An active, character-driven Hogwarts experience set in the early 2000s. Unique items, plots, and features. Non-canon; this isn't Harry Potter's story, it's ours.
Saoirse made her way to the student greenhouse in the afternoon. It felt strange not using her free time to enjoy herself, but she was too young to go to Hogsmeade and her healing hand meant that she could not swim. So, here she was, bored enough to actually willingly do some work.
Saoirse had three pots and three seeds available. She could see that spots 01, 02, 03 were available, so she placed her pots there. In the first, she placed her yellow seeds, in the second, her blue, and in the third, her pink. It felt nice, packing the seeds into the soil and feeling the soft earth around her fingers.
Once the seeds were nicely tucked in, Saoirse removed her wand from her robes. She pointed the wand over the pots, and said the incantation. "Aquamenti."
Water sprayed from the tip of her wand like a tiny hose, and Saoirse moved it across all three pots, making sure the soil was properly moistened. She cancelled the spell once she was satisfied. Saoirse gazed at her pots one last time before exiting the greenhouse. She would be back the following day to harvest them.
Post by MJ Birdwhistle on Aug 9, 2022 0:21:08 GMT 10
MJ arrived at the greenhouse and waved to Saoirse as she left. She had a lot to think about which her earlier adventures but she knew she wanted to take care of her plants as well.
She went to her usual spot and was surprised to see someone had planted something nearby as well. This brought a smile to her face - it would be nice to have a little 'neighbour' at the greenhouse.
Luckily, her own plants were grown and ready for harvest. MJ rolled up her sleeves, ready to get started.
Post by Reena Ashworth on Aug 9, 2022 4:53:33 GMT 10
Reena could feel her anxiety grow as she set foot across the threshold of the Greenhouse. Brewing the Freeze Potion had given her a sense if security and she had enjoyed her morning with Ezra but once she had sat down for lunch it had hit her.
The Ancient Seed would soon be grown and that meant that she had to move on and face the beast again.
She looked over her shoulder to see whether Lindsey was coming before she crossed over towards her workbench. Reena gave the young Ravenclaw a polite half smile as she seemed somewhat familiar to her eventhough she couldn’t quite place her.
After harvesting was complete, nothing of value remained -- including ordinary clay pots that were cracked and no longer usable. Spaces of the counter were free again, unless having more seeds and supplies to start over with. Then all that was left was to clean up the workspace. Professor Sprout would appreciate it.
Stems of the berry plants were strong, but simple to deal with. A charm or some nearby sheers would help snip the ingredients free, even as the plant's leaves tried to make it harder to spot the berries, but sometimes a hands-on approach worked just as fine too.
Compared to most harvestable plants, the Eglower was less forgiving. Its stems were soft though needed a firm hand, yet any attempt to pick it caused the flower to puff sneeze-inducting, stinky pollen into the face.
The revived, ancient plant had overgrown its pot. Despite the thorny jaws, its most notable feature was its tongue -- tipped with the fruit as a lure for its prey.
Its bite was painful and gloves won't help much. It needed to be subdued or tricked to snatch the fruit. Once its lure was gone, the plant wailed loudly and shriveled up to die.
Post by MJ Birdwhistle on Aug 9, 2022 20:50:56 GMT 10
These plants were very familiar to MJ now but that didn't mean she didn't concentrate on what she was doing or didn't take care to do things properly.
She started with the Sunurk plant first, picking up a pair of nearby shears to help with her work. MJ wondered if there was a spell that could do the same job but hopefully she could learn it someday. For now, she would use the shears to snip away the leaves that hid the berries she sought. Once they were exposed, she plucked them from the plant and put them safely into her satchel.
Moving on, she repeated the same process with the Moonurk plant. She was careful not to damage the berries as she snipped away at the plant, revealing the blue orbs. She plucked them free as well and put them with the Sunurk berries in her bag.
Done with those two plants, MJ cleared away the debris and moved on to the Eglower. She was determined this time to avoid any pollen to the face! It had been a close call a few times before but this time, this time she would be the victor!
Grabbing it firmly, but not enough to do damage, MJ dodged out of the way of the pollen as she plucked one, two, three flowers. She had a bit on her hands, of course she did, but she managed to avoid her face and hair this time! MJ beamed, pleased that she had gathered the ingredients and put them safely away in her satchel as well. After doing so, MJ cleared up any mess left behind and set up her two new pots.
In spots 51 and 52 this time, she planted Red seeds in one and Purple seeds in the other. These were new to MJ and she was excited to see what they would grow. MJ made sure she added enough soil to the pots to cover the seeds and then took out her wand, "Aguamenti!" She aimed the spell at the first pot and made sure it had enough water. Then she aimed for the second, casting again, "Aguamenti!".
Satisfied with her work, she gathered her things and was so distracted by her thoughts she did not even notice what the Slytherin girl was doing in the Greenhouse. Instead, she was wondering where to find Lucas as she exited.
