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kayquilz · 07-25-2017, 03:00 PM

Greenhouse Three was cleared out for the most part. It was pretty bare except for the odd bush or greenery hanging around and the very large, tall tree at the base end of the Greenhouse. Even though there was no wind, it swayed gently, as if a gentle breeze were present. Light green leaves seemed to teem from the branches in long strands like lank hair. The Weeping Willow was beautiful; Paul had removed all the tables from the greenhouse and sat near the tree, leaning back on his elbows as he peered up at it.

As people began to arrive, Paul said, “Come on in everyone! Have a seat anywhere on the floor near the tree, if you will!” he chuckled and smiled. “And feel free to come closer to the Whomping Willow’s rather lacrimoneous cousin and have a look around...examine her...touch the trunk...anything! We’ll be starting shortly!” Yes, he’d made up a word. But lacrimoneous should totally be a word. Like, Paul couldn’t find a reason why it SHOULDN’T be a word.

Don’t worry, the rest of the inhabitants of Greenhouse Three are safely resting somewhere else for now. Paul seemed relaxed, himself, and smiley as he watched the tree. Really, nothing could burst his bubble right now.

OOC: Hello welcome welcome! Have a look at our rules as well as the site rules. Come on in, get settled, have a little chat, whatever floats your boat. I'll be moving us on in roughly 24 hours. <3

SPOILER!!: Lesson Progression

2111jen · 07-28-2017, 10:02 PM

Why are we supposed to make a tree sad? Jonas thought to himself. He just shrugged. There had to be a point to this as he continued practising.

Goblinfrog · 07-28-2017, 11:12 PM

So her answer about the tears being excess water wasn't correct. Well that was okay. It was a good guess and the real answer was more mystical than what she'd given the Weeping Willow credit for. It was also interesting how Professor Meyers said she could come to his cabin to talk about his beliefs. That could be fun, she thought - making a mental note to visit sometime later this week.

"My Ro-Ro?" she asked, pronouncing the spell word out loud. Heh it sounded funny. What was a Ro-Ro anyway? She didn't know, but apparently it was hers.

Going over to retrieve a glass vial, she carefully set it next to her on the ground and started practicing the spell. Of course, funny as the name sounded, it really wasn't a funny spell. She thought it was kind of scary how after this lesson they would all be able to make something or someone sad. She didn't know anyone she would want to do that spell on, not even Katy. (Her she might like to jinx, but not with sadness.)

"My Ro-Ro!" she said, pointing at the tree and doing the upside U motion with her wand. Nothing really happened.

Jean Granger · 07-29-2017, 06:54 AM

The fact that trees cried too was sad, to say the least. Carl had heard previously that the Weeping Willow tree could produce actual tears, but he had never seen it firsthand. He was surprised to learn that a sadness spell could make the tree cry. It was affected by sad emotions - just like them!

The sixteen-year-old noted down all the important points Professor Myers mentioned as the man continued talking about the sadness charm, Maeroro. The spell sounded kinda silly and he could not help but grin a bit as he added it to his notes. He looked up when the Professor moved on to talk about the wand movement. An upside down U - oh, like an upside down smiley face! That was smart.

Setting his things aside, Carl took out his wand and practiced the wand movement. Focusing on his pencil case for the time being, he drew an upside down U and pointed it sharply at the object. It was easy enough and after a few more practices, he decided to try the incantation. "Maeroro... May-ro-ro? Oh no, My-ro-ro... My-ro-ro... Maeroro..."

When he thought he was ready, he took a small vial from the front and moved closer to the tree. Doing the correct movement and pointing his wand at the tree's branches, he said "Maeroro!" Waiting... and waiting... but nope, nothing happened.

griffin · 07-29-2017, 07:29 AM

So only some willow trees had magical properties. Interesting. Sounded like the sort of thing mum would rave about. That was exactly what mum did, looking for varieties of mundane plants that had magical properties and crossbreeding plants to create new plant species with magical properties.

Oh, so the tree was affected by sadness! Who would have thought that you could make a tree cry by making it sad just like people cried. The answer that sadness would make a tree cry seemed so obvious now yet surprisingly simple. Honestly, she had sort of expected something related to the health condition of the tree. Most plants she knew of didn’t cry. There were her crossbreed daisies, of course. They cried and whined when they wanted water or attention. That was a completely different plant though. ”What makes a tree sad? Or do they just feel sadness from people around them?” Could trees feel sadness? Isa believed so, but she had never thought that plants could feel sadness in the same way that she did. Plants didn’t have the same emotional range or cognitive abilities. They got sad about not having enough water or not getting enough sunlight or not having the right nutrients in the soil or not getting proper care and attention. Plants didn’t have to worry about stupid boy problems or Saffron Stemp. Being a plant seemed like it would be so much easier sometimes. 
Desserta Hightop sounded like an interesting herbologist to study. ”What are the magical properties of the tears?” Maybe Professor Myers knew more about Hightop’s work, and she would look into that later. Now was a time for making trees sad and cry, apparently. ”Where are the tears produced in the tree? Is it in the bark of the branches?” Trees didn’t have tear ducts, so how did they cry? Surely the tree must produce the tears somewhere in the bark or under the bark for the tears to be able to drip out the branches. ”Are the tears made from the same substances as human tears, or are they something else?” Maybe they were a special tree substance that nothing else could produce?

