Constantine looked at the girl with a slightly scared expression as she walked away. "Yes," he agreed, nodding his head a little, "we...we need to go somewhere...somewhere where the adults can't find us."

It was a lot less fun to do this without his little partner in crime, but the smile was back on Copernicus's face as soon as he peeked into the stall and spotted Tiberius and Cassiopea. They were curled up together in the hay and seemed to be nickering quietly in conversation. Except Abraxans didn't communicate like that, but it sure didn't hurt to imagine it. He climbed over the gate and fell to the floor by the foals.

At the site of him, Tiberius struggled to his feet and came over to butt him playfully. "Hey, buddy," Cope stroked the soft skin of Tiberius's nose and made nickering noises in return. He had to give his attention to Cassiopea, who came over for some attention as well. "I guess I'll feed you both."

He filled the bucket with the barley mash and butterbeer mixture and set it down in front of Tiberius. "Hold on, little girl," he pulled Cassiopea gently away and filled her a bucket with a barley and corn mash mixture instead. The two foals munched greedily at their buckets, although Tiberius seemed to get full rather fast... or else he got bored. Copernicus would have to try a stronger mash next time. And... give Tiberius a bath.

Once the foals were done eating, Copernicus packed up the supplies. It was nice to spend time quietly with the foals, and he was sorry to leave. Next time would have more playing too.

Abby hurries back to Marmalades stall. She doesn't have a lot of time to get it mucked out. Abby walks over to the empty stall and sees Professor Morgan talking with the grounds keeper. She smiles at them and gets the wheel barrow. "Is it okay if I take the horse manure over by the student's garden? I should have consulted with you first sir." Abby hates she doesn't know the man's name, but she hasn't had many dealings with the grounds keeper. I don't really know if you practice organic farming or not."

Qaz entered the Nursery building and went straight for her baby. ‘How’s my handsome fella? You certainly are growing up fast.’ She said to the ball of fur. ‘How about I do my first sketch of you sleeping….you just keep still.’

Qaz pulled her sketchpad and pencil from her bag and began to sketch. His fur was getting noticeably darker.

After she finished the sketch, she opened the cage door, put her and in and began stroking him very gently. Soon, the ball of fur moved, stretching a bit and looking around. ‘Hello, sleepyhead. How are you, today?'


There she is again...that strange person who brings the yummy. I do hope that she brought some today.

Qaz noticed that for the first time, he seemed to be looking at her...as if he recognized her. 'Yes, you know me, don't you? I wonder how much you do recognize? My voice? My face? Too bad I don't speak Jarvish, huh?'

Qaz picked up her baby. 'How about a little walk?' She carried him around the building, showing him all of the other critters. She was surprised at how calm he remained as they wandered around.

After a while, she sat down on a bench. 'I'd set you down, but I'm afraid that you'd run away. I'll have to dream up some kind of playpen for us. In the meantime, I brought some more of that tasty yoghurt that you like so much, so how about we get you back in your cage and give you a bit..' After Chaos had licked the yoghurt off her finger, she returned him to his cage and left.

It had been a while since Nathaniel had been down to the nursery. Since he'd fought with Freya he'd been really really depressed. Mostly he just sat up in the dorm and read. It's not like he had lots of friends anyway. Mariel and Freya were like the only two. What a loser he was at Hogwarts. Totally different than back home in the Muggle World.It started to rain as he walked into the nursery. It was cold but obviously not that cold to freeze the rain yet. It'd get there though. Tomorrow it would probably be snowing. He sighed to himself as he walked into the nursery. Nathaniel took his beanie off and shoved it into his back pocket. He walked all the way to the back to Aimirgin's cage.

He opened the cage to see that Aimirgin had gotten way bigger. "Well I guess that I can't call you little dude anymore" he said with as he chuckled. "I know Professor Morgan has been taking care of you but I feel bad for not coming down here. I've been depressed." as the bird looked at him. "Well, what do you think about a clean cage?" he asked. Nathaniel grabbed a garbage bin and took his jacket off so he didn't get it all nasty. He cleaned the right side of the cage while Aimirgin was sitting in his nest on the left. After that side was clean he gently moved the nest to the right side and started to clean the left side. He heard the bird cry out and knew that it was because of the rain. "It's about time buddy. After I'm done cleaning I'll take you out into the pen and you can fly around in there okay?" he said to him and the bird nodded. Wait,what. Nathaniel had to be going wonky. Aimirgin couldn't have just understood him.. could he? Nathaniel shrugged and finished cleaning up. "Okay want to go outside now?" he asked the bird as he took his robes off so he was in just his thermal,tshirt and jeans. He didn't want his robes getting soaked and weighing him down. He put his arm in the cage and waited for Aimirgin to hop on. It took a few minutes but he eventually did it.

