"What the?" Dafne jumped back, her books tumbling out of her arms. Had that log just growled? For a moment she forgot about the Winter Ball, about the sniffling, and about the wind that was picking up slightly now that she wasn't quite as calm.
She warily knelt down and began collecting her books, staring at the leathery skin of the crocodile. Whatever it was, it wasn't a log apparently. Her pale blue eyes travelled from the crocodile's midsection to the tail, but that wasn't particularly revealing, so she looked the other way, towards its head. It was an animal, but what kind? She'd never seen anything like it before. Her hand rested on top of her last notebook as she stared at the crocodile's head, her heartbeat quickening. Was it dangerous? She wondered, her hand suddenly clenching around the notebook.