Alyssa looked up when she saw a large Snowy Owl come flying in leading a group of other owls and they were all carrying packages. She was even more surprised when they came directly towards her and gently placed the packages on a nearby bench in front of her before flying back to the Owlery.

She quickly went over to the bench and then searched the packages to see who had sent them. Then she found the letters. Alyssa read the letters. They were from her cousins...and even though Christmas was way gone, it was still nice to get their presents. That just meant that she had some nice new presents to open when she got back to the castle.

Alyssa made it a point to write to both her cousins and thank them for their gifts. She placed the packages where it wouldn't get in the way of everyone else or the creatures and went back to what she was doing.

Roro missed his Daddy. He missed his Daddy's treats, his Daddy's hugs, hid Daddy's funny songs he'd whistle or hum, and he missed his Daddy's little hoomans that often came to visit him. Since his Daddy had gone to sleep, he'd had almost no visitors other than that weird Uncle Groundsleeper Hooman.

And he smelled funny.

So here Roro was, all alone, snorting occasionally as he tried to light his stall door on fire. Nuthin'. He was still just a baby dwagon. Sniffle.

Then Roro heard some THINGS flapping around, and he stretched up his dwagon neck to see what they were. Oh oh oh! Chikkins! That's what his Daddy called the thingies with dwagon-like wings like dat. Chikkins. Chikkins and a girl hooman. Roro thumped his tail and tried to send a tiny stream of fire at the chikkins. They probably tasted nommy all roasted up, wight?

Unfortunately, Roro was only able to produce a tiny little stream of smoke. Grrr. No roasted chikkin for dinner tonight.

Alyssa turned around when she heard snorting sounds and noticed that it was Roro the baby dragon. She slowly went over to him. "Hello Roro. Are you hungry?" Alyssa knew that chances were that he couldn't understand her but figured that since she had nobody to talk to in here that she would just talk to him.

Alyssa looked around to see what she could feed him with. She wasn't sure that she was allowed to feed Roro the chickens he was eying at even though she had seen Professor Williamson feed him dead ferrets. That's it. That's what she would feed him.

She quickly went over to the food supply bin, pulled out some dead ferrets and brought them over to where Roro was waiting and held one out to him.

The dragon did not look so happy when Sarah entered the barn, maybe he was hungry, thought she as she went to the supply bin and got some ferrets for it. As she approached it to feed it, a strong stench hit her like a blast of cold wind in a hot house in a snowy day. This baby needed a bath, yet the professor was not there to do it. She turned to a fellow student and asked "I think Roro needs a bath. Whats should we do? Utilise the practice we got in that CoMC lesson and bath him, I saw what the professor did with the oils?"

Then she turned back to the dragon and sang to him softly as she set to work.

Alyssa was still waiting for RoRo to grab the dead ferret that she had hanging in her hand. He had to be hungry. Then she almost jumped in surprise when someone spoke next to her. She was so busy keeping an eye on the baby dragon that she hadn't noticed the Gryffindor student join her in the barnyard.

"Oh hi there. I'm sorry I didn't see you come in. I'm Lyssie by the way. Bathe him? I don't know. I'm trying to feed him first." Alyssa said to the girl as she continued to shake the ferret in front of RoRo to entice him to grab it.

"Bathing him will definitely require more than one person to do it. But why don't you get the stuff ready and maybe by the time you're done and I'm done taking care of the winged horses, others will come and we'll have more people to help bathe him."Alyssa suggested.

It wasn't because she was afraid of bathing the baby dragon, but Alyssa decided that she'd rather be cautious at this point in time, than later have to explain to Professor Williamson why his dragon was missing from his holding pen again.

Deciding to abandon feeding Roro for now, since he still hadn't taken the ferret she was holding, she left it dangling on his holding pen, just in case he decided to eat it and went back to trying to figure out how she was going to brush down a Thestral, she couldn't see.

