"Oh..." So animangus stuff was okay but human transfiguration outside of that was questionable. What if one lead to the other? Because Benny was debating trying the changes for himself independant of Adi's plans for him. Unfortunately he was afraid of approaching Bellaire about it, especially after last term. And he wasn't sure of going to Quigley for assistance...for various reasons.

But Gus floating and wiggling his toady legs like he was trying to fly around had gotten his attention away from anything transfiguration. That and his potion working of course. Benny had been taken by surprise in all honesty, despite Culloden checking it over and fixing any and all mistakes. And actually brewing it this time around.

"Where did wha---" SPLOSH!

Oh THOSE!

Benny didn't know where the snowballs had come from but there were more coming. "Protego!" he cast, echoing his friend for some sort of protection, though it only seemed to work for some of them cause there were so many. He scooped up Gus and placed into his pocket for safety before getting to his feet as well and getting a snowball to his stomach in the process. "What's going on?" he asked, his wand still out at his side.

It looked like Airey had finally seen the error of his muggles ways. There was no reason to hand make and throw a snowball when they had magic. In fact just follow his example. Though he couldn't see, he was positive the charmed snowball had hit one of them...while Airey's.....flopped. Wasn't long before the man conjured a small army. Brilliant thinking truly and even less of a chance they could dodge.

"Yes! We did it!" Quite excited, the man jumped up, fist pumping and everything. Didn't look immediately to see just how successful they had been because that should have been a given? He liked thinking so at least.

"We make a good team when you aren't moping you're soul away." GRIN.

From the moment the first snowball hit one of the targets, Airey was over the moon and jumped to his feet around the same time Maddox had. Stealth? Sneaky? Inconspicuous? All foreign words to the astronut right now.

Maddox ALMOST ruined the mood by alluding to his adult angst. Almost.

No words were necessary at this point, and Airey puffed out his chest and pointed excitedly between his and Maddox's as his goofy grin grew wider and wider across his pale features. Was the Charms professor thinking what he was? The astronomer certainly hoped so or else he was going to look like a proper idiot and knock them both to the ground.

Feet leaving the ground, Airey jumped at Maddox with his chest thrust out. High fives were weaksauce for their level of celebration.

Adi's eyes were darting this way and that looking for another round of snowballs or even the person or persons behind the prank. "VERY MATURE!'' he called to the unseen perp/s. Truth be told, he found it funny. It was just the thing he would have done for a good laugh. Not that he was going to let the snowball throwing person/s know THAT!

Hmmm. It seemed there was no more snowballs coming their way. Adi glanced at his bestie. "You reckon the person's gone away?" he had just enough time to ask before noticing something peculiar AND COOL!

"BENNY! Gus is floating out of your pocket!" Cue the dramatic and excited point! "Your potion really works!'' Wasn't that so awesome? Just look at Gus go with those legs flailing about. "He looks like he's swimming. I bet he thinks he's doing that.'' Hehe. It was a good distraction for the boys... or was it?

Maddox was almost cackling when Mister Rehman yelled about their maturity. Being out in the open like this, it wasn't very difficult for them to be spotted against the white backdrop of a fresh snow fall from the night before. That was the thing about winter, camouflage was hard to come by. Sure they could have disiillusioned themselves but what was the fun in that?

Grinning, Maddox DID return the man's chest bump, feeling all kinds of energetic for a lazy bloke like himself. It was always an odd feeling when it happened but this time he embraced it with a 'woot' and the firm chest bump to boot.

They were amazing at ambush.

"Better luck next time boys." He called. His grin widened somewhat into his signature cheshire grin that spoke of nothing good as he nodded further down the pathway in the direction they'd come. "Reckon it's time for a quick escape, yeah?"

Before the boys got their wits about them and retaliated.

"THANK YOU!" Airey shouted back.

You hear that, Maddox? They were mature! 50 points to Gryffindor each for that stellar display of maturity!

