On second thought, maybe Kace shouldn't get TOO close to the cow. After he placed his hay down, he backed away slowly. He knew whenever someone was in pain was to leave them be. He went to look for more hay. He was collecting more and more hay for her body. He needed a lot. I mean it was a big cow. It needed hay for two.

He scavenged around for some more hay. He found some and tried to get a BIG bundle of hay. He was determined. He got hay and a big bundle in his hands, then he tripped over a root coming out of the ground and then fell....OOOMFF....

He had his face flat in the dirt and then got up and brushed it off. He was embarrassed and he hoped his face wasn't red. He gathered his stray hay together and went over to the rest of the students. His knees were stinging though, he looked down and had scrapes on his knee. Oh great....just what he needed....

JAB. JAB. JAB. Maybe if she ignored him he'd go away without asking for the pitch fork? She was prepared to try it and in fact she WAS trying it until he decided her whole name was necessary. She stopped jabbing and looked over at him. "You're shouting too. I don't want my name being the first thing it hears when it pops down, lower your voice." Shhhh Mo, no asking about pitch forks. Just no.

'Cept, he'd moved on to just that. "I can't just trust anyone with this thing. Not everyone's as responsible. In the wrong hands someone could get hurt." And for some reason that someone tended to be her so, again, NO. "It seems perfectly happy in my hands." And she was perfectly happy with it there. No need to ruin a good thing.

She eyed him carefully as she lowered the pitch fork and heaped up another pile in her arms. Bed making for the cow, she forgot they were still doing that but she was trying to hurry back before anyone got the brilliant to simply walk away with it.

She placed the hay around Bonny, trying to tuck just a bit beneath her but she wasn't getting too close. NOPE. On the off chance either the calf or mother was rabid she'd be keeping some distance. It was easier to watch and see everything that way.

"Can I have a turn? Me?" Alices were able to be trusted, she'd decided. And a pitch fork! Please, could she play with it too? Gathering up as many soft bits of the hay as she could carry, the fifth year began moving them over to where the mommy cow was stuck in the fence and stuffing it around her.

"People are gonna steal your baby," she whispered to Bonny, organizing the straw as neatly as possible. "Before they take it, let baby cow know you wanted to keep him, okay?" Because he would totally be thinking about it later.

He would.

Anya triple checked the hay under the cow. Okay. Now. She just needed to get a lot more. She flashed a reassuring smile at the mommy!cow. She'll be okay. And Anya was going to make sure she was comfy.

"I'll be right back." she said. (You know, in case the cow cared.) She then hurried her way back over to the haystacks. She felt around again trying to find something that was both soft and light.

As soon as Lex put down the pitchfork to deliver a load of hay, Mo stepped in and picked it up. He would just transfigure it into a pencil until later, and then Lex would settle down. Easy as.... he wanted to use it, though. Now that it was in his hand, he wanted to try out the pitchfork.

Grumble grumble.

Mo shoved it deep into the nearest bale and flung loose the soft dry hay bound tightly within it. "Everyone should get a turn," he informed grumpy-faced Gryffindor Amazon women numbers 1 and 2. Lex and Alice. Lex's grumpy face he understood, but Alice... what was she being grumpy about?

He offered the pitchfork to Alice. "This is how we take turns, Alexa Cambridge. I got a chance and now Ace is gonna go."

"Tell him before Mr. Firth takes him away, okay? Make sure he knows you love him and you didn't want to leave him and that people will be nice to him wherever he's go-" Alice was going to continue walking Bonny through this step by step, just to make sure baby cow didn't feel abandoned, before Mo said her name. Huh?

She stopped pretending to fuss with the cow's hay and ceased her rambling about parents leaving before turning back to Mo. "Pitchfork! Thanks, Cactus." Grabbing for it eagerly, Alice waved to Bonny- she got the point, didn't she? Don't ditch the calf- and moved back over to the hay, beginning to shove it into bales and fling loose the tighter straw.

"Am I doing this right?" Sure she was.

...

Did...did he just...

-________________-

You had to be bloody joking. Just as she'd walked back she found Mo USING the pitch fork but he didn't stop theeeere, no he was talking about sharing and taking turns. No no no no noooo! NO! She found it. Why'd she have to share???

Lex BLINKED and watched him hand it to Alice next.

What was this???? Ice-cream. She needed some of that now. It would remove the slight scowl. "We're done sharing after you. Okay????" no more game of pass the pitch fork!

