Lux noticed Cutty's eye roll but decided to ignore it. SOMETHING had to have scared the Hippogriffs and nothing was in her line of sight which meant it could be something obscured by snow. Nothing was out of the scope of possibility when it came to Hogwarts.

Henry was heading towards the Forbidden Forest and it looked like Toby was planning to head after him?? This was not good. "Be careful!" she called out after him while not sure if she should follow after as backup. Maybe it was best to let the Professors deal with the situation in case whatever it was proved to be dangerous. She wasn't scared, but CONSTANT VIGILANCE and all that jazz.

Well then.. the Hippogriffs did continue to run amok, though at a slower rate. This was fairly good since this mean there was a bigger chance to keep them safe as some joined them by the fence. But wait. It looked like one of the Hippogriffs.. Henry. Yes. He recognised those particular shaded feathers on him. He was that donated one from his first term teaching, wasn't he? He saw him dashing through the entrance gate in a direction.

Professor Thompson knew there was only one place it would want to go so he raised his wand out again about to get it back.. but then he felt someone leave his side. "Tobias!" His eyes widened despite his still calm composure. He outreached his hand grabbing ahold of his robes to pull him right back. No one was going out there without a Professor. Even if they were of age, ".... Help Monty for now. He will need you." He knew he had a close bond with him, so logically he could calm him down faster and keep him out of trouble as well for now.

Just so it didn't look like Javier was letting that Hippogriff go, he closed his eyes again thinking immediately of his family, seeing his two sons interact for the first time together as he aimed his wand out towards the gate. Letting his trusty Goose patronus escape to fly out. Even if they left now, the chances on catching up with the Hippogriff were next to impossible. But there was the Groundskeeper. Hopefully he'll get the message in time before they can reach it. Now then, "Everyone, try to settle the Hippogriff nearest you down, use the Animal Friendship charm, Animalis Fidelis, if necessary so we don't have more than one Hippogriff out there. We'll join Mr. Maclaren and Henry as soon we're finished." He trusted the Groundkeeper's abilities. Now tegardless on what scared them it was important to keep them calm so they can deal with that after.

What the...?? DID TOBES HAVE A DEATH WISH?

Relieved that Javy grabbed hold of his son right away, Soph gave a hurried, slightly frazzled shrug in response to Cutty's question. "Dunno. Didn't see anything." She'd just been looking at her notepad and Culloden's, too, all the way off to the side. She hadn't even been near them... but she reckoned Tobes had the best chance of anything to notice that something was amiss, right? But the poor Hufflepuff was on the verge of a full-blown meltdown and... well, honestly, he was probably too fixated on the hippogriffs before to even notice if there was something that spooked them.

But what if whatever it was... whatever scared them... was still with them? In the pen somewhere? Were there invisible creatures? Or what if there was an invisible PERSON that had shaken them up?

Sophie didn't know, but Javy's suggestion was a good one - and the hippogriffs were still marching toward them. WELP. The prefect quickly moved further to the side, out of the way of the hippogriff's trajectory, and-- how could they get the creatures to TRUST them enough to actually stop? The charm could only do so much, but Soph tried anyway. "Animalis Fidelis," she cast, giving her wand a flick to the nearest hippogriff, and maintained eye contact with it, bowing low as she did so and hoping it would catch her vibes of please chill out. "It's okay," she cooed to it, already mentally preparing herself for it to decide to kick her or something anyway.

They would've had much more fun staying back and exploring the passage under the willow tree. Hmph.

SQUAWK! SQUAWK!

How dare these humans try to keep them in with the danger?! It was like they couldn't see or feel it! This was an outrage!

SQUAWK!

(Waterwings) squawking the loudest went straight after (Henry) only to be stopped by a small human in blue robes who shot something at her.. No. No. She didn't have to go after him. She could stay right here and protect this one as she bowed back.

Right below them a small trail of moving snow went right under their feets already following the trail after the escaped Hippogriff. This Hippogriff was now calm but the others were still stamping around the middle of the area.

Animal Friendship charm?