Nathaniel walked out into the rain and had a good grip on Aimirgin so he'd not fly off into the rain. He opened the gate to the pen and walked in. He closed and locked it behind him. He then let go of Aimirgin "Go on, have a good fly. I'll wait in the rain. I like the rain. A LOT.". It started raining heavier and Nathaniel could see that Aimirgin was happy. Nathaniel leaned against a post that was holding the pen up and watched the bird. He walked around and then took flight. It was one of the most beautiful things he'd seen in a while. He smiled to himself and took notes in his head to write down later.


After being in the rain for what seemed like hours Nathaniel thought it was time to go back to the castle. He whistled to see if Aimirgin would answer and nothing happened. Go figure. He did it a few times and called Aimirgin's name. After a few times the bird came. "Alright Aimirgin. Did you have fun?" he asked and the bird clicked his beak together. Interesting. Making sure he had a good grip on Aimirgin, Nathaniel headed out of the pen and into the nursery. He made sure everything was good in Aimirgin's cage before putting him in there. "I collected some bugs and stuff on the way down and a few days ago. Thought you'd like them" he said to Aimirgin as he set him in the cage. "I've got to go now. I'm soaked and need to change! I will be back though. I promise." he said closing the door and locking it. He collected his things and shoved his jacket into his backpack.

He walked out of the nursery and headed towards the castle. Nothing else for him to do since he had no friends.

Jude felt terrible. He hadn't seen Aubrey in quite a few days now, for more than his morning visits of feeding her. He hadn't had time to give her the love and attention necessary.

But, today, he would. So after all his lessons were done, and he had finally gone down to see her, she seemed more eager than ever to get the love and attention she'd been craving. It seemed that she was already starting to learn to fly, or at least trying, so Jude had to be more careful during each visit when he took her out for walks and things.

"Oi dun' want ya ge'in aweh from meh now..." he constantly told her, hoping she understood. Usually it was fine, she'd hope and flutter for a few feet and then give up and just run around chasing bugs.

Usually, that was, until today. Today was different, and he didn't even know it yet. Jude went down, opened up her cage and she eagerly crawled out onto his hand. He pet her as they went outside, her crawling up his arm the whole way. She was getting so much bigger now, he noticed, about 3 times the size she had been when he first got her. Jude smiled and twitched his shoulder, trying to get her to crawl into his hand he held up. She squawked a little noise and then opened her wings and flapped them as she lost her balance.

Jude's little eyes went wide as Aubrey fell from his shoulder, fluttering and trying to fly. He foresaw only chaos coming, and gasped, holding his breath. Aubrey squawked again and fluttered her wings harder, and actually managed to fly her way to the ground. Jude ran over to make sure she was okay, and she was staring and strutting around happily, he could tell she was happy with herself.

For about another 30 minutes, Jude and Aubrey practiced her flying skills from a much shorter height, Jude smiling the entire time, before he had to return to the Dorm to do his homework.

Putting her back into the cage, Jude spoke his final words of the day to her: "Aubreh Oi'm so proud of yeh! Yeh flew, t'day!!!" he told her, gave her her final dinner, and fled.

Mackenzie headed down to visit Rosey. She couldn't believe she had already had her Streeler for such a long time. When she got to Rosey's pen, she marveled in how big she had gotten.

"Wow Rosey. You're growing up so fast." Mackenzie giggled and went to go get some Streeler food. She came back and put it down. Rosey went over to it as fast as she could and started to eat. "Wow, you sure were hungry."

Mackenzie then went on to clean the pen. Seeing as Rosey was done eating, Mackenzie went to go get some supplies to clean her. When she was done she sat down with her journal and began to write. She went to go get some more food to leave through the night.

Mackenzie then said goodbye to her Streeler and promised to be back in the morning. She then headed up to the castle to prepare to relax.

