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Greenhouse Three was cleared out for the most part. It was pretty bare except for the odd bush or greenery hanging around and the very large, tall tree at the base end of the Greenhouse. Even though there was no wind, it swayed gently, as if a gentle breeze were present. Light green leaves seemed to teem from the branches in long strands like lank hair. The Weeping Willow was beautiful; Paul had removed all the tables from the greenhouse and sat near the tree, leaning back on his elbows as he peered up at it.
As people began to arrive, Paul said, “Come on in everyone! Have a seat anywhere on the floor near the tree, if you will!” he chuckled and smiled. “And feel free to come closer to the Whomping Willow’s rather lacrimoneous cousin and have a look around...examine her...touch the trunk...anything! We’ll be starting shortly!” Yes, he’d made up a word. But lacrimoneous should totally be a word. Like, Paul couldn’t find a reason why it SHOULDN’T be a word.
Don’t worry, the rest of the inhabitants of Greenhouse Three are safely resting somewhere else for now. Paul seemed relaxed, himself, and smiley as he watched the tree. Really, nothing could burst his bubble right now.
OOC: Hello welcome welcome! Have a look at our rules as well as the site rules. Come on in, get settled, have a little chat, whatever floats your boat. I'll be moving us on in roughly 24 hours. <3
Baguette | there is no D in my name | TRAITORclaw | Queenie of Narnia
Rula was actually quite interested in this lesson even when she'd first reached the area before class began. They might not be studying flowers, but she did think the weeping willow was a very lovely tree. And the supposed origin of it, even though it probably wasn't at all true, totally captured her imagination. And it was even more intriguing that a weeping willow did, apparently, weep.
And they were going to be doing that today? Hmm...she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the idea of making something be sad, but she'd set that aside for now. Time to practice the spell, which seemed simple enough.
"My-ro-ro," she said slowly, feeling like it wasn't too hard to say. "Maeroro." Yep, simple enough.
And the wand movement, just an upside down U...also pretty simple.
But when she put them together - "Maeroro," with her wand moving in a frown shape and then pointing at the tree - it didn't seem to do much. Apparently the intent part was a little harder than it seemed? Or the tree was particularly stubborn. Who knew?
She continued to cast it a few more times, though she paused when Professor Myers began talking more about the properties of the tears. Hm...interesting. And honestly, pretty terrifying. Rula couldn't imagine what that would feel like, ingesting the tears and feeling such a deep sorrow for...ever apparently or just about. That was...awful.
She really didn't want to think about that - especially not the idea of it being used as a poison, Merlin's beard - so she raised her hand to instead ask a somewhat-related question that she'd thought of earlier. "Professor, would it be possible to get these tears by making the tree really happy too? Because sometimes humans cry from being really, intensely happy too, not just from sadness. Has that been tested on the weeping willows yet?"
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if we fall, we will fall together; and when we rise, we will rise together__________________♥♥♥♥ together we are dangerous; together with our differences; together we are bolder, braver, stronger
Hearing Rula’s question just made Melbourne grin. That was brilliant…really, a happy tree but…how would they make them happy? Would they have to do something with the soil and make it…well more nutritious and make the trees just feel better? She didn’t really know what they were going to do all she knew really was that she had quite a while to go until her phial was filled.
”maeroro” she case her wand moving in the same swooping motion as before.
Nothing.
This tree wasn’t wanting to shed more tears for her was it? Still, maybe it was because she didn’t want to make anything sad, not really. That was never really the Gryffindor girls intent.
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IT'S NOT AN ACT OF LOVE __________________________________________________ ___________ ____________
IF YOU MAKE HER ____________
Ability is nothing without Opportunity | | Creativity is Intelligence having FUN
The Gryffindor Ace turned his head as he looked at the rest of the class, all trying to make the Willow weep. Heck it was enough to make him weep himself, all these concerted effort to make the tree cry. He focused back towards the tree and held his wand aloft, trying to stop his hand from shaking, the vial ready in his other hand.
.........
.....
...
He couldnt do it. He loved Professor Myers and his awesome lessons, but making something cry with a spell is making Tenacius sick to his stomach, giving himself heart palpitations. As much as his brain tries to rationalize what they need to do, his heart of hearts just wouldnt budge. He couldnt knowingly make anyone cry, much less with a spell. It was like the gagging spell they did a few years back-- he couldnt gag the plants either no matter how noisy they were.
With a sigh he looked around and spotted Mel, then moved to where she was working. He gave her a look, a look she should know well enough that, as capable as her bestie was, this task he couldnt bring himself to do. So he's gonna just help her out with whatever. Even if they both end up not getting any tears.
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++Tenacius ++🐦++ Salander++🐦++ Deo ++🐦++ Vickers ++🐦++ Huxley ++🐦+ Aquila++ Yeah thats what crazy is, when its broken you say theres nothing to fix++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++And you pray that everything will be okay, while you're making all the same mistakes
The possible Dark professor continued his lecture while most of the class was still collecting tears, and Emmeline felt her heart pounding and her palms turn more and more clammy with every word the man spoke. So the tears weren't used for anything good at all! In fact, they could make people feel so horrible that it was hard to come back from the crushing sadness the tears forced on its victims. This was...worse than the first year had thought it would be.
She was starting to feel like a bad person for collecting these tears. She didn't see how something that made people so sad could possibly be used for good more than it could for evil, and the many uses that a potential Dark wizard could put these tears to made the Gryffindor shudder. Completely ignoring the glass vial that she'd worked on and was currently sitting beside her on the floor, the first year drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them -- essentially forming a brown ball. She felt like she was going to throw up, and maybe she deserved to throw up for collecting something so evil.
When the professor asked about possible uses for the tears, Emmeline answered quietly: "Maybe we should just leave the trees alone." With that, the eleven year old gripped her legs more tightly and curled up into an even smaller ball. She felt like she was a worm or or a dementor. Dementors made people super sad and miserable and that's exactly what these tears did too. Emmeline was more than half way tempted to throw her stupid vial of tears out, 'cept she was afraid that a person or creature would somehow swallow the evil liquid if she did. So she simply went back to staring dully at the tree in front of her and mentally counting down the minutes until the lesson would end and she could go visit her cruppy in the nursery barn.
