His picture was boring but well created. Dima should have just been thankful that it was moving, right? Instead of heading back inside, he decided to make the most of the resources and sort-of-props he had in the grounds. Hmmm... rocks? Those didn't move, but...

He pulled his foot back, kicking it forward at a smaller rock and sending the chunk of gravel soaring. And he snapped a picture while he was at it.

Waiting for it to print out of the camera, he held it up when it did, letting the camera fall back around his neck. Wand in hand already, and... "Alacer!" Tap. His shoe entered the picture, hurtling the rock into the air. That was two of five done.

... what next?

Oh they were being obedient and listening to him?

GOOD.

Whitty approved. Uh huh. He didn't even care that they suddenly started seeming a little TOO enthusiastic about this or the fact that there was a lot more fairy whispering going on. Didn't care. They could talk all they wanted as long as they got the task done. Which they seemed to be--

"OI! Where do you think you're going? COME BACK HERE!" Were they really flying away? REALLY? After the way he had treated them oh-so-nicely? Jeez, what a way to pay him back.

Before Grayson knew why he was doing, the boy started running along the path as if his life depended on it. All he knew was that he HAD to catch up to them and get them BACK. The only difficult part about this was the way in which they were flying too freaking quickly! AND dodging this way and that. Jeez, they were TINY and he had MUCH longer legs. Surely he could outrun those buggers, right?

Science sure had a lot of explaining to do.

There was nothing for it. Pulling out his wand -- which was difficult given the fact that he had a JAR tucked away under his arm -- he aimed it over towards the fairies and cried, "IMMOBULUS!"

There. Frozen.

Catching up with them, Grayson quickly shoved them back I to the jar and closed the lid. "That was too freaking close! And YOU GUYS," he said, holding the jar up to eye level, "What did I say about flying away? HMMM?" Fairies, man. "I think we've had enough exercise for today," Which included him as well, obviously.

"Teeth model." Alexa confirmed, not at all bothered the girl had taken away the view of her teeth now. It was already caught on camera so she was all good. If nothing else she'd just have to find another reason to get the girl smiling. No real chore right there, she liked Dot.

And while the girl was getting her pictures moving, Lex placed her two newest pictures on her leg and gave them each a tap while uttering the incantation, "Alacer." twice. One for each, obviously. These turned out just as nice. Lex duplicated the one of the of the younger girl skipping, her braids flopping about as she did and handed it to her. "This is for when you get older and you start liking boys and decide snogs are a good thing. You can look at this and remember how adorable and naive you were." Serious stuff here. She wished someone had taken a picture of her in her innocence.

"You should climb up here so I can have a picture of that too." Lex said while pointing her camera at a bird on the branch above her. Where did he come from? "And you never threw a note and no one's yelled at me. I think I'd remember if something like tha--it wasn't that stupid Dark Queen thing people keep telling me about, is it?"

Though his second was slightly better than his first, Dima thought he was still on the boring end of the picture-taking spectrum. Was he gonna get points taken off for lack of creativity? Thinking of stuff to do was HARD, okay? Next time, he was just gonna take pictures of Kyroh sleeping.

But since that wasn't an option at the moment, he glanced around for more things to photograph. Hmm... what about HIMSELF?

Dima laid down on the snow covered ground and raised his arms above him, pointing the camera so it was facing him. Then he widened his eyes, opening his mouth as well and waggling his tongue at the lens. Desperate times called for desperate measures, yes?

Taking the printed picture from the camera, he once again tapped it with his wand while saying, "Alacer."

Aw, man. That tongue. Beautiful.

"You could move around more. Your pictures are boring," Dot informed Lex, showing her the most recent picture of her hair. Just being hair-like. Not really super exciting there, ok? Dot tapped the photo with her wand and said, "Alacer." The hair waved a bit, but it was still boring.

That picture was tucked away, and then Dot started looking for something else to take a picture of. Or no, she was taking the picture that Lex had taken of her. Mmk. "I'm not adorable and naive. And snogging looks like more trouble than its worth. Licking on someone's face." Ew. No thanks.

Dot leaned back and took a picture of Lex gesturing toward the tree, and then she obediently scrambled up into the branches. She'd learned all sorts of good tree climbing skills from Kyroh, y'know? While she sat up there, she waved a hand vaguely at Lex while she studied the picture she'd just taken. Not bad. Lex was moving and stuff. Probably would turn out good, right?

"Dark Queen. Yeah. It happened. I 'memeber it. Alacer." She pointed her wand at the newest picture.

