"You did? That's great!" Celandine grinned up at him before turning back to the foals as Cassiopeia nuzzled her and Tiberius- who clearly didn't like being left out- headbutted her. Cela picked up a butterbeer bottle and solemnly held it out to Copernicus to open for her.

"Yes... I... did Plymouth tell me what?" Celandine paused, confused. She opened her bag and pulled out a leather journal, bound closed with a blue ribbon. "Its nothing special or anything, I just thought it would be nice to record everything about the foals and their development in a special book..." Cela trailed off and quickly shoved the unwrapped gift at Copernicus, "There are instructions inside about how to emboss whatever you like on the cover."

Celandine stroked Cassiopeia, checking her wings and not looking at Copernicus at all.

He gave up looking for his quill to open her bottle of butterbeer and accept the leather journal. A gift? From... a girl? It was so completely foreign to him, although it would do him well to think of Cela as something other than a girl because she was easy to be with and because she was Plymouth's girlfriend. Copernicus put the journal into his bag. "Thank you for that. It was thoughtful of you." And of course it wasn't because of his birthday... Plymouth didn't know when his birthday was.

"I'll go ahead and fill the buckets," he knew he was starting to do that turning red thing he did so well, and Copernicus hurried himself with the buckets. "Do... er... do you think Abraxans eat jelly slugs?"

Celandine took the butterbeer back and emptied it into a feeding bottle. "It's okay. I was just thinking of you at the time and I saw it and... well... it's okay." Cela finished quietly, holding out the feeding bottle with a tight grip as Cassiopeia suckled happily on it. "Feeding buckets. Yeah good idea." Cela nodded, focusing all her attention on her abraxan foal.

"Jelly slugs?" Cela repeated, looking up and peeking at Copernicus from beneath the wave of her hair as it had fallen in her face, "I... don't think so." She hazarded, giving Cassiopeia a gentle rub. "We should... take them out into the pen for some exercise while we make the mixes."

"No, of course not," Copernicus laughed, and it sounded false to his own ears. Stop buying gifts for Plymouth's girlfriend! "Well, since I have these jelly slugs, maybe you'd like them instead?" He nodded to the sack sitting on top of his bag. He set up a row of buckets along the far wall before turning back to Cela.

"Do you want to take them out together, or shall I stay here and work on the mixes by myself?" It wasn't that he was incapable of working by himself, it was just that he enjoyed her company.

Celandine nodded and smiled brightly before pausing thoughtfully, "Cope? How come you always have lots of candy but you never eat any?" She cocked her head sideways but didn't wait for an answer. She went over to his bag and picked up the jelly slugs, immediately eating one and savouring it.

"Together!" Celandine whirled around and stared at Copernicus, "I mean... we should... work on the mixes together so... we both know what is happening with it and... because two heads are better than one!" Celandine quickly found words to justify her unintentionally emphatic outburst.

"And I don't know if I could handle both of them at once, they are getting more and more boisterous all the time." Celandine added, pleased with her logic but not so much with the urge to spend as much time with Copernicus as possible. "I'm going to quickly measure the foals though..." Cela used a measuring tape and began to measure Cassiopeia and Tiberius, making notes as she went.

Twilight was so happy that it was late Friday afternoon, this meant she had the whole weekend to spend in the nursery when she wasn't doing homework or walking in the garden with Eveningstar.

She quickly walked to her cage and there was Dusk sitting in his nest looking towards the door where she came in from. She opened the cage and greeted her little friend with much love and kisses when he had waddled onto her hand.

They sat down on the floor and this time Dusk got curious about her bag waddled over to it and peeked inside. In an instant he was inside her bag. Twilight got worried then and quickly peered in her bag since she was worried that Dusk would hurt himself. That is when Twilight found the lock in there. He quickly got Dusk out of her bag, so he wouldn't get hurt and then took out the lock and practiced with the Alohomora charm locking the lock three times.

Then she returned to Dusk and they played the pocket game again. It was Dusk's favorite game and he would play it endlessly. Today though he tired out right after two times, which actually got her worried. 'Had she been later than usual' she wondered.

