Staring was something Brooklyn was good at, from having the occasional staring contest with Tywin back in her dorm. She had to be careful not to make this stare seem too much like a look though. The hippogriff might not appreciate getting glared at, but if it didn’t do anything soon, she might have given up and glared anyway. She wasn’t exactly very patient after all. Especially not when she was starting to get a crick in her neck from the bowed down position, but she held on for another few seconds. She wasn’t about to cave to the whims of a hippogriff after all, even for a lesson. It would have to decide if it liked her at some point. Either that or she’d just decide to move on to a different one and then this one wouldn’t be the best anymore. She wasn’t sure it deserved that title anyway, keeping her waiting.

Almost at the point she’d decided to give up on it, the hippogriff’s head started to lower and finally it bowed to her. Finally. Battle of wills was over, and she’d won. Just another point in her favor, but then Brooklyn would have refused to acknowledge if she’d lost anyway. This was just easier, and she stayed leaned over for a second longer before she straightened up and approached her chosen hippogriff. “You knew what was good for you, didn’t you?,” she said quietly to it, reaching a hand out slowly. Just because the hippogriff was still bowed down didn’t mean she was safe. Trust still had to be built, and she was going to make sure the hippogriff knew that. They’d have to learn to trust each other.

With her hand still on her Hippogriff's beak as she was stroking him lightly she listened intently to what the Professor was telling them. Apparently they enjoyed being groomed. That was cool cause really she didn't mind helping a Hippogriff out especially this one. He was special and they both knew it.

Spotting the pail beside her feet she knelt down keeping her eyes still on her Hippogriff as she pulled out the large brush. Dropping her hand from petting him she removed her wand from inside her robes and quickly cast a 'Scorgify' over the brush. There nice and clean. Slipping her wand back into it's holder for safe keeping she turned her full attention once more to her Hippogriff.

"So you enjoy being groomed hmm?" Hady asked as she laid the brush up on it's neck as high as she could so that she could run the brush all the way down. With a slow gentle motion she brushed over his feathers. There wasn't a sound from either of them for several moments until a tiny squawking sound was heard. Was that her Hippogriff or someone else's? Unsure for a moment Hady continued to run the brush down over it's feathers softly making sure to move in one direction.

There it was again! Another louder squawk! She was sure this time it had come from him. Grinning she lightly patted his side with her free hand. "Ah you like that then? Don't you worry I'll get you all brushed up and comfortable." She stated happily returning to grooming her new friend.

Ian was alive. He'd returned his gaze to the creature as soon as his sneeze was done and aside from a glance away, it gave no indication of his impending doom. He eyeballed the creature again in his bow until finally the hippogriff bowed. Ian walked up to it and hesitantly reached out his hand, touching the feathers lightly. It wasn't so bad. Maybe he wouldn't be horribly mauled by an insulted flying horse-bird. He pet it a bit longer, just for each of them to get used to one another. He then told the hirdy he was going to get a brush and he went to acquire one.

Jasmine didn't have to wait too long to get the answer to her question. It was grooming time and she didn't waste a moment getting started. After listening to the Professor's instructions, Jasmine looked around for the bucket of supplies. Then she turned to Buddy and said, "I'm going to fix you up so you'll look even more handsome than you already are."

Reaching over to retrieve the bucket, Jasmine pulled it closer to her. She picked up the bucket and took out her wand. Pointing it at the brush, she said, Scourgify". Once she was sure that the brush was nice and clean, she was ready to use it on Buddy. Jasmine put her hand on top of the Hippogriff's feathers and looked him in the eye. "Buddy, I'm going to brush you now. Are you ready?"

First Jasmine began to stroke Buddy's feathers with her hand, in a head to tail direction. She continued to do this until she felt that he was becoming comfortable with the whole process. Jasmine wasn't excited about the prospect of loosening any dead bugs.......but she guessed it was better than having live bugs pop out of his feathers.

