Sitting Under a Tree

"My mom tends to not like my garden. Ever since my brother died, she feels that I've been drifting away from her." Harmony said. "I'm only eleven for Merlin's sake, but I guess she doesn't like it that I spent a lot of time in my garden and not in the house."

Harmony stared at the grass for a second, before looking back up.

"My flowers and plants...they are both Muggle and Wizard. About the only thing I know well about the Muggle world is plants. They know things about me because I talk to my plants and cherish them with my entire being. I can tell my plants anything."

She smiled at Theresa. "That's why I wish to go into Herbology. Because plants don't judge you no matter what, and they like the company anyway. The protective spell idea is a great one, but I'm not sure it'll last while I'm away at school. I might have to hire someone to take care of my garden."

"Well that is a great reason to get into something, especially something like Herbology" Theresa said. "If you really care so much then it makes it all the better when you grow up and have to do it for a living" she said, smiling at the thought. "You probably will have to find some way to protect your garden but wands crossed that at least a little of the garden is still intact when you return home" she said.

Harmony laughed as Theresa said the old expression 'wands crossed' instead of 'fingers crossed.'

"Wands definitely crossed," Harmony said, nodding. "And I'm sure that since you like the animals and environment so much, you'll either be working with them or working with the dragons! Not in high heels of course."

Harmony laughed as she threw in that little teasing remark. Oh, heels were going to follow her everywhere.

Theresa laughed "if I do become a dragon trainer like I want to then I will make sure that I don't wear heels" she said. "No way I will be able to run in those so I am going to take my chances without them" she said. The thought of being in a dragon trainer uniform and having heels was too funny, she could just picture it being the type of thing that her sister would do.

Harmony laughed at some of the mental images she received.

"Can you just imagine yourself decked out in a dragon trainer uniform, all green and brown and then bright pink heels?" She asked, snickering. "Oh that's too funny! That would be a sight to see, for sure!"

Theresa snorted "that would be the strangest thing ever" she said before laughing. She could just picture being in a dragon holding cage and clipping at the metal with the pink high heels, it would be so weird. "Even worse, pink high heels with bows or something on them" she said.

Harmony scrunched up her nose.

"Yuck. That sounds a bit too...girly for me. I'm more of a...get dirty type of person when it comes to the plants." Harmony said, nodding her head. "And I'm sure to take care of dragons, it'll take a long time and hard work too. I'm sure you're up for it, if it's something you truly want to do when you get older."

Theresa nodded "deffinetly, I actually already have a name picked out for one day when I have a dragon" she said cheerfully. "It would be a chinese fireball and he would be called Shasta" she said. "My friends have actually got this giant stuffed dragon in the room of requirements that will take Shasta's place until I can finaly get one" she said, laughing.

Harmony laughed with Theresa. Shasta seemed like a good name for a dragon. A chinese fireball at that.

"I think I'd like a Hungarian Horntail," Harmony said, a smile playing on her lips as she thought about it. "The fiercest dragon there is of course. I'm not sure what I would name it though. Midnight maybe. I'm not exactly the best at coming up with names. Rempo might work, but that reminds me of fire."

"Rempo sounds like a great name for a Horngarian Horntail, it just reminds you of the colour red for some reason" Theresa said. "I am so going to love a dragon when I am older, they have to be the best of all creatures and the hardest to train" she said excitedly.

Harmony laughed as Theresa radiated joy and excitement. She sure did love dragons.

"Well, when you get to working with dragons, you'll have to invite me to the reserve sometime." Harmony said, grinning. "I'll be able to bring you special herbs and plants that could help your dragons when they get sick or hurt. I'm sure the dragons would appreciate it too."

Theresa nodded "yeah, you will, it will be fun, as long as none of the cute dragons get loose" she said. She hoped that she would be a dragon trainer some day, it would be the best ever. "Sure it wont happen though, they may be known as dangerous but they are only really a little tempermental at best with fire tantrums" she said.

Harmony nodded.

