Not like Potions huh? It did kind of seem like potions to her. Still it didn't really matter what she thought about the work because she was still going to have to do it. Better get to it then. She jotted down everything on the board. Well it did seem easier than Potions because you didn't have to measure and all that good stuff.

Ok for the first step she had to add the chrysanthemum and nettle tea leaves and then stir occasionally. She could do that! She peered into her pot just to make sure that it was still boiling and sure enough it was. She grabbed the chrysanthemum and nettle leaves and added them to the pot.

She gave them a couple a minutes to settle in and all and then she grabbed her wooden spoon and stirred. She would wait and stir, wait and stir, wait and stir.

Cassia stopped stirring and glanced at the board. She reached for her parchment again and started writing down the steps. Because she needed something to do and it was easier to look at a parchment than the board. She wrote a step then stirred a bit. The second-year kept repeating this until she wrote down all the steps.

She looked at the water and it indeed turned into the color of amber. Cassia nodded relieved that she was doing well so far. Maybe she could finish fast and flee out of here. Now she started searching for the cayenne pepper. It wasn't easy, searching for ingredients as all of them resembled each other. Via Cassia's eyes of course. The other students and Professor Bentley seemed to recognize each one differently.

After a good number of guesses . Cassia managed to find the pepper. She added two pinches. And yup two generous ones. She wasn't paying for anything.

Now was she started looking for the neem oil and apple cider vinegar. Luckily those two were liquids and easier to recognize. And it took her only a couple of guesses till she found them. Adding a drizzle of this and a splash of that. Cassia was generous with those two too.

She reached for the spoon and started stirring again. Actually stirring was the most enjoyable thin. Because while stirring she got to look around her and see how the other students were doing.

Laura looked at the Professor. "Yeah I have a problem." Laura sighed, she didn't have a wand that worked well, surely someone had told the staff that her wand had been broken.

She might have gotten lost into her own thoughts but she was snapped back to reality when she wondered why was she stirring and what was she doing in the greenhouse. Herbology lesson. She looked down at her pot and saw that the color of the water is now darker. She swallowed. Was that supposed to happen? Please don't say that she messed up and now she had to start over. Looking at the parchment she let out a breath of relief seeing that the color MUST get darker. Good she was doing well. So far.

Now it was time for fluxwood and kontagrass. Whatever those were. The twelve years old bent down looking closely at the ingredients. Those were new to her so finding them should be harder. Actually everything seemed new to her though most of them are supposed to be familiar. But she had a lousy memory so everything seemed to be new.

Snatching a couple of glances at other students. Ones who seemed to know what they were doing of course. Cassia managed to find both of the ingredients. And she was starting to feel dizzy because she had kept her nose close to those things. And she doesn't like the smell.

Cassia added a handful of both fluxwood and kontagrass. Then she stirred. Her favorite part for this lesson. At least there was something enjoyable.

Minerva was listening to the next directions when she cringed a bit.. Not measure things. That just didn't seem right, how would you know exactly how much was put in and if she wanted to do it at another time, could she remember how much she used. This was just unsettling, but she never argued with professors so Minerva just sighed and wrote the notes down on her parchment.



Once the notes were done she noticed her pot didn't seem as warm and the water didn't seem to be boiling. Maybe she took to long in her own thoughts. **Frown** Pointing her wand and doing the movement Minerva redid the chaudensis charm. Now that the water was boiling she looked to see what step one was on her notes.

She took the chrysanthemum and placed in her pot. This should smell good at least with a chrysanthemum and tea leaves. That will be nice, Minerva thought to herself as she took the nettle tea leaves and began placing them in. Picking up her spoon to stir a thought crossed her mind. They always cleaned and recleaned items in potions, but should they here. She had never heard or saw Bentley dump someones stuff because they didn't do a step and she was so much nicer, but Minerva decided to be safe the sorry and pointed her wand cleaning the spoon before putting it in the pot to stir the leaves and chrysanthemum.