Lux could do that. After staring at Toby for a moment with slight worry, she turned her attention back to the rampaging Hippogriffs. It seemed that Sophie had already managed to calm one down. That was good at least.

Pointing her wand at one of the other creatures, she noticed something out of the corner of her eyes. "Professor Thompson, THE SNOW IS MOVING!" Did he see it?? Did anyone see it?? Was she going crazy???

.

.

.

There was still A LOT going on.

...but...yes...Gabe had definitely seen the snow moving, too.

"Stop.......stop shouting."...If the creatures were spooked, loud noises wouldn't help, right? That...was his logical thinking. Take Sophie Brown for example. She seemed almost too calm and that was working wonders for her...and Gabe could honestly say he'd never admired her more than at that moment. Way to take charge...

This had been a bad idea today. He should have stayed at the tree...or better yet...went back inside. There were a least five pumpkin pasties with his name on them up in Ravenclaw tower.

No, really...they literally had his name on them. Gabe wrote his name on his belongings. Treats included.

Cosgrach didn't even understand the look Toby shot at him. He had just saved his LIFE! And hippogriffs were safe too, see -

Or no, don't see.

The ones Cosgrach slowed down were safe, but another broke free of the group and started to go towards the Forest. Cosgrach lifted his wand to stop it too, but everything happened fast: Toby decided to go after it, Javy thankfully held the boy and sent a patronus to the groundskeeper to go after it. The hippogriff was gone in the meantime anyway, so Cosgrach relaxed...

Javy say what? Go after them? In the Forest? Excuse you, but Cosgrach had several people to take care of. He didn't plan to die these days, especially not after a hippogriff. However, he couldn't back out now, could he? He cursed Javy mentally and grudgingly looked at the snow as Lux told them to. He couldn't see anything, though. By now, whatever was on there must have left after the stupid Hippogriff. It wasn't like he looked closely anyway. He took a step back to be even safer and let the students do the calming charm. He knew it, of course, but hadn't practised it in a long time and quite honestly, he didn't want to risk his life more because he was going IN the forest soon anyway.

"We should find out what made them panic," he pointed out the obvious to Javy. "Lux said the snow moved or something? Whatever it was must have left some trails."

Y'know, instead of going in the Forest. Groundskeeper was a big man. He could handle it on his own.

All other shouts were lost on Toby, his mind was only on one thing. But he'd barely gotten halfway over the fence before suddenly he was being dragged right back again. NoooOOOOOOOOOOOOO. He had to get OVER THERE.

With an expression that was some bizarre mixture of indignant and distressed, Toby looked again at Javy, who directed his attention to Monty. With a desperate look back after Henry, Toby considered his options, but after seeing the patronus fly off and remembering Monty's distress, the decision was easily made. The seventh year simply gave a silent nod and hurried over to his Hippogriff friend. Once again, he got up onto the fence, but this time only to give himself a bit of extra height so that Monty might notice him better.

"Animalis Fidelis," Toby cast at the creature, not sure how necessary the spell was but not wanting to risk him getting more upset. Then he bowed at Monty again, even though he'd already done it mere minutes ago. Just, y'know, doing anything he could that might help.

He kept his eyes on Monty even when everyone else spoke. Toby wanted to add that the Hippogriffs had been stamping their feet a lot, but he didn't really trust himself to say anything out loud just yet, feeling that his voice might crack and his eyes would start to sting and tear up more than they already were. In fact, Toby didn't look away from the Hippogriff until he heard it. It was very faint, and he might have believed he was imagining it were he not specifically keeping an ear out for any sounds coming from that direction (ideally Hippogriff footsteps headed back their way).

Screams. Faint and unintelligible to his ears, but shrill and desperate and definitely not the kind of sound you wanted to hear, especially not from that direction.

Toby sent a panicked look back at Javy. "Did you hear that? We have to go over there," he said desperately, his voice breaking, overcome with emotion. He had definitely heard something, and if he could hear it from here then it was definitely screaming. Maybe the Groundskeeper? Didn't the professor say that was who was over there getting Henry? "Like right now. We need to." They couldn't LEAVE them. C'mon c'mon c'mon thEY NEEDED TO MOVE.

