Nathan Xavier
January 22, 2021 8:41 PM
Intermediates: Hellebore by Nathan Xavier
Nathan waited inside Greenhouse One as the Intermediates arrived for their lesson. Spring was one of his favorite times of year. It was that wonderful point in the calendar when it was starting to become comfortable to spend time outside again, when larger quantities of fresh air weren't something that only came with frostbite and sniffles. He could get Dora out running in the Gardens again, and not worry about bundling her up so thickly that she could barely walk, and Otto had gotten to touch dirt for the first time last week (he had promptly tried to eat it, so that hadn't lasted long at all before he was back in the stroller, but it was good that he was getting out at all again now). And yet, even with the rising temperatures outside, the Greenhouses were still tolerable to spend almost his entire day within on the days when he taught lessons.On this particular lesson day, however, it was pouring outside, and he gave sympathetic - nearly apologetic - looks to the students as they came into the shelter of his greenhouse. The rain itself wasn't his fault (personally, he blamed the founding Headmaster, Clurican), but it was his class that was making them leave the dry haven of the school building right now.
Once they arrived, he gave each of them an opportunity to cast a drying charm on themselves before handing them their graded homework parchments with an appropriate comment on the quality of the essay.
He returned the middle of the greenhouse when it seemed like everyone who was going to arrive had, and began his lesson. "Today we continue our unit on mundane plants with magical uses. Today's is Hellebore. Hellebore itself is a flowering evergreen plant that blooms in the winter, and is resistant to frost. It's quite pretty, but most species are poisonous to people unless. It is, however, used in several potions as boiling it in water does eliminate its toxicity, and even medieval muggles used it to treat paralysis, gout, and insanity, though not always safely or effectively. Can anyone tell me a potion that uses hellebore in it?"
He called on several students, confirming the correct answers like Draught of Pease and some other medicinal potions for anxiety and stress.
"Very good. What the potions use is Hellebore syrup, and it works best as a calming agent when combined with moonstone. Today, we're going to work at extracting some Hellebore syrup. Along that wall," he indicated the north one, "you can each collect a pot with a Hellebore plant. What you need to do is cut along the stem, and drain the liquid that comes out into a glass vial. You can get those on my desk. Once everyone has managed to extract some of the syrup, we'll talk about the best practices for planting and caring for these plants prior to harvesting their syrup. Are there any questions? You may begin."
Subthreads: Bleugh (tag Josie) by Theo Spurn
How useful by Esme Brockert
1
Nathan Xavier
Intermediates: Hellebore
28
1
5
Theo Spurn
February 05, 2021 3:28 AM
Bleugh (tag Josie) by Theo Spurn
Herbology was fairly hit or miss for Theo. It was very hands on, and often those hands were supposed to be going on gross things, and he just wasn’t down for that. On the plus side, there were usually gloves between him and whatever he was touching, and he understood that his herbology gloves were designed to be sacrificed to the greater good of repotting things. The repetition of it helped. Yes, the plants differed, but there were often similarities between what they were doing with them. Repotting, pruning, all whilst trying not to die, with increasing emphasis and complexity on that last part as they advanced.Sometimes though, herbology turned against him. Sometimes it was about getting things out of plants, and those things were almost invariably ooky. Syrup sounded nice to eat. He would not mind taking syrup if he had a cough or a cold and having it make his throat feel better but it did not sound like something he wanted all over his hands.
He took a plant, as directed, bringing it over to Josie’s table and setting it down between them. His friends had a pretty good working knowledge of what was likely to be a Nope for Theo, although it was a complex system and occasionally probably threw them curve balls. He eyed the plant suspiciously, trying to work out whether it was going to be more horrible to do the slicing or the collecting. On the whole, it wasn’t too bad, it didn’t seem like there would have to be direct touching. Magic was definitely helping with that, as he could easily slice the plant without even touching it. In theory, holding the vial underneath should be safe but inaccuracy could lead to stickiness, so Josie could do that part.
“You can do the sticky bit,” he told her, not meaning to be particularly blunt but just thinking it was a fact. “Please,” he added, remembering he should be polite. He aimed carefully, using a light severing charm to cut open along the plant’s vein, watching as the liquid bubbled out and dripped down. It wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever seen, but life had been a lot lately, and the last thing he needed was for herbology to be sticky instead of soft and soily.
“I would like to be a blanket ball, screaming silently at the unfairness of life,” he stated sadly, watching the syrup drip.
13
Theo Spurn
Bleugh (tag Josie)
1476
0
5
Esme Brockert
February 22, 2021 6:22 PM
How useful by Esme Brockert
As far as classes went, Esme mostly liked Herbology. She didn't love digging around in the dirt but she did like flowers and Professor Xavier was really nice. Plus, he didn't promote any sort of ideology or agenda beyond teaching them about plants. Nor did they have to do anything athletic in this class like they did in Defense. Also, she did like learning about how plants could harm or help magical folk.In particular, Esme hoped to learn about alternatives for people with allergies, if they were allergic to particular plants, as Miles seemed to be allergic to quite a few that were in more commonly used potions. Although that might be a topic for Professor Brooding-Hawthorne instead. She'd really rather ask Professor Xavier though as the potions professor might very well try to recommend some Muggle remedy, which nobody in Esme's family completely trusted. While the Crotalus was sure that they were somewhat affective, because Muggles had to do something when they had some health concern, their medications were supposedly full of unnatural chemicals, which did not sound good and couldn't possibly work as well as potions. Esme was willing to give some Muggleborns and half-bloods a chance, but she couldn't say the same for their concoctions. Not when health was concerned. She knew her aunt and uncle would feel much the same.
However, while she didn't mind Herbology, she couldn't say the same for going out in the rain. She'd never loved the feeling of water dropping onto her head and in her face. Not to mention it would ruin her hair! Esme tried her best to look impeccable at all times, taking great pride in her appearance, as she did most things. She arrived in the greenhouse, removed the hood of her cloak and did a quick drying charm, then touched up her hair and make-up.
Once everyone had arrived, Professor Xavier began the lesson. Esme was glad they were talking about something so useful. She also appreciated that even though he mentioned Muggles used it, he admitted that they hadn't always done so effectively or safely. Because Muggles couldn't possibly use things the same way magical people could as they couldn't use magic. Plus, Hellebore syrup, which was used for things such as the Draught of Peace. Esme firmly believed in the usefulness and necessity of things that were calming, given the fact that Allegra tended to be anxious about many things, most of them because of Topaz. Her cousin had left her sister a nervous wreck.
The third year took a plant and a glass vial and began to work. "Hello." She greeted a nearby classmate. Busy work tended to go faster when having a conversation, not that Esme was in a hurry to get back out in the rain.
11
Esme Brockert
How useful
1479
0
5