So...what else could he do? Dylan eyed all those around him finishing up and tried to think quick. Everything was pretty much done...a sign that his peers had not been fooling around with this Herbology stuff...Perhaps there was a stray weed he could trim...or maybe a tiny area of plants that he could water...Or maybe...Dylan could mow something...?

Although, nothing looked like it needed to be mowed. Not to his eyes, anyway...

Wait.

This was all about caring for plants, yes? And...typically...there was a lot of ways to show that one cared about stuff...The Slytherin Captain had a very specific way he liked to show his feelings..........BEAM.

Dylan was totally about to sing to the flowers. He didn't have his guitar on him, which was a bummer...but that was okay. He could go acapella. Totally had before. What song to sing, though. It'd obviously need to be flower-related. Surely they didn't want to hear a song about stars...or animals...OH SNAP.

Yes, he might have been giggling to himself. He was obviously pleased with his own cleverness and originality.

AHEM. "I'm going to sing to you all...." Even his peers if they were still present. Dylan didn't care...Nor was he ashamed and embarrassed. "If you're going to San Francisco...Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair..." Swaying. "If you're going to San Francisco...you're gonna meet some gentle people there..."

So what if he was getting into it...This was a great song. "For those who come to San Francisco, summertime will be a love-in there." More swaying...because it helped to set the mood...and it DID feel awkward without the company of guitar..."In the streets of San Francisco...gentle people with flowers in their hair..."

HAPPY LOVE BEAMING. His voice dropped as he whispered to the plants..."I'll come back and visit."

Cleaning his gloves, getting his jars stuffed back into his bag, and all that...Dylan readied himself to leave. "Good day, Tower Patch."...and with that...he was OUT.

Making his way to the Tower Patch with an emerald green plaque in his hand - one with some silver detailing around the edges - Airey walked towards the fountain and rested his hand on the one dedicated to the late Marion Burbage. Such a tragic thing, losing such a great scientific mind, and now that heavy weight was worse knowing that there was yet another fatality in the department at Hogwarts.

He was grateful to Mr. Odess though, for finding this little bit of research and coming to him with the idea. He greatly appreciated it.

Speaking of the boy....where was he? Should be arriving soon.

He'd spoken to the headmistress and now here he was, a little bit before 3pm --sorry 1500 hours-- with the words according to Bunz Headmistress Truebridge.



She'd said something about a Flynn. West had no idea who or what a Flynn was, but that was kind of interesting to think about. Looking for a plaque that had apparently disappeared? And why would she blame house elves? They were alright. He hadn't told the house elves to look for it yet, but he would, even if a brand new plaque was definitely in order. He stepped out into the garden, immediately spotting Professor Flamsteed but also looking around and noting that the garden was doing pretty good. Especially that one patch of flowers over there. His patch. Obviously.

He walked over to the professor. "Hi Professor, I got some words from the headmistress." Not that it LOOKED like he had... since he had nothing written down, but that was how Wests rolled. And his head was good at remembering the important things.

Word for Word.

Oh cool was that the new plaque? He liked the colour.

Ah, there he was.

"Ah, Mr. Odessa," he greeted, standing up completely and waving the plaque around briefly in the air to replace a proper wave. "Good. I am glad that the Headmistress would see you for this. It is a very noble thing you are doing, for both your house and the school."

Wand out of his pocket now and pointed at the plaque, he looked back at the Slytherin expectantly. "What did she say?"

A nod.

Noble? He wasn't sure if he'd been described as that before. Was that good? It sounded very Gryffindor and yet lately he didn't mind them one bit.

Ahem.

"She said to put 'In Memory of E.M. Forrester, a brilliant space scientist, educator, and Slytherin Head of House. He will be missed', and then she said some stuff about a Flynn and elves probably stealing the original plaque." The middle part, the verbatim part, West said it stiltedly, like someone reading badly from a book. West watched with great interest to see how the professor would do the spell.

Nod nod. Airey's wand moved swiftly over the plaque as the boy spoke, silently casting the spell to engrave the words into the emerald green stone. Once he had finished, he pocketed his wand and blew on the plaque to remove any of the dust that remained and then showed it to the Slytherin.

"Would you like to do the honor of placing it?" he asked, giving the back a bit of a tap. "Just be careful that it is straight. The Sticking Charm can't be removed once it has been placed."

West looked the words over, just checking y'know. And then a nod of approval. That was some good work, Flammy. West smiled eagerly at the offer to place it down.

"Yeah that'd be cool." He took it carefully, not wanting to get the sticking charm stuck to him or that'd mean a trip to St Mungos to get his skin sloughed off.

"Should I put it to the right of the fountain then, professor?"

You know, for a bit of balance. Memorial balance.

Well, looked like the boy was not going to be such a harsh critic this time around. Heh.

Being careful not to drop the charmed end on the boy's hand - Cece would have his neck for that - he stood back to give him some room. "Yes, I think that will do nicely," he nodded approvingly. This was ine thing he enjoyed about the profession, letting student take a hold of their work and seeing the fruits of it. Would have been silly for him to have placed the plaque considering that 1) it was Mr. Odessa's idea and 2) Airey himself was a Gryffindor.