YesJess! | Captain Goggles | Mama Badger | Eva's Soul Sister | An OG™ | It's all in the Numbers
Okay, so Skylar was going to be ready this time with her vial to actually collect some tears. Although she was sort of unsure about what they were going to be doing with the tears, but she supposed that would come as the lesson progressed. For now though, the objective was to collect the tears, only ... her thoughts were interrupted as she heard Isa Wright apologizing to the tree. She knew the girl had quite the heart, but for the love of Merlin, it was a PLANT. And while that might have been a tad heartless of Skylar to think, considering Myers and some of the other hardcore Herbology fiends would say 'well plants were living things too', but if that was the case, then why did Isa think it okay to eat vegetables? Vegetables grew on plants, which were living things ... and yes, okay so maybe she really was being heartless and not comprehending this, but she was also being realistic.
Uh, right then Myers talking about how ingesting the tears in the purest form, you feel this mourning loss and Skylar wondered for a moment if she was out of time to practice or collect her tears. Holding the empty vial in her hand, she just listened to him lecture for a moment and then posed a question ... a scenario. While they finish up, which she had yet to do, even though she'd made the tree cry, she hadn't collected any tears.
Oh, Rula was brilliant! Making the tree so happy it cried!? That was an amazing suggestion and honestly, Skylar wasn't sure she could think of anything to top that so she instead focused on collecting her tears.
"maeroro!" she exclaimed again, flourishing her wand as before. This time she was ready with her uncapped vial and held it up the tree, to which she managed to collect several drops of tears. But if only one drop was powerful enough to induce that mourning, perhaps she had enough? Unless she wanted to experiment some more, which she half wanted to. Leading the fourth year to another wand flourish and "Maeroro," in which a few more tears fell into her vial and it looked almost half full.
Now onto the question posed. "I think, like phoenix tears are useful in potions, I'd want to explore using these weeping willow tears in potions. Maybe as an antidote for the euphoria potion, but also, as Olivia suggested, even just similar to a sedative, or a calming draught. Stress, especially around exam time, runs high in the castle walls. So maybe it has usefulness in anti-stress? or even anti-inflammatory properties?" actually, the second suggestion was far-fetched, but it was possible, right? Maybe?
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______________So much is happening to me. So much that I can't even see.
So many words of wisdom that I am trying to be. It'll be in my own time.
It didn't come as a shock to Kitty how some of the younger students (like Emmeline) were disturbed by what they were doing. Honestly, if she didn't completely trust the professors she might have been a little disturbed too. Professor Meyer's description of what the tears could do was incredibly disturbing.
"Maeroro!" she hissed, pronouncing My Ro-Ro while making the upside down U. It worked! To her immense surprise, tears started dripping down from the strings of the tree. Four of the tears fell into her vial, but two more splattered on the ground.
not throwing away my shot | Slytherpuff | roll for initiative | woof you ❤
Oops. Olly hadn't meant for Professor Myers to overhear him talking to Noelle. He felt kind of bad that he was sort of insulting his lesson. Luckily he didn't take it that way and thought it was actually a valid concern. Actually, it seemed like several other students shared the same concern. OH NO HAD HE MADE PROFESSOR MYERS CRY?!
Maybe he had accidentally been hit by a sadness charm. Olly was going to choose that was the case because he didn't know what he could have done to make him sad. PLEASE DON'T BE SAD.
He held off on doing the spell for a moment as he waited for some more explanation on why this was a necessary evil. He would decide if he agreed that it was a necessary evil. The tears made people really sad? A deep mourning loss seemed pretty terrible. Olly regarded the tree apprehensively. He definitely was not going to be drinking any of that. So far it didn't really seem like there were any good uses for that. Why would they want to make people sad? What kind of potion would he want to make out of this?
"Would it be possible to put it in a potion and somehow reverse its effects? Make a cheering potion with it somehow? Or if you add it to another potion you could feel whatever those effects are and also be...sad?" He still didn't see why this was super useful.
Let your light shine || Be the sun || You're important. Always.
Opps. That story had been a sad story and the tree HADN'T cried. So definitely her answer was a wrong one.
And they were going to be practicing sadness charms. Poor tree. She started saying the incantation to get used to it. "My-ro-ro" as Olly scooted close to her to whisper in her ear. She paused her practicing to listen to Olly. she giggled because he was saying exactly what she was thinking.
Professor Myers heard though and explained WHY he had to teach them this.
.... and now he was crying??
"Look what you did" Noelle told Olly with a very tiny whisper. Poor Professor Myers. All those emotions. "That pesky dust!" Noelle said to the professor in an attempt to make him grin.
Hearing Olly's question, she nodded. Brilliant question actually.
Now to practice the incantation. Noelle lifted her wand and pointed at the tree. Sorry tree. " MAERORO!" She said and did the wand movement. Tears were already leaking form the tree but it didn't seem to be coming from where she had aimed. Probably because her intent wasn't there. She really didn't want to make the tree cry.
Lets try again.
Clearing her mind, Noelle just thought of the incantation. What it was supposed to do. Not that she was using it to make a tree cry. It could be worse. She could be using it to make Olly cry. THAT she DEFINITELY didn't wanna do.
"MAERORO!!" She said with the intent of the incantation clear in her mind. This time, tears leaked where her wand was pointing.
Sorry tree.
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You is kind You is smart You is IMPORTANT Farah Dubey Seventh Year Hufflepuff
He'd repeated the spell out loud several times. So many that Levi thought if he told someone it was his middle name, he'd sound convincing enough. But when the time came to try it out in the tree very little other than his own frustration came pouring out. Which translated on spark, which he was quick to direct at the floor.
No need to do any sort of damage, however minor and unconsciously done, to Myers' latest treasure.
"Maeroro."
Nope.
"Maeroro."
Try again.
"MAERORO!"
........A leaf stirred and surely that ought to count for something.
"Interrogation." If frustration leaked a little bit into his voice, well--there was nothing to be done about it now that it was out. "Some wizards are strong enough to resist vertiaserum and repel attempts at legilimens from others. From law enforcement officials." He lowered his wand momentarily to look at the Herbology professor. "It's impressive, really, how strong our minds can be. But the tears of the Weeping Willow are stronger, surely. And if the person is given a dose of them, even a very minor one, then--" a shrug, perhaps to lighten his own words. "--the criminal in question would be too busy drowning in their own sorrows to resist much else."
