Tayla's cheeks burned. How long had she been staring at Josh? Ugh. Professor Bentley must have mentioned what the plant was when she was busy wondering what happened to him. "Focus, Tayla! Focus on the lesson," she thought angrily to herself. This was why she hated having crushes.

Tayla raised her hand again. She wanted to get something right this time. It was a perfect opportunity, too, because her mother was a healer. She'd heard about this particular plant. "Stubby Purple Coral can be used to improve a person's circulation and increase metabolism."

Tara came into the Herbology classroom and read the board. She sat down at a table looking to find someone in her year. She then filled out her slip and waited.


Quote:
Name: Tara Brewer
Year: first
House:Hufflepuff

"H-Hello Professor Bentley." Tara said in a scared yet excited voice.

Was it just her or did it seem as though half of the students were ill? Perhaps a lesson on the ship wasn't such a good idea... even though it was pretty cool and exciting. Shame.



Seren nodded, "Yes one of the uses of Stubby Purple Coral is indeed to speed up the property reactions in potions, particularly ones which require more time to mature." It was incredibly useful in that sense.



Seren clapped her hands together in approval, "Yes! now this is one of the reasons why the Stubby Purple Coral is currently endangered. Because of its remarkable abilities in cleaning and stain removal it has been over harvested for long periods of time and it hasn't been able to reproduce quickly enough." Honestly... why couldn't people just clean the old fashioned way... a bit of wandlore and elbow greese never hurt anybody.



"Yes the thrid primary use of Subby Purple Coral is relevant to the medical field. The advancements in medicine have also contributed to the decline of this particular plant. As you have identified, it is useful for speeding up ones metabolism and increasing recovery time."

Seren grinned. "Yes, that is true, each and every plant and animal co-exist in a sensitive ecosystem, the Stubby Puprle Coral certainly playes a big part in its own ecosystem, particularly the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem found on the coast of Australia."

Seren didn't quite know what to make of this statement... dangerous?
"Umm... the plant does not pose any particular threat to the harvester, however because of its current status as an endangered species you would be in danger of prosecution and imprisonment by the appropriate Ministry Authority."

"Yes, absolutely. It is often used to aid blood circulation, to increase ones metabolism and to aid recovery."

"Bravo!... take a point for Ravenclaw."Such a brilliant response deserves praise, thought Seren as she grinned with pride at the yound Ravenclaw. She could see the excitement in the boys eyes, it was nice to see.

Not another one... Seren sighed, her brows furrowed in slight annoyance. Not onyl had the Hufflepuff disrupted her class but she had also missed most of it... "You're late," she said stating the obvious. "Minus 3 points... however you're welcome to participate in our activity."


Now it was time to get down and dirty with the sponge! Seren's favourite part of the lesson was about to begin. While she felt theory was important it was always good to give the students the opportunity to work with the plants which make up such an important part of their world. And particularly in this lesson. Provided everything went smoothly they would each play a part in recolonising this maginificant species.

Striding over to the blackboard Seren whipped out her wand and gave it a tap. Instructions instantly materialised on its surface.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Activity Instructions

Re-planting Stubby Purple Coral

Take a cutting off the original specimen, 20 cm long.

Take one of the small tanks and fill the bottom with 30 cm of clay.

Using your fingers mould the bottom end of the cutting into a small whole in the clay, about five cm deep.

Add 3 Ltrs of sea water.

Then finally add one drop of Mooncalf Solution.

Seren then returned to the front and centre of the class.
"Right, instructions are on the board. I suggest you read them thoroughly. You will find that the tanks, clay, sea water and mooncalf dung are at the back of the... class..." Seren gestured to a pile of tanks that had materialised at the back of the ship with a simple flick of her wand. "When you come up to collect your cutting, you may either use one of the silver knives I have here at the front or you may use the severing charm 'diffindo', however if you are not profficient at using this charm then I suggest using the knife... only because of the fragility of this specimen." Seren surveyed the students.