Perfect then. West knelt down and caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarefully aligned the plaque and caaaaaaaaaaaaaarefully put it down just so, eyeballing the other one to line it up aaand...

there.

He pressed it down and then stood back to examine it.

That was better.

He grinned to himself. A little bit of Slytherin history right here.

Airey stood back and watched the boy work, somewhat holding his breath as the Slytherin placed the plaque. What if it wasn't straight?! He wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that things were not in perfect alignment. He would even have to....oh, wait, Mr. Odessa had done perfectly.

"Yes, that looks rather nice there doesn't it," he nodded approvingly. "Thank you, Mr. Odessa, and take 10 points for your house for performing such a fantastic civic duty to your house, the subject of astronomy, and your school." Good thing the boy liked to read, right?

"It looks good." West said, still eyeing it up. He wondered a bit, if the man had family somewhere that would appreciate knowing that Forrester's memorial plaque had been restored. And maybe people would see the name and get curious and want to know more too. Then memories would be for always. West was kind of big on memories for always, mostly since he had barely any of his mum and it just sort of seemed important to remember sometimes. Even if you didn't know what to remember and it was just the act of remembering that became important.

He sort of blinked and then looked up at Flamsteed. "Oh. Well. Thank you, sir." But it wasn't for that, it was for... for the act of honoring the dead.

And he'd been thinking about the whole death thing quite a lot lately, with Bliss's dad dying and all. He let out a thoughtful sigh and just stood there, contemplating.

"Could I throw a coin in there?" The fountain he meant.

Airey couldn't help but feel as though this moment was so much more than just putting a plaque down on a stone fountain for the boy. Same with his intentions for coming to see the professor in the first place. There was so much more going on in the young boy's head right now and Airey could see it reflected in his blue eyes. Whatever it was Mr. Odessa was thinking about, it was not something fluffy like a pygmy puff. It was deep and, the astronomer assumed, fiercely personal.

So he would not pry.

Ah yes, tossing of a coin into a fountain. A wishing well mentality that dated back to ancient Greece if he was not mistaken - although Everett would know better than he. "You may. I suggest a Sticking Charm so no one can take your coin from it," he said with a small wink. "Although, last time I checked, there were no Naiads residing in there."

Although that would be awesome if there were....

He grinned at that. Which part? All of it. Sticking charm. Naiads. All of it. "Guess not."

But who took coins out of fountains anyways? Wasn't there a law against that? He only took a knut out mind you, not willing to waste a Galleon on a wish that might not ever come true.

Wand to coin and the boy cast, "Adhaero." Tracing a line on one side. What if it didn't fall that side down though? Oh well. Experiment.

He eyed the coin for another moment and then flipped it in and watched it hit the water with a gentle plop.

And maybe it was luck, maybe the spell somehow added mass to the side he charmed, but it landed the right way and stuck fast to the bottom of the fountain.

Naiad. Hmmm. The wheels in Airey's head began to turn as he watch the Slytherin tend to his coin. Where COULD he obtain one of those for the fountain? It would sort of be an interesting little addition and one that students could interact with. Maybe he could find one that could give advice to students when they came to the fountain. Maybe he should speak with the Creatures professor about obtaining one.

Especially because he knew about as much about taking care of a Naiad as he did about...well...let's just leave it at he knew nothing about taking care of a creature. There was a reason why he had a pet ROCK after all.

"I didn't take you for the sort to believe in this sort of wish making," he said while taking a step closer to peer into the fountain's waters and at the boy's coin down there. Although he somehow still couldn't see the boy making wishes on shooting stars meteors. "Not that that is a bad thing."

"I don't exactly, but its like... like a spell you know? When you focus on a thing, sometimes it can help you get what you want." So. That coin was his focus. Or represented it anyway. It represented a lot of things to one Mr Odessa.

"Like... umm... a talisman or a totem."

Chuckling a bit in admiration for the boy's wisdom, the astronomy professor nodded and pondered himself about perhaps tossing in a coin. Why not? It couldn't hurt anything - even if he himself didn't believe in rubbish like this. You made your own luck and everything else was just chance.

Still...

Smiling to the boy, he removed a knut from his pocket, charmed it, and then tossed it into the fountain.

"I'll leave you to your thoughts, Mr. Odessa," he said with a warm smile and an, erm, rather awkward pat on the shoulder that had looked as though he may have thought about hugging the boy but had backed out of it at the last second. Glancing once more at his own coin, Airey gave Mr. Odessa a quick two finger salute, shoved both hands in his pants pocket, and then began to make his way out of the Tower Patch and back towards the planetarium.

He still had lint rolling to do you see.

Waful was pleased to be out delivering another letter and package. He was quite awesome, you know? He could probably carry lots and lots of packages and letters all at once and deliver them all on time, he was just that awesome.

Here he was at Hogwarts once more, once again easily finding the recipient of this letter and package. He landed easily next to her, releasing the package from his talons and setting down the letter on top of it as he hopped off.

"Hoo." There you go, girl person. You're welcome.

Then, spreading his beautiful wings once again, he took off for the skies.