#7 - Searching The Savannah

Kaspian spotted an ordinary mushroom near the base of the tree, but that wouldn't do. What was he going to do with it if he collected it? He wouldn't eat it.. that was for sure. Kash hated the taste of mushrooms. He sighed with a temporary defeat, but his attention diverted to the shore, where he thought he spotted the red-and-white top of a mud toadstool. Suddenly, he perked up. If he could collect just one, it would do. He hoped it would be viable enough.

He moved toward the muddy shore, his pace quickening in excitement with each step. But he slowed down the closer he got, realizing it would be a touch difficult to retrieve. The marshy area looked slippery and he didn't want to become muddied -- on top of already sporting a drenched uniform and torn trousers. Kaspian therefore paid careful attention to where he stepped, making sure not to spread his legs too far apart in order to maintain solid footing.

After a couple minutes of exercising his balance and coordination skills, which were attained through Muggle sports, Kaspian was within arm's reach of the mud toadstool. He steadied his breath, leaning forward enough to make a grab for the ingredient. He extended his left leg backward to retain an equilibrium, slowly inching his fingers toward the red-and-white growth. He grinned, taking his time to carefully extract it. Kash couldn't just rip it out of the ground.

He pocketed his sought after ingredient and backtracked from the muddy area, happy that he hadn't slipped and fell. He still had some time to collect a couple more ingredients. Kaspian glanced down at his scroll, realizing that the mushroom he noticed before was actually a listed ingredient. He groaned, shaking his head at the realization and hurried back over to large tree to pluck the ordinary mushroom. Kash inspected it, before slipping it into his dry robes.

"That one almost got away." Kaspian chuckled quietly to himself, scanning the ingredient scroll again. "What's next?" He nodded when he found what he wanted to search for, peering over the scroll to scour the area for thick, round bushes. Kash wanted some brittlebush, and if found, would bring him to a total of five ingredients. He would have everything he needed.

Kaspian wasn't having much luck with the brittlebush closer to the shore. Everything he noticed wasn't viable or still had some growing to do before it could plucked. He was a determined boy though, and had no plans to leave the location until he could gather at least one more unique ingredient. Kash already had four stashed in his robe pockets and only needed one more until he could pay Professor Snape a visit to close out his productive afternoon. He was so close.

He trudged away from the shoreline and ventured further than the large beech tree into an area he hadn't browsed yet. Kaspian's eyes darted between countless bushes, looking them over for a sustainable growth of brittlebush. He didn't understand why this particular ingredient was escaping him. If anything, he assumed this would've been the most accessible of the few he wanted. The Savannah was large though and there was still a chance he'd find some.

The area he explored was open and a distance from the Black Lake -- where he assumed there to be thick, round bushes scattered around in different clusters. It was a matter of finding the right bundle. He checked on the ingredients in his pockets every now and then, making sure they were still secure, while searching for some brittlebush. It didn't cross Kaspian's mind that he could find something he wasn't looking for, but if he did, he would take it without question.