The Greenhouses
 

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...reenhouse6.jpg

When not in use for classes, several of the greenhouses that are vacated on the school grounds are open for private and independent research and study. In fact, this is highly encouraged.

Within the unlocked doors of the greenhouses you will find rows and rows of plants. The greenhouses contain a wide variety of plants - both magical and mundane. Want to practice your pruning skills? Why not practice on the Abyssinian Shrivelfig of a Flutterby Bush? Or perhaps you want to harvest some Puffapod seeds- just don’t drop them!

In the cupboards you will find several shelves containing any equipment you might find yourself needing: trowels, cultivators, shears, protective goggles and the like. Also, in case you forgot your own, there is a cupboard which contains work robes and gloves in various sizes. As usual, you can find the fertilizer in a heap behind the greenhouses.

Remember Professor Bentley likes to take regular strolls through the greenhouse to check on things. So make sure you wear your protective gear and behave yourselves accordingly.

Wanting to take a visit throughout Hogwarts, Janet decided to go to the greenhouses. She always loved gardening, gets her mind off things. After she took and used the provided protective gears, she started looking at plants around her. She also brought her textbook for some extra knowledge. But seeing the plants a little dry, she gave them some water and fertilizer

Isabella Walked into the Greenhouses and Jogged to the Cupboard . She grabbed A Pair of goggles and Some Gloves Thats When she finally noticed another First year Strolling Around and Watering the Plants . " Hey !" She said " Im Isabella But you can Call me bella If you want . " She stated " Whats Your Name ? "

Anyone? :)
 

Melina stepped cautiously into the greenhouse, eyes darting left and right to catch any wild plant that might be sneaking up on her. She knew she should have never watched "Little Shop of Horrors" at her friend's house. Now every plant seemed to turn to her and issue the command, "FEED ME!"

She quickly donned her work robes and protective gear. Walking in a little farther, she saw two other students chatting. She wasn't sure if she should interrupt, but she knew that she needed some serious moral support in here. And perhaps some bodyguards.

Oakey, Emily, and Tailz!
 

Jacob walked towards the Greenhouses, not quite remembering which it was that the Snargaluff was, but kept the hufflepuff close, dragging him along.

Here Snargy, here boy. You've got nice fresh Puff!

Jacob moved along the greenhouses when he reached one that seemed to be right, Jacob slowly opened the door, and surveyed the area. As he moved through the rows of plants, Jacob looked for either a stump, or vines that were trying to grab at him.

Come one. He had to be here somewhere. "Snargy! You hungry? We've got Puff, on the menu today!" he called out.

Come one. Where was that little Tree thing?

Oakey was petrified and dragged all the way to the greenhouse. He was terrified. He was gonna die for sure if he didn't do something.

The spell that was cast was wearing off He could move his good hand a little. He switched the wand to his left hand quietly, should he cast Incendio again, no they were in a greenhouse that would stupid.

The other three wouldn't help either.

Wait... There was another. It wasn't really a proper spell but Shaw had demenstrated it in class. It was Oakey's spell the one he made during class.

This greenhouse was about to be filled with weird dog-plant-things.

After peering out her office window lazilly for the past hour Seren had been rudely awakened by the image of Jacob Blunt dragging another student into the greenhouses. Feeling that something wasn't quite right she had decided to follow.

She had swept through the greenhouses, robes billowing behind her, until at last she came across the Ravenclaw, the Hufflepuss and... ohh and Mr Chad Stryker. She hadn't had the opportunity to really talk to the man before.

"Gentlemen... is there a problem?" she eyed the Ravenclaw in particular. It had been not so long ago that he had been standing in her office, asking her whether or not he would be able to take up Herbology again... had he thought about practising? The thing that concerned her was the poor Hufflepuff boy he had with him. He looked... fearful of Jacob.
"I trust you're behaving yourself Master Blunt?" Seren raised a brow at him.

Isobel liked flowers, they were pretty. Not all of these flowers were necessarily pretty, and some were dangerous, but there were pretty ones, and she wanted to see one. When she walked in she stopped immediately. She seemed to have come in at a bad time. The scary Ravenclaw captain seemed to have taken someone captive. Then she noticed that the person was Oakey. "Oakey?" She said before she could stop herself. "Are you okay?" She was worried about her little buddy.

Oakey was about to cast his "Shaw" tested spell when a man came running into the greenhouse he was yelling at the Ravenclaw to let him go...

But the grip on his jacket wouldn't loosen.

A lady burst from her office probably the Herbology Professor and asked if there was a problem...

Of course there was a problem. The crazy kid kept on dragging him.

Now Isobel came into the fray. Why her, not the captain! He's to disappointed to face her now that he won't make anymore tryouts.

Leave please thought Oakey. I don't want you to see this.

The crazy Ravenclaw kept on dragging him ignoring the peoples orders to drop him. Oakey was free of the petrifying spell and had full movement. He lifted his left hand with his wand now in it right into his captors face. If you're not going to let me go! I'll make you let me go! This ran through Oakey's mind. He knew what he was doing.

Lumos! Oakey spoke up. The light from his wand was intensely bright, it was right in his captor face too. This was sure enough to blind him and let him free.

Jacob kept moving when he heard two staff members and the new captain come in. Really? He was just feeding a plant. What was the big deal?

Jacob turned only his head to look over his shoulder at Mr. Stryker, Professor Bentley, and The Girl whose name he'd know once he saw it on her uniform.

He simply cleared his throat, trying to look Innocent. "He's hurt?" Jacob flashed a quick glance at the boy, but made no indication that he was gonna let go... really? Jacob had no idea. He was too intent on dragging him to the Snargaluff. He looked back at the others. Maybe if he didn't fight so much, he wouldn't be hurt.

Behaving? "Of course, I'm behaving. It's just an innocent matter of feeding a poor, starving Snargaluff Plant. Who, I am ashamed to say, must be very neglected." Was there anything wrong with that? Of Course not. Natural selection. Snargaluff is higher up in the food chain that Badger.

Now where was he?

Jacob turned back to keep moving, but there was a light in his face. what? Jacob looked at the boy holding his wand in Jacobs face. "Really kid? You could poke someones eye out with that thing." Jacob said and kept dragging him off to find the Snargaluff, a little dazed by the light that had been flashed in his eyes.

"Here Snargaluff! Here Boy." he said as he moved. "I've got nice fresh Badger for you." really it was the puffs fault... shouldn't have kneed him.

What in the name of Merlins polka dotted underpants was going on? thought Seren as she observed the boys struggle a bit. Testosterone..
But of course things appeared to be getting a little oout of hand, the Hufflepuff boy drew his wand, Seren whipped hers out just as quickly, but was pleasantly surprised that he only used the lumos charm. That was one incident averted... luckily. Oh and what was this another Hufflepuff? Seren gave the girl a look to warn her away from the boys, it wasn't a good idea to get too close. The last thing she needed was three students to break out into a dual then and there. In her greenhouse no less! Blunt on the other hand appeared to be a raving lunatic? Honestly was he rally going to feed the poor student to a snargaluff?
"Right", Seren murmered to herself gliding along to keep up with the boys, namely Jacob. Stepping in front of him and blocking his path she crossed her arms across her chest.

First thing first... wands were an issue. With a quick flick of hers she disarmed the two boys, swiftly catching them in her spare hand as they flew into the air.
"We do not turn our wands on one another, you may have them back once I'm done with you." She said eyeing the two boys

"I assure you Master Blunt that the Snargaluff is well attended too... or are you questioning my capabilities?" Oh he had better not be, after all the contents of these greenhouses were quite tame compared to what she had experienced when she was travelling. If only Jacob could learn to appreciate that.
"Now, I don't know what has happened here, but for starters you need to let the boy go Jacob and I want to see both of you in my office."She gave them her stern-meany-teacher look.. the one she reserved for analysing conflicts and handing out punishments.
"Here at Hogwarts we do not feed out peers to the plants. Now... my office... no dawdling!" she said the last sentence sternly.

