Plant Doctor :: Rose

03 April 1923
Tuesday, 4:30 pm

At the end of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Blackwood approached Matilda with a question. It seemed that a few plants in her office were sick and needed attention. This wasn’t a rare question for Matilda. In fact, it was pretty common. After setting up an appointment for later that day, she went on her way and finished the day.

When classes were done, at 3pm, before her 4:30 meeting, Matilda needed to assemble a few things.

First, her plant kit. The simple carry-all had fertilizer, a small bag of soil, plant potions, gloves, and a number of different things that may help treat whatever issue that was plaguing her plants.

Next was a stop in the hospital wing for a stomach settling potion and tea. It seemed the baby Professor Blackwood was carrying was hell bent on making her sick. The potion would work when a powerful nausea came up, while the tea would hopefully keep the sickness at bay.

Last, because she couldn’t arrive without something sweet, she whipped up a quick batch of her apple crumble muffins. Rose’s favorite.

When she arrived at the office, the door was open so Matilda knocked quietly and walked in. “Hello Professor. I brought you a couple things.” Seeing Rose at the desk, she looked almost green with nausea. Hopefully the potion would help. “The potion should help with your queasiness, the tea as well. I brought you muffins too, but if the smell makes it worse I can leave them in the hall.”

---

The plant in question ended up being three once Matilda had a chance to look them over. Sitting on the window sill there were three pots with three different plants. A flutterby bush being the largest, had lush green leaves with purple blooms, but it wasn’t fluttering. When healthy, it fluttered constantly, even without the wind moving the leaves.

A smaller pot of mallowsweet looked almost normal, but on closer inspection the leaves were wilted and the color was all wrong.

Then, in a long planter was a very sick, almost dead looking spider plant. Which puzzled Matilda. Spider plants were nearly impossible to kill. If someone asked her what plant she would recommend for a novice, a spider plant was at the top of her list. She hadn’t touched the plants yet or looked up close, but she was excited to figure out the puzzle.

”I’m guessing these are the issue?’ Matilda asked, pointing at the plants in the window.

It seemed Rose forgot every time she was pregnant how she truly felt when she was pregnant. Still, feeling the kicks from the little one in her belly was enough to keep her going and she knew that once this one came, she’d be ready for the next. If she were lucky enough to have another with Gideon.

The thing concerning her the most, as of late, were some of the plants in her office. Rose had always had a thing for flowers, having spent much of her childhood in the garden with her mother before she died. Working with plants made her feel so much closer to her late mother, so when she noticed three of them beginning to look less than beautiful, she was concerned.

And sure, there was the Herbology professor she could go to for help, but Rose also knew that Matilda Nordstrom spent almost all of her free time in the greenhouses. Plus, the girl had always been the kind to bring gifts, and what Rose didn’t say when she asked her to join her that afternoon was that she was in dire need of some of the tea she’d made before that helped with her nausea.

So when the younger redhead appeared with provisions, Roisin stood from her desk and smiled. She could almost cry at the sight of the muffins.

“The potion should help with your queasiness, the tea as well. I brought you muffins too, but if the smell makes it worse I can leave them in the hall.”

“Oh no, they smell delectable, please. Thank you so much,” she said, motioning to her desk. The second they were put down, Rose took one of the muffins and broke off a piece to pop in her mouth.

”I’m guessing these are the issue?”

Rose nodded, swallowing the bite that was in her mouth and moved towards the window with the girl. “Yes, they haven’t looked well for about a week. I’m not sure if maybe they are sharing some sort of issue or… I really don’t know,” she frowned.

“The spider plant concerns me the most… it looks like it will die tomorrow,” she commented, taking another bite of the muffin. Really, they were evil things. The muffins. Not the plants.

It was nice to see her eating. From what Deputy Blackwood had mentioned in passing, she was having a rough go with this little one. Matilda had never really thought about having kids, but it would be expected when marrying Drago. Or so she suspected.

A worry for another time.

“Yes, they haven’t looked well for about a week. I’m not sure if maybe they are sharing some sort of issue or… I really don’t know.” Rose said, sitting down with her tea and popping a corner of the muffin into her mouth.

