First Years, Lesson One

Landon was very excited for his first Herbology lesson with his new first years. He was confident that he was going to have fun with them and would try his best to make the year as good as possible for them.

The Professor stood at the front of the Herbology greenhouse with a beaming smile on his face as he looked around the room, waiting for his new batch of first years to arrive. The greenhouse was decorated with still pictures of muggle plants, from daisies to tulips to orange jessamine. They wouldn't be learning much about them, but he still felt that the plants were pretty and that it gave the atmosphere a homely feel. He was sure that the muggle-born students like himself were going to like the interesting touch too and he hoped that it would make them feel comfortable during their first lesson with him.

Soon enough, the first group of students entered the greenhouse followed by more and more people which just made the man even more excited for the lesson. "Come in, come in!" Landon exclaimed as he gestured for a couple of hesitating children standing at the door to make their way inside.

Once everyone was settled Professor Carter began pacing the room in his best attempt to make himself comfortable. "Good afternoon first years, I am Professor Carter and I will be your Herbology professor for your first to fourth year." He said, his voice quite loud and clear around the greenhouse. "Now, can anyone tell me what Herbology is?" Landon pointed to a student in the front row and smiled at them. When they managed to get the answer right, Professor Carter beamed. "3 points to your house! Herbology is the study, along with the use, of both magical and mundane plants. The way muggles look after them are much similar to the way wizards look after them, but with obviously some magic involved." The man paused as he looked around at his students, some of which were writing notes already. Many of them were listening intently, which made Professor Carter smile. "But don't be too worried about all of that just yet. For now, I will be handing around pieces of paper and a pencil with a little introductory quiz on it. Luckily, it will only be one of your few assignments this year. I look forward to teaching you all." Landon handed each person in his class a single piece of paper and a pencil before dismissing them. Parchment was too overrated, and his students would be seeing none of that in his classes.

Quiz

Name:
House:
What are you looking most forward to about Herbology?:
Do you prefer lectures or going outside?:
If you have any questions, please write them here and I will answer them to the best of my ability:

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Assignment: Just post attendance and fill out the form above! First poster, please answer the question. Please also take some time to check out the Herbology Classroom Policy.

 

[Winnie Calida]

Winnie had enjoyed being home. Her parents hadn’t been happy with all of her choices in the semester. Her mother hadn’t loved her writing for the monthly, but Winnie had argued it firmly, and her parents had relented, that it was a more fruitful extra curricular than most others. She made sure to tell them she had bonded well with Vikram, that she had made good friends with some of the other students. She has received more instructions for this semester and is hopeful that she’ll manage them to a T. Winnie grabs the last few things she needs for the day ahead and then goes to class.

Winnie walked into the herbology classroom and took a spot near the front of the greenhouse. She took out her notes and books and placed them down in front of her. At the question, she immediately raised her hand. ”Herbology is the study of magical and muggle plants,” she answered and was very glad when he was right. The professor then told them a little more and then handed them a quiz. She took the time to fill it out and then handed it back intot he professor and was able to leave the room.

Spoiler

Name: Winnie Calida
House: Slytherin
What are you looking most forward to about Herbology?: Everything
Do you prefer lectures or going outside?: Whichever works best for what needs to be taught.
If you have any questions, please write them here and I will answer them to the best of my ability: Favourite flower?

 

[Lumos Walden-Cade]

Lumos walks to the front of the greenhouse when he spots Winnie and immediately heads over to sit with her. She doesn't share this class with the Ravenclaw boy he's been seeing her with, and Demi and Nox aren't here either, so he's not too worried about taking up her space. He grins at her, and then focuses on not being too disruptive to her work. Unlike him, she actually probably wants to do well in the class, and Lumos really couldn't care less about his grades, it's not like he has any idea what he wants to do when he leaves school anyway, though he's been giving more thought to what she had said to him earlier in the year, about taking the extra subjects in third and fourth and figuring out what he liked best, since he doesn't have to do all of them and he really only needs to lock them in by fifth year in any case, since OWLS will be stressful enough without changing things around.

He realises he hasn't been paying any attention at all to the lesson when he hears Winnie give an answer to a question he had not heart, and he throws her a quick thumbs up in support. He glances over at his quiz, not really caring to do it since it seems a bit useless to him. What is the point of doing the quiz if he's not going to learn anything other than the fact the professor can't make his own decisions. No offence Nox but his head of house is a bit dim. Still, it's not like Lumos has a high opinion on his own head of house either for that matter. And Herbology is a dumb subject. The lesson ends and he picks himself up quickly and walks out.​

 

[William Potter-Cade]

William didn’t have to set foot in the herbology greenhouse to know the subject was dumb. Magical plants? Really? Unfortunately it was considered a pretty important subject so no matter what career he wanted to pursue in his later life, there was a good chance he’d a half decent grade in the class. So he was stuck with it for the foreseeable future. He walked into the greenhouse and watched the Hufflepuff head of house, who he had already had a few run ins with and didn’t hold the highest opinion of, as he introduced the subject and himself. William couldn’t bring himself to fully listen, he wasn’t sure if it was the subject he was turned off of, or Professor Carter.

