As Hannah held on to the little gnome head she had this sinking feeling that they had indeed lost. Slytherin would be coming in last place. There were just far too many Ravvies and people helping Ravvies for Slytherin to stand a chance. Still Hannah was not a quitter. She looked down at the gnome in her hand. "Sorry I have to make an example out of you." Or maybe she should really say... sorry not sorry.

She walked over closer to where she would be throwing the gnome. Yeah she decided to show this one a little mercy. Not that it would really matter or anything. His fate would be the same as every other gnome that she had encountered. Once she had gotten as close as she felt like getting she spun around in circles until the gnome was dizzy and flung him towards the forest. How many had she done now? She felt like she was carrying the weight of her house, but even that wouldn't make a difference. She did not like losing, but even without Bentley saying so, she knew that they had.

Two down however many more to go as the second gnome was out of his hands and out of his sight. Had Bentley actually told them how many there were? Gideon didn't remember and honestly wasn't sure anyone could keep and accurate count among the chaos that was the student gardens. Was that gnome pulling that Hufflepuff's hair? He might have moved to help but the boy seemed to have gotten the upper hand once more, leaving the gnome gone and away and Gideon free to find his own next victim.

Not that he had to wait long as they seemed to be nearly everywhere despite the efforts of him and his classmates. Feeling they were running low on time, Gideon opted for the direct approach this time, not waiting to sneaky but simply grabbing at the nearest one. Hopefully things wouldn't turn out too badly for him.

Sierra was just about to get enough of these blasted gnomes. She'd be here in the gardens for what felt like hours, and the gnomes still weren't gone! She growled a bit under her breath, which somehow got the attention of a gnome just at her feet. She started to quickly make a grab for it, but...eh. It was a Hufflepuff gnome. The last thing she needed was for all that hard work to go to the Puffers.

She turned and headed off in a different direction. It wasn't but a few seconds later when she saw a green gnome. She'd get this one, she would! She rounded on it, trapping it between her own body and a group of plants. She knew it saw her, and she also knew that it'd bolt soon if she didn't catch it. She jumped forward, her hand outstretched.

Seemed the Ravenclaw gnome he had his eye on was gonna be a tad harder to get then either of the Gryffindor ones he had already caught. Oh well...he wasn't gonna give up just because his house was in the clear already with the win. And stopping at the moment just meant sitting out until the end of class while the others tried to gather up the rest. Besides Hufflepuff was done as well and so it was the blue or green gnomes left and they had to be dealt with eventually.

Finally catching back up to his intended prey, Gideon sprinted the last few feet, grabbing for the creature mid-step. "Finally. I think its time you left too." With that being said he got up to his feet, gnome in hand and headed to the nearest section of wall.

Ally-oop!

...and finally hand met gnome, and Sierra tightened her grip. When she stood to her full height, gnome in hand, she held the little guy at her eye level and watched him squirm for just a little. Her nerves were shot by now. She was sick and tired of gnomes and their garden invasions. if they'd just stay gone and mind their own business, they wouldn't annoy her so much. As it was, though, they insisted on invading this particular garden.

...the one she had to de-gnome.

"Revenge is mine," she said to the gnome. She maneuvered her way through the crowd of students and made her way to the edge of the gardens. When she got there, she wasted no time. "Bye bye," she said, grinning again as she swung the gnome over her head a few times and then tossed him far away.

Things were a little quiet now... perhaps a bit TOO quiet.

Standing on her tip-toes from her position on the pot, Seren scanned the garden. It appeared as though the students did an amazing job and cleared the garden of all the little pests...

"Congratulations everyone, for a spectacular effort, now gather around, I have a few awards to announce."

"Slytherin, I award you 10 points for your efforts," perhaps not as tenacious in this task as some others, but nevertheless, they weren't empty handed.
"Ravenclaw, 20 points for third place..... Hufflepuff, 30 points for second place.... and of course, a huge congratulations to our winners, Gryffindor, I award you, 40 points." And Merlin knew they needed it.

"Throughout the activity, I was also on the lookout for competitors who displayed good sportsmanship... and as a result, I'd like to award Alexa Cambridge, Ethan McCarthy and Laura Hyde 5 points each, for their enthusiasm and willingness to help others."
A wonderful effort, which deserved to be recognised.