Alyssa entered the supposedly empty stall even though she could sense movement in it. 'Now how do I brush down something I can't see?' Alyssa thought to herself. Then it dawned on her. Use her sense of touch.

Alyssa first spoke to the Thestral. "Hi there, I know that you can see me but I can't see you. I'm not here to harm you. See this grooming brush? I just want to brush you down so that you look nice and shiny. So please don't bite or kick me." she pleaded with the horse.

When she heard a neighing sound come from in front of her, she took it as a good sign, and slowly approached the creature. She looked down at the ground and where she saw the hay moving around, she assumed those were where its legs were and so she bent down and reached out towards it.

Her hands made contact with what felt like a leg. BINGO!! Alyssa slowly moved her hand up until she realized that was touching the creature's behind. "YUCK!!" Alyssa said as she quickly wiped her hand against the side of the fence.

"Okay let's try this again."Alyssa said to herself. Now that she knew where the Thestral's hind end was, she reached out again and until she felt its body again and this time moved her hand in the opposite direction, running her hand along its rump, then its back, then its neck until she found its head.

"Now I know how it feels when the blind read Braille. I'm doing the exact thing. Maybe I should just close my eyes and trust my other senses this time." Alyssa told herself.

So she did just that. She closed her eyes. Now that she had the Thestral's head, she imagined what it looked like and began brushing it like she had done with the other winged horses. First she felt around for her towel and wiped down, its muzzle and its ears. Then she stuffed the towel in her pocket before reaching for the grooming brush.

She started with its mane. Reaching out and she ran her fingers through it untangling it before combing it down. Then she ran her hands all across the Thestral's body until she reached its hind end and found its tail. She slowly fingered out the tangles before combing down the tail until it was tangle free.

Now to groom it. Alyssa took out her grooming brush and with her eyes still shut, ran her hands right back to where the Thestral's neck was and started brushing its coat with downward strokes. She brushed across its mighty chest, along one side and then up and over to the other side of its body before brushing its back until she reached its rump where she finished off by brushing down its hind legs.

Then she slowly stepped back and opened her eyes. She had done it. She had actually groomed a Thestral without having to see it. Alyssa smiled and nodded a thanks to it. "Thank you my friend" Alyssa spoke to the Thestral before picking up her grooming equipment and exiting the stall.

Jory looked around at the various creatures trying to decide which he should visit first. He spotted the enclosed pen with the countless puffskeins so he finally decide he would start there.

"Hey, there, little fellows,'' he said as he opened the gate to the pen. The badger quickly shut it as a few of the Puffskeins jumped on the bottom of his feet. He laughed a bit. They felt so tickly with their fur.

He stooped down and began to tickle them back. Some of them emitted high pitched squeaks while others emitted low pitched. And now, more of the creatures were coming toward him as though the had been cautious before but now had let their guard down.

The badger reached out and petted and tickled the newcomers. More squeaks. "Okay, guys, calm down,'' he told the colony. "Don't wanna disturb the other guys in the Barn.'' He reached into his pockets and brought out some lettuce which he broke into pieces and scattered them in a neat pile and he watched immediately as the Puffskeins scramble for the pieces.

As they ate, he scattered more pieces to replace what they had eaten.

Alyssa noticed Jory working with the Puffskeins, so she decided to go feed the Porlocks. Although she couldn't see them, she knew that they were around. They were known to guard the horses but were shy and tended to keep away from humans, so people rarely saw them.

So Alyssa went over to the the bales of hay near where the winged horses were stabled and looked around. She could see the smallest of movement among the bales of hay and smiled. The Porlocks were definitely hiding in there. Either that or there was an Imp or Jarvey hiding in there and she hoped that it was neither, even though they weren't considered dangerous.

Alyssa walked over to the food bin and filled a bucket with grass. Then she walked over to the bales of hay and emptied the grass on the floor before finding a place where she could see them but they couldn't see her...and then she waited.

