He was regretting rocking up to Herbology already. First with the weird rules the adults were clearly FORCING on them, and secondly... meditation, ugh. This was STILL happening? Was he related to Professor Romanos? Were they BFF's?

And... what was with that smell? Gross.

Being the first to arrive, Zeke had no option but to say something nice about the Professor, "You're organised and nice, Professor Myers," he said, still coming to terms with figuring out compliments on the fly. MAYBE, he should rehearse some? But that was effort, so no.

Gloves already on, the Gryffindor formed part of what would be the circle and waited for people to hold his hands.

Dante was here though with that smell. He would rather not be. It was NOT the first class of the year. So he was used to the rules. Even though he despised them. Holding hands and having to say nice things to people when he hardly meant them.He of course had his gloves on him and ready for whatever use they would have for today.

"Lovely Smell for a class, Professor" Nigel said pinching his nose to block out the smell. The sarcasm was thick in that response. To bad he did not know that bubble head charm he saw Professor Airey use in the Bathroom that time. Would have been useful here.

"Also Zeke is pretty cool"

There compliment and now he was preparing himself for the mediating.

Herbology was cool, Blaise didn't mind showing up at all on account of how much easier it was going without his wand. It was probably right up there with Muggle Studies. The Professor wasn't half bad either.

"Morning Professor." The young Gryffindor said as he made his way into the Greenhouse. Yeah yeah yeah, meditation to start the lesson. He was used to it by now--liked how his quick quotes quill was able to make it into something dead interesting.

As he walked, his quill and notepad floated ahead, ready to take in any and everything that IT might consider important. Eventually it would begin taking the notes...just not as well as they should. As per the rules, he had to say something nice. Odd rules that had absolutely nothing to do with his education; he was used to those. "Dante's got interesting ears." Done. Something nice. Boom.

He wouldn't be taking a flower though...on account of him not thinking anyone really touched him...emotionally or spiritually....

It just wasn't that serious. Anyway. Here for meditation. Yes.

Sophie skipped into Herbology and smiled at those who had already arrived. The brisk chill in the air filled her with energy and she was excited to be here for another class. But first, meditation. She was beyond ready to clear her head.

"Hello Professor, how are you doing today?" She asked with a nod of her head.

Remembering the rule about the compliments and making people feel good, yada yada yada...she turned towards Blaise. "I like...your robes" She commented towards him. Yeah, she was great with compliments.

Sophie held out her hand and grabbed the nearest person as to start her meditation.

Another Herbology lesson that Adi was looking forward to. Besides the awesome classes, Myers was one of the awesome Professors, you know, so it made for interesting lessons. He played the banjo and is in a band. Mhmmm. Pretty cool, yeah? The Puffer thought so.

He strolled into the classroom, turning up his face slightly at the smell. Gosh. What died in there? But he grinned when he spotted Myers. "Professor! Hello! Looking forward to another fun lesson!''

Annnd off to prepare for meditation, something which Adi's mother had been trying to get him to do for YEARS but he had escaped every time from doing. Sadly it had caught up with him here at Hogwarts.

"Blaise will make a first class writer someday.'' There! Something nice and truthful! Kinda truthful, though? As long as that quill doesn't turn and twist things too much...

Damien had never been a fan of herbology, he had no green thumb, or nature instincts, and if he had the choice between gardening and doing anything else, he would probably pick the anything else. It was the dirt that bugged him, he was a clean dude, with clean habits and clothes that were dry clean only and, yeah, that maybe made him a little fussy, but it was well deserved fuss.

"Sup Professor." Damien said, nodding in getting. This class wasn't absolutely the worst.... Not once you got past the manure smell and the plants that tried to eat you, not to mention the new koombaya rules (he would really like to talk to Flamsteed about that, actually). the meditation cycle wasn't... That bad?

"uh... Blaise, that first year dude has... Pretty righteous hair."

That was as compliment-y as he was gonna get with the group so far assembled, nodding around, Damien wondered when they're be able to properly start, because the sooner they started, the sooner he could get out to shower.

The smell was not pleasant.

Noelle crinkled her nose as she made her way into the Classroom. Her gloves were already on her hands. She saw a few other people there but didn't know them very well. So instead, she gave a wave to the Zeke student, who she knew of in association by Hady. " Hey Zeke right? You have great friends." Because it was true. If only he knew how Hady talked about him. Maybe he did know?

Noelle positioned herself in the semi circle to start the hand holding thing they always do before class. She was ready. Except one thing.

"Hey professor."

