"Okay! So, it's Neev?" He tried pronouncing it again with a pained looked on his face. "I hope I'm not offending you. Just wanna make sure I get it right, so I'm not calling you by the wrong name for years to come." When Niamh gave Jona a chocolate frog he couldn't help but laugh aloud and accept it gratefully. "Well, if you keep being the girl that feeds me than I think your presence alone will cure most anything for me." He smiled broadly and opened the chocolate frog, dismissing the cover story of having a stomach ache. He also forget that chocolate frogs are jumpers.

"AH!"

Lucky for him, the frog jumped right on his face. He opened his mouth and bit onto one of the frog's legs before pulling it off with his hands. "I forget those things move," he said as he laughed at himself.

(and anyone)

River smiled. "I know what you mean, I really liked those diricawls a lot. I don't know but I hope its as fun as some of the ones we've seen already." River waved to Nimah when she saw her wave. She'd have to sit with her. "They have fish and chips," she said to Paddy. "Isn't that a bit weird seeing as we are watching fish?" She giggled. "Oh look Mr. Fish you're pretty, and I'm eating your friend." River opted to get three slices of pizza and a small salad with a butterbeer. "C'mon Paddy, lets go sit with Niamh!"

Zoe wanted to wrap her arms around Jona but didn't want him to be embarrassed. So she decided to just be near him for the moment. "Aye," she said to Nimah, "we'd love to sit with ye. She went and ordered herself an order of loaded nachos, chicken taco salad and no-melt butterbeer flavoured ice cream and a large glass of lemonade. "I should've gotten myself a drink on the bus but I did nee wanna miss anything."

Zoe laughed how Jona caught the chocolate frog. "Well seems the chocolate is a good remedy. Ye wanna go get food now? Their menu is huge! Whaddya think we'll see next?"

Magnus was still standing there watching George. Jasper Cassidy came up to Magnus with a cheese burger, chips, pumpkin juice and ice cream. He waved his wand and a chair slid up to the entranced boy. "Here, eat," the librarian said and left to go get his own lunch.

"I won't tell anyone," Rain whispered back, smiling. "I'd love to see him or her sometime, though!" "Oh, me too!" Keet piped in. Rain chuckled, "I have a feeling I will be adding a little griffin at some point!"

Rain smiled as Mallowsweet handed her omnioculars back, "You're welcome, I'm glad you liked them! Were you able to spot the eggs?"

Keet and Rain finished up feeding the the beautiful horses the remainder of their hay, then turned to listen when Irwin addressed them all. They were both getting pretty hungry, so they were happy to hear that it was time for a lunch break. Keet was excited when the bus entered the water, she had never seen a sea serpent before. She made a mental note to sketch it after she had finished eating her lunch. Rain decided to see if the omnioculars worked under water; to her disappointment, they did not. She shrugged and decided that it was time to have something to eat.

The girls looked over their menus with rumbling stomachs. Keet decided to have the fish and chips, hoping that it wouldn't offend their new fish friends outside. Rain ordered a salad and a bowl of potato soup. They munched happily, watching the sea serpent and the fish swim gracefully through the water.

((OOC: My characters have been enjoying themselves and I have tried not to make them too angsty, will continue to do so. xD ))

"And suddenly I'm hungry." Jona ran up and ordered himself a pumpkin juice with seafood jambalaya and a plate of buñuelos for the table. He came back and set the Mexican donuts down for his friends to enjoy. "I would looooove to see a dragon, though it's probs not gonna happen. A unicorn would be cool, too. One of those classic magical creatures that I heard about, even living as a muggle. What do you think we'll see next?"

(OOC.. Oh no, don't change anything on our account, just having a little fun with our character's quirks. Pony is OK, but she just recently was expelled from the centaur herd, and got kicked out of the forest by her own dad, for being different. She'll settle down once she realizes no one is really mad at her.)

