The relative peace of the Hogwarts courtyard on a dreary Sunday afternoon was shattered  by an echoing roar that was half-human, half-animal, and all furious.

"GET! OUT!"

Felinus charged through the wide open doors of the Entrance Hall, right on the tail of the winged monkey he'd caught trying to unscrew a chandelier on the ground floor with the intent of dropping it on passing students' heads. How the dark creature managed and dared to break into the castle, Felinus would never know, but he was intent on assuring that in never happened again by reminding these beasts whose territory was whose.

In the open air of the courtyard the monkey, of course, tried again to fly, but before it could get out of reach Felinus leapt, dragging it from the sky by its tail. He pinned it with his right fore-paw, which was still wrapped in a dust mop, and unsheathed the claws on its partner, ready to leave the creature with scars to take back as a message to its kind. The monkey shirked in defiance and raked its claws down Felinus's face, drawing blood and barely missing his left eye. Felinus bellowed in pain and batted the creature away from him on instinct, taking a chunk of fur out of its side and sending it into the air. It tumbled three times head-over-tail before its wings caught the breeze, carrying it past the courtyard walls to freedom. The monkey turned back only to shoot the caretaker a series of obscene gestures, before fleeing back to the safety of the Forbidden Forest.

"Wretched beasts," Felinus growled, angrily pacing the courtyard entrance and glaring daggers at the retreating monkey. "The lot of them! Aught to rounded up and shot. What the bloody hell is Locksley doing, all this messing about..."

His growls died to grumbling as his instincts drew sharp attention to the smell of blood. His blood, three drops of it a gleaming candy-apple red on drizzle-wet stones. The pest's attack dug in quite deep, leaving three long gashes down the length of his muzzle. Felinus pawed at them without thinking and, to his internal embarrassment, yowled like a kitten. The blasted things hurt. Stung like the Dickens! As tough as a lion's body was he hadn't been hurt in years. At least, he thought, no one was around to witness this little embarrassment...

...except for the scent he'd just picked up from right behind. Merlin be damned.

Josh had been sitting around the courtyard when he heard someone shouting. Then he saw a lion chasing a winged monkey. Right in front of him, in fact. "Hello sir" Josh said, realizing this was Woodward, the caretaker. "Do you need any help? I saw the winged monkey attacking you" Josh asked, somewhat amused to see a lion sounding like a kitten.

Eilidh was wandering back towards the castle after a bout of homesickness had drawn her out into the relative wilderness of the school grounds when she heard the almost deafening roar of a lion. Having seen the caretaker often enough and, of course, having heard even more stories about him she immediately realised who it came from. And despite the echoes that followed after it was not all that difficult to figure its origin out. At first the girl was hesitant, the caretaker usually only got loud when he was seriously angry and as far as she knew it was not a good idea to cross him then, but in the end curiosity about what had reeled him up that much in the first place turned out to be stronger than common sense telling her to avoid the lion. And since the roar had originated from the courtyard the direct way into the castle would lead her right past him anyway.

When she stepped into the virtually deserted courtyard her eyes immediately locked upon the caretaker's imposing animal form and the student, obviously quite a few years older than she was herself, who was approaching him from behind. She could hear the student speak, but was still too far away to make out any words, his voice did sound somewhat amused however. Cautiously she moved closer to the pair until she stood next to the older boy (Joshua) where she spoke up, sounding more than just a bit nervous: "Uh... hey."

Bloody hell, a student. Felinus would never live this down. At least recognized the boy, Harcroft, as a prefect -- he'd been introduced to the lot of them at the start to the year, so as to better facilitate their nightly patrols. Felinus cleared his throat, which came out as a half-growl, and ruffled his mane indignantly. "Help? No, of course not, Harcroft. I'm perfectly fine..."

Fine, but bleeding. Red welled along the gashes in his face, thickening a little as the clot set in. The wound stung and without thinking -- damn these feline instincts! -- he pawed at it again, resulting in an involuntary whimper. "Damn those infuriating primates! If I ever find the conniving dark bastard who loosed them in our woods I''ll--"

Felinus cut off in mid-growl as a first-year girl appeared at Harcroft's elbow. He couldn't snap at first-years, not when they were being good, no matter how annoyed he was with the situation. They were only cubs. He lowered his paw more slowly so not to startle her and inclined his head to the girl. "Hello, kitten. Can I help you?"

She wrinkled her forehead in an expression of surprised amusement when she realized that she had been addressed as 'kitten', but Eilidh's expression quickly became more sober again, showing both concern and uneasiness, but also a hint of curiosity. She had never been this close to the caretaker and while he was impressive when seen from afar, that effect definitely was a lot stronger when he was standing right in front of her. Furthermore the blood trickling through his fur, slowly colouring it red certainly made him appear even more feral. Had he brought his infamous growl to bear on her she would probably have turned into a pillar of salt, but his voice sounded friendly, if a bit strained, when he spoke to her.

"No, I don't need help, I'm all right, Sir. But...", she swallowed, obviously gathering courage. "I don't want to be impolite, Sir, but your face looks... uh, awful..."

looking closer at the wound, Josh saw it wasn't quite as bad as it looked. " He should be OK, actually- I'm no expert, but those gashes look like they're clotting already. It looks worse than it actually is. If he can avoid pawing at it, it should stop hurting soon." Josh said, stepping back slightly. It was never exactly comfortable next to a lion's muzzle, even knowing the lion has a human mind.

My, wasn't this kitten sweet? Before Felinus could reassure the girl that his wound only appeared worse than it was because it was so fresh, the prefect leaned close for an examination of his own. And even though Felinus knew the boy meant no offense or harm, he growled.

"Mister Harcroft. Kindly do not speak of me as though I am not here. I am no dumb beast and can understand you quite clearly."

A part of him knew that the boy had only been trying to reassure the young Miss McEachern. He knew, but that didn't soothe his wounded pride. It was the principle of the thing. He may not have been a teacher, yet to speak of him as though from a distance, or worse, as though he were a pet...!

With a hiss, he turned away from Harcroft and settled on his haunches, using his teeth to drag the dust-mop off his right fore-paw. Harcroft had been right; the wound was not that bad. If he'd been in his true body he could have fixed it easily with his wand. If he'd been proper lion he might at least be able to request a pride-mate's assistance in grooming the worst of the blood away. But he was neither, and he had no intention of stumbling down to the hospital hut for something so minor.

Thus he didn't have a choice. He wet the paw with his tongue before bringing it against the wound as gently as he could manage. It still stung. The whine that it invoked this time around was downright pitiful. He peered out over his paw and caught McEachern's kindly, worried gaze from before. He sighed. "I'm all right. Just need to get it cleaned up. Such things can be...complicated...in my current state."