Intent as he was on finding whatever human presence was lurking about, he was quickly aware of the distinctly animal sounds off to his left. He paused and then sighed in relief as several hippogriffs emerged from the shadows. "Woah, easy girl!" he said, bowing low and hiding his wand. No need to further frighten the already scared creature.

Firth noticed another few heading in the direction he had been walking. Following their path with his gaze, he saw-- "Students?" Wait, had students been what was causing the forest animals to seem so skittish? No, he'd never detected anyone before. They couldn't be the cause.

Wary of the hippogriff near him, he slowly rose back to full height and patted the beast gently, careful not to pull on its feathers. He intercepted the other few hippogriffs before they got to the students. Bowing to them, he took out his customary dead mouse from the inside of his cloak and threw it away, hoping to lure them away from the children. No need for accidents. Then Alistaire made his way over to the large group assembled, several of whom, he noticed, had.. were those bowls of ice cream?

This caught him off guard so much that it was the first thing from his mouth as he approached the students. "Ice cream? Yeh know i's December ou' here, don't yeh?" he asked, his voice full of amused shock.

Wait, what on earth am I saying? "An' wha' are yeh all doin' in here?" he asked, the tone of his voice quickly turning more towards anger.