Herbology lessons were always weird, mostly 'cause Professor Myers was super weird himself. Emmeline had stopped having annnny expectations at all whenever she entered the appropriate greenhouse for a lesson, so she wasn't surprised to see all the biiig flowers and stuff everywhere. No, the only reallly shocking thing in the greenhouse was Professor Myers's costume 'cause he was dressed up as some Muggle metal person thing. And she couldn't see his face at ALL, which was creepy.

The second year was just in her normal school uniform today 'cause she hadn't really felt like putting a costume together. She'd been realllly busy constantly checking on all of her pets between lessons AND trying to solve the case of the Blood Bird. Emmeline wasn't really bothered by being costume-less, though; she figured that at least SOME other students would be in Hogwarts robes too, mhm.

But today was super different for the Gryffindor 'cause instead of arriving at the last possible minute like she usually did, she'd tried to be one of the first students here on purpose. See, she'd been wrestling with a super hard moral dilemma ever since she'd tried to sneak into Myers's office at night and lost looooads of points: redemption or revenge. After talking with several students -- mostly older ones, y'know -- she'd decided to go the redemption route. And and Miss Olivia P. had even sent her the best idea ever for how to accomplish this in her last owl: by writing a letter. Emmeline had drafted it reallly carefully in the common room last night, with several earlier drafts becoming food for the fire, and she finally thought it was okay. She meant what she'd written, and maybe he'd just think that she was trying to suck up to him or something, but she'd finally decided that that was the professor's problem if he did believe that. She was doing the right thing, mhm.

She had decided to include a chocolate frog with her letter too -- an awesome habit that she'd picked up from Derf. So the second year put on a bright smile and marched right up to Professor Myers in his creepy costume with a scroll bound with red ribbon and a chocolate frog attached (by being tied to the ribbon) in hand. She swallowed nervously as she got close to the professor, realllly wishing now that she'd chosen a different day to do this, and held out the letter tentatively: "Hiii, Professor. Ummm this is for you." Emmeline practically shoved the scroll and chocolate frog at the professor's hand and shuffled nervously from foot to foot. What now? Should she sit by the flowers? Stand there while he read it?

She was frozen in indecision really.

Oh, PRETTY! Not the professor and his weird padding, although she appreciated the efforts he went to in order to entertain them, but the flower. The seating. All very pretty.

"This is very impressive spellwork, sir. Are you sure you aren't a Charms expert in your spare time?" Katy gave the professor a returning thumbs up before she hopped up on a petal. "Also hello."

Sam had been quite adamant that she wasn't going to dress up for this lesson. A toga was a complete no go with her mood, that was for sure. And then she'd thought about some of the villains from Mythology, and it'd seemed a whole lot more viable. Dora had talked her out of Hades, although Sam still didn't see the issue with it...and instead they'd opted to make her into Medusa. Twisted into her natural curls were a number of dark green wire snakes, mouths open and tongues out. The rest of her outfit consisted of a smokey eye and bright red lip, courtesy of Dora's make up bag, and a black corset-style top and long skirt from her own wardrobe.

And, weirdly, Sam loved it.

She was just a little hesitant as she entered the classroom, however. Because...whatever Myers was wearing did not look like anything Greek mythological that she was aware of. But...then again, History wasn't exactly her subject so who was she to question until he'd explained.

A robot, huh? Riiiiiiiight.

Regardless, she greeted the...ahem...quirky Professor, and headed as directed to one of the lotus petals over yonder. "Good day Professor Myers!" And small smiles to Emmeline and Katy too, yep.

Having opted out of dressing up for Halloween, the Gryffindor was actually pretty stoked about this lesson... because of the costume aspect, of course. Yeah. So when Dora entered wearing her red toga because GRYFFINDOR, she paused for a moment so everyone could take her in. In one hand she carried a pomegranate, but in the other she had fashioned a small jar of blue bell flames to a torch.

Take it in.

Did they all know who she was? HMMMM?

"Good day professor... " She trailed off as she spotted him. Well, that was interesting. To say the least.