Char poked her head inside, surveyed the people there already, and decided to wait until other people were there before she went in. Well what? She didn't knowww the other kids that had come already that well so she couldn't say nice things! AND most of them already were saying nice things about each other so she had to wait!

....

.....

THERE.

Straight after Noelle went in, Char skipped inside, hollering out, "Noelle has pretty hair!" It was true, even if it wasn't blonde like hers. The professor got a cheery wave and then Char skipped over to the circle, putting herself in good view of the door because then people would know she was here and they could compliment her.

Also, she noticed the smell but duh, that was just something you had to deal with for plant things, soooo she ignored it. Tralala! Bring on the compliments!

Herbology class.

A lesson he tended to approach with mixed feelings this term. One, because he tended to feel someone what ackward dealing with the rules as well as certain things the professor liked to do. He might be shy and quiet but mediation didn't come easily with him. And two...it was his ex's favorite class. But today he was doing decently enough...so far.

Proper uniform...check.

Gloves...check.

All other supplies...check and check.

And now for entering the greenhouses. "Good day Professor," he greeted the man before taking in who was in the glass room and who he could say something nice about. Certainly not the smell that currently existed within. There were two he wasn't hearing anything said about and he tried not to just use Adi and such. "Um...Sophie is...so energetic and enthusiastic," He finally said as he made his way over to his friend to begin meditation and the following lesson.

Her name was Sophie...right?

Zeke smirked at Dante's response to the rooms odour. It was pretty fowl, but he wasn't keen on holding his nose, the quicker his nose got used to it, the sooner he could forget about it.

And awwww.

"You're not too bad yourself, buddy," Zeke replied, grinning boyishly.

Cool dudes they were.



... and the loud first year was speaking to him? Okay.

"Yeah," he had replied on instinct, but he didn't have a clue who his 'great friends' were... but it was true he did. "Thanks?" Because how many people went around saying you had terrible friends? He wouldn't BE friends with terrible people, so.... moot point.

It was time again for one of his favorite subjects. Herbology! Even though there wasn't usually much magic involved, if at all. He also didn't necessarily find all the information about plants interesting. But it was still one of his favorite subjects, because it involved digging in the dirt. It was a nice break after normal inside classrooms. He grinned when he heard the announcement as he walked into the classroom. The dirtier the better.

The only part of Herbology that Oliver did not always like was the beginning. Complimenting people was whatever, he didn't mind it. But sitting in a circle and meditating? Why? He did not see a point and he would have been happier if they skipped that part. But it wasn't the worst thing in the world. So he would tolerate the beginning by looking forward to the rest of the lesson.

"Hi Professor Myers!" He greeted cheerfully as he walked through the door. Oliver took an empty seat at a table far from the door, next to a Gryffindor girl he was pretty sure was named Charlotte. He kept an eye on the door, ready to wave Ellery over when she came in. Oh yeah, he had to compliment someone. Um... "Charlotte smells nice." She did. Much better than the room definitely, even though that wasn't saying much. What was it? Her shampoo?

Norah had already entered the greenhouse and grabbed the nearest student's hand before the smell of manure hit--no--assaulted her nostrils. She'd overlook it, though. There were much more important things to be concerned with, including PLANTS and super cool Professor Myers and PLANTS and meditating and PLAAAAANTS and the fact that she'd been in the classroom-ish thing for an entire 2.5 seconds and still hadn't said anything nice about a fellow student. "Olly has all the right priorities." She most certainly hadn't forgotten that time with the niffler, oh no. Cute and cuddly things were always a priority, even over breakfast foods, and even if said creatures had the potential to cause some pretty nasty injuries. It wasn't their fault, though. They couldn't help that they got excited about shiny things. Who wouldn't?

"Hi, Professor. I'm super excited for today's lesson." Hopefully it'd make up for the awful smell, which was making it much more difficult to keep smiling instead of wrinkling her nose. Being positive was a real live RULE though, and this was probably the only OWL she had a chance of doing well on so there was no use in disobeying.

Kaycee strolled into the greenhouse. And immediately made a face. Eww. Gross. Compost lesson? Gross. The sign should have said GLOVES and A GAS MASK.

UGHHHH.

She casually moved her scarf so it was covering her mouth and nose. There. That was... slightly better...

Professor face obviously wasn't getting her compliment because that smell officially overrode anything nice she could say. He did, however, get a greeting. "Hello Professor." she said slightly muffled because of scarf reasons.

She glanced around the room in search of who she could compliment. "Dante is a fantastic kisser." Probably. She didn't actually know. Supposedly she did though. She'd heard rumors. She'd also read them too.

