Catch The Snitch

Friday, Dec. 2, 2005

Earlier that day, Professor Fah had assigned an essay to her fifth-year students, requiring everyone to research a plant of their choice. Martin, being Martin, decided he would write his on the most-obscure-yet-potentially-useful plant he could find, and came up with a Tibetan herb, urtica torpens pertinax, whose nettles contained a mild neurotoxin. Only, this particular neurotoxin wasn't dangerous; it was only classed as a neurotoxin because once it entered the bloodstream, it suppressed all sensation within the body for a period of time, depending on the size of the dose, which made it ideal as an anesthetic. But the plant was notoriously particular in terms of the climate in which it would grow, which meant that British wizards would have to resort to enchanting their greenhouses to match the Tibetan climate as closely as possible. Another problem was that it took an entire plant to produce a single dose suitable for a typical human patient. He wondered if the plant could potentially be cross-bred, to make it easier to cultivate, and also produce larger quantities of the neurotoxin. He felt that would be necessary before it would be practical enough to enter common use in Britain.

To this end, after his last class on Friday, he made his way to the library and laid claim to his preferred study table (in a corner with a window above it that provided lots of light), then went to check the card catalog.

Much to his annoyance, there was apparently only one reference in the stacks that even covered this particular plant. It was Magical Oriental Herbs and Fungi, something that had been written by an Asian herbologist a decade ago, which was translated to English three years ago, and only this term did Hogwarts manage to get a copy. Knowing that many students would soon be checking out any herbology references they could find, he was glad he'd come at the earliest opportunity to get what he needed. He proceeded into the appropriate aisle, thankfully found the book still there, and carried it back to his table.

Little did Martin know, Professor Fah had not only assigned essays to the fifth-years, but also to the sixth-years, at the same time...

Herbology was of course one of her favorite classes, so as soon as the assignment was given, Annabelle had a slew of ideas of what she could write on- but one stood out in her mind. She'd heard of it from a professor at Ilvermorny but hadn't had the chance to talk to her about it before they moved, and she wasn't sure how to really talk with her from here. So the next best thing was the library.

However, as much time as she'd spent in there already trying to learn what she could and make sure her knowledge from Ilvermorny transferred over to Hogwarts, as her scores had eventually, she still hadn't quite mastered the organization of it all. She had been a bit lost in the stacks before asking the librarian where to look for the book she needed- a title she remembered being mentioned but hadn't yet read. Luckily he was able to point her in the right direction, but moments too late. She sighed as she saw a boy walking away with the very book she'd meant to get.

She chewed on her lip a bit as she thought about what to do. She was okay with approaching most Hufflepuff students as they were always quite friendly and they were her own house after all. But his colors indicated he was a Ravenclaw and as she hadn't seen him in any of her classes, she knew he was in a different year. She looked around at the other books still on the shelf, but there was no helping it, she needed that book. Ravenclaws were supposed to be the studious ones, right? Perhaps he'd understand the merit of it and they could share!

She took a deep breath, calmed her nerves, and walked over to the table where she'd seen him sit down, "Um... excuse me," she said, just loud enough that she thought she could be heard without disturbing others that were there studying, "I happened to notice you have the copy of Magical Oriental Herbs and Fungi, and I-I know you probably need it for your own studies, but there was an herb I was hoping to look into for a paper.... might we be able to share the book?" she asked, clearly nervous about approaching a stranger. Her American accent was a bit clear still, though she'd been working on it- being from New York made that a bit of a challenge. Most people in the UK couldn't guess exactly where she was from, but she remembered the students at Ilvermorny sure could, "I-If not, I-I can find something else, I-I just thought I'd ask," she quickly added

Martin had only managed to read half a page, when he suddenly heard a girl's voice addressing him, and he paused to look up at her as she explained her need for the same book, then he glanced back down to the book. "Oh. Yes, of course, I'm happy to share... I was researching a rare Tibetan plant myself, and this is apparently the only book with anything substantial written about it. It might be easiest if we share the table, with the book between us, if that's not inconvenient for you?"

He moved his bookbag to the floor beside him, propping it against a leg of the table, then stood up and shifted his chair to one side, towards her. "Here, you can have my chair, I'll go find another one." The chairs at the nearby tables were all being used, so he had to walk to the other end of the room to find an empty seat, which he then carried back.

Only whe returned did he really get a good look at the girl's face. "I don't think we're in the same year, are we? I'm Martin Bishop, fifth year," he said as he sat down again. "What plant were you doing your essay on? I have some bookmarks we can use to make it easier to flip back and forth between the parts of the book we each need..."

Annabelle had started to object to him giving her his chair, but he'd already walked away to get another. She didn't sit just yet, but instead, looked to see what plant he was writing on. She gave a little laugh, what a coincidence...Would Professor Fah mind getting two essays on the same plant? She bit her lip a little again as she tried to think. But then he was returning with a chair.

