Herbology, Class 1

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andromeda was nervous as she entered the Herbology greenhouse for the first time since she had graduated from Hogwarts more than two years ago. She had managed to secure the job as herbology professor, allowing her to keep her cover. But now for the tricky part... actually teaching the class!

She'd been studying up for a few days, but she didn't feel she was anywhere near ready for this. What if the students knew more than she did? She was terribly rusty at her plant knowledge. Still, at least for the first couple of lessons she could take it easy, while she went through her own books to refresh her knowledge.

So she tried to keep herself calm as she sat down at her desk and waited for the students to arrive. It helped to think of Ted. Closing her eyes, she leaned back in her chair and let her mind wander with thoughts of him...

[Sirius Black]

It had rained the night before, and the ground was still wet as Sirius trudged out to Herbology class ahead of the other guys. He had it in mind to pull a trick on the new professor, just to welcome him or her to the school, and he wanted to get there early enough to set things up.

By the time he reached the greenhouse, his shoes were caked in a thick layer of mud, and the bottoms of his robes were ringed with moisture. He was still trying to clean himself off when he walked into the greenhouse and saw that the teacher was already there. Darn... so much for that trick. She had his back to him at first, so he didn't realize who it was.

Rather than acknowledge the professor, he set about trying to clean off his shoes.

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi had been writing a few things on the board, but she turned around when she heard someone enter the greenhouse. He wasn't looking at her as he fussed with the mud on his shoes, but she recognized him instantly. She watched him a minute with a smile on her face. After a minute, she called out his name. "Sirius Black!" she said cheerfully. "How are you doing?"

[Sirius Black]

As soon as he heard the familiar voice, Sirius looked up at the professor. He couldn't believe it! "Andromeda?" he gasped, stunned. "Wow... what are you doing here? You're not our new professor, are you?"

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi laughed. "Yes, I am!" she said, walking up to him. "Believe it or not, I'm teaching herbology now! I'm so glad you're going to be in my class... you're going to have to tell me how I'm doing. I want to be the cool teacher, even if I don't have the coolest subject."

[Sirius Black]

Since no one was around, he decided it would be OK to give his cousin a hug. After all, she was his only cool relative. "Andi, it's good to see you," he said. "You're already the coolest teacher I have... but why herbology? I didn't even know you liked herbology. Weren't you going to be an auror? I thought you had a big fight with Uncle Cygnus about it, and he kicked you out. When Mum found out, she was furious that she'd let you in the house to hang out with me..."

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi shrugged, trying to play it cool. "Herbology's cool," she said. "I like... plants." She realized she didn't exactly sound convincing, so she raised her finger to her lips in a gesture of secrecy. "Let's just say, I've had a newfound love of plants and teaching, and we'll leave it at that, OK?"

Laughing, she added. "And since you're in my class, I hope there will not be any of your antics in here, you got that? I've heard all about your tricks, and I promise you, I can out trick you, young man. And I expect you to do all your homework, is that clear?"

[Severus Snape]

Severus walked to class, he was lucky his mother pushed him to learn impervious charms, she wasn't one to tolerate too much mess...or rather his father wasn't one to tolerate it, but nonetheless he was in class dry and clean. He wasn't so enthusiastic about plants... Sure in potion making, knowing how to collect and use the right kind of plants was needed, but he didn't feel he was much a gardener. Couldn't you just mow down devils snare like any other kind of plant? either way he sat down and saw the professor was a young witch and looked as if she was either acting flirtatious or thought she was coming off as coy, Severus thought she was clearly flirtatious.

[Ruecain White]

Ruecain was annoyed because he was wet and his shoes were covered in mud. He was not as clean as always due to the weather the night before. He grew mored annoyed when he saw a second year slytherin was all dry and clean. Oh he had learned of spells that would do the trick, but he wasn't so good at doing them yet, he supposed that would come with time. He figured childishly that professor flickwick was five hundred and that was the only reason he could charm anything to float and birds to sing to the wizard wireless and whatnot. He sat down and began to try to get the mud off of his shoes, winning the battle a few splats at a time.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, yeah... I wouldn't want to misbehave in here. After all, the last thing I would want to do is get on the wrong side of a Black!" He turned and noticed a few other students had entered. Seeing Severus, he groaned. "Oh, great... Snivellus," he mumbled. Looking back up at his cousin, he said, "If you want to give extra homework to the Slytherins, though, I wouldn't complain."

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andromeda shook her head. "Now, you know I can't do that," she said. "No matter how much I might want to." Laughing, she waved him off. "No, go, get to your seat. Can't have you socializing with the professor, now can we?"

[Sirius Black]

Sirius made an exaggerated pout. "Ugh, you want me to go and sit out there, with Snivellus?" He sighed. "You're already losing your coolness, Andi." Then he laughed. "Oh, all right. talk to you after class, OK?" He headed over to one of the desks, sitting far away from Snape.

