Having heard about the plans for the day out by the barns and pastures, Rajesh had to admit it helped his mood somewhat. Something to do that helped his aunt and the many creatures under her care and distracted him from anything else. Bonus, his special skills seemed to be behaving as he made his way down to the grounds…for now. Hopefully they would stay that way so he could actually enjoy doing what he loved for once this term since his first visit and the unwelcome surprise that had ensued.

“Hi Aunt Hads,” he greeted with a soft smile since now one else was around just yet. Why couldn’t he take advantage of the familiarity when not sharing the professor with others? And then go back to being totally professional when anyone else showed up.

It was a great day!

Aria was in a great mood and was ready to do some hard work for the lovely Creatures lady. To top things off, Anita had approved not two but THREE of her designs to be modeled at the fashion show that summer. The girl could have cried with happiness when she received the owl from her mentor. Summer seemed to be the highlight of her life: two summers ago, her fathers had adopted Caes; last summer she had started interning and this summer, her work was being featured in a show. Life was good!

But at the moment, not for one of her friends. The sight of professor Paton reminded her that she had a message to deliver. Aria gave Rajesh a wiggly-finger wave then turned to Paton. “HIII, Professor!” Cue a toothy smile before she lowered her voice. “Nova says that she can’t make it to help. Cramps, I think. She’s curled up in the Common Room with a huge bowl of cheese puffs.” It was a pity the woman’s daughter couldn’t make it but every female had these off days and deserved a break.

Hadleigh was thrilled to see a familiar face heading towards her. "Hello, Raj. How are you today? Yes, she didn't see anything wrong with being greeted by her name when it was only the two of them. This also wasn't a lesson and everyone in attendance was here by their own free will and to help out.

So when another smiling student joined the small group that was gathering, Hady nodded. Hello, Miss McLeod. I hope you're looking forward to a day of hard work?" she asked trying not to laugh at all. She wanted everyone to have a good time as they made things better for the creatures. Huh? What's this about her daughter now? Curled up in the common room with cheese puffs. Well alright then. She would make sure to check in on Nova shortly and ensure that she was alright. "Thank you for letting me know." It was helpful that her daughter had friends that could pass messages on to her.

"Thanks for joining me out here today, everyone. As you can see our creature friends have all be moved to a temporary area for the day so that we can fix up their living spaces. I have lots of paint, paint brushes and rollers, there's all types of bedding and plants and saplings. New feeding and watering stations for inside their enclosures. Toys and different things for the creatures to enjoy." In other words there was no shortage of things to do. There was something for everyone. "Feel free to work alone or in groups. I personally think group work is much more fun but that's just me. If anyone gets hungry there's snacks and drinks on the tables as well. So if there were no questions they could get started however they liked.

Aria crinkled her nose. Hard work? “Not really…?’’ she responded, eyeing Paton. “As long as we’re using magic, it’s fine.” Because Aria strongly disliked getting sweaty and dirty from manual labour. It was why she constantly tried tricking Caes into doing her chores for her, or making bets and winning said bets against him. The only people whom Aria would willingly do manual labour for are her fathers. Maybe Caes too. The three main men in her life. “You’re welcome, professor! I’m sure she’ll be fine!’’ Nova was a fierce fighter.

The Slytherin’s gaze, for the first time, observed all the details of the surroundings. Yes, there were definitely many things to get done; things that magic could easily assist with thankfully. But where would she get started on? Aria knew that she wanted to do some painting. Yes! And she’d work on the stalls belonging to the Hippogriffs! Mind made up, cans of paint were levitated and with a suitable brush in hand, Ms. McLeod headed over to the nearest stall. Hopefully Paton wouldn’t mind the choice of colour: eggplant. It was the closest that Aria could find to purple so improvisation it was!

To work she got!

Was the Professor holding back a small laugh at the look on their faces when she mentioned hard work? She very well may have been. It was funny to see how some students reacted when they thought they would have to do things without the use of magic. A lot of them just couldn't cope. Others did wonderfully. Today, it didn't make a difference. All that mattered was making a difference for all the creatures.

