Herbology~Afterhours

Lost in thought, Cel hadn't noticed her nearing arrival at the first greenhouse until the doorway was nearly in her face. She had wandered down the corridors and stairs in search for something to do until remembering the augurey she had seen in her Herbology class. Cel had always had a liking for nature in general, and the mystical bird had caught her attention for the majority of the class. The Irish phoenix was an enchanting shade of mournful teal, sad but beautiful nonetheless. It reminded her of that day of rain and grey clouds, when it became difficult to distinguish between her own tears and the tears of the sky-- but no, she couldn't dwell on that now.
Nevertheless, when Professor Wright spoke, Cel jumped slightly before her reply.
"Um," the girl began. "Well, I saw Rhys during class, when someone pointed him out, and he looked really beautiful and interesting, and I just wanted to see if I could come see him... um." She swallowed. Good, just the right amount of awkwardness. Not too much to annoy the professor, but enough to seem similar to other students. Not knowing what else to say, however, she ended with a "...Yeah." Well, at least she hadn't failed to speak. Or dropped her mask much. She seemed similar to other students, right? Most others would likely be nervous about approaching a professor, especially about something so... not-academic.
"Also because... is that a Sopophorous plant over there?" she mumbled, pointing to the spindly potted plant. At least this time she was genuinely interested. The sopophorous were very rare, and she'd only ever read about them.

Another student coming for the bird. Honestly, these kids gave Rhys too much attention. It was going to the bird's head. Giving the student a look that Sorrel had perfected in her short time at Hogwarts, Sorrel snapped her hands. It would of been an awe-inspiring site, if the bird came. But Rhys simply glided farther away from his owner, cawing in disapproval. "We have a guest." Sorrel admonished the bird. She was a strong believer that her bird understood human speech, and what she was saying, He had never once proved her theory wrong, as at once, Rhys flew towards the little student.

A ravenclaw by the looks of it. Small, and brown haired. She looked like Sorrel as a child, though darker haired. By a lot. Yeah, she didn't look anything like Sorrel. Okay, that wasn't the point. The student seemed strangely calm though. Most students Sorrel had met had rocked back and forth, or tried to seem cool. Either nervous to be around a professor, or trying too hard to prove they weren't nervous. Sorrel studied the girl, who was close to Rhys. The bird was pruning his impressive green feathers, as if trying to show off of the girl. Which was entirely likely.

Running a hand on her wooden desk, Sorrel watched the student look around at all the plants in her room, with a herbalist's eye. Leaning forward on her old desk, which made an alarming noise as she did so, Sorrel's shyness faded away slightly, to be replaced by an eager need to share about her plants. She was the Herbology professor for a reason, and the girl had just asked if there was a Sopophorous in her classroom.

There was, of course, a Sopophorous plant. Pointing to the plant the girl was looking at, a white plant with shrivelled pearly-white beans resembling overgrown mistletoe berries. With the happiness that was lacking in her lessons, Sorrel grinned. "Yes, that is a Sopophorous plant. It was incredibly hard to get. Had to spend a week in the middle of nowhere working my a-." she stopped talking, seeing that there was an even year old girl in front of her. "ANYWAYS," she said loudly, with a breathless awkward laugh. "It is indeed a Sopophorous plant. And it is very rare." Her chest swelled with pride, glad that she had the plant.

She was even more glad to meet a student, that in their first year, knew what the Sopophorous plant was. It proved that not every kid at this school was a crazy, auror obsessed nit-wit.

"Found it!" Alina exclaimed, rounding the corner and rushing into the warm greenhouse. She skidded to a stop, taking a deep breath. The lovely scent of dirt, and herbs filling her. All sense of stress and anxiety that the first couple days of classes fell away. She realized that this is what she missed the most. If she had it her way, all she would ever do is stay in the greenhouses getting her hands dirty. Herbology was an art that she had intended to master. She twirled around, taking in the sight. The entire greenhouse looked like she had been transported into the jungle. She was expecting to hear tiger roars.

Alina wandered in further, not paying attention to her surroundings before she bumped fully into another first-year. "Oh goodness! I'm so sorry." She blushed, embarrassed. "I can't tell you how many times that happens to me." Alina turned to bow her head to the professor who sat behind the desk. "Hello, professor! I know you said that you opened up the greenhouse after hours if we wanted to just hang around for a bit with questions and such. Honestly, it's such a brilliant idea! The couple hours we get in here isn't enough for me."

