Term 4: Lesson 1: Year 1

Lucia walked out of the castle and into the chilly breeze of the day. She smiled at the scent that filled her as she walked on her wait to greenhouse one. She was going to meet the first years now. And it was going to be interesting.

She arrived to the greenhouse, unlocking the doors and walked up to her desk, preparing for the class. She waved her wand absentmindedly, making the chalk write up two words 'Wand Wood'. She was going to go easy on them today, just getting to know them better, and get them to know each other better.

She smiled as the students started filing in, and when she noticed that they had all gathered, she cleared her throat. "Hello class. I am Lucia Henley and I will be you professor in Herbology. Today, we're going to start off nice and easy with some introduction," she said and smiled at their faces.

"But it's not going to be a normal introduction. No, we have to mix in some elements that has to do with Herbology at all. So, what we're going to do, is to take a round, starting in the front, where you will be telling me what kind of wood your wand is made of. But before that, does anyone have an idea of how that will let me get to know you better?" she asked, looking at them curiously.

Maya entered greenhouse one, grateful for the warmth it provided from the chilly day. She was looking forward to the Herbology class but hadn't heard much about the professor as she was new so she didn't know what to expect.

Tentatively she took a seat and looked up noticing that today's subject topic was outlined on the blackboard. 'Wand wood', could be an interesting topic Maya thought. She listened attentively to Professor Henley as she began the class.

After giving the question a few moments thought, Maya raised her hand and said "because the wand chooses the witch or wizard due to their traits so it reflects each individual's personality. And my wand is made of Dogwood" Maya added with an after thought.

Kynan had still been trying to find his way around. When he arrived at the greenhouse, he was relieved that he was early. He sat down and looked at the blackboard and read the words 'Wand Wood'. Seems interesting, he thought.

Professor Henley asked a question and a Slytherin girl answered after a few moments. Kynan raised his hand, "My wand is made of Larch wood."

Lucia nodded at a Slytherin who raised her hand. "That's right! Five points to Slytherin, Ms. Winchester. And with a wand made of dogwood, I would say you are a very nice and joyous person, as well as loyal and, if I may, maybe a bit stubborn?" she asked, her eyes twinkling joyously.

She looked at the Gryffindor who spoke up as well. "Larch wood? I suppose you're one of the determined and kind people, then? Also, Larch wands are often suited best for witches or wizards with hidden talents. It also enhances a person's bravery, so don't be surprised if you find yourself becoming braver than you already are," she said with a smile.

She looked around the class. "Can anyone tell me why the wood of the wand is so important? And does a wand have to be made of wood? If so, why?" she asked, looking encouragingly at them all, hoping one of them would step forward and answer.

Maya smiled, delighted with herself, she had just earned her first points for her house! She had to suppress a laugh when Professor Henley announced her personality traits to the class based on her wand and was impressed at how accurate she was. Her mother had always said her stubbornness was always her most prominent trait and had gotten her in trouble on more than one occasion.

Maya was thoroughly enjoying the class, she was finding it one of the most interesting first classes so far. She brought her attention back to what Professor Henley was saying about the other students in the class as she went through each of their wands. She hesitated before she raised her hand up thinking hard about the question just asked.

"Well, I suppose a wand has to be made of wood as the wood would be key to the overall construction of the wand considering that they encase the core offering it protection and allowing the core to reach its magical potential. Also, the personalities of the wand would effect the type of magic that they preform best. Some woods would be better at transfiguration while others may be better at preforming charms. It all just depends on the type of the wand wood." Maya answered, inhaling deeply after her long explanation.

Lucia smiled as Maya replied a very good answer. As they hadn't had any homework to read up on wandwoods, she did very well in answering the question. "Well said, Ms. Winchester. Another 5 points to Slytherin," she said softly.

"But, with wandlore, there are a lot of exceptions to every rule. Despite the wood being a calm and yielding type, the core could change that. I am not so skilled in wandlore as Ollivander's, of course, so this will be a mere rhetorical example. If the wand is made of pine, it will differ between a pine wand with unicorn tail hair and a pine wand with phoenix feather. It is a precise magic that only a few excels in," she explained.

"Can anyone tell me of any other wandmakers? Other than Ollivander, of course," she asked with a smile, looking at her students, hoping they had read up on the one piece of homework she had given them; reading about wandmakers.

"Also, can anyone say what the difference is between Ollivander's wands and other wandmakers?" she asked.

When Professor Henley told him about his personality, Kynan was a bit shocked at how the wood of a wand can tell you so much about a person. Determined, kind and brave, he thought, looked at his bag where he was keeping his wand. He 'nodded' at it and then looked up as the Professor asked a question.

Kynan raised his hand, wanting to answer this question himself instead of Maya. "I know of a wandmaker called... um..." he said, trying to remember. "Gregorovitch?" He gave her a I'm-not-so-sure smile and looked down.

Lucia smiled at him. "That's quite correct, Mr. Walters, 5 points to Gryffindor. Gregorovitch was one of the most famous wandmakers in the world. He lived up north and most of the students attending Durmstrang would get their wands from him. At least, until he died. Does anyone know how he died?" she asked them, her tone a slight bit darker, though that might go unnoticed. She really didn't like to think of how horrible the world had once been and how horrible it could get.

She also wondered if anyone could answer the question of the difference between Ollivander and other wandmakers. They ought to know, given what their homework had been. But it might've slipped their minds, though she thought that to be rather unlikely. She hadn't given them so much to read up on.

"Um... he was killed, wasn't he?" Kynan found himself asking instead of answering. "By... um... Voldmort?" He couldn't remember very much from reading, mostly because he practically leafed through the book. Still, he waited to see if his answer was right.

Maya recognised the name Kynan had given when he answered the question. She racked her brain and had recalled her mother telling her a story about him when she asked about wand makers. Maya had never lived through the terror of the second wizarding war and thought she was very lucky that she never had to experience a terror at that great a magnitude. She had told her stories about how fear swept across the country due to one man. Her mother never liked to talk about it much as her own parents died during that time. Maya never knew how but it definitely wasn't an accident that her own mother became an orphan. At least that was how she moved to Ireland and met her husband Maya thought trying to comfort herself.

"And the possible difference between the wand maker's wands would be their style, especially how they would be designed. Then I suppose maybe how they would even work as their cores would each be different magical creatures as they chose and gathered them themselves. I suppose their methods would differ too. What they would use as cores and what wood types they would merge together." Maya added skeptically as an afterthought as she couldn't recall exactly what she had read the night before.

Lucia smiled again. "That's right, Mr. Walters, he was killed by Voldemort during the second world war. This was due to Voldemort's unhealthy urge to find the Elder Wand, which I will say some more on, after Ms. Winchester says what's on her mind," she said, looking at the girl with her hand in the air.

Lucia was more than content with the answer she got from Maya. "Excellent, Ms. Winchester. That answer deserves another five points. Gregorovitch was, for example, known to use only Dragon Heartstring in his work. Garrick Ollivander uses only Dragon Heartstring, Unicorn Hair and Phoenix Feather, but his father tried his luck with Kneazle Whiskers and Kelpie Hair," she told them.

"And this brings me back to the Elder Wand. The wood of this wand was made of elder, and that wood is used in normal cases as well, though the wood is of rare origin. But the core of the wand was made of Thestral hair. I won't ask you what a Thestral is, as this isn't a Care of Magical Creatures lesson, but it is a skeletal horse that is invisible to anyone who hasn't witnessed a death. Thestrals are actually the animals that drags the carriages up to Hogwarts. You haven't seen these carriages, as you were escorted to Hogwarts with boat as it has been tradition for every first years. But think about it when you come to Hogwarts for you second year," she said with a smile.

"The reason why most wandmakers doesn't use this core themselves is probably due to the fact that Thestral hair makes for very unreliable wands, and when it is teamed up with the wood of Elder, which is said to be very tricky to handle, is not a good combo. So, I'm suspecting that if a wand was made of elder and it's core was unicorn hair, it would be perfectly fine," she said calmly.

She then shook her head. "But that is not of the essence of this class. What I want you to do now, is open your books and try to find out something about wand wood that you didn't know and that we haven't discussed. Take ten minutes doing that, and then I'm going to show you guys something afterwards," she said with a secretive smile, sitting down behind her desk and looking on as the students opened their books and tried to find something. When ten minutes had passed, she looked up again, wondering if anyone had found anything.