"I suppose some magic can be used today as long as everyone's careful please. Remember we're aiming to make the creatures spaces more comfortable for them so think about what they would all like rather than only what you think is nice." Sometimes that was easier said than done and it was easy to get out of hand when trying to remodel a space. "Keep in mind that less can be more and sometimes simple is better. Think about which creatures you are creating the space for." Hady smiled.

To keep an eye on things for right now, she was going to start with planting some of the saplings around the pastures.

How was he? That could be such a loaded question. “I’m alright,” Rajesh answered honestly, for at the current moment he was. He gave a simple nod of acknowledgement to Aria’s wave in his direction, it seemed like it might just be him and his fellow sixth year and a few others for the makeover. Well with Aunt Hads of course. That was alright. And he wasn’t against hard work so he was all good with that as well. Maybe that was the reason it was small…hard work plus no guarantee of house points since it wasn’t an official lesson.

Thinking over his options on what to do, Raj certainly was staying away from the watering stations for sure. They didn’t need any more accidents with his magic, especially with it being more erratic nowadays. With Aria working on painting over by the hippogriff enclosures, he picked up a brush of his own and a can of a complementary color of hunter green paint and went on the smaller creature enclosures.

Brush….brush…brush….dip. Brush….brush…brush….brush…dip.

Aria depended a lot on magic FYI, professor! It was magic that she used to bring her clothing designs to life. If she did it all by hand, there was no way she would be able to meet her deadlines. She most likely would have laughed right along with Paton, though, because the girl was a good sport and it was actually amusing that she was highly dependent on her magical abilities.

Oh, she surely was thinking about what the hippogriffs would like. Purple had a certain aesthetic, didn’t anyone ever notice? While the larger paint brushes were magicked to do most of the painting, Aria still used a smaller one to fill in paint on all the cracks and crevices in the harder to reach places. See, she wanted to ensure that the stalls were properly completed.

There would be no improperly done work on this Slytherin’s part!

When magic was being used, it didn't take very long to get things done. Colorful plants were now scattered throughout the pasture and some trees would be added into the mixture shortly. There was more than enough time to get everything done that she wanted to and there wasn't any reason to rush.

With that, Hady made her way into the barn to see how things were going in there. A warm smile gracing her lips as she spotted both Aria and Raj painting enclosures. "Well look at things in here! I love the colors you both choose, very warm and inviting." Oh, yes, she was positive all of the creatures were going to rest comfortably tonight!

"What do you two think of a nice sky blue for this area over here?" She made a gesture towards where she happened to be standing. What she wanted was for the barn to look open and inviting not only for all its inhabitants but for the students and staff as well.

Aria was almost finished with this particular stall. She couldn’t help but feel ridiculously pleased with herself for two reasons: her magic had improved during the course of her six years at Hogwarts that it was a proud moment for her to watch all those paint brushes whizz about doing their thing; and, she had taken her own time to paint those hard to reach places of the stall herself.

Should she move to another or do something else?

At the moment, the Slytherin was busy basking in Paton’s compliment. “Thanks, professor! I’m one hundred percent sure the Hippogriffs will love it!’’ The question was considered. “Blue is considered comforting and calming. I don’t see why sky blue wouldn’t be appealing to use there! Would you like some help?”

Swish…swish…swish

The painting was coming across nicely which was a relief for Raj. He preferred to have more days like this where he was more back to normal. Plus the hunter green was looking nice and seemed to be a good mix with Aria’s choice. Oh hey, Aunt Hads was back from outside, his attention drawn to the woman when she asked about the next color to add into the mix. “I think it works,” he spoke up, agreeing with both of his companions. Adding some light color to the darker shades already done by the two students.

Of which, he figured his painting job was almost finished, adding the final touches to the last enclosure to work on. Then he’d been checking on the first areas he had worked on to see if they were properly dry so he could move onto the next move…adding fresh new bedding to each so the normal inhabitants of the enclosures would be comfortable when they were returned to their homes.