Detention

December 4th, 1890 — Forbidden forest

It was his turn to supervise detention, the teachers generally took it in turns but MNeserimus had to admit that he didn't mind it. Despite his age, there was nothing as good for the soul as a tramp through the forbidden forest looking for mushrooms and potions ingredients.

He stood on the edge of the woods, the dark shadows of the trees looming even larger than the already large professor. The sun had set at around 4pm, and now at 7pm the night had truly settled in. 'Come along you reprobates!' he said with a jovial smile, despite the fact that it was detention, 'Time to make yourselves useful!' The night air was bitterly cold and Meserimus wore a thick fur coat, one that he had had since his time teaching in durmstrang. It added weight to his frame, and was every bit as warm as it looked.

'Pick up a lantern and a bag and fall in!' he indicated the pile of unlit miners lamps and hessian sacks that were by his feet.

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Cane was not the sort to end up in detention and he was still a bit confused as to how it had come about. More than likely, it had been some sort of misunderstanding. Even so, he was here so he figured he might as well suffer through it and try his best to avoid such things in the future. Taking a lantern and a bag, he looked around at his current partners in crime as he got in line.

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Should he have planned his last prank better? Yes. But the look had been well worth the detention. At least it was an alright detention as far as detentions went. It was kind of cool to be in the forest and Rupert knew enough about the plants they were collecting that his bag would be full in no time. Grabbing the bag and light he moved to join the line, waiting to see if they were staying together or splitting up.

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@Meserimus Valenduris, @Cane Backus

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It was not Rudy's first time in detention and even as he swore to his Head of House that it would be his last he knew without question that it probably wouldn't be. It wasn't Rudy's fault that Hogwarts seemed so draconian on the its rules against keeping pets. Or woodland creatures and he really thought they should have classes on how to heal things so he would've known already how to heal the poor little mite and not bought it into the library in the first place.

It was one his bugbears about Hogwarts. Very few of his classes actually seemed to be very useful for his day to day life but, as his father had said, if Rudy wanted to work with magical creatures in the future he needed to graduate, or at least get his owls. The only classes that seemed even remotely useful were Care of Magical Creatures and Defence Against the Dark Arts.

He grabbed his sack and lamp and followed after the boys........ not entirely sad that they were going into the Forbidden Forest. This was going to be one of the more exciting detentions. He wondered if they would see unicorns, centaurs....... owls.... bats......His thoughts drifted and he hummed to himself and skipped back to where he'd been standing, entirely too pleased with the situation then was right.

'Alright miscreants!' he said, although his tone was jovial and joking, as they lifted their equipment and went back into line. 'Tonigt we will be looking for mushrooms, specifically the winter moon mushroom'. He clapped his hands and the lanterns lit, casting enough of an additional glow that Meserimus could show the students the sample of the winter moon mushroom he produced from his pocket. 'You are looking for the highly reflective upper of the mushroom which should be visible within tonights clear sky. he deposited the sample mushroom into the sack of Mister Sweeny, the youngest and significantly tallest of the students.

'This is not all a jape, he explained, his tone more serious, 'When harvesting the mushroom you must be sure not to touch the cap, and cut the base with a smooth motion of your gardening knife.' he explained demonstrating the process, 'if the cap is treated too aggressively, it may release some spores which have hallucinogenic properties and are a very useful potions ingredient.'

He picked up his own lantern and hung it on the end of his walking stick. 'Be careful where you walk, keep your eyes open for mushrooms and be careful. he instructed and pushed into the treeline, gesturing for the students to follow him.

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Winter moon mushrooms! While Cane did not typically relish being out in the woods at night. Or outdoors in general. He wouldn't mind handling some winter moon mushrooms. He had a curiosity about them beyond the ready picked ones he usually came across. "What sorts of potions are the mushrooms used for?" He asked curiously after the Potions professor had told them their instructions.

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Meserimus liked Mister Backus, he was a quiet diligent boy, all of the Backus children had been, although the younger Mister Backus had perhaps more of a spark of academic excellence than those before him, although good students the other 3 had been.

'Mind altering ones mostly' the lanky professor explained, 'The spores on the underside of the mushrooms' he held one up and indicated the rivulet fronds on the underside of the cap, 'They are found here, this is why we must be careful. The spores alone can induce intense hallucinations' he put the mushroom back into the basket. 'When harnessed in a potion it can be incredibly powerful way of seeing inside the very fabric of reality. There is even work' his own, 'That is experimenting to see if it might be possible to view death itself.' It was fascinating work, he and Giorgio would be working on the practical aspects next summer - for now the predatory work was underway -like collecting the winter moon mushrooms.

He looked at all of the students, 'Although those of you in the 6th year will use a small amount of the stalk to create a mind scrambling potion as part of your NEWT preparations.'

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