Yes, Isa had heard of the cheering charm before. She wasn’t familiar with actually casting the charm, but she knew what it was. They were going to collect magical tree tears now! THIS WAS SO EXCITING! First, Isa practiced the incantation. ”My-Ro-Ro. My-Ro-Ro. Maeroro.” Proper elocution was especially important when casting spells. Wouldn’t want to mess up the incantation and have something go horribly wrong. Chances were if she didn’t do everything right the spell just wouldn’t work, but Isa had heard stories of terrible accidents and spells gone wrong due to botched incantations. Best to stay on the safe side. A few times Isa practiced the frowny face wand movement.

Ready to try the spell on the tree, Isa grabbed one of the vials and uncorked it. She held the vial close to the tree, ready to catch tears if and when they came. ”Maeroro.” Isa cast the spell at the branch. Nothing. ”Maeroro.” Still nothing. It didn’t help that she just didn’t have the intent to bring sadness behind the spell. Isa just wanted everyone to be happy in life, so she wasn’t inclined to bring about sadness in others. Making a tree sad was extremely difficult when you didn’t really want it to be sad. The tree would probably be much better off happy. However, the sadness charm was totally working on Isa. Already she was getting upset about totally illogical things, like why they had to make the tree sad. It made her sad to think of sad things. One more time, Isa tried the sadness charm on the tree. ”Maeroro.” Oh, hey, was that a tear? Maybe the sadness charm worked better when she was thinking about sad things. Like, maybe positive thoughts canceled out the sadness energy of the charm or something? Whatever it was, the charm was working better for her now. It helped her to think of this as simply collecting the tears instead of trying to make the tree sad. Trying to make a tree sad was just depressing. ”Maeroro. Maeroro. Maeroro.” Isa held the vial in a position where the trees could drip into the vial. She wasn’t sure if it was enough to fill the vial 3/4 of the way yet, but it was better than nothing. This was progress.

SilverTiger · 07-29-2017, 08:45 AM

Even without the response her silent greetings had gotten, Stasya had felt the love from her friends, and weirdly enough from the tree too. At least, she’d thought that was what she felt sitting there with her back leaning against the trunk, but she’d barely gotten up the courage to ask Professor Myers if that was possible when the lesson had started and instead, she’d just listened carefully. Besides, she figured he’d probably say the tree could totally love someone anyway, and there was also the distraction of Derf wearing a helmet. It was hard not to giggle while the professor had told the sad story about mythology and stuff. She’d craned her neck to look up at the branches when the discussion had turned to the tree, too. So it could actually cry? She didn’t want it to be sad.

Maybe Dobby would make the tree happy, except she didn’t have her squirrel with her even though she’d have loved to. He just couldn’t be hidden in her pocket like Derf kept Scamander in his. And, the professor had mentioned the tree’s tears having special properties, so she’d shot her hand up with a question. “Professor Myers, is it like how phoenix tears can heal things?” She was just curious.

Plus, the idea of a spell that could make people or trees cry didn’t really seem like something she really wanted to know. But, if she had to, she’d practice it. She just wanted him to know that she thought making the tree cry was mean, so she’d given him a reproachful look as she’d gotten up to collect a vial before returning to her place near the trunk. Practicing the spell didn’t mean she had to actually cast it yet, and she set the vial carefully in her lap before she took her wand out. Sad face movement first. She slowly traced out the upside down curve a few times, slowly, but didn’t point her wand afterward. She was silently protesting the purpose of this spell. Yep.

“My-ro-ro.”

Lady of Light · 07-29-2017, 12:47 PM

A spell to make the tree cry? WELL. Etta simply stood watching the tree for a while as her fellow classmates practiced the spell.. she did feel kind of bad, honestly. Why make the tree sad? That wasn't fair. But then again, didn't the professor mention that the tree was already weeping? Swaying because of the sadness? Um.

Finally, she pulled out her wand and started to practice the spell. The wand movement was easy enough so she decided to concentrate on the incantation. What was it again? Maeroro. Right. "Mae-roro, Mae-roro, Mae-roro." She said it a few more times until the word simply flowed out of her mouth before she practiced it along with the wand movement. Once again, she repeated it a couple of times until she felt like she was ready enough. She grabbed a vial, quickly unstoppered it and held it ready. Here goes.

Pointing her wand at the one of the many branches, she said, loud and clear. "Maeroro!" And accompanied it with the correct wand movement but.. of course, nothing happened. She sighed. Try and try again.

Steelsheen · 07-29-2017, 06:11 PM

Whoah, they gonna be makin' a tree cry? The Curly Top shifted his head, taken aback juuuuuust a bit, since it wasnt in his nature to purposely make anyone or anything sad. "Cant we just make this tree cry with laughter?" he mumbled jokingly as he picked up his wand rather lazily and started practicing the spell "Mae..ro...ro" upside down U. "Maeroro..." he repeated it again, this time with a bit more dedication, still doing the wand stroke, and as he continued he didnt realize that he was barely uttering the spell, his natural non-verbal tendencies taking over.

He felt confident enough to try it on the tree now, but really did he want to? It was quite opposite his nature to make something cry on purpose. Anyway, he's gonna go grab a vial while he tries to keep delaying what they actually need to do....

