Chapter 2: Handling Herbology
There seemed to be a need for early breakfast as Lily entered the almost full Great Hall at half past seven. James too had arrived, but was too busy talking to Sirius to notice her presence, "...yes, but would the Wimbourne Wasps ever be the same without Ludo Bagman on their team?" said James to Sirius excitedly. "Hmm," said Sirius he seemed a little out of his depth and was pleased to see Lily, "Morning, Lily, how are you?" he said brightly, "heard you were up early today" "Did you really, Sirius", said Lily a little surprised. James' cheeks turned red with embarrassment, "well some of us care enough to actually finish our transfiguration homework on time." she sat down in the space next to him and helped herself to eggs and bacon. "Fair enough", said Sirius, "I reckon mine's alright though, didn't take me too long to run off a couple of feet of parchment." He stretched his arms lazily, and looked down the table towards a pretty girl with long brown hair and bright blue eyes. He studied her for a minute, then she noticed him watching, and he looked quickly away.
Breakfast had been an arduously busy affair, but was over quickly as the immense amount of post arrived and left as it did each morning at nine o'clock precisely. There seemed to be a particularly interesting article in the Daily Prophet, as many copies fluttered across the hall between the houses. Most of the talk seemed to be of rumour directed at the Gryffindor table,
"MAD MONSTER MAKING THE GRADE AT HOGWARTS
It was revealed yesterday, by an anonymous source that a potentially dangerous half-being is attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and has been studying amongst the sons and daughters of our community for a few years now. Professor and Headmaster, Ablus Dumbledore, has so far refused to pass ill comment on any pupil, saying that he feels that all the students in his school comply with ministry approved regulations for education.
The famed and loved Headmaster, who received an Order of Merlin, First class only three years ago has yet to justify his claim that "Hogwarts is a perfectly secure institution and no one within its walls should fear or be feared." Our independent source, however, has told us only this: "The student in question is in Gryffindor house", although what year is not yet known. This may well cause concern for the ministry, but we at the Daily Prophet feel that it is unlikely that our under qualified Minister, Cornelius Fudge, will take the matter any further..."
James could read no more, he didn't know what to say. He looked up at Sirius who was seated opposite, thoroughly enjoying his corn flakes, quite uninterested by this story. "It could mean anything. Anyone could fit that description if someone got the wrong idea." James spoke, but with little conviction in his own words. Remus however, simply laughed. "I don't think we need to worry yet, Prongs, this source doesn't even seem to know anything of any great significance to suggest that this story is remotely true." "They did convince the Prophet though, didn't they?" Peter chipped in glancing nervously between James, Sirius and Remus. "Well that's hardly a challenge is it?" responded Sirius, "the Prophet loves a mystery and at our school too. I mean it's not like they've had anything else to print for months, Fudge seems to have everything under control at the Ministry, much to their dislike, 'our under qualified Minister' indeed! I know they wanted Dumbledore for Minister, but that's a bit harsh." "Oi! You lot, we do have a Herbology lesson to get to!" a flash of brilliant red hair told them that Lily was, as usual, attempting to rally everyone to class. She had clearly not taken an interest in the contents of the Daily Prophet unlike the rest of the school.
As they left the Great Hall, the whispers followed them too, "...who could it be?" seemed to be the question on everyone's lips, but this quickly died away as the cool air of the open grounds distracted nearly everyone into wrapping their scarves and cloaks still closer around their bodies. Lily split off from the others and joined her fellow female Gryffindors, who were no longer chatting about the contents of the Daily Prophet, but instead talking about the unusual events of their last Potions class, apparently far more interesting, "... and she said that to Professor Snackleton?!" a fellow sixth year girl, and a friend of Lily's seemed quite alarmed, but only Sirius noticed this from behind them. He left James and Remus' discussion about theories of other potential half-beings in their year and followed the group of girls more closely.