When he did listen to what Professor Carter had to say, he wasn’t saying anything interesting. It was just plants, some of which wouldn’t even be magical, which seemed entirely pointless. He didn’t bother taking notes, but he did fill in the quiz at the end of the lesson because he figured it was easy extra credit. Once he was done and Professor Carter saw fit to dismiss them, William left.

Quiz

Name: William Potter-Cade
House: Gryffindor
What are you looking most forward to about Herbology?: I'm not, really.
Do you prefer lectures or going outside?: Going outside.
If you have any questions, please write them here and I will answer them to the best of my ability:

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

The break has not changed her mind about how things at school have been progressing, in fact it feels even more now like her friends are avoiding her than ever. With the exception maybe of the girls in her dorm, who she sees every day, and maybe Jasper, none of her other friends even seem to care about anything she has to say. Does she chase after one friend in favour of another or does she turn her back on all of them? Honestly she misses Professor Potter, and she thinks if she could speak to her maybe she could resolve all of this. She had problems when she was at school, but they all seemed to be fixed now, she doesn't want to have to wait until she's her dad's age to fix everything, how if she supposed to concentrate then?!

She notes Winnie answering a question and she jumps back to reality as the lecture she's been ignoring goes on. Whoops. She doesn't even really remember walking into the classroom, she should probably start paying more attention. Does she need any notes? It doesn't sound like it and she can't see anyone taking notes, though she glosses over Lumos since he never takes notes anyway. Maybe she will ask William at the end of the day because he's usually pretty good, but she really can't seem to concentrate today and surely that will be a problem if she doesn't pull herself together. Honestly if everyone could just stop telling her what she wants to hear and tell her the proper truth then maybe this wouldn't be so much of a problem.​

Quiz

Name: Tori de Lacey
House: Gryffindor
What are you looking most forward to about Herbology?: I like when things are hands on, but im not sure what to look forward to because I forgot to read the textbook
Do you prefer lectures or going outside?: outside!
If you have any questions, please write them here and I will answer them to the best of my ability: what's the most common magical plant people mess up the care of?

 

[Sayuri Edogawa]

Sayuri wasn’t really looking forward to taking Herbology. She knows Elijah didn’t mind it and she heard that Jonah hated the professor - which was weird. As she stepped into the greenhouse for the class though, it may have just felt a little different. It was weird taking class in such a… crowded… place. There was no other word for it considering they were utterly surrounded by plants that Sayuri felt a little claustrophobic by it. She sighed however, no point thinking about it.

As the professor welcomed the students, she listened as it was explained what Herbology was. She could almost snort but at least they didn’t have to go around introducing themselves. Westerners were so weird about that. She perked up at the mention of a quiz only to be utterly disappointed. This was a quiz? Did the professor not know what a quiz was? It was supposed to test their knowledge not whatever this was. This was stupid. But she answered it anyway because she didn’t want to risk losing points. Merlin, this was going to be a class.​

Quiz

Name: Sayuri Edogawa
House: Slytherin
What are you looking most forward to about Herbology?: Learning
Do you prefer lectures or going outside?: Lectures
If you have any questions, please write them here and I will answer them to the best of my ability:

 

[Esme Styx-Cade]

Esme didn’t like the idea of herbology, she didn’t like plants and the idea of getting dirt under her nails made her cringe. She made her way down to the greenhouse for the first lesson, Esme didn’t know much about Professor Carter other than he was the head of Hufflepuff house. Once everyone had taken their seats the professor introduced himself and began to tell them about herbology, as Esme thought it was just the study of plants, magical and otherwise. She didn’t yet know if she would find it interesting but she suspected she wouldn’t enjoy the practical elements of it. There wasn’t too much to think about during the lesson, Professor Carter handed out a quick quiz for them to fill out which she did and once they were dismissed she handed it back to him on her way out.

Quiz

Name: Esme Styx-Cade
House: Gryffindor
What are you looking most forward to about Herbology?: I'm not really sure.
Do you prefer lectures or going outside?: Going outside, but maybe not for herbology.
If you have any questions, please write them here and I will answer them to the best of my ability:

 

[Jasper Beese]

Jasper wasn't sure what he'd think of Herbology, but Professor Carter seemed nice which put him at ease. Jasper listened to the introduction, then took a questionnaire to fill out later and bring back in on the following lesson. Once dismissed, he packed up and left the greenhouse.