The Greenhouses: Herbology Lesson Three
 

Herbology Lesson Three

As you enter greenhouse two you find a peculiar scene. Instead of the regular long table with bags of dung and empty pots, you find that the long table is covered in a lovely purple tablecloth and the greenhouse is decorated with extravagant displays of flowers and creeping ivy. In addition to this new phenomenon there are platters of lovely floral cupcakes all along the table, each embellished with various edible flowers. Pots of tea with teacups are also positioned at intervals along the communal table.

Professor Bentley is found sitting on the corner of her desk at the front of the room munching on one of the sugary cupcakes. The black board beside her, displays the following instructions in neat cursive writing:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Board Welcome! ...to the last Herbology lesson of the term. Come in, take a seat, grab a cupcake and have some tea! The lesson will begin shortly.

Lesson Progression:
Identification
Identificaion Continued
Cautions
Cautions Continued
Group Activity

Note: Please be aware of different timelines. This lesson is not running at the same time as the Potions Final, and you should therefore not be coming to class as somebody else. Even if you could. Would you?
So please note that any posts- which indicate to me that you are 'polyjuiced'- will be deleted. Professor Bentley would be very disappointed if she found out you were deceiving her. Thank you.

OOC: The lesson will officially start in approximately 12 hours. In this time feel free to RP your charries arriving and what not. The lesson has OFFICIALLY STARTED, please do announce your tardiness from this point onwards- unless you want to lose house points. Thank you! If you haven't done so already then please read through the Herbology Rules and Expectations and the SS Site Rules.
Also please do not chat excessively in this thread, there will be consequences if you do.

All SS Board Rules apply. IC rule breaking will result in IC punishment, OOC rule breaking will result in OOC punishment. Please behave appropriately and most importantly... have fun.

Selina crunched her nose up and entered the greenhouse. The moment she entered she noticed that the greenhouse looked very different, but the most exciting part was the cupcakes on the table. She nonchalantly ran over to the table and ate an entire cupcake in one bite. So she was a little bit hungry, that was an understatement. Could you blame her? She had only eaten an omelet, three pieces of toast, a waffle, home fries, oatmeal, and a batch of scrambled eggs. So she NEEDED the cupcake.

"Morning Professor!"

Miss Lovegoods could totally get used to snacks being served at the lessons. Especially sweets! She strolled into the greenhouse wearing her usual bright smile, taking a whiff of the treats as she took her seat. "Hey, Professor Bentley! Cupcakes look great." She took her seat and a cupcake, unwrapping one while she waited for the lesson to begin.

Ariella skipped into the Herbology classroom, eager for another lesson. She stopped in her track. Purple tablecloths?! She had to stop herself from squealing in delight. She loved purple.

"Hello, Professor Bentley!" Ariella greeted the teacher politely. She picked up a cup of tea and took a seat.

Kurumi made her way towards the greenhouses for her last Herbology lesson of the year. The subject was actually beginning to grow on her, pun intended, which most likely had something to do with Professor Vindictus not teaching the subject. The man was frightening when it came to plants...and flying...and, well, most everything it seemed..especially these days. Sword fighting and wearing a big puffy hat.

"Good day, Professor Bentley," Kurumi smiled as she entered the classroom and took in all the sweet smells - floral and not. "What's the occasion?" Perhaps the celebration of spring? Kurumi grabbed a cupcake and took her usual seat.

Oohh goody, the students were arriving! Good thing too otherwise she would have considered eating all of the cupcakes.

BAH! Merlin did this girl like to eat... had she not had any breakfast? It was almost as if she hadn't eaten for days.
"Ahh... morning dear," she replied. Seren hoped she would leave some for the others...

"Morning Miss Lovegoods," beamed Seren as the Hufflepuff Prefect joined then- always in such a bright cheery mood. Delightful.

"Hello dear, have a cupcake, I made them myself," yep she sure did. She didn't get time to bake very often, so when she did she enjoyed it. And for the last class of the year why not.
"I promise there's no dung in them," she added with a wink.

"Morning Miss Hollingberry, last lesson of the term of course, I though it would be nice to have a relaxed lesson this time round. Mix things up a bit."
That and the students might just stage a coup if she made them dig through dung again, and she did hope to have enough students take up the class again next term.


