Walking a crup

[Linden Kinnek]

It was coming up to the end of semester and linden was not looking forward to the ezams. he was however looking forward to the hilidays. he would get to go home. he was also looking forward to the ball. he had taken a break from the books to visit his aunt and help her with some of the animals. and he has offered to take one of the crups for a walk. Cookie was nothing like bjorn but he did love playing with a dog. he did a walk with him on a lead and then let him off and threw a ball for him a few times. that said that crups are loyal to wizards and witches. she was loyal, he could tell by how she brought the ball back. and how she had walked perfectly in time with him. however there was no dog, crup or any other animal who was as loyal as bjorn was.
after a while it was clear that cookie was getting tired so he sat down and gave the creature a good ear scratch that all dogs seemed to love even if they weren't dogs at all.

 

[Tilly Drage]

During the last week or so, the normally cheerful Tilly had been down in the dumps. When she’d received the news, by owl, that her Grandma Julie had passed away, she spent the most time she ever had in the Common Room, wallowing in a corner.

This was the second person in her family to die since last year. It made her scared for her other Muggle grandparents. Muggles didn’t live as long as witches and wizards; it wasn’t fair! Even worse, she couldn’t attend the funeral, as it was far away in Canada and she still had to finish out the semester. Although Tilly was surrounded by her fellow students, she felt sad and alone.

As the days passed by, however, the first year became restless. Tilly decided she needed to get outside. The sun bore down on the Great Lawn. Being December, the temperature was rising more and more. Tilly’s school robes, even though she had picked the correct ones for the season, were still too hot. She soon broke out into a sweat and she wasn’t even running. If she didn’t turn around and change, she might not last long out here.

Then Tilly noticed a boy; she had seen him in the Common Room and at the Hufflepuff table, but she didn’t know his name. He was scratching the ears of a brown-and-white creature, roughly the size of a small cat. It had a forked tail.

Feeling a rush of excitement, Tilly approached and shouted, “Whoa, is that a crup?”

 

[Linden Kinnek]

Linden felt the crup give a snort as it shifted. she gave it another scratch behind the ears before taking the ball and getting its attention again before throwing it. she watched as the creature went and fetched it. as it was returning he thought of his dog would bjorn even recognise him and what about ivy he hadnt seen his sister since the last holidays and she had only been one then she was growing so fast it was like she was a different girl each time he saw her. she wondered if he would be able to organise a play date in the park with her whne they had brightstone weekends. he took the ball off the animal and gave him another ear scratch. "Good girl he said when he heard a voice behind him. he turned around to see a girl. "Yeah, she's called Cookie. she is one of my aunts from class. she let me take it for a walk for exercise" he said.feeling part of the need to explain why he had a crup in school. as unfortunately dogs weren't allowed as student pets so crups definaty wouldn't be.

 

[Tilly Drage]

Tilly beamed at the Hufflepuff boy. She loved the name Cookie; it fit the playful crup perfectly. Well, she was playful-looking, at least; crups were known to be protective and wary of strangers.

Tilly sat down cross-legged on the grass, hoping the crup would approach her. She had learned early on to approach animals with patience and calm and had a scar on the side of her hand to show for it.

“Is your aunt one of the Care of Magical Creatures professors?” she asked, envious of the boy. Lucky bloke.

“I’m Tilly, by the way,” she added. “First year. I’ve seen you ‘round Hufflepuff House.”

 

[Linden Kinnek]

linden watched as the girl sat down and seemed to try and urge the crup towards her. she smiled as he lifted his head and had a sniff. before waling half way between them and sitting and having a scratch.
"Yes my aunt is professor Ateara, the tall one, she teaches third and fourth years" she said. as the girl introduced herself he realised that he has introduced the crup and his aunt but not himself. "I'm linden, ahh yes, there are so many first-years this year I don't know any of them at least until now. it is nice to meet you." he said.

 

[Tilly Drage]

There were so many professors in the school that Tilly had a difficult time remembering all of their names and which subjects they taught. She thought she recognized the professor Linden was referring to.

Tilly thought for sure that Cookie would come and greet her. When he stopped halfway to scratch himself, she laughed and shook her head. There was no controlling magical creatures, that was for sure.

“Which other creatures does she let you help with?” Tilly asked. Since Linden was just a second year, she imagined he wasn’t allowed to work with anything too dangerous, like hidebehinds or acromantulas.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

Linden started to chuckle at Tilly's reaction to Cookie. before the crup got up turned around and walked over to her ang gave her a sniff. he thought for a second as to what animals she had helped her with. "I helped clean out the flobber worms, and helped her prepare food for the niffler and watched her feed the hyppergryff. oh and i helped with the kneezle too but it didnt like me" he said. most of what he did was basic stuff. it was obvious that his family were dog people, in some cases quite literally so it was no supprise that the feline hadn't really taken to him. "do you have any pets?" he asked.

 

[Tilly Drage]

Tilly was delighted when Cookie approached and sniffed her. She held out the back of her hand for him to inspect, although she was cautious enough not to pet him; she didn’t want to scare him away or lose some of her skin.

Tilly listened with admiration as Linden explained all of the creatures he was able to care for. She remembered her conversation with Mazikeen, a seventh year Gryffindor, up in the Owlery. They had discussed Tilly possibly helping out with the magical creatures under Mazikeen’s guidance, but Tilly hadn’t heard back yet on whether or not the professor was OK with this. Even mucking out flobber worms sounded exciting to her.

“That’s too bad about the Kneazle.” Shaking her head, Tilly said, “No pets at home. Not even an owl; they couldn’t fly to people we would want to send letters to, where we live.”