June 1st - June 19th
It's almost summer! The last few weeks of school have come, and students will need to study hard for their final exams! Don't let up yet, or your grades won't be what you want them to. Of course, the weather is almost perfect and pristine, in attempts to lure students away from their studies.
Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Excitement pertaining to the Hallowe'en Masque was electrifying the atmosphere at Hogwarts. It could especially be felt in Kaniliel's greenhouses, for she was one of the most excited about the event. She would be going on her first official date in ages, and she would be needing all the help she could get her hands on.
Today was going to be a special class for her fifth years. They were definitely old enough to work with the more advanced materials, but still too young to do official research which she reserved for her NEWT level students. This class, however, could easily be considered the most fun since the students got to study and actually care for the more exotic (and dangerous) species.
When her students had taken their seats, Kaniliel began her class. "Good afternoon! Today should be fun, because I'll be introducing you to a new plant that isn't mentioned much in most textbooks. No one need worry, this one doesn't bite, or spit venom, or squirt out vile-smelling pus. This particular plant should be a favourite amongst you actually, because it sings."
Kaniliel enjoyed emphasizing certain words in her lectures, in attempt to spice up the lesson by adding suspense. "No one really knows how it came to be. It's obviously a magical breeding of some sort, but the question that still remains today is which wizard was actually responsible for it. This plant has been around for centuries, and there are no records explaining its proverbial roots and exact history. But what is known for sure is that it was first found in France, in the coastal Aquitaine region. It was also found in large clusters in Switzerland, where the species found there had been distinctively influenced by yodelers."
Kaniliel stifled a giggle. Just the thought of a yodeling blossom always brought a very large smile to her face. "The species we'll be working with today won't yodel though. They're called the Iris Musicalis, and were raised here in England, same as their direct ancestry going back a good number of decades ago. I would also like to tell you that these plants enjoy to be encouraged and praised for their singing, even if they're awful at it. Because that's the strange thing with this particular family of Iris, some are extremely talented singers, and others are just simply dreadful. These god-awful singers should be encouraged especially, or else they wilt and die. I will award five points to each student if they come to me at the end of class with a live Iris Musicalis, though I won't deduct any even if you end up killing yours."
With a flick of her wand, Kaniliel summoned a trolley covered by a large blanket. She uncovered it, revealing the many Iris Musicalis that stretched out when they came into contact with the light. Some warmed up their voices, others coughed awkwardly. Some blossoms were white, others blue, and some were even a beautiful shade of violet with yellow speckles. With another flick of her wand, Kaniliel sent them flying at random desks in front of each student, keeping one for herself. It was the weakest looking one, almost sickly.
"You'll have to excuse me, but I'll be keeping this one. Not that I don't trust you with the care of my plants, quite on the contrary, but if this one doesn't get immediate attention, it'll wilt before the end of class."Edited by: Kaniliel Hymnwood at: 8/2/05 11:34 am
[OOC- Gotta compliment the cute idea! Singing plants! Love it!]
Alex entered the Greenhouses, a bit groggy and tired, as she always was during the first class of the day. It was a right pity that Herbology was her first subject, seeing as Professor Hymnwood made the class rather enjoyable and obviously but a lot of experience and enthusiasm into the class. But Alex couldn't help the fact that it took her a full two hours to wake up. Rolling out of bed, throwing her robes on and stumbling down to breakfast was hardly enough for her to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed by the time that class rolled around. It was simply not probable. Or even possible for that matter. Maybe if she made more of an effort to get up and showed during the morning as opposed to at night, she would be able to wake up a bit more, but then again that took more effort than Alex was willing to put out, so she would continue to function the way she had for the past four years and two months at Hogwarts.
Yet there was the nagging voice in her mind that told her midterms were in a month and a half. Which wasn't a comforting thought.
"Good afternoon! Today should be fun, because I'll be introducing you to a new plant that isn't mentioned much in most textbooks. No one need worry, this one doesn't bite, or spit venom, or squirt out vile-smelling pus. This particular plant should be a favourite amongst you actually, because it sings." Afternoon? Someone was far too awake. But wait, did she say a plant that would actually sing? Was she off her rocker? Alex knew that some plants were rather strange and different int he wizarding world than they were in the muggle world, but actually singing? Well, she should have expected it, now that she thought more about it. Plants could spit seeds, suck blood, shoot thorns at you, so why couldn't they sing? It just seemed to be a bit more of an odd trait. Not beneficial in any way unless you didn't want to invest in a self-playing piano or a radio or something.
Hymnwood continued to explain about France and Switzerland and yodeling, Alex catching only the main points for the moment as she stifled a yawn, covering her mouth in hopes that Hymnwood wouldn't see. She didn't want to make the Head of Gryffindor think that her class was boring. Alex was just simply tired. The world would have been a much more marvelous place if the morning started later in the day. As in eleven o'clock would be the earliest they had to wake up, classes starting at one. Yes, that would be much better. More of an opportunity to sleep, and then to revive and wake up. "I would also like to tell you that these plants enjoy to be encouraged and praised for their singing, even if they're awful at it. Because that's the strange thing with this particular family of Iris, some are extremely talented singers, and others are just simply dreadful. These god-awful singers should be encouraged especially, or else they wilt and die. I will award five points to each student if they come to me at the end of class with a live Iris Musicalis, though I won't deduct any even if you end up killing yours."
Oh bugger. Alex was tired and she would possibly have to encourage a plant that was a terrible singer or else it would die? That was plant cruelty. Putting the life of a poor innocent plant into Alex's hands when she wasn't even entirely awake. Well, maybe it would be time for her to wake up. Eyeing a watering canteen intriguingly, Alex debated about whether to pour the entire thing on her face or not in attempts to wake herself up. It could do the deed, yes, but would it be quite allowed? Before Alex could further contemplate this, potted plants were zooming all around the room landing on the students desks. With a soft thump, an Iris Musicalis landed on her desk, the violet blossoms looking rather healthy indeed. Well that was a bonus. That bonus, however, soared right out the window when the blossom quivered and sang in the highest, most painful note that Alex had ever heard, making her cringe and cover her ears. "Merlin!" Alex gasped, pushing her chair back away from the Iris.
This was not good. Upon hearing her gasp, the Iris's blossom slumped down in a pained manner, looking thoroughly insulted, and began to sing a ghastly mourning tune. "Oh!" Alex said in shock, realizing that her criticism had depleted the flower's heath. "Erm..." What exactly were you supposed to say to it? How did you encourage it? "Beautiful!" She said to the flower, scooting her chair closer. "Never heard a more lovely tune in my life!" This was going to be an interesting class...
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Devon was on a mission. He was on a mission and he was determined to accomplish it. And when Devon Singer was determined, one could be sure he would give it his all before he finally gave up and slunk away. He was not one to give up easily though, and slinking simply was not like him.
