Fifth Years: Lesson Two

The greenhouse was a riot of pink flowers today, which Angel felt was appropriate with all the Valentine’s cheer about the castle this week. He’d always enjoyed puffapods for what they were, which was mostly just pretty and fun over anything particularly challenging, but he hoped the students would at least be entertained by a new plant.

The puffapods were lined up along the benches, along with containers for seeds. Angel indicated for students to stand in front of the pots as they began to arrive.

“Alright guys, pick a plant to stand with, today we’ll be learning about and harvesting puffapods.” Angel indicated to the large pink seedpods near the center of the plants. “See these pods? We’ll be collecting their seeds today, like so,” Angel said, giving a pod from the plant in front of him a quick sharp twist, gratified when it came away from the stem easily so he could hold it up. With some pressure from his thumb, Angel broke the pod open, revealing the shiny seeds inside. "After that just scoop 'em out into your bucket and you're set.

“When I give the okay, you’ll start harvesting your own puffapod, but try to be gentle with the seeds, they’re a bit volatile. For example, if you would?” Angel said, walking around with his harvested seeds to show the class, and coming to stop in front of one of the students. “Go ahead and throw a few of these onto the table, would you?” He offered, eager for a fun demonstration. When the student dropped the seeds, they readily burst into large flowers. “It’s a lot of fun, but try to refrain from wasting too many if you can,” he said, nodding encouragingly to one of the students who reached out to investigate the newly flowered seeds.

“Alright, go ahead and get harvesting. Once your plant’s all harvested, bring me the seeds and you’re free to go I’ll give a few extra points to whomever thinks they’ve gotten the most, but you’re welcome to take any flowers you end up with as well. Happy Valentine's,” Angel said, putting away his remaining seeds and settling at the front of the class to observe.

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RP the lesson. Extra house points awarded to the first poster to claim they’ve harvested the most. First poster is also welcome to be the volunteer seed thrower.

 

[Fraser Fergusson]

Fraser was living week to week, just thinking that once he got through that week things would be easier. That his life would get a little calmer, it just seemed to be a never ending cycle. Perhaps it was. Fraser was just trying to keep it together. He had a lot he needed to be getting on with and was just trying his best to do all of it. Fraser gathered the books and notes he needed and then headed out of the dorm room and to the first class of the day.

Fraser walked into the herbology greenhouse and stood next to one of the plants as he was supposed to. He watched the professor as the man demonstrated what they were going to be doing with the puffapods. He made sure that he watched carefully to know how to not make a mess of this. He watched as the professor demonstrated what would happen if they did drop seeds but was pretty happy when they were able to just get started on it. Fraser took the time with the work, making sure that he was doing it slowly, and not make too many mistakes though he did do a couple. The lesson was eventually wrapped up and he headed out of the room.

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[Bailey Walden-Cade]

Bailey was greeted in the greenhouse by an immediate assault on her senses, why was everything so pink? Professor Castillo was no doubt trying to get the students in the spirit of valentines day, which was weird, Bailey didn’t know why the school went to such lengths with the holiday, which it barely was. She had no interest in celebrating the day and didn’t appreciate the reminder even in her lessons. Once she was inside and Professor Castillo had given out his first instruction Bailey headed over to one of the puffapod, she watched as he demonstrated how to harvest the seeds then when given the go ahead from him, she threw the seeds onto table and watched as they burst into flowers, she had to admit that was pretty cool and unexpected.

Once it was her turn to harvest the pods for herself she gave her full attention to the puffapod on her bench and tried to recall everything Professor Castillo had told them. Her technique was a little clumsy and the volatile nature of the plant didn’t make things easy on her but she did eventually manage to harvest some seeds. Once the lesson was over she turned in what she had and made her way out of the classroom.

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[Hinata Edogawa]

As soon as Hinata entered the greenhouse, she instantly saw the riot of pink flowers. It was an amusing sight, to say the least. While OWLs were still heavily on her mind, harvesting the lovely flowers was at least a pleasant break from the usual intensity of preparations for the exams. She watched carefully as Professor Castillo demonstrated how to twist the pod free and scoop out the seeds. As he showed them what happens when one is less than gentle, she leaned forward slightly curiously. When the seeds burst into beautiful flowers upon hitting the table, she gave a quiet but no less awed gasp at the pretty effect. When it was her turn to harvest, Hinata gently twisted a pod free, holding her breath a bit as she opened it, then carefully scooped the seeds into her bucket, being very, very careful. As much as she thought they were pretty, any accidental blooms would attract too much attention that she didn't really want. After finishing, she took her bucket to Professor Castillo and left the classroom, though she did take a flower on her way out.​

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[June Davenport]

June made her way to the greenhouse with an smile on her face as she saw Castillo. She wasn't looking forward to the plants but she would fake it all. She chose an plant to stand by which she felt was good. June watched closely to what Castillo did. The seeds weren't that bad they looked kind of interesting. Normally June would just do what was asked but she didn't liked plants still. But when Castillo said there was some extra points to who got the most June ofcourse was triggered to do the best. And for the points, but also for Castillo. It was kind of funny to see the seeds turn into blooms. When it was time she gave the pod from the plant a quick sharp twist copying professors Castillo, and she was very good at following instructions. With some pressure from her thumb she broke the pod open, not too hard and not too soft. And the shiny seeds were revealed. She scooped them into her bucket and continued. She did carefully but went for the most. As June finished she was confident she had to most. '' Professor Castillo! I have a lot of seeds, can you check?'' June said with an sugar sweet smile. Knowing he was happy too if she did well for their house. When the lesson ended she left the greenhouse after chatting to Castillo.

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It was pretty well known that Angel wasn't above a little bribery to get his students to put in some extra effort; it cost him nothing to throw out some house points and he was always pleased when the students worked with a little extra edge when they were on offer.

He wasn't surprised in the slightest to see June locking in at the mention of house points, pretty sure she was probably someone who might want Slytherin to take the house cup more than he did. As she presented her seeds to him, Angel felt it easy enough to eyeball the sheer number them and nod, pleased. "I'd definitely say we have a winner for most collected," he agreed, offering her one of the bloomed seeds as an extra bonus prize as he took the bucket from her. "10 points for Slytherin, well done."

 

[Mikael Nightray]

Mikael entered the greenhouse, immediately noticing the explosion of pink puffapods lining the benches. Surely there was such a thing as too much Valentine? Even if it was for their lesson for the day, surely there could have been less of a Valentine theme. Then again, for some reason, some of their professors really liked to keep a theme - especially the Herbology one. He supposed he shouldn't have expected anything less from his own Head of House. Following the professor's demonstration, he watched as the few seeds that were not handled gently burst into blooms. That was going to be annoying. It was maybe reminding him of a certain someone. Keeping in mind that he had to approach this delicately, Mikael began to harvest the puffapods, giving each a swift twist before gently scooping the seeds into the container. While some found the bursting flowers entertaining, Mikael had no intention of wasting his time. Once he'd filled his bucket, he brought it up to Professor Castillo and went to make his leave. He did grab three flowers from one of his classmates' messes on his way out. Maybe @Elio Boneheart would like the pink flowers.​

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