"I'd love to show you girls. Maybe during the break I can have you two over. It'd be fun to have a girls sleep over." River giggled. "I'm sure you'd love her or him. One day my guardian is gonna say no more pets, but he hasn't yet."

Zoe giggled as Jona went off to get food. She tried one of the doughnuts and smiled. "Yummy." She shrugged. "Maybe a Wrackspurt... no they're invisible."

"Unicorns are my favourite magical creature, that and dragons," River said to no one in particular. "What about you guys?" She looked at everyone. Then giggled at Magnus who was slowly eating his hamburger watching George. At least he'd sat down now.

((OOC: and that's fine, I just would like to perk it up as a whole and turn it around. lighten the mood so to speak. ))

Jona let loose an unbridled laugh at Zoe's comment. "Of course you would suggest a creature that we can't actually see!" Once the laughter subsided, Jona gave Zoe a look friendly adoration and said, "That was such a 'you' comment. Do me a favor? Don't stop being you." He nudged her with his finger, thankful that Zoe had become such a good friend. Then he proceeded to double fist his pumpkin juice and a buñuelo as he tuned into some of the other conversations. He couldn't help but overhear when River said something about unicorns and dragons, especially since he'd just talked about them himself.

Mallowsweet took a deep breath. She had been a fool, and had totally misunderstood. As he walked away she heard him murmur "Was only trying to make a friend." "Wait" she called "What's your name?" but it was too late, he had vanished among the other students. She smiled sadly as she looked up at Mr. Cassidy (she really is very small for a centaur). "It's alright. I'm OK, haven't been out listening to fwoopers or anything. I misunderstood.., well, I didn't mean to upset anyone. I'll just see if I can get an apple or something now." She paused "Are you sure I can't clean the library or something to make up for that book I ruined. I really love books, we never had anything like them in the forest." Just then George the sea serpent swam overhead. "Wow." she breathed in wonder.

Zoe giggled. "Well technically if I did become someone else, I'd still be me with that personal pronoun and I'd always be ye, to ye. Now of course, if I were taken over by invisible forces then I'd be someone else who was pretending to be me. But I suppose I'll grant ye that I'll keep my unique outlook on life and maitain the Zoe-ness of myself."

"I believe he was named Jona. The blue-haired girl sits with him a lot, she'll be easier to find," Mr. Cassidy said helpfully. He nodded. "Yes, I surmised that. I just can't have you grabbing people, you understand. Glad you are feeling better though. They have lots of food on the menu, vegetarian options if you prefer." Jasper smiled. "Books are treasures. They contain knowledge and take us to places we've never been. How about you just try to be a little more careful with them, eh? That would make me happy--er. Now, Off you trot. I'm sure you'd rather talk to students than me. I'd suggest a banana split, if you wanted a cold treat."

Seeing that Mallowsweet seemed to feel better and was interested in finding Jona and talking to Jasper, Drew held back a sigh and turned away. He honestly had no appetite and couldn’t care less if he ate or not at the moment. He went over to a vacant table and took a seat, staring out at the water. As the fish swam by, and then George, the sea serpent, he watched. Then a thought went through his mind and he looked around a bit. Spotting the person he wanted, Drew made his way hesitantly over to Irwin. He wasn’t sure what sort of reaction he’d get, but his curiosity had him giving it a try.

“Excuse me, Irwin?” he said quietly. “I was wondering something…if you’ve got the time.”

Irwin looked up from his lunch. "Hey sure, ask away. You wanna have a sit?"

“Thanks,” Drew said, sliding into a seat. “I’m not sure if the water around us is fresh or salt water. I’m guessing salt. Anyway,” he went on before he rambled too much, “I was wondering if there might be hippocampi as well as George.”

"Yes its salt water," Irwin said. "Ah, I'd love it but no. Not that I'm aware of. Typically they are found around Greece. Though one was reported to have been found in Scotland."

