[herbology] an old man knows how a year it goes [all years]

30th March 2004
greenhouses

"Euch, hurry it up, @Neville Longbottom, I see the first laddies coming down the hill." Bancroft pulled his head back from the greenhouse screen door, looking over his shoulder. "The kiddies will be rough enough with those plants, no sense in starting them gently. Put 'em down, I say!" 

He still wasn't sure why Nazreen had taken the week after the conference off from work, instead of the week prior, but it was still delightful to be back in the Hogwarts greenhouses. They had hardly changed from when he was a boy -- it anything they were more crowded now, with plants he had started when he taught here, and then Pomona had started, and now Nazreen had, growing over each other to reach the light.

His mind wandered as the students rushed in. Bancroft ruffled the hair of some younger relations as they allowed him, giving them a clap on the shoulder to send them to their seats. There were almost as many students now as there were when he had been young and teaching at Hogwarts. Almost. Another ten years and perhaps the Hogwarts halls would be as full as they once were, with the babies of those who had missed both wars. It was lovely and haunting to think of, all at the same time.

There seemed to be no more students coming from the hill. Bancroft caught Neville's eyes, giving him a sharp nod. And they were off.

"Right, listen up, ye terrors! I am yer substitute for the remainder of the week, Professor Bancroft. I earned my professorship afore even the eldest of you were notions in yer parents heads, and you will pay both me and Mister Longbottom as much respect as you would give your own fathers." He flicked his wand -- behind him, a flurry of vines twisted into BANCROFT AND LONGBOTTOM, in case the students forgot. "In return, there will be no lectures, no quizzes, and no wastes of your time." Behind his beard, he cracked a wry grin.

"Today's task is right simple. In pairs --" he surveyed the room, trying to count heads quickly "-- and perhaps one group of three, you will be finding as many differences between two plants as you can in the hour and a half. You will have all the faculties of any notes, spells, and knowledge in yer heads to puzzle it out. The pairs what find the most differences will be winning that many house points." Bancroft flicked his wrist again, and the charmed carts Neville had been arranging rolled forward. "Each pair has at least ten differences atwixt them. If you struggle, you may flag down myself or Mister Longbottom for hints and clues, at the expense of a half point from your total." The students stared at him. Bancroft shrugged. This had always been a successful class in his day.

He rubbed his hands together.  "Pair up 'n take a pair, off you go," Bancroft said, sharp as a whip. "Young ones here, OWL students take one of each of these, and NEWT students, these ones." He and Neville spent the next five minutes or so passing out potted plants to the students.

When they were done, Bancroft gave Neville a side-long look. "Maybe you start with the wee ones," he said, pointing in the direction of where he saw his great-nephew sitting with a gaggle of twelve-year-olds. "Tell them the differences between stems and leaf laterals, petals and leaves. The simple things."


OOC Notes:
additional house points will be awarded for asking questions of Bancroft and Neville, for earnest attempts to differentiate the plants, frankly if you post and I get the vibe your character is trying,
if you think your character is one who would reasonable find ALL differences just make a note in the bottom of ur post.
is this class a naked attempt to help all y'all make ur fpp point dreams come true? maybe so
class will CLOSE PROMPTLY on July 10th(ish) 2021 to give y'all time to post individual closers if you so choose before July 15th

I don't care if your student works with a player character or an npc but if they attempt to work alone Bancroft WILL come and give them grief, which, like, if thats fun for u, go for it
also age brackets are roughly, 1-3rd in the young baby ones(flowering plants), 4-5 in OWL(tree saplings), 6-7 in NEWTs (succulents/vines/root veg) but like Whatever
in my head one plant is a normal plant and another is a magical analog but like, we're here to make up lore. Have Fun, pm or Skype me if you want ideas.

take chances, make mistakes, get messy!
ty to Hogwarts admin @Olivia for letting this happen and to @Nazreen Ajay for getting the date of the herbology conference wrong,


EDIT: plant pair ideas!

flowing plants:
bastard toadflax and moly,
sand crocus and moly,
lavender and moondew
dittany and hop marjoram (I know that technically these are the same we all calling magic dittany a Different Plant)
asphodel and Any Other Lily

vines:
flitterbloom and Kenya Hyacinth

trees:

exotics:
sundew and fanged geranium
gillyweed and pistia/water cabbage

Neville took a deep breath before stepping into the greenhouse. He hadn't been back since—

Well, since longer than he cared to admit.