Levitating the hay towards the mommy cow Minerva set it down gently. Glancing to the back of the cow to see students busy working on the baby bed and it didn't seem there was a baby yet. The cow mooed a few times though and she felt bad for it. It seemed in pain, but she was having a baby for goodness sake, she was in pain... plenty of pain. Taking her hands into the Hay she moved it around with the others that had laid some down already. This one was going to have to be bigger. Mommy cow should be able to relax in a nice big bed, not some little uncomfortable one.

She walked to the front of the cow and put her hand on its head. She wasn't sure she was allowed, but she wanted to comfort her some how. She felt the need to. "It's alright. You are doing so good. You will be a mommy in no time." Encouraging words are always good, right? She turned and went back to the hay. Was Alexa still holding the pitch fork. That was scary...really scary..

After he had his little mishap, he was more cautious of roots on the ground. He didn't wanna trip again. Plus he didn't wanna startle the cow. Good thing he tripped away from the nest for the calf. Yeah the name for a baby cow was a calf. He would remember that or maybe his grandma was remind him if he ever had to deliver one. He really hoped he didn't have to.

He was doing a great job being a hay collector. He put it down and laid it out for her. The little guy wondered maybe she needed more or even less. The little puff would find out eventually. The professor was spending more time helping the cow go through the birth. Not that he blamed him. She needed all the attention she could get. He couldn't believe Mr.Firth was gonna sell the baby. It was just a calf plus wouldn't' the mother miss it?

He gave the cow a warm smile and he think the cow saw him. She must know Kace was helping her out. He felt good he was doing a good deed for this soon to be mother.

Oh, now they could do something. Good. Penelope didn't want to just stand around awkwardly and watch...this happen. She'd much rather do something, and then she'd think less about what was actually gonna happen, and so she'd feel less uncomfortable.

Especially with the knowledge that the baby was eventually gonna be separated from its mother. Maybe that was what typically happened, but she still thought it was sad. And animals had emotions just like humans, so surely the mother cow and the baby would be sad too whenever that happened.

But she tried to distract herself by going over where the hay bales were and started gathering some in her arms that seemed soft.

Also, was it really smart to trust Alexa with a pitchfork? Thank Merlin Mo and Alice were intervening. Although...it might not be smart for Alice to have it either...but Penelope kinda wanted to try it too now that she thought about it. Hm...

I'll make sure she doesn't hurt you.

That is what the groundskeeper dude had said. And that wasn't the most reassuring thing to hear, because it meant that the cow COULD hurt them and that he was going to stop that from happening... hopefully. But it wasn't like he was saying 'she won't hurt you'. That was a 'she might hurt you but I'll stop her' and that was alarming enough.

What if the cow SAT on him? Tobias was quite small... would anyone notice? Well... other than him.

Eyeing the cow suspiciously, Tobias started to slooooowly and caaaaarefully hunt around for the right kind of hay and stuff, gathering it in his arms. That was easy enough... he could just pass it off to another student to put near the bulbous animal. Yeah.

He would just... stay back.

Marigold had gotten SOFT hay and was carrying it towards the mommy cow.

"Here you go. There, for your nice warm bed." She spoke in soothing tones to try and comfort her.

Now for the baby's bed.

Anya finally found acceptable hay. She then carefully gathered it up. Now... where to put it. It looked like there were plenty of people by the mum!cow. She didn't want to overwhelm the poor thing.

Poor cow. Giving birth. In front of an audience.

She quickly patted down the hay in the extra bed the Groundskeeper mentioned. Then she went back to watch the mommy cow. She helped. Now all she wanted to do was not miss anything.

Okay. Good. He was giving answers to all of her questions. As in each and every one of them.....even though when she was listening to them now, they sounded pretty senseless. That was nice of him...and she liked his smile when he reassured her that the Bonny and her young would be fine. His smile was therapeutic, see. Aheeem.

No such thing as an ultrasound spell? That sounded so cool, though. Maybe she was going to ask Professor Knox about it later. Yep. Mental note.

Beezus' wide smile was still plastered to her face all the while, exciting shining in her eyes.......until.........

A....a buyer? Wha----what was he talking about? ...He was kidding, right? Pfft. You're not good with jokes, Mr. Firth. Not even remotely funny. Hah!....He....he........was.....going to sell...the baby? SELL?! ...G-Give it away for money....take it away from it's.....it's mother.....

