn't concern her as much as the ones that might still be in the shelter. But she didn't really have any way to visually or magically ensure the shelter was empty.

Inside the barn, there were a dozen stalls. She decided that to evacuate the barn, the most she could do would be to work her way from the rear to the front, making as much noise as she could as she walked into each of the stalls, so that's what she proceeded to do.

"Oy, thestrals! Shoo! There's a fire outside! It's not safe to stay in here!", she warned in as loud a voice she could. She watched the straw on the ground get disturbed as a couple of the beasts apparently complied.

Astrid nearly tripped over a thestral on the ground while checking one of the stalls, though. "Shoo! Get out!", she tried to command it, but it didn't seem intent on getting up. Reluctantly, she drew her wand. "Ugh, I hate to do this...," she muttered. She moved to the far corner of the stall and aimed where she thought the thestral was, and fired off a stinging hex--or, at least, as strong of a stinging hex as she could manage--it probably wouldn't hurt the beast. But it brayed in complaint and stood up, and started to leave the stall.

After a couple more minutes, Astrid was as certain as she could be that the barn was now empty, so she closed its doors and moved a stone to barricade them, to prevent any of the thestrals re-entering.

[Louis Harrigan]

An unfamiliar voice alerted Louis to the arrival of a newcomer; he turned and—blimey!—was that a hippogriff? Where did he even get that from? Regardless, he wasn't going to question someone who was here to help: the stranger swiftly whipped out his wand and began to put out the flames, before commanding his hippogriff to assist Astrid.

For a split second Louis considered letting Mr Hippogriff Tamer handle the fire alone: he didn’t fancy the thought of letting Astrid stray too far from him, but with the mighty hippogriff and his own patronus by her side, he knew that she was in safe hands. Logic won out; he returned his attention to the wildfire before him, and saw that the flames were already threatening to outflank the firebreak that he had built. He had to move fast. “I’ll cover the other side,” he shouted to the other wizard as he sprinted to the area beyond the icy barrier and battled the flames with the Water-Making Spell.

Belatedly it occurred to Louis who that man was. As an auror assigned to guard Hogwarts, he had access to a list detailing the whereabouts of all the staff and students, especially those who were entering or leaving the castle grounds. If memory served, a new Care of Magical Creatures professor was due to arrive that day, and presumably that would be Mr Hippogriff Tamer. “An exciting first day at work, wouldn’t you say?” Louis yelled over to the other man as he doused the flames as best as he could, aiming for the base of the fire and using a sweeping motion to cover as much ground as possible. “Louis Harrigan, auror-turned-firefighter,” he said, using his self-introduction as a subtle way to confirm the stranger’s identity.

Even as he was containing the fire, he couldn’t help but check on Astrid again. She was at the thestral paddock now, trying to get the creatures to safety. Could she even see them? “Astrid!” he called out as loudly as he could, hoping that she could hear him. “There’s one last—oh never mind, there it goes.”

The girl and the magical equines would be fine for now, but that could not be said of the wildfire. With the entire Forbidden Forest, as well as the nearby Hogwarts and Hogsmeade at risk, they had to either completely extinguish or contain the fire somehow, but there was little they could do with two jets of water. Racing back to assist the other wizard, he tossed out the only workable idea that he had. “Between the two of us, I doubt we can cover enough ground,” he reasoned. “Perhaps we should create a firebreak around the fire. A perimeter of bare earth that’s free of combustibles might do the trick.” Barring strong winds that could blow any embers across the gap, that was, in his opinion, a safe bet. “Unless, by any chance, you also happen to have a thunderbird in addition to a hippogriff.”

[Matt Breaker]

Matt was so focus on the task at hand that he had almost missed the man’s comment about this being a exciting first day and almost laughed dryly at that thought. ‘Yeah exciting is right…I came to Hogwarts to start to settle down…not to cause myself more chaos.’ Matt thought to himself as he glanced at the man nearby and shook his head.

“Exciting eh!? I now have a feeling as to why Hogwarts was needing a new professor. And here I was…wanting to settle down a bit.” Matt called back as he continued his water spell to help against the flames.

