Cassandra looked at her and blinked twice... "Uhmmm Yeah... ok" she said rolling her eyes a bit. Flitterbloom resembles Devil's Snare? She wrote that down on a corner of her notes. "Lets move on to Screechsnap and mallowsweet, shall we?" She tapped her quill with her wand, refilling it with in and started writing. "Mallowsweet is what Centaurs burn and observe the fumes and flames to refine the results of their stargazing, sort of like what the muggle indians use to make their path clear. Screechsnap is a semi-sentient plant that wriggles and squeaks uncomfortably when given too much dragon dung manure. Mallowsweet is the pale green plant with the stringlike leaves and the white puffy flowers... while the screechsnap is almost brown in color, waxy looking and a it's flowers are distiguishable by their mouths." Cassandra kept writing this in her notes, and she looked up at Kennedy and said "And a hybrid would be called..."

Kennedy suggested with a slight giggle, "How about Squeaking Star Map? Or Fuming Wriggler?" She was only half serious about the names because she wasn't really very good at this sort of thing. She was plenty creative, but apparently not in this sense.

Cassandra watched her giggle. Cassandra never giggled. "If you don't want to take this class seriously, I can find another partner." She said in a very calm and serious manner, writing on her parchment 'Squeacking Star Map,' as she did like that name...

Kennedy felt as though she had been slapped in the face. For anyone to insinuate that she didn't take her classes seriously was extremely offensive. With a forced calm in her voice, "I take my classes plenty seriously thank you very much. But I also am not afraid to have a little fun with what I am learning. And I didn't see you take so much offense when Professor Erikson chuckled earlier. Even he enjoys discussion. And if you would rather find another partner, I cannot not stop you. That choice is entirely yours." Kennedy tried to speak without emotion, simply level-headed and calm. She didn't want to offend Cassandra, even though she didn't seem to have any qualms about offending her, but she also didn't want to let that comment go lightly.

"Squeaking Star Map is a good name..." She said opening her book. She knew Kennedy was the best in the class, and although she resented her for it, the girl was right. "So what do you think this hybrid will look like?" She asked her.

Grateful that the conversation had not gotten hostile, Kennedy smiled at Cassandra and said, "Thank you. I wasn't sure if it was good enough but if you like the name then perhaps it is." Kennedy was trying to pay Cassandra an honest compliment without overdoing it. She then continued, "Perhaps the color of the plant will be a murky brownish-green, with white puffy flowers like the mallowsweet but each with mouths like the Screechsnap? And perhaps it will still squeak when exposed to too much dragon dung and still retain its divination-type qualities for the centaurs? What do you think? Could it look different in your opinion?"

"No... I think that would be the best we could hope for in this hybrid." Cassandra continued writing out notes and then placed her quill beside the parchment. "Thank you Jennings..." She said to Kennedy, "Do you think we're exausted the topic? or is there more?"

"Well I can see the need for a scientific name to make it easier to classify the hybrid, I have to be honest I think a name like honkapuffadillapod would be fun. I just think that a catchy name will capture the interest of more people and will make more people want to see this wacky flower. I do think though, that we can shorten the wacky name just a bit to make it easier for people to pronounce." Kerry laughed poking Jasmine. "But I guess we can come back to that."

Kerry began to flip through her text book, "So I guess we're onto talking about how to graft this plant then, as Jasmine here suggested. Any ideas which flower we'd like to take from to graft onto the other one? So at least we have a starting point?"

"Yes, well if you wanted to go with a fun name, that's less scientific but easier to pronounce then we could go with my suggestion of a Honkypod. I realize that this is a corny name, but it's humorous and not quite as long as the other wacky name." She laughed and looked up to see Professor Erickson standing over them. "Hello Professor, I think we're alright other than trying to figure out how to graft the two plants."

Amelia looked through her notes from last term, because she was sure there was a lesson on grafting. And sure enough... there was, because the title was written clearly in her notes. The bad news is that that's ALL that was written her notes. Why couldn't she stay focused in herbology that day? There must have been something going on. She shook ahead to try and get in off her mind, and then focused back on grafting, using her textbook.

"Well Kerry, I say that we take from the honking daffodil and add to the puffapod. It just seems to make more sense to me. But how do we do it?" Amelia looked perplexed at the other two.

Jasmine suddenly remembered something and her face fell, "Actually I don't think we can... If I remember correctly, Daffodils are monocots. Grafting is possible with virtually all dicots and conifers. However, monocots are rarely grafted because they do not have the required vascular cambium." Looking up at the professor, Jasmine furrowed her brow and asked, "Is that right professor? And does the daffodil being a monocot change if it's magical?"

Kerry looked at Jasmine, "well I have heard that it's rare and seldomly done to graft a monocot, but so far...I have not read that it's impossible." Kerry said flipping through her book.

