#18 - Afternoon Gardening

Charlotte arrived with a bright smile on her face. Her hands still smelt of the soap from cleaning the cauldron for Professor Snape, but she was happy and she was ready to seize the day and gather her plants. Dinner would be starting soon, she was sure, but she wanted to get things done. The young Ravenclaw was on a roll, afterall!

Arriving to what appeared to be several students, she felt herself suddenly grow cold and her heart began to pound in her chest. So many people were around and it seemed very busy. She swallowed and headed straight for her plants to see what she could harvest.

Reena watched the plant near Doren grow and bloom into a rather beautiful flower. Yet she only truly listened up when she heard Sprout mention teaching him the pruning charm.
Perhaps she should start helping out in the Greenhouse more so she could learn it?

She somehow doubted her mother would stick to gardening and their backyard would be a nightmare again when they returned in the summer.
The pruning charm might be a great help getting that in check more quickly.

She could feel herself light up when Sprout was beaming at her, even more so when she expressed her faith in Reena's ability to grow the ancient fruit.

"Thank you, Professor! I will. It wasn't easy to obtain."

She looked up in surprise when William Doren approached her to ask about the seed. In the three and a half years they had been at Hogwarts she could not remember having spoken to him once. Which was strange considering they were not only classmates but housemates as well.

"No homework," she assured him. She fought the urge to hide it from him, as she was not too sure what to make of him.
Yet she doubted he was here to steal the seed of her sacrifice.

"It's an ancient seed Helga Hufflepuff used to grow. And now I will attempt the same."

She took a step back and let the multi-coloured seed disappear from sight in the fold of her robe. If he wanted one, he could make his own sacrifice.
Reena was not about to antagonize him infront of the professor however. Nor infront of her brother. And Amy Twiggs who now stepped in to talk to the aforementioned professor.

"You're welcome to watch me plant it," she shrugged. "Now, if you'll excuse me - Ezra, find me tomorrow after breakfast if you want to spend some time at the laboratory. You do know the Seek Charm already, right?"

Reena's whole tone and expression changed from stand-offish to doting the second she looked back at her younger brother. He would have no trouble whatsoever finding her on his map of the castle.

Giving her brother one last warm smile she turned and walked back towards the work bench she had previously been using and planted blue seeds in her usual garden pots using slots 38 and 39.
Having done that she lifted her recently acquired Advanced Garden Pot onto slot 40 and filled it half way with earth. Then she carefully placed the Ancient Seed in its bed and covered it with earth. She did so almost gently, thinking of how she used to tuck Ezra in at night.

"Aquamenti!"
She took extra care watering the ancient seed before watering the blue seeds, almost like an afterthought.

[exit]

Sprout made him feel a lot less silly than some of the other professors. He found himself positively beaming back for a moment before he caught himself, setting the pot down at his feet and watching as Sprout smoothly waved her wand. The charm's motions reminded him of the rippling motion of a pond when wind blew over the surface, or waves in the ocean - fitting, for a water spell!

Once the professor was done explaining, Thorne moved his pot out of the potential way of any others entering the greenhouse, and pulled his wand from his pocket. Aquamenti was a charm. He was rather good at charms, so the thought didn't intimidate him as brewing a potion would. Or flying a broom. Or trying to cast a spell for a duel...or...

Well. At least there was something he was decent at!

Consider the need for water. Well. Plants - all living things, really, but specifically plants - needed water. Without it, everything shriveled and died. But too much was also deadly, drowning potential growth and washing it away...Thorne's brow furrowed as he waved his wand in the easy, gentle wave motion, speaking confidently-

"Aquamenti!"

Water spouted from the tip of the wand, splashing into his pot. He let out a laugh of delight, watching the clear water fill the pot all of an inch until it also started seeping out of the pot through the drainage hole at the bottom, spreading towards his feet.

"Oh. Uh. Er--" He cancelled the spell and lifted his wand away as the stream of water stopped, looking back towards the professor with a small, happy smile.

Ezra beamed at Reena as soon as she suggested a visit to the student laboratory together. He loved any time that he got to spend with his siblings, but he had to admit that there was something that sounded especially exciting about getting lab time with Reena.

"Yes please!" he said, eagerly nodding his head. He was not sure that he had the right ingredients for any potion that he had read about, but that wouldn't stop him from being able to watch his sister work, would it? He wondered what she planned to do.

Before he could ask, the Professor was back to show him and another first year (a Hufflepuff?) the water charm and his attention zoomed to her wand to catch it all. Finally! The thing that had made him get a move on with his Herbology kit in the first place. A new spell to learn.

"Aquamenti," he whispered as he saw the Professor's charm work. That was so cool! He wondered if they could use it for things other than watering plants. Was it drinkable water? Could it be sprayed at people? These were the important questions.

Ezra reached into his pocket for his wand, eager to give it a try. If he could learn the spell right, then he could figure out what else it could be used for later.

He paused in his attempts to copy Professor Sprout's wand motion to smile up at Reena.

"Yeah! We learned it in the maze," he said, expecting that to make complete sense to her. It didn't occur to him that lessons might change over the years. "I can find you!" Well, as long as he remembered to check where his map was in the morning. He would though, he would triple check his bag if he had to. No way was he missing Reena time.

He smiled brightly at her one last time and then went back to figuring out the Water-Making Charm. He silently waved his wand in the motion twice more and then decided that it was time to attempt it.

"Aquamenti," he said, trying to sound confident as he waved his wand at the plant. He was disappointed only moments later as all he had to show for it was a trickle of water. That was not enough to water a plant with.

Ezra frowned down at his wand as he tried to figure out what he had done wrong. Did he need to focus more? He could try that.

"Aquamenti!" he said, this time putting everything he had into the spell.

Maybe he put a bit much into the spell though, seeing as it left his wand as a jet of water that violently ruffled the plants leaves and splashed back in various directions.

He grabbed his wand with his spare hand in an attempt to control it, before he finally got the spell to end.

No longer shooting water everywhere, Ezra blinked shocked eyes up at the Professor. "I think I managed it," he said, as if he had not just been the cause of a large amount of water.