Back to Fluffy again! Etta loved spending time with her baby creature so much. The more she was around him, the more she wished she could end up adopting him. Wouldn't that be awesome? Having him permanently around? And he was such a good listener too. She could vent all her problems to him and Fluffy wouldn't mind at all. The girl gave a dreamy sigh as she entered the nursery and walked towards the supply area to collect a few things before making her way to where her adorable little pet was.

"Hiiiii, Fluffy." She set all her supplies down before bending down to pick him up, cooing at the creature for a little while. She ran her fingers through his thick hair, pulling a face at how sticky and dirty he was. Yeah.. he definitely needed to have a wash. But first.. she used her free hand to clean the place. For such a small creature, he surely seemed to dirty up the area very fast. She cast a scourgify before setting him down. The prefect refilled his water bowl and food bowl.. before pausing for a moment and looked around. Yep. All good.

The girl sat down and waited for a while, watching Fluffy eat the food, not thinking about her exams or homework or classes for once. It felt good to just relax, not having to stress about something or the other constantly.. thanks to Fluffy. She still couldn't believe how tiny he was. He seemed to be such a small little baby.. and all Etta wanted to do was to hold him every second she was there. But he needed space.. she could understand that, yes. Once he'd finished eating, it was time for a bath.

The girl set him on the ground and pulled a small bucket close to her, filling it with water with an aguamenti. She waited until the bucket was half-full before casting a finite. Okay.. now.. she gently picked up Fluffy, smiling down at him as she held him over the bucket. He was so small that he literally fit in the palm of her hand, which only made her want to squeal all over again. She carefully set him down in the water and giggled with amusement as he played in the water. She let him have fun for a while before picking him up, using a hot-air charm to help him dry. "I have to leave but I'll see you soon, yeah?" She cleaned everything up once again before giving Fluffy a smile and walked out of the nursery.

Skylar was back in the barn, barely a week after her last visit, but that was because she decided she needed to be an active presence in her niffler's life if she wanted any hopes of him trusting her enough to give back what he's taken. Slipping into the pen area with the small black creature, the first thing she fourth year noted was that he was just a little bigger than before.

"Hi Snitch," she whispered, wiggling her fingers on her right hand just a little bit to not startle him a whole lot. A step closer and soon, the fourth year found herself squatting down in front of him. "Ssh, Mama's here." Gently, her fingers found their way to its fur and she stroked, wondering for how long the niffler would let her do this before he turned on her. Nifflers weren't exactly known for their love of being petted, but it was still a baby and therefore, it still seemed okay with being coddled.

Conjuring water in its shiny bowl, as per was her custom, she let the black creature lap up some fluids, she wondered more about what it would be like to continue ownership of him when he was older. Could she train him to find her gold? Would he become a burden in his thieving ways? Would she ever see her watch again?

Also, she really ought to think about bathing him; was it just like a kitten or a puppy? Deciding that would be a goal for next time, she wondered if her watch would surface in the bath - perhaps a washing was tantamount to getting him to release all his stolen treasures. "See you soon," she nodded giving him a final stroke as she slipped out, because it was just a quick visit before class.

The theory about why Albus didn’t like baths was still not proven, but then Stasya had been dealing with lots lately. Mostly all the worry about Dark wizards and trying to figure out why professors were bringing up subjects that made them seem like Dark wizards in class. Plus more cookie experiments, and just normal twelve-year-old stuff. There had been plenty of visits to the barn in the meantime, too, and there was still the need to make sure the mama and baby unicorn were still okay in the forest. If she could go by the appearance of Henry’s Granian and the other winged horses in the nursery, the baby unicorn was probably lots bigger by now and maybe then she could actually be its friend easier. If only she could find them without ending up lost in the forest again and needing Professor Hirsch to rescue her.

Anyway, the announcement about adoption had gone up, so she’d run down to the nursery as soon as she could, maybe before Potions but she still didn’t really like the subject. Therefore, letting Albus know that maybe he could come home with her was way more important than worrying about if she’d be late for that lesson. Plus, she’d stopped by the barn and picked up Dobby. If Albus was going to be coming home with her, he needed to get to know her squirrel and Dobby needed to meet the puffskein.

Squirrel on her shoulder and small container of food in her hands, she’d made her way over to the puffskein’s cage with a big grin on her face. Lots of excitement. Except, as she got to the cage she saw Albus all curled up asleep in his little blanket nest. Okay, so she’d have to be quieter, but as she unlocked the cage she saw him move and practically by the time she’d gotten the door open, the ball of fluff had rolled over to greet her. “Hi Albus. This is Dobby,” she said, making sure the squirrel didn’t suddenly dart toward him and scare him. “He’s sort of like your brother, ‘cept he’s not a puffskein.” And Albus probably shouldn’t try to lick his ears. Probably not any earwax though so maybe he wouldn’t try. Dobby had just scampered on top of the cage anyway, exploring the new environment and proving that Albus didn’t bother him by really not doing much more than peer down at him curiously before letting his tail trail over him on his way back to her head. That seemed like the best first meeting she could ask for.

Letting Albus roll into her hands, she set him down on the ground while she used her wand to clean the cage as best she could, filling his food bowl once she was finished and giving him fresh water before she sat down on the floor with him. “Okay, I know you don’t like baths very much, but you gotta be clean.” She didn’t want Professor Wayland to think she wasn’t taking awesome care of him and not let her keep him, after all. So she slid a bowl over and filled it with water, using the heating charm to make sure the water wasn’t cold before she scooped Albus up and gently set him in the bowl. “You’ll be nice and clean really fast, okay.” That was a promise, and she tried to be as quick as possible, without missing a spot. Once she was done, she made sure to get him completely dry and then set him safely in his blanket nest, letting him choose to eat when he wanted. After the bath trauma, she didn’t blame him if he wanted to sulk for a little while.

It's time to bath her crup!

It's still eight in the morning but Ava had walked to the nursery because she had promised to Kara about giving her a bath. Gathering the bath supplies and a tub, she entered Kara's stable and found her crup pup was still asleep. Maybe she just waited until she's awake because... Look at her! The crup was sleeping peacefully and it would be bad to awake her, right? Right. So while waiting for Kara to wake up, Ava prepared the tub by filling it with water.

