A New Age
Chapter 2: Herbology
Al woke up from his nap and and found everyone else still asleep. Quietly he got ready for the day and walked down the staircase to breakfast in the great hall where Professor Patil was passing out schedules to people. Al sat down and was eating his eggs when Teddy and Rosie cam down.
"Morning" Teddy mumbled sleepily.
"I wonder when the owl post will come" Al said.
"I heard its a really spectacular sight" Rosie said, "Hundreds of owls dropping packets. I have a subscription to the daily prophet."
"Oh" Al said. He wondered if he was supposed to get one and if he would look like a total fool if everyone else had one and he didn't. He knew he shouldn't worry and his parents would have gotten him a subscription, but he still couldn't help but worry. Suddenly, there were cries and shouts as owls flew into the hall. The air was a sea of different shades of brown. Al thought he heard a scream but he couldn't be sure, he was too focused on the sea above him. He saw a speck of white and knew it was Strix, his father's owl. Strix landed in front of him and stuck out his leg with a letter attached to it. Al knew Strix was one of the fastest owls in the world and could deliver a letter halfway across the world in a matter of hours. Al untied the letter and gave Strix some orange juice. He opened the letter and read it.
Dear Al,
We were pleased to hear you were elected for Gryffindor. Looks like you got your wish after all. Your father arranged for you to be able to try out for the quidditch team, as you wished. Remember to go to tea with Hagrid today. We'll see you on Christmas!
With all our love,
Mum and dad
Al grinned, the Quidditch team. He knew he would make it, after all, he had inherited his fathers talent.
"Hey, look its Al." Several boys rushed over to him and all began talking at the same time.
"Hey-can I have-autograph-your father-Harry Potter" Al understood they wanted his dad's autograph.
"Why don't you ask James?" Al asked, several of the boys made faces.
"He won't let us" Al was about to say that he didn't have any autographs when James sauntered over.
"Hey Al, I suggest you go. It's always hard to find your classes the first day" Al rose with Teddy and Rosie. He checked his schedule and saw that he had Herbology first. He spent almost thirty minutes to find the greenhouses, ending up walking around the whole school just to get there. Once he, Teddy and Rosie arrived at the greenhouses most of the class had already arrived. They were sharing a class with the Slytherins. Professor Longbottom saw them and waved. Al started to wave back, but remembered what James had said about him being Professor Longbottom at school. Once the entire class had gathered, Professor Longbottom began.
"In this class, we will be exploring the world of plants- Malfoy, pay attention- and learning how to deal with them." Al smirked at Scorpius who scowled at him. They were all impressed when Professor Longbottom dealt with a Venemous Tentacula in a matter of seconds. The class was excited until they realized that they would first be dealing with whispering grass and boring things like that. Al got to work and sorting out the whispering grass and the normal grass was hard because you had to listen carefully to the sound the grass made when being stepped on. Al also learned background on whispering grass, such as how it ruined crops and plants around. It was the muggle equivalent of a weed. The herbology lesson was long and tedious but at the end of it, Al was happy that he hadn't failed his first lesson. He had about a fifty percent chance of pulling out normal grass or whispering grass.
"They should just pull out all the grass" muttered Teddy miserably beside him. He pulled up more normal grass than whispering. Rosie however had a hundred percent success rate and had earned Gryffindor fifteen points, much to the disappointment of the Slytherins. All in all, it was quite a good lesson and as he went off to transfiguration, Al thought that Hogwarts was an entirely enjoyable place.