"Who said what to ol' Snacky?" Sirius made the four girls jump as he spoke, they did not hear him approach. He smiled casually in the direction of the girl he'd been looking at during breakfast, the only one who seemed not interested in his presence. "None of your business, Serial." said the other girl he'd overheard. He ignored her looking instead to Lily for an explanation, "Well?" he folded his arms impatiently. "It was that stupid Slytherin girl, Sofia Meliflua, she was shouting the odds yesterday in Potions, you know, the lesson you missed?" she waited for a retort from Sirius, but it didn't come, "anyway, she somehow managed to get away with it and at the end of class Professor Snackleton held her back. "Well," she paused to glance at her friends,"we naturally stayed outside the dungeon and heard her 'sentenced' to a week's detention and in response she was off again saying, 'My father might be dead, but my Uncle Black will not stand for it! I tell you!'" Lily imitated an irritatingly high pitched voice that made Sirius cringe. He paused as the four girls, even the one who'd ignored him, glared at him for a reaction. Lily immediately regretted telling him as Sirius headed past them towards the Greenhouses with a look of tearful distress on his face.
Herbology, as always, took place in the Greenhouses with Professor Hortulanus, a stout, aging man, who it was said had been at the school longer than Dumbledore. It also too place with the Slytherins. "Good Morning class," said the Professor with an effort, "you are now entering your sixth year at this fine institution, which I hope you realise means you are close reaching the level of NEWTs." He clambered down from the ladder on which he had been addressing the class and surveyed them all carefully. "We shall begin by observing some of the plants you will cover in the next year and a half." He moved carefully past a particularly tall gang of Slytherin boys, who had been eying him menacingly as they always did, before reaching the first plant.
"What on earth is that?!" shouted Sofia Meliflua, she was a tall, dark haired Slytherin girl who had always hated Sirius, but no one knew why, "it stinks," she added. "That is the plant of the allium seed; can anyone tell me its uses?" answered Professor Hortulanus, completely oblivious of Sofia's nasty tone.
"It has the power to repel the natural odours of man and beast, confusing the senses of each to relieve the other of its presence." Lily responded perfectly, with a text book answer. "It was used most frequently in the eighteenth century in the hunting of wild creatures, usually for fun, by the richest and most powerful Wizarding families and it became a symbol of wealth at the time, due to its immense value and rarity." "Well done Miss Evans, 20 points for Gryffindor!" cried the Professor happily, Lily smiled back, with looks of disgust from the Slytherins.
After another hour of note-taking on a variety of plants, the lesson was over and lunch time meant another hour's rest. The cool mid-day felt a little warmer, so nearly everyone headed for the lake, as class had finished early and lunch would not be ready for another twenty minutes.
"I thoroughly enjoyed that lesson; I found it quite insightful into some of the ingredients we'll in Potions." there was little enthusiasm in response to Lily's comment, but she ignored the silence, "I'm sure at least one other person here found that interesting" she looked round at Remus, "the seeds of Allium, Moony?" she looked at him expectantly,"Ring any bells?", but he merely continued in the direction of the Lake.
James threw a nervous glance towards Sirius, who was deep in his own thoughts and had paid very little attention in class. Remus though, continued a little quicker than his friends, with Lily in hot pursuit. "Wait!" she said in a desperate tone, "Remus I didn't mean it like that." her beautiful green eyes lit up his heart with warmth. It seemed that he, Remus Lupin had also fallen under her spell. Little did she know how he felt, but, he knew that he was unlikely to meet anyone who could understand him like Lily. Then, he also knew she did not feel the same. Not even his best friends treated him with such kindness as she.
They had reached their favourite spot by the Lake and Remus paused to look back. He could see Lily sprinting after him, and beyond her, James and lastly, Sirius who seemed not to be rushing. Peter had disappeared, probably to get an early seat for lunch. He threw off his satchel and slumped to the ground resting his aching back against a huge tree root and looking blankly ahead of him towards the sunlit open water. "Moony..." said Lily tentatively. "Don't call me that." "Sorry." she knelt down on the grass in front of him, and rested a hand on his shoulder. "I know I shouldn't have said that, but that plant is known for its quality to have been used in werewolf-baiting in modern times." "Look", he met her gaze, "no one more than I respects your knowledge on this subject, Lily, but you can't go chatting casually about it and expect me to react well." the pained expression on his face said it all. He realised quickly that he could not stay mad at her for long. "I just think that it's..." but what Lily thought it was Remus would never know as James came storming towards them, his hair more aggravated than ever, his cheeks pink with the cold morning air.
