That one hut near the forest that was forbidden to go in to had caught the new student's attention. He had been walking around, admiring the Grounds because he had never seen something this pretty before. He had first went to the Lake. Then passed that maze because he didn't trust himself going inside alone as he would surely get lost. And then came here.

Did someone life here? Was it a house from another House? Or was it a place everyone could enter? Like a small hangout place? Whatever it was, Yoongi was curious and after gathering his courage, he knocked on the door in case this WAS someone's house...

There was a knock at the door.

There was a knock at the door while the man was treating his hair. This was either extremely bad timing on the part of the visitor or a carefully orchestrated plot to ensure the man had split ends by the time he left this place. Merlin the curse was already setting in.

Scott walked to the door, not bothering to remove the special cream he'd placed in his hair. For all he knew it wouldn't be a long visit and the man would be damned if he rinsed his hair too soon for no good reason.

"Aye? Wha' can I do fer ye?" And couldn't it wait til he was done? Circe alive. While he waited on the boy to speak, he ran the comb delicately through his hair, not trying to rip anything out and damage the roots.

There had been no answer coming from within the house after he had knocked on the door and Yoongi wondered if someone was even home. He turned around to walk away and maybe check out the Lake again when he heard the door opening up. The Gryffindor turned back around , surprised as he saw a man, the Groundskeeper right? Standing in the doorway with some kind of product in his hair. What could he do for him? Eeeh….he didn’t know there had to be a reason for a visit? Mostly he just wanted to figure out if this place was someone’s home or a hangout place for students. Obviously, he now learned it was the Groundkeepers home.

“Iiii….came at a bad timing didn’t i?” he asked as he pointed at the man’s hair. “Trying to prevent split ends?” he asked as he lowered his hand. “I had them ones, it was horrible…” he made a face at the memory and unconsciously touched his own hair. “Anyways, I didn’t come here for a specific reason, just wanted to find out what this house was… out of …curiousity I guess… you’re the Groundskeeper right?”

"Aye." Bad timing was an understatement at best and the man would have been all too happy to dismiss the kid immediately without asking him to check back in later but the job description required being nice to the students and Scott always did his work the best he could. That way he knew he earned every galleon handed over to him. He snorted at the boy's assumption. "No' tryin' t' prevent split ends, Laddie. 'M succeedin'. You'll nay find a strain 'o hair on m' head tha's got split en's on i'." Something the man took great pride in thank you very much.

And he wanted to find out what this house was? Well he supposed it was for the best he did find out. "Tha's me, yes. Scott Maclaren like the Headmistress said on the night 'o the feast." A night he barely remembered now. Everything went by in a blur of panic and second thoughts.

"Ye can come in if ye like." Might as well, there was no point in standing outside and he was curious about the hut, right?

If the groundskeeper was vigilant enough he would feel eyes on him..lots of eyes. The prying eyes don't linger too long, however as they have other places they need to be and things that needed to get done.

Quickly and almost ghost like they made their way past the groundskeeper's hunt and disappeared.

Scott was surprising even himself. Been here a few months and not a single meltdown about the castle even with him being so close to the forbidden forest. Nothing went bump in the night close to the edges and he was highly appreciative of the fact the children stayed clear of it. Less reason for him to have to go in there.

The Groundskeeper rounded his hut, mirror in hand as he attempted to adjust his hair. The new product he was on did wonders for the volume and gave it a nice bounce.

This was what great hair was abou--something moved in the background of his mirror. There was SOMETHING moving by his hut.

"AHHHhHHHhhhhHhhhhHH!!" Nothing manly about that scream. Likewise, nothing manly about his retreat.

Dropping his mirror where he once stood, the man darted for his door, throwing it closed behind and him attaching several locks and charms before throwing his whole body against it. They were coming for him. This was the end! He SAW something!

Having been cooped up for hours in the library, Leo desperately needed some fresh air and a chance to stretch his legs. He had no pressing matters to attend to in the library or in Ravenclaw Tower so he left the castle and headed outside. A stroll around the lake and maybe a stop on the dock to see if he could catch a fish didn’t seem such a bad way to pass a few hours.