"Although to be honest I would think that in order to do it we would definitely need some sort of magic but a because the monocots don't have a continuous cambium layer or increase in thickness like the dicots do. So perhaps a magic spell would help our little dilemma. But I also think whoever does the grafting will need a very steady hand, because even with a magic spell, I would think the grafting would still be extremely difficult and tidious. So I pick you Jasmine." Kerry laughed. "That is... if it is even possible to do. But I have faith in Jasmine to do the impossible!" Kerry joked.

Jasmine turned to Kerry and poked her, "Gee, thanks Sis. Although I'm sure your hand will be just as steady as mine would be."She teased.

"No no, being magical does not change the basics of classifying a plant." He smiled softly. "You're doing very well, Jasmine. Keep it up." He began to walk off, then turned, remembering something. "Oh, there is one special classification for flora, which deals with sentience, though that shouldn't complicate matters too much at this stage."

Jasmine returned the professor's smile warmly when he complimented her,then her eyes lit up as she asked, "Ooooh, What special classification for flora?" Then remembering the note he had passed to her earlier, she tugged on his arm so she could whisper worriedly in his ear," Am I in some sort of trouble that you need to see me after class sir?" Jasmine knew she had not been paying much attention during class and had raised her hand not once. She was usually quite active during herbology and she thought maybe the professor noticed and was disappointed or worse, angry with her.

Kennedy finished her notes on the Squeaking Star Map and replied, "Thank you. You've been extremely helpful will all this information. I think we've completed what Professor Erikson asked of us. He said to discuss one to two possible hybrids, which we've done so I think that's it. Unless there is anything else you'd like to add or discuss?"

Cassandra looked at the Ravenclaw and then back to the professor. "Do you think he'd give us extra credit if we discuss another hybrid?" She asked greedily of Kennedy, and as her eyes kept following the professor wherever he was going she said quietly "He's brilliant, isn't he..." she quickly recomposed herself. "Do you want to discuss another hybrid, or is this enough for you?" Her tone was almost challeging Kennedy.

He shook his head. "Don't worry, Jasmine. This is in regards to what we discussed last term." He stood again, smiling softly down to her, then remembered her previous question. "The distinction is made early on, actually. The kingdom for plants which exhibit more than basic survival instinct, such as the mandrake, are in the kingdom Sentiens Plantae. Fairly simple, really."

Jasmine's hazel eye's widened as the professor said the note was about last term. Jasmine thought that if she wasn't distracted before she vertainly was now. Absently she wrote down what the professor had said about the Kingdom for plants. Her brow furrowed as she worried about what he could have found out. She was both excited and petrified at the same time.

Looking at her two friends, Jasmine smiled weakly and said, "Um.. Wow it's getting late, we better discuss this more next class or something." Quickly she folded her parchment and closed her text. Gathering her belongings, she stood up and said,"I'll see you later Jess and I will see you in the common room Kerry k?"

Leaving her friends, she whispered again to the professor, " Should I wait in your office or somewhere else?" Jasmine suddenly realized that she was shaking horribly, she was so nervous as to what the professor had found. If he had found anything. Maybe he was going to tell her there was nothing.

He chuckled and looked around. "Well, since things seem to have settled, let me just give out homework and dismiss the class. You can meet me in my office."

He looked at the notes done by the other students, rather proud of what he was seeing. He had a very creative class. Of course, he should have noticed with the song about botanical copulation.

"Very good, everyone! Ten points to Slytherin and Ravenclaw each, five to Hufflepuff, and fifteen to Gryffindor! You can see the point distribution when I post it on ranking board. But for now, homework!"

With a gesture of his wand, it appeared neatly on the board.

Fifteen to Gryffindor?!? She thought. Cassandra jotted down the homework and smiled. "Bye Jennings..." she said to Kennedy, as she began to walk out but stopping at the door she turned back to her and said "Oh, and thank you."

Jasmine blushed and rolled her eyes as the professor mentioned the botanical copulation song. Will he ever let her live her unfortunate choice of lyrics down? Feeling a bit more at ease she smiled at him, memorized the homework, waved to her friends and made her way to his office.

Amelia nodded at Jasmine in agreement, as she took a yawn upon herself. "Yes Jas, see you around." She packed up all her belongings and was getting ready to stand up when the Professor spoke again. Five for Hufflepuff? Sweetness, considering she was the only one from her house to show up to class today. She'd be on the rest of them later that evening...

She scribbled down the homework, a bit overwhelmed that it was due not long after her quidditch game, but a las... that would be the punishment for her wanting to play. She made a mental note to remind every Hufflepuff she could, to do the homework.

She stood up, at long last, and waved to Kerry, "Bye Kerry. See you around," and then to the Professor, "Bye Professor. Have a great evening!" With that, she headed back to the castle.