• HuffleStud • Knight of The Zodiac • Manly Beard-Grower • Cicatrice de Harry •
So the sadness charm was a bit of work to attempt on the tree. Trees were incredibly strong due to their lifespan and amount of mass it takes to withstand such violent weathers and what not. Kirk thought that maybe this is why they were practicing it on the tree, if it could cry then perhaps they could make anyone else cry just as easily. Smiling from one of his Uncle Justin's idea to make this lesson more lively he continued practicing a bit more before taking a vial to attempt the collecting.
First Kirk started the wand movement, it was an upside down U shape before pointing at the tree. "Maeroro." He had repeated the pronunciation enough times to let it slip through his lips easily. He was partially distracted by the lesson continuing, they were to consider what other uses it could be for. That was simple for Kirk to answer, crying had to do with intense feelings, from pain to even happiness. Maybe they could use it on evil wizards and witches to make them feel remorse? He kept this in his head while continuing, "Maeroro.". Still nothing..
Kirk turned his head at Mel's voice to hear her suggestion. He blinked, quite curious on what brought her to mention it. He could ask her about it later when they had attempted study sessions, but for now he still had to get at least some shed of tear.. "Maeroro." Yep, still a bit distracted. Perhaps he should try a different strategy here.
Viv kept on collecting the tears as Professor Myers told them about what Herbologists use tears for.
Weeping Willow Tears were not healthiest? She already missed her mother. She thought, "Don't ingest the tears." She said that a million times. She wanted to be happy.
She raised her hand and said, "I would put in the Dreamless Sleep Potion so that the person could cry themselves to sleep." The tears looked so clear!
It seemed many people were having little luck with getting tears, and Paul felt kiiiiiind of bad. He looked at his watch and decided to give them just a bit more time. “While some of you finish up collecting those tears, I’ll finally explain just what Herbologists know about the tears so far.” He grinned.
“If someone were to ingest the tears in their purest form, they would feel a deep, mourning loss in their heart, as if you had lost something.” Or someone. But that was really saaaaad. “It is...not impossible to come back from that, but it is still something that is very difficult to reverse. So please do not ingest the tears.” Because no. None of them wanted to feel that sad. “They have uses in potions, mostly, in particular ones that have to do with affecting someone’s mood. Potioneers and Herbologists alike are still trying to experiment with the tears to figure out all of their uses because we thiiiiink there are more --- some people even think the tears are a quick bring down from the Euphoria potion, but just one single drop, at that. BUT...of its uses, while I wait for you all to finish---please, feel free to continue for now--I want some creativity here.” Paul grinned and rubbed his hands together excitedly. He had a answer to his question already formed in his mind.
“If you...could either A. invent a potion or B. add it to a potion of your choice...or C. Come up with a new use for it, what do you think you would use these Weeping Willow tears for?” Paul put a stopper at the top of his vial that was ¾ of the way full of tears. They looked no different than rain, water. Clear. “Anyone?”
OOC: I am moving on to the next part of the lesson in, roughly, a day. If you have not yet finished collecting tears, feel free to continue while we discuss what Paul asked above ^^ It isn't supposed to be easy to get those tears, so...Paul feels bad, but I'm like...yep! Lol! <3
The what was the what?! Jonas' eye twitched and he blinked his eyes. He opened his mouth and closed it several times. Um...okay.
• HuffleStud • Knight of The Zodiac • Manly Beard-Grower • Cicatrice de Harry •
So there was another technique Kirk hadn't considered. Perhaps thinking of something intense of to make him cry would work on the tree? He deeply considered this. "Maeroro." Nothing.. He didn't cry easily, so it would be challenge to think of something sad enough to work. He hadn't experience loss or much pain. So it would have to be theoretical with him.
"Maeroro.".. Hm. This sort of thinking had him too preoccupied to even answer Myer's question. Okay.. Gripping his wand a little tighter to show his concentration. What was it that his dad and uncles always taught him when it came to scoring? Feel it, experience it, be it... it sounded weird but maybe it would work.
Kirk repeated the upside down 'U' shaped wand movement before pointing at the tree once again. He concentrated on the thought of an intense feeling, something for the tree to feel deep within almost like a warmth. "Maeroro." With a more firm tone, he kept the thought on the tree, ignoring everything else.. including when a small drop eventually fell into his vial.
Melbourne glanced over to Tenacius as she watched him trying to cast the spell…well, hold his wand and sort of stare at the trees. Mel got it, really, Tenacius was a soft hearted thing much like she herself was. That was one of the main reasons she had stayed so close to the curly haired boy for all of these years. ”Hey,” she gave him a soft smile as he walked over to where she was standing.
”I don’t what to do this” she told her friend only to turn upon hearing Emmeline Sparkes’ comment. Here here girly. Here here. ”Professor Meyers…I really second where Emmeline is coming from – while there may be uses for the tears I wouldn’t want to make these trees feel grief…sorrow or sadness or anything really like what heartbreak feels like,” that…that was cruel.
Mel's eyes flitted over to Kirk...yes, yes he was doing the work and brilliantly. Still, she couldn't stomach it...what they were doing was hurting the trees spirit and Weeping Willows were the strongest trees in her opinion...they had that unflinching ability to bend and not snap. There was beauty in that...and she, she wasn't going to be the one to make them snap.
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IT'S NOT AN ACT OF LOVE __________________________________________________ ___________ ____________
IF YOU MAKE HER ____________
lala not really post 2 as this one refuses to collect tears. Also, Emmeline <3
Shoe!Girl │ Rebel Ravie │ Confundus Queen │ RP Addict
Even before the true purpose of the tears had been revealed, Stasya had decided she wasn’t going to be mean to the tree. In fact, she decided that she wasn’t going to actually even cast the spell. She’d practiced it, to the extent that she’d done the wand movement and she’d said the incantation. She just wasn’t going to actually cast it, even if it made Professor Myers mad at her for not taking part in the cruelty that was the activity. Her protest was going to stand, and she felt that she had every right to continue it with every fiber of her twelve year old being. It would be wrong to give up now. Especially knowing exactly how evil the tears really were.
They weren’t anything like phoenix tears. Not at all. Nobody was helped by being made really really sad, and she wasn’t about to say she was okay with the idea by answering the professor’s question. She wasn’t going to use the tears at all.