Alina turned to the dark-haired girl beside her. "Do you like herbology too?" She gushed, running her hand over the leaves of some broad faced, dark green leaves. "It's so hard to find anyone that likes it. They get completely turned off when I tell them about mandrakes or leaping toadstills." She rolled her eyes. "I mean, that's completely the best part! What did you come here for?" She asked the dark-haired girl beside her before her attention was caught by a pretty green bird circling the pair.

Kyden was over excited when he found out that the greenhouse was going to be opened for a few hours after class. He went to have lunch and then rushed back toward the green house. Walked in and smiled and Professor Wright. He looked around, it seemed a few people had beat him to the greenhouse. He sighed he was hoping to be the first. However he was overjoyed when it appeared that most of them had just come to see Professor Wright's bird Rhys.

Kyden walked further into the greenhouse and admired some of the plants. He saw Shrivelfig which he knew they probably wouldn't learn about until their second year. Though he didn't need to learn about it. He already knew. His purpose of coming was talking to the professor. He was hoping he could convince her to teach him some of what she knew about Herbology. Well more than he already knew. Maybe just maybe he could convince her to show him some of the more dangerous plants. Of course he would promise not to touch them with out express permission. He didn't have a death wish after all.

He looked over at Professor Wright and saw that she was wrapping up a conversation with some other students he rushed over to her and smiled. "Hello Professor Wright. I was just wondering if you could show me some of the more interesting plants that we won't get to work with this year. I just love Herbology and would love to know more. Actually if you had time I would love to discuss a few things with you." He looked at her and smiled again.

"One thing I have been thinking about for a while and wondering is if you thought it would be possible to create a new type of plant by combining to completely different plants." He quickly raised his hand in a defensive position before speaking again. He didn't want her to think he would try this he was just genuinely looking for the answer. It was just a curious question he had. "Not that I plan on trying I am honestly just curious Professor."

The wind sweeping back his hair, Anatole prodded through the field of Greenhouses, expecting Adam was right behind him. "We're almost there, just a little longer." He could hear his rival breathing behind him, not in a creepy way. It was just something he happened to notice. A small lagniappe to make this situation a little more favorable. "Now, before you ask why I chose this one instead of a greenhouse closer to the door, there's something just special about this that I can't put my finger on."

Well, the thing he couldn't put his finger on was that he didn't want to revisit the one where Claryssa downright whipped him with her ponytail, shiny and platinum blonde, just like Adam. That was the reason why he never apologized anymore: Claryssa had scared him out of it. However, it was also the place he had met two of his (hopefully) lifelong friends, Marissa North and Rosie Parker. If you weighed the options, it seemed that the specific greenhouse was for better rather than for worse.

On the contrary, that was not all Anatole's reasoning. He had not visited this one in a while, ever since his first Herbology lesson by Ms. Trollope. He expected her to be there, Gryffindor decorations (to serve as a mocking) and all, and so when he opened the rickety glass door, he was a little shocked.

He jumped a little, getting briefly out of character, then nodding to the rest of them in the room. "My apologies, did I intrude?" The room was a bit too quiet, and when Anatole spoke, it came out much more sarcastic than he intended.

Don't screw it up? Anatole already had.

Adam stumbled to a stop behind Anatole and looked over the Gryffindor boy's shoulder at the people gathered inside of the greenhouse. He was surprised to hear the dry greeting that Anatole gave, which seemed unnecessarily scathing of him. Maybe he hadn't meant it to sound like that, but Adam didn't know the other boy well enough to tell. He hit Anatole lightly on the shoulder and muttered, "Don't be rude," before smiling up at the people inside of the small greenhouse.

"Sorry, everyone, we'll be out of your way in a minute." There he went again, commandeering the situation in a fashion that had grown increasingly more regular during his time at the castle. Adam didn't want to seem controlling, or elitist, and he hoped it didn't come off that way. Sometimes there were just things that needed to be restated. "So, Evans, is this your first pick? It's nice. Congratulations -- so far." Adam did like the greenhouse, but he felt a little awkward stepping in with all of these people around. They wouldn't mind, would they? He wouldn't want to intrude on Professor Wright, either. This might be a good place to stop by from time to time in the spring and summer, but there were still plenty more rooms to judge. And he had a feeling he'd see much more before the afternoon was over.

"Thank you for the kind words. I'm so glad you have an interest in herbology, at a young age. Take as much time as you need in here." Sorrel addressed the newcomer in the room, glad that not one, but two girls were showing interest in herbology. She settled down at her desk, ready to answer any questions the two girls in her room had. It was quiet in the room, as the two talked in hushed whispers. Perhaps they were friends, of a sort.