Of course, this situation was much different than the ones he'd faced before, but after a talk with Ashton, he knew he had to give it a try. Alex was still his best friend no matter what problems they were having, and Devon wasn't willing to give up on that friendship so easily. He got that Alex was angry and Ashton had give a reason as to why she was so angry with him (Devon wasn't sure he was ready to believe it yet) and he knew the only way to fix things was to apologize and try to mend things. But of course, the youngest Singer had never screwed up this bad before and he wasn't sure exactly what he should do and had spent many a night wondering what he could do to get Alex to forgive him. He was aware that she may not forgive him right away and he would really have to try hard, but he was willing to do so if it meant he could perhaps salvage their friendship.
"Good afternoon! Today should be fun, because I'll be introducing you to a new plant that isn't mentioned much in most textbooks. No one need worry, this one doesn't bite, or spit venom, or squirt out vile-smelling pus. This particular plant should be a favourite amongst you actually, because it sings."
Devon found himself only mildly paying attention as he glanced over to where Alex was sitting. He knew that if he sat down next to her at the beginning of class, she would snap at him and move away, but once the class began, he would be able to corner her. That wouldn't stop her from snappning at him, but at least there was a chance of her hearing him out. Devon had decided that bringing up the possibility of her having feelings for him was a bad idea and decided not to say anything about that, but he could apologize profusely and/or get on his hands and knees and beg for forgiveness. Devon was not above doing so and he was fully willing to do so. He didn't have as much pride or dignity as others of the male species did and really didn't mind degrading himself, even in front of an entire classroom. Devon could have cared less about what everyone else though as long as Alex forgave him. Or considered forgiving him.
Professor Hymnwood continued talking and Devon caught about half of what she said. Finally, she let them loose and the Hufflepuff thought to himself quickly, Just compliment them... right. But his mind was hardly on the singing flowers. As soon as the class started shuffling around, Devon saw his chance and quickly slithered into the seat next to Alex with his iris in hand just as she began attempting to compliment her flower.
"Never heard a more lovely tune in my life!"
Devon snickered. "Yeah, me neither," he said, then hesitated, realizing that Alex would probably thinking about moving away just about now. "Look, Le-- Alex." Devon had started saying the nickname, but he remembered that Alex had only allowed him to call her that because they were friends. He wasn't sure how she'd react to it now. "I'm really sorry about what happened. It was stupid. I'm stupid. I wasn't thinking as usual and well..." Devon twitched a bit as his flower began singing a bit off key, but managed to remain smiling as he said, between gritted teeth. "Lovely! You're bloody brilliant. Amazing. Keep it up. You'll be able to take any of these other flowers easy," he said, and with that encouragement, the iris seemed to puff up and continued its singing. Meanwhile, Devon turned his attention back to Alex. "I know you're probably not going to forgive me easily, but I just... I don't want to not be friends with you, Alex," he was beginning to sound miserable about himself.
checkyourpockets
Edward "Ed" Tate
4th Year Ravenclaw Resident Wallflower
Jason Cromwell
5th Year Slytherin
Prefect/Slytherin Chaser Power-Hungry
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
"Bloody freezing weather," Jason coughed under his breath as his lung filled with chilled and frosty air. For some ridiculous reason the teachers and advisors thought it would be an excellent idea to have Herbology, one of the outside classes, not to mention one of the farthest away from the entrance hall, as the first class of the day on a very cold morning. With a shudder Jason took the last few steps down the path to the greenhouses. He cursed again with a cloud of white sputtering out of his shivering mouth. Upon reaching the glass buildings he wished for magical warmth within them. His hoping was quite right and as he stepped through the threshold into the warm room, Jason let out a sigh and enchanted his hands causing them to lose the numb feeling which allowed him to use them fully.
With a slight quirk of his head, Jason stared at the elated teacher as she explained the lesson plan for the morning. It was not very daunting, and Jason laughed at the thought of a horrible singer that was a plant, and not human. Sure he had put people down for being terrible at singing, but never a plant, but he was sure that it might be as simple. He looked around after the professor got into the Iris’ history about yodeling and such. Who bloody cares about yodeling flowers? he thought mockingly and saw a good looking girl eyeing a watering can. He was soon taken aback by the potted flower flying towards him. It was a shade of bright blue and did indeed resemble an Iris. The stem was long and green and healthy. The pedals were healthy as well and Jason thought that this would be simpler than he thought.
He heard the girl’s chair next to him squeal as she went reeling backwards, or at least that’s what he thought was the squeal. It seemed to come from the flower and he wondered how you would compliment singing so horrible. He laughed and as the flower had seemed to notice the girl’s dislike for its singing, it noticed his as well, and he laughed more seeing it shrivel. “Oh, I’m not laughing at you, beautiful,” he went on to compliment his ashamed flower as one of it’s pedals fell off, “You haven’t even shown me how good you are!” Jason knew a few things about charming and, although he tended to use his abilities on girls, he was now using the same ones on the bright flower in front of him.
As Jason figured, however, the flower began to sing, or shriek rather, like the other. He shot an annoyed look at the girl next to him, and hoped she noticed his, “Are all of these flowers this bad at singing,” but apparently they caught on to any look or whisper or sound of annoyance because the flower seemed now discouraged.
“Oh don’t be sad, you’re a great singer,” Jason lied looking suspicious to the flower. At that moment Jason thought to himself and wondered why he was conversing with this screaming plant. Some of the things, he had to admit, wizards did were quite ridiculous. The screaming continued and the boy bared with it. It was a wake-up call, at least, and Jason was now quite awake contrary to whatever he was feeling as he walked to class that morning.
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Kaniliel gave her dying plant a very precise amount of water and dragon dung before placing it in the incubator. She had previously put a miniature victrola in it, and tuned in a Mozart concerto. The plant hummed feebly, but seemed to enjoy the music greatly. Kaniliel stroked its leaves, and cooed gently.
"That's it, sweetheart. You'll always be my favourite."
The plant shivered with pleasure at the immense compliment, and seemed even to perk up slightly. Kaniliel then walked around the classroom, watching intently as her students struggled to encourage some plants that fell short of being awful. Some were actually horrendous screechers.
"Some of you might be wondering why I'm showing you plants that sing. Obviously, there can't be much use for a plant that simply sings, right?"
Kaniliel approached Alex Summerlin's plant and did so mainly because Devon was with her and wasn't paying all that much attention to the class. Alex's plant was particularly screechy and awful, and yet Kaniliel praised it as if it were the greatest prima donna to ever hit the European stage, showing it incredible amounts of affection and tenderness. The small blossom was so overwhelmed with happiness and pride that it spat out a small gold nugget.
"Behold," Kaniliel exclaimed, holding the tiny piece of gold up in the air for the class to see, "gold. The real thing. This was why the plant is so interesting, and I thought I'd share it with you. My theory is that the plants that bordered villages overheard the folksongs and tried reproducing them, looking for praise and worship as best they could. One day, someone fell upon a plant with a particularly gifted voice. The man was so impressed that it began praising the plant. Out of sheer joy, the plant spat out a nugget not unlike this one as a token of gratitude for her listener."
Kaniliel placed the nugget back down on Alex's work table and continued her round. "I would like to get a nugget back from everyone by the end of class. If you do not manage to get one, I will gladly accept a short and concise paragraph stating why you failed to retrieve a nugget and how you could succeed the next time."