AND VICTORY CHEST BUMP! They hurt a lot more than he remembered them, not that the wind had been briefly knocked out of him or anything. Nope. Not at all. "Sweet solstice," he chuckled. "I think the last time we did one of those was when we were in school still."

Glancing back towards the two boys, Airey threw them an enthusiastic - and borderline cocky - salute before nodding firmly at Maddox in confirmation. Yes, they ought to high tail it back to the castle.

Without the literally tail, please.

An assault of snowballs that had to come from somewhere.

"Maybe....or hiding."

He thought he saw movement back behind a patch of trees beyond the path as he went to look in that direction. But before he could try and see if he was imagining the thing or not, Adi yelled and got his attention. Benny turned quickly at his name looked down at the area above his robe pocket. Sure enough, there was one swimming, or actually flying, toad there.

Would you look at that!

Now that was actually proof it had worked. Benny had to admit he was more than a little excited about the situation. However his attention drew back to where he had seen someone, only to see a certain charms professor almost taunting them, Flamsteed excited beside him. They had been attacked by the two men! Benny looked back at Adi almost questioning what they should do as Gus continued to float unaware of the potential snowball fight.

Making the decision, the sixth year lion bent down and quickly scooped up a decent sized snowball. The boy paused for but a moment to focus before taking aim at Quigley like he was throwing a quaffle through the hoop back in the day when he could play quidditch.

Take that catman!

Momentarily distracted by Guster and all his floatiness glory, of course Adi failed to notice it was actually two of his Professors who had bombarded them with snowballs and were now having a victory moment. Not until a voice shouted a reply and the Hufflepuff looked around to see the two over grown man children adults.

Ahhhh! He should have known! For a moment, he had actually thought it were Torie and James having a moment since they (Torie especially) loved pranks. Ohhh, he'd get his Professors back! His bestie seemed to be thinking along the same line. BRAIN TWINS! Though the Puffer did think for a moment that it was unlike Benny to want to attack any of his Professors.

Adi hastily and gently pushed Gus back into Benny's pocket. No need to have Guster being dragged into this snow fight. With the Gryffindor sixth year taking care of Quigley, he pointed his wand at a pile of snow. "Wingardium Leviosa!'' Where was this pile (not enough to bury the man but it was a decent pile) of snow directed? Towards Flamsteed, of course! Adi aimed for it to land on his head. Here's to hoping that the man wouldn't escape.

Airey might have been right. When was the last time he'd needed to chest bump? When was the last time he'd pulled anything with Airey as opposed to against him. Rare moment indeed--one that apparently wouldn't be lasting long.

It only took seeing Mister Atreyu bending for Maddox to quickly shrink into the form of a cat and BOLT.

His colleague was a grown man, he could handle his own snow balls on his own time but this Charms Professor...er....black cat hated the cold and didn't want to feel the chill of the ice against any part of him any time soon. Didn't even bother looking back, didn't stay on the path either because that would be easy pickings.

The black form was swift, there one minute then all but out of sight. Retreating couldn't have gone this smooth had he been on two legs and the added agility did wonders. Maddox out.

Turning to follow Maddox, Airey was instead presented with the furry rear of a feline. Needless to say, the astronomer was briefly distracted from his escape plan and bolted in the opposite direction right into a neighboring tree before a scream could even leave his gaping mouth.

Disoriented for a spell, and with some snow falling on him from the branches above, Airey would soon have a nice big lump growing out of his unusually large forehead by the end of the day. Thankfully he regained enough of his mobility to notice the incoming attack of snowballs which, seeing as they were all heading towards his head, they were easily avoided by a quick - yet unbalanced - squat.

Back on his feet again, and with a bit of a headache, he ran back towards the castle and away from any further attacks.

Flamsteed out.

After her success with the truck in her dorm, Lux had decided to head outside and see what else she could lift with her new-found super strength. So long as she didn't end up getting carried away, she could lift any number of things found on the school grounds.