“Matt, Matt Breaker…new professor of the Care of Magical Creatures…apparently I can also add firefighter to my resume now…” He called back as he looked at Louis. Obviously Matt knew the hidden reason behind Louis introducing himself in such a situation. He had spent enough time with Aurors to understand their general tactics. He knew that, even though he was helping, Louis would be naturally suspicious of Matt and it was best to reassure him sooner rather than later that he was not a threat.

As he continued on with the flames he knew that this wasn’t working as well as what was needed to. They were just two wizards and the blaze was huge. He glanced back at the student and Aero that was safely behind them. ‘This is so not working…we need a lot more water for this.’

Louis’ plan and half-joking comment about a Thunderbird made Matt crack a small smile. He did have a Thunderbird but as Matt glanced around him he knew that the trees were far too thick and dense for the mighty bird to easily fly through. ‘Ra isn’t the only creature that can create an adequate firebreak…I do have…’

Matt switched his wand to his left hand so he could still douse the flames and reached down with his messenger bag; allowing it to softly drop to the ground. Flipping the top up and quickly unzipped the top.

“ZEKE, NINA, AND CLAW! I NEED YOU!!” He called as he tipped his head down towards his bag and quickly stepped away from it; gesturing to Louis to do the same. The bag shook once multiple shadows burst from the container and a loud roar erupted from the biggest of the creatures. Before them was a massive Zouwu and two Matagot cats.

“A Thunderbird wouldn’t be of much use but Zeke my Zouwu and those are two of my Matagots Nina and Claw just might.” He stated as he gently scratch the underside of Zeke’s chin for a second. "And don't worry about Zeke...he looks fierce but he's just a big kitty."

“Nina, Claw can multiply themselves. They will be able clear the underbrush and warn the creatures in the surrounding areas. If I am riding him; Zeke can definitely make a pretty good size firebreak to make sure it doesn’t spread but there is still the issue of the fire itself…especially if sparks ignite things across the firebreak…we’ll be in the same issue again…we need more water…” He said as looked at the Auror beside him as well as glancing back at the student behind him.

[Astrid Osborne]

Having now gotten the unicorns and thestrals out into the open so they could escape the encroaching flames, Astrid turned her attention to the hippogriff paddock. Thankfully, it seemed that the hippogriffs were already aware of the fire and evacuating the area. It meant she wouldn't have to do the whole slow-approach-and-bow thing to approach each one of them.

"Thank you," she said to the second wizard's hippogriff who had helped to evacuate the two paddocks. "Let's see if we can help those wizards, yeah?", she suggested while gesturing in their direction. With this, she set off in a sprint toward them.

It would take a couple minutes for her to reach the wizards on foot--she didn't want to attempt to fly on an unfamiliar hippogriff. Once she drew near, she stopped to catch her breath and observed the progress they were making. "Is there anything I can do to help?", she called out.

[Louis Harrigan]

The name that the stranger offered checked out. “Well met, Matt,” Louis replied without missing a beat. Not his best attempt at lightening the mood in this grim situation, but that’ll do. “I had been hoping to see more action as an Auror,” he admitted ruefully. “Guess I should’ve been more careful with what I wished for.”

When he asked if Matt would happen to have a thunderbird on hand, it had been a complete shot in the dark. As such, it was all the more surprising when the professor revealed that he had other magical beasts that would prove more helpful, implying that he did indeed have a thunderbird on hand. As Matt set his bag down and stepped away from it, Louis hurriedly – and very wisely – followed the expert’s lead. (“When the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad starts running, try to keep up” was a lesson he had learnt the hard way, and one that his colleagues would never ever let him live down.)

From the shuddering bag burst forth a trio of ferocious felids that Louis had never laid eyes upon before. Those smaller shadowy ones with luminous eyes did not look too friendly to him, but they were not his greatest concern. The last – and most certainly not least – of the magical beasts was something straight out of a mythology book from halfway across the globe, with its resplendent mane and tail and wicked claws. Subconsciously Louis slowly and cautiously took a few more steps back, not wanting to risk agitating the magical creatures without knowing the full extent of their capabilities, even if their owner was nearby.