"Now, I suggest you all go get yourselves cleaned up, grab something to eat and scoot of to your next class. Have a great day guys!"

OOC: The lesson has officially ended. Thanks to everyone who participated, it was muchly appreciated. Hope you enjoyed it! I'll be closing the thread in approx 7 hours.

Keeping a low profile, disguised as a clump of grass, one little gnome slipped back into the garden through the hole beneath the crack in the wall... not wanting to be caught it hid itself in and amongst a plot of flowers and shrubs. It was well hidden.

Having tossed one last gnome over the fence, Kurumi paused when she heard Professor Bentley make one final announcement that there were no more gnomes left. Oh thank Merlin for that. Kurumi wiped her brow with the sleeve of her robes and made her way back towards where Professor Bentley stood and listened as she awarded house points. 40 points to Gryffindor?! This certainly brought a smile to the seventh year's face. Not to mention that Alexa also earned them an additional 5 for her sportsmanship.

Wait...WOAH! Alexa and sportsmanship? Kurumi ventured a small peek at the girl and smiled. Maybe she really was turning over a new leaf after her suspension?

Kurumi's attention was back on the Herbology professor and she reached for her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Thanks, professor," Kurumi chirped before her face fell slightly. "For the lesson and for..." She paused and bit down on her lower lip. "For teaching Herbology to me these past years." She wouldn't be continuing her studies in the subject at university, minus the occasional supplement class here and there. Not that the woman needed to hear that.
And then the Gryffindor thought that she caught something out of the corner of her eye. Some sort of movement, but it was gone before she knew it. Too many things were moving around these days...it was sort of freaking her out.

Attention away from the shrubs and pots and back on her Head of House, Kurumi glanced around at some of the mild damage that had been done. "Do you need any help with anything?" You know. One last time?

Minerva heard Professor Bentley call them over and she stopped and headed towards her. Listening to her give out points Minerva clapped for all the houses. This was such a hard activity. Gnomes were harder to deal with then she thought. Even though one pooped on her she still kind of thought they were cute and didn't want to see them hurt, but she knew to be more careful around them then she had before. Hufflepuff got 30 points! That was..well it was fantastic..

She bounced a bit with excitement at the points as well as with her house getting second place. They did a great job! Minerva's smile only got bigger when she heard that Laura and Ethan got five points. She had no clue why Laura got the points, but she was proud of her friend. Then she knew Ethan had to get the points for all the extra work he did keeping her out of trouble. She clapped and gave a big proud smile at him. Once they were dismissed she turned to him and gave him a quick hug. "Thank you for helping me so much. I guess my soft spot for creatures put me in some awkward positions during that." She looked around the garden and laughed to herself a bit, it was fun though. "Hey I'm running back up to the castle to get changed and cleaned up.. I dont' want to go to another class smelling like Gnomes. Save me a seat if you get there before me?" She knew Ethan would, but she figured she would ask anyway.

As she picked up her bag she walked closer to Professor Bentley. Smiling from ear to ear she couldn't help but stop to talk to the professor. "Professor, this was a great lesson. I know my last homework was about Gnomes, but I guess living with muggles I had no clue how hard it could be to deal with them. Even though I have to admit it was fun spinning with them and stuff." She bit her lip and looked around, "I just hope we didn't hurt any..." She knew that was silly, but she always worried about that with living creatures. Shrugging a bit she looked back at Professor Bentley, "Well I need to change my clothes real quick, have a great day professor and thanks again." She hoped the Gnome poop smell from her legs wasn't to strong as she headed up towards the castle.

And just like that Slytherin had lost. That was a hard blow to take, but what could you do? Hannah had done more than her fair share and she was just going to have to be ok with that. She actually enjoyed degnoming the garden, but she was glad when Bentley announced that there weren't any more gnomes left.

She was ready to shower and get out of the clothes. She didn't really get dirty, but she had gnome germs all over her. "Thanks for the lesson professor." It hit Hannah that this would be her last Herbology lesson as a third year. She would be a fourth year next year and that was just crazy to think about. She left the area before she could think to much about it.

