Errand Diggy Diggy Hole PV Haley Rose Closed

@ Elena Jangleton

Haley was on her way to the Grounds today, but not to enjoy the weather or to lie around and read. Today there was an task for her and many other students. Well prepared, she had put on an old pair of jeans and shirt, tied her long red hair in a high braid and held a large shovel in her right hand. If you saw Haley walking around the grounds like this on any other day, everyone would probably think she was crazy. But not today, because today she was not alone and together they would help the Ground Keeper. At least those who had voluntarily decided to do so. Today's task was to remove unwanted plants so that the ground keeper could plant new ones in the summer.

As simple as the task sounded, Haley wasn't quite sure yet. She had never noticed unwanted plants before. To be honest, she had never looked for them, but she couldn't imagine that there were so many. Here and there she had noticed a few dried bushes that she would love to replant as they just didn't look nice but something inside her told her there was more. Probably some magical plants under the ground that they would get rid of them. She thought back to the Herbelogy class and also considered what plants she might bump into and what problems they would bring.

Haley was glad Elena had asked her if they wanted to tackle this task together and while she had now arrived at her actual destination, she couldn't see her as of yet. Her gaze quickly skimmed over the many students and groups of students looking for her friend. Nope, only boys, no Elena to be seen here either oh this could be - no, not either. It took a while longer and when Haley had spun around once she could see a girl already shovelling. She walked towards her and could quickly see that it was really Elena.

It took a few quick steps before she finally arrived and when Elena was only a few metres away Haley called out to her, "Help is on the way!" holding her shovel up and showing full motivation. "Found any interesting and unwanted plants yet?" she now asked curiously as she got closer to the hole Elena had already shovelled. Haley took an unguarded look in there, but couldn't see anything. (Not that she really looked) She grinned broadly at Elena now, "Sorry if I'm a little late." She apologised and glanced around briefly to find her next target.

Haley was still a little lost, what should she be looking for? What was the best way for her to proceed? Was there a system or should she just shovel wildly? The confusion and lack of direction was written all over her face as her gaze continued to scan the grounds in the immediate vicinity. "Soo, what's the best way to proceed?" she asked cautiously as she scratched the back of her head and put on an innocent look.

WORD COUNT: 508/600

Elena grinned as a familiar voice rang out assuring her that she was not alone in this task, that the Gryffindor would not be left to deal with this horde of plants and weeds alike all by herself. "Just the person I was looking for." The girl replied turning to face Haley who had arrived on the scene armed with her own shovel. Honestly, Elena didn't see why they had to this in a Muggle fashion, she was sure there was a magically effective way of dealing with these nusiance plants or maybe the groundskeeper just wanted to give them the Muggle experience. Regardless, this was the first time the brunette had actually paid sort of attention to the greenery around the castle and she came to the realization that some of it was in need of desperate repair. She had already dug out a small opening in the soil which until only a few moments ago had been home to some rather overgrown plants which had been reduced to a pile of stems and leaves by now.

"Well, I don't know if you'd call them interesting but they are defintely unwanted." Elena added on gesturing with her shovel to a row of overgrown vines and moss coupled with a few prickly plants that looked like they would impale anyone that came within walking distance with thorns the size of her thumb. If you asked Elena, plants like those defintely had no place being here and it was up to them to take care of the task. Simply pulling the plant out would not work because that would leave the roots still within the dirt and allow the thing to regrow again and undo all of their beautiful work. "I reckon we dig it up from the base, rip out the roots so these things are permanently erased from the earth." It would take some effort from their side because Merlin knew how long some of these plants had been here and the longer they had been here, the more likely it was their roots were more developed and as such, it would be tougher to dig up but they weren't about to give up before trying. Besides, the promise of incentives such as house point and currency was enough to make any student clamor to do whatever the task required. It wasn't often you got a chance like this so the brunette had jumped at the opputurnity.

Elena hadn't too much experience with gardening so she was as lost as Haley but the girl knew they should develop at least some sort of pattern. She would demonstrate what she meant by digging it up by firmly planting the head of the shovel into the ground and leaning on it which produced a crunching sound as the shovel forced up mounds of dirt, soil and a jumble of roots that pulled out the plant giving it a short and quick death. "Just like that." She said turning to the other girl to make sure she understood the concept. "I reckon if we both start at opposite ends and work our way inwards, we can get this done a lot quicker." The third year said nodding towards the other end of their little patch of plants which had yet to be dug up. It would cut down on a lot of their time as long as everything went smoothly. She just hoped there was no nasty surprises waiting for them within the stems and flowers alike.