Govoni · 07-30-2017, 03:12 AM

If others couldn't see the absolute glee on her face....Well, then they were blind and that was hardly her fault. See, Professor Paul had pointed out HER answer. Gosh, it was such a trivial thing, but it meant the absolute world to her. You know, because this was her favorite subject (well, one of them) and.... Just, yes. She was grinning brightly at the older man, so pleased to have contributed in a substantial way.

Go her!

Anyway, her answer had essentially been the correct one. It was sensory in that way that it could pick up on the emotions surrounding it. Well, if she was understanding right... Since they were learning the counterpart to the Cheering Charm. Of course, the bit about casting the spell on the tree itself was a new one. Liv had not anticipated THAT... but as Levi had mentioned, there were spells that worked on this tree's cousin, the Whomping Willow. And to quote muggle pop culture...It was all the same to the many-faced God.

Now for the practice... It was strange learning charms in Herbology class, but Liv found she enjoyed it all the same. Though she loved her Head of House dearly, Professor Paul was.... Well, Professor Paul. He had the ability in making her more relaxed, despite being in this overwhelming school setting. Given everything happening in her life recently, it was no easy task. So, that was probably why the Gryffindor felt 100% relaxed when she easily maneuvered her wand through the motion, mumbling "Mae...ro...ro," without putting any real intention behind it. Not yet. Practice first. Cast second. Besides, the upside-down 'U' was reminiscent of a reverse smile. Easy enough to remember, since this spell was meant to induce the sads, amright?

"Mae....roro...... Mae...roro." It wasn't too hard to say, either. Three syllable spells were sorta simple when thinking about all the other crazy magic they were expected to learn here. Maeroro, maeroro, maeroro.... The spelling and pronunciation were totally throwing her off as mae didn't sound like 'my'. No, it was more like "may", right? Since there were people with it in their actual names. Actually, it was an ideal middle name, yeah. So, according to the spelling, it was making her want to say 'may-ro-ro', but Professor Paul was saying 'my-ro-ro'. Why were words so hard sometimes? Frustrating things, they were. Okay, enough internal dialogue. Olivia thought she was ready to attempt it. And hopefully, her stupid head wouldn't get in the way. Dumb headaches were dumb. Besides, this didn't seem too advanced...

Oh, and she couldn't forget to grab some phials. Wait, some or ONE. Eh, to be safe, the blonde grabbed two. She probably wouldn't be able to fill both, but.... Well, obviously she was going to try her best to do so. Kinda like a challenge for...herself, yeah.

NifflerFan · 07-30-2017, 03:40 AM

The possible Dark wizard professor talked a lot. Actually, lots of teachers here liked to talk a lot a lot, which kind of frustrated the first year. She tended to lose focus reallllly easily, and it was hard to stay tuned to such long explanations. Professors putting stuff on the blackboards for them was how she'd survived most subjects so far this term, really. But this time, she had been paying attention to the professor with laser-like focus and as much intensity in her gaze as the eleven-year-old could muster. So this time Emmeline knew what they were supposed to be doing, but she didn't really like it.

Mostly, she didn't think plants had feelings or anything like that. She wasn't opposed to cutting down trees or pulling up flowers and stuff. However, the mandrakes they'd dissected earlier in the term had been a little too close to resembling people and creatures for her peace of mind, and now this pretty tree could shed real tears. Not just some kind of special magic tree liquid that looked like tears, but REAL ones -- like people shed when they were sad. And they were meant to make it cry on purpose, which seemed kinda...mean. So when the professor asked her what her look was for, Emmeline barely hesitated before asking: "Isn't it kind of mean to make the tree sad, Professor?" She was really conflicted.

Most of her classmates didn't seem to be conflicted at all, though Emmeline noticed that Stasya's expression was similar to what her own face was probably showing, and shot a meaningful look in her best friend's direction. Basically, she was trying to silently see if Stasya thought they should cast the spell. The other Gryffindor was already practicing it, but Emmeline didn't think that necessarily meant anything; she was going to practice the spell herself in a minute, but that didn't mean she had to cast it on the pretty tree.

She was kinda surprised that Isa raised no objections, since Isa was the main person she knew who...tended to be sensitive towards plants. Her Hufflepuff friend seemed so absorbed in learning absolutely everything she could about the tree that Emmeline thought maybe Isa had already determined it was okay to proceed?

And then Emmeline noticed Zoryn's expression and possible sadness as she answered the professor's question. Tugging on the second year's sleeve, she whispered to her friend: "Hey, Zoryn. It's funny 'cause it's true." And she winked at the slightly older girl for good measure. Professor Stewart DID give a lot of homework, and Emmeline had the feeling that Zoryn wasn't the biggest fan of Muggle Studies. Everybody had lessons they didn't like, just like she hated most theory lessons herself.

Even though she was going to wait for the professor's answer to her super important question about the trees crying before she cast the spell, Emmeline went and collected one of the glass vials before carefully returning to her seat to practice the new spell. She passed her other super good friend, Derf, on the way over there and giggled at his helmet. She'd been too busy staring at the professor to notice it earlier.

Once she was seated again and had put the glass vial carefully on the ground next to her, Emmeline pulled her wand out of its holster. The wand movement for this new spell was easy enough, it was just a sad face. Still, the first year practiced it several times before she felt she could perform the curvy movement easily. Next, it was time to practice the incantation: "My-ro-ro," she muttered quietly. She practiced this loads and loads of times, until "Maeroro" rolled off her tongue fairly easily.