Just as Kaniliel was about to go back to her struggling plant, she was hit by an afterthought. "Oh, and before I forget... if you want your plant's singing skills to improve, try singing an octave for it. Hopefully it'll follow your lead, and then it won't sing any worse than you can. Have fun!"
Fyora Occulo
5th Year Hufflepuff
Captain/Chaser
Quidditch Queen
Vaila Rosewood
5th Year Ravenclaw
Prefect
Hopelessly Devoted
Ariadne Fortuna
Death Eater
Revenge is Sweet
Posts: 363
(8/3/05 3:19 am) Reply
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Feeling brighter and more awake than she had done in a while, Vaila arrived in the Herbology classroom and was pleased to find she was one of the first students in attendance that morning. Taking her seat at the table she always shared with Matt and Tristan, she retrieved her gloves, wand, quill and parchment and placed them on the desk. Other students began to arrive shortly, but Vaila kept one eye on the door, waiting for her friends to arrive. Part of her, a very small part, often wished Matt wouldn't turn up to class one day - he was far too much of a distraction for the love-sick Ravenclaw! But then the tiny voice was always squashed by a much larger one, informing her that she'd far rather see him and talk to him than not. She sighed, desperately wishing for something, anything to happen soon to break the stalemate between them.
"Good afternoon! Today should be fun, because I'll be introducing you to a new plant that isn't mentioned much in most textbooks. No one need worry, this one doesn't bite, or spit venom, or squirt out vile-smelling pus. This particular plant should be a favourite amongst you actually, because it sings."
Vaila snapped out of her reverie at this point. Singing plants? This had the potential to be one of the most fun Herbology lessons she'd ever been in! A violet and yellow speckled variety of Iris Musicalis was soon winging its way over to her, and she was struggling with the urge to squeal in delight - they were so cute!
On landing, Vaila's plant raised its head slightly in preparation to sing. She smiled at it, waiting to hear its delicate tune, but all that she was greeted with was a small cough. The plant lowered its head again, looking defeated, and Vaila, panicking slightly, looked round the room. Was she the only one whose plant was unable to sing?
To her relief, several other people seemed to be having similar problems, and a couple of the plants were actually screeching. Following Professor Hymnwood's example, Vaila turned to her plant and began to gently talk to it.
"It's ok, there's no hurry," she said quietly, feeling slightly silly talking to a plant. "Don't worry, I'm not going to shout at you. Have another go." She stroked the plant's stem just below its head, where the voice box would be on a human. The plant raised its head slightly, uttered a single, slightly wobbly note, and lowered it again. Vaila sighed.
"I would like to get a nugget back from everyone by the end of class. If you do not manage to get one, I will gladly accept a short and concise paragraph stating why you failed to retrieve a nugget and how you could succeed the next time. Oh, and before I forget... if you want your plant's singing skills to improve, try singing an octave for it. Hopefully it'll follow your lead, and then it won't sing any worse than you can. Have fun!"
Fantastic, Vaila thought, looking at her still struggling plant. I'll never get a nugget at this rate. Resorting to what she felt were desperate measures, Vaila began to, extremely quietly, sing one of her Mum's favourite Celestina Warbeck songs to the plant. To her amazement, it slowly began to join in, uttering soft, beautiful notes. Eventually Vaila stopped singing and let the plant carry on alone.
"That's beautiful," she said to it, stroking its leaves and she had seen Professor Hymnwood doing and watering it slowly. "You've got a stunning voice, all you needed was a bit of encouragement! Keep singing, it's lovely!" As the plant finished its last, long note, it bent its head down and spat out a small golden nugget into Vaila's hand.
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years"Yeah, me neither," an approaching voice replied to Alex's compliements, snickering slightly. When Alex recognized the voice to be Devon Singer's, her eyes narrowed dangerously, and she whipped her head around to face him, her ponytail flying dangerously behind her. What the bloody hell did Devon think he was doing approaching her in class? Like he had the right to. And to say something like "Yeah, me neither!" like nothing had happened. Oh but nothing hadn't happened. Something had happened. Alex was still severely confused and not to mention blindly furious, and she couldn't quite work out exactly what had infuriated her so. That he had pulled a prank on her? That he had pretended to like her? Or that he had done so well. He kissed her, and it seemed so sincere and real. It hardly mattered that Alex's mind was screaming when he did it and she was frozen to the ground, but it had seemed like he was serious. It seemed like he DID care for her on more than a frienship basis. And then that horrid Tucker Pence came in and informed her of the lovely news, that it was all a joke.
"Look, Le-- Alex." Alex said nothing, a deathly expression upon her face. Oh if only looks could kill. "I'm really sorry about what happened. It was stupid. I'm stupid. I wasn't thinking as usual and well..." Yes, he was stupid. He was a bloody prat. He was an idiot. He must have been dropped on his head too many times as a child. He completely failed at life. "Lovely! You're bloody brilliant. Amazing. Keep it up. You'll be able to take any of these other flowers easy," Devon paused to encourage his flower, making Alex realize that since Devon had approached, she had been quite negligent of her own, which was wailing away and waiting for appreciation from Alex, which she was too tight-lipped and furious to give at the moment. "I know you're probably not going to forgive me easily, but I just... I don't want to not be friends with you, Alex," Devon finished.
Alex turned away from Devon and looked at her plant, giving it a gentle appriciative pat on the top of it's bud. It shivered and purred in contentment, and began to wail away again. Saving Alex from responding, Professor Hymnwood made another class lesson announcement, and came from the front of the room to the table Alex was currently sitting at. Hymnwood gave Alex's plant utmost praise, which made the plant delighted and full of pride. In fact it was swelling with pride. Swelling? That much? Next thing Alex knew, her plant had spat out a golden nugget into Professor Hymnwood's hands.
"Behold, gold. The real thing. This was why the plant is so interesting, and I thought I'd share it with you. My theory is that the plants that bordered villages overheard the folksongs and tried reproducing them, looking for praise and worship as best they could. One day, someone fell upon a plant with a particularly gifted voice. The man was so impressed that it began praising the plant. Out of sheer joy, the plant spat out a nugget not unlike this one as a token of gratitude for her listener. I would like to get a nugget back from everyone by the end of class. If you do not manage to get one, I will gladly accept a short and concise paragraph stating why you failed to retrieve a nugget and how you could succeed the next time." Alex was ready to return to praising her plant and ignoring Devon, but Professor Hymnwood seemed to suddenly remember more. "Oh, and before I forget... if you want your plant's singing skills to improve, try singing an octave for it. Hopefully it'll follow your lead, and then it won't sing any worse than you can. Have fun!"
