Year 4: Listen To Your Heart
Chapter 37: March 2015
With the arrival of March fourth year classes started getting significantly harder. With OWL year coming next year, the Professors all wanted to make sure that their students were as prepared as they could be. In Herbology, this meant the introduction of their first long-term project. Each fourth year would be receiving the seeds of a magical plant, and for the remainder of the semester, they would attempt to grow their seeds into a plant. Up until that point, the fourth years had worked with various plants, but had never attempted to grow them from scratch, and so many of them were excited.
"This is going to be great!" Raina exclaimed when Professor Longbottom made the announcement in class. "I've been meaning to try out my new fertilizer recipe on a plant, but I haven't been able to decide what to try it on."
"Oh no," Brianna rolled her eyes as their teacher began to pass out seeds. "She'd better not mess this up for the rest of us the way she did that time in first year with the Shrivelfig."
"Don't worry," Victoire assured her friend. "I'm sure Professor Longbottom will be keeping a close watch on our projects."
Professor Longbottom arrived at their table and passed Victoire, Kara, and Brianna each a pouch containing a handful of seeds.
"I got Puffapod seeds," Kara declared, reading the label on the pouch. "What about you guys?"
"Bouncing Bulb," Brianna sighed. "I never liked these."
"Spiky Bush," Victoire read out the label on her envelope.
"They're all first year plants," Kara commented.
"Probably easier to grow for our first try at it," Victoire noted.
Kara nodded. "Good point," she said.
Once Professor Longbottom had finished handing out the seeds, he gave out the final directions and then instructed the class to begin working on their projects.
Hurrying across the room, Victoire grabbed one of the deeper pots before they were all taken, knowing that the Spiky Bush roots would need room to grow if she wanted to do well. Then she carried it over to where Professor Longbottom kept bags of soil and selected a soil with lots of nitrogen – the Spiky Bush needed lots of nitrogen to grow well. Once her pot was full of soil, she carried it back to her station and carefully started planting her seeds.
"This is so lame," Brianna muttered as she also began planting her seeds next to Victoire. "It's going to take forever for these things to grow, and Professor Longbottom's making us check on them everyday! Even on days we don't have Herbology class!"
"What's the big deal?" Victoire asked. "It's not like it's going to take up hours of our time. We just have to make a short detour each day to water them and make sure they're getting the right amount of sunlight."
"Yeah, but think about it Victoire," Brianna insisted. "That means we have to come down here even on weekends."
"It's not like we wouldn't already be in the area," Victoire pointed out. "Odds are we'd find ourselves somewhere near the greenhouses at some point."
"You're missing the point," Brianna said. "It's the principle of the thing."
"It's a school project," Victoire replied. "I think you're the one missing the point."
VvVvVvVvVvV
Later that day found Victoire and her friends in the library, studying with Teddy and Billy.
"Did you guys ever do a project in fourth year where you had to grow plants from seeds?" Victoire inquired, dragging the boys away from their Ancient Runes translations.
"Sure," Teddy nodded. "Everyone does that project."
"See Brianna?" Victoire said, turning on her friend. "Everyone has to do it. It's not that big a deal."
Brianna harrumphed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Well I think it's stupid," she said. "I have other classes to worry about. I can't always be worrying about how my plant is doing."
"Okay, well for one thing, this project is not going to take up that much of your time," Victoire pointed out. "And secondly, it's not like you're going to put the effort in anyway, so why are you whining about it?"
"Because I shouldn't have to feel bad about not putting in the effort," Brianna said. "It's a dumb project. I wonder if Headmaster Slinkhard knows about it."
"I'm sure he does," Teddy assured her. "Besides, they've been assigning this project for years, so obviously it's been proven to be an effective one or they would have modified it."
"So what plants did you girls get?" Billy wondered, trying to move the conversation in a slightly different direction.
"Puffapod," Kara replied.
"What about you Vic?" Teddy asked, his foot finding hers under the table.
"Spiky Bush," Victoire revealed.
"Really?" Teddy asked in surprise. "I was assigned the Spiky Bush in my year."
"That's amazing!" Victoire exclaimed. "Do you have any tips?"
"Did you use a deep pot?" Teddy asked. "And soil with nitrogen?"
"Of course," Victoire replied, as though this was obvious.
