Closed Plants Can Be Pets Too Errand

Banner by Kim Sato

André had been looking forward to this day, he would be getting 'a second pet' it wasn't really another pet. At least not a super cool one like Miko, his snowy owl. This one wouldn't be able to do much.. It would just sorta sit there and look pretty. And neat. Entering the first greenhouse he saw plenty of people around, everywhere, and in the center of the room was all of the plants.

As the hufflepuff made his was to this table he saw all the different colored pots. Red, Yellow, green, blue, and a light purple. Lavender. Five different plant options, one of them had to be the right one. One that would be easy to take care of, and cool looking.

He passed the tables in the center examining all of the different pots, and reading the index cards. He read all of them, he couldn't just read one and be done with it. How would he know if there would be a better option for him? After he had done so his brown eyes fell back to the yellow pot. The Cast Iron Plant.

The care plan seemed easy enough to do. He wouldn't have to water it everyday, something he would defiantly forget to do. It can be grown pretty much anywhere, and you had to remove brown or yellow leaves. He could send an owl to his dad about the liquid fertilizer for the spring and summer time. Yes this is the plant.

He picked one of the cast iron plants up, and nodded. It came in the yellow pot witch went perfectly well with his robes, and house. Holding in his arms he went to find a nice place to sit to get his care plan down. Andre did not grab any of the parchment that was offered, as he had his own and someone else probably needed it more then him.

Reaching into his satchel he grabbed his parchments and his Crows feather quill, and his ink well. Dipping the nib in the ink André filled out what was asked of him for the care plan.

Name of student: André Lebedev
Type of plant: cast iron plant
Plants name: honey bagger
Care plan: I will check every day when I get up for classes to see if the soil is dry, or if any of the leaves are brown/yellowing. If so I will water it, or remove those leaves. In the spring and summer time I will get my liquid fertilizer from my father, by asking him to send some in spring and in summer there should be no need to get it via owl. In my dorm I will keep it in non direct sunlight. And will change its pot as it grows, naturally in to one with plenty of drainage

Fishing writing he looked down at the plant. Honey Bagger seemed like a good fit, as they were though animals. Like iron, and the plant came in Hufflepuff's color pot! How could the name not fit? It was genius naming on his part. He looked over his parchment multiple times to make sure everything was perfect.

Once the boy was satisfied, he packed away his ink and quill back into the satchel. And had his new plant in one arm and the parchment in his other hand. He was happy with his plant choice and had a good feeling about how he could care for it to!

He walked up to the herbology professor, professor McLoughlin. And handed her the parchment. He hoped that his plan was through enough. The care was pretty simple so he felt as if there wasn't much to write, other then just how to care for it.

With that done André Wales out of the first greenhouse with honey bagger in his arm, back to the hufflepuff common room and into his dorm. Ready to embark his plant dad journey, and to write a letter to his father about his new need for some gentle liquid fertilizer.

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Reducio

Interacting with Nobody

Despite the seemingly messy appearance of the greenhouses, the slytherin often found themselves here whenever they could, after all, Qrow had always enjoyed plants, the damp earthy smell that hung, quite pleasantly, in the air was rather comforting and the warming light of the sun wasn’t half bad either.
A friend of theirs had once compared the child to a reptile after seeing them almost doze off one sunny afternoon; after all, snakes were cold blooded and enjoyed the warmth.

Of course, the first-year had arrived fairly early, looking forward to gaining a new floral friend to add to their ever growing collection of plant children - they doubted their dorm mate would even realise another one had appeared.

They had been worried about their dorm room when they first were placed into Slytherin house, not certain on whether or not there would be enough sunlight down in the dungeons for their small collection of plants to flourish. However, they had been rather lucky; despite the Slytherin common room being located underground, some of the dorms were located above the common room itself, and those dorms were only partially underground. Qrow had one of these rooms, and the window of their dorm showed both under the lake as well as above the waterline, allowing for the sun to come in through the glass and shine rather nicely on their collection of plants that sat by it as well as the first-years bed.

Walking into greenhouse one, Qrow waved a polite ‘hello’ at Professor McLoughlin. The greenhouse was somewhat chaotic, sparse from the large centre table that held a plethora of colourful plant pots; each coloured pot dedicated to a different species of plant:
Red: Fishbone Cactus (Disocactus anguliger)
Yellow: Cast Iron Plant (Aspidistra elatior)
Green: Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana)
Blue: Prayer Plant (Maranta leuconeura)
Lavender: Zebra Plant (Haworthiopsis attenuata)

Every plant looked incredibly well taken care of, which, came to no surprise; after all, Professor McLoughlin was a fantastic herbalist, and, had it not been for Qrow Beithir’s overwhelming excitement and enthusiasm about the prospect of becoming a Magizoologist, the child could certainly see themself pursuing a career in Herbology.

