Herbology & DADA Lesson 2 - All Years

Eris was taking in the motley crew that was created in this classroom. She was already getting senioritis. She was tired of school and couldn't wait to leave. The people were entertaining, they were foolish, but she wanted to live in the real world. It was a relief that they were having two classes count as one because it saved her time.

Graduation meant digging her claws into the man she wanted to keep. She kept her toys in good condition, that is if they didn't bore her. She wondered where her toy was and if he was going to class. He still needed to graduate. Rolling her eyes as more people came, she tapped her foot patiently wondering when this hell would start.

Rhian's curiosity was piqued when she'd heard class would be held in the forest. It wasn't unheard of, as she thought back to the scavenger hunt they'd done a couple years ago in Herbology, but it was unexpected. She had to wonder, though, why it was always planned when it was so cold out, this time being in the dead of winter. Even though she'd been in the country for a few years now, Rhian still found that she didn't like the lasting, bitter cold that came to stay for months on end here.

Pulling her cloak tighter around herself, she walked through the freshly fallen snow, tracking the boot prints of her classmates. Her thoughts moved to Conner. He'd been wonderful, attentive and a perfect gentleman, in the last few months. But...there was something off about it. No matter what she did, though, what questions she asked, he never seemed to open up. Having been through that herself, Rhian didn't really think pushing him into talking would do any good. So she would wait.

Her resolve gaining another boost, the Gryffindor found the group of students gathered near the entrance of the forest. She smiled around at the others, not faltering when she came to Tess, as she walked up next to Conner. Her gloved hand slipped easily into his as she looked up at him, whispering a small, "Hey."

Ben's demeanor was just as frosty as the weather around him as he walked down to class. Hands stuffed into his pockets, the Slytherin had no need of extra heating. While his own internal heat was enough to keep him comfortable, that small bit of him was slowly simmering, waiting to die out. While the curiosity he reserved for his potions should cause him to hold on to it more, he couldn't spare the brain power to worry about it. Like many things, it had fallen into the back of his mind.

Coming up behind the rest of the students, his brow furrowed minutely. The last time Professor Harrington had brought them outdoors, it had resulted in a trivial scavenger hunt. A situation he did not wish to repeat, as his eyes inevitably scanned over his fellow classmates, and housemates. He may not share a commonroom with them anymore, but he was lumped with the Slytherins more often than not, and he'd much rather it be in the later category today.

His eyes fell on the other professor. He'd seen the man at the professors's tables, but he'd never bothered to take flying. Even after the man took over Defense, Ben wasn't his kind of student. No matter, he thought, the class will be what it always is.

In all honesty, he didn't mind the class so much, if only for the information he could use for his potions. Beyond that, he couldn't care less. Why the professor found it necessary to make the class 'fun', he'd never know. The acquiring of knowledge was fun. No need to wrap it up in games and such.

He settled into welcome silence, hoping he would be left alone this time.

Hunching down to the snow, James grabbed a handful. It was soft at the touch, but crunched nicely in his hands, the loose bits crushing in on themselves to create a solid chunk of ice. With the round, hard form finished, the Hufflepuff pulled out his wand and levitated it easily. It swirled around his body lightly. Waiting. Patiently.

There we go, he thought, spying an owl coming out of the woods, a small, delicately wrapped package in its talons. With a gentle flick of his write, James watched as the ice flew directly at the bird, knocking it out cold. The dark brown animal fell into the snow not far from him, and he sauntered over to it. Picking up the package, he cast a quick "Stupify," leaving it to freeze.

He unwrapped it, finding a delicate necklace inside. Some late Christmas present, no doubt. Oh, how someone was going to be heartbroken over this. A smirk played at his mouth while he slipped it into his pocket. Time to be the good little student.

The group of students was the usual turnout, though he was rather annoyed to see another professor there. One, he could watch easily. Two...he didn't like it. Still, he couldn't help the usual sense of triumph he felt in seeing the small Slytherin near the back. Sliding through the others to come up beside her, he gave her a sidelong smile. "Holmes."

Thana listened as everyone was told that they would be spending the night in the forest. Thana loved that idea, she loved the forest. Thana didn't however like the sound of teams, then she heard who she was with.

Shiva, Violet, Thana and Haylen." Professor Aza told them, Thana just calculated the facts. Each one in her team she knew had strengths she was sure of it. The only one in her group that she didn't know was Halyen, but she didn't mind. Thana looked over at Skye and gave him a little smile, hoping he would be alright for the night.

Brooke watched as more people arrived, relaxing slightly with each person. Her attention came back to the front of the crowd as their Herbology professor began to speak. How many people were there? She tried to count but got distracted when Azalea began listing out the teams. "Team one will be Josh..."