Okay, now she just needed the answer to her question so she could start (if she decided to cast the spell on the tree anyway).

itsjustjesse · 07-30-2017, 04:11 AM

Melbourne had been silent for most of the class – save for of course greeting Professor Meyers at the beginning of the lesson…well, before the lesson had begun of course. She wasn’t going to rudely yell “HELLO” after it began that would be…well, rude and disrupting wouldn’t it?

Still, she had been interested the moment they began learning about Weeping Willows…the whole myth side of it only made her eyebrows knit together in confusion and wonder. It was a beautiful story but really…amber trees? Why did she feel weird today? Oh. Right. She’d opted to sit with other friends…cause well hello? She wasn’t the type to forget about her other besties just ‘cause she was dating Kirk.

“Mae..roro?” she tried the spell first “maeroro” she tried again before plucking her wand up and practicing the movement on its own.

“Maeroro” again she tried this time combining the two…aaaand nothing.

lemon · 07-30-2017, 04:43 AM

"Maeroro. Maeroro. My- for Merlin's sake."

This was not working. The amount of times Nicholas had drawn an inverted 'U' shape in the air was astounding, and the lack of results produced by his umpteen attempts was even more awe-worthy. Other than the single tear that had rolled into his vial on his second try, he had virtually nothing to show for the last however many minutes. It was, to say the least, infuriating.

And (because he had no patience with wandwork), Nicky promptly gave up on the charm.

If he was a cheater, he'd have conjured up some water to direct into his vial. But his Hufflepuff self was content to just work with one drop.

Govoni · 07-30-2017, 04:45 AM

.....So....how was she doing this again?

Hanging back for a moment, since Olivia was a visual learner. she waited to see what techniques her classmates might use. This wasn't considered cheating, was it?....Nah, it was smart to get tips from one's peers. Fight her on that if you must. Of course, Liv understood that she was to preform the spell on the branches...but then collect the tears from...the trunk? The branches, themselves? Why was this confusing her? It seriously couldn't have been that difficult to figure out. Eh, whatever. She needed to make sure she could perform the spell right first, anyway. Then...she'd see wherever the tears were seeping out of and would collect accordingly.

Taking a few deep breaths to center her mind, the blonde made her approach! AND SHE LOOKED TOTALLY DETERMINED. The determination on her face was important to note. See it! Feel it! Etc, etc, etc! "Maeroro!" She was even being all confident with her pronunciation of the spell, and firm in tracing out the upside-down 'U' and pointing.... HOWEVER, this meant exactly nothing, as the spell hadn't done a thing. There was no immediate response from the branches or the trunk. Precisely nothing. An to top it all off, her head swam at the release of magic. Sigh, okay....so maybe LESS oomph from her.

Luckily, Olivia wasn't one to give up easily, so she retook her stance and aimed her wand towards the branches for a second time. "Maeroro!..." Nothing....Like, okay, look, she knew it required several times to actually induce tears, but...this was kinda discouraging. You know, not seeing an immediate reaction to one's magic. And Liv knew it was working thanks to the physical effect casting had on her head. There a definite release of energy, which momentarily made her pause, before she regrouped and performed the spell again. "....Maeroro!"

kayquilz · 07-30-2017, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Zor crossed her arms and felt herself deflate a little. They had hurt her feelings. “Muggle Studies Professor Stewart,” she mumbled back in response to Professor Myers’ inquiry. The second year was ready to fire back at Mason, who had something to say about her ‘kicking’ idea, ‘cause his idea was even STUPIDER. But then Professor Myers’ shot him down anyways, so Zoryn stayed quiet.

She didn’t feel like doing magic anymore. Could she leave?

“Maeroro,” she tried, knowing class would pass by quicker if she was doing something.

"Ahhh, I see. Well I'll have to talk to her. You clearly need more time for your Herbology homework, not Muggle Studies!" he teased. He scooted next to her and brandished his wand. "Ay now, with a little more pep, Miss Spinnet! I know you've got it in you!" she was like...Miss Peppy Supreme.

Quote:

Originally Posted by littledhampir

"Maeroro." He tested the incantation aloud and found that while it did sound kind of funny it was not particularly hard to say. Next he tried the wand movement, which was just an upside down u. Heh, it was a frowny face. Olly scooted close to Noelle and whispered to her. "Seems kind of mean to make the tree sad on purpose, doesn't it?" It seemed like such a... Hufflepuff sort of worry. Still, Olly could shake it.

Yes, Paul heard Oliver's question, and he left Zoryn's side to approach the boy. He knew this would be a concern; he had positively counted on it. "I suppose it seems mean. However, whatever my own personal feelings on the matter are...I am here to teach you how to procure the tears. And how to...deal with many plants. Sometimes...I myself don't always agree with the practices. But my job isn't to tell you all what I believe ethical...I assume you all will make your own judgments." He smiled, though. "Some would think it was mean, but necessary in order to get those tears. And in a bit, I'll let you in on a little detail that makes the crying...sort of, a necessary evil."

He had rambled slightly, but oh well. He knew Oliver would drink in every word. Oliver ADORED him, and why shouldn't he? He had started teaching at Hogwarts' Oliver's first year at school. He had a....special bond with those in Oliver's year. Little David Truebridge...who wasn't so much little anymore. There were more...Levi Kenning, Ava Burton...Noelle... Suri, whom he did not care to think about currently, especially given her situation. Kitty, Dora...all of them. Henry. He knew he was missing people.