Toby WAS okay, riiiiight? Darn, the dude was quick... not to mention super brave. But anyway, HIPPOGRIFFS needed to be calmed down as Professor Thompson said. ''Animalis Fidelis!'' Noooo way was he going to let these babies get into any harm. Nope. The nearest one to him calmed down severley, allowing him to pat his feathery head after the usual bowing and eye contact.

Gabe was right. They did need to stop shouting. It would only scare the poor Griffs even more. But what had even scared them in the first place? That's when he heard Lux's shout. The snow was moving? O__O The Hufflepuff's eyes snapped over to his friend. Was it because of the chaos the Griffs were causing? Surely snow couldn't move on it's own.

SQUAWK!

Hippogriffs were continuing to squawk, with less stomping though as the moving snow had long but disappeared. They did NOT like their area being invaded. It was an outrage! They liked their space! Humans were okay, sometimes, because they gave them lots of pets and treats.

(Monty) after being shot by something relaxing began to put his claws down. No.. No. It was okay. This small yellow robed human was okay. He always gave him attention. He wanted more attention as he softly tugged on the hood of his robe to pull close. Another Hippogriff was calm.

And another Hippogriff (Grey Feathers) was given the same shot too by another yellow robed human. Not as small though. He stopped his stomping to give a low squawk. Only four were left stomping around while the others stuck by the fences. Let them go... Let them go.... because it wasn't the cold that was bothering them. Better hurry up humans before that slowing spell on them wears off.

Hippogriffs were still stomping around and the students were getting anxious. Javier aimed the Animal Friendship Charm at the two nearest him, one at a time hoping they'll approach him now. Hopefully by now the calmed Hippogriffs could try to persuade the remaining ones that they were okay.

Now what was this about moving snow? The Creature Professor surveyed the ground, not seeing anything other than new tracks made by Hippogriffs. "It looks like it has stopped.." Whatever it was. Oh would you look at that, raised snow trails, as if something was below the snow yet above the ground. "Yes.. tracking them sounds like a good idea." However, one issue still remained, "We'll still need to meet up with Mr. Maclaren and return Henry with his creature mates here. Just in case they manage to get into the forest.. those of age come with Professor Culloden and me and stay close." The line only guarded those under age after all, so he thought.

"Those not 17 years old yet, have a look around for any other clues around here." ..Oh, nearly forgotten, "and later on drop your current sketchpads by my office as well." So there were at least some records could be proven to have been done once they have finished. "This way," Now then... who was staying and going?

His Hippogriff was still allowing Adi to pat him. This was a good sign along with that squawk. "There's nothing to worry about,'' he told the majestic beauty. "It'll all be fine. You can help calm your friends down, too.'' The other Griffs were calming down, yes but the already calm ones could still help with that process.

Still rubbing his left hand against the creature's beak/ face, the Hufflepuff looked around at Professor Thompson. Did the man just say those who were of age? Yup, Adi was of age. He had only just become so. "See you later,'' he told the Griff before turning to follow the Professors.

Monty had managed to tug Toby closer, and Toby was quite willing to give him the attention he seemed to want. Without much thinking about it, he gave the Hippogriff a hug around the neck, as far as he could reach, anyway. Really, Toby needed it as much as Monty seemed to want attention, so it worked out well.

He smoothed his fingers over the creature's feathers, trying to calm his Hippogriff while at the same time trying to calm himself. It... sort of worked. A bit.

Toby really only started to feel better when Thompson declared that those of age could, in fact, go along to the Forest to see what was going on. Because it meant they would be DOING something to help Henry, who was now the creature that was most in need. Monty was calm, so were the others. Without a doubt, Toby would be going into the Forest to help. He looked at Monty.

"I have to go," he whispered, keeping his voice low because it was still trembling a whole lot and threatening to crack even more as time went on. "I'll be back soon, Monty. And I'll come see you and make sure you're okay. We're gonna go look for Henry."