She tensed again and mentally began to beg. "Please, Merlin, not Tristan. Please, Merlin, not Tristan. Please-" She was interrupted as she caught the next few words: "...Tristan and Lucy." Fear came rushing back and panic was starting to rise. She felt her stomach churn and, desperately, she spun to where she had last seen him.

Immediately moving towards her brother, she reached out and took his arm to pull him towards her. "Listen..." she began, her tone hard from fear. "I... If... Look, if things get weird out there, get out, okay? I don't care if you fail the lesson just... Please, take care." Even as she said it, her ears picked up the members of her own team, but she didn't think about it, not when protecting Tristan was the only thing she was focused on.

Watching him closely, she saw the confusion and uncertainty in his eyes, but at that moment, she didn't register it. All she needed to know was that he was going to take care of himself. She couldn't let him be alone with Josh, but she didn't have any other choice. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he nodded at her. "Promise me you'll stay safe?" she repeated, her tone threatening to break, but she would not let him see her afraid. She would not let him find out why she was so terrified of the whole idea, and so, once he gave his word, she turned away, blinking back tears. "Go on then, go to your team," she said softly, and she heard his footsteps as he left, breaking her as it got softer and softer.

A few more moments passed before she dared to look, and upon seeing Tristan standing a few feet away from the very person she swore she would never let near her brother, she felt physically sick. The trees and people around her began to spin, and she knew she was about to pass out. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she focused on the task at hand, trying to convince herself that Tristan could take care of himself.

Only then did her mind finish processing her Professor's earlier words, and she realized who she was going to be with: "Team two consists of Tess, Benjamin, Joe and Brooke."

"Joe..." she whispered, the name sounding almost foreign to her. Although she had not stopped thinking about him, she had not been able to say his name aloud, guilt and shame overtaking her every time she tried. The other two people she didn't know too well, but they seemed like nice people.

Jake had then continued with further instructions, and subconsciously, she found herself reaching into her backpack for a notebook and quill. Without really thinking of what she was doing, she had written down the challenges they were supposed to face before slipping the stuff back into the bag. No, she thought to herself, she didn't have any questions, but she heard Tristan speak up.

"What if we run into trouble? How can we ask for help?" he asked, and she knew instantly it was for her benefit. If only he knew that she wasn't afraid of him being in the forest, but rather, the company with whom he was with. While she waited for the answer, she decided it best to start heading towards her team.

Stepping towards Joe - and away from Tristan and Josh - was excruciating, and was worse than any physical pain she had ever felt. The next step was still as hard, and it seemed to get more and more difficult as the figure of the boy she loved got closer to her. After what seemed like forever, he was right in front of her, and she tried to get her heart to slow down. Surely he could see it beating beneath her clothes? The speed and ferocity at which is was pumping was incredible. "H-h-hey," she said, faltering suddenly, and she just stood there, staring at him, mouth open, but no other words would come.

Well this was interesting. Louise grinned as she learned more about the lesson for today. Camping really, she'd seen so many wildlife programs and survival series she thought it wouldn't be too much of a problem. They had their wands too so that would just make it much easier.
She looked over at Josh trying to work out how he felt about it, she wasn't sure if he'd ever been camping before and he had people to do things for him. Either way she'd help, since they were in the same team.

As class began, Tristan turned to the front, excited for class to begin. He wasn't worried when Professor Harrington explained what they were going to do, instead getting more intrigued at the prospect of spending the night in an area forbidden to students. When she had then said that he was to be in the same team as his Quidditch captain, he frowned slightly, not liking nor trusting the older Slytherin.

He wasn't too worried, however, because Josh had done nothing to prove Tristan's instincts right, although he knew that they were never wrong. Suddenly, he felt someone grab his arm, turning to see his sister. For the first time since he met her, she looked unsure of herself, terrified. It was a look her recognized as pure fear, having seen it on so many people when he lived on the streets.

Listening to her, he suddenly realized why she was so scared, and he almost laughed; as much as he loved how much she cared about him, he knew he could take care of himself. After all, he had done it for 7 years, and switching lifestyle did not mean he left his skills behind. Keeping a straight face and nodding, he decided the best thing to do was to pretend he took her worrying seriously.

"Go on then, go to your team,"

Confused by her, he turned and left, moving towards Josh. Why was Brooke so worried? It seemed as though there was something else going on, but as curious and as puzzled as he was, he would wait for a better time to figure it out. Listening to his DADA Professor give out the 6 tasks, he committed them to memory. He did not need to write anything down, for on the streets, one didn't have time to record anything important on paper, and so he had learnt to memorise chunks of information quickly. Upon hearing him add, "Are there any questions before we set out?", Tristan realized this would be a good chance to try and make Brooke feel more at ease with the idea of him going into the forest, and asked a simple question. Not that I'd need help, he thought to himself.

