Now that Jasmine had her focus back on the bulbs, she tried to appear relaxed. The plants had probably had more than enough excitement for the day. She began her slow, easy walk toward a particular bulb and tried not to make any sudden moves. Jasmine hoped that she could get a little bit closer than last time without any bouncing or attacking.

Well Jasmine got half her wish. She was able to get closer to the bulb, but not without a reaction. The bouncing bulb began to stir and she froze, perhaps unwisely. Jasmine wasn't sure whether she should move forward, back up or raise her wand. She chose A and C.

Jasmine moved forward quickly and was about to reach for the bulb when it started to move a little more frantically. Not wanting to take a chance, Jasmine said, "Flipendo". Making the check mark and squiggly line with her wand, Jasmine successfully knocked the plant back. With not a moment to spare, she grabbed the bulb and placed it in her pot. Then she poured soil into the pot as fast as she could. After the pot was filled and the plant was secure, Jasmine used her spade to pat down the soil and stepped back. She had done it. The bouncing bulb didn't look too happy, but Jasmine was pleased that she completed the task.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

Nurse? A fancy word for gardener perhaps. She'd give it to them, they had something along the lines of creativity going for them, if not absurdity. "The Nurse? Does she take commands well? I can't tell you how many I've run into that--"

There was hardly any time to react before CRASH, Maleficent found herself being blown right back and into another table, possibly knocking over a few pots as she did before coming to a halt on the other side of said table with an aching back and a throbbing head.

Oww...

"You insolent little BEASTLING!!!!" She bellowed, though not nearly as loudly as she'd been hoping for in light of the new pain to her head that left her a little disoriented. It took her several hard tries before she finally found her footing again. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR BLOODY MIND??? Bow and beg my forgiveness!"

Man. So much for that plan. Crazy hadn't landed on her head (again). "It's not ME that has lost her bloody mind! You have LITERALLY flipped your lid, you nut! GO SEE A HEALER."

Quote:

Originally Posted by the fastest seeker

He finally could sit back and reeeelax. Phew. Long lesson. He'd done a lot! Between wheeling the cart around and keeping an eye on kids as well as threatening and stuffs. It all required a whole lot of effort. Now he could sit and watch. Maybe brew a cup of tea as well. Maybe two even sinc--

Aw, MAN. What now?!

With an exaggerate sigh, the man rose to his feet and went towards the shouting.






OF COURSE! Gryffindors!

Was there anyway to calm those down and like control them!

The man didn't even care what was going on or whose fault was it. He was like done. "Both of you, stop and calm down!" He frowned at the hooligans girls. "The two of you will be doing maintenance work at the Greenhouses for a WEEK!" See, he could have just given them detention but then he wouldn't have any benefit or FUN. This was better. They could gather broken twigs, clean pots manually or just make him tea and fan him mayve. "I expect to see you tomorrow morning in the first Greenhouse," Awesome plan.

"Now, I want each one of you to be as far away as possible from the other ." Was that HARD to do?! Merlin.

And a look was shot at the nameless boy. No fighting in his lesson and encouraging!

Aside from those two, the rest looked like they were doing okay? He was going to stay standing here to make sure. *SQUINT*

...as expected, Professor Grumpy came to dole out .... oh HEY that was IT? NO POINT LOSS! NO DETENTION!

"WOOT!" AWESOME. Plus, like, Zahra spent 88% of her time looking for things to do, so hanging out and doing jobs in the greenhouse would be awesome. She'd wear her boots from her brother Cope and tell Plymmy how she got a job in the Greenhouses. Sweet gig! "RIGHT O Professor. And I won't do that again, but I'm telling you... she's not right." The Head Girl. Nope. "I was just trying to help. But I'll help you around here instead. Thanks."

Zahra was happy as could be, even when her bulb attacked her head.

"I DON'T NEED TO SEE A FANCY GARDENER ABOUT MY HEAD, THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!" Did they take her for a fool? She would not be mocked! If the Healer helped with potting plants there was no point in seeing one about a head condition. Anyone would know that.

How...refreshing.

She'd been attacked then was told to leave her attacker alone? "Do you both have jelly for brains or curtains for eyes? I've barely gotten off the ground and you tell me to leave her alone?" Maleficent scoffed at their horrid irony. "You'd be wise to stay out of things your small minds can't comprehend." And with that she turned from them, unwilling to listen to another ounce of ignorance spill from their peasant lips.

Fools.



"Maintenance???" Excuuuuuuuuuuse HIM, did the Dark Queen LOOK like a servant? Like a Peasant that scrubbed floors for a few copper pieces? A Slave???? Were it not for her throbbing headache, she might have had more to say but as it stood, the idea of being far away from the little beastling didn't sound too bad.