She then checked hi food, water and milk but everything seemed alright. She got out the mealyworm he loved so much and smooshed it up, Dusk barely ate any. Now she was really worried. She then cuddled with Dusk more and watched him as he fell asleep right away and he didn't even wake back up when she put him back in his cage.

She closed his cage and then made noted in his journal. She couldn't figure this out he didn't look different, he wasn't skinnier or anything. She was really worried. She quietly got up and headed to the office.

Elizabeth ran down to the nursery, after several days away because of classes and everything else, wondering what she was going to find inside this time. After the whole unlatching incident of the last time she had visited Macavity. And she needed to take notes on how he'd grown and everything for her journal.

As she slipped down between the cages to the area where the kneazles were, she struggled not to laugh. She clearly could see the latches to all the cages open, with a lot of confused kneazles. Except for Macavity, who was curled up in a ball in his own cage, asleep. "Not falling for that one," she said to the little orange furball. "I really don't think all of them randomly figured out your trick on their own. So you can drop the innocent act."

Macavity uncurled himself, stretching, before walking calmly over to the door to his cage and looking at her like he was asking to get out. Laughing, Elizabeth reached in and picked him up. Setting him on the ground, she pulled out a measuring tape and wrote down his current length, as well as some visual things she could tell had changed. Like, it seemed that his fur had darkened a little, to a slightly more red-orange tint. Shrugging, she continued, figuring out his weight, before picking him up again. "You want some playtime first, or just food?," she asked the feline, who glanced at the door leading out to the pen.

"Okay," Elizabeth said, laughing a little again. "No playing with the gate or anything, though." She headed for the door, going out to the pen and latching the gate before setting Macavity on the ground to run around. Leaning against the gate, she watched him for like ten minutes or so, before she realized she should probably head back into the castle. Gathering her kneazle up, she headed back in to set him in his cage, before filling his food bowl with some more food she had taken from Bella, and checking his water. Once everything seemed good, she latched the cage. "You try to stay out of trouble," she told the kneazle, highly doubting he'd listen, then went around latching all the other doors before heading back out.

Once Pegasus was nice and clean, fully dryed off and being quite patient to Savannah's slight amazement, the hufflepuff was sure he must be getting tired; Baby creatures slept alot more than full grown ones, and putting up a fuss with bathtime plus when she had come to play with him earlier, she wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't naped. "Try not to fall asleep, pretty please, Pegasus. I think I have better chances growing wings myself, then carrying you back to your stall." She said softly, fidgetting with a clear jar between her hands where she sat in the grass beside the baby Abraxan. From her angle, he looked even bigger now. Never would she have dared sit so comfortably beside a full grown one, unless there was several people reassuring her the magnificent, powerful horse was extremely well trained. This didn't mean Pegasus couldn't harm a fly, but he surely couldn't squish her and she wasn't even the slightest bit worried. If the little guy was thinking of suddenly sitting ontop of her, she would have noticed some kind of sign, right?

"Aha!" Twisting the lid off, Savannah hopped to her feet and checked the bucket of untouched water, just to make sure. Peering down at the bright, lime green cream she stuck her free hand in and took a handful. Then, setting down the jar beside the other supplies she had layed in a pile to be put away before she left, Vannah grabbed more of the goop with her other hand, stroking Pegasus' side gently with her arm as not to get any of the cream anywhere than where it was suppose to go. "I think you'll enjoy this part," She told him, matter-of-factly, before applying the cool, thick texture where the wings connected to his body on either side. Something She hadn't realized but minutes ago, Pegasus' head still didn't reach level with hers, which luckily meant she could massage both wings at once, being that she could reach both from one side.

To him, it would be like a relaxing massage, that hopefully wouldn't cause him to drift of into dreamland because she wasn't kidding about the growing wings thing. But it was also more than that, the wing joint of a horse always attracts alot of dirt. Not to mention, they did tend to get stiff. The cream did the trick, cleansing as it was gently rubbed in and loosened the muscles. This was especially important for a baby Abraxan like Pegasus, Savannah thought. He hadn't learned to fly, and didn't use those muscles, which meant they probably had been stiff.

