Before he was offered the post of Herbology, Professor Dodson worked as a garden architect and this is noticeable if you decide to venture past the greenhouses and into the student garden which has clearly been under a makeover.

The small, colourful area has been cut off from the rest of the grounds specifically for students to practice their gardening skills, so you are encouraged to come and have an explore. If you need any tools, feel free to check out the no longer pink shed and should you need a rest there are several benches scattered around.

Amidst the rows of shrubs, and flowerbeds containing various mundane flowers such as foxglove and primroses, are patches of newly dug up soil. These are all ready for students to come along and plant their own favourite plants - just make sure to check back and tend for them regularly.

When the wave of homesickness had hit, Ivory thought of only one place to go. The garden....or the greenhouses which she'd go explore later today. But for now...the gardens that reminded her of her parent's one garden back home.

As she ambled through the beautifully kept greenery in her 'herb garb' and boots, she looked around in admiration at the student garden. A lot had changed especially the pink preference but nevertheless it still held the same appeal gardens always did.

Her eyes lingered on the plants, a small smile on her face.

Their optimism was to be admired. Didn’t they know fall was lurking in the shadows about to pounce? Yet, the flowers continued to dance in the sun.

Ivory breathed in the cool crisp air knowing it wouldn't be long before all the leaves made their descent and the trees and flowers would be left bereft of their company. At least until spring came.

Deciding the plants deserved a bit of care before that time, she made her way to the now not so pink shed to retrieve a watering can.

As she stepped into the shed, she looked excitedly at impressive array of tools,buckets,and water cans that a garden of this magnitude needed.
Grabbing a few tools, a bucket, and a watering can, she set off toward the planters.

Setting all her stuff down, she rolled up her sleeves and took out her wand, the usual blue flame appearing at the tip. Smiling at the warmth in her hand, she gave her wand a gentle flourish. "Me and you are going to do something productive today." The flame flickered excitedly and Ivory let out a small laugh. If anyone saw her they'd probably think her strange for talking to her wand and even stranger when a few minutes later she started talking to the flowers.

Since she'd been a baby, her mother had always talked and sang to her plants and she'd passed on this habit to Ivory.

Running her hands over the petals of the nearest primroses, she marveled at their soft petals this close to fall.

"Hello lovlies." she said crouching down so she was face level with the flowers. "We should probably get the pleasantries out of the way."

Taking a leaf carefully in one of her hands, she cautiously shook it as she would a person's hand. "I'm Ivory and its an honor to make your acquaintance."

A gentle breeze drifted by rustling the plant life and Ivory pretended as if it was a response.

"Nice to meet you too." she smiled. "Don't worry I don't mean any of you harm."

Leaning closer she whispered covertly, "I'm just gonna get some of those pesky weeds out of the way."

Grabbing her watering can, she pointed her wand into the pail and chanted aguamenti in a clear voice. In a weird vision of paradox, a clear stream of water erupted from the tip of the blue flame of her wand trickling merrily into the watering can.

Sure she could've just cast 'aguamenti' on the ground but she liked going through the processes she would've at home.

Holstering her wand, she crouched again. "I'm just going to wet the ground here a bit to make it easier to take them out." she reassured the plants."No worries, I won't overdo it."

Slowly she tipped the can until a gentle rain of water was falling over the soil around them. When she was satisfied it was moist enough, she kneeled down this time addressing the weeds, after all they were plants too.

[b]"Listen guys I know you love it here but I'm gonna have to relocate you." [b/]Patting a few of the straggling clumps, she grabbed her small hoe. "Your sucking all the nutrients for these lovely ladies, and that is not very gentlemanly of you. Don't worry I'll take you somewhere where you can be men and grow in peace."

And with that said, she began quietly singing as she gently but forcefully pulled out the weeds, placing them into the bucket.

"Little bread-and-butterflies kiss the tulips
And the sun is like a toy balloon
There are get-up-in-the-morning glories
In the golden afternoon..... "

Ivory knew that many people disliked weeding but her mother had taught her that they were plants just like all the rest. Poor things, just didn't know where to grow.