Whilst Seren was usually the happy, cheerful person she trully was. There was also the side of her that could be... stern and unkind. Now, it was time to get to the bottom of this.

Seren gave Chad a breif look, his input would be appreciated at about that moment.

Oakey had a moment's peace finally. He didn't mind that he was disarmed just as long as the Ravenclaw was as well. If the teachers believed his side of the story he'd be safe of any punishment.

The moment of peace gave Oakey a chance realize how painful the burn on his stomach and broken wrist he had really, really hurt. He dropped to his knees and wrapped his left arm around his stomach while his left hand held his right wrist tightly.

What really hurt Oakey was his chance to play Quidditch for the Hufflepuffs...for Isobel, had just left. He wouldn't make anymore tryouts because of this. He was sure of it. He bent further down burring his face in the greenhouse floor. He didn't want Isobel or anybody to see his face filled with tears.

Jacob's wand wasn't out... but thats alright :)
 

Jacob stopped again. Really? What was so bad about feeding little badgers to Snargaluffs. Oh and there goes his wand. Good for you Professor, you took the weapon of a completely capable, self-controlled, and intellegent student, along with the badgers... who could only burn stuff, and produce light. That was what baffled Jacob the most... why take the wand of the person who couldn't do anything to Jacob or anyone else?

Jacob Released his fingers from the boy and heard him fall to the ground.

"Of course I'm not questioning your capability to work with weeds, Professor." he said adding emphasis on the Weeds part. "I simply saw how hungry the poor lad was last term, and thought that a nice little badger snack would be good for him." a small smile crossed his lips as he spoke of the puff as a snack.

So was making the Snargaluff, Revenclaw Team mascot out of the question?

Jacob didn't even look at the little Hufflepuff, and was completely oblivious to his pain. All Jacob worried about was missing a few practices and matches due to any detention he may be given.

Oakey looked up from the floor tears still staining his face. My-my st-stomach I th-think I migh-might of bu-burned it. He bent his head back down as another jolt of pain shot through his body. NnnnnnRgh Oakey's wrist hurt as he tried to bend it. My wris-wrist t-too. It's bro-broken.


He was ashamed to look like this in front of the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain.

Isobel kind of just stood there and watched as everyone talked. Finally, she got the gist of what had been happening. The Ravenclaw captain had been trying to feed Oakey to...a plant. Why? What had Oakey done to him? She decided that was a question for later. All she saw right now was that her little buddy was hurt. And that the Herbology professor had told Oakey and the Ravenclaw captain to go to her office. "Um...professor," she spoke up hesitantly. "Shouldn't Oakey go to the Hospital Wing? He's hurt." And Isobel was worried about her little buddy.

Isobel was glad that MisterChadStryker agreed with her. Oakey needed to go to the Hospital wing. "Can I come with?" She asked him with a worried voice, because she was worried about her little buddy. She knew the Healer could fix him up quickly, but she was still worried, because he was hurt.

All you peoples! *eyes* :)
 

The boy was hurt? Oh Merlin!... Seren bit her lower lip subconsciously. Poor child looked to be in agreat deal of pain. Listening as Chad recounted his side of the story... and noticing obviously that the boy was in need of medical attention, Seren nodded.
"Yes yes of course, I'll take care of Master Blunt. Send him down when he is ready."

Turning her attention back to the Ravenclaw captain Seren frowned. Had he just... implied... that she, Seren Bentley, was capable of caring for weeds?! Weeds!!! and this boy wanted to study herbology?... well, he was in for a wake up call. And on top of that he thought that the poor student was a sufficient snack for a snargaluff... well sure the snargaluff would be happy, but that was besides the point!

Perhaps she would have to get Professor Vindictus's thoughts on this one, considering he was the Ravenclaw Head of House. No doubt he would want to know if his Quidditch captain had been... misbehaving.
"Office", she said simply to Jacob. She would follow behind, make sure he didn't dawdle along.

"Oh, hi ! I'm Janet ! Janet Quatlane" She said to a girl who, judging from her uniform, is a Slytherin. "It's my first term here at Hogwarts. I'm muggleborn, by the way". "Are you a first year too ??", she asked curiously. Janet hoped she was.

" Well Hi Janet ! " She Smiled . " Yea I'm In My First Year . " She said . Bella Looked at The Girl's Robes and Realized That she was In Gryffindor .
" Cool ! You're In Gryffindor . " I've Had A Few People In My Family To Be In Gryffindor . "

" Mostly Their In Slytherin but it's Kinda Mixed with Lions and Snakes . " She laughed . " So How do you Like Hogwarts . I think It's Really Cool " Bella said .

McFeisty, Emms
 

What a day! Stella had her worst day ever today, she was mad, but the good thing was that she made new friends. They planned to meet at the greenhouses, and Stella as usual was the first one there. Why was she always first? Why never second? Or last? She is always first. She walked into the greenhouse. She loved plants even though most of them are boring. The Ravenclaw sighed she began walking in between the plants on the trail looking but not touching the plants, as she waited for her friends.

Anyone?
 

Zara entered the Greenhouse. Wow, it sure was full of "green" in there. Zara had never actually entered it before, only now because she'd never know if a plant would suddenly decide to eat her. I mean, it's possible right?

Looking around, she sees students. So I guess people were allowed there. She smiled and was careful not to go near any plant, keeping herself safe.

"Hey! I'm Chris. How are you?" Chris said. He knows that those are the things you say when you introduce yourself, thanks to a muggle class he took.

Thea jumped as she heard somebody talking to her. 'Oh, hello!' She greeted the boy, smiling. 'I'm Thea-Aurora, and I'm good thanks! Yourself?' Thea smiled at him, pushing her dark hair behind her.

" Im great! You have a really cool name! Should we head up to the castle and get something to eat?" Chris said trying to be polite. "We can go get some lunch or an early dinner. Those house elves really make great food!"Chris then said. Chris usually gets a bit hungry after lessons.

Oh wow.. this kid was.. um.. cheerful? Thea smiled. 'That's good, and thankyou!' She didn't often have people comment on her name.. 'Um.. sure if you like!' She pushed her parchment back into her bag. 'Yeah, they're dead cute too!' Thea laughed. She seemed to be almost the only person thast thought that...

"Yah, they look a little creepy at the same time though. But they are cute."Chris said. Chris put his things in his bag to get ready to go to the castle. "That was a good herbology lesson. The homework was a little hard though." said Chris. "Should we head up now?" Chris asked. Chris felt good. He was meeting so many new friends.

Thea hitched her bag further up her shoulder. 'Yeah, sure.' She smiled and nodded her head in agreement. 'Yeah I agree, it was fun!'

"Yep! See you there!" Chris said as he was running to get to the classroom to get his missing item that he forgot. He checked and noticed that was his gloves, just as he thought.

Belladonna, where are you?

The fourth year Slytherin entered the greenhouse, the creepy greenhouse with creepy plants that always wanted to touch her. She slapped one that tried to tangle itself on her arm and shushed one plant that continued to make the most bizarre noises. Magical plants. Why did they have to be so magical? They should have just learned from the Muggle and mundane plants and not be all weird and freaky.

Because walking through this jungle was creeping her out.

She was wearing her gloves because that plant was deadly and toxic. Which intrigued her. In a slow and careful manner, she extracted the belladonna from its spot, mesmerized by its oh-so toxic powers and put it in the jar. That was obviously the most interesting ingredient she'd found today.

Lola!Velma walked out of the greenhouse, and headed towards the Owlery.

Making her way towards the greenhouses with her potion vials tucked safely in her bag, Kurumi searched the area and felt both overwhelmed and at awe at how many different varieties of plants there were. Not that she didn't expect otherwise or anything.

Of course, there were the magical variety of plants, but Kurumi didn't really fancy trying to extract anything from them at the moment. She probably would end up causing more bad than good. Instead, Kurumi glanced around for what many called the 'mundane' plants, which really was just another way of saying that they were non-magical. Appraoching a tree of beautiful white angel's trumpets and simply admired them. "I wonder if it is alright if I pick some of these for the assignment," Kurumi wondered aloud. They really should get special permission from Professor Bentley before they took anything from here, right? Sure, the plant was poisonous, but many ingredients that were in potions started out being poisonous and were used in potions that had beneficial qualities.