“The spider plant concerns me the most… it looks like it will die tomorrow.” Matilda agreed. The spider plant was the worst of the three, and considering the hardy nature, it was truly puzzling.

Taking all three pots down from the window, Matilda started her investigation. The window didn’t get direct sunlight all day, so that was good. They weren’t baking in the spring sun. Turning the leaves over and looking at the stems, she didn’t see any obvious mites or pests. That would have surprised her, since they were strictly indoor plants.

”Well I don’t see any mites. Nothing looks obviously wrong with the leaves or stems. I’m guessing it will be a problem with the roots or soil. Maybe some sort of blight. I’ll keep looking.”

The traditional way of taking the plant out of the pot, looking at the roots, sifting through the soil, smelling for rot, etc. was not needed. Tilly had been practicing.

Taking the worst of the lot, the spider plant, Tilly stuck her fingers in the soil, finding the roots. Shutting her eyes, she concentrated. It was a weird sensation. The feelings coming in waves. Sick, weak, diseased. She couldn’t explain it, but putting the pieces together, the feelings, it came to her in a wave. This one wasn’t as simple as root rot or over watering, but Tilly knew it was in the roots.

Pulling out her foldable leather tray, Tilly tipped the plan on its side, letting the soil spill out. The water content looked good, the soil was the same. No root aphids or other pests could be seen, and was easy to diagnose with her plant empathy. It felt like tiny zings when her fingers hit the dirt. This was something she hadn’t dealt with yet, which was annoying the girl.

Repotting the plant, Tilly did the only other thing she could think of. It wasn’t something she did often. And had only just started successfully doing without fainting. It would drain her for the rest of the evening, but she had nothing planned.

Sticking her fingers into the loose soil, so that her fingers came into contact with the roots, Tilly focused her energy on the plant. It was a strange feeling that bubbled up in her body. The scar on her leg tingled at first, then a sting. Her hands got warm, transferring the heat to the roots. A feeling of health, growth, vitality and strength filtered through her fingers.

Opening her eyes as she focused she began to see the changes. The dull leaves brightened, then perked up. The roots, once shriveled, could be felt plumping up under her fingertips. The wilted foliage lifted and spread out, rising towards the sun. In minutes, it was a thing of beauty. A green, vibrant thriving plant.

Her fingers still in the dirt, now felt nothing but health and growth. Smiling, Tilly took her fingers out, rubbing them on her apron. ”Ok, this one should be good. Not sure exactly what was causing it, but I’m guessing some sort of disease. If it starts looking sick again let me know. I can dig in deeper to the root cause…” She let so many puns fly she couldn’t help but laugh.

Tilly swayed on her feet a little, weakened by the healing. Before she managed to fall, she took a seat in a nearby chair. ”Sorry, just a little light headed.”

Rose watched from her desk, enjoying the muffin. The Gryffindor had truly mastered the art of baking, which was always a good thing in her book.

Tilly overturned the plant, looking at the soil, before repotting it. She kept her eyes on the plant as the girl did something Rose had never seen before; right before her eyes the plant that had been on the brink of death looked brilliantly healthy, but the girl…

Rose was on her feet before Tilly had fully settled into the chair, muffin forgotten on the desk behind her. She crossed the room as quickly as a very pregnant woman could manage, and crouched beside the girl, one hand finding her wrist to check her pulse, the other steadying her shoulder.

“Don’t apologize,” she said firmly but with the warmth of a mother. “Just breathe.”

Rose kept her eyes on Tilly’s face, watching the color. Her pulse was there, steady enough, but obviously depleted. She’d seen magical exhaustion before, had treated it in the infirmary more times than she could count. This was very similar… the girl was drained but not injured.

“Stay here,” she said, straightening and moving to her desk where she kept a small supply of things because she was Roisin Blackwood, Head of Hufflepuff. She returned with a glass of water and a square of chocolate. While she had a hard time ingesting her favorite confections with this pregnancy, she kept some on hand just in case she needed it.

“Here, eat something,” she said, handing both to the girl. Rose pulled the other chair close and sat, watching her with the calm unhurried attention of someone who was not going to pretend she hadn’t seen what she just saw.