The hufflepuff couldn't help but giggle, watching the soothing, gentle motion of Pegasus' wings moving up and down the tiniest bit from his sides. The abraxan turned his head to look at her when she stepped away, finished with the massaging of the wing joints. He stared expectingly at her while she washed her hands, covered in the cream. "You look more tired than I feel," Noted the seventh year, drying her green-free hands with a simple heat charm, and made the water vanish. Sure she put the lid back on the jar tight, Savannah grabbed the bucket handle in one hand, also using it to swing her messenger bag's strap over her head while keeping the wing joint cream tugged under her right arm.

"Alright my sweet little fella, it's time to get you back inside." Vannah said, rummaging inside her bag for more red grapes to offer her companion as a reward. Adding "You were such a good boy," as she walked him back inside the stable, leading the way to his stall. She managed, easily, to put the supplies away before returning Pegasus to his stall. As soon as she opened the door for him, he went inside and layed himself down in the hay, watching his care-taker bend down beside him. Vannah smiled, stroking his head a moment, before deciding she really needed to leave to finish more homework assignments before bed. Sighing, she bid the child-like creature farewell, "I'll see you tomorrow, sleep well." for now, and closed the stall door behind her; quickly leaving the stable behind on her way through the nursery, to get back out onto the main grounds and up to the castle.

"Could you give me a copy of your measurements for my journal, please?" Copernicus peered over her shoulder to watch what she was doing before he made his way back over the stall wall to retrieve a shovel. Might as well man up and take care of some of the more unpleasant tasks that went along with taking care of a Magical Creature, and if he didn't... Cela would.

Speaking of ridiculous things he did for the diminutive third year, Copernicus wasn't sure how to answer the question of the candy. He hoped she'd forget, but he doubted that. Instead, he set about mucking out the stall, sending the refuse to the far corner. He banished it with a flick of his wand and came back to crouch near Cela.

"I'm ready to go out when you are," he reached under her arm and stole a jelly slug with grin.

Abby walks into the nursery. It's been two days since she been able to come down. She imagines Marmalade is probably mad at her. Marmalade doesn't like a dirty stall. Abby makes her way to where the Abraxan are stabled. She see two people tending to the other abraxans. "Hello". Marmalade hears Abby's voice and sticks her head out of the stable. Abby walks over and pats her on the head. "I've missed you too. I brought you a treat." She digs in her pocket and comes up with a sugar cube. Marmalade smells it and the wolfs it down. "I knew you'd like it."

Daphne rushed into the warmth of the nursery. Outside it was raining and cold, conditions the Ravenclaw found unpleasant. In what was becoming a routine, she set her things down on a table and walked to a shelf stocked with cages. She located her critter, the puffskein, Honey. Over the course of the semester, the little thing had easily tripled in size.

"Oh! I see you're enjoying your food," she said, removing the empty food dish. She worried that she didn't give the pet enough the first time, so now she filled it up, little pellets spilling over the edge.

The puffskein scratched against the plastic sides of the container, indicating it wanted out. "Only for a bit," she told it, scooping it up. The animal now fit snugly in the palm of her hand. "You've gotten so big," she said in a baby voice. Honey was a lot lazier than she had been in the past few weeks. It was either due to her larger size or the colder weather. Nevertheless, it seemed thrilled to just sit in the sixth year's hand. Daphne gave it a pat with her index finger and put it back. She had work to do.

She waved good bye and headed back out to the cold November air.

Traipsing into the nursery, Terry shivered for a couple seconds by the doorway, before trudging to his assigned cage, clutching his cloak to himself tighter. BRRRR. It was freezing!

Peeking in through the thin bars, his heart sank at the sight of the mournful little creature huddled in the far corner. 'BENJI,' he hissed, sticking his hand into his pockets to draw out a flimsy name plate with 'Benjamin' scrawled boldly across it in caps. Slipping some loose thread through one of the bars, Terry beamed at the little name plate hanging down.

...now to actually get the creature out of his depression long enough to work with him. Mebbe some food might help? Rustling a plastic bag around, he beamed as the augurey lifted his head to stare at him balefully, before flapping across over to him. ...SUCCESS.

