Penny's hand shot in the air...

"Because Mooncalf dung makes the magical plant it is on grow really strong and quick ... and because we needed the best fertilizer for the Stubby Purple Coral cuttings to grow strong and help the plant survive extinction"

Simon was finding it hard to keep up with this lesson. "Professor you could kill the plant if you over water it and you could kill it if you don't." Simon said, he was sure about that.

Thea leant forward to peek at the silvery substance. She immediantly recognised it from the last lesson, just as the Professor told the class.
Slowly, Thea's hand went up. 'It makes your magical plant grow very well. It'll be healthy and strong!' She smiled. 'It's only possible flaw is that it's expensive.'
Thea settled back down in her seat.

Finally, a question Eino could give a proper answer to! Even though he had done fairly well so far. "With over-watering," Eino said after raising his hand "the soil won't drain all the water, meaning the roots cannot breathe due a lack of oxygen. There is also a chance that the roots will rot. In addition to that, fungus might grow under those circumstances, and further damage the plants." Well, he was giving specifics as to why the plant would die, but basically it would die, which was the same case with under-watering, but someone else would probably know the details better than him. "It may be possible to help a drowning plant, some of it requires re-potting, but it can be prevented by adding some sand to the soil or earthworms." Re-potting plants was always very hard and risky work so it would be best to always avoid that.

Whaaaat?

Helena didn't expect professor Bentley's question. She just said 'special', not exactly thinking why. Now... think, Helena. Think. "Does it have anything to do with the full moon?" The girl suggested, but almost hoped that the woman wouldn't hear. She had no idea what to say.

Anyway. Moving on.

Watering. "Plants can... drown? If we give them too much water, but they also dry and eventually die if we don't water them at all. It depends on the plant. Some are more pretentious than others. As for the effects... well, if the plant dies, I don't think it is reversible." Or maybe re-planting or something may work?

Louisa nodded her head while she listened to the beautiful teacher's explanation. Was it just her or did this one really have a great skin? The young girl found herself automatically patting her cheek. They were fine... except for little pimples on her forehead. Hmmm. If she'd use a polyjuice potion only to her face, she'd use her teacher's hair. Just sayin'.

She was snapped back to reality when the bucket of poop disappeared. She shook her head and scowled at the empty table, since when did Louisa care about her looks? Hmph.

Must be the heavy dinner last night.

Moving on.

She raised her hand, "Both could kill the plant." She answered, "And I would say that some plants can be fixed while others can't...?" Again with the questioning tone. That girl knew almost nothing about the subject before so..

Um..."Because too much moonclalf dung and too much water can kill the plant. I guess it depends what kind of plant it is, and if it can be fixed."

Aurora frowned a little, scouring her mental encyclopedia (thoroughly lacking in many areas) for something near to the answer. "If you over water a plant it will drown... because all the cells swell up with water and explode. And if you under water a plant it will shrivel up because there isn't enough to feed all the cells... you can use a shrivelling potion in small amounts to undo over watering if you use it earlier, and can use a conligo-hydro potion to add a lot of water without drowning it. But once they're dead then there's no way of reversing it..." was it conligo-hydro? Or inedia-hydro..? It was one of them, her mother used to make them a lot for Rufin... and they'd done the shrivelling potion in class so she was pretty confident about that. She scratched the side of her nose and fiddled with the ends of her long, red hair as she tried to remember and waited to see if she'd been right.

William raised his hand. " If you use too much water, you are bithering the environment and if you uae to little water, the soil will dry out" Willaim told the professor. " Also, the plants will die" Willaim said to the professor.

Ohhhhh!!!!! Stella knew the answer to the question. She raised her hand with enthusiasm, even though she looked a bit stupid, she said, "Both of the situations can make the plant die, and ummm... Professor I have a question, do the plants die the same way when they are over-watered or under-watered?" she asked felling a bit awkward because probably everybody already knows the answer.

Back to her answer, "And professor it depends how much water they need or how much water they need to lose, like, if the plants just have a small loss of water and you add a bit of water the plant will be back to normal, but if they have a huge amount of water loss then no matter how much water you add the plant will still die." She put her hand own feeling satisfied by her answer.