There was a slight limp in her step as she headed back to her table but nothing too severe, she wasn't going to die and this gathering would be over soon enough.

Maintenance. Her. The nerve of this man, the nerve of the whole lot of them. When she came to rule they would all be tied to poles and made to stand in the snow or the sun, it didn't matter which. The important thing was that they never be untied. --MAINTENANCE!!

Just the recurring thought was enough to have her shove her pot to the side. She wouldn't do this, none of this. Had she known this would happen she'd have taken one of her gardeners with her. This life was too much to take in all at once and Maleficent was ready to see a different aspect. She was completely done with this one.

After Kace successfully got his plant all settled in his pot, he realized he needed a little bit more soil. He quickly went to the front of the room and got some of the soil. He sprinkled on top of the plant since it seemed it was still knocked out by his spell. He might have used more force than he realized. After he sprinkled it on and it seemed like the right amount, he patted it down and returned the soil to the front of room and was ready for the next activity. He gave a thumbs up to Lux with great team work they did.

Placing more soil in her pot, Lux sent a glance over to Kace. It seemed he was getting a hang of the new spell. "Good job!" she told him as she saw him knock over one of the Bouncing Bulbs. They really weren't so bad when you got used to them. Still didn't make them pretty by any means.

With her Bulb half covered, Lux wondered if there was more to the activity. The plants would need water, right? Looking towards the front she waited to see if Professor Plants had more to say. Hah Professor Plants. That Dante kid had picked a fitting nickname.

Eden had done the soiling. Er--that sounded gross--she had soiled her pot--NO--she had put the soil IN the pot. Well. Ew, now Eden was thinking of--

And she looked up at the girl who had tapped her. Right. Because Eden was such a GOOD older student. "Hi--um--yeah you just--" she waved her wand a bit and cried, dramatically, "Flipendo!" and....the pot she had just filled with soil--yeah, it skiiiiirted across the table, bumped into an elbow of someone(hopefully not Layla's) and fell over---spilling soil EVERYWHERE.

........

Eden smiled at the girl. "See? You just--" and she jabbed her wand forward. "And you say...flipendo." Right. "only--don't knock your pot over--because then you have re-soil--" SIGH. "Then you have you do it all over it." Right? Right. Hopefully she had helped a bit. "Got it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. because if not--Eden didn't know how else to help her.

She was such a Ravenclaw....pfffft.

"Need help with anything else?" she asked, before eyeing the bulb again...Bulby, is what she called him. He was kinda' cute...for a plant. She prepared to pot him--INTO THE SOIL WHERE HE WOULD BE HAPPIER. "Come on, Bulby--you will be so much happier--I promise--" she said, and she would have patted him...if she could have. She kept an eye on the younger girl--who, she noted, had been picked on in a previous class by the head girl. Hmph.

WHY was the younger Gryffindor happy? The happiness annoyed Walton. Like a lot. Got on each one of his nerves. There was nothing to be happy about! He was going to have them work hard in the soil and get dirty and everything. This was supposed to be horrid. Maybe the kid didn't know that yet, she will though, mhm. Andrew was excited for tomorrow. He hadn't been excited for something since he set foot in the castle.

"None of you are," He muttered under his breath to the she's not right part.

And actually he was glad that the Head Girl remained silent. Although she was sending death glares and all. But eh, she was at her table now. Who cares.



"Everyone, back to your work. Nothing to see here," he called out clapping his hands. Trust the kids to get immediately distracted. They only needed an excuse it turned out, merlin.

Now to keep an eye on the others. Younger kids seemed to be having some trouble with the knockback jinx? Andrew waited to see if older students were going to assist before stepping in himself. And the Herbologist was glad Mister Rogers didn't burn down the place. *EYES*

While he was watching to see how everyone else was going... the yelling from his fellow Lions caught his attention.

Lex... was mental. Off her rocker. And the other girl was too...

Zeke shrugged, and was about to go and collect a Bouncing Bulb when he caught the Professors gaze on him.

Gulp.

Hi Professor.. HI... Zeke waved a little, then head down he scuttled around his desk to approach the Bulbs. He stopped though. Because right now he WAS nervous. Nervous because the Professor had been watching him, so he didn't fancy getting attacked by bulbs, especially since he FAILED at the jinx. He could, at least... set the Bulbs on fire, but he doubted the Professor would like that very much.

Breathing, Zeke composed himself, and when he finally felt he was ready, he took measured steps in the bulbs directions.

They were fine. He was fine. ALL was fine. Until he plucked one out from the bunch.

