With a quick, "Aguamenti," her seeds had been watered. Alice wasn't sure what fertilizer to use, either, though. What type did cacti need? More importantly, was she supposed to know that? "I chose a desert biome, too, Professor. What type of fertilizer would I need for that?" She echoed the female Slytherin Prefect's question loud and clear as she tossed her hand up in the air. She was sure the desert biome had been an option, because the sandy soil was there and all, plus like three others were also planting cacti. So she couldn't have had made any mistakes, right?

She blinked at the professor, still awaiting an answer.

Water. West was all awesomeness when it came to conjuring water. Aguamenti wasn't even that hard. Especially since Dylan had helped him master it. And of course stopping the water, which was important too. West could cast a mean finite. He did that now, making sure he didn't overwater his loam and the seeds within. OKAY his biome was about as ready as it was gonna get at this point. Any more instructions? West started looking around to see how everyone else was going.

Not because he felt helpful, he just felt curious.

Oh, MER-LIN. Mo blinked a bit as the professor winked rather boldly at him before moving on with the class. Winked. At him. He tucked the sundew seed into the middle of his jar of dirt and wondered what that wink was supposed to indicate. Were they co-conspirators? That seemed likely.

Mo carefully lifted his jar back up on the workbench before returning the remaining soil in his bucket and retrieving fertilizer instead. The professor said to add just a pinch, but that was sort of imprecise and Mo wanted to give his baby seeds as much love as possible. Just a PINCH? The pinch was added, and then another, and then another. That was better.

After his fertilizer was added, Mo climbed up on the tabletop so he could point his wand down inside he jar and water his baby seeds. Not too much water, since these were plants that didn't like getting really wet and the soil would just wick most of it away anyway.

"Erm, Professor, what does the mooncalf solution do?" Not that he needed it, but he was curious.

Oh... so had had to get up again? This time off the floor. Okay yeah he was standing up. He grabbed the now empty bucket that had the soil. Took it over to get the fertilizer. He came back with a half-full bucket fertilizer. Tossed it evenly over the soil.

Okay time to give this some water. He pointed his wand "Aguamenti." letting a small steam of water from his wand, he soaked the soil just enough. Okay that was good.

He looked at his thingy his.... Biome? It looked good.

You ask a bunch of kids to fertilise their jars of dirt... and they ask questions as if it were alchemy. Merlin. Did she have to do another lesson on fertilisers? Or a refresher course?



Seren nodded, yep, now would be the time. "Generic dragon dung will do, dear," she said smoothly.



Ooohhh! Now there was a good question. Better than a dung question.
"I like your thinking, though for the time being, keeping them in the castle on a window sill will be enough protection."



Goodness gracious... did this girl forget everything about fertiliser during her absence?
"Remember... mooncalf solution is derived from mooncalf dung, which is a fertiliser.... we do not add solid fertilisers to water biomes, because that's just pointless, and because of the potency of mooncalf dung, two drops of the solution, which is essentially the dung mixed with water, is enough to fertilise the average tank of water."
Did that answer the girls question?

At any rate, the dung questions were sending her into madness. She ought to test them on it at some point.



Merlin.

It was a good thing this was a lesson, or else those deserts would end up looking very un-desert like.
"Deserts, owing to the fact that they lack nutrients, do not require fertiliser, so you're all set." Easy peasy, right?



Seren almost choked on her own saliva as she heard the Ravenclaw voice his question.

Bouncing.... Blueberries. Ok.

"Well, mooncalf dung you see, is renown for having speedy growth properties, so it's a fantastic fertiliser both as a solid and as a liquid... so... mooncalf solution, is essentially, dung mixed with water."






Well...

With that painful endeavor out of the way, there was only a few more things left to do.
"Alright class, we're almost done for today!" she announced, needing to hear the word herself to enjoy them.
"Our terrariums are almost complete... for now... so I'd like you all to take a moment and shrink your jars back to normal size now please."
She did so on her own, uttering a non-verbal reducio.

"Then you'll need to be paying close attention, and take notes, on your tasks for when you leave this greenhouse..."