It really was good to see Andi again. Maybe later he could talk to her and get her advice on the Kris situation.

[Severus Snape]

Severus chose not to hear the fact the Professor was willing to dock points merely for being in a different house. He dislike he had for her grew a bit more. He turned his head and noticed the annoyed looking Ravenclaw and felt as an island of a person.

[Andromeda Tonks]

(Hey, I said I wouldn't do it! I'm just messing with my cousin, Sev! Don't hate me before you know me... )

Andi went back to the front of the room, allowing her nerves to take over for a moment of quiet panic. Was she crazy, taking on a job teaching Herbology, of all things? What business did she have, teaching a subject she hadn't even liked very much back when she was in school?

But Dumbledore had hired her. That had to count for something, right? Still, she couldn't help but feel nervous. What if one of the kids decided they didn't like her without even getting to know her? She'd never be able to get through to that student, and she wouldn't be doing her job. And even if it was a cover job, she still took the job very seriously. These were children's minds, their futures... nothing was more important than that.

So she went about preparing for the lesson by doing some more last-minute reading before class began.

[Severus Snape]

*It's in my Job description, hate Black and all those related...sorry it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.*

Severus felt alone. he put his elbows on the desk and hoped Natalie had the same class with him. She would be able to do better with green things...she did like to spend her free time in the climbable trees after all. His eyes became a little dreamy as he thought of Natalie laughing and smiling and on the rare occasion, holding his hand.

[Evelyn Turner]

Evelyn carried her book bag over her shoulder as she trudged down the hillside to the greenhouses. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going and accidentally walked into the neighboring greenhouse, instead of the Herbology greenhouse. Evelyn laughed as there was no one there and nothing that resembled what they would be working on this term. Clearly this was the Staff greenhouse. She backtracked out of the glass building and paid closer attention as she let herself into the Herbology class. She kicked the mud off her shoes at the door, not that there wasn't plenty of dirt inside, and smiled to the few people who were already there. "Afternoon everyone," she said cheerfully as she moved over near a second year, Severus Snape. He was always so surely looking, he needed a good dose of cheer.

[Leilani Evetts]

Lani let herself into class as a matter of patriotism. She had no real knowledge or love of of plants, but she had been told once that she had to take the class.

"It's for Slytherins. Why do you think most plants are green?"

It had made sense to her, and she was pleased to see another Slytherin thought the same way. She went towards Severus, and the boy was now surrounded on both sides.

[Lily Evans]

Lily hadn't thought to put a spell on her shoes to keep the mud out; instead, she was still thinking like a muggle. She had got out the pair of galoshes that her mother had so lovingly packed in her trunk for her and had slipped them on over her shoes before trudging out across the lawns to the greenhouse.

Herbology was another one of the more mundane subjects that she had taken a liking to. It was fairly cut and dry, as far as she could see. It didn't usually require magic--just a little knowledge and some tender loving care. Plants were living things, too. And it was interesting to her to see magical plants--and non-magical ones--to learn how they could be used in magic.

She arrived in the greenhouse and smiled at the professor, who didn't look to be much older than a seventh year student. She saw Sirius sitting near the front, which was unusual for him. And of course, where ever Sirius was, James couldn't be far behind. She was not in the mood to encounter him today, so she sat down a few desks away from where Severus was sitting. "Hi, Severus," she said to him.

[Rabastan Lestrange]

After his talk with Bellatrix, Rabastan decided that it might be a good idea to pay the eldest Black sister a visit. She had made it awfully convenient, teaching at the school.

He was't enrolled in Herbology, and he figured Bellatrix had better appreciate the effort he was putting into this. He was temporarily abadoning all of his other conquests for Andromeda. He never did repeats, but this was a special case.

He entered the greenhouse with a cocky swagger and walked right up front to where Andromeda was. "Missed me so much you had to come back?" He asked.

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andromeda tensed up at the sight of him walking into the room. A quick glance at her roster showed that Rabastan was not enrolled in the class, so she couldn't think what he would be doing here, except to bother her. She was nervous enough about starting her first day; she didn't need him to make things worse!

She had been pretty focused on the situation between her sisters and Ted the other night and was not aware that he had been at the restaurant that night as well. In fact, other than the short bit of time she had thought of him in comparison to Ted, she had not seen, heard from, or thought about Rabastan Lestrange in well over a year. And she preferred it that way. It was better to put one's mistakes in the past... and he had definitely been a mistake. Oh, sure, he was nice to look at, but she knew better now than to fall for a pretty face. There had to be something more, like what she had with Ted.

"Rabastan, what are you doing in here?" she said, putting one hand on her hip. "I don't think you're supposed to be in this class."