She looked back up at him and smiled, only just now sitting now that he had a chair to sit in as well, "I'm Annabelle Sinclair, 6th year," she said in return, "Actually, I had wanted to write about this same plant," she said, tapping the page, "I was studying to be a healer back at Ilvermorny, the healer there mentioned this plant, but I'd never had a chance to do any research on it and this paper seemed like the perfect opportunity," she explained, "Y-You've been at this school longer than I, would Professor Fah be alright on receiving two essays on it? I don't want to take your idea from you, so if you don't think she would be, I can choose something else," she said, hoping she wouldn't have to though. She was very curious about it.

"You chose urtica torpens pertinax as well? I guess you really did need this book, then," Martin commented. "Oh, you attended Ilvermorny? I didn't realize they gave students a head-start on specializing for a profession there...I hope switching to Hogwarts didn't set you back too far in that respect. I don't think they even offer healing as a NEWT-level class here...I'm honestly not sure where prospective healers go to train, but now I'm curious to find out."

He looked down at their book as he considered Annabelle's question. "Professor Fah wouldn't have any reason to complain, because we wouldn't normally have any reason to know we'd chosen the same topic. Being in different years and houses, we wouldn't even be expected to interact much at all. I expect she'll judge your paper not on the uniqueness of the topic, but on how much effort she thinks you put into it, knowing what she does about you. Also consider that, as we're in different years, we'll have different grading requirements to meet and write against. What we end up writing should be distinct enough if only for that reason. That said...I'd still be interested in reading your essay when we're done."

"Well I wouldn't say they necessarily gave us a head-start, but if we were vaguely aware of a potential thing, some of the professors would give extra tutoring to assist in getting on our way," Annabelle explained, "And it hasn't really set me back, but I do find myself a bit confused at times due to the difference in teaching styles and curriculum," she shook her head, her brows knitting together a bit to show her concern on learning the material as needed to succeed here.

As he spoke about the reason they should be fine to write on the same plant, she smiled and nodded eagerly to the line of logic, "Yes, I do suppose that makes sense, thank you. And certainly, though I will admit, I will probably be writing a lot about the healing properties and applications and perhaps on whether or not it makes sense to start using such a plant in a wider sense than it is now or not, comparatively to plants that we use now of similar nature- though I guess there's nothing quite the same, so..." she flushed a bit realizing she was prattling, "Sorry," she shook her head, "I get a bit carried away sometimes when talking about these things."

Sure they were in the clear now, she got out her materials to start taking notes first, wanting to get all of her facts straight before trying to write the actual essay, "What got you interested in this plant?" she asked curiously.

"Hmm. I'd wager they teach different spells at Ilvermorny too, spells that have similar effects but different names, incantations, and wand movements, which could be confusing if a professor suggests using a spell by a different name than the one you're familiar with. I sometimes get a glimpse of that when I read very old grimoires, like when they use archaic names for spells or potion ingredients."

"You don't have to apologize, it's actually fun to see someone outside of Ravenclaw geek out over some topic or other with the same academic enthusiasm. I often feel like most of the students here don't really care about learning any more than necessary, so it's refreshing to see you showing so much interest in this plant."

"I suppose I picked this plant because it's so poorly understood and there's so little material available. I enjoy a challenge, and I also enjoy learning about things beyond our normal curriculum. Something like this plant could improve the quality of life for patients in the coming years, if we can figure out how to cultivate it and exploit it. I don't know how things are like in the States, but the Wizarding world in Britain is very slow to change. I want to be on the cutting edge so I can help it to progress."

Annabelle made a face of "Yeah" when he talked about the differences, not having wanted to complain, but he hit the nail on the head. When he said it was refreshing to show interest, she smiled again, glad to hear she wasn't bothering him. When he talked about the benefit of the plants, she clasped her hands together, "Yes! And oh my gosh yes, people do not like change, but this kind of thing would be helpful for everyone involved, it just needs people to look at it in those contexts rather than some unknown," she said before she looked back at the pages with the information.

"I would like to be able to help people in any way that I can, I know that sounds like a really generalized thought, but it's not that hard of a concept. Just... if what I do helps people, then I should do it," she said, then rubbed the back of her neck, "Though this is just some research paper by a student, I doubt it will illicit much attention," she pursed her lips a little before starting to write down something she saw on the page that she thought was important.

"In my experience, people tend to be a lot more receptive to change if you can demonstrate how something would work instead of merely giving them exposition and hypotheticals. That does, however, mean that you often end up having to invest all the time, money, and effort yourself to develop the idea and prove that it works first." He began jotting down some notes with his black-feather quill.

