THC: Round 7

House: Ravenclaw

Class subject: Herbology

Story Category: drabble

Prompt(s): [emotion] Loneliness

Word count: 851

Notes: Wiki said that Pomona and Minerva's time at Hogwarts overlapped by two years but I'm not exactly sure the ages so take this with a grain of salt. Also, this was inspired by the fact that I learned that the actress who plays Professor Sprout is a lesbian so I thought it would be interesting to use in a story. (Oh, and the lore behind Hazel trees is very interesting I recommend looking it up)

Corylus avellana

Pomona never understood why people had labeled her as "weird" growing up. Maybe that's why she turned to plants instead of people. They didn't question the fact that she had zero interest in boys. So, yes, maybe she did look weird talking to her plants, but it had been clear that it helped them grow.

Her parents explained that she had magic and that she probably had been helping the plants with it but she believed they liked her company. The plants must have been lonely in the garden all day just watching the world go by but not being able to participate. She could relate.

Her school life before Hogwarts had been lonely due to her differences with the people around her. She had been excited to be able to grow her magical abilities and hoped she wouldn't be the odd one out at a magical school. Her favorite class had been Herbology of course and her side of the dormitory had been covered in plants. The girls that she lived with begged her to take them to the greenhouses, but Pomona didn't like the idea of them being so far away.

It hadn't been until the Head of House got involved that she moved all her plants. Now her side of the room sat empty and cold. The girls in her house seemed to avoid her like the plague and Pomona felt lonelier than she had at her last school. The Herbology Professor seemed to be the only one who understood her connection to plants. But, Pomona never brought up the fact—to anyone—that she had no interest in boys. That had been something she could hide. She didn't know why she had to hide it but she didn't want a repeat of what had happened back home, so she kept her mouth shut.

Pomona's fifth year at Hogwarts presented multiple issues. More and more students from her year were getting into couples. The very few students that talked to her questioned why she hadn't gone out with anyone to Hogsmeade yet. The week prior an awkward Gryffindor boy asked her to accompany him, and she had declined. Pomona told her friends that she had her eye on someone else but that she wanted to keep it a secret. They ate the lie right up.

She felt bad for rejecting the boy, but she also felt it would be wrong to go when she did not like him. Her friends' questions had her wondering if it would have been easier for her if she had just accepted. The fewer questions the better.

The more relationships her friends got into left Pomona to wander around Hogsmeade by herself on the weekends. She'd pass by all of them in Madame Puddifoot's Tea Shop. It left a burning in her chest. All of it left Pomona to wonder why she wasn't like them. Why she forced herself to be lonely instead of accepting the confession of a boy she barely knew as all her friends had.

Pomona wasn't even sure if she could really call them her friends. It seemed like they talked to her out of convenience and not because they wanted to. Minerva was the nicest of all and definitely shared the same sentiments of not needing to go out with boys.

Would it all be easier if she let her parents pick someone? At least then she'd have a companion like everyone else. But she didn't get the same giddy feeling everyone talked about when looking at boys. There once had been a girl—Hazel—she lived back home. They had been friends before Pomona left for Hogwarts and they talked when she went home for break. Her parents said that it would be okay to fall in love with a Muggle when Pomona asked about it. She hadn't told them that the Muggle happened to be a girl. That seemed like it wouldn't be okay.

After Hogwarts Pomona never got over her feelings of loneliness. She felt out of place in the world both with who she loved and what she loved to do. Her friends got married right out of school and all slowly drifted away. Minerva wrote every now and then, but Pomona thought that only added to the pain.

She applied on a whim to teach at Hogwarts. Herbology had been her only passion in life so it made sense. But that also meant she rarely went home anymore. Not that it mattered. Hazel had gotten married to a rich businessman ages ago. Pomona never told anyone about her feelings towards women. They all just assumed she had no interest in love at all and wrote her off as weird. She accepted that over what would happen if they knew the truth.

Slightly on the edge of the Forbidden Forest close enough for Pomona to see from the greenhouses had been the hazel tree she planted on her first day as a professor. It kept her company, along with all the students, as she went through life all "alone" as others had labeled it.