Ear it is (Ric, Damian, Seth)

Asric stood on the edge of the lake with his back to the castle. Water was always so calming and todays lesson would be a calm one... probably. He'd sent the boys a note telling them to meet him here for their next lesson.

Damian made his way down to the lake, excitedly looking forward to his next lesson with Asric. And Seth, of course. The boy smiled when he saw the man.

"Hello, sir!" he called quietly, quickly closing the distance between them.

Seth had gotten the note and was excited to see what would happen next. He arrived to see Damian already there so he walked up and quietly said hi to them both.

He smiled hearing the boys coming up behind him as soon as they left the castle doors. "Hello boys." He muttered barely louder than a whisper as he still stared out at the lake. "Tell me hows the hearing holding up? Not too troublesome i hope." He said clasping his hands behind his back.

"Oh those ear plug, those can come out now. You've had two weeks to adjust so now you can get used to how you're going to hear for the rest of your life." He smirked turning around to face them. "First things first though i think we need to train you to shut them on and off don't you? You'll soon be going deaf if your hearing stayed like this forever so when you're not in lessons with me the ear plugs stay in unless i say otherwise right?" He said holding out two sets on new plugs these ones more discrete, most people wouldn't even notice these ones.

"Oh one more thing. Never reveal how that is done." He said pointing to their ears. "That is one of the hunters most sacred spells if you let spill this, i will personally drag you down to hell myself. This is more private than anything else i will teach you but everything stays a secret." He said these secrets had been passed down through generations of the best hunters the world had ever seen but only a few knew how to perform the spell.

"Good, mostly," Damian replied. He took the new ear plugs, laughing a bit. "Yeah, turning it off would be good!"

He nodded solemnly as Asric told them not to reveal the secret to anyone. "I won't tell," he promised. The boy hadn't even thought to tell his sister. All this was between him and his master, and Seth, of course.

"I've been okay Master. Nothing more then usual. I certainly didn't go home for the break thank goodness," he said taking out his earplugs and glancing at the lake.

"I don't really talk to my brother so no problem there. I swear I will never tell anyone either."

He nodded. "Good lets make sure you don't." He said glancing down at his watch, time was moving on. "You do know that you boys never have to go home again if you don't want to right? You can remain here under my care if that is your wish." He said pulling out his wand.

"Right you wont be needing those today." He said flicking his wand so a blind fold appeared over their eyes. "Today you will concentrate on hearing alone if you don't you'll end up hurt because im not holding the pain back any longer. You guys need to learn to put up with the pain." He said bringing his fingers to his mouth to whistle and minutes later two stone lions came running towards them just coming to a stop either side of Asric.

"Right i hope you were listening just then because i've made it so all of us, me and both lions have different yet very similar walking sounds. Your job is to figure out which is which and shoot down the two lions." He smiled handing each of them a crossbow and arrows.

"So to clarify you need to shoot both lions by listening to their footsteps whilst listening out for me because i will not be happy if i get shot. Also you will need to listen out to where the lions are you get your shot on target." He said nodding to both lions so they all started walking at the same time. "You begin now you have 5 minutes before the lions pounce."

"Really?" Damian exclaimed happily, his horridly long break still in his head. "I'd like to stay here, professor! I don't belong with those muggles." He smiled. He didn't have to go back to his parents. Not until he was ready - and even then, it wasn't them he planned on seeing.

The world went dark as the blindfold appeared over his eyes. He listened intently. Damian was good at listening - it told him when people were getting close. The boy cringed, more in surprise than pain, when the man whistled. He strained to hear what else was happening, and then he heard it, a sort of... grinding sound. Two somethings, Damian would guess... maybe.

Master Chaos' words confirmed it, but lions? Damian drew in a bracing breath as he was given a crossbow and arrows. Shoot the things with the slight grind-y sound, not his mentor. That - of Merlin, Damian hoped he didn't end up shooting the man.

Five minutes.

"Don't shoot me, either," Damian murmured to his housemate. Managing to fit an arrow into place - and very grateful for the times his sister had seen to it that he'd learned such a skill - he raised his bow into position and listened.

There. In front of him. No... that one had two legs and didn't sound quite right. To his right. Damian turned. It was still move, so if he turned a little bit more to his right and fired...

Damian found himself holding his breath as the arrow shot free, hoping he hit something - and that it wouldn't turn out to be his master.

Seth was hesitant when the stone lions ran up and Master told them they had 5 minutes to shoot the lions and not him. They then had to rely purely on hearing and not sight with a blindfold.

Seth smiled when Damian had told him not to shoot him.

