Alyssa was still waiting for RoRo to grab the dead ferret that she had hanging in her hand. He had to be hungry. Then she almost jumped in surprise when someone spoke next to her. She was so busy keeping an eye on the baby dragon that she hadn't noticed the Gryffindor student join her in the barnyard.

"Oh hi there. I'm sorry I didn't see you come in. I'm Lyssie by the way. Bathe him? I don't know. I'm trying to feed him first." Alyssa said to the girl as she continued to shake the ferret in front of RoRo to entice him to grab it.

"Bathing him will definitely require more than one person to do it. But why don't you get the stuff ready and maybe by the time you're done and I'm done taking care of the winged horses, others will come and we'll have more people to help bathe him."Alyssa suggested.

It wasn't because she was afraid of bathing the baby dragon, but Alyssa decided that she'd rather be cautious at this point in time, than later have to explain to Professor Williamson why his dragon was missing from his holding pen again.

Deciding to abandon feeding Roro for now, since he still hadn't taken the ferret she was holding, she left it dangling on his holding pen, just in case he decided to eat it and went back to trying to figure out how she was going to brush down a Thestral, she couldn't see.

Alyssa entered the supposedly empty stall even though she could sense movement in it. 'Now how do I brush down something I can't see?' Alyssa thought to herself. Then it dawned on her. Use her sense of touch.

Alyssa first spoke to the Thestral. "Hi there, I know that you can see me but I can't see you. I'm not here to harm you. See this grooming brush? I just want to brush you down so that you look nice and shiny. So please don't bite or kick me." she pleaded with the horse.

When she heard a neighing sound come from in front of her, she took it as a good sign, and slowly approached the creature. She looked down at the ground and where she saw the hay moving around, she assumed those were where its legs were and so she bent down and reached out towards it.

Her hands made contact with what felt like a leg. BINGO!! Alyssa slowly moved her hand up until she realized that was touching the creature's behind. "YUCK!!" Alyssa said as she quickly wiped her hand against the side of the fence.

"Okay let's try this again."Alyssa said to herself. Now that she knew where the Thestral's hind end was, she reached out again and until she felt its body again and this time moved her hand in the opposite direction, running her hand along its rump, then its back, then its neck until she found its head.

"Now I know how it feels when the blind read Braille. I'm doing the exact thing. Maybe I should just close my eyes and trust my other senses this time." Alyssa told herself.

So she did just that. She closed her eyes. Now that she had the Thestral's head, she imagined what it looked like and began brushing it like she had done with the other winged horses. First she felt around for her towel and wiped down, its muzzle and its ears. Then she stuffed the towel in her pocket before reaching for the grooming brush.

She started with its mane. Reaching out and she ran her fingers through it untangling it before combing it down. Then she ran her hands all across the Thestral's body until she reached its hind end and found its tail. She slowly fingered out the tangles before combing down the tail until it was tangle free.

Now to groom it. Alyssa took out her grooming brush and with her eyes still shut, ran her hands right back to where the Thestral's neck was and started brushing its coat with downward strokes. She brushed across its mighty chest, along one side and then up and over to the other side of its body before brushing its back until she reached its rump where she finished off by brushing down its hind legs.

Then she slowly stepped back and opened her eyes. She had done it. She had actually groomed a Thestral without having to see it. Alyssa smiled and nodded a thanks to it. "Thank you my friend" Alyssa spoke to the Thestral before picking up her grooming equipment and exiting the stall.