He paused and looked up after the last thing Annabelle said. "...what if we made this more than just a research paper? Would you be interested in doing some extracurricular research to try to figure out how to cultivate this?" He leaned back in his chair and glanced in the direction of the greenhouses, though they weren't actually visible to them. "I bet we could convince Professor Fah to let us partition off a small part of one of the greenhouses and apply charms to adjust the climate. We could try cross-breeding the plant with other plants to see what could be done to increase its yield."

Annabelle listened to him, nodding to say she understood the point he was making as she wrote, then looked up as he made his proposal. Her brows drew down at first before shooting up and a smile broke out on her face, "Oh my gosh, yes!" she bounced a bit in her seat with excitement, "That would be amazing!" she said before reaching into her bag and pulling out out a notebook, "To be honest, there's a number of things I wanted to try before I left Ilvermorny, if the professor doesn't mind, I wonder if we can get access to other plants," she said, flipping pages until she came to a list and set it out, "These were all ones the healer mentioned that could have potential healing properties that hadn't been explored in detail yet," she said, "I would love to fully explore all of them, though I realize I'll have to narrow it down to ones that can be grown and cultivated within the school year or at least within the two I'll be here," she pursed her lips, tapping her quill to her chin, not realizing she was getting ink on herself.

She started to seem to mumble under her breath, looking over the list and to the open pages of the book before realizing what she was doing with talking and pursed her lips, "I get really passionate about this stuff, a lot of people thought I was a bit weird for it back home," she said, "I might be a bit excited that someone seems to get it to some degree," she giggled a little, shaking her head

Martin couldn't help but grin when Annabelle showed such enthusiasm for research that he previously thought only he was interested in pursuing. He set his quill down and turned in his seat to face her as she flipped in her notebook to a list of other potential plants and showed it to him. He leaned in to peruse the list. "I'm not familiar with most of these, but I'd be happy to look into them with you," he said.

Then he turned his attention back to the Hufflepuff and noticed the ink on her cheek. "Oh...you've got some ink, just there..." --he gestured to the same spot on his own cheek-- then recalled that he happened to have a folded handkerchief in his pocket, and pulled it out. "Allow me...?" He reached up to wipe away the ink. It felt different to him to be in someone else's personal space this way, but not in a bad way. It was an unusual feeling.

"It's all right, I'm usually quiet and shy, but it's been pointed out to me that I do get talkative on the rare occasion that I have an interested audience," he said with a smirk. "I'm sure we can tackle several of these plants on your list. I'm hopeful that Professor Fah will accede to our request for greenhouse space, but if not, we can always find a spot to improvise our own."

Annabelle had let him wipe it away, though for some reason she found herself blushing as he was in her space. Was she just embarrassed for getting the ink on herself? Yes, that had to be it. She thanked him quietly, "I-I can wash that handkerchief to get the ink out," she offered, "I get it on myself more times than I care to admit," she bit her lip a little.

When he mentioned that he could get just as enthusiastic about his own passions, she smiled again, feeling so relieved to find a kindred spirit outside of her house, "There is some space out near the groundskeeper's hut if we can convince them. There's a lot of space, so I would hope they wouldn't mind if the professor says no," she murmured then bit her lip again, "We should probably write our papers first so perhaps we can convince her that we really are dedicated to this pursuit and not just trying to get out of writing," she said and giggled softly.

"Well, if you insist?" Martin said as he folded the handkerchief up with the ink on the inside so it wasn't exposed, and proffered it to Annabelle.

"True, being at the groundskeeper's hut would probably deter vandalism as well," he noted. There really weren't many places on the grounds that students didn't frequent, since everyone valued the more-secluded spots. "But you're right, we should focus on our assignment first. Then we'll have plenty of time to plan."

Martin felt optimistic about working with Annabelle. While this would consume a portion of the time that he'd otherwise spend studying extracurricular topics on his own, he had to admit that befriending and working with someone else sounded much more fun--and it was for a good cause. He knew his mother would approve of more socializing with kids his own age--or at least close to his own age. He seemed to be on friendly terms more with adults than with other students.

He turned in his seat once more to face his parchment of notes and began to pick up where he'd left off.

Annabelle took the handkerchief and tucked it in her robe pocket for now. She was trying not to hum to herself as she worked, she was rather excited at the prospect of getting to try the different plants she'd been curious about. She started to write between the parchments she'd set out, taking notes and jotting down different thoughts she was having at the same time. One might say she had a bit of a short attention span, but she tried to keep herself on task by writing down the extra thoughts so they didn't get in her way while trying to do the research. She made sure not to use the pen anywhere near the book, not wanting to get ink on the library book, especially not since it was the only one with information on this plant they needed.