And BAAAAMMM!!! the bouncing started. He could feel it resisting his grip, but he managed to RUN a few paces away from the rest before THEY got restless too.

Uuhhh...

HOW was he supposed to get this in a pot?

Zeke struggled with it, eventually dropping it to his table where it proceeded to BOUNCE into his face, into his chest, knocking over his pot and beating at him again.

...........

....

"Stopppittt!!! Quitttit!" Zeke tried to get another hold on it, but it was quick, and kept hitting at him still. BAH! It got a good shot in too. Right. In. The. NOSE!...... "Aarrghhh!" The nose! NOT THE NOSE!... He already looked like he'd broken it once or twice, and... come to think of it, he probably had.

Zeke raised a hand to his face, covering his nose and making sure it wasn't bleeding. It wasn't, but it hurt. The other hand was outstretched in an attempt to shield himself from the stupid plant.

Slytherins weren't in trouble or causing it, yeah? She glanced around. Nope. No, one was dying--no Snake. Good, she could continue with the next task.

Stepping away from her table to grab a pot and some soil, Beverly returned and momentarily let her eyes fall on Cambridge and Stinky. Oh, this was amusing. Get her, Head Girl! Get her! Beverly would totally put money down on Cambridge. That girl gave off a vibe that she could kick bum.

It would be great of entertainment purposes.

Task. Right. There was that.

Tearing her gaze away, she started to add some soil into the pot, keeping her eyes alert. You know, just in case.

Samantha put on her Herbology gloves and grabbed a pot and some soil. Using her hands, Samantha carefully placed the soil into the pot, making sure that no soil was spilt on the table and that the soil was tightly packed. Once the pot was half filled with soil, Sam made sure that she was calm before approaching the bouncing bulbs.

How many times had he used the Knockback Jinx back at his old school? Too many times. Ethan was usually stressed out when it came to Durmstrang homework that he ends up sending his books and parchments across his dorm room every night. He’d get very frustrated at the too advanced magic stuff he had to learn, that he gets moody and mad most of the time. But for posterity’s sake, he casted the jinx on his notebook. “Flippendo.” Not too hard though because he might smack the professor with his notebook on the face. That would be entertaining, but he didn’t like to lose points, so there. Seeing that he casted the jinx successfully, he picked up his notebook and proceeded with the first step.

They already have pots on their table, so it was just the soil that he will be needing. Donning on his dragonhide gloves, he followed the rest and got himself a good amount of soil for the initial bedding, and the other half to bury the Bouncing Bulb.

Pot, check. Soil, check.

This should be easy, yeah? Ethan will just pretend that this was just like Potions. With his pot ready, he filled it with soil up until the middle, and eyed the Bouncing Bulb next.

Oh yeaaaaah. Bring it on!

Now it was time for the bouncing bulbs.

Multi-colored eyes darted over to the cart. Gulp. She was cool...when there was several feet of distance between them--between plants that could go ballistic at any moment and hit her face. She didn't mind a bruise here and there when it occurred during an adventure. She did mind bruises on her face because it'd look as if someone beat her up and she was no loser. She also did mind having to add more stress to her left arm and shoulder.

Stupid tree house and stupid fall.

Most of all, stupid fear of anything hospital-related. Alas, she was keeping that a secret. It's not like she broke her arm. It was just...bruised. Uhuh.

Tucking her hair behind her ear and lifting her chin, the Prefect made her way toward the cart. Composure. She had that. Reaching the cart she was quick to snatch up a bulb and take several steps back. If the other bouncing bulbs had a freak out she didn't want to be anywhere near them.

Beverly was worrying about them when she should have been paying attention to the one in her hands. Out of nowhere the plant seemed to panic and began to bounce erratically. If there was someone in front of her, Beverly was sure she'd have punched them unintentionally. She was doing her best to keep it at a distance from herself, but that only helped the bouncing bulb gain momentum and...BAM!

Right on the bad shoulder.

.................................OUCH!

Norah eyed the professor yelling at the two Gryffindors. Wasn't that going to get the bouncy bulb thingies all upset? She was glad the normal-er one seemed happy about the detention 'cause all she had done was stuck up for all the other kids who were victims of the head girl being a total whack-job. How did they decide on a head girl anyway? The second year didn't know anything about the process, but she didn't think pretending to be an evil queen was part of the job description.

At Professor Walton's request, she looked back at her pot and retrieved some more soil. Patting it down on the bulb, she made sure it was half covered with soil and then brushed the stray dirt off her gloves. Sooo, that was it, right? She smiled at the bouncing bulb sitting in the pot. She'd name him Herbert. Ickle-plantie, heh.