After hearing that Lafay had asked the students to gather potions ingedients-- to make up for what had been lost during the fire, Seren was on high alert. The assognment the students were given was a brilliant idea... But she couldn't help but feel anxious as the though of all those students ripping out her plants! They were her family after all, at least while she was at Hogwarts. If any harm came to them then there would be hell to pay.

Deciding she should stay out in the open-- to spy on the little people... And to provide then with any assistance should they require it. After pacing through the greenhouse Seren turned a corner and found Miss Hollingberry admiring one of her trees.

"Of course you may," repkied Seren after overhearing the girl. She offered her a smile... Kurumi wasn't the type to muder plants, and this was good news.

Kurumi almost jumped out of her robes when she heard a voice behind her. Turning around so quickly that she thought she was going to give herself whiplash. "P-P-PROFESSOR!" Kurumi managed to squeak as she nearly lost her balance, but managed to catch herself on the trunk of the small tree she had been admiring. Kurumi looked back at the hanging flowers and then into her bag where all her containers were. She would only take a few seeing as taking them all would only cause deforestation like they had discussed in class with the Stubby Purple Coral. "Thank you," she chirped looking back at Professor Bentley first and then back up at the flowers. "Um...is there a specific way to pick them?" Surely you didn't just stand on your tipy toes and tug...or did you?

Oh Merlin! thought Seren as she watched little Miss Hollingberry jump at the sound of her voice. Whoops.
"Sorry... I didn't mean to startle you", she said taking a few steps closer to the girl and the tree. She starred up at the white trumpet flowers, they brought a smile to her face. So delicate, and intricate... simply stunning.
"Hhmm.. oh, not really. I would suggest cutting them off, that way they will not only last longer and but they will also grow back easier."Seren smiled leaning up she cupped one of the flowers in her hand, using her other hand she took her wand and non-verbally severed the flower from its stem. She smelled its sweet scent... heavenly.
"I trust you have used the severing charm before?" she asked Kurumi, offering her the flower.

Kurumi was going to say that the professor hadn't really startled her, but the truth of the matter was that she had, so Kurumi just skipped over that comment entirely. "I-I-I guess I just got too carried away admiring the flowers," she blushed looking down at her shoes for a moment. That was another habit that she was going to need to break soon. Looking at people's shoes when she was nervous.

Oh, so it was that simple. Kurumi had almost expected that there was some complicated process that involved throwing sugar over your shoulder and using a silver blade to make a small vertical incision...Her imagination was running away with her again. "I have," she nodded. Just not on something as delicate as a flower. Nervously taking out her wand, Kurumi pointed it at the stalk of the flower and closed her eyes to compose her nerves. There was no need to repeat the disaster that had happen in the greenhouses last term during one of Professor Vindictus' Herbology lessons. Opening her eyes, she focused on the flower. "Diffindo," she chirped and the white flower popped off the stalk and right into her arms.

Seren certainly agreed with the Gryffindor on that. "Oh yes, I find myself distracted by them far too often, you'd think by now I'd be used to it... but they still catch me by surprise." She beamed at her flowers with affectionate eyes.

Watching as Kurumi nervously approached the tree to remove a flower specimen, Seren couldn't help but think that perhaps the girl needed some encouragement. She seemed very nervous and unsure of herself, but despite this she was a very good student with good grades. It didn't seem to make sense. But alas... she had done it.
"There you go, its as easy as that," said Seren brightly.

"So with this... potions assignment. How many ingredients do you need to gather?" aske Seren, partly out of curiosity and partly out of fear. She didn't wand a hundred students cleaning out her gardens after all.

Kurumi really wasn't that much of a plant person. In all honesty, she had hated flowers for a few years simply due to the extreme training her mother had forced her through for flower arranging. She shuddered a bit at the thought.

Placing the flower into one of the containers she had with her, Kurumi repeated the spell two more times and then closed the lid on the box. Certainly three was enough for now. The flowers were rather large after all.

"Professor Lafay said five items," Kurumi said nodding her head. "Whatever items we find will be what we will use during our next lesson to brew a potion." Kurumi wrinkled her nose a bit. She was afraid of what sort of madness would ensue from ingredients they found around Hogwarts. "Walnut, my cat, has even helped a bit. He let me have a few whiskers and some of his fur." She patted the container with the flowers. "So, I guess this means I have two more to go."

Five items... that wasn't too bad. Her gardens and greenhouses should survive. Thank Merlin.. otherwise someone would pay for it.

"Oh how lovely," smiled Seren as Kurumi told her about how Walnut has helped in her assignment. Cats could be useful like that... perhaps she ought to get one. Hhhmm maybe one day.

Two more, "Very good effort. Is there anything else you had in mind or are you just going to see what you come across?" Seren was very curious. After all there were at least eight items within a five metre radius of where they stood that she could use. Ruddy useful plants were. Seren smiled with pride as she observed her babiesplants.

The greenhouses. The best part of the greenhouses was that if you want any plant, magical or normal, you can find it here. She was now looking for the Victoria Amazonica, it was one of the only plants she was looking for that she knew how it looks like, thanks to the first hebology lesson. She walked around the greenhouse looking at the different plants with amaze. She never seen so many different spices of plants, growing together in one place.

She wasted at least five minutes just looking at some normal plants forgetting why she came here. While staring at random plants, she noticed one of the plants she came for, the Victoria Amazonica. She walked towards the water plant taking out of her bag a glass jar. There were a few plants in the the tank, and she was planning on taking the smallest one, because she doesn't have such big jars to fit a huge Victoria Amazonica. She spotted a small plant on the edge of the tank. Just before taking the plant out of the tank she hesitated, is she allowed to take a plant without she professors permission. She put the jar back into her bag, searching for the Professor Bentley.

Kurumi tapped her finger on her lips as she thought about the other items in the greenhouse. Really, couldn't everything and everything in here be used as a potions ingredient? Kurumi blinked a few times before turning her violet gaze back at Professor Bentley. "I am sure that others will be stopping by to pick various things, so I should probably find some ingredients elsewhere," she chirped. No need for everyone to come back with all the same ingredients and leave a gap in the plant life on campus. "Although, if you wouldn't mind, I would like to fill one of my vials up with some rose thorns," she continued pointing towards a rose bush. Rose thorns were used in love potions, but Kurumi was sure that they had to be used in other concoctions as well.

"Oh I'm sure they will," replied Seren with a smile, scanning her surroundings as if expecting studends to be popping up out of nowhere. They were all more then welcome... provided they took care with what they were doing. The last thing Seren wanted was a student in the hospital wing or her plants destroyed... or both... because the first could come after the second if they weren't careful. That or she would just give them detention which was more likely.

"Help yourself Miss Hollingberry, I'm sure the roses wont mind."

Seren wandered around the greenhouse a bit, giving Kurumi some space to do what she needed whithout her looking over her shoulder.
Stopping by an Abysian Shrivelfig tree, Seren examined its branches, leaves and fruit.. it looked healthy, and smelled appealing too.

Chloe was sure anything more on that crazy list could be found here, already labeled and easy for the picking, and that is why this was her last destination, she diid not want to start things out too easy. Upon arriving the first plant she spotted was the bubotuber with it's slimy green coat. With her protective gear on Chloe ectracted some puss and and put it into a baggie and labeled it. She then easilly found the dittany, scurvy-grass, hellbore, and nettles, asphodel, aconite, and sneezewort, all of wihich would be way more difficult to spot anywhere else. Chloe then sptteed some tuber worm on a plant and grabbed some of that. She then went ofor the bugs and and it was not long before she collected some beetles and cattipillers. Chloe then went to the section in the greenhouse labeled worms and found a flobberworm and extracted it's mucus. Once done with all this she labeled all her bags and put them in her bag and headed for the potions storage room.