Alyssa wasn't sure how long she waited. She just knew that her bottom was getting numb from sitting on the ground and that she had almost lost all feeling in her legs. She was about to stand and give up when she saw something shaggy with lots of hair on its head and a large nose stick its head out. Then another head appeared...and another. They sniffed the grass and then suddenly all the heads disappeared back into the bales of hay.

Alyssa thought that she had spooked them or they had seen her and was getting ready to leave, when she saw movement again from the corner of eye. She quickly ducked down behind a barrel and peeked out. This time the head was followed by a body. The Porlock walked on two feet that almost looked like a horse's cloved feet and it had two arms. Its hands were small and each had 4 stubby fingers. The first Porlock reached out and picked up the grass, then sniffed at it again before putting it into its mouth. Soon the creature was joined by others. From what Alyssa had read, the adult Porlocks were at least 2 feet tall but she could see that two of them were shorter.

"Hey maybe they are the babies. I should tell Professor Williamson the next time I see him." Alyssa thought to herself. Not wanting to disturb the Porlocks as they ate, Alyssa bent down and slowly crept from one hiding place to another until she was clear from their view and then straightened up and made her way out of the barnyard.

After the Puffskeins had finished all the lettuce he brought for them, Jory wandered over to the horses. He knew there were also thestrals around but obviously he couldn't see any.

Fortunately, he been on a farm before so he knew a bit on grooming horses. He decided he would clean the creatures coats as he grabbed a curry comb and began to moving it against the horse's side. "Hold still, big fella,'' Jory said quietly as the horse moved around restlessly. "I'm not gonna hurt you.'' Since this horse had a coat of long hair, the comb was perfect to remove dirt and any hair it had shed. The Badger completed this on the horse's other side as well, careful not to move the comb along the legs or any part which had a lot of bones. Next, Jory used a dandy brush to get rid of all the dirt the curry comb had scrubbed loose. He stood back and admired his work. "Good,'' he thought. "I haven't lost my touch.'' The coat did look more shinier.

After finishing up on this horse, he moved on to a couple of other horses, repeating the same steps.

Sarah headed into the barnyard with cabbage leaves in her hands, she headed over to the tub at the back that had flobberworms in it and she fed it to them. The flobberworm munched contently on the leaf, it reminded Sarah of the silkworms her muggle cousin once had.

When she was finished she got up and there was that creature that caught her eye when she was looking there her Ancient Runes text book -the salamander. She saw a couple of them walking around, looking cold. She decided to light a fire for them. "Incendio" she set, and her wand set alight. -good thing not the barn. The flame danced at the end of her wand and she brought it towards one of the salamandersm hopefully she was not going to burn it.

Alyssa watched as Sarah started a fire using her wand. "Hey Sarah, we need to keep alive the fire that they originally came from. The Salamanders will die if it dies out. Why don't you feed it some peppers while I get that fire going again."Alyssa suggested to her partner.

Alyssa looked around until she found the embers of the fire from which they originally appeared from. Seeing that it was almost dying out, Alyssa looked around until she found a woodpile at the back of the barnyard. She bent down and picked up some wood, then returned to the fire and placed the kindling on it.

Clearing the area of anything flammable the fire, Alyssa kneeled down next to it, took out her wand, and said,"INCENDIO". A small flame shot out from her wand and hit the wood. Alyssa waited until the wood caught fire before she ended the spell with "FINITE"

Then she added more kindling to the fire and watched as the fire began to burn brighter and stronger. She hoped that the Salamanders noticed that their fire was up and burning again and would return to it.

"Hey Sarah while you're feeding them the peppers, could you like lead a trail over here, so that they'll see that their fire is burning again? I'll start a trail over here at my end and meet you in the center." Alyssa called out to Sarah.

Going to the food bin, Alyssa took out a handful of peppers and started them laying them on the ground starting from the fire and making her way to where the Salamanders were.

