After having picked up the hay it was time for building the beds. Cassia picked a spot and carried the hay to that spot. She put all the hay aside and then started piling it. she made sure that the roughest of them are on the bottom while the soft ones are on the surface. Because even after being very careful and picky , hay was still hay and not so smooth no matter what.

But like cows probably didn't mind the roughness very much? Like they are not used to beds and all. So it shouldn't be a big of a deal.

As Cassia was crouching and arranging the hay she had collected, she was trying to work making a rectangle. Then thought that it didn't have to be that shape. She eased on the angles so it took an oval shape.

Then she started working on the smaller bed. Following the same strategy, the fourth-year started piling the hay and trying to keep the softer piles on top. Also she made it take an oval shape. Then she started smoothing them down and making last-touch changes. They looked comfy.

Just when she finished she heard an enormous MOOOOO! She turned around and remembered it was the cow in labor. She rose to her feet and stood watching the groundskeeper handling the cow. She wasn't sure is she wanted to watch or not.

Alec stood there awkwardly looking between the pregnant cow and the hay surrounding her. So... he could stack one for the baby as well, yeah? Because the baby hay pile didn't seem to have as much hay in there as the one for the mother did.

The Hufflepuff headed over towards the hay bale section again and started patting around. There was no pitchfork distraction this time except... now he was left with his own thoughts and the sixteen year old wasn't sure how he felt about that. Picking up a softer hay bale, Alec headed over towards the smaller bed and placed it down carefully. See, now the baby had a bed too. Once... it was... separated from its mother.

Yeah... not great.

... Itchy? Glad for the distraction, Alec turned his head to look over at someone... who... looked familiar. Small but familiar. Maybe. Alec didn't really know. "A little..." he started, resisting the urge to ruffle his hair, "You're not allergic to hay, right?" Was that even possible or...?

And. BLINK. She was getting close to giving birth? Alec looked back at the hay one last time before heading over towards an empty spot to stand by, hoping the little dude was okay too.

Sniffle.

Sniffle.

She was trying to shake off the most unpleasant fact that Bonny's baby was going to be sold off while she went about choosing soft bales for the baby's crib. She didn't dare join the group that worked on Bonny's bed. She knew she won't be able to stop wibbling.

And so she continued on, collecting hay bales and assisting the other group that were supplying the hay to make the baby cow/s' crib. She heard the Groundskeeper telling Anya that her whole proposed Carter-would-buy-the-cows thing was going to be rejected because buyers were already lined up....this made her eyes well up with water again. Alistaire Firth, you meanie.

Her chest felt heavy.....she needed some ice cream......and Dylan's power hugs.

This was all so interesting. Sarah nodded... the whole thing made sense, unless another animal could cut the cord with their teeth, yet knotting it would be messy. It was a good thing it happened on its own.

Right, so they were getting hay? Sarah had done this plenty of times before, not for this purpose. She usually collected hay for Animal feed during the winter months though. However back home it was more fun, as they had to harvest the hay themselves. Sarah enjoyed during it the old fashioned way, yet now they had the bales prepared.

Sarah went over to the bales, first examining hem to see which one looked softer, then feeling each one to double check. She would lke the comfiest bed after all.

Of course, no hay would be as comfortable as her bed, yet hay ticks was what her ansectors used to sleep on. Also, laying on hay in the barn loft back home was not as scratchy as people make it seem.

Oh, that didn't sound good. She was getting close? That almost made Penelope want to slow down on getting the hay out so she could pretend she was busy with it and not have to pay attention...but then it occurred to her that she might then have to get near and put the hay down while it was happening...and that was an especially unpleasant thought.

She made a face as she gathered more of the hay, hoping this batch still felt soft enough, then she carried it over and placed it quickly down in the spots that seemed to have less that the rest of the area. Okay, that...looked okay, right? Could she be done?

Yeah, she decided she was done with that, so she moved back in the group a bit, no longer really wanting to be in the front.

Asher continued to brush hay off of his robes and out of his spiky dark hair "I don't think I'm allergic. Probably just tickling my face and falling down my robes." He giggle a little at the thought of leaving a trail of hay throughout the castle as it fell off of all the students. That was one mess he didn't want to clean up. "I'm glad I'm not imagining it though." He said to the older boy, Alec.