He marched straight up to Lily, clearly extremely angry with her, "What did you say to him?!" James' nostrils were flaring wildly, his arms flapping. Lily stood up as did Remus. "Who?" she asked gently, but slightly frustrated, "What, James?" "You know perfectly well I'm talking about Padfoot." "I don't under-"started Lily. "Yes you do Evans," said James viscously, "you know exactly what I'm talking about he's been throwing dirty looks at you across the Greenhouse, all morning. Would you care to explain, why he no longer wants to even speak to me!" "Alright, alright, I'll tell you James," Lily raised her hands in defence. "It's just, well, I told him about what happened in potions yesterday and I didn't realise it would bother him like it did." she looked apologetically at James. "You mean all that stuff that Meliflua girl said, about his father and all that?!" said James, aggressively. "Yes, pretty much" a nervous pitch occurred in her voice "I can't believe you, Lily. I mean you know that he's been staying with me all summer, you know he left home last June!" James' face was bright red, Remus stood between the two, attempting as always not to take sides. "Yes, but I didn't realise it mattered so much, that things were so bad." "What!" James was on fire, "he didn't leave home for fun, you know! He left because he was no longer 'acceptable' to the Black family's regulations and shall we say 'dark qualities'."
James turned away to the water's edge. He skimmed a couple of stones to relieve his anger, which ebbed away fairly quickly as he saw Lily practically in tears. Sirius it seemed had headed in the other direction for Hagrid's hut, as they heard Fang barking wildly and Hagrid's booming voice talking cheerfully to someone on the doorstep. "I'm s-sorry." James heard her mumble, through tears and, as he turned to accept her apology she ran off towards the castle. "That girl really has no tact," sighed James after a pause in which Remus resumed his place seated beneath the great oak tree.
There seemed to be a need for early breakfast as Lily entered the almost full Great Hall at half past seven. James too had arrived, but was too busy talking to Sirius to notice her presence, "...yes, but would the Wimbourne Wasps ever be the same without Ludo Bagman on their team?" said James to Sirius excitedly. "Hmm," said Sirius he seemed a little out of his depth and was pleased to see Lily, "Morning, Lily, how are you?" he said brightly, "heard you were up early today" "Did you really, Sirius", said Lily a little surprised. James' cheeks turned red with embarrassment, "well some of us care enough to actually finish our transfiguration homework on time." she sat down in the space next to him and helped herself to eggs and bacon. "Fair enough", said Sirius, "I reckon mine's alright though, didn't take me too long to run off a couple of feet of parchment." He stretched his arms lazily, and looked down the table towards a pretty girl with long brown hair and bright blue eyes. He studied her for a minute, then she noticed him watching, and he looked quickly away.
Breakfast had been an arduously busy affair, but was over quickly as the immense amount of post arrived and left as it did each morning at nine o'clock precisely. There seemed to be a particularly interesting article in the Daily Prophet, as many copies fluttered across the hall between the houses. Most of the talk seemed to be of rumour directed at the Gryffindor table,
"MAD MONSTER MAKING THE GRADE AT HOGWARTS
It was revealed yesterday, by an anonymous source that a potentially dangerous half-being is attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and has been studying amongst the sons and daughters of our community for a few years now. Professor and Headmaster, Ablus Dumbledore, has so far refused to pass ill comment on any pupil, saying that he feels that all the students in his school comply with ministry approved regulations for education.
The famed and loved Headmaster, who received an Order of Merlin, First class only three years ago has yet to justify his claim that "Hogwarts is a perfectly secure institution and no one within its walls should fear or be feared." Our independent source, however, has told us only this: "The student in question is in Gryffindor house", although what year is not yet known. This may well cause concern for the ministry, but we at the Daily Prophet feel that it is unlikely that our under qualified Minister, Cornelius Fudge, will take the matter any further..."
