Lesson Three – The Ghoul is Foul?

[zan189]

Lesson Three – The Ghoul is Foul?

Welcome back to another lesson of Care of Magical Creatures. Please stop talking immediately as time is rare today:
In order to study today’s subject properly, I got special permission from the Headmistress to take you down into the village, so behave yourselves on our way back and forth, as well as while we’re there. And don’t you bring shame on me!
We will go by broom; I trust you all passed your first flying lessons without ending up in the infirmary (seeing as some of you are even members of their houses’ Quidditch teams).
Hutchison, would you mind putting that back in your bag? Thank you.

You see we have arrived in front of a very old farmhouse on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. The family that lives here kindly gave us permission to have a look at the ghoul that settled in their attic some years back.
Ghouls are classified XX by the Ministry of Magic, which means they are not completely harmless, but so long as you pay enough respect (or are more powerful than it) you’ll be fine. They actually look more frightening - like slimy man-eating giants - than they are, for they get along with humans quite well.
This one is a fine example of a ghoul that has adjusted its habits to one family. In fact, if the family a ghoul has attached itself to decides to move out of the house, the ghoul left behind will suffer extensively. So ghouls are not foul creatures at all (a trait many people connect with them) but very sensitive barometers of family opinion, who reflect the current mood of the house’s inhabitants. They are also protective of “their” family, so you want to be careful how you talk about its members around one.

Usually, once a ghoul has decided to inhabit an attic, barn or cellar (though cellars are not their preferred environment) the family either learns to live with it – midnight howl-fests and banging on walls to scare your most important guests will henceforth be common practice – or they decide to get rid of it. The Ministry’s Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures has a special unit which removes ghouls from property that has passed into Muggle hands. They will also help warlock families if they cannot put up with a ghoul.

I want you to take a very close look at this one here. He is quite old; we can only assume that this is not the first wizard family he attached himself to. I know he’s male because of the very large hands, and the almost square shape of his frame. Female ghouls are taller, but more delicately built – Grimm! Put that down immediately! You are supposed to look, not touch anything in this attic.
For the remainder of the lesson you will draw a picture of the ghoul, giving detail to his physiognomy and whether or not one can tell what mood he is currently in (based on what we see in human physiognomy, of course). We’ll then fly back to the castle.


Homework:

Choose one of the following options!

Option One
Why is it impossible for some wizard families to keep a ghoul that has settled itself in/ around their house, when others welcome the stranger almost like a pet?
Answer between 50 and 150 words.

Option Two
Hand in your drawing of the ghoul.

Deadline for homework is next Friday (board time).


[Any questions related to this lesson may be posted in this thread.]