"There are dog and caterpillars and a copper centipede
Where the lazy daisies love the very peaceful life
They lead... "

She lost count of the times she'd spent in the garden with her mother just relocating the weeds that had appeared among all the unique plants. Her mother had designated huge patches of nicely fertilized soil in the front lawn just for them. In fact, she'd taken such good care of the weeds that the result was more of a very green grass.

"You can learn a lot of things from the flowers
For especially in the month of June
There's a wealth of happiness and romance
All in the golden afternoon ..."

After having done the entire 3 planters, she had to admit she was quite tired.

[b]"It was a pleasure attending to you."[b/] She said to the now weedless flower patches. Another breeze danced the flowers in the air and she smiled.
"Yes, we must do this again sometime."

Giving a little curtsy and waving goodbye she took off down the path, with every intention of keeping her promise to the weeds and finding a place on the grounds where they could grow in peace.

JP had promised his mom to give Herbology a chance before he left and to keep his promise he went to go plant so things in the student garden. "Hmm i wonder if anyone else will be here to do the same?"

Melanie strolled from the castle down to the student garden, a bag slung over her shoulder filled to the brim with books of various shape, size and age- Most were her old school books.

She kept them for reference, and because she never really got the urge to clean out the unorganized mess that was her trunk. Melanie had never really given them a second glance, until now. For once she was thankful for her lack of organization skills.

It really was quite convenient. Melanie wasn't sure she had much of any intention of using them... She actually wasn't even sure what she had planned for the session, though she did have a vague idea.

Set off step from the weight of the books, Melanie stumbled a little before toppling to the ground next to a huggggge, tall tree. If anyone asked her she would tell them she did that on purpose. The girl leaned against the trunk of the tree with her legs stretched out, propping the bag up next to her.

Then Melanie did all that was left to do. She waited, tapping her fingers against her leg, and staring off in the distance as if he would suddenly appear, like POOF!. Fletcher should be here any time now right? Riiiiiiiiiiight?

Melanie wanted to do a good job... She was excited, but a little nervous, as well. Anxious.

"Smooth landing there, Professor Tutor," Fletcher peeked around from the other side of the tree and offered Melanie a crooked grin. He scooted around to sit by her side and looped his clover bracelet around his right wrist.

The boy eyed her bulging bag of books a bit wearily and then poked it with one long finger. "Is this 'ow we start?"

Gulp. He'd never been the best student...

...Had he been there all along?

Melanie peered up at him, squinting her eyes a little because of the sunlight filtering through the leaves. "Pffft, you try carrying them. They're heavy as a hippogrif. And a very chubby one at that, I'll have you know." she complained, choosing to ignore the heat rising on her cheeks at his comment on her... 'smooth landing', as he put it. Melanie returned his grin, cheerfully enough, scooting her bag over a little to make a bit more room under the tree for Fletcher.

The girl almost snorted with laughter at his question. She tried not to, though. "Nah... They're textbooks. You don't have to read them all or anything like that. You can if you want to- be my guest, but to be honest, I'm not a huge believer in self imposed torture." Most people weren't. "They're just here for reference...my old textbooks mostly. I wasn't sure what you wanted to start with so I brought them all..." she trailed off, gazing at her bag thoughtfully for a moment or two before looking to him once more. "You have a wand, right?" Melanie asked, slipping hers from one of the front pockets of her robes, and twirling it idly between her middle and index finger. "It's important in a lot of subjects." Perhaps they could begin with a simple spell?

"Hahahaha," Fletcher chuckled at her comparison of books to a... wait, what was a hippogrin again? Never mind, he'd gotten her to blush! Scoreeee, this was just like the feast and the Hufflepuff captain.

Except that that girl had liked to poke people. Whatever.