See? It didn't take a long time until the crup was awake. "Good morning, Kara!" The Gryffindor whispered and stroke Kara's fur. "It's your bath time, today! You ready? We will have so much fun!" Bathing the pet could be a whole day job, at least that's what she had experienced with Preston. Ava put her crup into the tub and pointed her wand to her crup and non-verbally cast aguamenti on her. It seemed like Kara didn't really appreciated the cold water because she was shivering... Awww, sorry pup. Next, she pour shampoo on her hand and applied it to the crup. First, she carefully scrubbed the head. "Kara, I need to you calm down or you'll get shampoo on your eyes." Merlin, this wasn't more difficult than she thought. Once the head was done, Ava scrubbed the body way down until the tail. Of course she wouldn't forget to soap the belly, legs and the foot pads too.

After done scrubbing and soaping the crup, she rinsed it all the suds out and repeating the scrubbing and soaping once again with a little more shampoo and rinse the crup until there's no more suds left. See? Now Kara looked way more beautiful after her bath, hehe. Now Ava only needed to dry her. Grabbing a clean towel, she patted Kara until the fur was dried enough and cast the hot air charm. "Ventus!" She waved her wand to her crup. And now her work was done!

Fluffy time! Etta really did treasure all the time she got to spend with the baby Puffskein. Not only she loved being around him but it also felt great to get away from all the stress for a while.. but in spite of that, she carried a couple of textbooks along. She thought he might like her reading out to him and plus, she'd get some reading done too. The prefect picked up a small bowl of Puffskein appropriate-food and made her way to where he was, her face brightening up on seeing him. "Hiiii."

..... but oh. He was sleeping. She didn't want to disturb him so the girl sat down quietly, setting the bowl on the ground and pulled out a book, occasionally glancing at her cute little Fluffy. The temptation to hold him was too strong but he seemed to be deep asleep.. so she concentrated on getting some reading done, stretching out her legs after a little while. She had time, anyway. The girl was done with classes for the day so she could afford spending a little while down here. Besides, she was getting some reading done so it wasn't like she was wasting time. But after what felt like forever, she looked up to find him waddling over to her. Hey, did he actually recognise her? Kind of?

She quickly closed her book and pushed it into her bag before leaning forward slightly to pick Fluffy up. "Hey, there. How have you been, hmm? Did you miss me? It's okay if you didn't. I really missed you." She kept talking random things as she gently let her fingers run through his hair. "Are you hungry? I've brought food for you." She let him climb out of her lap as he made his way straight towards the food bowl. Puffskein were always hungry, weren't they? Meanwhile, noticing that the area was way too dirty, she used a scourgify first before filling the water bowl with an aguamenti. Okay, great.

The girl sat back and relaxed for a little while before Fluffy slowly waddled towards her once again. She was unable to stop grinning, the excitement clearly visible on her face. She spent some more time with him, squealing a little as the tiny little creature tried walking up her arm. "Hey, I'm very ticklish!" She couldn't stop laughing, his baby tair tickling her like crazy. After a little while though, sadly, it was time for her to leave. The girl let him walk away as she got to her feet and picked up her bag. "I'll be back soon, okay? I promise."

Shay couldn't wait to see her baby. She headed down to the nursery at a quick pace. When she arrived, she stopped to gather supplies for her visit. She got crup food, a tub, shampoo, towels and a brush. It was bath day for Coco. To make things easier to carry, she put everything in the tub. She carried her things down to Coco's pen and set them down. Then she went back to get gloves, a broom, dustpan and a bag to place all of the crup's........business in.

When Shay returned to the pen. Shay saw that the crup was napping. Opening the door she said, "Hi Coco". At the sound of her voice, the crup jumped up and ran over to her "mommy". "Hi baby", Shay said, as she scooped the squirmy bundle into her arms. Laughing at the licks she was receiving , the Gryffindor gave lots of hugs and pats to her pet. "Are you hungry? I'm going to clean your pen and then you can have something to eat."

Shay put the crup down and donned her gloves. Then she removed all of the puppy poo from the pen. Finally she swept the area clean. "There, good as new." Taking the crup food, Shay filled Coco's bowl and placed it on the ground near her. She took out her wand and placed over the water bowl. "Aguamenti", she said, filling the bowl with fresh water. After a Finite, Shay sat down and watched as Coco ate and drank unto the she was full. Giving the crup a break, Shay began to ready things for her bath.

She took everything out of the tub and repeated "Aguamenti", filling it part of the way with water. Shay picked up the brush and walked over to Coco. "I'm going to brush you to make sure you don't have an tangles and then we'll have some fun." Shay put the pup in her lap and began to slowly and carefully brush her. Besides a tangle or two, she was able to brush Coco easily. Once that was completed, Shay took her baby over to the tub and eased her in. Bath time with Coco could go either way. It could be easy or Shay could end up looking like the one who had a bath.

Today Coco seemed surprisingly placid.....for now. "Aguamenti", Shay said once again, wetting down the crup's fur from head to paw. Keeping one hand on Coco, the sixth year got the shampoo and began to soap the crup up, section by section. She made sure to be extra careful around her face. Once Coco was nice and soapy, Shay pored water from her wand to rinse it all off. And that's where her luck ran out. Coco chose that moment to shake water everywhere, mostly on Shay. "Aw man Coco. Did you think I needed a bath too?". Apparently so and at that moment, Shay could have sworn that the crup was laughing.

Shaking her head. Shay took the crup out of the tub and grabbed a towel. She patted the crup down to remove the excess water. Then it was time for the part that Coco liked. "Ventus", Shay said, as she began to move her wand around above Coco's body. The crup was very well behaved for this part. When the time came to dry her belly, she laid on her back and seemed very pleased. When the drying was done, Shay stood up and stretched. "Ok my sweet baby, were all finished and you look beautiful." Shay gathered up all of her supplies, then gave Coco a big hug. "I have to go now baby, but I will be back very soon. You be a good girl now." After giving Coco one last hug, Shay closed the pen and waved goodbye. She would definitely have to come back as soon as possible. After returning her supplies. She headed back to the castle.