The setup process was as messy as to be expected with him and Bancroft at the helm, but Neville was enjoying every minute of it. He'd been busy whispering to some of the Knotgrass saplings, his fingertips dancing over the stalks soothingly, when a voice from the door startled him. "Nearly ready!" He called out as if Bancroft might be able to stop the procession of students. He shifted one last pot on the side table and straightened out his vest just as the first pupil arrived.

Neville told himself he wasn't nervous. It was just a school. And the kids were— well, bloody children. He figured that if he told himself enough times that he'd moved past whatever mental block Hogwarts held on him that it might actually come to fruition.

"Hello," His voice cracked when Bancroft gestured to him in front of the greenhouse that had miraculously filled up. His mentor, it seemed, easily tapped into his historied career with a confidence that was far from surprising. The old man had a sort of magic about him that had nothing to do with actual magic. Neville, on the other hand, dropped one of the muggle plants at his first opportunity, the vase breaking into a beautiful pool of clay at his feet.

Thankfully they packed plenty of spares.

"Yes, hi, hello," Neville picked up his step heading for the first student that caught his eye with their question glistening.

Professor Ajay was one of his favorite professors but, personally, Bren was just as thrilled to have his great-uncle substitute-teaching Herbology for the week. The wizard had done and seen so much in his life so far, and Bren loved to hear about all of it whenever there was a Bonaccord gathering. Growing up on Guernsey, next-door to Alderney with its expansive wildlife reserve, Bren shared his great-uncle’s fondness for nature; one of the reasons he’d signed up to be a part of M.O.O. (and was so looking forward to meeting Io’s calf, whenever he or she decided to arrive).

The Slytherin quickened his pace slightly as he began to descend the hill towards the Greenhouses.
He was one of the earliest through the door, and had his hair ruffled by the elder wizard as he made his way towards an empty spot on the bench; generally speaking the Second Year wasn’t overly fond of being touched, but affection from family members (especially those he wished to emulate in some form) was an exception. Bren grinned at his great-uncle, and said hello to both him and the younger man with him. Not wanting to disappoint the elderly wizard, Bren chose a seat at a bench towards the front of the room. Shelby joined him shortly thereafter, and they passed the next few minutes trying to work out if Io would calve before the Easter holidays.

Bren was properly attentive when the familiar gruff voice addressed the chatter; and when his great-uncle introduced the other man with him, the thirteen-year-old’s jaw hit the floor. The Neville Longbottom? Bren was in awe – he’d never been this close to one of the war heroes (that wasn’t a professor), at least not that he was aware. Once he’d been deemed ‘old enough’ to be told about the Second Wizarding War (he was only seven when it ended, after all), Bren had done some reading (and asked lots of questions) to learn more.
He turned to tell Shelby exactly this, but his great-uncle was still giving instructions so he kept quiet for the moment. Bren’s choice of seating had placed them closest to the selection of flowering plants designated for the underclassmen. As he perused the flowering plants designated for the underclassmen, his gaze landed on one particular pairing and he felt a shock of recognition: bastard toadflax! It wasn’t a new blaspheme, but rather a species found on Alderney’s Longis Wildlife Reserve.

He turned to Shelby, bright with excitement. “I recognize that one,” he told her, pointing to the non-magical plant. “I’ve seen it on one of the wildlife reserves back home.” With the Ravenclaw’s approval, he stepped forward to pick up the familiar plant as Shelby secured its paired fellow, and they carried their new charges back to the bench.