Sing? To the plant? Oh no. No bloody way. Not in the middle of a classroom full of students. Singing was reserved for a sound-protected bathroom whilst in the shower, and Alex was quite content for it to stay that way. Why did she have to be cursed with such an awfully singing flower? Why couldn't hers be better so she didn't have to actually sing to it? The last time she had sung in front of anyone where they could actually hear her was when she had sang a lullaby to Ashley when he was two years old. Since then, no. Never. Not going to happen anytime soon at all. "You're such a splendid singer, aren't you?" Alex cooed to the flower, doing her best to block out Devon. The prat. "No voice can reach how wonderful yours is." The flower seemed to take Alex's compliments as in she wanted to hear more, and began a new song even louder and more obnoxious than before. Alex grimaced, but made sure to not make any vocal criticism like before. It looked as if she were going to have to sing a few notes to the stupid thing. She knew she wasn't tone deaf and could hit notes quite well, but singing in front of people was completely humiliating.
Dealing with Devon now would work. "You don't want to not be friends with me, huh?" She sneered. "Well it's not that simple now is it, Devon?" She question, throwing in a considerable amount of venom into her voice as she said his name. "So what now, you just realized that Lynn Stuart isn't as good of a friend as I was?" Alex continued, feeling as if her head were about to explode. There were so many things that she wanted to say. So many things she wanted to just pour out all at once, but she had to remember to not sound as if she had diarrhea of the mouth. The one thing that put the cherry on top of Devon's self-created catastrophe, it was that he had taken Lynn Stuart, Alex's mortal enemy, to the Masque. He knew she hated Lynn. That only proved that he didn't give a lick about Alex. "Well that just sucks for you, doesn't it?" Her heart was pounding in her ears. "But what can I say? You live with the life that you create for yourself. Hope you enjoy yours." The last statement was said with great sarcasm, and it was obvious that Alex didn't mean it at all. "Leave me alone. I have more important things to worry about right now." With that, Alex turned away from Devon, refusing to look at him. He could be stubborn. He could be persistent, but he wasn't going to win. He had not only infuriated Alex, but he had reached deep down and touched a nerve. A simple "I can't live without being your friend and I'm sorry," was hardly going to cut it. And if Devon thought it would, then Alex would immediately wonder who he thought that she was all of a sudden.
angelina jewel
Caelin Cartney
7th Year Gryffindor
Flirt in a Skirt
Sean Abernathy-Raelene
7th year Hufflepuff The Perfect Gentleman
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Mack entered the greenhouses in her usual state at this time in the morning, tired and unkept. Her hair only showed signs of a quick brush through, her Ravenclaw colored tie was hanging untied around her neck. As soon as she entered the building the professor began to speak.
"Good afternoon! Today should be fun, because I'll be introducing you to a new plant that isn't mentioned much in most textbooks-" Mack had to keep herself from snorting, Fun indeed she thought sarcastically as she found a seat next a Slytherin, Jason she thought his name was.
"No one need worry, this one doesn't bite, or spit venom, or squirt out vile-smelling pus. This particular plant should be a favourite amongst you actually, because it sings."
Mack gave the professor a dead look. They sing? she thought. Just what I need right now, plants that sing
Mack didn't really mind herbology it was an interesting enough class but some days she just wasn't in the mood, today was one of them. At least the professor was good, not boring like some she had.
"No one really knows how it came to be. It's obviously a magical breeding of some sort, but the question that still remains today is which wizard was actually responsible for it. This plant has been around for centuries, and there are no records explaining its proverbial roots and exact history. But what is known for sure is that it was first found in France, in the coastal Aquitaine region. It was also found in large clusters in Switzerland, where the species found there had been distinctively influenced by yodelers."
Mack continued listening to the Professor in a subdued manner. What she was saying was indeed intresting but Mack didn't feel the need to show enthusiasm over it. She listened as the flowers were described as being singers, whether they were good at it or not was a different question. Mack had never heard of plants like these. She wondered what they would be doing with them today.
"These god-awful singers should be encouraged especially, or else they wilt and die. I will award five points to each student if they come to me at the end of class with a live Iris Musicalis, though I won't deduct any even if you end up killing yours."
Mack just sat there. She had to be kidding. Encourage them to sing? Mack never encouraged or praised anything for the life of her. When the professor passed them out she just looked at hers. "She should of just given me a dead one" She muttered under her breath. She knew she was going to kill hers, she just knew it. She was not good as praising and if hers was bad she knew it would be impossible for her to hide her disdain: Mack is a very honest and blunt person.
The plant Mack got looked quite sad, if plants could even look sad. Mack felt that it seemed to know that it was bad and didn't even want to try.
"Er, why don't you sing me something" She started. The plant just sat their looking mournful. Sighing, Mack knew she must face the fact that she had to be nice to the plant. "I er, really want to here you sing. Im quite sad and it would cheer me up." Mack was indeed sad, sad that she must participate in this activity and the plant definantly would not cheer her up but there was nothing to do about it.
The plant started out with a soft humm and then it grew louder. It wasn't too bad but something that Mack wouldn't want to hear by choice. "Your doing good, I like it, really I do." Mack said in a bored tone. The plant must of detected that and started to wilt. "No don't do that!" Mack said hastily. "Keep singing, its so lovely." Mack said in the fakest voice she could. The plant perked up and started to sing a more lively tune.
"Some of you might be wondering why I'm showing you plants that sing. Obviously, there can't be much use for a plant that simply sings, right?"
That was Macks exact thoughts. But Professor Hymnwood had the answer right away.
Behold," Kaniliel exclaimed, holding the tiny piece of gold up in the air for the class to see, "gold. The real thing. This was why the plant is so interesting, and I thought I'd share it with you. My theory is that the plants that bordered villages overheard the folksongs and tried reproducing them, looking for praise and worship as best they could. One day, someone fell upon a plant with a particularly gifted voice. The man was so impressed that it began praising the plant. Out of sheer joy, the plant spat out a nugget not unlike this one as a token of gratitude for her listener."
Mack looked at the plant in a more thoughtful way. No wonder wizards would want these. They were dead useful now that she knew that they gave away gold.
I would like to get a nugget back from everyone by the end of class. If you do not manage to get one, I will gladly accept a short and concise paragraph stating why you failed to retrieve a nugget and how you could succeed the next time."
"Keep singing. Your the best one here. Their is no competition." Mack said quickly to the potted plant before her. She definantly didn't want to have to write the paragraph. Professor Hymnwood sure did now how to motivate them to work harder.
The plant sang more and more. Louder and louder. Now more confident, the plant seemed to want to be louder than all the other plants. Mack almost wanted to cover her ears from the racket it was making. The combined not too good vocals with the loudness was discomforting to Mack. But she pressed on with the compliments.
"Well done, Well done" She said, clapping her hands a couple of times. "You are amazing, I wish I could sing like you" Mack said, knowing she must sound and look like an idiot. But she was soon given a surprise when she was given a golden nouget from her Plant. Mack this time sincerly did praise the plant.
"You are absolutely, positvely, the best!" She told it, happy that she had gotten what was needed.
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Lynn walked happily into the class, sitting down at a table and setting her bookbag under it. She didn't think she would bring out her textbook, not yet, at least. Their professor was quite good at describing what they needed to know about their lessons. She grinned at Devon as he came in, though she noticed that he made a beeline for Alex Summerlin, which just so happened to take the grin right off her face. How dare he? He took Lynn to the ball, making her believe that maybe he'd finally come to his senses and stopped being friends with that bloody cow.