Aurora walked into Greenhouse 2, donning her gloves and wielding her shears. She walked straight to the back and found the deep pool that Professor Bentley had mentioned, she spotted the Victoria Amazonica knelt down beside it. She looked at it for a second, it seemed a crime to prune it, nevertheless, she parted the leaves and took a few small cuttings from the top of the plant, making sure to give it room to grow back again, she took out her wand and a tissue, she swished her wand and flicked it at the tissue "Wingardium Leviosa." She levitated the tissue and dipped it into the water - didn't want to get too close - bringing it back and wrapping it around the ends of the cuttings, making sure she could leave them without them running out of water. She lay them in her little brown box and stood up, letting the plants fall back into place naturally. She left the greenhouse, putting the shears back where she had found them.

"Thank you, Professor Bentley," Kurumi smiled with a slight bow.

Kurumi blinked a few times at the professor's comment. The roses wouldn't mind? Kurumi rather thought that perhaps they would mind having bits of them torn off their stalks.

Walking towards one of the rose bushes, Kurumi thought that it would probably just be best to pick a few roses, then remove the thorns, and set the de-thorned roses in the common room to liven up the room - not that it didn't need anymore livening up.

Pointing her wand towards one of the red roses, Kurumi flicked her wand and spoke, "Diffindo!" and easily severed the rose from the rest of the bush. There was a large amount of thorns on this particular rose, but Kurumi decided she ought to take one more just to make sure that her potions vial was filled to the top with rose thorns.

Now with two roses in her hands, Kurumi turned her attention back towards Professor Bentley, who was enchanted by one of her trees, and smiled brightly. "I-I think I've got everything I need," she chirped holding up her vial and shaking it to emphasize the thorns she had collected. "Thank you for your time and for allowing me to take things from your greenhouses."

...perhaps a spinkling of dragin dung wouldn't go astray, thought Seren as she continued to inspect her trees.

It wasn't long before she was summoned back to earth, Kurumi's soft voice floated to her ears.
"Oh not a problem dear, anytime." she replied turning to see the Gryffindor holding up her rose thorns.

Kurumi smiled and returned the vile to her bag along with the flowers she had picked earlier and adjusted the straps on her shoulder. "I'll see you in class then, professor." Kurumi bowed deeply and took one last look around the greenhouse. "I-I hope your plants survive everyone coming in collecting ingredients. Perhaps...sometime I can help you replant if they do suffer too much." Or, you know, just for fun. Kurumi didn't mind getting her hands dirty.

Bowing once more, Kurumi took her leave and headed back towards the castle to meet up with Heather in the Gryffindor common room.

Seren returned Kurumis bow, "I'll see you then dear." .. Hmmm yes the next class.. she would have to start preparing for that.
Offering her another smile, she said, "Sounds lovely, perhaps I can even make an assignment of it if need be..." If Lafay could get the students to restock her storeroom then surely she could get them to restore the gardens... sounded fair enough.

After watching Kurumi leave, Seren continued to circle the greenhouse... just to keep an eye on things.

Eino made his way to the Herbology Greenhouses with a list of the potential plants he could harvest for his potions homework. He had also brought his leather bag to gather the ingredients, as well as a pair of dragon hide gloves, and scissors. Hopefully, he could find something in here that could be useful for a handful of potions. Being here also reminded him he had to complete his Herbology homework, but that would probably be easier, and he could always plant whatever he took for his potions homework in compensation. Unfortunately, Hugo was too busy with Quidditch practice and whatnot to do homework now. He was probably going to be yelled at by Professor Lafay, and Eino would end up having to share his findings with him to avoid losing house points. Maybe he would find someone else here he could do the homework with...

Why was it that the least subject one likes, the longest time it requires? Louisa needed to search for the answer somewhere later when she was done with... what was she doing again? Looking at the rolled parchment in her hand, she frowned. Looking for herbs. Right. If only Enya was an ordinary girl who would hang out with humans, they would've done the assignment together and Louisa wouldn't be going through a stressful day. But nooooo, she had to take a bully as a friend. Hmph.

Someone!! Someone with a blue scarf!! Louisa played it cool and walked accidentally next to the boy. "Looking for herbs?" She spoke blatantly. No introductions, no smooth words, no nothing. She was on a mission so no one could blame her. Especially if Vashti knew about this and had to go through another Being-Nice-To-People lecture *scoff* but she wasn't around, was she? So..

Right. Potions. It wasn't a bad subject. Quite useful really. Vashti even sort of liked it - not enough to make it her favorite subject, but it certainly wasn't her least either. But when it made her go into a greenhouse full of plants that she swore she'd never go into again - except for Herbology classes - well, then, she decided she didn't care for it all that much. She didn't mind using herbs and plants in potions, but when she had to actually go out and get them herself? She wasn't very happy about that.

But even so, she was here, and hopefully she'd find an ingredient quickly. The sooner she found one, the sooner she could get away from these horrid plants.

Vashti plunged her hand into her pocket as she carefully eyed the plants around her. She pulled out a crumpled piece of paper with a list of potion ingredients on then scanned down the list for the little section she'd gathered the herbs together. She frowned slightly then looked around, wondering if there was anyone around that she knew who was good with this plant stuff.

Oh look, there was Louisa and the boy she'd met in the fifth floor corridor where the giant X was. Maybe one of them was good at handling plants and what-not? It was worth a shot.

"Hey," she said with a friendly smile as she walked over to them. "What're you guys up to?"

Humming, Eino consulted the ingredient list suggested by Professor Lafay, and every once in a while looked up and around the greenhouse. He wanted to make sure he could retrieve the herbs that were most useful in a variety of potions, especially healing ones. The School Healer probably depended on those same ingredients to brew her healing potions and pastes, so they should always have a full inventory in case a student, or many, got sick. He took his time, going from herb to herb, and making notes on his list and he examined them.

He was fully invested in searching the plants, as well as identifying them, that he hadn't even seen a girl approach him. That was, until she broke the silence, and scared the magic out of Eino. "Y-yes..." He said turning around, calming himself. It was only a student, not devil's snare. "I am looking for herbs for the potions storeroom." He explained, whether the girl was willing to listen or not. He liked to talk. "What about you?" Hopefully, she was there for the same purpose. That way they could work together and gather even more herbs that he intended.



However, before the first girl could reply, another Ravenclaw approached them. This one he had seen, and spoken to before. He could recall meeting her one year ago, but not speaking to her until the recent incident on the fifth floor, with the red X. "Hello!" He couldn't quite remember her name, but greeted her and waved as she walked closer. "We're gathering potion ingredients!" Eino said enthusiastically, showing Vashti his bag and his ingredient list as evidence. Well, he was, but he wasn't so sure about the other girl. "You too?" Maybe this was an especially good time to gather herbs? It certainly was nice not having to do it alone, so hopefully the two girls were there for the same purpose.

He seemed quite cheerful for someone surrounded by evil plants, so he probably knew what he was doing, right? And he was trying to do the Potions assignment! Excellent! Vashti nodded. "Yeah, me too." She glanced around again, eyeing the plants around them mistrustfully. "I'm not...really sure about some of these though," she admitted, turning back to Eino. "Are you good with plants and herbs and things like that?" She sort of directed this at Louisa too, giving the girl a brief glance.

Oh, that was a perfect! Someone he could do the homework with! Now he wouldn't be so lonely in the greenhouse, but hopefully they wouldn't get too distracted and end up not completing their assignment. "Yes!" He responded reassuringly. He was very good with plants and potions, so this assignment was perfect for him. "I have received very high grades in both potions and herbology! I've learned much of it from my grandparents." He always helped them gather ingredients then watched and helped them brew potions. Of course, since he did most of this back home, he never was allowed to use magic, which was why he still used scissors and gloves. "There are some great choices here!" He said gesturing to the entire area. "That's goosegrass." The said pointing to it. "That is snakeweed." But there was one particular plant that caught his attention. "Nettle!" he said pointing. "This is very useful for the Boil-Cure Potion. Should we take some?" Although, they would have to be very careful since they had little stinging hairs.