And then.

The leaking out of his eyeballs happened. "Oh GOODNESS, I got DUST IN MY EYES-----" he lied, wiping them quickly. MERLIN, THE TREE WAS SUPPOSED TO CRY, NOT HIM.

Quote:

Originally Posted by griffin

Oh, so the tree was affected by sadness! Who would have thought that you could make a tree cry by making it sad just like people cried. The answer that sadness would make a tree cry seemed so obvious now yet surprisingly simple. Honestly, she had sort of expected something related to the health condition of the tree. Most plants she knew of didn’t cry. There were her crossbreed daisies, of course. They cried and whined when they wanted water or attention. That was a completely different plant though. ”What makes a tree sad? Or do they just feel sadness from people around them?” Could trees feel sadness? Isa believed so, but she had never thought that plants could feel sadness in the same way that she did. Plants didn’t have the same emotional range or cognitive abilities. They got sad about not having enough water or not getting enough sunlight or not having the right nutrients in the soil or not getting proper care and attention. Plants didn’t have to worry about stupid boy problems or Saffron Stemp. Being a plant seemed like it would be so much easier sometimes. 
Desserta Hightop sounded like an interesting herbologist to study. ”What are the magical properties of the tears?” Maybe Professor Myers knew more about Hightop’s work, and she would look into that later. Now was a time for making trees sad and cry, apparently. ”Where are the tears produced in the tree? Is it in the bark of the branches?” Trees didn’t have tear ducts, so how did they cry? Surely the tree must produce the tears somewhere in the bark or under the bark for the tears to be able to drip out the branches. ”Are the tears made from the same substances as human tears, or are they something else?” Maybe they were a special tree substance that nothing else could produce?

Isa had SO many questions, and once PAUL GOT THE DUST OUT OF HIS EYES AFTER WIPING THEM ON HIS SLEEVE FOR FIVE MINUTES he thought he should address them to the class as a whole, honestly.

"What makes a tree sad? Well....it's hard because they don't speak the same way we do...or rather, communicate. So in this case, it's why we need a spell to affect its emotions," he hoped that would explain things a little better, maybe?

"We will go over the tears in JUUUUST a minute once people have their vials filled--" which seemed to be taking a......long time. LOL. Oopsies! "And the tears drop from the branches. Not sure where they are actually produced from," he said honestly. "But I will find out and let you know! And I assume they aren't made from the substance. But they are clear..and resemble tears, so maybe." Again, the tree was still newish in discovery in the magical realm and needed to be studied further.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverTiger

Maybe Dobby would make the tree happy, except she didn’t have her squirrel with her even though she’d have loved to. He just couldn’t be hidden in her pocket like Derf kept Scamander in his. And, the professor had mentioned the tree’s tears having special properties, so she’d shot her hand up with a question. “Professor Myers, is it like how phoenix tears can heal things?” She was just curious.

He smiled over at Staysa. "Yes, sort of similar, but obviously these tears won't have that same property." Because they weren't Phoenix tears and all.

They were all asking such good questions! Paul loved it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by NifflerFan

Mostly, she didn't think plants had feelings or anything like that. She wasn't opposed to cutting down trees or pulling up flowers and stuff. However, the mandrakes they'd dissected earlier in the term had been a little too close to resembling people and creatures for her peace of mind, and now this pretty tree could shed real tears. Not just some kind of special magic tree liquid that looked like tears, but REAL ones -- like people shed when they were sad. And they were meant to make it cry on purpose, which seemed kinda...mean. So when the professor asked her what her look was for, Emmeline barely hesitated before asking: "Isn't it kind of mean to make the tree sad, Professor?" She was really conflicted.

He had answered her concern about it being mean to Oliver, but Paul smiled. "Well.....perhaps. I addressed this before----and keep trying, m'dear! You are so close!" he nodded at her approvingly. "And everyone is doing SO WELLLLL!" he shot a glance at Zoryn to see if she had...put anymore effort into her spell work.

"All right, start trying to wrap it up, guys! We're moving on shortly!" Paul pointed his own wand at one of the branches and did the spell exactly 3 times before getting one large, fat teardrop.

Interesting. He gave a sniff and shook his head slightly at the lack of smell. It was straaaaange.

Charely Potter · 07-30-2017, 05:31 AM

Practicing spells.. Kirk could do that. He didn't have experience with making anyone cry (on purpose) so his suggestions on maybe kicking the tree or teasing it didn't seem unique enough to mention. Now then they were getting the instructions to use a sadness charm on it.

It was an interesting concept, spending time in class trying to make something or rather someone-depending on how one feels about a tree- cry. He wasn't particularly as fond with plants, but he had enough interest to at least figure out how to not get himself tangled up against his will in one.

My-ro-ro.. My-ro-ro.. Kirk practically lipsynced the words while doing the U shaped wand movement on the floor. Sure he could try the tree, but he wanted to get use to practicing the theory out first.. and it might've resisted the temptation to 'accidentally' point it at someone.

NifflerFan · 07-30-2017, 06:00 AM

The professor's answer was not very encouraging. The fact that he was willing to admit that it was mean to make trees cry and was still teaching his classes to do it anyway was yet more evidence against him in Emmeline's opinion. She still felt kind of squeamish about this spell in her gut -- did it work on people and creatures too? 'Cause that would be triplely awful if it did...