"Well then it sounds like you're heading in the right direction. Just make sure you don't over-water it, because Spiky Bushes won't grow if you inundate them," Teddy added.
"I'll keep that in mind," Victoire smiled.
"What about you, Brianna?" Billy asked the third girl.
Brianna rolled her eyes. "Bouncing Bulb," she said, as though this were a terrible fate.
"That's not so bad," Billy frowned. "They don't even take that much work to grow."
"Tell that to Professor Longbottom," Brianna sighed. "We have to sign a sheet every day that we go to check on the plants to prove that we were there and we lose marks for every day that we don't go without a valid excuse – and as far as I'm aware, the only valid excuse would be if I was hospitalized and had a note from Madam Eldridge proving it."
"Well this is school," Victoire pointed out hesitantly. "You have to expect that they're going to make us do projects like this at some point."
"Herbology is stupid," Brianna grumbled. "There's no way I'm continuing it after fifth year."
VvVvVvVvVvV
That night, Victoire set her alarm to go off a little earlier than usual so she would have time to check on her Spiky Bush before breakfast. When it went off the following morning, she tried to shut it off before it woke Brianna, but she was unsuccessful.
"What are you doing up so early?" Brianna groaned, rolling over in bed.
"I'm going to check on my Spiky Bush," Victoire replied. "Do you want me to look at your Bouncing Bulb while I'm down there?"
"Can you sign my name on the sheet?" Brianna asked hopefully.
"Professor Longbottom said he was going to spell it so that you couldn't forge anyone's name," Victoire said.
"Ugh," Brianna grumbled. "Fine, whatever, I'll check on it later."
She rolled over and immediately fell back to sleep.
Padding carefully over to the bathroom, Victoire quickly got ready and then headed down to the greenhouses. Greenhouse two had been specially set aside for the fourth year project and the door was unlocked when she got there.
"Good morning Victoire," Raina greeted her when she entered. Raina was the only other person there.
"Oh, good morning," Victoire replied, signing her name on the sign in sheet and then proceeding to where her plant was positioned as much in the sun as possible.
"I see you wanted to get an early start on the project as well?" Raina observed.
"Yeah," Victoire agreed. "I just wanted to make sure my plant was doing alright. It seems fine."
"Well it would, wouldn't it?" Raina pointed out. "Nobody's plants are going to grow at all for at least a couple of weeks still, and even then, they'll only just be sprouting."
"I know," Victoire nodded. "I just wanted to test the temperature of my soil and make sure it's warm enough. I'm growing a Spiky Bush you see."
"Oh, how lucky," Raina said excitedly.
"Which plant have you gotten?" Victoire wondered.
"A Shrivelfig," Raina admitted. "Don't worry though, I'm not going to do to it what I did to the last one. Professor Longbottom's been helping me with my fertilizer actually, and it's much better now than it was back then."
"Well I'm sure you also know a lot more about Herbology now than you did back in first year," Victoire added. "So that probably helps too."
"Definitely," Raina agreed. "Well it looks like I'm all done here. How're you doing?"
Victoire pulled the thermometer out of her soil and confirmed that it was at a temperature conducive to growing a Spiky Bush.
"I think I'm done for now," Victoire said. "I was thinking about watering it, but the soil's still a little damp from yesterday, so I should probably come back later for that."
Raina walked over and took a look at the soil.
"I wouldn't even water it today if I were you," she said, picking some up and letting it run through her fingers. "A Spiky Bush wants to grow in really dry soil. I'd wait to water it until tomorrow morning."
"Thanks for the advice," Victoire said gratefully. "I guess I'll just check how the soil's doing later, and if it's still at all damp, I won't give it any water."
VvVvVvVvVvV
"So you're really enjoying this project," Teddy observed a few days later as Victoire dragged him to the greenhouses to check on her Spiky Bush before they headed back up to the common room.
"I am actually," Victoire agreed. "I didn't realize at first how much I would, but it's really grown on me, no pun intended."
"Well I'm glad to see you so excited about your schoolwork," Teddy said. "Do you think you'll continue Herbology past fifth year?"
"Oh definitely," Victoire nodded. "Assuming I pass the OWL."
"Oh you will," Teddy assured her. "You're better at Herbology than I ever was."