Obviously, she had sneaked up on him. It was his fault though, he was too into staring at those plants. However, he managed to start a conversation within a second after making sure she wasn't… armed? "Of course I am. I don't like hiking in a place where poisonous plants live." She replied dryly and turned around to look at whatever caught his attention.

Or whomever.

Louisa beamed at her friend when she caught on and watched the boy going all cheery about plants and potions and…. his family history about them? 0_0 "Yeah, yeah, yeah.." She said quickly begging him not to go on forever about his family tree, "It means we can collaborate and gather some plants. Great!" And nope, she wasn't asking. It was meant to be.

Since he already pointed and collected some plants, Louisa scanned the scene around them looking for anything familiar useful at all. There were jars of this circular pointy… plants, "Isn't that fluxweed? The one we use in Polyjuice Potion." She said thoughtfully approaching the thing. "I guess we can take some?" Her gloved hand sank into the jar and snatched two out. Here! She knew something about Potions, right?

Oh thank Merlin! He was good at Herbology and Potions, and he seemed willing to help. Vashti grinned, for once glad that she'd come into the greenhouses. She looked to each plant as he pointed them out, knowing that she would have to study these sometime soon because she wouldn't have recognized any of them without his help and with her luck they'd probably be on the Herbology OWL.

"Sure, I guess," she replied when he asked about taking the nettles. Ingredients for something like the Boil-Cure Potion ought to be pretty good to have, right? She reached into her bag and pulled out her dragonhide gloves. "We should probably wear these, though, right?" It seemed like gloves were always a good idea when handling these plants, even when they appeared harmless.



And Louisa was up for working together as well. Great! Three minds were better than one, Vashti thought, especially when one of them (i.e. her) wasn't going to be much help with this kind of thing. Louisa and Eino would balance out her lack of Herbology skills.

Fluxweed for Polyjuice Potion though? "I guess that could be useful," she said uncertainly. Did Professor Lafay need ingredients for a Polyjuice Potion though? Of course, fluxweed could surely be used in something other than that, right? Eino would probably know of one.

Louisa proudly took a pouch out of her bag and carelessly stuffed the fluxweed in. She knew she was supposed to be more careful with these stuff but she just wanted to get it over with. No offensive feelings toward the subject itself, she just didn't belong here. Just sayin'.

Moving on. She glanced around looking for another useful ingr--
Wait a minute. Her head snapped to Vashti, "Why aren't you looking?" Could she be even worse than Louisa in Potions? Really? Vashti? Because the older girl couldn't just let her friends do the work for her. Would she? A teasing smile played on Louisa's face. Let's test the older smarter friend, shall we?

"How about you get some Star Grass? I saw some over there." She said, the taunting smile still on, and didn't direct the way. Let's see if she could recognize the thing *smirk*

Why wasn't she looking? She thought that was obvious since she'd admitted she wasn't any good with these stupid plants. Sort of admitted, anyway. And...star grass? What in Merlin's name was that, and was it capable of eating humans? Vashti had no idea, and Louisa wasn't helping with her vague comments.

"I honestly have no idea what that is," she replied bluntly. No use pretending, right? She'd probably end up getting to near some freaky plant who had an appetite for humans and then she'd get eaten. That thought wasn't at all appealing, so she definitely wasn't going anywhere in this greenhouse without the guidance of the Ravenclaw boy - or the professor, if she happened to show up.

This girl knew of places where poisonous plants lived?! "Wicked..." He said with his eyes wide open, in awe. He would have to make a note to ask her about where that was. He would definitely want to go there. But for now they would have to gather some herbs not-so-poisonous plants instead.

Eino looked over at what the girl had gestured to, and it was indeed fluxweed. Well, the jars had a label, so duh, but he would have known what they were even if they didn't have the label. He nodded in response to her. They were one of the many necessary ingredients for the Polyjouice Potion, but they could also be used in other potions, although none of them were health beneficial. Fluxweed wasn't that useful, but uncommon, so they probably shouldn't take too many of them.



"Oh, you're right!" Eino said then sank his hands into his own bag and pulled his pair of dragon hide gloves. After putting them on, he got on his knees and took out his pair of scissors. He would have to be very careful harvesting the nettle. He used one hand to hold the plant with a loose grip, and cut parts of it with the other. Once he had a sufficient amount of it, he placed it on the ground gently, and took out a jar and a piece of cloth from his bag. He wrapped the cloth around the nettle, but not too tight so it wouldn't suffocate, then placed it inside the jar, without a lid, again so it wouldn't suffocate. Well, if it did dry out it could still be useful, but fortunately these were fresh, so Professor Lafay could either use them as they are or dry them for other potions.

He then repeated the process and gathered an additional branch of nettle for both Louisa and Vashti. They were both wrapped in cloth, too, so it was safe for them to touch it, but he didn't have any more jars for them. "Here you go." He said handing one to each of them.

Okay, some nettle had been obtained but the greenhouse was still filled with other plants. He got up and started to look around again. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted some dandelions, which he could harvest and use the roots for potions. "We can use those, too." He said pointing to them.

Making her way into the greenhouse, Aiden wastes no time and starts to look for the pond Professor Bentley told her earlier.

Aha! There it is! She approaches the pond and spots a rather large Victoria Amazonica. Aiden draws out her wand. With a hand pointing the wand towards the leaf at the stem, her other hand is holding the leaf. "Diffindo!" instructed Aiden with a clear voice.

As the leaf has been parted with the stem, Aiden puts the Victoria Amazonica leaf into a small jar. Next, she takes out the list and crosses over Victoria Amazonica.

AHA! Vashti had potions as a weak subject! Good to know the girl was cool with it though. Additional reason for Louisa to stick with her for the next year. Despite her constant lectures that is. "It's okay. I didn't see Star Grass. I was just messing with you." She grinned at her friend.

Okay back to the mission... sort of.

The boy was working... dramatically, Louisa thought. She approached the place where he sat and harvested the nettle. For a boy, he wasn't messy. "You're good." She said quietly watching him wrapping the thing in a cloth and soon after he gave her one.

Wait a sec. She was not so nice to him and he just gave her harvested nettle? 0_0 He was a Ravenclaw.

"Thanks." Although she had no idea where to put that. Maybe in the same pouch as the fluxweed? "I don't even know your name," She said after he'd pointed at the dandelions. "Mine's Louisa," She added. He didn't seem as interested in sharing names as much as doing the homework though.

The dandelions were a more common stuff luckily and she was familiar with. Louisa placed the nettle on the ground next to her bag, intending on placing it in the small pouch later and then took her dragon hide gloves off. "Those are safe, right." her gloves might get in the way of harvesting the tiny roots.. and well she wasn't that good. Without waiting for an answer, she knelt down before a plant. Eyeing it, she nudged with one finger. Just in case the boy was mistaken and it was that thing that bites you when you bother it.

Nope. He was right. Good to know.

"Okay. Ready." Talking to plants should work too. She straightened herself and cupped her hands around the stem and the leaves. The soil around the dandelion seemed wet enough so she didn't have to justify forgetting to get it wet herself.

1... 2… 3… PULL! And it worked. Some roots stayed back in the soil but a fair share were still intact. Now that the plant was fully in her hand and after giving herself a minute of triumphal staring, she frowned. "Do I cut the roots or pluck them out?" It does make a difference in other plants so nope it wasn't a stupid question.

With her clean gloves on, Helena entered the greenhouses to start doing something for her Herbology assignment. She decided to start with something simple, like caring for a Flutterby Bush, since that's what they did during the last lesson.

But she won't be taking care of any Flutterby Bush, she'll take care of her Flutterby Bush. The... No-Name Flutterby Bush. It's not going to get upset if its name is No-Name, right?

Alright. First, the girl took her wand and pointed it towards No-Name. "Flipnsnipwitit." Swish, swish, swish. There. No-Name was already looking better.

Helena was not going to do the repotting thing again, since she did that not a long time ago. Instead, she pointed her wand again at No-Name and muttered "Aguamenti". It should be happy now. Freshly taken care of leaves and a bit of water...

