Oakey made his way down to the hut with a determined look upon his face. He had to test this new Groundskeeper. See if what Mr.Murdoch said was true in that this person did not steal his job. That Mr.Murdoch had indeed left on his own accord.

It looked like the same old hut, aside from a few plants here and there. Some of them seemed to be swaying, although it wasn't windy today. He would stay as far away from those plants as possible then.

Oakey just stood outside for a few minutes he paced around the building at a distance checking for any signs that this man was job stealer, but nothing. Maybe all the hints were inside.

He walked his way back around to the front and went up the stair.
*knock*knock*knock*
Hmmmm, it sounded like the same door.

Sebastian was in the middle of making himself a cup of tea before taking Millie and Pepper outside for a run when he noticed the dog staring at something in the corner of the room. Putting down the tea pot, he made his way over to where Pepper was standing and peered over the dog's head to see what she was looking at. There sitting in the corner was a horned toad. Hmm, either the old Groundskeeper had left it behind or it had managed to get inside while the place was vacant. Seb, didn't care how or why it was here, he was just worried what Pepper was going to do if it moved. Just has Seb was easing around the dog so that he could pick the toad up, there was a knock on the door.

And then chaos erupted.

The horned toad sprang into the air, the Russian terrier going after it, barking excitedly.

"PEPPER, NO!" Seb yelled running after her and watching in dismay as the dog crashed into the dining table causing the tea pot and cup to go flying and smashing onto the floor, hot liquid spreading out onto the floor which the dog then slipped on causing her legs to flail in every direction. He made a dive for her and missed, sliding on the floor, Seb hit the painting he had been working on early causing the easel to collapse and paint to go flying.

Groaning and covered in paint, he decided to give up the chase and go and answer the door. He flung it open to see a lone figure standing there who he guessed to be around fifteen or sixteen and Seb flashed the lad a quick smile before ushering him inside. "Glad you're here. I need your help."

What was taking him so long? Maybe he wasn't in, maybe he was off doing Groundskeeper stuff. STUFF that the Former Groundskeeper could have been doing! Oakey was about to just call it quits when suddenly the door swung open, this would have knocked Oakey right off the edge of the steps if he wasn't brought inside. SOMEBODY HELP HE WAS BEING HUFFLENAPPED!

Wait..."Help?" Oakey said as he took in his surroundings. There was something small hopping around avoiding a dog that was chasing it around the hut knocking over just about everything.
The Groundskeeper looked just as worse. "Are you covered in paint?" Oakey asked becoming very curious. He looked at the floor. "That paint?" he pointed his finger to the floor.

Assuming that the whole Dog chases Frog thing was what he needed help with Oakey braced himself catch it. Little did he know that the Horned Toad had jumped to his head and the dog wasn't to far behind.
It happened so quickly Oakey had no time to react, The Dog jumped right at Oakey knocking him onto the floor and into the paint as well."H-hey!" Oakey stood up and tried to wipe of the paint actually spreading it on himself some more. "Where did that bloody toad go!?!?" Oh, he was all in now!

Yeah he must look a total sight. Probably not something these young witches and wizards came across every day. To Seb, however, this was quite normal. He was usually covered in something and today just happened to be..."Yeah...that paint. Caused from that." He jerked his thumb in the direction of the Russian terrier who was still chasing after the toad and knocking everything over in her path. He hadn't seen Millie since this fiasco had started and Seb hoped that the little wombat was in a good hiding place.

And just as he was about issue some orders, the toad made its way onto the kids head followed closely by the dog. "PEPPER!! For the love of Merlin." Seb said with a sound of exasperation in his voice. He was not making a very good impression in front of the lad. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder to steady him. "You okay?"

Apparently so, going by the look on his face. "He went that way." Towards the fire place. Oh this was not going to end well. "Quick. You come in from the right and I'll take the left and corner it."

"I-I'm fine." Oakey stated eyes focused on the Toad as it settled itself by the fireplace. He brushed the Groundskeeper's hand from his shoulder, but turned and listened to his instructions to come around from the right. "What about ummm, Pepper?" That was his dogs name, yeah? The Black dog was just as determined to capture as they were, but the dog wasn't going to listen to the instructions as easily as Oakey did.