Lucas raised his hand again. "I think that over-watering and under-watering can both kill a plant. If you give it too much water, it sort of drowns, I think. Like... It doesn't have room for air or anything because it's saturated with water." He wasn't really sure if that was right, but it sounded good to him. "And if you don't water it enough, it'll die. Plants need water to live, so if it doesn't get it... Well, that just seems to follow, doesn't it?" He thought for another moment. "It might be reversible, I suppose. If you gave a plant too much water, you could maybe drain it or soak some of it up to let it recover. If you didn't give it enough, well, you could just water it, right?"

Kurumi wrote down a few notes about mooncalf dung, and had to giggle that she was actually doing so, before sitting back in her seat and thinking about Professor Bentley's next question. As her other classmates chimed in, Kurumi had to keep rethinking her answer so that she wouldn't essentially offer up the same information. "In both cases, the plant will wilt and be heading towards death," Kurumi said perhaps in a little too strong of a matter-of-fact tone. "Depending on the plant, they require more water or less water than others." She supposed that it could be a matter of trial and error. "You can check for which why testing the soil. If it is crumbly to the touch, then you are under watering it. If it is feels soggy, the opposite. I am not sure if the case is the same for all magical plants, but dropping yellow leaves is also an indicator of over watering and the plant's roots rooting." She nodded her head towards Eino for him bringing up that bit of information in his answer. "Dropped brown leaves indicate the opposite."

Kurumi bit her bottom lip for a momment. "I think that you can reverse the effects of either over watering or underwatering, but could run a risk of hurting the plant more." Speaking from personal experience here. "Under watering a plant and then increasing the water intake suddenly could result in over watering." And then send the plant into a state of shock. Or something like that.

Sierra blinked and then glanced quickly up at the professor. Dear Merlin! She'd spaced out and missed a good half of the lesson. She frowned, knowing she should have gotten more sleep last night. Now all she wanted was a nap. She blamed that blasted Ancient Runes homework, though. The school year was only halfway through, and she was already sick of the homework.

She raised her hand. "You chance killing the plant either way," she answered. "If you don't water it, it's not getting what it needs to grow and survive. If you water it too much, though, you're pretty much drowning it. It cuts off most of the plant's oxygen." She paused and thought about reversing the effects. "I think it can be reversed, yeah. I mean, I've seen some plants before that weren't taken care of at first, and then they did much better once they got the right kind of care."

Huh... they were still discussing Mooncalf dung?...

"Keep up with the lesson girls."

"Yes, that is true," nodded Seren, "But how exactly?" She was looking for a little more information.

"Yes that is absolutely correct, suffocation, drowning, and rootrot are all factors we need to consider when watering our plants, because if we over-water then then these issues may arise."


"The fullmoon, yes I suppose it would."

Seren smiled, "Yes plants require different ammounts of water at the best of times, but then they also handle under-watering or over-watering differently. Plants can die from both... but in the process is it possible to reverse the effects of root rot for example?"

"Yes death is the ultimate result of under-watering and over-watering... but why or how do they die exactly?"

"Yes thats absolutely right, though really there is not a great deal we can do, when it comes to reversing the effects you need to cross your fingers and hope it works."

"Yes... the plants will die, but how and why?"

Seren considered the girls answer... she seemed to have more questions than answers, butt hat wasn't a problem.
"Well consider how you the different situations would effect you... say for example if you were thrown in the ocean would you die the same way as if you were lost in the desert?" ... tactical answer... brilliant.

Seren nodded, "Yes you could certainly try those things to reverse the effects of over or under-watering, but its not always successful."

"Yes identifying what the issue may be is very important, because if we don't then it can go untreated and the plant will die. Very good Miss Hollingberry.And certainly, its not an easy task reversing the effects, wuote often your attempts will fail..." ... so sad.

"Yes very good Miss Griengoth, though in terms of reversing the effects its not always easy, and depends on the plant and how far gone it is."