The redhead made certain to research each of the plants thoroughly, finding most of them to be fairly simple in terms of care compared to what they’re used to, with the child mostly specialising in the more complex magical plants, specifically those that were used in difficult to make potions or those that required more… caution. Of course, this wasn’t entirely surprising; their dad Hephaestus had taught them about plant care from an early age, however not everyone had this knowledge already. Professor McLoughlin had clearly put careful thought into this task, taking into account the varying skill levels of all students.

In the end, it was the Cast Iron Plant that caught the Slytherins eye, with its large verdant leaves protruding from a sunshine yellow pot.

Name of Student: Qrow Beithir
Type of Plant: Cast Iron Plant
Plant Name: Eupheme
Care Plan:
Firstly, I’ll need to add drainage to the pot, perhaps some gravel or broken ceramic at the bottom of the it.

Keeping Eupheme away from direct sunlight shouldn’t be too hard considering my dorm room is halfway underground anyways. I’ll just have to keep her away from my bedroom window.

I’ll likely need to stock up on more liquid fertiliser - I don’t believe I have much left after last Saturday’s ‘plant care day’’

I’ll have to add her to my ‘prune when necessary’ list; I’ll forget to check her for browning or yellowing leaves on Saturday plant care days if I don’t.

Water Eupheme ONLY when the soil is dry!

REMINDER: Add watering note to nametag and add Eupheme to pruning list.

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Name of Student (I hope you know your name): Damion White
Type of Plant (What type of plant did you choose): Zebra plant
Plant Name (What are you naming this plant): Keijo (meaning elf or fairy)
Care Plan (How are you going to care for this plant): I am going to water it once in two weeks with water that is room temperature. I will give it some indirect bright sunlight. I will give it some water soluble flower fertilizer in spring and re pot it.

Kayla loved nature and the outdoors.

Whether plants, animals or general environment, mother nature was usually on her side so she loved it in return. She didn't have a specific obsession with plants, but she liked them. Her room had cacti in it, as she wasn't around to care for plants that need more water. And it wasn't like her brother would take care of the plants for her, he was brutal that way. He insisted if she wanted plants, she needed to plant them in the garden. Only they didn't have a garden and their backyard was just a few trees, some grass, dirt and broken toys.

It didn't surprise her that Professor McLoughlin set the errand. The Professor was an excellent teacher and was the herbology professor so naturally she was the one setting the errand. Kayla loved herbology classes, even though sometimes she'd get distracted pretty easily and let her eyes wonder around the greenhouse whilst Professor McLoughlin would be teaching. Her attention span was very short if she wasn't fixated on what she was doing. But nevertheless, she loved plants so naturally she fancied the subject as much.

She was dressed in black blue jeans and a black sweater despite the heat that was starting to warm the castle. She hair was now atleast neck length, it was growing and the colour was fading out. Her natural brown hair was starting to peak through the red, the colour was really starting to wash off and Kayla didn't mind. Although she loved how short her hair was, the freedom of not brushing it every morning, she was going to grow it out, and probably dye it again if she felt like it.

Kayla shuffled around the greenhouse when she arrived, she was bouncing up and down looking around. It was pretty chaotic and smelt like dirt, but she reasoned that's how a normal greenhouse smelt. She was pretty excited to look for a plant to take care of, and saw different coloured pots lined up with different plants. All of them were beauties, and Kayla felt a little disappointed she could only have one, if she had it her way, she'd get at least one of each, but alas, Kayla was a busy girl and probably wouldn't have time to constantly make sure Squeaky isn't knocking over the plant pots. Kayla had experience with the ferret doing that when she brought her home, all the cacti pots were knocked down and there was dirt everywhere.

Kayla being, well, Kayla got to the greenhouse rather late, when most people were on their way with their plants, laughing and talking. The first year wassurprised there was still a lot of plants left when she arrived, but delighted either way.

As she scanned the rows of the many potted plants, looking for a plant that seemed to suit her. The plant that caught her eye was in a lavender pot. It was the zebra plant that caught her fancy, its huge leaves with little lines running across them. Kayla picked up the plant and the parchment and dug in her pocket and produced a pen and started to fill the form.

