Sander joined in and laughed along with Alex. "Me? Bad? Surely you don't think so, my name twin." Sander pointed to himself, feigning innocence. Then he relented, "Okay I have to admit that. You know me so well. I love teasing you, but that's because I love to hear you laugh." he smiled at her.

....and it was true. Sander had been worried that their close friendship would be affected because he had gotten closer to Tessa. He was really glad that hadn't been the case at all. He still had Alex as his best friend and better yet, both she and Tessa were getting along really well together.

Hearing her nicknames for the winged horses made him laugh. "You and your nicknames. Speedy? Big Boy? Do you have names for all of them? Even the Thestrals over here? he jokingly asked her.

Then when he saw Alex become serious, his laughter faded from his face. "You don't have to thank me, Alex. I wanted to share my love of horses with you and I was right. You're a natural with them. Okay I'm almost done scooping out their poo. Let me go dump it out at the back and I'll come back and help you with the remainder of the tasks." Sander told Alex.

He scooped up the remaining heap of horse manure from the ground and dropped them into the wheelbarrow. Putting the shovel down, he wheeled the wheel barrow, out of the stables and over to where he had seen a compost pile. Tipping the wheelbarrow over and emptying its contents onto the compost, he pushed the wheelbarrow back into the stable.

"All done with the poop job. I'll help groom the remaining Thestrals and then we'll get started on cleaning the troughs," Sander informed Alex as he picked up a grooming brush and entered the staff of the last Thestral and began brushing it down.

Alex laughed at Sander's innocent face. She knew that he enjoyed teasing her just as much as she enjoyed being on the receiving end of his jokes. It was all in good fun. Alex laughed again when Sander joked about her nicknames for the horses. "I give them names when I meet them. They have to do with how they look or what their personality is. The names just come to me, I don't really think about it. I don't know why I do it really. Maybe it makes feel closer to them. Now the thestrals, I haven't really met them, so no names yet....."

As Sander continued to clean the stall, Alex watched him. Her face became sad for the briefest of moments. Sander was her best friend. She could talk to him about anything.......except she couldn't. She had feelings for him that she couldn't quite sort out. Alex knew that he thought of her as a sister. She knew that Sander and Tessa had feelings for each other...... everyone with eyes knew that......everyone except the two of them which was really kind of funny. But Alex didn't think of Sander as a brother though. She had a brother and loved him dearly, but it was NOT the same.

At that moment Alex made a decision. She was not going to lose her best friend and if that was all he was destined to be, she would live with that. She had come to like Tessa and knew that she was a good person. Most of all, she wanted her friend to be happy and if Tessa was the person to make Sander happy....so be it. So Alex put her happy face back on and finished her work. She said to Sander, "OK, I'm ready to clean the troughs whenever you are."

Sander laughed as Alex explained how she came up with the nicknames for the winged horses. "What you haven't met the Thestrals yet? We need to rectify that this very instant. We can't have them feeling ignored," Sander teased Alex with a mixture of shock and indignation on his face.

He reached out for her hand and pulled her over to stand next to the Thestrals. "Since you can see them, you know that you don't have to be afraid of them. So name away. I actually think this one looks like a Monty," he laughingly suggested to her.

But for now it was time to clean the troughs. "Okay first we need to empty them, so we first siphon out the water." Sander pointed his wand inside the trough and said, "Tergeo" and the dirty water got siphoned up.

"Then we make sure the trough is clean by using the scouring charm," Sander demonstrated again pointing his wand inside the trough and said, "Scourgify" and cleaned the insides of it.

"Now that's all done, we just fill up the trough again with clean water," Sander filled the trough up by once again pointing his wand inside the trough and saying, "Aguamenti" Water began pouring out of his wand and soon the trough was full of water.

"You can give it a try if you want to. Plenty of troughs to go around," he spread out his arms indicating the other troughs strategically placed in the stable.

Alex allowed Sander to lead her over to the thestrals. She could understand why some people thought they were scary looking, but she saw a kind of beauty in the strange animals. Alex laughed when Sander introduced her to Monty. "Monty, huh? Yeah, I can kinda see that." She said hello to all the thestrals, moving from one to the next. "I'll have to get to know them a little better before I can name them all, although, this thestral looks a Chuck to me."

Next it was time to clean the troughs and Alex listened carefully as Sander explained what to do. "OK, I think I've got it", Alex said. She began to clean the troughs one by one, just as Sander had instructed. Pointing her wand at the dirty trough, Alex drained it saying, "Tergeo". Then she said, "Scourgify", as the trough became nice and clean. Finally, Alex filled the trough with fresh water. She was happy that she had successfully accomplished her goal. "Isn't magic great?". Satisfied with her work, Alex moved on to the next trough.

Alex called over to Sander. "Hey Sander, how did you get so interested in caring for animals?"

