First Years, Lesson Five

Landon had a rough night the night before. The Mandrake party went on all night, and he had to break it up, and clean the mess. He didn't mind them having too much fun, but he hadn't expected the party to go on for so long. After all, the man had only been studying mandrakes for a couple of years and he was only just getting used to the way they behaved. It was quite an interesting subject though and the man just chuckled at the thought of mandrakes having more fun than he could ever have. After all, they'll have a much shorter life than he will and he was slightly glad they were making the most of it.

Landon leaned back against his desk as his class began to walk in. "Hello all! I am sure that everyone enjoyed your pumpkins from last lesson." Landon smiled around at them all, knowing that he had enjoyed them himself last night with some potato mash. "We are going into the Forbidden Forest and gathering our next project. We will be supplying mistletoe." Mistletoe had many magical properties that Landon did not know about until reading up on it. Despite this, it was the closest thing to muggle plants that he would be teaching about and was excited for it nonetheless. "It is for the Yule Ball, so we will have plenty of it.

"Whether or not you all are accustomed to this weather, we should get going." Landon put his gloves on. "Grab your gloves, pruning shears, and a bag." Landon handed each student a small burlap tote bag and walked outside, hoping the others would follow. He wondered whether or not they would see a creature, however, they weren't going far into the forest anyway and it wasn't like they were in any danger.

He stopped at the path. "You'll notice along this path the many bushes and trees. Mistletoe is parasitic, believe it or not. Birds carry their seeds and they grow on bushes and trees. Perceive the clump of mistletoe around us. What you will do is put on your gloves, and get out your pruning shears and clip off the sprigs so they'll fit your bags." Landon demonstrated, and soon after they started, they had full bags.

The man led them back out of the forest and to the greenhouse. He set his bag down on the trestle table. "Now, we shall take the strips we've acquired and snip off the mistletoe with their leaves. See how the berries grow in groups together, with the leaves surrounding them. Cut them like this." He verified, where the berries and leaves were all still connected. "And there you have it," He waved his hand and the sprig hovered a bit in the air, "a sprig of mistletoe. Get started, and you should have them all done by the end of class. I expect you to throw your scraps into that barrel for the compost heap. Then place your mistletoe in that large trough over there, where I'll cure it and add something else to it. They'll soak there until the ball, when they'll be ready to be hung up. You may leave."

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Assignment: RP lesson, it doesn't matter what you do. You may godmod me (to a certain extent and to where I would still sound like myself). Include a picture of mistletoe for extra credit.

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

She couldn't believe the semester was almost over and they would be heading into the review week. She still have some time of course, but that didn't mean she didn't lay awake at night thinking about everything she'd messed up this year, and the things she had learned. Some of it was great and she couldn't wait to get back home to tell her mother about it all - other things weren't so great, and she found herself wondering if those not so great things went into the pot of things her mum disliked about magic. Sometimes she couldn't be sure what aspects her mum enjoyed and what parts she didn't. The other part of course being that she was going to lose access to her brother when he graduated and she had a lot of mixed feelings about that. She was trying to process it but she wasn't sure how she felt about it yet. She already saw her brother less than she would like and this year had been great because she'd seen him almost daily at breakfast and after his games. When he graduated that would stop. She didn't know how she felt about that.

Tori didn't know how to feel about a field trip out into the forbidden forest. She assumed it was forbidden for a reason, hence the name. She had never been brave enough (or stupid enough?) to try and venture in alone. Maybe she should ask Mr Professor Cade if he would take her for a visit, because actually she was really kind of curious, she just didn't want to risk losing any more points for Gryffidnor. Well, no, that wasn't entirely true, because she was still little miffed with him and hadn't really spoken to him since he took points off her that first week of school. Still, she wasn't sure it was the sort of place they should have just been going willy-nilly. Mr Cade was an Auror (formerly) and that meant she trusted him a little more than she trusted a random professor who she didn't know his qualifications. She was going to have to come back to that thought though because they were leaving now. She quickly tugged on her gloves and stashed her shears in her bag, following the professor along the path her eyes darted around trying to spot what she was looking for. She wasn't keeping an eye out for danger though, because how dangerous could it be really when the professor's were taking them out there every other day? She'd heard some of the older Gryffindors mention going out into the Forbidden Forest for runes. If that wasn't an invitation, she didn't know what was. Back at the Greenhouse she sorted the sprigs with careful snips, finding it to be quite comforting actually. She added her finished bunch to the trough and went to clean up, heading out with a big grin on her face.​

 

[Rose Edogawa]

Rose followed behind Tori for most of the lesson, she had excitedly watched the Quidditch game earlier when her brother played - so she was a little tired at the moment. She didn't like being in big crowds and honestly she had worked over her quota of people this week - there was just too much happening around her and so to be told they would be going into the Forbidden Forest well, she wasn't exactly thrilled about the whole idea. She didn't like the idea of going to a place that was Forbidden, but in the same vain she wanted to prove to people that she could do it, she just didn't want to have to prove that in the Forbidden Forest of all places. Couldn't she go cliff diving or flying dangerously or something? That was more her speed. Once she'd gathered what she needed to, she walked slowly back to the classroom before heading out was the class ended.​

 

[Sayuri Edogawa]

Sayuri entered the classroom and waited for the professor to tell them what they would be doing. She could not help but blink and look incredulously at the professor when he announced that they would be going to the Forbidden Forest. To gather mistletoe. For the Yule Ball. In April. Oh Merlin, what school did her parents send them to? Maybe the professor had been around plants a little too much? Maybe there was too many toxins in the greenhouse? Or maybe he'd forgotten how to read a calendar? In any case, their professor was seriously going bonkers. No wonder Jonah was getting a little touched in the head in Hufflepuff.

In any case, she didn't really have a choice but to follow the professor and her classmates out onto the forest path. She did make sure to have Rose stick to her side though. She glanced at the mistletoe growing along the tree branches. Watching the professor demonstrate how to clip the mistletoe, Sayuri took mental notes on how to do it quickly and efficiently because she really did not want to be out here any longer than they had to. She began carefully and quickly clipping sprigs, slipping each piece into her bag. When they returned to the greenhouse, Sayuri set her bag of mistletoe on the table and watched as Professor Carter demonstrated how to prepare them before she set to work. When that was done, she left following Rose.​