COMC Centaur

A Centaur is a magical creature whose head, torso, and arms appear to be human and are joined to a horse's body. They are, however, their own species, and are not any kind of half-breed. They also have a rich history and are known for being skilled in healing, divination and astronomy. Centaurs have a Ministry of Magic Classification of XXXX. Like horses, centaurs can come in a variety of colours, ranging from deep black to white. A centaur by the name of Firenze had white-blonde hair, a body light in colour, and possessed astonishingly blue eyes. Magorian on the other hand possessed black hair and was chestnut in colour. They are not very pleased to be insulted, particularly where their lineage is concerned, as Professor Umbridge found out to her cost. Centaurs may possess the ability to be clairvoyant, as they are known to be gifted in divining. Indeed, the centaurs of the Forbidden Forest regularly make vague allusions to seeing the future, as when the centaur Firenze told Harry Potter that they were fated to meet again, and when he and Bane spoke of the "intermission" of sorts, between the First and Second Wizarding Wars. He also mentioned to his class at Hogwarts, that centaurs spend years trying to master their particular art of divining the fates. Centaurs are forest-dwelling, and, in each country where colonies exist, the wizarding authority has set aside land exclusively for their use. One such colony exists in the Forbidden Forest, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, centaurs have their own methods of concealment and avoid contact with both wizards and witches and Muggles, as they are not fans of humans. They generally live in herds of ten to fifty individuals. Starting in 1811, centaurs were offered "Being" status, when Grogan Stump decreed that a "being" was "any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws." However, they declined because of the associations with other creatures, such as vampires and hags, that "being" status would give them. The merpeople made the same decision a year later.[3]
Despite being highly intelligent creatures, centaurs were still officially classified as of "near-human intelligence" by the Ministry of Magic in the mid-1990s, per the text of Law Fifteen B, as laid down by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Centaurs take this phrase to be a great insult, as Dolores Umbridge found out the hard way, as they find that "[their] intelligence, thankfully, far outstrips [humans']." A Centaur Liaison Office still exists in the Ministry of Magic's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, though no centaur has ever used it. In fact, the phrase "Being sent to the Centaur Office" has become an in-joke at the Ministry, meaning that the person in question is about to be sacked. A centaur was also represented in the Fountain of Magical Brethren at the Ministry of Magic, at least before the fountain's destruction during the battle between Albus Dumbledore and You-Know-Who.