"Yeah, it will." She hoped that it would happen soon as well. She couldn't WAIT to get her own winged-horse. "...Do you think professor Thompson would let us ride them outside of lessons?" Agatha asked casually, looking from Hayd to the winged-horses.

The girl's reaction was way better than Agatha was expectin and she felt awesome because of that. So Hady was interested in ballet as well, it appeared? Agatha knew all along she was a good kid. "Yes, and I've always been one of the best in class." Which was the actual truth and one of the biggest reasons why Agatha loved ballet so much. So Hady had done ballet for a while when she was younger. "How come you stopped? And would you be interested in starting again?" Another casual question. Agatha hadn't exactly given up on teaching ballet at Hogwarts, but OWLs got the best of her last year. She supposed it was never late to try and restart it, especially if there were enough people interested in it.

SPOILER!!: Agatha

"Yeah, it will." She hoped that it would happen soon as well. She couldn't WAIT to get her own winged-horse. "...Do you think professor Thompson would let us ride them outside of lessons?" Agatha asked casually, looking from Hayd to the winged-horses.

The girl's reaction was way better than Agatha was expectin and she felt awesome because of that. So Hady was interested in ballet as well, it appeared? Agatha knew all along she was a good kid. "Yes, and I've always been one of the best in class." Which was the actual truth and one of the biggest reasons why Agatha loved ballet so much. So Hady had done ballet for a while when she was younger. "How come you stopped? And would you be interested in starting again?" Another casual question. Agatha hadn't exactly given up on teaching ballet at Hogwarts, but OWLs got the best of her last year. She supposed it was never late to try and restart it, especially if there were enough people interested in it.

Hm now that was an interesting thought. Would they to ride them? It would be really cool if they could but odds were it wouldn't be allowed just in case anything happened. However she looked back at Agatha. "I really don't know but it wouldn't hurt to ask him." Maybe he would allow it.

Eying the older girl she couldn't help but grin hearing her say she'd always been the best in her class. Somehow Hady truly believed that just by looking at her. And here came the question she really didn't want to answer and yet she felt she needed to as she'd gotten herself into this conversation. "Well um... I kinda started messing about with other types of dance. I mean sometimes I throw a bit of ballet into a routine when it's only me but yeah..." Hady gently rubbed her arm shifting her gaze once more to the winged horses while adding, "Then there's the fact that not many even know I can dance. Other then you now there's just one other here at the castle that knows." No names needed there.

"We should ask him, then." Agatha gave a firm nod and looked towards... where she reckoned professor Thompson would be. She really didn't know, but she guessed it would be around the barn or something.

See. See. Hady was a very nice kid. A true Slytherin, if you asked her. Not like those stupid guys that somehow ended up in her house. The Sorting Hat got it perfectly right sometimes, but some other times she wondered if he had taken some sort of potion of confusion. Or maybe the Hat was just really old and it was getting to its brain. ....Or whatever he had instead of a brain.

Other types of dance. That was really good to hear, but Hady looked a little frustrated? "You don't need to quit one type of dance to do others. I started jazz the other year and most definitely did not stop ballet." She said solemnly, chind slightly high because dance was her specialty and she knew what she was talking about. "And mixing different styles together is good for your creativity." She nodded assuringly. Although of course, you should be aware of all of the proper techniques and it could get a bit confusing if you were starting. But not for Agatha, since she was a pro. "You should join me and we could work on something. Something to show others." And prove how awesome they were. Not that they needed to prove it, but everyone should KNOW how amazing they were, because that was the truth. Besides, what was the point of dancing if you would never have an audience? "People like watching good dancers perform."

SPOILER!!: Agatha

"We should ask him, then." Agatha gave a firm nod and looked towards... where she reckoned professor Thompson would be. She really didn't know, but she guessed it would be around the barn or something.

See. See. Hady was a very nice kid. A true Slytherin, if you asked her. Not like those stupid guys that somehow ended up in her house. The Sorting Hat got it perfectly right sometimes, but some other times she wondered if he had taken some sort of potion of confusion. Or maybe the Hat was just really old and it was getting to its brain. ....Or whatever he had instead of a brain.

