Second Years: Lesson One

[Jodi Peterson]

Jodi entered her new classroom to teach her second class; the second years. They today would be learning about Mandkrakes and Abyssinian Shrivelfig. Jodi thought it was a good thing to be teaching them this, it should be something easy and quick to pick up on. Not to mention Jodi would have to learn the names of every single student in her class. Being an ex- Head Girl, Jodi believed she would know at least half of the people that walked through her door.

Jodi walked to the board and write:

Hello and welcome to Herbology.
My name is Jodi Peterson.
Lesson topic: Mandkrakes and Abyssinian Shrivelfig
As you come in, please introduce yourself to me,
along with an interesting fact about yourself.

[/center]

Jodi walked back to her desk, to seat herself upon the desk, to wait for her students to arrive. She used her wand to open the door and placed a smile upon her face. This lesson should be enjoyable.

(48 hours to turn up.
If you're late please just come in and sit down)

[paulkong]

Alex walked in and read the note on the board and walked up to where the TA was standing. Alex really wasn't shy but sometimes he did get nervous when he met knew people, especially new teachers. He walked up to her and began to introduce himself, "Hi." He said with a timid, nervous smile, "I'm Alex, Alex Jewell..." He said and then decided to use the fact that he always used, "I have the all-time record for least goals allowed in my only start for the Under-Seventeen Spanish Quidditch team." He finished and then walked away, he supposed it could've gone worse, he went and sat in a desk in the front row silently, waiting for other people to file in.

[kailynn]

Kailynn entered the room queitly, not sure if the class had started yet. She heard a boy say something about Quidditch and smiled. She wasn't late. She muttered the spell under her breath that allowed her to know what the board above read. She sighed after reading it and slowly walked forward, already knowing her interesting fact. Well, other people thought it was interesting, at least. She approached the desk and sid politely, "Hello, I'm Kailynn Mandella. One thing about me, I don't really know if it's that interesting, but I'm blind." She smile remained in place to show the teacher it didn't bother her anymore. Then she waited to see if the professor would say anything.[/font][/size]

[Jodi Peterson]

Jodi smiled as she saw her first two students enter the classroom. "Hello Alex, I am sorry to hear about your dissapointment," Jodi said in a solemn tone. To the second student Jodi replied, "Hello Kailynn. It is nice to meet you. I see you cope well with being blind," she said, mimiking the girls smile. "If there is anything I need to help you with, don't be afraid to ask." Jodi took a deep breath. "Oh... and 5 house points for the both of you for being early," she said again with a smile

5 Points for being early
5 Points for being early

[at]

Ally walked to the greenhouse's. She smiled at the teacher. "Hello How are you?" Ally went to a seat and sat down. This ought to be interesting. Yawning she was satisfied with herself greatly. She whipped out her wand and her textbooks. Waiting for the class to start she layed down her head.

[cremefilled]

"An interesting fact about me?" Sev muttered as he came into the classroom. There were some many interesting things about the Ravenclaw that he could easily come up with. He was the third child of seven. He was homeschooled until now. He was a quarter japanese. But he could not think of anything that really stood out about him.

He sat down and nodded toward the TA. "I'm Sev," he said quietly, "and I can play the Shakuhachi." That fact alone would tell a lot about him. It said he was part Japanese, that he was a bit of a dork for being accomplished in such a random instrument, and that he could, indeed, play an instrument.

[Jodi Peterson]

Jodi smiled at the two that had just entered. "You're a little late, but at least you are here. Two house points to both of you. I admit I thought perhaps there would be more of you. I don't know what the Shakuhachi is, but I'm sure it's a great instrument," Jodi said sincerely.

"Now, does anyone in this class know anything first about the Mandrakes. The first person to answer with a fact will receive 10 house points," she said with a smile. She hoped his would persuad her students to be interactive within her class.

2 House points for attendance.
2 house points for attendance.

[cremefilled]

Sev laughed. "A shakuhachi is a traditional Japanese bamboo flute," he explained. "My grandmother wanted me to remember my Japanese roots."

Sev could not pass up the opportunity for house points. And he knew exactly what mandrakes were. "Mandrakes are baby-looking plants whose cries are toxic and whose roots are used in a potion to cure petrified people, right?" he asked. He did not want to make that sound questioning and more confident but apparently he was not as sure as he thought.

[josie]

Josie ran across the grounds to the Herbology Greenhouses, she was late! What a surprise! One of these days Josie was going to turn up to class and it would be over it was getting ridiculous now she really needed to start concentrating and focusing on what was going on around her.

Maybe be early for a class or two, or at least on time that would be a start. She stood outside the doors to her Herbology class trying to catch her breath. She'd ran from the Quidditch Pitch foolishly she'd thought she'd had time for a quick warm up before class. She wanted to be on top form for Quidditch but not at the expense of her classes.

Sliding through the door she took the first available seat, the lesson had clearly started even though few students were in attendance. She glanced at the board and listened to the discussion going on around her. It was only when she looked up to see what the Professor had to say did she realise she knew her, Jodi Peterson, they'd briefly been on the House Quidditch Team together, she threw her an apologetic as she waited for what was to come next.

