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 hadn't been sure what she wanted to do this morning, but recalled her visit to the Greenhouse the day before and made her way out there. With cloudy skies darkened the grounds a little, but not enough to make it too somber. Though, maybe to others it would be somber, but Charlotte quite enjoyed the cloudy days that seemed to set the ground in a slight shadow. No, she wasn't fond of stormy weather, but a little rain was okay.
Arriving at the Greenhouse, Charlotte placed her bag against the wall and went to a work station near her pots so that she could harvest. She was grateful for the experience she had had with the gardens last year and over the summer. Though, the plants still made her nervous, especially as they were magical and known for a little temper. She would have to write her uncle to tell him about it.
Pulling on her gloves, she prepared her space by placing the sheers on the table and also making sure she had a way to collect the ingredients. She wanted to keep them safe, after all.
Last Edit: May 18, 2023 22:52:03 GMT 10 by Deleted
Post by Thorne Perry on May 18, 2023 21:32:16 GMT 10
Thorne hurried to the greenhouse, eager to harvest his latest batch of plants and plant some new ones. It was always fun to gather the potential potion ingredients, and having his hands in the dirt always reminded him of his granddad's gardens at home. He waved a small hello to Charlotte as he passed, collecting a set of sheers, pulling on his gloves and settling in at his pots to take care of his currently growing harvest.
Last Edit: May 18, 2023 21:32:48 GMT 10 by Thorne Perry
Post by Oscar Tinkle on May 19, 2023 9:18:55 GMT 10
His first class of the day over and done with, Oscar’s thoughts had turned to the seeds that he had planted the other day. He thought that they would probably be ready for harvest, but on the off chance that they were not, they could probably do with some care anyway.
So whichever way his plants fell, a trip to the greenhouse would not be wasted.
Oscar was quite happy then to make the walk down to the pleasant little building full of dirt where things grew. He liked that building.
Two smaller students were already there when he arrived. Second years, he thought they were, since he recognised one of them from his own house.
They were a fair distance away from where his own pots were though, so Oscar figured that he could just focus on his own plants without the worry of that particular year group.
Knowledgeable from last years visits, Oscar grabbed a pair of shears on his way to his pots. With those then placed within hands reach on his claimed counterspace, he was saved from having to backtrack when he inevitably needed them.
Oscar dumped his bag under the counter out of the way of dirt, and then finally turned his full attention to his collection of plants.
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.
Sheers and spells weren't any use against the Furpod plant. It kept wriggling out of the way, surprisingly fast and flexible. The only option was to do battle with it, seizing the twin bean and yanking until it came free. Breaking the stem that way wasn't hard, no -- the hard part was grabbing it fast enough.
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 vines of the mystery plant are highly combative and difficult to damage. They move constantly, and will wrap painfully tight to anything that gets near or tries to pick the flower's cotton-like pollen.
Once collected, the plant begins to wither. The pollen is damp and smells sweetly herbal -- inhaling it soothes anxiety, cures headaches, or heightens focus.
Sheers and spells weren't any use against the Furpod plant. It kept wriggling out of the way, surprisingly fast and flexible. The only option was to do battle with it, seizing the twin bean and yanking until it came free. Breaking the stem that way wasn't hard, no -- the hard part was grabbing it fast enough.
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.
Post by Kody Ashworth on May 19, 2023 16:59:06 GMT 10
On his way back to the Castle, Kody remembered he had planted some seeds the other day when learning the water-making spell from his Professor. Now would be a good time to go see what had grown, right?
Kody entered into the Greenhouse, surprised to see so many students there already. He gave anyone who looked over a friendly smile and nod, hurrying to his own pot.
Woah -- did plants really grow that fast in here? He thought he could vaguely recall Professor Sprout talking about it during class one time. Still, it was exciting to see it for himself.
He rolled up his sleeves, studying the plant before he'd decide how to tackle it.
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.
Post by Kody Ashworth on May 19, 2023 17:10:03 GMT 10
Kody stared at the plant for a solid minute before being able to recall what he knew about it.
It was an Eglower plant and it had --
The plant snorted pollen into his face. Kody barely had enough time to close his eyes but it didn't matter. His sneeze attack happened seconds later. He had those high-pitched sounded sneezes that sounded adorable, like something expected from a cute cartoon character or something. Not a young teen like him.
Kody recovered and wiped his face with his sleeve, leaving behind streaks of bright pollen on the fabric. He'd have to hope it could be washed off.
"Alright, I get it. But I still need to do this." Kody mumbled at the plant. He wished he had some gloves to help with this but it seemed he was just going to have to do his best without. Kody grabbed the plant and aimed the flower away from his face.
