Herbology- 5th Year

Reluctantly, I got out of bed and grabbed something to eat from the Great Hall before trekking across the school ground's out the greenhouse. I frowned slightly, thinking of the year before when the Slytherins ruined Harriett's project, but then started to smile when I thought of all we could do to them this year. I wasn't sure which house we had class with, and though there was a certain appeal to getting revenge on them, I also hoped that it was with Gryffindor or Ravenclaw so I wouldn't have to deal with them.

As usual, I was one of the first to arrive and sat my bag down before finding myself a spot in the one of the aisles, while I waited. I hoped that Professor Sprout was still around, but I was prepared to be facing a Death Eater even in a class that seemed as mundane as herbology.

While I waited for Harriett to show up, knowing she was just a few minutes behind me, I thought about what kind of dark uses the Death Eaters could find in this green house and realized that there were actually a lot more than I thought. I shivered slightly, already uncomfortable with their presence but tried to put on a brave face anyhow.

As I walked across the grounds I thought about how much I disliked Herbology, praying that we wouldn't have it with the Slytherins this year. If we had it with Ravenclaw or Gryffindor maybe my opinion of the subject would change.

My brow furrowed as I started contemplating the idea of a Death Eater replacing Professor Sprout. I thought it wasn't likely, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility.

I came in and plopped down next to Korey. "Do you think Professor Sprout is still here?" I asked her.

I smiled as Harriet came into the green house, glad for some company. At her question, I remained silent for a short while before answering.

"Ya know, I am not real sure. Part of me thinks she has. I mean the greenhouse still looks the same, but she isn't here. That is so unusual. She is almost always already in here, especially on the first day. We aren't even that early. But did you see how different the halls already seemed to look? Maybe the lack of change here means she is around. I hope so."

Dess crawled out of her bed after getting only four hours of sleep. She would have to stop staying up so late doing research, it would only hurt her later, the lack of sleep. Dess got her things together and went straight to the greenhouses, she wasn't in the mood for breakfast right now.
When Dess got to the greenhouse, she saw two Hufflepuffs in her year that she didn't know. It was a wonder she knew anyone at all, even after five years here. Dess toyed with the idea of trying to be more outgoing this year, but quickly put it out of her mind. She had no desire to try to go find friends. If she happened upon them fine, but it's not in her personality to approach people.
Dess, being the nice person she was, no matter how she may come off as, nodded to the Hufflepuffs, sat down a little ways away from them, and pulled out her notebook she was recording her new theories in and began to write.

I saw a girl that I had had a few classes with before walk in, but I couldn't remember her name. She always kept to herself and often seemed to be in her own world, scribbling in some notebook.

I smirked at Harriett- both as a silent mockery of the girl but also in relief that the Slytherins weren't in here before I continued to simply sit in silence.

It didn't take long for the majority of the class to show up, but Professor Sprout still hadn't shown. I began to get worried, when she came waltzing in right on the exact time for class to start. Though It wasn't usual for her to do that, I was still relieved. A huge smile was on my face as she began to get things in order for the first class.

I nodded back to the Ravenclaw as she came in. I felt relief flood through me that we had avoided the Slytherins for this class.

When Professor Sprout came in she was wearing thick gloves and and was carrying what looked like some sort of Geranium with teeth. She said "welcome to 5th year herbology, today we are going to be bathing Fanged Geraniums."

"Oh great," I whispered to Korey as I slipped on my thick protective gloves "another plant that can injure me."

I sniggered at Harriett, knowing she was right. Somehow, she just always had trouble with the plants in this class. I grimaced, however, as I slid on my own thick gloves and sauntered over to Professor Sprout to get our plant- no point in putting Harriett in any unnecessary danger.

"Now pay attention- you very possibly will asked to perform such a task during your OWLs at the end of the year. And be careful- sometimes they will just nip you, but other times it can be very painful." Professor Sprout said as she handed out the last few plants.

I set the plant down carefully at our area, smiling slightly to Harriett. Neither of us had put much thought to our OWLs at the end of the year- at least not until now.

As I began to prune the edges of the plant to make washing it easer, I decided to distract Harriett enough to keep her mind off all the mishaps she has had in this greenhouse.