"Remember to take great care when working with the Coral, it is endangered. With any luck you will all have played an important role in securing it a longer future."
"Instructions for making the mooncalf solution will be found on your desks."With another flourish of her wand, small sheets of paper materialised onto the students' desks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mooncalf Solution

Making Mooncalf Solution
1/4 ounce Mooncalf Dung

700 ml water

Mix until dissolved.

Seren began to move around between the desks in case any students required assistance. She would keep a close eye on them when they got their cuttings...
"Don't forget, safety first, gloves need to be worn."

OOC: This is the practical. For full participation marks you will need to RP this activity in 5 posts. Each post must be titled with the appropriate instruction. Have fun with this. The thread will be open for another 24 hours and will be reassessed at the end of that period- see how we go. All the usual rules apply. Happy RPing!

Great. A practical exercise now. Removing her scarf and tucking it into a pocket with her parchment and quills in her bag, Heather wore her gloves and proceeded with the task at hand. She read the instruction on the board.

Take a cutting off the original specimen, 20 cm long.

since she wasn't really efficient with using the spell the professor suggested, she decided to use a knife-CAREFULLY. Going to the front, she took one and approached the endangered plant.

Must she really cut 20cm long from this plant? It was too beautiful to experience any cutting, but if this would help make more of the said specimen, she has no choice. It would be really great to see more Stubby Purple Corals around.

So she went and measured 20cm and after assuring it was on the right length, took a deep breath and took a cutting off the plant. She opened her eyes to see that she had done it, and there's no turning back now.

she then moved to the back of the class to proceed with the second instruction.

Pulling on her dragonhide gloves, Kurumi wondered if they should also put on protective goggles and earmuffs. Then again, the coral didn't scream when you touched it and there was no risk of them being petrified. Probably safe just for the gloves.

Looking up at the instructions and tucking the parchment Professor Bentley had just given them into her robe's pocket, Kurumi quickly made the decision to keep her wand in its holster for this portion of the exercise. She by no means had even begun to master the Severing Charm and now was not the time to practice. They had already been granted permission to have a small colony of the rare corals, no need to go melting or blowing them up unintentionally.

Kurumi was pretty sure that THAT would land someone in trouble.

Picking up a silver knife on her way, Kurumi approached the tank and searched for a spot where she had the easiest access to the vibrant violet coral. Kurumi leaned over the tank and found a spot where a section of the coral looked the easiest to cut into a 20 cm piece. Only problem was that it was rather far down and her arms were not all that long.

Hopefully she wouldn't fall in...or anyone else for that matter. That certainly would not be the best way in helping an endangered species.

Removing her outer robe and rolling up her shirt's white sleeves, Kurumi plunged her arm into the tank so far that she might as well have not rolled up her sleeve at all for she was all the way in up to her shoulder. Making sure she was extra careful, Kurumi draw a faint outline on the coral with the blade - just making a gentle scratch so that she could trace over the blade again with a little more force after.

Having 'sketched' her carving spot, Kurumi applied more force and soon had pulled her arm out of the water with her piece of coral. She wasn't sure if it was 20 cm or not. She may have cut more like 21 or 22 to be totally honest.

Savannah wrote in her notes:

Re-planting Stubby Purple Coral

Take a cutting off the original specimen, 20 cm long.

Taking a one of the small tanks, fill the bottom with 30 cm of clay.

Using your fingers mould the bottom end of the cutting into a small whole in the clay, about five cm deep.

Add 3 Ltrs of sea water.

Then finally add one drop of Mooncalf Solution.

And the next page:

Making Mooncalf Solution

1/4 ounce Mooncalf Dung

700 ml water

Mix until dissolved.

What is this? Potion class?

Savannah puffed and started working on her purple coral. Cut. Take. Fill. Use Fingers. Cut again. Add. Drop....easy. She put on her protective gloves-almost forgot about that!

Carefully, Savannah cuts her original spicimin and laid the rest aside. She took out the small tank and filled it with clay...30 cm!