After finishing with the coat grooming, Jory moved on to untangling their tails and manes. He was apprehensive of getting kicked by the horse or something but he had his hopes up he won't. Anyway, the School nurse would be able to fix him up should anything happen,right?

First, the Badger used his fingers to set apart the hairs making up the the manes. With the mane comb, he gently started to comb out the hair starting from the bottom and constantly using his fingers to continue separating the hairs.

Jory repeated the same steps for some of the other horses before he begun work on the tails. This involved the same steps as that of the mane and he was careful not to stand directly behind the horses as he worked.

Sarah looked stupidly around. There was still so much for her to learn... Maybe Lyssie will teach her. Lyssie knew so much, she knew tonz of spells as well. "Sure thing, hot peppers coming right up". said Sarah as she made her way to the supplies bin. First she began to feed the salamanders some peppers, then when Lyssie lit the fire, she began to trail the peppers. back to where Lyssie was. The Salamanders followed eagerly, gaining energy as they lapped up each pepper. Her trail was approaching Lyssie's at a great pace.

Alyssa continuing dropping the peppers until her trail met up with Sarah's. Then she stepped back and watched as the Salamanders started eating the peppers, following the trail until finally they spotted the fire that she had started up for them again. She saw them rush towards the fire, go into it and watched as they changed from while to blue to scarlet.

Once they were lying in it, Alyssa added and piled on more kindling and wood to the fire to keep it burning as long as it could. She then covered the ground around the fire with more peppers. This hopefully would keep the Salamanders alive until she or someone else came back to check on the fire and them again.

Nerida skipped into the Barnyard wondering which creature she could help. She had made friends with the thestrals. So she would go visit them first. She grabbed a brush and a piece of food for the thing. As she reached the thestral she said "Hey buddy do you remember me?" The thestral gave a little neigh and a nudge at Nerida. Giggiling she set the piece of raw meat underneath the thestrals head. "I will be brushing you now, okay?" It gave another short nod of its head and continued eating.

Nerida grabbed the brush from her back pocket and began to brush the thestral. It was easy since she could see the creature. It would be very hard, if she couldn't see it! Just thinking about it made her giggle! She moved up to her head and carefully brushed the top of her head and then began to the thestral's mane. After all the tangles of the mane was gone she patted it on the neck softly and moved down to the butt of the creature. She picked up its tail hair and began to comb it out. There were many knots and tangles in the tail. After getting them all out. She set the brush in her back pocket once more and looked at the water bowl. It was empty...

She took out her wand from her bag and pointed it into the water bowl. Eep! She was to high, water sprayed everywhere getting everything including the thestral wet! The thestral began to try and shake itself dry. Laughing once more she said "Finite," taking a towel from its spot she began to pat the thestral dry. "Sorry about that thesie! But now your all dry and you have water! I will see you later okay?! She gathered the tools she took and grabbed her bag. On her way out of the barnyard she put the tools up.

After Jory had finished with the horses (thankfully he had been careful enough not to get kicked or any other injury), he made his way to the back of the Barn to find the tubful of Flobberworms.

He found the ten inch worms alright, but it was difficult to tell where their mouths were because both ends were covered in disgusting mucus. The Badger couldn't help recoiling at the sight of the creatures.

He fished into his pocket and pulled out some lettuce that he had saved when he was feeding the Puffskeins. He knew flobberworms loved lettuce but would eat basically any other plant.

Jory broke the leaves into pieces and threw them into the tub and watched as the worms scrambled to devour them. At least he could now tell where their mouths were.

Vickers made his way towards the Barnyard, wearing clothes he didnt mind getting filthy, plus gloves and boots. Professor Williamson was a busy man, and with plenty of animals in his care it was understandable if the Barn wasnt exactly spic and span-- well at least not to Vicker's standard.

Turning into the corner where the supplies cabinet was, the Ravenclaw took out a shovel, broom, dustpan and a garbage bin. There was bits and stuff from animals around corners of the barn and decided to get to those first, using the broom and dustpan to pick them up and throw them into the garbage bin.