“Right, so, this is bastard toadflax,” he began once they’d sat down, grinning goofily as he said the name like the teenage boy he was. “Official name is… Comandra… umbr— no, umbellata, I think. Bit uncommon, really…” He trailed off thoughtfully, then glanced back up at his partner and continued, interpreting her expression as one of puzzlement and subsequently feeling the need to explain why he knew so much about such an otherwise-seemingly-obscure plant: “There are pictures and descriptions of all the unique or rare plants throughout the trails so you can keep an eye out for them as you walk.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Great-uncle Benedick point Mr. Longbottom in their general direction; he leaned in closer to the toadflax, wanting to make it clear that he was interested in the lesson.
“D’you… recognize the one you have, Shelby?”


happy fossday Fosse!! <333

Wini found herself smiling at the older gentleman as he started class, his mannerisms endearing. He reminded her so much of her grandfather and she tried not to let the pang of her family sort of estrangement cloud over her otherwise good day so far. She had even done the whole 'be nice to a stranger, karma' thing she'd been focused on lately and the reward of it had come sooner than expected

After leaving Charms late because she had a question for Professor Flitwick after class, she was hurrying toward Herbology. She knew Marin was probably already there and Lip wouldn't have waited for her. With her bag bumping along at her side, she was almost to the greenhouses when she noticed something drop to the ground from the person in front of her. It was instinct to pick it up and call out friendly a "hey!" to get their attention, but then she realized who it was and she almost regretted it. Andy Lovecraft.

He had been a right git to her years ago and she might have forgiven him if it was just her, but she certainly remembered a few times where he had picked on Marin too so it was easy not all was forgiven on that front. And while he hadn't done anything mean lately, she was still wary. Even if he did have great hair. For Wini, that meant she only gave him the smallest of smiles before she held up the parchment he had dropped, her eyes running over it out of habit, before she gave it back to him. "You dropped this," she said as they entered the greenhouse together. She was a little dismayed to realize the last two seats open meant that she had to sit next to him and even more dismayed to find Marin and Darcy already sitting together. What was it with those two.

As the substitute professor explained their task today, Wini glanced over at the plants he had directed toward the NEWT level students, something nagging at her. And it wasn't just because it was Neville Longbottom acting as assistant professor today. She knew he had looked familiar, but now she remembered for sure. One of Michael Corner's friends.

As usual, she couldn't keep it in for long so when the professor freed them up to start work, she turned to Andy, that parchment she had glanced at still on her mind. "You should add more about why you want to apprentice, not just a list of your achievements," she found herself saying as she looked over at him. She nodded towards the parchment where she had seen what looked like an application to a broom manufacturing apprenticeship. She had applied to so many places just in case the Mediwizard path didn't work out for her so the application process was so familiar by now and after seeing what Andy had written, she couldn't keep quiet.

Why she was offering to help him after how terrible he had been to her and her friends was beyond her. But whatever. "I mean in your application," she explained as she pulled a smushed roll of parchment from her messy bag. "I think they like to see more of your personality and who you are. Just an idea," she added.

It wasn't Professor Ajay at the front of the room.

Shelby stopped for a moment at the door, frowning at the two men in front of the whiteboard. She had known, of course, Professor Ajay had given them all a warning that there would be a substitute, but it was still jarring to see the difference. Shelby didn't want class to be different. She like her routines, such that she had them. Walk into Herbology, say "hello" to Professor Ajay, and go sit with the other second years in one of three stools she liked. She rotated through them, so they wouldn't think she had favourites.

She mumbled a hello to the wizened old man, ducked her head as she scooted past him and the younger fellow. Bren was sitting in one of the Good seats. Shelby frowned for a moment before sitting in the other Good seat next to him. "Hi", she whispered, giving his hand a small squeeze. They were boyfriend-girlfriend, so not only was it okay to touch him casually, wasn't it kind of required?

They chatted about Io for a few minutes – yes, she was still heavily pregnant and overdue, no she hadn't calved before lunch, ugh would she ever! – while the rest of the class trickled in. She gave Tomie et al a little wave as they passed her and Bren.