Or, well, he tried to.
More pollen landed on him and he sneezed again, letting go of the plant. Darn it! He wondered if his sister ever had a hard time with plants like this. It was easy to picture Reena just flawlessly dealing with each of her plants in two seconds flat.
Helping out with the garden at home had not prepared Kody for this at all. These plants were a whole other ball game.
He sighed and tried again, grabbing the stem in one hand and trying to remove the top of the plant before it had a chance to get him again. The head of the flower came off with a soft pop that made Kody scrunch up his nose.
It was a weird sound.
But he was doing it! With a grin, he repeated the process two more times and managed to finish with his plant. Panting softly, Kody noticed the mess he had made. Soil had spilled out of the (now broken) pot, there were bits of plant everywhere and a fine coating of whatever pollen had somehow missed him. Wow.
Kody hoped no one else had noticed the chaos happening over here.
He put the harvested parts of the Eglower away into his bag and then took his time to make sure the station was cleaned up. That was so someone else could use it! He stepped back and nodded, wiping his forehead with his pollen covered sleeve that just smeared more of it over him.
Sneezing again, Kody shook his head and then picked up his bag.
Wait -- did this mean he had enough things to show Professor Snape? Kody checked his bag and gasped, hurrying from the Greenhouse as quickly as he could.
[OOC: Exit]
Last Edit: May 19, 2023 17:28:20 GMT 10 by Kody Ashworth
There was a smile of clear pride on her face as she looked at the strong plants that had grown in place of her seeds. This was something she could certainly get us to seeing on a regular basis. And the greenhouse was nice and quiet.
As she was picking up the sheers, she noticed Thorne come into the Greenhouse, offering her a wave. She lifted her own hand, which was gloved and gave him a shy smile before focusing on her plants.
The first two plants were the berry plants. She dealt with the Sunurk first, holding the sheers firmly like she recalled from last year and using her other hand to locate the berry and snip them. It took a few moments to deal with the leaves, but she managed to snip the berries free. She did the same with the Moonurk, using the sheers to cut away the berries, all while using the other hands to keep the sassy leaves away.
The those two plants taken care of, she put away the ingredient, cleaning the broken pots and using her gloved hand to remove any spilt dirt. She returned the sheers, which she understood and remembered to be useless on the Furpod Plant and returned moments later ready to get the pods. She had read about them but had yet to actual plant and harvest them.
The young girl began the work of grabbing the pods. The plant was fast and it took several minutes to grab the pods. Once she had the pod in hand, she was panting for air and she gave her hand a twisting yank, freeing the pod from the plant and stepping back to try and catch her breath.
She cleaned up the last pot before she went and gather three more clay-pots to use for three more seeds. She filled each pot with dirt and then took the time to plant three seeds: Blue, Pink, & Red. With those planted and covered with the dirt, she pulled out her wand and let out a breath to slow her pounding heart.
"Aquamenti," she said in a firm, clear voice that showed she had likely repeated the incantation several times over the summer to perfect it. Charlotte was also quite confident in her tone and it allowed for a steady stream of water to come from the tip of her wand and she moved it along all three plants until she had managed to water them all.
Carefully, she put each pot back into the same places at the others had been, slot 1 to 3.
With the new seeds planted, she returned to cleaning her space. She put away her ingredients and then also her gloves before she collected her bag and smiled at Thorne who was deal with his own plants. She offered him a way if he looked over at her and then headed out.
Last Edit: May 20, 2023 14:01:24 GMT 10 by Lena: Readability
Post by Thorne Perry on May 20, 2023 3:41:50 GMT 10
After last school year, Thorne knew about the two plants - he used the sheers to hold the leaves out of the way as he neatly twisted the berries off the stalks, first the Moonurk berries, then the Sunurk berries, carefully placing the colorful fruit into a jar.
Only once those were dealt with - and the shattered pots were cleared up, the dirt brushed away - did he turn his gaze on...
that thing.
He'd grown a Eglower last year too. He hadn't liked harvesting it then, and he doubted he would like it now. He shifted his Hufflepuff scarf up over his mouth and nose and dove in to work.
He had to grip it oddly since the stalks were so soft; he curled his hand up under the head of it, letting out a muffled yelp and aiming the blossom away from him as it spat out its pollen crossly. Why was it so cranky?!
He finally managed to trim off the head of the stem he'd grabbed, repeating the process with each one until - finally - the whole thing was pruned down to ingredients and refuse. He cleaned up his last pot and his harvest, wiping down his workstation before packing everything away, washing his hands and pulling his scarf back down again.
