Don't touch the nettle, Darius! PV Closed

It was rare that he would linger longer after the lecture, only because he found no real reason to truly stay. Yet there was talk of students staying after class for notes and all. He hadn't met with his group yet and concluded on staying to see what the Herbology group was all about. Plus, he wanted to make good use of his extra time that was left before he planned for supper. He was more better with taking notes now, although there was very little organization to his notes. 

Much of it was often shorthanded notes that went into tangents, some extended into terrible drawings that he wanted no one to see. He still had some dirt on his dress shoes from their visit to the greenhouse, he wished it was a visit made more often. The young wizard watched each student leave whilst some stayed, making note of mostly the ones who did. He stacked his belongings and eased himself up on his chair, a little sore from sitting for so long. 

His hand came up as a greeting as he sort of met the rest of the students half-way, he was nowhere near them anyway. It was a little nerve wrecking to approach people, yet he was glad to see that there was another Hufflepuff there. "I was hoping to do the same too, she went a little too fast for me going over one of those poisonous plants." he cheekily replied to the Gryffindor. 

The Hufflepuff placed his things atop of a nearby desk, turning his watch over to glance at the time. He had quite a while anyway, it'd be plenty of time for him to get some answers. He rolled his sleeves up ever so slightly, just to have the breathing room to write if he needed to. 

 The blonde Ravenclaw girl hadn't always been the best with plants. When she was seven, she tried to plant a tulip, but forgot about it mere days later. It naturally bloomed, but with no help from Felicity. When she was nine, she had to raise a bean plant for her friend for school while she was on a trip. The bean plant died, and her friend failed her project. Yeah, Felicity sucked with plants.

 So, when she learned that she would have to take Herbology, she knew that it would take her quite a bit of studying to pass the class. She should be studying like this for all of her classes - but, alas, she was not a stereotypical Ravenclaw like most first years tend to be. She had just finished Herbology class, and while people began to pack up her things, she left her's sprawled out across the table. A few others seemed to have the same thought as her, but she kept to herself.

 When a very curly, red-haired boy came up to her and the few people surrounding her - she knew majority of them: Serena, Ben and Reid, who'd just approached the group as well - she almost didn't even realize the red-haired Gryffindor was speaking to them until she raised her gaze from the Herbology notes she had taken that class. She grinned widely at him, always being the ever-friendly Ravenclaw, that could socialize with just about anyone if you let her.

 "Well, of course you can!" She responded, gesturing to a free chair near the group. She half-expected them to head out to the castle, considering this was their last class for a while, but it didn't seem so. Apparently, they all had the idea of staying to study the subject. Perhaps they were just as horrid with plants as Felicity was? Highly doubtful, but there was a good chance for it. She looked back down at hr notes, shaking her head as she pursed her lips, "I don't understand one bit of this. I've never really been the best with.. nature.." She trailed off, easily remembering how the last time she was near even a tree, she had fallen into the dirt for fifteen good, long moments.

 The memory caused her to glance at Reid, then to Serena and Ben. The two prefects, whom she also considered as friends, didn't know of the strange dream that Felicity had had the previous day. For now, she preferred for it to stay that way. 

Nature was something Ben could at least relate to at Hogwarts a little bit. It felt a bit more.. natural.. than shooting magic out of a wand. He also had developed a bit of a friendship with a few who tended to stay to study after classes. This really helped him make sure he was ready. Knowing his own luck, Ben would fall behind without their help. Some of these planets were strange, but a few were actually things he learned in muggle school. This class seemed like something he would excel at, but he wouldn't leave his friends behind to study alone.

"What were you struggling with in particular?" Ben responded to Reid first before glancing to Felicity. "It's a good thing you have us, isn't it?"

Ben laughed at his own joke and smiled at Felicity. She tended to make a bigger deal about things than he did so he was almost positive she was better off here than she let on at first. Either way, he would happily help his friend out if needed because she did the same for him. The Gryffindor seemed a welcome addition in Ben's mind as well for one simple reason.

So many girls. Maybe now my group won't be dominated by them? Reid... me... the Gryffindor... We'll get there yet!

As the other girl approached who Ben did not recognize by name, he simply adopted his inner Felicity mindset. A big grin crossed his face and he motioned to an empty seat nearby. He had no name to the face yet but the robes gave away her house. Ben had learned, maybe from bad stereotypes, to be cautious around the green house. That wouldn't stop him from basic politeness though.

"Join us! We're happy to have more."

Clarity should always be given when Serena was found to be studying. It’s such an unusual and unexpected concept that proper clarity is always essential. Whilst she didn't study, the Hufflepuff didn’t believe in skipping classes. Unless she had a specific reason - such as an illness, family emergency or you know, had to catch the next dark lord and stop him (admittedly, the last one is a pretty good reason not to attend herbology). Since none of those things were happening at this stage in her life, Serena attended her classes without fail, though she was usually late, rarely paid attention and often ended up falling asleep.

Today was no different. Serena had showed up late to her Herbology class, ended up staring into space for so long that she started to doze off. She had mastered the act of sleeping without looking asleep even in such a short amount of time. It wasn’t a deep slumber but she could rest whilst holding up her quill so it would look like she was awake and taking notes. Of course, the quill didn’t move but that wasn’t the point. (Though, she could probably invest in a magical quill that took notes for her!) At a glance, she would look awake. Her loose dark brown hair neatly covered her face from most people, including the professor, so you couldn’t even see her eyes shut. It was a great way to rest and not get caught.

