Lesson One - 1st Years

"And I am NOT one of those personality types that are just random. I like sarcasm. That is all. Well, sort-of, anyway."

Clementine took a puzzled look on her face.

"What on earth am I saying? Usually I'm so darn depressing!"

Darcie had zoned out a little while back thinking about Clovis (her rabbit), Miss Kestrel (her guardian, candy, books, and trees. Reality has to hit eventually, though, and it smacked Darcie upside the head. She looked around the room to see if she had mysteriously missed anyone walk in. She thought she hadn't when she turned, saw Alex, and jumped a little out of surprise. She quickly recovered, though.

"Wow! When did- how long- uuhhhh...hi Alex," Darcie said a bit guiltily for not seeing him walk him. Darcie, having not had any friends her whole life, was under the delusion that one must always say hi to ones friends when one sees them. It was simply common curtesy, at least, in Ireland it was.

"Hey Darcie." He said hugging her.

Clementine smiled a small smile and kept herself out of the way, "People probably think I'm crazy now. That stupid habit of either talking too much or not at all." she murmured to herself.

Darcie smiled and felt relieved that Alex wasn't mad that she didn't say hi. She hugged him back before pulling away, still smiling.

She turned attention to the two of them and said, "Sorry for zoning out like that. I have a tendency to drift away from reality when I have a lot on my mind."

I ought to go to the forest of thought later. That sounds like a good place to think, Darcie thought.

"So, have I missed anything important?" She asked them with a look to their strangely silent teacher.

"No, the lesson's not really started yet," Clementine wasn't overly sure whether Darcie heard her or not, but she didn't really care.

Darcie nodded at Clementine and said, "Okay, thanks." She was glad that Clementine answered. From what Darcie could tell, Clementine wasn't exactly a social butterfly. Admittedly, that was what Darcie liked about her. Most social people were judgmental or they were not nice to shy people like Darcie. Now, Darcie knew a few exceptions to this, like Alex, whom she considered kind and social and Krislyn Quinn, who was also nice and social by Darcie's standards. Darcie smiled at Clementine and asked her, "So what do you think our lesson might be?"

"Identifying certain plants... I guess? Maybe planting out own saplings or... Anything, really."

Clementine smiled. "I've wanted to plant a flitterbloom for ages. It actually looks fun, with all the leaves and stuff flying around..."

Darcie didn't know a lot about magical herbs and plants, having only known about them for a few months, but this flitterbloom sounded like an awesome plant.

"That sounds lovely. I hope we don't have to identify plants. I haven't exactly got them all down yet..." Darcie smiled sheepishly and let her voice trail off. "I was kind of hoping we'd be planting non-magical plants. Like, maybe some mint, or lavender, or something that won't move on its own." Darcie liked those kinds of plants. Miss Kestrel (Darcie's Guardian) had a magical plant in her garden called a fanged geranium. Darcie still had bite marks on her arm. ((Note: Darcie is wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a skirt w/ stockings. Just saying))

"I admit, I'm also sort-of hoping for that... Just because I want to plant a Flitterbloom doesn't mean I'll be good at it," Clementine added darkly.

Darcie looked thoughtful. "Well, nobody is born an Olympic runner. We all have to crawl, then walk, then run, then get better at running. And then there will definitely be times that we fall down. I'm sorry, I like using metaphors to explain things. The point is that even though you might not be good at first, if you keep trying you have to succeed eventually."

Darcie smiled at Clementine. "But maybe it is better to start with basics like mundane plants."

"Like mint and lavender," Clementine smiled, though she was suptised at how often she had smiled lately, a real smile was usually mission impossible for her.

"I love lavender- It's neither the most beautiful of flowers, but it isn't downright ugly, either. Just like I am with girls." She stopped talking quickly to make sure she refrained from saying something stupid.

"On the contrary, I find lavender elegant. It's not incredibly showy like roses or marigold and its not really childish like daisies. And it has a very special scent only given to lavender. Aaand it has a color named after it. So, I think it's absolutely beautiful the way it is," Darcie said. She meant what she said both literally and metaphorically.

"Hm, well, everyone has their opinions. I like lavender because it helps me sleep," Clementine inwardly rolled her eyes, "something go do with the scent."

"I remember in my old house, the garden was so thick with lavender that it helped people recover from a blocked nose by smelling it all. It was a nice smell, but strong."

"Mmm," said Darcie as she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and imagined the smell of all of that lavender.

"Though I like lavender, I think that the lily of the valley is my favorite plant. I really hope that we plant them this year!"

"I just like gardening in general, really. When do you think the lesson will start?"

Clementine looked around,

"I know there's not many first years for Herbology, but it can't be this few..."

"Hmm," Darcie said not quite frowning as she looked at the lack of people in the room. Alex appeared to be doing something that Darcie couldn't quite fathom and the teacher seemed to just be staring off into nothingness.

"Well...small class, big opportunities. I don't exactly like big groups anyway, so I suppose that this is okay."

"Hm, neirther do I... I don't really like groups in general...Little Miss Independant here..." she pointed to herself mockingly.