Other types of dance. That was really good to hear, but Hady looked a little frustrated? "You don't need to quit one type of dance to do others. I started jazz the other year and most definitely did not stop ballet." She said solemnly, chind slightly high because dance was her specialty and she knew what she was talking about. "And mixing different styles together is good for your creativity." She nodded assuringly. Although of course, you should be aware of all of the proper techniques and it could get a bit confusing if you were starting. But not for Agatha, since she was a pro. "You should join me and we could work on something. Something to show others." And prove how awesome they were. Not that they needed to prove it, but everyone should KNOW how amazing they were, because that was the truth. Besides, what was the point of dancing if you would never have an audience? "People like watching good dancers perform."

"Sure, I'll gladly try to help find him." Cause really riding a winged-horse outside of lessons was something she wouldn't just pass up. Where exactly would Professor Thompson be though, that appeared to be the question.

Hady knew she didn't have to stop one type of dance as she learned another. She had grown up with ballet, tap and jazz so she had herself a decent mix there. However once she got into hip-hop it sorta took over really not that she didn't still very much enjoy the other types! At Agatha's suggestion though the third year wasn't sure what to say. The idea of dancing with someone as good as she was sure Agatha was, was highly appealing to her. And then there was that. That last part about showing others she wasn't sure about. "I um...well I wouldn't mind joining you honestly but showing others? That I don't know about..." No one knew. No one. It was something she didn't talk about. Just Zeke knew and and now Agatha and well she kinda wanted it to stay that way.

Cosgrach entered through the doors and stopped after a few steps to let everyone in. He'd always liked creatures, so he was visibly excited. He scribbled down some more on his notepad and turned to Javy, since this was sort of... his 'area'.

Javier from the end of the group made sure everyone got inside before him as they now entered his familiar area. Though now they were in with the Hippogriffs.. sort of. "Alright, we should be fine covering this whole area since most of them are in their own group." Indeed as they looked to be relaxing amongst themselves, paying no attention to them. "If you have to cross in their path, just remember to bow to one closest without blinking until they return the gesture. Then we should be okay. We'll be right with you if you need assistance." Juuuuust in case. Some of the Hippogriffs were excessive in the pride department after all.

Sooooooo... would anyone notice if Toby just sidled off to play with the Hippogriffs instead of mapping out this area? It seemed like a crime to just not acknowledge them at all. He sort of headed that way, making a super rough sketch of the playpen areas and the walkway and stuff, trying to get everything down as fast as he could so he could use some of the extra time to go say hello. Hey, maybe Monty was here, too.

When he though he had enough of the area covered and noted down, even with labels and the odd annotation, Toby cast a glance back to the professors before caaaaaaaaasually stepping over to a group of Hippogriffs and bowing to them. Notblinkingnotblinkingnotblinking. Huzzah! Toby had been rewarded with a bow of the head from the closest Hippogriff, and stepped forward to pat its beak.

"Hi," he said. "We're mapping the grounds. See?" Toby held up his sketchbook, flat against his chest so the Hippogriff could make an assessment of his work. "You can fly. D'you think it looks like the real thing?" 'Cause he'd seen it from up there, probably, of course.

Toby looked at the Hippogriff expectantly as though waiting for an actual response. The Hippogriff cocked its head at him.

"Yeah. That's what I thought, too." Petpetpet.

Beverly smiled over at Professor Culloden, whom seemed excited. She liked that her favorite professor was excited about magical creatures. She loved creatures, add in a favorite professor; the meeting just got a bit better.

Way better as her eyes landed on the Hippogriffs.

If she has to cross their path Thompson said? Oh. She was going to definitely need to cross their path for sketching purposes. Yes, yes, of course. Hehehe. Don't mind her, she was just sketching away...and making observations.

Soph trailed along after the professors and the group, still jotting down occasional notes of various things on the grounds as they went, just in case they were supposed to be noting ALL the things. Didn't hurt to be efficient, did it?

There were hippogriffs in this pen, and Soph smiled at the sight of them, briefly recalling her encounter with a hippogriff during her OWL exam. She wondered if any of them were the one she had done the exam with, but she wasn't sure that any of Javy's creatures were allowed in a Ministry-led exam... so she didn't dwell too much on that. Nah, it probably wasn't here.