The very least.

What even was he??

But whatever. There was SAM with the snakes in her hair! Dora immediately made her way over to her bestie and plopped down beside her. "We'll totally eat the pomegranate seeds after class, " She whispered.

Maddie had no idea what the professor was dressed up as. No idea whatsoever. It looked like a pretty cool get-up to her, though. Waaaay more interesting than regular school robes. That wasn't the main attraction, though (sorry, Professor). The main attraction was the seating arrangement in this place! There was literally ONE HUMONGOUS flower of some kind spread out all over the place, and apparently they were supposed to sit on it. "HEYYYY, PROFESSOR!" she said. "Cool costume!" It didn't matter to Maddie that he was meant to be something else. She just thought it was super awesome to sit in a classroom on a lotus flower and be taught by someone in a robot costume...or whatever he was supposed to be.

Maddie bounced into the room and claimed a petal that looked like it could double as a slide. "Do you think we can slide on these?" she asked the kid next to her. If they could, it was a DONE DEAL. Her Head of House was THE COOLEST PROFESSOR EVERRRR. She almost forgot all about the fact that this was a lesson...

Why was this man so weird? He couldn't figure it out, but he realized why he was the head of the puffers. He could see them all cluttered together being weird and having hugging parties or something. He looked around as he entered the greenhouse, why were all the professors so weird. Most of them were shoving snacks down their throats and this one was dressing all nuts.

He gave a nod and hurried past the professor to find a quiet seat away from as many as he could. Maybe if he opened his herbology book people would just think he was studying and continue on about their day.

Greek mythology! Isa loved Greek mythology, though not quite as much as Penny and dad did. Collecting mythology books was one of dad’s specialties, so Isa had grown up reading Greek mythology. She was especially captivated by the myths relating to plants. One of her first books had been a children’s Greek mythology book. Dad had wanted to name her Antheia for the minor Greek goddess of flowers, but Mum hadn’t agreed to that as her first name so they had steeled on that being her middle name instead.

Isa had come to class dressed as a dryad, a tree nymph. Live plants were assisting her in her dryad transformation. She wore a crown of oak twigs with green leaves still on them woven together, charmed so that the plant would stay alive. Real moss clung to her flowing brown and green dress that was patterned to look like a tree trunk. Vines wrapped themselves up her legs, around her arms, and up through the branches on her head. Isa was quite gifted when it came to plant magic. Goddess of flowers, vegetation, and gardens was her middle name. Literally.

The small bird that had decided to take up residence on her head somewhere between the castle and the greenhouse, however, was entirely unintentional. Isa was just going to let it stay there for now though if that was what it wanted. Her tree headpiece did sort of look like a nest or at least a good perch after all.

The giant flowers were the first thing Isa noticed when she walked in. Those big ones must have been charmed to get so big, probably to make it easier to observe the parts of the flowers. Isa made a few quick flower sketches in her pocket notebook and got closer to the flowers for a better look.

Look at everyone else’s costumes! ”Are you Persephone, Dora?” Oh, what was Professor Myers dressed as? It wasn’t anything she recognized from Greek mythology. It made more sense once she heard his explanation of the costume mix-up. ”Hello Professor Myers! Sorry your costume didn’t work out. Could be modified to be a Greek god? The flowers look absolutely gorgeous though!” Those fake abs didn’t strike Isa as very robot-like. Honestly, Isa wasn’t even sure what the herbology professor’s costume was supposed to be.

Isa came up to Emmeline and wrapped her arms around the Gryffindor in a hug. ”You’ll be okay, I promise. Professor Myers wants you to succeed. I’m here to support you too.” Then, to try to make Emmeline a bit happier about this lesson, Isa conjured a flower crown around Emmeline’s head. ”Orchideous. You can be a flower goddess now!” Hopefully Emmeline would like that.

”Oooh, lotus flowers, like Odysseus and the blissfully forgetful lotus-eaters! ….Do lotus flowers have hallucinogenic properties when people eat them?” Isa didn’t want to test that. It was scary how in the lotus myth everyone who ate the lotuses forgot about everything else. There was a reason why you weren’t supposed to eat random plants, because you never knew which ones were poison or could mess up your brain or other parts of your body.

