MJ had made for the Greenhouses when she fled from the Owlery. She didn't really know why, but she'd always been drawn to plants, although she had to admit that most of her favourites were muggle plants.

MJ had heard about Professor Bentley's creation - the Student Garden, and she was keen to see it for herself; and that's where the First Year ended up, with her owl, Avis, still perched on her shoulder. MJ wasn't entirely sure that Avis was allowed here, but he was a very well-behaved owl and MJ hadn't read anywhere that owls weren't allowed.

Avis took off from MJ's shoulder. She followed his path on the ground beneath him. She ended up at a spot where students could plant their own things. She sat on the grass, making sure not to sit on or too near any of the delicate flowers and plants. Avis landed beside her with a soft hoot. She stroked his head. The big barn owl knew MJ so well. He was looking at the soil and then back at MJ, as if wondering what she would choose to grow there. MJ had to find the Herbology Professor first, who was also the Ravenclaw House Assistant (she wanted to check what was allowed and what wasn't. Like, Avis' presence for starters. And whether it was ok to be down here just to sit and be alone for a bit - there wasn't really "alone" space in the castle and MJ needed lots of MJ time - and of course, what she could plant! Perhaps muggle plants weren't allowed), but MJ, although she retained her confident, fearless front at all times, was actually a very nervous girl. She wasn't good with people, except her sisters and her mother. She had more of a connection to Avis - it had to be said. Her sisters always laughed at her, but their mother understood her.

It was so beautiful and peaceful in the garden. MJ could just sit there for hours. She'd already found the way to her Charms classroom, so she decided to stay in the garden until she had to leave for Charms. She stretched out her legs, turned her face towards the September sun, and let the breeze blow her hair about, gently. Avis landed on her knee. He didn't want to be left out!

Harlow had finally gotten MoMo back into his pot and they were both headed to the student gardens. She was shaking after her encounter with that angry girl. Harlow hated when people were upset with her, especially when they shouted.

MoMo was humming a sad song and it wasn't making Harlow feel any better and she sniffled as she rounded the corner and saw the student gardens for the first time. "Its beautiful MoMo," she whispered to her pumpkin.

Harlow walked through the gardens admiring the Iris and the Ivy. She wanted a fairly sunny spot for MoMo and she found it going along the fence. "This seems good." she said setting down his pot with a tiny grunt. She kneeled down to start turning over the dirt so she could transplant her pumpkin.

Finally! Byron let out a gleeful laugh as he almost-skipped down the pathway of the gardens, he was OUTSIDE. He'd been getting lost in Hogwarts for a while now, and he'd finally just followed a random Hufflepuff out of the classrooms earlier and voila!

The grouuuunddss...

In his excitement he nearly tripped over a girl crouching in the ground, "Oh!" the fourteen-year-old stopped and crouched right beside her on the ground, "What have you got there?"

He stared at the pot, wondering... was it a dangerous, man-eating plant? Cos that would be kinda cool.

Harlow had finally dug a deep enough hole with her trowel and was reaching to pick up MoMo when she was knocked sideways. She fell back on her bum with a tiny squeak.

Her eyes swung up to look at the boy who had nearly run her over. She was used to it after all being so small and short. "He's MoMo." she said pushing herself up all the ground and frowning because she felt dirt on her butt. "And who might you be?" she asked. Since he had nearly ran over her.

Harlow reached up and gently removed MoMo from his pot. "My uncle gave me this pumpkin for my birthday. He's charmed and his name is MoMo." she explained to the boy. She set him down in the ground and began to cover up his roots. "He sings too." she added just as MoMo started to hum the Spongebob Squarepants theme song. Harlow giggled, "Sorry its my sister favorite cartoon and I guess MoMo picked up the song." she explained. She wasn't sure how the charm worked. Her uncle just told her the pumpkin was special and that she should take care of him like a pet.

"I'm Byron," he was staring straight at the potted plant as he said so, completely engrossed, "Byron Leblaireau." He poked the singing pumpkin gently with the tip of his wand, unfamiliar with the song it was humming, or the concept of a cartoon that made music.

"Anyway," he pocketed his wand and smiled at the little firstie, "what's your name?"

It was only polite to learn a person's name before one interrogated another regarding their pet/plants.

Harlow nodded as he told her his name. It wasn't as exotic as some of the other names she had heard. "Quite a nobel name," she said. She was sure there was a king or two named Byron. She patted the dirt around MoMo's roots once he was covered from the roots down with the rick earth.

"How presumptuous you are to poke MoMo." she commented as the boy Byron pocketed his wand. MoMo wasn't going to do anything since he had been gentle but he didn't know that. "I'm Harlow Riddle if it pleases you." she smiled. MoMo switched tunes to Beethoven's 5th symphony. It was Harlow's favorite music to write to. "He likes you." she said as she turned to look at Byron. She pulled a little water gnome statute out of her purse and tipped him over MoMo's roots and a steady stream of water poured from the water gnomes watering can.

Sarah waited impatiently by some NON-EVIL FLOWERS for her friend Amethyst. She wasn't a shrink, but she was determined to help her friend.

Amethyst didn't know how she was going to tell her. As she walked fast to the Student Garden she practiced what she'd say. When she reached Sarah, she nearly fell in place. "Uhm...H-Hey...^^" Ame's heart was beating so fast. She sat down next to Sarah, messing with her fingers.

"Um, hey!" Sarah replied, smiling crookedly and scratching the back of her head.

Now, time to get down to business. She leaned forward, towards Amethyst, "So, what's up?"