Upon hearing it was nearly time, Asher searched out a spot in the corner of the room. As far away as possible from the business end of the animal that he could get, yet still in the room. He prepared his fingers to plug his ears if anything 'strange' sounding started to happen.

After doing away with the hay he'd previously collected, Dylan went back for more...He assumed this was going to take several trips...So, that was okay. Good exercise for him and the Slytherins. They were participating, weren't they?

Soft hay. Right.

...and Mr. Firth was yelling at them to hurry. Sorry, mate...

The Slytherin started power!collecting hay...He was a Seeker...He could do this fast...Inspecting each individual piece, Dylan stayed selective about what he picked up. Selective!Dylan was selective...

After several moments of sorting and selecting, he semi-jogged back towards the group and began stuffing the pieces in the stall next door...and the smaller cot the others had started.

...and he noted Bee looking depressed. He'd take care of her later...

This wasn't nearly as fun when she was watching others using her pitch fork. She had purposely called dibs on it from the moment they were told to begin. If they wanted one they should have gone looking like she did or called it before her. She looked to Alice again but...well, she guessed she didn't mind, this was Alice and he was Mo. 'Least they were people she liked? Yeah, she'd think of it that way.

Lex looked to the small pile for the baby cow. She still wasn't going to help making it and it could get shipped off the moment it was born for all she cared. Pfft, babies.

She stood waiting for the fork back but when she never got it she decided to just start heaping again. Once she had enough she hobbled back over to the mama cow who STILL hadn't popped. Merlin! What was she waiting for? A round of applause? A water bed? Some more press?? Cows were attention seekers. She was coming to this conclusion.

Alexa fixed the hay around, stuffing spots that seemed a little sparse and giving the cow stink eyes.

HURRY UP!!!!

Okay, just a little bit more...Darting back to the hay bells, Dylan continued the elusive search for the soft stuff. Bad thing was...they were already picked through thoroughly...So, it was getting more and more difficult to find what he was looking for...That was cool, though. He WOULD succeed. #StubbornSlytherinMoment

After several minutes and many mumbled swears, Dylan had managed to pull just a small amount. SIGH. He didn't have time to sit there all day...So, taking what he had...he jogged back towards the cow. She seemed sorted...So, he stuffed his last bit into the other stall like he had previously.

There.

Erm...

It was all sorted, yea?

In the excitement, Dylan had forgotten what he was about to see and suddenly froze. This...He just couldn't...He didn't HAVE to watch, right?

Sarah then picked up a few sheaves of hay and held them in her arms. Then she went over to the area where piles of this stuff was gathered and placed it on the pile. The more disorganised the pile would be - the better. As the cow needed to have quite a spread.

Sarah went back to the bales and began to careful selection process again, only the softest were mean to be used. Already quite a bit of of some bales were used, leaving only the hard stalks behind. Sarah got another armful and threw it over the pile.

Back again, Sarah got more, this time heading to the smalled pile. The pile looked so tempting. Sarah wanted to jump on it or maybe lie down on it. This work was kind of tiring

Marigold took veeeeery soft hay and carried it over to where the baby will be. She made a soft bed, then made her way back to the cow. It was still mooing a lot.

"Gameskeeper Firth, I'll help take care of the baby until it's sold if you need!" Baby cows were cute.

She was mumbling things.....about people who took mother's feelings for granted and all that. The whole thought was getting on her last nerve...she was getting frustrated because there was nothing she could do to prevent the sale from taking place. She knew it was going to happen....what with the school's shortage on financial funds.

Biting her bottom lip, the brunette was on her fifth turn in carrying hay bales to procure the calf's bed when Bonny started MOO'ing loud.

Blink. Blink.

The Groundskeeper was telling them to hurry. And she was hurrying, she was dashing...her hands worked swiftly. She didn't want to miss anything. She wanted to be up front when the calf/es are birthed. At least then.....she could contribute something to taking care of the young before they are sold off.

The cow was mooing even more and Sarah hastened. She grabbed some more soft stalks and moved them over to the pile. Some people had dumped stalks that had scattered away from the pile so Sarah bent her knees and picked them up and scattered them over the pile.

The cow kept on moving, so Sarah got a bit distracted, watching it for a moment before returning to the bale to get more of soft stalks which she brought over to the pile. Even though the pile looked llike it had enough, Sarah adopted a 'more the better' attitdue as she went back and forth adding more hay.