In fact, the vial she’d gotten earlier was forgotten, empty, as she saw Emmeline all curled up in a little ball. Giving the professor her best reproachful look, the blonde had stood up to walk over to her best friend, ignoring the drops falling from the branches around her from everyone else having actually cast the spell, and just hugged her. “You’re right,” she whispered, still hugging her best friend tightly as if it would make everything all better. They should just leave the tree alone. Even Mel agreed. More reproachful looks for the professor.
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♥♥♥♥ It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me, at tea time, everybody agrees
...It must be exhausting, always rooting for the anti-hero ♥♥♥
Well, this is going GREAT. Simply great. Why was this so much effort again? Etta sighed and looked around for a bit, a little glad that her fellow classmates and friends seemed to be facing the same problem too. So she wasn't the only one.. well, that was a relief. She turned towards the tree again and cast the spell again, with the inverted U wand movement and.. something happened.
She could see the tears.. with the vial held ready, she managed to collect a few more drops and that was it. Would this be enough? She held the vial up to her eye-level and stared. Yeah, no. Pretty sure that this wouldn't be enough at all. She took a break and raised a hand to answer the professor's question. "Well.. probably add them to an existing potion, professor? Like Olivia mentioned, it'll probably help lessen the extreme effects of certain potions.. perhaps?
.. Now, back to the tree. Etta sighed with frustration this time, wishing the professor would just move on to the next activity already. Or maybe her patience level was running a bit low today.
Unlike everyone else, Nicholas was done attempting to secure these silly tears from the willow's branches. No, his one drop would suffice.
"If drinking the tears neat causes such severe sadness, sir," the Hufflepuff mused, hand in the air, "and it's so hard to reverse... maybe you could use it as a potion on its own. Like a poison, but with lethal mental effects as opposed to physiological ones? Could it kind of render someone useless?"
Hm. Bottled pain. And insanity.
Sounded like it caused the same results as OWLs did.
Well, that was far more disturbing than Paul expected to hear, but he supposed it was….creative???? At least??? “Remind me to never get into a disagreement with you, m’boy,” he teased good-naturedly.
SPOILER!!: Olivia
Quote:
Originally Posted by Govoni
COME ON, WEEPING WILLOW....Where the tears at?!
It had been TWENTY minutes, and Olivia hadn't managed to do anything other than upset herself. No difficult task these days, but it felt unnecessary at this point. Was she...doing something wrong? True, she'd felt the effects of casting, that was a newly developed tell for her, but...what if she'd misread? The incantation was being pronounced correctly; the wand motion, performed tightly... Man, Professor Paul. What was up?
Having to take a breather, as her head was beginning to pound, the Gryffindor took an unceremonious seat in the middle of the floor. They were being asked a question, anyway. And yah, she had ideas. So...she was just going to focus on that for a few moments. "I could see them being diluted and used as a sedative." Considering all her recent health issues, Liv was kinda an expert. "...since sedatives are actually called depressants in the muggle world. If you were to possibly mix the tears with a substance that would basically water it down, it could lessen the more extreme effects." Oh, idea! "Like adding a drop or two to someone's pumpkin juice, etc."
.....Urgh, right. Back to this tree.
Interesting take! Paul smiled. “I could see that working. It’d have to be VERY diluted Im sure. And I don’t fancy being the one trying to make that work.” He felt the tears were probably VERY hard to deal with. ”Good job, Liv!” He gave her a thumbs up.
SPOILER!!: Isa
Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
Wow, she had asked a question that even Professor Myers didn’t know the answer to, and she wasn’t even sure if anyone knew the answer to it. By Isa’s standards that made it a good question. Professor Myers had said this was a recent discovery, so maybe nobody had researched the tear producing mechanism in the tree yet. She would have to talk to Professor Myers later to see if he found out where they were produced from. If he couldn’t find out, she was going to find a way to find out for herself. There was still a lot to be studied about this tree, so Isa was making it her goal to research this tree. Maybe she would discover new magical properties of the tears or something. That would be so cool!
Yeah, the tears probably weren’t the same stuff as human tears. Human tears did not share the same magical properties, and trees had their own ways of producing things. It definitely wasn’t just water either. Normal water also did not have special magical properties. The tears were clear, like water, but a lot of non-water substances looked deceivingly like water. It was dangerous to assume that a clear liquid was water. For all you knew it could be poisonous or otherwise harmful. In the case of the tears they probably weren’t poison, but they weren’t pure water either.
Even after casting Maeroro six times, Isa only had two tears in her vial. The young hufflepuff was determined to prove her herbology skills by filling her vial to 3/4 of the way full like Professor Myers had asked them to. This was a difficult task, but Isa believed that it was achievable; Professor Myers wouldn’t have asked them to do something impossible. She could do this. You can do this, Isa. The mental pep talk encouraged her to keep trying. ”Maeroro. Maeroro. Maeroro. Maeroro. Maeroro. Maeroro. Maeroro.” Isa repeated the spell several times to get a few more tears in her vial. This might take a while. Making a tree cry was actually more difficult than it sounded. Then again, most people would have thought it was impossible to make a tree cry, so making the weeping willow cry at all was an astounding accomplishment. Collecting only two tears sounded a lot more impressive when you thought about it that way. Fortunately, a few more tears had dripped from the branch into the vial as Isa cast the sadness charm on the tree a few more times. Eventually after what seemed like a hundred times casting the spell, Isa had filled her vial to about 3/4 of the way full.
When she was done collecting weeping willow tears in her vial, Isa put the cork back in the vial. She put her free hand on the trunk of the tree, leaned in closer to the tree to the point that she was almost touching the tree with her forehead, closed her eyes, and whispered to the tree. ”I’m sorry we had to make you sad. Thank you for your tears. I hope you can feel happy later when we’re done collecting the tears.” Yes, Isa Wright was talking to a tree and she didn’t think there was anything weird about that. Just your usual conversation with a tree that you made feel sad so it could cry. Nothing at all unusual to see here.
