Care of Magical Creatures

"C'mon, now, get a move on! Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comon' up!  Everyone here?  Right, follow me!"

- Rubeus Hagrid at his first Care of Magical Creatures lesson

Care of Magical Creatures is an elective course at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that can be taken by students third year and above. In the class, students learn about a wide range of magical creatures, from flobberworms to Fire Crabs, and even unicorns and thestrals. Students are taught about feeding, maintaining, breeding, and proper treatment of these various creatures.

Class Information
"My brother Charlie was the outdoors type, so he went for Care of Magical Creatures."

- Percy Weasley on choosing subjects in third year

Care of Magical Creatures is a subject taught only to those in their Third Year or above who choose to take it.

It is unknown how many of [Harry Potter's fellow students chose to continue Care of Magical Creatures in their N.E.W.T. year, however Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger left the subject after completing their [Ordinary Wizarding Level|O.W.L.]]s.



Staffing
Silvanus Kettleburn taught it until 1993, when he retired "to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs." He was succeeded by Rubeus Hagrid, whose lessons became controversial after Draco Malfoy was injured by a Hippogriff. After Malfoy was injured, Hagrid was more restrained in the animals he showed to the class for the remainder of the year. The creatures that Hagrid often brought to classes were mostly illegal. Hermione Granger attempted to organise Hagrid's classes in order to make him a better teacher. In his second year of teaching the subject, Hagrid introduced the his fourth year class to Blast-Ended Skrewts during his lessons, a species of illegally bred creatures.

During 1994 and 1995 Hagrid was replaced, for a short time, as Care of Magical Creatures Professor by Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank who gave lessons on Bowtruckles and Unicorns.

Classroom
Care of Magical Creatures classes typically take place at Hagrid's hut, but some lessons occasionally take place in the Forbidden Forest, such as the Thestral lesson.

Creatures
Among the creatures the students learned about in these lessons during Harry's school period were;

Third Year

 * Hippogriffs - practical lesson which culminated in Buckbeak savagely mauling Draco Malfoy.
 * Flobberworms - Dull lessons which mostly involved feeding them lettuce, which resulted in them dying from being overfed

Fourth Year

 * Blast-Ended Skrewts - Raised as a project throughout the year. All ended up killing each other, with only two remaining by the Third Task, and only one by the end of the year.
 * Nifflers - A practical lesson which involved searching for leprechaun gold.


 * Unicorns - Adults and foals; the adult lessons were mostly girl-dominant, while the foals allowed the boys to approach.
 * Bowtruckles - Classwork and homework involved a sketch of a Bowtruckle.

===Fifth Year ===
 * Thestrals - Lesson was mostly impeded by Dolores Umbridge.

Other
Other creatures shown to classes across the years include;
 * Salamanders
 * Fire Crabs
 * Porlocks
 * Kneazles
 * Crups
 * Knarls

Textbooks
"Hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books? Yeh've got to stroke 'em."

- Hagrid in his first lesson of magical creatures, he thought the books were funny.

During Professor Hagrid's time teaching, Third-Year students used the Monster Book of Monsters, a book which would attempt to bite anyone near it unless stroked along the spine. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was also a textbook used in this class.

Known O.W.L.s

 * Charlie Weasley
 * Hermione Granger
 * Harry Potter
 * Ron Weasley
 * Bill Weasley
 * Percy Weasley
 * Barty Crouch Jr

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince