SEA, SWALLOW ME, remus lupin

ceithir, care of magical coves

CHAPTER FOUR
care of magical coves

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  EVER SINCE SHE COULD TALK, COVE HAS dreamt of being a Marine Magizoologist. A job that meant she could be by the sea at all times,  in her element, communicating with the creatures she encountered so often with her colony. Therefore, Care of Magical Creatures has always been her favourite subject. She's always had an affinity with the practical work, being a creature herself, and the written stuff is easy enough for her to scrape by with a pass every year. She thinks that Professor Kettleburn can get a bit lost in his passionate ramblings about magical creatures, but maybe that's why she likes him so much. He's always insistent on having them 'out on the field' and will only bring them inside in the face of a storm, although he's still eager to try and spot Augerys hunting in the rain.

The bad news is that he's on probation for a couple of weeks after accidentally setting a few Demiguises loose in the castle — the worst part is, nobody's entirely sure if they were all rounded up. They're completely harmless, so it doesn't bother Cove that much but she has to admit that the feeling of being watched gets a bit eerie after a while. She digresses. The downside of having a supply teacher is sitting inside staring at a projector while the sun shines outside, listening to a stranger babble on about a random creature for an hour as everyone tries to keep their eyes open.

Fallon has her head resting against her desk, a cooling charm suspended over both of them to fight off the stuffiness of the classroom. Cove sits and stares at her empty water bottle, peering at the dregs that slosh about miserably at the very bottom. She keeps glancing at the clock above the teacher's desk, every drawn out minute making her lose even more sanity.

The substitute gets to her feet, clasping her hands in front of her loudly. She has short brown hair that curls around her jaw, a regal nose and scarlet lipstick that makes her features pop. Her robes are hanging off the back of her chair, leaving her in a plain button up paired with a pencil skirt. Cove thinks that she's quite pretty.

  "Good afternoon, class," she announces. "My name is Professor Rigby. I'll be covering for Professor Kettleburn in the upcoming week. Please open your textbooks to page 83."

  Sighing, Cove begins to skim through the yellowed parchment until she opens at the assigned page. She reads the chapter's title to herself with knitted eyebrows, her heart leaping into her throat.

  'Selkies. The Shapeshifters of the Seas.'

  Her fingertips brush over the ink as if it'll wipe away, revealing the actual title concealed below. As if it's a sick joke. Her hands begin to tremor when nothing happens and the words staring up at her stay firmly the same.

  Fallon sits up, eyes barely staying open. Hee hair is beginning to fall out of the clip she put it up in. She raises an eyebrow. "What's a selkie?"

  "That's a wonderful question, Miss—" Professor Rigby leans over to check the seating plan. "—Pritchard. Can anyone tell me what a selkie is? Anyone?"

Cove keeps her eyes fixed on the page.

"Well, selkies are commonly found in the Northern Islands of Scotland, where they are said to live as seals in the sea but can shed their skin to become human, like us, on dry land."