Somehow, it was Thursday. Ronan could have sworn yesterday had been Monday. As he hurried down to the greenhouses, the fifth year mentally made a list of all the homework he needed to catch up on before tomorrow afternoon. He hated doing homework during the weekends, which meant that he'll have to finish Herbology, Transfig and Astro before then. Welp.

Pulling open the door to Greenhouse Three - Four would be too distracting today, he'd just end up staring at the venomous tentacula and daydreaming - Ronan first waved hello at the screechsnaps before settling in his regular seat at the far end of the table. The library was nice and all, but he got his best work done in the greenhouses. Ronan donned his gloves and turned to inspect the flesh eating fir. Not because they were homework, just because he liked them. Just a few minutes with the fir, and then he'd do homework.

Alexandre was not a frequent visitor of the greenhouses. Herbology was fine and all, but not one of his strongest subjects. And not one that he really felt a need to spend much time with outside of required lessons and homework. (Though, none of his classes were ones he particularly wanted to spend much extra time with). But the idea of crossbreeding had admittedly intrigued him a bit. He knew that they weren't starting their cross breeding project for a while still, but he'd had a few ideas and he wanted to gather some more. So he had decided to come down to the greenhouses and wander around, to see if he could draw some inspiration from the plants held there. He had walked through greenhouse one, and then made his way into greenhouse three. Why had he skipped greenhouse two, you ask? There really was no reason at all. He just had. Maybe he'd go back to it. One, two, and then three was a predictable, boring order. One, three, and then two mixed it up a lot more.

As he walked further into greenhouse three he discovered that he was not alone. There was someone sitting at a table looking at a plant. As he got even closer he recognized who it was. Not one of his close friends but Alexandre basically considered everyone in his year a friend. He really liked friends, okay? "Hi Ronan!" He greeted the other boy cheerfully.

One of the best things about the greenhouses was the noise level. It was never silent like in the library, where a little sneeze or a creak of a chair sounded like gong drums. It could be really loud if there was a storm outside, but usually the only sounds in here were gentle rustling of leaves and the odd chattering foliage and Ronan thought it was the most peaceful spot in the school.

Another great advantage was instantly being able to tell if he was not alone, because the door opening brought in the outside noise (and made a creaking sound over the last week or so, he should probably tell Professor Rainwater about the hinges). Ronan stopped talking to the fir as soon as he heard someone step in, silently begging for it not to be a certain someone, and visibly relaxed when he saw who it was. "Hey Alexandre," the fifth year smiled and stepped away from the plants, pulling off his gloves. "Here for the homework?"

Alexandre was glad that Ronan seemed happy to see him. Sometimes people who normally didn't mind his presence didn't like to be disturbed at certain times. And he hoped he wasn't bothering him during something important. Or distracted him from anything. But he had smiled, which was a good sign. So Alexandre smiled back and moved closer to his end of the table.

"Homework? Uhh.. not really." No current homework anyway. "I was thinking about that long term project we're going to do, and wanted to get some ideas." Professor Rainwater had said that they would need to run their ideas past him and get approval before they could start anyway, so this could kind of count as homework? "What are you doing?"

Ronan straightened his tie as Alexandre talked, nodding amicably. He hadn't yet considered the project because of everything else he needed to get done before it, but that's why Alexandre is the Ravenclaw. "That's a good idea actually, I should probably do that as well." Ronan agreed with his friend - were they friends? Ronan thought they were but they didn't really spend a lot of time together outside of classes and things - and leaned against the table.

"Homework," he answered with a grin and a shrug, nodding towards his books. "Not just Herbology. I prefer the greenhouses to the library, it's nicer here." He was pretty sure there was a proper reason for that, something about plans and air and all that, but he didn't know enough to be able to explain it.

Alexandre wasn't entirely sure that thinking about this project not was actually a good thing, really. It was less working ahead, and more using it as a distraction from the other homework that he actually should be doing more immediately. "I don't really actually have an idea yet.. besides what we talked about in class but I don't know if that's a real idea. I just thought that cross breeding kind of sounds interesting but I don't know if I'd actually be very good at it."