As he was crouched there listening he could barely tell apart everyones footfalls at first. The more he listened the more Masters footfalls were lighter then the heavier stone statues. Nocking his arrow and making sure once again that he was aiming at the heavier footfalls he aimed the bow and let loose the arrow hoping it was hitting the right target.

He nodded with a slight smile on his lips. "Too right you don't belong with those muggles. You run with me now and we're going to bring chaos on the lives of every muggle that dares to try and terminate us." He said ruffling Damians hair. "Chaos by name Chaos by nature thats what my old man used to say." He smirked.

He smiled watching the boys listening. "Lets make this a little harder shall we?" He laughed turning into his wolf form so that the end of his laugh became a loud bark. "Remeber to listen carefully boys, each of us have a distinct sound so find it and us it against us." He smirked sending the thought into their minds.

"You're missing boys. Concentrate."

Damian gritted his teeth as the professor's footsteps changed. The man had taken on his animagus form. That made things harder. Now, there were three sets of four paws.

Listen. Concentrate.

One of the four-legged beings had a footfall that was quieter than its others - as though it was favoring one of its legs. Damian honed in on it, separating it from the other two. He was pretty sure its walk was accompanied by that faint grinding sound. Yes, Damian was certain that was the case.

Lifting his loaded bow, he tried to blindly follow its path for a moment, unconsciously timing his breathing to its footfalls. And... now...

Damian let a second arrow fly.

Seth heard a growl and realized that Asric has turned into his animagus form.

Curses, he thought, now how am I going to tell the difference. Maybe using what I was will help.

Standing there he let all the other noises fall away which was quite a feat with his enhanced hearing. In actuality he didn't really shove all the other sounds he was just focusing more on the footfalls. He could easily hear Damian's as they were a lot lighter then the rest.

Searching out the other beasts was more of a problem though. They all sounded alike or so he thought. As he was listening he heard a slight scratching like concrete. Could that be the difference? He hoped because that it the next thing he aimed and fired at.

He watched on carefully because if they didnt happen to aciddently aim at each other he'd need to stop the arrows before they made contact. He watched as Damian missed and smiled. "Come on boys you're better than this." He thought as he wondered around in whatever direction he felt like going in.

"Ata boy Seth bullseye." He smirked waving his wand so Seths blind fold came off. "Go sit over there." He thought pointing his nose towards the nearest tree. "Just you left Damian. Listen to each footstep and think about the differences then whos feet they are most likely to belong too."

Damian scowled - which probably looked more adorable than menacing on his young face. Whattaya think I've been doing? he thought crossly to himself. He was aggravated at this point, all the more so because he hated when others did better than he did, even if he did consider them friend.

Reloading the crossbow, yet again, he once more plied his attention to listening. Not aiming at that one. That's Master Chaos. He focused again on the faint sound of stone rubbing stone. Letting loose the arrow, the boy lowered the bow. If he missed this time, he might as well let the stupid thing maul him - he would die of embarrassment, anyway.

He smiled and jumped onto his back legs so he ended up standing as he turned back into his human form. "Well done boys." He smiled removing the blindfold from Damian's eyes. "Tell me boys what do you know about fighting animals?" He asked spinning his knife in his hand. "This is second year stuff so you are getting a head of everyone else." He said tapping the stone lion on the head.

Seth was glad that he had been the first one to get it right. He was most glad that he didn't hit Damian or Asric because he would have been so embarrassed.

"Are muggles considered animals Sir?" Seth asked, "Because I have had experience with them but thats it a-and that never turned out well," he said eyes downcast to the floor ashamed.

Damian grimaced in sympathy at what his friend said, his discontentment at being 'beaten' already forgotten.

"Animals would be easier and harder to fight than people would," he opined. "It would depend on the animal, I think. Some of 'em are still really smart - smart as we are, even.

"When fight animals, you gotta watch out for their natural defenses. Teeth, claws - that stuff. And their senses tend to be better than ours, too."

He frowned and shook his head. "No Seth they aren't they are just afraid of the unknown like most humans. They feel the need to take their anger out on people like us because they dont understand us, and we have power they wish they had. Because they can deny it all they like but i can guarentee they want to be like us but we'll get our own back soon boys. We'll give them something they should be afraid of but right now you guys need all the training you can get." He said rubbing his eyes.

He nodded. "Animals are natural born predators. They were born to attack and take down their prey." He said whistling so a wolf came running out of the forest. "Meet Ghost, he's a hunters wolf. Hunter actually is Ghosts partner and also a member of the five, which you will learn about very soon. Wolves are the best example of a natural born predator." He said raising the wolfs head to reveal the teeth to the boys. "They have lots of natural defenses as Damian pointed out. They have razor sharp teeth to tear through the flesh and muscle or their prey which will either kill or slow them down. The paws." He said lifting one of the wolfs paws. "These have sharp claws that can be used to get a good grip on their prey, to help them keep a firm grip on the ground and can also help them with climbing as well." He said letting the paw drop.