If Martin looked over at the extra notes page, he might notice she'd actually drawn out what looked like a garden plot of some sort and had been making notes of what should be planted where and what needed what kind of extra care or light, or their water needs. As she worked, she seemed to chew at her lip, unaware of the action until she bit too hard, "ow," she muttered, putting her hand to her mouth for a moment, blinking as it had pulled her from her thoughts all together. She looked around the library and noticed, "Huh... There's almost no one in here," she mused, wondering what time it was.

"I'm not taking too much of your time am I?" she asked, looking over at him.

Martin glanced up with Annabelle accidentally bit her lip. Somehow he thought it was endearing when she worried her lip, but he couldn't explain why.

At Annabelle's comment, he turned his head to quickly survey the library from his chair. "Proabably because it's a Friday," He speculated. "Most students consider their weekend to start now, so it's natural for them to want to relax from their assignments. Sunday evenings it gets busy in here, from all the slackers rushing to catch up."

"No, not at all. Actually, I think I've got just about all the information I need to finish my essay." It was true that he hadn't touched the book for several minutes now. "I don't know what your schedule is like, but would you like to meet sometime over the next week to discuss our collaboration? We could put together some ideas before we show them to Professor Fah."

"Well it is a bit foolish to wait, it's better to do things first so that you can relax after and know for sure you are burden-free," Annabelle said, shaking her head at the concept of waiting until the last minute.

When he mentioned meeting again, she smiled brightly, "I look forward to it!" she said, clapping her hands together, "I'll look into the plants I wanted to try at Ilvermorny and see what ones could be conducive to being able to grow here and maybe what ones we might have the best chance of presenting to Professor Fah," she said, clearly excited at the prospect, "This is so exciting," her eyes practically seemed to shine.

"I'm so very glad for this coincidence so that we had the pleasure of meeting!" she said, then what seemed like a knee-jerk reaction, she leaned forward and hugged him with a bit of a squeeze before leaning back quickly, "O-Oh, I'm sorry!"

Martin couldn't help but smile at Annabelle's exuberance. Sometimes he had difficulty gauging other peoples' emotions, but that was certainly not the case now. It was refreshing in a way, not having to second-guess himself.

"I'm also--", he began, but he was cut off by a surprise hug. That was definitely not an everyday occurrence for him, and he wasn't sure how to respond at first. By the time it occurred to him to reciprocate, she was already withdrawing and apologizing. "No, it--it's all right. It wasn't unwelcome, just unexpected, and I wasn't sure how to react," he explained. "I don't think I've ever had someone near my own age hug me before... It felt kindof nice, actually." He looked down, suddenly finding it hard to look her in the eye. "Um...do you mind...could we try that again?" And now it was his turn to bite his lower lip out of anxiousness. He felt awkward and silly to ask for a do-over, but he had a compelling sense that he'd regret it later if he didnt't say something. He assumed that his moment of hesitation had discouraged her.

Annabelle flushed a bit as he pointed out it was unexpected but smiled hearing it wasn't unwelcome. Her smile faltered hearing that he hadn't been hugged by someone his own age. That made her heart hurt and then we he asked if they could do it again, she gave a soft giggle, "Of course," she said softly, "Though now that you've told me that, you might get tired of how much I'm going to hug you," she said in a teasing warning. She leaned back over, a bit slower this time to not throw him off before hugging him again, giving him a gentle squeeze.

She had people get irritated at her before for hugging them at almost random times, so she had stopped doing it if she could help it, but she'd been so excited, it had happened instinctually. She was glad that he was more receptive to it and hoped to help him feel more comfortable with it.... or at least comfortable enough it wouldn't surprise him so much next time.

Martin closed his eyes and allowed Annabelle to embrace him for however long she felt comfortable, reciprocating this time by lightly wrapping his own arms around her. Up close like this, he noticed the pleasant scent of her hair.

"Thank you for that. Honestly, I don't think I'd ever get tired of it," he admitted with a goofy grin as she let go. He reached up to run his fingers through his hair as he tried to think of something else to say.

"So...when and where would you like to meet up again?", he asked. "I'm usually in the library either before or after dinner, but rarely both. I've got a free hour after lunch on Wednesdays. My weekends are mostly free also, since I always complete any pending assignments on Fridays...we have a Hogsmeade outing coming up, too, now that I think of it..."

Annabelle hummed as she considered the schedule he mentioned for himself, tapping her chin, no quill this time, "I don't have much of a set schedule beyond classes," she said, "So it seems like with yours being so much more of an actual schedule, I'll let it to you to decide when we should meet," she smiled at him, "I hope that's alright. Mom always says I'm a bit of a canary, just going here and there," she giggled a little at that.

She had quite enjoyed that little hug, glad that he seemed to as well. She was a touchy kind of person, always preferring to show what she wanted or felt as opposed to telling- often finding the words hard to put together or afraid the words would be taken in the wrong way and someone's feelings would be hurt.

"Regardless of what works for you, I am quite looking forward to working together!" she beamed at him.