Nerida stepped into the Barnyard where she had thought it was less crowded than the Sanctuary and she loved the horses and the birds. Speaking of birds she wanted to look for the Dodo bird or as it was called in the magical world the Diricawl. It would probably be impossible for her to find one though. She walked over to the winged horses room to find a couple kneazles. Picking one up she sat down and took that tool that got all the Chizpurfles out of their fur. She began to do this for each kneazle that didn't run away from her. Seeing a kneazle in the corner she skipped on over.

As she reached the kneazle there it was, stuck in the wall...She bent down and saw it was looking outside in a hole though only its head could get out...Erm should she fix that hole? She stood up and looked around the barnyard for anything that could be of use. Finding a hammer and a some nails she began to look around for a piece of wood to cover the hole finding a piece behind a barrel she picked it up and walked back to the hole. She placed the wood on the hole and began hammering it in. Luckily for Nerida she hadn't hammered her finger not once. After making sure the hole was patched she hoped that Professor Willaimson hadn't made the hole but with baby Roro running around he probably wouldn't want that happening.

She went back to dechizpurfling the kneazles. After making sure all of the kneazles had been dechispurflized, Nerida petted the winged horses and put back all of the tools that she had collected and put them back.

Having swept up as much as he could on one side of the barn, Vickers took the shovel and started with the filth that has... errrr... been around a little too long. Metal scrapping echoed throughout the barn as he worked the corners and the stalls, only to be interrupted by the occasional whacking of shovel against garbage bin as he deposited the refuse.

He continued this until he was done with one side of the barn, then dragged the bin and the shovel across the way to work on the other side. Indeed it was filthy work, which was all the more reason why it should be done. He always believed that the best way to keep diseases at bay is to keep the place clean.

Kurumi was feeling a bit light on her feet as of recent, almost as if a giant weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Or around her neck as the case actually was.

Which is partly why she wanted to get out of the castle and simply enjoy the nice weather.

After having made a trip to the kitchen for some raw meat scraps, hopefully to feed to Roro, Kurumi hurried down to the barnyard. Kurumi was a little disappointed when she didn't see Roro right away....but then again she hardly expected Professor Williamson to keep Roro here unattended with students coming in and out at their own leisure. Maybe some other time then.

Now...what was she going to do with all these meat scraps? Making her way a bit inside, Kurumi stopped at the scene she saw in one of the stables. Of course she had seen them at the beginning of the term pulling the carriages...but seeing the dark winged horses still sent an uncomfortable shiver down her spine. Thestrals...the sixth year never saw them as a bad omen, not in the sense that people associated them at least...but seeing them just reminded her as to why she could see them...
Biting down on her lip, Kurumi was just about to take a few more hesitant steps towards the creatures to feed them the scraps of meat when she heard a scrapping noise coming from her right and she turned her head to see what the cause was. "Vickers, hey," she smiled, offering her Ravenclaw friend a wave. "You know, you should bring some of that to Professor Bentley. I am sure she would appreciate it for her greenhouses."

Between the sounds of the shovel against barn floor and the exertion he was making making a thorough job of it he didnt hear anyone else enter after him until a familiar voice called him out by name. Huffing he stood up and turned to see the Gryffindor Prefect "Oh hi Kurumi!" he smiled wiping his brow as he set both hands on the shovel handle. Then his eyes shifted towards the garbage bin with all the STUFF in it "Oh yeah... good idea. Thanks!" he nodded smiling. He peered into the garbage bin and tried to keep his face from scrunching up too much in disgust. All the STUFF was mixed together. He pulled out a new garbage bag and tied it around the ears of the garbage bin, then continued to shovel the STUFF for the Herbologist's use and and deposited them into the extra bag.

He paused for a moment and gazed at Gryffindor brunette. Was there something in her hand? "What you got there Kurumi?"

