Songs and Perfume PV Willow Anderson Finished

Coming from a family of Green Witches, Herbology was one of her most exciting classes. Often she would immediately write home after class to tell them everything she had learned. It was opening up a whole other world for witchcraft. Technically, Hogwarts was doing that in general but this part was exceptionally exciting. She was always all in during these classes, much to the dismay to others who were concerned about getting a little bit of dirt under their nails.

Everything in this class appealed to her, the smells, the feelings, the process of taking care of the plants, and the sounds. Except for the mandrakes. She hated the mandrakes. There was a sense of peace within this classroom as everyone worked through the task given quietly. She started to meditate as she normally did at home, her hands and mind starting to work together even more cohesively than before.
At first she thought there was a bird in the greenhouse, and her eyes snapped up trying to spot it. Bird watching was something she especially enjoyed in her hometown even though they didn't get many fantastical birds in her very small town in England.

Eventually she realized it wasn't a bird, it was the boy next to her. It was incredibly impressive that he could get that close to the actual bird. "I actually started looking for a bird. I wish I could do that. Maybe I could attract some birds." She looked over at him with a smile, "I'm Willow." People always saw her as a weird nature freak at home, but hopefully she could meet someone who enjoyed it as much as she did. Not just anyone would figure out how to do bird calls.

She was startled when he called her Miss, something that the professors do but normally not her peers around her. "You can just call me Willow, no need for the Miss! Unless that's something that you prefer to say." She continued her work as she listened to him talk, she enjoyed listening to people talk about things they were interested in or passionate about. She giggled at his comment about birds hiding in the greenhouse to serve as a distraction. "Birds in here would only make this class more fun than it already is." She was working on replanting her last one, "You're right, I am fully in the mode. At home we do a lot of gardening of almost every non-magical plant that you can name. It's not that hard to transfer those skills to this. I could probably do it in my sleep, so you definitely didn't bother me, you just provided a nice soundtrack." She finished with her last plant and wiped her hands on the light brown coat she was wearing for the class.

She finally looked up from what she was doing and looked around, realizing that she was way ahead of everyone else. A blush spread across her cheeks, wondering if she should've slowed down to try not to seem like such a try-hard. She wanted to question if she was finished because she skipped steps, or messed up, but if there was anything she was confident in it was these skills. "This is the one class I've felt like I have a handle on. The other classes have been a tad rough for me." She turned to face Flash for the first time, realizing that he's a Slytherin. "Although, I gotta say your plants look nice as well. At least you're not afraid to get in there unlike some of the people in the class." She spotted a couple of people refusing to put their hands in the dirt, resulting in the plants roots being exposed since they weren't probably covered and shook her head. "Hopefully plants that don't get the right treatment get fixed so they're not fated to die." She slowly started to pack up all of her tools and clean up her station as she talked.

The idea of staying longer in this greenhouse delighted her. "Can you imagine just spending all day in here? Maybe not even doing work, but just reading a book in the corner?" She sighed in contentment, "I feel like Hogwarts is quite dark, they could do with less floating candles and more plants around the castle." She started to fiddle with the plants she had already planted, making sure to drain the extra water that had come out of the bottom now that they had had time to let the water filter through. She glanced over at Flash, he seemed upset. Was it something she had said? She had slowly come to find out that some people had a distaste for muggles, so maybe she revealed that too soon. She should've taken more time before info dumping about her life at home. They had just met after all.

She started to rock back and forth on her heels, not having much else to do in class today. She remembered her journal that she had brought to class. It had a green leather cover, it was obviously worn and had dirt and water stains all over it and throughout the pages. She flipped open to a blank page and took out a quill and started sketching what the plant looked like. On the page before this was a drawing of the mandrake plant, with a big frown face in the corner.

"Distractions can be nice. I feel they are few and far between here. Sometimes I miss my school back home, where once I went home I was free to really do whatever I want. I feel like I can't do that here. But the greenhouse really does help make you forget everything wrong in the world, doesn't it?" She looked over at him, with a small smile. "You seem like you have something on your mind. You don't have to tell me, but I'm sure the plants will listen if you wanted to talk about it." Often at home she would spend her time in the grass venting her problems out into the universe of the lovely plants that surrounded her. They seemed to respond to her with the swaying in the wind, and she would generally find the answer after talking it out. She reached out and touched a couple of the leaves before going to draw the texture on her page, "I have found them to be great listeners."

Willow didn't think that was actually what was bothering him. He seemed too deep in thought and concerned before to have been thinking about how Hogwarts needs some house plants. But she wouldn't push the subject. She always tried to be a healer of others growing up in her town, before she realized that healing wasn't always possible or necessary. Sometimes you needed a distraction, like someone whistling a blackbird song. She stood up from taking her notes as he put down the vial. "Your sister knows how to make perfume? That's really cool!" She picked it up and uncorked it slightly just to smell it, before returning the cap and placing it back down. "That smell makes it feel as if I'm standing in a florist's shop." She smiled contentedly, closing up her book as she finished the notes she was working on.

"Do you just have a sister? Or do you have multiple siblings? I've always wondered what it's like to have siblings. I grew up an only child with my parents and my grandma. I never really had someone my age to play with, but with siblings that's almost guaranteed isn't it?" She leaned back on the table with her head in her hands, dreaming about what it'd be like to have an older sibling specifically.

She was bullied extensively growing up, but maybe if she had siblings growing up that wouldn't have been the case. She would've had a protection system. Her parents still don't know about how she was treated in school. She didn't want them to worry about her all that much, especially her mom who was a stay-at-home mom. Willow assumed they had far too much to worry about because adults probably had other responsibilities. She didn't want there to be two sad people in the greenhouse though so she tried to keep the smile on her face as much as possible.

@Flash Holmwood

She listened to him talk, idly letting her fingers trace the marks in the tables that have probably been there for a few years. She'd have to take her time next time so she wasn't left to stand around. She should've spent more time with the plants any way and shown them a bit more love. She looked over and stifled a small giggle when she saw the dirt on his forehead. "If you need a hair clip or hair tie I have a ton in my bag at all times. You never know when you'll need your hair out of your face." She took a few seconds to think about everything he had said.

What he said was kind of true, that people always want a different life than they grew up with. She almost felt that, but without growing up as the type of witch she was she would never be this good at herbology. Or made so many friends that were helping her out along this path. "I feel like we would've been fun dirt gremlin siblings." She looked over at him and smiled, "I don't know if I would trade how I grew up though. It did have it's downfalls and negatives, there's a lot of things I wish didn't happen. I wish I wasn't bullied, I wish I had siblings, maybe I wish I grew up in this kind of magic family. But at the same time, I don't. Those things have contributed to the way I am and I quite like the way I am. My connection with nature, I think I'm pretty tough, I am naive I will admit that." She turned to look out of the windows of the greenhouse. "I think it's important to acknowledge what we would change, but also what we would keep as well. I'm sure there would be some aspects of your life that you would miss if you switched. I never had family gatherings, never a big Christmas dinner with everyone gathered around a huge table. It was just the four of us. But, I feel like that was enough." She shrugged, "Perspective is everything I suppose." She sighed. One thing she couldn't get over here was how easy it was to see the sky all the way out here, especially the night sky with all of the stars. There was no light pollution from the cities nearby. It was beautiful, and she tried to snag the chance to stare out a window whenever she could. That was one thing she wouldn't trade.