"Sure I've got a wand. I am a wizard, doncha know," Fletcher boasted a little and smoothly flicked his zebrawood wand out of his right sleeve. That was how the cool kids did it. He pulled one of the heavy tomes out of her bag and rubbed at the raised text on the cover.

Transfiguration, eh? "Can we start with this one, Madame Tutor?"

Okay, so maybe that was a stupid question. She watched him as he pulled his wand from his sleeve, raising her eyebrows slightly. "Nice." Melanie commented, the corners of her lips lifting up a bit. "And yeah, I know you're a wizard." Duhhhh. "Why else would you be here?" Spy, spy He was a SPY!

She eyed the book with a mixture of relief (YES! Thank MERLIN he hadn't picked up a POTIONS book!), and uncertainty. Melanie wasn't quite sure how to begin, really. She decided to just go with the flooow though. "Sure, why not." she said agreeably, shrugging her shoulders, and scooting over a bit to get a better look at the older volume. "Transfiguration is mostly just what it sounds like. Technically it's defined as changing the properties of an object." She glanced up at him. "But basically it's just changing anything about something like the color, the texture, and other specific qualities... or merely what it is in essence- like if, for instance, I changed a leaf to a potato chip." Melanie explained, continuing the gidy habit of wand twirling. "There's lots of spells associated with it. You should pick one..." she tapped the book with a pale finger. "...And we'll give it a shot." Note how she said we'll. Melanie was fairly sure she didn't know half the spells in the textbook, though it was from an earlier year. She was optimistic that she was practiced enough to assist him with his wandwork, though.

Duncan obediently sat there and listened to Melanie rattle off the definition of Transfiguration. Definitely something he should know, he supposed. "Should I be taking notes?" the boy spoke up with a slightly cheeky grin. "Or can I see an example first?"

He wouldn't say no to a leaf-turned-potato crisp. Mmmm.... 'tatoesss.....

A bit distracted by the prospect of transfiguring everyday objects into foods (or was that against one of the laws of transfiguration? hint hint), Fletcher flipped through the pages of the transfiguration book and landed on the d's.

"Duro: the spell that turns things to stone." He looked up and made eye contact with Melanie. "Ooooooh can we try this one? Just... not on each other??"

Usually, when you wanted to climb trees, you went to a forest. But the forest was out of bounds.

Hmph.

SO the next bet was the student gardens.

"Whuhh-where are the t-t-tuhh-... TREES?!" the boy exclaimed to himself, quite loudly, stopping at the entrance to the gardens.

Dude. He was totally going to make a stop at the Whomping Willow today.

Cedric made his way to the student garden, the place where he usually goes when he's long for peace and serenity. He noticed really, really beautiful flowers and he found then quite lovely. He wondered if the new professor was the one who had been obligingly taking care of it and there had been changes of the garden.

He walked forward and noticed Fletch with a girl. He took out his wand... and don't think that he'll curse the guy! He just had to do something. "Aguamenti." He uttered, performing the incantation really well.

He started watering the plants and the flowers.... and gradually, complacency crept over him.

Flowers!

Gold LOVED the new Garden. It was pretty, much as the last one had been, but it also offered something new, something even more delicious. The redhead's lips quirked into a smile, as she strolled up a path, and looked around at all the lovely greenery.

Which was when she spotted Cedric.

"Hey there," she waved cheerfully to the younger boy. She knew him from a couple of classes, of course.

Cedric was done watering the other plant and so he moved on to the next set of plants that needs to be watered well enough. Ced was having fun, really. He just loved plants and flowers and weeds and all! Herbology was his thing, see.

He didn't bother to look around so he didn't know who enters and exits the garden.

And then someone spoke to him. He nearly dropped his wand, and it had drawn out water in his face. Taking a handkerchief out his robe, Cedric started wiping the moisture upon his face. He turned and saw Gold, "Hey Miss Prefect." A broad smile registered on his lips, feigning cheerfulness. Grrrr. How he hate to be seen by someone in that poor state of being.

Oops.