Tobes went right ahead to get in there and make friends with the hippogriffs, just as one would expect, but Sophie opted to hang back and stood beside Culloden instead, who looked very much like a kid in a candy store. Why was he so excited to be here anyway? He was such a cheeseball.

"Sketchin' anything good?" she tried to peek at his notepad and see what he was doing. What if he was some kind of secret artist and she didn't know it?

One of the Hippogriffs (Monty) did give the younger man and that object he held a simple look. How nice of him it was to give him so much pets and attention. Some of the other Hippogriffs surveyed taking account at the amount of humans. Pretty far away and paying little attention to them. Good. They did not feel like moving or bowing to visitors just yet on this tickling snowy day.

There was a weird sensation going over one. Which then spread over two, to three to the rest. As the snow below seemed to be moving...

SQUAWK!

Move over humans. This was not the place to relax anymore, as the whole group were stamping their claws over the crunchy ground, while three (Henry, Buddy and Charlene) were heading toward the fence behind the gathering of humans looking for an escape.

After getting his own supplies, Cutty followed the group silently and hopefully unnoticed to the playpens on the grounds, though he was close enough to smell Bev's cherry blossom shampoo. He'd begun to sketch, plodding their slog onto parchment. Hippogriffs. Not his favourite beast but he'd been taught well enough to know how not to be killed by one of them thanks to Professor Thompson. And for the most part it seemed as if they were content to stay in their own space. So Cutty began exploring the flora of the area, noting the trees, their positions, stages of growth and type.

He was hell deep into a peeling birch when he looked up hearing the alarmed squawking of the animals nearby. Then he looked up to see at least three huge Hippogriffs heading toward them. Would the others join? In anycase..."STAMPEEEEEDE!" He shouted to anyone uber engrossed in their work. Look alive! Dropping his sketchbook and charcoal he himself hightailed it out of harms way.

His Hippogriff (because he'd totally adopted it, by the way) wasn't all that talkative today, it seemed. Understandable, because Hippogriffs couldn't actually talk. Except they did, you just needed to know how to speak Hippogriff, like Toby.

Because he could totally do that.

Totally.

Toby was looking over his sketch again when one of the Hippogriffs DID speak up. The alarmed squawk surprised Toby, as it didn't fit at all with the relative peaceful stillness of the day. He looked up, taken aback, just in time to hear Cutty chime in and see him run away.

Stampede? But why?

Hopefully the others would think fast and move too, though Toby was sure the Hippogriffs wouldn't hurt them, although... they did seem very scared. As for himself, he didn't make the effort to move at all, not feeling as though he was in any danger (did he ever?). Instead he simply stood right where he was looking confused, brow furrowed as he watched the peculiar antics of the Hippogriffs. Had they been spooked by something? What was going on?

"....................................?"

Turning to look at the Hippogriffs he still stood by, Toby eyed their stamping. Speaking as someone who was totes fluent in Hippogriff, something was, uhh... definitely wrong.

Cosgrach shrugged at Sophie. He didn't draw much. It was just his awfully disorganised handwriting in circles that... probably looked like patterns to anyone else. HAH. So he didn't try to hide it. Even though she was accustomed to his nearly unintelligible hand writing, he bet she'd take it as some different form of art.

HEHEHE.

Or not HEHEHE. What was up with the Hippogrifs? He stopped smiling to himself and even frowned -

"GET OUT!" he yelled, in case people tried to pull a Gryffindor, and yelled "IMPEDIMENTA!" at one of the ones advancing towards them, then at the one by Toby. WHAT was Toby waiting for to move away, exactly???? An invitation?

Holy mother of dragons...

. . . . O_O . . . .

Things all of a sudden got interesting. Had she been on the other side of the fence and away from the line of fire, Beverly would have eagerly awaited for results. As it was, she was in the line of fire as a horde of Hippogriffs decide this was a great time to stampede.

This is where she regretted getting so close to them.

This is when she ran.

And she passed a Tobias what-ever-his-last-name-was-now. "MOVE!" Why wasn't he moving? Beverly gave his robes a tug just enough to get him moving, but didn't linger. She was NOT going to get trampled over a Hufflepuff.

Javier was continuing his sketching of the area. He personally wasn't an artist as he started off with a huge square, but the notes he jotted down regarding the size and other measurements made up for it.

