[Professor Reid]

Professor Reid smoothed out his robes as he approached the entrance to Greenhouse One, nonexistent though the wrinkles were (a habit he had picked up long ago from his mother). The sunlight that filtered in through the walls and ceiling cast a pleasant, greenish tinge about the place, and Reid admired it as he walked.

The misty-green light danced over his hair and shoulders as he approached a long table toward the left of the greenhouse, upon which long stalks of greenery could be seen shooting up several feet into the air out of the soil. He took a moment to walk the length of the table, surveying the tops of the Gurdyroots as he went, making sure everything was perfect for his next lesson with the first-years.

After he had assured himself that not a single hair upon the roots' surface was out of place, the professor walked back up to the front of the greenhouse. He crossed his arms comfortably behind his back and waited for the students to arrive, contemplating as he did so the school's recent excitement in the Great Hall and scanning the greenhouse vigilantly for any sign of movement.

[Sylverster Kelestral]

Sylverster walked out of the library, careful not to make so much noise as she passed the librarian's counter, for fear that the witch might still chuck an ink bottle at her for being "noisy". It was possible, for she had seen the nasty old woman doing the exact thing to a third-year Gryffindor who was being too rowdy. “The humiliation you’d get…” She thought to herself as she successfully made her way out onto the corridors, unscathed.

It was nearly time for Herbology, and Sylverster wanted to be early, nowhere near late. Humming a merry little tune for herself, she made her way out of the castle, waving to a couple of older friends that she had made as she walked past them in the hallway. Thinking about the previous lesson, she stifled a smile, though she didn’t find it that funny sometimes. The fact that Kyran made a fool out of himself by dancing with an imaginary person was funny, but on the other hand, the fact that he had made an enemy out of Ada was not so amusing after all. Sighing, she stepped into the class, her eyes sweeping once over the set-up.

The place didn’t look very different, so she just placed her notebooks and her quill on the table that she sat on all the time and went to where Professor Reid was, glad that the professor was already there. She was wondering why there was a change in the professors, and was happy that the Herbology professor was still teaching them.

Peering at the fascinatingly long stalks of the new, unknown plant that they were going to learn about that lesson, she resisted the temptation of wanting to feel them, wondering if they’d suddenly coil around her finger or something. Looking up at the professor, she said, “Good day, Professor. May I ask what are we going to learn about today?” She wasn’t sure if she knew about the plant, perhaps she had read about it, but she wanted an answer from the professor, after all, he would definitely know all about it…

[Eileen Wood]

Herbology. Eileen was so happy. It was one of her favorite classes because it took place outside the castle walls. As much as she loved the castle, sometimes fresh air was the best cure for life. It relieved her stress, even when she was working in the greenhouse. Though Eileen liked animals more than plants, the class was infinitely more interesting than so many other classes, History and Etiquette just to name a couple.

A broad smile on her face as she entered the greenhouse, Eileen saw Professor Reid and Sylver in the room. "Hello, Professor Reid," she said gleefully. Eileen was remembering the odd conversation they had about Horned Himding Cutters the other day. "It's good to see you."

Eileen supposed everyone would be preoccupied with the spider, as she was often thinking about lately. She had never been afraid of spiders, but this one was not common. Eileen had heard that not even the Care of Magical Creatures professor knew what it was. One of the older Gryffindors had ten points taken away for mentioning the creature in her class, after she specifically told them not to talk about it. Was she embaressed?

Eileen sat next to Sylver and greeted her as well. "Hello, Sylver. How are you today?"

[Alistair Bauldaugh]

Relieved that his next class was something enjoyable, Alistair left his dormitory a little earlier than he would have for most of his other classes. When he made it down to his common room, he found one of his fellow first years, Elizabeth, nearly out of the entry way. He knew that she would be heading outside for class as well. So, having no desire to walk alone with a crazed spider on the loose, Alistair quickened his pace until he had caught up.

The two young Hufflepuffs chatted the whole way across the lawn to the greenhouses. Alistair tried to understand and have some compassion for the girl who seemed to be fighting with her best friend over a Gryffindor boy, but none of it really made sense to him. All he was able to do was smile and joke that she ought to ask Professor Hale about a few fighting spells that might help her win. Elizabeth just shook her head and departed to the back of the classroom to sit with a few girls that she knew and would have more sympathy for the dilemma.

Setting his bag down at one of the tables close to the front, Alistair caught sight of two girls he had been seeing a lot of recently. “Good morning, ladies.” He greeted, moving to stand on the other side of the table that Eileen and Sylvester were sitting at.

