Lesson 1 ~ 2nd years

Korrie walked to the magical beings class. She was hoping she had a least one class with Laurent. She wanted to show him the picture she drew of him. She remembered she was supposed to have him in the room but she forgot all about it until it was already summer time, since she didn't want to go on vacation she sat and drew him.

Red Caps. She was teaching about Red Caps. At least, she was for this class. Taking a deep breath, Marianne stared at the door to her own classroom, peering inside. One student. Okay. She could deal with that.

Nodding to herself, she stepped inside, tugging the cart of the goblin-like creatures behind her. "Hi," she said softly, stopping at the front of the (her) class. "So, we - we're learning about Red Caps today. What do you know about them?"

Korrie saw the professor come in, if she understood correctly the professor was also the head of Prideux as well. Korrie nodded. "Hello" Korrie said with a smile. She saw what the lesson was going to be about. She thought about what the professor asked. "Red caps are small dwarfs that live in holes in the underground, they also can throw stink pellets" Korrie answered.

Smiling back, Marianne shuffled on her feet awkwardly. The girl was in Vallée, right? Giving the brunette's uniform a quick glance, she nodded to herself. Yes, Vallée. So she knew which house to award points to if she knew anything about Red Caps.

Breaking out into a little grin as she got the answer right, she nodded enthusiastically. "Good. That's five points to Vallée, Ms....." she trailed off, having no idea what the girl's name was. Shaking her head at her own stupidity, she pulled off the sheet on the tank, displaying the little creatures.

"They're also known as Powries and Dunters," Marianne said softly, moving to stand behind the tank. Raising her gaze up from the dwarves, she asked, "Do you know where they can be found?"

Korrie smiled when she got awarded 5 points to her house. "Korrie Johnson" Korrie introduced herself. She looked at the little creatures and thought about what she read. "Oh, they can be found in Northern Europe" Korrie answered.

"Johnson," she repeated, dedicating it to memory. After all, the names of her students were important. "Well Ms. Johnson, you know your Red Caps." Giving the girl a little smile, she hummed softly.

"That's correct, that they're mostly found in Northern Europe. But they're also found wherever blood is spilt, like old battlefields and those sort of things." Nodding along to her own words, she smiled, becoming more comfortable with this. "They can be dangerous, because they'll try to bludgeon you, but if you have your wand, I think you'll be fine."

Shifting from foot to foot, she looked up at her lone student, "Want to hear a story?"

Korrie nodded when she said her name. She then began to tell her that she knew about red caps. "Yeah, when one is bored they read" Korrie said to her. She remembered reading about 15 chapters that one day because she hated to see her step-mother.

Korrie nodded to her. "I would love to hear a story" Korrie said to her.

"When I was bored as a kid, I'd used to follow my cat, Gateun around and just see what he did." Marianne shrugged slightly. Those had been good times.

Bursting out into a grin, the House Head clapped her hands together, "Great. So, after I graduated, I spent a year up in Romania training dragons. But at one point, I went on a vacation to England, and when I was there, I stumbled on a whole nest of Red Caps."

Laughing at the memory, she shook her head. "I hated to have to hurt the poor little guys, my I sort of had to to get out of there."

Korrie nodded to her. A lot of people got bored and they did either boring things or fun things.

Korrie listened to the story and nodded when she said to her that she found a nest of red caps. "A lot of people got to do what they got to do" Korrie exclaimed to the professor.

"I guess so," she muttered, rubbing her shoulder. She'd still absolutely hated it. A life was a life, wasn't it? And animal or human, she'd still hurt the Red Caps.

It didn't matter to her that she'd barely made it out of there alive.

Shaking out the thoughts, she glanced back at the animals before returning her gaze to her lone student. "Seeing as you know so much about Red Caps, do you have any questions for me?"

Korrie watched as the professor started thinking about what Korrie said. She hoped she didn't upset the professor that much because that would be a bad way to start off the beginning of the year. Korrie then got taken out of her thoughts when the professor asked another question. "Yes, what will we be doing excatly with the red caps this lesson" Korrie was curious.

What else would they be doing? Wasn't that good enough? Looking down at the Red Caps to hide her blank expression, Marianne twirled a strand of hair around her finger. She hadn't done anything with the animals yet, really. If she wasn't going to use them, what was the point of bringing them in?

"Come up here and see," she said, beckoning the student up. Circling the air holes on top, she pointed at the little hats worn by the Red Caps. "See those? That's why a Red Cap kills. If the blood on their hat dries out, they die."

Korrie watched as the professor thought about her question. She waited until the professor thought of the answer but then she asked Korrie to come over. Korrie stood up and walked over and looked down at the little creatures. That was quite new to her. She didn't get to the chapter where you find out how they die. "This is cool, know wonder they kill, they kill to survive" Korrie said.

"Oh, no, not again!" Crystal squeaked as she peered inside the classroom. "You idiot! Why can't you handle your time better?" she growled at herself and took a few deep breaths. The professor was there, again, and she'd probably lose house points, again, and she'd probably get another detention, and, and... Ugh, today really wasn't going her way. Crystal pinched herself hopefully, but it just hurt and her eyes teared up. "Ow," she muttered and turned the doorhandle.

"P-professor? I... I... I," she began, but couldn't speak. "I'm really sorry, and I know I'll probably lose house points for being so late, but I really just have so much going on at the moment and I'm just a total mess. I'll accept any punishment I get for being so dreadfully late, and I understand if you want me to leave or drop the class," Crystal sniffed and balled up her fists, digging her nails into the palms of her hands. She felt herself start to bleed, but she kept her hands at her sides, staying at the door.

"Yep, you can't really hate them. Once you realize that they have no choice but to kill, it makes them more...tragic, really." Giving Korrie a sad little smile, she glanced back down at the Red Caps.

At the sound of another voice, Marianne jumped, eyes flying towards the door. "Hey," She said softly, shaking her head slightly. This girl, she looked so lost. Not lost in the sense that she didn't know where she was, but in the sense that her life was in disarray. "Don't be drastic. It's the first lesson, so as long as you're on time in the future, it'll be alright."

Nodding, she took a few careful steps towards her, patting her on the shoulder softly. "Please don't cry. It - it'll be alright."

Korrie nodded to the professor. She heard Crystal say how sorry she was. Korrie put a hand on Crystal's shoulder. "It's okay Crystal" Korrie reassured her. She remembered what happened in Creative Arts, she didn't know what to do, that vampire scared her a little.

Crystal looked up with a sniffle and dried her eyes on her wrist. "Y-yes professor, I will be," she said and took a breath to compose herself. She realized that she was being a total mess, and smoothed her skirt. She swallowed back what was left of her tears and rolled back her shoulders. "Thank you, professor," she smiled. She felt both Korrie's and the professor's hands on her shoulder. "Thanks, Korrie," she half-whispered. "So, uh, did I hear you talking about red-caps?" Crystal tried to lighten the mood slightly.

Giving Korrie an appreciative smile, she turned back to the blonde she'd called Crystal. Kneeling down to look the girl in the eye, Marianne gave her a little smile.

"Good," she said softly, eyes full of worry for her student. "And if you want to talk about happened, know I'm always here, alright Crystal?"

Allowing the topic change, she rolled her shoulders back, nodding as she pulled herself up to her full height, which in all honesty, wasn't that tall. "Yep, red caps,"

Tilting her head towards the tank, she filled Crystal in on what she'd missed. "Any questions before we move on?" she addressed both of them, watching them curiously.