Occasionally he glanced over at some of the students, Miss Wayne and of course Mr. Fuller-Thompson. It was just those two senior students by the group and he trusted their judgement given their activity in his lessons regarding Hippogriffs. So he continued.. and continued.. before he heard loud squawking making his head pick right back up.

That was it.

His notepad and quill with the sketches fell to the snowy ground as he took out his wand. Frightened Hippogriffs were one of the only things on his mind now as he made motions towards Miss Wayne and Mr. Fuller-Thompson, sending an invisible shield in their direction and at the main entrance where some others were. They were much too close to be able to out run them but at least they should be safe with the shield and from the Potions Professor's quick action on already getting the creatures to slow down a little..

As for the others though, "Everyone! Back off and stand by the side of the fences!" The Professor yelled as he ran towards the two and help pull them over to the other side.

Gabe...was still standing by the fence, measuring the size and dimensions of it in a most important manner. It wasn't nonsense. This could be important later, maybe...Also, it kept him away from the hippogriffs...and that was ultimately the goal. There was no interest in going near the creatures. None at all.

When they moved to a different location, Gabe could get back into the action.

Of course, he'd obviously missed something as people started rushing towards his post. NO, he'd called this area. It was just too bad, too......Whut?

Why were spells being tossed about?

Finally realizing that something was amiss, he glanced over his shoulder at the two professors and the raging Hippogriffs...That was NOT something you seen every day. In fact, it was all happening very fast.

There was no lingering, however. Gabe immediately took himself out of harms way.

Um. So. Everyone was yelling.

WHY WAS EVERYONE YELLING?

Toby was confused, very confused. There was pandemonium with the Hippogriffs and people were YELLING (some of them at HIM) and he could think of nothing that might upset them further than more yelling and Beverly was tugging at his sleeve and Culloden was throwing SPELLS at the creatures and Toby was having emotions about that and everything was happening all at once and it hurt his head and he just stood there.

Before he even had time to protest about the spell Culloden was casting, Thompson was suddenly there and pulling him and Beverly back. Toby was still confused because, as far as he was concerned, he had been in no danger.

"Don't HURT them!" Toby finally managed to blurt out as he was basically hauled to safety, his thoughts still very much on the wellbeing of the Hippogriffs. He knew what that spell did, and that it was harmless, but STILL. "They're scared."

Sophie snorted at Culloden's notepad, wondering how he could even read his terrible handwriting, and his lack of sketches were way lame. She opened her mouth to tease him about how lack of artistic skills, when chaos struck.

Upset Hippogriffs. A not-moving Tobes. A fleeing Cutty. Shouting professors and Bev. And all Sophie did was step backwards, her wand now replacing the writing utensil in her hand, and looked alert. A shield was up to protect her - thank you, Javy - and she was relieved that Culloden was quick to act and help Tobes, as was Javy. Good men, they were, and quick-thinkers, too. She hadn't even needed to do much of anything - they were right on it, moving to protect them.

Neither of the men had been fathers for very long, but their fatherly instincts were well-honed.

Standing off to the very side of the pen as instructed with the shield protecting her, Soph just watched, oddly calm in the face of commotion. It just didn't seem like there was any real present danger - Javy and Culloden were taking care of everything. Heroes, they were, and the only really concerning thing was how dismayed Tobes was over the whole thing. No hippogriffs were being hurt, though she agreed that they were clearly spooked for... some reason.

But what had upset them in the first place?

......

O___O

Welp. Things sure had escalated quickly. One second Lux was busy sketching away, and the next she was facing a stampede of Hippogriffs. Yeah, she didn't need Professor Thompson's instructions in order to know that running was a good idea. There were times to get in touch with her inner-Gryffindor and this was not one of them.

Despite her confusion, Lux had to agree with Toby. "Is there something in the snow?" Because as far as she knew Hippogriffs didn't get spooked for no reason.

Her dad once said her stubborn nature would get her hurt. As much as that statement was true, Beverly wanted to live and tell the story. Seeing as hippogriffs were creatures and her number one rule was to never harm one, she did not raise her wand. She should have. It was stupid not to.