... oh.

It still needed that smelly and disgusting thing.

She looked around for the dragon dung, and sprinkled just a little bit around No-Name's base. There. It was really happy now.

And... what should the other plant be? The one she was going to take care of?

Awesome, she'd got something right. See, being cautious wasn't really wasn't a bad thing. Vashti pulled her gloves on then decided to watch the boy as he gathered the nettle. He obviously knew how to properly handle them, and Vashti didn't want to do this incorrectly. Besides, she hadn't thought to bring her own scissors, so she'd need to borrow his. When it seemed he was done, she started to open her mouth to ask if she could borrow those scissors for a moment, but before she could speak, he was cutting more. Well, that was fine. He could take as much as he wanted, she could wait.

Eh? She blinked. He was giving her one of the extra? How nice of him! And he was officially on her list of awesome people for helping her out like this. "Thanks!" she replied with a grin, taking the nettle and putting it carefully into a side pocket on her bag.

Hm, now what? Ohh, dandelions! Finally something she actually recognized! She saw these all the time whenever she had to help Aunt Grace with her garden. "So what do we harvest from them?"



Vashti smiled at Louisa but couldn't of anything to say in reply, so she said nothing, simply returning her attention to the dandelions Eino had pointed out. Whatever they were going to get from them, she was going to wait for one of them to demonstrate how they were going to get whatever they needed.

This time, Louisa went first and pulled one out. Oh, was that all they had to do? That wasn't too bad. And it seemed like the roots were what they wanted.

So, keeping her gloves on, Vashti knelt down by a dandelion, gripped it with one hand, and dug a little bit around it with her other, trying to make it a little bit looser. Then she pulled and after a couple seconds, the dandelion parted from the ground, most of the root in tact. For once she was glad she'd had to help her Aunt Grace with that garden of hers. It was great practice for pulling out weeds and things like this, even if it wasn't all that enjoyable.

Helena. Was. Out. Of. Her. Mind.

...

She still had one more plant to take care of, but she didn't quite know what to choose, since last year's professor had been eaten by a plant disappeared, and then had a rather... interesting lesson with professor Vindictus. So... hating herself for what she was going to do, the girl made her way to a Chinese Chomping Cabbage. Yes, CHOMPING cabbage.

Deep breath.

She wasn't sure if it needed trimming, so she skipped that part. The plant was crazy enough; she didn't want to cut something wrong and get it crazier than that.

Helena pointed her wand at it, but kept a small distance away from the cabbage. She didn't want to risk having her wand grabbed by it and, why not, eaten. Once she muttered "Aguamenti" to water it a little, the plant started moving crazily in its pot, which made Helena feel the urge to run for her life, screaming. But she only took a few steps back, until it calmed down.

Now... which fertilizer did they use last year?

Dragon dung! Uh... dragon dung. Still smelly and disgusting.

Helena tried to carefully sprinkle it around the base of the plant, but barely noticing, she touched it and it... bit her hand. The girl was about to let out a scream, but she didn't. She just took a deep breath, again and again, trying to remember what she had to do. She had to poke it.

So... really really really carefully, she poked the plant, then quickly took away her both hands, since it wanted to bite the other one this time. Alright, Helena was DONE. She should get extra points for the bite. Hmph.

Nika skipped to the greenhouse with her gloves in hand. She wore some clothes that she didn't mind getting dirty because anything can happen with these magical plants. She found a clear area to set down her bag and crouched down to look through it. "AHA! Here you are!" She smiled to herself as she brought out the peice of parchment where she had written down her herbology homework. Right, she needed to care for two plants.


Well considering this one would be her first plant she thought she'd just start with her flutterby bush! She'd been meaning to go visit it anyways and getting her homework done at the same time would really just be a bonus! She looked around through the different areas of the greenhouse and finally found a flutterby bush labeled with pink loopy handwriting! "Hiya, did you miss me?" She let out a chuckle as she looked the plant over. "Wow, you've really grown since I was here last time."

Taking her wand out of her pocket and putting on her gloves she realized something else, "You must be really thirsty too! Well let's take care of that right now." She held up her wand and did one of the only spells that she had learned to master. "Aguamenti" She said the spell confidently as she watched water sprinkle onto the plant. "That should be enough... Now to get you trimmed!"


Now what was that trimming spell they had learned in class... Hmm.. "Think Nika think...." "Oh, right! Erm... Flipnsnipwitit!" She watched waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. Even though she was a bit disappointed she didn't let it stop her from trying again. Se wouldn't give up no matter what! "Flipnsnipwitit" Thank Merlin that it worked the second time. She smiled happily as she did the spell a few more times and beamed at the result. "You look gorgeous, my daaaarrrling." Hehe. Yes, Nika's now an official plant whisperer.

Eino & Louisa
 

"Hello there" Audrey said after she had found the toadstool she'd been looking for.
"Hello"the toadstool said back, for this was Talking Toadstool, not just a regular plant. "Are you thirsty?" Audrey kindly asked the plant.
"Thirsty" the plant said.
"Aguamenti" said Audrey, lightly drenching the plant with much needed water.
"Thank you," said the kind plant "Come visit me again?"
"Why of course" she said, and considering the lack of friends she had made at Hogwarts, she was willing to talk to plants and animals.

On to the next plant that needed attention.

Nika walked into the greenhouses again for the second time all term, other than classes. She looked around and took time to look over each plant individually. She needed some time to choose a plant to take care of. The first time it was easy because she knew that she wanted to take care of her own plant, but this time it was harder to decide. Especially because there are just so many possibilities!

She looked around until she found a plant that looked like it was harmless. Actually it looked just like a regular green onion, but Nika knew better than to suspect that it actually was one. They were at Hogwarts it was probably some sort of magical green onion at least... Her eyes opened widely after taking a better look at the plant. She recognized it! It was erm... erm... "Gurdyroot?" She asked the plant as if it were going to reply. "Right.. Plants don't talk." It would be so much easier if they did. That way Nika wouldn't have to know how to help them grow, they'd just tell her.

She sighed as she went to go and grab some supplies for the plant and when she came back she raised her wand slowly and muttered, "Agumenti!" Then she watched the plant before deciding it would need some more soil. She took some of the mooncalf dung and put it around the plant. Maybe that would help it grow faster like it was supposed to... Then she decided to add a small bit of fertilizer before deciding that this plant was attended to perfectly. She put away her things, well not really her things, but she did put them away. Humming to herself she closed the door to the greenhouse and made her way back up to the castle.

"Nice to meet you, Louisa." Eino said taking the girl's hand, whether she had offered it or not, and shook it rather violently. "I'm Eino." He then let go of her hand just as suddenly and he took it and began walking towards the dandelions. This was no time to worry about knowing each other's names, it was time to do the homework and Eino never took this task lightly. Sometimes he talked to his books though because he never had anyone else to talk to, so maybe he should spend a little more time chatting.

He then returned his attention to her as she asked about the dandelions and nodded in response. They were indeed safe. Very simple, yet very powerful and useful plants. "They aren't harmful, but they could be, I suppose, if you use it to brew the wrong potion." He then watched as Louisa just pulled the flower. SHE JUST PULLED IT OUT OF THE SOIL RIPPING AND TEARING THEM APAAAAART!!! His jaw dropped.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" He shouted across the Greenhouse. "YOU'RE HURTING THEM!" He was gonna have a heart attack. Breathing heavily, he lowered himself in front of the plant and began excavating for the roots. "You can't do that!" He said flailing his arms in the arm. It was too late to save the poor plant now, but he could still collect its roots. He took another container he had from his bag and put the roots in it. This one he could close with a lid since, you know, THEY WERE DEAD. He gave Louisa a nasty look.

"This is how you do it!!" He snapped, trying to catch her attention. He approached a group of dandelions, and used his fingers to outline a circle around it, on the soil. Then he dug his hands into the soil, gently and slowly, until half of his hand had disappeared. Finally, he pulled them out of the soil and in his hand he had the dandelion with the roots. Then shook some of the soil off, put them inside the container. "Now, you try!" And she better do it out, or he was going to make her eat all the soil. ALL OF THE SOIL IN THE GREENHOUSE, IN ALL GREENHOUSES!!!