Hmph. Well, she had a thing or two to say to him next time she saw him. But she would ignore him for now. After class as well, even if he attempted to speak to her. She folded her hands and listened intently to what the professor was saying. Herbology wasn't her favourite class, but she still managed to get some damn good marks, if she could say so about herself. And besides, singing plants? How cute can you get!
She grinned at the flower that was flown in front of her, all thoughts of traitorous friends forgotten for the moment. She folded her arms on the table and rested her chin on them, looking at the flower as it began to sing. Lynn's grin widened. It was actually quite good, starting in a low note and working its way through an octave -- two ... and then Lynn clapped her hands over her ears.
Bloody hell, she thought, wincing as the shriek continued. But then it began to wilt slightly. She shook her head, taking her hands off her ears and said, "No, no, don't do that! It's ... it's that one over there that I'm wincing at," Lynn said softly, waving a hand at a lily across the room. "But you, my darling...you might just have a career in opera or something!" She nodded encouragingly, and continued, "Why don't you try again? Starting from the beginning?"
She could've sworn that the flower nodded -- could they see? -- and then began at a very low octave. Lynn shifted a little, cooing softly to it. This was going to be a very interesting class...
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Devon winced a bit as Alex looked at him with an expression that could definitely kill. Merlin, the girl was mad. But why was she so blood angry? It had been a simple joke! As if Alex would have passed up a chance to pull something to scare the crap out of Devon. That's what their friendship lived on! Pranks! It was how they spent their time and how they liked to make the other aware that they were still alive! Ashton had brought up the possibility of Alex liking Devon as more than a friend, but even if that was true, she couldn't have everything her way. She couldn't expect Devon to understand her and just watch her go off with someone else. What was Devon supposed to do, not to mention how was he supposed what Alex was feeling when she simply did not mention it? How was he supposed to know that a seemingly harmless prank like the one he pulled would make Alex completely explode on him? It was ridiculous! Devon was not a mind-reader and never would be.
But before either Devon or Alex could say anything, Professor Hymnwood came over and made another announcement, to which Devon paid little attention to. He naturally had a hard time paying attention, but today he simply had no intention whatsoever. He simply watched what Hymnwood was doing while nervously tapping his foot on the ground. What did he have to do to get Alex back? What did he have to do to get his best friend to be his best friend back? He simply could not live without her.
Devon watched with a look of intense interest on his face as Hymnwood complimented Alex's flower to the point it produced a golden nugget. But his mind was elsewhere and he just wanted the professor to move on so he could try to talk to Alex. So far, she didn't seem so interested in talking to him though, which was understandable but completely immature. Yes, Devon Singer was actually thinking someone else was immature.
"You don't want to not be friends with me, huh? Well it's not that simple now is it, Devon?" Devon couldn't help but show the hurt on his face. Alex had never talked to him in that manner and he had never been one to shield his emotions. He always left himself so open and vulnerable and now he finally realized why so many people just closed themselves off so completely. "So what now, you just realized that Lynn Stuart isn't as good of a friend as I was?" Devon blinked at this. Since when did he ever say Lynn was a better friend? Since when could Alex just jump to such a conclusion? It was absurd! And Alex had no right to tell Devon who he could and couldn't be friends with. The frustration built up inside of the Hufflepuff, but stronger was the pain. "Well that just sucks for you, doesn't it? But what can I say? You live with the life that you create for yourself. Hope you enjoy yours. Leave me alone."
Devon sat there for a moment, stunned and hurt. He wasn't even sure what to say and turned to his flower and praised for a while before finally turning back to Alex, ready for round two. "Merlin, Alex. I'm sorry. I thought you would have found it funny or else I never would have agreed to it. We play jokes on each other all the time," he said, trying his best not to lose his temper. "And I'm sorry about the masque, but I don't know what you expected me to do. Just sit there and wait for you? You had a date, I had a date, I don't get it. But this isn't about that. This is what happened between us in the owlery." Devon paused, not sure whether or not he could go on. He wasn't the type for serious conversations and arguements. The only arguements he was capable of was arguements over which firecracker to shoot off first in the back of a classroom. The Hufflepuff sighed and turned back to his flower. "Well, you can not talk to me now, but I'm not going to give up. You know that," he said simply. Devon was known for his tendency to overdo things at times and when he was determined and when it came to something as important as his friendship with his best friend, well, he was willing to go all the way.
And already, a plan was beginning to form in his head.
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Tamara sat twiddling her thumbs at the back of the classroom, she liked Herbology but there were times when she’d just prefer to be anywhere else in the world than in class, like every other student sat around her. She gazed out of the window in a dreamy state not really paying attention to the the rest of the class who were gradually filing in around her. Although it was third period she hadn’t quite woken up yet and didn’t really fancy doing so. Tamara listened to the instructions given by Professor Hymnwood and didn’t really awaken to the world till she heard the words “they sing”. At which point her head popped up and suddenly she felt the heavy fog of sleep fly away in a flash. Things that sung, were fluffy, had some kind of interesting, quirky-ness to themselves made them particularly appealing to Tamara. She personally loved to sing and so thought she’d find some sort of common ground with this creature and, with any luck, have no problem keeping it alive and singing throughout the lesson.
She scurried to the front of the greenhouses and picked up her Iris Musicalis which was a vibrant electric blue and had caught Tamara’s eye immediately.
“Hello!” she said, in a voice that sounded as though she was talking to a young child. She tickled a bit of the blossom, “You gonna sing for Aunty Tamara, sweetie?” she asked in a sing-songy voice.
As she reached her table that she shared with Fyora she put the plant down and stepped back to get a better look at her. “You need a name don’t you?!” she grinned at the plant, it was now coughing a little and seemed to be preparing to begin singing. It made quite a loud screechy noise at first which caused Tamara to jump back in shock, though in a most convincing voice she exclaimed, “Wow! Wasn’t that beeeeautiful?!” Then, bracing herself for the next outburst, “C’mon, lets hear some more!” The plant stretched up again and a more controlled and tuneful voice followed this time. “Wooo!” Tamara giggled, “Excellent! Fyora did you hear that?!” she asked, turning to her friend. Then she looked back to the plant, “Flora. Yeah, that’s good isn’t it! Flora the Iris Musicalis!” She stroked the stem of the plant, beginning to become quite attached to it, she sung along with her to encourage more from the plant and in the hope she might just get a gold nugget!
