Errand Good Morning Garden

@Boniface Murtagh MacTavish

Teiki, surprisingly, enjoyed cool, crisp mornings. With very few people awake at this hour, she left her hair to be a mess. Quickly prepping, she left the Hufflepuff house, making sure she woke no one else up. The warm coziness of the Hufflepuff likely didn't help her wake up, but the confusing stairs did help with making sure she was at least a tiny bit awake. At least it was only a difference of one floor. When she went outside, she realized that she had been unprepared for how cold mornings would be. So she was finally awake, but with sluggish movement, and slight energy. By the time she had made it down to the greenhouses, though, she was already energetic and full of energy. Amazing how quickly it could all change with one walk. She offered a quick wave and a smile to the professor, before walking over to the garden.

The garden reminded herself of Grasse, with the different lovely aromas that mixed in the air, a small breeze allowing the scents to waft. Glancing around the garden, she tried to recall any of the names she might've remembered from the small lessons her mother had given her. The Rosemary stood out to her, although she remembered it was known for its hard stem, and decided that she was too awkward to try and find a pair of scissors. So, she decided to harvest bundles of thyme.

She had always thought that thyme had been an odd name for a plant. So, when she was younger, she had asked her parents what it meant. She enjoyed the idea that everything had a deeper meaning, and would look for these meanings constantly. "Thyme," if she remembered correctly, was Greek. It meant bravery, or something similar. How odd that such a small plant could be considered bravery.

The thyme was relatively easy to pick. The 12-inch plant had managed to find itself where it could easily get sunlight. She tried not the rustle the plant too much, plucking the top few inches. Its scent was nice, although it seemed to have a softer scent compared to all the flowers and herbs that had grown in Grasse. But those plants were meant for perfume, while these plants were, well, she assumed they weren't being used for perfume. She wasn't entirely sure what they would be used for.

She had noticed the errand and had decided to sign up, noticing the rewards. Chocolate frogs? She had yet to collect any, but they seemed to have a large collection of cards that could easily be traded for others. The entire concept went a little above her head, but she did enjoy collecting things. And the house points would also be useful, as she wanted Hufflepuff to be able to win. She enjoyed the competitive spirit that came with being able to win by completing homework, errands, etc. So, of course she would join. And hopefully plenty of other Hufflepuffs as well. Of course, all other houses were competitive as well, she had already seen the Ravenclaws' victorious streak, before the Gryffindors decided to win it back. But hopefully the badgers would band together to win a month as well.

She glanced down at her hands, realizing that they had done the repetitious motion while she had been in her own dream space. One fist was filled with sprigs of thyme, while the other had also started to drop sprigs while cutting more off of the plant. She grabbed them off the ground, making sure to try and keep the dirt of the sprigs and herself. She checked the plant to confirm that she had only taken the top few inches, and that the plant still appeared healthy. The inspection done and her hands full, she went inside to the greenhouse to tie up the sprigs of thyme which she had collected.

The greenhouse was considerable warmer than outside, and she knew that in order to air-dry herbs quickly, it needed to be warm. She wasn't sure if the air needed to be damp or dry, but she assumed dry because of the name itself. She quickly found the work area that was set up for drying herbs and lightly set down her sprigs.

The process itself wasn't hard. Making small bundles that were all a similar height, she would tie the ends together using the string. She made sure to wrap the string around the base of the sprigs repeatedly before tying off the end. It was quick and easy, and the scent comforted her. It also calmed her down a bit. Was that a property of thyme? Teiki hadn't remembered anything saying that, and she felt that her calmness had probably arose from the idea that it smelled like home with the fields.

She noticed a few bundles had already been made, students having probably already come in to complete the errand that promised them house points and chocolate frogs. Maybe some of them had decided not to, noticing that there was no prize money for this particular errand. Money was always a valuable thing in anyone's lives, although Teiki also enjoyed the idea of getting house points and chocolate from working in the garden.

Teiki's collection of sprigs had now formed themselves into six medium-sized bundles. She debated looking for some patterns within the bundles, but she decided that she should probably do that in her free time. She glanced back down at her thyme bundles, unsure how to continue. Was she supposed to hang them up? Probably, after all that was how air drying worked, right? She had given each bundle more string at the end, so they could be hung up if that was needed. Thinking about it, she realized that the bundles would make an interesting decoration for the Plant Palace Hufflepuff dorm room. But that wasn't what the bundles were needed for. She glanced around for signs of anyone else within the greenhouse.

Glancing back over at the other bundles, she mentally face-palmed. The other bundles were off to the side, but they were resting on the table. She placed her bundles near theirs, clearing off the work area, so that the next student could tie their sprigs together.

"Thank you, Professor! I finished. Have a good day." She called out, before leaving the greenhouses.

Word count: 1058