Bundled in her warm winter coat, she made her way along the pathways hoping to find a heavy object to lift. Surely there would be something lying by the side of the path...

AHA!

A rock. That was perfect!! Lux walked right in front of the biggish rock and got herself in the right position to lift it so that her back wouldn't end up hurting. Getting injured was bad in general, but the cold somehow would have made it WORSE. She really didn't want to have to see the Healer if it could be helped and so far her Sixth Year had been injury free.

Bending at the knees and keeping her back straight, Lux slowly and carefully lifted the rock. RWAR. See how strong she was!!

So perhaps it wasn't like... prime outside studying kind of weather or anything like that, but Toby felt like if he spent much more time in the library he'd end up going mad or maybe simply becoming crushed by an avalanche of books or something equally as dramatic. He'd taken advantage of a particularly nice day when the weather started to turn and taken some of his textbooks outside. Despite the sun, there was a mild chill in the air, but Toby found he quite appreciated it. Actually FELT like being outside, y'know?

After a long time wandering, the Hufflepuff found himself out on the pathways, which he'd walked hundreds of times in his years at Hogwarts. Sitting himself at the base of one of the trees, Toby piled his books on the ground beside him and grabbed the first one - a DADA text - opened it up, and began reading.

Really, though, it was still just as hard to focus out here as it was inside. Eventually, Toby ended up just staring right at the page with that teeny tiny frown of concentration, though his eyes had stopped reading the words. Instead, he sat there thinking about all the things, which may or may not have been related to his NEWT studies.

Cosgrach decided to take advantage of the good weather too. He wasn't really a sports type of guy, but he did have a sort of training outfit because they were more comfortable. He was also trying to walk at a faster pace. He felt like he had this... energy to burn off, which felt reeeeeally weird because he was generally lazy. Hence, walking and walking until -

Look, a Toby!

The man stopped, realised Toby was studying, decided not to bother him, but also sat that his eyes weren't moving at all. He watched the boy for a short while to make sure he wasn't doing anything productive, then moved by his side to sit down.

No, he wasn't sweaty so he didn't smell.

"Whatcha thinkin'?" he asked casually. Future dreams?

Whatever Toby had been thinking about, he was quite distracted about it, lost in his thoughts. So lost, in fact, that he didn't even notice anyone approach, stop, and/or sit by him. Not until the 'anyone' in person spoke up, and Toby gave a start, almost flinging his textbook away in his surprise.

He looked around towards the voice, heart rate already recovering, to see... "Professor Culloden," Toby said, almost deadpan in his expression. "When did you-..." When did he get here, was the question on Toby's mind, but he thought better of asking it. "You startled me."

But it was cool. It was okay. He was fine. Breathing. Calm. Zen. Fidgety sort of zen, but zen all the same. "I was just thinking about-" Toby glanced at the book he'd been 'reading' "... DADA, uh... stuff, y'know?" Come to think about it, that was actually true. He looked properly at the professor and his attire. "Were you... running?" Culloden looked like he was dressed for running. Had Toby had another possible running buddy in the castle all this time without ever realising?

Cosgrach startled the boy? He didn't mean to, but oh well. Toby must have been concentrated that much onto... whatever. Cosgrach smiled and shrugged. "Didn't mean to," he said and folded his feet to sit comfortabl - but eh, sitting on the soil was never comfor - he tried kneel but his knee cracked OWW -

"DADA huh?" he said, a little flustered, and craned his neck to see the page he was on, "neat." Though, Toby was probably . . . as innocent as a unicorn so probably he could defend himself without doing much. Hehehe.

Time to change his position again to - his knees MERLIN - how was TOBY sitting so casually?! - "I - yeah," he said casually. Haha, running, him? They didn't even go in the same sentence, but running sounded too cool to be honest right now. A small lie wouldn't hurt.

Toby watched as Culloden shifted around, presumably trying to get comfortable or something. It was weird to see him almost fidget, mainly 'cause in his head, the Potions Master was always kind of... poised? Or at least, he was in Toby's mind.