Seren stared at the student. "Well? ... I'm not a mind reader you know."

Was it just her? Or was this girl a little slow on the uptake? When she asked questions, she expected answers. Concise answers.

Hannah kept eyeing her potion pot to wait for something to happen. The color changed right before her very eyes. It went from blah boring water to a nice shade of amber. She glanced back over to her notes and was happy to see that she was on the right page. Nos she needed to add to generous pinches of cayenne pepper. Really? Hmmm... that sounded interesting.

She grabbed two pinches of what she took to be generous of cayenne pepper and added it. Did she need to stir? Sure why not. Stir. She also added a generous drizzle of neem oil. Was there no wrong way to do this? She was digging this. Stir. Now all she needed was a splash of apple cider. She grabbed it and added her version of a splash. Stir, stir, stir. Step two was behind her. What next?

Jory had to wait a few minutes for the water in the pot to boil. When it started to, he took the chrysanthemum and nettle leaves and threw them in. He was glad they didn't need to measure everything down to scale. Eyeballing was so much easier and quicker.

Now that the two ingredients were in, he began to stir it with a spoon, pausing after a few stirs.

Laura looked at the Professor, surely the Professor knew about her wand, was it really the case where her head of house hadn't told anyone about her wand, well Professor Hadley and the Headmistress knew but didn't anyone else.

Laura slowly took out her wand that Professor Hadley had tried to mend but wasn't very good. "I could if you want try and use this but I don't know what will happen." Laura sighed, "PROFESSOR SOMEONE BROKE MY WAND!" There Laura had told the Professor want had happened.

After filling her cauldron with water, Nessie was ready for the next set of instructions. She made mental notes as the Professor spoke, one of them being that this was not potions. Good then, no need to be too precise, because that took more time and effort in the fifth year's opinion.

Before doing anything at all, Nessie decided that writing down all the instructions was a good idea. Parchment out and quill in hand, Nessie began to copy down the board. It was a little hard to write with her gloves on, but it didn't slow her down too much and in no time she had all the instructions written out.

Well then now that she was done, what was first?

The red head peered at her parchment and then nodded as she grabbed both the nettle and the chrysanthemum leaves. She then dropped them into her pot of boiling water.

Stir. Paaaause. Stir. Paaaaauuse. Stir.

Slowly, she could see the water beginning to change colour. First step done then, Ness put a cross next to her first step, and then once again skimmed through her parchment for what was next.

What?... the?
"Oh, no no.. if it's unstable---", she was about to tell the Puffer that she would perform the spells for her, but then she started yelling! How RUDE!

"I am your Professor! You do NOT, under any circumstances! Raise your voice at me young lady!"

... Geez.

Really? Was that necessary?! She could SEE the damage!...

"Minus 10 points, firstly, for not speaking up sooner when I asked everybody if they had everything they required, secondly, for raising your voice at me."

Okay...so stirring was not making the smell go away any...but the boiling was taking some of the potency out of it a little. Removing her spoon from the pot and tapping it on the side of it for a moment, Kurumi checked her parchment and then violet eyes were back on the liquid and eyeing it as the color...stayed the same? Maybe more stirring...

...stir...stir...stir...stir...stir...

Okay, there. Now it was a little darker Kurumi grabbed her fluxweed & knotgrass and dropped it into the pot and watched it sink beneath the bubbling surface of the liquid and was just about to grab her spoon to stir again when...

Professor Bentley lost it.

o______________________O

Biting her lower lip, Kurumi moved closer to Laura and Professor Bentley and gingerly put a hand on the Hufflepuff's shoulder. "Professor, I can help Laura with the charms and spells needed for this activity," Kurumi offered. Breathe professor, breathe...

You too Laura!

Jory looked around as he heard Professor Bentley deducting ten points from Hufflepuff. "Great,'' he thought. Just as the Puffs were beggining to get on track again.

Turning his attention back to his work, he grabbed the cayenne pepper and added then two goodish amount of it as the water turned amber. Next, he added the neem oil and the apple cider vinegar.

