Deep-Rooted Issues PV Alyssea Brown Finished

october 29th 2023; interacting with @Harmony Hollins

Why on earth was Alyssea actually going through with this errand? Great question! She had no idea, either. She hadn't done any errands until now, so why this one?

Alyssea walked towards the Forbidden Forest and stopped just at the edge. Were people actually going to clear the weeds inside there? She had every means to follow along but she didn't trust herself to do it. Duellist or not, she likely wasn't prepared for whatever creature would jump out at her while she pulled out weeds. I'm doing this because I want to, Alyssea thought. It's nice to help people with things.

She was slightly worried she'd pull weeds all evening by herself, but she overheard a girl talking to herself and recognised her. It was the First Year she saw almost a month ago in the common room. They hadn't interacted much since then and she was pulling weeds by herself, so Alyssea walked over and settled her equipment next to theirs.

Tying back her hair and pulling on some gloves, Alyssea began working through them, feeling the soil around the plants and avoiding the red ooze. Soon enough, the foul stench of rotten meat hit her nose and she gagged. She was close to vomiting. Still, she continued and pulled the weed out once the dirt holding it down loosened.

Alyssea got up and looked at the girl's garden bag. "Hey," she started. Right, she hadn't even made her presence known when she arrived. She hoped the girl wouldn't be started. "Do you mind if I put the ones I pull in your bag, too?"

What was her name again? Her surname was definitely Hollins, but Alyssea still didn't know if her first name was actually Hermione. Oh well, she hoped the Hollins girl would answer soon because she wanted to be rid of the scent as soon as possible.

word count: 312/200

As Harmony continued to jiggle weeds out of the ground, she noticed a figure approach and set up camp near her. A few peeks from the corner of her eye confirmed the figure to be the pretty neck-cracker from the chaotic evening in the Hufflepuff common room, and Harmony instantly began to feel a bit self-conscious about her weed-pulling. What if the other girl had a secret green thumb? Harmony was certain her weed-pulling posture was atrocious. But the girl didn’t say anything, so Harmony’s thoughts switched to Why did she decide to pull weeds near me why isn’t she talking am I just overthinking it people can choose weed clumps without ulterior motives-

Shortly after Harmony disposed of yet another weed in her bag and squeezed the opening closed to seal the stench, the brown-haired girl nearby stood up and looked in Harmony’s direction for a bit. This was it. She was going to say something and Harmony was definitely not assuming if it was good or bad because it could realistically go either way.

“Hey,” She began. Harmony looked up from her spade, freshly stabbed into the ground. “Do you mind if I put the ones I pull in your bag, too?”
Harmony noted the stinking weed clutched in the girl’s hand letting out pungent whiffs and hastily agreed.

“Oh, no, here you go.” She exclaimed, shaking her head a little, and she gently flung her bag, using the weight of the weeds within to swing and land it on the ground between the two of them with the opening of the bag facing perpendicular so they could both reach into it. Harmony paused, contemplating the merits of attempting to keep up a conversation. “They stink really bad, don’t they?” She finally added as she turned back to the spade sticking out of the ground. “I hope I fill this bag soon, then I can get a house point and never touch grass again”

october 29th 2023; interacting with @Harmony Hollins

Alyssea chuckled. Why had the girl chosen to pull weeds by herself? She didn't look to be enjoying herself or her own company (read: the weeds). Alyssea smiled at her and plopped the rotten meat into the bag. "They're awful. I wonder how they started growing on the grounds."

She got back to work straight away and bent down, clawing at the soil until she could feel a bunch of roots and began pulling. Alyssea held her breath to stop the odour from reaching her nostrils, but once the weed escaped the ground, her footing wobbled and her head spun. Holding one's breath while performing physical activity was a bad idea, she had just learned.

As Alyssea put the weed into the bag, she said, "So, I never properly got your name. You don't seem very responsive to the name 'Hermione'." While waiting for the baby badger's response, she looked at the row of weeds along the forest's perimeter. They could possibly finish a couple of meters before heading back to the palace.

"I'm Alyssea," she said, "But you probably remember me from that day in the commons last month." She bent down to dig at the soil again, turning her head to breathe the fresh air instead of the rotting stench. Her gloves were now red and slippery from the weeds, whatever the substance actually was. She wouldn't dare to touch it with her bare hands.

word count: 237/200

29 October 2023

“I don’t know,” Harmony responded to the older student’s comment about how the weeds came about. “Magic? But what kind of magic? And why did that magic come about?” As she stabbed her spade into the dirt around another weed to loosen it, a horrifying thought came to her: “What if the weeds just grow back after we’re done?” She didn’t think she could bring herself to endure the stench for another house point.