Doing as the Groundskeeper said Oakey moved over to the right of the fire place as slowly as possible carefully stepping over a few fallen objects and the splatter of paint on the floor. He eyed back to the older man. He was ready and in position now he needed to do his part.

Where did Pepper go?

Kurumi actually wasn't entirely sure that she really needed to return the splint that she had received from the Groundskeeper at Hogsmeade station or not, but better safe than sorry, right? For all she knew the man had simply conjured it out of thin air and therefore it was rather disposable...oh well. Maybe he would get a good laugh out of her coming all the way to his office to return the splint to him?

So, somewhat shyly, Kurumi approached the door and gave it two swift knocks.

The lad was okay. That was good. Pity the same couldn't be said for his hut. Seb gave a quick glance around the place and shook his head. Nothing ever changed, he smiled wryly and when the kid spoke again, he jerked his head in the direction of the Russian terrier lying under the dining table panting hard.

Apparently she had tired herself out.

Seb moved very slowly towards the toad, the Hufflepuff doing the same and he gave the kid a small nod of his head as he closed in on the toad.

Another knock on the door caused the toad to move once again, springing into the air and landing on the dining table. In her haste to get up, Pepper banged her head on the table before running out barking once again.

And the chase was on once again.

Seb threw up his hands in exasperation and then yelled, "COME IN!" Perhaps another set of hands would do the trick.

Kurumi hadn't expected such a LOUD voice to come from Mr. Gibbins' office, so the Gryffindor jumped back slightly before approaching the door again and pulling it open. She was just about to do her Japanese greeting of 'excuse the intrusion' when she saw....


...........................CHAOS

Kurumi didn't notice the toad at first, being more concerned with the barking dog, flailing Groundkeeper, and equally panicked looking Oakey. Maybe she should come back later?

"Is there....something I can do?"

Like...clean up all the paint? *blink blink*

Just a few more steps, just a few more and they've got the Toad. It seemed the Groundskeeper's gog had founds her way under the table. Perfect, Pepper was breathless which meant that she wasn't going to be getting in the way anymore. He tip toed a few more feet and was literally about to snatch the Horned Toad from above the fireplace when a loud knock came from the door.

The horned toad was startled and leaped from the mantle onto the table just above Pepper, which brought the dog back into action! This was getting ridiculous, Oakey paused for a moment letting Pepper and the toad run amuck in the hut to see Kurumi entering now. "K-Kurumi!" Oakey said irritated that it was her fault that the chaos had erupted again.

Without a moments notice the toad leaped right past Oakey and he could hear Pepper coming up right behind him. He turned quickly and got onto one knee. Putting his arms out and grabbed onto the Groundskeeper's dog and held on as hard as he could. "Hold still" Oakey said to the dog as calmly as possible. he took one hand and began petting behind one of her ears."Good girl, Pepper." He switched his hand to her other ear "Now sit."

Sebastian had enough time to spare the Gryffindor Prefect a quick glance and flash her a smile when the toad when hopping passed him and the young Hufflepuff had managed to tackle Pepper and keep her restrained. He blinked a couple of times and then a broad grin spread across his face. Finally, someone could control the hyper active terrier. "Nice work." As soon as the place was back in order, Seb thought it would probably be a good idea if they introduced themselves.

He turned his attention to Kurumi and noticed the toad heading in her direction. "Do you think you can catch that toad?" Before anything else got broken. And if they do manage to catch the thing, Seb was going to take it very far away from his hut.

After this, he had a feeling that he was going to need something a little stronger than just tea.

Kurumi's head snapped in the direction of the Hufflepuff when he said her name. "What?!" she squeaked in surprise. She had just been told to come in...what was Oakey glaring at her....


....did Oakey just sort of tackle a dog? What was going on here? All Kurumi wanted to do was return a splint to the Groundskeeper...
Gaze averting from Oakey and the dog, who she could only assume belonged to the Groundskeeper, Kurumi's attention was on the man and head cocked to the side in confusion. "A toad?" she repeated feeling slightly confused. Is that what had caused the paint explosion?

But then she heard a load croaking noise coming from behind one of the chairs soon followed by a leaping toad that landed in a puddle of paint and splashed the Gryffindor's robes. "Oh, um, I'll try..." she nodded with a hurried bow.