Kurumi couldn't help but giggle softly at Vickers. It was a wonder that Kurumi wasn't grossed out by animal feces and what not, but maybe that was just her inner magizoologist coming to the forefront and winning the squimish battle that was still somewhat going on inside her head. "You need some help? I've been meaning to visit Professor Bentley again myself," she offered, again trying not to giggle as Vickers' face continued to contort as he shoveled poop into the garbage bag.

Vicker's next question reminded her that she was actually holding a piece of cold raw meat in her hand and she ended up blushing just a bit. This was a little awkward after all, her standing there with a piece of raw meat in her hand. "Oh, um, I was thinking I would feed Roro..." she said, trailing off at the end to glance at the thestral that had begun to flap its leathery looking wings when it smelled the meat. "But...I guess I'll feed this meat to him..."

Kurumi glanced back at Vickers while chewing on her bottom lip as she remembered their brief exchange in Herbology. "You...you can see them too...right?" Her eyes widened slightly and she tossed the thestral the meat in her hand more as a distraction than with the actual intention of feeding it. "I mean...um...y-y-you don't have to answer that if you don't want to..." It was a deeply personal conversation and Kurumi wasn't entirely sure if she had earned the merit of having this sort of conversation with Vickers or not. He was a very private person after all.

His hands slipped off the shovel momentarily at her offer "Uhm...well, only if you want to..." Because it was gross and Vickers wasnt really picking up on Kurumi not minding the filth "I mean I can take these to Professor Bentley no problem... we can walk together when I bring her the bag." he offered. If she insists of course he wouldnt stop her. He'd just be amazed, as he always was with her.

"Oh yeah Roro... he isnt in his stall." Because the Ravenclaw was also hoping to pet the youngling when he got to the barn "Took the opportunity to clean it up though, since he wasnt there." Messy dragon he was, then again maybe this was standard for such creatures.

His eyes shifted as hers did, towards the black scrawny creatures that many students usually ignore, mostly because they dont see them. "Yeah sure I do." he replied with a small shrug. He neared one of the stalls and stood off to the side for a while, making sure he was recognized by the Thestral before reaching in slowly and gently patting its mane. The Thestral swung its head lazily, looking at him for a few seconds before shifting its head towards Kurumi's direction, being far more interested in something tasty that it can sense was just outside its stall. "Its a shame they get a bad rep based on their appearance... or lack thereof."

Full stop. The icy blue gaze shifts towards Kurumi. "Wait... you can see them now?" He remembered pretty well last term how she couldnt see the Thestral they found at the Front Gates.

"It's really no trouble," she laughed, setting down the small bucket of raw meat for the time being. Kurumi grabbed a shovel and helped Vickers scoop up some of the remaining poop in the stall he was working on. It did smell rather terrible, but it wasn't too bad she supposed. Could certainly be a lot worse. Added a few modest shovel fulls of the stuff to the garbage bag, Kurumi lifted her head and wiped her own brow. "I don't think I can be of too much help carrying something this heavy though. You are much stronger than I am," she smiled as she eyed his arms. Her kendo muscles had vanished slightly since she hadn't felt like practicing since...well...since her mother first fell ill. "I can try though, it does look awfully heavy."

Setting the shovel aside, Kurumi looked at Roro's stall feeling just a little deflated. She had really wanted to see the dragon again. I mean...it was a dragon for crying out loud! "You did a good job," she nodded. "Can't imagine that was easy. Roro is rather messy." Judging from the other times she had been in here to visit and whatnot.

Leaning on the door to the stall with the bucket of raw meat at her feet, Kurumi simply watched Vickers as he interacted with the creature, petting its black mane and confirming both physically and verbally that he could see them. Kurumi ended up biting down on her lip rather abruptly, wincing at the sudden pain, and her face contorted for just a moment. She lifted her gaze when the thestral approached her, its nostrils flaring and it whinnied eagerly as it swung its head once more. Kurumi ended up smiling softly at this and knelt down to take another piece of meat from the bucket and held it out for the thestral to take - the meat on her palm. "They just seemed to be misunderstood...sort of like how those that can see them are often misunderstood as well."