The badger continued the occasional stirring with the spoon.

Hannah was distracted from her next step by the professor yelling. She looked around to see what was going on and smiled to herself when she realized that she was screaming at Laura. HA! Served the girl right. Who comes to a lesson without their wand? She knew that the annoying Lex lion girl broke it, but did Laura not have enough money to get her a new one? The first thing she would have done after handling Lex would have been to write home to her parents and get her a new one. She was getting tired of seeing Laura whine about her wand in every class. Ugh! It was getting old. Dismiss her Bentley...it will make you feel better.


Anyways trying to get her focus back on the task at hand. She looked once more at her notes to see where she was. Her mixture needed to darken. She stared at it as is stayed the same color. How long was this supposed to take? Having a timeline would have been nice. Patience was something that Hannah did not posses. Stare, stare, stare. She started looking at her fingernails to try to pass the time. Even though they were gorgeous and all that only kept her attention for so long. She stared back at the pot. Change stupid color. She was starting to get mad at the pot...like it was its fault or something.

Finally she noticed that the color had indeed gotten darker. Finally! She took a handful of fluxweed followed by a handful of knotgrass and watched as it blended into the mixture. More stirring. Of course. Hannah's arms were starting to hurt from all of the stirring. Could they charm the spoon maybe? She already knew the answer to that so she stirred...and stirred some more.

Jory waited patiently for the mixture to change to a darker colour. It took a while and after it did, he moved on to the next step. He first added the fluxweed followed the knotgrass.

He grabbed the spoon. stir...stir...stir... He looked at Professor Bentley and Laura, hoping Laura had calmed down now.

Jayden smiled, nodding as she took in all of the instructions and information that was being relayed to her. Alright, now it was time to get down to business.

Jayden's water had already come and was already at a steady boil, so the next step was adding the chrysanthemum and nettle tea leaves. She gently took out the two ingredients from their respective containers and added them to the pot, stirring them occasionally as she went. "Merlin! This is much easier than Potions, I would think..." She mumbled cheerfully to herself. Maybe it was because Jayden actually LIKED Herbology and her teacher.... Nah. That wasn't it... it was because her Herbology teacher wasn't EVIIIIILLLLLL.

Now for step two... MERLIN.

After Belle used the Chaudenis charm on the cauldron. The pot was beginning to boil. She was glad everything was working out just right.

Then she realized the professor put some instructions on the board. Once she said she didn't have to worry about measuring them just right, she let out a sigh of relief.

SPOILER!!: Belle's Notes

Minsecticide - Steps

1) Once your pot of water has begun to boil, start by adding the chrysanthemum and nettle tea leaves. Stir occasionally.

2) As the colour of the water turns amber, add two generous pinches of cayenne pepper, a generous drizzle of neem oil and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Stir occasionally.

3) As the colour darkens, take a handful of fluxweed and knotgrass, then stir.

4) Take a whole garlic bulb, slice it in half (diffindo) then drop it into the solution.

5) Add 3-4 whole dreid lacewing flies and a small (yes, thick) drizzle/plop of bubotuber pus.

6) Simmer, stir and leave to cool for about half an hour (in which time you clean up your work space and return any unused items to the stores cupboard.)

7) Once your Minsecticide has cooled, strain it into a spray bottle.

As Belle read the first step she needed to find the nettle leaves and chrysanthemum. Once she looked on her desk she found them! YES.

Once her cauldron came to a nice boil, she added the chrysanthemum and the nettle leaves. She took a deep breath and added them in. She stirred them in occasionally.

Alrighty then.... Now for the second step of the minisecticide creation!

Fiiiinally the water started to turn a gorgeous amber colour. Jayden clapped her hands with glee and anticipation as she added two generous pinches of cayenne pepper, a generous drizzle of neem oil and a splash of apple cider vinegar; just as Professor Bentley had asked. Success!

Next step. Jory looked around for the garlic bulb. Locating it, he set it on the station in front of him and got out his wand. He raised it and pointed it to the garlic. "Difindo!'' the badger said.

