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Post by understanding on Aug 2, 2007 6:25:00 GMT
Oscar had slipped in to the greenhouse, shouldering awkwardly his new knapsack and its suspiciously large number of swallowed books, struggling to find his bearings in the sudden cold. He watched, with the sudden intensity of the very self concious, his breath turning to frost in the chill. Late for his very first class, Oscar shuffled dumbly to the nearest table and examined the frozen pot of earth waiting for him there. Noticing the other's plants already beginning to bloom, Oscar looked expectantly toward the professor. Already he had forgotten the cold.
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Post by Prof. Eithne l'Keitha on Aug 2, 2007 13:54:33 GMT
"Oh good, now we have enough students for each pot," Professor l'Keitha said, depositing the cluster of buds into a an iron chest. She looked up and caught Oscar's stricken expression, which was strikingly similar to that of someone who has found a Glumbumble in their pumpkin juice.
"Mr... Strauss is it? Take a moment to settle down and put on some dragonhide gloves. There are spares by the pot, but as I've said before, they may be too worn out to withstand any shards from the Gelidus Verre." The professor palmed another cluster of buds and demonstrated how to harvest them. "Got that? Good good, 20 points to the first student who collects enough to fill the iron chest by their tables."
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Post by Elijah Ellerby on Aug 2, 2007 14:15:30 GMT
Elijah reared back a little as one of the silvery wires uncoiled itself a enthusiastically, almost catching him on the lip. They were eerily beautiful, but in Elijah's eyes that made them all the more frightening in a sense. They were chilly little bubs of sweetness.
At that moment Oscar, a Ravenclaw he talked to regularly in the Great Hall, walked in, he too contorting his expression to give his verdict on the unnaturally cold greenhouse. 'Library later, yeah?' Elijah smiled at him, watching as he stood by the pot next to Elijah's. At the professor's suggestion of Oscar getting some gloves, Elijah took the liberty of plucking a pair off one of the hooks for him, slightly put out to see that Oscar's matched. 'If one of the buds did break, professor, how far would you advise we stand back?' He asked apprehensively, wondering how he could handle such delicate things with such bulky gloves.
Gingerly taking a cluster between his forefinger and thumb, Elijah pointed his wand close to the stem, muttering the severing charm. 'Ow!' He hissed, having missed and cut through his glove and finger. He put it in his mouth quickly, sucking some of the blood away. The first couple of bud had successfully come off unscathed, but that wasn't enough to improve his new bad mood. His finger was throbbing, and tiny blisters of ice had erupted around the cut. 'What's the cure for a Gelidus Verre wounds then, Professor l'Keitha? Is there one?' He asked a little testily.
Carefully dropping the first twelve buds into his chest, Elijah got to work on the others. He cast a quick look at Oscar, smiling sheepishly.
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Post by Maria Turolia on Aug 2, 2007 14:59:20 GMT
Maria had listened closely to teacher, and placed her hand beneath a cluster of buds. She pointed her wand at them and said, "Sectum." However, she had not made the spell strong enough so nothing happened. She furrowed her brow, slightly nervous that she might shatter the buds. With a slight hesitation she said again, "Sectum!" This time she had put enough force behind it and the buds fell into her hand, where she held them gently as she breathed a sigh of relief.
She listened as the professor said that they were to try and fill up the iron chests that were next to them. She gently placed the cluster into the chest. Maria bit her lower lip nervously a bit. She had barely managed to get one off. She was afraid that if she tried again she would almost definitely shatter one. She hesitated to harvest anymore. Instead she watched others as they did it still biting her lower lip.
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Post by Prof. Eithne l'Keitha on Aug 2, 2007 16:05:41 GMT
"Stand back?" Professor l'Keitha's eyebrows shot up. "Hmm... well no amount of distance would really help, considering the shards would just ricochet off the glass walls and embed into everything in the room..." Noticing the looks that her students passed to each other, she quickly reassured them, "But a shielding charm should do the trick!" She paused pensively. "Though that wouldn't prevent us from catching hypothermia..."
Pointing her wand at Elijah, a white paste appeared over his cut. "Paste of Agaricus mushrooms," the professor explained. "Used for frostbite and the like. Dont' worry!" she exclaimed when she realized her students did not look any more comforted, "Our Cashew Dumbledore happens to be the best healer around for this sort of thing! I've heard that her smiles can brighten and warm even the most frigid tundra."