"Oh." Alexandre followed Ronan's nod toward the books before looking back at him. "I don't like the library much, maybe I should try studying in the greenhouses. Though... it might be more the studying I don't like and not necessarily the library." He didn't know if studying in the greenhouses would actually be much better. "Do you come here a lot?"

Ronan listened to Alexandre attentively, nodding where appropriate. "I bet you would be. It doesn't sound too hard," he didn't know much about cross breeding, only what they'd learned in lessons and what he'd picked up from Rainwater by just hanging out in the greenhouses. Most of his extra knowledge came from the things the Professor talked about when they were here alone.

Ronan suddenly hoped Rainwater wouldn't walk in when Alexandre was here. He then felt extremely guilty for thinking that, and mentally tried to forget about that whole thought process. Ahem. What was Alexandre talking about? Greenhouses? Yes. "I do.. I really like it here," he looked around at the familiar plants dotting the greenhouse. He wanted to explain more, but everything he thought to say sounded terribly nerdy suddenly. He liked the plants, he liked the quiet, he liked Professor Rainwater. No. Best keep all that to himself.

"Do you want some chocolate?" Ronan offered, feeling he needed to say something.

A storm is on its way, that’s clear to see. A strong wind blows, threatening damage to anything in its way.

Anything not battened down will surely be lost. Someone should do something about this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Narrator

A storm is on its way, that’s clear to see. A strong wind blows, threatening damage to anything in its way.

Anything not battened down will surely be lost. Someone should do something about this.

He had not stopped sprinting since departing the entrance gates and had a heck of a time jostling with the doors of the greenhouses that were flinging themselves opened and closed in the wind. It reminded him of some of the storms they had experienced while visiting dad's hometown in Nebraska...maybe even some of the typhoons while visiting mum's extended family...none of which were particularly good memories and he was a fan of storms. Lightning being nature's fireworks. This was...anyway.

His voice caught by the wind and barely audible, the seventh year began shouting for his little sister while HOPING she was not stupid enough to have run in here and was sticking with the group heading back to the castle. Hopefully Celine was looking out for her...and then he would owe her...but anyway.

He was also worried about...his own lot in the greenhouse...things that he ought to harvest right now before they went to waste...but he couldn't make heads nor tails of what was going on in here and ducked when something or another flew by his head. A pot, perhaps. And then there were all the gardening tools....

Orion was nearly out of breath as he reached the greenhouses, his long legs which normally didn’t run much at all, he had pushed as hard as they could to get there. The wind was not his friend and he felt like he was battling through it to get to the greenhouses..

He could barely see the boy in front of him, and it wasn’t until he too had wrestled his way into the doors and stood looking around, trying to get his breath when he noticed the other boy.

He seemed to be shouting, but Orion couldn’t hear a thing.. instead he just waved.. cause that was a thing you did in danger right? And headed towards his plant..

He stumbled and fell onto his knees when he saw it.. all right for now.. but he had to get it out of here, to keep it safe.

Not going home for the holidays was the least of Nina's concerns. In a way, she was almost pleased. It meant that there would be more time to spend with friends. More often than not, going home for the holidays meant going weeks without seeing anyone (aside from Indigo and Calyx) because she spent her holiday in Spain. So aside from the upheaval of her special Christmas plans with Calyx, this wasn't a terrible turn of events.

What was terrible, however? The fact that her wand was no longer working! How was she meant to practice for NEWTs!?!? Her entrance to university was contingent upon those scores! This! Was! Important!

Fortunately, Calyx Morgan-Bott had very different priorities (more urgent and worthwhile ones, in Ariana's opinion). His priorities? The plants. Being the very supportive girlfriend she was, Nina ran with him all the way to the greenhouses trailing just behind the two others who were already there. Hearing his muffled shouts, Nina found herself looking around for Becky too, making her over to-"EEEK!"