POUT. Slytherin came by LAST place. Why was this term so mean to her House? Obviously, this was a bad term for Slytherin. But life goes on.... well, that sounded more like a Ravenclaw than a Slytherin talking. Life lessons were not her type. She wouldn't accept the fact Slytherin was last, but she needs to be mature enough. She was going to be fifteen in two months and she wouldn't want to act immature on that age. Plus next term would be her OWLs term, and if she gets a bad 'letter' in her results then she can't cry over spilled milk.

Kat placed all her things inside her bag. She didn't have to worry about her wand, it was inside her holster. Yep, you can feel it right there. Before leaving, Kat faced Professor Bentley. "Thank you for the entertaining lesson, Professor Bentley," Kat smiled. Degnoming may be rough, but it was FUN. Then, Kat went to leave for the Great Hall, she needed a snack.... or herb next class. Yeah, she needs to check her class schedule.

The presence of children and a staff member did not deter the Umbrella Vinora in it's quest for food. It was hungry and it could sense something close by to eat.

A long tendril snaked through a hole in the garden wall and the plants in front of it. Stretching out into the sunshine, it waved around slightly and slapped the ground, searching. Pulling backwards it latched on to what it wanted - the leg of the Gnome hiding in the bushes.

Slowly and carefully it dragged the creature towards the hole, making the leaves rustle and shake loudly. Finally, and with a squeal, the gnome was pulled through the hole to it's doom.

They were done? No wonder he was having so many problems finding a blue ribboned gnome among the grass! They'd all been disposed of over the fence. He wiped his forehead with the cuff of his jumper, only now realising how much running he'd done trying to catch the gnomes. Surprisingly nimble things, gnomes.

As the awards were announced, Spike gave a little cheer for the 'Claws. He was a little disappointed in only getting third place, but it was still points - and they'd done better than the Snake, which was always a good thing. And they'd got an extra five through Ethan, which earnt the 'Claw another cheer and a grin.
Spike was about to pack up and go congratulate his classmate when he heard a rustle in the grass. His head snapped around in that direction. His hearing, unlike his eyesight, was pretty acute.

Was there a rogue gnome on the loose?

He squinted in that direction, regretting having lost his glasses. Things in the distance were blurry. Not helpful. "Did anyone see that?" he asked. Probably not, giving it was the end of the lesson, and everyone was packing up. With a frown, he took a couple of steps in the direction that he thought the sound had come from.

"Has a little gnomey escaped?" he cooed. "We can't have you stuck away from your friendies..."

Third place... Vickers gave a sporting smile to everyone in behalf of his house even if deep down he was quite disgruntled with it, which adds to his already sky-high grumpiness that was topped off with his muddied rear end. He was trying to clean himself up but as he doesnt have eyes at the back of his head it was a little tricky aiming that scourgifying spell and goodness knows he doesnt want to accidentally make his entire pants disappear with misplaced evanesco.

On the Professor's go ahead Vickers quickly took up his book bag, already thinking of how much time he has to waste changing and trying not to be late for his next class, which happened to be Charms-- of all the classes not to appear looking like one has spent the morning rolling around in the mud. However he did make it a point to give an sincere pat on the shoulder the few students he saw helping out his house"Gideon, Min, Lex-- thanks for helping out. We really appreciate it." Scoring high on his books they were yup.

As he stomped off the gardens a rough rustling of the leaves and the squealing made him stop short and stare "Oh great... coming back again so soon?" he muttered, obviously thinking about the pernicious behavior of the garden pests. He glanced back at the Professor, would she be needing any backup? If not he will happily scurry back to their quarters for a much needed change of uniform.

Lex flopped to the ground as the last gnome was caught and thrown over the wall. At the moment she was tired, covered in dirt and had more leaves than hair but she didn't care; this class had been AMAZING, minus the scratches she'd gotten of course.

From her spot on the ground she looked up at Professor Bentley who was giving out the congratulations and points. Her face lit up noticeably when she heard that her house got 40 points; a well needed 40 too. She felt even better knowing that she'd actively helped them earn it. In this way she wasn't a complete bother to her house liked she'd been for most of the term. Her eyes widened when she heard she'd gotten an extra 5 and for sportsmanship noneheless! At this point she saw Kurumi smiling over at her and she beamed in response.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her back. Much too tired to be upset she turned to see who it was and when she did she gave Vickers a wide smile. "Sure, anytime!