OOC: The lesson will continue in approx 17 hours (;

As Professor Bentley started to answer her question, after it seemed like seven million other questions had followed hers, Kendall almost prepared for some sort of response that she wouldn’t expect. At least, it didn’t seem like the professor was exactly pleased with all the questions, but she’d asked hers before, and first. Therefore, she felt like an answer was warranted, and it wasn’t her fault she wasn’t sure how to fertilise orchids along with all her other seeds. She wanted it all to grow, so she’d asked. Maybe orchids took something different. Either way, she’d merely nodded as she’d been told normal fertilizer would work for her. She didn’t think speaking again would be appreciated, but at least she hadn’t been the ones who had all asked basically the same question about mooncalf solution. Instead, she quietly set about getting the dragon dung fertilizer, and, holding her breath, sprinkled it inside her jar over her planted seeds, then pointed her wand inside and quietly said “Aguamenti,” letting enough water flow from her wand to saturate the soil as she listened to the continued discussion.

So they were going to be reducing the size of their terrariums again. And there hadn’t been any discussion over the plants inside, so she figured that meant everything would shrink too. She’d end up with miniature butterfly orchids and everything else. They couldn’t exactly return their jars to their normal size without everything inside ending up smaller too, after all. Once she cut off the water charm, she sat back down on her stool and pointed her wand at the jar. “Reducio,” she cast, watching as it all shrank until the jar was back to normal, then setting her wand down as she pulled her notes over again. Quickly placing all her extra seeds back in the container, before she ended up scattering them all over the floor of the greenhouse. That probably wouldn’t be appreciated either, but now she was ready to pay attention to what was next.

Time for fertilising the seeds and soil and watering. Yay. Kat went to get some fertiliser... or dung because that actually IS the fertiliser mixed with a bit of water but... uh yeah there was too much to explain and she was still doing her thing. Fertilise her lovelies, as Professor Bentley would like to put it as. And water them, don't forget, but with the water-making spell of course. Kat was no Muggle, just saying. SNORT.

Finally getting her fertiliser, the Slytherin fifth year brought it with her back to her work station. Meeghghgh. Of course it SMELT because it was dung. Who said dung didn't smell horrible, huh? Kat wondered if that person would like to pay a visit inside the toilet seat. Maybe that would change his or her mind about smelling dung. Kat added a pinch of fertiliser (good thing her hands were sheathed with gloves) into her little biome thing. After that, she took her wand out for watering time. "Aguamenti," she casted and a slow jet of water came out of her wand and watered her ickle seeds. "Finite." She was done now, yeah. With the watering and fertilising part at least.

Ah, the easy part. Another one at least. It included spell work too, and Kat could say she was kind of good at that. Minus that umbrella spell for failing her and turning the shoe lace into a cocktail umbrella used for drinks and smoothies. Ugh, okay. Kat stopped herself from thinking about that. Thinking of her own failures was humiliating, even if it was only all in her head.

But the shrinking charm wasn't that bad like that spell they learnt in Transfiguration you know. "Reducio," Kat said and casted the spell on her jar. It shrunk as expected, of course. She claims herself good in all spells. Big head.

Except that umbrella spell. UGH. Why?

Sounded great to Sarah, although she would have liked to learn a new spell. She took out her wand.. "Reducio" she cast on the jar reverting it back to its original size.
The teacher told her to take notes yet Sarah was too lazy to do that, after all she would probably remember it and besides there were other students in the class she could copy from. So instead she listened carefully

Time to shrink the jar back to normal. Jory pointed his wand at it. "Reducio!''. After he had stopped the spell, he wrote that instruction down as well in his book. He was very curious as to what they would be doing with the biomes. No doubt one of the tasks will be to take care of them and make sure they grow successfully.

Right, time to give them some love. GIGGLE. Bliss listened carefully to what Bentley said about what each type of seed/plant would need, then she tried to apply it to her own. Lotus seed, they were a water plant, so KNEW that it would need water. Just .. she didn't know how much. She then got up, stretching her legs for a moment before going to find her text book. Flick, flick, flick. Finally she reached the page of her chosen seed and noted how much of each thing it would need.

Now she just had to collect them.

She watched the others and the way they entered the store room. She also EYED Sarah when she asked West for help. Bliss knew he was quite tall, but couldn't she ask someone else to help? Heh. Right, back to the task at hand. The badger waited in line under her turn came about. With her elbows tucked in, she slid into the storeroom and collect the one thing she needed before slipping back out and returning to her working station. The floor.

First thing first .. she needed to add two inches of water to the jar. Bliss took out her wand and pointed it into the jar. "Aguamenta," she muttered. Nothing happened. WAIT, it was aguamenti not aguamenta. Smooth, Bliss. She tried again. "Aguamenti." This time a slow trickle was released and she watched and measured, waiting until it was filled to approximately two inches, before raising her wand and stopping the spell. Lastly, she added two drops of mooncalf solution, as that she all needed.

Now what?

Almost done? Already? Seriously, classes of late seemed to just fly by. At least that didn't make them any less fun. Plus, Bliss was kind of anxious to get back so that she could study .. and play guitar and write songs .. and stuff. Certain stuff. She stopped herself before she got too lost in thought and refocused on the Professor. They were to shrink the jars back down again? Ok. Bliss pointed her wand at the jar and muttered, "reducio," and watched proudly as it shrunk down in size. Perfect.

What was that?

They were going to take notes. Right, she'd need to be back in her seat for that. Now that the jar was smaller, Bliss was able to pick it up and make her way back to her seat. She placed it carefully down on the table, before reaching down into her bag and taking out her potions notebook. Then she changed her mind and got out a sheet of parchment instead. Assuming that the Professor meant 'when you leave this greenhouse' as 'what you'll need to know to look after them later', a piece of parchment would be easier to carry out than her actual Potion book. Now she was all ready.

Alyssa was glad that she had clarified that fertilizer bit with the Professor. She had remembered that moon calf dung helped speed up growth, hence the reason why they used drops of it to help broken branches heal faster. She just wanted to make sure that the Professor didn't want them them double dose their plants with fertilizer.

"Thank you for clarifying that for me, Professor. I remembered that but I still wanted to verify my assumption." Alyssa thanked Professor Bentley for her answering her question. Placing the fertilizer aside, Alyssa picked up the dropper filled with her two drops of moon calf solution, reached into the jar and slowly added it over the dampened soil. She made sure that she covered the areas where she had planted the seeds.

Once she was done, she put down the dropper before taking out her wand. Pointing it at her jar, she said, "Reducio" reducing the jar back into its original size. Then with quill and journal ready, she waited for the Professor to give them their next instructions for their task.

So she didn't need any fertilizer after all. Good thing I asked! She gave a sheepish smile, slightly embarrassed for not knowing. "Thank you ma'am." She went back to her seat, picked up her jar, and set it on the table again.

Well how was I to know there were no nutrients in sand? Maybe there were teeny tiny things that plants liked and I just didn't know about them! And apparently I don't need water yet either since she didn't say anything when I asked... She decided not to water it at all yet and see what would happen. It was a desert after all so it'd probably be fine. She pointed her wand at the jar and reduced it to its original size. "Reducio!" It wobbled down to an easy size that she could really see fitting just about anywhere once it was finished and ready for viewing. Yunno, I never really think about plants for decoration, but I think I'll like this one. She also wondered if she could learn how to conjure up a little lizard to live in there. If it wasn't real it wouldn't need food or water right?

She didn't need any fertilizer? Oh. Why didn't she think of that? Hmm... "Okay, thanks, Professor," she said, looking back at her biome. She wondered then if she was doing any of it right, but a quick look over the entire project told her she was. With that settled, she pulled out her wand and cast a quick "Reducio!" on the jar. Her jar shrank back to normal size. Oh, hey, look! A mini biome.

...and with that, they were almost done. All they had to do now, apparently, was just listen for the next set of directions and take careful notes. That she could do. She adjusted her quill and parchment next to her work area, ready to jot down whatever it was they needed to know.

....

Waaaaait.

She had spent her time making the jar larger...just so she could shrink it down again...? That...but that...it...what? She looked up curiously at her Head of House. She was basically going to be reversing her hard work. This was like transfiguration all over again only this time reversing it wasn't because she'd made a mistake. Good to know.

You know what else was good to know? The shrinking spell. It would certainly help...

She looked around the greenhouse, watching the others casting the spell. Once she figured she'd gotten a good idea of it she tried copying the wand movement...uh-huh...good.

"Reducio!"....Nothing....She blinked over at the jar then gave it a few light jabs with the tip of her wand. "Oi, I said reducio, why aren't you shrinking?" She eyed it a bit more and gave it a few more jabs before deciding to try again. This time with more intent. "Reducio!"

She grinned in satisfaction as she watched it go smaller and smaller. MUCH better.

So they were almost done, alright. He cleaned up his work space on the floor. He slid the packets of seeds into to his pocket. He would send the rest back to his grandpapa. He knew that he'd like to have them back. He would use them for his garden this spring.

