Asher had been fairly quiet thus far in the lesson. He was taking notes and trying to remember what he had learned during his first year of school. "Professor, wouldn't we be able to make healthier foods by studying Herbology?"

He wasn't exactly sure that was what she was looking for, but it seemed like a good answer. If they were able to study the plants and find out how they best survived, then they could help keep those plants growing under proper conditions. Then the plants would produce better fruits.

Ella got to have a Tobias, a Forrest, and a Sophie all in one lesson? Cuteness overload. The blonde found herself giving them encouraging smiles just cause and then listened for the next question that had been asked.

Knowledge of herbology in our world? Medicine was the one Ella would have said so she tapped her chin thoughtfully, considering the other options. "Professor, being knowledgeable on this subject enables you to know which plants you should be wary of and which you can deal with without too much worry." So it was sort or precautionary in that sense.

Cutty had flipped open his Herbology book and began to look at the pictures as he tuned his ears to Professor Bentley. As she came to explaining the 4 major categories of Herbology, he landed on a portion of the book with a beautiful illustration showing different types of deadly plants across two pages. He could've thought of a million uses for those little beauties! He was willing to bet that there were a whole host of ways one could make money off of plants that didn't necessarily include teaching or breeding. He just wasn't sure the adults in his life would be too keen on any of them. Best to stick to something safe.

So, then his hand went up. "We could use our knowledge of plants to identify other things around it like temperature changes in certain areas of the world, like. Like, knowing certain plants that grow better in cold weather could teach us alot about what kind of weather a place has or if the weather has changed any." The boy drew a breath in and carried the after-thought. "And then you could also monitor other forms of magical life, like Doxies who also like cold weather. If there were any living around it." And there were probably people out there in the world too lazy to do this themselves and would pay you handsomely to do this. Easy money. He was paying attention in Herbology class.

Kace was wondering how they could use Herbology in their world today. Like the professor mentioned, Marissa and Sophie touched upon medicine and potions. Kace was gonna say something like that but now he had to think of something else......

He raised his hand and said,

"Professor it is good to know Herbology because if you want to put plants in your garden you need to know which plants eats certain kinds and which are harmful."

He would need to know that information if he ever worked on his farm with his grandparents back home.

After scribbling down the definition of Herbology Adi pondered on the next question. Sone students had already given pretty good answers. He thought of how he would want to use his Herbology knowledge. "Oh, I know!''

Adi's left hand shot in the air. "I'd use it to stay safe, Professor. Like staying away from dangerous plants such as Devil's Snare or Poison Ivy.'' Yep. He wasn't going to mess with those plants!

Annabeth was mesmerized by the plants in the Greenhouse that it took too long for her noticing the class had started. Professor Bentley was asking a second question when she woke up from her daydreams and also noticed Adi near her.
"Hey, Adi! I was so distracted that I didn't noticed the class begining nor you arriving. Sorry." She whispered and then turned to hear the teacher.

She took her notes quickly. Would she have missed some important information? She peered at Adi's notes. Nope, just banal information.

The girl raised her hand and said, "I think Herbology can help us in the conservation of the natural resources, valuable landscapes and endangered species."

"Naturally, Professor," he replied smoothly and slightly wiggled his eyebrows. Of course, that was only if she were looking close enough, which she would have been because his face was a nice one.

Settling into his seat, he didn't even bother answering the first question because, well, everyone else had. Very little left to add, yeah?

"A plethora of plants are used for cosmetics and beauty supplies, Professor. Not that any of you need it, but some girls use make-up to help self-esteem......and knowing which plants can be used for rouge, etc. is a superficial way to be used."

Also....shampoo. What? Did they all think that hair like this was without delicate care?

Mo fidgeted a great bit as he tugged on the gloves he was supposed to wear and tried to focus. He didn't feel very focused, but then he'd just had to depart with his own personal money just to show up for class. It burnt his britches, that much was true.

But focus, Mosef. Time to focus. He raised one gloved-hand. "Professor, it's important to understand plants, as well as their habitats, including the animals, soil, and climate. Impacting any one of those pieces of the whole could impact all of the pieces, and maintaining balance is essential."

Min perked up hearing the professor say about herbology helping with healing. Yes now this was something to talk about since it was exactly what she wanted to do with her life and way she knew she had to stay in this class. Her focused changed as a first year answer the next question. Honestly how many people were going to focus on man eating plants or plants attacking you. Wasn't that so four terms ago.

Trying to focus Min thought about the question. Well it seemed like healing, potions, and that kind of stuff had already been said. What else was it used for. Ethan was a herbologist she felt she should know more answers for this than her brain was allowing. Well maybe she would just sit quietly for this question because nothing else was really coming to her.

How could they use Herbology today? Hmm. "Knowledge of Herbology can be used for defense sometimes, professor. Like how some plants were used to protect the school in the Battle of Hogwarts. Devil's Snare."