"As well as these weapons they also have the senses, which you will soon be getting you already have the hearing and im sure thats proved useful so far. The ears are shaped like this so they can absorb the sounds around them better. Now if a wolf was going after a human and they were running away what would be their first plan of attack do you think?" He asked.

Seth looked at Damian and then back to the Headmaster. He thought a few moments before he replied.

"Well I think the first thing they would do is to either incapacitate the human or cut them off as soon as they can." He really had no clue as he wasn't that clued in on animals.

Damian had been so caught up in admiring the wolf that he'd nearly forgotten Asric had asked them a question until Seth answered.

He nodded in agreement, "Or corner them," was all he could think to add. "Isn't that why some predators hunt in packs? So, they can cut off all their prey's escape routes?"

He nodded. "Correct. I'll be right back." He smiled before turning on the spot and apparating somewhere leaving the boys alone with his wolf. Minutes later he returned with an unconcious man. "Muggles make perfect bait." He said dropping the muggle onto the floor. "Now where were we? Oh yes wolves do often work in packs so they can corner their prey, once they have you cornered you're doomed." He said giving the muggle a quick nudge to wake him up.

"Hello there." He smiled bending down so he was more on the muggles level. "You see this?" He asked turning to show him his wolf. "He's hungry and he has your scent..." He smiled as the wolf began to growl. "... oh you might wanna run." He chuckled getting back to his feet. "Watch and learn boys. Look out for what not to do." He laughed as the muggle ran off in a panic with the wolf close on his tail. Within seconds the wolf he taken his ankles, sending him flying to the ground.

"Rule number one, never run in a straight line because they will catch you. Try running in zig zags but dont get into a pattern because they will figure it out. Rule number two, don't scream you are only encouraging them and alerting your presense to the other members of the wolf pack." He said counting the rules off on his fingers.

"The wolves will strict to take you down it you run, because once you are down they have control." He said turning to look at his wolf who was now crouch over the muggle pinning him to the ground. "They will go for the ankles first seeing as they are important for your balance and the only thing keeping you standing." He said. "Do you have any questions so far?"

Damian looked on with wide blue eyes as Master Chaos brought a muggle man back with him to demonstrate the lesson to them. From the man's description, it sounded like the rules for running from a wolf weren't too dissimilar from those for running from muggle bullies. Except that wolves were smarter, of course.

"No, sir," Damian answered when the man asked if they had any question. His gaze remained fixed on the wolf as it crouched over the injured man.

Seth listening intently to what Asric was telling them. He had to remember this stuff. It would be important eventually. Seth stood there patiently and when Asric asked it they had any questions he agreed with Damian.

"No Master, I have no questions." he said with determination.

He smiled and took off his jacket and hung it on the rock beside the lake. His rolled up his sleeves and walked over to the man that was still being pinned down by his wolf. He let out a quick whistle and the wolf immediately stood back leaving the man exposed. He leant down and took the mans head in his hands before lifting it up and quickly turning it to the left snapping his neck in two, the mans screaming instantly stopping.

"There now we can have silence." He smiled moving back to the boys with Ghost by his side. "Good then run." He said turning to look at Ghost. "Go get them boy." He said before dropping forward to land on his front paws in his animagus form, him and Ghost now looking identical. He sat back deciding to give the boys a head start before he and Ghost both chased after the boys, intending to kill.

(OOC being caught depends on how good you describe your run. )

Damian felt some loyalty to Seth, of course. He was currently his closest friend and they did practically everything together. He'd never wish harm to come to the other boy.

That said, he was still Damian, and as such, saving his own hide was presently of utmost importance. So, without a second's hesitation, and but a brief yet silent well-wish to his companion, he turned and ran, making certain to take a divergent path. Not that having two targets to chase would prove much of a disadvantage to their pursuers - there was one for each of them, after all - but it had to be better than just one path to follow.

Damian dashed for the trees, darting left suddenly, only to roll right a few steps later to go around a boulder at the last moment. Somehow, he managed to make it to the treeline. He wove through the foliage, careful to avoid following any sort of pattern. Left, left, right, left again, under a fallen tree, around the next.

Up ahead another trunk leaned against the branches of another. If he could reach it, he could use it as a bridge, then switch himself up into higher branches. The boy doubled back for a bit, right, left, then around a trunk and towards his new destination. Branches whipped at his face, neck and arms, brushed tearing at his clothing.

He hoped Seth was alright.

Straining to hear his pursuer, Damian ran for his bridge to safety. Wolves couldn't climb trees, after all, but first, he had to get into the branches.

Damian ran harder.