Lesson One - 1st Years

Amelia walked into the Herbology Greenhouse and placed down her books on the front table. She then looked around the room to make sure all the plants were healthy and happy. Amelia was quite excited to see the first years though she knew she would have to work hard to keep them interested as for Herbology wasn't the most popular class

Amelia then took a seat behind the desk and strummed her fingers of the wooden desk as she watched the sunlight stream in through the glass, she then glanced up at the door to see if any students had arrived

Clementine took a deep breath and walked into the classroom, sighing with relief when she found out she wasn't late.

Sitting down, she smiled at the Professor.

Darcie opened the door to the classroom silently in case she was late. She smiled slightly and nodded towards the teacher. Darcie looked around the room and was surprised to find that she was among the first persons to arrive. She thought briefly about sitting by herself, but instead chose to approach another early bird and ask her, "May I sit here?" Darcie anxiously awaited the student's reply.

Clementine flinched at the sound of being talked to, but quickly recovered and replied "Of course," with one of her faint smiles.

Ecstatic that she wasn't refused and wasn't ignored, Darcie gratefully took the seat next to the girl. So far, Darcie's day was going pretty well. She was about to ask the girl what her name was outright, but remembering her shyness, Darcie spoke quietly:

"I'm Darcie. What's your name?"

"Clementine. Clementine Marie Smith... I don't have the best of names..."

She hoped dearly that there weren't much more students in the class so far, Clementine didn't feel up to remembering twenty names. But, she thought, if they were relatively friendly, like Darcie, it might be okay.

Darcie smiled and said, "I don't think it's a bad name. It's certainly one of the more interesting names I've heard. It's better than Darcie, that's for sure." Darcie surprised herself at how much she was talking.

Darcie thought to herself, 'Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh! I'm talking! To a person! And she hasn't made fun of me or anything! Maybe she'll be my friend.' Darcie smiled a small smile.

Darcie decided to keep the small talk going by pulling out her copy of 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi and asking Clementine, "Do you think a lot of more kids will be coming?"

Clementine replied "I don't thing there will be much more than ten, actually. Because, there can't be any more than fifty first years and Herbology's not the most popular subject..."

She thought for a moment, and added: "I like Herbology, though. Anybody can do it."

Darcie considered this for a moment."I don't think having a small class would be bad. With a small class we'll probable be able to learn and do more things. But I do have to disagree, I think it does take a certain skill to do herbology with a passion, I think."

"I do see what you mean but..." Clementine thought of how to phrase it, "most others require lots of wandwork, don't they? In Herbology, you don't really need that."

Hoping not to offend Darcie, she added hastily "It's just an opinion, anyway..."

"Ooooh, I see what you mean. I can respect that," Darcie said. "I know I'm not good with my wand at all, that's why I love herbology. Then again, I've always been good with plants, so..." Darcie said and shrugged.

"So...do you like animals?" Darcie asked, both to keep the conversation going and to see if she really liked animals. "I know that most people I meet who like gardens and such can't stand animals."

"In general, yes." said Clementine, "I haven't actually looked up gardeners or anything, I just assumed they liked all nature."

"So, apparently, I'm a strange crossbreed between somebody who likes animals and somebody who likes gardens... Nice." She smiled.

"Gardens and animals eh?" Alex asked sneaking up to the two girls. "Nice mix." He said winking.

"Eek!" Clementine did not particularly like being caught acting more confident than usual.

"Eh..." she turned to the person behind her "Hi?"

"Sorry." He smiled. "I'm Alex." Alex said offering a hand.

"Clementine. Clementine Marie Smith." she took his hand, "And yes, my name sucks."

"I think it's a nice name." He said letting go.

Clementine raised an eyebrow, before saying "You're not one of those people who just suck up to everyone, are you?"

She shook her head.

"It's almost as if the world knows I hate it though... I wish people would call me something normal, like Jane or something..." she trailed away, muttering something about "Stupid name" and "Dumb parents"

"At least you not distantly related to the dark lord." Alex muttered.

Clementine raised both her eyebrows this time in amusement, "What do names have to do with the Dark Lord?" She didn't really hear what Alex said, but she was sure he mentioned Lord Whats-His-Name

"My mother was related to him." He snarled.

"S-sorry..." Clementine put her head down "I won't bother you or anything..."

'Or tell,' she added in her head. 'At least that's one thing useful about me...I keep secrets better than a diary.'

"Brilliant Clemmie, now he thinks you're scared of him. Just brilliant." she mutthered under her breath, secretly hoping Alex heard her anyway.

He laughed. "Sorry I got a bit mad." He said sheepishly.

"Eh..." Clementine lifted her head.

"Yeah, and I just got a bit shy because I'm scared of literallly everything," she said, somehow managing to be sarcastic, yet mean exactly what she said. Clementine liked using sarcasm very much.

"But, I'm not scared of you, more of the tone of voice you used. I'm strange like that."

"I see..." Alex said freaked out.