Herbology 13.2

[Derek (Admin)]

Herbology 13.2

RL START DATE:  November 8, 2012
APPROX IC DATE:  April 2041
TIME:  10AM
WEATHER:  Clear


OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION: TBD

[Professor Dalloway]

The note came down from the headmaster as John was working on a new set of runes to include in his book. He was to substitute in Herbology for today. There was a problem: He had not taught Herbology in some time, and he felt woefully unprepared. However, he had one option that he could try.
When he arrived at Greenhouse Two, he wrote out the lesson for today on the blackboard, and waited for the students to arrive.

Professor John Dalloway – substituting for Professor Reagan Kelly

Common Garden and Orchard Pests:

“Good afternoon. As you can see Professor Kelly has been called away, and I’ll be substituting for her today. Spring brings new growth, and with it, new challenges for herbologists, orchardists, and farmers. We’re going to visit a farm near the school to study some common pests, and help with eradication of those pests. Those of you in First through Fourth year will be helping with eradicating some garden gnome infestations, so you’ll get a little bit of a lesson on those as well. OWL and NEWT level students will be catching and caging a carnivorous variety of butterfly that  in its adult state ruins the Midas apples crop that the farm produces. These Midas apples are famed for their magical properties in several potions, so you may already be familiar with them.  You’ll have to be able to identify the larvae of the butterflies and collect them, or capture the adults with the nets behind you,” he said. “Please follow me”

There was a short hike to one of the farms near Hogsmeade and once in the farmyard, the Professor turned to the following students, and introduced the farmer who owned the farm, and pointed out where they would be working today. The First to Fourth years would be in a sizeable herb garden with a Garden Gnome infestation. This work would be overseen by the farmers wife, right after the Professor showed them the way to dispose of the garden gnomes by flinging them. Then he spent the rest of the time leading the older students and their butterfly nets and buckets to the orchard. He pointed out a few of the carnivorous variety of butterfly by their coloration. "Do be careful not to knock any of the fruit off the trees, but try to remove the butterflies and put them into the cages stacked against the shed over there," he said. "Any questions?"

  First to Fourth Years will spend the period flinging Gnomes (see HP Wiki if you need to for these, but I believe they're pretty infamous) The older students will catch the butterflies, which are not really carnivorous to people; but they eat the blossoms, etc. They sting rather than bite, so you can always rp some minor injuries because of that. Have fun 

[Evelyn Rene]

Quite reluctantly, Evelyn trudged through the doors to Greenhouse Two, dreading what the day's lesson would bring. The clear, warm Spring day did nothing to lift her spirits. Herbology was her worst subject, and it never failed that she did something wrong. She did not much enjoy the feeling of being wrong. That was why she unobtrusively headed to the back of the greenhouse, keeping her head down, to get as far away as the Professor as she could get yet still be able to hear him when he spoke.

Speaking of the professor, Evelyn thought, eying Professor Dalloway, where was Professor Kelly?

She didn't have long to ponder her question when the substitute teacher began to explain the day's lesson. Inwardly, without making a peep, Evelyn groaned when she heard she would have to eradicate a gnome "infestation". Gnomes were cute and funny. Why would someone ever consider them to be pests and want to get rid of them from the garden? They were so much better than her Muggle garden gnomes.

With great reluctance, Evelyn grabbed her bags and followed the rest of the class out of the Greenhouse, the last to pass through the doors to head to the farm.

[Paul MacLeod]

For most of the term, Paul had kept a low profile. He went to class, did his best, and observed those around him. One of the classes he usually enjoyed was Herbology, because he didn't feel it was as tough as some of the academic classes, even though it was sometimes slightly hazardous. he also enjoyed the knowledge the Professor had on the subject, but then he got a shock. His Ancient Runes Professor was subbing the class. In his mind, those two things didn't go together -- Ancient Runes and Herbology -- although he supposed that Professor Dalloway might have some knowledge in the subject. The Professor began the lesson, and it was soon revealed that they were going to do some field work dealing with pests in gardens, and visiting a farm. Well, it was a day out doors at the very least.

Paul didn't know much about gardening, or the risks of garden gnomes, but he found out almost as soon as they had hiked to the farm, and been assigned to the farm's herb garden. The garden did have a few of the lumpy brown things, which at first he mistook for a potatoe. However he also forgot to put on gloves, and was bitten a couple of times by the gnomes when he tried to spin them around and fling them into the open fields as he'd been instructed. He soon found a pair of heavy work gloves nearby in a shed, and it became a sort of game for him. He looked around to see who else was gnome tossing, and challenged them to beat his furthest throw into the field.

[Valentina Jones]

Warmer weather had come at last, and Valentina could finally go to class without her sweater and thick winter stockings. Although the grounds outside were still damp with spring rain, the day was fair, and warm. She dressed hurriedly and thought she took an athletic jacket along with her in case it was chilly, she wore just her uniform skirt and blouse and tie. Trotting down the halls and through the doors to Greenhouse Two she looked at the assembly of students that were there. Just a handful. There was the younger Ravenclaw girl Evelyn, who seemed nice, and a boy from Gryffindor. Professor Dalloway, her Runes teacher stood at the head of the classroom. The assignment today was -- garden gnomes in a garden. Valentina was not exactly a green thumb, but the ugly little gnomes she could handle.