"Sorry about that," Gold said quickly, shaking her head a little at what had just happened. "Didn't mean to take you by surprise." She offered him a little smile, not sure what to say. She really hadn't mean to become the cause of trouble. But no use crying over spilt milk, right?

Right.

So.

"How are you?"

Cedric thought he was a bit becoming sullen yet jittery all of a sudden. Was his dark, mysterious side prevailing in his mind again? He hoped not. Well, it would be rude if he continued doing his 'thing' and so, it wouldn't hurt if he'd get acquainted or friends with the girl.

"I'm fine thanks..." He smiled and might as well introduce himself, right? "and I'm Cedric Nicholas Leone."

And now he was seeking for words and found something to react to. "Nah, that's okay. I was just a bit surprised, yepp."

Righto!

"Good to know you're alright," Gold said, brightening up again. At least the guy wasn't cranky. Not that she expected anyone to be, especially when it hadn't actually been her fault. Had it?

"I think I can relate to that." She gave him a little smile, as she lifted her wand, to water a plant. "This place is beautiful, don't you think?" She had never really taken a liking to Professor Bunbury.

... and yes, she had her reasons.

Cedric perked up as well, satisfied to know that the prefect was good to be with. He thought that prefects supposed to be vain, strict.. or something. Well, Gold had proven that prefects don't really bite. Hehe.

And ooh, there was someone who can relate to umm, him? Wowza! That was just pure awesomeness! He grinned widely and said, "Very beautiful. I missed the old garden though. I wonder where my puffapods and flutterbies has been. Not that those plants can walk or something. I mean someone must have removed them, yep. But yeah, this one looks great and the new professor is the person accountable for all of this."

Looking 'round the place, Professor Bunbury popped in his mind. He missed her and he just hoped she was fine and all.

Etoile walked into the student's garden, a bag of seeds in one hand. As soon as she had told her about the student garden, her grandmother had sent her a bag of Asphodel Seeds. Her grandmother had a garden full of Asphodels and Etoile always found them beautiful. She found a patch of freshly turned soil and set to work.

Hmph.

No trees.

GRRR!

Wishing he could kick some flowers, Jake moved over to a flower patch thing and sat in front of it, hugging his knees to his chest and sighing as he stared at the colours. It was then that he began wondering what the heck he had gotten himself into... Such a mess, that was what.

If only there was a tree he could climb.

And on that thought, Jake made up his mind; even though he'd been sitting for less than a minute, he immediately stood up and walked with a purpose out of the student gardens and in the general direction of the Whomping Willow.

Narcissa walked into the student greenhouse. "Wow! Look at all the flowers!" She wondered if any one she knew was here. Of course she saw the Gryffindor prefect Gold, but she didn't see anyone else she knew. She sat down on a bench to just take it all in.

"Well..." she trailed off thoughtfully. Melanie took that not as teasing, nor as cheek, but rather as a valid question. She took the whole tutoring think very seriously, you know. "If you wanna. I probably have stuff in my bag I could lend you for now." Melanie replied after a second, with an indifferent shrug, letting him make up his own mind. She didn't care.

Melanie grinned as he oh-so-conveniently picked that spell. Well, heck yes, they should do Duro! She knew that spell from her Transfiguration finals the term before last. Annnd she could teach it. Maybe. "Yeah, let's do that. And not on each other. Even though, I must admit, I'd probably make a pretty awesome statue."she joked lamely, laughing at her own joke."How abooout..." Melanie stood up, pacing and looking to and fro for ANYTHING! Anything that wasn't living, and wasn't too small to aim at...

D'OH! IDEA! Melanie stopped in her tracks a few feet from her bag and dropped to her knees, digging through the books, quills, parchment...

"Aha!" She pulled out two chocolate frogs, chucking one at Fletcher, and keeping the other for herself. Melanie hopped to her feet again. "How about we try it on these? We can change them back when we're done." Yes. So they were still edible. And she could eat one later. Hehe.

Goodness gracious.