Because Vivian was determined to keep up with her new and improved studying schedule, she finally made sure she didn't have time to procrastinate after class... and that she had loads of free time to enjoy the remaining months of the year. Now that she found time to spare, the Slytherin decided to pay another visit to her ickle Niffler. But of course, she wasn't one to just waltz in the nursery without anything planned for her creature.

The fourth year made sure to stuff away all jewellery and shiny things from her body and pockets, and double-checked her pouch so she didn't forget anything in her dorm while she was out. A summoning charm would work, but that wasn't always a guarantee. Anyway, once all of that was over and done with, Vivian skipped to the nursery to spend some quality time with Goldilocks. "Hello there, little one!" She said, once she reached her destination and skipped over to kneel down beside the baby niffler's cage.

The last time Vivian came here, the poor thing was asleep. "I know, I know... I've been a bad mummy," she said with a tiny sigh. "But I missed you and I will make it up to you! Wait, I got a little something for you." The blonde searched through her pouch for the certain something, and then pulled it out to show to Goldilocks. "Tada! Pretty, isn't it?" Vivian held a tiny pink dress for her creature, perhaps small enough for the niffler to slip into. It had been an old and a couple of sizes smaller dress of hers that she mistakenly packed during the holidays. It didn't fit her anymore, so she decided to shrink it to fit her shiny-loving baby.

"Let's see if it fits right for you, lovely," Vivian slowly opened up Goldilocks' cage and took the creature on her arms. N'aaaw, wasn't she such a sweetheart? She really couldn't wait to adopt the precious one for the summer. She was also sure Eloise would love to play along with her as well! She then placed the dress over the creature's head and carefully guided her limbs through the right holes of the dress. "Definitely beautiful! You're the prettiest one yet!" Vivian was absolutely gushing over her baby niffler. Just wait until Sky's male niffler saw what a beauty Goldilocks was during their niffler play date soon! It was all planned and soon to happen!

Vivian played with her niffler a little bit more until Goldilocks pretty much had dirt all over the tiny dress, which the Slytherin didn't really mind because she was too glad they had spent time together. Before returning her ickle back to her cage, she made sure to send some Scouring Charms for cleanliness checks and refilled the water container with Aguamenti. She also took the dress off the niffler so she could still have it cleaned before the niffler play date with Sky and Snitch. "Have to make sure this is clean before our date! See you next time, lovely!" Cutie niffler.

Why couldn't Vivian take her back to her dorm? Well, besides the fact that Goldilocks might steal gold and valuables, that is. She just wanted to cuddle!

Shay was back at the nursery to check on her baby. She missed Coco on the days she wasn't able to visit her and she wondered if Coco missed her. Well today she had big plans for her pup, first though, she had some work to do. As usual, Shay stopped to pick up her supplies for the day. She got her cleaning supplies, puppy crup food and a brush. Inside of her pocket, she had a special treat for Coco. That was for later though.

Shay approached Coco's pen and peeked inside. When the puppy spotted her there was some serious tail wagging going on. Opening the door to the pen, Shay couldn't hide her smile. "Coco", she said with much happiness. "I missed you sooooo much." The sixth year got down on her hands and knees and snuggled with her baby. There really was not much better than this. Shay and Coco had officially bonded.

"Hungry?", Shay asked the crup. Grabbing Coco's food and water bowls, she prepared to refill them. Scooping up some puppy food, Shay placed it in the bowl. Then she took out her wand and added water to the second bowl. "Here you go", Shay said, while placing the bowls near her baby. Coco ate, drank and seemed to look at Shay for more. "Nope that's all the food you get for now. I will give you more water though." Shay refilled the water bowl and then picked up the hair brush. Slowly, she brushed Coco's hair. The more often she did it, the easier it became. Shay was actually enjoying this. Brushing her crup was quite relaxing. It was a win win.

Before she got to her surprise, Shay took a few moments to clean out Coco's pen. Besides, who wanted to live in a messy, dirty pen? Her baby deserved a nice, clean place to live. When everything was spic and span, Shay put her cleaning supplies to the side. More pats and licks were then exchanged between the Gryffindor and her crup, pats from Shay and licks from Coco. "I brought something for you." Shay reached in her pocket and pulled out a little toy for Coco. She brought her out to the play area and they played a little game of throw and fetch. Shay lightly tossed the toy and her smart cruppie went to retrieve it. They did this over and over, until they were both tired. They sat there together, until they were rested again.

Shay finally took Coco back to her pen and placed her inside."I'm afraid that I have to go back to school now.", she said sadly. "Don't worry though. I'll be back to see you soon, ok?" Giving Coco one last hug, Shay closed the door to the pen. She blew the crup a kiss and then headed back to return her supplies. On the way back to the castle, she thought about what she would do the next time she returned to visit Coco.

After having a Care of Magical Creatures class, Ava took some time to visit her baby crup. She stll had much time to hang out with Kara until the next lesson happened. She had prepared a crup biscuit, rubber ball and a special present for her lovely crup pup... And it was a surprise, okay? Hehehe. "Hey, Kara!" The Gryffindor greeted the crup as she entered her stable. Kara seemed always happy seeing her coming here as she ran to her and wiggled her tails. Speaking of tails... Maybe Ava should ask Professor Wayland if one of the tails could be removed once the adoption process was done. Yeah, she decided to adopt the crup and taking care of her with Preston together. It wouldn't be easy, obviously. But Kara would be under the care of this nursery for a while and will be brought home once she had graduated.

"Do you want a snack?" She asked as she grabbed a packet of crup biscuit from her pocket. Her crup seemed wanting the biscuit eagerly as her eyes got widened and barked excitedly. "Here you go!" She fed the biscuit and watched Kara enjoying the little treat. Ava then grabbed a bowl and fill it with water and put it in front of Kara, in case her crup wanted a sip of drink. "By the way... I have a special present for you!" She beamed. Getting her bag, she took something from it and it was still wrapped. Hehe. "I will open it for you...." And now she was questioning herself why on earth she had to wrap it with a wrapping paper before, haha. She unwrapped the present and... Voila! It was a bone-shaped chew toy.

"Do you like it? I hope you will like it..." Ava murmured as she put the chew toy in front of Kara and... Hey, she seemed love it!