UM. That almost hit her head!

A storm had rolled in AND everything outside the gates of the school had apparently vanished. Things were definitely not right at Hogwarts, and it had taken everything in Carys not to acknowledge that she’d been questioning the sky for a while now. (Okay that and there had been several paintings started of said sky as well as sketches in her sketchbook). Either way, as a perfect she knew she ought to be trying to step up. No matter how much she actually wanted to be cuddling her cat and/or Eron and/or her sister who was probably doing the same thing she was doing. Or at least probably should be? She didn’t really know anymore. Freak storms and the absence of magic were not exactly addressed in the prefect handbook.

In any case, chaos. She’d heard the call from the sanctuary, but instead, silently wishing that she hadn’t lost the ability to cast an Impervius or two or several on herself, she had veered over in the direction of the greenhouses, roughly yanking her hair back and tying it in place with a hairtie she’d found in her pocket before pulling her hood over her head and fighting her way across the grounds after Calyx and Nina. Hopefully enough others had gone toward the sanctuary. She didn’t want the plants to get lost, or to risk disappointing Professor Rainwater. Or Professor Noble or the headmaster for not doing something.

Even if that something right now was ducking to avoid the projectile that had caused Nina’s screech. “Is there anything we can use to secure everything down?”, she called out, hoping she was heard by any of the others. Merlin, bludgers were infinitely easier to deal with than this. Although in an weird way, it worked as training too?

Speaking of muggle movies (Aboli apparently had been thinking about them a lot since the MEME class) ... she felt like Dorothy, running through the very rough wind toward the Greenhouses. She was out of breath, and her cheeks were pink from wind!burn as she got there, noting Eiji, Carys, Nina, and Orion already there. Orion looked forlorn, on the ground there, but the others...

She DUCKED, seeing the thing that had nearly HIT Nina, and stood up again. Aboli grabbed all of the gardening tools she could carry, and see, blinking through the wind. "I don't see anything...we'd need rope, right? How bad will the wind get, though?" she called out. "Should we try to evacuate things instead?!"

Eiji and Nina were the oldest, right? Did they have a plan??? Aboli looked at them expectantly. "Where is Professor Rainwater????"

As if on cue, Gus came skidding through the doors of the greenhouses. He had sprinted after the students, lost his steady breathing part way and had to slow down. But he was grateful that some of them were here at least. There were a few metal bins nearby that Gus had recently been using to store old gloves in, so he tossed those out and started handed them to the students. "ON YOUR HEADS LIKE A HELMET. I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE. If a plant pot hits you, you're in danger." Once those were handed out, Gus tried his wand and sighed loudly. Malachi had been right. Something was off, but there were children around and Gurgustius Rainwater was not one to panic and share his panic.

Instead he glanced around quickly assessing which of the plants were most important. Those with food, definitely.

He wanted to take them all right now. Roping them down was never going to do anything. They would waste too much time and lose more. "ABOLI, go through to greenhouse one. Put as MANY fruit plants into a wheelbarrow, cover it over with a tarp and take it to the castle!" Um.. what else... what else... wHAT ELSE.... Potions! They were going to need important potions ingredients. Who could-- "EIJI. Take another wheelbarrow!!!!!!!!! GRAB THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS PROFESSOR NOBLE WILL NEED AND HEALER RECARD MAY BE ABLE TO USE!!!!!!!" Obviously, Gus knew that there was no way any of them could fit too much into the wheelbarrows -- they were child friendly wheelbarrows and easy to push quickly, which is why he had said to use them. But they by no means fitted more than six plants in.

"Miss Rose, work with Eiji! Fill your own wheelbarrow of necessities for potions." Gus could work his curriculum around, but if they ran out of things needed in potions and for healing, they were going to be in a pickle. "Orion, Nina, Calyx, grab........ whatever you can. In your arms, in a wheelbarrow. Save... save what you can for me!" As for Gus? He then whipped into his office, grabbing a suitcase which he then stuffed the photos of his children into before his harvesting tools. If their wands were not working, they were going to need supplies of this kind.