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Post by spaghetti231 on Aug 2, 2007 16:06:30 GMT
Zerrubabel decided he wanted those twenty points. He pulled the iron chest directly under the bulbs. Muttering a cushioning charm on the bottom and sides of the chest, Zerrubabel proceeded to grasp the base of the plant. Slowly bending it so the bulbs hung over the chest, Zerrubabel pointed his wand carefully just above the buds. If he did this right, all of them should fall into the chest in one try. "Sectum!" he said, a little too loudly, but he did have to cut through them all at once. He watched as the buds fell to the chest, slowly to a near stop with the help of his cushioning charms, and lightly coming to a rest inside the iron chest. He heard a small *pop*, but didn't turn around, assuming another student had messed up. Satisfied that his plan had worked, he looked up to tell the professor, but he couldn't move. His eyes caught one bud that had missed the chest and fallen just past it. The side of the chest had shielded most of the blow, but he had frozen himself. He could feel the deathly cold creeping through his clothes down to his core. Maybe his decision making process needed a little work, he thought as he tried to call out for help, his jaw frozen shut.
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Post by Prof. Eithne l'Keitha on Aug 2, 2007 17:32:20 GMT
"PROTEGO!"Professor l'Keitha screamed, throwing a shielding charm between the chest and her students. "HAVE YOU BEEN SMOKING SCURVY GRASS, MR. JONES?" she spat at Zerrubabel. He just stared. "Well I hope you're happy now. You should be feeling some frosbite creep into your trousers - not so pleasant, huh?" she continued berating, gesturing wildly with her gloved hands. He continued to stare.
She sighed and shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and Zerrubabel's frozen form was lifted into the air horizontally. The professor tried to guide the floating student out of the greenhouse, but with the dragonhide gloves on, her clumsy movements causes the Zerrubabel to knock into the students in the head.
"Now where is Cashew?" she fumed. "Uh, class, keep harvesting, I'll be right back."
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Post by spaghetti231 on Aug 2, 2007 17:45:47 GMT
Unable to move, Zerrubabel went with the flow. He didn't have many options. It was getting quite cold for him, especially in the area surrounding his goods. He hoped he was still fertile.
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Post by Sarie Thimble on Aug 2, 2007 18:10:59 GMT
Sarie gulped as contune to work on her plant. Now she was worred is was going to break a plant becasue an older student had. She bit her lip rather looking like the Hufflepuff not to far away. "Excito!" and then she muttered "Sectum!" another blub fell in to Sarie hands. she was very careful with putting it in to the box next to her.
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Post by Cashew Dumbledorable on Aug 2, 2007 19:17:08 GMT
Cashew, of course, did not seemed bothered by the cold at all. Having worn a mini skirt for most of her life, she had grown accustomed to all temperatures, climates, and atmospheric phenomena only to discover that each placed upon her its own uplifting radiance. Even when sopping wet from those gray puddles that cars sometimes kick up after a storm, which Cashew only rarely failed to dodge with a slight bounce forward on her immaculate heels, they seemed to arouse in her and earthy and unusual beauty that could bring a grown man to tears and prayers. For this reason, the former hogwarts healer stepped confidently in to the greenhouse and developed only a rosy blush at meeting the penetrating cold.
"Oh, no! A floating student," she cried melodiously, extracting her wand with a flourish from some unseen pocket of her scanty attire. "I will set him right at once, Professor!" Emitting now a strange trilling noise, Cashew began the dance that brought the most sublime joy to all living things and, for whatever reason, was efficacious in the healing and restoration of frostbite, shrapnel wounds, overly stringent moral leanings, poor gun control in developing nations and, among many other things, any minor case of unruly-floating-student. The pirate youth would be on his feet in no time. "My dear, is this Gelidus Verre?" she asked, interrupting herself in the midst of a songbird like call, though she still danced and, she would think, very gracefully considering the tight confines of the chilly greenhouse. Her slender, delicate arms spun like pinwheels about her.
With that the temperature began, slowly, to rise.
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Post by understanding on Aug 2, 2007 21:20:52 GMT
Holding up his now cartoonishly large hands for Elijah to see, Oscar snickered and nodded his head in swift agreement. Clutching his wand tightly with both hands, Oscar brings its point close to the soil and, as always with these things, is amazed to see the silver shoots emerge from such inhospitable conditions, their tendrils undeniably alive. It seemed silly to play at being a magician, to think that he had anything to do with these unlikely and stubborn frontiers and mysteries. But Oscar speaks the words, mimicking carefully the other students and his partner beside him, and so it is.
But he hasn't had a chance to detach even one frozen bulb before Elijah cuts himself, before the Professor terrifies the entire class with her knowing comments about frostbite, and before the ever exotically dressed Zerrubabel realizes them. How can he put any part of this new life alongside his own? Oscar leans in unsteadily toward the plant, glad for Cashew's energetic dance, and examines the shining, aloof plant. Finally sure that no one was watching, the statuesque healer's dance now producing strange and wondrous colors, satin ribbons from nothing, he mutters the exacting little incision spell and holds out the fragile, glassy cluster of blooms to show his friend with a grin of pure daring though Oscar's hand trembles visibly.
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Post by Elijah Ellerby on Aug 3, 2007 1:35:13 GMT
The air froze in Elijah's nose, his tongue stinging with the nip of frost as Zerrubabel shattered one of the buds, the chest absorbing most of the impact. Gasping, Elijah squeezed his eyes shut to protect them from the dreadful change in the air. Although he had been stood next to Zerrubabel, the other Gryffindor had received the worst punishment for his handling. Elijah could feel - to his disbelief - an actual brain freeze coming on. Merlin only knew how chilly Zerrubabel's anatomy had just become.
Smoothing a small amount of paste from his finger and applying it to his tongue, Elijah made a noise like an angry cat and screwed up his face, the paste disgustingly bitter, hurting his taste buds even more than the ice. The terrible sensation bought to mind what it'd be like to eat one of the innocent looking like buds, which in truth looked like silvery blueberries. He imagined a doe scraping hopelessly for shrubs and grass in a desolate, wasteland of snow, suddenly coming across a shoot of pretty Gelidus Verre.
Would you feel cold exploding in your stomach - or would it just be excruciatingly painful?
Trying to regain his composure, Elijah cleared his throat softly and stood aside to allow Professor l'Keitha levitated, her irate banter hurting his ears. However, at that exact moment the doors to the greenhouse floated open, the beautiful Hogwarts Healer Cashew Dumbldorable having obviously sensed her services were needed. Aw struck - and mildly crushing - Elijah witness the very air around him spread with warm, the flowers and plants leaning toward her appraisingly. Feeling strangely better adjusted, the pain on his finger and tongue fading, Elijah turned to Oscar, smiling.
The Ravenclaw was concentrating upon the Gelidus Verre, his smooth brow creased ever so slightly, the sides of his mouth twitching as he seemed to be moved by the beautiful plant. Was he appreciating it? Elijah donned a stiff upper lip and took hold of another bud, unsure as to why he wasn't feeling the same. Since when had he stopped taking notice of the smaller things?
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Post by Prof. Eithne l'Keitha on Aug 3, 2007 3:03:52 GMT
As Cashew painted the world with her , the room began to reach a bearable climate and, finally, a balmy and pleasant state. As temperatures rose, the Gelidus Verre began to wilt, their stems sweating and tilting over as the icy buds melted and poured into the pot in shimmering streams. The shards from exploded buds, including those embedded in Zerrubabel Jones melted as well.
"Oh! I forgot to mention - if you keep the Gelidus Verre at any temperature above five degrees celcius, they tend to melt. So if you get any glass shrapnel in you, you can either endure an excruciating extracting charm, which takes several hours and a healer with stable hands.... or take a warm bath!" Professor l'Keitha chuckled, waving her hand at her bewildered students. "Very good for getting moisture into the skin... winter months can be so dry and cold..."
The professor and cashew twirled and twirled as the plants became puddles, which the other plants absorbed hungrily. "Oh Cashew, your awesome womanhood has eaten my brain! Lovely!"
Zerrubabel lay on the muddy floor of the greenhouse, still unconscious and now thawing. Professor l'Keitha looked up at the class, blinking. "Ah... very nice, Miss Thimble - and don't feel tooo self conscious, spells work best when you mean them..." She smiled at the young student. "You're picking it up quite quickly, as well, Mr. Strauss. Ten points to everyone for NOT doing what Mr. Jones did!"
Looking down at the unconscious Gryffindor, whose eyelids quivered and foot twitched occasionally, the professor wondered if he was dreaming.
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Post by Sarie Thimble on Aug 3, 2007 3:10:34 GMT
Sarie took at deep breath. "Sectum!"another pod fell into her hand. She rubbed her hands to get them warm. "Excito!" and then "Sectum! Yes, Professor."
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Post by Prof. Eithne l'Keitha on Aug 3, 2007 3:14:48 GMT
The professor took her puffskein earmuffs off and placed them on the table. They promptly scurried away.
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