Another boy walked in, and in the spirit of the good mood, she offered him a smile. He didn't let her down, asking about plants at once. Not about Rhys, or anything boring, that the herbology professor would of dismissed the boy in an instant. "There's not very many dangerous plants in this greenhouse, but I could show you a few of them." Her eyes lit up with the possibility of combining multiple points.

Happily, she leaped up from her chair in a display of childlike happiness. "That is entirely possible. Although, you might have to use muggle technology for it. Or invent new spells." She furled her brow in frustration, considering the young boy's words. It would be an amazing thing to combine magical plants to form new ones. Although Sorrel was more than content to keep finding new kinds of plants, instead of making new ones. For now.

There was another commotion as another pair of kids walked into the room. They looked up to no good. Scowling, Sorrel's happy expression faded. A rude -sounding kid had entered her greenhouse. He was not a child interested in Herbology. That much was clear already, from the matching expression on the brown-haired boy's face and the golden haired ravenclaw's faces. They said something, wandering around her greenhouse.

"Can I help you,boys?" Sorrel said, cursing herself for opening up the herbology after hours to all students. As if echoing her thoughts, the green bird flapping around the room, ducked down, cawing at the boys.

He landed on a desk near the boys, staring at them with a displeased expression. Sorrel muffled a chuckle at her bird's ever-so-dramatic antics. The bird cawed at the two boys, looking a little bit scary. It would of been scarier if the bird wasn't thin and mournful looking, somewhat like a small underfed vulture in appearance. Said bird stared at the two boys, cocking it's head to the side like a predatory animal.

Turning back to the other students, Sorrel resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Honestly. Why couldn't all students be as mature as the three that came before the two boys?

Wait..where did all the Quidditch Decorations go? All the Gryffindor pride he had hoped to rub in Adam’s face? Had it disappeared...and who was this new woman, surrounded by plants and sitting at Edwina’s desk? And most of all, where was Edwina?

The greenhouse was much quieter than it used to be, curious students investigating around, watching life grow, and studying like good students. On the other hand, Anatole and Adam were illegally entering places they most likely shouldn’t be getting into.

Anatole’s companion elbowed him. “Don’t be rude.” His voice was a low whisper, almost as if he was trying to...help him out. Why? This was a competition!

”Well, I’m sorry.” Anatole swallowed a bubble of air, regretting what he had said previously. The persona was becoming more ingrained into him, and Anatole could no longer control his words like he used to do. It was true, he was sorry...but he didn’t know how his voice had morphed it this time.

The two boys’ conversation drew a pair of eyes from the woman behind the desk. At first, she scared Anatole a little, but her voice juxtaposed her image, and she sounded surprisingly pleasant. “Can I help you, boys?”

His eyes met hers, and Anatole commented the truth. ”No, we’re just...looking around, thank you.”

"Sorry, everyone, we'll be out of your way in a minute." Afterwards, Adam gave him a satisfied look. "So, Evans, is this your first pick? It's nice. Congratulations -- so far."

Anatole turned back towards the Ravenclaw. ”Doubt you can do better. It looks even more gorgeous in the daylight, let me bet you. I’m not letting you win that easily.”

Kyden looked at the two boys. He had met the small Gryffindor boy in the corridors before. He ignored them and looked toward Professor Wright. He could tell she was worried about the two boys. However at the same time he was eager to see some of the plants she was going to show him. He took a couple steps back and just stood there. "Professor Wright I am just going to go look at the plants over there," he pointed to the corner of the greenhouse, "until you have a chance to show me some of the plants. Also when you get the chance I have a couple more questions about Herbology."

Truthfully he had probably a thousand or more questions he could ask about Herbology. Back in the orphanage he liked planting muggle seeds and growing plants just for fun. He sighed and walked to the corner of the greenhouses. He turned back toward the professor for one moment and smiled. "And don't worry I won't touch anything." He walked over to a table that held some wolfsbane and gillyweed. It also held another plant that he wasn't sure what it was but he planned on asking Professor Wright when she was done dealing with the two boys. He lifted his hands as if to touch the plants but then suddenly clasped them back down at his side. His body ached to touch the plants and stroke the leaves but he made a promise to himself and Professor Wright not to touch anything. He wanted to show her that he could be trusted. So he just kept looking at the plants. He walked around the table to look at them from different angles and to distract his brain from wanting to touch them.