Now that Jasmine felt he was ready, she began to brush the Hippogriff slowly and gently. She kept this up for a while, keeping her eye out for any falling critters. Even though she had been warned, Jasmine was startled a bit when the Hippogriff began to squawk. "Do you like that Buddy?", Jasmine asked with a smile. He certainly seemed to like the whole process. As instructed, Jasmine began to brush the feathers faster. Buddy seemed content, kind of like a dog when he gets his stomach rubbed. It was all good. When Jasmine thought that his feathers [I]had]/I] to be clean and bug free, she stopped brushing. Petting the Hippogriff's head, she looked him over. "There, you look beautiful", she said. She continued to stroke his head while waiting for the next instructions.

Ugh. Why is that Hippogriff not looking??! Hello! Yeah, Mr. Hippogriff? Over here! Ethan tried not to wave and be impatient, because he didn't want that beast to run after him, and make him its chow. No thanks. Instead, the prefect got closer, and...voila! Finally, he got the attention he had been waiting.

Ethan dared not to blink, and slowly...slowly bowed to it without taking his eyes off of it. Staring game? Pssh. He can do it really well now. It was a good thing that they got this part covered from last term, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Ethan waited...and the Hippogriff (somehow) decided to bow down. Probably because it's desperate to be cleaned??? Hehehe. Whichever the case, they both win this time.

Grinning to himself, Ethan straightened up and approached the beast carefully.

Once the hippogriff was secure with him, Benny chanced to look back at Angel. Only to find she was choosing to work with the same hippogriff as he was. The fourth year gingerly removing his petting hands and stepping away to allow the creature the movements he needed to interact with the Gryffindor's girlfriend. Soon enough the younger lion was granted the ability to approach and Ben returned to give their companion another friendly rub of her own.

"See...no trouble," he mused, relieved to see she had calmed over the situation.

Hearing the announcement from the professor, he followed the man's gaze to a nearby bucket. Since Angel was befriending the hippogriff, Ben took the opportunity to retrieve a brush. "Scourgify," he cast quietly on the brush before slowly reapproaching. "Going to help you out..." he told the creature as he raised a hand up to his feathers, lightly brushing them with his hand first. Only when the hippogriff made it clear he was enjoying it did he swap hand for brush and eventually rub a little stronger.

Ethan had to restrain himself from running towards the Hippogriff. Even if he felt the beast did not approve of him at first, he was excited nonetheless to get into grooming. The prefect walked coolly towards his Hippogriff and slowly got his hand out to stroke its side.

So far, so good. Ethan wondered if he or she has a name like Henry? He wanted to name his beast 'Tiny'. Tiny is an awesome name, and he was sure that the beast will agree...or maybe not.

The prefect looked around as he listened to Professor Thompson's instructions. Once he spotted the bucket, he quickly shifted his attention to the professor to see just in time on how the brushing should be done.

This one should be easy...

Ian showed 'his' hippogriff the brush as he ran it back and forth over his open palm. He spoken softly. Check it out. Not a dangerous thing at all. Just a brush to help clean out your feathers. Ian cautiously placed the brush alongside its neck and gently pulled it down. He watched the reaction of the hippogriff. It stood there, still maintaining the stoic stance it had adopted. Probably felt about as much affection for Ian as Ian had fear. Ian repeated the motion to get the hippogriff used to it. After some time, the hippogriff lowered its head and allowed Ian to brush the crown. This was ok.

A few were right on board, while the rest were at least making some sort of effort and progress. But of course, it was time to keep going as he addressed the class again, "Now then, after you have brushed your Hippogriff enough times take the bucket and empty out the contents." Which the Professor then did so, revealing a number of items, two brick-shaped blocks, an oversized comb, and a small bottle filled with white-coloured liquid. "Now then, next step for us is to coax the hippogriff to their miniature pool nearby." Now how would they do that? "Keep talking with them, letting them trust you on to where you're taking them. Some might enjoy being brushed or just simple pats and pets from your own hand whilst you're guiding them."

