Aurora pointed her wand at the base of the plant. "Aguamenti." A small stream of water came from the end of her wand; she sprinkled it around the base, moistening the soil. She stopped the stream as soon as the plant seemed watered enough.

Victoria picked up her pot started to loosen the soil around the pot, when she removed her bush it shivered alittle. She shook her bush and then read the next instruction.

Aurora sprinkled a little more dung around the base of the plant and leant in to retrieve a tag and a ribbon. She labeled the tag:
Aurora Stewart-Quinn, first year, Slytherin
and used the little silver ribbon to tie it around the plant.

Nika beamed at her professor. The advice worked and she was able to get the spell right! All she had to do was relax and try again. Eh, even though it was seven tries she did get it done in the end. After becoming excited about getting the little task done she stopped to listen to her professor's next set of instructions. This didn't sound too bad.

She read over the first task again and took another deep breath as she held out her wand. Relax, remember, relax. She took in a deep breath as she muttered ""flipnsnipwitit" Nothing happened so she let out a small sigh before trying again. Concentrate Nika, concentrate! " "flipnsnipwitit"

HEY!

Second time, that's an improvement already! She beamed at the flutterby bush as the leaves started to trim back.

Task one. Check.

After moving the soil around her now replanted Flutterby Bush, Kurumi patted things down a little more, mostly around the base of the plant simply to make sure that it didn't have the risk of falling over, before grabbing the watering can she had used earlier. No sense in becoming over excited with her Aguamenti Charm - which tended to happen when she was in good spirits.

Kurumi poured a little water around the base of the bush and allowed the soil to soak it up before pouring just a little more. The ground quickly absorbed it as well, so Kurumi touched the soil to test its consistency. It was still a little too crumbly, so Kurumi poured even more. This time, the soil took a little longer to soak it all in, which Kurumi read as a sign that she had given it enough water.

Kurumi walked over to her table and set the watering can on it before glancing at her parchment to cross out step number six.

Nika beamed at her work and then read the second task. She slipped on her gloves and put her wand away in her pocket for safe keeping. She reread the second task once more just to be safe and then smiled. No more magic for this one. Thank Merlin!

She got a small shovel and started to dig a whole in the flowerbed to make enough room for the pot to fit. She leaned back to judge it's size and decided she better make it a bit bigger just to be on the safe side.

Task Two you are done!

Victoria puts her bush into the hole and starts a fill it up when she had finished she patted it down lightly. She only has two instructions left.

Ugh. Samira didn't like Herbology. Or plants. Or dirt in general. Frowning at the thought of actually taking care of a plant, Samira looked at the list of directions.

Alright, that was pretty easy...picking up her wand again, Samira aimed, swished, and once again said, "Flipnsnipwitit." Odd little spell. It sounded made up almost. A leaf fell off, and Samira repeated, "Flipnsnipwitit" as more leaves fell off. She then moved to the dead twigs and cast the spell again. After a few minutes, the plant was trimmed and clean looking. Great. Now for the next part.

Victoria grabbed her wand and again said "Aguamenti" she waited until the plant had some water but it wasn't drowning, just the tag to do.

Eino had already placed the bush into the hole but not yet planted it properly. He used all of the soil he had been gathering to fill it some of the empty space, still cautions to not suffocate the plant's roots. He had to interrupt himself briefly to wipe his sweaty forehead with his handkerchief, then fold his sleeves, because soil was falling into them and they were already a little wet from the water. After that he resumed, singing.

" Let us take a little bush, plant it gently it, water it well. Little bush in the ground, grow up safe and sound "

He continued singing as he began to pat down the soil, as gently as he though he was tucking baby dragon in its nest. He made sure it was all evened out, without any lumps or holes. The plant was beginning to look great, and it seemed to be feeling great, too, because it was swinging from side to side, rather than shaking or quivering.

Alright, step 2. Digging a hole. Well, that didn't sound too hard, did it? Lucas brought George (his plant) over to the flowerbed and carefully dug a hole big enough for it to go in. "Looks about good. I think you'll fit in there quite nicely, don't you?" he asked the plant, which shook a bit in response. (Well, it was probably just doing that because that's what they did, but Lucas took it as a response.)

Nika looked at her work so far and smiled. She was quite satisfied with it so far. Now to move on to the next step. Keeping the routine going she read over the next task a few times before bringing up her hands to start the work.

She took her finger and wiggled it around in the dirt to loosen it up before lifting her wand to do a quick, "Augumenti." Unlike many other spells which she had trouble with this simple water spell came easily since they had to use it so many times in potions. She double checked her work before coming to the conclusion that she was ready for the next step.

Step number three... You have been terminated. Hehe. Yes, terminated.

Ok, that wasn't so bad. Step one was already done. Only six more to go...

Samira moved towards the flowerbed and set her plant down. She grimaced at the thought of having to dig in the dirt. Sucking it up, the girl dug a whole, which she deemed the perfect size.

Nika nodded her head slowly as she looked around to see how others were doing. She was starting to enjoy herbology more. Last term with Vindictus was a nightmare. Having to work with plants that would chomp your head of if they had the chance. This class with the new professor was much better. Nika didn't have to be terrified about her own life when she entered the greenhouses.

After musing about the subject for a minute she realized that she had an assignment to continue. She looked back at her plant and sighed loudly. Right. Now to get this thing done!