Now that the class was over she could go find a place to collapse for a bit. De-gnoming was hard work! As she got off the floor she could've sworn she heard something moving but this was a garden so it was probably crawling with things. Nothing special.

"That was an amazing lesson Professor!" BEAM. Then she grabbed her stuff but lingered a bit 'cause she was in no hurry to move.

"It's... been a pleasure Kurumi," she smiled. It would be incredibly hard to see the Lioness go. She had even contemplated failing the girl and insisting she stay to repeat... but that was simply absurd.
"No... nothing more to be done..." except for the homework task which she was sure the students would love, "thanks for offering."

Dammit ... now she needed some tea and something to take her mind off graduations.



"Well I'm glad you found it useful... a lot of muggle borns have difficulty appreciating the full extent of the dangers, difficulties and issues which can arise in our world... until you've had an experience with it of course," she mused in response to the girls comment. "I'm sure they'll be fine, they have short memory spans and are incredibly durable."



"You're very welcome dear," she replied brightly, though she could tell the Slytherin wasn't all too pleased with the outcome of the contest.



Seren nodded, smiling, "You're very welcome."



Huh? Wait?.... WHAT WAS THAT?! Seren noticed rapid movement from out of the corner of her eye... her neck twisting on the spot so she could get a view of it.
It appeared as though one of the gnomes had found its way back... she exchanged looks with Spike and Vincenzo. This gnome wasn't sticking around for long... owing to the fact that it was been dragged away. Not to mention the sound the creature made was not a particularly healthy one.
"Erm... I don't think we'll be seeing that gnome again..." she started, still wondering how on earth a flesh-eater had found its way into the student garden, they were strictly reserved for the greenhouses, and certainly if they were this unpredictable they'd be locked up away from prying fingers.

Suddenly the words amazing reached her ears. Huh? Oh... it was?
Seren beamed at her little Lioness. "I'm so pleased you liked it, and I have to say, you seemed to be in your element today." With a few exceptions..."Just maybe a little less aggressively next time?" Though she wasn't the one to kill a gnome, so all was well.

Spike rubbed his eyes, and squinted at the patch of grass that had rustled once more. He really needed to find his glasses. Clearly he hadn't realised quite how bad his eyes were, nor how much of a difference his glasses did actually make to his sight.

He frowned at Professor Bentley. The gnome was gone? That'd explain the scream. But how? "What do you think got it, Professor?" he asked curiously. Gnomes weren't exactly a staple diet for many creatures, except jarveys, perhaps. But a jarvey wouldn't have waited until now to get in on the action, surely? From what Spike had heard, they were pretty brutal gnome hunters. Plus, they were also verbal creatures, so they would have heard it coming. If jarveys were anywhere right now, they'd been over collecting all the dizzy thrown gnomes and having a good feast of it.

So, if it wasn't a creature...was it a plant? But how? There weren't any flesh eaters in the student garden, as far as Spike knew. And he should know - he spent enough time there helping tend to it, and he was pretty hot on types of flesh eaters. There was only flesh eater he knew about that wasn't kept full time in the greenhouse - his own fanged rose crossbreed, Rosie. He bit his bottom lip, thoughtfully.

"Should we have a look?" Spike's curiosity was certainly aroused.

Kurumi bit down on her lower lip again, somewhat in attempt to prevent it from quivering which would only bring tears next. It was still too early for tears and Kurumi was determined not to cry until the closing feast. Well, in theory she wasn't going to cry until the closing feast. But since this lion wore her emotions on her sleeve, well, that was probably an impossible goal. "Thank you, again...professor," she said softly before bowing out one last time.

Kurumi was just about to completely leave the student garden when all the shuffling and other noise making caught her attention. She was drawn in even more so with what Professor Bentley said and when Spike suggested an investigation. "You...sure there isn't anything else, professor?" Kurumi asked again, idly twirling her wand between her fingers and slowly edging her way towards Spike. He was younger, after all. Had to look out for the younger students and...yep, that was the excuse she was going to use.