June 12th, 1894 - The Bone Menagerie

For all she liked to sing Hogsmeade's praises (at barely a whisper), Greer thought the locals came up with some weird events. Still, she was morbid enough to want to investigate the Bone Menagerie and used her little pocket money for the simple entry. The more she wandered, the more she wondered and by the time she found the New World pen with the moose skeleton, she was quite delighted by the magic of it. Greer had only seen pictures of the creature in a book, but the sheet size of it was almost alarming. She had trouble envisioning what it looked like as a complete animal. The bison was equally as impressive and Greer was amazed at the way they could get up close to the skeletons.

She had been skillfully avoiding the Australian pen, after her near-breakdown at the Flower show with the diricawls. She had never been a sentimental person before, but she had also never been ripped from the only home she'd ever known either. Well, that was being dramatic, but Greer was always a little dramatic when it came to her situation in Scotland. The adjustment had gone well enough and with Lorie finally striking out, back into the potions business, Greer felt like they were inching toward this move being permanent and she couldn't think about that either.

"I wonder how the animal would react if it were alive?" She mumbled under her breath as the bear roamed closer Greer was pretty sure she would never want to come face to face with any of these animals, but also thought they might be preferable to most people. It was a fine line, really.

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Henry Berkwood

  

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There was a kind of morbid fascination with events like this, Harry thought. He wasn't really one for creatures in general--in the sense that he wasn't overly interested, not that he had any particular aversion--but he couldn't deny that some of them were impressive. And though he was now making regular visits the Avalon Glen and thus could see dragons virtually whenever he was so inclined--sort of--it wasn't like he was going to get many opportunities to get up close an personal with something like a basilisk. So the event was a worthwhile curiosity for that on its own.

Of course the other exhibits had their own points of interest. He'd never gotten to see a bear this up close before, after all. In his curiosity, he'd wandered close enough to another attendant to overhear her, and said, "I'm not a bear expert, but I'm under the impression it would be a very bad idea to get this close to one."

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Set by Bee <3

"One would think," Greer shrugged, looking over at the man who had responded to her rhetorical question. They didn't have bears in Australia, though they did have their fair share of similar creatures, she supposed. "Lucky for us, he doesn't seem hungry." She chuckled, clearly amused by her own sarcasm and wit.

Greer reached out to touch a bone, trying not to dislodge anything. It was a surreal sort of experience; it walked, it was sort of hard to tell it was a bear (no cute little ears or tail) but the face was a little gruesome. Greer liked it. "Quieter too." Animals made a lot of obnoxious noises, that she could certainly live without.

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Harry smiled. "Two things to be grateful for," he agreed. He was watching the way the thing moved, morbidly fascinated by the whole thing. It was bizarre to say the least. But Harry found he liked it.

"That said," he added, "if I found myself in the same place as a living bear, I'd rather it make a lot of noise." He laughed. "Not the sort of creature I'd want to sneak up on me."

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Set by Bee <3

Greer chuckled despite herself, eyeing the gentleman carefully. "I think that's how you're supposed to scare them off?" At least she had read that in a story once upon a time. "It looks so much smaller than I would have thought?" All of the missing fur and muscle surely would do that. It nudged her on its way past and gave her a little shiver.

"I think that thing is far more terrifying." She pointed to the moose skeleton; for all she had experienced of the world, it was every bit the mythical creature of a leviathan. "It's three times my height!" And those giant antlers. Being from Australia, with some of the world's most deadliest animals had nothing on that enormous beast.

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"Nothing should be able to get that big," Harry agreed. He knew there were animals like that, of course, but that didn't make it any less incredible to behold. Knowing something in theory and seeing it in person were two entirely different things. "Have you ever seen an elephant?" he asked the woman.

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Set by Bee <3

Greer nodded, still looking at the moose skeleton skeptically. "No, have you?" They had to be bigger right? Again, it was something she had only seen in a book at some point or another, but now being faced with these moving monoliths, she was starting to think she preferred them on the page than in practice. "I'm from Australia, we don't have too many large creatures, just small— and poisonous." Everything in Australia was some kind of deadly. Kangaroos were just plain old mean, the snakes and spiders were all she knew, but honestly did not miss here in Scotland. "The only thing I liked was the birds." Even then they could be annoying.

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Harry shook his head. "No, I haven't." He couldn't imagine anything larger than the moose skeleton in front of him, which was either a sign of his limited imagination, or an effort to protect himself from the thought of it. "I'm not sure 'small and poisonous' sounds much better," he said. "Seems like trading one terror for another."

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Set by Bee <3

"I suppose not," Greer chuckled. One you would see coming to trample you, the other would get you silently, when you least expected it. "Now that," she laughed again as what must have been a small rodent, a rabbit maybe, hard to tell without the ears, came out from one of the bushes. "Is fine." Judging by the way it moved, it must have been something in the hare family. "We had some pretty serious problems with them in Australia," they were not native to the continent after all. "But they are cute, and not deadly." So far as she knew anyway. There could be some sort of magical variety that had poisonous fur or something.

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"Given the lack of large animals as you said, I'm not surprised," Harry mused. Rabbits did tend to multiply like... well, rabbits. It was their most noteworthy trait. "I did not expect size to be the thing that would be the most unsettling part of seeing these animals."

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Set by Bee <3

"Fair," Greer chuckled. "I do suppose it should be more off putting that they're just skeletons, but honestly I think it takes some of the intimidation factor away." Sure the teeth were still there, and the claws, but without the feral determination to maim and tear apart. Dangerous, but not lethal. "No beady little eyes or drool at least." Both a little scary... and gross.

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"It's also harder to conceal things like fearsome fangs," Harry mused. "No getting distracted by deceptive fluffiness here. Much more straightforward when it's all on display." Humans were not always the best at identifying imminent danger. And even when the danger was obvious, that didn't discourage some people from working closely with dangerous creatures. Dragons came immediately to mind as an example.

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Set by Bee <3

Greer had to chuckle under her breath at deceptive fluffiness. "Very valid. I have never been very good with creatures, admittedly, so I almost prefer them this way." She also liked to see how things worked and though she didn't exactly have the stomach for things like blood and muscle, perfectly clean bones were fine.

"Are there any other enclosures worth seeing?" She wasn't sure if he'd ventured much further than she had, but Greer planned to take a bit of a stroll and wanted to be on the lookout for anything worthwhile of her time and attention.

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"Agreed," Harry said. "Anything more fearsome than the family cat is probably too much for me." He chuckled. He hadn't studied creatures in school, and aside from spending time at the Avalon Glen in the general vicinity of dragons, Harry hadn't had much reason or opportunity to do so since.

"Have you seen the water's edge enclosure?" Harry asked. "I thought it was rather interesting."

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Set by Bee <3

"I have yet to," Greer said of the other enclosure. As long as she avoided the Australian pen, she could keep her wits about her. "What was in that one?" She crouched as the skeletal rabbit came further out of the bushes, wondering if she could encourage it to come closer. It looked tinier than she thought it ought to, but again that must have been the lack of fur. It seemed to consider her outstretched hand, hopped closer a little bit, but didn't hazard coming within reach. Smart of it, not that Greer was going to do anything other than give it a little pet on the head, but even dead it had good survival instincts. What a thought.

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"Turtles, frogs, caimens," Harry listed. "And a hippopotamus, who somehow didn't look how I would have expected." Harry chuckled. To be fair, that was true of many of the creatures on display here. "Worth a look for the curious, I think."

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