Sander laughed when Alex suggested that one of the Thestrals looked like a Chuck. "Somehow I don't think these guys appreciate either names. So let's keep their names a secret for now." he smiled at her before resuming to clean out the horse troughs.

Then Alex called out a question to him. He looked up from what he was doing and turned to her. "Well I've always grown up among animals where it be magical or normal. My dad has a couple of Arabian horses, which we ride and growing up we had dogs to play with. Then of course there was the wildlife in the forests near where our home is." Sander told Alex even as he recalled all those times he spent in the forest hiking.

"As I grew older, I started hiking in the forests and in the mountains and I got to see a lot of other creatures. I never loved the sport of hunting, so I would always chase the animals away, whenever I spotted a hunter nearby. I don't believe in killing animals for sport or for what their parts can be used for. If it was killed so that a starving family could have food, I didn't have a problem with that," Sander explained to Alex even as he felt the anger rising in him at the useless loss of life.

Shaking his head, he shrugged, "So there you have it. That's why I've always been interested in their care."

Alex listened as Sander explained how he became interested in caring for animals. She could see that he really had a passion for the animals and he seemed to get angry when he talked about people killing animals for fun.

Alex nodded in agreement as Sander spoke. Then she told him, "I've always liked animals too." "Since I grew up in the muggle world and in the city, I was never around magical animals until I came here. We had dogs and cats, but that was it. We lived near some woods and my friends and I liked to play there. One day, we saw an injured rabbit and we decided to nurse it back to health. We cleaned his leg wound and bandaged it then we rode him around in our wagon. It was crazy and stupid." "This was a nasty city rabbit, it's a wonder we didn't get rabies or worse", she said laughing.

"Okay seriously, I'd better shut up and finish these troughs or we'll be here all day."

Sander listened as Alex told him how she came to love animals too. "No what you did wasn't crazy or stupid. It shows how compassionate and caring you are. See name twin, we have another thing in common. Our love to care for those who need caring." Sander placed a hand on her shoulder and gripped it tight once to show that he felt a common bond with her.

Then he laughed,"Yes I think that we should finish up cleaning here. Our friends here do like their privacy too, and I think that we've taken up too much of their time. I'll help you finish up with the cleaning." Sander told Alex as he help sweep up and then made sure all the troughs were cleaned and filled. Then he pulled over a bag of feed and filled up the food troughs with fresh food. Then he cleaned up the wheelbarrow and the tools he had used before placing them back into the supply cabinet.

Once that was done, he joined Alex. "You did a great job here, Alex. Thanks for helping out. Maybe next time we can spend time taking care of the other creatures. Let's go clean up and grab something to eat." Sander hooked his arm with Alex's and walked out of the stables with her.

Gwen had hurried down to the stables the moment she got free time. She had brought more apples for the horse she was quickly beginning to think of as hers. She had looked him up and discovered that he was what was called a Granian, and supposedly they were very fast.

She fed him an apple and began brushing him out. She had been given permission to name him. Names were a pretty big responsibility, so she'd brought her huge book of names down with her, and though it was hard to read, it was worth it to name a creature. The broom had been easy. When Mo had told her to give the broom a name, Aubrey had been an easy choice because it meant strength, and had strong magical affiliations. A horse, especially a winged horse was a different matter entirely.

"What's your name, huh?" she asked, stroking down his face. She consulted her book for a moment. "Alizay?" The horse seemed to look doubtful so Gwen shook her head. There wasn't really any meaning attached to that name anyway. "You're supposed to be fast," she said, more to herself as she flipped through the pages until finding the label 'fast' in the index. "Ashu?" She tried. No, it sounded like a sneeze. She didn't want the horse to mistake a sneeze for it's name.

"What about Gatik?" How was that pronounced? GAH-tick? Gah-teek? Gay-teek? No idea. Nope. Moving on. "Xanadu?" It didn't have anything to do with speed, but luxury. It sounded pretty cool though. The horse made a funny sound and Gwen giggled. "I don't like it much either," she admitted.

Finally she found it. The name was even highlighted in the book. Perhaps her mom had been thinking about it once. "Ahearn?" she asked. She loved the name. Not only did it mean horse-lord, but it had Welsh origins, much like her own name. They matched. The horse nudged her arm and Gwen smiled at him. "Do you like it?" she fished another apple out of her bag. "Ahearn," she repeated. There. That was it's name.

Lux couldn't believe that she was only making her way to see the horses now. Curiously, she approached the stables and looked within them to see all the different winged horses. It would be incredible to ride a horse, but since she was still battling her fear of heights, it was best for her to stick to ones that did not leave the ground. For the moment, she contented herself with watching them; they really were very beautiful animals.

Venturing a little further, she came across a plaque that said 'Henry' on it. Cool, a Hippogriff! Lux had always thought they were really neat, and wondered if she could make friends with him; as long as she was polite, it was very possible.

