Eeeerr. Was this a trick question?

"I feel like you are asking an answer that is composed of more than 'magic'. Yes?" Chad wasn't a mind read, after all.

What?

Treyen blinked. A few times. Before shaking his head a little. "No, I mean, what spell did you use?" he asked, entirely and completely curious. Though, he was more curious as to why he was standing here instead of being by the lake, skating, yes.

"Not that I'm thinking of using it, or anything, I'm just curious," and he was being honest. This will probably cost him, because it Mr. Stryker over here was not thinking that that could be a reason for this boy to be asking such a question, then he was doing so right now.

Maybe that's why he had issues with Saylen. He tended to speak too much.

ooc: K, so the poor grammar in the last post was actually my bad. Let's just pretend that Chad cant speak proper English, though. XD

"OH. It is just an ice spell. Glacius. You have to really practice at it though," Chad nodded, heading over to a shelf with some jars on it. He opened one and pulled out a few pieces of chocolate covered almonds. "Want some?"

"But yeah, it is real easy on small thing like...a bit of water in a glass. The greater the volume of water, though, the harder and more concentration it requires."

Glacius? Oooooh. Awesome!

The boy nodded. Every spell needed practice, and since he was sort of changing the state of water, then practice was much needed indeed. Practice it on something other than the water in the lake, of course. "Glacius is the incantation, Sir?" he asked, now interested in whatever Mr. Stryker had to say, "And the wand movement?" because he wanted to practice it, not now, but eventually he would.

Hold on.

Either Treyen had been severely traumatized by the previous Groundskeeper and Mr. Stryker had possibly put some sort of Niffler-converting potion inside those chocolate covered almonds....or....the man was a nice one and he was just simply offering?

It wasn't in Hufflepuff to be that suspicious. But he was. Mmmm. He went ahead and decided to trust the French dude, after all, he'd given him the name of the spell. "Yes, thank you, Sir." He said, taking a couple of those and eating them two at a time.

Chocolate usually reminded him of Miranda.

Mmmmhmm. The boy nodded and nodded. It seemed logical, what Stryker was saying. And that's how he'll start, with a glass of water.

Chad put the jar down on his coffee table, just in case Treyen wanted more. Plus, it would be hard to demonstrate a spell with a jar of chocolate covered almonds.

"It is just a sweeping motion in front of you." He swung his arm in a sweeping motion to show, level to his chest. "Make sure you are thinking of what you want to change," he went on, popping a couple more chocolates into his mouth. "If you are, say, wanting to change glass of water into ice, but when you do the spell, you are thinking of....puppies, then something else will either be turned into ice or iced over."

He shoulda been a professor.

And he was actually going to explain?! This man was AWESOME! So far, that is.

Treyen was now glad that Mr. Masterson had left, even if he secretly missed him, after all, the boy still had in his possession that sleeping bag he'd given them on that camp out stuff they did.

His eyes followed the motion, just as they did when Kingsley was still teaching, and he smiled. His turn! His turn! It was his turn now, right? "Like...this?" he said, imitating what the man had done, and doing so quite well. No wand, of course. Unless Mr. Stryker would rather have his floor covered with chocolate almonds after the jar exploded. It was better to practice it in a safe environment...like...the Potions Laboratory. Haha.

The boy grimaced next. Puppies? Whaaat? Iced puppies? The Groundskeeper truly liked cats, didn't he? "I understand, of course, focus is everything." Well, he'd learned that from Kingsley, alright?

"If you don't mind me asking...," he started to say, "How exactly did you become our Grounskeeper? I mean, I know you must have sent out an application and all that, but...why did you do so?" he seemed pretty knowledgeable about magic, and...didn't have issues with answering questions? Possibly?

Chad seated himself on the edge of the coffee table, helping himself to more of the rather delicious choco-almonds. He waved his hand as if showing the boy that he had nothing to worry about, Chad would be more than glad to answer the question. "I have always been the outdoorsy type. I used to be the Department Head for the Regul-...the Creatures Department at the Ministry of Magic." The formal title was just too damn long.

So, he'd done the spell stuff alright? Brilliant! Mr. Stryker should be a Professor. He could take Saylen's place, is not like Treyen cared much for that woman.

As long as he didn't take Lafay's, it was all good.

It was settled. He liked this man better than Masterson. Then again, it didn't take much, just no threats that involves Nifflers or being turned into a creature or something.

"No kidding!" he couldn't help but exclaim as soon as he heard him speak of said Department. He could take Saylen's place. "My father worked there a few years ago, he was Division Head to the Division that works with Goblins and House-elves and such," he truly didn't know much about that. He was less than 10 years old.

And..."You're not interested in teaching, or...are you?" Hehe.

"I might have just missed him," Chad mumbled, thinking to himself quickly. He couldn't remember having an employee, let alone a division head with the last name 'Lockhart'. "I only got the position a couple years ago." Yeah. No employee named Lockhart.

He then shrugged at the question of whether he was interested in teaching. "It would have been an interesting endeavor, but there was no teaching position that stood out to me at the time."

Missed who? Oh, yes, right. His dad. The boy nodded, and then shook his head, "Oh, no, he left over six years ago, right about the time my sister got her Captain badge," and his mind started to work on those numbers. He was a fourth year, and Kaika had been in her fifth at that time, or going to her fifth year...which meant..."Actually, I think it was over eight years ago or so," man, that was a long time!

In five years his father could even be a Manager to the Arrows! But he knew that's not what his dad wanted, so, yeah, never mind.

GRIN.