Was her fascination for the more violent plants showing?

Alice didn't think so.

No, she wasn’t involved in a study, not more than she needed to, she followed the lesson and that was all what she was doing, she even didn’t wanted to study more! This lesson was boring and she didn’t wanted to get dirty, so no, she was not involved in any special study, not more than she needed to!

Huh? Where was the professor talking about? Yes, she had followed this lesson during her previous years, but she didn’t wanted to say that she had tried to learn something… As soon as possible, when she had done her homework she tried to NOT think about this lesson anymore, so eh, she had no idea how to answer this question… And because she had no idea, she kept her mouth shut and just *pretended* to listen…

It was a relief to hear that the students had some good thoughts, ideas and understandings... some of them though, seemed to misinterpret the question... just a tad. It was perhaps her fault for not phrasing it right, but what has been said, has been said, there was no taking it back.
"Good, yes, excellent," she mused and nodded at a number of the responses. There were some rather creative ones, perfume - from the ever enthusiastic first year Lioness "Aromatherapy... yes,", "Good, wandlore," from Sarah... and Merlin.
"Alexa... you're not wrong, but I would like to think I'm not training you all to be evil geniuses." Disposing of 'evidence' and 'problems' seemed a bit too morbid for a herbology lesson.

"Cosmetics, yes," Seren agreed with Ascanius, "food, tea," she continued to agree with high-flying Eagle Benzi.
"And yes of course, not being eaten by accident," Seren paused to give Alexa a look here... "caring for specific genus of plants as well as whole ecosystems is rather important, especially with regard to monitoring the use of our natural resources."

Yes, well done. Seren was satisfied. "Today we will be focusing on a particular plant," the one right beside her, in fact, "can anyone hazard a guess as to what it might be?"

OOC: The lesson will continue in approx 16 hours. Remember ONE guess and please refrain from editing your post. Thank you!

Sarah beamed with pride. She liked it when her teachers praised her. She chuckled at Alexa's answer. Was her friend being serious? Alexa.. bless her, such a character. It was highly entertaining to be around her.

Wait, the professor was showing her a picture, Sarah remembered seeing something similar in her Aunt's tea cupboard (her aunt was such a Brit... Sarah wondered if her aunt knew how to make tea herself as the housekeeper always brought her aunt her tea. Green Tea... tasted gross yet her Aunt said that she needed it to keep thin). Sarah raised her hand again, "maybe a sort of tea leaf?"

Adi looked closely at the plant Professor Bentley was indicating. He really had not idea what it was. He bent his head and scribbled down some more of the answers students had given tot he previous question. He had not realised knowledge about plants can be so beneficial.

Done with the note taking for now, he looked back at the plant and raised his hand. Adi was going to give this a shot anyway. "I don't know what it's called but maybe it's used for cooking?''

She wasn't wrong, hehe, that was all she needed to hear. Lex gave the professor a wide smile. "Of course not. Simply well informed individuals." Who were now more capable of taking care of their problems as opposed to waiting on the MLE to do it. The school stayed broke for a year. Lot of bloody good waiting for justice did for them. Lex caught the look the Professor gave her but kept her expression pleasant. Being accidentally eaten by a plant? That's just your fault right there.

Alexa looked over the plant. "That's...a leaf Professor." Call her obvious but that was just about ALL she was seeing. "A very plain one at that, making the whole plant look plain so I'll say it's a plain plant until you say otherwise or someone comes up with a better idea."

In the meantime, the plant wouldn't mean much to her because she doubted it could do much of anything. No fangs, see.

If it really was a tea leaf like Sarah had said then Lottie would really be missing out on this lesson. This was more her kind of thing. Lex just added chocolate to whatever tea Lottie made. It worked.

That question was pretty easy. Besides the fact that Hannah didn't like getting dirty, she actually kind of enjoyed Herbology... sometimes. "Professor we learn about the different plants and how to care for each one individually." she said while her hand was raised. That seemed like a rather broad answer, but she was pretty sure that she had gotten her point across anyways.


Hmm... there were so many things that we could use as far as Herbology was concerned. It seemed like everybody had already said everything that had come to the sixth years mind. Of course they would use plants in potions and healing remedies. You could cook plants. Oh! An idea just came to her. Her hand was in the air. "Professor, you could use plants to use in a posion." Sure, that was most likely not a good idea in the professor's eyes, but it could still be done. You never knew when you would need a good posion lying around.

She stared at the plant thinking that she should most likely know what kind it was. Hannah was not very good at identifying the different plants because a lot of them looked the exact same to her and it seemed like tedious work to the slytherin. Still she could give it a stab in the dark right? She raised her hand. "Professor is it a Camellia sinensis?" She really didn't think that she was right but she gave it a guess and that counted for something right?

Ella eyed the plant carefully, noting the waxy quality of the leaves and the shape too. It appeared to have serrated edges as well which was interesting. Her first thought was that it could be a herb of some kind but she wasn't too sure.

