Lesson 1 - Devil's Snare (5th - 7th years)

Thana had come to Hogwarts, ready for her first full year. Sixth year, it was exciting. She had prepared herself for sixth year. She was excited, and determined. She walked to her first Herbology class for the year. Hoping that Professor Harrington would be teaching, she had heard many good things about her.

Walking to the doorway, Thana read the note. "Light your wand and watch your step" she did as she was told, casting Lumos and watching her step. She gently opened the door and stepped in, she was the first one there. "Um Hi Professor Harrington" Thana said, walking in and taking a spot up against the wall. She was ready for the lesson to begin, and stood waiting for the others to arrive.

Making her way to the greenhouse where her first class of the day was being held, Brooke smiled. She was excited to be back at Hogwarts. What's more, her wish had come true over the holidays in the form of a simple letter from the school stating that she had been chosen to be a prefect. That, however, came with the knowledge that she had to do well in her studies, for she had to set an example to the younger students.

She reached the greenhouse the lesson was to be in, noticing the note on her door. Removing her wand, she muttered, "Lumos," and waited as a white glowing circle of light appeared at the tip. Opening the door, she let her wand enter first, in case there was anything unpleasant waiting, after which she stepped inside. The first thing she saw was a fairly large plant in the middle of the room. "Is that a devil's snare?" she asked no one in particular.

As her eyes adjusted to having such a limited light source, she saw her professor standing near the door. "Good morning, Professor Azalea," she greeted. "How have you been?"

Moving towards the wall where another small light shone, she joined the student, pleasantly surprised to find that it someone she knew. "Nice to see you again, Thana," she said.

Thana looked to see who had come in, when she saw it was Brooke she smiled. "Nice to see you too!" she told her friend. "Yes I believe it is Devil's Snare" she answered for her friend. "Well looks like we are the first two here, how have you been? Are you excited to be a Prefect?" she asked her friend.

The Devil's Snare looked rather curious, Thana like the curious. It was still dark in here, and there was limited light, but Thana liked it like that. She liked the dark, and loved plants. She made small talk with Brooke a bit more, while she was waiting for the others to arrive. "Oh I won the bet to! I am doing flying as a class, so (NPC) lost the bet, which he isn't happy about either" she informed her friend, still waiting for others to arrive.

Lucy came back to Hogwarts with her usual cheery attitude. She was excited to be a Prefect. To her, becoming a prefect was just the cherry on top of one of the sweetest cakes life could offer. She was even more stoked at the fact that her boyfriend, Shawn, was also a prefect. This year, she felt, would be awesome.

She noted the paper on the door, and took out her wand, casting 'Lumos' as she stepped in. The usually sunny greenhouse was pitch black "Hey Aza," Lucy said as she saw the witch standing by the door. She walked through the classroom slowly, and curiously made her way over to the plant that was rustling under a rain tarp "Wicked," Lucy murmured to herself quietly.

Herbology was always a good subject. And the summer had been a lovely break for Cassidy to get away from Hogwarts for a bit. She certainly needed it. And now, she was rested, refreshed, and it seemed she had her emotions back in control. While she was still sad about her friend, Belinda, and she would always be said, she felt as though she had moved on.

She took notice of the note on the door, and followed its instructions before stepping into the pitch dark room. "Hello Aza," she murmured "What's all this for? The darkness?" she asked.

A new year and she felt a sigh in relief at the change. While the school was still the same, Tess felt proud of herself. Head Girl was something that she wasn't expecting, not at all, yet she never felt prouder that her achievements were noticed. She had smiled shyly at her brother as he had handed her the badge, not wanting to make a scene. At least she knew she deserved it, and in no way anyone could say that her brother had given it to her.

As she walked to the first class of the day, she took a deep breath and prepared herself for another lesson. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy it, it was that some things hadn't changed for the better. But at least now, she believed in herself, and knew that being alone wasn't necessarily so bad, she told herself. Pushing the door open she realized that there was a shift, complete darkness. Reading the note, she shook her head knowing that there was always something new when it came to learning Herbology.

"Lumos" she murmured and walked into the classroom seeing other students already there. She decided to wait patiently, that is until there was a shift somewhere towards where the light couldn't touch and stared warily a the darkness.

It almost felt weird being back at school, he'd almost been tempted to just quit going all together--afterall having to repeat a year of schooling was not something that he was looking forward too. However Jeremy--no--his father had said that no son of his was going to drop out of school. So here he was back at Hogwarts in his shiny new wardrobe with his new pristine haircut. It almost felt alien to the teen that he'd spent most of his summer trying to learn to blend in with all the pure blooded snobs that his father hung around with. Being told as he left for school this year that he was expected to maintain that standard. Honestly he'd almost rather be broke again...which was an even more alien thought to him.

Shaking his head he approached the greenhouses, hoping that once again Azalea would be teaching. He really had a fondness for the older woman and thought she might be pleased that he'd reappeared from his little vanishing act. He smiled a little seeing the note on the door and pulled out his wand whispering a quiet "Lumos" Before striding into the classroom.

It was easy to find the congregation of students and Jacoby made his way over to where everyone was at. He gave a soft sigh and found something safe to lean against. He was completely devoid of the desire to interact socially, so instead he chose to observe. Maybe actually learn something for once.