Brushing a hand through his dark unruly curls Leo started to head down the path to the lake letting his thoughts wander. Maybe he could take a detour and see if Javy was interested in tagging along for company if he didn’t have too much to do or Scotty? Leo hadn't had that many conversations with the new groundskeeper and former Loch Ness guide since the start of the year, aside from the occasional chance meeting in the staff room. The staff table at meal time were usually pretty crowded too.

Speaking of Scotty, there he was rounding his hut with something in his hand. Leo was about to wave and hail the man over when his colleague gave up a scream that echoed across the grounds, and then bolted for his hut door. Wondering what on earth had gotten into his colleague Leo hurried down the path and up to the hut. Noticing a mirror thrown on the grass nearby he picked it up figuring that it belonged to Scotty, before he knocked twice on the hut door. "Scotty, are you in there? Is everything all right? It's me Leobald."

Steps.

Something--that something, it was that something and it was coming after him just like he knew it was--heading toward his hut. Heavy tracks by the sound of it. Something man eating no doubt, though it didn't look that massive through the mirror. The fact he was still moving confirmed it wasn't a basilisk but that didn't change the fact SOMETHING was near his hut.

Where was his jarvey???????? IT ATE HIM. Scott was one step from hyperventilation when he saw the furry creature skitter across the floor. Not eaten then. Okay. Okay. Phew but that didn't change the fact whatever it was still remained outside his door.

This hyper skepticism when it came to this place was slipping back in. Hogwarts was cursed. Nothing was a coincidence. EVER.

Wait? Leobald? The Scottsman threw his door open immediately, yanked the man inside then slammed it shut and pressed against it again. "I's after me, Leo! Somethin's lurkin' ou' there and i' might already have the taste o' m' flesh. I can't stay here. It'll eat me." So what if he didn't know what it was? Who in there right mind ever waited to find out? News flash, that was how people died.

Leo was busy examining the mirror when Scotty threw his hut door open and yanked him inside not too kindly. He didn't have time to blink before the door was slammed shut and Scotty was pressing up against it fear visible in his eyes and voice. Holding up a hand to stop his colleague that was blabbering Leo said "Calm down Scotty! Just calm down... What is lurking out there? What did you see?" Coming down to the hut Leo hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. No creatures, no students, nothing. But then again that didn't really mean anything. He had had his eyes on his bolting colleague not on the surroundings and to be honest when Leo had his mind on other things he didn't exactly pay vigilant attention to what was going on around him. "Eat you?" Leo repeated sceptically. "What will eat you?"

"You're welcome to come stay in the library." he offered trying to appease his colleague that was clearly experiencing something between a freak out and a meltdown and Leo knew exactly how that felt. "But shouldn't we first try and figure out what you saw?"

Calm down? How could he expect him to CALM DOWN at a time like this. They may have all taken their lives for a joke but no sir! Not Scott Maclaren! This was one man with every intention to LIVE.

The man was asking all these questions, questions he didn't have answers to nor did he ever want answers to.

"I dunno! I dunno! What're ye askin' me??" As if he was supposed to STAND THERE and draw a picture of whatever could potential have him for dinner. It was a bad idea having a hut this close to the forest. He should have said so sooner. Who cared if this was traditionally where it stood??

And just when he thought the man couldn't be any madder. "You wan' t' do WHAT?? No! Absolu'ly no'! I dunno wha' I saw an' it means ye don't know wha' I saw either. I's bad business chasin' after things we don' know abou' an' I'll be damned if I let ye take me on some expedition 'o sorts when I can jus' lock m'self inside th' whole time an' wait fer summer."

He didn't need to go to the library, he needed to go HOME--with the galleons he was promised which meant sticking around a little longer.