"Merlin, Alex. I'm sorry." Sorry? Sorry?! Like a simple sorry was just going to cut it! Like it was going to make every single impossibly horrible thing that he had done go away! Okay so it was really only one thing. No two. Two things. After he had pulled the stupid, ridiculous "I like you, what do you think would happen if two best friends went out?" he had gone off and asked Alex's mortal enemy to the Masque! It was like sleeping with the bloody enemy! Going behind enemy lines and betraying those that are apparently your friends. And then he didn't even seem to understand why it was wrong. But that was just Devon, wasn't it? Painfully oblivious to just about everything. Apparently he was oblivious as to how he was supposed to treat a person with decency. That was just too much to ask from him, wasn't it? It was never too much to ask from anyone else, like Jereff for example, but Devon? Well, Devon was something else. "I thought you would have found it funny or else I never would have agreed to it. We play jokes on each other all the time. And I'm sorry about the masque, but I don't know what you expected me to do. Just sit there and wait for you? You had a date, I had a date, I don't get it. But this isn't about that. This is what happened between us in the owlery."
"Oh yeah, so bloody funny, Devon!" Alex growled in response, making a furious attempt to not raise her voice too much, thus allowing everyone else to hear what their conversation was about. While she knew a few people were slightly aware of what had happened between the two of them, or the simple gist at least, Alex wanted the whole fiasco to remain as quiet as physically possible. Not only was it painful but it was humiliating, and she especially didn't want Jereff to hear about the whole thing. That would make a bloody mess of everything. And as if Alex wasn't confused enough, what with Jereff, but for Devon to throw his ridiculous antics on top of everything else? Oh yes, Alex really appreciated it. "How could it possibly be funny for you to just...to just come onto me like that?! Sure, it could have been funny to a certain extent. But you took it too bloody far. You just never know when to stop do you?!
"And about the Masque; I didn't want to see anything of you. Yeah, I had a date. I went with someone that I really like." Whoa, bloody hell. Had she just said that? Had she made an open confession to actually liking Jereff? Merlin, she had. And she hadn't even thought about it. It had just come out! Alex stopped dead for a few moments, still in complete shock that she had just admitted such a thing, not only to herself but to someone else. But she would have to move on. There were bigger fish to fry at the moment. "Yeah, so you went off and had a high old time, great. You just didn't have to go with that ridiculous bint!" Alex knew her voice was probably raising too high, even high enough for Lynn to hear the last comment. But who cared? Alex hated Lynn. Everyone knew it. Lynn knew it and returned the favor. A chance to even provoke the girl in class without Lynn being able to do much in retaliation was quite welcome, in fact.
"Well, you can not talk to me now, but I'm not going to give up. You know that," Devon replied, only making Alex's blood boil even more. Like Alex had said before. Devon just didn't know when to stop. He didn't know when to call it quits, he didn't know when he had gone too far, and he obviously couldn't tell anymore when Alex wanted more than anything for him to just leave her alone. And they were once said to be best friends. Ha. Best friends could read each other like books. They knew when the other was upset, they knew exactly what to do to make things better. They didn't go pulling pranks on each other that would possibly scar their friendship forever, and they didn't pretend to have feelings that were virtually useless, not to mention never even present. So what was Devon to her? Was he a friend? Was a person who had once been a friend but wasn't quite anymore even a friend in the first place?
"You might as well just give up, Devon," Alex replied, no longer raising her voice. Instead she kept her voice level and firm, almost as if she were commanding him to keep his distance.
Her flower continued to shriek, seeming to grow louder and louder as if begging for Alex's attention once again. It seemed almost inevitable that Alex would have to sing to it, but she would refuse to until Devon left her alone. She wasn't going to sing in front of him. She didn't even want to stand next to him. She didn't want to be anywhere close to him. Instead Alex stroked the bloom gently, looking at the flower with softened eyes, though a scowl was still present upon her face. "Now isn't that just lovely. Beautiful."
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
After humming the general tune of ‘Row, row, row your boat’, Lynn was proud to see – er, hear – that her lovely flower, who she’d nicknamed Fleur (not very imaginative, but oh well) was doing quite well under her tutelage. She grinned, clapping as Fleur began going through it a second time, becoming better and better. “Good job, fantastic!” Petting it gently, it quivered slightly under her touch in what she hoped was pleasure. “Absolutely –”
"Yeah, so you went off and had a high old time, great. You just didn't have to go with that ridiculous bint!”
Lynn stiffened in her seat – there was no mistaking that screechy, bumpkin voice – Alex was on the prowl, and though she appeared to be having a disagreement with Devon – poor guy, she mused – she was taking a chance to attack Lynn as well. They were only a few seats over. Looking down at her plant for a brief moment, she shifted a bit to the right and bent down, retying the lace on one of her shoes. Straightening, she realized with satisfaction that she’d managed to come up right behind Alex and Devon. Grinning cheekily at them she said, “Sorry, just had to come and see how yours are doing! They seem to be just as good at what they do as mine, maybe better. Gotta scope out the competition you know.” She winked at them, turned to go back to Fleur, then added in an undertone, “And if I’m ridiculous, I hate to think of what you think up for yourself. Toodles!”
Lynn walked back to her area of the table, confident that she’d been able to carry off the pretence – at least to anyone else who wasn’t observing too closely – of just checking on a classmate’s progress. Leaning forwards on the table again, Lynn tilted her head a bit to the left and began humming a different tune: ‘Just a boy and a girl in a little canoe…’
Devon felt as though he were shrinking. With ever venomous word that came out of her mouth, Alex was smashing Devon down and he continued to get smaller and smaller. And for once, he didn't care all that much. He wished he could be as small as possible and curl up into a little ball and wait for all of this to just disappear. Contoversy wasn't Devon's calling and he didn't know how to deal with it, not in the way his brother or anyone else did. He usually just avoided it at all costs or managed to weave his way around it. But in this situation, that was not an option, unfortunately. There was no way he was going to be able to avoid this without losing Alex as a friend forever.
"How could it possibly be funny for you to just...to just come onto me like that?! Sure, it could have been funny to a certain extent. But you took it too bloody far. You just never know when to stop do you?!"
And the shrinking seemed to only continue. Devon felt miserable about himself and misery and confusion never did work out well. He was still wondering about the entire 'Ashton's Theory', though didn't have the guts to ask the question. Alex would probably end up punching him out of existance or something to that extent. And if it wasn't true, well, it would make things all the more awkward, which Devon was certainly not aiming for. But it didn't seem as though the situation was getting any better anyway.
"And about the Masque; I didn't want to see anything of you. Yeah, I had a date. I went with someone that I really like."
Jereff, Devon said to himself mentally, comfirming the fact that Alex did indeed have a thing for the Ravenclaw boy, thus he immediately concluded that there couldn't possibly be any reason for Alex to like Devon. It was an absurd thought anyway and was one that Devon wasn't sure he was ever willing to accept. Ashton had explained it to him as best he could, but in his mind the younger Singer had already made up his mind about the entire situation and wasn't about to change it on a whim.
"Yeah, so you went off and had a high old time, great. You just didn't have to go with that ridiculous bint!"
Devon, still feeling miserable, hunkered down to tend to his flower. At least the plant was much more forgiving and willing to listen to the praises Devon had to offer to the plant, unlike Alex who seemed to prefer countering everything he said and throwing it back in his face. It wasn't what he was used to, not from Alex at least. Sure, they had their disagreements and squabbles, but never over something so big. And they'd never gone through a point where one decided to be friends any longer with the other. It just didn't work that way and it was just how it was. It was what Devon was used to, not this obviously angry and cynical Alex that was stacking layer upon layer of cold words on top of him. And it wasn't feeling so hot.