To demonstrate, the Creature Professor gave Henry a few strokes around the back of his head, getting his attention. Then petting along his feathers on his body before patting near the hind to get him moving into the miniature pool, which was filled with cool water. "Good Henry.." Addressing him last before the rest again, "Then take the small bottle of liquid and pour half of it into the pool. It's a special wash for their talons and hooves to clean and help relax them even more." Finally taking the bottle from the ground, he unscrewed the top of it before pouring the white liquid in. Suds were forming around instantly, causing Henry to begin folding itself into a sitting position quite relaxed.


---
Make sure to have brushed the Hippogriff enough times before moving them. Next post will be around 8-12 hours from now. =)

Right as he thought his back was going to give out, the Hippogriff gave mercy and bowed back to him. Fantastic! He smiled big as he approached the being slowly. With a cautious hand, he pet the creature on the head. The hippogriff seemed to like the petting and Dec took that as a chance to finally blink. Phew.

Dec picked up the brush. "Is it alright with you if I brush you a bit?" He asked the creature, running his hands through its feathers to give it a heads up. Casting the cleaning spell on the brush first, he then started brushing the beast slowly, waiting to see if it would let him. When it started to position itself allow him to brush into more places, he started making his way around until he got every nook and cranny.

"Alright, buddy." He set down the brush to empty out the bucket they were given. "Why don't we head over to this little pool over here for a bath, hmm?" Declan cooed, patting him softly to coax him into the pool. "There we go. Now, all we need is this..." He unscrewed the bottle with the white liquid to pour half of it into the water. "...and all you need to do is relax. Simple right??" He grinned at the creature, petting its back.

Awesome so they will be able to ride their hippogriffs! Kace nodded towards the professor and went onto the next activity. He needed to brush his hippogriff first. It made sense he wanted his creature to be all clean and stuff. He went over to the supplies and got his large brush. He showed his hippogriff that he was gonna use it. His eyes went wide at first but he nodded it seemed like. He used the spell "Aguamenti!" and his brush was all clean. Then he placed his hands on the feathers and told him, "Hey I am just gonna be brushing you and cleaning off your feathers is that okay?" he asked.

He waited for his response and the creature eyed the brush apprehensively and Kace noticed and promised him, "I will go slow. I promise.." he smiled kindly. The creature blinked and Kace took that as a yes and he began to brush in only one direction. He kept brushing downwards and he saw his eyes close. He kept brushing till he heard the....

SQUAWK!

Kace then knew to brush a little faster now and he saw all the dead bugs that were underneath the feathers. It seemed quite disgusting really. He scrunched up his nose and kept brushing to get rid of all the bugs. It seemed calming to the Hippogriff and he seemed to like it. He checked the brush and noticed dirt was forming. He heard the professor say they needed to get a bucket and empty out the contents. This was gonna be gross but his hippogriff didn't want him to stop. He began brushing him torso, his legs and back and head. He was nuzzling against him and Kace chuckled. He did have a way with animals. "I am just cleaning my brush out okay?" he told him and went over to the bucket to clean it out. The hippogriff followed him and was curious. He looked up and noticed the professor told him directions.

Now he needed to coax him into the pool. This shall be a challenge. Let's see how his hippogriff does with this task.

It was moments like these when Layla wished animals were capable of looking after themselves. There was definitely nothing in her future career path that led to having to brush and clean a horse thing and quite frankly she was still questioning why on earth she had bothered to attend this lesson. She had approached it and that was enough for now. She didn’t need to go near it and in a magical world such as this ‘Hippogriffs’ or whatever they were called should have been able to brush themselves.

Urgh.

She cleaned the brush prior although she wasn’t particularly bothered anyway. “Scourgify” she sighed before glancing around for a familiar face. Someone she could perhaps palm this work off to and not really have to bother doing it by herself. No one? Yep okay..

She showed the brush to the creature before cautiously stroking its feathers. Soft but still not anything she wanted to do again anytime soon. The Ravenclaw began using the brush this time, slowly stroking and preening the creature all the time keeping a straight-faced rather grumpy expression across her lips. She was definitely dropping this after OWL’s.

Adi continued to brush Grey Feathers while talking to him soothingly. The Griff seemed to be enjoying it very much and now and then would emit a content squawk. The boy was really pleased about this progress. Maybe now the Griff wouldn't be that suspicious of him.