Oliver walked into the room and between the giant flowers and the Professor's costume of.. who in Oliver's opinion was the worst X-Men there seemed to be a lot going on in this room. "Professor, these flowers are crazy.. Also you're dressed as a comic book character.. His name is also cyclops. He's a mutant." Cause why not just tell him what he is now.


"you look like you've been working out, You hittin' the gym?" Clearly a joke about the fake muscles. Someone had to make one.

The Sixths year took a seat next to Katy. Cause why not sit with the best friend?

Zoryn Amari Spinnet did NOT want to be here. Not at all. But seeing as Professor Marchand said that she couldn't drop the class until after her OWLs year... Zoryn was here. And she HATED it. Professor Myers was, like, okay and all. But the class itself was SO BORING. Most days Zoryn skipped, but on days like today when she got caught for it... She had backup plans.



Before entering the greenhouse, Zoryn casted a hot air charm and held her wand to her forehead long enough to hike up the heat. That's right, Zoryn Spinnet was about to star in the most important role of her life.

After her forehead was heated up enough, she patted her face with some water from her bottle and licked her palms so they'd look all nice 'n clammy. Perfect.

She made sure to DRAMATICALLY stumble into the room, holding a hand to her forehead. "Uhhhhh..... Professor, I don't feel so good," she tried to make her eyes look super lazy and slumped her back so he could SEE how little energy she had. "I'm kinda wooooozy," he could check her forehead if he wanted. It was HOT.

"Dunno if class is such a good idea for me today."

Man, she deserved an Oscar.

Or seven.

If Zoryn Spinnet wanted to have an overheated head, she should've done what Tenacius was doing, for the Gryffindor Prefect waltzed in wearing this stifling mask and fluffy wings that have somewhat cut off circulation to his upper appendages, making his arms and hands a bit cold to the touch.

But hey anything for the role huh? Andbody guess what he's come in as? Bonus points if they can guess what role he's trying out for the play....

"Heyyyy there Professor Cyclops!" he laughed from within the mask as he thumbs up'd the Herbologist's get up. Now if he could actually make it to those flower petals without trampling on anyone....

Olivia stopped straight in her tracks when she entered the greenhouse and saw it covered nearly all in lotus flower petals... Wow. She thought. Her blue eyes scanned further and then he saw a guy wearing a unicorn head and wings... and then a cyclops. Not like a cyclops from mythology but the one from the X-Men movie... Was that Professor Myers! "Hey Professor Myers! Didn't know you were a fan of the X-men!" she said with a grin before walking over to find a seat. She looked around, wondering if Ace or Etta were here before deciding to take a seat kind of near the guy dressed as a flying unicorn. Instead she saw Oliver there- one of her wandlore buddies. "Oliver! Hey!" she said giving him a happy smile.

How intriguing.

The Gryffindor girl had decided to dress up as Demeter. "Hello!" she said to the guy who was the unicorn. She had always enjoyed Demeter. The passion that she showed for her daughter. The willingness and determination to find her daughter.

She hadn’t forgotten the disastrous mandrake lesson from last term, but Stasya wasn’t going to give up on Herbology yet. Not when she felt the need to support Emmeline, who she knew was really worried about the lesson, and also there were plenty of other friends who’d probably be there. Friends who would help her if she was particularly uncomfortable with the lesson, and plus, she got to wear a costume. Costumes were fun, and she’d had the perfect one for the lesson. Well, the flower crown was recycled anyway, from her costume for the party at the Leaky ages ago, and she had her squirrel necklace on since she figured Dobby wouldn’t be allowed. The rest of her costume was new, because obviously her old one would’ve had to be altered if she’d wanted to wear it. Even if technically the vesna wasn’t Greek, it was basically a spring nymph so she had her argument all set if Professor Myers wanted to argue.

