Erumpent Lessons

Megara could usually always be found foraging the castle grounds and/or the Forbidden Forest for ingredients when she was not teaching class, and today was no exception. 

Today, she was harvesting some asphodel flowers that grew on the edge of the castle grounds.


Although a common ingredient, it was always needed in her storeroom. The powdered roots of the flower had become a staple in her classroom, being used in both her Draught of Living Death and Wiggenweld Potion. Although  the already crushed root powder was something she could buy from Diagon Alley, Meg always found that the freshest ingredients worked best with little chance of error. She had been scorned by bought potion ingredients in the past, one too many times, so now took to retrieving her own if it was at all possible. Just like any real potion master would, she assumed. Digging up the flowers she had found, she wrapped them in a cloth before placing them into her bag. The flowers were easy to find, so she had come with a list of other things she needed/wanted to collect as well while she had the time; her work was never done. 


Scanning the list, her mind settled on finding Baneberry, a flowering plant that would be useless if not for the red and white berries it grew. The berries were especially poisonous, and the professor thought they would be a good addition to her lesson on undetectable poisons; one of Megara's favorite lessons. The darker the use for potions, the more interest she held in them. 


She knew that if they were to be found anywhere on the grounds, it would be closer to the Forbidden Forest. Surely the headmaster would not let anything so poisonous grow close enough for students to easily access, she surmised. If he knew what grew on his grounds at all, that is. 


Baneberry was once thought to ward off the plague, insects, and vermin, but oddly enough it attracted toads. That being known, she assumed she could find some in the bog within the Forbidden Forest; she knew it well. Before she could enter the treeline, however, her attention was caught by a large group of birds crying as they took off from their tree. 


Meg thought that was odd; they were frightened by something. Naturally, her curiosity got the better of her, and she found herself turning from her original destination to head in that of the tree the birds had just flown from. Megara never was one for caution, and she had seen everything the Forbidden Forest had to offer her - or so she thought. She forgot completely about the birds and the tree once it came into view - an Erumpent. A young one, by the size of it. Blinking in surprise, she couldn't help the words that fell from her mouth. "You're not supposed to be here." Obviously it was not - this was NOT Africa. It was then that she noticed the lead connected to the animal, and her gaze it until she found her Headmaster on the other end. The surprises weren't going to stop anytime soon, it seemed. Looking back quickly towards the rhinoceros-like creature, she noticed that it didn't have its horn. So for all intents and purposes, it was just like a regular rhinoceros until the horn regrew. 

Turning back to the Headmaster, she nodded her head in respectful acknowledgement to her boss before she raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Headmaster. I have so many questions."

As she approached ever closer to the erumpent and its handler, Meg eyed it warily. Even without the horns they were dangerous creatures; their thick hides repelled most curses and charms, so when they decided to charge they were almost impossible to stop. Looking closer, but not too close, it was easy to see how it had been “injured”. More like poached, which irked her more than it should, considering she knew how valuable the horn was in potion making and likely had dealt with some black market traders to get it in the past. She felt bad for this one though, especially since it seemed to not even be aware of its shortcoming. As the Headmaster explained how he came to be in possession of such a creature, she narrowed her eyes slightly in contemplation.

“And, where exactly, do you plan on ‘safekeeping’ it?” She glanced at the large creature once more before turning her full attention to its handler. “Surely there is a better place to take it than a school full of children…I know you teach Care of Magical Creatures but is the castle truly equipped to handle….this? Poor thing. The horn will grow back, I presume? And are you seriously walking it around on a lead? Like a dog? It’s letting you do that? “ Megara was normally a fountain of answers and random facts, but now her mouth just spewed questions as curiosity overtook her sense of self-preservation. She turned back to the erumpent, tilting her head. Being a short girl, and it a large animal, she did not have to lean down very far to get closer more on the baby animal's level. “Hello, you lucky little guy. Sorry about your horn. At least they let you keep your tail. That’s also a sought after ingredient.”

ooc:// Tbh I totally forgot he was also CoMC professor, so I had to go back and edit it so that she didn't sound like a condescending asshat xD

“Sorry, too many questions?” Meg asked, wincing slightly as she replayed her overly exuberant questioning in her brain. "I’ve never actually seen one of these before. The horns and tails sure; they’re sought after potion ingredients. But I’ve never seen them….intact…before. Well, mostly intact, I suppose.”


Megara knew her ramblings and questionings could be a bit much for some people. It was a bit much for herself, at times; she was normally a reserved, quiet woman that stayed in the dungeons working on potions and studies and papers. Not looking for conversation, but once she got involved in a particularly interesting one it was hard to get her to stop.


“Ah yes….I suppose it has. There’s no forgetting the three headed dog and the dragons.” Meg nodded along with the Headmaster’s explanation, deciding that the paddock in the forest would in fact be a decent space to hold the creature in front of her. Not understanding the creature’s stomp, Megara backed off warily, straightening again to turn her attention back to Kamin when he asked his question. Meg was an absolute expert when it came to werewolves, but other magical creatures, not so much.


