Herbology Class, 7 Sept.

Early in the day:

After chasing off his 4th Years Holoč looked in the yard to see if his delivery had arrived. No, nothing yet. Not that he was worried it wouldn't arrive in time, but he always wanted things in place, early and ready, before his students arrived.

Oh, he imagined what his 1st Years would be like. He'd have his two groups of 5 ready to work as a team--oh, yes, right. Like that always happened. He knew how most students felt about Herbology: plants and more plants, what to do with them?

Well, that was what Holoč planed to do: he would show them.

Just then he heard a commotion outside. He looked out the door into the yard and saw his order had arrived. Excellent, he thought. He looked up into the sky and smiled.

This would be a good year to grow.





OOC--Class is NOW OPEN. Please enter by indicating you've taken your seat, and you may RP after sitting. Class will begin later and will proceed through the next few days. This class will run at the same time as Potions, so even though you'll be posting at the same time throughout the week, the classes are held at different times.

Enjoy!

The day was just moving along like a train. After lunch they Annie and he were heading for Herbology, and this was the first class Kerry didn't feel excited about. Yes, it was plants; yes; it didn't sound "magical"; yes, it sounded boring.

However, Professor Semplen was his coven leader and he didn't want to show up looking bored out of his mind. Annie had told him he'd be surprised by herbology, and when she reminded him of the connect between herbs and potions, Kerry promised to give the class an even shake.

They entered the hall and saw directions telling 1st Years to report to Greenhouse #2. Follow directions they quickly located the greenhouse finding Professor Semplen already there, dressed in coveralls, working at some soil beds.

Kerry dropped his hand from Annie's as soon as they entered the room. "Good afternoon, Professor," he said. He looked around and realized Annie and he were the first ones to arrive.

Lina dragged her feet to the greenhouse, why did I have to have Herbology today? It wasn't as if Lina couldn't tell the difference between the herbs, nor was the large amounts of dirt that she was exposed to. Lina wasn't too thrilled for Herbology because of the amount of bugs she might see, more particularly, spiders.

Lina has always been afraid of spiders ever since she was a young child, although, she wasn't sure why. Thinking about it, she figured it could have been all of those Muggle horror films that featured spiders as the "bad guy," or it could have been when her sister was bitten by one, either way, she wasn't thrilled to go to class.

Opening the door to the classroom, Lina noticed that Kerry and Annie were both there. "um, Hi again," she said quietly to them, then faced the Professor, "um, Hi Professor."

Kerry saw Lina enter the greenhouse and, for the first time, realized how warm it was inside. There was the quick glance in their direction then the greeting to Professor Semplen.

Deciding to be a wise butt, Kerry put on his best accent as he said, "Shooooow, Lina . . . we met again!"

Lina looked at him in a confusing matter, then tilted her head to the side, "Why do you sound weird?"


(OOC~ what accent are you using?)

(OOC Kerry--Scottish, of course! You need to watch more Celebrity Jeopardy.)

Annie smiled up at Lina and waved when she entered the greenhouse. She was enchanted by the plants that surrounded them; and impatient to get into the dirt and explore the flora that called this place home.

She remembered the hours she would spend outside with her mom in their small garden back in Pamporovo. Her mother loved the soil and, during the summer, you were more likely to find her outside tending to something than indoors.

Once, when Annie was just three or four, she had wandered into a patch of leaping toadstools. The small plants captivated her, and she tried to capture one but was never able. She remembered entering their kitchen, covered in muck and wailing over the toadstools. Her mother scooped Annie up and wiped her tearstained face with a wet tea towel. “Don’t cry, moyata lyubov,” she crooned.

After that day, her mother would walk with her to the toadstools, carrying a huge bucket, and they would spend their time sloshing around in the mud.

Annie tilted her head and smiled up at Kerry. “I know plants aren’t your thing, but I have a really good feeling about this class,” she whispered. She winked at him and patted his hand.


(ooc: moyata lyubov = 'my love' in Bulgrian)

Kerry looked to Lina and said in a normal voice, "I'm sorry; for a moment I thought I was a Lithuanian sub captain walking a beat as a Chicago cop." He smiled broadly, certain the little witch had no idea what any of it meant.

He turned to Annie and said, "I'm going to give it a shot. If it helps to know herbs to know potions--yeah, why not?" He saw the excitement in her eyes. "You just can wait to start digging, can you?"

Lina still had a confused look on her face, but decided to let it go, "You Americans are really weird."

Seeing his first group of five was starting to file in, Holoč came over and greeted them. "Glad to see you," he said, very friendly. "Ah, well... I'm sure you have some very unusual ideas about what we are going to do here--and let me assure you--" He smiled warmly. "You probably have no idea."

He pointed to a set of lockers over against one wall. "You can change into your coveralls and work boots there. And," he held up his hands for emphasis. "Don't forget your work gloves."

Ignoring the professor, Annie stood up straight, glaring at Lina. She squared her shoulders and turned on her. “I would be more careful with who you go around calling weird,” she spat, clenching her hands so tightly, her nails cut into her skin.

She leaned forward, placing herself inches from Lina’s ear and whispered, “If that was a joke…I am not laughing.” She swiftly tuned from the girl, furious and trembling, and moved to grab a set of coveralls, gloves, and work books from the lockers.

On a humid afternoon in a small valley in Hawaii, Keith walks out of the front door of his family's home at the end of a townhouse. He pets the stray cat that eats the leftovers that his grandmother leaves on the porch every night, then walks up to a fence between the neighborhood and an adjacent hillside. There was once nothing but brush and trees on the other side of it, but there are tangerines and banana trees, pineapples and peppers. Dad put them here. He's hunched over on the other side of the gate, replanting an eggplant from a bucket with holes punched in the bottom. As the gate creaks open, he looks over his shoulder at Keith and says, "Come on in, son." in a false southern accent. As it creaks shut while Keith turns around to close it, he looks up at the noontime sun, momentarily blocked out by a shadow. It's a giant bird.

Keith was standing just inside the door of the greenhouse, staring up through the glass roof at a small cloud that briefly blocked out the sun. He appeared unaware of the students and the professor conversing near the soil beds.

Oh, great! Kerry was rolling his eyes just a little, as Annie appeared to take Lina's comment the wrong way, growled something at the now-confused girl, and stopped off. And we were all such friends in Potions, he thought.

He walked over to Lina and tried to come up with a good explanation. "Uummm, sorry about that," he whispered. "It's the plants; they really get her excited." He raised his eyebrows as if to say, "You know?" and walked off after Annie, hoping to calm her down.

Lina was dumbfounded at Annie's abrupt anger. It was only an obervation, why is she so mad? Lina just couldn't comprehend the girl's action; it just seemed too irrational for a third party to get angry.

Kerry walked over to Lina, "Uummm, sorry about that," he whispered. "It's the plants; they really get her excited." After saying that, he walked off after Annie.

Lina still didn't understand how plants were making Annie act irrationally, but decided it was best to make piece, "I'm sorry , Annie. I don't really understand why you're mad, but I meant no harm by that."

Annie stood from slipping her work boots on as Lina approached, babbling an apology. She straightened up, flaring her nostrils. “You are forgiven,” she seethed, feeling her cheeks flush a deep scarlet.

“Please excuse me,” She said, snatching up her gloves. “I need a few minutes alone before the class begins.”

Sliding up behind Annie, Kerry whispered, "Hey, it's okay. There was no offence." He moved in a little closer. "I didn't mind. I was being weired."

He leaned over, getting even closer. "I love you. Don't ever forget that."

Lina was starting to get pissed off that the Bulgarian girl was angry, and no amount of plants can make someone act like that. Before she realized it, Lina slipped out a soft insult as Annie pouted, "Dono yōna baka shōjo."

Lina then turned around and started to put on her coveralls and the rest of the stuff to begin Herbology.




(OOC- 'Dono yōna baka shōjo' means 'what a stupid girl')

Kerry knew Lina was a bit miffed, and caught the faint Nihonjin muttering as she turned away. He was rusty, but seeing as how Lina sounded like a pissed off Lum-chan, he figured it wasn't nice.

He looked over and laughed just a little, then said, "Ysgafnhau y uffern i fyny," trying his best to sound like a Cardiff native. I sound more like I crawled up out from under the docks, he thought, but what the hell.

Annie stopped for Kerry when he caught up with her. She didn’t get very far, as Lina was right behind her, but she listened to him; what he said rocked her to the core. It was the first time he uttered aloud that he loved her.

She stared deeply into his eyes, taking it in, feeling all the fight run from her body. Even Lina, whining under her breath behind her, did not bother her. She listened to Kerry’s reply and then moved closer.

“No one will call you names while I stand and listen, Kerry,” she whispered. She smiled and lightly touched his cheek. “Even if you are being weird.” Since people were still milling around by the lockers, she risked giving Kerry a small peck on the cheek. “And I won’t ever forget that…ever.”

With most of the five members here for their session Holoč spent his time getting the last of their task set up. At least he was going to do that when he heard a familiar accent--

First there was Krum, growling off something in Bulgarian-tinged English to the little Asian girl. Then she, in turn said something to Annie in English and then turned to something different--Holoč wasn't sure, but it sounded like Japanese. Then, just to show he could hang with the polyglots, Malibey forced his way through some bastardized syntax that sounded more like a cat was stuck in the back of his throat.

Just when it looked like Holoč might have to step in and send everyone to their corners, Malibey said something to Krum, and then--well, Holoč couldn't see her face, but her body language said, "I'm melting".

Oi, just like my daughter, he thought. Jdou kluk blázen a dát jejich otcům infarktu. He figured it was very good that Viktor didn't know just what his daughter was up to on the other side of the world. Though the idea of him hopping on his broom and flying here brought a smile to Holoč's face--

Snapping out of his daydream, Keith wandered over to join the others.