Etta was late. She'd been meaning to visit the nursery earlier but she had been super busy with homework and reading that she had completely lost track of time. The girl practically ran towards her Fluffy, almost tripping a few times. The girl was just excited, okay? She picked up the necessary supplies before greeting her beautiful pet with the biggest smile ever. "Hi, there!" She dropped her bag to the ground and sat down, waiting patiently but.. soon enough, the cute little creature slowly waddled towards her. She felt like he was almost.. smiling. Was he happy to see her? She almost squealed as she picked Fluffy up and started to pet him, muttering softly. "Hey, I'm happy to see you too. How have you been? Have you been eating properly? Have you slept?

The girl frowned as she ran her fingers through his thick hair, wondering how he got so dirty.. so fast. Hadn't she given him a bath just a few days ago? and ugh.. he was a bit smelly too. Oh, well. She'd thought about giving him a bath anyway. The girl filled the bucket with water before she gently placed him inside and started to scrub him thoroughly, trying to remove all the stickiness. Ugh. He really needed to learn to take care of himself, yeah? She washed him properly after, letting him splash about in the water too. Eh. He really seemed to be enjoying himself. The prefect giggled as she watched him, thinking how adorable he was. She knew that Puffskein were supposed to be cute but.. not this cute, honestly. Who would have thought?

Finally, she lifted him out of the bucket, using a hot-air charm to dry him. Next, she pulled out a brush out of her bag and started to brush his hair slowly, without applying too much pressure. And there was that humming sound again. Heh. He seemed to like it too. Etta continued brushing his hair, for quite sometime and when she was done, the girl properly looked down at him. Yeah, he looked good.. and smelled good too. Thankfully. She filled his water and food bowl as per usual as she let him crawl out of her lap and waddle straight towards the food bowl. Heh. He was obviously hungry after that bath. She spent some more time with him before she finally stood up to leave. As much as she didn't want to actually leave, the girl had to study since exams were just around the corner. She picked up her bag, trying not to feel too sad.. honestly, she was just being silly. Etta was still going to see him again, yeah? "I'll be back soon, okay?" She smiled as he was still busily eating and turned to leave.

Making sure once more to strip herself of any shiny items, Skylar made her way out to the nursery, still thinking if she would like to adopt the creature. How long did she have to decide and what was Wayland going to do with the babies that didn't get adopted? Was he going to continue to care for them and could she visit whenever she liked? She wasn't sure she wanted the responsibility, but she also wasn't sure she could give up being its human mama.

"Snitch!" She grinned, when she saw him and he saw her and charged at her. Not in the attack sort of way, but in the 'I missed you and want to hug you'. "You missed my back rubs, did you?" She mused, returning the hug. "SO, now. Drop. My. Watch. Or.... no rubs today." If there was any doubt that nifflers could understand her, the doubts vanished when the fluffy black creature responded to her slow instruction with FINALLY dropping her watch. "Thank you. Stealing people's possessions is wrong," she bent down and picked up watch, shoving it into the depths of her pocket.

"Now, about that bath. I have a friend for you to meet, but you want to be clean, don't you? I hear she's really pretty," She nodded, fetching a basin and filling it water and soap suds. "C'mon now, you smell." She wrinkled her nose for effect, but the black creature did what she was afraid of it doing. Ran to the corner and pretended to dig for something important.... Slowly, Skylar made her way to the corner and gently picked him up. "C'mon. It'll be nice, you'll see, and I have a treat for you." Gently, she set him down in the basin, and rubbed his fur with a washcloth to lather him up. And now time for the rinse. "Aquamenti," she cast, letting fresh water run over him. Once most of the suds were out, before Sky had a chance to dry him, the black creature darted out from under her water stream and back to his corner.

"Well fine then. No brushes for you." She shook her head, as she took her dirty water bath and dumped it and returned it to where she got it. "You best be on better behavior when you meet this friend." And with that, she turned to leave the barn.

Today was the day! Vivian had made sure that she had absolutely nothing to do today so she could devote her time for today, and she even double checked on the things she needed to bring. Human food: check. A blanket: check. Pretty dress for ickle: check. No jewellery: check. Well, there didn't seem to be anything else she needed. She always had her wand with her, anyway, so this was pretty much just it. Besides, there was niffler baby food at the nursery for this special day!

With everything stuffed inside her charmed bag, Vivian skipped as fast as her legs could take her towards the creature nursery so she could arrive first and dress her baby niffler before Sky came. "Hiiiii! I hope you had a good night's sleep because today's the day, little one!" The blonde beamed and began setting up the blanket on the grass. She wasn't planning on having dirt on her clothes today. With that done, she opened up Goldilocks' cage and carefully carried the niffler out of it and placed him on her lap. "Nope, no shiny things with me today. Stay still?" Vivian took the pretty dress that was now newly-washed and cleaned, thanks to the house elves. She then slipped it over her ickle, then held her up high and beamed.

Cutie! This day was going to be a blast, and Vivian could already sense it. "Behave, yeah?" The fourth year reminded her baby niffler and stroked her tiny head. Sky would come along in a while, she hoped. Besides, Vivian made it a point to bring marshmallows and she maaaay have sneaked some coffee and hot cocoa from the kitchens... again, as usual. Surprise? I think not!

Plus, Goldilocks was a little bit too excited because she was wiggling so much. LOL, ickle pls.

Shay was in a good mood. She was going to see her baby and was humming softly to herself on the way to the nursery. When she arrived, she went straight to the supply area to get crup food and cleaning materials. Then she made her way to Coco's pen. She opened the door and the love fest began. "Coco!", Shay said, as she moved toward the crup and the crup moved toward her. Shay went down on one knee to greet her crup. Coco jumped around with excitement upon seeing her "mommy". The Gryffindor giggles. "My, you sure are frisky today."

After a few minutes of cuddling, Shay took time to clean out Coco's pen. Fortunately, there wasn't a whole lot that needed to be done this time. It did not take long for her to get everything in order. When the cleaning was done, Shay sat down and took Coco into her lap. The crup curled up and made herself comfortable. Looking at her puppy, Shay noticed how big she was getting. She used to be such a teeny thing and now, now she was definitely filling up most of the lap.