Instead of guessing, the blonde sketched a quick picture of the plant and eyed it again thoughtfully. Hmm. "Hellebore, Professor?" She was pretty sure Hellebore leaves could be serrated.

Wade had been dully noting the aspects on the studying of Herbology. It made sense that learning the subject that involved tending and examining plants would benefit the world for many reasons. They were great in medicines and potions, of course, and something he was sure him and certain close friend of his would find amusing on some of the other items that mimicked some of a devil's snare's traits. That item was a secret though, and he could only smirk about it.

Wade then furrowed his brows at the plant shown, as he couldn't tell just what kind of plant it was. Some of his classmates were mentioning about it being an herb or... something. Yeah, he wish he knew. So all he could do was stare at it curiously.

Asher continued to write down the other students answers and what the professor was saying. Once he finished, he studied the plant. He had no idea what it was. Zero. It was green. Yes, and plant looking. He kept staring at it in hopes something would come to mind.

"Professor, I don't know what it is, but it does appear to be healthy. I don't see any wilting or brown spots." Nope, not what she asked, but it was the best answer he could come up with.

Tora had never been good with Herbology. She had a sneaking suspicion it was probably because she just didn't care enough about the plants to take care of them properly, but honestly they just freaked her out. Especially the plants in this particular greenhouse. She looked about uneasily but then snapped her attention to the Professor when she started asking questions. She had occupied her time in the lesson thus far with looking nervously about at the plants and had conveniently missed the first two questions. Namely, why Herbology was important. She knew why Herbology was important though. Medically. And aesthetically. And nutritionally. She just didn't like to be the one to actually work with the plants. Leave that up to someone who actually liked Herbology.

Her attention returned just as the professor was asking about what type of plant they would be working with today. Tora squinted at the plant that was being referred to. Honestly it looked like a sprout of some kind. Leafy thing. Maybe a flower? Tch. It was probably one of those human eating flowers that nearly attacked her the other day while she was working on Astronomy homework. "Will this plant grow into something that could eat me?" was what she really wanted to know.

Adrienne squinted at the plant. It looked... pretty normal. Not too magical, or carnivorous, for that matter. It was just small and green and spiky-leafed. It actually looked kind of familiar, as a matter of fact. She tried to think back to where she could have seen it before... Let's see, she'd had an herb garden when she was younger, but that was mostly mint, basil, and rosemary, and then she'd helped with Mamie's vegetable garden for a few summers, but it didn't seem to be either of those... Oh! Could it have been something from that Japanese tea garden they'd had to take care of back in muggle primary school? "Does it have something to do with tea?" Adrienne asked, hoping this could be her answer since she had no idea what it was actually called.

At Tora's question, she couldn't help but laugh. "It looks pretty harmless to me, at least." Not that she was one to judge by appearances, but she doubted that the bright green little spiky-leafed plant could actually do any harm, especially if she was right about its origins.

...and just like that, class went from easy to difficult.

Sophie stared at the plant before her. How was she supposed to know what it was? It didn't look like it was trying to eat anybody, so it couldn't be too dangerous. But...what made it different from any other plant out there? She had no idea.

Uhhhhh.....

"It's a green, leafy-type plant," she finally said, raising her hand. Yeah. That about summed up her prior knowledge of whatever that plant was.

Tobias had given a wide grin to all those who came and sat right by him, thankful to have FRIENDS and stuff. He stayed quiet during the questions, electing instead to take notes and stare at the plant instead to try and identify it. He didn't think it looked like a magical plant, though there were a LOT of those and Tobias still had yet to read through all his Herbology books. It DID look like a muggle plant though, because he'd done his reading on those too, because they were relevant.

When Professor Bentley asked them to try and identify it, Tobias raised his hand. "I think it's a tea plant, Professor. I don't remember the latin name."

Hopefully his extra studying was starting to pay off.

The serrated edges of the leaves and glossy texture made Cutty think that it was indeed poisonous. Whatever it was. He had lost the page with all of the dangerous plants but he didn't remember seeing it there, though maybe it would be listed amongst other like plants. He didn't consider that it would be mundane.



That witch who'd stepped on his foot was there and she spoke up. And said something which Cutty thought had merit had it actually come to fruition. Merlin willing! Now, normally Cutty Mordaunt would've spoken up loud and proud to make fun of her. But Tora Gallaway had gone and made herself a particularly special sort of target and he wanted her alone.

In an instant, his expression went from an emotionless plotting face to a smile bright and eager as he refocused on the class at hand.

Kace copied down some notes of the uses that his fellow classmates mentioned. Then he heard the professor move on and asked a question. His ears perked up and he looked up front. He squinted his eyes to see it.

Hmmm...what could it be? That is a good question. Kace had one idea though. "Professor that isn't poison ivy is it?" It kind of look similar and he had a similar experience with that plant this summer. It was NOT fun.