Closed The Greenest of Branches PV Siobhan McCarty

Date: January 15th 2025 Interacting/Mentioning: @Simon Kincaid

Speaking: #556b2f Thoughts: #99b39c Translations: Reducio

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ "To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides" ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

Siobhan rubbed her hands together, trying to summon some extra circulation into her fingertips as she stood in the greenhouse. She had finally returned to the wonderfully whimsical greenhouses of the Hogwarts grounds and she was excited to cultivate some new clippings in order to begin the brightness beautification of her dorm room. She had brought several flower bulbs from her home garden along with clippings from her herb and medicinal plants section and she was excited to have them start growing. Perhaps she could even sell the excess to her fellow classmates for their potions classes. She swirled around the Greenhouse, gathering everything she needed to give her clippings and bulbs the smoothest transition from air to soil that she could.

Upon the grainy touch of the soil, her fingers felt the familiar hum of magic sink through the tips as she hummed softly under her breath, breathing life into the first particular pot. She made sure to turn over the soil in order to open up and aerate the nutrients inside the deep dark dirt, allowing for the plant she planned to house within it to retain all of the delicious nitrogen, phosphurus, magnesium and such. They would sprout wonderfully and prosperously just like they did in her garden at home.

Taking her mortar and pestle from her bag, she dropped a few shells that she had pulled up from the banks of the Great Lake earlier in the winter and started to grind them into a rough powder, releasing the calcium from the confines of their shells. She hummed an Irish lullaby to herself as she pounded the shells into oblivion.

Behind her, she heard the familiar sound of the greenhouse door opening; ushering in the swell of the winter Highland winds and causing her to shiver just slightly. Her fingertips lost whatever warmth that had seeped through all seven layers of her skin and simply evaporated. She pulled her hands out of the soil and turned around to ask whomever it was to close the door as it would cause her seedlings and bulbs to shrivel. As she turned and wiped her hands across her sweater she came face to face with a very strange looking upperclassmen. She couldn't stop the confused eyebrow raise that graced her face as she stood quietly staring at the student in front of her.

"It's quite cold... Would you mind either shutting the door or casting a warming charm?" Siobhan mumbled in a just audible tone that carried itself across the Greenhouse and to the slightly too pale to be healthy ears of the upperclassman.

She suddenly closed her mouth as she turned back to her pots and resumed her planting. She needed to make sure that the Echinacea bulbs she had harvested from home were planted soon. If they got too cold they wouldn't propogate and she wouldn't have any herbs to prepare her cold and flu medication for once exams hit and those summer colds were in full swing. Her yarrow also needed to be planted quickly since that she believed would be useful in the upcoming lessons. She was running out of her homemade bruise paste.

Her humming was interrupted once again once the noise of shuffling and rustling was heard behind her again and she sighed loudly.

"Are you looking for something specific? I'm sorry for my bluntness but you seem lost." Siobhan spoke, not turning around and closing her eyes in an attempt to regulate her annoyance. She very often tried not to be annoyed by those who came into the greenhouses- they weren't hers and thus she had no domain over them but it did trifle her greatly when someone ambled within them and klutzed about looking for something with no direction. Usually it was remedied within seconds but she had the unnerving feeling that this interaction might take longer.

Besides... Something about this student was strange- perhaps it was his pallor that seemed slightly off... Or the almost too quiet footsteps that she had to strain her ears to pick up. But the strangest of all...

Her mind was utterly confused by the odd lack of a shadow that hit the floor. Her own shadow dancing alone on the sunkissed floor of the Greenhouse but it danced alone, cast across by the midafternoon sun.

Date: January 15th 2025 Interacting/Mentioning: @Simon Kincaid

Speaking: #556b2f Thoughts: #99b39c Translations: Reducio

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ "To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides" ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

Siobhan's face broke into an apologetic blush as the upperclassmen spoke. How cruel she had been towards someone that she didn't know and had only spoken to once. Of course, he would shut the door and he did. Of course, he knew what he needed and wasn't lost in the greenhouse. She wanted to sink into the dirt that her hands were buried in and forget that she had even opened her big fat mouth. However, when the boy smiled at her she felt a slight feeling of understanding that he maybe, on the off chance, knew she wasn't truly being mean. An apology never hurt though so she turned around with a sheepish demeanor and looked at her fingers that were covered in dirt.

"I'm sorry... Do forgive me- I tend to be bothered in here by students who are slacking off from classes or looking for somewhere to cause calamity. I didn't mean it." She explained as she busied her focus on fixing the orange hair ribbon in her hair. Normally she would clean her hands before touching her accessories but she quite disliked the color orange, and therefore a little dirt wouldn't hurt. As her focus recentered on the boy and what he had said- her eyes noticed the piece of parchment he held in his hand. A list perhaps? She wracked her brain trying to think of who could have sent a student in their place for a supply run to the greenhouses.

"Do you belong to the Healer internship? Is that what you're here for?" she asks as her eyes widen in excitement. She greatly wanted to apply for the healer internship and was impatiently waiting for the school year to finish allowing her to advance to the final part of the criteria for the application. She felt she could do quite a bit of help to Nurse Sabo, especially given her talent for Herbology and knowledge of poisons and potions. Of course, she was no expert but magical healing seemed so awestriking to her and she wanted to put her skills to the test.

She had a rather extensive garden at home filled to the brim with herbs and plants that were crucial to magical healing. She always made sure that within the confines of her backpack, there was a fully stocked kit of plants that she could easily use or combine to make up salves or ointments. While they may not be exactly how she had been taught in potions class, they were tried and true products that she had been taught by her mother and her Nana Brynhildr- muggle women with a rich history of Romani and Scandinavian tradition. Her father's side was purely Irish but her Máthair Chríona grandmother told her stories about the secret language of flowers and how they could whisper the world to her in times of need.

"I don't know exactly what's on your list... But I assume you're here for a few top-ups? I think the supply cabinet set aside for your internship is over there on the right." Siobhan mentioned, pulling herself from her thoughts as she crossed the floor towards the cabinet. It was locked and she didn't have the key nor the charm for the enchantment but she hoped that her help would convey the rest of her apology to this boy.