“Hi Professor Myers,” she greeted the professor, tilting her head in confusion as she tried to figure out how a robot equaled a cyclops. But otherwise she didn’t question it, turning to head over to where Isa and Emmeline were. Why was Isa asking about hallucinogenic properties, whatever those were? It sounded weird, but at least the Puff and her sort of coordinated. And she could help with the bird if it was necessary. And both her and Emmeline had flower crowns.

She’d turned curious eyes toward Zoryn as she’d arrived, looking all sweaty and weird even though she could’ve sworn the older girl had looked okay earlier, but she wasn’t going to question it. As far as she knew, she wasn’t going to want to escape from this lesson, but she knew what it felt like. Plus, why would she want to leave when Ace looked like a cross between a unicorn and a winged horse?

Ronan hadn't felt so bad about his costume once he'd caught sight of Tenacius' back in the common room. Besides, surely there had been some vigilantes in Greek mythology that had dressed like this, right?

Once he stepped into the greenhouse, he felt even better about it. Professor Myers was dressed up as some kind of weird future person thing. What was that Slytherin saying? An X-Men? He hadn't gotten there in enough time to hear the professor's explanation, so he was confused. Also confusing? The lotus flowers. He'd thought those were more of an Egyptian or Japanese thing, not Greek. Either way, Ronan carefully took a seat on a petal with a "Hello, professor." and kept his confusion off his face.

Nice Ferris Bueller, by the way Zoryn.

Harriet hadn't dressed up. She hadn't really felt like it. And really didn't have time. She was trying to keep her studying up, and so didn't have that much spare time. Not with her extra-curricular's too. So he was just dressed normally as she headed down to the Herbology lesson. She was excited though. This was one of her favorite lessons. She loved herbology, and thought that she was pretty good at it. Or at least she hoped. She figured that she would find out if she was when she did the exam later in the year

"Hello Professor!" The Fifth year beamed as she headed into the greenhouse. "Ooh. Pretty!" She beamed as she noticed the Lotus flowers. Mm. She did like flowers. They were pretty. She smiled once more before heading to find a seat.

Herbology. It had been one of Vanessa's favourite lessons when she had been at school, so she was quite looking forward to seeing how it was taught now. She already knew Professor Myers pretty well. He was her daughter's head of house after all. So at least there wasn't going to be any awkwardness. Or at least she hoped not. She was only observing after all, and hopefully would have nothing to be worried about.

Mrs Paton headed down towards the greenhouses as the time that she had been made aware the lesson would begin. She didn't want to be too early,
and have to sit around waiting. That would not do. So she had timed her entrance to be just before the lesson began. "Hello Professor Myers" Vannie smiled at the man. Hopefully this would be no overly awkward. "I look forward to seeing what lesson you have planned" She murmured with a smile before she went to find a seat.

She smiled at her daughter, before heading to sit in a corner. She didn't want to be too much in the way. She as only observing after all. And so....
she began observing.

With her hair twisted up into a braided bun, Felicity had decided that was as much effort as she was putting into any kind of costume that day. After all, she didn't really know much about Greek Mythology, except that they wore togas, and she didn't have a toga. But her hair was kinda Grecian, so that would do.

Another person observing this lesson. By now, Felicity wasn't surprised as she entered the Greenhouse after the woman, but she did gasp in astonishment when she saw the flowers. "Wow, nice job, Professor!" She grinned at him and didn't think a lot about his costume!fail, too entranced was she at the sight before her. Going over to the nearest one, she pulled herself up to a seat on one of the petals.

Surprisingly comfy.

Okay, so Vivian had absolutely zero ideas about Greek Mythology, except for the obvious fact that they were from Greece... duh. Which was no problem for the blond, of course, because she had asked her mum for some Greek-inspired outfit for this lesson. As she had no idea who on Earth the goddesses were, Vivian opted to go for the general Greek goddess dress instead, with a pretty wreath to match her golden locks.