With one last hug, Toby nodded at his Hippogriff and stepped down from the fence. Now it felt like he was ABANDONING HIM, but Toby had to try and not focus on that. He petted Monty's feathers again and then hurried after Professor Thompson.

She had tamed one of the hippogriffs, and others were starting to do the same. This was good, then, that they were getting everything under control and things were looking up--

But there was still the hippogriff that got away. The snow had moved? Sophie didn't see that, but... trails? And she heard it, too - the noises in the distance. Those were not good noises.

Those of age. Seventeen. SHE was seventeen and of age so SHE GOT TO GO WITH THEM. FIIIIINALLY. But... what about the hippogriffs? Sophie gently pet the one she had calmed down - couldn't they take one with them into the forest? Maybe it could smell its own kind and track them well and help move things along. They could RIDE a hippogriff, too, which sounded like an excellent option to have in the face of danger. Going in with just Culloden and Thompson...

Well, actually, she was certain there were no professors she could've been going in there with that would've made her feel more protected. No, Javy and Culloden would both give their lives for her in a heartbeat, she knew that. They'd look out for her, Culloden more than Javy, and luckily Javy would undoubtedly instinctively save Tobes first if danger struck.

So they'd both be safe. That settled it.

"It'll be okay," Sophie gave her hippogriff friend an affectionate ruffle of its feathers before taking off after the group, her wand in hand and READY FOR ADVENTURE.

Welp.

Looked like no forest for Lux - not that she was complaining. She hated the place and never wanted to step foot in it so long as she lived; it had almost taken her Bay from her and also killed Gregoire. Evil place. Right now it seemed to be a blessing that she wouldn't be 17 until the start of June.

Since the others were leaving, Lux waved goodbye before giving one of the Hippogriffs a head pat.

So...clues.

Cosgrach did NOT like this.

He acknowledged someone ought to rescue IF the groundskeeper was in trouble in the first place, BUT he doubted that - he wanted to doubt that. Forbidden Forest was FORbidden, and being an adult hardly made it more likely to survive. He didn't even hear the cries (he'd completely shut down his ears) so why were they going? He bet Toby wanted to hear . . . he still had to see Helena grow up . . .

But they were going, and Cosgrach had no choice, so he adjusted his expression to look determined (determined not to die FIRST, THEN save the groundskeeper) and followed the group to the forest.

Things and shouting was happening as Beverly casted the friendship charm on one of the hipporgriffs. People needed to learn to keep their voice down. In a crisis like this ONE only made things worse. Shouting would only frighten them even more.

Glancing over at Professor Thompson, Beverly felt a jolt of excitement and dread. The Forbidden Forest. Greg had died there. But she wasn't Greg. She was Beverly Juniper Wayne and she was clever and strong. Anyway, if things got rusty, she'll just head back. And get help, of course.

Waving at Cutty and Adi, Beverly followed behind Professor Culloden.

Looked like she was going to be all alone here. Oh well. Lux didn't mind. She had the Hippogriffs to keep her company. Seemed like Professor Culloden wanted to stay behind too but he didn't have the same luck as her.

She would play Sherlock Holmes on her own and see what turned up... Keeping her eyes glued to the ground she made her way slowly along the snow to see if anything important was hiding...

Wait. What?!

BOTH professors were disappearing into the Forbidden Forest?!...Probably never to return...and Toby and Sophie were obviously right behind Thompson all because of an animal...and the groundskeeper, along with many other older students with a death wish. But Culloden...WHY did Culloden have to go? Shouldn't a professor be staying with them...on the grounds...just in case the Hippogriffs started spazzing out again?

...and NO. No, no....NO...Gabe would never go back into the Forbidden Forest. Someone had DIED last time...and...no. It was very sad and...everything...about the groundskeeper and the hippogriff. But...

So, yep. Gabe was just going to stay right where he was and...watch the younger kids. He wasn't brave...but...

Hippogriffs > Forbidden Forest

By the time the other humans left, the remaining Hippogriffs were calm. The danger was gone and there was no reason to migrate elsewhere. Their head (Henry) was taking care of it. They liked (Henry) and trusted him as he was here before them all.