Ohh. The man in the shorts and Tee was giving more instructions. Adi listened. Okay, he could do all of that. First he emptied the bucket, watching the items in it tumble out. Interesting stuff there.

Pat, pat, pat. Grey Feathers got more of those as Adi started to lead him in the direction of the pool. So far, so good. "You're doing great,'' he said. More pats. The duo were closer to the pool now...just a little bit closer...and there! They were there. "Well done, Grey Feathers.'' Adi patted the Griff on the head. All he had to do was get the creature into the pool. With some more coaxing, patting and words, the Griff was now IN the pool. Great.

The Hufflepuff grabbed the bottle of liquid thingy then poured half of it into the pool. Grey Feathers seemed to be loving the suds for he squawked again.

Angel watched as Benny brushed the hippogriff and then she decided to join in with him. "I'm not sure this is a good idea." Angel grabbed a brush and looked at Benny, she give the Hippogriff a stroke first though. "You won't hurt me right?" Angel really wanted to curl up with Benny now until the end of the class this was scary.

"Scourgify! Angel did the wand movement and pointed towards the brush, she then rubbed the Hippogriff with the brush. "Is this right?" Angel suddenly asked her boyfriend.

Onto getting his hippogriff into the pool. He needed to clean his talons now. He needed to give him/her a name. He wondered what gender he could be. "Hey Professor I am curious.." he called out. "How can you tell if your hippogriff is a girl or boy. I mean I would like to give it a name.." he gestured to his hippogriff. He knew the obvious way but he wanted to know if there were other ways. But he needed to get onto the task at hand since the Professor seemed busy at the moment. "Alright you, we are gonna go by the pool over there see?" he pointed towards it. The hippogriff's eyes followed his and eyed the pool. It didn't seem too happy at first. It seemed apprehensive at first. "I will be right there with you I promise, no one else will touch you.." he promised. He kept petting him to earn his trust. It closed his eyes and nuzzled.

He took as much time as he needed. "Come on.." he offered. He was gonna push him/her or make it do anything. It actually waited a few seconds then it followed him! He smiled and walked him over to the pool. It stopped a few feet before it and Kace put his hands into the water and it seemed a bit cold. He used the hose and put warm water into it. "See not too cold.." he said wetting his hands and it seemed lukewarm. "Go on and try.." he smiled. The hippogriff nodded and lifted his talon and put it into the water. It seemed to like it and he put all his feet into it. SUCCESS!

Now he needed to potion. He got it from the table and put it in. Then he hippogriff seemed relax and squawked. He saw Adi having success too and he smiled towards him.

Ian had continued to brush the hippogriffs feathers when he heard the professor speak. He kept a hand on the beasts shoulder and listened as Javy gave instructions on getting the hippogriff int the pool. He also heard the admonition to continue to build the relationship if he'd just started.

Ian began to slide the brush down the back of the hippogriffs neck and down along its spine. Most animals Ian had encountered liked that. The hippogriff patiently stood there as Ian continued to brush and speak softly and reassuringly to it.

Benny continued to brush and rub down their hippogriff, watching as his girlfriend joined him with her own brush. "Its fine, Angel," he said, trying to assure her. "Hippogriffs are very friendly creatures as long as you dont...ruffle their feathers. Figuratively, not literally." They were being nice to his feathers as they brushed them, cleaning them out as the professor mentioned was the purpose for the brush.

"Uh huh...perfect," he confirmed with a smile. Not to hard yet not to gentle. A just right movement of the brush against the creature, the hippogriff clearly enjoying it by the occasional sounds that it made. Glancing briefly at Professor Thompson as he instructed them further, Ben listened to the man until the hippogriff nudged him, the action rather playful and he realized he had stopped brushing and rubbing as he listened. "Okay...okay...I wont stop," he mused with a light chuckle as he looked back at his companion, resuming the actions.

"If you want Angel, empty the bucket and be ready with the bottle," he suggested, thinking on what they were being asked to do and what the younger Gryffindor might be comfortable doing. "I think I can lead him into the pool. " Even if he managed to get his own feet wet.