Did the compliment have to be true? Eh, whatever. She then went and stood by him. She nodded toward the flowers and then gave him a look that said 'You should totally go get me one because heartwarming or whatever.'

Dot stopped dead in the doorway of the greenhouse and refused to move an inch from her spot as her senses were OVERWHELMED by the odor. Herbology was already a class that she took kind of hard, what with the dirt and the plants and things, but this was too much for her to bear. The smell. The... was that garbage?

WAS THAT GARBAGE?

Could she go back to bed? The fifth year looked for the professor with wild eyes, but he was all excited about them getting dirty and she was pretty sure he was a hobo in disguise or something. Merlin. If someone gave her nose plugs, she would dress them in those flowers from head to toe. Her soul would be in excellent shape.

She dropped her bag on a workstation near the door, hoping some fresh air would waft her way, and tugged on her gloves. Umm... "Adi is a good sport and an excellent minion." Ahem... Kaycee got a scandalized look before Dot shrugged and offered up her gloved hand for a fist bump. Good one.

Ellery hop-skipped-hop-skipped into Herbology, hair swinging wildly. She squished herself into the meditation circle, which she found VERY interesting. Was it Eastern doctrine? Or just the Western obsession with all things YOGA????? Very cool.

Oh. She was going to say something GREAT AND WONDERFUL AND FANTASTIC about Olly, but STUPID NORAH had to GO IN and STEAL HER BROTHER. AGAIN. Sighhh.

She couldn't say something nice about Norah. No way José. "YOU are very cool, Professor." There.

Sophie ADORED Myers' classes this term so far. Of course, she'd always excelled and enjoyed herbology in the past, but since Myers had come along, it'd become even MORE fun. Maybe that was... just because scary Truebridge left a bad herbological taste in her mouth. ESPECIALLY with the class where the acromantulas attacked. Yikes.

But no, it was nice to have a fresh start with the man who knew her herbologist mother. They'd had good chats about plants, both mundane and magical, talked about the herbology field at large, and even talked a little about careers in herbology. Not for Sophie, but for Zander. Always trying to help him find his way, too.

With a smile on her face, the Head Girl entered the greenhouse... and faltered just slightly at the smell, but quietly cast a charm to reduce her sense of smell. She wasn't being a baby about it, she was just... being proactive, all right? Savvy.

"Hi, professor. You-- oh. Your energy today is exhilarating. Can I donate one of our flowers to you?" She was already doing so, bypassing the circle to instead take a flower from the basket on the professor's desk, then gracefully laid it in the man's chair behind his desk before taking her place in the circle for meditation time, slipping in next to Norah Kittredge.

Sophie Brown-nose was at it again.

Oh, and, "Norah is the kindest person I know." Smiiiles for the Hufflepuff beside her.

HERBOLOGY!

Its finally time for her favorite lesson. Some people might dislike the lesson because of the dirt and plants but not her. Oddly enough the dirt and plants always gave her the sense of comfort.

The first thing she noticed when Candice entered the Greenhouse was the smell. What's that smell? She's not gonna let the awful smell bother her. Nope. "Hello, Professor. How are you?" She greeted the Professor with a polite nod. And yes she brought her gloves with her, she was ready to get dirty and all.

OH! And she need to say nice things to someone? But who? Her eyes landed on the Head Girl. "Sophie has a perfectly symmetrical face." She didn't really know the Head Girl so that would do, right?

Herbology was alright and Professor Myers wasn't BAD but some of processes that took place before they officially started were rather cumbersome and annoying. Like meditation? Even though it was routine, Tia just really wanted to skive off of it just once because well it just seemed unnecessary and unhygienic. And the saying something nice about a peer, well she supposed was just to get them all friendly and knowing each other, but what if she didn't want to be friendly?

Looking around the room, she debated for a moment on who to say something nice about. She should go for a non-ravenclaw, because interhouse connections were good. Finally her honey brown eyes decided on Candice. A girl not too much younger than her, whom she didn't know too much about but she seemed quiet for a Gryffindor.

"Candice is a brave and loyal friend." Actually she had no idea, but the fifth year probably was and it was nicer than simply saying she was gryffindoring, besides that might not be true with Candice.

HERBOLOGY.

Paulina's favourite class by far. She was happy to be here and working with plants. She didn't even mind the smell so much because honestly after a while a person got used to it. Kind of came with the territory while wanting to become a Herbologist.