Looking over the class again Seren summarised the key points on the blackboard.

After giving the students a few minutes to jot down any notes, Seren approached the front of the class again... it was time to move on to the next part of the lesson... trimming!

“Now secondly, part of our activity today will require you to trim a Flutterby Bush... and we will be using a special charm designed especially for the task. Diffindo is good for when your taking cuttings, or you need to sever particularly thick branches, but for smaller, more intricate tasks we use the Trimming charm. Before we get started on the actual bush however I would like you each to practice the incantation and the wand movement... separately at first and then together.”

With another swish of her wand Seren produced a number of severed tree branches on the table.

“The incantation is flipnsnipwitit.... flip-n-snip-wit-it, as for the wand movement all you’re required to do is swish your wand wherever you wish to trim your plant.” Seren demonstrated by swishing her wand back and forth briskly.

“So remember, first practice the incantation... then the wand movement, separately.”

“Then take one and practice trimming back the leaves.”

OOC: Feel free to play around with this, your charrie might not get it right the first time, or the second time, but practice makes perfect. The next portion of the lesson which is the actual practical task will be posted when I finish work, in approximately 8-9 hours. Remember that while I am not here, Professor Bentley is, so behave accordingly. No injuries please- if you do get hurt you will not be able to participate in the rest of the lesson... and that would be a shame. Otherwise... Happy RPing everyone!

Simon looked at the Professor. "Well if it doesn't get enough water then the plant can't grow and can get the water it needs to keep going and so it just dies." Simon had no idea if it was right or not.

Simon smiled as he took out his wand and started practicing the wand movement but he didn't have the grib that he thought it did and so when he practice the wand movement for the fifth time it some how left his hand and when flying into the air and straight passed the Professor hitting the board at the front of the class. "Professor I'm sorry I don't know what happened." Simon said truthfully. "Oh and can I have my wand back please?"

Seren had turned her back for a brief second, then was about to return her gaze to the class when wwwhhhiiiiizzzzzzzzzzz....... a wand flew passed her face, almost hitting her.

"Merlins Beard!"

Looking to see what it had come from her eyes fell on Master DeSimpson... he appologised at least.
"Hhmmm," murmured Seren considering the boys statement. "Perhaps you should keep a firmer grip on your wand?" she suggested.

Did he just ask her to get his wand?... she shook her head.
"Master DeSimpson... I think you have legs... and are there for able to retrieve your own wand."
Nope she was not getting it for him... she was not his errand-girl.

Still she offered him a small smile. Poor boy.

The girl stared at the Professor's respond. How? Why? Louisa shrugged, "They need to drink just as we do?" With an awkward smile. She didn't know the answer but the Ravenclaw never sat mute after a question. Never so..
Watching and scribbling on her parchment what the professor was saying, Louisa's mind was struggling to feel the joy in the lesson. In fact, Herbology wasn't her strong subject.. it was her guardian's aspiration but not Louisa's. At least the Professor was nice enough to handle the thing.

"flipnsnip--" She started but lost focus. Groaning, she cleared her throat and repeated, "flipnsnipwitit." Hmm.."That sounds ridiculous." She said quietly. She then grabbed a branch and started practicing the swishing movement near it. No incantation yet. That seemed easy enough.

"flipnsnipwitit. flipnsnipwitit. flipnsnipwitit. sn--" She giggled. She so has to play this game with her brothers one day! Saying this five times quickly! Another giggle. Fingers crossed it wasn't against the rules to giggle to oneself in the class -_-

The thirteen year old sat upright and cleared her throat. "flipnsnipwitit." She muttered swishing the wand against a branch, only to cause it roll over unaffected. She scowled at it. "Hmm. Not easy enough I see." She caught its end with her free hand and tried again, "flipnsnipwitit." The branch twitched. She threw it away, "It's broken." She said lamely and looked for another one.

There! A thinner one. "Flipnsnipwitit." She said determinedly and this time it worked. She swished and the trimming ,despite its awfulness, was a success.