Post by Lindsey Bryce on Aug 9, 2022 22:48:40 GMT 10
Lindsey had followed from the Students Laboratory to the Greenhouse. She was hoping to get a look at the strange plant that Reena had grown. She slipped in shortly after Reena and was quite surprised to see the plant. It looked dangerous and yet Lindsey was smiling like a grinning cat. It looked absolutely terrifying and she looked at Reena with clear excitement.
"It's gonna give ye a bit of trouble, Reena," Lindsey said as she looked at the plant from a distance. Just by the look of it, she want to get involved, but this was Reena's plant.
Post by Reena Ashworth on Aug 10, 2022 15:14:31 GMT 10
With a glance at her friend, Reena made a hmmhmm sound of agreement. Lindsey looked as though she’d want to tackle the Ancient Plant herself and Reena briefly considered letting her. But this was her quest.
And of course the plant couldn’t just be a cute little apple tree, it had to be something that looked like it could bite off her hand.
Reena observed it carefully and got out her notebook to write down her finds about height, colour, shape and smell of the plant and attached fruit from a safe distance. She also added a rather poorly drawn sketch, nothing like one Jaxen could have magically produced onto the paper. It was times like these she wished she had learned how to draw. Or have a camera.
“Alright,“ she mumbled as she closed her notes shut and put them away.
Eventhough the thorny jaws looked like they could easily pierce through gloves, she still put them on as there was no way she would put her hands anywhere near those things without at least a small layer of protection. She wished she had such strong gloves at her disposal as they had used on the Dragon-Clawed Viola.
Reena then armed herself with her knife and a big chunk of dirt and concentrated on the tongue of the plant.
She threw the chunk of dirt at the jaw but it just slid right off. So she searched for another, even bigger chunk of dirt and silently cursed her bad aim.
She tossed the second chunk of dirt onto the base of the tongue inside the jaw as a distraction before she quickly got a hold of the fruit and in one swift motion severed the tongue with her knife.
Ancient Fruit in hand, Reena jumped back at the loud shriek of the plant and watched it wither away.
“That was… something,“ she said with a look at Lindsey. “Did you get a good sketch then?“
“This better work then“, she murmured as she put the fruit away and checked the Founders‘ Clue in case the location of the Room of Mirrors had changed.
“If I‘m not at dinner, send a search party,“ she told her friend only half joking.
Post by Lindsey Bryce on Aug 11, 2022 14:19:30 GMT 10
Lindsey was busy sketching, making notes along the outside of the picture, writing down questions and then returning to the sketch. She had several small sketches around the outside of the main one. She even wrote down the colors of the plant, making sure to include any theories as to why it was colored the way it was.
When the plant let out a loud wailing sound, she jumped, but was quick to sketch everything she could and wrote down the sound it made. At the question, Lindsey turned towards Reena and smiled.
"Did ye think I'd let ye down, Reena?" Lindsey asked as she offered her the sketch to look at. "I'll make ye a copy tonight after dinner... That had to be one of the most interestin' plants I have yet to see... Thank ye, Reena." She was glad she had been able to check it out before she nodded to her friend.
Off she went, searching for something else to do with her afternoon. Though she could go to Hogsmeade, it just didn't seem like a pleasurable idea at the moment, not after that. She was pumped up and ready for something else.
When Reena checked her parchment, the message shifted from ancient lettering to a different location. She had no reason to believe it was a different room, though apparently it could freely move around the castle. Magic was quite impressive.
The Room of Mirrors shall appear to you tomorrow morning, young Slytherin. Beside the 5th torch in the Basement.
Lunch had arrived faster than she had anticipated and Janet had barely had time to get there before she rushed back to the greenhouse. Pushing her brown hair from her face, she arrived to see a few others already in the greenhouse and she knew she needed to start her practicing.
It had been a sight to behold, seeing the water come from the tip of the wand that Professor Sprout had. Janet had been quite impressed and had listened intently to the professor about the reasoning behind learning the water-making charm.
The memory of the wand movement came naturally and she practiced it a few times in a vacant corner before she nodded to herself. It was time to try this spell herself and then she would find the Herbolgy Professor to demonstrate.
"Aquamenti," Janet said, though found herself feeling quite ashamed as nothing happened, not even a little drip. How could this be? She had been tutored for years, had learned many charms in theory with her parents. She practiced the wand movement again and then practiced the wording a few more times.
"Aquamenti," Janet said with a bit more force and a few small droplets of water came from the tip of her wand, but nothing like what she needed. She felt anger boil up in her stomach and she let out a very unlady-like sound before she did it again. "Aquamenti!" This time, water came from her wand in a strong stream, causing her to jump slightly and look at the wet spot on the ground in shock.
"Well, that was quite forceful," she said before she looked around for the professor.
Janet spotted Professor Sprout nearby, where she'd entered during the young Hufflepuff's attempts to master the spell. She smiled proudly at Janet, then nodded in approval.
'Well done,' Sprout praised her. 'Eight points to Hufflepuff. I'd say you're ready.'
She then gathered supplies to get Janet started, which included some seeds.
'You may use this greenhouse any time during the day, unless it's mealtime,' she said. 'It'll be locked at night, so don't get any ideas.' Sprout gave her a stern yet warm look.
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