This reminded Jamie of potions. Which was a good thing, because that was his favourite lesson. Popping on his dragon-hide gloves, the third year glanced around absentmindedly for a moment, then went to the back of the class to the tanks. After fussily looking through the tank, Jamie pulled out a lengthy piece of coral and took a knife back to his working area. No, he would not endanger his life by using Diffindo.

Should I mention that he was even afraid of using a big knife...?

Pushing that aside, Jamie gripped the knife tightly and cut the specimen to approximately 20cm. If it wasn't the exact measurement, then it would be slightly more, not less, which wouldn't be too bad. That was easy enough. Putting the sharp knife down, the Slytherin looked to the board for the next instruction.

Finally! The practical part of the lesson!

Without thinking about anything else, Helena stood up and walked over to the back part of the... classroom, ship, or whatever it was, and took everything she needed, so she wouldn't have to walk around all the time. When she was finally back at her seat, she took another glimpse of the instructions on the blackboard.

She remembered that professor Bentley said that they could use a silver knife, but since Helena... had two left hands, she decided to use Diffindo. Besides, she was good at charms.

The girl pointed her wand at the coral at about twenty centimeters and said "Diffindo." First step done.

Quietly and without questions, Aiden gathers up the ingredients. Then, she adds ¼ ounce of Mooncalf Dung and seven hundred mililitres of water.

After the solution dissolves, she wears the safety gloves. Next, she puts thirty centimetres of clay into a small tank before cutting twenty centimetres of Stubby Purple Coral specimen with a silver knife. Using her fingers, Aiden moulds the bottom end of the cutting into a small whole in the clay for about five centimetres deep.

She pours three litres of sea water into the tank before adding a drop of Mooncalf Solution.

Moving at the back of the class, Heather quickly took one tank dragged it in one corner she thought would be her space.

she placed the cutting beside the tank she chose and went to get some...clay. she figured this was going to be messy so she rolled her sleeves; it took a little while to do so since it was a lot longer then her own arms and wondered, 30 centimeters is almost equivalent to 11 inches. and filling a tank with that height would take quite some time....if she were to scoop up clay by hand. Are there any shovels around?

Oh right, her common sense had her packing a hand shovel, some measuring cups and a dropper (she has no idea why she even brought those along) and two dippers, one small and one big with her this morning on her way to Herbology. She figured, since this class was about plants, and that it was announced earlier to bring dragonhide gloves, then they might be doing some practical stuff.

So she took out her hand shovel and began scooping up some clay to put in the tank she chose. She made sure to measure that the clay was at the right height. it was still missing around ten centimeters so she scooped up some more and measured how deep it was now. it was now around 33 centimeters and she sighed, as she scooped out 3 centimeters off. Making sure it was perfectly at 30 centimeters, Heather set her hand shovel aside and observed her work. It was going well, she could tell.

she then glanced back at the board for the next instruction.

Time for the second step.

But... as Helena looked again at the instructions... EWW! Clay? Why?

For some reason, she didn't like this step. But of course she'll do it. She did even worse things during Potions. Like killing those poor creatures last term. So... she moved the tank, so it stood on the desk right in front of her, and added the disgusting clay. Thirty centimeters, just as the instructions on the blackboard told her to add.

Step number two done.

Thea jumped up immediantly, let's do thissss! Hurrying to the font, the young Gryffie collected everything she would need and returned to her seat.

Pulling on her protective gloves, Thea then pulle dout her wand form her bag. Narrowing her grey eyes, she estimated 20cm and pointed her want at the specimen. 'Diffindo!' She said clearly and it cut smoothly.

Woot. First step? Tickkk!

Alright. Helena was surely done with the clay and...

... now she had to use her fingers?! Double EWW!

No, this could wait for a little bit. Instead of following the next step, Helena decided to write down all the steps, so she wouldn't be that surprised the next time she checks them.

Okay. Taking a deep breath, and trying not to get sick or something, Helena pulled up the sleeve of her robes and, as the instructions told her to, used her fingers to mould the bottom end of the cutting into a small whole in the clay. Five centimeters deep.

After this, Helena took her wand with her other hand, the clean one, and mumbled "Scourgify." There. Third step done and cleany clean gloves.