Fortunately Professor Thompson was there. She allowed him to guide her to safety, she might have clung to him for a bit and stood behind him. The Slytherin wasn't afraid, she just wanted to live.

"No one's hurting them," Beverly said, oddly calm as she tossed her long hair behind her shoulder. She did have to agree with Tobias. Something unsettled the hippogriffs. As she thought what possibly could have caused that, her grip on her wand tightened.

Vigilance.

He was a bit out of breath when he'd made it to what he'd call relative safety. Looking back on the scene it looked like Toby had been spared a trampling...


...


And Beverly was clinging to Professor Thompson. His run became a slow walk as he surveyed the surroundings for the probable cause, rolling his eyes at Lux and firmly deciding that she might have been too stupid to live. The snow! G'HaW! Cutty pulled up alongside Sophie Brown, who from the look on her face, was already analyzing the situation as well. "What did it, Prefect Brown?"

The Hippogriffs who were slowed down with magic (Buddy and Monty) panicked even more, and flapped their wings. They did NOT like what was on the ground as they kept stomping on. The other Hippogriffs started to march towards the humans and where they believed was safe, faster. They didn't seem to care much if humans were in front of them or not, all they wanted was safety. Suddenly, one (Henry) squawked loudly. He was visibly very panicked. He stopped, stood on his hind legs and changed directions to run off to the Forbidden Forest!

"Scared is a kind of hurt!" Toby insisted, as he helplessly watched the two slowed down Hippogriffs flap around in what was quite clearly a display of panic. He knew the feeling. He knew how it felt to feel the need to run and not be able to do it, he knew how distressing it could be, and he felt bad for them as he watched Monty and the other one. Had he not been so upset and fixated on what the Hippogriffs were doing, he might have tried to interfere with Culloden's spell. Luckily he was far too distracted for that. So Culloden only got a brief but BETRAYED LOOK, before Toby turned back to the pen.

They were all moving now, the Hippogriffs, and the one Toby knew to be named Henry was going off in another direction. He wondered for a split second why they didn't just try to fly away, but figured perhaps there was some sort of spell to stop them. It clearly wasn't very beneficial. Toby didn't even want anyone to stop Henry getting away, until he realised that the Forest was in that direction. Weren't there dangerous things in there? That ate... students? And....... maybe Hippogriffs??????

"Professor!" Stop him??? Or not???? WHAT DO.

This was upsetting. Super upsetting. Toby hated it. He hated seeing Henry and Monty and all the Hippogriffs so very clearly frightened. He wanted to help them, but had no idea what he could do. The seventh year looked towards the marching Hippogriffs and past them, to see what they might be trying to get away from. Perhaps something on the other side of the pen? If he could just get over there and take a look and they could make it stop and calm the Hippogriffs and all would be fine again...

He made for the fence, towards the advancing Hippogriffs, oblivious to any danger. One foot was already on one of the lower beams, Toby fully intending to climb back over to see what his precious creatures were so frightened of.

The animals weren't quite through with their erratic behaviour it seemed and so Cutty took a step back from Sophie Brown. His wand hand immediately reaching for his silver rapier. Then Henry bucked and began to gallop off toward the forbidden forest, the last known refuge of the cockroach express.


"Our investment!! CHARLEEEENE! NOOooooooo!" That only left them with...He turned his head towards the remaining beasts and in doing so realized Charlene was actually still around. "Oh." He smiled at her. "There yew are, gehrl." But then who the hell was that that went careening into the forbidden forest?

So, Gabe was safely (or so he thought) in the front corner of the pen, eyes glued to the scene playing out. Considering trajectory and where the group of Hippogriffs might dash to, he felt moderately protected. If they made for the fence, they'd breach the side...or that seemed most logical, anyway. Not that these creatures were currently concerned about logic. They did seem very scared, though...and much like people, animals were unpredictable and dangerous when scared or backed into corners.

The professors seemed to have it well in hand...but what Gabriel didn't understand was what Toby was doing, climbing over the fence. O.O.........Was he going into the Forbidden Forest? Wasn't an.....age line in place?...BUT TOBY WAS OF AGE NOW...!

Gabe had meant to shout out to him...but his friend's name only escaped in a hushed whisper. He wasn't very brave and he felt terrible for it at the moment.