... That knee crack though. Toby visibly winced just at the sound of it, and he felt a pang of sympathy pain in his own knee, though that may or may not have been more related to an old bludger injury than anything else.

He broke into a grin, finally, and shifted around slightly, all the better to see Culloden. "For real?" Toby replied, the enthusiasm clear in his voice as he closed his textbook for the moment, with his finger poking into the pages to mark his place. "I love running around the grounds. I get up early and run through here every morning. Only sometimes I gotta make sure I don't go out too early, 'cause otherwise a professor might think I'm up late and past curfew, and that could be bad." It hadn't actually happened yet, but Toby didn't quite know the boundaries, so tended to just be veeeeeery careful when he was up before or with the sun, depending on the season. "But it's better than hanging around the common room for hours, 'specially when you wake up super early, y'know?"

... Aaaaaaaanyway. He'd rambled, right? Right. Oops. "... Sorry." Ahem. Got a little carried away, there. Toby glanced down at his textbook again, flipping it open eyeing the page sceptically for a moment before looking back at Culloden. "NEWTs are super hard," he informed him, quite matter-of-factly, sure that this was information the professor would like to know. "Just by the way."

Cosgrach . . . should have thought of that.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed at Toby's 'For real?', though he feared where this conversation was going. Of course Toby loved running and of course Cosgrach hated it, so what would he do if Toby asked to run together???????

Ugh, he was getting slow.

"Oh, haha," he laughed, because if there was one thing he was good at, it was pretending. Right now, he pretended to like running for his life. "Now I know!" Not to give Toby detention if he did see him early (which wasn't very realistic but still). And he didn't even have to worry about whether Toby would abuse it or not, because he wasn't a kid like that.

Sigh. Cosgrach had to find a way to politely decline him if it came to - OH NEVER MIND FALSE ALARM. He JUMPED onto the NEWTs topic.

"I bet not really hard for you!" he said and smiled nicely. He meant that too. That it wasn't really hard for Toby, who had always been on top of his classes.

Toby ran his thumb over the corner of his textbook, idly flipping the pages a tiny by so they made a satisfying fffllllrrrrrp sound over and over again. Another method he'd learnt for keeping fidgety hands busy.

Culloden's suggestion, far from bolstering Toby's confidence, actually almost did... sort of the opposite. It was to be expected, though; when you did well enough with your grades and weren't the sort of person to really complain in mixed company when things got difficult to deal with, everyone sort of... tended to believe you handled it, no problem. And that applied to... uh... well, everything. Everything in Toby's life. But he did like it that way, people believing he was always happy and coping and everything. So, after a moment of looking right at the professor's face with a deadpan expression, Toby suddenly broke into a smile and nodded. "Yeah, not really hard for me." Which... wasn't a total lie, at least.

It was just... exams. Pressure. He wasn't good at academic pressure.

"Though... there's some tricky subjects, I guess," Toby admitted, but kept his chipper tone. "Like this one. DADA, I mean. 'Cause like..." He glanced at the textbook and then back at Culloden. "You don't think they'll ask us to cast a patronus, do you? For the NEWT, I mean?" Toby didn't think he could fluke his way through that. "... Are you able to cast one? I can't remember."

The subject of the Patronus Charm had, in fact, been on Toby's mind almost every day since that one lesson, months ago. He'd been worrying without even realising, but did his best to not look anxious or anything now, though his fidgeting stepped up a gear.

At least he could actually say the word out loud again. To someone. That was progress.

Cosgrach didn't even see that deadpan expression. Sure sure, he didn't expect Toby to be aaaaaaaall laid back about the exams, but surely the boy also wasn't losing his appetite over it. The man bet he had already established a good studying system.

Well, yeah, even the best students such as Toby couldn't do all of the subjects. Cosgrach could understand that. He held up his hand reassuringly.