[Adrian MacDermott]

Adrian wasnt exactly happy about the next class he was being forced to attend. Making his way slowly throught the corridors of the castle. Finally making it to the grounds he decided to just get in and get it over with.

Entering the green house was like walking into a green haze, everything was so fresh.... right down to the dragon dung used for fertilizer on the plants (all of which are more likely to attack you then the last) with a wrinkled upturned nose Adrian made his way to a table which was almost full.

Looking around the table at his companions for the class he saw that he was sitting in a pretty diverse group. the table had a representitive from each house. One of the people being one of his favorite in all of Hogwarts (not that he would have let anyone else know that)

Adrian rolled his eyes before saying "Please tell me this is just a coincidence, that we all sat down here by happy mistake and I havnt just nominated myself as Slytherins representitive for a house unity scheme" with a slight smirk on his face as he looked at Alistair. "So does anyone know what we are dealing with today?" he asked dropping the pretensive snobbery and adorning a much more pleasent attitude

[Professor Reid]

"Gather around, everyone, gather around," said Professor Reid over the students' chattering, gesticulating with his hands to depict that he wished for them to approach the table he had been circling moments before their arrival. The long, leafy tops of the Gurdyroots, the only parts exposed up out of the soil, swayed slightly as though pushed by a nonexistent breeze.

"Take a close look at the plants before you," he instructed, his voice carrying even to those at the end of the table. Half of his mind was focused on teaching this class efficiently, while the other was determined not to allow any stray beasts to attack his students. Frustrated though he was with Professor Hale's blunder, he would not let it disrupt his lesson or harm his pupils.

"Does anyone know what these are called?" he asked, pushing thoughts of Professor Hale and her furry friend to the back of his mind. It wouldn't do to allow himself to get distracted during a lesson (more than was strictly necessary, he corrected himself, his eyes scanning for signs of life in between stalks of greenery on the table).

Turning his mind to the task at hand, Reid doubted anyone would know what was currently growing before their eyes--though he was sure many would simply mistake them for onions. Although Gurdyroots weren't uncommon, they had the reputation of a useless Muggle plant, despite learned Herbologists submitting research to the contrary. Today Reid wanted to present his students with the gift of knowledge and freedom from ignorance. He knew it might be a tad controversial, because most wizards considered Gurdyroot such a farce, but if even one student left today's lesson with a more learned mind, he would consider the effort well worth it.

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

Keeping eyes peeled inside the castle was mind numbing. Harry could pop out at any moment, with his crazy black beetle eyes and long hairy shelled legs. Cerri had named him Harry as a way of differentiating the ugly spider from other ones. It was special, it had to be special as it was larger than anything she had ever seen.

The moment she walked outside, Cerri's attitude changed dramatically. Outside wasn't nearly as stifling as inside and if she remembered right the feast when Harry hatched was a relatively bright room and the spider seemed to hide itself in the shadows. Now that she was outside and in the sunlight, there seemed to be nothing that would have bothered her now. The spider wouldn't dare show itself outside...would it?

Walking to Herbology Class seemed a bit more relaxed and easy now. As quickly as she was moving through the halls, now she had time to enjoy the rest of the walk. It wasn't that Herbology was a distance away, it was just easier to walk outside and around, instead of the numerous hallway turns in the cold stone walkways and walls.

The Ravenclaw made her way into the multicolorful room. Everyone was showing their house pride with the dominant colors of theor house. Seeing Alistair and Adrian together made her laugh. They try so hard to hide that they don't like each other, but with the amount of time they spend together it was like they were best friends. It was quite the site to see and then listen to.
"Can I join this house unity organization?" She asked with a humored lilt in her voice to the group who was amassing in Herbology.

Sitting, once finally agreed on where that was going to be, Professor Reid began class. The Herbology Class was not her favorite class but the knowledge alone was well worth the class itself. Herbology was one of those classes...like Flying. She loved the idea of it, but if it wasn't written down in a writ of instructions, there was absolutely no way she was going to be half way decent at it. She was probably the only girl she knew that couldn't identify a sunflower from a large daisy, so how was she supossed to know the differences of the different magical plant? Just knowing the difference between a mundane Muggle plant and a wild Wizarding plant was enough to throw her into a tizzy. So with that, she did not answer Proessor Reid's question and hoped with all her mental mind magics that he would hear her silent question and answer the question with an answer...without calling on her for it.