Sander opened the door to the stables and entered closing the door securely behind him. This would be his second time visiting his winged friend. "Hi there my beauties. It's me and I'm back to feed you. I hope that all of you have been doing well," he called out to them.

Then he saw someone standing next to Henry the Hippogriff's stall. Sander squinted and walked towards the girl before recognizing who it was. He smiled surprised to see Lux here.

"Hello Lux. I didn't expect to see you here. What brings you to the stables?" he asked his young friend.

Hearing a familiar voice, Lux turned to her friend Sander and gave him a hug. It had been a few days since they had last talked, so she had missed him. "Hey, I was just visiting the horses because I haven't been here before. What about you?" Maybe it would be a good idea to venture down here more often to talk to the animals and maybe help out with them if that was needed.

Sander returned her hug before turning to look at Henry. "Oh I been coming down here to groom and feed them. Alex helped me the last time, but it has been awhile since I last came here. I've been neglecting our handsome friends. " he smiled over at Henry.

Then he turned to look at Lux, an idea blossoming in his mind. "Would you like to help me feed them? I was going to just feed and water them since I thought that I was going to be the only one here. But maybe if we finish that together, we may have time to groom them." he suggested to Lux.

Oh, wow. Lux had no idea that Sander had been doing it. But really it was not a huge surprise, because he was such a kind and hard working person. The idea of her helping him feed and water them made her happy, as was the idea of grooming them. With a big smile on her face, she gave him a thumbs up. "That sounds like a super idea." And since he had experience doing this, he could show her what to do and help her out if she needed it. Not really being all that familiar with horses, the care of them was not something she knew much about. "When I am totally over my fear of heights, I might ask the Professor if I can ride one of the horses or Henry. Wouldn't that be totally cool, Sander?" She looked at him with wide eyes, excited.

Sander smiled at Lux eagerness and willingness to help. "That's great. I know that I'll definitely appreciate the help. This body of mine is not feeling as great as it used to be. I just hope someone figures out what is happening to us." he told Lux saddened at the thought that he had been planning to do so much in his one term at Hogwarts but was now inhibited by his failing body and memory.

"I'm waiting for the Professor to give me permission to ride Henry or any of these guys here. I would especially love to ride one of the Thestrals. So mosst definitely it'll be cool if he granted me permission to do that. Hey maybe if he does, I could take you riding with me." he smiled down at the girl.

She really looked excited at the thought of riding one of the horses. He loved her enthusiasm and was actually glad to see that she hadn't been affected by this strange aging illness like he, Tessa and Bay had been.

Aww, poor Sander. It made her sad that he and a lot of her other friends were suffering from this weird rapid ageing thing while she was totally okay. It must be hard for them sometimes to see her in perfect health while they had to face so many struggles. She would try her best to help her friends and fellow classmates feel better.

"I can help you wherever you need it, Sander. And I would love to ride with you if I feel confident about it and the Professor agrees." Her lessons were going well, so fingers crossed she would be okay with going airborne by the end of the Term. Since Sander was Graduating, they had only a certain amount of time. Not wanting to dwell on his leaving, she decided to focus on other things that would not cause her to become Sad.

"Okay, so if you tell me what to do, I think we can get this done as a great team!"

Sander almost teared up when he heard how enthusiastic Lux was to work with him. Ahhh...to be sooo young and energetic, he thought to himself.

"Well let's see we can first clean out their water. First we empty the dirty water from the trough. Then we fill it up with clean water again and that's basically that," Sander told her. Then he smiled gently at her when she showed some hesitance in riding the winged horses.

"Well we can ask the Professor whether he'll allow us to ride tandem. I've already obtained permission to ride them myself. If he says yes, you can ride with me. That way, I'll make very sure you don't have to spend time worrying about falling off and just be free to enjoy the ride itself," Sander suggested to her.

Lux raised her hand to her head in salute as she listened to Sander explain what was needed to do. "Gotcha!" It seemed simple enough, and she was sure that they could do it together as a team. "Do I actually have to dump the water out? Or can you make it vanish with magic?" Because she was not sure how to do that on her own, and Sander was a lot more accomplished with magic.

The thought of riding with Sander made her feel a lot better. "Oh, that would be great. I wouldn't be too scared if I had you on there with me." Hopefully the Professor would give them permission to, but he seemed really nice so she was not overly worried. All the teachers at this school were the best!

"Well I look forward to riding them soon. Hopefully before I graduate and I would love to take you up with me, if Professor Thompson says that it is okay," Sander smiled down at Lux. He couldn't wait to finally get a chance to take these beautiful creatures out for a run.

....but for now, it was back to cleaning up the stables.

