Chapter 2
"Now, children, you must spread ALL the legs of the Garmaneous Ventricular if you wish to extract the Emerbone."
Herbology class for the seventh years was harder than ever. Many students were behind because of the sheer amount of work involved. Ginny Weasley was one of those students, along with Dean Thomas, Zacharias Smith, and quite a few others. Neville Longbottom had the highest marks in Herbology, however, outshining even Hermione Granger, who looked quite spent these days. She had been taking Remedial Potions classes, and they must have been long and hard, for she often came to bed quite late and looking very disheveled.
That day a certain boy with an underbite was having trouble with his Garmaneous Ventricular. Its legs refused to stay open, curling over his fingers, but not as if they were attacking, but as if they were scared, and it was almost...affectionate? He stood there, watching the plant hold his hands, as its legs pulsed ever so subtly.
"Hey!" one of his friends shouted at him. He jerked his head up and his hand from the Garmaneous Ventricular. It let out a soft cry, and he reached down to pet it.
"What the hell are you doing?" his friend Zacharias asked incredulously. "What's your deal?"
"Nothing," said the boy. "Just...I'm tired. That's all."
In truth, he was quite tired. The peircing eyes of a certain ghost had been in his mind all night. He wasn't sure what Nicholas had wanted from him, but he wanted to find out. Maybe it was...he didn't even know. His life was boring, that was all, so any little moment of excitement, he held onto, hoping that it might go somewhere.
"All right, class! Please put your extracted Emerbone in this jar," said Professor Sprout, as she handed a jar to Ron Weasley, who put his shiny, white Emerbone in and passed it to the next student. "If you have not extracted it, see me after class today, for extra lessons." Ginny Weasley recieved the jar and passed it along without putting anything in it. Something shiny and white stuck out of her robe pocket.
When the jar came to the boy, he jammed his hand into his Garmaneous Ventricular. It let out a shrill scream, and everyone turned and stared. He looked around sheepishly, as he pulled his hand out, holding the Emerbone.
"For goodness sake, you have to be careful with those plants. 5 points from Hufflepuff. My own house, I'm afraid," sighed Professor Sprout. "Weren't you listening at the beginning of class?"
The boy nodded. "I just must have forgotten."
Professor Sprout shook her head. "Well I hope this will help you remember. I'd like you to stay after class as well."
The boy sighed, dropped his Emberbone into the jar, and passed it along.