Pulling a hand through his hair Leo explained patiently. "I wondered what you saw because whatever you saw clearly frightened you." It was abundantly clear by the way the groundskeeper was behaving. Had he been this hysterical on the field trip too? At the moment he had no memory of that. Scotty had seemed to be a man that took everything with stride. This was not that man.

Repressing the urge to roll his eyes and look at the hut ceiling and say something unpleasant Leo remained calm. "I'm not saying that we should chase after something unidentified right this minute."

"You're unsure of what you saw but it was definitely something right? Not just a reflection? If that's the case then we have to be careful. It can't hurt to advice the staff and prefects to be more vigilant whilst being out on the grounds."

"After last year's tragic student death I'd rather be very safe than sorry as the old saying goes." Leo added a hint of sadness crossing his facial features at the memory of how last year had ended.

Shaking his head he continued. "You can't lock yourself in your hut until summer comes Scotty. That's not the answer."

Remembering that he still held the mirror in his hand Leo held it out to Scotty. "I think this might be yours? I found it outside on the grass."

Curse the man for making a lick of sense when he was trying desperately to find reasons why he shouldn't leave this hut. There was no denying it was something, even if he had to admit it wasn't something of great size and if it was scurrying around freely, it was likely to make it's way around the grounds.

It might have been better to tell. Have them find it and remove it before he ran into it during one of his rounds. That would have been a disaster.

With a shaky breath he reclaimed his mirror he'd dropped earlier. "Aye, ye have a point. It'll be even worse if we let i' wander aroun' the grounds with all th' students we have runnin' abou' the place. Looked like i' was comin' from the direction 'o the fores' too." Definitely couldn't be good.

Scott ran a shaky hand through his hair. "What're we goin' t' do?"

Could Scotty stop his hysterical outburst and listen to reason? Leo wondered silently. They were getting absolutely nowhere with identifying what he had seen when his colleague was so focused on coming up with plausible excuses for barricading himself in his hut for the rest of the year. In this moment Leo missed Alistair who had held the position a few years ago. When he had a moment he'd write to St Mungos and ask about his former colleague's well-being.

Focusing on the current groundskeeper; Scotty that was accepting the mirror from him with a shaky breath Leo was not just a little surprised when the man suddenly changed his tune and actually agreed with him. To not shake his head in total wonderment, Leo said thoughtfully "I suggest we go talk to Javy before we do anything else. Maybe he can shed some light on what you saw and in any case it's good to alert him anyway that something is wandering around the grounds that may or may not have come from the forbidden forest." Especially considering the fact that Javy had his home on the grounds too just like Scotty.

A Goose was waddling in mid air in Patronus form as it made it's way into the opening in the window of the Groundskeeper Hut. It had made many shortcuts along the way to make it's quick arrival to the Groundskeeper.

As soon as it found its recipient the floating Goose-Patronus spoke, "Scott, there's a Hippogriff heading toward the forest. It's name is Henry. We are currently keeping a hold of the other spooked Hippogriffs from heading the same way. Please try to stop it until we get there. Javier." And then it faded.

The Scottsman had somehow gotten his mind at peace again. It took several cups of tea a day, a little down time with his jarvey every evening and a bit of time out in his garden everyday but the man felt at peace. By now, he had successfully lied to himself that nothing had really gone by his hut. Just his imagination.

Fairies hadn't been missing either, just playing silly little fairy games.

Everything was peeeerfectly fine.

That patronus just now? Scott watched it while it relayed its message, watched it disappeared then turned and went right back to his pruning. These little guys had suffered enough and the winter wasn't over yet. Hard enough keeping them alive then you added weeds. What did the man care about an animal that didn't know better than to head into the place where things got eaten? He knew better and could act accordingly. That patronus and the man who sent it could jump off a tall cliff. He was going nowhere.

Except there would be a group of people heading into the forest looking for him in a few minutes...and if anything happened to them it would be on him. Why was there never any winning in this cursed place? With an exasperated sigh, the man threw down his clippers and reluctantly started toward the forest, grumbling the entire way. Bloody hippogriff. Bloody school.