OOC: I'm going to be starting the lesson in approximately 5-6 hours... more likely in 5. Get things moving :)

Gwen walked in the greenhouse. Suddenly her eyes started scaning the room and the girl looked a bit puzzled. Am I late? What?? It can't be... I'm never late! 'Good day Professor', the young Ravenclaw said while trying to find a seat. While looking around, Gwen realized she arrived on time. Then, she spotted the cookies on the table. Hmm... interesting. I have never seen such a cookie 'design'.

While waiting for the class to start, the girl felt a bit sorry that it would be the last lesson. I can't believe my first year at Hogwarts is almost over... sigh.

Helena walked to the greenhouses, wondering what -

...

This looked so PRETTY! A big grin appeared on Helena's face, since she started hoping that they won't get dirty this lesson. It would be a pity to destroy this prettiness! "Hello, professor," she said cheerfully, then took a seat and glanced at the blackboard. Were they having a tea party? Not that Helena would EVER mind.

Yummmm. Tea and pretty cupcakes.

The end of term was quickly approaching and Destiny was having mixed feelings about it.

She was looking forward to her summer break, since it would be the first summer she'd be able to perform magic outside of school, and the fact that she had plans with friends instead of family was exciting in itself. But, the next time she'd attend another Herbology class, she would be a seventh year, which meant..she was getting old! GAH!

Despite the HORRIBLE thoughts of aging, Destiny skipped her way down to the Greenhouses, and stopping just outside the doors, she peeked her head inside. Ehh, she encountered far worse than a purple tablecloth in these lessons, so shrugging her shoulders, she made her way inside. "Hello, Professor!" she greeted the woman with a salute, and making her way over to the table, she plopped herself down in one of the seats.

Ohh, CUPCAKES!

"Hello, hello," chimmed Seren as she watched the young Ravenclaw gaze around at the greenhouse... it was a little different than normal, wasn't it?
She was pleased. Keeping things itneresting was good.

"Hello Helena, help yourself," she said giving the girl a wink. Yep cupcakes were good.

"Morning Miss Heartnett," replied Seren brightly, as she watched the young Slytherin take a cupcake. She couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable the girl seemed to be.

"Morning Miss Shepard, help yourself dear."


Hhhmm, perhaps she could do with another cupcake..

No instead Seren poured herself a cup of tea, adding a couple of spoons of sugar. Mmm sweetness.

Ugh, she was here. She was HERE!

Leaning against the doorway for a moment, the Slytherin girl took a few seconds to compose herself before walking inside. No, she didn't run. But those last few minutes of thinking she was utterly late had gotten to her. However, it looked like she wasn't late, so those few minutes of panic were for nothing.

Pffft.

It also seemed she shouldn't have even gone to this class. What was with the professors and giving out sweets this year, hmm? Yet, the sight of tea... "Good day, Professor." she greeted, eying the cupcakes as if they were the finals for astronomy class. Meh.

"Hello, Professor," said Stella, entering the greenhouse. Even from outside she could already tell that something in the class will be different, because there wasn't that familiar smell of dung and soil mixed with water like the previous lessons. And she was right, there weren't any pots filled with dung and soil in the class but she didn't expect a long table with a horrid purple table clothing. Ughhh... What an awful colour! Well, at least the plants and the cupcakes made a pretty sight.

Stella sat down on one of the seats, and beamed for a second or two at the cupcakes. Why didn't anyone tell her about the cupcakes? If she knew that there would be cupcakes she wouldn't have had such a large filling breakfast. Unwillingly, she took a cupcake, and just examined it for a second, and then, hesitating, she took a small bite from it. Ooh, it was good! With a smile, she put the cupcake beside her and waited for the lesson to begin. By the end of it, there would no longer be a cupcake. Hehe.

"Ahhh Miss Flores, Miss Swan, so good of you to join us, please help yourself to cake and tea."
Seren beamed, this was her favourite lesson so far. She just loved cupcakes, and she loved tea... so teamed with herbology, it was perfect!



Seren checked the time on her pendant watch.Right ... about time to start the lesson.
After waiting for the last few stragglers to come through the door Seren slid off the edge of her desk and joined the class at the long table.
“Welcome... to the last Herbology lesson of the term,” she said beaming at the students before her. It was strange. It seemed not long ago that she had only just started, and she didn’t even know names. But now... well some of them would be leaving, and that was quite sad.

“For today’s lesson I thought we could have a nice relaxed session with a bit of theory and discussion. Feel free to help yourself to the cupcakes, and tea.”
Turning to the blackboard briefly, she flick her wand and the letters erased themselves, leaving a new word in its place.