Well, it wasn't every day they dressed up for class. The prefect definitely appreciated today, and she actually thought she looked nice for a change. "Hello, Professor!" The blond greeted him with a wide smile. And those flowers were definitely beautiful! Professor Paul received a thumbs-up from Vivian before she moved over to sit beside Liss. "Hey! I love your hair today." And every day, for that matter. Vivian was a big appreciator of nice hair.

So the Greek apparel? Thank GOODNESS it was optional, because it had completely slipped Skylar's mind, despite the fact that her dormies have decided to dress all regal and goddess-like. Then again, with their golden locks, they were always goddess-like. Truth be told, this was Herbology and Professor Myers should be grateful for her presence and undivided attention, even if she was about to be distracted by the fact that he was wearing a padded costume. UH...UH... hadn't he said Greek Mythology, not Science Fiction? Just, let him do him. She had other things to worry about.

Like the fact that her best friend's mother was sitting over there in the corner. WHY THIS CLASS?! Couldn't Vanessa Paton have observed any other class but this one? Where she struggled so desperately to understand.... then again, Vanessa, like her own mother, was a Hufflepuff and didn't Hufflepuffs have some sort of mutual ingrained knowledge of Herbology? Isa certainly seemed to follow that rule.

"Hi Professor Myers!" She greeted, taking a seat precariously on one of the petals near Isa. Because somehow with the presence of Vanessa, she didn't want to sit near Hattie, since distractions. And her dormmates would also pose a distraction, so Isa was the safest choice.

She was almost late for class, but only almost. It was hard to leave her baby Aethonan when he was being so affectionate--especially when he was trying to show her how much better he was getting at flying. How could she honestly say no to that little faaaaccceeee?? Circe alive, she'd have to go visit him again before her next lesson. Might as well while she was out here on the grounds.

"Hey Profes..." There were several curious things happening at once. The Ravenclaw would have to prioritize the order in which she processed them.

He was a robot, the room was filled with the lotus flowers he was likely talking about, that First Year was asking about sliding on them and she wasn't so sure what she'd walked in on.

Could they go back to dissecting mandrakes, please? She absolutely loved that lesson. "Very...decorative...."

The first thing Cassie noticed as she entered the greenhouse was the giant plants that took up much of the space. The second as she moved further inside was that Professor Myers was wearing a costume. Um…okay. “Hello Professor,” she greeted the man nevertheless, nodding in understanding at the instructions. He had mentioned the plants being safe so the Ravenclaw chose to take a seat on one of the petals to get a closer look at the plants. Curiosity hitting her with interest as she settled her flowy Greek garb around her.

And oh look…the plants…lotus flowers…had a literary reference. Homer’s Odyssey. How cool was that? Cass took note of it in her notes while she jotted down anything else that seemed interesting about the petal beneath and around her. "Well it is Cyclops...technically." Just don't ask how she knew or remembered her superheros that her brother had been obsessed with.

Ad oh look…a School Governor was there as well.

Patrick walked into class with a smile on his face, he had decided that he wouldn't dress up as his favorite Greek mythology person because his was Hercules and that required a lion cape. He noticed the professor was in a costume as well, it reminded him of the X-men movies he used to watch back home with his friends. "Hello Professor! Like the others said, wicked costume and didn't know you were a fan of X-men?"

He glanced around noticing that about three quarters of the room had giant lotus flowers for students to sit on and one quarter available with real chairs. Stopping where he was in the room, Patrick assessed the situation. He could either stay boring and sit on a chair, or he could be a bit adventurous and potentially slip off a lotus leaf. "Lotus leaf it is." He mumbled to himself as he walked closer toward the lotus flower to situate himself before class began.

It was a pretty excited group today, lot of students chatting and students dressing up. It sure wasn't for Patrick. There were a couple of leaves beside him that were open and he wondered if anyone would join him.

Slate did not dress up. Why? Because he didn't just randomly pack costumes in his school trunk. Who just happened to a have a mythological outfit just ... on hand.

He head tilted as he entered the classroom. "Wasn't aware those were classical myths." he said amused passing the Professor. He also didn't randomly have an X-Men outfit.

