Closed The Study Of Growth

[James Holland]

The more time James spent at home with Lucy, the more conscious he became of how his children were all growing up before his eyes. Every day he shared new discoveries and new milestones with Lucy as she grew up, and every day, James ached for these moments he had missed with his older children, while he had been working. And now they were all adults or near-adults, something James didn't know if he would ever be able to adjust to. Looking at Rose, so grown up and put together, and seeing the tiny toddler she had once been, just as Lucy was now, James was filled with a mixture of pride and sorrow. His baby daughter had come so far, but there were so many lost moments between them he could never get back.

The present moment was one James cherished though, and one he had been excited about for a while. James knew Rose had always had an interest in his own job, and now that she was getting around to thinking about what she wanted to do for a career, James was excited to introduce her to his world. With Lucy strapped into a carrier on his front, James led Rose into one of his greenhouses. Though James wasn't officially working as much as he had before Lucy, he kept as many home projects on the go as he could, with this house containing his less dangerous projects. Bouncing Lucy slightly, James turned to Rose with a smile, gesturing at the tables of plants all around them. "Well, this is it. Anything catch your eye?"

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose had graduated a year ago now, and she was finally starting to feel like she might know what she wanted. She was still working at Honeydukes, but it wasn't what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Herbology had always been an option in her mind, but it had always felt a bit like an easy option, as her dad was also in the field. She knew deep down that this was a bit silly, but it had taken Charlie's letter to convince her to go for it. Rose followed her dad into the greenhouse, looking around at the familiar plants with a slight smile. She turned her attention to her father as he asked her if anything caught her eye. "Are these all potion ingredients?" She asked, gesturing to a table with plants that looked familiar, she remembered many of them from the classes with Professor Pendleton in the first few years. "Do you grow those to sell?"

 

[James Holland]

James smiled slightly at Rose's observation, pride swelling in his chest. "Yes, it's not really necessary these days, but the extra money and connections never hurt. Potion supplies are any home herbologist's bread and butter, and if you can start off bulk supplying common ingredients it'll give you the revenue to get some rarer ones going, and then you'll be in demand, which is never a bad thing to be. Here, see." He carefully leaned forward a bit, mindful not to lean far enough for Lucy to grab any of the plants with her sticky hands, picking up one of the pots himself and showing Rose. "These aren't commonly grown in New Zealand, I was lucky enough to pick up a few seeds last time we went to England. Have to be careful to keep them contained, of course, can't be damaging the ecosystem. Same goes for anything you import. Containment spells are absolutely crucial. Can't have venomous tentacula or bubotubers infesting all the native bush, you know." James smiled, setting the pot back in its place and looking around. "Ah, here's something fun. Come have a look at my potting station." He smiled, leading Rose further into the greenhouse, to a familiar dirty bench.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose nodded at her father's explanation, almost feeling like she had to take notes to make sure she got all this, though she also knew that her father would be happy to explain it again if she forgot a bit. "That sounds smart." She said quietly. "Are there any special conditions necessary for any of these?" She looked closely at the pot he showed her. She nodded as he explained about containment spells, it did sound like it could be disastrous if any of the plants got out of their control. "Right... can you teach me those containment spells?" She asked him quietly, as she followed him to the potting station. She looked at it closely, something she had never really done before. "Can you repot any sort of plant here?" She asked, thinking back to the mandrakes from second year. That had been her first experience with repotting difficult plants, and she wondered if it was as difficult now as an adult.

 

[James Holland]

James nodded when Rose asked about special conditions, pausing to look around the greenhouse. "Let's see. That corner has extra sun lights, the ones next to them need extra humidity. Over there on the other wall are all the plants that need a bit more water, and that far corner up the back is the dark corner. The magic keeping it all running is a complete mess, I don't think I could actually talk through it if I tried. Been too many years since I set all this up, it's just a sort of... mishmash of whatever things I was trying at the time." James chuckled, continuing the walk. "I can teach you containment spells though, they're fairly simple. Here, though." He stopped at the potting station, reaching for one of the seed trays sprouting behind it. "I don't have the space to repot absolutely anything here, but for what I'm growing at home this serves my purposes." He explained, shifting the seed tray onto the bench and deftly catching Lucy's chubby hand before she could grab for the tempting plants he had set in front of her. "These are a bit of an experiment. Hybrid Monkshood and Asphodel. Could be useful in Wolfsbane potions, could be absolutely useless. I get a bit mad-scientisty when I'm bored." He smiled apologetically. "A bit of fun, though. My last couple of batches died pretty early on, don't think it's really viable."

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose listened with interest as her dad explained the special conditions he had in his greenhouse. She had known about a few of these, but most of them were new to her. She grinned as he said the magic was a mess, shrugging. "Well, it works. It was probably a ton of work to get it all going." She couldn't imagine having to set that all up, though she knew her dad had taken many years to get to this point. Rose was happy to hear he could teach her containment spells, and then followed him to the potting station. The experiment he showed her was very interesting too, and Rose looked at it closely. "Oh, wow." She said excitedly. "I would love to see how that progresses." She said, leaning closer. Then she looked up at her dad. "Dad... can I learn with you for a while until I have my own setup?" She asked a little nervously.

 

[James Holland]

James' passion for plants had been born at an early age, and he couldn't help his heart swelling at the sight of the same passion in his oldest daughter. He chuckled and nodded at her comment about the setup, looking around. "A lot of trial and error. Mostly error." He smiled warmly. The smile only broadened at Rose's enthusiasm for his silly little experiment, and James leaned a little closer, making sure Lucy couldn't grab at anything on the desk in front of her as he did. James hadn't seen Rose's next question coming, but it was one he had quietly hoped to hear from one of his children, he realised now. "Of course." He said, voice overflowing with emotion. "I'd love that. I'll make sure you've got everything you need to get started."