He double checked that it was all neat and tidy before he headed out to continue his morning productivity.
[Ooc: exit~]
Last Edit: May 20, 2023 3:42:27 GMT 10 by Thorne Perry
Post by Oscar Tinkle on May 20, 2023 10:55:10 GMT 10
As much as Oscar had intended to check over all of his plants, he could not help but to be drawn to one in particular first. To be fair though, who wouldn’t be curious about the mystery plant first? The others seemed fairly normal next to it, since he could, at the very least, recall what they were named.
“Well, I recognise you at least,” he muttered as he eyed the blue flower and its wiggling vines. That was an improvement on the last two times he had planted mystery seeds. It meant that he was somewhat aware of what to expect from the plant. And that was always a good thing.
“Still have no idea what you actually are though.”
Maybe it would be worth trying to remember to ask Professor Sprout about it later? She was the herbology teacher, so if anyone would know then it would have to be her.
He wondered if he should leave the plant alone so that he could show her when he asked about it, but quickly ruled that out. Who knew when he would get around to actually asking? So no, it was probably a better idea to double check the plants reactions instead.
He could always draw the plant to show her. Between that and a description he was sure that the Professor would have some idea for him.
As Oscar had been considering his options, he had also been tracking the movement of the plant's vines with his eyes.
From what he could recall those vines were quite dangerous, and hard to damage to boot. But if he could deal with them, then the pollen had a very nice scent to it. What else…
Oh yeah! The plant had seemed to just wither away after he had collected the pollen. He never had figured out if that was because of the hack job he had done to the vines or if it was to do with the pollen though.
Oscar cast the blue flower a speculative glance. Hmm.. maybe the plant growing again was his chance to find out.
With that in mind he pulled on his gloves and then picked up his borrowed shears.
Protected and armed, he proceeded to attempt to get to the flower and pollen while damaging as few of the vines as he could.
After some difficulty, he eventually managed to collect the pollen. He was pretty sure that he had damaged less of the vines than last time too, yet the plant still withered away before his eyes. Did that mean that it was to do with the pollen then?
Oscar pulled his gloves off and reached down into his bag for some parchment and a quill. He quickly wrote down what he had seen of the plant and his thoughts about it, before he packed it back up away from the dirt. He had drawn a quick sketch of the plant too, but he would go back to it later to do it better and to make sure it was as identifiable as possible.
His little notes safely away, Oscar leaned closer to the pollen that he had gathered. It definitely smelt as sweet as he had remembered. Kind of herbally and soothing. He liked it.
Instead of spending the rest of the morning staring at pollen though, Oscar opted to deal with the rest of his plants. He still had four of them waving around after all. It would have been rude to just ignore them completely.
He decided to deal with his Furpod plants first. After vines that had tried to grab him and hold him hostage, vines that were simply fast sounded easy.
He was kind of right at least. After a couple of failed grabs, he managed to grab the beans and, with a hard tug, pulled them free.
That was repeated with the second Furpod with much the same result, so he soon had the beans piled up ready to be put away.
Then it was only his pair of berry plants left and those he felt like he could deal with in his sleep. It was just a case of gently brushing the green and red leaves to the side to uncover the golden berries, and then snipping them free with his shears. Simple and quick to do.
Oscar sighed in satisfaction once he was done and all of his ingredients were piled up. That was five plants dealt with. He supposed he should probably clean up and decide if he wanted to plant anything else.
Soil was quickly brushed up and broken bits of pot and plant cuttings were put where they belonged. All the while Oscar contemplated if he would have the time to care for any new seeds that he could plant.
By the time his station was clean he had decided that yeah, he probably would. And since he oh so helpfully had a pile of pots and new seeds on him, he may as well make use of them.
Oscar lined up four new pots along with his trusty special one that had lasted him for so long. He filled them all with fresh soil and then pulled out a mix of seeds.
After a brief contemplation over what to put where, he buried blue seeds in the three pots that took up slots 36, 37, and 38. Then buried his remaining red seeds in the pots he had in slots 39 and 40.
Satisfied with where his pots were and how much dirt he had over the seeds, Oscar dusted off his hands and then pulled out his wand.
“Aquamenti,” he said as he waved his wand over his pots.
The often used charm worked just as he wanted and sprayed water over each of the pots in turn, leaving the soil just the right amount of damp.
Job done, Oscar tucked away his gathered ingredients and made his way out of the greenhouse. As he hit the fresh air outside he tugged his scarf higher up his neck, in an attempt to hide from any lingering chill. [exit]
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