Simon was glad that the Professor wasn't mad at him, but she could have given him his wand back, now he had to go all the way to the front of the class to get it. "I will do Professor." Simon smiled as he went and retreaved his wand, at least he had tried to get the Professor to give him it but she had refused and he wasn't going to argue, now he had to say the incantation. "Flipntssnipwitit" Simon was not sure if it sounded right, so he said it again. "Flipnsnipwitit." That sounded better. "Professor can I try it together now?" Simon had no idea if it was a good idea or not but he'd have to do it sometime.

Eino took out his wand and watched the professor closely as she demonstrated the wand movement and taught them the incantation. Since this was a very useful spell he couldn't afford to forget it, so he quickly noted it on his notebook. He titled it "The Trimming Charm," added a brief description of the charm's purpose, its wand movement and finally the incantation. While he recorded it he realized that now he could trim his own hair, maybe even shave it and look like Shaw. He would try later. For now, he had to practice the incantation. "Snipnflipitwit, Witittoflipnslip, Flipslipwitin, Itflipnsnipwit, Flipwitsnipeniteiqe... " He repeated getting tongue tied and saying the incantation incorrectly over and over. It was one of those spells where all the syllables sounded so similar he couldn't remember their order. Finally, he consulted his notes and repeated each syllable separately, to avoid getting them mixed up. "Flip-N-Snip-Wit-It, Flip-N-Snip-Wit-It, Flip-N-Snip-Wit-It... Flipnsnipwitit." He took his time, but after several attempts he finally managed to master the incantation. That is, so long as he spoke slowly. "Flipnsnipwitit, Flipnsnipwitit, Flipnsnipwitit."

Next was the wand movement. He picked up his wand, and without saying anything he swished it around. It started to look like he had broken his wrist and his hand was flailing around. It was simple enough, though, so he wasn't too worried about getting that wrong. All he had to do was manage to keep his wand pointed at the tree and not at someone's head, or their eyebrows, or that Ravenclaw girl's mustache.

William raised his hand. " They would die because of too much or not enough water" Willaim told the professor. " The same as if we could not eat due to a bad sickness, we would die roo" William said to the professor." They would wilt" Willaim explained to the professor.

Ariella practiced saying the word to herself a few times to make sure she had it right. "Flipnsnipwitit." It came out sounding like flipsnipwitittit. She tried again. "Flipnsnipwitit!" There we go.

Then, she practiced the wand movement. She gracefully swished her wand back and forth. She guessed it did pay off to be a dancer--she always got the wand movements right. It was just the words she needed to work on.

Let's try again, shall we? "Flipnsnipwitit!"

Stella was a bit surprised by the professor's answer, it was very practical. She wanted to answer her back but she decided not to, she didn't want to ruin the lesson or damage her house's house points, so she began copying the professor's notes from the black board to a piece of parchment.

Back to class.

The trimming charm. It seems simple, Stella took out her wand and began practicing the wand movement. After doing two swishes with her wand she stopped swishing her wand and began trying pronounce the charm. "Wlipsnipitit," she mumbled to herself, "Stupid charms, so hard to pronounce!!!" For a spell it was rather hard to pronounce, probably because the word has too many syllables. "Flipmsnipit," she mumbled to herself again, disappointed of herself because she can't pronounce the chaem, irritated she again mumbled rather loud, "Flipnsnipwitit!" She turned silent, it took her a while to notice that she got the pronunciation correct. She tied-up her hair and began pronouncing the trimming charm ,in her head, with the wand swish. It took her time to get used to pronunciation of the spell but she got used to it later.