The cow would have a hay riser

Minerva listened to Mr. Firth and smiled at the cow. "I'll be right back" She pet Bonny's head and headed back towards where Mr. Firth was talking about and pointing. Looking around she wasn't seeing a bucket. Hmm where could it oh wait there it was. She picked it up and thought for a second. Was she suppose to fill it for food or water. He didn't say which one and she had asked about both. Thinking for a few moments she decided on the water.

Filling the bucket most of the way she walked back to the front of Bonny. "Here ya go. Not much longer.. You're doing great." She pet the cows head and set the bucket down in front of her. She hoped it wasn't much longer at least. She didn't like anyone or anything in pain and this just seemed painful, but she couldn't help but be super interested either. She was torn on leaving the mom's head to go get a better place to watch, but then she felt bad leaving the mom. So she kept petting Bonny's head, but peaked around to the side so she could see what was going on as well.

Peyton circulated the area as the students gathered the hay and then created the little bed. A few times, she'd wanted to speak up, mainly to glare and then firmly respond to a few remarks here and there, but she refrained. She'd given that part of the lesson to Firth, and he was handling things in his own unique way.

The bed of hay was pretty big now. Any bigger and the poor cow would need a harness to be lifted onto it. "Okay, okay, that's enough hay. If you still haven't added your load to the bed, then just make a separate stack of it over there," she said, pointing to a different location. "We have enough hay on this bed for now."

Once the cow was good and situated, Peyton backed up then turned to the students. "...and now, we wait." Which could be an hour, so they may as well get comfortable.

...but just as she said that, an extra loud, "MOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" echoed throughout the little enclosure.

She grew wide-eyed and frantically gestured toward Firth, although she knew he'd know what to do, as well. "This is it, class! Either look up or turn away now." Because they did have two choices.

She watched as Firth helped the mother cow adjust her position a bit more, and then once he reached up, she knew he was guiding he cow out into the world. Moments later, a tiny little calf was there in the enclosure. "So perfect!" she exclaimed. "Such a little miracle!"

They didn't need anymore hay? But...but she wasn't done playing with the pitch fork...That didn't seem nearly as fair anymore, even if she didn't particularly care about the cow or calf having a bed. She was tempted to take the pitch fork back and play in the hay a bit more but then there was a REALLY LOUD MOOOOO.

Huh? What's happening? Look away? What were they looking away from??? Lex's eyes shot to the Professor as she gave the warning but her attention quickly turned to the Grounds Keeper.

Bliiink.

O___O

Alexa tilted her head and STARED openly at...the birth? That's what it was yeah? Oooookay then! She kept telling herself that she'd look away at some point but that never happened and she was soon looking at a baby cow covered in cow goo. People were offering to rub that? How about no? No baby rubbing. Nooooope. Lex was still staring. Staring at the cow, then the calf then Firth and finally just STAAAARING.

"Merlin's beard..."

Tobias didn't know what to do. There wasn't really much time between the moo and the, you know, birth to properly decide. He was just kind of staring at the cow on the hay and then the groundskeeper was there and the professor was telling them to look or not and he kind of froze for a moment.

And then he saw the groundskeeper about to help the cow and, even though he knew it would be an awesome thing to watch, he was still not entirely sure he was ready to witness the whole 'new life' thing. With a quiet and slightly strangled yelp he clapped both hands over his eyes and instead just... listened.

"Someone tell me when it's okay to look," Toby whispered to anyone near him, though of course he didn't know who WAS near him because he was busy taking precautions to protect his imagination.

Minerva was still petting the head of the mother cow when she jumped from it's echoing moo. Holy cow, no pun intended was that loud. She knew the mother had to be in pain after hearing that. "It's okay.. it' okay" She repeated hoping it was helping even though she figured it wasn't. Her eyes searched the back of the cow and she found herself keeping her hand on the mother, but moving closer to the back to get a better look.

Firth seemed to be doing things. What on earth was he doing. Then she saw things.. Things that probably grossed some of the students out and she wondered if any of them would faint from the sight of the birth. She didn't even blink this was so interesting and kind of cool to watch.

Then.. it was here.. How much time had passed, it didn't seem that long, but was it longer than she thought. In all the staring she felt like she couldn't move and the images kept going in her head. It was just so neat. Finally she moved back to the Bonny petting her again. "Good job mommy cow... good job."