He took a seat on the ground after entering. It felt wrong to sit on a flower petal. As for the lesson, he guessed it was related to lotuses. Lot-i?
Was Lotus already plural?

Etta was a little late for class, which almost NEVER happens. She practically ran all the way down to the grounds and ended up tripping a few times. Ugh, ugh. How had she forgotten that she had a class? Herbology, that too? But then, she paused for a moment just outside the greenhouse.. her eyes widening a little.

She was obviously missing a costume party of sorts.. and there were giant lotus flowers everywhere and Professor Paul.. well, he certainly looked interesting to say the least. She slowly walked in and hopped on to one of the giant petals, carefully taking a seat. The prefect looked around, observing things before her eyes finally drifted back towards the professor. Well... okay.

“Hello, professor.” .. and she refrained from giggling. Ahem.

Derf had been working on his costume last minute - not surprising to anyone really - and was actually leaving a trail of white and grey feathers that had not glued on so well to his white jumper and sweatpants. So really...his body looked more like a plucked chicken than the body of the creature he was trying to represent. At least his mask and accompanying arm and feet covers were not falling apart...and his wings were actually quite nice since he had enlisted the help of an older student. The feathers on his body, well, he had sorta just covered himself in glue and then rolled around on the floor in his dorm room to pick up whatever feathers were possible.

Which meant that the dorm room floor was basically a sticky mess at the moment. Oops. Hopefully the house elves would be making their rounds before Simon came back. He was sure that Eno and Clayton could handle that much. Probably.

Wearing the costume of the prideful creature made Derf SOMEWHAT confident as he walked into the room. He also thought that Professor Myers could maybe kinda sorta appreciate the CHOICE considering the bags of poop he had brought the man earlier in the term.

Or at least he THOUGHT he was confident until he actually stepped foot into the place and then, well, he wished his wings could actually make him fly away.

"......hello." Yup. Still standing here in the doorway.

Well well, look who had arrived not only PROMPTLY, but EARLY. Paul smiled when he saw her, mostly because he didn’t WANT her to think he hated her. Her mistake was in the past, and he didn’t hold anything against her. This wasn’t Daxton Prince, the monstrosity that had killed many of his plants in his greenhouses. He didn’t care if it sounded cruel or biased; Prince getting expelled had been the best thing for everyone involved.

A letter? Paul smiled and took it from her. “I’ll wait to read it after class.” Just to give her letter some privacy, you know. He meant to stick it in his pocket, but…...he was wearing this AWFUL costume, and it HAD no pockets, so.

He gave his wand a flourish and the letter gently placed itself at the far side of the room, away from all the plants, in a safe spot.




Paul laughed at her comment. “I’ve always been adept at charms, m’dear.” He said in response.



“Ay, good day to you, Medusa….” he didn’t quite look at her in her eyes, because you couldn’t look MEDUSA DIRECTLY IN HER EYES. So. The pretense was on!



“YES YES, good day to YOU….Persephone?” Paul wasn’t so sure. The pomegranate...but maybe he was wrong. “Tell me if I’m wrong,” he said with a smile.



“Thank you, Miss Kemp!” he gave her a thumbs up. “I don’t exactly know what it is, but...y’know.”



He waved at Eddie as he made his way inside and watched him sit by himself. To each their own, he supposed, but he WISHED the boy would at least try to socialize! Ah, well, he wasn’t in Paul’s house. Technically, Paul had no right to offer advice.

Eddie didn’t look that unhappy, anyhow.



“I think I’ll just stick with this costume, Miss Wright,” he said gently. She was a ball of energy today, wasn’t she? He was on the verge of telling her to take deeeeep breaths and meditate for a minute before class began. WOW.

“I am NOT telling you yet! That’s what CLASS is for,” he winked in her direction. She would just have to wait and seeeeee. Her passion for Herbology never ceased to amaze Paul. His mind flitted briefly to past students who shared her passion...and he made a mental note to write them all. Check on them.



A MUTANT? “What? A mutant? Of what kind? Is he bad? What can he do?” HE HAD SO MANY QUESTIONS NOW. He looked down at his stomach, though, and chortled. “More like hitting the gym’s snack bar.” Because some gyms sold snacks, you know, however CRAZY that seemed.