Bren's mouth was hanging open. Shelby squinted at the vine lettering – was she supposed to know these people? Bren looked like he was about to fill her in, but the Oldman kept talking with an accent she couldn't place. Scottish? French? North English? Old, she settled on. His accent was Old Man accent.

Shelby formed her mouth into a little 'o' when Bren noticed a familiar plant. "Let's do that pair, then," she agreed, slipping off her stool. The pair handed to her wasn't all that much like the one in Bren's arms. Shelby looked over at the OWL plants. Maybe if they finished early they could try a harder one.

Shelby listened to Bren attentively, writing down the coarse common name and the prettier Latin name. "Umbellata," she repeated. It was very pretty. "It sounds like a lovely walk. I wish we had a guidebook."

Bren asked her a question – she peered down into the white flowers. "Um, it grows on the grounds, I think?" Shelby dug her textbook out, but didn't open it quite yet. She jumped a little when she heard Neville behind her. Bren must have called him over. "Oh!" Shelby twisted round in her seat, looking up at Neville. "Um. This is moly, isn't it?" She bit her lip – if Neville told her she was wrong she rather felt like she would cry. "Because, um, the black stem, which is different from the other one." She frowned. "Is it safe to touch?"

Professor Ajay was nice enough, but this guy seemed absolute bonkers. And Jae loved it.

He sat towards the back of the class, arms crossed in from of him as he leaned back in his chair and flicked his gaze between the older professor and his younger assistant. His eyes caught on the vines twisting into their names and his brow furrowed. The names seemed so familiar but he couldn't quite dredge up the memory of how he knew them. The fifth year was well aware it would bother him throughout the whole lesson if he couldn't remember it.

But still he glanced at the person beside him and asked "Wanna pair up?" before walking over to grab the pair of tree sapling pots that were linked together and pushed them back on the worktable. Jae didn't particularly care who he was paired up with considering he didn't really have an interest in this class.

He flipped open his text book, flipping through the pages until he found the tree sapling area and then pointed to an illustration on the page. "I think this one," he said nodding toward the regular tree sapling, "is an ordinary maple but this one might be the.. Higginsbloom Maple." He read it out of the book then shrugged. The leaves looked the same. "I think the bark is used in potions," he added as he read over the passage in the text book as a refresher.

(( Feel free to partner up with Jae if you need someone. And yes I made up the Higginsbloom Maple so let's make crap up together c; ))

JR wasn't sure why Professor Ajay wasn't here for this class, but this substitute professor and his large ears seemed.. odd, to say it nicely. But at least there weren't any pop quizzes and the task at hand seemed relatively easy. Plus, he got to work with partners. As soon as the professor mentioned teaming up, his eyes slid to @Tomie Vos sitting next to him, his lips turned up in a smirk at the silent telepathetic pact he made with Tomie to be partners.

So when Bancroft motioned over to the plants for each year, JR considered getting one of the more challenging plants just to prove he could, but dismissed that after a second. Herbology wasn't exactly his strong suit and he wanted to show off that he could pick out differences to his new girlfriend. How hard could it be.

Well. That's what he thought. Now he was staring at the two plants, blinking as he tried to sort out any differences and wondering if they had mixed up the pots and given them two of the same exact ones. His gaze flicked to Tomie for a second before he grabbed his textbook. "Didn't we cover this one earlier in the year? Moonroot or something?"

It did not matter to Andronicus, who was teaching herbology; he was sure he would be terrible at it either way. Six years he had been toiling away in Greenhouse #3, and still, Andy could barely manage to repot a mandrake. Of course, he had done well enough to keep going, but only because his mum would have killed him if he did not. And Jacqueline helped a lot too when Andy could manage to focus on what she was saying rather than how her lips moved when she spoke. So, when the professor informed them of her upcoming absence, Andy filed that information with all the other things he did not need to focus on. Then, Andy walked into the greenhouse with a confused look as he spotted the older man and the younger wizard.