Professor Thompson began to speak again, giving the next set of instructions. "Oh Buddy, you're going to get a nice bubble bath.", Jasmine said. She took everything out of the bucket, making sure that all of the items were present. All of the supplies were accounted for so it was time to get started.

Alright my friend, it's time to get into the pool.". Jasmine stroked her Hippogriff's head and and spoke gently to him. "Come on now. It's going to feel soooo good when you get in that nice soapy water.". Did she sound convincing? Jasmine certainly hoped so.

Jasmine continued to run her hand across Buddy's back and then tried to give him a little nudge forward. He looked at Jasmine like he was unsure about the whole thing. "You'll like it, I promise, she said. The Hippogriff began to move forward slowly until they reached the edge of the pool. "All you have to do is get inside and I'll make you some nice bubbles. Trust me." Given one more little nudge, Buddy stepped into the pool of water. "Good boy. You did it. Now it's bubble time." Jasmine gave him a little pat for encouragement, then she opened the bottle and poured half of the liquid into the water.

The bubbles began to form, surrounding Buddy's hooves and legs. He appeared to relax and Jasmine contined to pat his head and back. She wanted to make sure that he felt comfortable and secure. Wondering what they would have to do next, Jasmine just made sure that her Buddy was happy.

THEY WERE BATHING THEM NOW?! ..... HOLY SMOKES!

Zeke's hazel eyes shot up to his Hipporgriff, and the beam on his face was in danger of disappearing into his hairline. THIS WAS AWESOME! Of course how he was going to handle washing a BIIIIGGG beast, being a little firstie, was an interesting concept. But meh... he'd figure it out.

"Professor, does my Hippogriff have a name? Is it a boy or a girl?" he needed to know these things if he was going to be coaxing it to do things and such. Names were vital for communication and forming bonds and things. PLUS, it was too lovely not to have a name. It NEEDED a name... and he had to know it.

Emptying his bucket, Zeke pocketed the small bottle, then he returned to his Hippogriff. "Would you like a bath?... not that you really have a choice, but I promise I'll look after you real good. It'll feel nice, and you'll be all clean afterward and be SUPER pretty, cause you already are." So yeah, yeah... was this coaxing enough?

Zeke pat the beast gently, smiling at it. The beasts golden amber eyes stared back at him and he dipped his/her head a couple of times. WHAT DID THAT MEAN?! "Come on, I'll keep patting you in the water," he added, "the water will be nice, I promise, it'll be relaxing and then later once you're clean we can fly." Personally, the promise of going flying would get HIM to do ANYTHING - or almost anything, so perhaps that incentive would work on the Hippogriff?

"This way," he coaxed some more, pointing to the pool and then patting the beast along its side and then gently on the hindquarters. With a couple of pats, the Hippogriff started moving in the right direction, and slowly but surely, they reached the pool. It stood in the water, but didn't sit like Professor Thompson's did. Then he remembered the bottle in his pocket.

"Look! It's like a bubble bath!" he said cheerfully as he emptied half of the contents into the water

What was Grayson doing?

Falling behind, that's what.

He didn't even know WHY but before he knew it, he'd somehow managed to miss one part of the lesson. It was kinda weird to see people already ushering their hippogriffs to a bath while he was standing there with a brush in his hand. Looking like an idiot too, while he was at it. Jeez, Whitty, get it together, man.

Shaking his head, Grayson cleaned his brush before gently placing a hand on the hippogriff's neck and back. "Hey, hippogriff." He needed to give this one a name. "Look, I'm just gonna take this brush and run it through your feathers, mkay? Nothing major, you're gonna love it," he said confidently, gently stroking the creature, "And I can guarantee that because it'll be me who's carrying out this task." Just saying.

When he was done talking, the fifth year switched the brush to the other hand, his right hand, and started brushing the hippogriff's feathers. A gentle, slow brushing was all that happened because those talons looked like they could hurt and he wasn't going to get attacked. Not today, not any day.

SQUAWWWWWWWWK!

FREAKING YES. That was the sound of SUCCESS.

