Second Years, Lesson Five

The Herbology Professor was looking at his second year's mandrakes, checking if any one of them managed to kill one. Apparently, not long before Landon started teaching at the school, someone managed to do just that, and so Landon was very weary about it, despite him trusting his second years very much. Landon heard voices from outside and smiled as his second years began entering the room. "Hello guys! Take a seat with your mandrakes and we'll begin." Once all of his students were inside, Landon walked to the front and faced them all. "Good morning!" he exclaimed before continuing. "Take out your quill and parchment ..." Landon flicked his fingers and words appeared the black board.

Stages:

-Infancy

-Toddler

-Childhood

-Pubescence

Pubescence: Leaves thicken and take on a waxy texture due to the oil they secrete, which causes them to have acne. Childish mannerisms are gone, replaced by moodiness. They become more secretive.

Gender:

-Males tend to have more acne and make rude gestures towards the other Mandrakes. They also make cat calls out to the females. If you are wearing the earmuffs, then most likely, you won't hear them. Though lip reading is common since they like to pop their heads out of the soil and grab their food.

-Females have less acne, and tend to whisper and gossip incessantly. They are more laid-back than males. They like to primp in this stage, as they will pop their heads out of the soil as well. They also like to flirt.

"You can summarise if you like, but basically the Mandrake goes through many different stages. The first stage is infancy to toddler, next is childhood, and now they have all progressed into pubescence. In your journal you will note down their changes such as their leaves which are now taking on a waxy texture." Landon waited until everyone had finished writing their notes before talking again. "Now, you will be able to check to see if your Mandrakes' genders, and you might have to change their names." He waved his hand and the board went back to the corner from where it had come from. "Observe your Mandrakes and their behaviours. Record this in your journal and give them a bit more water and food than you did in their last stage."

"Now, please put on your earmuffs. If you forgot yours, there are some in the box beside the door." Landon put on his, and waited for the others to put theirs on. He gave his Mandrake, which turned out to be a female, some food. She popped her head out and grabbed the food, after glancing up at Landon before retreating into the soil. Landon gestured for them to begin as he watered her.

Landon didn't speak again until they were done. "Come here tonight and bring your journals as we will observe a Mandrake party. Put your earmuffs in the box next to the door. If they spotted us, they would stop." He smirked. "Class dismissed."

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[ Night time ]

Landon waited outside the castle doors for the students. He had his hood on to keep the cold from aggravating him. After all were present, he led the students toward the greenhouses. He passed out the earmuffs, "Just watch." Everyone put on their earmuffs, including Landon. He hand his hand raised for silence among the students. A male Mandrake, popped up, looked around, making sure the coast was clear. It jumped out and knocked on the other pots. Landon watched in amazement as they all sprang from their pots and the party began. He was already tired of watching them strike up the music, dancing and pelting each other with the food from the bowl he left out on the table for them. They were in for one interesting night.

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Homework: Okay guys, there they are! So here we all are, sitting on a hill and you guys can write whatever you want about what's going on at the party. Keep it clean! They love music, dancing and having a fun time.

Just RP the lesson AND write an entry in your journals for full marks. You'll record the stage they're in, their genders (new names, if they're a different gender than you thought), food/water you gave them. You'll also record the raucous party they threw. Make sure you RP coming back to watch the party.

 

[Primrose Kaster]

Prim stared at her Mandrake, who was now named Grumbletta, because he had apparently been a she this whole time. The sheen of wax on her leaves was so obvious now where she hadn’t been able to tell before. She fussed with her leaves alot before she popped up to talk to another Mandrake in the next pot. “Ah, she’s a gossip.” she shook her head, taking soe more notes about this. She watered and fed Grumbletta a bit more before watching as she daintily retrieved the food and disappeared back into the pot. She seemed to be trying to be all mysterious, which Prim thought was a bit silly. Later that night, she bundled herself up in her cloak, watching the mandrakes with curiousity. They were throwing a party, or something, and she thought it was quite funny actually. Grumbletta was apprently way more social than Prim herself because she was the centre of this little party, she was in the middle of what Prim could only describe as a pack of other female mandrakes as a bold young male mandrake tried to impress them with… well, she supposed it was a dance? Not a very good one, probably. Prim shook her head and made more notes. “This is ridiculous,” she said quietly to herself, feeling a lot like an unamused parent in this moment.
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Diary Entry #4