"Hello, Professor." He got a smile. Now it was time for her to compliment someone... "Adi is the most cheerful person I know." It was rather infectious actually - though she could never work up his level of enthusiasm. Happy people just helped make the world a better place.

That out of the way, Paulina grabbed the hand of the person closest to her so that she could take part in the meditation circle.

She SURE did smell nice! Yeah! Char beamed at Oliver but then also, because she didn't want him to get his hopes up (she was very thoughtful that way), she leaned over and:

"Psssst, Oliverrrr! Just so you know, I already have a boyfriend." JUST SAYING. So, he couldn't be hers even though he said she smelled nice.

Just so he knew.

Paul smiled at the first student to arrive. ZEKE BROWN! Hello there, hi! Paul waved at him with BOTH of his gloved hands and flushed at the compliment. Merlin. At fifty-five, you’d think he’d be used to compliments by now...nope.

Not at all.

“Well, thank you, Zeke. I appreciate it.” He held out a flower for the boy to take. He was touched. Ugh.



Ah, Mr. Barrington. Paul always had to chuckle at the boy--he was just a hoot, wasn’t he? The Herbology professor just shook his head slightly. “Well...I apologize for the smell! But it’ll be worth it!” For the plants…

“And yes, Dante, Zeke IS pretty cool.” He could agree to that.



“Morning, Mister Bellaire! Nice to see you!” The young fellow was another funny kid. As his comment to Dante clearly noted...it made Paul turn red with laughter. He tilted his head to the side to better examine Dante’s ears...and nodded. “Yes. Very interesting indeed. But the ear is a very interesting body part, isn’t it, Mister Bellaire?”



Paul nodded at young Miss Nesslage. “I am doing just FINE today. I get to teach one of my favorite parts of Herbology…” it would be SUCH FUN he was sure.

...And Blaise was wearing...the same robes as most others, yes? It made Paul chuckle. A compliment was a compliment, though, and he thought the effort was admirable. Glancing at the door, Paul wondered how many students would come without their gloves...hmm. He hoped not too many? Did he have enough extra?



Mr. Rehman! His little guitar playing buddy! Paul smiled warmly at him and nodded. “I am looking forward to it, too--and I hope it’s fun for you all? I hope?” And if not, it was VITAL and IMPORTANT so they could just deal with it, right? Right. He told himself that, anyways.

But being a people pleaser had always been a bit of a flaw for him.

“...Blaise writes?” he asked curiously.



Blaise seemed to be getting a lot of compliments. Hmph. He wished they would SPREAD THE LOVE a little more. But that was okay. He was happy that Blaise got a lot of love from people! “Righteous hair, Mr. Anderson-Belfort?” he asked with a small chuckle. “Righteous hair. Righteous hair…” he thought it sounded so DELIGHTFULLY funny.

“...and...you know…’what is up’ back at you, Damien.” Merlin.



“Hello, Noelle. You seem happy today. I’m glad to see it.” He smiled and wriggled his toes in his shoes. Merlin, he wished he could get away with not wearing any...they were really quite uncomfortable and…

Ugh.

Shoes.



Another HAIR compliment! Paul ruffled his own hair…”Do I not have pretty hair? No one ever compliments MY hair…” he teased the class at large, knowing full WELL that a head of white hair was not going to attract any attention.

“Hello, Miss Kettleburn.”



Right! Benny was quite right. Sophie WAS energetic and enthusiastic. He sent the boy a smile. “Hope you’re doing well today, Mr. Atreyu…” the boy seemed kind of sad sometimes. Maybe he needed hugs.

Paul could give him hugs sometimes. Or tea. Whatever he needed!



“Hi, Oliver!” Paul greeted right back, JUST as, if not MORE cheerfully. He did sniff in Charlotte’s general direction…”Well..she certainly does...mhmm…”

Interesting.

Paul was now nose-blind to the awful smell in the Greenhouse. Soon, all of the students would be, too.



The other Hufflepuff prefect was here. Norah. Paul had trouble remembering her name...he always wanted to call her..Sarah. Or something. Sigh. But he KNEW she was Norah. And her compliment was so...thought-out and interesting. Cool.

“Well so am I! That’s the spirit, m’dear!” he clapped his gloved hands together.



“Hi, Kay-----” but he stopped. He stopped very abruptly. He stopped...very abruptly...because….

His face was slowly turning a bright red...and Paul put his hands over his cheeks to hide the fact……...MERLIN’S PANTS, KAYCEE RICHARDS. “Well--Miss Richards--as much of a compliment that may BE to Mr. Barrington--I think you should come up with a more appropriate one--” he stuttered.