Now to assignment. She took a pot of the Flutterby Bush and just stared at the plant for a while. It seemed rather harmless, she took her wand out and pointed her wand at a small leave, and with a swish of her wand she said the trimming charm AND... The leave moved a bit to the right. Stella smiled and mumbled to herself, "Well there goes beginners luck." Again pointing her wand at the leave, "Flipnsnipwitit," she said with a swish of the wand AND... Nothing happened. "Stupid wand... Start working," she said annoyed banging her want at the pot almost breaking it.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breathe she pointed her wand at the leave, again and said, swishing her wand, " Flipnsnipwitit," AND as usual the leave moved a bit. "You're not making this easy on me are you," she said staring at her wand wanting break it, how did this wand chose her? They don't go along at all. "Okay," she sighed annoyed, "Last time, Stella," she whispered to herself, "If someone can do it, so can you, and you're a Ravenclaw the smart ones, so give pride to your house," she thought to herself re-tying her hair. "Flip-n-snip-wit-it!!!" she said irritated giving her wand a swish AND... The leave fell of the branch. "Hallelujah!!!" she said looking up towards the ceiling raising her hands up, she was so proud of herself. "Probably I need to be angry so the that spells will work," she thought to herself feeling finally relaxed.

She pointed her wand to another leave and saying she trimming charm giving her wand a swish and it easily fell of the bush. And she did like that to some other leaves with until the professor will ask them to stop.

Okay, practical portion. He could do this! He scribbled down the incantation quickly so he wouldn't forget it. "Flipnsnipwitit," he repeated to himself quietly. "Flipnsnipwitit. Flipnsnipwitit." Alright, he was pretty sure he had that down. And the wand movement was just swishing your wand? Well, that didn't seem hard at all. He swished his wand about a few times. "Good as gold," he said.

Alright, it was time to practice on a tree branch. He took the one that had materialized in front of him and stared at it for a moment. "Alright, you're going down," he said to it. He concentrated, swished his wand toward the end of the branch, and said, "Flipnsnipwitit!" A slice appeared in the branch, but it hadn't gone all the way through. A few leaves had fallen off, though, but he wasn't sure if that was from the spell, or if it had been more from the impact of the spell hitting a different part of the branch. Huh. How'd that happen?

"Alright, Lucas, try it again." (He was beginning to discover that he had a bad habit of talking to himself in class.) He swished his wand toward a different area and repeated the incantation. This time, the slice was a bit deeper, but still not all the way through. "Darn it! One more time." He aimed for another area, swished, and incanted (if that was even a word). HA! Clean break. He'd managed to trim back some of the leaves quite nicely, if he did say so himself. Yeaahhhh!!! "Alright! Awesome." He grinned to himself.

Hmm. These little twigs seemed a bit frivolous. May as well slice those off, right? He aimed toward them, swished, and said, "Flipnsnipwitit!" Off came the twigs. This was kinda fun. Maybe he should find a plant to prune later tonight... Would this work on other things? Could he prune, say, a bedpost? Not that he was going to try that. He didn't actually want to get in trouble.

Hm, Samira had never heard of that incantation before. Flip-n-snip-wit-it...flip-n-snip-wit-it.... It sounds like: Flip and snip with it. Odd. Samira repeated the incantation in her head a few times: Flipnsnipwitit, before saying it out loud. "Flipnsnipwitit," she said clearly and confidently. "Flipnsnipwitit, flipinsnipwitit...okay." Samira picked up her wand and did a few swishy movements. Easy.

She then turned to her plant. "Prepare to be trimmed Mr. Plant..." Raising her wand to the plant, she said, "Flipnsnipwitit!" A small cut appeared on one of the branches, but nothing major. Scowling, she tried again. "Flipnsnipwitit!" Another small cut, but not the desired effect. Samira was not positively glaring at the blasted plant.

The next few seconds was filled with Samira determinedly muttering, "Flipnsnipwitit! Flipinsnipwitit!!" Finally, mostly all the leaves-save for one particularly stubborn one-was trimmed back. Smiling in satisfaction, Samira once again reassured herself that she would never be bested by a plant.

...flipnsnipwitit?!

Had the professor made that up or something? Most of their spells and incantations were Latin, and this sounded like something an ancestor of Treyen's might have used. She shrugged and figured they'd find out soon enough.

"Flipn...." Ugh. This sounded so made up. Sierra frowned. "Flipn---arrgh!" ... "Flipnsnipwitit!" There. That was it, hmm? "Flipnsnipwitit!" The wand movement was easy enough. She swished it around a little before adding the incantation to it. "Flipnsnipwitit!"