Herbology - An introduction.

[Catherine Dunham]

((The timing of this thread is a bit vague. Professor Dunham has been at Hogwarts for quite a time, but I'm going to have this thread as the first class she have, without supervision of the fomer Herbology professor. So just go along with it, some of you can pretend as if you've had her before, and some of you can act as if it's your first class.))

Five different types of plants was properly placed on the desk of the Herbology classrom. The best of the best of examples, but Catherine wouldn't expect all of her students to see the brilliance of them. To most people, it would be a set of extremely beautiful flowers - a red rose, a violet/white lily, two black amaryllis and one, orange-speckled heartleaf, and getting them this beautiful was an achievement in itself - however, being amazed by their beauty was not the reason why the were there. They were all examples of pre-Totems, ingredients used in powerful amulets.

Keeping her calm, at least on the outside, while she waited for the students to arrive, Catherine refused to let annoyance take a grip of her. Her so-called 'husband' had yet again found a loop-hole to why she couldn't divorce him, and had started blackmailing her. If she didn't come back to London, he would write letters to the Headmistress of Hogwarts and the Minister of Magic and tell them about what an unreliable woman she was. Without his help, she would be without work and have no respectable status in the wizarding world for years! Or so he thought.

Ignoring him seemed to be the best option right now, but sooner or later, she would have to deal with him. And that was major reason to her distress this morning. Maybe she should talk to the Headmistress about her problem, or would that seem desperate?

Absently, she stroked the rose and didn't notice that some of the students had already arrived.

[Bryan Kelley]

Classes seemed to be what made the days at Hogwarts seem a bit normal. Ever since being drawn into the Light Fighters, Bryan could not say that the days were ever really normal. It wasn’t as if there was constantly battles or training, but it was more the sense of knowing one was a part of the group, that one had to practice to become better and be suspicious of almost everything around them now. Before, Bryan had no knowledge of the Shadow wars and light fighters. He had heard of the dementors and that was really it. He wasn’t really one to get investigating things, however, so his lack of knowledge was never something that too surprising.

However, classes were at least one aspect where normalcy entered their lives again. It reminded them they were only students. Students who were still learning the art of magic. This was a thought that vaguely entered Bryan’s mind as he walked into the Herbology classroom, or rather green house. A quick glance around showed that he was the first student present in the class, however Bryan did not give this much thought except the first noticing of it. He inclined his head in greeting to the Professor, yet she seemed a bit distracted so he did not expect a nod in return.

The Gryffindor moved to take his normal seat before pulling out his sketch book to work on a sketch he had been working on previously. It was something to do while he waited for the class to begin.

[Benjamin Ellis]

((First thing Monday morning for this class sound okay? That's 8.05-9.20am, straight after breakfast. Just to avoid the confusion with timing like there was in Defence))

Ben enjoyed Herbology classes. There was so much to see, and feel, and smell, even occasionally hear... usually the taste wasn't so good, but other than that the lessons were an abundance of senses that he very much enjoyed. Care of Magical Creatures was the only other lesson like this in terms of senses – other lessons were okay too, but these were his favourite by far.

Finishing off the last bite of marmite crumpet, Ben stood from the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, bidding goodbye to the people surrounding him and making his way down the greenhouses, breathing in the warm air. For once it was actually acting like a real summer here... even if technically it wasn't summer till June. Entering the classroom, he smiled as he saw he was one of the first to arrive. [red]"Hello professor,"[/red] he greeted her with a beam before placing himself next to the only other person in the classroom so far – Bryan, another Gryffindor who was two years older than himself.

[red]"Hi Bryan,"[/red] he smiled at the boy, seeing him absorbed in his sketching and so not following up with his normal rush of chatter. Instead he settled back in his chair, smiling as he sees the array of flowers on the professor's desk and waiting for others to arrive.

[Niobe Blakes]

Stifling a yawn, Niobe walked into the classroom and found herself a bit early. That was just as well, she didn't really enjoy being late and she was surprised that she was on time considering the fact that sleep was impossible.