Taking in a deep breath, Beverly lifted the lid, her wand hand prepared to act. Automatically Violet zoomed out from the jar. Beverly made a desperate attempt to catch her, but as she did that the jar fell from her lap with Trinny still inside. There was no time to think. Her instincts kicked in, her hands swooping down to catch the jar before it shattered, pixie still in it.

A rush of relief hit and she hugged the jar to her chest, a very frightened Trinny inside. It took a her a moment to get herself together only for her heart to restart its thundering when she didn't see Violet.

She left. That little piece of dung LEFT.

Beverly felt betrayed. Utterly betrayed.

Hearing Chomper squeaking she quickly turned around, a weight fell off her shoulders. A few feet away stood Chomper on a thickly arched root, Violet happily fluttering above him. THANK MERLIN. BAH. That had scared her witless.

"Don't you ever do that again," she breathed out, a small grin stretching her lips. She didn't even notice when Trinny slipped out of the jar. "Hey--"

Oh. Whaaaaat?

This pixie, instead of flying off to meet Chomper, fluttered her tiny wings on Beverly's face, its tiny little hands petting her nose. Was it trying to beat her up? LOL. That would be cute. Using her index finger, Beverly gently pushed her back to be able to see her. Trinny, beaming like crazy, wiggled her arms at Beverly, then once again went back to pat her nose and eyes.

"Okay, okay, I get it. You're thankful I didn't let you fall, is it that?" More loud buzzing. She was Trinny's hero. How awesome was that?

Lex wasn't bothered that the girl had called her pictures boring. It was what it was afterall and the Gryffindor was well aware she hadn't been doing anything. "I'm sat in a tree taking pictures of you. How exciting did you think that would be?" They couldn't both be subjects and yet here they were. Only difference was Lex was getting better pictures of Dot for the fact the girl did a lot of moving.

It was just as she'd thought, getting the shot of Dot climbing the tree was completely worth it and Lex worked fast before the girl could reach the branch, then took another of her waving while she patiently explained. "That sentiment alone says your innocent and naive. It's fine, you don't have to agree with me. I never agreed with anyone who said it either. It's what it is. People suck. Snogs do not."

Deciding she'd give the girl some relief. Lex pointed to the bird she'd taken, and the one that had joined in on the branch. "They look like friends. It should be documented."

Once again she pointed to the pictures she'd taken; the climbing and the waving. "Alacer." Tap. "Alacer." Tap. "Everyone but me remembers. It's hardly fair."

Lex's logic actually made Dot smile a bit, and she leaned forward in her tree and bared her teeth again. In a smile, but still... teeth modeling. "Not very, I guess. Photography is kind of boring. What's the difference between using the potion and the spell, do you know?" She'd asked in class and got no answer for her trouble.

Dot wasn't keen on talking about snogging anyway, so she opted instead to take a picture of the birds that Lex had pointed out. They were pretty - small and bright and happy against the snow. And hopping along the branch just enough that the picture might be really interesting. Hopefully? "I guess everyone needs friends. Even birds, huh?"

She flapped the bird photo against her palm as it developed and considered the very serious question of Lex's memory. "You don't want to remember. You were crazy, Lexor. You made people real sad. You were mean to Kyroh." And that was NOT done. Speaking of done... "Alacer," Dot pointed her wand one last time, and one of the birds raised its wing.

It was incredibly hard to beat a selfie in terms of awesomeness, but Dima was gonna TRY, okay? At least now he had realized that he was far more interesting than nature (sorry, Earth), which meant he could stop focusing on rocks and trees and stuff and start paying attention to HIMSELF.

Good subject, right?

His next idea was to turn the camera on himself again with one hand; the other was held a few inches from his face, flat with his palm facing towards his nose. he moved it up to his forehead and down to his chin, morphing his smile into a frown when his hand passed over it.

Upon clicking, another picture was printed, and Dima tapped his wand against it with ease. "Alacer!"

Hehe. Best picture YET.

Trinny still on her face, Beverly side-eyed the other fairy. She seemed to have gotten along with Chomper as they both went back and forth from Beverly to various tree roots. It was okay for them to run about, but she couldn't help worry Violet would up and leave. At least Trinny here, Beverly would be able to snatch her up or cast the Freezing Charm.

"Come here, Chomper." She patted the side of her thigh. It took Chomper a while to understand what she was saying, but eventually he scurried to her side and bounced into her lap. As thought, Violet followed.

Now there were two fairies hovering over her and that made her calm. In case of an escape attempt it'd be easier to cast on them when they were together.