As Devon sat there, gloomily staring at his flower, Lynn came over, though he hardly noticed. He hardly noticed anything that was going on except for the fact his flower was getting increasingly out of tune. For once, Devon just wanted to be away from everyone and brood in silence. Or just drop dead. That wouldn't have been so awful either.
“Sorry, just had to come and see how yours are doing! They seem to be just as good at what they do as mine, maybe better. Gotta scope out the competition you know.”
The Hufflepuff boy managed somewhat of a grin, but his heart wasn't into it. He greeted Lynn the best he could, then turned back to trying to praise his flower, which didn't seem to be going all that well. Of course, that only made him feel even more miserable, and Devon felt as though he were making an entire puddle of self-pity and was drowning in it. He even missed Lynn's comment at the end, he was so miserble.
"You might as well just give up, Devon."
At this, Devon turned his head toward Alex, eyes narrowed slightly. It wasn't the kind of look that was normally on the energetic boy's face and was a bit startling, even to himself. "Yeah, well, like you said, I don't know when to stop," he said bitterly before promptly raising his hand. "Professor Hymnwood, I need to use the loo." And with that, he stood up and exited the greenhouse without another word. Devon wasn't even sure whether he'd come back or not. But like he told Alex, he wasn't going to give up and he was going to figure out some way to make it up to her, however long it took.
Fyora Occulo
5th Year Hufflepuff
Captain/Chaser
Quidditch Queen
Vaila Rosewood
5th Year Ravenclaw
Prefect
Hopelessly Devoted
Ariadne Fortuna
Death Eater
Revenge is Sweet
Posts: 379
(8/5/05 2:57 am) Reply
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
"Hiya," Fyora muttered to Tamara as she entered the Herbology classroom. She normally did mornings quite well, but for some reason she'd struggled to sleep the previous night and was now finding the idea of staying awake very unappealing. Even the large amount of cooked breakfast she'd eaten before coming down to the Greenhouses was having little effect. "C'mon energy, where are you?" she muttered as she took her seat, retrieved the necessary items from her bag and waited for the class to start.
"Good afternoon! Today should be fun, because I'll be introducing you to a new plant that isn't mentioned much in most textbooks. No one need worry, this one doesn't bite, or spit venom, or squirt out vile-smelling pus. This particular plant should be a favourite amongst you actually, because it sings."
Tamara's head jerked up at this point, and Fyora turned to look at her, a grin on her face. A singing plant sounded like Tamara's kind of thing! Fyora listened to Professor Hymnwood's introduction to the species with renewed interest, then looked over expectantly as the spectacularly coloured plants began soaring over to the tables. A white one landed in front of Fyora, and didn't look very happy. Its leaves were drooping and its head was lowered in what looked like defeat. Tamara was already cooing at her plant, and Fyora had just opened her mouth to do the same when a loud screech came from the Iris Musicalis next to her. Tamara appeared to have leapt several feet into the air, but regained her composure quickly and began talking to the plant once again.
"Ok then," said Fyora, addressing her plant in a similar way to how she would address her Quidditch team. "Time to start singing. I'm sure you've got a fantastic voice in there somewhere, so let me hear you." The plant raised its head, almost as if looking at Fyora, then gave a small squeak and looked back down at the table again. She didn't think that quite counted as singing.
“Wooo! Excellent! Fyora did you hear that?!”
Fyora turned to Tamara, whose plant had just emitted a tuneful series of notes, and gave her a small smile. "Nice one," she said. "Wish I could make that one do the same." She indicated her plant, which at these words had turned its head away from her, looking haughty and offended. If plants could look haughty and offended that is.
Dropping the encouraging Quidditch team voice, Fyora adopted a softer tone, and began stroking the plant's leaves. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound harsh," she said quietly, looking at the plant's head and willing it to turn round. "I'm sure you can sing beautifully, and I'd love to hear it. Please? Oh, go on." Fantastic, she thought to herself. I'm pleading with a plant. There must be an easier way to do this...
"Oh, and before I forget... if you want your plant's singing skills to improve, try singing an octave for it. Hopefully it'll follow your lead, and then it won't sing any worse than you can. Have fun!"
"Now she's having a laugh," muttered Fyora. "I'm a sports girl, not a performing artist." She turned to Tamara to see her friend's reaction to this news, but Tamara seemed quite content, as her flower was warbling like a nightingale. Taking a deep breath of resignation, Fyora bent very close to her plant and began to sing it a nursery rhyme.
To her utmost relief, the plant began to join in. To start with it was very quiet, but as soon as Fyora stopped singing and began lavishing praise on it, ("That's brilliant! Wow, I've never heard such a voice! We'll have to take you to London, you could be a star!") the volume picked up and the plant began to sing almost as well as Tamara's. "Do you reckon we could get them to do a duet?" asked Fyora, looking over at her friend, who didn't appear to be listening.
“Flora. Yeah, that’s good isn’t it! Flora the Iris Musicalis!”
"Don't get too attached to it!" laughed Fyora, still stroking the leaves of her plant. "I'm not being woken up by it singing in the dormitory at three in the morning!"
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Matt had been pretty quiet that lesson; he was very tired, and slightly depressed. Yet again he had failed in his quest to get enough courage up to give Vaila one of his poems. It was highly frustrating, and he wasn't in the slightest bit happy about it. The last class he wanted was Herbology. It wasn't that Matt didn't like it, he just didn't want to have to think, and he was well aware that he was likely to damage the plants being in the mood he was in.
And to make matters worse, he was right next to Vaila. Matt just wanted to fade away, it wasn't his day at all!
"Good afternoon! Today should be fun, because I'll be introducing you to a new plant that isn't mentioned much in most textbooks. No one need worry, this one doesn't bite, or spit venom, or squirt out vile-smelling pus. This particular plant should be a favourite amongst you actually, because it sings."
"It does what?" Matt couldn't help exclaiming. A plant that sang?! What was the world coming to?! He looked at the plant, then back at Professor Hymnwood. What was she on? A plant that sang?! And it was influenced by yodelling!?? That just wasn't right! Matt shook his head; a singing plant. That was just ridiculous! He snuck a sideways look at Vaila, but she was regarding her plant. Hmph. He looked back at his plant, and raised one eyebrow.
"So you sing?" he questioned it. The plant moved back a little, and Matt sighed. "Alright, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Sing something?"
Nothing. If anything, the plant looked annoyed.
"Greaaaat..." Matt mumbled, annoyed himself. He didn't want to have to play with a stupid singing plant that seemed in as bad a temper as he was.
"Oh, and before I forget... if you want your plant's singing skills to improve, try singing an octave for it. Hopefully it'll follow your lead, and then it won't sing any worse than you can. Have fun!"