She walked in and gave the professor a cheerful hello despite the way she was feeling physically. Emotionally, she wasn't doing too bad. She had made some friends and D'rorah had helped her figure out that she was actually a Shadow Warrior. She wasn't entirely sure what all that would entail, but it explained some of the things her mother had told her about growing up.

In any case, Herbology was something that Niobe enjoyed. She enjoyed potions much more, but Herbology was the crucial point of potions, so it'd only make sense to like it. One needed many herbs to create various different potions. Growing up, her mother had always had an herb garden growing, so Niobe knew a bit about plants...mostly concerning healing properties, however.

Walking in, she noticed Ben, her recent friend. Smiling, she walked over and sat across from him.

"Hi." she said "Good morning and all that." she giggled "How are you?"

[Dylan Cooper]

Making his way over the sloping lawn, he followed a small trail of students into the Herbology greenhouse they would be using this morning. Dylan entered the class quietly, moving to a seat relatively close to the professor and away from any of the others. As per usual today, he was rather subdued, and didn't acknowledge the presence of Bryan, Ben or Niobe as he withdrew his things from inside the bag that until seconds ago had been slung across his shoulder.

Failing to even greet the professor for the day, his stomach grumbled angrily at the lack of breakfast he had consumed. Ignoring it, as he so usually did of late, he didn't move to make any notes or read any text on what he surmised would be the topic for the day. He simply sat, staring down at the benchtop and waiting for the class to begin.

[Caitlin Collins]

Herbology... not Caitlin's favourite subject. It never had been, and it never would. Remembering the names of all those plants was impossible for her. It had never been a subject focussed on much in India, except for certain plants that were grown for potions. And different plants grew there anyway, so her small knowledge had all been washed away. It was as she had described to Niobe some time ago now – Herbology was a very weak point, even when she had been up to date on schoolwork.

Unfortunately, it was essential at St Mungo's to become a healer, so grudgingly she traipsed into the classroom. Several people were already there – Niobe for one, talking to a Gryffindor she didn't know the name of. Bryan was there, reminding her of her foolish escapade into shadow form the other day. And there was Dylan, looking quite miserable as he sat alone. She had some questions to ask him about just why he was treating D'rorah in this way, but perhaps now was not the best time, going by his expression. She set herself down next to him, offering him a small smile. [yellow]"Hi Dylan,"[/yellow] she greeted him, nodding another greeting to the professor before turning her attention back to him.

[Tommy Bryce]

Tommy had very little knowledge of Herbology besides the names of a few herbs he had used to soothe wounds over the years, or those that gave flavour to food... even then, he didn't know much. When he had been cooking for Shane and Nick, they had ended up with sandwiches or eggs a lot of the time, simply because it was easiest and there were less things to burn himself on. But the subject was a compulsory part of Hogwarts life, at least until 6th year, then he would be able to drop it if he felt so inclined.

It was a nice change for the weather to be sunny rather than cold and dreary, and the small Gryffindor boy had a smile on his face as he made his way down to the greenhouses. An older Hufflepuff girl was in front of him so he kept a steady pace, not wanting to catch up with her, and he entered the greenhouse about a minute after her, noticing that yet again there were no other younger students. There was some chatter among them, and he sat himself down silently in an empty chair, pushing his bag under the table and waiting for the lesson to start.

[Brody McNamara]

Herbology was a class Brody didn't excel in but wanted to. Then again he wanted to excel in everything, so it shouldn't come off as much of a surprise to anyone who knew him. He like Herbology because much of the Herbology things he had learned were also useful in Potions. Unfortunately, as always, Brody had difficulty memorizing names and what not. That is perhaps why he had only managed to get average marks in Herbology thus far in his career.

And that just wouldn't suffice. he contemplated seeking out some extra practice or extra credit, but he had not followed through. his mind was just bogged down with a ton of other concerns and things on his mind. Perhaps though if he found himself struggling again today, he would actually follow through and ask for extra help.

he didn't want to as asking help was a huge blow to his pride, but he needed to get better than average marks if he was to be the Lobdale heir.