The class was soon off to this farm, which she had seen at a distance before, but had never explored. She hummed happily as she walked along the road to the farm, and stood with the rest of the class when the professor explained what they were going to do. She went to a corner of the garden near a rock wall, and examined all the vegetables and herbs planted there. According to their books, the little creatures damaged the roots and the soil sort of like moles. Valentina looked for any signs of this kind of tunneling, and soon found some gnomes. They were rather stupid, because as soon as she grabbed one, others would come out of hiding in protest and hurl squeaky insults at her. These she ignored. Her work as a Chaser had helped her throwing skill, and she put this to good use now.

[Andrea Mateus]

Andy quickly toweled her hair off a little, and then applied a drying charm to it as she hurried to get ready for class. She didn’t know why she’d bothered getting cleaned up. When she arrived there was a substitute for the class, and they were going to walk to a farm and work in a garden. De-gnoming wasn’t something she’d ever done, being from a city. She asked Hugo and Val about this as they walked along. Hugo lived in the countryside in Scotland, and he probably knew about gnomes. The trick was to dig them up without damaging the garden itself. The farm, it turned out wasn’t far from the school, so they had a nice hike. Professor Dalloway and the farmers instructed them on where to look for the gnomes.
 
The first of the ugly little things she found was rather gross. Mimicking other students, she wore heavy gloves, because they tended to bite when provoked. “Gerrof me!” they would squeak. “Hey Professor, what’s to keep them from coming back once we’ve thrown them out?” she asked, as she sent one gnome skyward a hundred feet, and well into the fields beyond. Andy had learned to throw from her brothers. She examined the next few gnomes with distate. “Ugly little blighters,” she said to Val, who was nearby, and the gnome squeaked again. “I said you’re an ugly little blighter!” she said and hurled the gnome far from the herb garden, and she watched it as it tumbled over and over, and fell across a road and into a far irrigation ditch with a satisfying splash. Other kids were having a competition to see how far they could throw them. “Irrigation ditch is extra points!” she shouted, and hurled another gnome. This one struck a post and bounced skyward, and tumbled into the cart track. She squinted in the glare and watched the distant figure pick itself up and weave drunkenly away.

[Charisma Weaver]

Charisma liked autumn best of the four seasons:  the coming of autumn meant a return to school and freedom from the intense scrutinization of the Hammonds.  Granted, there was still plenty of scrutiny to be found at Hogwarts too - it was inevitable in any social situation she'd experienced - but at least at Hogwarts there was no Terebinth to breathe down her neck about his dratted ambitions, and while his reminder was constant enough in the form of the Hammond crest decorating her finger, any reprieve was a blessing.  Autumn also meant the changing of leaves, her favorite apple cidery scents at their prime, and the crisp cool breezes that were so immensely refreshing after stuffy summer parties.  Spring, on the other hand, while she supposed it was beautiful in its own way, usually only reminded Charisma of the impending social event-heavy summer, of more pressure and poise and long, long hours at her feet in stylish but painful shoes.

Still, today seemed a pleasant enough one, for spring.  The walk up to the nearby farm was a pleasant one, reminiscent of strolls she and Magnus had got into a habit of taking on weekends, when he was Magnus and not Professor Hansen.  The task at hand was a somewhat different matter.  Charisma could appreciate the importance of gnome eradication - Terebinth had an ongoing war with the creatures in his rose maze in particular, and was so adamant about their hasty removal that an entire branch of the Hammond House Elf family was devoted specifically to the chore (Sookie's third cousin Mokey headed that division up, if she recalled) - but the thought of handling the creatures herself gave her the collywobbles.  They were ugly little things, she couldn't help it.  Since the professor never said she could not use her wand, Charisma developed a tactic of snatching and spinning the gnomes using levitation, and then flinging them away.  A dimple slid into view as her third gnome cleared a fence.  Alright, it was a little bit fun.

Permission to mod about Terebinth and his elves.

[Peregrin Olsen]

Boy, did Grin love Spring!  It was the best season ever.  Except for Fall.  And Winter.  And Summer.  Okay, so there was a lot she liked about each season respectively, but Spring was still her favorite.  Even the name was fun:  it reminded Grin of a good, loud "BOING!" sound effect, and she could never resist giggling at the noise.  More than that, though, it was just beautiful.  The grey turning to green, the slush of late winter turning to rainstorms, the first flowers showing their cheery heads again.  The daffodil's prime was passing by April, but in the wake of her favorite Spring flowers grew more favorites:  irises, tiger lillies...ooh, there was a lilac bush!  She loved lilacs!  And of course, dandelions were starting to wake.  She didn't care if anyone called them weeds, dandelions were still pretty to her and had a nice refreshing scent.  Grin made a mental note to make herself a dandelion chain garland on the way back after class.

But first was the Herbology assignment, and it sounded like a fun one.  Carniverous butterflies...that was another new one.  Grin was just glad it was one of the few insects that did not gross her out, since most invertabrates had that affect on her - though the larvae was another story.  Those did gross her out, even if they became butterflies later on.  She'd try to stick to the butterflies, and if she was lucky, maybe she could team up with another student on the larvae thing.  She did have her gloves, but still.  A quick glance around told Grin that she'd beat Will to class this time.  She almost always used to beat him, but lately he'd surprised her by being in class ahead of her.  It was impressive, the new drive of his, though it made sense.  The sight of younger students spinning gnomes made her chuckle, and it tool considerable restraint not to call out, 'Swing your partner, do-si-do!' but seeing as most of these kids were from Wizarding families, she rather doubted they'd be familiar with American Muggle square dancing, and nothing killed a joke so quickly as having to explain it.  Abandoning the idea, she instead picked up a net and began chasing butterflies.  She did indulge herself in the bellowing of "Avast!  Avast, ye butterfly!" as she chased them.  She didn't know why, it was just an 'avast' kind of day.  And it was really fun to yell it.