However, the downside to this was that she missed most of the lesson. Every so often, she’d stir awake, look around and then try to pay attention until she drifted off again. It was a vicious cycle. This time when she woke, she heard some young sounding voices near her. Some of them were even familiar. The girl stifled a yawn as she glanced around to see most of the class had left. The class had ended - why was she still here then?!

Serena turned her head towards the voices as she started to register their words. She was now wide awake (probably by the excitement of class being over) and looked very well rested. The girl was about to leave when she noticed Darius approach them. Nearby, Felicity, Ben and her fellow Hufflepuff Reid were engaging in conversation with him. There was another girl that she didn’t recognise, a Slytherin. “Hey!” she said with a smile, as she heard the three talk about joining them.  To... study?  Sighing, she definitely didn't want to but looking at her poor attempt at making notes on her parchment, she knew she probably ought to stay for a bit to try and understand something.  

Serena tapped an empty desk near her to indicate that both of them should definitely sit down and join the group, following verbal indications from others. “I don’t think we’ve met? I’m Serena”, the Hufflepuff introduced herself to Alex, realising she knew everyone else in the group. She held out her hand for a handshake.

"Uhh..." She said as she lifted up her parchment.  It had a few word on there - including "Herbology" and today's date.  The rest of the page was either blank or had some flower doodled over it.  Yup, she was of no help.  She pulled her textbook closer to her and decided that her best course of action was to read the appropriate chapters in that instead of attempting to answer any of their struggles or questions with her notes!!  "Right, what are we looking at?" She asked, because she honestly couldn't tell you what the topic of today's lesson even was so she had no idea what Darius and Reid were struggling with.  All she knew right now was Reid's was a query about a poisonous plant... that could be any of them!

Alex smiled at the boy that had told her she could join. She was in an unusually good mood. Normally she wouldn't have tried to join as people from other houses tended not to want to work with people from Slytherin. She set down her book and opened it up once again, glad that dust didn't fly from it this time. The girl looked up in time for another girl to join them, one who introduced herself as Serena. "Nice to meet you, Serena, I'm Alex. Alex Turner." She looked around the table. "I don't actually know any of you guys' names. Do you guys mind introducing yourselves?" She looked every one of them in the eye, out of habit more than anything. She'd been told it was a little intimidating but she thought that anyone that couldn't meet her gaze had some serious confidence problems. She was a small 11 year old after all. Either way, her deep brown eyes looked at each of them in turn before looking at papers the other had out. Sadly, she wasn't the greatest at reading other people's handwriting so she had no idea what they were looking at. "Also, what are you all focusing on right now?" 

The boy looked around and stared deeply at every student. He noticed there were all the Houses in that room and it was actually great!
That was true, he did meet some unpleasant people during his stay in Hogwarts (mostly from Slytherin), but he decided to get rid of every stereotype. Houses didn't matter for him: everyone was equal, everyone was a student willing to learn magic in that school and everyone had different personalities, so judging someone just because of the House was pretty pointless for him. Also, he wanted to make as many friends as possible and every chance for him was good.
At the Slytherin girl's question, he immediately raised his tiny hands to make himself noticeable to everyone's eyes.

"Hi! I'm Darius De Amoris! Nice to meet you, Alex!" He answered, as happy and cheerful as a puppy. You could almost see his wagging tail.
The Gryffindor boy kindly approached the Slytherin girl, opening his parchment to her a really messy handwriting and notes. You could see the title on the top of the page: 'Urtica Diocia'.
"Uhm, I was trying to deepen the uses of the nettle but... I didn't really get it. So maybe I could try to take some, so I could observe it better!" He exclaimed with a big smile on his face.

He didn't even wait for somebody's answer, he just got up and run to the end of the greenhouse.
There it was: the nettle. Green, healthy and mature, ready to be picked up. Since its stalk seemed very weak and soft while its leaves seemed very large and strong, he had a great idea.
He didn't think at all while grabbing the plant from underneath his leaves, where were all the stinging hairs, without any kind of protection.
Darius turned around to look at his study group with the fresh plant in his hands, without realizing. His smile disappeared only after a few seconds, turning into a painful frown as he looked at the white, burning bubbles on his hands.

 Felicity was distraught when she noticed the redheaded boy - Darius - getting up to get the nettle that he was speaking about. A long, monotone 'uh', slipped through her parted lips, and she watched as he did what she thought no one would be as unknowledgable to do - grabbed the nettle without any gloves, by the actually nettle part. The plant was called a stinging nettle by muggles for a reason! Her eyebrows furrowed into an expression of concern as she noticed the nettle taking its' effect on Darius's arm. "Oh, Darius.. You should have gotten a pair of gloves!" She exclaimed as she quickly thought up a solution, "Ah! Put it down and go rinse your hand under cold water! Perhaps that will soothe it? Is there a sink in here?" She asked, looking around the Greenhouse. There must have been a sink, or some water source, to water plants.

 She wished then that Professor Trollope had told them where the sink was. She huffed as she ran around the room, looking around the edges for a sink, or a hose, or something that looked like it had water coming out of it! She looked back at the other students in the room, concerned, "I can't find a water source," She admitted, worry threading through her vocal chords. She didn't want her peer to suffer at the hand of a plant. Or to suffer at all, really.

 She tried to think something else up, but she couldn't. She had absolutely zilch ideas. She looked at everyone else as she trailed her way back to their table begrudgingly, sitting back down in her seat. "Any other ideas?" She asked, unenthusiastic. She was sure that it should be easy enough to fix, if they had some sort of water source, but that was unfortunately not the case.