Orion looked around as more people entered, or rather pretty much fell into the greenhouses. His brown eyes went wide as a pot nearly hit Nina and he was about to move towards her when Aboli and Carys entered. He was slowly rising to his feet when Professor Rainwater ran in.

Relief moved through him as he took the metal bin and stuck it on his head. He was taking zero chances with safety right now.

He nodded as the Professor spoke. “Yes Sir!”

And with that Orion was off, he grabbed a wheelbarrow and in first went his plant from Candi.. that was the reason he was here of course, he needed to save that. Once the Norandola was safely in the wheelbarrow, Orion was grabbing whatever he could get his hands on.. he barely even knew what was going in, all he knew was that he needed to help and get as much out as possible. He ducked as another pot went whirling through the air.

This storm was no joke..

He shrugged out of his jacket and put it over the plants in his wheelbarrow, Tying the arms to the handles in hopes it would help keep it down.

He adjusted his metal hat and took a breath, ready to head out towards the castle in the storm.

As others stumbled in in whatever state after him, there was the small relief of realizing that Rebecca was not in here. He would have heard her by now - her shrieks were almost as distinguishable as Nina's. Which was a fitting comparison for anyone who knew Eiji Rasting. He was hardly paying attention anyone else...but the shriek from his housemate caused his head to snap around and look at her almost frantically. "ARE YOU OKAY?" he found himself barking out immediately.

The calls of the Hufflepuff prefect went unheard, she had eyes anyway and surely could sort that answer out for herself, as were the words of his younger classmate who...he barely knew at this point during the term. He did not exactly socialize much and with NEWTs on the horizon his spare time was carefully dispersed.

The arrival of Professor Rainwater was easily acknowledged - looked like that love of the theater the man had was really working for himself when it came to projecting his voice - and Eiji found himself entirely too pleased with the set of instructions being given to him. It meant he hardly needed to change is trajectory, especially since some of the items on his already established mental list were those that he had been carefully tending to for his own personal advanced students with Professor Noble. Was that selfish? Probably. But they all heard the man, Noble and Recard approved flora to the wheelbarrow.

The metal bin hardly fit the seventh year's head as it slid back and forth over the top of his head, creating much more of a hindrance than of any real use. It also obscured his vision a bit and he was tempted to just toss it aside in favor of doing his job more efficiently. He could always blame it on the wind anyway, right?

Taking a moment to fill his wheelbarrow with a thick layer of dirt to help the uprooted plants stay put, Eiji took off down the aisle with the more delicate of plants - several were thankfully in pots and thus he simply scooped those up and wiggled them into place within the soil. He didn't trust this Miss Rose with them under these circumstances. "TAKE THAT ROW!" he instructed her, his finger thrust towards another aisle with essential plants for brewing. Swinging to a stop by the dittany, Eiji knelt down and began shoving his fingers into the soil to take as many out and replant them into the wheelbarrow as possible...when another thought struck him.

Would ... the mandrakes climb out of their pots themselves and try to run away....screaming? That could be....well...something for sure.

All Aboli did was nod firmly before doing exactly what Professor Rainwater had asked!

She RAN LIKE LIGHTENING to Greenhouse One and started grabbing ALLLLL of the fruit plants she could - and listen, Aboli had been carefully bringing her poor plant back to life. She spotted Cally and Calvin (her and Jerome's plants) and carefully scooped them up first, wishing upon WISHHHHHH that magic worked in this moment ;__; It would make life so much easier, wouldn't it?! She damaged a bit of Cally the Puffapod, but she knew with Jerome's green thumb, he would be just fine! She hoped.

