Lesson 5.2 O.W.Ls

[Tamis Raynor]

Pacing the Herbology classroom's length, Raynor was flustered to say the least, as flustered as the Fifth Years would be when they found out she was here. She felt completely out of her element. The Herbology classroom was friendly enough. Robert had done a marvelous job with it. It was one of the Greenhouses, but the center had been been altered to accompany tables and a path cleanly cleared for walking and moving about. But it was not her room, and had no lesson plans what-so-ever.

This had not been a planned substitution. The way that the Deputy's forehead creased with frustration suggested that alone. But her usually composed aura flashed with frustration and anger. The Ministry had gone too far this time and Raynor had not been clued in ahead of time. Her contacts from within could usually give her a heads-up, a favor she did in return for Fiona. But not a word of this mess had reached not beforehand. That meant her allies had deserted her, or this had been so confidential of a move that they had not even heard of it.

Taking a collective breath, Tamis forced herself to calm down and stay in one place. Smoothing her facial muscles, she clasped her hands behind her back and faced off to the door of the Herbology classroom. Ready to take on the fifth year class that would enter from it.

[noah]

Noah entered the class, and was surprised to see the Deputy where the Herbology teacher was supposed to be. Though, he read the Daily Prophet, and it did all make sense. He nodded at Raynor, and admired how she could handle so many things at once: a baby, the Ministry, being the Deputy Headmistress, teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts...

"You need a vacation," he said simply to her as he took his seat. "Hello Professor," he said, deciding that he should probably say some sort of greeting.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew made his way into class and paused as soon as he entered, frowning at the pacing professor. It wasn't that the Deputy was standing around as if preparing to teach the class. He had no problem with Raynor.

It was the fact that she was there and Shaw was missing. It was hard to forget the Ministry official staked out in the back of the previous Herbology classes, giving Shaw the third degree. The fact that the herbologist was missing concerned Drew.

"Where's Shaw?" he asked Professor Raynor in a low voice. The man was the best Herbology Professor they had had in ages and Drew found it hard to believe they would jsut sack him like that.

[Charlie Jones]

"You don't read much of the DP, do ya?" Charlie said as she waved around an article that had a picture of the greenhouse. It wasn't hers, but she did seem to have a habit of swiping other's Daily Prophets when she saw some rather alarming news in her usual reading-over-the-shoulder routine.

She was pretty disappointed in the absence of the Herbology teacher. The past tutoring lessons had fueled her to study independantly along with Drew's lessons. With all the knowledge she was accumlating, it was definitely a surprise when she realized that she couldn't show her worst's subject's professor that wasn't going to slack off. Some of the stuff... well, some of the stuff wasn't all that bad.

"They booted Shaw. Gave 'im the pink slip. Kicked him outta the payroll," Charlie said as she leaned against one of the tables.

[Tristan Howard]

"That sucks," he said walking in the classroom. He liked Professor Shaw but never'd like the class. He looked around and saw the deputy. He walked around and sighed. He then just leaned over to a wall not knowing where to go and all. He was just desperate to leave the classroom and go to sleep for ten hundred hours, even though that's an exaggeration. Shaking his head also because he had a headache.

[Tamis Raynor]

It was very hard to keep from exploding. The Daily Prophet had not taken long to get involved with all of this. No sooner had it happened were they interviewing her. They must have taken it straight to the presses to get it out this soon after the incident. Damn them. Those that subscribed to the Prophet got an edition barely an hour ago.

"I do not know where Professor Shaw is, Mr. Thornton. Most likely in his office or still up in the Headmistress'." Before she could respond much further, a handful of other students filed into the classroom, not surprised at all that she was there. She had no clue that word had spread that quickly.

"Professor Shaw has not been fired, Miss Jones. He is currently unable to teach and on full pay due to a few ridiculous accusations. That is all anyone needs to know."

Oh, yes. She did indeed need a vacation. Sadly, there was not one to be had. Perhaps this Winter vacation she would convince Banks to pack the family and go somewhere warm to relax. Fiji perhaps.

[Drew Thornton]

"I read the Prophet this morning and would have noticed something like that," Drew shot back at Charlie, taking his anger over Shaw out on her. He grabbed the paper from her hands and read it for himself. The Herbology professor was sacked, the Ministry was behind it, and the wolves at the Prophet hadn't even had the decency to let the story become an hour old before reporting it.

[Charlie Jones]

"What the hell, Thornton?" Charlie snapped at him as he snatched the article off of her hands. She still had a bit of a grip on it, so as he took it from her hands, some of the corners had come off. Absolutely not wanting to have anything to do with him at this point, she rolled up the remnants and threw them at him, muttering, "Take that, too. I don't care."

[Drew Thornton]

Drew ignored Charlie, resisting the urge to flip her the bird, and turned to Raynor instead. "There's a leak at the Ministry," he said, forgetting for a moment where he was and who was around. It was the only way the Prophet could have gotten the story faster than the Hogwarts rumor mill.

[Jade Estaci]

"What's leaking?" Jade asked, entering the classroom. She nodded to the professor and her classmates, then sat down and began to doodle on a piece of parchment. Why, oh why had she decided to stay up until 5 that morning before going to bed? Aside from the fact that she was hyper, of course.

[Charlie Jones]

"Why don't you ask the know-it-all here?" Charlie spat out at Jade the moment she made her question. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she decided to just sit on the table until class would start. Without much thinking about her next action, she propped open her Herbology book and looked at the next chapter. It never occured to her that the subject was pretty interesting, especially when it came to plant's uses.

[noah]

Noah raised an eyebrow and put his hands up. "Er... can't we just all get along? Bickering like this is exactly what the Ministry wants us to do, right?" He felt slightly stupid, remember that was still new-- and who would listen to a guy like him anyway?

"By arguing like this helps the situation none. We should just try to get along, and stick together," he sighed, buried his head in his arms and groaned. Why can't everyone just get along...

[Jade Estaci]

Unfortunately for Noah, Jade was tired. And when peolpe talked to her like Charlie had when she was tired, she either blew up or burst into tears. Today, however, she did both. "Wh-what did I do?! All I did was ask a simple question! It wasn't directed to you, you could have just ignored me and let one of the other's answer." She had succesfully kept the tears in that long, but she didn't know how much longer she could hold them in. A tear slipped down her cheek and she put her head on the table, not caring if she got dirt in her hair. She hoped no one had seen her cry, but chances were someone had.

[Charlie Jones]

Charlie looked up from her textbook at Jade and Noah and rolled her eyes. "Merlin, you're gonna cry now? Look, it's not your fault or nothing. But it is Drew's fault for being the jerk he is." With that, she returned to her book. If they were going to continue with this, Charlie was better off leaving the class. Her temper was always at a tip-toe end nowadays.

[alexis]

Alexis walked into herbology to discover Prof. Raynor filling in for Shaw. And by the sound of it, everyone here had heard about what happened to professor Shaw. Not wanting to take part in this conversation, Alexis contined walking until she found an empty seat next to Tristan. "Vat in the world is Charlie so upset at Drew for?" she asked. She hated not know what was going on, but judging on the look on Charlie's face, her temper was rising. It would probobly be a better idea not to say anything to her.