Only just HOW did one catch a toad? What did Kurumi know about toads that could help her? THINK HOLLINGBERRY! Creatures is your best subject... Oh, right. Toads can see their side view as good as in front, so going from behind was going to give her the upper hand. Kurumi crouched on the ground for a moment, watching the spot where the thing had jumped into the paint and waited for some other movement...only then to notice the small trail of froggy prints left by said paint. BINGO!

Slowly and as quietly as she could, Kurumi followed the prints to the fold up bed on one side of the room and sloooooooooooooowly bent down to peek under it. There it was...hiding in the corner...maybe she could reach it if...

With her left hand Kurumi stretched her arm under and managed to scare the toad out. Once she saw it hopping again, the Gryffindor pounced like a lion on the toad and managed to grab it. Merlin was he slippery...probably because of all the paint. Once the creature was in her hands, Kurumi held it by the back legs and placed its forearms on her finger. "W-What do I do with him?!"

And if the man mentioned Dragon Lady or potions ... Kurumi was going to release the toad RIGHT now.

Whoa...If there was ever any doubt as to why Kurumi was placed in Gryffindor this would answer the non-believers right here. The way she stalked the toad was...was...just like a lion, and the way she caught it! "Awesome." he exclaimed almost releasing Pepper, she jerked but Oakey shot her a look and she stopped. Why didn't he have a dog, they seemed to listen to him better than owls and cats.
He stood up and held the Groundskeeper's dog by the collar and walked her back to the man. "You may want to consider a leash for her." Oakey said jokingly.

He turned around just as Kurumi asked what to do with the horned toad. "I'll take it...him...er...her?" It would be Aegis' birthday pretty soon and what's better than a gift of pet horned toad?

Yeah it sounded strange in his head as well. All this mess and destruction caused by a runaway toad and an over zealous dog. Seb, could understand why Kurumi looked confused and also a little hesitant to go after the toad and he was about to tell her that he would do it himself when the girl began to stalk after the toad and he had to admit, he was rather impressed.

And when she finally had the toad in her hands, Seb was tempted to give her a round of applause but he didn't want to startle the toad and have it go rampart though his hut once more.

He was just about answer Kurumi's question when the Hufflepuff lad spoke up and he gave his shoulders a small. "It's fine by me. I was just going to let it out in the garden." Preferably the garden near the greenhouses because they were on the other side of the grounds. Seb, didn't feel like having to go through this again. "If it doesn't want to be kept as a pet though, make sure you let it go, yeah?" Nothing worse when you tried to tame a wild animal when it didn't want to.

Seb took hold of Pepper and chuckled a little. "She's usually a very good dog. I think she's just excited about being in a new place." He led the dog towards the back and let her out the door to run around. Millie was probably still hiding and would come out when she was ready. He made his way back to the two students and extended his hand towards the Hufflepuff. "Sebastian Gibbins." he said by way of introduction. "Who would like some tea?"

Still holding the toad in her hands, Kurumi looked back and forth between Oakey and the Groundskeeper as she adjusted her hold on the creature's legs a little. "Is there...a box or something we can put it in?" she asked. Handing it over to Oakey seemed like a really bad idea. One that probably would just end in the toad getting loose again and then they would be starting over. "I think it's a boy...its throat is grayish and it doesn't has as pointy a nose as females tend to."

Thank you Care of Magical Creatures NEWT studying.

Tea? "I wouldn't mind some tea, sir," Kurumi chirped. Once this toad was in a box that is. And Kurumi would also like to say hello to the doggie properly.

Oakey reached his hand out to...Mr.Gibbins and shook it. This Groundskeeper wasn't half bad. He had no problem with Oakey gifting the toad to Aegis, so that was a plus in his book. A good enough plus to erase the suspicion that the man was a job stealer.

"Oakey Gunter." He replied with a toothy smile.

He gave Kurumi a look of confusion as she described that the Toad was a male. He didn't need to know why, but it was very helpful in giving him a name. "It's a Toad..." Oakey decided to put in his own COMC knowledge to a test..."with pointy eyelids". His yes wandered around the hut some as Mr.Gibbins offered them tea. His eyes laid on a fallen box of tea. He tilted his head some to read what it said. "EARL GREY!" Oakey shouted as he had figured out the perfect name for the Horned Toad with a grey belly.