This was his cue to speed up with the brushing, yeah? Good. That was what he was gonna do, all the while getting rid of those pesky bugs and dirt that were lingering in the hippogriff's feathers.

Even though she knew Professor Thompson was a nice man, Lux was still relieved when he said she didn't have to ride on her Hippogriff. The thought of walking right by the creatures was really nice to her as long as she wasn't required to leave the ground. Her fear was that a Hippogriff wanting to stretch his wings would fly waaaaay up in the air, not barely off the ground. But she did have another question come to mind and figured the Professor wouldn't mind since it WAS part of his job to answer questions. "Could I ride mine without him flying? Or do they automatically fly when someone gets on their back?" Maybe she was being silly, but she didn't know too much about Hippogriffs besides that they were prideful and wanted respect.

Continuing to brush her Hippogriff, she moved on to the next task as soon as she was finished. Emptying out the bucket, she carefully placed the items on the ground; there was no point in dumping things out needlessly. The only thing she kept was the bottle, which she placed in her pocket for the moment.

Gently stroking his head, she started coaxing him to the little pool once she had his attention. "How about a nice bath, Mr. Hippogriff. It will be amazing and you will feel nice and clean. Your coat will be super shiny and wonderful." As she gently talked to him, she carefully led him to the pool. At first he was a little hesitant, but more head pats and a gentle pat on his hindquarters got him moving. "Good boy, there will be loads more of nice head pats for you."

Mr. Hippogriff got into the water, and she poured in half of the liquid. She was happy to see him get comfy in the water the way that Henry had.

Hold the snitch, why did the Gryffindor get the idea that this class wouldn't actually be about flying but rather, Hippogriff care? Merlin's beard, this so wasn't what she signed up for--or maybe it was but she'd been hoping for something that didn't keep everyone firmly planted on the ground because how depressing was that? For now she would tell herself the flying was coming at the end, that way she still had something to look forward to while she apparently tried getting this thing into the mini pool.

What was she to do if it didn't want do go in there? Make no mistake, she was getting mauled for no one and these creatures tended to have their own ideas of what they wanted to do with their lives. All the power to them and she'd try but she had to say if things got ugly, she wasn't forcing this thing to take a bath. Not even.

"Alright, how's about we move this brushing session to the pool?" She tried, even as she continued brushing along it's neck. "Come on now, this way." Lex began moving forward, gesturing for the Hippogriff to do the same. "Don't make this hard, I will stop brushing you." And so it would take her seriously, she eased up on the brushing a bit. This caused the Hippogriff to move forward, nudging away at her hand for her to continue. Each time it nudged she took a step back then another while it advanced on her until it was finally standing in the mini pool at which point she began brushing again.

That wasn't so hard, just had to know what it liked and take advantage of it.

While she brushed it's underbelly, she reached for the bottle in question and poured half into the pool. Definitely bath time.

Ian seemed to have developed a good connection with the hippogriff. He was no longer in mortal fear of losing a limb and so he decided to name the hippogriff for himself. He liked ruffles, so that wa the name, Ruffles. He began to speak quietly. Ok, ruffles. Time to clean the hoofs. You know you want to walk into a little kiddie pool. C'mon Ruffles. Ian stepped in front of a Ruffles and began to motion toward himself. [b] c'mon, buddy. Let's get those hoofs cleaned out. [b] Ian wondered if he had anything to coax him food wise. Maybe not the best choice and seemingly unnecessary as Ian noticed the hippogriff coming in his direction. Slowly and surely, Ian coaxed him over, [b] c'mon bud. [b] Ian reached down and splashed the water, making sure to maintain eye contact.

Ian was pleased to see Ruffles step into the water, as I fthis was something he'd done before. Ian emptied the bucket and grabbed the container of liquid, pouring it into the water. When he was done, he reached up and stroked Ruffles feathers.

Next came bathing time.

Which, by the way, he wasn't gonna be cleaning no hindquarters of any creature. Just saying.

But leading the creature into the pool and pouring the white substance didn't sound like a difficult task. So, he took the bucket and emptied it out. The bottle of white substance -- was it a potion of some kind? -- was put to one side because he'd need that later. As for now, he needed to turn his attention back towards the hippogriff.