Awwww. Her baby was growing up. Well, she guessed that voracious appetite had something to do with that. Speaking of which, it was time for Coco to eat. Shay put the puppy down and grabbed her bowls. She filled one with food and using her wand, filled the other with water. "Okay Coco, come and get it." And get it she did. In no time, the bowl had been licked clean.

Shay patted the ground next to her and said, "Coco come". After a brief hesitation, the crup came over and stood next to the sixth year. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a crup treat. "Good girl Coco.". Shay hoped to train her baby so that she would be well behaved. It was a work in progress, but Coco was definitely motivated by edible treats. She was doing well with "come" and was getting more consistent with "sit". Coco was a very smart crup, so Shay knew it would only be a matter of time before she was following all of the commands. After a few more tries, Shay knew that it was time to go. She gave Coco a goodbye hug and placed her securely back in her pen. "I'll see you soon baby. I have to go. You be good now." Shay returned her supplies and she left the nursery. Until the next time.

Skylar had tried to convince herself that this was a good idea. She adored Vivian more than any of her other roommates and the fact that they were both gifted baby nifflers to care for this year was just a sign of their friendship. And yet, the closer it came to their date that they picked out for their nifflers to officially meet, made Skylar increasingly nervous. Mostly because Snitch was ... temperamental and she's only just gotten him to finally obey her commands. So what if by introducing him to another niffler they would speak in niffler language and plot against her?

Or if he didn't need her as his mommy anymore? If Goldilocks was going to care for him and they would go off doing niffler-y things? Or if Snitch didn't like having competition and just did something completely awful?

"Hey Snitch," she forced a smile at him when she approached his penned area. "So I was thinking, we would play a little catch and toss game... I throw this ball, you throw it back at me." She waved it in the air, figuring she knew full well he wasn't going to throw it back. It was sparkly and blue. But in actuality, she didn't want him to throw it back. It was a ploy to get him out of his pen and to Vivian and Goldilocks.

So she threw it and as suspected, the black fluffy creature caught it and found himself very occupied with it, enough so that the fourth year was able to scoop him like a baby. Carrying him over the couple pens, she smiled when she spotted the familiar blond. "Vivian! Meet Snitch! Snitch, this is my roommate, Vivian and well, I think she has someone more important for you to meet." She grinned. Can she set him inside now with the female niffler? Who knew baby nifflers could be so heavy?

It was Coco time. Shay walked toward the nursery with a pocket full of puppy crup treats. She was planning to continue Coco's training and the treats had worked so well before. As was her usual practice, Shay stopped to get supplies before proceeding to her baby's pen. Opening the door, she said, "Coco, Mommy's here". The puppy ran to her and Shay stroked her head gently.

"We are going to have some fun today. First, you need to eat though.". Shay went into her stash and got food to fill Coco's bowl. After a quick Aguamenti, the crup's water bowl was full as well. It took Coco no time to scarf down her meal and wash it down with several gulps of water. Then she looked expectantly at Shay like, ok what's next?

Shay took time to clean the pen. Once it was nice and neat, she took Coco out to the pasture. The two of them just ran around and played for a few minutes. Then it was training time. Shay sat on the ground and began with with her favorite command. "Coco come." She patted the ground beside her and waited. As expected, Coco did in fact come to Shay. The Gryffindor reached into her pocket and gave the crup a treat. Then it was on to the next trick.

Shay patted Coco on the behind and said, "Coco sit". With her prompting and assistance, the puppy sat down. "Good girl Coco." She earned another treat for that. Shay attempted the task several more times. She hoped to eventually need fewer and fewer prompts, with Coco finally sitting on her own. For today though, she was happy with her baby's performance. Now, it was time to end their session for the day. "Come on Coco, it's time to take you back home." Shay took the crup back to her pen, then gave her a belly rub and a big hug. "Bye bye baby. I'll see you soon." After another hug, Shay was gone. After returning her supplies, she left the nursery.

Henry was coming down to the nursery barn to see Caelus pretty regularly now, even though it had been a few weeks since he was assigned the Granian foal. But he was still excited about taking care of him and came to see him pretty much every day after classes. He knew winged horses took a lot of work and care, and he wasn't completely sure how much care he was getting from Professor Wayland if he didn't come down often since he figured the professor was relying on him to take care of the animal.

"Hey, Caelus," he grinned as the little horse greeted him at the opening of his stall. He wondered if he recognized his footprints or his voice, or if it was something else entirely, because it seemed like he was almost always waiting for him when he got there. "So I was thinking we'd go for a walk today." He had been reading up on when he'd be able to fly and when he'd be strong enough to accept riders, and he knew it was quite a while for that yet. But it would be good exercise for him to get out of the barn and take a walk.

Henry grabbed the appropriately sized harness and reins from the storage area and spoke to the baby horse soothingly as he told him what he was doing while he put them on him. Once everything was secure, he led the foal out of the barn and onto the grounds. The air might have been crisp, but it wasn't a bad day for a walk. He slowly led Caelus towards the lake before heading back, telling him all about the day he had.

A twenty minute walk seemed about right to Henry and he led the Granian foal back inside his stall when finished and removed the harness from his head. "I bet you've worked up an appetite after all that exercise." The prefect made sure to prepare the feeding mixture and gave him his meal. He watched him eat for a few minutes before deciding it was about time to go. "I'll see you soon, buddy. Time for me to leave." He still had some homework to finish.

Apparently, Goldilocks had completed her eight hours or what number of sleep since she kept wiggling on Vivian's lap the entire time. Was this normal? The Slytherin totally didn't mind that her ickle was a little hyper than usual today, and she actually considered it a good sign. Babies were hyper, yeah? Vivian had been a hyper baby when she was as small as Goldilocks is now.

But seeing Sky from afar made Vivian alert. "Hey, little one, Sky's coming this way. Please... uh... calm down?" The blonde continued to stroke her baby niffler as she watched Sky walk closer... and closer to the nursery. Hopefully Goldilocks would cooperate today. This play date had been planned for quite a while already, so Vivian clung to that dangling string of hope that this would all turn out well. And of course, the fourth year couldn't help but giggle at the mention of a catch and toss game. Nice one, Diggory.