She managed to get quiiiite a bit into the smaller wheelbarrow, using her hands to dig them out as carefully as she could with the speed she was going. She was sure some of their roots were getting messed up but she couldn't help it - they would be completely destroyed, surely, otherwise! The tension of the situation made it easier to do this. No overthinking was to be had - there was simply no time! Her adrenaline was pumping through her so much more than it had in any recent memory, and she hardly noticed how hard her heart was pounding against her rib-cage. It was almost as if she were autopilot - dig, grab, place, repeat - and as soon as she had filled the wheelbarrow up, she covered it with a tarp. There was one handy, it seemed, right there in the Greenhouse! She secured it as best she could with the tiny hooks it came with and raaaAAAAAAAN inside...where to...she had no clue, but she knew she HAD to get into the castle before the WIZARDOFOZWEATHER came for them!

The storm was really nothing to laugh about, not when she was finding herself more concerned by not being beaned by a flying pot than much else. Carys was inwardly grateful when Professor Rainwater had appeared and taken over, handing metal bins at them all to use as protection. However that was going to work since she wasn’t entirely sure how she’d manage to see with it on her head. It seemed much simpler to just use her quidditch skills and dodge the flying pots, honestly, but she wasn’t about to stop listening to directions.

As such, she’d darted after Eiji, grabbing her own wheelbarrow on the way and filling it with dirt and, at the last second, snagging a par of earmuffs just in case. Plus, they sort of helped with the makeshift helmet after she’d slipped them on once she turned down the row the seventh year had pointed down. She’d gotten the slightest inkling her didn’t trust her amongst the plants, but it was quickly shrugged off in the chaos that was deciding which plants were most in danger or easiest transported. Besides, she knew her own abilities and with the earmuffs she wouldn’t have heard anything anyhow. She busied herself with deciding which ones needed to be replanted in the dirt in her wheelbarrow and which could be transported in pots. Like said mandrakes that thankfully didn’t seem to have been set loose. Their pots had been tucked into the corners of the wheelbarrow, quiet murmurs to try and keep them calm and content.

Maybe the murmurs were more for herself, actually, given she’d had to dodge and weave a few times before the wheelbarrow was full. Keeping calm was proving to be a challenge. Between the mandrake pots and various potion and healing ingredients, she was certain she couldn’t safely fit anything else inside without damaging the delicate roots. Hopefully Professor Noble or Healer Recard would have something in the castle so the poor plants wouldn’t need to stay in the barrows.

The pot had given Nina quite a scare, but she easily recovered and nodded at Eiji. She was fine. Terrified? Immensely. But also okay. Had she ducked a second or two later, perhaps that would have been an entirely different story. As it was, however, she was fine. Everyone else looked okay too, which was a relief as their numbers began growing.

The seventh year was getting ready to answer her housemates questions (though she really had no idea how to answer them), but fortunately Professor Rainwater came running their way. She usually wasn’t a fan of his (he was far too theatrical), but he knew what he was doing and Nina could appreciate that. Without any hesitation, she took one of the metal bins and put it over her head. She likely looked ridiculous. It was far too big and probably riddled with dirt(!!) and in any other circumstance she would have refused. After the initial scare with the pot, however, she had zero complaints (she had many complaints but she wouldn’t be voicing them) (ahem).

……………… Nina would have much rather worked alongside Eiji in picking plants for Professor Recard. Why did she have the leftovers? What sort of job was that!? She almost complained when another gust of wind reminded her that there was a time and place. So, um, instead she grabbed a wheelbarrow and rolled it over towards Orion.

She had been out training when she saw the storm. Her first instinct was to hurry to the castle but then she noticed the greenhouse and took off that way. She still had her broom in hand and was in a full sprint when she reached the greenhouse and slammed inside. Looking around she saw plenty of people there and now out of breath she stopped and put her hands on her knees.

"Professor, what can I do?" She was there to help, she wanted to save all the plants if she could. She couldn't bare seeing any go to waste. They had worked to hard this term on these and the plants already here, no they couldn't leave them. She watched to see what the others were doing and once she had her breath went towards some of the plants to start gathering them.

Breathless but very very eager to help, Ronan arrived just a little behind the rest, when the rescue operation was already in full swing. Hiding his face from the wind as best as he could, the fifth year squinted at the happenings. Everyone had bins over their heads? If the situation wasn't so dire, Ronan would have laughed.