“Now,” she said after a moment, watching the girl intently. “That was not herbology…” she said, her voice soft and comforting. “What was that?”

“Don’t apologize, Just breathe.”

The voice was quiet, in her foggy brain. Matilda sat back in the chair and did as instructed. Breathing deeply, she shut her eyes and waited for the office to stop spinning.

“Here, eat something.” A glass of water and a piece of chocolate was placed in her hand. The chocolate melted in her mouth, the sugar hitting her system instantly. Next, she drank the water, her hand shaking as it came to her mouth. After a couple good sips, she lowered it and sighed. ”Thanks. That helps.”

The room settled into silence. It was charged with questions. It dawned on Matilda the can of worms she had opened. Early in her power, she had discussed it with Rose, but that was nothing compared to what she just witnessed. Her hand shook again, now with nerves.

Her ability wasn’t a deep dark secret. A few students knew, her grandfather, and the herbology Professor knew something, but she chose to turn a blind eye.

“Now,” she said, then paused. “That was not herbology…” Matilda snorted out a laugh. No, that was definitely not herbology.

“What was that?” Tilly put the water on the desk and sat back, putting her hands in her lap.

”Do you remember a few years ago in the hospital wing, I felt something weird when I was working with the plants, like I could sense something?” She looked over at Rose with a questioning look.

”Well, it looks like it was something more than I originally thought. Something happened when the plant attacked me. When my hands are in the dirt, touching the roots, I can feel what’s wrong with the plant. Depending on the problem, it feels different. It’s really hard to explain. I’ve been practicing with it. It’s pretty spot on.”

Taking another drink of the water and another square of chocolate, Matilda sighed. The next part was where things got really weird. ”More recently, I have also discovered that I can heal plants. It’s not as easy and drains me, as you saw. I’m still figuring it out. I’m not sure why I did that today, it’s the biggest healing I’ve ever done.”

The woozy, room spinning feeling came back, but left just as fast. ”I don’t do it often, because this is the result. Usually I can figure out what's wrong with it and treat it in more traditional ways.”

The cat was out of the bag. A Professor knew about her abilities. Matilda wasn’t sure what would happen next.

”Do you remember a few years ago in the hospital wing, I felt something weird when I was working with the plants, like I could sense something?”

Rose nodded at the memory. She’d known back then that something was happening with the girl, but life got in the way and she had failed to check in regularly. She took that brief feeling of guilt and swept it away. She’d have to reconcile that later.

She looked at Matilda as the girl spoke, listening intently but also taking stock of her from the eyes of a mother. Her hands were shaking, she was speaking carefully, and was obviously nervous despite how matter-of-factly she was delivering her words.

Rose was silent for a moment after Tilly finished.

“I do remember,” she said. “The hospital wing. You looked at your hands like… they belonged to someone else.” She had thought about that afternoon more than once despite her failure to check on the girl.

Rose leaned back, one hand resting on her bump. Leaning forward with it there was uncomfortable and she could only do it for so long. The spider plant that had looked like it was a mere day from death was now thriving as if nothing had happened.

“You’re not in any trouble. I want to be clear about that,” she said, looking back at the sixth year. “What you just did was remarkable, Tilly.”

She sat up. She wanted to lean forward again, but… the bump was in the way. She looked at Tilly the way she looked at her own daughter. “But I watched you nearly fall over just now. And two years ago you were stumbling in the greenhouse and had no idea what was happening to you.”

Rose finally leaned forward again, despite the discomfort, her elbows resting on her knees. “This needs to be developed. Carefully. With someone who knows what they’re looking at. Not practiced alone until your legs give out.” She flicked her wand and the tea the girl brought her was in her hand.

“You are more important than my spider plant, Tilly. And you are far too talented to burn yourself out before you understand what you’re capable of.” Rose took a sip, her eyes on the girl. That small square of chocolate she’d given the girl had done enough to make her nausea return. The tea was helping.

Things were crisper, her brain more awake and functioning. She could hear Rose talking and was actually able to comprehend. And she agreed.

“This needs to be developed. Carefully. With someone who knows what they’re looking at. Not practiced alone until your legs give out. You are more important than my spider plant, Tilly. And you are far too talented to burn yourself out before you understand what you’re capable of.”

