::Care Of Magical Creatures Lesson 1: Kneazles::

[Livius Beom]

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- - - - L i v i u s T a e H y u n B e o m - - - -

------'C a u s e I d o n o t a c c e p t a n y l e s s t h a n s o m e o n e j u s t a s r e a l a n d f a b u l o u s.------
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The corridors echoed of soft footsteps, the pitter patter of students chasing the tails of lost time to their respected classes. Livius strolled after these soft sounds, observing the hushed, anxious whispers that floated from distant beings like ghosts on the wind. The badge pinned to his breast gleamed in the fall sunlight that filtered through the glass of a passing window. Head Boy and patrolling the halls diligently with a few trailing thoughts in his wake as he found it to be a good time to ponder, and ponder he shall.

I wonder how the others are doing? He thought, his eyes catching glimpse of the time within the palms of a large, ornate grandfather clock. Perhaps we should be going to class now? The halls look clear...clear enough. Classes had already begun, but he was sure the professor would understand as he and the two prefects he had assigned with him this hour had duties to do.

Peeking around the corner down another long corridor, he was met with silence and emptiness save for the vague shifting within the frames of various paintings. Clear. With a hum and a nod, he turned and pulled his wand from his rose. With it poised in the air, he easily summoned his most cherished memories, enough to bring a lush warmth to his cheeks and a flutter in his heart. With a flick of the wrist, much practice and will power, two large, bright bursts of light tore from the tip of his wand and bounded onto the floor, standing brilliant and pristine. Two large panthers of light.

"To Xerxes Zabini and Mattieu Leclair," he ordered in a very fond tone, nearly urged to brush the ears of one of the large felines. With their orders, they sprang away before he could, however, and he tucked his wand away to proceed to class.

Across the grounds and five minutes later...

"Kneazles!" Livius exclaimed as he was delightfully met with the bunch of purring felines. He loved this lesson and while he was eagerly reaching out to the first Kneazle he made eye contact with, he was also painfully aware that this would be the last Kneazle class he would have here at Hogwarts. He remembered the first time he and his classmates were taught about the creatures. He was paired with the meanest, sharpest feline of the bunch who seemed to believe his arms were very suitable scratching posts.

"Good times," he mused, though he remembered it wasn't so much fun at the time. He actually had swore off of the subject of the creatures all together in his frustration, but now he could not deny the nostalgia.

"Come here, baby~" he cooed, scooping up one of the smaller of the litter to coddle. "I'm sorry I'm late, professor. I was clearing the halls after last class. There should be two other prefects arriving very soon. They were on duty with me." He smiled and brushed his fingers behind the creature's ear much like how he wanted to do earlier in the presence of his patronus no less. He couldn't help it. He had always been so caring to others and the feeling and behavior only grew more pronounced as he did. Call it an innate paternal instinct.

[Xerxes Zabini]

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X - e - r - x - e - s - D - e - c - a - r - i - a - Z - a - b - i - n - i

"Oh don't talk of love" the shadows purr. Murmuring me away from you.
"Don't talk of worlds that never were. The end is all that's ever true.
There's nothing you can ever say. Nothing you can ever do..."
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Stray students dashing to their next lesson ducked their heads if ever they were caught in the frigid cold gaze of Xerxes Zabini. The young man had a stride so full of confidence that you would think he was the Minister himself. In fact, rumor has it that it was the Zabini boy's dream job, to become Minister of Magic. Some people believed him to be power hungry, some believed he could really do it, that he had the talent and ambition for the cut throat ministry world, others thought he was daft. Regardless of any thoughts or allegations, it was difficult to ignore the chilling conviction in those eyes, the promise frozen within them. You'd better get to class now or else, those eyes seemed to command and no one needn't an elaboration on 'what else' was to mean. No one wanted to know.

Fear was not the power of Xerxes Zabini, it was his sureness, his determination, his thoroughness. He had a regal air about him that any who knew would swear was inherited from his mother, Alice Moon. He had it in him to be a good leader, a level minded one at the least. He was quite calculating and quite influential when need be to where all that was needed now was his status and the reputation of who he was, Xerxes Zabini, cold and quite cut throat. Cripplingly honest, very thorough and intelligent and slightly manipulative where need be. He was a business man.

After crossing paths with a first year who didn't know, who was not educated on who Xerxes Zabini was with other people. Needless to say, he was thoroughly educated on the matter and went skittering off to class having learned his lesson. As he was turning down another corridor, a flash of light was coming his way. As it approached, he began to recognize it as Livius' patronus, a large panther of light. It was time to be headed to class himself. And so, he turned and headed for the castle exist.

Across the grounds and five minutes later...

"I apologize for my late arrival, Professor," Xerxes stated as he approached the class, whom were amongst a bunch of purring Kneazles. "I'm sure our Head Boy has explained," he looked to Livius who was getting awfully cozy with one of the felines. He eyed a Kneazle who eyed him and they both shared a wariness between them. Xerxes was not entirely an animal person and he frequently questioned why he took up this class, but he always settled on the fact that he should always be well informed in any and all subjects.

And so, he reached out for the creature, whose feral gaze seemed to sharpen at his close proximity. It did not seem to entirely reject his touch, but it didn't seem to purr with affection like the others. This feline was entirely aware of the Zabini boy and kept a watchful eye as it was collected into the male's awkward arms. Seemed like a wonderful start to a knew partnership.

[Deleted]

His soft brown eyes widened at the teacher's anger and he hid behind his twin out of fear. The teacher that had at first appeared so gentle and kind had just proven how fierce that he could be, and that boy that had upset one of the gentle felines was still up for causing trouble it would seem. His eyes widened in horror as the blonde turned his eyes from Xayden's form to his very own, his darkened eyes filled with some sort of twisted amusement, and his grip on his sister grew tighter out of nothing but the truest fear.

"N-Nee-Nee...t-that boy's looking at me..."

He knew that it was cowardly to always hide behind his sister like he did, but the truth was he knew that she was more then strong enough to handle any problems that came their way. She was strong, and she was brave enough to always put herself in danger's way to protect him. He was frail and he was timid, the only thing he was good for was to allow Luna to cry on his shoulder when the cruel world proved to be too much to handle for the girl.

He was torn out of his thoughts when he felt a strong hand grip his shoulder. His brown eyes looked up just in time to see his sister give the iciest glare she had probably ever given, before stepping in front of his form, shielding his form from the young Fin's gaze. A sigh of relief left his form at that turn of events, before his gaze was drawn back to the forest entrance as two new people entered the forest one after another. The first one to walk in was a boy that Artemis recognized as the head boy. A small smile left his lips as he saw the boy cradle a kneazle in his arms as if the feline was a baby. It was nice to see that there were other males who valued the friendship and affection of the gentle creatures.

A small and amused smile crossed his lips as his own kneazle purred, and rubbed his head into Artemis's chest, and Artemis gently rubbed the very top of the creature's head, gently scratching and rubbing behind it's ear, laughing quietly when the creature seemed to grow limp with delight as it purred contently. He was distracted from this when another person walked into the class a few moments later.

The other male who walked in was someone who almost reminded him of his sister in a way. He held that same frigid gaze, and that same air of confidence that she did, but with a few major differences. Still, his brown eyes glanced to his side to confirm that his sister was in fact still there, and his eyes glanced from the boy, and back to her in comparison before quickly turning away, not wanting to anger the other male. He knew how terrifying his sister could be when she was angered, and he did not want to find himself at the center of someone's rage, especially not someone that reminded him of her. Facing forward his eyes returned to the professor as he nodded at both boys, before returning to his lecture.