Why were they all pulling the plants?! Well, in their defense, the plants were going to die for the potion making anyway, but Eino just didn't like harvesting plants like that. The poor plants. In any way, at least they were all working together so that accounted for something, right? He didn't know what, really, he always worked by himself, but he was enjoying his company. Even if they were plant murderers.

All of the sudden, Vashti announced her departure, and handed Eino the plants. "Oh, thank you!" He took them and put them in another container, then looked back at the girl. "I see... You should go to the Healer on your way back!" Maybe it was the humidity and stuffiness of the Greenhouse. It had given him a headache before, but nothing that didn't go away with some fresh air, and maybe a nap. He waved at her, not realizing he had soil on his hand and basically flicking it everywhere, as she left.

"I guess it's just you and me." He said to Lousia. "What should we go after next?"

Usually, Louisa's wand would be in her hand and hexing whoever was shouting at her... and giving her nasty looks. Not today though. This boy seemed like he was on the verge of a breakdown. Emotional one. She was rooted to her spot as he snatched the dandelion from her hand and worked on it. Gently, she noticed. Too gently that she had no idea why he was doing that.

Until he showed her the right way. So, she cut off some roots so what? This boy should get a life. Being that connected to plants never is good. "Fine." She snapped back at him and knelt before another dandelion. She loosened the soil around the plant with her hands and then sank them in. Eeew! Who knew what was in that soil? Fighting the urge to gag all over the floor, she carefully took the thing out. She didn't want to be dead because of a homework and that boy was so ready for a funeral.

"There. It still has roots." She dangled it in front of his face, too closely so that some dirt would SPOIL his little face which frowned at her few minutes ago. "Should I put it with the fluxweed in the pouch?" She gestured to the thing lying on the floor next to her bag.

What should they go after next? What? Was he enjoying this? It sounded like they were hunting something. "Umm.. That is Goosegrass over there. Is it useful?" She suggested carefully. This boy apparently never took homework less than life-or-death-matters.

Eino watched as Louisa followed his instructions and dug her hands into the soil. When she pulled them out, this time with roots, he applauded her success. "Splendid!" He said with a nod and sparkling eyes. "Yes, that will do!" Professor Lafay hadn't really specified how she wanted the ingredients, dead or alive, so maybe they should find some other things too.

He then turned his attention to the next plant the girl pointed to. "Oh, yes!" She had very good eye for noticing and identifying plants. She was a Ravenclaw after all! "We should take some of it..." He said as he approached it. Unlike the dandelions it was okay to just pluck these since the roots weren't that useful, so he went on ahead and took some of it and placed it in a different container.

"We should go look for other things, other than just plants." He said as he was finishing up. "Maybe we can go look for rats in the dungeons, or snakes in the grounds." They could always use different rat parts for potions, but the snakes would have to be defanged and that could be slightly problematic since Eino had never done that. In any way, it would probably be a good idea to gather different ingredients to refill the storeroom with a variety of items. "What do you think?"

With a smug smile on her face, she went after the boy and imitated his actions. See? She wasn't as bad in Potions as she thought. She stuffed the plant in the pouch next to the others and into her bag… the boy was talking all this time, she half-listened to him, busy with the satisfaction of her suggestion. He was talking about gathering other ingredients.. yeah yeah, she couldn't care less about other ing--

WHAT?

"I'm sorry.. did you just suggest we catch rats and snakes?" Her eyes couldn't get any bigger. The actually were so big that they almost left their sockets. "Like... alive ones? We? You and me?" She found that hard to believe.. make that IMPOSSIBLE to believe. It was so unlikely that her tiny piece of braveness would last before ANY kind of pests... especially when a casual strange boy was around.

On the other hand, Vashti just left and when she finds out that Louisa has bailed on him because of the animals, she'll be disappointed- Knockturn Alley incident and all. *sigh* "Fine. We'll go to the dungeons. But I will not touch a rat!" She shot a piercing glare at him, "I can help you with other things." Whatever that meant.

Placing his Dragon Hide gloves and a pair of earmuffs on, Roderigo entered the Greenhouses. The next Potions ingredient he needed was an adult Mandrake. As he walked along the Greenhouse, viewing various exotic plants, he double-checked that his earmuffs were securely on his ears. He was halfway around the Greenhouse when he noticed medium-sized pots with gnarled branches sticking out of the soil. Roderigo instantly recognized these as Mandrakes. He reached forward, pulling out his wand as he did so. He picked up a pot and was about to pull on the branches when he realized that there were other students in the Greenhouses. He knew that a Mandrake's cry kills whoever hears it, and that was very dangerous. He thought for a moment, uncomfortably crouching before the pots. He pointed his wand a few feet away from him.
"Muffliato," he muttered. He was now safe to remove the Mandrake, for no one would be able to hear him in his general area. He closed his eyes, pulled on the branches, and out popped the ugliest plant Roderigo had ever seen. It was not the first time he had dealt with Mandrakes, but they still were very unpleasant.
He knew the earmuffs were working perfectly, for he could not hear the Mandrake, though he could tell it was crying for its gnarled face looked as if it were contorted and crying with rage. He gave his wand a sort of jab towards the Mandrake, which caused it to instantly be silent, for Roderigo had placed a Silencing Charm on it. He stunned it and then placed the Mandrake in a bag. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he walked out of the Greenhouse. He now needed two more ingredients.

Presley stepped into the greenhouse. It was Saturday, and Bentley had agreed to help her with not killing plants. She looked around, and didn't see the Herbology professor. Pres wandered around looking at what everyone else was doing. She was interested. They looked as if they came here to make things grow for fun! She finally leaned back against a greenhouse window, and waited for Bentley.

After running the last few errands she had left, Seren wandered into the greenhouses to meet Presley. She hadn't actually given much thought to what she was going to do with her, but was confident they could find some things to do. The greenhouses were looking rather neat and tidy, and green. Clearly all the time and effort the students were investing into their herbology assignment was paying off. It was rather impressive.

It didn't take her long to find Presley, and so their study session would begin! This was rather exciting for Seren, it was the first time she'd ever worked with a student one-on-one before, it would be pleasant change.
"Morning Presley," she greeted the Ravenclaw cheerfully, "Had a good week?"

Presley smiled half-heartedly. A good week? Not in the most stretched sense of the word. The past week had probably made the top two worst weeks of Presley's entire life. But she pulled on a good face. "Hello, Professor! Yeah, it wasn't bad. How was your week?"

Eino took out a little notebook and quill from his backpack. As he bit one end of the quill, he looked through his notes to see what else they could collect. "We have three ingredients right now. Nettle, goosegrass, and dandelions." He said as he wrote those down on his list. They could go after rats in the dungeons, as he initially suggested, but the house-elves probably took care of those. They probably even cooked them and served them to the students as chicken, or turkey, or something. Snakes would be a good choice. They could use their fangs, tongues, and skin, but it would be difficult to defang them, so it would be best stay clear from them.

"On second thought..." He said as he closed his notebook and put it back in his backpack. "We should go to the grounds. There might be some frogs by the lake, even newts! We can use those." Frog brain and newt eyes are good potion ingredients, but Eino didn't plan on removing the brains or eyes of the animals, he would rather just give them whole to Lafay. She probably enjoyed the killing part, anyway. Plus, Louisa didn't seem to like the idea of rats and snakes, so maybe she wouldn't mind frogs and newts as much. That sounded like a plan! "Does that sound good?"

Rolling her eyes at him she nodded, "Yeah. Frogs. Sounds fascinating." Replied coldly. Her bag was on her shoulder and she started toward the exit, "And just so you know, I don't know what you're planning to do with a frog but I'm not participating. All I'm going to do is stun it or tie it up." He better not be so connected to creatures as much as plants or she might witness another fit because of calling the frog 'it'.