"I can do it, it's a crow, but I don't think you will be required to," he said in this "ALL GOOD BRO" tone, "not when even the adults fail at it. That'd be cruel, so nah." He waved his hand dismissively, though never once did he think Toby was unable to cast one. He just figured he couldn't do a corporal one yet.

"And anyway, are there dementors around, really?" he asked, oblivious to the attack a few years ago as he had been abroad. "No need to worry." It wasn't like someone as capable as Toby would never be able to cast it, anyway.

"I hope you don't see potions as tricky?" Hehehe - DID HE?

Even as Culloden spoke, Toby flipped back in his textbook to the part about patronuses. He'd recently taken to rereading that part so many times that the book would easily fall open at the right place as long he nudged the pages in just the right way.

"Okay, well that's good, at least," he replied with a nod, considering what a crow patronus might mean as he looked at the wispy illustrations in his textbook. But yeah... Toby had still not mustered up the courage to even attempt the spell yet; he'd have been doomed if it came up in the NEWT.

Not that he was going to dwell on those sorts of negative thoughts. Culloden had just said it was unlikely to happen, and Toby was quite pleased with that response. Though... "Actually, they attacked here before. When I was a first year," he pointed out, looking up again. That had been a rough term, for real, but Toby wasn't getting into that just yet. Or ever, maybe. "Professor Botros saved me from a couple this one time. His patronus is a bird, too, but I can't remember what kind. I haven't seen one since then, though. A dementor, I mean." He'd seen plenty of patronuses, though.

So yep. That was story time with Toby. Aaaaaanyway, at the mention of potions, Toby broke into a proper smile.

"Oh, nah. Not really, I mean. Like... some of it's meant to be tricky, but good tricky, 'cause that's how you learn, right?" By getting things wrong, or working things out, or finding ways to improve and all that. With Toby, it was all to do with trying to focus on multiple things at once. "But I know what I'm doing in Potions, for sure. Hopefully I'll get an O. I think I can, if I try super hard. And I do!" He nodded once, for emphasis. But Culloden knew how hard he tried. Toby generally had consistently good marks in his class, particularly since the man himself started teaching here.

Wait, what?

Dementors attacked the school???

Professors had to save students???? Cosgrach gaped at Toby stupidly. He made a silent sound as if he wanted to say something, then changed his mind, then tried to talk again: the signs of the state of being "at a loss for words".

"Do you know how?" he asked at last, and almost didn't hear the potions comment.

"I don't doubt that 'O'," he said with a smile, "don't even worry about it. You're going to be great." Cosgrach knew it, and he was the potions master.

"Decided on what you'll do after graduation?" Y'know, light topics that weren't dementors - he'd learn that in detail from Victoria later.

Toby wasn't sure what that face meant, but he didn't think it was the right time to point out to Professor Culloden that he did a really stellar impression of a goldfish. Instead he simply nodded his head as the man gaped, because usually it was best to just smile and nod, but dementors weren't a smiling matter.

"How?" he repeated, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I suppose the way everyone does it. Think of a happy memory, then cast the spell, and if you're really good at it, it's an animal." Toby had, of course, missed the point entirely. His mind had locked onto the topic of the patronuses, and it wasn't until after he'd spoken that he realised that... maaaaybe that wasn't what Culloden was asking about. "Or... wait, no. D'you mean... how did the attacks happen?" Maybe? More likely. Culloden definitely already knew more about patronuses than Toby did.

Toby smiled at the affirmation from Culloden; he always felt better when his professors reassured him he'd do good, because they would never lie about this stuff. About anything. "Thanks. I hope so."

Oooooh, now THIS was a topic Toby suddenly realised he'd never spoken to the Potions Master about before, and his smile widened to a grin. "Quidditch. Absolutely. Known that since I was eleven." Or twelve, technically. But since he was a first year for sure. "Maybe something with creatures, too. But I don't have any other plans or back-up plans yet, y'know?" Toby said it quite cheerfully, as though the prospect of 'Quidditch or bust' didn't bother him at all. And it didn't, not really. If Quidditch fell through (and that was possible), Toby would have nothing else to fall back on, other than some hopefully good NEWT scores on top of his OWLs. But he lived very much in the moment, and would take life as it came, even if that wasn't exactly... wise.