He shut his hands around his mouth realizing that he could have started more chaos with that sudden outburst.

Oh right. Yeah. Not everyone wanted to carry a toad around. Sebastian looked around to see if he could find a box of some kind but there was just so much mess around that he would be lucky to find anything. It hit a moment later that he was in fact a wizard and he could conjure one with his wand which he finally did after taking it out and giving it a wave.

He had lived with muggles far too long.

With a small grin, he held the box out to Kurumi. "Here you go. Put him in there." That would hopefully keep the toad quiet and restrained.

"Nice to meet you Oakey." And it really was. The lad had come at just the right time. He chuckled as the two of them exchanged facts about the toad. They knew their creatures at least.

Now he needed to get onto making some tea and it looked as though Oakey wanted some Earl Grey. Merlin, he didn't need to shout. Seb was more than happy to get him some Earl Grey if he wanted it so much. With a flick of his wand, all that was lying on the floor flew back to its orignal position and the stuff that was broken, was instantly repaired.

"So are you two here for a reason? Or is it a social visit?"

Once the box had been conjured, Kurumi slowly lowered the toad into it and released his legs last. "What are you going to do with him?" Kurumi asked Oakey as she let go of his legs and cover the box with the lid, casting a few silent Diffindos to cut the toad some air holes. It would be really AWFUL if the poor thing suffocated on accident while they...drank tea? "You think we should give him some flies...or other insects?" The frog had been hopping around the hut for a while and it was probably hungry.

Kurumi almost dropped the box when Oakey shouted about some Earl named Grey. Oh, wait, was that a sort of tea? That seemed to be the case as Mr. Gibbons was summoning some of it towards them. "I've never had that sort of tea before," Kurumi mused. Her tastes had mostly been limited to green tea and then the one time her and Lexi had had some tea with honey in it.

"Oh, um, I wouldn't mind staying and chatting over tea," she said, biting on her lip as she glanced at Oakey. He had been here first and, well, if Oakey had more serious matters to discuss she could dismiss herself and go study some more for her OWLs [s]or spend more time with Lewis. "I really just wanted to stop by and return this," she explained after having reached down into her bag for the splint the man had given her on the platform. "Alice is walking just fine again."

Merlin what was he here for again? All he could remember doing was coming down to the hut and walking around it some until he came to the door and was pulled into chaos.

Eh, it didn't matter anymore. This Mr.Gibbins guy was pretty cool. He got a free frog for Aegis out of all this madness. "I guess I just wanted to stop by and say hello."
Oakey took a quick look down at his robes and figured a quick scourgify would clean himself up, but waited on doing so. There wasn't anything wrong with a little paint smeared all over yourself. Mr.Gibbins seemed to think so as well.

"Tea sounds great." Oakey said as he pat Pepper on the head.

With a few more waves and flicks of his wand, Seb began to put his hut back in order, although he had a feeling that his painting was pretty much destroyed. That was okay, it hadn't exactly been a Picasso and he knew that he could do a better job. He would have to remember to put it away when he brought Pepper inside.

As he moved over to the kitchenette, Seb gave Kurumi a warm smile. "Oh I have more than Earl Grey, if you don't want that." He opened a cupboard and began to pull out a few jars. "I've got English Breakfast, Chamomile, Eucalyptus, Dandelion, Jasmine, Peppermint. I think there's some normal tea here somewhere else." He said with his head in the cupboard as he searched for more jars.

When he was sure that he had all the jars out onto the counter he turned to put the kettle on. He glanced over his shoulder to see what Kurumi was returning and he let out a small chuckle. "You could have kept that. Or Alice could of." Kinda like a souvenir. "I'm glad she's doing okay. I'm sorry I didn't get up to see her." He hadn't expected to be so busy during the first week.

While he waited for the kettle to boil, Seb took out some cups, the sugar bowl and a jug of milk and placed them all onto a tray. "So who wants what tea?" Once he had that sorted then they could all sit down and have a nice chat since the everything was now back in its place.

Chamomile? That reminded Kurumi of Lexi...a lot.