His eyes were caught by the stumbling figure of someone----turned out to be none other than Zoryn Spinnet. Now, in his current mindset without much reflection, he was immediately worried about her. “Are you okay? What did you eat today? Have you gotten enough rest lately?” he asked quickly.

He did reach out to feel her head, and he gasped. “Oh my...Miss Spinnet, you are burning up. Hospital wing at once!” he pointed his wand at the door, and an enormous binnturong erupted from the end of his wand, it’s whiskers flickering as it waited for Zoryn. “My patronus will accompany you to Healer Reed. Your head is way too hot...you need to get treated immediately”

The silvery bearcat’s thick tail slid across the ground behind it as if to make way for Zoryn to follow.



“Hello, Mr. Pegasus!” he grinned. “Creative costume, Mr. Salander!” And when the boy turned to go find a seat, Paul whispered an incantation and pointed his wand at Tenacius’ back. The boy suddenly lifted into the air, JUST FOR A SECOND, before landing on a petal.

…...Paul covered his face, trying not to laugh, as he turned in the other direction so Tenacius might not THINK that was him. But Pegasus had to FLY, right?



“What’s an x- man?” He asked. Was it someone who USED to be a man? And now WASN’T? A MUTANT? As Mr. Lupin had said?

“Demeter, your daughter is around here somewhere!” Where had Dora gone?! He spun around in search.



“Helllllo, Stasya!” he greeted her as she slipped inside. Her looks of utter confusion made him want to burst with laughter. Oops.



Paul had no idea what Ronan was, but he was dressed up and in a good mood, so of COURSE HE WAS HAPPY to see him. “Hello there, Ronan! Mind telling me who you are? ‘Cuz if not, I’m just going to be wondering all through the lesson.” And be supremely….distracted.



“Hello there, Hattie!” he said with a smile. He knew her mother was coming, of course, and was about to ask where she was when the woman waltzed right in afterwards. “Mrs. Paton, looking refreshingly beautiful, as always,” he took her hand and smiled, giving it a pat. “Please...have a seat anywhere you like. Do whatever you need to do. We’re still on for a pop in at the Three Broomsticks after this, right?” he had promised the woman a drink after his lesson.

Of course, Paul was friendly. But this was all very strategic as well. He was glad he had gotten a badger’s mother, too, someone he had been in contact with before. He couldn’t have gotten luckier!



Felicity’s gasp like, made his day. He felt smug. MHMM. “Thank you, Felicity, thank you. Welcome to class!” he smiled at the costumeless girl.



“Hello, Prefect Vivian!” he momentarily forgot her surname O__O Oops. He couldn’t tell WHICH Goddess she was, but she looked fitting.



“Good day to you, Miss Diggory!” he saluted her. Funny choice, to sit next to Isa. Paul had a keen not really awareness of the social dynamics of his students. HMMM. HMMMMMMMMM.

Something was fishy.



“Thank you, Miss Cambridge.” He smirked. “Have a seat, anywhere you like, m’dear!” Another one that looked utterly confused.



“Hello, Cassie!” he waved at her. She had dressed up! She looked great! Not that he knew what exactly she was, but maybe she was just...Greek-y. “Apparently this guy’s name is Cyclops. How MISLEADING.”



“I don’t even know what an X MAN is. OKAY?” He should clarify this RIGHT NOW. “But good day, Patrick. Nice to see you around here….oh, I mean….Hercules,” he winked.



“Me?” he asked as Slate came in. “There was a sliiiiiight costume mixup, Sleat,” he said with a chuckle. Apparently, a name slip-up was happening too.



……”Don’t you DARE laugh at me, Henrietta Kramer,” he teased, trying to hide the smirk from his face.



Paul knew Derf might have issues with today’s class due to the GIANT lotus flowers. But Paul saw him in the doorway and cleared his throat. “Derfael….” he stepped towards the giant lotus, patted a leaf, and then even nudged it slightly with his foot. “These….don’t move by themselves. There is nothing to be afraid of. I promise. You don’t even have to sit close to it if you don’t want to.”

