Herbology - Lesson One (All Years)

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Sophie turned her attention to Professor Loverin as he began speaking, her eyes following his gesture to the board. She didn't know a fantastic lot about this particular plant, but knew the important details. The thing that fascinated her the most was that the flower was actually in the fruit. Almost all of the other plants that she knew about - and she knew a lot - the fruit and the flower were separate entities. But anything could happen in the magical world, that much she knew.

Seeing that no one else was going to answer, she raised her hand after Professor Loverin finished his question. "I know the leaves can be used in medicine, but to heal what, I don't quite know," she began. Her grandparents had taught her a great deal about the medical uses of a vast variety of plants, and she took full advantage of that knowledge whenever she dealt with animals. If the Abyssinian Shrivelfig proved to be of use to her, medicine wise, she knew it would come in handy in the future.

"They're deciduous, meaning that they shed all their leaves and are bare during the winter, as opposed to evergreen trees which keep their leaves the whole year," she continued.

Guest

At Sophie's answer, Caspar's attention turned to the young witch, nodding along with her answer with enthusiasm. He loved when the students knew about the plants he was putting before them, it showed they had actually bothered to read through their books before heading in to his lesson, and that, in Caspar's mind, meant they were actually keen to participate in the class.

"Yes, yes, very correct, well done!" Caspar replied excitedly -- though Sophie's answer hadn't picked up everything, it was right. "Take five points for Gryffindor, Sophie!" The man added, wanting to encourage participation as much as possible.

"As to which medicines, I can't tell you -- you'd have to run along to the nurse to find that much out -- but the Shrivelfig is also used in the Shrinking Solution that you may have studied in Potions, I'm not sure..." The professor explained, a small frown playing on his features because he wasn't sure where that came up on the curriculum of his students, but, he supposed that didn't matter too much, it wasn't his subject.

"So, today, what we will be doing is using the more mature plants. You will need to pick the fruits from the plants, and skin them. This will give you access to the blossom inside, which produces a purple substance used in the Shrinking Solution mentioned before. All you will need to do, though, is just get to the blossom, and then put them in the beakers provided." Caspar explained, before waving them off.

"Oh, but please treat the plants with respect whilst you do this, they're living, after all." The man added, concern evident in his voice, because Caspar most certainly did not want any of his plants being barbarically massacred by the students.

Guest

Sophie grinned as Professor Loverin awarded points to her house. Herbology - besides Care of Magical Creatures - was a subject she was most familiar with and one that captured her interest. It wasn't very difficult to study plants and animals; all that was needed was a good brain and an observant eye, both of which she was proud to possess.

She listened carefully as Professor Loverin went on to explain what they would be doing. It seemed easy enough and treating the plant with respect was second nature to her. She'd grown up learning how to treat living things - and even non-living things - with respect, even learning the small nuances of body language to communicate with horses in a way they would understand. Treating animals and plants with respect was her forte.

Once the professor was done talking, Sophie stepped forward to where the plants were. After giving it careful glance to see where she could cut to get the fruit, she picked up the cutter and began to work, planning her moves carefully so she didn't damage the plant. She'd gathered about five Shrivelfigs before putting down the cutter and picking up the peeler.

Holding the fruit in her left hand, she placed the peeler at the top where the stem had been. Steadily, she began skinning it, moving the peeler towards her as she put her right thumb at the base of the fruit to provide some counter pressure. She'd skinned both fruits and vegetables, often helping out Gramma in the kitchen once she was done with training and her other chores.

When she got deep enough for the blossom inside to peep through, she set the peeler down and slowly pried open the fruit with her hands. She extricated the blossom from the fruit and placed it in the beaker before beginning on her second fruit and repeating the process until she was done.

Guest

As the students moved to get on with the lesson, Caspar watched them each working with a fond smile on his lips. The students were always keen, he'd found and thus this made his job quite a bit easier than teaching something theoretical all the time. Sophie, as always, worked hard in the lesson, and was getting through the subject with ease.

The lesson passed on in a blink of an eye, and Caspar had to check his watch a few times before calling the end of the lesson with a soft sigh.

"Right, that's all we have time for today. Please all leave your beakers on the table, I will collect them after you've gone. Homework is to write up some notes on the plant that you've handled today, ready for revision purposes. If anyone has any questions, then please feel free to stay on, otherwise I'll see you next week." He called out, noting a number of students already turning their back to head out.

He didn't really blame them to be honest, they had other lessons to be getting to.

Class Closed.

House Points
Jerome Gallagher = 10 points for attendance
Sophie Heart = 10 points for attendance + 5 points for answer + 10 points for participation = 25 points.
Cora Jackson = 10 points for attendance
Sasha Denver = 10 points for attendance
Florrie Byrne = 10 points for attendance
Ivy Wool = 10 points for attendance
Janet Shinings = 10 points for attendance
Koda Abernathy = 10 points for attendance

TOTAL:
Gryffindor: 35
Hufflepuff: 20
Ravenclaw: 0
Slytherin: 40

» Herbology: Lesson Two (All Years)
» Herbology: Lesson One (All Years)
» Herbology Lesson Two - All Years
» Herbology Lesson One - All Years
» Herbology: Lesson Three (All Years)