Originally Posted by Birchwoodmom

"What a long day" she said with an overly dramatic exhale. The first part of the school term was wearing on her and she desperately missed her afternoon alone time. Yes, she was loving Hogwarts, but being a full on introvert, she was finding it hard to get away from it all.

Emmalyn entered the Barn in hopes of some peace and quite. The animal sounds, and even their smells, were soothing to her nature loving soul. She paused a moment, just inside the front doors, and took in her surroundings. She was familiar with horses, she had grown up just down the street from her friends farm and learned how to ride and take care of them from a very early age, but this barn was also filled with many magical creatures. She was thankful to have skimmed the Care of Magical Creatures book before arriving.

Before taking another step, she saw that there was a serious poo problem going on. That was one thing she was sure she could help with, plus the physical labor would do her mind some good. She quickly pulled her long brown hair back into a bun, grabbed and pair of gloves, boots, and the shovel. After searching a few minutes, she found a wheelbarrow that had obviously been use for poo removal in the past and wheeled it over to the first stall.

"Hey there, sweetie." She cooed at the first stalls inhabitants. The last thing she wanted to do was startle the creature. "I'm just cleaning things up a bit for you. No need to worry." She continued in her gentlest voice. The scooping and dumping soon became a steady rhythm as she moved from stall to stall. Before long, the entire left side of the barn was free from droppings.

Wanting to take a break and catch her breath, Emmalyn removed her gloves and placed them on the edge of the railing. That's when she noticed the nose of a niffler poking out. "Hey there, buddy. What's your name?" She reached into her pockets to look for something shiny, but came up empty. "Maybe next time I'll bring you something to play with."

Emmalyn took a deep breath, put the gloves back on and continued with the work of mucking out all of the stalls on the other side of the barn. By the time she was finished, a good part of the day had passed. She sat down with her back against the wooden wall and looked out towards the pasture. It was a beautiful evening and the animals seemed to be enjoying the weather as well.