Seren got the distinct impression that Presley was all too pleased. Had she not had a good week? or did she not want to be here?
"Oh yes, it was good," she said before talking forward a few paces, gesturing for Presley to follow. A walk about the greenhouse might give her some ideas-- though really she should have prepared something sooner.
"You ready to get started?" she asked.

William had just finished planting daisies in the Student Garden and decided to head to the Greenhouses to plant an Orchid. He knew that Orchids were a good plant to grow inside a Greenhouse.

William took the Orchid out of their wrapping and began to trim away all of the leaves that were brownish looking. It was important for the plant to have healthy leaves in order to grow. He then carefully trimmed away the brownish area from the roots and shook off all the moss he could see that was around the plant.

He looked around and selected an area that was well lit and began to dig his hole for the Orchid. He dug about eight inches down, in order to give plenty of room for the roots of the plant. He then carefully put the plant into the hole and covered it using the soil he had just dug. He had added some mooncalf dung in as fertilizer for the Orchid. Finally, he added a little dragon dung to the soil so that the plant would be stable.

William looked at the Orchid and it looked like it fit there. "I'll come back and see you soon," he said.

Presley followed Bentley around the Greenhouse. "Yeah, absolutely," she plastered on a bright smile. This really was the high point of her week, getting her grade up. Presley was so ready to start on this. She couldn't wait to see a bright shiny O on the top of her papers.

"Oh good!" grinned Seren, perhaps this is what Presley needed, somthing to take her mind off... other things? Who knew.
Anyway, Herbology! There was so much that they could do, the possibilities were endless, but the thing that would help Presley the most, was helping her to improve in the areas she had difficulty with. But.. what were they?
She seemed perfectly capable in class. Perhaps she should ahve asked this question the other day when they were in her office, but never mind, no time like the present.

"What do you feel your weaknesses in herbology are?" she asked.
Self-reflection was an important part in studying, so if they were going to improve her grade, this was a good place to start.

William had another small seedling which he needed to plant in the greenhouse. This was a very young tomato plant, which would be very nice to have later on. It would be great for all kinds of salads and stuff like bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. He hoped the tomato plant would grow lots of fruit, so he could share it with his friends.

William put his gloves on and looked for some good soil with lots of moisture but that was still facing towards the sun. He found it in a nice corner and began to dig, digging until his hole was a couple feet deep. He then picked up the seedlings and picked off the dead looking stuff near the roots, placing them gently into the ground. He carefully covered the roots with the soil that had been carefully mixed with mooncalf dung, adding more water as he finished covering the bottom part of the plants. He knew he would have to come and tend his plants often, it would be fun.

Stella strooled into the greenhouse, looking for a sneezewort and a Belladonna, the last two plants she is looking for the potions homework. The Ravenclaw took out her Herbology book and searched for pictures of them. "Well the Belladonna has oval-like leaves, the flowers have a yellow powder inside them and the fruit is black like blackberries" she mumbled to herself scratching her head. "Piece of cake!" she continued to mumble to herself, closing the book.

She walked through the shelves of plants, recognizing a few plants. Inside a rather long pot she noticed a bush-like plant, with a few rotten fruits growing on the plant. Hoping it wasn't a normal berry tree she pointed her wand on one of the smaller branches and said, "Diffindo." The branch fell of the plant. Stella took the branch and placed it into a glass jar. She sighed, she didn't want to look for the second plant so she decided to leave look for daisy roots instead.

Her weaknesses? Everything. Well, she knew the theory of it pretty well...so the practice? "When I'm not directed at every step, my plants die," she said simply. It was true, when she was little and her mum used to garden, Presley would join her. Her mum used to sit next to her, and give her step-by-step instructions, and Presley's plants would flourish. After her mum died, and people stopped the direction, she couldn't get anything to stay alive more than a couple of days. "I guess I just have a black thumb. Or maybe i don't love the plants enough? Or maybe I am using bad ratio's of dung to dirt or something. I'm not quite sure. All I know is that they tend to die if left in my care."

"Ahh I see," nodded Seren as they came to a stop beside a flowerbed of roses, the foliage was fresh and young, the bulbs still developing- not quite ready to bloom yet.
"Well I'm afraid the only way to improve is to practice." She said a smile on her face as she stroked the leaves, there was something about them that she loved. "Each plant is different, sort of like people, so often they require different things. Instructions can help you care for a particular plant, but the needs will change from specimen to specimen." She hoped she was making sense. "The most important thing, when studying herbology, is to stay relaxed and focused. Consider all your options." She paused to allow Presley to keep up, hoping this wouldn't overwhelm her.
"Once you know your options you can consider which may be the best way to approach the task."

"Now lets run through some scenarios," said Seren as she produced a small pouch from her pocket. "In here I have some fanged geranium seeds," she said, handing the pouch to the girl.
"Now walk me through your thought process, how would you go about planting them? What do you need to consider?"

Kurumi had her way into the greenhouse with her dragonhide gloves on and her goggles hanging loosely around her neck. Her hair, back in its usual side pony-tail, was unfortunately still greyish-blue, but had darkened just a bit since it had been a few days since she had spoken with Treyen. Her heart, on the other hand, was no where near healing.

Which is why she needed something to distract her, and what better way then doing some homework?!

Looking around, Kurumi tried to spot a plant that looked as though they could use some tending to when she saw a disporpotionate purple bulb with a bunch of leaves growing on the top of it. What an interesting plant!

Kurumi skipped over to it and pulled her Herbology textbook out from her bag and flipped through its pages, scanning pictures to try and figure out what plant it was she was looking at. It DID look like it was rather uncomfortable in its current state and there were some brownish spots appearing on its smooth purple surface. That clearly meant that it needed tending to.

After a few moments of reading, Kurumi finally found a picture and description that match the plant in front of her. "Bouncing Bulbs," she read out load, glancing up for a moment to look at the plant just to double check. "A magical plant which jumps around if it is not restrained. This plant is at it's healthiest with no growth of green leaves and the bulb itself is of value." She looked back at the plant. Well, there were some green leaves on it that she supposed needed trimming and it looked like it needed to be replanted.

Kurumi stood up and returned her book to her bag and then set that on the table. Time to get to work!

Herbology. One of Jonathan's least favorite subject. It's not that he doesn't like it, it's just that Herbology requires working with plants and working with plants means mud. Jonathan is OCD. So mud and him don't get along pretty well like others do.

But then again HOMEWORK IS HOMEWORK. So Jonathan has nothing to do but to do what is asked. Thinking of it is already making him shrug. The sooner he can do this the faster he finishes the Herbology homework.

Sigh.

Upon entering the Greenhouse, he got himself geared and protected. Thankfully the professor wants them to wear the protective gear, gloves and what not. Jonathan was ready for this! He clipped his bangs at the back, yes he just had to that. It's been growing longer ever since and the moment he gets out of Hogwarts he's cutting those bangs short.

Although, clipping his bangs like that makes him look like a girl.

Walking along the pathway and looking around the plants and trees, Jonathan took out his journal. He shuffled through the page where the Herbology homework was written.

1. Your task is to grow two different plants/shrubs/trees of your choice, in the student garden. You will need to consider what you are going to grow, you must then plant them, and provide immediate care for them- water, fertilizer- which one will you use?

What the heck is he going to plant? THAT'S JONATHAN's first problem of the day.

Looking at the side he saw a very familiar Gryffindor. "Kurumi?" he mumbled to himself. He could be wrong about that you know. But as he got closer, it is her.

OPH! Is she alright? Jonathan heard what the apericium said about her the other day and the gossip about her and Treyen meeting in the Trophy Room. Jonathan wonders how she's doing. How she's taking all this in? But Jonathan doesn't want to talk to her about that. It's just rude. Plus, it might just make her cry.

Hearing her talking about Bouncing Bulbs, Jonathan snorted and surprised her from behind "Welcome back, nerd!" Jonathan teased her. Well, Kurumi does know a lot of things. A LOT!

Speaking of which, maybe she could help him out with this homework, clearly Jonathan knows nothing about Herbology and especially about plants. "How have you been?" he smiled.