Harmony’s face scrunched in memory of the awkward past months as her weed-partner questioned the name “Hermione”.
“It’s a long story.” She sighed, a bad decision that brought more stink in with her next breath. “Flynn – that other Hufflepuff First Year – called me that because he misheard me when we met, and he was always super eager so I thought he’d decided we were close enough to have weird nicknames.” She gripped her newest weed and set about wiggling it out of the ground. “We sorted it out eventually.” She paused to remember she was supposed to ask for a name back. “What’s your name?”

At the mention of that chaotic evening in the commons, Harmony raised her eyebrows in recognition and slowly turned to face Alyssea, taking in another breath that brought another round of pungent air she immediately regretted.
“Yes! That was crazy!” She exclaimed, succeeding in pulling her weed out, roots and all. “Does that… usually happen? Is that like a Hufflepuff thing?” She didn’t know if she’d be able to cope if it turned out that the fluffy yellow house was actually full of crazy people.

Coping with further facebooking wouldn’t be an issue, however, if the weed-juice did unspeakable things to her health, and Harmony leaned back for a moment to hold her hands as far away from her as they could go and gingerly scrape the red substance off

Interacting with @Alyssea Brown

october 29th 2023; interacting with @Harmony Hollins

She hoped the weeds wouldn't grow back after all their hard work; that would be annoying and frustrating. Alyssea only had time to do this once and never again. Gardening was never one of her hobbies and now she had sports to deal with. Speaking of which, the races were happening later in the afternoon once the weather brightened to make the track drier. Alyssea doubted it would happen.

Her name was Harmony, Alyssea knew now. Harmony Hollins. It was a pretty name. How on earth did that Montgomery boy (now also named Flynn in her mental address book) get Hermione from Harmony? Oh well, it seemed cute that they had nicknames for each other. Alyssea didn't have one herself. Or, if she did, she didn't know.

Before responding to Harmony's question, Alyssea pulled two more bulbs from the ground, their roots somehow intertwined under the soil. She held her breath as she dumped it quickly into the bag and adjusted her gloves so that they would stop slipping off. The gloves were a bit big on her.

"That's the first time I've ever been swept into Hufflepuff drama," Alyssea chuckled as she bent down closer to the ground again, "Though I heard a lot of stuff goes down in the commons, so yeah, it might be a Hufflepuff thing." As she spoke, she fought the bile threatening to rise up her throat from the awful stench.

Alyssea looked up at the sky and back down the row of weeds. It was starting to get a bit dark; the races were going to start. She pulled one more weed with a grunt and quickly disposed it in the bag. "Okay, nice chatting with you! I've got to watch the broom racing today."

She flipped her gloves inside out so that she wouldn't have to carry them with the slippery red goop all over it. Hopefully with a nice change of clothes and some perfume she wouldn't smell of rotten meat at the stands.

WEIRD WEEDS MOD POST

The plant was not easy to remove. The thick stalk went deep into the ground and it would require two hands and a mighty (actually several mighty) yanks to extricate the plant from the ground. The roots went deep and seemed to wrap around rocks and other plants. The remains of a dead woodland creature apparently strangled by the roots of the plant came up with it.

29 October 2023

“Oh,” Harmony intelligently replied as she tried to shake the red goop off her hands. She guessed it was only natural to expect shenanigans when sticking a bunch of magical children in one space. Being Hufflepuff was probably a blessing, as she dreaded to think what sort of craziness would go down in a common room of “prideful” and “brave” children with “daring, nerve, and chivalry”.

Harmony hauled another weed out of the ground, a sizeable chunk of hard dirt also coming up with the roots, as Alyssea looked up at the darkening sky and pulled one more weed, saying something about broom racing. Interesting. Harmony didn’t know about that sport, but then again, she didn’t really like sport at all, did she?
“That sounds interesting!” Is what she said instead. “Have fun!” She looked at the bag, still between the two girls, and reached out to drag it closer to her. “I’ll take the bag back, thank you!”
She waved a gloved hand and turned back to look at the clump of weeds which, although significantly smaller, was still stinking greatly all over the place. Fortunately for her nostrils, the sky was darkening and it was time for Harmony to head back to the castle. There would still be students coming to garden in the coming days, and that was precisely why Harmony chose this day to give the weeds a pull. With that, Harmony picked up the bag, its opening clenched tight in an attempt to prevent stinkage, and headed off to dispose of the day’s weeds.

Interacting with: @Alyssea Brown