"Are you guys--OUCH!" Her EYE. Trinny poked her EYE. Blinking her eyes rapidly, Beverly cursed through her teeth. "Why would you do that?" She was being nice. Not even one grouchy thought and her eye gets attacked.

Instead of frightening the pink fairy, Trinny buzzed, her tiny hands over her mouth as if she was attempting to conceal a giggle. "What was that for?" She couldn't help a small laugh to escape her. Being let free made these excited pixies even more excited. It was kind of cute.

It was good Mo had left before Dot showed up just because of what the little Snake had just said. Photography being boring would probably drive a stake through the former Ravenclaw's heart. "Potions take a lot of time for brewing, even five minutes is a lot of time but the spell works instant. I reckon the potion might do a better job though because all the Professionals prefer it." That was the only thing she could think. Why bother with a potion when you could give a swish of your wand?

The bird's didn't stay long. Two chirps and a shake of a tail feather later and they were up and off again. With some luck she managed to snap a picture of them just as they took flight. This would...make for an interesting picture. "Absolutely everyone needs friends." Nodnod. Hogwarts proved empty without them. Lex was lucky she still had Lottie and Aidan otherwise she'd have gone mad.

"Alacer." Tap. The last of her pictures turned out real nice. Animating it had the birds flapping right off the branch and away. Pfft, to think she'd thought this one would be a dud. Lex looked up from the picture at Dot's words. "I didn'--" But she didn't finish that. It had to be true. She didn't remember but Dot did. Whoa. "You're right, I don't want to remember." She had a conscience, sorta and her behaviour didn't sound that great....

Lex slid off the branch and hit the ground with a light thud. "If you're done taking pictures too we could go look for things to throw at the whomping willow." Just as offer.

Noting that the fairies seem to be well adjusted out of their jar without temptation to fy away, Beverly took out a paper bag from her messenger bag and took something from inside it. Immediately she had all creatures' attention, Chomper included.

Yes, that's right, little precious's, she had the food.

Smirking to herself, Beverly took out some orange wedges, which were for Chomper -- there was no way she'd forget about her little monster -- and then took some out for the fairy folk.

Holding it in her hand, she waited for Trinny and Violet to approach her. The former -- whom Beverly believed loved her -- took no time to zoom toward her hand. Violet on the other hand, stubbornly hovered over Chomper. SIGH.

"Have some food, Violet." She beacon her with a finger. "You must be awfully hungry. I promise you can play with Chomper some more after you're done." Her voice was gentle, something that not even Beverly was used to. But it seemed to work as Violet inched closer to her hand...

Maybe.

Sophie was walking more quickly now as the snow picked up, but as she made her way up the pathway, she... realized THIS could make for a really nice picture. Maybe if she got an angle of the castle with the snow falling JUST right, Fuller would even use her picture as his Christmas card if he loved it enough. Hehehe.

She pulled the scarf up around her mouth and looped part of it around her forehead, trying to keep the snow out of her eyes and inevitably looking silly as she did so, but at least it was working. Mostly. She squinted through the snowfall and took a few steps backward, looking through the little window to see what might look best for a shot. It took her a little while, but finally she decided upon what seemed to be the best, most Christmas-card-worthy shot and took the picture. She hummed a little and peeked at the picture as it came out of the camera and grinned at it, already planning all the ways she'd try to sweet-talk Fuller into loving this picture enough to use it for REAL things.

If it came to it, she could test her charming skills with Thompson, too.

Very satisfied with how it came out, Soph tapped the middle of the picture with her wand and cast, "Alacer," and watched with excited, wide eyes as... oh, that was beautful. Absolutely gorgeous. It was a very nice shot of the side of the castle with snow gently falling in front of it. Really, if Fuller didn't want it, Bunz should totally borrow it for the Hogwarts Christmas letter or something. Totally worth it.

Now it was getting REALLY cold, though, so... Soph stopped admiring her work, tucked her photograph into the bag with the other one, and hurried up to the school without slipping and falling. Always a blessing.

Violet took her time to approach Beverly. Surprisingly, the Prefect was patient enough to wait and give the pixie the space it needed. Eventually, Violet perched herself on one of Beverly's fingers and ate some food. Trusting with that one was taking time. Beverly liked that. Not that she minded Trinny trusting her after one act of heroism, but she could relate to Violet when it came to trust.

Taking some oranges from Chomper -- something he didn't appreciate -- Beverly ate along with the fairies. It dawned on her this was a good bonding experience. Their guards were down and so was hers, which in a way, they were all relaxing in one another's presence.

This was nice. Really nice.