This post has been edited by Cerridwyn Glynn: 04 September 2010 - 01:04 AM

[Daniella Cruz]

Once again, Genevieve spent the time before the lesson just looking at the different plants. Over the year she had sketched some of them, it was one of the subjects she really was interested in. Not that she worked especially hard on it, the sketches were something she wanted to do. If it had been an assignment she would have ignored it or done a bad job.

When Professor Reid called them over, Viv strolled over and examined the plants of the day. They looked vaguely familiar and she began to wrack her brain trying to figure them out. It took a moment but she finally placed them, something she had seen in the woods at their country house. She frowned, "Professor, they just look like wild onions," she said still trying not to sound interested. She just couldn't seem to help herself sometimes, things like Herbology and Charms managed to break through the boredom even if she wasn't ready to admit it.

[Eileen Wood]

Eileen smiled at their makeshift group. She liked all three of the people at the table, and was delighted to see that all four of the houses was included. "Good to see you all," she said, with special emphasis on Adrian, as her newest acquaintance. She also believed it would be good to show to the other houses that if a Gryffindor and a Slytherin could get along, there was no real need for conflict. She knew it to be a lost cause, but she decided to try it anyway.

Cerri arrived, which made her even more thrilled. Eileen had not talked to the girl much ever since their Library excursion. "Lovely to see you, Cerri."

Professor Reid then began class. Genevieve, one of her favorite housemates, voiced that the plants looked to be wild onions. It was true, but the things moved, like most other magical plants. Eileen shook her head. There was no possible way Professor Reid, an experienced Herbologist, would simply give them a plant that was a normal thing. That was far too easy.

[Alistair Bauldaugh]

Alistair hadn’t noticed that he, Sylvester, and Eileen were all from different houses until Adrian came by and made the announcement. With so many other kids around, Alistair didn’t feel the need to be overly rude, but he did give Adrian a customary dirty look when he sat nearby. “Haven’t a clue,” he told the boy stiffly.

The young Huffle wanted to continue the conversation, but only a few moments later Cerri joined the table. Quickly, Alistair stood up and maneuvered over to the chair nearest her, pulling it out. A small smirk crept on to his face, but he turned away so that only Adrian would see. How silly his actions were at times, but he couldn’t help himself.

Soon the lesson began, but Alistair couldn’t put forth any input. He had no idea what sort of plants were laid out before them. They seemed to move, a little, not shaking with the ferocity that he would expect from a mandrake that he had once watched his father grow. No, these had thinner leaves and seemed much gentler. Thankfully, Genevieve was the first to voice an opinion.

[Sylverster Kelestral]

Soon, more students started arriving and Sylverster smiled as Eileen sat next to her, "Lovely as ever, but it's better being in a lesson with my friends." Amused, she watched on as Alistair and Adrain arrvied, making it seem as if each house had sent out a representive for a talk, or perhaps, a interhouse duel, though it'd be strange if there's just firt-years. The conversations ticked on as more familiar faces started arriving. The dark look that Alistair threw at Adrian made her smile, for she was thinking, wondering how great it'd be if it's just an act, or perhaps that her guess would be correct.

She sighed softly, wishing that it'd be good if that can apply to two of her close friends, namely a Gryffindor girl and a Slytherin boy. Turning her attention back to the professor as he started speaking, she listened attentively.

As he asked the class what they thought the new plant that he was going to teach them about looked like, Sylverster had to agree with Genevieve, for they really looked like onions. They wouldn't be taught about onions, would they? She shook her head to herself at that and remained silent, not wanting to offer her own opinion, since she was trying to come up with one...

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

Cerri stood waiting for someone to acknowledge her in the classroom. It didn't take that long, before Eileen made a wonderful greeting. It had been a while since the two of them had talked. Her welcoming smile made her feel right at home, as if no time had passed between them at all. While they hadn't really done anything spectacular together since that day in the Library, they had been in a number of classes together. Eileen was brash and bold and had a little something Aunt Mathilda liked to call spunk. Cerri had no clue what spunk was or how to describe it, but she knew Eileen had it. The girl was everything Cerri wanted to be. It was slightly intimidating to finally realize it.
"Aww." The Ravenclaw grinned feeling like the best friend of the world. "And a delightful day to you too, Eileen."

"Nobody will mind if I sit......" A chair was all ready being pulled out for her. "...here?" Alistair had already anticipated her need with a very gentlmanly way about him. Now she was embarressed and her cheeks were all ready starting to turn a deep pink. It wasn't one of those awkward embarrassments, this was something that just made her smile even deeper. Her cheeks rounded over, showing off those cute little childlike dimples of hers.
"I guess I should take that as an invitation." She grinned trying not to sound to giddy and bubbly.