He was doing his best, but if Derfael couldn’t handle it…...hmmm. “I have to start---” if Derf was still having trouble, he would deal with it in a minute.

…

But they needed to get the party started. “ALL RIGHT EVERYONE!” Cease the talking please, at least for now. “As if it weren’t already obvious, today we are going to be learning about the DREADED lotus flower. The...one known in mythology, not the one that lives atop water,” two different loti, okay?

“Now, in Homer’s Odyssey, the character Odysseus is trying to come home after the looooong war against the Trojans in which the Greeks won and decimated poor Troy. Odysseus took...how long was it,...something like...20 years? To get home because some gods had it out for him and...just generally, a lot of obstacles. The CYLOPS being one of them,” he gestured at himself. “Not this cyclops. Like...an actual one-eyed cyclops. But as for the lotus...Odysseus and his men went through a lot of baloney, Zeus swept them up in a storm, and they shipwrecked on the island of the lotus eaters. It seemed harmless enough compared to other perils they faced on their journey. The lotus eaters are very nice and offer them some food, the lotus fruits.” The normal sized trees in the front of the room had little orange fruits on them, if they could see them. “They all ate them and…..lost all desire to go home. Lost all desires for...anything else BUT to eat more lotus fruits.” Sounded like a...meaningless life, didn’t it? “Odysseus, though, did not eat the fruit, if I remember correctly, and had to DRAG his men to the ship and lock them in bottom of the ship until they sailed away in order to leave. Else...they never would have left.” He smiled.

“There is another mention of the lotus in some muggle Greek mythology stories that I stumbled upon while doing research of the lotus for this class. In the...Percy Jackson? Series, they also run into some lotus eaters. Now in this story, the main guy, Percy, and his two friends are on some quest and end up at hotel called the Lotus Hotel. Or something,” the facts were jumbling together. “In this story, they are eating the fruit and...the fruits cast a spell on the eaters. They forget about whatever they want to do and simply want to stay at the hotel and continue eating more fruit. It wears off if you do not eat the fruit often enough. Some sentiment, but...slightly different.” He nodded and took a deep breath because he just did a LOT of explaining.

“The fruits do seem to have an addictive quality in both stories. They make you want to eat more…but….” and he paused for a second, just to make sure everyone was listening. “But not every lotus fruit has these properties. The enormous flower we’re seated on and around happens to be a female one, the ones that produce fruit.” He wondered if they should be taking notes O_O

“These plants are actually persimmon flowers and persimmon fruits. Lotus is the name given to them in the ancient texts, but….yes. These are persimmons.” PERSIMMONS, OKAY? “But I will continue to call them lotus just for ease of reference for you all.” NOT to be confused with the lotus on the water, okay guys? “Ancient Greeks called them the...FRUIT. OF. THE. GODS.” he made DRAMATIC hand motions while saying that. Very serious and impressive name. “If you were to eat one, it would taste like a...mixture of plum and dates. Kind of weird, honestly.” He cleared his throat and glanced behind him at the persimmon tree. “Each tree contains a mixture of fruit that can be either magical or not magical. Based on the stories I just told you, what do you think the magical properties of these fruit are? The ones that are magical, that is.” He looked back at the class, his hands behind him, and balancing on the balls of his feet a bit. “Any ideas?”

……… “OH and---and----I forgot to mention! We have a guest with us today from the Board of Governors, our very own Vanessa Paton!” he beamed and gestured over at her. “So don’t sabotage my lesson, please, all right?” He laughed pleasantly, and it was a joke, but it also...wasn’t a joke. Ahem.



OOC: Hey guys, welcome to class! It has officially started, so don't post late if you don't want to lose points, or do post late because it's fun to get in trouble and lose points. I DON'T CARE EITHER WAY JUST LETTING YOU KNOW. Ahem. I will be moving on in at least 24 hours but *eyes my luck lately* it might take me longer. Cheers!