Herbology Class One

[Araloue Mae Hythroane]

I smiled as I walked into the greenhouse gingerly stepping over the collections of various sized plants and pots. I really loved Herbology it was one of my favorite subjects but as I scanned the small room and the groups of students that were gathered together, I began to felt a little apprehensive. Luckily unlike most of the time their conversations were short and I didn‘t feel so out of place, must have had something to do with the hour. It was rather late for class but I didn’t mind… at least not to much. The only problem was I didn’t know most, well any of the people around me, socializing was proving rather difficult especially when you were as timid as a mouse. But I smiled and put on the façade, my soft green eyes falling upon the professor who was in her usual Chinese attire. I was rather looking forward to what lied in those covered boxes.

[Mari Teranishi]

Mari watched the door intently as each student came in. She ignored their meaningless casual conversations. No one dared start fighting in her class, or if they did, she would stop it immediately. As the time came for class to start, Mari stood up and cleared her throat.

"Okay, class is beginning. Anyone who walks through that door starting now is late."

Mari stated as she flicked her wand at the door, causing it to shut. She glanced around the room one more time, making sure every eye was on her.

"Welcome to Herbology. If you don't know, I am Professor Teranishi and will be called as such."

She never liked having all the years included in one class. There was such a huge age difference but this class would be simpler to be taught once.

"Now, Devil's Snare is a plant with the magical ability to constrict or strangle anything in its surrounding environment or something that happens to touch it. Struggling or resistance to Devil's Snare will cause the plant to exert a greater force of constriction. Many have you heard and seen Flitterbloom before I'm sure. Both Devil's Snare and Flitterbloom have long, swaying tentacles and look very similar. Devil's Snare is very dangerous and deadly, while Flitterbloom is a common, harmless plant."

Mari took her wand again and with a flick and a few words, the two boxes multiplied. In front of every student, now, was two smaller versions of each box.

"In front of you are two boxes. One box has a very small, not deadly, Devil's snare plant. In the other is Flitterbloom. I want each of you to identify each correctly."

[Cosette Sansouci]

Cosette looked at the two boxes in front of her. They looked the exact same. She sighed. How was she supposed to tell them apart. It didn't exactly help that she had never bothered to do her reading for this class. She looked around at the other students. No one else seems to have identified her plants either.

Shrugging, she decided to try the only thing she could think of. She stuck one hand in each box. Instantly the Devil's Snare wrapped itself around her arm. She tried to pull it back but it just wrapped itself around tighter. Beginning to panic she started hitting it with her wand. Bright sparks flew out of the end. With one last tug, she managed to pull her arm free.

Cosette quickly looked around the room to see if anyone had noticed.

"Professor, I think this one is the Devil's Snare."

[Anthony Pereira]

Like always Anthony read for every class. This whole thing seemed like a joke to him. It was so easy to tell the difference between them it was laughable. But then he saw Cosette look completely confused and shove her arm into a box. Maybe it wasn't that obvious.

Not wanting anyone to cheat off of him, Anthony pulled out his wand and quietly put the tip in the box. He mumbled lumos and then looked around quickly. It seemed no one noticed. When he looked in the box, the plant was still in it's exact position as before. This had to be flitterbloom. Seeing the professor was occupied with Cosette, he waited patiently until she was free.

[Jie Chuang]

Jie entered the Greenhouse as the Professor was in the middle of speaking. He had actually almost forgotten to attend to class. He paused in the doorway.

"I am very sorry, Professor Teranishi. I was in the Hospital Wing. I brought a note."

Jie walked over and handed her a note. The note, of course, was forged. He quickly took a seat next to Cosette and paid close attention to the rest of what the Professor was saying.

Afterwards he stared down at his boxes. He had done the required reading so he did know that Devil's Snare didn't like light. The problem was, however, he couldn't remember how to get light to come out of his wand. He knew that it was a very simple spell but for the life of him he just couldn't think of the incantation.

While he was waiting for it to come to him, he turned his attention to the students around him. He laughed as he watched Cosette get attacked by the plant.

"It seems to like the taste of Huffypuffs. You better be careful."