"Actually, would it be alright if I had some Chamomile?" Kurumi asked rather sheepishly. "I can help." Since, you know, it could be a bit of a hassle if everyone wanted to have their own sort of tea and what not. Did he happen to have honey too? Lexi had introduced Kurumi to the wonders of honey in tea and the Gryffindor had never gone back since. One request at a time though, right?

He was...laughing. Well, Kurumi had somewhat expected that to be entirely honest. She was walking around the grounds with a cast in her hands. It was rather...amusing. "Oh..." Kurumi replied, a slight laugh to her tone as well. Well, he was getting it back now. Too late! "I'm sure you have been rather busy..." And not just with frogs hopping around in his office. "It was a rather...exciting start of term."

Seb picked up the jar of Chamomile and spooned the leaves into the teapot. After his rather eventful afternoon, he could probably do with a cup of Chamomile himself. He waved off her offer to help. "It's okay, I've got it. Sit down and make yourself comfortable."

He poured the hot water from the kettle into the teapot and while it was steeping, he rummaged through his cupboards looking for something to go with the tea. He finally found the biscuit tin and he opened the lid to see what he had in there. "Yes" he agreed. "Very exciting." He placed the tin in front of the Gryffindor Prefect and grinned. "At first I thought it was some kind of initiation. Let's see if the Groundskeepr can handle a disaster." He chuckled and gestured for her to help herself while he poured the tea.

"Did you have a good summer?" he asked as he brought the tea over to the table and sat down opposite her. He glanced over to Oakey to see if he was going to join them or was he going to obsess over the toad?

Shuffling her feet, Kurumi moved towards a seat and sat down, eyeing Oakey and the toad-in-a-box out of the corner of her eye. She smiled and bowed her head when he brought the tea and a box of biscuits over. She carefully picked up hers and blew on it softly to cool it down a little before taking a small sip.

"Initiation?" she laughed as she selected a biscuit. Kurumi didn't know this Headmistress too well, but she sure hoped that that wasn't what this whole thing had been. "Did they ever figure out why the train stopped?" At least it hadn't been dementors this time. "I'm just wishing I had something to tell some of the first year lions...a few of them are still pretty shaken up about the whole thing." Herself included. Like she had said over and over again in her head, she was no Healer and had had several mild panic attacks once they had arrived at school - which Lewis had been there to calm her down - and then back in the dorms - where Selina had eaten cookies and begged for more.

Her cheeks flushed at the mention of summer and she nodded her head while her fingers traced over the mug in her hands. "Summer was good." REALLY good for a lot of reasons. "It's just now really starting to sink in that it was my last one...as a Hogwarts student I mean."

"According to the Headmistress it just...stopped." Which Seb found rather strange. Not that he knew all the workings of the Hogwarts Express, but he did know that it ran on magic and that obviously wizards from the Ministry would have to keep it...maintained so to speak. So he couldn't imagine a bunch of wizards forgetting to do that. He shrugged his shoulders. "Apparently a couple of Departments from the Ministry are looking at as we speak." The Headmistress had told him that. Well she had told Professor Lafay and Seb just happened to be there as well. "Maybe it just ran out of magic. A bit like a car running out of petrol." He chuckled, no he didn't believe that either.

Seb noticed her little flush but he made no comment about it, he merely listened as Kurumi spoke and he couldn't help but smile. "It's always sad when you leave one chapter of your life behind. But just think of the new adventures waiting for you outside these walls." He picked up his tea and took a small sip. Mmm, that was good tea if he did say so himself.

"Do you have any idea of what you want to do when you finish school?"

Just...stopped? Kurumi didn't buy that at all, despite them discussing the potential for the magic to have perhaps simply worn off due to the age of the Hogwarts Express during their History of Magic lesson. IF that were the case...then the people checking the spells and charms needed to have their wands confiscated. They had put all of the students in danger. "That seems...awfully irresponsibly...if that ends up being the case," Kurumi replied, voicing her very thoughts. "I hope they figure it out soon...I don't want the same sort of thing to happen on my way back to London..."

Kurumi sipped some more on her tea and met the Groundskeeper's gaze quite suddenly when he spoke again. "Were you also a Hogwarts student, Mr. Gibbins?" And now she was back to curiously nibbling on her biscuit.

"University," she answered after finishing off her biscuit. "I've just sent off my application for early action to one in Romania to study dragonology. I specifically want to go into breeding."