However, the first year eventually decided that she'd go through with the activity and cast the possibly evil spell on the tree. She felt super bad for the pretty tree, but most of her classmates were already making it sad and she had reasoned out that doing nothing would hurt the tree more than help it. She couldn't stop the other students from making it cry, and if she simply refused to help with this obviously evil plan of the professor's, he might not have enough tears collected by the end of the lesson for whatever they were used for. Which meant he'd have to have more people make the tree sad again on another day. Plus, maybe the tears were used for something good like phoenix tears were. Emmeline had noticed that the professor was strangely reluctant to tell them what the tears were used for. Giving him another deeply suspicious look, the first year picked up her vial and moved over to a free-ish tree branch to start working.

She performed the sad face shaped wand movement with practiced ease, then pointed it at the small tree branch she'd chosen and cast: "Maeroro!" Except nothing happened. She was super used to nothing happening on her very first attempt at any spell, so the Gryffindor shrugged the failure off and repeated the spell 3 more times. Still nothing!

Frowning a little and biting her lip now, Emmeline made a very exaggerated, BIG sad face motion and then pointed at a specific spot on her tree branch and cried out: "Maeroro!" A few drops of tears dripped into her glass vial on completion of the spell. Strangely, the first year didn't feel any sense of accomplishment at getting the spell right. Probably 'cause she still wasn't sure if this was evil or not.

Her vial was only a little full, though, so Emmeline took aim and repeated the spell. Annnd nothing happened. Weird -- usually she could cast a spell much easier after the first time it worked. The first year closed her eyes for a few seconds and tried to clear her mind like they were meant to do in Divination sometimes. And maybe think about happy things too, like the fact that she'd be seeing Sirius as soon as this lesson was over. After a few deep breaths, Emmeline pushed her wand through the sad face shaped movement and pointed again at her tree branch before speaking super clearly to cast: "Maeroro!" This time, the tree obligingly began to cry steadily until several tears had landed in her glass vial and it was about 1/4 full.

The first year repeated the spell 6 more times, gaining a little bit of tears on each attempt, until finally, finally it looked like she'd gotten her vial 3/4 of the way full like the professor had wanted them to. Feeling a little dazed, Emmeline moved back to her spot and sat down again. She was super careful not to spill a single drop of the precious liquid in her vial, and was desperately hoping that these would be used for something good. She didn't like this idea of "necessary evil" at ALL, and she still had kind of a queasy feeling roiling around in her stomach. She felt kind of strange too, like she was in a daydream or something; the possibility that she'd just done something evil continued to eat away at the first year's conscience as she stared dully in front of her and waited for the class to move on.

Lady of Light · 07-30-2017, 09:51 AM

Right. She could do this. How difficult could it be?

Etta pointed her wand at the tree and cast a "Maeroro!" again, with as much focus as possible. But, just her luck, nothing happened. Wow, this was crazy. She took a few deep breaths and tried to relax as much as possible, trying to not get distracted by all the noise around her. Yeah, that's it. She just needed to focus more.

Once more, having pointed her wand at one of the few branches that were closest to the ground, she cast the spell again with the appropriate wand movement. Ooooh. OOOOOH. Did that actually work? Since she had the vial held out ready, the girl managed to collect a few drops. Not much though.... she stared up at the giant tree. Wait, what? That was it? So much effort and nothing more than a few drops to show for it? Nice. Etta sighed with annoyance. Oh, well. She was just going to have to keep trying, yeah?

DuckyLinJi · 07-30-2017, 01:50 PM

After a couple of more times of practising saying the incantation, Mason took out his dragon heartstring cored wand and stood up from his seat. He was about to walk to grab a vial when he heard Dora speak.

Turning to look, Mason looked from her to Zoryn and then shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t a big fan of working together. He personally thought that teamwork was overrated and that solo work went faster but… she had helped him out a lot before the IMPS competition and even his Head of House had told him once that he needed to learn together sometimes.

“Fine” he said eventually before he walked away to grab not one but three vials. One for him, one for Dora and one for Zoryn , whom he didn’t know yet if she wanted to work together but it didn’t hurt giving her a vial as well.

Turning to face the tree, Mason pointed his wand at it and moved his wand in a upside down U and muttered “Maeroro” He waited with the vial in his hand but nothing happened. He knew this was going to happen , the Professor had told them himself so he focused on the spell before trying again.

kayquilz · 07-30-2017, 03:08 PM

It seemed many people were having little luck with getting tears, and Paul felt kiiiiiind of bad. He looked at his watch and decided to give them just a bit more time. “While some of you finish up collecting those tears, I’ll finally explain just what Herbologists know about the tears so far.” He grinned.

“If someone were to ingest the tears in their purest form, they would feel a deep, mourning loss in their heart, as if you had lost something.” Or someone. But that was really saaaaad. “It is...not impossible to come back from that, but it is still something that is very difficult to reverse. So please do not ingest the tears.” Because no. None of them wanted to feel that sad. “They have uses in potions, mostly, in particular ones that have to do with affecting someone’s mood. Potioneers and Herbologists alike are still trying to experiment with the tears to figure out all of their uses because we thiiiiink there are more --- some people even think the tears are a quick bring down from the Euphoria potion, but just one single drop, at that. BUT...of its uses, while I wait for you all to finish---please, feel free to continue for now--I want some creativity here.” Paul grinned and rubbed his hands together excitedly. He had a answer to his question already formed in his mind.