"You have got to be joking!" He groaned and looked back at his plant. "You don't wanna hear me sing......." he tried. The plant just tilted a little at him, as if to say 'yes I do!'. Matt groaned again. "Okay, okay..." he sighed and wondered what to sing. The first thing that came to mind was one of the songs he had been writing, and with a small inward eye-roll, Matt started singing it.
To his immense surprise the plant perked up immediately and started singing along, harmonising in a surprisingly good way.
"Woah, you're fantastic!" Matt stopped singing to praise his plant. "Absolutely fabulous!" he wondered whether he could keep the plant; it would be great for when he was practising alone! "Absolutely great!" He grinned and stroked the pale blue flower gently.
"I would like to get a nugget back from everyone by the end of class. If you do not manage to get one, I will gladly accept a short and concise paragraph stating why you failed to retrieve a nugget and how you could succeed the next time."
"Oh 'eck!" Matt's eyes widened. "Hey, plant, sing again?" he asked. The plant appeared taken aback by the order, and promptly shut up. "Oh no..." Matt groaned for what felt like the fiftieth time.
"C'mon, please sing?"
Silence.
"Do you want me to sing again?" he asked. The plant moved, as though to the affirmative. "But I'm not as good as you!" Matt tried, feeling embarrassed. He was comparing himself to a plant... Said plant appeared to perk up a little more at that, but still refused to sing. Matt closed his eyes and muttered, "Give me strength" as he had heard his mother do so many times, then started singing his ballad again, his voice low and gentle. The plant definately perked up, and started singing along with him again.
"Yeah!" Matt grinned broadly at his plant. "Yeah, you rock!" he hummed along with the plant a little. "Man, you're ace! I reckon you've got the best voice of the lot of them here! Seriously, this is great!" he offered the plant a small round of applause. "Encore!" requested, again something he had heard his mother say. The plant seemed immensely happy at that, and promptly spat out a gold nugget at him.
"Fab!" he grinned. "You gonna sing again?" he asked, stroking it again. "I rather like you!"
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Kaniliel was pleased to see that most of her students were actually having a great time with their in-class assignment. The Iris Musicalis seemed to be a particular hit with the girls. She smiled at the thought of how they would've reacted to its cousin, the Singing Amaryllis. There would've been a higher probability of falling on a talented plant, but that specific species does not spit out gold nuggets. The motivation wouldn't have been there quite as much.
Something, however, was bothering her. On one side of the room, Alex and Devon seemed to be having a rather heated argument. Kaniliel simply leaned on her desk and half-glared at them, hoping they would quiet down on their own without making her remove house points. Instead, Devon simply announced that he was going to the loo and it ended there.
"Well I guess that's another way of ending it," she thought.
Rather than stay up at the front of the class and let her thoughts wander to the hospital wing where Jake Mitchell lay, Kaniliel went around the classroom again.
"Well done, Vaila! Merlin, quite a few of you already have nuggets, this is wonderful! I guess the threat of a written paragraph scared you all into putting your backs into it today," she said with a pleasant laugh. "Ooh Matt, looks like you've gotten my little rebel. She doesn't like singing alone, that one."
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Matt, who had been rather enjoying humming along with his plant, leaped a mile as he was addressed by the professor.
"Ooh Matt, looks like you've gotten my little rebel. She doesn't like singing alone, that one."
"Heh, yeah, she's kinda shy," he grinned. "Looks like I've gotten myself a partner; I've been looking for someone who can sing with me!" he gently petted the plant once more. "Guess you'd say no if I asked to keep her, right?" he asked, half hoping the professor would disagree and say he could keep the plant. Matt didn't have a pet, and he did occasionally wish he had something to look after. Considering the plant had a lovely singing voice ("I never thought I'd find myself thinking that!") he figured it would kill two birds with one stone: no more lonliness, and plenty of practise.
Still, Matt supposed that even if Professor Hymnwood refused him permission to keep the cute little thing, he could possibly still visit the greenhouses and sing along with it, for practise purposes.
Re: Herbology // Lesson 3 // 5th Years
Almost when Alex had convinced herself that the situation wasn't going to get any worse, bloody Lynn Stuart approached Alex and Devon's table, probably thinking that it would be her place to butt in and interfere. Well, even if the blasted girl had heard Alex's snide remark, Alex didn't care. She still believed it, felt it, and would forever back it up. It wasn't like she couldn't take a challenge. Alex had gotten in countless fights, verbal and physical, in her life, and she had been able to handle every single one of them without trouble. This one wouldn't be even a touch different. “Sorry, just had to come and see how yours are doing! They seem to be just as good at what they do as mine, maybe better. Gotta scope out the competition you know.” Alex rolled her eyes. Sure, that was what the girl was doing. And Alex was Heathcoate Barbary from the Weird Sisters. “And if I’m ridiculous, I hate to think of what you think up for yourself. Toodles!” Lynn added on the end before taking off to her table.
Alex followed her and glared as Lynn took her seat once again. Once she got rid of Devon, she would take care of Lynn. Shaking Devon could be particularly difficult, however, but Alex knew she could be a stubborn as a mule. "Yeah, well, like you said, I don't know when to stop," Devon said somewhat bitterly. Alex sent him a well deserved glare in response. So he was going to get all hurt and bitter over something that was so blatantly true? Then again some people just couldn't take the truth. To them it was some painful slap in the face. Well he could lie to himself all he wanted, but the truth would always be calling and shouting in his face. Things you wanted to ignore always had a tendency to do such annoying things. "Professor Hymnwood, I need to use the loo." Without waiting for a response, Devon stood up and left the room.
Well, that was easier than I thought it would be, Alex thought, mildly surprised. So she didn't have to jump through flaming hoops and walk on glass to make him leave her alone. Maybe he was better learning his lesson of when to quit. Speaking of lessons, Alex needed to return to her own before her plant wilted and died. "What an amazing voice you've got," Alex said to her flower. The flower bucked up a bit, and sang higher and louder than before, bringing pain to Alex and increasing her already painful headache. Well, it looked as if she would have to sing to the thing. Bloody wonderful. At least Devon wasn't there to listen anymore. "Here, sing after me. It's a tune that will sound absolutely beautiful with your voice," Alex said, hoping that her suggestion wouldn't offend the flower. Now the greatest debate was what to sing to the flower. Deciding upon one of Celestina Warbeck's greatest hits, Alex began to quietly sing the tune, amazed that a singing voice actually came out of her mouth rather than a frog-like croak. Well, she was exceeding her own expectations.
After a few bars, the flower began to sing back to her, sounding much better than it had before. "Now that is a marvelous tune. You could sell millions of records with that," Alex complimented, smiling at the flower and giving it a pat. "Just to test how strong your voice is, I'm going to go back a table for a few moments. Keep on singing as loud as you can, alright?" Alex said, hoping the flower would buy her excuse. She scooted her chair out and stood up, heading back to Lynn's table. She was in war-mode now. There was no shutting down the natural instincts.
"Your witty little remark made me cry, Stuart. I'm so hurt," Alex said sarcastically, glaring at the Gryffindor girl. "Maybe next time you'll actually want to try an insult that can actually offend. Yours just reminds me pathetically of grade school."
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