And the confusion grew as Winifred Gwartney handed him a sheet of parchment, and he realized his bookbag had been hanging open and half sideways over his shoulder. Crap, what else had fallen out? Andy peered behind her toward the path back, but it was too late to leave. More students filed in, and Andy felt ushered toward the worktables by the flow of traffic. “Thanks,” he said softly, folding the parchment over but hanging onto it. He could not lose this again. Turning toward the tables, Andronicus realized at the same time as Winifred that there were only two seats left. Crap, again. Wini was on the very long list of people Andy still needed to apologize to, but he hadn’t been planning on checking her name off of the list today.

Fate had better plans, though, it seemed, and silently the reformed bully slid into one of the two remaining seats. The older man gave them the freedom to work in teams and without a ton of oversight, and Andronicus was thankful for that. He moved to pull his bookbag from the ground, fixing pages that were hanging out and half a sandwich he’d forgotten about when Winifred mentioned his applications. “What? Oh, uh, yeah,” He stuttered; it took longer to wrap his mind around her genuine tone than the subject of her words. “Isn’t that what the interview is for, though?” Andronicus asked, finding this pathway to apologizing much easier than what he had half mapped out in his head. He’d rather not start the conversation with ‘So hey, I’m sorry I terrorized you and the Head Boy when we were kids, that was wrong of me.’

“I mean, assuming I get the interview….” Andy spoke again, a slight smile lighting up his face and pushing his dimples. They were supposed to be looking at plants now, and Andy moved back out of his chair but waited for Winifred because he wanted to keep this conversation going.

Substitute professors? As in, two of them? Pixie grinned, though her expectations were halfway between delight and disappointment. Sure, the old guy looked like he was barking mad and that was sure to be good fun, but Longbottom...the name was familiar, though she couldn't remember why exactly. He'd been at school with some of her older cousins, she thought. Maybe he'd been a Gryffindor?

Pixie was so deep in thought the voice beside her took her by surprise. "Oh...sure...I mean, yeah, that'd be great" she said before even registering who she was talking to. She turned her head and nodded at the Hufflepuff as he went to fetch a pair of plants, taking the opportunity to get her own textbook out of her bag and look as if she knew what she was doing. Herbology was an okay class, but not one of her strong points. She opened her book at random and stared at the tree saplings as if inspiration would suddenly strike. Thankfully Jae seemed to figure out a starting point, and she went with it, craning her neck to see which page of the book he was reading and opening hers as well.

"Yeah, looks like it. Wait, isn't that the one with the weird roots? You know, the ones that grow in a purple corkscrew...you can only uproot them by magic..." she trained off, picking up the pot and looking underneath as if somehow she would be able to see the roots through the base. They'd covered that in a lesson last autumn, Professor Ajay had talked about the troubles muggles had trying to uproot a grove of the trees when they'd wanted to build a new road. In the end they'd had to abandon the idea, and Pixie had found that interesting enough she'd actually remembered it.

Of course, short of pulling the sapling out of the pot they had no idea of telling whether she was right or not, and she had an idea that might be frowned upon.

[OOC: @Jae Kim made-up cr*p forthcoming as requested! Hope this is okay ]

The kids that had summoned him— or had Bancroft directed him (he couldn't remember)— seemed younger than he remembered ever being. Had he looked that age when he was, well, that age? The question hit him like a brick wall, making him feel than he had in some time. On the one hand, he still felt like that kid in Herbology class, and on the other, everything had changed.

"That's right," Neville said gently, though encouragingly, to the young witch who had been visibly apprehensive about her instincts. He could relate to that. even still. He ventured around their table to stand in front of them, leaning forward to inspect both of the plants they were meant to be differentiating. The witch had noticed the obvious traits, but there was still so much to see.

"It's safe to touch," He smiled to himself, humming a little thought happily. "In fact, they quite react to it," He ran his fingertips over one of the stalks that seemed to wiggle in return, coming to life. "Only some places though—" He corrected the boy who had started to lean forward. If he had touched anywhere near the roots the plant wouldn't have had such a favorable reaction.