"Hey, looooove!" Vivian greeted her dorm mate with a grin. Then she looked at the baby niffler that Sky was holding. "Hiiii, Snitch! Don't you look dashing?" The blonde wiggled her eyebrows at the creature. Just to set the mood, y'know? Snitch looked just as hyper as Goldilocks was. Maybe that catch and toss game would work well for these two ickle nifflers.

But on to more important things. "Oh, I definitely have someone for you to meet!" Vivian beamed and held her ickle one up. Merlin, she'd gotten heavier than the first time they met. Perhaps all the Vivian!love she received had been a contributing factor to this. "Goldilocks, say hiiii to Snitch!" Her female niffler responded with more wiggling. Of course.

Rooney, despite the changes to his personal life, returned to the castle a little bit lighter and a little bit happier after the Christmas break. He’d had a great holiday with his family and his mother had made him feel better about the feelings he was having. It was a tough time, but it was getting easier by the hour. Or would do. Miss Phyllis had used a lot of words about burning yourself at both ends and ultimately sending your nearest and dearest into flames as well as yourself. She made a lot of sense, as did his need to go see Fiyero this morning. It had become a routine now: getting breakfast, grabbing his coat and heading down to the nursery. Fiyero was much like his owner in that sense…needing the consistency of a routine.

Roo approached the cage with a friendly smile, unlatching it and giving a gentle purr towards the bird before him. ”Hey Fiy. Today’s the day! Moving day.” It was something that he had been working up to since before the holidays with Fiyero, but a project he had been perfecting since he got his creature assignment. A travel nest. Typically, Augurey’s lived in tear-shaped bramble nests, but that wasn’t going to work with Rooney moving to university come September. And as of right now, he had no idea where that would be. So he had needed to make sure that when he adopted the bird, there wasn’t too much upset in relocating. Hence the travel nest. The carefully constructed brambles for Fiy could have his own space – he liked that – and the attachment of a cage door for safe travelling. It was part of Rooney’s finest work, honestly. And once they were settled, Fiyero would be free to come and go as he pleased.

The nest had been here in the nursery since the beginning of December in hopes that Fiy would get used to it and become inquisitive about it. But today was the official day that Roo was going to take him over and let him have a nose about in there. The nest would also provide ease for the bird to hunt his own food as he got bigger. Taking the bird onto his shoulder, Rooney tidied away the mess on the feet perching there before walking over towards the new nest. ”This is home now, bud. Want to look?” As always, Fiyero gave very little in response, but moved into the brambles with ease, just watching Rooney. ”I’ll get you some food and then clear out your cage in case you still want to use it. I know you don’t like all this change, I’m sorry.” Since it was cold, it was pretty difficult to get bugs from the ground and so Rooney had been harbouring a collection since October and bug breeding was more difficult than he had thought it would be. There were many instances of them spilling and ending up on Mason, Chris or Vincent’s bed but they were none the wiser. Yet. Tub full, the bird was given a large helping of insects to snack on.

Careful to watch the bird as he backed away, Roo cleaned out to cage with his wand and waited around for some sort of sign that Fiyero felt a bit more at home in the bramble nest. That sign came about half an hour later when he used his beak to move a few brambles and cover over the gap. ”We’re done for the day, I assume. I’ll come back tomorrow, Fiy.”

Snitch was wriggling in her arms pretty much most of the way to where Goldilocks was housed. And the moment she arrived at the pen of the female niffler, Snitch leaped from her arms and there was no fighting it. With the sparkly ball in his mouth, the male niffler had found himself quite at home in this area.

"I'm sorry. I guess he's just excited. It took all my strength to not get him to wriggle free as I was approaching." She shook her head, sighing.

"So do you think you'll take her home for the summer?" She had been thinking about it; no doubt Savannah wouldn't object, but now that he's met a fellow niffler, separating might be difficult. Would Wayland allow them to be penned together? Except when they were old enough, they might make more nifflers? Maybe if they stayed at Hogwarts, he could occasionally have them play together. Or well, even if Vivian and herself decided to take their nifflers home for the summer, they could meet on weekends for more playdates.... so much to consider now that there was another in the picture.

"Curt? Your mama is here."

Not his real mama, of course, but one that cared about him just as much. It was easy to develop strong feelings for a creature in a short period of time when you were raising it, did Professor Wayland know? Junia felt excited and nervous and responsible for the little fur baby that she was in charge of and she just wanted him to like her. Also to grow and thrive, that was important too. Speaking of growing, whoa.

"Look at you, getting bigger every day." She spoke softly and offered her hand for the creature to sniff, knowing young creatures sometimes couldn't distinguish fingers from food. She didn't want Curt to be a finger-biter all his life, so he was going to learn the difference early. Like, when he didn't shy away from or bite her, he was rewarded with a small piece of food, to which he reacted kindly. "That's a good boy, fingers are not food, voles are." Voles, moles, and rats, too. "I'll give you some more in a minute, okay? You can eat while I clean." Which from the look of it, she really needed to do.

Making a little trail of food for Curt to follow, the brunette cornered him and let him eat while she utilized Incarcolvo to create a cage around him where he'd be safe while she cleaned his living space and provided him with fresh water. He didn't seem to mind, food seeming to hold his interest most in the moment. "Healthy appetite, that's good." Made sense, too. He was a growing boy.

Whistling while she worked, she noticed that Curt seemed to be babbling to himself. That...was new. She glanced at him from time to time, trying to make out what he was saying and while the words were mostly unclear, some words stood out. Rude words. WELL THEN.

Making a mental note to record said words, the Slytherin shook her head and finished cleaning. Once done, she released Curt back into his home and watched him curiously. Bigger, babbling, and with a health appetite. Huh.

After playing with him for a bit, the fourth year said her goodbye and secured his cage. She'd be back soon, she would.

Considering the amount of OWL prep Olivia had undertaken, she'd almost missed the official owl from Professor Wayland detailing her creature assignment. There was simply a lot of parchment bits in her possession lately, and when she got letters or took random notes, they often found themselves stuffed down into her bag among the mess. One of these days, she'd take the time to get organized, but that day obviously wasn't happening anytime soon. Who bloody well had time? Certainly not her, taking into account all the future plans that were being made, as well as her dancing and therapy sessions. No. time.