"You still passed your OWL though, so you couldn't have been that bad," Victoire frowned.
"There's a big difference between passing an OWL and doing well on an OWL," Teddy said. "I just barely scraped an Acceptable on that one."
"Well it doesn't really matter," Victoire declared. "Because you were never going to continue with Herbology anyway, right?"
"That's right," Teddy agreed.
"Any idea what you want to do after Hogwarts?" Victoire wondered.
Teddy shrugged. "I'll probably go to work at the Ministry somewhere," he said. "I'll ask Uncle Percy or Aunt Hermione to put in a good word for me in one of the departments."
"That doesn't sound like much fun," Victoire pouted.
"It's work," Teddy pointed out. "It's not supposed to be fun."
They arrived at the greenhouse and Victoire headed straight to the back where her plant was.
"Don't you need to sign in?" Teddy asked, holding up the sing-in sheet.
"No, I was here this morning," Victoire shook her head. "I've already signed in."
Teddy chuckled. "You really are invested in this project."
"Come see my Spiky Bush," Victoire waved Teddy over.
Obediently, Teddy weaved his way through the tables over to where Victoire was waiting.
"What exactly am I looking at?" Teddy asked, looking down at the pot of soil.
"Well it hasn't sprouted yet," Victoire admitted. "It's been less than a week after all."
"Uh huh," Teddy nodded.
"I just have to take the soil's temperature and give it a bit of water," Victoire said. "Then we can go."
"Take your time," Teddy said, taking a seat on a nearby stool as Victoire inserted the thermometer into the soil and began to measure out her plant's daily allotment of three tablespoons of water.
Checking the reading on the thermometer, Victoire nodded satisfactorily and then carefully poured the water onto the soil.
"Only three tablespoons," Teddy noted. "That's not very much."
"I know," Victoire nodded. "But Spiky Bushes grow better with minimal water. The book says to give it four tablespoons, but I think three is plenty."
"Well it is your project," Teddy allowed. "Besides, when I grew my Spiky Bush, I used four tablespoons and it was a disaster."
"Well there you go," Victoire said. "My way is obviously better."
VvVvVvVvVvV
After two weeks, Victoire's plant finally began to sprout.
"Congratulations Victoire," her Herbology Professor said, passing by her workstation in class.
"Thanks," Victoire smiled proudly.
Professor Longbottom moved on to Kara's plant. "Not bad," he said, noting the texture of the soil. "Your Puffapod should be sprouting any day now."
Kara nodded, happy with her feedback.
"As for your Bouncing Bulb Brianna…" Professor Longbottom examined Brianna's pot and then consulted his clipboard with all the sign-in sheets from the past two weeks. "I believe this plant could use more careful monitoring," he said. "Perhaps you should consider visiting it everyday like the other students."
Brianna plastered a smile onto her face, but Victoire could see that it was completely fake. "I'll take that under advisement," she said sweetly.
As soon as class was over and they were out of earshot of the greenhouses, Brianna started in on Professor Longbottom.
"He's so full of himself. Like he thinks he's better than me," she cried.
"Well he is the teacher," Kara pointed out.
"That's not the point," Brianna insisted. "Telling me to check on my plant more often. Like that's going to do any help. It's a plant. It'll sprout when it wants to. It's not like I'm not watering it. I water it twice when I've missed a day."
"That's not really – "
"Ugh, Victoire you are really getting on my nerves," Brianna added, rounding on Victoire. "You're becoming more and more like Raina every day. You get up early to check on your plant, you skip out on lunch to check on your plant, you stop by the greenhouse on the way back from afternoon classes to check on your plant. You even make a special trip sometimes right before curfew to make sure it's doing alright with the sun down! It's ridiculous!"
"I'm just trying to get a good grade…" Victoire muttered.
"Oh no, this is way more than just getting a good grade," Brianna cried. "This is obsessive. It's like you're possessed."
"I'm not possessed," Victoire disagreed. Possession wasn't a laughing matter at this school. Her Aunt Ginny had been possessed by Tom Riddle in her first year, so it certainly wasn't unheard of.
"Well you're certainly not acting like yourself," Brianna cried. "Since when are you think interested in school? What happened to the Victoire that liked to play exploding snap in the common room with her friends?"
"We play exploding snap almost every night," Victoire protested.