Name of Student: Kayla M.E. Realma
Type of Plant: Zebra Plant
Plant Name: Esme
Care Plan: I'll keep Esme by the window so she's pretty exposed to the sun. I'll water her every few weeks- or when I notice her soil getting dry. Since its spring already, I'll repot her next year.
Note to self, decorate pot.

Once she finsihed writing, she turned the pot over gingerly in her hands, examining the plat. Kayla couldn't believe she was going to try and adopt adopt plant...a plant that needed water. A plant she actually needed to make sure wasn't dry. She didn't realise she had it easy when she was taking care of cacti.
"Your coming with me, Esme," Kayla informed the plant happily and left the greenhouse, eager to find some stickers for the plants pot.

☆668/600☆

Hades had learned about an activity organized by the professor of herbology. And as a faithful lover of plants, he would not want to miss such a thing. But he knew Damion would be there, since they had both established a romantic relationship. The only thing Hades feared was that the eagle boy would regret the relationship or discover that he did not want to be with him. And it would certainly be painful because he did not like to be considered as the second option of someone or a boyfriend in whom he could have to overcome the breakup. No, Hades wasn’t that kind. Nor did he have the will to end heartbroken, because otherwise it would be truly horrible. Although the couple had talked a lot about it and agreed to be honest with each other. But the relationships themselves were too complicated to understand. At least Hades was trying to make it work because he was in love.

It didn’t take him long to get to the greenhouse, where he found a group of students who had already arrived. The badger joined with the others, his eyes looking for Damion to see if he was there too. He bit his lower lip and gently hugged Lando, who was his cat who had wanted to accompany him. Hades liked to have his pet with him, and lately he had taken a special affection. He appreciated his cat being there. It wasn't difficult for him to decide which plant he wanted to choose, as by their name has already attracted his attention. He placed Lando on the table for his approval, watched as the cat sniffed them and then walked back, rubbing his head in the boy’s hand, wanting cuddles. He smiled, “We already have a plant?” he asked to his cat. But Lando seemed to be more focused on getting the cuddles instead of wanting to help Hades to choose the plant. What a cute cat!

With the plant already chosen, Hades finally found Damion, who was there. He came up with the pot in both arms, and placed it next to him “Hello Little Minion.” he waved as he embraced him, then he was watching the parchment. He bit his lip and proceeded to fill in the necessary information before taking it. He thought for a few minutes. If there was one thing he knew well, it was that even though the plants were small, they were not so easy to care for. It required everything... Before going over it again, he wanted to check the little note next to the plant, where all the necessary information was. Indeed, that was not going to be a big challenge. The fact that he had been caring for the plants, as well as being an intern of CoMC, had allowed him to make a habit of checking the animals and plants. He looked up and poked Damion's shoulder “Which one have you chosen?” he asked smiling.

He showed the plant he had chosen “It won’t be difficult to take care of it, because I’ve done it a couple of times and I keep doing it with the plants in the common room, which won’t be a problem at all.” He muttered absently, then saw Lando trying to claw a plant “Lando! Behave!” Hades scolded his pet. Lando was submissive and walked towards his owner, meowing to keep the boy from getting angry. But how could he avoid when his cat did that adorable thing? He stroked his head and then picked up the plant, next to the parchment on which he handed the professor before leaving the greenhouse. But Hades wasn’t quite sure if Damion had followed him or had something to do “Do you want us to go to Hogsmeade to buy a few things?” asked with a seductive smile. Maybe being at Hogsmeade, they could buy some milkshake or soda, depending.

As Colin was checking out the other plants in the greenhouse, he saw that quite a few other students had come in! Several of them he knew. Rita came along first. She was a Hufflepuff, but Colin had always thought she would make a good Ravenclaw. She always seemed to be a straight forward and studious girl. Close behind was a Slytherin girl. Embers, Colin thought. She only said hi before checking out the plants. But Rita and Colin chatted for a bit.

"Yeah, I remember, Rita! That was brave of you to dare enter the deepest basements of the castle!" He flipped up the hood of his robe and leaned in to Rita, saying in a creepy, crackly voice: "You never know what kinds of monsters lurk down there!" Colin well remembered how Rita had found him and Regina Miller in the darkness. He smirked at the recollection of them scaring the poor girl off!

They chatted about plants. Rita was surprised to see Colin here for this errand, asking him if he liked plants too. She wondered if he might have a secret Hufflepuff side. Colin snorted! "Hufflepuff side! No!" But then he laughed. "Well, maybe, Rita! You never know with a Snek! But I do like some plants --- mostly wild flowers and herbs. And trees of course!" Colin did favour the wild side, whether it was the realm of plants or animals. He felt that to be a fitting contrast with Clair, who loved most domestic animals.