Stopping near Josh, he gave the boy a nod. "What is our plan?" he asked immediately, knowing enough to not make small talk with the older boy.

Natasha smirked a little, hearing that they'd be camping the night. She'd always wanted to go camping, and now she was getting the chance to do so in the Forbidden Forest. She listened to the instructions given from Jake, taking it all in, before she headed over to the people in her group, eager to get started.

When Violet heard what they'd be doing, this 'camping' business, she rolled her eyes. Especially upon hearing it was teamwork. She didn't work well in teams, she preferred to do things by herself. Reluctantly, she found the people she was with and stood with them, silently, with her hands crossed over her chest as she waited for Jake to finish speaking.

"All of you must remember to work as a team. The idea of this exercise is survival. Are there any questions before we set out?"

"I have one," Violet said "When you say 'survival', please tell me you mean survival of the fittest and this is actually a test to see who within the teams is the fittest. And then have one huge survival of the fittest contest with the winners of the teams to get an Ultimate Champion," it wasn't really a question, but she felt like she'd got her point across.

Slur wanted to cry, he was frozen already, his leg was starting to stiffen, and he knew he would be useless. He could hardly to anything, let alone move fast or far. This was not going to end well, stuck in a forest with Josh? What if he tried to attack again?
Skye looked around for his team, but didn't really recognize anyone.
He saw Aza and went to ask her what he should do.
"Professor? Uhm, I don't know if this is going to be fair to my team..." He trailed off, he hated being weak, but couldn't help tearing up a tiny bit, "I can't really help them,"

Louise greeted her other team mates as they came over, recognizing Tristan from her little sweet stall. She gave Josh a withering look then decided she'd play nice cop. "We just need to do as the professor says. I think finding a big enough tree to camp in would be best so we're off the ground. we've nothing to fear from squirrels and birds." She half teased, smiling at the boy then looked up at Josh for a brief moment. "As for food gathering. Since we're only in there for one night the most we'll need should be a few berries. A fire is really easy, and we can all collect dry wood for it. Unless any of you know the bluebell flames charm?" She offered.

Skye listened to Jake, feeling a bit more up for it than before. But not much. He knew it was safe, but Skye wasn't sure how much he could do. He was so cold. Honestly, Skye kinda wanted to talk to Aza. She always gives the best pep talks...


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As someone moved to stand beside her, Tess looked to her left to see James there. She smiled despite herself, knowing how little she had bothered to contact him. He was a nice guy, and as he greeted her her lip twitched.

"Dolan" she greeted in return.

As the class truly began, she bit back a groan knowing that it was a team based activity. She was never a fan of it, but so long as she was competent people she would be fine. She placed a hand on her hip ready to hear who her team would be.

"Team two consists of Tess, Benjamin, Joe and Brooke."

She bit back a sigh knowing that it was just her luck that she would be working with Ben. Signaling the group, she knew it was about to become a long night.

Skye felt bad that Jake was upset, he really did. It's just that after the day Skye had endured, all the boy wanted was the comforting pep talk only Aza could give. She was the only person-besides his moms- that could pull him out of a funk that quickly. Normally Jake would be able to get the excitable, energetic child back in a happy mood, but today, Skye wanted coddled, and when he didn't have his moms readily available, Aza was the next best thing.

"Hey, whether you're any help or no, you're still my favoritest person here," she managed with a grin,

Skye smiled at her, and giggled a little.
"Don't be silly! Jake's your favoritest person!" Skye grinned, then winced, his leg was definitely tightening up.

"This is more murlap's essence, if your leg starts hurting, pour some out and rub it over the hurting area and the pain will be gone so fast you won't even know its there," she instructed.

Skye took it gently,
"Thank you so much!" He put a little on his leg, and just like he said, the pain was gone. "I might be able to help with stuff now!" He said brightly. Ease of movement can definitely help someone's disposition.

"And when you get back, there's an entire one foot block of chocolate waiting for you."

Skye's dimpled grin was back full force, "Even if I could fit all that in me, you still have to eat some with me!"

Thana watched as most people started to get into their groups, she looked around for Skye. Thana felt protective of him in a way that not many people would understand, they both shared similar secrets. She watched as he talked to the professors, feeling a pang of guilt about his leg. After he spoke to Professor Aza, Thana walked over to him, making sure they were alone. "Hey Hun, make sure you look after yourself. And remember if you need anything, just call" she said, tapping his ring and sharing a secret smile with him. "Just make sure you look after yourself okay" she asked him, hoping he would be okay. "If anything happens..just..just look after yourself" Thana told her friend, she was worried about Skye, but she didn't show it. What he needed was confidence, not to get anymore scared. "Oh and if you do beat MY team, I want a bit of that chocolate!" she told him, smiling.