That moo was especially loud and Ella debated for like 2 seconds before she watched on, wringing her hands nervously as she did. There weren't going to be any complications or anything, right? RIGHT?

...

*_______________*

Baby cow was so ickle and alive and n'awwww! "Merlin," She whispered, eyes very wide as she observed the little creature. This was definitely something she wouldn't forget.

"Happy birthday, little guy...or girl."

Asher heard the horrid sound. "Nooo!" he yelled as he turned his back and hoped it would be over soon. He couldn't believe that some of the students were actually watching it happen. He figured they would have nightmares for ever.

Making sure to keep his back turned, he looked to his left and right to see if any of the students around him were watching. He hoped no one would faint. "Just keep looking towards the wall, it will be over soon" or at least he hoped it would be over soon.

Anya. Was. Sad. That poor baby cow. He or she was coming into the world... and Anya knew what the fate was.

... and now she wanted a baby cow. Maybe she'd talk to Destiny about that. It would be like... positive karma or something. She just needed to know one baby cow in the world would like a happy and grass-filled safe life.

In the meantime... itlookslikethebabywasabouttocome.

Anya immediately grabbed Jake by the hand and pulled him closer. Didhesee? It was happening. She squeezed it lightly before looking on excitedly.

BABYCOW! Babycow. Lookatit. Baby cow!

...............Merlin, help him.

Dylan...kept telling himself that he was NOT going to look...because if he did, he'd see more than he needed to...and that was not okay. He was a guy...He didn't need to see anything at all...

There was a semi-freak out going on the Slytherin's end of things.

The Captain could usually pride himself on having a tough stomach...and being able to handle things that were full of guts and gore...He played zombie video games, for Merlin's sake...but this...was on a whole different plane of gross.

...

Hearing the resounding MOO...it was instinct and reflex to LOOK...and Dylan...Well, one could find him doubled over...trying NOT to vomit into his hands...He'd seen....and....

GURGLE!

Hay in the hair? Alec felt sorry for the guy. So sorry that he actually reached over and picked out a stray hay off from the top of the guy's head as well. Because hair was precious, yeah? And hay would just... mess it up even more. "Oh... awesome! It looks like you're a hay magnet," he said, ruffling the guy's hair for extra measure. Hopefully he didn't mind otherwise Alec... was going to look silly. And feel bad.

Hearing the sound of Barlow talking, Alec gave the little!dude a grin before looking over at her. So they had to wait. Kind of glad that he was tall, Alec stood off to one side, deciding to watch the birth take place. Who knows when he'd have another chance to see this so... watching. Yeah. Even through the gory bits. He'd just... wait a while to have the ice cream after--

BABY!COW!

"Wow..." he breathed, his grey-blue eyes on the new born cow. This... really was something, yeah? A small smile flitted across the boy's face. Were they allowed to hold the baby cow? You know, after he/she was cleaned up. And what was the gender of the cow? And... and...

... This only made him want a puppy even more.

Jake had retreated back to Anya's side by the time the Professor told them that the hay beds were finished. He was planning on distracting himself as the calf came because he did not want to see that.

Thankfully, there was a warning as the very loud soon-to-be-mum!cow started... giving birth. Jake looked away, up at the sky, feeling Anya take his hand. She was excited. Clearly.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Jake looked at the cow just as... well. Hello, baby!cow. Thank you for scarring a certain sixth year Gryffindor. He needed that.

"I'm going to be sick," he muttered hoarsely, holding his hand that was still currently holding Anya's up to his mouth. It was a good thing he'd skipped breakfast that morning, because if not he probably would have been sick. As it was... he figured he could go his whole life without seeing that sight again. And he couldn't really breathe right. And he wanted another mental image to replace the one that was now stuck in his mind.

It was time. Mo hopped back on the fence, this time dragging an Alice along with him so she could have an eagle eye view. He might have even given her a squeeze along the way, but it was a friendly type hug and not all romantic or whatever. Why shouldn't he hug her when she looked so upset?

As cool as it was to watch a cow being born, Mo scoffed a little bit at the entirely unscientific googly-eyes the professor was making about the birth. "Professor, cows are born every day. Every day events are hardly miracles." Ravenclaws insisted on verbal exactitude, even in times of extreme excitement.

He'd totally let Alice rub the cow in his place if she didn't get selected. For no more sad-face reasons.