Ryan was having fun strolling through the garden.He loved to look at the plants because Herbology was one of his most favourite subjects.He found a chair and started to read his Herbology Book.

Oh no...breath, Ame. Don't freak out. It's just Sarah. She started out the conversation by asking Sarah a question. "Wh-when you were at your muggle school..did you have girls that were...say...different..?" Amethyst struggled with this. She'd seriously considered sending Onyx to give Sarah an owl, telling her what she was ever so struggling too.

Sarah tilted her head curiously, grimacing as her hair fell in front of her face. Blasted hair. She shoved it back behind her ear, allowing her to see again, "Um... different? I went to a muggle school, Ame. We don't have magic stuff, remember?"

Where was she going with this?

"I know that, Silly Bean!" Ame chuckled and all nervousness went away. "Sarah, can you think of reasons as to why no one will adopt me?" She was having a hard time thinking of reasons why herself.

Her demeanor had changed again. She was very mood-swingy today, Sarah noted.

"Honestly? No." she replied bluntly.

She couldn't understand AT ALL why people didn't want someone as nice as Amethyst.

Amethyst really needed to get out of that orphanage. She'd thought about stay at the Leaky Cauldron for Summer break. "OH! I meant to tell you, Sarah! I got a letter from one of the ladies at the orphanage, and you will never believe what they told me!"

Sarah sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "I would honestly love to hear what they said, especially if it was good news." she said, taking Ame by the shoulders and giving a stern look, "But you're stalling, aren't you? Tell me what's up. I'm dying here."

Seriously. She was getting soooo confused.

Amethyst nearly jumped from the bench. "I have an older sister who's looking for me!" Amethyst jumped with joy as she ran around in a circle.

Sarah couldn't help but smile, "That's great, Ame!" she said warmly.

But her mind still whirled with confusion and curiosity. What Amethyst hiding?

"My apologies," the older boy replied good-naturedly, "In future, I shall always ask prior to poking."

He did have quite a bad habit of poking things. It was his damned curiousity, and he would never touch something he wasn't sure of with his bare hands... so naturally, it was good luck that he had a wand.

"I'm not familiar with the tune, Harlow Riddle," he said, musing at the name... it was a well-known one, and yet she couldn't have been related to That Riddle. As far as he was aware of, the last Riddle to walk the halls of Hogwarts had died in the school over fifty years ago, "But I am curious..."

He shot another quick glance at the plant, "How can you tell that MoMo is a boy?"

She nodded and gave him a smile. "Its ok I was only teasing." just so he wouldn't think she was being mean or anything. "Its always nice to ask before poking. Keeps you out of trouble." she added. Especially around here, she thought to herself.

After watering MoMo she looked at Byron. "Well he is humming a Beethoven song right now. Its one of my favorites." she explained. She thought it was a rather famous tune, but not never one enjoyed classical music like she did. She just found it really relaxing to write to.

A confused look crossed her face. "Well geez I never thought about it. I named him MoMo." that was a very good question. There was no way for her to check. He came from a seed after all. "How would you check?" she asked him.

Zhenya had heard about the Student Garden. Her mother had just sent her a new plant, a Fernwhip, and she was dying to plant it. When she heard about the Student Garden, she learned that she could plant it here.

She brought all of her gardening equipment and protective wear down, not knowing what other plants would be here.

She found a nice empty spot and she got working. Dig dig dig, plant plant plant. It looked beautiful, a green fern with bright orange flowers. It was quite an unusual plant, and she had never heard of it before.

She pulled out her wand and tried to use a watering spell her grandmother had tried to teach her. Although, she was not allowed to touch her grandmothers wand to practice.

"Aguamentiminia Sprinkaled" she said, and water began to spurt out from her wand.

"I suppose... the reproduction system of plants could give us several hints towards the sexuality of the plant in question." He was pulling all of this out of his hat, completely! He had no idea, but it was a curious subject, "For example, during the pollenation period, I suppose the plant that releases the pollen would be the male."

He shrugged, sending the younger girl a smile, "But what's more curious is, isn't Beethoven the muggle composer who couldn't hear?" He wasn't so sure if the muggle had been actually deaf, or if he was the one who had cut off his ear.

Who knew with muggles? Strange creatures.

The longer he talked the deeper Harlow's blush got. She was quite sure they were not supposed to be talking about things like that. Her whole face was a deep shade of red when he finally stopped talking and Harlow wasn't sure what to say or even if that required her eleven year old brain to comprehend.

She gave a little cough at his shrug. She had never felt awkward before, but after this she sure knew the feeling. Ahh a topic that didn't make her toes wiggle, "Yes he was deaf, but he wasn't born that way. He was 26 when he started going deaf. He was a wonderful composer." she loved his music more than anything. Well Mozart was right up there. But Beethoven was at the top of the list.

Harlow looked around and noticed that he didn't have any gardening tools, "Why are you out here?" she asked him as she packed up all her gardner things.

Only too late did Byron realize that speaking to first years about pollenation and plant sexuality was probably unwise, and he honestly would not have even known he'd done something wrong until the girl had turned the deepest shade of red he'd ever seen on another human being. Interesting.

Oh well, he'd simply have to find an older student, someone more mature and open, to discuss this topic with.

"Well," she asked a valid question, "I'm not entirely sure, beyond the fact that I've been trying to get out of the castle since I arrived at Hogwarts."

Stupid old large school. They should really start putting up signposts in the corridors and staircases, "I'm new, see? Just transferred to Hogwarts this term and I've been getting hopelessly lost."

He offered a hand of help as he got to his feet, "Need some help with your tools?"