As everyone began to gather around the plants that Professor Reid was teaching about, Cerri couldn't help but look at the stalks and wonder why the lesson was about onions. Were they magic onions? That just screamed for a story continuing Jack's great day with magic vegetables.

[Professor Reid]

"They do look like onions, don't they?" Reid said with a smile that was both cordial and a little self-satisfied. He had known all along that these plants would be mistaken for onions, but it was always nice when things turned out the way you expected, even when you're positive they will. There's always a slight chance they won't, after all. 

"These," he continued, raising his voice over the chatter that had started to break out among his students; though he did not seem stern, his eyes swept over them all had somewhat of a warning behind them, "are Gurdyroots. They're quite useful, but most wizards overlook them, because of their incredibly ordinary appearance and, of course, their striking similarity to onions."

Professor Reid began a slow pace around the greenhouse, circling his students with his hands crossed gently behind his back. His eyes carefully surveyed the plants around him and their movements as he talked.

"They're very useful in medical maladies, specifically," he continued, his slow, circling pace unwavering. "Although they aren't particularly delightful to the palate, they can be used to make teas and broths to help cure everything from simple colds to a bad case of the dragonpox."

Reid stopped as he came back up to the front of the greenhouse. "Does anyone have any questions about Gurdyroots before we begin the practical portion of today's lesson?" He always liked to leave things open-ended with his students, so they would be more apt to use their brains to ask questions, rather than blindly following his lead. 

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

Cerri looked up, watching Professor Reid. She listened to the explanation of Gurdy-roots and what they were. It was hard to actually stay focussed on such ordinary plants. They looked so plain and boring. If the class wasn't about the plants themselves, surely she would have passed them up herself. Some might have thought about the plants the same as a middle child, forgotten about and overlooked, as they certainly didn't stand out in a greenhouse. They were nothing like the screaming muckucks or the faceless gingersnaps.

"Are they ediible?" Cerri asked outloud, making a face as if the plants themselves were all ready in her mouth giving off their boring and paperlike blandness against the roof of her mouth.

This must have been the time of year that the professors had devoted to healthiness and healing magics. Almost all her classes were teaching about the magical homiopathic qualities of the ingredients. Potions Class, Herbology...even History of Magic was on the ball with the reports due about the Greenwitches of Greenwich.

[Alistair Bauldaugh]

Alistair was now feeling uneasy. He loved Herbology and he was beginning to feel like he had put a lot of faith into a quidditch team and they had done horribly throughout the season. Though he would never admit it, he was finding the class rather dull. No one seemed to be showing very much interest in the lesson. Cerri had asked if they were edible even though the professor had said that they were used in tea. Perhaps she meant in slices, like onions.

The heavy, muggy atmosphere of the greenhouse did nothing to help Alistair focus. He eyed the vine of a large plant with purple flowers in the corner climb into the pot of a nearby plant and then back away quickly. He watched a fly zip around near the roof, clearly knowing that getting too close to any of the lively plants on the benches could easily mean the end of its tiny life. Wiping a bead of sweat that had formed under his thick curly hair and rolled down onto his forehead.

Not wanting to be seen fidgeting or not paying attention, Alistair stared very intently at the plants before the students. He wished that one of them would do something interesting; perhaps explode! But he knew that that was altogether unlikely, and simply made himself content with waiting for the lesson to become interesting or end, whichever came first.

[Toren Dunwiddik]

This was by far the best class he had. The one place you could do great, and the Professors would not assume you did magic before you came to school. Okay maybe he was still sour over being very proficient with spells, or maybe that he wanted to excel like crazy and some day be the "go to" guy for help. Okay, he was more peeved, which was why he was kind of waling on edge lately, and his mind was not where it should have been.

He badly wanted to focus in this class, and upon being questioned about the plant they were working, he deep inside wanted to say something, but he was beginning to doubt himself. The Professor explained what it was, and what it was good for, and he was wrong. So maybe doubting himself was good. When the Professor asked if there were any questions he voiced one. "Professor. What other uses does it have?"

His demeanor was normal in class, as it was calming him, just his focus which he was lacking, and hoped that the practical could be with a partner so he would not screw up things too badly. He looked around at his classmates. He felt bad that lately he had been reclusing himself to his room and study, and read anything to stay away from people other than in classes. Especially spending time with his close friends.