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.
Charlotte was a little sad, mostly because after she finished her exams, she remembered what her sister had said about going to dinner early and going to bed. Would MJ come with her? She didn’t know if she wanted to ask. Maybe it would be okay? She was use to being alone at home, maybe it would be a good idea to just… get use to it again? Deep down, that felt like a weight of something she didn’t want to return to.
But, it was going to happen, right? At least she had her books, that would keep her company. Maybe Mr. Gilbert would let her help in the garden some? The thought brought her back to why she had come here, to the Student Greenhouse.
She had some plants she wanted to harvest and found them quickly in the same place she had left them. Putting her things down, she pulled out her gloves and looked at the potted plants.
Post by Ezra Ashworth on Dec 1, 2022 2:49:20 GMT 10
With his exams finished Ezra was in a good mood. He hoped that with them done the school would go back to normal, with no more panicked students in every corner glaring at people for making noise.
The end of the big subject of the day though left him wondering what he was supposed to do after. All that free time and no lesson to fill it with. What was a boy to do?
Go to the student greenhouse apparently, as he found his feet had led him there. That was probably a good idea though, so good job feet! He had plants that he did not want to abandon for the summer.
Ezra burst into the greenhouse, relieved to not be soaked with rain for once, and headed straight for his plants to look them over first. It was as he was examining them that he thought to see if anyone else was around.
He pulled his attention from his plants to stretch up on his tiptoes and look around the rest of the greenhouse. He was glad that he had a moment later, when his smile lit up as he saw who was there.
"Hi, Charlotte!" he greeted, waving across the room at her. He thought it was great to see a familiar face, especially when it was just by chance. "Looking after your plants too?"
Charlotte looked up when she heard someone else come in and felt a smile come to her face when it was Ezra. She felt something good inside her and she put her hands together and put them down in front of her. She looked over at her plants and nodded.
"Hey Ezra," she said with a meek smile. "I am, they grew and I almost forgot about them." It was unlike her to forget, but with everything going on, maybe it was understandable. Her parents would never think that, they expected them to be on top of everything.
Post by Ezra Ashworth on Dec 1, 2022 4:01:49 GMT 10
"I do," Ezra said, gesturing to his own little collection of berry plants. He was proud of the row of alternating types and colours, he thought it was pretty. "I hope they have lots of berries."
The more berries the plant had grown that meant that he had done a better job of taking care of it, right? That he had given it the right amount of water or whatever? He thought that was how it worked. It would be sad if the plants had no berries at all.
"That's okay, I nearly forgot mine too! So at least they would have had company."
He tried to reassure Charlotte about nearly forgetting her plants, ignoring the fact that both times he had planted seeds he had felt bad at the possibility of abandoning them. At least this time, if they had both forgotten them, then they would not have been abandoned on their own. That did not sound fun.
"Are you glad exams are over?" he asked, happy to talk for a bit before he got around to dealing with his plants.
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.
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.
Charlotte looked past him towards his berry plants, realizing that they were the same as her own. But, she had also planted the Eglower plant as well. This would be her third time harvesting that plant and she still wasn't very happy with it. It made her sneeze last time and she didn't like sneezing. She looked at Ezra with a smile.
"I am sure it will, Ezra," she said calmly to him as she stood there, using a hand to tuck some hair behind her ear. When he said he had nearly forgotten about his own, she felt a little better about having forgotten about her own. But, could plants feel like they could? Could they do better with other plants? Was that possible? Should she ask the Professor?
At his question about Exam, she looked down and bit her lower lip. Did she do well? She had no idea and the question brought back the worry that she hadn't done very well. She didn't like waiting for them to be graded. Why wouldn't they just be graded as they were turned in? Charlotte let her fingers wrap into the fabric of her robe a little.
"Yes, but I do not like the waiting," she said as she looked back at him. "We should harvest our plants, right?" She asked, trying to change the subject. Carefully, she went over and began to work with both her berry plants. She knew the berried like the be hidden, so she went in with her gloved hands, searching for the berried between the leaves. She was careful to get in there and pull them free. It was good since she had worked with them before.
The Eglower was the one she didn't like, as it liked to puff that pollen in her face. She looked at it with nervous eyes before she went after it. She knew she needed to use her hands to grab the stem and pull the flower free. As soon as she got close, it started with the puffing pollen and she found herself sneezing quickly. She had to back away and her eyes were watering. She didn't want to go in again, but she couldn't leave the plant alone in the greenhouse, right? It could get lonely...
So, she went in again, turned her head a little to avoid being puffed on and grabbed the stem to break. She managed to break it off and smiled a little when she put it away with the berries. It felt good to finish something when things got hard. She looked over at Ezra and then cleaned up her broken pots, throwing them away along with any dirt. Did the Professor try and repurpose any of this?
"Do you need any help, Ezra?" What was he planning on doing after this?
Post by Orla Fallwater on Dec 2, 2022 10:44:04 GMT 10
The Greenhouse was stuffy and sweating as Orla stepped inside, but it reminded her of the sheep pen at home and brought a sense of comfort.
The exams were done and she pushed them from her mind as she gathered her messy hair into a bun on top of her head; she had taken her time and recalled her lessons, and really that was all she could do. There were plants to care for.
Orla made her way to her pots, hesitating a moment as she noticed Charlotte speaking with another Ravenclaw boy. She didn't want to make Charlotte feel like she was being interrupted, so Orla smiled and nodded a small hello before hurrying over to her own plants quietly.