Oooh, now was the interesting part where they got to learn all about the tears! Her questions might finally be answered! Isa listened intently as Professor Myer explained what was known about the tears. A deep loss in your heart if you ingested the tears? That was so sad. Isa tried to imagine what it would feel like if someone in her family died. The feeling was so heartbreaking that Isa couldn’t imagine what it would be like, but she felt sad and her eyes were getting all red and watery. Thankfully she hadn’t tried to taste any of the tears, because she didn’t want the depressing heartache that the tears could induce. Isa knew better than to go around sticking things in her mouth without knowing what they were. There were a lot of plants and parts of plants that weren’t safe to eat. ”Do the tears have any effect on you if you touch them?” Like, what would happen if she got some on her fingers? For the first time Isa started to think about how potentially dangerous these tears could be if not used properly. Ingesting pure tears could seriously mess up your mental health, and mental health was important. The wrong use of the tears could have grave consequences. ”If the tears could make people so heartbroken if they aren’t used in the right way, is it ethical to be experimenting with them?” Isa was curious about finding new uses for the tears, but she didn’t want to accidentally make people feel depressed either.
So, what use for the tears would she try to come up with? Suggesting using it in a potion to make people feel sad seemed unoriginal given that Professor Myers had just said that the tears could be used in mood-altering potions, so Isa thought about what other applications the tears might have. ”Maybe other plants might respond to the tears, like a sort of way to communicate with other plants.” She wasn’t quite sure what the implications of that would be if that were true or if that would even be significant, but it was an interesting idea to think about. Was the grass under weeping willow trees always sad? ”I think I would want to research more about what conditions naturally make the weeping willow weep, to better understand more about the function of the tears and how people might be able to find new uses for the tears based off of what they do in nature.” Really this topic seemed like something that needed more research. Maybe one day Isa would get a chance to do more work with the weeping willow. If she knew more about what the weeping willow used its tears for, she would have a better understanding of how people could use them. The tears must serve some purpose to the tree, because trees didn’t develop some way of being sad and crying just for fun. There was always an evolutionary advantageous reason for plants developing in a certain way. ”Is it known why the weeping willow cries or how that might be an advantage for the willow? Maybe it defends itself by making everything that wants to hurt it sad or something?” Like how thorns on a rosebush deterred animals from eating the roses? Or maybe something entirely different that she hadn’t thought of yet? This was turning out to be a very interesting lesson indeed. Isa’s attention was completely focused on her thoughts about why the tree cried, why that was important, and how she might find a use for the tears based off of that.
Isa was full of questions today! Rather than finding it exhausting, Paul found it refreshing. It was nice to have someone seeking your knowledge or even opinion on something. He puffed up a little bit. “Touching them will have no affect on you at all.” He responded. “And well...as long as you aren’t experimenting with people or without their knowledge, of course, it’s ethical. Just don’t slip it to your enemies to “test” it. That would….be very bad.” And Paul shouldn’t have given them the idea, granted, Nicholas Tate already had that covered.
SPOILER!!: Kitty
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goblinfrog
Kitty continued trying to extract tears form the Weeping Willow. "Maeroro!!!" And still nothing happened. "Gaa this is hard," she muttered a little impatiently.
It was an interesting question. Huh. What WOULD they use these tears for anyway? "I think I agree with Olivia," she said, since it sounded like the most reasonable answer. "Most medicines are extremely diluted, so maybe tears can be too?"
“Mhmm, perhaps. And keep going, Kitty. You’ve almost got it!” he encouraged gently.
SPOILER!!: Mel
Quote:
Originally Posted by Optimist.Prime
Melbourne glanced over to Isa when she heard the young hufflepuff apologizing to the weeping willow…was there an option to just go over there and hug her? Seriously, she had to be the most precious girl E V E R , it was also the fact that her question about the tears causing heartbreak that made Melbourne really think of a use for the potion.
Weren’t there people out there that…well, that didn’t have emotions? Or well, never really knew how to cry? Maybe, maybe there was something along the lines of a psychological benefit to the willow tears?...or was it, was that ethical?
Pointing her wand at the willow branch in front of her Melbourne let her finger trail along the edge of her now empty phial. ”Maeroro” she cast the frown like wand movement and intent of the spell caused a tear to drip from the end of the willow’s branch. ”Thank you for this,” she carefully moved the phial in place and watched as the phial began to slowly fill. Glancing over to Kirk, she felt a little nervous really saying this here. It wasn’t something she had even shared with him before, but…really, it wasn’t like it was a secret. Raising her hand, she glanced at Professor Meyers – ”Professor Meyers? Would it be reasonable to use them in somewhat of a cosmetic potion? I know many muggles, witches, and wizards alike have a hard time producing natural tears and even having honest emotions?” she paused, before glancing down at the phial and let her eyes trail around the people in the room.
”I don’t mean…like for acting purposes, I mean for…when people honestly can’t feel hurt or sad at funerals and the like?...s-so like you could use them as a substitute for tears when you should feel sad like at your parents funeral…or…just when your eyes feel like they are about to crack open like the surface of a desert?” Melbourne offered and bit the edge of her lip. No, she didn’t have chronic dry eyes. It was something that only few people really knew about.
Mel’s theory was interesting. “Without getting into the debate about using potions to force your emotions, I’ll just say...that is an interesting use for sure, Melbourne.” He smiled. “Creative.” Outside the box. He dug it, okay?
SPOILER!!: Rula
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl
Rula was actually quite interested in this lesson even when she'd first reached the area before class began. They might not be studying flowers, but she did think the weeping willow was a very lovely tree. And the supposed origin of it, even though it probably wasn't at all true, totally captured her imagination. And it was even more intriguing that a weeping willow did, apparently, weep.
And they were going to be doing that today? Hmm...she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the idea of making something be sad, but she'd set that aside for now. Time to practice the spell, which seemed simple enough.
"My-ro-ro," she said slowly, feeling like it wasn't too hard to say. "Maeroro." Yep, simple enough.
And the wand movement, just an upside down U...also pretty simple.
But when she put them together - "Maeroro," with her wand moving in a frown shape and then pointing at the tree - it didn't seem to do much. Apparently the intent part was a little harder than it seemed? Or the tree was particularly stubborn. Who knew?
She continued to cast it a few more times, though she paused when Professor Myers began talking more about the properties of the tears. Hm...interesting. And honestly, pretty terrifying. Rula couldn't imagine what that would feel like, ingesting the tears and feeling such a deep sorrow for...ever apparently or just about. That was...awful.