“If you...could either A. invent a potion or B. add it to a potion of your choice...or C. Come up with a new use for it, what do you think you would use these Weeping Willow tears for?” Paul put a stopper at the top of his vial that was ¾ of the way full of tears. They looked no different than rain, water. Clear. “Anyone?”

OOC: I am moving on to the next part of the lesson in, roughly, a day. If you have not yet finished collecting tears, feel free to continue while we discuss what Paul asked above ^^ It isn't supposed to be easy to get those tears, so...Paul feels bad, but I'm like...yep! Lol! <3

2111jen · 07-30-2017, 04:25 PM

Jonas wondered why they were all collecting tears. None theess though, he got to work as rhe tree started crying. Poor tree. Why were they making it cry??

lemon · 07-30-2017, 06:24 PM

Unlike everyone else, Nicholas was done attempting to secure these silly tears from the willow's branches. No, his one drop would suffice.

"If drinking the tears neat causes such severe sadness, sir," the Hufflepuff mused, hand in the air, "and it's so hard to reverse... maybe you could use it as a potion on its own. Like a poison, but with lethal mental effects as opposed to physiological ones? Could it kind of render someone useless?"

Hm. Bottled pain. And insanity.

Sounded like it caused the same results as OWLs did.

Govoni · 07-30-2017, 08:23 PM

COME ON, WEEPING WILLOW....Where the tears at?!

It had been TWENTY minutes, and Olivia hadn't managed to do anything other than upset herself. No difficult task these days, but it felt unnecessary at this point. Was she...doing something wrong? True, she'd felt the effects of casting, that was a newly developed tell for her, but...what if she'd misread? The incantation was being pronounced correctly; the wand motion, performed tightly... Man, Professor Paul. What was up?

Having to take a breather, as her head was beginning to pound, the Gryffindor took an unceremonious seat in the middle of the floor. They were being asked a question, anyway. And yah, she had ideas. So...she was just going to focus on that for a few moments. "I could see them being diluted and used as a sedative." Considering all her recent health issues, Liv was kinda an expert. "...since sedatives are actually called depressants in the muggle world. If you were to possibly mix the tears with a substance that would basically water it down, it could lessen the more extreme effects." Oh, idea! "Like adding a drop or two to someone's pumpkin juice, etc."

.....Urgh, right. Back to this tree.

griffin · 07-30-2017, 08:37 PM

Wow, she had asked a question that even Professor Myers didn’t know the answer to, and she wasn’t even sure if anyone knew the answer to it. By Isa’s standards that made it a good question. Professor Myers had said this was a recent discovery, so maybe nobody had researched the tear producing mechanism in the tree yet. She would have to talk to Professor Myers later to see if he found out where they were produced from. If he couldn’t find out, she was going to find a way to find out for herself. There was still a lot to be studied about this tree, so Isa was making it her goal to research this tree. Maybe she would discover new magical properties of the tears or something. That would be so cool!

Yeah, the tears probably weren’t the same stuff as human tears. Human tears did not share the same magical properties, and trees had their own ways of producing things. It definitely wasn’t just water either. Normal water also did not have special magical properties. The tears were clear, like water, but a lot of non-water substances looked deceivingly like water. It was dangerous to assume that a clear liquid was water. For all you knew it could be poisonous or otherwise harmful. In the case of the tears they probably weren’t poison, but they weren’t pure water either.

Even after casting Maeroro six times, Isa only had two tears in her vial. The young hufflepuff was determined to prove her herbology skills by filling her vial to 3/4 of the way full like Professor Myers had asked them to. This was a difficult task, but Isa believed that it was achievable; Professor Myers wouldn’t have asked them to do something impossible. She could do this. You can do this, Isa. The mental pep talk encouraged her to keep trying. ”Maeroro. Maeroro. Maeroro. Maeroro. Maeroro. Maeroro. Maeroro.” Isa repeated the spell several times to get a few more tears in her vial. This might take a while. Making a tree cry was actually more difficult than it sounded. Then again, most people would have thought it was impossible to make a tree cry, so making the weeping willow cry at all was an astounding accomplishment. Collecting only two tears sounded a lot more impressive when you thought about it that way. Fortunately, a few more tears had dripped from the branch into the vial as Isa cast the sadness charm on the tree a few more times. Eventually after what seemed like a hundred times casting the spell, Isa had filled her vial to about 3/4 of the way full.

When she was done collecting weeping willow tears in her vial, Isa put the cork back in the vial. She put her free hand on the trunk of the tree, leaned in closer to the tree to the point that she was almost touching the tree with her forehead, closed her eyes, and whispered to the tree. ”I’m sorry we had to make you sad. Thank you for your tears. I hope you can feel happy later when we’re done collecting the tears.” Yes, Isa Wright was talking to a tree and she didn’t think there was anything weird about that. Just your usual conversation with a tree that you made feel sad so it could cry. Nothing at all unusual to see here.

