It was a beautiful Friday evening. It was still somewhat warm out, the sun had another hour before it set, and it seemed a good time to go out around the lake to study a little bit before she was forced indoors again. That was one thing she didn't like about school. How much time she had to spend inside. Back home she would be outside after breakfast and not go in again until dinner time at night. So, when she could escape the other students and teachers, she would slip away outside somewhere to spend some peaceful time with nature.

Unfortunately, Moira's evening was not very peaceful. On the low branch of a tree about ten feet away was monkey... with wings? That was a rather unusual sight, especially here. Not very often, or in many places, did one see a winged monkey. The monkey threw something at her, and it wasn't until it was almost at her that she realized what it was. A beehive. And that buzzing noise she had been hearing for a little while was the bees that lived in the beehive. Turning she began making a dash for the lake right around the time the first sting came.

Several painful pricks followed that one and she dropped her book at one point, the stings not stopping until she dived right into the cold lake water, then the bees went away. Surfacing Moira took a deep breath and pushed the water and hair out of her eyes only to see that same blasted winged monkey taking off with the class textbook she had dropped.

Growling in frustration she pulled herself out of the lake as quick as she could and began chasing it though she was slower than normal due t all the water she was dragging with her. There was no point in getting her wand until she got closer, it had put a good gap between them, because until she did, she wasn't likely to hit it with a decent spell.

Some days you needed to enjoy life. And that required going down to the pond to skip rocks. Simple things like that. Well, Hogwarts had a lake, a much bigger place to skip rocks in.

Coming to a spot along the lake, though, Mace found the serenity to be disrupted. A younger kid, must have been local, was being attacked by bees and a...whatever you called that thing.

As she took a plunge in the lake Mace ran closer, wand pulled out and ready. She was firing off her wand too. "Oi! You alright?"

Deciding she'd had enough of the idle mind-numbing chatter from the other girls in the Slytherin common room; Genevieve Edris snatched a sack of deliciously ripe looking blueberries that had been mistakenly left unattended by one of the girls and headed to the lake to enjoy some solitude. As she sat cross-legged in the grass not seeming to care that she was in a skirt; she tossed a berry into the air and tried to catch it in her mouth but was distracted by the sound of a yell followed by a splash.

She turned to look towards the sound forgetting the blueberry still in midair to see a young girl in a Hufflepuff uniform running out of the lake drenched as she tried to catch some strange flying creature who Gen could only assume was the cause of her distress. The blueberry she'd forgotten about hit her square on the nose. "Damn" Genevieve muttered having missed the berry. She stood up and slowly walked over to the girl looking rather amused.

An older boy was asking if she needed any help. The poor girl looked so ridiculous Gen couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Oh, I'm sorry" she said through her laughter knowing her laughing at the girl wasn't helping "It's not funny at all." she still couldn't stop laughing. She threw some more blueberries in her mouth and sighed as she wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. In her laughter she choked on a blueberry. "Gah!" she cleared her throat and turned serious so as not to seem embarrassed from choking on that berry. "So" she said as she crossed her arms "What the hell happened here?" An amused smile took over her face again at the sight of the soaked Hufflepuff.

Moira didn't think the day could get worse, but someone came towards her, wand drawn, about the time she zapped the monkey and so it dropped her book. Sighing she picked it up and noticed the Slytherin girl as well. The places where she got stung were burning and she could practically feel the swelling. Rubbing one spot on her neck she nodded. "I'm fine."

The Slytherin girl kept laughing but she did seem to try... until she choked on a blueberry and had to cover it up. With a straight face and rubbing another spot on her arm. "A winged monkey threw a beehive at me. Tried to take my class book." She waved the book about, which was slowly getting soaked where she was holding it. Frowning she studied the growing wet spot and dropped it, again, on a dry piece of grass.

"Winged Monkey?" Mace questioned. Heck, he'd thought it had been a particularly unshaven munchkin struck with a improper avifors. But then winged monkey was sounding much more plausible.

"What would it want with your textbook?" She flung it to land. "Here." With the favored American drying charm variant Mace dried off the book, steam emanating from the cover. "Here, I'll dry you off too," gesturing Moira to climb up.


Little did he know that some distance off, a singed and very angry winged monkey was finding worse ammo than live beehives. It hooted and climbed into the air, soaring over them with an armful...of rocks!

Moira shrugged. "I think it just wanted to take it. I doubt it wanted anything with it, aside from maybe tearing it up." That would have been a nightmare. Her family wasn't poor, but they weren't rich. Most of their money went into caring for the winged horses and food. They didn't have much money to spare replacing things.

Staring at the steam coming off of the book she shook her head. "No... that's okay." Moira was sure the spell worked great, but she didn't want to take any chances.