She really didn't want to think about that - especially not the idea of it being used as a poison, Merlin's beard - so she raised her hand to instead ask a somewhat-related question that she'd thought of earlier. "Professor, would it be possible to get these tears by making the tree really happy too? Because sometimes humans cry from being really, intensely happy too, not just from sadness. Has that been tested on the weeping willows yet?"
Awwww. Rula’s idea was something Paul had also thought of, honestly. “I think….it could be done with the right intent, and the right spellwork, and the right performer of the magic. Or perhaps it would just take very many of us to do it. It hasn’t be tried yet….but……..I’ll have the tree here for a few days before I send it off to a very loving willow lover,” he said with a soft smile. “You’re welcome to come and try, Miss Botros. That goes for all of you!”
SPOILER!!: Emmeline
Quote:
Originally Posted by NifflerFan
The possible Dark professor continued his lecture while most of the class was still collecting tears, and Emmeline felt her heart pounding and her palms turn more and more clammy with every word the man spoke. So the tears weren't used for anything good at all! In fact, they could make people feel so horrible that it was hard to come back from the crushing sadness the tears forced on its victims. This was...worse than the first year had thought it would be.
She was starting to feel like a bad person for collecting these tears. She didn't see how something that made people so sad could possibly be used for good more than it could for evil, and the many uses that a potential Dark wizard could put these tears to made the Gryffindor shudder. Completely ignoring the glass vial that she'd worked on and was currently sitting beside her on the floor, the first year drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them -- essentially forming a brown ball. She felt like she was going to throw up, and maybe she deserved to throw up for collecting something so evil.
When the professor asked about possible uses for the tears, Emmeline answered quietly: "Maybe we should just leave the trees alone." With that, the eleven year old gripped her legs more tightly and curled up into an even smaller ball. She felt like she was a worm or or a dementor. Dementors made people super sad and miserable and that's exactly what these tears did too. Emmeline was more than half way tempted to throw her stupid vial of tears out, 'cept she was afraid that a person or creature would somehow swallow the evil liquid if she did. So she simply went back to staring dully at the tree in front of her and mentally counting down the minutes until the lesson would end and she could go visit her cruppy in the nursery barn.
…...Paul turned to Emmeline and just….sighed. “Well, we can’t, and I’ll explain why in just a moment,” he said verrrrrry gently, because Emmeline looked...uncomfortable, and he didn’t know why. “Are you feeling okay, m’dear? Do you need to step out for a drink of water?”
SPOILER!!: Skylar
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixRising
Okay, so Skylar was going to be ready this time with her vial to actually collect some tears. Although she was sort of unsure about what they were going to be doing with the tears, but she supposed that would come as the lesson progressed. For now though, the objective was to collect the tears, only ... her thoughts were interrupted as she heard Isa Wright apologizing to the tree. She knew the girl had quite the heart, but for the love of Merlin, it was a PLANT. And while that might have been a tad heartless of Skylar to think, considering Myers and some of the other hardcore Herbology fiends would say 'well plants were living things too', but if that was the case, then why did Isa think it okay to eat vegetables? Vegetables grew on plants, which were living things ... and yes, okay so maybe she really was being heartless and not comprehending this, but she was also being realistic.
Uh, right then Myers talking about how ingesting the tears in the purest form, you feel this mourning loss and Skylar wondered for a moment if she was out of time to practice or collect her tears. Holding the empty vial in her hand, she just listened to him lecture for a moment and then posed a question ... a scenario. While they finish up, which she had yet to do, even though she'd made the tree cry, she hadn't collected any tears.
Oh, Rula was brilliant! Making the tree so happy it cried!? That was an amazing suggestion and honestly, Skylar wasn't sure she could think of anything to top that so she instead focused on collecting her tears.
"maeroro!" she exclaimed again, flourishing her wand as before. This time she was ready with her uncapped vial and held it up the tree, to which she managed to collect several drops of tears. But if only one drop was powerful enough to induce that mourning, perhaps she had enough? Unless she wanted to experiment some more, which she half wanted to. Leading the fourth year to another wand flourish and "Maeroro," in which a few more tears fell into her vial and it looked almost half full.
Now onto the question posed. "I think, like phoenix tears are useful in potions, I'd want to explore using these weeping willow tears in potions. Maybe as an antidote for the euphoria potion, but also, as Olivia suggested, even just similar to a sedative, or a calming draught. Stress, especially around exam time, runs high in the castle walls. So maybe it has usefulness in anti-stress? or even anti-inflammatory properties?" actually, the second suggestion was far-fetched, but it was possible, right? Maybe?
“I’ve had similiar thoughts, Miss Diggory! About the antidote...very good idea!” She got a thumbs up, too! They were all so creative. And….well, some of them were SCARY but Paul, at least, had the pleasure of knowing them as teenagers. As they grew older, they could….you know, not contact Paul every again LOLOLOLOL @ all of you crazy ones.
SPOILER!!: Oliver
Quote:
Originally Posted by littledhampir
Oops. Olly hadn't meant for Professor Myers to overhear him talking to Noelle. He felt kind of bad that he was sort of insulting his lesson. Luckily he didn't take it that way and thought it was actually a valid concern. Actually, it seemed like several other students shared the same concern. OH NO HAD HE MADE PROFESSOR MYERS CRY?!
Maybe he had accidentally been hit by a sadness charm. Olly was going to choose that was the case because he didn't know what he could have done to make him sad. PLEASE DON'T BE SAD.
He held off on doing the spell for a moment as he waited for some more explanation on why this was a necessary evil. He would decide if he agreed that it was a necessary evil. The tears made people really sad? A deep mourning loss seemed pretty terrible. Olly regarded the tree apprehensively. He definitely was not going to be drinking any of that. So far it didn't really seem like there were any good uses for that. Why would they want to make people sad? What kind of potion would he want to make out of this?
"Would it be possible to put it in a potion and somehow reverse its effects? Make a cheering potion with it somehow? Or if you add it to another potion you could feel whatever those effects are and also be...sad?" He still didn't see why this was super useful.
“I was wondering that!” he cried suddenly, right at Oliver. “I would love for a potioneer to perhaps explore that theory a little more….it’d certainly be...difficult, I’m sure.” Good job, Oliver!
SPOILER!!: Levi
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oesed
My-ro-ro.