“What reasons can you think of, for why we might need to know how to identify plants?”
A broad question to begin with... but it was essential.
Seren watched and waited for the students to respond.

OOC: Lesson has started so unless you wish to lose house points then please do not announce your tardiness. Just pretend you’ve been here the whole time.

Please only provide one example/answer to the question, so that everyone can have a go. Thank you.

Noooo, she would not be helping herself to 'cake'. Tea maybe, but cake was out of the question! Yet, she smiled and nodded anyhow before taking her seat near Destiny. Theory? They were just doing theory today? No getting their hands dirty or anything? Well...that was nice. She wasn't in a particular herbology mood today anyhow.

"One of the bigger reasons should be so you yourself don't get hurt, or worse, if the plant is particularly dangerous." Hmm, so you know what to doooo.

Kurumi certainly agreed that a change of pace for the final class of the year was appropriate, but she was a little nervous as to whether or not people would be able to handle the sugar rushes that would come about from all the cupcakes and tea.

Kurumi took another sip of her tea and swallowed just as Professor Bentley asked a question.

"To know whether or not a plant is poisonous or not," she said tapping her lower lip with her index finger. "For example, not being able to tell the difference between poisonous plants like Water Hemlock and Wild Carrot will produce dire consequences."

Theory and discussion. The type of lesson Helena simply loved.

The girl was taking another sip of her tea, when she noticed that professor Bentley decided to start the lesson. Hmmm why should we how to identify plants? She was tempted to say that everyone should check first if the plant wants to eat people or not, but she didn't say that. It wouldn't have been... suitable.

She raised her hand. "So we won't get hurt, or poisoned," or eaten, riiiight?

Simon put his hand up. "So you know which plant are dangerous and will eat a Slytherin." Simon smiled, he wasn't saying he would do it, it would just be good to know. "And you know which plants are boring."

Enya looked at the cupcakes and tea before her, they did look yummy but why give them out? In an environment with plants? weird. Picking up a cupcake from the pack she bit into it gingerly, the taste burnt her tongue with flavor. Taking another bite she managed to finish it fully in a few bites. It was yummy. She looked up once she had finished to see a question on the board, and people answering to it.

Raising her hand slowly she said; "So you know which plants to use when creating some potion" in a bored voice.

With a mouth full of cookies, Louisa excitedly raised her hand, "Then we know the properties of that plant and how, where and why to use it." She finished giving Enya a smug-smile. It was probably the first time Louisa had heard her best friend talking without an insult either to the person she was talking to or on the subject she was referring to. Miracles do happen. The thirteen year old drank some tea to swallow the dry cookie she had difficulty moving down her throat.

Penny put her hand in the air.."Professor, I think it's so we know what plant is dangerous and which are harmless...I mean, to know the difference between a harmless Flitterbloom and a dangerous Devils Snare".....taking a sip from her cup of tea.

"Well, we would want to know which plants are more dangerous then others. Thus knowing how to identify them and their characteristics we can avoid putting ourselves in danger with plants. It is also good to know for those who are alergic to certain plants", Chloe responded with her hand raised high.

"Yes thats absolutely correct" smiled Seren as she listened to the various student responses.
"It's important to be able to identify dangerous properties and qualities of plants, so that we are able to proceed with caution when in their presence and defend against them if required."

"But of course, mundane plants are just as dangerous as magical ones."



Againt he students were quick to pick up on the topic. She was so pleased.
"Correct! ... knowing what particular plants are used for and being able to identify them is a very useful skill. Especially when you're in the wild or have limited resources."

Turning to the board again Seren flicked her wand, and more words appeared in that same neat cursive writing.

"So if you were strolling along in the student garden, or out in the wild and you stumbled upon a plant, what things would you look at to help you to identify it?"
Seren took a sip of her tea, and grabbed a second cupcake. Yes she was entitled to a second cupcake, she did bake them after all.

OOC: The next post will be in approx 8-9 hours. I need sleep. Please only provide one example/answer to the question, so that everyone can have a go. Thank you.

Simon looked at the Professor and smiled. "I'd use something as bait and if the plant attacked it I'd know it was dangerous." Simon laughed, he wasn't saying what or who he would use though, because he didn't want to get into trouble, he wanted to be able to say he got through a lesson without being told off.

Louisa gulped down the food and pondered, "I'd look at the shape of the plant and its smell. The outer characteristics in general." She said after raising her hand and her eyes automatically looked at Enya next to see what she's got for this question. Since, you know, the other girl was as far away from studying as Louisa was far from being blond.