Via opened the door of the Magical creatures nursery. She happily hummed a song as she made her way towards Cid's place. Upon seeing her lovely pet, "Cid," she said and carried him again. She was getting fond of him as if she had him even before. Cid was growing everytime she goes back in the nursery. "I just hope you wouldn't bigger than me," she joked. Imps are only six to seven inches. "You don't look like a pixie... but more of a fairy."

As Via spent long time inside, she had fed Cid with some soft food that could be easily munched. "You see how messy you are after eating," she told him as she watched him wipe some of the food residue on her clothes. She brought out a clean towel and started to clean Cid by wiping her softly.

Cid had started to play with Via's hair and he was pulling it. Via laughed, "Aw... Ouch..." she was just acting. She wasn't hurt. Via brought out a sketch pad after cleaning him and started to sketch Cid. "You look at this one, that's you," she said as she cuddled the baby imp on top of the pad.

She started packing her things for it was again time to leave. "Professor Morgan won't starve you," she told him as she stroked him softly on the head. Cid's tiny hands caressed Via's cheeks and that made her want to stay more. "No.. i have to leave now." And so Via left the nursery.

Twilight glanced at her professor and the Groundskeeper and just smiled at them both. She had heard rumors that after visiting the mirror they said was the Eriseed mirror in that room both some students and staff were acting strange. She knew enough from Grandfather to not go to see the mirror because of the dangers involved, at least not until she knew her charms and spells better.

So she returned her attention to Dusk, who looked at her. She then picked him up and hugged and kissed him. She put some smooshed mealyworm in his cage for a late night snack and placed Dusk back in his nest. She made her note in her journal and then gathered her things together. t the last moment she noticed her lock still hanging on the cage.

"Alohomora!" she said and grabbed the lock after it unlocked itself and put it back in her bag. She got up to leave and she had to get to class.

Celandine skipped to through the nursery to the stables, humming happily to herself. She leaned over the stall gate and greeted the two abraxans cheerfully, offering one hand for each of them and rubbing their eager noses energetically.

"You two look like you need some attention." Cela pushed off the gate and went over to the cupboard. She took out everything she'd need to give the foals (cos she wasn't going to tend to Cassiopeia and ignore Tiberius) a good brush.

She climbed into the stall and took care of Cassiopeia first; putting elbow grease into it but still finding it relaxing even if it was hard work to get the foal's coat and wings nice. Once she was done with her foal, Cela led her to feed from her mash and butterbeer mix before heading back to Tiberius and giving him a good brush too.

Cela fed Tiberius his special mix, made a few notes about increasing the concentration and led the flying horses back to their stall before putting the brushes away and skipping back to the castle.

Nathaniel had never said that he didn't want to go to the nursery with Mariel.She just never asked. He had gotten there before her. Taking short cuts and running the whole way. Out of breath he made it to the back cage to see his creature. "Hey guy. Mariel should be here.. you don't know her yet buuut I'm sure you will soon enough.". He waited on Mariel. He wasn't gonna try to scare her here. He didn't want to upset the creatures. "Would you like to go out in the snow today?" he asked the beautiful bird. "I have to draw you again now that you've gotten bigger" he said opening sitting down and opening the cage.

Mariel walked the distance from the lake to the Magical Creatures nursery, pulling her scarf up around her mouth and nose to shield them from the bitter cold. She had seen someone running and darting around trees on her way there, but didn't think all that much about it. There were a lot of strange people roaming around Hogwarts.

Making her way inside, she was thankful for the warmth of the interior and pulled the scarf off from around her face. Emerald green eyes darted around at the cages until they landed on the one occupied by her Jarvey, Felix. She closed the gap between her and her animal and knelt down in front of the cage. "'Ello, Felix," she greeted him softly with a warm smile. The tiny creature perked up his ears and lifted his head, locking eyes with his caregiver. "So... hungry?" she asked, now that she had his attention. Mariel tilted her head as she took in Felix's appearance. Definitely bigger than last time. She would have to sketch him today, before he got much bigger so she could capture this time in his development.

He also needed new bedding, she observed, peering through the cage. So, new bedding first, then food, then sketching. "I'll be right back," she said with a sigh as she stood. Walking towards the back of the room to get some fresh bedding, she stopped as she saw Nathaniel in front of his augurey's cage. Giving him a bemused look, she said, "How did you get here already?"