Because really, that was the LAST thing he wanted to think about his students doing. O___O



“Morning, Dot!” he waved at her as she come in, still recovering from….Kaycee. He was sure his cheeks were still burning. Oh GOSH. He had not read the Aparecium, either….nope, not THIS Paul Myers!.

Ahem.

Gosh, did that deserve a fistbump?? Paul rubbed his forehead, smearing some residual dirt from his glove onto his skin there…..



Right, the circle. Paul needed to get ready for their circle-time meditation stuff. “Thank you, Miss Ber….zo….ski….Thomas!” He totally could say words sometimes. And names. That was absolutely how you said that name….right?

Paul winced at his own butcher-ment of the name because...ugh. Would he EVER get it right? “You’re cool too. Ellery.” Her first name was much safer.



Ahhh, there was Miss Brown. Paul wondered where her golden retriever boyfriend was. Zander Adair would soon follow, correct? Hehe. Young love.

“Well THANK you, Sophie! You sure can----” and his eyes sort of...filled with tears….because getting a flower meant so much to him! He saved them all, drying them out and putting them in jars or...hanging them...they decorated his office so nicely. He took the flower and smiled a little as he blinked a lot.

“And yes, Norah is a very kind soul.”



Paul nodded at Candice. “I am doing pretty good, Miss Messer. And you?” he asked, chuckling...quite a lot at the look on her face. The look on many of the students’ faces were just HILARIOUS to Paul! Sorry, kids!

“Miss Brown--come here--is that true?” he laughed and squinted at Sophie’s face. “It is rather symmetrical...interesting compliment, Candice.”



And this young Ravenclaw looked quite disenchanted to be here. Paul was so sorry to see this, but he did smile at her as she came in nonetheless. “Hello hello, Miss Mancini…” he waved at her.



Paulina! Quiet little Hufflepuff, she was. Paul made sure to smile BROADLY at her and wave and just...ugh. All his students really...even Daxton Prince made him smile sometimes. “Hello, Miss Holiday! Oh what a nice name you have---during this time, eh? EH?” EHEHEHHEE Paul thought it was cheerful and festive.

“Adi is very cheerful!” He could totally attest to that!


And Paul glanced at the doorway…”A few more minutes until we start meditations.”

Herbology. Zander LOVED herbology.

He wasn't sure how he felt about this mediation stuff, yet. But Herbology, that he KNEW he LIKED.

So of course he walked into class with a pleasant smile on his face, only letting it falter for a few seconds when he got a whiff of whatever that horrible stench was. "Hey, Professor..." Man was passing his tests, for now. Hm. Zander lingered around the man for a short second before taking a place in the meditation circle. "Tia's wicked smart!," he smiled at the sixth year, sort of disappointed that they hadn't had a chance to catch up yet at all this term... Especially after how things went at the "feast" last term... Ahem.

SOMEONE HAD ALREADY SAID SOMETHING NICE ABOUT MISS SOPHIE BROWN. Rooney had been planning on doing that. Instead, Rooney took ALL of the remaining flowers and passed them to Sophie as he joined the circle near her. She had touched him emotionall--Zander Adair. Zander Adair. Well. "Mister Zander Adair, Head Boy of Hogwarts, is" egotistically as big-headed as his physical head would suggest? A giant wet towel? "a big inspiration." Badge wise.

Girlfriend wise.

... Did Rooney want to be like him?

... ... Could they just start the class now or was he going to have to think more about the Head Boy?

Brooklyn still hadn’t made up her mind about Herbology. Not after Professor Walton had up and left, although she’d gone back to considering it when Headmistress Truebridge had taken it over. But now she had to get used to another new professor, so the jury was back out on the subject. Plus, she wasn’t a big fan of digging around in the dirt. It all had nearly made her just turn right back around before she’d gotten to class, but she’d forced herself to continue. At least she could see how weird Professor Myers’ lessons were before she chose if she’d keep coming to the lessons. Maybe she could just teach herself. So far they hadn’t seemed to be getting much better though.

Except she really wasn’t good at coming up with compliments. That was her main reason for having considered giving up the subject. There were at least a few people who had arrived before her that she could come up with something, though. “Good day Professor,” she said politely, dropping her bag at her preferred station before moving toward the circle. “Benny is a gentleman.” The Gryffindor was dead useful when the swamp had grown, anyway. He’d let her climb him like he was a tree, and he hadn’t freaked out like Professor Flamsteed had done when the cat version of Professor Quigley had done the same to him. Either way, there was her compliment. Now she’d just have to deal with the meditation part.