She didn’t speak for quite some time. The silence wasn’t awkward, her mind needed the time to process and think. Since she first noticed the tingle of awareness while gardening she had been on her own. Sure, there were small mentions to a few professors, but at that point it was only just a weird sensation.

As it grew and things began to happen, Matilda kept it to herself. Evan knew, Rae and Benji, Alice of course, and Bram knew about the feelings, but no one knew about the full healings. Since the first time she was able to bring an unhealthy plant back to life she locked the information down.

”But who? I’ve tried to do some research, but have come up empty. From what I found I should be dead. I honestly don’t even know what I was thinking today. I guess that’s the problem, I didn’t think.”

Rubbing her hands on her legs, still feeling a bit tingly, Matilda groaned with her own idiocy. She had not only outed herself completely, but to a Professor. One married to the Deputy. There would be questions, for sure. The ministry would probably be contacted.

The scar on her leg pulsed, something she hadn’t felt in quite awhile. With simply feeling the plant, it stayed fairly silent, but the healing seemed to wake it up. Something to worry about on another day.

”When this all first started, so many people just wrote it off as nothing. I guess I didn’t want more people to look at me like I was crazy. Will you need to contact the Ministry?”

If that were the case, her grandfather would definitely find out. And then there was Drago and his family. Would this be a deal breaker for them? The strange red headed plant girl. Everything felt wrong now that someone knew.

Rose let Tilly speak as she sipped on her tea, the liquid settling her stomach. The baby landed a sharp kick in her ribs so she leaned back again, providing as much room as possible for the child. The kicking immediately subsided and she smirked a little.

“First thing’s first,” she said, tapping her belly before resting her hand on it. “I won’t be contacting the Ministry, not unless we can’t get a handle of this.” Why bring in the higher ups if the girl was able to manage on her own?

“What happens in my office stays in my office, Tilly. You came to help my plants. That’s all anyone needs to know.” She smiled, straightening up once more but not leaning over again. “You’re not a case file, something to be studied. You’re my student.”

She took one more sip of the tea before setting it down. “As for who… I don’t have a good answer, but I will help you find someone that you can trust. In the meantime, you are more than welcome to come to me and practice here.” Rose nodded.

“What I do know is that you can’t keep doing this alone. You are not crazy, and you are not something to be written off. And whoever has written you off was wrong.”

Rose smiled and flicked her wand, drawing the muffins near. She offered one to Matilda. “You’re not alone anymore. You don’t need to be scared.”

The words settled somewhere deep in Matilda. You're not alone anymore. It was such a simple sentence. Nothing especially crazy about it, but to Matilda, it meant more than Rose would ever know.

There were no lectures, no accusations, no suspicion. Not only was Tilly believed, but helped and accepted.

Tilly looked down at the muffin Rose handed her, letting out a small laugh that sounded suspiciously close to a sniffle. "You're really determined to feed me today, aren't you?" She accepted it thankfully, breaking off a piece before looking back up.

"I don't think..." She paused, searching for the right words. "I don't think anyone's ever just... believed me before." There were always explanations. No, that was just a coincidence. You're mistaken, you must have given it a potion. You’re just really good with plants, nothing more. People telling her she imagined it, or that it was simply good instinct. Even she had tried convincing herself of those things for a while.

But she couldn't explain away what had happened today. "I've been so afraid that if the wrong person found out… I'd become someone's experiment. I don’t even know what happened today.

Rose had done the exact opposite of what she expected of a professor. An adult with power. The knot that had been wound tightly in her chest for months had loosened, just a little. This wasn’t in her head. It was real and someone believed her.

"Thank you," she said quietly, meeting the professor's eyes. "For trusting me... and for not freaking out and running to the Ministry. I don’t think I realized how afraid of that I was until today."

A small smile found its way onto her face, tired but genuine.

"If you really mean it, I think I’d like that. Practicing. Learning how to work with this, instead of just guessing. Being somewhere safe, just in case something does happen. Working alone, at night, in the castle greenhouse wasn’t my wisest idea.” It was the first time since all of this had begun that this new ability didn't seem so scary.