"And it's always good to treat them as equals if you can," Harmony said. "The dragons and any other animal for that matter have their pride as much as we do, and when you treat the dragons bad, they will return it ten-fold. So, it's better to treat the dragons right, and then they'll treat you better back."

Theresa agreed "I think the same thing, about all animals really, even the little ones in the lake" she said. "That is why I set up this petition that a few of the other girls have signed up to and help me, it is mainly about giving the animals the respect that they deserve" she said.

"A petition huh?" Harmony asked, intrigued. "You seem very dedicated to your work, and that's a good quality to have. I don't think anyone has seemed to care about the lake before you came around. While Dixie and Raven were...misguided about the Exploding Snap cards, they still did some damage that might be irreversible. I hope they help out with the lake one day."

Theresa nodded "yeah, at the moment, we have had a dive to check out the damage and your right, there were what looked like crators and things so we are planning on filling those up and replanting under the water, half of it looks like a wasteland which is no good to the poor animals" she said. "It is really easy to get into the work, like you and your plants, when it is fun and stuff, it doesnt really seem like work" she said.

Harmony nodded. "I know what you mean. I caught sight of you exiting the greenhouse the other day. Were you asking Professor Ellis what sorts of plants you could plant near and in the lake to make it better?" She asked. "Without harming the ecosystem of the lake of course. That would be rather bad, if something like that were to happen and throw it all off balance."

Theresa nodded as she thought about what professor Eliss had said. "I was, he told me about the different plants to use" she said. "I just hope that I dont end up putting something in there that could disturb everything, apparently, it could be easy to tip the balance" she said.

"Plants are a rather fickle thing," Harmony agreed. "I'd go with Muggle plants first off. Ones that are rather...ordinary. Water lilies and maybe even some cattails near the edge of the lake, for a more swampy look toward the back of it. It'll give it a touch of color."

She laughed happily. "I wonder if you could even plant some Flitterbloom by the edge," she mused. "However, I think most people would mistake it for Devil's Snare, and the poor thing would be destroyed."

Theresa grinned "cool, that would be quit good if it looked like devils snare" she said. She could just imagine how nice it would look with it around the edges. "I might look for those plants, I am going to read up more on it and see where it leads" she said.

Harmony laughed, nodding at Theresa when she said reading.

"Always read up on things of course," she said, smiling. "It helps you understand it better and then you can envision what you want it to look like. Besides, you also want to read up on plants that shouldn't be put around lakes. Like, I'm sure you wouldn't want to have an aconite around a lake. First off, people hang around here and aconite is quite poisonous. You wouldn't want someone's poor animal to be eating some grass and get a mouthful of aconite instead."

Theresa look horrified "I didn't know they were poisonous" she said. "I am going to end up killing things" she said before shrugging. "That just means more time in the library which is always fun, I will probably find myself in the creatures section for a while when I am there too" she said.

"Oh yes. Every part of the aconite plant is poisonous, which is why you exercise extreme caution when handling it. I have some in my own garden. My mother doesn't like it, but it helps keep the family legacy alive since my Great-Uncle Remus was a werewolf." Harmony explained.

"You should camp in the creature's section," Harmony teased, grinning. "I camp out in the plants section myself so we can exchange information back and forth about plants and animals."

"Sounds great, I knew of some muggle plants but not many wizarding ones but I am guessing that poisonous magical plants are a lot worse then poisonous muggle plats right?" Theresa asked.

She grinned at the idea of camping out in the creatures section "that would actually be awesome, even though we would get some of the funniest looks" she said, giggling a little at all their fellow students would would be confused.

Harmony nodded slightly. "It's different with each Muggle plant and Wizarding plant. Think of it as, let's say, a killer for example. A man armed with a knife is just as likely to kill you as a man armed with a wand. It just depends on who gets to kill you quicker."

She grimaced. "Maybe that wasn't the best analogy. I guess what I'm trying to say here is poisonous plants are just that. Poisonous. So always have extreme caution when handling any that may be Wizard or Muggle. As for camping out in the library, I can get all the funny looks I want. It doesn't bother me!"

She laughed at the image of her burrowed in a corner with books surrounding her.