All the 7th and 8th year students attending their Care of Magical Creatures class today were presented with a small crate by an equally excited Hagrid and Charlie Weasley. Nestled on the inside, amongst a bed of hay, is a soft, white, beach-ball sized egg.
"Acromantula eggs!" Hagrid announces, "That's yeh project fer the year! Yeh gonna hatch 'em an' raise 'em up for us to release into the Forest next summer."
Charlie piped up over the concerned murmurs from the class, "Look, Acromantula are very intelligent, but they're deadly once they're fully grown. The whole point of this class is for you to learn how to care of magical creatures, most of which are dangerous in their own way. It's easy to forget that a lot of things can't be tamed or domesticated. What we're gonna try here is to get these hand-reared Acromantula to establish a colony that respects humans. They're an endangered species, but this way, we think we'll be able to co-exist!"
"Right, 'sactly, so, er, they ain't hatched yet, but shouldn't be too long. Yeh can name 'em, but you'll need to keep 'em locked up in these hutches and come down 'ere once a day t' feed 'em and talk to 'em. Make sure yeh read all about 'em. I won't look too kindly on any of 'em losin' a leg or eatin' each other!" Declares Hagrid, "I should be 'round most of the time but yer have any problems and can't find me, yer can ask Charlie 'ere for help."
[OOC: All COMC 7/8th year students are now responsible for an Acromantula spiderling. They will hatch on Wednesday and be roughly cat-sized to start.
After they hatch, students will keep their spinderlings in hutches near Hagrid's hut. Please don't try and smuggle your spider in the school - do you have any idea how hard it is to get those things down from the ceilings?
They will bite, but as they're young, the venom will simply make you a little numb for a couple of hours. They must be fed once a day and spoken to, to encourage them to learn human speech - which will occur in a few months. You may find they take a liking to you, or you may find them quite hostile. Your choice.] ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
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