(Monty) the hippogriff's golden eyes looked on as the smaller yellow-robed human walked off. Squaaawk? Where was this human going? He walked on after it before its own feet stepped on something crunchy under the raised snow trail. Squawk? He clawed over the snow mound to dig deep over it.

SQUAWK!

What was this thing? It was not here before. (Monty) was no head of hippogriffs, but the others stopped their own interest in the humans to walk by him. The snow uncovered a mass of green feathers over a small set of bones. Thin bones that resembled the shape of a bird. It was not one of their own, so the Hippogriffs separated to do their own business in the area again.

Oh. Gabe was staying too. Lux was pleasantly surprised because she had assumed that as a Seventh Year he would have gone off to the Forbidden Forest with the others. Maybe he hated the place as much as she did. At any rate, she felt safer with someone else here because what if the threat came back??

Hopefully the others were okay.

The Professors had to be able to handle the situation. They were competent. But then... Mr. Kitridge and Fuller were too and look what happened there. UGH, she needed to snap out of it and remain positive.

Still searching for clues, her attention was drawn by one of the hippogriffs digging in the snow. It let out a loud SQUAWK, so naturally she rushed over to investigate. "Gabe, look!" What was that? Lux squinted. "It's some kind of bird..."

Ha. HAHA. No. No Forbidden Forest for Gabriel Banner. Nope. Never again.

Content to just stand by the fence and...protect from afar, he refocused on his notebook and scribblings...trying to distract himself from the knowledge that one of the only people he really looked up to was most likely near death. Yes, that was probably a very dramatic way of thinking...but he was panicked. His thoughts weren't good to him when he felt stressed out...and they were currently painting an increasingly vivid picture in his head. One where no one survived this forest expedition

Soon torn from them, however, he squinted towards Lux Carrington; who was calling out to him. Naturally, the first instinct was to reprimand about shouting, especially after what had just taken place...but...What? Something about a bird? Glancing carefully around the clearing, keeping stock of where each hippogriff stood in the pin...Gabe slowly approached.

...and then peered down...

"............Are those bones?" The Ravenclaw BLINKED, eyes zero'ing in on the feathers. "Something they've snacked on, it would seem." Hippogriffs ate....small creatures like this; Small mammals and...insects, if he recalled right.

So...?

Yep. Seemed like she wasn't the only one seeing a bird carcass.

Honestly with all the crazy things that happened at the school, a dead bird wasn't the most shocking thing ever. Fingers crossed that nothing else - no one else - would die this term...

Lux continued to study the animal carefully. "Maybe that was someone's pet." Usually birds weren't allowed, but sometimes the Headmistress allowed other pets, right? At least that was her understanding... "I think we should inform someone in case it proves to be important." Either the Headmistress or Professor Thompson would be ideal, but of course the latter had wandered into the Forbidden Forest...and the former was probably heading out there as well seeing as this was her school and all.

Gabe stared at the Hufflepuff girl, mind (and imagination) running over the possibilities. What were the odds of the hippogriffs feasting on someone's pet? Today was proof against any control Thompson might've had over the creatures...but would they venture closer to the castle?...And if not, what would a pet be doing out this way without its owner?

...but also...

"Hasn't there been more than a few missing pets lately? After the Peebles incident?" Toby had covered that bit of news in The Quill. So, that was really the only reason Gabe was aware. Good journalism stated that all things would be investigated before going to print...."I suppose it's worth a mention."

...and what color feathers were those? Green...Gabriel had to bend down to double check.

Lux nodded as Gabe mentioned the missing pets. She remembered hearing about it from some people, and of course The Quill had covered the issue. This was why she had been keeping a close eye on Toffy and Arya at all times. Pygmy Puffs were a lot easier to take care of than cats who liked wandering off, but somehow she managed.

"Should we go to the Forbidden Forest and see if the Headmistress is there? I'm sure that she has been notified about Henry by now." They didn't have to go INSIDE. Just...the general area? She hated the place and didn't even want to step foot within a million feet of it.