Professor Semplen was watching Keith's classmates with an cheerful expression, which was odd because there seemed to be some sort of disagreement between Lina, Kerry, and Annie. He simply walked by the professor, greeted him, and got his own set of equipment out. Silently gearing up, he wondered what was going on.

Now that he had Annie settled down, Kerry decided that he needed to get into Mr. Greenjeans mode. After he hung up his jacket and he started to struggle into his coverall, he felt more like he was going to paint a house more than--do what? He hadn't seen a syllabus for the class: for that matter, he'd never seen a syllabus for any of the classes. So who knew what was next.

He looked around and noticed everyone was pretty much the same from last night. And it seemed it was going to be the same five in flying. That said, he looked for Debbie Harry and didn't see her. Wonder if she's going to be late again? he thought as he slipped off his shoes and started to struggle into his word boots. Kerry gave the gloves on the bench next to him the once over and began to wonder if they were gonna start out digging plants from the git-go.

After a nice lunch with her three older brothers, Raven was pumped for her next class, which was every surprising. She was glad that her Cameron was able to convince one of the girls to go get her jacket.

She wondered into the classroom only to find Lina angry putting on her coveralls and Annie and Kerry in the cornier doing who knows what, but Annie looked...what's the word...shocked and extremely happy all at the same time.

Not wanting to get in the middle of anything, she gave Semplen a southern greeting, then slipped next to Keith. "Did I miss somethin?" she asked in a whisper.

"Oh, hello." Keith quietly replied. Raven had caught him by surprise, but his mind was still somewhat in the clouds. "I think the professor just said to get this stuff out of the locker over there." he said, gesturing first to his work clothes and then the storage locker.

He lowered his voice. "I think Annie's mad or something." he said with a glance at the rest of the group.

Now that it seemed his group of five student had arrived--and everything was in place--Holoč knew it was time to start. "Welcome to Greenhouse #2," he said, walking towards the students as they continued dressing. "This will be your home for much of your first year of Herbology. And while there will be study within a traditional classroom, for the most part--" Holoč opened his arms and looked around, "This will be your classroom.

"Within many schools the first year of Herbology is treated as something--" Holoč searched for the word. "Septic. Dry. And not a bit pedantic, with a great deal of remembering of lists and facts and the whatnot.

"Well, that is not Herbology, not for those of us who immerse ourselves in it. It is a living thing, for magical plants are living, and just like they this field grows, it changes... it evolves. It is far from cut and dried. For once you realize what one can do with natural magical elements, it opens up a whole new world of experimentation.

"For you who want to explore potions, I cannot emphasize how strongly you need to have a thorough understanding of herbs and plants. So much of potion making relates back to the use of herbs, and some of the most powerful potion require herbs as key components." Holding up a finger as if to make a point, Holoč added, "I have a good understanding of potions, and our Potions Mistress, Professor Sladen, is also a skilled herbologist. These two magics, they go--" He brought his hands together and interlaced his fingers. Trying to pull them apart, he emphasized, "hand in hand. One not just complements the other, but makes it complete.

"Come over here," he said, walking away. He lead the students to the far side of the greenhouse, where there were areas in a series of raise beds already laid out. "This is your real classroom, right here." He knelt and scooped up a handful of dirt. As Holoč crushed it in his fingers, he said, "You will learn to tend a garden of you own choosing, and you will grow plants that will be used for a variety of things before the end of this school year." He stood, brushing his gloved hand off on his coverall leg. "Besides what I can teach you from a book, I can also teach you here, in the greenhouse, in the dirt."

He once more turned and pointed at each student in turn as he spoke. "By the end of this school year, you will not only know the fundamentals of plant and herbs cultivation and growth, you will gain an understanding of what each plant can do simply through identification." He smiled, and motes of sunlight glistened in his eyes. "I am going to make experts of you all.

"But, before you can become experts, you must start at the beginning--" He moved slowly to a spot a few meters away where a group of raised wooden pallets waited, empty. "Here will sit probably the most important first lesson: what does it take to make my plants grow." He cocked a finger at the students. "Come with me and I'll show you."

Holoč open a large set of doors leading to the L-shaped courtyard to the northeast of the building. He led the students out into the yard and towards a rather large lump sitting under a black tarpaulin. "This just came today, and I am..." Holoč's excitement was extraordinarily obvious. "Besides myself. Children, beneath this tarpaulin is one of the first secret to a good garden--" He flipped the tarpaulin back. "What do I use for a fertilizer? This is what I use--and what you'll be using:

"50 kilogram of fresh dragon dung."

Annie stared at the mound of dung in front of them. She tugged on the ends of each of her gloves to make sure they were on tightly. Next, she adjusted her coveralls and made sure her work boots were secure so unpleasantness would not work its way in.

When she was happy with her outfit, she raised her hand. “Excuse me, Professor. How are we going to move this inside?”