She hadn't really directed that comment to Vickers per say. She was more speaking out loud as she watched it gnaw on the piece of meat.

Kurumi actually felt Vickers' gaze on her before she noticed it herself, and she bowed her head. "Yes...starting this term..." she replied in a soft voice. "How...how long have you been able to see them?"

Gideon headed down the Creature barn with the intentions of taking part in the caring of the animals. Hopefully he would be able to have the time seeing as while he had signed up to help, he hadn't had much chance to do so. Sure he had made a visit or two to each area but not much more. But now seeing as Professor Williamson had personal health issues to deal with, helping him out was now more prevelant.

Arriving at the barnyard, the prefect stepped inside and looked around, taking a mental inventory of some of the animals he could see as there were quite a variety and certainly couldn't take care of all of them at one time. Gideon spotted Kurumi and Vickers off to one side and gave them a wave. "Hey guys," he said quietly but seeing as they seemed to be talking, he didn't press into them, moving on instead to his work.

As per usual, Gideon tended to gravitate towards those of the aviary persuasion which included the augurey, jobberknoll and the like. He slowly made his way up to thebarn loft to the Irish phoenix 's nest and try to cheer it up. Not that that was an easy task. Perhaps a joke would do this time around.

"What did the one phoenix say to the other phoenix? Pass the ash tray, this joke is killing me."

Okay so not his best work but he chuckled to show amusement to the bird in hopes it worked. It appeared to have gotten mixed feelings so Gideon moved over to where the various foods had been kept, just out of reach of the creatures. He slipped on his gloves and scooped up some dead insects before returning to his charge. "Perhaps these will be more to you're liking," the prefect said offering the bugs up to the augurey.

He stepped back a bit when she began to clean the STUFF. Well she sure didnt mind getting her hands dirty did she? He helped finish with the clean up and was just tying the bag up when she mentioned about helping carry it. Brows goes up as he shakes his head vehemently "Oh no Kurumi. I'll carry it." because you know, its a bag of STUFF "Thanks, for helping out though." He appreciated it he did.

He chuckled at the mention of Roro "I cant imagine dragons to clean up after themselves in the wild" he puased for a moment as he looked out of the barn towards the forest and beyond "Williamson better knows what he's doing if he wants to reintroduce Roro to the wild. Survival rate for hand-reared animals going back to the wild isnt as great as papers make it appear." Sad truth really.

He watched her feed the thestral, again just amazed at how easily she deals with the creatures. Then she mentioned about they who are misunderstood. Those icy blues shifts away again "Well... they're just gonna have to carry on won't they? Just being who they are... or prove everybody wrong. Just like these creatures." he said as he finally returned his gaze to her and gave her a small smile.

It took a moment to process what Kurumi just said. This term.... Events of the past term, how she looked, how she behaved, all the way to their talk in Herbology... it all started to make sense to him now, seeing the complete picture. He felt a new stab of pain-- for her. Her trials and tribulations and the kind of future he has been living for a while now. They say it will get better. It never really does. You just get used to the pain. He bit his lip and shook his head. No that is not something to say to Kurumi right now. Or ever.

He caught her question at the last second "Since the carriage ride here. I didnt think it was such a big deal until I hear people not being able to see them at all." People like her. Which kinda placed things in a different perspective for him, actually having a friend and telling him nothing's there.

As Kurumi continued to feed them he took the Thestral's feeding pan and emptied the bucket's contents into it. He was just cleaning up the bucket when he saw the other Gryffindor Prefect walk in, raising his head up to acknowledge the other lad's greeting.

He put the cleaning supplies away and carried the bag of stuff in his hand. "Lets go give Professor Bentley her present shall we?" he smiled, shaking the bag a bit as he angled his head towards the greenhouses.