Nathaniel was petting Aimirgin when Mariel finally showed up. "I'm fast. Obviously" he said with a grin. "Oh,and this is Aimirgin" he said moving aside and letting her see the bird. "He's really shy but he's nice. I think that I'm going to take him out to the pen and let him see the snow and what not. I think he'd like it." Nate said getting the jar that contained the insects he collected for the bird out of his bag. "Want some of these Aimirgin?" he asked starting to screw the top off.

Rachel walked into the nursery, scolding herself for not coming to visit Blinkster sooner. Shivering as she entered the building, she hung up her coat, scarf and bag and felt her face begin to thaw as she walked over to her baby Knarl, amazed at how big he's grown. "Hey there, Blinky!" she said in a soft voice, picking it up right out of the cage and holding it in her arms. "You're huge! How did you manage to grow so much in such a short time?" she asked him lovingly as she stroked him. He cuddled up a little closer to her and it made her giggle slightly as he buried his tiny face in the crack between her upper and lower arm.
Looking back up at the cage, she felt slightly embarrassed as she saw how untidy and dirty it was. Putting the Knarl down on the bench, she emptied the cage's contents and cast a few cleaning charms on it until it looked brand new. Now for the smell... Looking around for some soap, her eyes drifted over to the bench. Oh NO!
"Blinky? Blinker? Where are you?" she called out as she dropped to the ground to look for her missing baby. This is just bloody fantastic! Groaning as she didn't see him, she lifted herself up and began crawling around the room, not caring how crazy she looked as she searched for him.

"Ow!" she let out as she banged into something - or rather, someone - solid. Looking up, she felt like crying as she saw that it was none other than Professor Morgan. "Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry Professor!" she apologised from the floor, feeling incredibly stupid. Getting up, she eyed the floor as she contemplated whether to tell her that she had lost her creature.

Vanessa hummed to herself as she approached the Magical Creatures Nursery, to see Maxxie again. Today she was determined to get a better drawing, and that would help if she didn't forget this time, like she had before. Holding her sketchpad against her chest, for it had some very precious drawings in, the midget snotgirl hufflepuff wandered into the Nursery, and picked up a rag, for she also had a pretty good idea that Maxxie's cage was going to be a little dirty.

"Hey Sweetie," She brunette cooed, as she placed her belongings onto the floor, before opening the cage and smiling at the kneazle. "How right was I" She giggled to herself, as she held her breath, so that she could pull Maxxie out of the cage without inhaling the not very pleasent Fumes. Rubbing the kneazle's ears she grinned, placing him on top of the cage. "You have been busy haven't you," She grinned, as she cleaned his cage, hoping that he wouldn't be as messy when she came to visit him the next time.
After re-filling the bowls, she picked kneazle up, and wandered outside, to the pen, where Maxxie could bath in the sun.

"This is nice right?" She beamed at the kneazle, as she opened her sketch pad, skipping past the sketchs of her and Miles, and onto a fresh page. Vannie spent about 20 minutes sketching the kneazle, before she put the pad away, and played with Maxxie for a while.
"I think it's time to feed you now," She grinned, as Maxxie seemed eager at her words.
After placing the kneazle back into his cage, she gave him a treats, before locking the cage again. "I'll see you later sweetie," She smiled at Maxxie one more time before wandered out of the nursery again.

Walking into the nursery Liz places her bag by the door again. Digging through the bag she takes out a small blanket she had made, her drawing pad, a sketch pencil and a container of apples, celery and a smaller one of beetles.

Walking over to Bébé's cage, she sits down, and calls gently by name to him. He turns around and sees her, and runs to the door of the cage. "Did you learn your name!" she says excitedly. Opening the cage, she picks him up and cuddles him "You are so smart! You definitely deserve a treat!"

Placing him on the floor in front of her, she opens the container of apples and celery. Placing it in front of Bébé she sits back and picks up her sketch pad and pencil.

Freya mde another visit to the nursery after reading some more of her surgical books outside in the cold. It was nice for a while, until her hands had become numb and turned a purple color. 'That's what I get for enjoying my alone time too much.'