James could read no more, he didn't know what to say. He looked up at Sirius who was seated opposite, thoroughly enjoying his corn flakes, quite uninterested by this story. "It could mean anything. Anyone could fit that description if someone got the wrong idea." James spoke, but with little conviction in his own words. Remus however, simply laughed. "I don't think we need to worry yet, Prongs, this source doesn't even seem to know anything of any great significance to suggest that this story is remotely true." "They did convince the Prophet though, didn't they?" Peter chipped in glancing nervously between James, Sirius and Remus. "Well that's hardly a challenge is it?" responded Sirius, "the Prophet loves a mystery and at our school too. I mean it's not like they've had anything else to print for months, Fudge seems to have everything under control at the Ministry, much to their dislike, 'our under qualified Minister' indeed! I know they wanted Dumbledore for Minister, but that's a bit harsh." "Oi! You lot, we do have a Herbology lesson to get to!" a flash of brilliant red hair told them that Lily was, as usual, attempting to rally everyone to class. She had clearly not taken an interest in the contents of the Daily Prophet unlike the rest of the school.
As they left the Great Hall, the whispers followed them too, "...who could it be?" seemed to be the question on everyone's lips, but this quickly died away as the cool air of the open grounds distracted nearly everyone into wrapping their scarves and cloaks still closer around their bodies. Lily split off from the others and joined her fellow female Gryffindors, who were no longer chatting about the contents of the Daily Prophet, but instead talking about the unusual events of their last Potions class, apparently far more interesting, "... and she said that to Professor Snackleton?!" a fellow sixth year girl, and a friend of Lily's seemed quite alarmed, but only Sirius noticed this from behind them. He left James and Remus' discussion about theories of other potential half-beings in their year and followed the group of girls more closely.
"Who said what to ol' Snacky?" Sirius made the four girls jump as he spoke, they did not hear him approach. He smiled casually in the direction of the girl he'd been looking at during breakfast, the only one who seemed not interested in his presence. "None of your business, Serial." said the other girl he'd overheard. He ignored her looking instead to Lily for an explanation, "Well?" he folded his arms impatiently. "It was that stupid Slytherin girl, Sofia Meliflua, she was shouting the odds yesterday in Potions, you know, the lesson you missed?" she waited for a retort from Sirius, but it didn't come, "anyway, she somehow managed to get away with it and at the end of class Professor Snackleton held her back. "Well," she paused to glance at her friends,"we naturally stayed outside the dungeon and heard her 'sentenced' to a week's detention and in response she was off again saying, 'My father might be dead, but my Uncle Black will not stand for it! I tell you!'" Lily imitated an irritatingly high pitched voice that made Sirius cringe. He paused as the four girls, even the one who'd ignored him, glared at him for a reaction. Lily immediately regretted telling him as Sirius headed past them towards the Greenhouses with a look of tearful distress on his face.
Herbology, as always, took place in the Greenhouses with Professor Hortulanus, a stout, aging man, who it was said had been at the school longer than Dumbledore. It also too place with the Slytherins. "Good Morning class," said the Professor with an effort, "you are now entering your sixth year at this fine institution, which I hope you realise means you are close reaching the level of NEWTs." He clambered down from the ladder on which he had been addressing the class and surveyed them all carefully. "We shall begin by observing some of the plants you will cover in the next year and a half." He moved carefully past a particularly tall gang of Slytherin boys, who had been eying him menacingly as they always did, before reaching the first plant.
"What on earth is that?!" shouted Sofia Meliflua, she was a tall, dark haired Slytherin girl who had always hated Sirius, but no one knew why, "it stinks," she added. "That is the plant of the allium seed; can anyone tell me its uses?" answered Professor Hortulanus, completely oblivious of Sofia's nasty tone.
"It has the power to repel the natural odours of man and beast, confusing the senses of each to relieve the other of its presence." Lily responded perfectly, with a text book answer. "It was used most frequently in the eighteenth century in the hunting of wild creatures, usually for fun, by the richest and most powerful Wizarding families and it became a symbol of wealth at the time, due to its immense value and rarity." "Well done Miss Evans, 20 points for Gryffindor!" cried the Professor happily, Lily smiled back, with looks of disgust from the Slytherins.