Mandrake Name: Grumbletta (formerly Grumble)
Stage: Pubescence
Gender: Female
Care Notes: Leaves are shinier, and she’s suddenly very into gossip. Fed and watered her more today. Went back to watch their weird secret party. She danced. I regret everything.

 

[Vikram Bakshi]

The semester was just about over with, and Vikram was ready to be done with the year. He enjoyed being away from home, but he missed it all the same. He was already planning his return- the dinners he'd request, the time alone. He smiled a little. Being alone, that was something he always missed when they were here. He sighed, rolling his neck. Classes first.

Vikram found his seat- he'd admit he fell into it with a bit of a sigh. He was just tired. This was a really easy class- the mandrakes weren't exactly hard to take care of. He wrote in his journal about the changes in his mandrake, biting back a sigh as he thought of coming back that night.

He came out with an extra thick scarf, making himself comfortable and watching the mandrakes below. He studied his mandrake- it was hiding in the dirt a lot, but a few others had climbed onto the pot before burrowing in with it. All three poked their heads out, watching and giggling (maybe?) at a rather fat mandrake dancing for them. He let out a soft sigh. So he had a girl, then. He did his best to stay awake, dozing off a little here and there, but to his relief he stayed awake (for the most part) until they were dismissed.

 

[Lilith Ilves]

Lilith arrived to the Herbology class scooping up Morso and taking a seat. She took out her parchment and quill as instructed then began observing her root. She'd been referring to Morso as her all these weeks and now it was apparently time to figure out whether she'd been offending the root. Luckily for her Morso seemed quite gossipy, constantly searching for another Mandrake to whisper to. Morso then proceeded to spot another mandrake that she liked and what Lilith now assumed was happening the plant was flirting? "Well, can't say I have ever seen a plant flirt before...." She mumbled as she watched the plant go on batting its eyes and what not. After watering and feeding her root the Ravenclaw made her way out the classroom ready to see what a Mandrake party would be like that evening.

It was quite the scene, there was music and what she could only assume was dancing. Though she wouldn't necessarily call it that, the females were gossiping between each other and sharing glances while the males were trying to impress. Had she known better Lilith would have assumed this was most certainly a fever dream.

Name: Still Morso because I don't know if the muppet i named her after was a male or female so its unisex enough.
Stage: Pubescence
Gender: Female
Notes: Well she was batting her eyes at the others and whispering her life away so I wouldn't trust any of my secrets with her. She has pretty and shiny leaves. I came back to see the secret party, had I not known better I would have assumed I was taking a nap with a high fever... Alas I'm glad they have good time too and can wind down somehow and socialize, personally though I wouldn't part take in that party. Not that they'd let me either. Can you tell me why we are growing them?

We are growing and caring for these mandrakes so that we can supply the hospital with them, for healing purposes. It is a vital part of the process, and I hope you're having fun watching Morso grow!

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

Eoghan couldn't help but feel a little concerned about his next Herbology class, because last week his mandrake had looked somewhat under the weather, grey and peaky. He'd been doing his best to check on it everyday throughout the week, occasionally putting it further into the sunlight but nothing seemed to be helping it much. Tonight they would have a party for the mandrakes, and Eoghan listened as they were told the mandrakes would come out of their shells and enjoy being social, although it was hard to tell whether that would be the case for his own.

As expected, by the time they were out in the evening, Eoghan had brought along his mandrake for some social experimentation, but it just sat there, practically unmoving. The Ravenclaw only knew it was still alive because earlier in the day it had wiggled when he was trying to determine the gender, presumably from the cold. "Sir, I think there's something wrong with mine? He's been looking unwell for weeks," he called to the professor, wondering if he was going to fail him for not looking after it properly. He'd done everything he could!