"Yeah, and almost every night you ditch us mid-game to check on that cursed Spiky Bush!" Brianna cried.
Victoire thought about this. Maybe Brianna was right. She was putting a lot of unnecessary effort into caring for her plant. Even Professor Longbottom had noted that checking on it four times a day was a little excessive. The only other fourth year spending that much time in the greenhouse was Raina, and Victoire certainly didn't want to turn into Raina.
She decided that she would pull back from the project a little. She could still do well if she only checked on her plant twice a day. She could go once in the morning and once after classes. She didn't need to be skipping lunch, and she certainly didn't need to be making special trips at half past eight every night.
VvVvVvVvVvV
"Victoire! You came to lunch!" Teddy exclaimed in surprise the next day when Victoire sat down between him and Kara.
"Yeah," Victoire agreed. "I figured my Spiky Bush could make it through the day without me for once."
"Well it's certainly nice to see you," Teddy smiled, scooting over and interlocking his left leg with Victoire's right.
"Yeah, you too," Victoire agreed. "I've missed having lunch with you all."
"Mostly me though, right?" Billy asked from across the table.
"Obviously," Victoire nodded jokingly. Billy chuckled.
"Well it's nice to see you haven't completely lost your mind," Brianna nodded as she ate her soup.
Victoire decided to ignore the comment and instead asked Teddy and Billy about their recent translation project in Ancient Runes.
"It's going well," Billy replied. "We've almost deciphered the whole thing."
"Hopefully we'll have it finished by the end of the week," Teddy added. "Because it's due Friday."
"I know you'll get it done," Victoire assured them.
VvVvVvVvVvV
Later that night, the five reclined in the common room playing exploding snap with the new cards Kara had purchased through owl order.
"Hey Victoire, it's almost nine," Teddy observed. "Don't you want to check on your plant before curfew?"
"Nah, that's alright," Victoire shrugged, conscious that Brianna was watching her and sensitive to what she would say if Victoire decided to go.
"Are you sure?" Teddy asked. "I can go with you in case you don't get back in time for curfew. If anyone sees us, I'll just pretend that I've already caught you and that I'm taking you back to the common room."
Victoire smiled, grateful for the offer. "It's really fine," she said. "I've been to see my plant twice today. If it can't make it through the night without me, then there's something wrong with it."
"Alright," Teddy said hesitantly.
They continued playing for a while longer, but soon Kara started yawning and they packed up the cards.
"You coming Vic?" Kara asked as she and Brianna started heading for the girls' staircase.
"Yeah, I'll be right up," Victoire assured them.
"Well I think I'll be leaving," Billy added, getting up off the floor and making his way to the boys' staircase.
Once they were gone, Teddy leaned back against the wall and Victoire scooted over so that they were sitting shoulder to shoulder. Teddy reached over her and wrapped his arm around her and she snuggled into his side.
"So what's been going on today with your Herbology project?" Teddy asked. "You don't seem as into it as you were before."
"I don't know," Victoire muttered. "I guess I just realized I was being a bit too obsessive about it."
"I wouldn't say obsessive," Teddy disagreed. "More like passionate."
"Well either way, I was getting out of control," Victoire insisted. "I don't want to turn into Raina after all."
"Where's all this coming from?" Teddy wondered.
Victoire didn't want to admit that it was Brianna's words that had brought her to this conclusion, so she lied. "I've just been thinking about it a lot, and there's really no need for me to work so hard at this assignment for no reason," she said.
"I wouldn't say it was for no reason," Teddy said. "You probably have the best project in the class, no including Raina's."
"Big deal," Victoire said.
"I just want you to be doing this because it's what you want," Teddy said. "Not because you feel pressured."
"I'm not being pressured," Victoire said. "This is what I want."
"Good," Teddy said. "Then I'm all for it."
He gently kissed Victoire on the head and then slowly retracted his arm. "It's late, we should both be getting to bed."
"Goodnight," Victoire said, letting Teddy get up off the floor and then extending her hand for him to help her up.
"Goodnight," Teddy returned before heading towards the boys' dorms.
Victoire sighed. Pulling back on the Herbology project would be a good thing, she told herself. The plant would be fine, and this way she'd have more time to spend with her friends. It was for the better. She hoped.