Matt explained that the creatures – a Zouwu and two (for the time being) Matagots – could swiftly create the firebreaks they needed, but the fire itself still had to be put out. “We’ve got the two of us here,” Louis thought aloud, still keeping a cautious eye on the so-called giant kitty, “plus Astrid when she’s gotten all the beasts to safety – oh, there you are Astrid.” He was massively relieved that the student running towards them, safe and sound. “I take it all the unicorns and thestrals and hippogriffs have all gotten to safety?” he asked.

In Astrid’s absence, Louis patronus would stay with those beasts and guard them from any threats, leaving them free to attend to the raging fire. Earlier he had launched a signal flare, and it had been met with a response. “We’ve got another Auror down by the Great Lake,” he said, continuing from his earlier train of thought. “But they’re not going to be of enough help.” He could only imagine the lone Auror trying to fight the flames by themselves. That Auror was probably in much greater need of help than the three of them.

Hang on a second… if Matt couldn’t get his thunderbird to fly through the forest and summon rain, maybe they’d have to do it themselves. “A Weather Modifying Charm might just be the thing,” Louis suggested, as a plan started to form in his head. “It’s got to be powerful enough to cover the entire school grounds, and possibly even Hogsmeade.” Turning to Astrid, he asked, “Do you know the spell? We could give you a crash course here and no—“

A sudden movement from the corner of his vision caught his attention. The Auror spun around, wand at the ready, but the thing had long vanished behind the trees. “Did anyone else see that?” he asked urgently, unable to tell where or what it was.

[Matt Breaker]

‘Careful what you wish for indeed…’ Matt thought to himself as he continued to try and push the flames back. Too bad his own wish to settle down had not been the wish to have come true. Of course he also knew that trouble seemed to come along with wherever he was anyway so it wasn’t really that big of a surprise to him. Heck a fire was the least of his worries as far as bad things was concerned in his own eyes.

Matt was listening to Lousi as he was talking and watched as the student, named Astrid he realized, came back to the two wizards. Aero squawked as he approached. Matt turned his head as his old friend trotted up alongside the student; almost guarding her as they approached. He couldn’t help but smile to himself as he watched the Hippogriff’s behavior. He knew that Aero, being much older than his others, was far more willing to trust and protect strangers; especially if the beast determined that the stranger was deemed worthy of him.

“Yeah a Weather Modifying Charm would work…with the two of us we should be able to get most of the forest…maybe not all the way to Hogsmeade but hopefully the fire hasn’t spread that far yet…” He said as he glanced at Astrid. He knew that such a charm wasn’t something that was readily taught in school. In fact he had only learned such a thing from his mentor. After all he needed it to change the weather for his individual enclosures for his beasts.

As Louis spoke about seeing something; Matt saw the flicker as well. It was so fast that he could have almost considered it a figment of his imagination or a shifting of the light. His creatures’ reactions are what gave it away that it was certainly not in Matt’s head. Both Claw and Nina turned and hissed loudly at the darkness while Aero shifted closer to protect the group if need be. Zeke moved his long tail and seemed to wrap it around the entire group; his gigantic head facing towards the darkness as he growled loudly.

“Yeah…I saw that…and so did they…”

[Astrid Osborne]

(Astrid should have a Scottish accent. I'm experimenting with it in this post, but I don't know if I can do it justice or do it consistently.)

"Aye, Ah think all th' beasts are safe now," Astrid confirmed while still trying to catch her breath from her sprint. "This hippogriff, an' what Ah assume was yer patronus, helped ah loot." She turned her head to study the hippogriff in question more closely now, not previously having had the chance to do so, and extended a hand to stroke its neck. "This one is differen'...Ah didn' have te bow to 'im or anythin'." She then turned her attention to Matt and whichever other beasts he might have released that were still nearby. "Yeh mus' be ahr new C-O-M-C teacher, yeah? Ah'm Astrid." She didn't use her last name all that much, so she didn't give it.

Astrid shook her head to Louis. "Tha' sounds look ah NEWT-level spell te me...Ah'm only a third-year. An', even if Ah did know how te cast it, Ah probably wouldn'ah be able te. Ah'm afraid there's somethin' foondament'ly wron' with me magic, yeh see."