Name: A (Honestly I don't remember what I called it in lesson one)
Stage: Pubescence
Gender: Male
Notes: A is still looking like it may well have died some point in the week. Every now and then he will move but usually only if poked or from a sudden temperature change. I'm feeding, watering him, and putting him in sunlight but his skin is grey and he's a lot smaller than the other mandrakes.

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Susie was so done with the whole mandrake business. It had been fun at first, even when she’d been knocked out, but she couldn’t help feeling as though there were so many cooler and prettier plants they could have been studying. Freddie was getting worse and worse. While she was feeding him, he popped up to make a rather rude gesture to a neighbouring mandrake. “FREDDIE!” she shouted. How did he even know what that meant? Honestly - he was even worse than the real Freddie, and that was saying something.

Later that evening, she wrapped up warm and headed back down to the greenhouses to watch the party. Even bundled up in her coat, she was shivering. All she wanted was to go back to her dormitory and get into her warm, comfy bed. But she watched as the mandrakes started having some kind of party, like teens whose parents had gone on holiday for the weekend and left them alone in the house. If there had been alcohol in the greenhouse, you just knew they would have got black-out drunk. Susie took some notes before finally making her way back to the castle.

Freddie is completely out of control, I think the other mandrakes are embarrassed by his behaviour and honestly I don’t blame them. I wish I had picked a nicer one, like a girl mandrake, all they do is gossip which is also stupid but at least they’re not rude and spotty like mine. It could be worse though, I think Eoghan’s mandrake died.

 

[Rhea Moss]

Rhea went to the last herbology lesson with sadness, because she knew this would be the last lesson when she would see her mandrake, but she hoped that it would grow big enough to serve as a medicinal plant and help others. Having settled in the greenhouse, when they could look at the plants, she carefully examined her mandrake. It had really grown. She had taken good care of it then. It looked healthy. Today it was also taken out into the sun, watered and fed, Only what the professor said about the evening party seemed like a completely strange arrangement.

In the evening, she and the others watched to see what her mandrake would do to this party. Rhea noticed that her mandrake was flirting with another mandrake. It even seemed to be dancing a kind of dance, just to make her like him more. It all seemed so amusing.

Spoiler: Mandrake

Name: Sam
Stage: Puberty
Gender: Male
Notes: Leaves looked healthy and shiny, none were yellowed. I watered and fed them. He looked amazing before the party. I talked him into not messing with the other mandrakes too much. When it was time to leave, I petted his leaves. When we got back to the party, I noticed him flirting with another mandrake and even doing a lap dance for it. Everything seemed perfectly fine. I was so content.

 

[Nox Walden-Cade]

Nox wasn’t expecting Professor Carter to instruct them to take out quills, he guessed they’d be taking notes for that lesson. They summarised the various stages of development their mandrakes went through, some they had already seen and the final one they would witness today, pubescence. Professor Carter also explained that as their mandrakes were now in the adolescent stage of their growth they’d be able to see what gender they really were. Nox had been assuming his mandrake was a boy and had named him accordingly, what would he do if he wasn’t?

Spending an evening outside the herbology greenhouse looking in had not been on Nox’s second year bingo card. He felt uncomfortable with his earmuffs on pressed against the window looking out for Lumos, whom he had since discovered was a girl. He found her among the crowd of mandrakes and it looked like she was…flirting? Definitely a girl per Professor Carter’s notes, apparently boy mandrakes don’t flirt. He made notes to add to his diary entry and when the party was over he headed back to the castle.

Name: Lumos
Stage: Pubescence
Gender: Female
Notes: Lumos is a girl! A party girl at that! I saw her at the party and she was right in amongst the other mandrakes batting her eyelashes and flirting with all of the boys. So maybe she has more in common with her namesake than I thought.