Grabbing one for himself, the fifth year noted the prefects collecting potions ingredients and felt a terrible knot form in his stomach. Potions.. would they work now? If wands didn't work, why should brewing? And if that was the case- he bit his lip and swallowed panic. He only had a week's worth of potions in advance, at any time. He usually got them delivered weekly but now that didn't seem like a possibility. Uhm. Perhaps he'd need to talk to Professor Noble again.

Deciding he really didn't want to be on that team, Ronan instead sprinted for the rest of the crowd who were just grabbing everything they could. Yes. He could do that too. Maybe grab some more fruits plants that other girl had missed, they'd definitely need all of those. With one last fearful glance at the sky - it kept getting worse - Ronan got to work.

Gus did not have much time to talk, nor did he have the energy to fight against the winds and try to talk. Instead, he lifted his suitcase up onto a workstation and continued to load in as many tools and things they would need to keep these plants as alive as possible for now. "Grab a wheelbarrow and fill it with the things we'll need as a school, Chloe!" He couldn't verbalise it now, but he was extremely grateful to the students that had come to help collect his plant children. Even if they'd come for their own work. They were still collecting things that were important to him and it meant a lot.

Was he probably going to cry about this later? Yeah. The wind had already destroyed some of his plant children, he could see that clearly looking around the greenhouses for evidence. It was sad. But what he was most sad about was the work in here that he hadn't been part of that had gone to waste. That had been the work of previous professors, previous students, people before his time... "THIRTY SECONDS AND I WANT EVERYONE OUT OF HERE AND GOING BACK TO THE CASTLE!!!!!!!!!!"

Safety was important.

This was unbelievable. Jina was just hoping to go home for the holidays. Not a fancy ski vacation to Switzerland, but just spending time with her parents - she wasn't asking for much. And this happens. Her mind was completely blank as she sprinted, blindly following some of the other students. When she entered the greenhouses, she gasped at what she saw. The poor plants, oh no! They were all going to DIE.

She quickly took a metal bin and put it over her head - safety first, though they all looked ridiculous with these helmets on. She entered greenhouse three and immediately hugged her favourite gravity resistant tree, before she realised that it would be very difficult to take it up to the castle. So she released it sadly and grabbed a wheelbarrow like what the other kids were doing. She filled it with smaller plants, being particularly careful with the sensitive Mimbulus Mimbletonia. When the wheelbarrow was full, she covered it with a tarp and pushed it out of the greenhouse after double-checking that her own helmet was safe on her head. Back to the castle! She hoped she could return for the larger plants later on, but she doubted that she would be allowed to.

Carwyn wasn't as fit as he used to be, especially when he wasn't y'know - smaller and on four little legs - but he was here to help. He tried shouting his arrival and help but between his lack of breath and the wind whipping around them it wasn't likely to work - and he gave up after even attempting it. Seeing the children (and young adults) with the silver bins on their heads, he grabbed for another spare one that was rolling along the floor and put it on his head. He was too old to care about looking silly.

Seeing the others following (presumably) Gus' orders with wheelbarrows, the tall man looked around for anything else he could use and spotted a spare wheelbarrow that had.. .something already in it Oh, the wind had cracked a plantpot - shame he couldn't figure out what it was, so he moved it to the side before taking shovels, gloves, any tool that had been split onto the floor really and putting it in the wheelbarrow.

He looked around aiming to put more into the wheelbarrow, piling and piling more into it - but when he went to lift the handlebars, he found that he could only just lift it onto its wheel - and that the wind was making that difficult. Oh yeah. No magic. Carwyn huffed and started to follow the others, tying some tarpe over the top with strong string or wire or anything that he could find.

Just as he was finishing up - he saw and heard Gus telling everyone to leave. Good idea. He twisted and turned the heavy barrow and moved along in the middle of the students so that he could make sure those ahead of him were safe and be close enough to those behind if they needed any help.