"Have a go with these," He collected two plants in the next level and placed them on the table. "Good work," He added, nodding to the witch in quiet appreciation before glancing around the room again.

His heart had done a weird sort of flutter when she’d squeezed his hand – it had been a vaguely uncomfortable sensation, but also sort of nice at the same time. He didn’t quite know how to describe it. Bren had no clue whatsoever as to how to go about this whole ‘boyfriend-girlfriend’ thing, so he’d mostly been following her lead; fortunately she was a good leader in general, so how hard could it be?

“It sounds like a lovely walk. I wish we had a guidebook.”

“It really is,” he nodded enthusiastically. “I can bring one back from the visitor center next time I’m home?”
Part of him felt like he should have offered something further than that, something more… ‘boyfriend-y’ – but Professor Longbottom was getting closer to their bench, so Bren swallowed his words for the moment.

He shifted in his seat, mildly anxious about being observed, and tried hard to focus on Shelby. He nodded along as she answered; ‘Moly’ did sound familiar, now that she mentioned it…

Brendan beamed at his girlfriend (he still had trouble wrapping his brain around the change in label of their relationship) when Professor Longbottom praised her.
“Nice one!” He’d started to mouth it silently, but ended up mostly whispering it.

“Oh, cool,” he breathed as the plant wriggled happily at Professor Longbottom’s touch. Feeling emboldened by the reassurance, Bren moved to mimic his gesture – but recoiled slightly when he was gently corrected. “Sorry,” he murmured, looking and feeling abashed.

He nodded obediently as a new pair of plants appeared before them. For a moment, though, he stared at them without really seeing them: his brain had jumped back to Shelby’s mention of the guidebook, now that two new plants had made an appearance, and what a better thing to say would have been. They were in the middle of a lesson, but he was worried that if he didn’t say anything now then he might forget later, and then it might sound terribly silly out of context. And he liked Shelby, he really did…

After a quick glance upward to note that Professor Longbottom’s attention was elsewhere (at least for a brief moment), he leaned in slightly to whisper to Shelby.
“Also, um, about the guidebook… I can bring one for you, like I said… or maybe we could go on the walk together sometime? If you want?” He added the second question hurriedly, unsure of himself at the last second.

"Page 137," Jae murmured as he noticed her peering over at his textbook as he pulled a new sheet of parchment from his bag and titled it with the two different plants they were studying before glancing back at the tree saplings. At her suggestion, Jae leaned closer to the Higginsbloom, trying to identify the color of the roots, but no luck. "Hmm, I think that's right," he ventured as he pulled his text closer and flipped to the next page to see if there were any more confirming details, but the text went on to another sapling. Great help that was.

"Well, we can at least put that down as a difference to start off," he said as he grabbed a quill and started writing. He wondered as he was halfway through if she would want to write some of them down or he would be fine with him acting as scribe. Considering what she had mentioned all those months ago in History, he wasn't going to ask to bring it up. He jotted down the first note about the purple corkscrew roots.

"Actually, we'll probably have to confirm that, right?" he asked after another beat. He didn't care about Herbology, but he didn't want to look like an idiot and submit a paper with all wrong answers. Jae glanced at Pixie, "do you remember what the spell was to uproot them? I'm not sure if I have my notes on me from that class."

(( Let me know if you need more to reply to Carys <33 ))

She gave Andy a shake of her head even though a part of her was still reluctant to help him at all. She still remembered how upset Marin had been one day after a run in with him years and years ago, but the Hufflepuff instincts to help took over. And maybe it was nice to show that she knew more about something than he did. Even if it was a small thing, it was something.

"Well yes, but I'm sure there are tons of people applying for the.." she peered over at the parchment on the table, smoothing out the top so that she could see the title. "..Kingsley Inc Broom Crafting. You have to stand out in the application to even get to the interview," she told him, spouting off some of the knowledge she had gained over the past two years as she prepared for the working world that would soon be upon them after graduating. Sure, she was still very nervous about passing her Potions NEWT that she needed for healer requirements, but she had at least made a lot of headway when it came to career exploration and getting inside information. She had owled countless people, asking for advice and how their careers had started, and what they recommended she do as a budding healer-wannabe and most of it, like right now, had turned out to be useful in one way or another.