"So, how bad do you think this year will be with your OWLs? And what do you think the homework load will be like?" I asked as I handed her the pruning shears so she could take off the last few leaves.

Professor Sprout droned on about the origin of the fanged geranium while I finished pruning the plant. The geranium took a nip at me, but luckily I moved quickly and avoided the mishap for the time being.

"I dunno, my brother used to tell me stories of kids breaking down in the middle of class or meal times" I replied. "Although I never truly believed him...but I do think it's going to be a lot of work" I mused. "Which class do you think will be the hardest?" I asked Korey.


I went to pick up the wash basin for the plant, thankfully Korey was better at handling the plants with teeth than I was. I filled the basin with water and poured in a packet of Berni Pangas' Fanged Geranium Bath Salts. The water turned to a purplish color as the solution dissolved.

I nodded as Harriett talked about her brother, but I wouldn't necessarily believe him either, given his life choices.

"Well, given how many times our teacher has changed, Defense Against the Dark Arts might be pretty hard. Plus, with the all the Death Eaters around, do you really think that class will stick around? I mean would they really teach us how to fight them? Also, I hate divination so I know that will be hard for me." I said as I picked up the plant and carefully removed the pot it was settled in to place it into the water bath.

I moved away quickly, trying to avoid the teeth as soon as it made full contact with the water. It barely got the edge of my glove, but it was light enough that I didn't even feel it. I remained back for a short while letting it calm down before I carefully started to wash the leaves, one at a time, in a specific almost massaging manner just like Professor Sprout had said.

"So, what subject do you think will be the hardest?" I asked, knowing our weaknesses differed.

Dess was so busy writing that she didn't even notice that class had started until Proffessor Sprout came along to tell her to get busy. Dess puts her notebook down and goes to get a plant. As usual, she was working alone. Dess grabbed the friendliest looking plant left. As she was walking back to start, she looked around and couldn't help but smirk at all the students being snapped at. All you had to do was read the book, it wasn't that hard, it tells you how to handle all the plants without getting hurt... Dess began working with her plant.

" Oh I think potions will be hardest for me, I can never get anything straight in that class" I replied. "I think this class will be on the tough side too seeing as I almost get devoured by any plants with teeth."

"Speaking of Defense against the dark arts, who do you suppose will be teaching it this year?" I lowered my voice to reduce the chances of being overheard "I bet it's a death eater, there seem too be a few too many familiar faces this year if you know what I mean." " They can't just get rid of the class...I mean, that would be to obvious right? I wonder what we will 'learn' in that class..." I mused.

I thought about my older brother and wondered if he would make an appearance with the other death eater cronies. Despite the anger I felt towards him for joining them, I still cared about him deep down. I sighed as I silently hoped he would change his ways.

"True. I wonder what the Ministry thinks of all this. My parents didn't tell me much, just enough for me to be on alert. My mom is going totally crazy about this..." I trailed off- I couldn't really blame her.

"I guess we just have to wait and see, but maybe we can actually learn alot. Who knows," I said before finishing the plant bathing and putting it back in its pot.

I headed up to Professor Sprout to give her the plant and let her check to make sure we did everything right. She complimented our work and took the plant back, giving us permission to head out even though it was a little early. The plant may have tried to take a few nips at us, but our methods let us finish sooner than what the book had suggested.

"Ready? I think we have Transfiguration next," I asked Harriett after setting my gloves down at our station and dumping out the water.

"Yep, lets head out" I said. We left together and walked anxiously back into the school. I really enjoyed transfiguration and was also anxious to find out how many death eaters were teaching classes.

Dess finished quickly, considering she had missed at least the first fifteen minutes of class due to her oblivion to the present. She silently gave the plant to Proffessor Sprout and walked to her Arithmancy class which was in fifteen minutes. Perfect, she would get there in five if she walked fast, just enough time for her to get in some good calculations for her current project on temperal mechanics.

Gorbechav walks into the door in the midst of the 5th years conversations. Walking calmly and slowly, I approach Sprout. I take out the book that I always have around and run my finger across some text and let her review it. She looks up at the class and walks into the back of the greenhouse. I turn around and see the eyes of the conversators on me, but as soon as I look back they quickly glance away. Sprout emerges from the back with a small bag with a mysterious content inside. I take the bag and walk out back into the warm sunlight.