Coral specimen in hand, Kurumi searched around for somewhere to put it. She couldn't very well carry it all around the classroom deck. It would dry out and crumble to dust, right? Kurumi reached into her jacket's pocket and found a piece of crumpled parchment there that she had been using as a sort of check list for her morning routine. Oh my! She had forgotten to do fifteen toe touching that morning. She would have to do 30 tomorrow to make up for it.

Now taking out her wand, shegave it a gentle swish to the left and gently tapped the paper and whispered, "Covadium." In a few moments, the paper had transfigured itself into a small plastic cup that Kurumi picked up and rushed back over to the tank, dipped it in, and filled it to the brim with water. There, now that should keep her specimen fresh for much longer.

Setting her coral in a cup down on the table, Kurumi headed towards the back of the area to grab her own small tank and a large mound of clay. Upon returning to her station, Kurumi set to filling the bottom, packing and padding it down in spots to make sure that it was nice and even. When she had about 30 cm in the bottom, Kurumi sat down to give her arms a small break. Her gaze turned to her coral that looked almost like it was sunbathing in its personal swimming pool of a cup.

Using your fingers mould the bottom end of the cutting into a small whole in the clay, about five cm deep.

said the instruction. Heather took her cutting and with her finger, poked it into the clay to create a hole big enough for the cutting to be placed in. She measured if it was around five centimeters. Her first try made it too deep, so she had to flatten out the clay in the tank and repeat.

the second attempt was about the right depth and Heather couldn't help but smile at this. She then carefully placed the cutting into the hole and secured it in place. Whew. Now what was the next step?

she looked back at the board to read the next instruction.

Kimalia's eyes had glazed over at the previous question about the Stubby Purple Coral. She merely wrote down in her parchment notes about the specimen before turning at the next set of instructions.

Okay, so she needed to gather the ingredients. Kimalia chose to start making the Mooncalf solution since it was in it's own set of instructions and was a necessary ingredient needed to re-plant the Stubby Coral.

Her eyes stopped at the beginning. She needed to collect 1/4 of dung.. She quickly hid her look of disgust before donning her gloves on to collect it from the back of the classroom. She was precise in the measurements before adding it into the bottle. Then she filled it with 700ml of water before stirring. "So basically, Mooncalf Solution is just.. poop water, how lovely." She closed the lid once the dung had completely dissolved in the water before moving on to the back once again to collect the specimen.

The next step looked a lot easier than the first one. Which was good. What to do with the coral, though? It would be safe there, right? No sneaky kid would come and snatch it? Hmm... this calls for a sharp eye. The Slytherin left his cut coral at his work area, then went to the back of the class to retrieve a tank. Every 10 seconds, or so, his eyes darted back to his coral. It was fine, it was fine.

He put the tank under his arm, and carried it, as well as a clump of clay back to the coral. Yes, this was going well.

Instinctively, Jamie started to poke his clay before putting it into the tank. It was squigy and he could probably poke it for the rest of the lesson. But after a few moments, he snapped out of it and began loading it into the tank. Jamie was a fast worker, and basically shoved the whole lot in one go. Satisfied that it was at 30cm, Jamie scratched his head, wondering if he had missed something.

Step four.

At least this one was simple. Just three litres of sea water. Right.

But... where was the water? Oh. She forgot to take that. Not wanting to annoy professor Bentley by walking around in her class, Helena used the summoning charm to get the sea water. Besides, it would've been heavy for her to take it, riiiight?

Anyway. She added the three litres of sea water over the clay, and took another look at her notes. One more step to go.

Now, this step was a bit tricky. How on Earth would he be able to mould the coral into the clay without breaking it? But at least he got to poke the clay a bit more. That was always fun.

With his fingers, the third year created a deep enough hole through the clay, but was a bit worried that he had made it too wide. He felt the urge to scratch his head, but then he would get clay in his hair. Bleh. Using his lack of creative techniques, Jamie tried to get the clay to form a more suitable shape, and once he was somewhat satisfied, he picked up the cutting carefully, and placed it into the tank.