'Now, I've picked out all your favourite little titbits Benji,' the boy murmured consolingly, all the while as he opened the small gate and overturned his plastic bag, letting a cascade of flies and other nummeh insects flow out. As the augurey instantly made a beeline for his food, Terry quickly conjured up a measuring tape, scribbling down quick notes on his basic weight, height, feather conditions and the works. He had such beautiful coloured feathers. It was a shame though about their lack-lustre. Surely he could find some way to get them all pretty and glossy? Yesh, he'd do some background research for next time.

Woot, now perhaps to work on actually befriending the creature? Clucking softly, he held out a hand only to watch in dismay as the poor bird cried out in alarm before flapping back into its cage, and burrowing itself in its nest.

DAMN. And he'd thought he'd been making leeway here. Hokai, he'd leave now, but next time, he intended to help Benji be able to interact with him without alarm. Upending several more treats by the gate, Terry looked the bars securely, testing them one final time before waving at the augurey.

Here was to success for next time, right?

Constantine pushed open the door to the Nursery; he was SURE to get some shut eye here. What with all the sounds of nothing but animals. Oh, such a joyous sound to one's ears and pounding head. He would never be able to get any sleep in his hut, not with people knocking on his door every five minutes or so.

He waited until Roma had walked in too, and then shut the door carefully and quietly. He then sneaked to an area somewhere near the back corner and gratefully laid down on the floor. He curled up into a bit of a ball, trying not to think about his pounding head. Roma laid down close to him and watched the surroundings, occasionally licking Constantine's forehead whenever he moved or twitched.

"Of course!" Celandine agreed cheerfully, holding Tiberius still with one hand and measuring his wingspan with the other while Cassiopeia headbutted her shoulder until Celandine was knocked sideways, giggling. She got back onto her knees and continued with the measurements, stopping to record them as she went. Once she was done, she used her wand and dupilcated the measurements onto a spare sheet of parchment. Cela twisted her hair into a bun with her wand to hold it in place and re-read the notes.

Cela let out a little shriek as she suddenly grew another ar... oh it was Copernicus. She turned and looked up at him as he spoke and nodded, "I'm done!"

Cela stood and put her notes away before standing in front of Copernicus, holding her hand out and extending the copied notes to him.

"Great," he looked up at her from his crouched position and reached out for the papers. "I've noticed that Tiberius does that headbutting thing quite often. I don't think it's considered normal, which means it might be learned behavior and we should try to break him of it before he gets too big and ends up trampling someone." Copernicus's fingers brushed her hand as he took the papers before tucking them into his bag.

Bouncing to his feet, Copernicus slung his bag over his shoulder and reached into the sack for another bottle of butterbeer. "Come on, Tiberius. We're going for a walk."

"Right." Cela nodded in agreement, "And now Cassiopeia seems to be picking up the habit." Celandine sucked in her breath suddenly and stared at her hand as if it were an alien thing, based on the odd tingles it suddenly gave off after Copernicus brushed against her skin. What was that about?

She looked askance between her tingly hand and Copernicus as he put his things away and unwittingly stepped backward as he bounced to his feet. Seeing him get a butterbeer for Tiberius, Cela picked up the still part-full feeding bottle, stroking Cassiopeia gently before opening the stall gate and leading her through the gate into the outside exercise pen.

She let the foal drink for a bit before taking off to the other side of the pen, holding the bottle out to encourage the little foal to chase after her.

"Well!" Copernicus chuckled under his breath when Tiberius ignored his own bottle and went after Cela and Cassiopea's bottle. That was... a pushy little pony he had. He strolled out of the stall and fell into step next to Cela. "Do we need to take any more measurements today, or can we start working on our research?" He felt awfully bouncy today. He could feel it in his step.

Kayla walked down to the nursery carrying a small bag filled with lizards and a couple of small birds. She made her way to Marco's cage and opened the door. "Hello Marco" she murmured as she held out her hand to him and chuckled as he scampered up her arm and proceeded to sit on her shoulder. "I have some yummy treats for you." She opened the bag and held it out for Marco.