Drew nodded a bit sadly. “I read about that one. It was a blue roan and I bet it was beautiful. Maybe one day I’ll get to travel and see one. I suppose the water around here is too cold for them, but I was hoping. Thanks anyway. I’ll leave you to finish your lunch now.” He stood up and started to head back to his table.

"Yes, from the pictures I saw, he was a beauty. There's some books in the gift shop about various types of equines, water and land. I can point those out to you if you'd like. I'm sorry, though," Irwin said. "You can chat with me if you want. I mean you don't have too... Your friend is watching George right over there," he pointed to Magnus who had remained entranced with the sea serpent and was picking up nonexistant food without having realised he'd finished. "Seems to like watching George."

“Really? You’ve got books?” Drew turned back, his ears pricking up at the mention of the combination of his two favorite things…equines and books. “I’d like to see them and see if there’s some I don’t have.”

He glanced over at Magnus and had to laugh at his friend’s rapt gaze. “I’m not sure he’d know I was even there or not. I’m not big enough to compete with George,” he grinned. “I’m surprised Mags isn’t drawing him though. You ought to see some of the pictures of creatures he’s drawn.”

Drew debated a minute and then took a seat again. “If you’re sure you don’t mind, I might have a few more questions,” he said to Irwin. “Then I’ll go see if Mags remembers me.”

"Oh yes, we have books, pets, toys," Irwin said, "I don't wanna spoil too much of the surprise. I'll happily point 'em out to you." Irwin chuckled with Drew's words. "Maybe he'll draw later. I admit this is one of my favourite places to be. I could watch the fish for hours." Irwin smiled again. "Sure, ask away. I'm sure he'll remember you, if you poke him playfully about ten times."

“Pets too?!” Drew grinned broadly. “Glad I brought plenty of money, but I wonder what Mum will say when I come home with one…or four more. Yeah it’s pretty cool here, but I’m more of a forest and meadow lover overall,” he shared. “I could stay in the woods near our house for days…but Mum says hours is enough, especially in adverse weather.”

He snickered at Irwin’s teasing comment. “Ten times. Got it. And I can tell him I have adult permission,” he grinned.

Then he regarded the man and asked, “How’d you get interested in this job? How long have you been a guide? Did you have to study anything special? I’ve been wanting to become a magizoologist and specialize in equines, but this seems pretty cool too. Do you actually work with the creatures or just show ‘em to people?”

"Yep got a lot of them, sold out of a few but hopefully not something you'd like to get." He chuckled. "Tell her you're training for your new job as a magizoologist and the word zoo, means you need one. It didn't work on my mum though, when I was younger. Can't blame her about the bad weather. It's wise to not linger too long."

Irwin chuckled. "Hey, every friend needs to be slightly annoyed right?"

"I was little, back in the Outback. It was raining and a wallaby was trapped. Rescued it and had to go buy books on how to nurse it back to heath. I named him Joey. Set him free but he still seemed to find me from time to time. Ever since then I just knew what I was supposed to do. I've been a guide and care-giver about six years. Well its not as like being a healer even though some of us do use healing magic on ourselves and the animals--but there's no tests to take really. Most people just go out and study. I went on a walkabout for about two years myself. Then I came here. It seems our field finds a hands on approach. Yeah I do work with them. The Occamy we have to heavily stun if one's injured but thankfully that doesn't happen often.

Mallosweet finally spotted Drew talking to their guide. At Mr. Cassidy's advice she had ordered the "Banana Split" and was dubiously looking at the cold confection trying to figure out how best to eat it. Luckily Naos, the centaur groundskeeper had explained how wizard money worked, and had helped her at Gringotts to access the trust fund that Firenze had set up for the herd years ago. Since the forest centaurs had openly derided wizards and wizard money, Mallowsweet didn't feel bad about spending a little of it. "So, can anyone give me some advice on how to eat this?" she asked setting the huge boat shaped tray on the table, and holding up the spoons the vendor had given her.