That.............didn't sound nice.

And she was just staring at him now.....somewhat blankly.....lifelessly. It was a baby....and.....he was going to sell it? T-To...to a herd?.......and.....

....Beezus blinked. She felt devastated......her chest hurt. Why....would they do something like that to a baby? *WIBBLE* Firth was a meanie. A big fat meanie and she didn't want to work with him close. So.....instead of helping out to piling hay for Bonny's bed like most of them, Beezus went about and gathered hay for the baby's bed.

She slumped it with the others and started to form a bulk. She needed more hay....standing up, Beezus wiped her eyes and sniffled. Why did they have to sell the baby cow? Can't they just let it stay with it's mother and let it grow there at the school....and make it healthy so they could sell their milk instead? Why did it have the be the baby? This was breaking her heart. Not even Anya's suggestion of his brother buying the cow could make Beezus feel any better.

She wanted it to stay with Mommy Bonny.

.....Hay. Right.....she was choosing some soft ones now, with her bare hands - yep, not caring if her hands get scratches all over - to add on the baby cow's crib.

She had been quiet because she was processing everything. They really were going to witness the cow give birth. Like really? See it all. She wasn't sure if that was going to be cool or not. She can't be the only one who's a liiiiittle bit grossed. Still, it was interesting somehow. To see how a baby cow will be brought to life. Cassia glanced at ....Bonny the cow in labor. What was that sound? Probably the sound that cows make when there are having a baby.

Here's something new she learned. And more to come.

The fourth-year willed herself to go and concentrate on the hay collecting. Because they were making beds. Hay ones. Though she wondered which ones will be used since everyone was making them and there was only one mommy cow and one baby cow. Unless there were more but hidden. The Slytherin did take a look around. Nope. No more cows.

She finally moved and headed towards where everyone were collecting the hay. Maaan. Some already finished. She better hurry before no more good hay for her is there.

You don't say that everyday.

Tobias was still straight up refusing to get anywhere near the cow, but he was still helping out because the cow was a creature and needed help and yeah... being suspicious of the animal was no reason to not help. Plus, that pregnant cow was soon going to turn into two cows, which was pretty neat... though Tobias was still slightly on edge about it.

As some people in front of him shifted out of the way, Tobias found he could get to the hay much easier, and so he got a bit closer and took his time looking for the bestest most softest hay.

Once he had a whole bunch of hay in his hands, Tobias moved away from the bales and closer to the cow... but not too close. He kind of... put it on the floor and nudged it closer with his foot. If that wasn't close enough someone else could take it and put it closer.

Just not him.

Tobias went to look for some more hay, but it looked like there was loads already, so he probably shouldn't get too much.

Asher was doing his best to get past feeling like he would lose his lunch all over the floor. He went and gathered some straw and placed it on the pile. He hoped that the cow would not be born while he was there.

Another thing that wasn't helping were all the birth questions being asked. He wondered if they really needed to know how that baby cow was going to be born.

Arms already full with more soft hay (or at least it was the softest he could find) Tobias went back to where he'd deposited the last lot of hay. Feeling a teeeeeeeny bit braver, the Hufflepuff pushed the last lot a little bit closer with his foot and then repeated the action with the new hay.

He stared for a moment at the cow and then seemed to change his mind. Tobias gathered up all the hay he'd so far gathered and went to put it on the extra bed. There. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier?

Keeping an eye on the Alice/Mo/Alexa/pitchfork situation, Penelope found a nice batch of soft hay in the hay bales and started gathering it up. Shame it wasn't really, like, soft as a blanket or something. Surely the mother and baby would like blankets better than hay. But this was all they had, so it would have to do. And she supposed anyway that if they'd only ever had hay and not blankets, they wouldn't actually have a preference and wouldn't mind.

So with that thought in mind, she walked back over and dropped the hay carefully around the cow with the rest of the hay. There was loads already, but they could never have too much, probably. So it was mixed in with the rest, and then the fifteen-year-old went back to the hay bales to get some more.

Asher kept collecting and carrying to the area, not really paying attention to much other than his own wandering mind. The smells of the animal and hay were filling his mind with memories of his grandmothers farm. He loved spending summers there with his cousins.

Starting to wonder if there was too much hay, Asher decided to spend some time fluffing and spreading out what had already been brought in.