He was completely out of ideas, but Dima was quite aware that he had one more image to capture and animate. The kid wandered around for quite a while, hopping around and kicking at snow and doing virtually nothing, hoping for a muse to come his way. Of course, it was a good half hour before he finally thought of something to photograph. Upside-down selfie with the castle, obviously.

Quickly, Dima began to scale a tree, scampering up the side of it and hanging off of various branches until he reached the height where he thought he would fall off and crack his neck. Carefully, he scooted onto a seemingly thick branch, hooking his knees over it before letting himself hang.

"Say cheese, Hogwarts!" Was it READY?

Snapping the picture, Dima snatched the photo from the air before it could fall and tapped it with his wand. "Alacer!" And lo and behold, a picture of him swaying before Hogwarts, all upside-down and everything. That was golden.

Well good! She made herself comfortable on one of the benches, crossing her legs and angling towards Caleb, then pat the spot next to her invitingly.

"For the record, the pillow thing, that was Bellaire. She MADE me do that. I conjured it to sit on, and she made me wear it on my head, to try and embarass me." Like seriously, talk about harassment right? "And as for flirting with every man... I have standards." Wink. "I'm not about to waste my time on trash."

Tiger needed to chill, the kitten would not sit comfortably on Justine's shoulder as he usually did while the Ravenclaw walked, rather he had it set in his mind to climb onto her head. Which was not cute and very distracting, not to mention he was messing up her hair and Justine, being the posh, vain thing she was, couldn't allow that.

For the 23886th time, Justine gently pulled Tiger from the top of her head and carried him instead in her arms. "You're ridiculous today, I have no patience for you," Justine cooed to the kitten, bopping him playfully on the nose. He seemed less than amused.

SNORT.

There was a kitten on top of Justine's head. That was soooooo cute. "Nice hat you have there," Lux told her friend as she walked towards her. Awww, why did Justine have to move him? It would have been a perfect photo opportunity. Reaching into her bag, she took out her camera. It was the one that Professor Fuller had let her keep after Charms class. "Can I take a picture if he climbs on your head again? Or you know in general?" Justine was a model, Lux would be amazed if she DIDN'T want her photo taken.

Justine was still wrestling with the restless Tiger when she heard a familiar voice. She smirked. "Hahaha, very funny," She said, turning to the younger girl. Right now, Lux was one of the few people who didn't make her want to Avada Kadavra herself to get away from them and despite the sarcasm she was pleased to see her. Justine watched with interest as Lux pulled out the familiar sight of a Muggle camera. She nodded, grinning. "Well, I usually charge for that sort of thing... But.. Alright." Justine teased, before turning her attention to the kitten - who had pulled out of her arms and was making it's way up her shoulder - giving him a dry look. "he'll probably get up to it in another minute. He's so squirmy lately."

"Where'd you get the camera?" She hadn't known Lux was into photography.

Giggle. Lux could always count on Justine to like her jokes. People told her that she was funny, so maybe she should get a job as a comedian. Only problem was that she already planned to be a Potioneer.

"Oooh, I get to take a picture for free. I feel so special." Grinning, she adjusted her camera as the kitten made his way up Justine's shoulder. "He's so cute. What's his name?" She was not sure if she had been told before. Sometimes her memory sucked. "Professor Fuller let us keep the cameras from Charms class. Isn't he nice?" She liked Professor Fuller, he was a cool guy.

AJ seriously debated on not even giving the crazy professor the time of day with this whole Snow White thing. Obviously Cassie had ahold of some tainted pumpkin juice. AJ kept telling everybody to be careful, but did they listen? Obviously not because weirdos who thought they were fairy tale characters kept popping out of the woodwork.

Still, AJ could use this as an excuse to go explore the grounds, something that she truly loved to do. She had her mirror still from the lesson, and she didn't think it would help, but if she was going to be able to clear her mind anywhere, she would most likely get better results on the grounds.

Brrr... it was cold out here, but AJ was nice and bundled up. She still had two of AJ's jackets from last year, and one of them was keeping her very toasty today. Okay.... AJ looked into the mirror and looked back at her cold reflection. She closed her eyes and tried to clear away all thoughts.

Snow white... where are you?

Six more. She only needed six more thorns and Maddie was wandering with that in mind. The grounds were pretty expansive, huh? Her legs were tired by this point but the fresh air was probably doing her some good and really, exercise couldn't hurt. Plus she hated being cooped up in the castle. Was she doing the bright side thing? Maybe. Unlike her but everyone has an off day.