Now to shrinking the biome back down to normal size. He casted a quick Reducio to the jar."Reducio!" He picked up the jar and carried it back with him to the seat to take notes.

Well. That was a quick lesson. Sky cleaned up her space quickly, then slipped off her gloves and grabbed her wand. "Reducio!" Once the jar was shrunk back to normal size, she moved it a little out of her way, then opened up her bag for her personal notebook (the one she used for class notes) and a pen. Placing the notebook in front of her and opening her pen, she waited patiently for the instructions.

Ofim was starving by now. He was excited that class was almost over so he could go chow down on some food.

They were now shrinking the jar back down to size? DID THAT MEAN THAT HIS MANGROVE WOULD BE SMALL TOO?! YES!!!

Now where was his wand? He was either going to lose the darn thing or break it before this term was over, he could tell. FOUND IT!"Reducio" he said pointing his wand back at the jar. Yeah, it looked awesome.

It wasn't really THAT stupid a question. Mo shrugged at the LOOKS he was getting from the professor, but saying 'solution' suggested perhaps that there was something else in there. Plus only the water habitats got some, and he wanted to know if he could put it in his own.

But whatever. He wasn't that fussed if the professor was under the mistaken impression he was an idiot, on account of the fact that he wasn't and he felt bad for her not knowing better.

And he also felt bad that he had to reduce his jar back down. It was awfully big right now, but Mo preferred it big so he could see everything inside with ease. "Reducio," Mo cast the spell on his jar and watched it shrink back to regular size. Bummer. Regular size was a bummer.

West had finished his fertalising so it was no big deal to him to go ahead and shrink his jar thing back down. He went ahead and cast reducio, shooting a smile at Dylan after he managed it with success, and then made sure he had parchment and a quill ready.

For notes, apparently.

Okay, so that was a NO. Too ambitious to start off with, perhaps....

Grinning, Dylan nodded, "Yes, ma'am." He also noted that her mouth and eyes seemed to...squish up some with his question. Had she been anyone but a Professor, the Slytherin was sure he'd have laughed in her face. It was Professor Bentley, though...and the thought was rather inconceivable. She was just too nice.

Moving to stand up, he slowly made his way over to the cupboards she'd indicated...Dylan decided he'd stand in line...but he wasn't too sure about tucking his elbows in. What was that about? Everyone was flocking, anyway...and for a moment, he just stared. Was it DIRE that they rush like this? Were they somehow going to run out? Snort.

Also, the Slytherin assumed he'd need just the basic kind, right? It wasn't like Dylan had done something that complicated. Yea, the gillyweed was a special-type plant...but he'd figured out how to properly care for it...and it wouldn't be feeding off the fertilizer itself...but the common PLANTS...and the common PLANTS would need the fertilizer. So...Yea. Basic seemed about right.

When it was finally his turn, the Slytherin Captain stepped forward and collected a bit. Not a whole lot, of course. The Professor had said to sprinkle it, right? That implied 'not that much' to him.

Carrying it back towards his station, Dylan went about distributing it in the bottom of the jar. Taking a handful, he broke it up in his gloved hand, allowing the handful to slowly dissipate into the soil below. Repeating the process several times...he finished with that and then whipped out his wand. "Aguamenti!"

At once the stream of water started...but instead of letting it just rain down on his ecosystem, he capped the tip of his wand with his thumb, causing the water to mist somewhat. With his hand now down in the jar, Dylan misted and watered as Professor Bentley had instructed...

"Finite."


BAM for 'Almost complete'. Not that he wanted the lesson to rush along...Dylan was quite enjoying himself...

Listening intently to the next step in his Ecosystem Experience...the Slytherin blinked. Interesting...They'd be shrinking them down now. Dylan had not seen that one coming. Proportions weren't going to mess with anything...That's what she was saying, yes? Biting at his lip, his raised his wand, again...Ahem.

"Reducio!" POINT.

As the jar began shrinking back down to his original size, Dylan glanced around the room at everyone else...He liked to think everyone was being successful with the Reduction spell. West especially. He was on the lookout, though...for anyone that needed some help.

Shrinking down now? Alice remembered that incantation, on account of Melanie and headless teddy bears and stuff. "Reducio." And it SHRANK. See? Practice did help. She would have to thank her best friend's incapacitated stuffed animals for their help later, yeah? But right now, she had to focus on getting parchment out and taking notes, 'cause Bentley had asked them to.