The movement of something through the thick of trees startled her. "WOT TH' BLOODY FOOK WAS THA'?!", she blurted as she reached into a pocket and withdrew her wand, knowing full well that she'd only be able to cast some weak hexes with it. Even if she could only put on a glorified light show, it might be able to scare something away. At least she had the two wizards with her, and she wasn't facing whatever it was entirely alone.

[Louis Harrigan]

A warm sensation in Louis’ pocket alerted the Auror to a message from his colleagues, presumably the one by the Great Lake. A pang of horror hit him as he realised that, in the heat of the moment, it had slipped his mind to update the other Aurors about the situation on the ground. Quickly he pulled out the enchanted notebook that Aurors used as a means of quick communication; there was an incoming message about how the fire had reached the north-eastern side of the lake. Belatedly he added in his own situation report, enunciating each word as clearly as he could. “Fire, Forbidden Forest. With COMC Professor and one student. Beasts at the paddock have been released for their safety.”

When Louis asked if Astrid knew the Weather Modifying Charm, he hadn’t been counting on that, though it would have been great otherwise. To be fair to the student, it wasn’t a common spell, nor did he remember it being taught to him in school. “Don’t say that about yourself, kid,” Louis said when Astrid spoke disparaging about her own magical skills. He had no idea if what she had said was true – he had only just known Astrid earlier that day – but it was all irrelevant to Louis. “There’ll always be people in this world who would put you down for absolutely no good reason, so always cheer yourself on and prove those haters wrong.”

Fortunately, Matt did know the Weather Modifying Spell, and Louis nodded in agreement with the professor’s assessment about how much ground they could cover with the spell. But before he could reply, a sudden movement caught his eye. It certainly wasn’t his imagination, not when everyone else had seen it too, including the magical beasts that were now snarling at the unseen and unidentified threat. Instinctively Louis moved to physically shield Astrid from whatever it was; the poor girl had even blurted out something she probably shouldn’t have. Not that he was in any position to ask her to mind her language, seeing how much of a potty-mouth he was.

With his wand raised and eyes peeled, Louis swept his gaze all around them. Of the dark shadow that had they had caught but a glimpse of, there was absolutely no trace. He was in fight mode now, ready for any kind of trouble… but the source of trouble had tauntingly decided not to engage the Auror at the moment. He cursed under his breath. There was no time for him to play hide-and-seek with whatever that thing was, for the fire still raged uncontrollably.

Reluctantly he forced himself to return to the task at hand, but now that he was aware that they weren’t alone, his guard was up. Muttering a quick incantation, he quickly cast an Intruder Charm on their immediate vicinity; if anyone else were to approach them, at least he would be alerted to their presence even if he had to divide his attention between conjuring rainclouds and keeping everyone safe. “Let’s crack on with the Weather Modifying Charm, shall we?” he asked Matt. “As much as I’d like to hunt down that thing, whatever it is, the fire ain’t putting itself out.” To Astrid, he added, “Stay close to me, alright?”

[Matt Breaker]

To Matt, Astrid not knowing the weather modification charm was not a horrendous deal for him. He was well versed in the spell’s workings and it seemed as if Louis also had knowledge of them. It made sense as the other man was an Auror and had to know about such spells.

“It’s ok lass. A weather modification spell isn’t something that everyone learns in school anyway; no matter their level. Besides wand magic isn’t the only way of the world; despite what some might believe.” He told the student in a kind, comforting, way as he did so. He knew that some Witches and Wizards just didn’t have good wand magic but were very good in other magical aspects. His father hadn’t been the best as far as wand magic was concerned, in fact, but he had found his calling in the beasts he raised. While Matt’s wand magic was strong, he never underestimated someone without those abilities.

His own beast’s reactions only confirmed to him that someone, or something, was nearby. Whether the potential threat was watching them or just hanging around was an unknown. Matt didn’t like unknowns. Turning his head down to his Matagot’s, Nina and Claw, he made a quick decision.