After another hour of note-taking on a variety of plants, the lesson was over and lunch time meant another hour's rest. The cool mid-day felt a little warmer, so nearly everyone headed for the lake, as class had finished early and lunch would not be ready for another twenty minutes.
"I thoroughly enjoyed that lesson; I found it quite insightful into some of the ingredients we'll in Potions." there was little enthusiasm in response to Lily's comment, but she ignored the silence, "I'm sure at least one other person here found that interesting" she looked round at Remus, "the seeds of Allium, Moony?" she looked at him expectantly,"Ring any bells?", but he merely continued in the direction of the Lake.
James threw a nervous glance towards Sirius, who was deep in his own thoughts and had paid very little attention in class. Remus though, continued a little quicker than his friends, with Lily in hot pursuit. "Wait!" she said in a desperate tone, "Remus I didn't mean it like that." her beautiful green eyes lit up his heart with warmth. It seemed that he, Remus Lupin had also fallen under her spell. Little did she know how he felt, but, he knew that he was unlikely to meet anyone who could understand him like Lily. Then, he also knew she did not feel the same. Not even his best friends treated him with such kindness as she.
They had reached their favourite spot by the Lake and Remus paused to look back. He could see Lily sprinting after him, and beyond her, James and lastly, Sirius who seemed not to be rushing. Peter had disappeared, probably to get an early seat for lunch. He threw off his satchel and slumped to the ground resting his aching back against a huge tree root and looking blankly ahead of him towards the sunlit open water. "Moony..." said Lily tentatively. "Don't call me that." "Sorry." she knelt down on the grass in front of him, and rested a hand on his shoulder. "I know I shouldn't have said that, but that plant is known for its quality to have been used in werewolf-baiting in modern times." "Look", he met her gaze, "no one more than I respects your knowledge on this subject, Lily, but you can't go chatting casually about it and expect me to react well." the pained expression on his face said it all. He realised quickly that he could not stay mad at her for long. "I just think that it's..." but what Lily thought it was Remus would never know as James came storming towards them, his hair more aggravated than ever, his cheeks pink with the cold morning air.
He marched straight up to Lily, clearly extremely angry with her, "What did you say to him?!" James' nostrils were flaring wildly, his arms flapping. Lily stood up as did Remus. "Who?" she asked gently, but slightly frustrated, "What, James?" "You know perfectly well I'm talking about Padfoot." "I don't under-"started Lily. "Yes you do Evans," said James viscously, "you know exactly what I'm talking about he's been throwing dirty looks at you across the Greenhouse, all morning. Would you care to explain, why he no longer wants to even speak to me!" "Alright, alright, I'll tell you James," Lily raised her hands in defence. "It's just, well, I told him about what happened in potions yesterday and I didn't realise it would bother him like it did." she looked apologetically at James. "You mean all that stuff that Meliflua girl said, about his father and all that?!" said James, aggressively. "Yes, pretty much" a nervous pitch occurred in her voice "I can't believe you, Lily. I mean you know that he's been staying with me all summer, you know he left home last June!" James' face was bright red, Remus stood between the two, attempting as always not to take sides. "Yes, but I didn't realise it mattered so much, that things were so bad." "What!" James was on fire, "he didn't leave home for fun, you know! He left because he was no longer 'acceptable' to the Black family's regulations and shall we say 'dark qualities'."
James turned away to the water's edge. He skimmed a couple of stones to relieve his anger, which ebbed away fairly quickly as he saw Lily practically in tears. Sirius it seemed had headed in the other direction for Hagrid's hut, as they heard Fang barking wildly and Hagrid's booming voice talking cheerfully to someone on the doorstep. "I'm s-sorry." James heard her mumble, through tears and, as he turned to accept her apology she ran off towards the castle. "That girl really has no tact," sighed James after a pause in which Remus resumed his place seated beneath the great oak tree.