Was there a way 'everyone' summoned a - oooooh, Toby misunderstood the question. Well, phew - or else, calling dementors at will would be disastrous.

"Yes, I meant how the attacks happened, but it's okay. I'll ask someone else." Someone who was more willing to talk about it, because Cosgrach took this misunderstanding as his unwillingness to remember those times. To be honest, the man didn't blame him - Professor Botros saved me... - so he wouldn't push him more. Future plans sounded much safer.

And judging by that smile, also happier.

Oh, Quidditch? Cosgrach had had the chance to watch him a few times, and Toby could fly. So he nodded. Animals stuff also made a lot of sense. It was Toby. He bet the boy could even communicate with unicorns.

"What about potions as a back up?" he asked cheerfully, "you have a lot of potential." He was joking, but also not.

Ohhhhhhhhh. Right. Well. That made more sense. And, honestly, Toby was glad that Culloden said he'd ask someone else, because he didn't really want to go into it. It had been... a rough year. When you had a phobia of sadness and then... DEMENTORS EVERYWHERE... well... y'know. "Okay. Good idea." He didn't insist on explaining, apart from one cryptic clue, that he didn't even really realise was all that cryptic. "It was the ice cream, just so you know. I've not had ice cream since then." Another fun phobia.

And that was all Toby would say on the matter, though he smiled at Culloden anyway, just because.

He sat there with his book in his lap, flipping the pages back and forth completely now, and watching as he did so. "Y'know, I could do that. I do like potions, and I'm... y'know..." There was that word again: potential. "I'm good at it. I just have to be careful at testing stuff." Delicate balance of potions and all that.

Toby looked up suddenly, and considered Culloden. He paused for a long moment, thinking hard, and then just came out with it. "I never told anyone this, not even Javy or Piers, but... well, I wanted to be a Healer for a suuuuuuuuuuper long time, y'know? For as long as I've wanted to do Quidditch, even. But... you have to go to university, and... I find school way more difficult than people realise, I think. So, uh... so I don't think I could do that. I'd still love to be a Healer, helping people, making them better, but..." He shrugged, and left the rest of the thought unsaid. "Not that I mind." He did. "My potion skills would tooooooootally have come in handy, though." Toby finished the short spiel with a grin directed at Culloden, because Potions was awesome. No doubt he'd still work on brewing them for fun in his spare time, no matter what he did.

Honestly, Toby had no idea why he was revealing this now, and to Culloden. He'd always kept it very quiet and was a very private person but... well... there it was.

...ice cream?

What? Was that some sort of a password? Cosgrach opened his mouth to ask, but then closed it. It obviously wasn't Toby's favourite topic, so he would learn it from someone else later.

Potions always cheered everyone up, Cosgrach observed, so he happily listened to Toby (who looked happy as well!). He laughed briefly. "Yeah, never taste it unless sure!" Hehehehe, funny, Toby was. But then he looked up, paused, and Cosgrach could just sense that a big revelation was coming, and -

Woooooooooooooooooooow!

"A healer?" Cosgrach's eyes was big and he was smiling from ear to ear. "It's awful hard, of course, but that doesn't mean you can't. On the contrary. I guess the university would be hard, but imagine the satisfaction afterwards. I mean, sure Quidditch is a great path, but being Healer is super cool too. " He paused to consider what he had just said. "You're already good at... every requirement, to be honest." He had Piers at home to practise charms and Javy for CoMC, he already was good at potions and herbology, as far as this man knew...

"Well, you know all the right people if you go that way. We can all help ya with course work." To be honest, Cosgrach couldn't decide which path would be cooler, so he said only that much.

"Your secret is safe with me, by the way." He wouldn't run to Piers and Javy with their kid's big plans, until Toby made a decision.