October was in a way glad to be back for her final year, that would just mean that when this year was finished, she was done, she'd be gone from the school and would be free from Hogwarts. The Hufflepuff loved Hogwarts in her own way and would be quite sad when she left, but then she'd be free to make something of herself and not be the bipolar Hufflepuff that barely had any friends because she loved staying to herself sometimes. October got to the door to Herbology and saw the note. October took out her wand and lit it up and walked into the classroom. She knew exactly what was going to be taught.

Mavis walked towards the Herbology door and saw there was a note on the door. Mavis had to hold back a groan when she saw that she'd need her wand. The brunette wasn't stupid, she knew that Devil's snare was going to be taught that day. Mavis lit her wand and walked into the class and saw that she was in fact right.

Shawn made his way across the grounds and soon found himself at the greenhouse. There was a note on the door instructing him to light his wand and watch his step, which was perplexing. Opening the door and heading in, he found it unusually dark inside, which was curious. "Lumos." he said quietly, his wand adding its glow to that of the other students already there. Seeing Professor Harrington, he gave her a small wave before walking in further to see what this Herbology lesson had in store.

Waking up and knowing that he was off to herbology was, in Joe's opinion, the best feeling. With his other lessons he just found himself happy to be there, but herbology was special for reasons Joe couldn't even begin to go into. It was as he made his way across the grounds and the greenhouses came into view that he found himself chuckling softly. Azalea's lessons always were interesting.

He paused for a moment at the door, pulling his wand out of his pocket and muttering lumos under his breath to cast the spell. He pushed it open and stepped inside, the room blacked out just as he had expected. "Good morning, Professor," the Hufflepuff said in his usual manner of polite, shy liking towards her. "I hope your summer treated you as well as you so deserve."

The boy made sure to give her a short smile before slowly making his way towards the other disembodied balls of light, illuminating equally as disembodied faces. It was a little creepy, the way that everyone's faces cast shadows in the dark. You'll be scared of your own shadow next, Astrid he mentally chuckled, ensuring that he watched his step as he had been told to do.

He'd been looking forward to be around the familiar aromas and sounds of Azalea's greenhouse all summer, and now he was finally back... It felt like home.

Observing the different people walk in, Brooke took in their lights, looking for someone friendly. A few of them who came in walked towards the plant, while others kept their heads down, obviously not looking for human interaction. She sighed.. Meeting new people was something she enjoyed.

When another light headed towards her, she watched it hopefully. It came near enough for her to make out its owner's face, and she recognized him from previous classes. He seemed shy, but there was just something that made her want to get to know him. Why hadn't she approached him before? Oh well, she thought. It was never too late to make a new friend.

"Hey," she said with a smile. "We have a few classes together, don't we?"

"Well for startersthe devil's snare is said to be as dangerous as you are beatiful professor," Jacoby said with a grin on his face after Josh had explained the plants aversion to light. Even though he knew his face was concealed in darkness he still spoke with his trademark bright and charming smile, knowing that the tone carried in his voice.

"And if that doesn't count as my one thing, the best way to combat the plant if you can't reach your wand and have no means of making light or fire is to not fight. It reacts to the struggling and tightens it's grip. If you completely relax your body it registers you as dead and passes you into it's underbrush." Yeah his dad had actually made him read his text books over the some."

Joe smiled at the girl he recognised from some of his other classes, nodding slightly. "Yeah; it's nice to finally meet you..." His tone was soft, as always, but for once it was nice to be noticed. "I'm Joe." His smile stayed, cheeks starting to flush a little. People never actually acknowledged him, let alone talked to him, and to have someone actually be nice was something that, after Morgan, he would never have anticipated.

As Azalea started the lesson, Joe turned his attentions mostly to her. The Hufflepuff found himself thinking for a second as to what he knew, the two main answers taken by his classmates. "The plant is suspected to be related to the Flitterbloom," he started, keeping his head low. "Due to both of them sharing a superficial appearance of long tentacle-like appendages..."

Lucy listened as others spoke about Devil's Snare. They basically said all she knew about the plant. That it thrived in dark and damp environments, hates the light, and strangles people. Definitely one of her favourite plants. She liked those sorts of plants that were deadly.

"Yeah; it's nice to finally meet you... I'm Joe."

Returning his smile, she stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Joe. I'm Brooke! What year are you in? I'm a fifth year."

"Can everyone try and say one thing, and one thing only, about this amazing specimen?"

As most of the answers were given, Brooke didn't really have much else to say except for a simple fact. "They prefer damp places, Professor, because fire is the only thing that can get rid of one. Light only temporarily deters them." At least, she added silently in her mind, that's what I remember from my textbook. She didn't think that was really a proper fact, but since no one had said that, she decided just to add it.

"Its been around for hundreds of years and over that time, wizards and witches have made it work for them. Can anyone guess how? Those who haven't spoken up yet, perhaps?"

"Well, there's probably heaps of uses," Cassidy mused a little "Though, I reckon used to guard things. Especially if someone put it on top of a trap door or something. Then it'd be pretty impossible to get through to it. Or you could position yourself in battle, and push someone into it, and just cast light spells at it to keep it moving to strangle the person," Cassidy listed off some of the possibilities.