There. It seemed to rest quite happily in there. Looking at his hands, Jamie made a face. At least he was wearing gloves. Despite that, he wiped them on the desk, not that it made much impact.

Heather blinked. Add 3 Ltrs of sea water. nope, that was what was clearly written on the board. She sighed.

In her bag, she took her dipper and began to look for the sea water. Once she did, she scooped some water, but thought, how was she supposed to know if it was 3 liters? She ran the risk of drowning the plant or not giving it enough.

wait, the dipper she had was around one metric cup. Great, now she had to do math...how many cups does it take to make 3 liters? I metric cup is .25 liters....right...math don't fail her now...so 4 cups would make one liter...so, 3 times 4 is 12. That will make 12 cups; 12 trips to make 3 liters.

No point in complaining now; she worked on filling the tank now, making exactly 12 trips (making it 12 cups to make 3 liters) back and forth from the tank that had the sea water and her tank that had her cutting planted in the clay.

once she was done, and she was doing it rather quickly, Heather only sighed and tried to even her breathing for just a moment before glancing to the board to see the last instruction.

Already back at the back of the room Kimalia looked at the first set of instructions with re-planting. So she just needed to be precise when using the 'Diffindo' charm. She reached into her bag for some lipstick. With her ruler scale she traced 20cm of the specimen before marking the part she needed to cut with her lipstick.

"Okay, now the cutting." Kimalia placed her lipstick back into her bag. Note to self to dump that just in case. She did not want to find out first hand what would happen if she had specimen mixed in lipstick over her lips. Clearing her throat she started at the beginning of the mark before stating clearly. "Diffindo." She saw the chop came very clean and made sure it was exactly 20cm before continuing to the next step. She still had the bottle of Mooncalf solution in her bag and wasn't planning on losing it.

Finally! The last step!

Uh... some kind of potion?

Alright. This one was really simple. And really disgusting as well. Water and dung? Seriously? Uhh, even though she was wearing the gloves... Triple EWW this time. But Helena did it, anyway. 1/4 ounce of Mooncalf Dung, mixed until dissolved with 700 mililitres of water. Theeeen added just one drop of the disgusting Mooncalf Solution.

Done. She kind of wondered how could the drop of Mooncalf Solution help the coral, but she didn't ask. If the instructions said so, it must be essential.

Now that Helena was finally finished, she took off her gloves and used Scourgify again on them, and on her hands. She REALLY didn't want to have that... dung on her.

Kimalia safely kept her Mooncalf solution and 20cm cutting next to her making sure no one tried to take it before reading the next step. "Okay, need a small tank and clay." Her eye looked around at the tanks, some were overly large, a few medium and a short amount of small tanks. She walked briskly to one and claimed it along with some clay.
"Now fill the bottom with 30cm of clay." She read to herself. "Okay." She took the ruler scale again and measuring 30cm of it she scooped the right amount before dumping it into the bottom of the tank. She also gently smoothed it all over to make like a floor. Now, the next step..

Sea water? Why SEA water? Otherwise, he could have used a simple spell to fill the tank. Sighing, Jamie took off his gloves for a moment, then went to the back of the class again to retrieve some. Groaning at how heavy it was, the third year struggled, but thankfully, his work area wasn't too far away. With a clunk on the desk, Jamie picked up the huge jug of sea water and poured it into the tank.

It was heavy!

Once the water was added, Jamie put the jug down and clutched his ribs. Maybe they weren't broken, but they did hurt a bit from handling all that water. He was a small boy with small bones! Phew, but at least it was done now. For such a simple step, it really did prove difficult.

Wrinkling her nose slightly, Thgea now turned to the tank. Tapping her fingers slightly on the desk she took a deep breath. It was fine.. totally fine...

.....
THEN WHY WAS SHE FREAKING?

Pheeeew, deeeeep breaths!
Eurgh. Clay? Really? Ok.. here we go.....

Thea could be fast when she wanted.. and now she was very fast. In no itme at all, she was checking what the thirs step was.