[mileena]

Hannah rushed across the grounds to get to her next class. She frowned has she hated having to step outside. Nature is EVIL! So, it wasn't evil she didn't like bugs, they were every where. When she finally reached the greenhouse she saw that she was late. Wonderful! Walking in she took a seat has a student was talking to the TA and got out her supplies.

[Jodi Peterson]

"Thank you very much Sev. 10 house points to you. And sorry to say but Josie and Hannah, I will have to take 2 house points from each of you. We are learning about the Mandrake today. Please pull out whatever you use to take down notes, and take a few during my little rant. Of course, this is only for your benifit, so if you don't want to, you of course don't have too," Jodi said to the whole class.

"Now, Mandrake, or mandragora is a purplish-green plant. the above part of the plant looked entirely normal. Instead of normal roots, the young mandrake plant has a small extremely ugly baby with mottled green skin. The leaves of the plant then grow directly out of it's head, as if hair.

"It's roots take the form of a humanoid. This humanoid passes through many different stages before reaching full maturity. The cry of a mature mandrake is fatal, while the cry of an immature mandrake will only knock a person out." Jodi looked to the class, to see people taking notes. "Any questions yet?" Jodi asked.

-4 points for being late
10 points for speaking up

[Ashley Tapping]

Ashley walked onto the classroom late as usaul. Ashley hated being late it just most of the time turned the Professors off of her right away from teh start. "Okay an interesting thing about myself.." she had to think for a minute she was pretty boring. "I guess people tell me that i am a pretty good singer and i have twin brothers who birthday is today." she answered hoping that that would be good enough. She walked over to an open seat and sat down.

[Jodi Peterson]

Jodi waited for her students to write down notes. They seemed not to be taking many notes at all. "Wake up people," she said in a sharp tone. "You all better be writing down notes, or you'll be in serious trouble when i come around to see you haven't done work." While speaking, she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. She just couldn't be serious. She couldn't tell people off. Not people only a year or two younger.

"And Ashley, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to take two house points from you for being late to my class. Next time try to be here on time and maybe you can win them back," she said with a smile. Jodi walked around the tables of students, hoping to see work. "May I go on?" she asked.

-2 points for turning up late to my class.

[at]

Ally sighed. Then she jumped back when the teacher hollered. She quickly grabbed her paper and pen and began to scribble stuff down. Hopefully she will not be as strict as Ms. Kohn was. Smiling at herself she reached over to her bag and pulle out her wand laying it beside her just incase. She raised her hand. "Ms. Peterson umm well yeah umm are we actually going to be wroking with madrakes?"

[Jodi Peterson]

"We will not be working with the Mandrakes today, no. I was planning on, but they are not ready to be repotted yet. I'm going to guess that in a week or two they will be ready for repotting. I may be holding a little lesson with the reward of house points for dedicated members that would like to have a go at playing with them," Jodi said. She was hoping people would be interested. She knew that she would be interested in teaching the class. "Not just to the 2nd years, but open to all years. And it's Jodi, not Ms Peterson," she said with a smile. Ms Peterson made her feel... old

[mileena]

Hannah frowned has she learned that she cost hufflepuff 2 points. She was a little glad that it wasn't many points though. Once she got her things out she began to write down notes on mandrakes. She looked over at another student that asked about working with them.

Hannah was glad that they didn't have to re-pot them. She wasn't the type of girl that liked to get her hands dirty. She made a face at the thought of her having to put her hands in dirt just to re-pot those ugly things.

[Ashley Tapping]

Ashley scribbled down in her parchment the little things that she knew about mandrakes. She really liked Jodi. She also thought that it would feel weird if someone called herself Miss Tapping. UGH she wouldn't like it either. Ashley herself was a little bit bummed when she heard that they were not going to repott them today. She sighed and thought that at least they would be able to another day. Just something to look forward to.

[josie]

Josie huffed slightly she couldn't believe she was already costing her house points, she'd have to really try to be on time if all the Professors did the same Hufflepuff would be in the minuses at this rate.

She dug around in her bag retrieving her parchment, quill and a pot of ink. She sighed as she doodled in the corner, just random shapes Josie wasn't known for her artistic abilities, at least not with a quill or paintbrush.

She made basic notes on what they were discussing in class, they wouldn't even be working with the things yet, that disappointed her slightly she'd been looking forward to getting stuck in. Well at least the opportunity would be there at some point, that was something anyway.

Sitting back in her chair she waited for the lesson to continue.

[kailynn]

Kailynn had spaced out. Suddenly she was brought back to class when her hand slid from under her chin, causing her head to fall, catching herself a few inches above smacking her head on the desk. She sighed with relief and turned her attention back to teh Professor. What were they doing? Somehting about Mandrakes? She sighed and focused harder, not wanting to zone out again.

[Jodi Peterson]

Seeing people get to their work, she decided to continue with her lesson.

" They need to be repotted at least twice as they grow. They will hate this, and will kick, squirm, punch and bite. I might hold a lesson for people who are interested to come and help me in a few weeks to repot these plants.
The mandrake has a number of important magical used, once of course the plant has been harvested, cut up and stewed. Mandrake's form an essential part of most antidotes. As said before, the mandrake is used in a potion to help revive those who have been petrified. It can also help turn back those who have been Transfigured or cursed to their original state. This is all for Mandrake today. Any more questions before we move on to our next topic?"