“Pfft, of course I do. Actually….” She paused, holding up a finger in a ‘one moment’ motion and began shuffling through her bag. After a moment she pulled out a decently sized vial and held it out to the professor. “You think this will help the horn regrow?”

“Oh, umm…okay. Yeah, I think I can do that.” Megara nodded at his suggestion, just glad that she wasn’t the one that had to restrain the creature. “Just be careful. I know you’re a professional and all but…” She bent down to grab the bottle of dittany Kamin had rolled her way, cautiously watching as he wrestled with the large animal. The wound was gnarly, but at least it was clean. Meg waited until the erumpent was mostly stilled before stepping forward slowly. Twisting the cap off of the bottle of dittany, she filled the dropper, her hand steady despite the nerves she felt. Meg knew that the dittany would sting upon application, and could only imagine the reaction the animal would have to it. Once close enough to be within reach of the wound, the professor slowly dropped to kneel on her knees in front of him. She kept her movements slow and deliberate, so as not to startle him anymore than he currently was. She set the bottle down beside her, holding the dropper in her dominant hand as she slowly reached out with the other to cup the erumpent’s face in her palm.



“Hey there big guy…” she said, scratching the animal lightly underneath the chin in attempts to sooth him. “This is going to sting a bit. But you want your horn back, right? This will help, I promise.” As if the creature could understand her, Megara spoke softly to it, her voice quiet but steady. She didn’t think that this foreign, wild magical creature would be able to understand her, would be surprising if it did, but her body language also stayed relaxed. Her muggle family had a lot of dogs when she was growing up, and she assumed that most animals responded in much the same way to body language and tone of voice even if they couldn’t understand the words being said. Lifting the dropper to the erumpent’s wound, she took a calming breath and glanced up at the Headmaster. She nodded, signaling him to prepare for whatever the animal would do, and began dropping the essence of dittany on the edges of the wound.

As the two of them had been occupied in their task, the clouds above had grown heavy and gray. Now, a fork of lightning lit up the sky over the lake, and seconds later a loud crack of thunder rolled across the grounds.

Terrified, the erumpent lunged forward and took off as if it had been fired from a cannon. It yanked the chain from Kamin's grip, brushed by Megara close enough to knock her off balance, and headed for the edge of the forest at a dead gallop.

"Thank you." Kamin took the dittany, wondering if he'd be able to do it himself next time. At Megara's suggestion, Kamin nodded, withdrew his wand and used the healing spell. A cold sensation worked its way through several spots in his foot, and the pain quickly ebbed away. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped before he spoke.

Kamin had his back to the lake, but nevertheless felt a peculiar sense of dread in the short instant between the lightning and subsequent thunder. Perhaps it was just the charge in the air that made his skin prickle unpleasantly, or maybe he could sense the nervousness building in the creature next to him. There was no time to act on the feeling, let alone examine its origin, before the erumpent had bolted. The chain unwound from his arm, pulling him off his feet in the process, and slipped out of his hand before he could grab it. Then the erumpent was gone, its huge silhouette disappearing into the shadowy trees. Kamin got to his feet and turned his attention to Megara, quickly looking her up and down to see if she'd been hurt. 

"Yes," Kamin said shortly. "You are, of course, not obligated to come along." Considering she had already been hanging around the forest anyway, Kamin supposed she wasn't particularly anxious about going inside, but this was his problem first and foremost and he wouldn't have asked anyone to help him at this point. In fact, he found himself wishing again that he'd been able to turn away whoever stumbled on him, as then there would have been no witnesses to this inconvenient turn of events. With a deep breath, Kamin once again withdrew his wand and strode into the forest.

It was quieter within the tree line, sound muffled by the thick canopy of leaves. The only sound was a rhythmic thumping, not too far but moving away from them: the erumpent's footsteps. At least it would not be hard to follow. 

Kamin kept pace with Megara, his eyes darting along the ground ahead of them. The noisy footsteps were indeed helpful, although Kamin suspected the echoes in the dense forest might make them less than totally reliable. Fortunately, not only was the erumpent making quite a lot of noise, it was also leaving very plain tracks. Scuffling drag marks marked the earth in front of them, as if someone had been pushing large rocks through the thick carpet of dead leaves. In another context, Kamin might have actually hoped for rain, as footsteps were easier to track in the mud. But here, that was hardly needed, and would indeed just be one more unpleasant addition to this entirely unpleasant misadventure. At Megara's mention of acromantulas and centaurs, Kamin's eyes narrowed and he turned to look at her, searching her face for a hint of how much the thought might distress her.

"Would it? What can we expect from the centaurs, if we are to run into them?" Kamin hadn't been much of an outdoor type in his younger years, and thus had never paid much mind to the Forbidden Forest. Even now, he was only beginning to get familiar with its layout and the actual temperaments of its inhabitants, as his knowledge of most of them was strictly academic, for now. Although he was sure he could have found the erumpent fine on his own, it was good Megara was here to give some insight on what else they might find on the process.