The idea for these crazy new creatures came from Ben Ackerman who suggested that they, whatever they were, should be called "randomhobosauruses" and that they liked to randomly hug and stalk people. It is rumored that he then coughed and said something that strangely sounded like, "Missa" but it isn't know for sure. Then it was said that the creature be created by randomly naming random body parts of animals and anything random. Yes, it was to be a very random group of randomhobosauruses. Many posts and laughs later, the current version of the randomhobosaurus was created.
How does this have anything to do with Gryffindor, you ask? Well why ask a silly question like that? Everyone knows that, out of all of the houses in HOL (and arguably everywhere in the solar system...except Pluto, because that doesn't for count for anything anymore), Gryffindor is the most random of houses. Right alongside bravery and insanity is randomness. While all Gryff creatures before the randomhobosaurus have definitely been random, none have focused on randomness quite like this.
If you still do not believe the Toffee Tigers' explanation of the randomness, we'll have to explain each body part because, oddly enough, they are not only random but they do have some meaning behind them. Except the duck. We have no idea where it came from and we don't really want to find out.
The first thing to explain would have to be the T-Rex head. Because of the completely random name that included "saurus" in it, it was agreed that a dinosaur had to show up somewhere on the little critter. The T-Rex head was chosen because of its teeth mainly. They have the capability to completely tear anything into shreds but instead, the randomhobosaurus uses its teeth to cause mischief. Now if that doesn't remind you of the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, nothing will.
Next would be the tentacles. These actually came up randomly but a randomhobosaurus is described as a random creature that randomly hugs and stalks people so it needs something to hug with, correct? We aren't nearly normal enough to have given it a normal hugging appendage so tentacles were chosen. Hurrah.
Down the list we go. Butterfly wings is next. No other explanation can be given for this other than these two words: feminine boys.
Moving along. The duck's body is after the wings. Well, like I said before, we have no idea where it came from. This would be the most random thing on the creature and random is the way we like it.
The squirrel tail is next. This should bring up some good memories because, as Jade Packer pointed out, squirrels have been a part of house creatures since forevers ago. To leave them out would be an insult to all of the old Gryffindors and the new ones that so want to believe that they are old but really aren't.
Finally we have the fireworks. They're Gryffindor-like as well. Fireworks are awesome and so are Gryffs so Gryffs are obviously fireworks. Or something like that. Either way, fireworks are cool and they're pretty and everyone loves them and they explode so yay for firework-shooting-random-hugging-stalking animals!
By now, you have to be wondering what in the world these look like and if you have an idea already...well you have a very weird mind but that's cool too. For those of you who can't seem to use your imagination to see this complex creature in your head, Ben was able to capture a picture of one for you. This particular one is named Bob. Yeah, he pwns.
Beware that if you haven't been paying attention to the description, this is going to look scary. If you have been paying attention, the Toffee Tigers would like to take this chance to bribe you but we can't because you're probably scared by the picture as well. He's really a good guy though, other than the whole sharp teeth that tear up the new Gryffindor Common Room thing. And we also have a wonderful sketch of the randomhobosaurus named Sobofy done by the lovely Marie Thenes!
Verrry interesting, I know. How she was able to sketch one without it jumping on her, I'm not exactly sure. Maybe she's magical...aw, darn. Can't use that excuse on a Hogwarts site, can I?
Now you're probably thinking that someone has to make sure these things don't get out of control. I mean, they might scare the first years! (Haha, you totally weren't thinking about the safety of the first years, I can tell you that much.) Never fear my luffly SPD! The Toffee Tigers have randomly chosen a leader for these creatures. Four Ligers put their names into a drawing and the wonderful Ben was randomly chosen as the random leader. So don't be scared. Granted he's just as insane as the randomhobosauruses but it'll all be fine. We hope. We doubt it but we're hoping.