"You don't reckon there's like a Devil's Snare in there somewhere, do ya?" Elena really didn't want to know the answer to that question as she began to plant the shovel into the dirt again in the process of attacking the next plant.

@ Elena Jangleton

Haley continued to smile at Elena as she stood beside her with her hands on her hips. Elena didn't look too enthusiastic but who could blame her. Surely there was a much easier way and especially a way with magic but now here they stood with shovels. Since Haley had more or less grown up in a muggle household, it wasn't a problem for her. It wouldn't be the first time she'd replanted something in the garden with a shovel and kneeling in the dirt. Still, she didn't know where to start here, but luckily for her, Elena had already started.

"Let's get rid of them then." Haley laughed uncertainly when she saw the giant spikes and was now more than happy to have the tools at their disposal. [color=#00800]"Yeah, yeah you're right." [/color] Haley agreed nodding at her, her gaze still on the large spikes. She already feared it was going to be a more difficult job and could only hope that there were no more spines deep down on the roots. But at least there were two of them and they would even be rewarded for their work.

Haley clapped her hands twice, "Okay let's go." She took a few steps away from Elena and stood at the opposite end, doing Elena's bidding. She rammed the somewhat rusty shovel into the ground, helped it along with her foot and pushed the shovel into the ground as far as it would go before levering the first pile of grass and soil next to her. She repeated the process a few times and found that her victim had already pulled more snares than she had suspected.

"I haven't come across any devils snare yet, but I think it's not unlikely." Haley now spoke as she wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, "But our victim that we want to eliminate is bigger than we thought." Haley now nodded at the root she had scooped free. She took a few more steps back and repeated the process, hoping the roots hadn't grown all the way there yet.

Luckily for her, there was no root to be seen and with a lot of effort she worked her way forward until she could see the first spines again. She stuck the shovel into the ground and took a short breath, the whole thing was more exhausting than she had thought and sweat ran down her temple in small drops.

Word Count: 919/600

The thought they might come across some Devil's Snare or any other form of magical plant that's only intention was to restrict them in some way was not a very relieving thought to Elena. A part of her even suspected maybe that was why they had been put up to this task as some sort of twisted, evil task that the groundskeeer himself wasn't willing to risk. Armed with her shovel and wand though, the brunette was fairly confident if anything ugly reared it's hard, they could take care of it promptly though it would involve a lot of explaining and fire. They were here to clean out the patches of weeds, not add more destruction though if you asked her, they were certainly destroying everything by ripping out the roots of these invasisve plants. Were they invasive? The Gryffindor barely knew, Herbology had not been one of those courses she paid attention much to but she knew enough to know that if something moved or wasn't acting plant-like, there probably was a problem.

"What do you reckon they're gonna put here?" The girl said striking up some idle converstation as their shovels struck the soil digging out the various roots of plants reducing them to dust allowing the girls to pull the blades of grass and the stems out easily, Elena flinging them into a pile nearby which was steadily growing minute by minute. "Maybe some sunflowers or roses. think that'd look pretty." She mused looking over her work having made quite a dent in the large overbrush that had been growing evidenced by the disturbed soil and gaping holes where the plants should have been which had been silenced rather forcefully by Elena's shovel. it was by no means a clean job meant for those willing to get down and dirty. She was just glad it was this one patch that they had to focus on, the other trouble spots looked like they were being attended to by other kids which meant that they wouldn't have to linger around too long.

Time drew on as the two worked from their ends digging a path to the center where the girls would eventually meet, Elena wiping the beads of sweat running down her forehead with the back of her hand. "You know.." She said pausing between pants taking in a gulpful of air before continuing on planting her shovel firmly in the ground so she could lean on it for support. "It looked easy at first but once you start doing it, it really takes a punch out of you." Thankfully though, their progress was basically complete as all that was left was a few small leaves and stems but aside from that, it was a barren brown patch full of soil and not a single ounce of greenery to be seen and Elena Jangleton was parched. "I could go for a pumpkin juice or something after this." Toiling around in the evening under the glare of the afternoon sun was not her idea of a comfortable, relaxing day. The things they would do for the sake of a few house points.