He watched as the garlic was split in half. He picked the halves up and dropped them into the pot.

"Step three! Only four more steps to go after this!" Jayden announced cheerfully to no one in particular. She was just excited to get things done and to be able to work with the plants... hopefully.


So now it was time to play the waiting game.. waiting for the color to actually darken enough to complete step three....


Hmph.


Jayden danced on her feet, bouncing on her heels impatiently. And then it finally happened! Jayden carefully dropped her handful of fluxweed and knotgrass into the pot, slowly stirring it as she had been directed to do so. Her minisecticide was going to work AMAZINGLY. And it was all due to her awesome gardening skills.

Now for the fourth step...

*sigh*

It did seem a lot like Potions but at least she didn't need to be overly cautious with the exact amount and what she did.


Orr made sure that her water was boiling in the pot before she added the chrysanthemum and nettle tea leaves and gave it a stir.

She turned to Jayden as she stirred, "Wow, I also have a small garden of my own back home but it is filled with herbs and plants used in muggle cooking and so on. I doubt that my parents would allow me to plant wizard plants."

Alright. Step 1. "Once your pot of water has begun to boil, start by adding the chrysanthemum and nettle tea leaves. Stir occasionally". Cora could handle this. She vaguely was aware of the Hufflepuff getting yelled at, and Cora flinched a bit at the raised voices, which of course bothered her, but she focused mainly on the task at hand. This would be perfect!

Since Cora had heated up her pot early on, the water had been boiling for quite a bit now. She carefully handled the chrysanthemum and nettle tea leaves, getting ready to add them in. Slowly, she dropped one leaf at a time into the boiling water, and watched the water envelope each leaf. At this rate, Cora might never finish, but she was just making sure she was thorough.

Turning to Eliza, she said, "Eliza, if you need any help maybe I could help you." Smile. She liked the idea of having someone to work with, and since she was bound to know more about this than Eliza, she thought she could help. Ethan seemed to be ignoring her, but Cora tried to forget this.

Before moving on to step number five, Jory updated his notes, checking off the steps he had completed and also the ingredients.

Back to the "potion''. First, the boy added the four whole dried lacewig flies to the pot. He reached for the bubotuber pus. The thing still disgusted him- and he added a small amount of it with the other ingredients.

Still in his own little world, Ethan pulled on his gloves and picked up a pot. Tracing his wand around the inside of the pot, he murmured, "Chaudensis." Then.. "Aguamenti." He could tell the water was getting hot as he saw the tiny bubbles, but as it was a simmer rather than a boil, he cast Chaudensis once more. As the water began to boil, Ethan glanced up at the blackboard for the next set of instructions.

Before he could pick up the chrysanthemum, a voice at his side caused him to turn. Cora.. And it would seem that his present mood was apparent to her. His eyes widened slightly. No, this was not something he could talk to her about.. and he certainly wasn't going to do so in class anyway. Still, she was very sweet to be concerned and he did his best to plaster on a smile and to not snap at her. "It's nothing, Cora.. I'm fine," he lied, his voice steady. "Just focusing on the lesson," he added, lightly. The boy looked back up at the professor and frowned slightly.. he had always been precise in his measuring. It wasn't necessary? He wasn't so sure he agreed.. The boy made a few notes in his journal to record the exact amount of what he did add.. so he could later experiment with the amounts to see what differences might be noted.

Ethan picked up ten each of the chrysanthemum and nettle leaves and dropped them into the pot. After jotting the amounts down, he gave the water a stir.

Jory updated his notes once again as he waited for the "potion" to simmer. When it did begin to simmer he began to stir. Stir...stir ...stir...stir...

That done, he left it to cool. The badger looked around at his station for unused items which he took back to the cupboard. After he returned, he worked on cleaning up the few drops of bubotuber pus and pieces of knotgrass around.

Jory still had a few more minutes to wait for the thrity minutes to expire so he took a seat and waited.