Anyway, Liv didn't know the first thing about raising birds. Let her just put that out into the universe as a disclaimer. An ermine, yes. A ginger cat, yes....but a bir--...an augurey, no. Augureys weren't like normal birds, which made the task even more daunting. So, as one will do when they didn't know a blasted thing about....things, the Lion!lady had purchased a book! One specifically about augureys, since the blonde was utterly determined to raise smol creature right. They had plans, and everything would've been ruined had one not been able to adopt theirs. So, she was forced to step up her game. Not that Liv minded too much. It was a challenge and she was a Gryffindor. Those two things kinda went hand in hand, amright?

Dancing her way across the grounds, Olivia energetically popped into the creatures' nursery, a large bag dangling from her wrist (charmed to be feather-light, of course). She was eager to get started. To focus on the act of nurturing and caring for another living thing... to distract from the more unpleasant spaces of her own mind. Eh, it was just hard being her right now. HOWEVER....she had a cage to look for and absolutely no time at all for that other unsavory stuff. So, baby!Elphaba. Where aaaare you?

Aha! Phillips, Olivia. THAT WAS HER! "'Ello, my darling bird." Her tone was hush, hush, despite her own growing excitement. She wasn't teary or anything, but there was a tender fondness already taking hold, as she carefully slipped the bag off her wrist and set it down. "I won't disturb you too much today, but I just...wanted to meet you. Talk to you." Olivia was still whispering. "...and feed you. Are you hungry?" She honestly didn't know if Professor Wayland had been seeing to their initial care or if they were meant to hurry down here and take the reigns immediately, but Liv was prepared either way. Proven a few moments later when she'd dug her hands down into her bag, revealing a container filled with a mixture of insects and flies. No fairies, sorry baby!Elphaba. There were also some poop bags she'd purchased for Nessarose, but never used. Anyway, she didn't want to use magic and accidentally hurt her new baby. Planning ahead, you see.

As she carefully opened the small cage, the blonde grinned, slipping a gloved hand into one of the poop bags. This was less stressful, since it was basically just manual labor-type care. Chewing her lip, she slowly put her hand into the cage, beginning to collect the small spots of dung. Also, this was ideal for those gathering dung for potions use, come to think of it. She'd have to pass the idea along to Professor Canterbury later..."I've also named you Elphaba, and you don't know it yet, but you have a sister named Nessarose...and a brother named Octavius. We call him Gus, though. He prefers it, I think." As Olivia softly spoke, there was no fear of her augurey flying away, as it obviously wasn't old enough yet. Not with those tiny wisps of wing it had. They were like duckling wings.

Once the cage was moderately clean again, Liv extracted her hand and pulled the bag to, folding it in on the contents. Was augurey poop useful in potions....now that she was thinking about it? Not knowing, the Gryffindor sealed the bag, tucking it down into her bag before digging out a sack of cedar shavings. To help with the odor. This bird was hers and because of that, little Elphaba wouldn't be subjected to the nasty stenches, despite living in a barn. So, after sprinkling the shavings all around the bottom of the cage, she finally presented Elphaba with the food container. "I hope this is okay...I caught them all myself." And that wasn't a lie, though it hadn't been too terrible since bugs didn't gross her out. Olivia Lynn Phillips wasn't a normal girl. Thank the gods.

....What other things were there to do? Liv could.....read it a bedtime story. Or....some poetry?...With nothing else coming to mind for the day, the blonde collected everything and stored them back in her bag. "I'll return tomorrow to check on you again."

Bye, Elphie. 'Til tomorrow!

Curt’s words were clearer now, she’d noticed. The brunette had settled down and greeted the creature the way she always did, hand out so that he could come to her and she could run her fingers gently over his hair. He was becoming more affectionate with each encounter and it made Junia feel happy and accomplished. He did like her, she could tell, even with all the THINGS he was saying. Saying CLEARLY now, she might add. ”You know, you really shouldn’t talk like that.” But his only response was more rude words, ones that made her blush. She wondered if it was frustrating to only be able to respond to things with these swears, because it meant never really being able to have a conversation. Seemed like a waste of a perfectly good voice, if you asked the Slytherin.

Charming a small red ball she’d brought with her, one of Prince Charlie’s toys, she watched as Curt went after it. He was faster than expected, but pretty clumsy. Junia laughed and shook her head, amused. Then it was time to clean and feed the little-well, not so little guy. Easy work thanks to magic, of course.

”You know, I think I should make you an obstacle course,” The fourth year commented when she was finished, her expression thoughtful. Curt was getting bigger now, and he was eating more, so surely he had more energy. He was going to need an outlet for that. ”Would you like that?” Asking probably wasn’t necessary, since the jarvey’s response was an unkind one. She wasn’t taking it personally, though. He loved her, she was sure of it.

”I’ll work on that for next time, Curt. You be good while I’m gone. Eat your food.” A larger portion than last time, with a variety of meat. She was testing to see what he liked best, she was. Just another way to get to know him.

With an obstacle course in mind, the Botros girl made sure the cage was closed and then went on her way.

The letter she had received at breakfast did not have tear stains on it - they were simply droplets of her clumsily drinking her water. At least, that was a what Felicity was planning on telling anyone who asked her. What with the end of the school year drawing closer, she'd anxiously awaited the response from her dads, letting her know if they'd found somewhere for Floyd to stay over the holidays - living in an apartment in London was okay, she guessed, but it didn't exactly accommodate for a Winged Horse.

As someone might guess by the smudged writing, her father's response hadn't been the one she wanted, albeit the one she was expecting. Why hadn't they left Mayfair yet?! Right then, she was acting like the spoilt little only child she was: who cared if it was the perfect location for both of their jobs?!

Liss had stuffed the letter into her pocket along with an apple, but had forgotten to grab the sugar cubes that she knew Floyd loved, and upon realising that, felt a fresh wave of tears threaten to fall. Biting her lip and pushing her way through the barn towards the stalls holding the Winged Horses, Felicity stopped dead in front of the foal she'd been assigned what felt like years earlier, although it had merely been a few months. "Hey." Her voice was small and sad, and immediately the horse began nudging at the stall door with her nose. Flipping open the latch and stepping inside, the fourth year proceeded to do the jobs she'd done almost every morning that year: she raked and cleared away the hay before laying down some fresh; she emptied, cleaned and filled both the water and food troughs; and she took a brush to the horse's coat. It was only after doing all of this that she'd lead Floyd outside and sat down on the grass, still having only said one word.