After Rita went off, Colin saw a bunch more kids had come in. One was a very eager looking Ravenclaw! He began talking to the plants and seemed to be debating within himself which plant to look after. Nico, his dorm mate, came in with a bunch of other people, but he seemed to have eyes more for that first year Slytherin girl than any plant in the place! Another Hufflepuff girl came in, called out to Rita and then sneezed! Poor thing! He'd seen her around a lot. He wasn't sure what her name was, but she always seemed friendly!

A very familiar voice piped up then, from behind. "Colin! My body hiding partner in crime!"

Colin smirked. "Vale! Ayo mate!" He gave his fellow broom racer and renown chaos maker a quick nose doop. "Not a plant person? Moi!? I like plants well enough, my dear! Trees for climbing, tall thickets for hiding, lettuce as a nice bed for cheese and bacon salad!"

Colin smiled when he saw Bailey and Kim had arrived. He was certain that they'd end up together soon enough. Another arrival that Colin took note of was a first year Slytherin girl that he'd seen at the table and in the common room often enough. He smirked. He held his hand to his mouth and made loud crow calls. He considered himself pretty good at it!

"QAW! QAW!! QROW IN THE HOUSE!" he said in raspy crow voice.

@Rita Su | @Vale Ashwood || Mentions: @Nico Cirillo | @Zach Zaphiere | @Qrow Beithir | @Duvessa Ember

Sara liked plants, and she probably got that from her (adoptive) mother who adored any kind of plants, especially flowers. But this event is not really about flowers. It's about plants and Sara's here for it!

She went into the greenhouse and saw a few people already mingling around and some of them talking to each other and to Professor McLoughlin. Firstly, she decided to walk around the room and see what is there to offer.

The first plant that caught her attention was called Fishbone Cactus and was planted into a lovely red pot. There was also some information about the plant: how much light does it like to be exposed to, how often it should be watered, information about temperature and humidity and some other important stuff. And it was like that for every plant exhibited as new plant pets for students. So, the Fishbone Cactus needs to be in the sun, to be kept at room temperature and mild humidity. "Seems like a high-maintenance plant... but funny-looking though!" Sara noticed, because the plant looked kinda like a fishbone, thus its name. Moving on to the next plant: Lucky Bamboo, in the green pot. It requires indirect sunlight, it can be grown in the soil or set in a vase with pebbles and water, which is convenient, she thought. But the water needs to be changed every week... too much to think about, among all of the school responsibilities... Next was Cast Iron Plant which looked like a normal plant to Sara: it was dark green and had long stems and some leaves. Nothing special. Sara didn't even want to look through the information for the plant. "Next!" So the next plant was very interesting, peculiar even. It had stems and normal-shaped leaves, but on them, it had red lines and it looked poisonous to Sara. She was a little bit afraid to touch it, so she didn't do it. She just came closer to read the information about the plant. The conditions for the plant were: medium sunlight exposure, watering every one to two weeks (great!), and it should be kept at the temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit. She thought it was a very interesting plant, but its red lines were discouraging her from taking this one for her new pet plant. And the last one (hopefully she'll like this one!) was a Zebra Plant. "Such a funny plant!" she exclaimed. This plant didn't have the usual leaves as most of the plants exhibited, instead, it had some kind of spikes sticking into the air and its spikes-leaves were ribbed with white lines. "It looks really cool! Should check the ideal conditions for it..." It requires bright indirect sunlight (okay), it needs to be watered once every few weeks (to keep the soil moist - super great! - no much worrying about watering it), and it needs to be fertilized and repotted every spring. It seemed like the best choice for Sara: doesn't need to be watered frequently and it should only be repotted once every year. So zebra plant it is then!

Now when she chose her new pet friend, Sara was very happy, thank you for asking, and she had to write a few things, as an administration thing for adopting a plant. Students need to fill it out and hand it to the professor while exiting the greenhouse.
So she wrote:

Name of Student : Sara Arnez
Type of Plant : Zebra Plant
Plant Name : Alison!
Care Plan (How are you going to care for this plant): I'll put my new friend Alison near the window in the common room, probably on a table, to keep her safe from knocking it over and to give it enough exposure to sunlight. I'll be careful and write in the calendar when to water it - and before watering, I should check if the soil is moist (if it is, it shouldn't be watered again and the other way around). I will fertilize the plant with a water-soluble flower fertilizer. And also, I would repot it every spring, in a new pot that is a little bit bigger than the previous one. I hope I'll be a good plant mom!

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