“Claw, Nina…Multiplicamini. Exquirite, sed videte.” Matt stated briskly to them. The words loosely translated to ‘Multiply. Seek it out but be careful’ in Latin. It was a language Matt had learnt from his father and had used it exclusively during the war for his creatures to give them instruction while not allowing the enemy to understand. As quickly as they emerged from his bag; the two beasts burst into the forest; seemingly morphing into four then eight before disappearing out of sight.

He turned to the large head of the Zouwu before him. “Around the fire…clear the path my friend.” Zeke shook his gigantic head once in protest at his master’s words; seemingly unwilling to leave the man while a potential threat lurked about. “Zeke...Aero is here. Noli contendere. Go.” The man said firmly to the beast who reluctantly launched himself into the woods; tearing everything in his path. He wasn't willing to argue with the beast when there was a blazing fire still threatening the forest; no matter the creature's concern.

“Firebreak check…now let’s get that raincloud coming in…” He nodded to Louis as he pointed his wand towards the sky to start the charm.

[Astrid Osborne]

Astrid had long ago determined that she was 'broken', but she was by now accustomed to adults trying to reassure her that she wasn't, and she knew there was little to gain by trying to persuade the auror otherwise--least of all at that particular moment, while they all had other pressing concerns. She sighed and shrugged. "If you say so," she replied half-heartedly.

"Aye," she gave her assent when asked to stay close to Louis. "As long as whatever that was doesn't come chargin' toward me."

Then the new CoMC professor chimed in regarding wand magic not being everything, to which she nodded vigorously. "Exactly! Herbology and Magical Creatures happen to be my preferred subjects specifically because they're not wand-intensive and I can get passing marks in them," she replied.

She stared in astonishment as the prof's beasts multiplied as if struck by a 'gemino' charm. "That was amazin'! I just hope they come back together before it's feedin' time or they'll eat you out of house an' home." Even Hogwarts had limits to how many creatures it could keep fed, after all--food was one of the things that couldn't be conjured, only transfigured from other food if necessary.

[Louis Harrigan]

Upon the professor’s command, the two smaller creatures sped off into the forest and – to Louis’ surprise – multiplied until there were eight of them when they disappeared from view. “That’s not something you see every day,” the Auror remarked absently, not quite able to believe his eyes. But the world was a strange place, and that wasn’t and wouldn’t be the only inconceivable thing he had seen and would ever see. “At least food can be multiplied,” he chimed in when Astrid raised her concern about having to feed an entire pack of creatures. “That is, if you manage to multiply it before the Matagots get to it.”

The Zouwu got to work as well, digging a firebreak around the flames using its massive claws. All that was left was to conjure some rain. Louis nodded to Matt in acknowledgement as he too raised his wand, before reciting the incantation. “Metelojinx!” A bolt of lightning shot forth from his wand towards the firmament, and within seconds the skies began to darken as heavy storm clouds gathered and swirled overhead. Lightning flashed ominously within the cumulonimbus clouds, as though they were psyching themselves up for what was to come.

Louis flinched as a fat, heavy raindrop struck him square on the crown of his head, and then it began to pour in earnest, a torrential thunderstorm that pelted the school grounds with the full, primal fury of nature itself. The stubborn wildfire continued to rage, but it was a hopeless struggle. The smaller patches of flames were already guttering out, and the main fire itself probably wouldn’t last long either.

It was at this moment when the Auror felt a deep sense of unease, as though he was being watched. He turned, and found himself looking at a botanical monstrosity, a gigantic lotus seed pod with numerous deep and deeply revolting cavities and eyeball-like seeds that stared back at him. “UGH!” he yelped in abject disgust as he threw up his hands defensively, instinctively casting a Knockback Jinx wandlessly against the trigger of his irrational fear. Punted away by the spell, the seed pod tumbled backwards before fading into a black mist and disappearing from view. “Oh for fuck’s sake, Louis,” he chided himself openly, thoroughly pissed off at his own lack of self-control. But at least he now knew what they were dealing with, and it wasn’t as bad as he had first thought.

“It’s a boggart,” he announced to the others as he moved closer to Astrid. “I don’t know what y’all are afraid of, but if it’s worse than lotus seed pods or honeycombs or anything with too many holes in them, I’ll gladly get the boggart’s attention while y’all dispatch it.”