"Okay the first thing we do, is siphon off the water. You use the Siphoning spell. The incantation for that is Tergeo, and you do it like this," Sander told Lux as he demonstrated how to perform the first spell.

Taking out his wand, he pointed it inside the water trough and said, "Tergeo," and watched as the water began to drain away.

"Next we clean out the trough with the Souring spell, and the incantation for that is Scourgify," Sander told Lux as he demonstrated the next step in the cleaning process.

"Once the trough is clean, we can now fill it up with clean water. You should be very familiar with the incantation, Lux. What is it?" Sander turned to his young friend. He figure that while he was teaching her, it would also be good to revise with her the spells that she had already learned.

"That sounds wonderful, Sander!" She was sure that if she rode on the horse with him, she would feel better like riding on a broom with Tessa made her feel better. The only thing was, she hoped that the horse wouldn't get too far off of the ground.

Curiously, she watched him as he demonstrated what they needed to do to change the water. Seemed easy enough, and she would definitely remember this. Ooh, she knew what the spell for water was, so it was easy to answer that question! "You use Aguamenti!"

Sander nodded and clapped his hands, "Yes you're right, Lux. 1000 points to you," he grinned at her. "Aguamenti!" Sander said the incantation as he pointed his wand inside the trough. As water began streaming out of his wand, he motioned over to the trough near the Thestrals.

"Would you like to try cleaning and filling up one? Don't mind the Thestrals. They don't bite. Um....can you see them, Lux?" Sander asked as curiosity got the better of him. He hoped that Lux would say no. She was too young to have to witness someone dying.

WHOOOO! 1 000 points!

Giggling, she felt rather proud of herself, and wished that they could be real points even though she wasn't obsessed with gaining them. It just would be cool, because it would make Hufflepuff have even more of a lead. Smiling, she watched as he poured the water in. It really was handy to have wands, as it would have been more difficult and hard work if done the muggle way. Not that Lux had any problem with hard work; she valued it, and took tasks seriously.

"Sure! I can do that!" She had remembered everything that Sander had demonstrated. But wait.... "I can't see them. Can you?" If he could, that was rather sad, because it meant he had seen someone die.

Animals and creatures had always been one of Abbi's favorite things, along with fairies and sugar of course. With that, Care of Magical Creatures had to be one of her most like subjects and therefore possibly the only subject she attempted to do homework for. It wasn't her fault the other subjects didn't suit her. Today there was no creatures homework to be done and so therefore her homework was left once more abandoned in her dorm whilst she ventured outside in the spring weather.

Her footsteps led her towards the stables and before she knew it she was inside looking about with a wide smile perked up on her rosey face. She wore an expression of fascination and her eyes gleamed with excitement as she passed by creature after creature. They all had something she really liked. Wings, of course.

"Can you all fly?" Could they? That would be SO SO SO cool.

Bart was bored! He was over being old, he was over classes, he was over finals, he was over homework. He wanted something fun today, but was too tired to figure anything out so instead he took Toad and went shuffling around the grounds. Not even thinking about where he was going when he looked up and saw the stables.


Hmm he hadn't been at the stables yet this term other than visiting the professor with Culloden. He wondered if he could get close to that Hippogriff he had seen in the stall before. Shuffling his frog slippers into the stable stopping at the door. He noticed someone was already there. As he stood watching he couldn't help but smile.

"If they have wings of course they can fly." He chuckled and shuffled closer to Addi, "What are you doing? Going to try to ride one?" He could see Addi jumping on a hippogriff and flying away.

There was no answer, which was what Abbi expected considering most creatures couldn't speak English just like that. Those were usually the special kind of creatures, like birds, that could be trained to do so more easily, but horse-like creatures, yeah they just wouldn't speak English. Yet English was still heard, not long after Abbi spoke.

Her head turned for a moment to look where the English came from and when she spotted Bart she immediately turned back to look at the horses, not uttering a word to him, not even caring what he had just said. She was utterly and compellingly mad at him and what he had done to her. He therefore got the silent treatment, unless he wanted a screaming one, she could do that to.

He could choose. Silence or ear-breaking screams?

He watched as Abbi looked at him and looked away. Sorry but he started cracking up right away knowing what she was doing. See this is what he was talking about when he called her weird. She was such an awesome cool girl with her love for quidditch, not doing school work, and fun things, but then she had this I'm going to be a five year old side with fairies, this dumb cootie thing, and now silent treatments. What was with her anyway.


He shuffled over towards one of the stalls and started petting the creature. "Hi there think I could ride you? Show Addi here she's missing out for not talking." That would probalby get her to talk, not that Bart cared to fly on any of them. This old thing ha him wanting to keep his feet on the ground more. Turning he leaned against the stall. "So still mad I kissed you or are you mad because now you have those stupid not real cooties?"

Laughing he shuffled closer, "Want another kiss? Maybe the cooties are fading."