Alec didn't understand the pitchfork business at all. Nope. So... he was just going to do his best to ignore whatever it was that was happening with Candy Girl and Mo and Hulk, which was actually proving to be quite difficult.

But at least trying to find some soft hay was somewhat distracting him from the pitchfork business. And speaking of, he had been patting around at the hay for quite some time now. And people had already found quite a bit of hay to take for the bed around the pregnant cow. Talk about being a bad Hufflepuff.

Picking up a hay bale, Alec patted it a little, trying to measure it for its softness. This probably wasn't the most effective way to do this but... this hay seemed soft enough. And if it wasn't softer than the ones that had already been laid out by the cow, he could always place it around the edge, yeah? Or underneath.

Nodding to himself, the boy headed over towards the cow and placed the hay bale down with the rest of the hay. There. ... And... were they... allowed to pat the cow? He wanted to do that. Because giving the cow an affectionate pat would be his way of saying good luck... and that the baby cow might understand. Maybe. If cows understood these things.

... He definitely needed some ice cream.

"Is anyone else feeling itchy?" he asked to anyone that was listening. All that hay tickling his nose and the little bits that were clinging to his robe were making him feel a bit itchy. He knew they would soon be done, so he wasn't too worried about it.

Everything was looking ready to him. At least as ready as it could be, considering he had no idea what it should look like. He scanned the room again, seeing a sea of hay, and knew he was done carrying it in.

Heading back to the Hay Minerva pulled her wand again. She began levitating more hay towards the mother cow. Hearing the mom moo a few times it had to be getting closer. Minerva was feeling a bit nervous for the mother cow. Without any experience she wasn't sure what to expect and wondered if first years weren't to young to be seeing this. Shouldn't the professors try to protect them from things like this until they were older. Wouldn't it traumatize them. Min shuddered a bit, she was getting use to traumatizing experiences lately.


Placing the hay down with the rest of the bed, Min leaned down and spread it around with her hands. Making sure to blend it in with the others, but making sure it was layered for comfort. The mommy cow deserved comfort after having the entire student body watching her give birth. Standing up after finishing with the hay she moved back to the front of the cow. Petting it's head and cooing at the mom to show she was alright. "Professor or Mr. Firth. Can she have something to eat or drink, or is that not allowed while she is in labor?" Not being around anything like this before she really didn't know.

Cassia stood looking down at the hay. Before collecting she thought she needed to decide on the size of the bed. She glanced at the cow to estimate how much hay she needed. Though it wouldn't be accurate but proportionally. Crouching, the snake reached for the piles of hay and ran her fingers over them searching for the softest. With both her hands, the snake started comparing the softness of the hay and eliminating the roughest.

After picking the amount she needed to build the baby cow's bed. The thing is that she didn't know what the size will the baby cow need for the bed. Standing up and peering at the groundskeeper and....Bonny, it appeared that the baby cow isn't out yet. So she couldn't see the size. Moving to plan B, she decided to see how much hay were other students using.

Copying her classmates, she started gathering more hay for the other smaller bed also making sure to pick the softer. Though it'd still be hay not as soft as a blanket. And she wondered if they were going to cover the hay with a blanket or something. Or did cows prefer the feel of hay. Hmmm.. The Groundskeeper would know more.

Firth sighed. Hadn't he JUST said he didn't want anyone else talking about this? Yeah, he had half a mind to take off points for that. "No, th' buyer is already lined up." And that was final, case closed. They seem to think that I WANT to get rid of it. Alistaire Firth was many things, but cruel was not one of them.


Wow, Mo really really really wanted to catch that cow. "I'll keep tha' in mind, Mo. An' I'd love ter have yeh help rub it." He finished with a smile that faltered when he heard the term 'Gryffindor Amazons.' That... was for Peyton to handle, right?


The girl's enthusiasm made him chuckle, which helped to brighten his recent sour mood. "O' course! Anyone who wants ter will get a chance."


As Peyton looked a bit busy, he fielded this one. "An' excellent suggestion. I actually have a bucket over there," he pointed behind a small wall, "by a spigot. Fill it up for me an' put it in front o' her, will yeh?" That was very thoughtful of her. She got a smile. Maybe she wasn't furious with him anymore?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Bonny was definitely getting closer now. "Alrigh', hurry up with th' hay, yeh lot! She's gettin' close!"

OOC: Just a few more hours to finish up your RP posts.