Brody, like the others followed a constant parade of students tot he Herbology greenhouse. But again his nose was sin a book on the way. However, this time it was book on ancient Norse magic, something he had wanted to learn more and more about every day. After all that was his ancestry and he needed to be informed of it. Plus there were a lot of things in Norse Magic that actually might come in useful if he ever found himself in a less than stellar predicament. it seemed the older Brody got, the less time one saw his nose not in a book.

When he arrived a fair amount of people were already there-many of which he had seen in earlier classes and the hallways, but didn't really know them other than their years.

He nodded in acknowledgment to the professor who seemed to be off in her own little world stroking a rose. Brody scratched his head in confusion. Why did she do such peculiar things?

Well, it didn't matter in the long run. Perhaps she was just nervous before her first lesson alone. The prospect of teaching a bunch of rowdy and restless teenagers would terrify him after all.

He waved casually to those that weren't too much older than he was and then took a seat near the middle and plopped his nose back into his book. Until class started this was his time, so what harm was there in reading about the magic of his ancestry?

[Keaira O'Connell]

Keaira wasn’t in the best shape of her life. In fact it seemed that she was in some of her worst. Although she wasn’t collapsing or passing out from the mass turmoil that her brain could be going through, she wasn’t exactly there either. Without Zane there to anchor her, Keaira had been experiencing the full range of what her emotions could do to her without a buffer. Each bout of depression she felt was amplified by the lack of someone to pull the pieces together. Even the slightest notion that she may not have a good day would turn into a full out internal battle over whether or not she should even bother getting up and going to class and trying to make the day a good one.

And even through all that she still woke up each day and tried to write a letter. So far in the two weeks that Zane had been gone she had only managed to write one letter. One that she had sent only two days ago today and she hoped to hear back from Zane soon. Until then she would have to get up and go to class and hope that he was doing fine, even through the unsettling feeling that she had growing inside her. Something was telling her that things weren’t going well, but whatever it was Keaira couldn’t place it.

With the mornings letter crumpled up and tossed into the trash already Keaira went off to bathe, and get ready for class. Within an hour’s span she was already at the elf kitchens gathering up some fresh fruit and shortly was on her way out the door to the gardens. The walk there was a slow one, the morning air felt great against her face and so she took her time. Eventually she made it to the gardens only slightly late, 8:07, but it seemed as if the professor was still wrapped up in her own thoughts and therefore the class didn’t appear to have been started yet. She didn’t smile, but she did nod to the professor as she took a seat in the second row.

Several of the students already in the class were quite familiar to Keaira, and yet she didn’t bother saying a greeting to most of them. Caitlin wasn’t one of her favorite people, if only for her philosophy, and Dylan and Keaira hadn’t actually gotten a chance to catch up on the things that had happened with each other in the past few months. As for the rest of the class…. Well there was Tommy, and he was actually some one that she liked. Keeping that in mind Keaira tried for a smile as she looked at the younger boy who seemed so out of place in the class of older students.

“Hey Tommy, how are you doing today?”

[Michael-Thomas Homewood]

Mike took a look on his watch and realised, that there was only five minutes time before Herbology lesons started. It was not his favourite subject, but he was very interested in herbs with healing powers, so sometimes Herbology was quite interesting.
He grabbed his sandwich and took a last sip of hot chocolate. But just before he headed for the exit an owl arrived, landed on his shoulder and lifted his leg with the letter. Mike wondered why the owl arrived a few minutes later than the others, but he took the letter. He said: "Thank you..." and gave him the last piece of his sandwich. While the owl headed for the owlry, Mike lookd at the envelope. "It´s from dad. But I have no time. I´ll read it later..." He put his letter in his bag and rushed out of the castle...

A few minutes later, just in time, he arrived the greenhouse and entered it. He recognised Bryan at once and he was sure that he met Dylan and Niobe before although he couldn´t remember where they met. And of course he knew Tommy because he was in the same year than Mike. Everyone else in the room were completely unknown to Mike. He said: "Good morning, all of you...Morning, professor..." and took a place in the middle of the room. Smashing his Herbology stuff on the table he waited for the lessons to begin....