Nika looked at what she had done so far and scrunched her nose at the thought of the dragon dung that she sprinkled. Ew. But hey it wasn't too bad, at least she had her gloves on. She looked over the fourth step and reread it a few times in her head before doing it. Taking her gloved finger she stuck it in the pot and ran it around the edge in hope of loosening the soil.

She took out the bush from the pot and brushed the roots to take off the excess soil. "Breathe plant breathe!" She whispered to it as she let out a small giggle.

Task four? Done.

As she peered up at the board to read the instructions, Sierra double-checked to see that she had her dragon hide gloves on. She did, and so she approached a flutterby bush and raised her wand toward it. …but wait. What was the spell again? She paused and listed to another classmate. Flipnsnipwitit? Was that it? Yes, she thought so.

Only one way to find out for sure—test the spell. Again, she raised her wand toward the bush. She frowned as it started wiggling around. The bush, that is, not her wand. A second later, though, she started swishing her wand as she’d done before when they were only practicing the spell. "Flipnsnipwitit!" she said, trimming off a few dead leaves. She repeated that several more times until all the dead leaves were gone. "Flipnsnipwitit!" she said again, trimming back a few wild leaves.

Oh boy, the next step was touching dragon poo. Wonderful. Lucas peered into the hole and loosened the soil a bit as the instructions said. He took the "sprinkle of dragon dung" -- also known as nasty poop -- and put it in the hole. Thank Merlin he was wearing gloves. He then followed it up with a light spray of water. The dirt was just a bit damp, not too soggy or dry. Perfect. Now what was step 4? Hopefully he was done touching poo.

Nika looked around at the other students again. She had a feeling that she was behind, but really there were a few who were way behind her. She looked over and saw that Sierra had only done the first task so far. She gave the slytherin a small smile before looking back to her own plant. She could never be too sure how to acknowledge the snake. On their first encounter Sierra had almost killed Nika with her glare, but the second time when they were helping each other catch cats for transfiguration she was actually somewhat nice.

She shook the thoughts as she looked at the next task and read it over a few times. Not too hard. Place the Flutterby Bush into the hole and fill it in with the soil you dug out. Pat it down gently-- not too firm otherwise you may suffocate the roots. She took the bush that she was still holding and placed it in the hole. Thank Merlin it was big enough after all!

Then she took her shovel and began to refill the hole with the soil and finally she patted it down carefully making sure not to hurt the poor little plant. Like a student said in the beginning of class, the plant is like a child.

Task five? Out of the way. Nika's on a roll.

Now, time to dig a hole in the flowerbed. It had to be large enough to fit the pot into the soil, and so Sierra carefully studied the size of the pot as she started digging. She felt like she’d dug forever, but her hole looked like it would only house a tiny flower, not a big pot. Stupid hole. Again, she looked at the pot, she needed a hole about four times the size of the one she had now to fit that blasted flower pot in. She sighed and went back to work digging and digging. She wished she could throw a lump of soil on Kurumi Hollingberry, but she refrained. A few moments later, she finally had a hole large enough to put the whole pot inside.

Eeeeww. They had to handle the dragon dung? Yuck. Well, at least they had gloves...Samira loosed the hole and sprinkled on some-gag-dragon dung as told. She would have just levitated it on, but she didn't want to risk accidentally putting on too much. This part was east though. Picking up her wand, Samira murmured a small, "Agumenti" and a slight drizzle of water came shooting out. Samira quickly stopped the flow before the plant got too wet.

Nika took a look at her work so far and cocked her head to the side. She read over the sixth task and almost let out a squeal of joy because this meant that after this task there would only be one more to do! She reread the task before taking out her wand again.

"Agumenti" She smiled as water sprinkled down on the plant. Nika moved around her wand to make sure that all parts of the plant got the same amount of water before stopping the water from sprinkling down. "Almost done!" She sang.

Task number six. You're outta here.

Okay, Lucas was done touching poo, which was good. He carefully loosened the soil around the edges of George's pot and picked it (him?) up. He then shook the extra dirt off of George's roots. "We've got to make sure you've got room to breathe properly, there, George."

Good, they wouldn't be touching the dung again. That was a relief. Samira loosened the edges of the pot and picked up her plant. She looked at all the excess dirt in distain and gave the plant a few good shakes to remove the dirt.

Lucas slowly placed George into his hole and filled it with the soil he'd dug out earlier. He patted it down carefully, making sure not to pack it too tightly or too loosely. "Comfortable?" he asked. "It's sorta like a little bed, isn't it... ?"

Eww. This was the step that involved the dragon dung, yes? Sierra turned to look at the board again, rereading step three. Bahhh. Yes, she needed dragon dung here. She frowned but turned to loosen the soil in the bottom of her hole anyway. How loose did it have to be anyway? Her eyebrows wrinkled inward, putting a look of annoyance on her face.

She reached for the dragon dung and sprinkled an appropriate amount inside. She wrinkled her nose as she did so. How the professor could stay around this stuff all day, every day was beyond her. Then she raised her wand toward the hole. “Aguamenti!” she said, sprinkling a tiny amount of water inside. Yup, it was just moistened. Nothing was swimming around just yet.

Nika bounced on the balls of her feet realizing that she only had this last task to do. She looked over the instructions and slightly frowned when she read they had to touch the dung again. Well at least it was almost over. She closed her eyes as she reached her gloved hand down to pick up some of the dung and began to sprinkle it around the base of the plant.

She walked to the front to grab a pink ribbon and a tag and began to write her name and house. When she was done she tied around the plant and stood back to admire her work. Job Well done.