Rubbing the spot on her neck again, the swelling was starting to get pretty bad, she looked over in the distance and saw something in the air headed towards them. "Oh no...."

"Whoa move!" Genevieve yelled seeing the monkey armed with a load of rocks. She pushed the young hufflepuff out of the way, took out her wand and yelled "Confringo!"

   The monkey burst into flames like a phoenix but not before dropping a few rocks on Gen's head. "Ouch!" yelled Genevieve who looked certifiably upset. "What the hell did you do to that thing to make it hate you so much?!" she yelled at Moria who was still laying on the floor where she'd landed after getting pushed.

Gen noticed the bee sting swelling on Moria's neck and added in an almost friendly tone, "And get that thing checked. It looks disgusting" she extended her hand to help the girl up.

"Watch it!" Mace said as the older girl knocked the younger aside, taking the rocks to the head as she fired off a spell. Ouch. Sounded like it hurt. He caught the young Pufflehuff whatever the yellow dorm was before she fell.

"I don't think she did anything to earn the wrath of feathers over there," Mace said defensively as the flaming monkey fell into the lake. "You didn't, did you?" He looked down at Moira just to be sure, if she had pulled its tail or something.

"You've got the outdoor clinic here haven't you? The one Migs' aunt lives at. We should get her there for the sting." He was surprised the Slytherin girl was standing. "And how about you, doesn't your head hurt?" Unless she was one of those Quiddy players that took the rocks to the head all game.

The plan to move was hindered by thrashing and screeching from the lake edge. The monkey with smoldering fur was getting to its feet, looking more pissed off than ever to have previously been set on fire.

"Oh..." Phrase not continued for benefit of the young ears present. Mace hurried to think of a spell that would incapacitate the creature and not let it get back at them. What spells did he know that worked on monkeys? There was his original bit of transfiguration. Capuchin monkey into cappuccino machine. Though the feathery fiend was a little too big.

He performed the spell anyways as the monkey launched into the air. There was a CLUNK! And there was an oversized cappuccino machine with a pair of wings.

"Worked better than I though it would..." Mace began, before the cappuccino machine flapped its wings and rose from the ground again.

"Run!" He half carried the younger girl to her feet. "Duck and weave! It doesn't have any eyes so it just might fly straight!"

   "Ugh, I'm fine!" Genevieve replied as Mace asked about her head though it honestly hurt like hell and was probably going to leave a welt.

   To everyone's surprise the monkey was still trying to attack even after being set of fire. Right as it planned to strike again; the Salem boy said some spell Gen had never heard before and in a flash the monkey was turned into …. "A cappuccino machine?" Genevieve looked amused. "I'm not much into coffee myself, thanks"

   The winged machine tried to fly but it floated around aimlessly in confusion. "What's it going to do? Froth us to death?" Gen joked noticing Mace pick up the girl and start weaving out of the way. "I'm out of here! You two have fun" Genevieve took Mace's advice and went to the clinic to get her head checked. She was getting dizzy but tried to hide feeling ill of course. She walked as straight as she could and leaned on a nearby tree as she stumbled away from the lake.

Moira knew the stings, they had gotten more than her neck, would swell and look awful and be horribly until they were dealt with but would be fine until then. When she was knocked to the ground she didn't mind so much under the circumstances. Though she was fairly surprised a Slytherin had taken the rock beating for her, she didn't hear of things like that often. Being caught was fairly better than hitting the ground and she nodded that she was fine. "Of course I didn't. I was just going to sit and study." It was then that the now singed and very irate winged monkey came out of the lake and launched itself at them again.

The boy was still holding onto her as though she might topple over. She had been stung and was sopping wet, but she wasn't crippled. Then... the flying monkey turned into a flying cappuccino machine. Moira didn't know how he managed to pull that transfiguration  off and at that moment she didn't much care. This was much better to face than something with a face and oppose-able thumbs. Likely she'd laugh about all this much, much later. Probably years from now. When she looked 'fondly' back on her days of school at Hogwarts.

Before she knew it she was being half dragged along in the duck and weave pattern. With little choice, the anti-social Scottish girl followed her would be savior from the winged cappuccino machine. Moira supposed she'd have to thank him at the end of all this. On a good note, she still had hold of her school book.

"Well, I'd advise you not to accept a cup if it offers." Given the nature of the transfiguration this was probably the one time you could say 'this coffee tastes like monkey piss' and it wouldn't be hyperbole. As he ran with the younger student Mace glanced over his shoulder to check on the path of the winged machine. True to form it didn't appear to be able to see or hear for that matter. It made a hopping, gliding meanador towrds the trees from where it had came.

"Alright troops, retreat for medical stat!" Mace said, changing direction towards the hospital hut.

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