Now for a few random facts on the random randomhobosauruses. Well just one but if I rant enough, it'll look like a few. Eventually all of the randomhobosauruses will have names but for now two have been given the gift of having a name. They were probably better without them but we're humans and we'll do whatever we want. Anyway. One of the randomhobosauruses names is Sobofy, but his friends call him Feefee. The other that was granted a name is named Bob but, for simplicity purposes, he is called BillyBobJoeBob for short.
Now that I have started a paragraph with the word "now" a few times in a row, I'll leave you with the den story created by the den members of the Toffee Tiger den. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it and good luck choosing our den to win. Uhm, did I say that? I meant choosing a den to win. *cough*
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Behind the closed portrait of the Fat Lady live many creatures of all sorts of names, sizes and all different Ligers, but none as strange and as Gryff-like as randomhobosauruses!
What is a randomhobosaurus? I can hear you ask, what indeed? As this tale of many squirrel tails and tentacles unfolds and bursts into many different colours and sparkles, pay close attention to the many strange things that happen in the Common Room when these creatures go a-venturing, a-rampaging, a-stalking, a-hugging all over the place...
It started one day, on a day like no other. It was a day like no other because, for some mysterious reason, the Gryffindor common room was very quiet. The students spoke in hushed voices as they studied their History of Magic and Transfiguration textbooks, preparing for their midterm exams. It was quite an odd sight.
"I don't like the look of this," Ben Ackerman said as he and his random (group) of randomhobosauruses peered down the dormitory steps at the quiet lions.
"Not at all," squeaked a high-pitched randomhobosaurus.
"We have to-" Ben was interrupted because apparently, these Gryffindor creatures did not want to plan their attack, they wanted to take action.
Within seconds, the common room was quiet no longer. Some randomhobosauruses flew with their butterfly wings to the students and shoved their bushy squirrel tails in the innocent students' faces. Others used their firework abilities to spurt out fireworks around the large room. The rest continued doing their own thing and whether it be swinging from the scarlet curtains or dancing around with their tentacles, it was obvious that all of the randomhobosauruses knew what they had to do; cause mayhem.
But as they kept on causing mischief, they heard the common room portrait creak open. In a flash, all the randomhobosauruses scattered, leaving everyone dazed and confused. In walked Professor Hatshepsut Nayhan and Missa Matz.
"What's going on in here?" Hat asked, looking at the student's shocked faces.
"We have no idea," said a random Gryffindor.
"Wow." Missa chuckled, looking at the messy room. "Looks like an earthquake hit."
Hat and Missa looked around and then left for a very important meeting. The students cleaned up the common room, still thinking about the odd creatures. As they were doing so, little did they know the enemy den leaders were being plotted against.
In a nearby locked broom closet was Ben Ackerman and his heard of randomhobosauruses. Ben tapped on the handle of the door with his wand, making sure it was locked. Once he was sure they were safe from intruders and eavesdroppers, he dropped a box on the floor.
"I know it's cramped in here," Ben said pacing back and forth while setting up a little podium and poster behind himself, "but we'll have to make do. It's not safe to leave the common room yet because they're still on the lookout after your random adventures. Since we're stuck in here for a while, we might as well devise a plan to attack!" All the randomhobosauruses got riled and started whispering to each other.
"OK!" Ben shouted, hitting the poster behind him with a wooden pointer. "Here's the plan. PDL01 and PDL02 (alias Moiraine Lee and Katie Potter) are found here and here in the mornings." Ben jabbed the poster with the pointer. The map was a diagram of the common room. "When they're all alone, which will be at approximately 3 pm on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we will ATTACK! Use your random brains and smother them with randomness! As for PDL03, 04, 05, and 06, I have yet to find out when and where they can be found alone. Once I have, we must plot an attack. We must perform random acts of randomness among the other den leaders!"
Marie made her way through the portrait and into the Common Room. It had been a long day where she had spent the morning studying in the library, then sat her OWL Herbology exam in the afternoon. What a mish.