"Sorry." Her voice was miserable as the horse nudged at her, wanting the apple she had in her pocket. Flick took it out and gave it to her, before sitting back and watching the foal play around, gleefully stretching it's wings and flying for short periods of time, seemingly oblivious to the lack of sugar cubes and accepting the smatterings of applause that the girl offered. Eventually, Flick clambered to her feet and headed towards Floyd, carefully rearranging the beautiful feathers on her wings. "I'm sorry for being rubbish company, today," she managed softly, although by now her tears were far gone and a smile crossed her face. "I just really, really don't want to have to leave you here over the holidays." She was speaking slowly, still making sure her wings were perfectly in order. "I wish I thought you were strong enough for me to ride you." By now Felicity had moved up to the horses head, speaking softly in her ear as she braided her mane. "We could fly away together, you and me. Spend all summer together. Maybe even head back to Ilvy next year...."

Tailing off as she finished the braid, Felicity began to lead the horse back inside. Of course, she was only half wanting to leave Hogwarts - after all, she'd grown to love her friends, especially the girls she shared a dorm with. And Britain wasn't really all that bad. But after her conversation with Maesi, she just couldn't shake the feeling of leaving. Shutting the stall door and making sure the latch was secure, she planted a big kiss on Floyd's nose. "I'll see you tomorrow, girl. I'll try not to cry again."

It'd been two months since that first visit, and Olivia had quickly come to rely on the small, ever-growing Elphie. Most days, all Liv did was come in and settle down outside of Elphie's cage; a storybook in her hands. She'd quickly acquainted the baby bird with the stories of Cinderella and her evil stepsisters and of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. With great enthusiasm, as well; character voices included. For the augurey's part, Elphie didn't seem to too much care for her impressive storytelling skills. Mostly, the bird just sat there atop its perch, peering out the cage's sides at her. There had been some feeble crying noises at one point, but Liv had decided to not take it as an insult. Apparently, that was simply it's singing voice...

Naturally, Elphie was fed well and often, the proof showing in just how quickly the bird was actually growing. It's color was more pronounced, the wispy feathers, less flyaway. "Your coloring is gorgeous, my little love." The greenish-black reminded her of Slytherin house and for whatever reason, this pleased her greatly.... Well, perhaps the reason wasn't too much of a mystery. Her favorite person could be found there. Sigh. "Did you know that your name basically means 'an omen'" Olivia frowned at the beautiful creature as she added more flies to its food tray. "You know, I really could've used your help back in August. Your human made a terrible mistake." What an understatement.

Sigh.

"No escape attempts while I change your cedar shavings, okay?" It was hard to tell if Elphie's wings were growing in yet...but she'd known muggle birds to attempt flight at a few weeks. Who knew what a magical bird would be capable of? So carefully putting on a glove, Liv slipped her hand in, humming to keep the bird's attention focused on her face. And not on the hand invading its home. And yes, she was 100% humming Sing, Sweet Nightingale from the classic Disney film, Cinderella. Eh, it was pretty, and made Liv feel less broken, given....that things were ruined. As if things had ever not been broken. Laughable, but the blonde was refusing to breathe any life back into that situation. It had already taken everything she'd had.

"Do you require anything else, m'lady?" Olivia asked quietly, latching the cage closed. When Elphie did nothing but stared at her in response, the Gryffindor sighed. "I'll take that as a no, then." Repacking her books and containers, she left the creatures' nursery; her heart too heavy to linger.

The way Junia figured it, a jarvey would most enjoy exploring somewhere dark. They lived in dark, small spaces, after all. She was a bit worried that given the increase in Curt’s size, he might not be able to squeeze into the cardboard tubes she’d gathered, but she could always use magic to make them bigger if he got stuck. That thought reassured her as she returned to the barn and took a seat by Curt’s little home, setting down the tubes for the moment.

”Hello Curt, I brought you something today. “ You know, aside from the food she always brought. Speaking of, it seemed that moles were the jarvey’s favorite food. The evidence was clear. Moles, then voles, then rats. She couldn’t really blame him as far as those preferences went, rats sounded like the least appetizing of the bunch to her, too.

Curious as ever, Curt scurried towards the door of his cage and into the light, blinking at her as he greeted her with a whole string of unkind words. She couldn’t help but smile, getting used to this type of language by now. She wasn’t sure her mother would approve, but it made this whole process a lot easier on the ears. ”Yes, yes, it’s good to see you, too.“ She placed a hand in front of him and let him nuzzle up against it, noting how warm he was. Noting how much more mature he looked. Had that much time passed already? He seemed so grown-up. ” Why don’t you eat a bit while I clean up and make your obstacle course.“ She smiled a little and presented him with food and water, noting how quick he was to go for it. He was so eager, in fact, that he tripped over his legs to get to his bowl. ” Careful now.“ Merlin.

She didn’t love to clean up messes that weren’t hers, had always gone out of her way to get out of doing so, but she actually liked that she was able to provide a nice home for Curt. That he seemed happy with the way she kept up his residence. It was a source of weird pride that she couldn’t quite understand. Did her mom feel this way? She’d need to remember to ask sometime. For now she completed the task of cleaning up the waste and replacing the bedding of the cage. Making sure that the temperature was right for him, and that the lighting was. When she was satisfied, she began setting up the tubes, using magic to stick them together and cut holes where she wanted Curt to have openings to crawl through. In the end, she had herself quite an impressive display, one Curt had begun to explore even before she was completely finished. Apparently he liked it, too.

He was smart, Curt was. Junia was amazed by how quickly he was able to get in and out of the maze of tubes. She was also amazed at the way he was able to fit into tight spaces. It was impressive. He was quite smart. She congratulated him with a snack and a promise to make the course more complicated next time. She was looking forward to it, actually.

After giving him a brush and deciding that on her next visit, she’d be giving Curt a bath, the fourth year closed his cage and said goodbye. She had notes to take, after all.