Oooh, now was the interesting part where they got to learn all about the tears! Her questions might finally be answered! Isa listened intently as Professor Myer explained what was known about the tears. A deep loss in your heart if you ingested the tears? That was so sad. Isa tried to imagine what it would feel like if someone in her family died. The feeling was so heartbreaking that Isa couldn’t imagine what it would be like, but she felt sad and her eyes were getting all red and watery. Thankfully she hadn’t tried to taste any of the tears, because she didn’t want the depressing heartache that the tears could induce. Isa knew better than to go around sticking things in her mouth without knowing what they were. There were a lot of plants and parts of plants that weren’t safe to eat. ”Do the tears have any effect on you if you touch them?” Like, what would happen if she got some on her fingers? For the first time Isa started to think about how potentially dangerous these tears could be if not used properly. Ingesting pure tears could seriously mess up your mental health, and mental health was important. The wrong use of the tears could have grave consequences. ”If the tears could make people so heartbroken if they aren’t used in the right way, is it ethical to be experimenting with them?” Isa was curious about finding new uses for the tears, but she didn’t want to accidentally make people feel depressed either.

So, what use for the tears would she try to come up with? Suggesting using it in a potion to make people feel sad seemed unoriginal given that Professor Myers had just said that the tears could be used in mood-altering potions, so Isa thought about what other applications the tears might have. ”Maybe other plants might respond to the tears, like a sort of way to communicate with other plants.” She wasn’t quite sure what the implications of that would be if that were true or if that would even be significant, but it was an interesting idea to think about. Was the grass under weeping willow trees always sad? ”I think I would want to research more about what conditions naturally make the weeping willow weep, to better understand more about the function of the tears and how people might be able to find new uses for the tears based off of what they do in nature.” Really this topic seemed like something that needed more research. Maybe one day Isa would get a chance to do more work with the weeping willow. If she knew more about what the weeping willow used its tears for, she would have a better understanding of how people could use them. The tears must serve some purpose to the tree, because trees didn’t develop some way of being sad and crying just for fun. There was always an evolutionary advantageous reason for plants developing in a certain way. ”Is it known why the weeping willow cries or how that might be an advantage for the willow? Maybe it defends itself by making everything that wants to hurt it sad or something?” Like how thorns on a rosebush deterred animals from eating the roses? Or maybe something entirely different that she hadn’t thought of yet? This was turning out to be a very interesting lesson indeed. Isa’s attention was completely focused on her thoughts about why the tree cried, why that was important, and how she might find a use for the tears based off of that.

DuckyLinJi · 07-30-2017, 09:42 PM

Before he could use his magic ~~pun intended~~, Mason had to lower his wand as the professor had some additional information about the tree. And the warning that they had to hurry up collecting the tears. With a groan of annoyance, the Ravenclaw lazily pointed his wand at his school bag and summoned his notebook and pen non-vebally towards him. When he caught them in his arms, he quickly scribbled down the extra information in case it came up in the exam and placed it on the ground near his feet. As for the question, he ignored it. He had enough on his mind already.

Alright tree, cry for him. Mason re-pointed his wand at the tree, moved his wand in an upside down U smiley face and said the incantation "Maeroro" He could have tried nonverbal, he was good at that but he had never tried this spell before and one could not master a spell without having learned it verbally before. "Maeroro" Nothing again. "Maeroro" His side of the tree had not a single tear to give and the seventh year started to get annoyed as the students around him were collecting the tears in their vials already.

"Maeroro!" he said , more focused and forcefully and this time, a single drop slided down the tree where he had pointed his wand. Moving fast, Mason uncorked his vial and placed it under the tear. The drop fell in the vial and he grinned in triumph. Even if it was just one drop. If he could get one, he could get more.

Goblinfrog · 07-30-2017, 10:11 PM

Kitty continued trying to extract tears form the Weeping Willow. "Maeroro!!!" And still nothing happened. "Gaa this is hard," she muttered a little impatiently.

It was an interesting question. Huh. What WOULD they use these tears for anyway? "I think I agree with Olivia," she said, since it sounded like the most reasonable answer. "Most medicines are extremely diluted, so maybe tears can be too?"

itsjustjesse · 07-31-2017, 03:31 AM

Melbourne glanced over to Isa when she heard the young hufflepuff apologizing to the weeping willow…was there an option to just go over there and hug her? Seriously, she had to be the most precious girl E V E R , it was also the fact that her question about the tears causing heartbreak that made Melbourne really think of a use for the potion.

Weren’t there people out there that…well, that didn’t have emotions? Or well, never really knew how to cry? Maybe, maybe there was something along the lines of a psychological benefit to the willow tears?...or was it, was that ethical?

Pointing her wand at the willow branch in front of her Melbourne let her finger trail along the edge of her now empty phial. ”Maeroro” she cast the frown like wand movement and intent of the spell caused a tear to drip from the end of the willow’s branch. ”Thank you for this,” she carefully moved the phial in place and watched as the phial began to slowly fill. Glancing over to Kirk, she felt a little nervous really saying this here. It wasn’t something she had even shared with him before, but…really, it wasn’t like it was a secret. Raising her hand, she glanced at Professor Meyers – ”Professor Meyers? Would it be reasonable to use them in somewhat of a cosmetic potion? I know many muggles, witches, and wizards alike have a hard time producing natural tears and even having honest emotions?” she paused, before glancing down at the phial and let her eyes trail around the people in the room.

”I don’t mean…like for acting purposes, I mean for…when people honestly can’t feel hurt or sad at funerals and the like?...s-so like you could use them as a substitute for tears when you should feel sad like at your parents funeral…or…just when your eyes feel like they are about to crack open like the surface of a desert?” Melbourne offered and bit the edge of her lip. No, she didn’t have chronic dry eyes. It was something that only few people really knew about.

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