She was looking forward to mellowing out on one of the plushy chairs in the Den.
"Hey Marie!"
"Oh hey, what's up?" Plonking herself down on the nearest chair, she turned her attention to the Gryffindor student who greeted her.
"We just got ransacked not so long ago."
"What? By who?"
"By these creatures! They looked like...well, weird looking things actually. T-Rex head, duck body, tentacles...they even had butterfly wings!"
Marie sat up, a surprised look on her face. "What? Are you for real?"
"Yeah, they just came out of no where. Oh! And they had squirrel tails as well," the Gryffindor student nodded and shrugged her shoulders, "but just as quickly as they had appeared, they just disappeared."
That was when Marie noticed little spots of blackened soot on the ceiling and walls. There were some feathers poking out of a few places too. 'Huh,' she thought, 'can't be...'
Patting down her pockets in search of something, she pulled out a piece of paper from her robe. Skimming through it, she got to the relevant part of it:
"...and the Gryffindor Dorms were under construction at that time - renovations or some such thing was the official word, but the rumour that was going around back then was that it had been ransacked by creatures with butterfly wings, tentacles, a lot of feathers and what looked like big T-Rex heads. Well, not surprisingly, to this day there have yet been any more 'sightings' of those creatures..."
'Could it be...?' she wondered. This was an old article from when she was a Third Year - this was what she had told the reporter herself. 'After all these years, could the creatures actually be re-'
CRASH!
Marie and the rest of the Gryffindors turned their heads, looking for the source of the crash. Nothing unusual could be seen and everyone began to whisper to each other, discussing what had caused the loud noise.
Missa seemed to be the first person to figure it out. Tennis racket of d00m in hand, she headed over to the closest broom closet. Whether it was locked or not before Missa got there, no one ever knew. What everyone did see was Missa taking a swipe at the door and using her apparent Ponta superpowers, the door fell and revealed Ben and the randomhobosauruses.
"Attack!" A squeaky voice said before all chaos broke loose.
The randomhobosauruses flew out of of the closet, some attaching themselves to students with their tentacles, others breathing fireworks from their mouths. A random of the creatures even ganged up on one particular student who had one on each limb, leg and head!
Squirrel tails were flicking everywhere, knocking things over, tickling students - sneezing and laughter could be heard above the high-pitched noises of the fireworks.
Disorganised chaos reigned and the atmosphere was close to irresponsible insanity.
"Someone do something!"
"STOP IT!" Julie Garnet shouted above all the ruckus.
Suddenly, everything went quiet. The randomhobosauruses stopped causing mischief. Everything (including the randomhobosauruses) stared at Juli.
"Thank you!" she sighed. "I have to study for exams, so please keep it down."
As she turned to leave, the pack of randomhobosauruses ganged up on her and started teasing her. They tugged on her hair, tickled her, poked her, and did everything in their power to annoy her. Half laughing and half shouting, she finally got a few feet from them and pulled out her wand.
"I'm sorry but I have to do this. You forced me to," Juli said, aiming her wand at a pack of the randomhobosauruses.
No one heard the words that Juli mumbled under her breath but in seconds, butterbeer and cheesecake was somehow flying out of her wand, onto the randomhobosauruses. The Gryffindor students and staff completely forgot about their thoughts on the random creatures and jumped onto the packs of now cheesecake-and-butterbeer-covered randomhobosauruses. The room was once chaotic again.
"Oh yeahhhh...." Juli said with a sigh. "Forgot that that would make more-" Juli never got to fit the word "noise" in because, of course, she is a Gryffindor. Gryffindors can never stay in a room with butterbeer without getting into their insane state. Within seconds, she was in the pile of students, fighting for a sip of butterbeer.
Ben stood at the side with the few randomhobosauruses that had not been covered. "Well we did it. We caused mischief and mayhem." They sat admiring their accomplishment and then joined in the frenzy. They were Gryffindors after all.