"Given your experience," which he supposed to be great, "I have no doubt that you could teach Care of Magical Creatures if the post opens up and you apply," yes, the joy of that happening was, quite clearly, stuck in his face, "Possibly. No one knows for sure. And Professor Saylen doesn't look like she's leaving soon," he kept the same face, even if he was faking it, so the man wouldn't be suspicious about a thing.

Not that he needed to be suspicious of Little Lockhart, really.

The boy took a few more of those almonds and looked outside, "Well, I suppose I better be going," but he didn't move.

OOC: Sorry for the delay!

Chad gave a humble sort of shrug. It was without a doubt that he could teach the Care of Magical Creatures position. "Saylen is a wonderful, woman, though. I am sure that she is doing an excellent job and, plus, it is like you say: it does not look like she is going to leave any time soon.

"Plus, she is far more qualified than I am." Saylen actually STUDIED animals. He had only been appointed to the position by Reagan with very little background experience.

Oh. The kid was leaving? "Okay...OH. Wait. I have a question. You look like a smart kid that knows things." That's it Stryker, flatter the kid into giving inside info. Bwahah.

Mmhmm. Yeah, whatever.

He didn't comment on the 'wonderful woman' thing. And he even dared to shrug, "It's good to know we could have a replacement in the Castle, anyway," Treyen nodded. Like, with the Herbology stuff. Yup. Why couldn't Saylen be the one gone missing!?

Er, anyway...

...perhaps he wasn't leaving anytime soon? The boy tilted his head to one side and then took a couple more almonds. Hehe. A smart kid? "A question? What about, Sir?" because if it was an Ancient Runes question then he was doomed.

"The grounds," Chad started, relieved that the kid stayed. "You would know better than I would...especially since I am new an all. But, what do the students really want on the grounds? I keep hearing a lot about the previous groundskeeper...and people seem to like to compare me to him a lot." It was annoying, really.

What Grounds? Oh, of course! The Grounds. What about the Grounds? Was Mr. Stryker going to make Treyen take care of the Grounds now?

No?

No!

AWESOME!

Mmmhmm. He tilted his head again. GRIN. "But you're nothing like him!" he suddenly said, unable to keep that unsaid, "I mean, it's not like I didn't like Mr. Masterson, but comparing is no good, right? Everyone is their own person," and Treyen should believe in those words, since he'd been comparing BOTH Bishop and Magnus to their predecessors. No good, Treyen.

But...he started to think..."Actually, can I get back to you on that one, Sir? I really don't know for sure...I mean, I'm content with whatever is on the grounds," and he truly liked that Treehouse. The couple times he went there.

Heheh. Cute kid.

"Mmm, yes. Take your time." Chad got up off the edge of the coffee table, picking up the jar of chocolate covered almonds. He then held the jar out. "Want any more?" Addicting little things, weren't they?

Awesome! The boy smiled and eyed the jar again.

Hadn't Mr. Stryker noticed that he'd taken quite a few almonds during his visit? Oh, well, a couple more couldn't hurt, "Yes, thank you, for the way back," to the Castle, because he won't be Ice Skating after this. If he'd known that the ice was still there then he'd come more prepared...like...not with his school robes, but a more appropriate outfit, or something.

Or he just didn't feel like doing so.

Yeah, that was it.

"I'll think about the grounds, though, and maybe ask a couple people," he started to say as he took a couple more more of those chocolate covered almonds. "I guess...I'll leave now...but you'll be hearing from me." In a nice way, as in 'I'll have an answer for your question soon'.

"See you around, Sir," he nodded, before heading out.

Kimber walked across the grounds with a LOOK on her face. That look pretty much telling the world to stay the heck out of her darn way.

When she got to Chad's office, she banged on his door. "Chad? Are you here? I need you," she called out, trying to keep at least her voice calm.

Chad was getting ready to head out to do some ground work when his door was knocked upon. He looked at his attire: jeans, sneakers, and a black t-shirt. Not exactly guest attire. Wait..that sounded like Kimber. What was she doing aaaaall the way down here?

Err. "The door is unlocked. Come in."

That was invitation enough for her. Kimber turned the knob and pushed open the door. Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside and closed it shut behind her.

She looked at Chad, standing just a few feet away and took another ragged breath before trying to speak. "Sorry for the intrusion," she murmured. "Are you busy?" Maybe this wasn't the best idea.

Intrusion? Not at all!

"No no, do not worry. I was just...going out for a walk," no work, nope. "That is all." Erm. Oh! "Would you like to sit? You look like you need a tea. Or coffee. Chocolate? I have lots of chocolate."

"Okay good," she said, sounding relieved finally.

Kimber shook her head at him. "No tea, no coffee, no chocolate. I've never even HAD chocolate. I wasn't allowed. No thank you." She was rambling. Merlin she HATED it when she rambled!

"I don't think I CAN sit," she pouted. "Can we take that walk together?"

STOP the presses. Never had chocolate!?!? "You are not human, Madame," he pointed out to her. "Never had chocolate...I will have to fix that." Fix it, indeed he would.

Oh, she wanted to walk? Okay. "Certainly. I would love for a walk. With you. Let me just grab my cloak." He reached around her and picked it off the hook by the door. "After you, Kimber," he added, motioning for her to exit.

Kimber just looked at Chad a second. "What?! Don't look at me like that. My parents were very... strict," she said sadly.

But then he agreed to walk with her and that lifted her spirit. She needed to keep moving. Without hesitation - and because she needed to get out of this room - Kimber opened the door and stepped out into the sun.

Strict parents. That sucks.

Chad exited the hut after her, shutting and locking the door behind him.

Selina burst into Stryker's hut. She knew she should have knocked first but this was a pressing matter, "Selina Skylar, first year... sir, there are Muggles on School Grounds.... at the Whomping Willow, sir."