The blonde stood up with him, noticing his dimples as she walked by him, and wondering if she'd ever seen him smile before. Weird. She moved to the plants and grabbed one of the pairs, lifting the pot up so she could take a closer look, the tentacles swaying gently, trying to identify it before she nodded at the other. "Grab that one?" she asked before heading back to their worktable.

With a doubting look at the professor, she glanced back at Andy. "He wouldn't give us Devil's Snare.. would he?" she asked quietly. That would be crazy, right? Then again, as cute as the old man was, he didn't look like someone who had all their marbles either.

"Okay..." Pixie turned to the relevant page of her own book and studied the picture, having first glanced at the words and decided that digging through her bag for her coloured glasses was to much effort. She pulled out her own piece of parchment and began sketching a large diagram of the sapling, something like a cross-section so the roots and internal workings of the plant were revealed. She wrote 'purpel roots' and an arrow pointing to the relevant part of the diagram, then glanced across at Jae's notes.

"Professor Ajay lets me do diagrams" she said quietly by means of explanation in case he wondered why she was doing her notes that way, and then frowned thoughtfully. She hadn't got her notes either, Pixie preferred to bring the bare minimum of equipment to her classes, and that certainly didn't include something she'd written down several months earlier. "The incantation's something like Radicus tollo, and you do a corkscrew movement with your wand in the opposite direction to how the roots grow" she said, demonstrating vaguely as she spoke "only, I can't remember which way they grow, and if we do it the wrong way they'll probably break which won't be much good" It would probably also fail them the lesson "Maybe we should just find the other differences first? Doesn't it have a weird smell if you squeeze the leaves?"

Luckily the younger of the two substitutes happened to be passing near to their table at that moment, and before Pixie could think better of it she asked "Um, Professor? Which way do Higginsbloom Maple roots grow? We figured we ought to check them before we wrote that difference down, but..." she tailed off vaguely, feeling somewhat foolish.

That's right, said the younger of the two substitutes ('Longbottom', the twisted vines at the front of the room proclaimed – where had she heard that name before?) as he leaned across the table, peering at them with what Shelby thought were kind eyes. The attention was more... focused, than Professor Ajay, gentle but intense on her. Shelby ducked her head, watching Neville's finger curl along the length of the stem instead. Bren whispered a compliment at her, and Shelby felt a flush spread across her cheeks. She smiled back at the boy, small, almost hiding behind her long hair.

Bren reached out to mimic, but was shooed back. Shelby frowned. "Which places, then?" She wondered out loud, her own hand reaching out and touching the same part of the stem tentatively. Neville had touched it there, so that must be okay, right? She spooked anyway, pulled her hand back when it began to curl around her finger as her eyes went wide as moons.

The new plants were a surprise – Shelby was good at most subjects, yes, but her tendency to complete work earlier usually lead to half hours of revising her initial answers, or doodling star charts in the corner of her parchment. Not increased challenge. She looked up, eyes still wide and a touched panicked, but Neville was already wandering away. "Oh, we should do these, then," she said, looking down at the new set of planters. Wasn't this from the OWL student one?

She opened her mouth to say what it was (Flitterbloom, I think,) but Bren was talking again. Oh, yes, the guidebook! She had mentioned that, hadn't she? And Bren had already offered a walk? That sounded lovely. "That sounds lovely," she said out loud, then, in case that wasn't enough of a answer, added on "I would like that, the book and the walk. Over the Easter Break? Or would it be too cold still?" There, that made it sound more concrete. Being boyfriend-girlfriend was easy, Shelby thought.

The girl ducked her head down again, tucking an errant lock of hair behind her ear. "Um, this one is Flitterbloom, and..." Shelby shook her head. "I don't know this one, but it's certainly different, right?"