The Head Boy was out of his chair and had darted out of the office before Sage even had time to BLINK. He wanted to race!? He wasn't used to running, he was used to pottering slowly around his garden! All nice and peaceful.

So of course, by the time he reached the garden that he'd cornered off for the students to practice their Herbology skills, Chris Potter was already there. The boy was like a hyperactive puppy!

"Unfair advantage!" Sage puffed a little, clearly not in very good shape. "You didn't say ready-set-go like you're meant to!" Oh, but he didn't want to give the lad ideas.. he didn't want a re-match! "But - but you won fair and square.. good job." RIGHT.

Quote:

Originally Posted by moonyroxs

"Well..." she trailed off thoughtfully. Melanie took that not as teasing, nor as cheek, but rather as a valid question. She took the whole tutoring think very seriously, you know. "If you wanna. I probably have stuff in my bag I could lend you for now." Melanie replied after a second, with an indifferent shrug, letting him make up his own mind. She didn't care.

Melanie grinned as he oh-so-conveniently picked that spell. Well, heck yes, they should do Duro! She knew that spell from her Transfiguration finals the term before last. Annnd she could teach it. Maybe. "Yeah, let's do that. And not on each other. Even though, I must admit, I'd probably make a pretty awesome statue."she joked lamely, letting out a nervous laugh."How abooout..." Melanie stood up, pacing and looking to and fro for ANYTHING! Anything that wasn't living, and wasn't too small to aim at...

D'OH! IDEA! Melanie stopped in her tracks a few feet from her bag and dropped to her knees, digging through the books, quills, parchment...

"Aha!" She pulled out two chocolate frogs, chucking one at Fletcher, and keeping the other for herself. Melanie hopped to her feet again. "How about we try it on these? We can change them back when we're done." Yes. So they were still edible. And she could eat one later. Hehe.

Hahaha.... didn't she know he was joking?! Seriously, a boy take notes during a one-on-one with a girl? Yeahhh right. Fletcher shook his head no to signal that that wasn't necessary, especially not for a lazy student like him. It certainly said something that he was starting out this education with a tutor as opposed to his lack of effort all through Muggle schools.

"Yeah I could see ya as a statue," Dunc remarked with a thoughtful expression. "Just like one of those Greek goddesses, yeh know?" He drew a mock statuesque figure with his hands in the air. Oh yeah. Melanie would work.

He slowly stood up after all her pacing and caught the candy she tossed him, starting to open it already. "Wait, so we're turning perfectly good food into stone fer the heck of it? I sure hope you know how to undo duro, Professor...."

He wasn't about to waste good noms!

After sprinting into the student Gardens Chris ran in place while the funny new Professor caught out and called out that he hadn't followed the rules. Smiling and laughing Chris began to jog a circle around the panting Herbology professor in the bright sunlight, surrounded by the plants. "No no Professor if there were rules like that you had to state them before the race." he nodded pointing knowingly at the man. He knew the rules didn't he? Oh well, he would learn.

Chris finally stopped jogging and then plopped down on the grass. "Yep I did win didn't I?" he said a little out of breath. He hated it when he felt the slightest of energy crashes. But...he would be back to normal soon! But then he jumped up again and grinned at the Professor. "No hard feelings, I'm rooting for you next time!" he winked and then began to look around the gardens. "Where shall we start then?" he decided it was best to ask the expert.

Had this kid had one too many chocolate frogs or something? That or Sage was just getting old.. he dearly hoped it was the former. If all the kids were like this, how was he supposed to keep up? It was making him DIZZY.

Shaking a bemused head, Sage pointed towards a few pots on the outskirts of the gardens. "I've been meaning to re-home those carnations actually," he told Chris, moving to collect one of the pots before taking it carefully to a nearby flower bed. "They do well this time of year and I think they'll prefer it in the flower beds."

It was only now that he noticed the gardens had attracted other students, and Sage smiled proudly before turning back to his helper. "Have you learnt about transferring plants?"