MY-RO-RO.
He'd repeated the spell out loud several times. So many that Levi thought if he told someone it was his middle name, he'd sound convincing enough. But when the time came to try it out in the tree very little other than his own frustration came pouring out. Which translated on spark, which he was quick to direct at the floor.
No need to do any sort of damage, however minor and unconsciously done, to Myers' latest treasure.
"Maeroro."
Nope.
"Maeroro."
Try again.
"MAERORO!"
........A leaf stirred and surely that ought to count for something.
"Interrogation." If frustration leaked a little bit into his voice, well--there was nothing to be done about it now that it was out. "Some wizards are strong enough to resist vertiaserum and repel attempts at legilimens from others. From law enforcement officials." He lowered his wand momentarily to look at the Herbology professor. "It's impressive, really, how strong our minds can be. But the tears of the Weeping Willow are stronger, surely. And if the person is given a dose of them, even a very minor one, then--" a shrug, perhaps to lighten his own words. "--the criminal in question would be too busy drowning in their own sorrows to resist much else."
……..Levi’s answer was by far Paul’s LEAST favorite, not for its lack of creativity but for…..just…..IT. “Um.” How to reply to THAT? “Another one of you I...do not want to cross,” he chuckled...a bit, uncomfortably. “But that….might be effective for some people.” AKA, Paul, depending on what he was interrogated about.
SPOILER!!: Mel again
Quote:
Originally Posted by Optimist.Prime
Melbourne glanced over to Tenacius as she watched him trying to cast the spell…well, hold his wand and sort of stare at the trees. Mel got it, really, Tenacius was a soft hearted thing much like she herself was. That was one of the main reasons she had stayed so close to the curly haired boy for all of these years. ”Hey,” she gave him a soft smile as he walked over to where she was standing.
”I don’t what to do this” she told her friend only to turn upon hearing Emmeline Sparkes’ comment. Here here girly. Here here. ”Professor Meyers…I really second where Emmeline is coming from – while there may be uses for the tears I wouldn’t want to make these trees feel grief…sorrow or sadness or anything really like what heartbreak feels like,” that…that was cruel.
Mel's eyes flitted over to Kirk...yes, yes he was doing the work and brilliantly. Still, she couldn't stomach it...what they were doing was hurting the trees spirit and Weeping Willows were the strongest trees in her opinion...they had that unflinching ability to bend and not snap. There was beauty in that...and she, she wasn't going to be the one to make them snap.
Melbourne spoke again, and Paul could understand the concerns, he really could. Did they think he, a plant lover, would do all of this just to be mean to a tree? Of course not. Paul smiled a little, very gently, and said, “In JUUUUSt a moemnt you will see… I promise. This is not all for nought.”
SPOILER!!: Etta
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady of Light
Well, this is going GREAT. Simply great. Why was this so much effort again? Etta sighed and looked around for a bit, a little glad that her fellow classmates and friends seemed to be facing the same problem too. So she wasn't the only one.. well, that was a relief. She turned towards the tree again and cast the spell again, with the inverted U wand movement and.. something happened.
She could see the tears.. with the vial held ready, she managed to collect a few more drops and that was it. Would this be enough? She held the vial up to her eye-level and stared. Yeah, no. Pretty sure that this wouldn't be enough at all. She took a break and raised a hand to answer the professor's question. "Well.. probably add them to an existing potion, professor? Like Olivia mentioned, it'll probably help lessen the extreme effects of certain potions.. perhaps?
.. Now, back to the tree. Etta sighed with frustration this time, wishing the professor would just move on to the next activity already. Or maybe her patience level was running a bit low today.
“Good idea, yes. I think that’d bring interesting results depending on the potions. The problem is...who would want to be tested on? Certainly not me!” That sounded like a steaming cup of nope to Paul.
“Since EVERYONE is concerned--” that was a gross exaggeration, but Paul didn’t care, “These tears have at least ONE good purpose. They….allow our Willow friend to reproduce,” he smiled and held up his vial. “Once a droplet dries, it hardens into amber,” he grinned. Did they remember back to the story? “SO...if you wanted to plant a new Weeping Willow, all you’d have to do is….harvest the tears from the tree, which is what we just did, using that nifty sadness charm. Collect them in one of this vials….use a droplet to suck up some of the tears, squeeze ONE single droplet on your hand...and...use a drying spell to harden it into amber. Once the amber-seedling is all firm, you may plant it! In a pot...or in the ground! Whatever works!“ He grinned.
“So…...let us try out hand at creating these seeds! I won’t have you plant them today, but you may keep the little amber seedlings if you like. If you were unsuccessful at collecting the tears---” They all had O+ effort, though! “Then simple take a droplet from a friend’s vial. Place a single droplet on your hand...and use the drying spell. It will harden into the amber. Once you have finished, let me collect your vials and you are dismissed! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!”
OOC: Thanks for attending, guys! I'll be leaving this open for, at the most, TWO more days! Feel free to bug us/chitter/make your amber seedling babies/whatever else! <3 I'll be around!
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"You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough."
Roman Gellar ● 1st Year ● Slytherin
A path is not simply for walking, its purpose lies in moving forward and improving oneself.
"Maeroro!" Mason moved his wand in an upside down U shape and watched for the second time as a single man tear slid down the tree. Placing his vial against the tree, the Ravenclaw caught the drop and turned to the Professor so that he could hear him speak again.
Amber-seedlings? That was...kind of cool. But did they HAVE to plant it? Fine, he'll plant one drop in a pot and he wanted to keep the other one for himself so he grabbed a droplet and sucked a drop of tears before he let it fall on the palm of his hand.
With his wand hand he pointed his wand at the drop and non-verbally casted the drying spell. He watched, fascinated as the drop slowly but effectively hardened and he held it up in the light to see.
"These would make fine jewerly" he said to no one in particular as he placed it carefully in his robe pocket. There was another drop inside the vial and he would use that one to plant another weeping willow tree. He moved to the other side of the Greenhouse and grabbed a pot and some soil. Digging his hands in the soil, Mason placed it inside of the pot. Next up, he let the drop of tear fall on his hand, carefully by the way, didn't want it to let it fall on the ground, and casted the drying spell for a second time. The drop changed and he held it in his hand.