Kynan opened his book and flipped through the pages. When Professor Henley looked up, he raised his hand and read from the book, "Wands vary according to length, from at least 5" to 16", as well as rigidity, ranging from "springy" to "unyielding"." He didn't know if he got it right, but decided not to care anyway.

Maya listened and began to take notes wherever she heard a piece of new information and watched as Professor Henley walked over to her desk after she was finished addressing the class. She then looked on making sure they were doing what they were assigned.

Maya opened her Herbology book on the page she had ceased reading the night before. Scanning through the subtitles she skipped over Wand Lenght and Wandlore until her eyes rested on a topic she had never heard of before: Priori Incantatem. Intrigiued, she began reading.

Engorged in the subject she was reading she didn't look up until another student in the class spoke. She looked up and noticed Kynan had his hand in the air. She listened to his piece of information and was pleasantly surprised that she learned something new from him. She then raised her own hand and began to explain what she had just read.

"I read about Priori Incantatem where relatively little is known about it. Even Ollivander himself, who studied wandlore for years, struggled to comprehend it. It's when two wands, containing the same cores from the same magical creature, meet each other and don't work properly. They won't fight against each other and strange occurrences happen."

Lucia listened to what Kynan said and nodded and then looked at Maya as she talked as well. "Brilliant, ten points to the both of you," she said smilingly. "The wands vary in length and rigidity. I remember a woman who had a very short wand. Or, I never saw her, I've just read about her. Maybe you have also? Her name was Dolores Jane Umbridge. But no matter, do not think about that now, though I do encourage you to read about her. Back to the point; the rigidity says something about the mind of the wielder, while the length is mostly based on height and arm length, though there are always exceptions. One of my friends is rather low, but her wand is longer than my own."

She then turned to Maya. "Ms. Winchester, you have hit the jackpot with that one. Priori Incantatem is a mystery to many people, including one of the best wandmakers in the world. Wands have a mind of their own, and I do think it's a rather fascinating thing. Just think about it: Harry Potter was Voldemort's sworn enemy from the day he was born, and still, his wand was Voldemort's twin wand. I've always supposed, and make note of it being a mere assumption, that the wands doesn't want to fight each other, because who fights against himself? Though they are twin wands, the core comes from the same magical animal, in other words, it's fighting itself when they clash. Once again, it is only assumptions.

"Priori Incantatem connect the wands, yes, and there is a battle between wills. When the wielder with the weakest will lose, the wand of that wielder will start to show what spells have been used before. This was thought about as very useful, so a spell has been made where you don't have to have twin wands to see what spells have been used before. This spell is called 'priori incantato'. Basically the same, just easier to pronounce," she joked with a grin.

"All right, so moving on, I'm going to show-" Lucia stopped when she saw the clock. Really? "Oh, I'm sorry class. I seem to have spent the time talking. The class is unfortunately dismissed, but next class, you're going to get to see what I was planning on showing you. Homework for the next class; find out more about your wandwood on page 162, and write how it matches your personality. Also, read up on Devil's Snare and write at least a 100 words on that. All together, I want 200 words, but you decide how to measure it, as long as the Devil's Snare has over 100 words. Understood?" she asked with a smile. She then walked back to her desk. "Class dismissed," she said softly, watching on as students started packing and leaving the classroom.

Spoiler:

Glad of the further explanation Professor Henley gave on Prior Incantatem as Maya still wasn't clear from the description from the book, she thought that Professor Henley knew her stuff.

Maya was delighted with being awarded more points and was beaming by the end of class. Unexpectedly, she had thoroughly enjoyed the class and, like Professor Henley, was shocked when the bell went. It was unusual for Maya not to keep glancing at her watch, willing time to go faster, but that was not the case for this class. She didn't expect to like Herbology as much as her other lessons as there wasn't as much wand waving involved, but she was warming to it already.

It still hadn't stopped Maya from loudly groaning along with the other students when she assigned homework though. Packing up her stuff, she followed the rest of the students out the door, wondering what was for dinner.