"Alright, hippogriff, I just need to give you a bath, mkay?" Yes? Did the hippogriff agree to that? "So I need you go into that pool over there." No, he did not. DEADPAN. "C'mooooooon! It's just a bit of water! I'm not gonna leave you there and run off!" But, if anything, that made things worse and before he knew it, the hippogriff was shuffling backwards and away from the pool.

Great. Just great.

"Nooooo! I need you to go THIS way! C'mon! It's gonna be fun!" he said, patting the hippogriff a little slower than before. Something about this treatment seemed to make the creature relax a bit more than before. Good? Grayson continued patting the hippogriff in this way before saying in a low voice, "C'mon, I'm gonna give you a bath and you're gonna love it." Truth.

A small smirk spread across the Slytherin's face as the creature moved, this time in the forward direction and over towards the pool. "Thaaaat's it! Good boy!" What? It worked on dogs! Once the creature was in the pool, Grayson moved away and grabbed the bottle of suspicious white substance. He carefully opened it and poured half of the contents into the pool that his hippogriff was sitting in. Only half.

Toby continued to brush Monty even as he looked around at Thompson, who was speaking again. This time, the Hufflepuff's attention sort of wandered as the man spoke, and he found himself constantly phasing in and out during the instructions. Nevertheless, he could more or less keep up with what they had to do. He blinked hard, shook his head, and managed to concentrate enough to catch the tail end of what the professor was telling them.

Right, so... Tobias looked at Monty again, still brushing, and squinted as he tried to recall that first step. A little way away, out of the corner of his eye, Toby caught sight of movement from another student. He looked over to see them emptying out their bucket, which sort of served to kickstart his memory again. Empty bucket, coax hippogriff to pool, pour that white stuff into water. Easy enough.

He didn't start straight away, preferring to really do a good job with the brushing and cleaning of Monty's feathers before moving on. It was important to Toby that Monty was super happy with what was going on, and he was still brushing out dirt and stuff from the hippogriffs feathers, so it didn't feel right to stop now.

But eventually he did, because class would be moving on soon, and many others had already completed this step. Toby stopped brushing, stroked Monty's feathers, and leaned down to pick up the bucket and empty it of its contents. Seeing everything accounted for, the fifth year looked back to his chosen hippogriff and smiled.

"C'mon Monty, you should come over to this pool. Apparently it's super nice, dead relaxing." As he spoke in that calm and gentle manner that always seemed to be most apparent when he conversed with animals, Toby reached up to pat Monty's feathers again. He made a 'follow me' gesture with his head and stepped towards the pool, hoping to lead the creature that way. At first, Monty hesitated, but with a few pats and then some more brushing (apparently this hippogriff was a big big fan), they finally made progress.

Toby couldn't help but grin as Monty stepped into the pool of water, first with those large, scaly and taloned feet, and then those brutal looking hooves.

"Great job, Monty. Now check this out."

Tobias held up the bottle, as though showing Monty what he was going to do before actually doing it (whether this made any difference to the hippogriffs understanding of the situation was unclear; Toby thought that maybe Monty recognised the entire cleaning routine in any case, though he still liked to be totally upfront with the creature). Then, having taken off the lid, he poured half of the liquid into the pool just as Thompson had done. As he recapped the bottle, Monty sank down into that sitting position just as Henry had done, as the suds formed instantly in the water.

More smiling from Toby was happening, as the Hufflepuff went ahead and sat down too, right by the pool. He didn't care that he was on the floor or anything, just wanted to keep that same height difference between himself and Monty. Plus, he was still talking to the creature, and it just felt right to sit side by side, at least until the class was told what to do next.

...

"D'you want me to keep brushing you?" No answer (of course). "... I'm gonna keep brushing you."

And so he did, even though he wasn't sure they were really supposed to; the hippogriff just really seemed to love it, and he just wanted the make the creature happy. Monty gave what Toby could only describe as a relaxed, happy sort of squawk, and so the Hufflepuff continued.