It wasn't until she found herself on the pathways that she found what she was looking for. Several rose bushes with enough roses to provide her six thorns and then some. So like she had before, the thirteen year old slipped on her gloves and set to work collecting thorns. She had a bit of a system now, finding it easier to get the thorns off and place them each in the bag with the others. Still, it was time consuming. Worth it, though. Or at least it was if her potion turned out okay.

Once she'd obtained six more thorns, each from a different rose, she was ready to get back to work on her potion. She was excited at the thought and despite sore feet and a need for rest, she secured her gloves and thorns and hurried back to the castle.

Best place Toby could think of to collect thorns from roses was out in the pathways. There were plenty of roses around here, he'd seen them on one of his many many maaaaaaaaaany treks through here, and had kept an eye out for some during his morning run that very day. He knew, of course, that there were also some in and around the Greenhouses, but for some reason didn't feel up to pillaging those flowers for potions ingredients.

With a spare glass bottle from his potions kit in hand, one that was designed for exactly a task such as this (collecting ingredients), Toby strode purposefully through the gardens until he found the very patch of roses he'd scoped out that morning. He'd already cleaned the inside of the bottle with magic, but it wouldn't hurt to do so again.

"Scourgify," Toby said, having removed the lid of the receptacle, and now pointing his wand inside of it. He stowed his wand away, and then grabbed his dragonhide gloves from where they were sticking out of his pocket. Even though the thorns had been living outside, and were exposed to the elements, he figured it was still important to not touch the future ingredients with bare skin.

Then he began, starting where the roses began and carefully pulling one thorn off before moving to the next. He noted that someone else had already been here, as all the roses he visited were already missing at least one thorn. On and on Toby went, really quite methodical about the task.

Take one thorn, put it in the bottle, check the rose to make sure it's okay, step forward to next rose, take one thorn, put it in the bottle...

Late winter, early spring. That meant Cutty was looking for a thorn bush. One of the things that he appreciate about Professor Bentley was that she never wasted time in lessons going on about the beauty of flowers. She had the good sense to focus on utility of the flora world. In hindsight, however he could've used a lesson or two like that. Culloden had expected the students to gather one of their own ingredients and being that the ingredient was roses, Cutty could've used more experience.

What he did know what that they tended to be deciduous shrubs with thorns and so his eye was kept out as he traveled the little pathways carefully searching over anything that resembled his idea of a rose bush. Curiously, it was not his eye but his nose that told him to inspect a small patch of semi-naked shrubbery nearby. The late winter-early spring bore a rose bush with fragrant foliage. Cutty knelt down to pluck a thorn but was pricked in the knee by another specimen, this one though without the fragrant foliage. Without any foliage at all. The two thorns having been scraped off and collected into a phial, the Slytherin moved further away from the beaten path in a literal manner.

Up ahead there were taller bushes that looked like the remnants of garden architecture once upon a time. Perhaps part of a croquet field judging by the way they were spaced. There were a few smaller shrubs of the same variety and as he only needed one thorn, he chose a large and very hooked one. Cutty headed further into the shrubs and plant life until he found the pathway again. Or at least he thought it would lead to the main pathway needed to get back to the castle. The hill began to slope down and he nearly lost his footing twice, it had the fortunate effect of causing him to look down, however. And there, by the waters edge after a very steep slope were multicoloured bushes. Not all roses were deciduous, or perhaps they were kept ever-blooming due to magic. He went in for a closer look. A vibrant pink, an orange, a red and another pink that was almost lilac stood up, out and proud. Their strange vibrancy amidst the still waking plant life around it cause Cutty to suspect that they might have once been something else. Beings transfigured into rose bushes.

Would they bleed if he took a bit of their thorns?

They did not he found as he pressed with his thumb in a diagonal motion to remove one from each plant. Seven down, six more to go.

There were plenty of roses here. Waaaaaaaaaaay more than thirteen, that was for sure. Toby had already collected seven thorns and there were still a bunch of roses untouched by him left to take thorns from. He moved a few steps away from where he'd been collecting them, crossing to the other side of the path, and cast a quick eye over these. They looked good, healthy enough that he didn't feel too bad taking thorns from them.

A breeze blew through the pathways at that moment and made Toby shiver. He culled his coat around him a little tighter before making quick work of collecting the last six thorns, all from different roses.

Toby stopped and help up the little bottle in front of his face, squinting inside and counting the thorns to make sure enough. And yep, thirteen, all from different roses. The Hufflepuff smiled to himself, tucked the bottle away in his pocked, waved a goodbye to the plants around the pathways, and headed back to the castle.