The little Clabbert dived in a and pulled out a couple of lizards and started to munch on them. Kayla took Marco, off her shoulder and put him down on the ground, no point in her getting messy. She placed the bag inside the cage and watched as Marco, fed on the lizards. She was rather thankful that she hadn't brought Webster down with her otherwise Marco, would no doubt have tried to eat him as well.

When he had finished Kayla picked him up and placed him back onto her shoulder. "How about we go and find a tree for you to climb?" she gave the Clabbert a few strokes with her hand and then walked out into the grounds. She found a nice tree that had lots of branches for Marco, to climb and swing on and she placed him onto the ground by the trunk and watched as he scampered up the tree. Kayla, stood watching Marco for a good hour swing from branch to branch catching some insects along the way. When he looked as though he was getting tired and Kayla was really starting to feel the cold, she called him back down and carried him back to his cage.

She placed a pillow and a blanket inside the cage to keep Marco, warm during the night and made sure that he had enough food and water to keep him happy for the next couple of days before she came back to visit again. "See you soon Marco" Kayla gave him a little wave before she headed back to the castle.

Cela let out a little squeal as both of the abraxans went for the bottle, she held it above her head and looked between them and Copernicus, relaxing a little as he caught up. "Measurements are done." Celandine told him, "I vote... we... alternate... exercising... them... and taking care of the... mash!" Cela twisted and turned, dodging the abraxan foals and encouraging them to stretch and move by holding out the bottle. She was glowing and obviously enjoying herself, "That way... we can.... both stay... out here... together!"

Abby watches the other two leave with their abraxans. "Not very friendly are they? Must be a Ravenclaw thing. Lady Ravenclaw isn't very friendly either." Abby also watches the man with the dog he must be the groundskeeper. The one who sent me an owl about watching the stars in his dog's pen. He and his dog find a nice spot in the corner and lie down for a rest. Abby goes the the tack room and finds a clean blanket. She quietly walks over and covers the man up. "You be quiet please. I promise not to bother your master," Abby whispers and smiles. She walks back over to Marmalade's stall. Abby feeds her another piece of sugar. "I've missed you too. I thought you and I might go for a walk around the grounds," Abby whispers. "Let's see, I'll have to find a halter and a lead. I don't want you to run away from me." Abby rubs Marmalade's head. "Be right back." She goes to the tack room.

"And which shift do you want to take first?" He pulled himself up on the fence post and watched her dancing around with the bottle with Abraxans on her heels. He rested his elbows on his knees. "I think you've got this under control... unless they both rush you at once. Perhaps I should run with them for a while to tucker them out?"

"I don't mind!" Celandine called over her shoulder, "Besides, I have had more sugar than what you have and have bundles of energy..." Cela twirled on the spot and darted in another direction, the two Abraxans almost colliding with each other as they tried to follow, "... to spare!" she put another jelly slug in her mouth to illustrate the point before turning most of her attention to the foals, "Come on! Over here! Ooops! You can't catch me!" Celandine giggled as they attempted to do just that.

Copernicus shrugged, although her antics made him grin. "Your call, Cela. I'll run inside and start filling the buckets." He watched the foals race after each other and after Cela for a few moments before hurrying back into the nursery to work on their research. It was noisy and frantic back in the nursery, but Copernicus had grown used to all the activity.

In the stall, he efficiently unpacked his bag and Cela's. Cela had the usual books and quills and such, as well as what seemed to be quite a few notes. Written by her or for her? He was too polite to read them, and instead continued to pull out the mash that she'd told him was there. Carefully, he filled the buckets.

Celandine had underestimated the two Abraxans. They split up; one heading for each side of her. The three way collision left Cela in a heap of giggles and the two foals battling for the feeding bottle. Cela sat up, unaware of the smudges of dirt on her nose and cheek. She grabbed the feeding bottle and scolded Tiberius and Cassiopeia good naturedly. Standing up again, Cela couldn't help but peer over her shoulder towards the stables, popping a jelly slug in her mouth and sucking on it while the foals frolicked about her feet.

As soon as the buckets were filled, Copernicus headed back outside. It appeared he'd been gone too long, as the Abraxans were nudging each other like naughty children and Cela was completely filthy. He bit back a grin as he approached. "Erm... I finished with the buckets and we're set for the test. Did you... fall?"