Errand Sunburns and Sickles Solo Finished

Again, Bridget found herself spending her free time doing something most children avoided: chores. Two days prior she had washed the dishes after dinner. That had actually not been so much of a chore and more of an adventure. True, she'd worked plenty hard, but her curious side had been satisfied by the fact that she had been able to access the kitchens.

This time, she wouldn't be washing dishes. Instead, she was doing ground maintenance, pulling weeds, clipping back overgrown branches, and the like. As she emerged from the confines of the castle, Bridget blinked hard, her vision full of sunspots. It was a beautiful, bright June day without a cloud in sight. Brilliant summer weather, but not preferable for yard work.

However, motivated by the promise of ten sickles for doing the work, which was a lot compared to her current magical savings, Bridget went right up to the nearest patch of weeds, squatted down, and started to pull them.

Her hands were protected by the gloves she used in Herbology class and her wavy, mid-back length brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and tucked into a baseball cap. The cap would hopefully protect her face from getting sunburnt. Her thick black school robe was nowhere in sight, and she instead wore a pair of shorts and a striped t-shirt.

Several students walking by gave her weird looks, but Bridget ignored them. Soon enough her back was stiff and her legs ached from holding her weight, so she stood up for a minute, walked around, then got back to work.

Section after section was cleared of weeds. Bridget kept having to go back to remove the singular weed she'd missed in her first sweep. Over at the edge of the Courtyard she had to dig out several bushes that were clearly dead, their leaves dry and withered.

The only problem was she didn't know where to dispose of the weeds and dead bushes. Sure, they would decompose over time, but that would take a while and didn't' seem like the right course of action. The uprooted plants would be a mar on the gorgeous Hogwarts landscape.

Abandoning the piles and a stick she had been using to dig out the plants with deeper roots, Bridget left to find... well she wasn't quite sure what she wanted to find. If she was back in the Muggle world, she would get the yard waste bin, but she didn't know if Hogwarts had those. She could burn them with Incendio, but she wasn't she that would be entirely safe, and even if it was, the Professors would probably freak out.

She stopped in her tracks. Could she use the Scouring Charm to do it? She had always considered it to be used to clean thing like dirt and mold, but certainly it could be used for waste too? It was worth a shot at least...

Bridget quickly made her way back to the piles. Remembering the S motion and pronunciation of 'SKUR-ji-fy' she had learned in the particularly hands-on History of Magic lesson, she drew her laurel wood wand.

"Scourify," she said firmly. Much to her surprise, the weeds and dead bushes actually disappeared. She really hadn't actually thought it would be a successful endeavor, but she appeared to be wrong.

With a simple, quick method of disappearing things from now on, Bridget moved over towards the Quidditch Pitch. The stadium was fascinating. It had stands high up in the air, decorated all over with the four Houses' banners. Slytherin's banner, the House she belonged to, hung gallantly, silver and green and embroidered with a snake. Bridget felt a swell of pride--even though she wasn't close to her House, or anyone at Hogwarts for that matter, Slytherin was definitely the team she rooted for.

Even just stepping on the close-cropped grass of the field felt amazing. The six tall posts glowed golden in the sunlight. Bridget found herself wondering if she would ever play in this stadium. She was a pretty good flier, and her keen eye and small, fast, maneuverable frame would make her a good Seeker. What held her back was really a confidence thing. She didn't have the best self-confidence and flying in front of the whole school where everyone would see if she messed up, where she could let her House down... she wasn't sure she could do that.

Bridget realized she had been staring at the goalposts for a long time, so she, somewhat regrettably, put her head down and returned to work.

The center of the field was nearly devoid of weeds--just a few here and there and her job was done. Near the edges though were whole camps of weeds. Some of the weeds were weird too--prickly and irregularly shaped. She found herself extremely grateful for the protective gloves she was wearing, as otherwise she would have scratches scored all along her hands.

It took quite a while, and by the time she was done she was almost certain her neck was sunburnt as it hurt to touch. She found herself in a nice rhythm--pull weeds until she had a nice-sized pile and then vanish the pile with the Scouring Charm. These errands were actually proving to be quite educational. Two days ago, when she had cleaned the dishes, she had become excellent at maneuvering things with the Levitation Charm, as she had used Wingardium Leviosa to place the goblets on a high up, unreachable shelf. As she had had to be very accurate in the placing of the goblets, she had improved drastically.

The same day she'd also practiced the Mending Charm, Reparo, to fix broken plates and glasses that she'd accidentally dropped. Bridget hadn't stretched the boundaries of what she knew was possible with Reparo, but she had certainly gotten some much needed practice.

Again today, chores were becoming a chance to improve her magical ability. She was learning uses of the Scouring Charm she hadn't known about yesterday and, of course, she was getting plenty of reps in.

The weeds were finally pulled around the Quidditch Pitch to a satisfactory amount. Bridget then, using clippers she'd found in the Herbology tool shed, clipped off some of the branches that seemed to have a mind of their own in growing.

A while later, Bridget took a glance at her watch. Its analog hands showed the time to be 5:56, nearly time for dinner. Feeling proud of her work to prune the school grounds, Bridget put her tools away and headed towards the Great Hall, stomach rumbling, neck burnt, and soon to be ten sickles richer.

Word Count: 1105/1000