With his other hand he used a finger to poke a hole in the soil, big enough for the amber-seedling to get covered with the soil. "Do they need water, professor Myers?" he asked as he added some extra soil on top. You know....since it ...used to be water...
Dani's Citrus Duck Spawn | Mama Giraffe | Lemon PATch | Pushed the Red Button
Cross him? That was a funny prospect, given Nicky was about as harmful as a fly (one clear of disease, mind you).
Seeds were... present in all trees, though. He looked very confused for a moment before coming to the conclusion that perhaps a seedling of the willow would not produce magical tears as its parent did. Rather than ask Myers, the fifth year stifled the little spark of curiosity and went doing his work.
And he'd only get one shot at this amber-making, too, given he'd been able to produce but a single tear. First try was the charm, hopefully.
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and so i took an axe to a mended fence.___________________.______._________________ __________________________________..____this is why we can't have nice things, darling.
An exaggeration? Wow! She looked at the vial Paul held up. She remembered the story that the teacher told. She was ready for anything!
They were going try creating the seeds. She just wanted to have a pet seedling! She took a droplet from Nicholas' vial. She placed a droplet into her hand and cast the drying spell. It hardens into amber! Viv took her vial to Paul and she was dismissed.
Levi would have loved to say he regretted his input but he found his logic to be sound and merely smiled, a touch apologetically, at Professor Myers. Perhaps the man was right, after all--and if he wasn't about to correct him, either. "Once the tear has been, er, crystallized--can it be reversed? Go back to its original liquid form, Professor?" He wanted to know. For science.
Meanwhile, the MY-RO-RO business continued to happen. Upside down U's movements continued along with the incantation. It took several more times for tries for tears to come out, and Levi was quick to retrieve one. He squeezed it into his palm, a single one, before casting a hot air charm on it.
She had totally gotten the willow to weep a good number of tears into her vial. Totally. Listening to the professor for a moment she then turned her attention to the vial, holding it up toward the light. Yes. Okay, she could totally do this.
Grabbing her dropper, the Gryffindor made quick work of sucking up some of the tears and then dropping out one in the palm of her free hand. Cool. Setting the dropper and vial aside, the blonde girl then flexed her right hand and wrist, thus sending her wand sliding effortlessly into her hand. Time for the drying spell. Quickly doing the wand movement, Dora nonverbally cast the spell and watched closely as the droplet became... amber in her palm. So was it like sap hardening? Only less sticky? 'Cause that's what it reminded her of.
Glancing about to see if anyone needed help she then focused back on the pot and trowel she had procured at some point. Awesome. Holding her wand between her teeth, the girl then used the trowel to dig a small hole be free dropping her seedling in. Cute little amber seed! Ugh!
YesJess! | Captain Goggles | Mama Badger | Eva's Soul Sister | An OG™ | It's all in the Numbers
Since everyone is so concerned? REALLY, Professor Myers? She was NOT in that group, thankyouverymuch. Not that she didn't care about the wellbeing of plants, but she thought that some of her classmates were being just a tad ridiculous. For the most part, she trusted the Hufflepuff House Head; he had been her teacher since first year and he was Herbology Professor. So she doubted, with his love of plants, that he would do anything truly harmful.
Wait, wait, was Myers really talking about Plant Reproduction?! Okay, so sure he hadn't gotten into all the details about it, but the fact that he was encouraging plant reproduction was enough to cause Skylar's mind to wonder slightly.
If only for a brief moment in time, before she figured she might as well get started. This was actually rather interesting, considering the lesson she was in. Taking a dropper, she pinched the bulb to allow it to suck some of the tears up from her vial and then carefully released one single drop onto her hand. Although part of her wondered what might happen if more than one drop hardened on her hand. Would it be overtly concentrated and not work? Or would more than one seedling sprout? Or would they become too crowded and suffocated and both die? Experimenting might happen, later, which was a weird thought because she was never one for plant experimentation. Casting the drying spell over the tears, she was surprised to notice that unlike her own tears, these didn't absorb into her skin. Instead, a small amber seed rested in her palm.
Figuring it was best to plant in a pot first and it could be transferred to the ground at a later time, Sky took a pot and after digging a small hole with her trowel, she let the amber seed fall from her hand into the hole of dirt. Covering it up, she was about to cast the water charm when she heard Mason ask about watering them. Oh, she ought to wait, because watering something that didn't need it might produce undesirable results.
And they were done? Stopping her vial, she carefully wrote 'Skylar Diggory, Slytherin' on the side and briefly wondered what Myers was going to do with the harvested tears before realizing she did have a question for him.
"Professor? You said one only one drop onto our hand and I was just curious, would it be detrimental to have more than that harden into amber? Would it not harden?"
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______________So much is happening to me. So much that I can't even see.
So many words of wisdom that I am trying to be. It'll be in my own time.
Given her good mood at the start of the lesson, Sam was having some issues with the intent of the spell. She didn't really want to make the willow cry, even if it might be for a good cause. And she did trust Myers enough to know that he wouldn't willingly hurt a plant. Regardless, as a result of her hesitancy, her vial was filling rather slowly and she probably had to use more of the charms than would have been necessary if her intent had been more confident. ”Maeroro!” She drew the sad face in the air as she said it, holding the vial up to catch that precious, precious tear.
A half vial wasn't bad, she supposed.
But now they got to make an amber seed? That was cool, and although she had an idea where she might like to plant it, she also liked the idea of keeping the seed as was too. Picking up a dropper, Sam carefully transferred a single drop of the tears to the palm of her hand, and let it sit there a moment. Curiously, it stayed in the droplet shape even when she moved her hand around slightly. Cool surface tension properties, apparently.
But better to dry it sooner rather than later, for fear of spilling it. Picking up her wand once more, she cast the drying spell first time. She watched closely as the little tear dehydrated and became harder. How awesome was it that a huge tree could grow from something so tiny? Sam thought it was, anyways.
James just sat there, fiddling with the dropper thing and not much-paying attention in class. Harvesting ...or not to harvest? It was an effort even to talk so he had stopped responding to anyone. He tried to do what he was told, but his arms and legs felt like lead. Bored...bored...bored.....
Herbology Lesson II - The Weeping Willow Tree 
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Yeah thats what crazy is, when its broken you say theres nothing to fix++++++++++++++++++++