She knocked the snow off of her heavy boots before entering the building, but once she had crossed the threshhold, Freya made a beeline for Noor's cage. "How's my cutie today, hmm?" She said sweetly as the knarl spotted Freya approaching the cage. "You need a new box today, you are getting much too big for the old one." Freya put on a pair of thick gloves and took the small sleeping box away from the knarl, who immediately went into what appeared to be a tantrum and knocked over her water dish, soaking some of the shavings that were still clean.
"Oh stop." Freya said as she simply tossed the old box into the trash can and reached into her side bag. "I've got something else for you." She took out a box that looked very similar to the old one, only it was bigger. Freya placed the box into the cage and Noor simply stared at it, then circled it a few times before getting the courage to go up and sniff the wood. "There, isn't that better?" Freya said as she prepared some more food for the animal; a few cricket and worm segments, and several fresh berries.

Noor soon started her whining game again and Freya looked up from her work, "You know, you aren't always going to get what you want just from whimpering at me like that." She simply looked at her knarl and went back to her cutting. Noor, who wasn't used to being ignored, started to bang the door of her cage, making a loud clanging sound.
Freya sighed and continued to ignore the animal, who was getting increasingly louder by the minute. 'Don't pay any attention...that's what she wants and if I give in now I'm rewarding bad behavior.' Freya soon walked away to dispose of whatever food items could not be used.

As she came back to the cage, Freya spotted Noor laying down in the new box, with her head sticking out...obviously sulking. "Sorry, sweetie." Freya said as she cleaned out the cage and put the newly filled water and food dishes back inside. Noor simply wiggled her nose and curled up into a ball, with her back to Freya.
The student sighed a bit and cleaned up the preparing station and double checked all of her work. 'Knew she would be like this eventually...I've spoiled her a bit too much it seems, that will be something to work on.' Freya packed all of her things away and put up her hood, heading out into the cold outside to return to the castle.

Leaving the box of- whatever it was, Cela wasn't ready to look through it right now- at the door; Cela practically ran toward the stable and jumped the gate, startling Cassiopeia as she desperately wrapped her arms about the little abraxan and nuzzled into her neck.

Cassiopeia nickered lightly, partly curious and partly hungry. Cela blinked and pulled back, "Okay," sniff, "I'll feed you." sniff.

Cela stood up and went to gather the mash mixture. Sniffing slightly, she increased the mash to butterbeer concentration slightly and had the presence of mind to make notes about it.

She led Cassiopeia out of the stall and didn't notice when the little abraxan got curious about her scarf and pulled it from her neck. Putting the bucket down, Cela gave Cassiopeia a quick scratch before settling into the serious business of kicking at snow drifts to work out her frustration.

Copernicus meandered into the nursery and headed for Tiberius's stall. The poor little foal was alone, which meant either Cela had moved Cassiopea or she was here and had taken her for a walk. He climbed into the stall and checked the feed levels before putting his hand on Tiberius's head. "We're going to give you a thorough cleaning today, mate. Check over those wings and all."

He spent several minutes mucking the stall before he opened the door and let Tiberius scamper out into the aisle of the nursery. With a chuckle, Copernicus followed Tiberius outside. It was chilly and the snow was high around the fence, so Copernicus huddled for warmth by the door while Tiberius pranced around and sought Cassiopea.

Suddenly, Cela got herself a face full of snow as she was unceremoniously tackled by the body of a flying equine. "Cassi... oh!" Cela turned over to chastise the culprit, thinking it was her Abraxan but discovering, actually it was an over excited Tiberius. Cassiopeia looked up from her bucket with a serves-you-right expression.

"I should have just brought you out too huh?" Celandine wiped the snow off her face and gave Tiberius a tentative scratch, "How did you get out anyhow? Did I leave the stall gate open?" Celandine asked.

Tiberius, apparently had no answer for this, skipping off to frolick in the snow with Cassiopeia who had finished the contents of her bucket. Cela sniffed again and flopped backwards in the snow, feeling the cold on her bare neck and belatedly wondering where her scarf was.

The two Abraxans were growing quickly, Cela noted. She watched them from her position lying in the snow and made a mental note to measure them again. Occassionally, as they skipped about, the two foals would flap their wings, strengthening and exercising them Cela supposed. She figured she'd let them tire themselves out and just stay where she was, the cold snow wet against her bare neck while she moved her arms and legs, making a snow angel.

