Herbs, Herbs, and more Herbs. Good thing I like em

Tanya woke up early that morning, after not having gotten much sleep at all. Not to worry, she thought, she'd just take a nap later. Yawning, she got herself dressed and ready to go, stretching all the while. Well, maybe she'd try to go back to sleep. Her bed was calling to her. But no, she was asked to help with the harvest, and help with the harvest she must. She rather enjoyed Herbology, and the last thing she'd want was to disappoint her Professor. He was so nice, after all.

She stepped outside the cozy dormitory, all bundled up for cold weather, and began the long trek downstairs. Traveling through Hogwarts was always perilous. She had no idea what to expect next. Peeves was a problem, always. Her last encounter with him left her covered in a mixture of ink and frog spawn and very late to Transfiguration. Which had sucked, since that was her favorite subject and she loathed missing class. Fortunately, all it took was one word, Peeves, and her teacher forgave her.

She slowed as she got to the staircase with the fake step. She always forgot which step it was going down. Whenever she went up she could remember and jump over it, but when she went down the change in perspective always messed her up. Sighing, she started going down very slowly, checking every step before putting any weight on it. Even so, her stomach dropped when her foot went right through a step. But she just hopped down the rest of the staircase with no more problems.

Finally she made it to the Great Hall, where she was alone. It was still dark outside, with the stars just starting to disappear as the sky brightened. A bag of food appeared on the table next to where she was standing and she thanked the room gratefully. She had no idea how they did it, but the room always fed her when she needed feeding, and she loved it dearly. She grabbed the bag and headed outside, shivering in the cold. She hated the cold. She loathed the cold bitterly.

She'd never lived someplace warm, but she'd decided early on that if possible, she'd like to live near the Equator, where it is always very warm. Glowering at the dark sky, she pulled out her wand and wished that she knew the spell Lumos. Alas, she hadn't learned it yet. Instead, she just hoped that there weren't any roots sticking out with the aim to trip her.

The sun had begun rising, casting a bit of light onto the world, by the time she'd reached the greenhouse. Normally it would have taken her half the time to get there, but she'd been so worried about taking the wrong path or falling that she'd been very slow in walking there. She walked straight to the shed and grabbed some gloves, twine, and clippers. Taking advantage of the new-found light that had decided to finally grace her with its presence, she opened up her bag of food to find three biscuits and a roasted sweet potato wrapped in waxed cloth. Not the most conventional of breakfasts, but quite good. She discovered that the food was still hot and that the sweet potato had been buttered and sprinkled with brown sugar. Relishing the taste, she began the walk to the herb garden, where she sat and watched the sun rise while she ate.

After scarfing down the last biscuit, she stood and began clipping herbs and tying them in bundles. She started with sage, which was one of her favorite herbs. She found the work oddly soothing, the quiet snip of the clippers, the repetitive motion of adding more and more twigs to the bundle. Well, she supposed that they weren't quite twigs. But she didn't know what else to call them, so twigs they were. Once she had a decently sized pile she'd bind them together with the twine and set them aside to start building the next bundle.

Once she had a decent amount of bundles she got up and tied them together, then threw the giant bundle over her shoulder. She started walking back to the greenhouse, where she would tie them up. She was surprised to see bundles hanging from the ceiling already, there must have been other students who worked on this yesterday. Even so, she was alone for now. She unclipped the big bundle and begun tying the smaller bundles to the hooks. It was rather easy work, and before she knew it she was done.

Heading back out to the herb garden, she took in the beautiful sight of the early morning sun lighting up the campus grounds. Coming from the city, she had a deep appreciation for nature and loved being outside. She'd already explored the lake, which she'd heard had a giant squid. She'd always thought that was odd, since last she'd checked squid were saltwater creatures, but the longer she'd been in the magical world, the more sense it made. Basically, nothing makes sense when magic is in the picture. She'd learned to accept that. Even so, when she went to the lake she did not see the giant squid, which disappointed her deeply.

She turned her attention back to the herbs she was working on and realized that she was mixing the piles of two different herbs. Cursing under her breath, she started sorting the two piles out. That's why you tie bundles together before moving on to the next plant, she told herself quietly. Once that was done with, she repeated the process. Bundling plants together, she brought them back to the greenhouse and strung them up, then went back outside to work some more. Finally, the sun was high in the sky, bringing the temperature up to a balmy 45 degrees F, and she started the trek back up to the castle, where she could eat a proper meal and take a proper nap. Smiling, she glanced out at the garden and the countless bundles that were strung up and decided that she deserved a bit of a treat as a congratulations on a job well done.

WC: 1033