Personally, she would rather spiff up her ecosystem a bit more, but notes were alright, too.

Finishing up with his shrinking of the jar, Dylan removed his gloves, shaking them off. There was still some excess dirt clinging to them and he didn't want to get his notebook dirty. Cleanliness. Old habits.

Stuffing the ends of his gloves into his back pocket, he pulled his notebook back out, flipping to his most recent page. Then he was just taken notes on these steps. Perhaps he could get with Professor Bentley and ask further about fertilizers. Just so his notes were complete.


Keeping himself busy for the time being, Dylan started to clear away the mess...Putting buckets away, scourgifying dirt and his little piece of the table, clearing his now empty jars away...

It was inevitable. Messes bothered him.

Oichi had all the materials she needed for her biome and soon the lesson progressed. Alright, I gotta enlarge my jar, how else would I fit all the things for my biome She pointed her wand at the jar, "engorgio", she watched as jar became 3x its normal size. She smiled at her work and soon the next set of instructions were given and it was to add the seeds for you're particular biome. She then heard the next set of instructions and picked her soil. She heard loam was good for any biome and she did not want anything to go wrong so she picked up some of that in her bucket. She then put it in her jar evenly. She then grabbed some seeds of tropical plants at random. She wanted the overall look of her biome to be surprise. She plant them and soon heard instruction add fertilizer and lots of water. She gabbed some fertilizer and carefully spread it over the areas of her biome where seeds lied. She then took out her wand, "Aguamenti", water came spewing from her wand and she carefully aimed it to squirt all over her new seedlings. She beamed with excitement at this fun assignment. And then she heard it was time to minimize the whole biome and she cringed. She knew this was not gonna be easy but she was a 5th year and with a little positive thought she felt her confidence rise again. She took out her wand and said, "Reducio", concentrating hard on making the glass with all her new seedlings smaller but not so small the jar would break. With careful control she managed the task. She then realized she better make some notes of what she had done cause she had yet to write any. She took out some parchment and her quill and got to work.

There, that should do it. And I bet class is just about over now. Oh I hope so. Arithmancy was such a pain, I still don't understand half the stuff. I am sure I won't be doing well on that OWL. Oh man, I totally forgot I had to study for my OWLs as well as get my normal homework done. I'm so behind, I guess even after school is out I won't have time to relax, great. Still I need this class to end so I can get to all the stuff I gotta do.

Now... for the fun part, the waiting.

"Alright everyone, that concludes today's lesson, but there is still more work for you to do over the next few weeks," she paused here for emphasis. "Because our intention is to create a small biome, your task now is to allow your vegetation to germinate, make sure they get the appropriate sunlight, warmth and water... once they have peaked, you need to start considering what kind of insects and amphibians would naturally inhabit your chosen biome, and your task is to forage for them, shrink them, and add them to your jar."
Yep. Homework. It had to be done, because frankly, she wasn't going to wander the grounds in search for bugs with them... nope, she had other things that needed to be done.
"As well as living organisms, once your vegetation has started growing, I will call you in for a workshop to teach you how to monitor and control the temperature of your biome, because temperature is key to maintaining your vegetation."

And... that was it.
"Make sure your area is tidy, and when you are ready, you may be dismissed. Keep an eye on the noticeboards, and go hunt for your bugs!"

OOC: SOOOOOO sorry for the delay, life and poor internet access happened. But! Class dismissed! Will post on noticeboards over the weekend! Thanks for coming!

Alyssa immediately sat up when Professor Bentley started to speak but was disappointed when she heard her tell the class that the lesson was over...at least for now. They were supposed to continue taking care of their biomes allowing them to germinate and grow in to their fully grown state.

'Now that would be an interesting task.' Alyssa thought to herself as she started cleaning up her workstation. Placing her jar aside, she took out her wand and cleaned up her desk using the Scouring charm. "Scourgify" she said.

Once the workstation was clean, Alyssa then cleaned the tools and bucket she had used using the same spell, before returning them to where she had taken them from. Returning to her desk, she collected all her belongings and placed them in her backpack before slinging it over her shoulder. Picking up her jar with both hands, Alyssa made her way to Professor Bentley.

"Thank you for another interesting class, Professor. I can't wait to see how my seeds germinate and then grow into their beautiful flowers. I'm looking forward to seeing you in the workshop. Have a nice day." Alyssa smiled at the Professor before making her way out of the greenhouse.