Finishing up her drawing Liz strokes Bébé. He turns toward her hand, and gives it a small lick. "Oh...your so sweet!" she croons.

Looking inside the cage, she sees it definitely needs to be cleaned today. Picking up Bébé, Liz walks over and gets a broom and dustpan. Not wanting to use her wand near Bébé, she kneels down next to the cage after putting Bébé next to her. She starts cleaning out the cage.

Glancing at Bébé, she notices he put his paws on the side of the cage, and was watching what she was doing. "Don't worry I won't mess up your nest.

Cleaning out the pieces of food, he hadn't eaten, and other stuff, Liz takes the blanket she had made and places it in the corner opposite his nest, so as not to disturb it.

Finishing the cage, she nuzzles Bébé and gives him a kiss. Placing him gently in the cage, she closes it and stands up.

Before leaving she picks up the dishes, sketch pad and pencil and puts them in her bag. Then walks out of the nursery.

Mariel rolled her eyes slightly at the word 'obviously' and wondered if Nathaniel was the lunatic she had seen out of the corner of her eyes, dashing around trees. Offering the Augurey a smile as Nathaniel introduced her, she said, "Hi, Aimirgin." Turning back to Nathaniel, she added, "He's cute. And nice Irish name, too. Appropriate... Yeah, I suppose they'd like the snow, since they enjoy the rain.. they're similar." The Ravenclaw girl shrugged softly. They weren't really the same, but what else was she going to say?

She casually watched as Nathaniel offered insects to his bird and she continued talking. "I don't think I should take Felix out in the snow.. He's really tiny, I'm afraid he'd get lost." Not to mention that his fur was light-colored and he'd probably blend in with the environment. "Did you sketch him yet?" she asked, remembering that Nathaniel enjoyed drawing. "I'm going to try that today, if I have time." She quickly checked her watch. There was a little more work to be done here than she had expected. "I need to clean out Felix's cage first," she said and walked a few feet away to collect some fresh bedding from a supply shelf.

"I did my research. Ravenclaws aren't the only bookworms" he said with a wink "I researched all I could find on Irish names and all about Augureys.". As he put the insects on the far left side of Aimirgin's cage. He had just cleaned out the birds cage a few days ago so it didn't need it. "Oh, come on Mariel. Take him out!! He'd love it. Come onnnnnnn" Nathaniel begged. "I have sketched him before but that was when we were first assigned to them. I have to do another one soon." he watched Mariel get fresh bedding as Aimirgin ate the insects. While Mariel was cleaning her creatures cage he sat down next to the cage and petted the big bird. He hoped that Mariel would take Felix out in the snow. The boy thought that the creature would have fun out there. Why nooot take him. He would plead with Mariel if he had to

Copernicus watched Tiberius scuttle across toward Cassiopea, giving Cela a nuzzle that turned into more of a Abraxan natural disaster before finally reaching Cassiopea. The foal nudged Cassiopea into a spirited game of 'catch my tail' as Cope hurried over to offer his hand to Celandine. "I am SO sorry about that. They're getting so big, but I didn't even think to warn you that he was out here." It seemed like he spent a significant amount of his time apologizing to Cela these days.

Ruby walked down to the Nursery and hummed a tune as she did, she was looking forward to seeing Emelda, it seemed like ages since she had seen her, she opened the gate carefully and closed it after her, she didn't want a lot of the animals escaping on her.

Ruby walked over to Emelda's cage and said "Morning Emelda, did you sleep well?" she opened her cage and picked her up carefully and gave her a cuddle with her trying to escape, she put her into another cage and cleaned out her cage, she placed fresh bedding in and water, once she put Emelda in the cage she placed some fresh meat and veg in the cage.

Ruby sat down on a little piece of bark opposite and looked at her Imp, her life was getting back on track, her Grandfather was getting better, Sakura was speaking to her again and John was trusting her.

she pulled a book out of her bag and said lets see what i have in my bag today, she looked up at Emelda and smiled Emelda had settled down and it looked like she wanted to be read to, Ruby thought she had better write that down for her Journal

Ruby smiled and opened her Basic Arithmancy text book and said "i am up to chapter 6 so i will read that to you Emelda" Ruby laughed and began to read



Ruby closed the book and looked at Emelda she had fallen asleep Ruby smiled and walked away slowly and whispered "bye Emelda"