Her hands needed to do something or she would begin to dwell on her shortcomings. They shook a little from the nerves of the day, but Orla bit her lip and donned some gardening gloves so she could inspect her plants without hurting herself.
Post by Ezra Ashworth on Dec 2, 2022 10:45:46 GMT 10
Ezra flashed a bright smile over at Charlotte as she reassured him about his plant growing berries. He thought it was nice that she had faith in his plants. It would be even nicer if she was right, that way there would be no disappointment.
He glanced over at his plants, but the leaves really were doing a good job of hiding anything that might lie beneath. He would have to harvest them to find out, like Charlotte had suggested they do.
"Right," he nodded, poking at one of the long leaves with a finger. "That's a good idea!"
It was a good thing she had distracted him with harvesting their plants, because he quite agreed with her about disliking the wait for their exam results. He was too impatient and curious for that wait, so it was better for him to stay distracted.
He watched Charlotte harvest her own plants for a moment, curious about how she did it. It looked like a much tidier way than his own method, probably smarter too. There was one crucial issue that he had that stopped him from copying though - it did not look nearly as fun.
Ezra picked up a borrowed pair of shears and got to work on snipping his berries free. A pile of Sunurk berries quickly grew on the counter top. They were followed by a pile of little blue Moonurk berries as soon as his attention had moved to the darker plants.
It was as he was pealing a stray red-tipped leaf from his robe, all of his ingredients harvested, that he heard Charlotte speak again. His head shot up to look at her.
Was she offering to help him? He looked between her and the mess that he had made of his area, then shook his head.
"It's okay," he said, tossing the limp leaf on his pile of destroyed plants. "It's my mess, I can put it away." Ezra proceeded to do just that, clearing away his broken pots and various other bits.
With his mess cleared and his berries put away in his bag, he turned back to Charlotte.
"All done," he grinned, gesturing to the space that he had been using. There was still the odd trail of dirt, but that seemed like a given in the greenhouse anyway.
"What are you doing now?" he asked, curious if she had any plans. "I think I'm going try a key up the swirly stairs, if you wanna try that too we can walk together?" Ezra thought it was worth putting the offer out there, the worst that could happen was that she would say no, right?
Stems of the berry plant were strong, but simple to deal with. A charm or some nearby sheers would help snip the ingredient 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.
When he flashed her a smile, Charlotte couldn't help but return the smile and she went to doing her own plants. The two worked without speaking to each other, mostly because they both needed to focus on their stuff. When he mentioned it was his mess, she nodded and looked around as he cleaned. At his question, she honestly wasn't sure what it was she was going to do.
At his mention of the swirly stairs, she looked at him a little confused and had no idea what it was he was talking about. Until she started to think about a place that might have something similar.
"Oh, the Spiral Staircase?" Charlotte asked in genuine questioning tone and she nodded. "Actually, I do have a key, so maybe I should go too?" To be fair, she had been looking at the key for a while now and had no idea what or if she wanted to use it. "I will walk with you." She began to gather her things and head for the Castle.
Post by Ezra Ashworth on Dec 3, 2022 1:12:21 GMT 10
Ezra nodded as Charlotte said the staircases proper name - spiral, that was it! He prefered the sound of 'swirly' but he would try harder to remember its correct name in future. Probably. Hopefully.
"Cool!" He grinned when she said that she would walk with him. He was looking forward to trying another room and he hoped that she would enjoy it too.
"C'mon then!" With that he headed for the door, the bounce that he had missed that morning back in his step.
Post by Orla Fallwater on Dec 4, 2022 8:27:15 GMT 10
Orla inspected the rounded leaves and with a few turns of her head she was able to spot the glistening berries that nestled close to the stem.
She waited until Charlotte and Ezra left together (giving them a sad little wiggle of her fingers at their backs to say goodbye) then reached over to grab a pair of shears. Using her wand was preferrable, but the berries were very close to the leaves and stem and Orla didn't want to risk ruining the entire plant.
Leaning close, Orla gently moved the plant around with her free hand while she snipped the berries free, letting them fall gently onto the soil. When the bounty was harvested, Orla put the shears back in their rightful place and gathered the berries into a small pouch she produced from a pocket.
With a quick wipe across the worktop with her hands to sweep off tiny flecks of soil, Orla gave her plant a little pat on the pot and made her way out of the Greenhouse.
Finally, the exams were over. Alice was happy after giving her last exam as she walked towards her plants. For a few days, students were worried about exams, and now as it got over, everything felt so relaxing.
If thinking about how her exams went, it was fine. She wouldn't be the top student, but also very low neither. She was kind of alright with however they went.
Alice looked around, but there were not many students near the greenhouse. There were very few plants there, the rest were empty pots. It was expected because it was unlikely that students would leave their plants there for the whole summer. She wonders if there were any such plants that are required to be grown for the whole summer.
That would be something to find out about, but for now, she had to harvest her plants. So, she went near them to check on them.
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.
Alice checked on her plants which were healthy and ready to harvest. She picked up a nearby sheer and began to work on the berries plant. She had done it multiple times before also, so she was already used to the method.
Half of Alice's mind was wondering about where her friends were. She needed to find them after harvesting these plants. She looked toward the sky, which was going to be dark soon. So, maybe he wouldn't have to catch up before dinner.
Alice could work on berries with the half mind but not on Eglower. "Achoo." She sneezed before learning her lesson. After that, she actually concentrated on the plant and harvested in well.
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