She was going to set this thing on fire. If it DARE hit her nose again, she would. It wouldn't matter if the professor saw or if he took points. Beverly Juniper Wayne would NOT be ridiculed by a plant. Just no.

Holding the plant down with both hands on the table, her arms shook at the bouncing bulb attempted to jump--and most likely have another go at her face or shoulder. Well, that wasn't going to happen. Her eyes flitted to the pot. Right at this very second she wished she had a third arm. As it was, she didn't.

A plan. She needed to strategize.

Wincing as the bulb gave a harsh push upward, Beverly pushed it down. It was going to do as she says. Every time it wanted to go up, she'd make it go down and--oh. Plan right there. She eyed the pot once more, then her hands that were currently encasing the bulb against the table, or trying to.

It was now or...she'd fail.

Counting to three, Beverly released the bouncing bulb, watched it as it bounced up into the air and took her wand out.

"Flipendo!" The bulb hit the table with a bit more force than intended as her spell hit, making it shoot downward. It shot upward, towards her face. Beverly aimed, her mind calculating the path the bulb would hopefully zoom in if she cast the spell on time.

There! It was right where she wanted it. "Flipendo!"

The bouncing bulb, hit by the spell once more, was thrust back diagonally from Beverly's face, and with a THUMP it hit inside the pot. Brows rising up in surprise she had actually been able to accomplish it, Beverly rushed to her pot and clasped her hands over bouncing bulb punching it once and added soil into the pot, half way as directed.

Oh my Merlin.

This...it had been exhilarating! What a rush.

And now for the FUN PART. Hehehehe. Ethan was quite excited to see how he’d fair on this one, seeing that the bulbs were a challenge. The goal was fairly simple. To get the bulb-- whether it likes it or not into the pot, and behave like a normal plant. The latter might not be the case, but yes, Professor Sir, he will get this mission done.

Dusting his hands off, Ethan placidly walked towards the cart, eyeing a certain victimbulb on his way. He’d have to get it out of the bunch quickly, so it won’t have the chance to bounce off and knock him out. Muehehehe. Ahem. As soon as he was near, the bulbs wiggled. He paused and timed his next movement next. He saw the opportunity right away, and grabbed one of the bouncing bulbs off the cart and held it firmly with one hand, his wand in the other. The bouncing bulb shook violently, trying its best to wiggle out from his grasp. “You don’t like being man-handled, eh?” Ethan wore a scowl on his face as he realized that this was harder than he thought. “Don’t let me use my wand against y---”

Ethan felt his grip loosen, and he DUCKED just in time when the bouncing bulb decided to smack his face.

BONK.

The Slytherin took a sharp turn and saw that instead of hitting his face, his plant had hit the greenhouse’s wall, knocking itself out. Ethan carefully approached his plant, and poked it with his wand. “Tough luck, mate.” Stupid plant. He didn’t need to use the jinx and hey-ho, the plant was that willing to be potted. Heh. Knocking itself out, yeah? Seeing that it was safe now, Ethan got the plant and hurried towards his pot. Who knows how long it’ll stay snoozing.

The fact it seemed like they were all supposed to have already known the Knockback Jinx kind of annoyed Brooklyn, especially as the revelation as to what the incantation was had seemed like an afterthought. She was eleven, after all. How she was supposed to know all these spells was ridiculous when she hadn’t been able to actually do any of them before she got here. She’d paid attention as Dante had asked about it, and the Hufflepuff prefect had informed him of the wand movement, though. She wasn’t about to ask for help when she could find out how to do it any other way. Plus, she wasn’t planning on spending time really practicing it when she had a bulb to pot.

She’d heard Professor Walton’s praise of her approach, too. Mhm. He definitely liked her, so this would be easy. She’d just stare the bulb into submission, but first she had to collect her pot. Hopefully there were still some left after the crazy head girl had gotten in that fight with the other girl, and she sort of muttered the spell under her breath as she’d walked up to collect a pot and some dirt. “Flipendo. Flipendo, flipendo, flipendo.” There, she’d practiced. Then she picked a pot and used a cup to scoop some dirt into it.

She wasn’t going to measure to make sure it was exactly halfway full. Maybe having a little bit more would cushion the bulb, anyway, even if they weren’t supposed to like being planted. The bulb wasn’t getting any choice. Aside from the fact she wanted to get her pot back to her table before she approached the bulb cart again. It would get some more time to decide that it was going to be nice to her. She refused to get hit by something as stupid as a plant.

Reaching the workstation he shares with Josie and Sophie, Ethan dumped the bouncing bulb inside his pot and filled it with more soil, just like how Walton has instructed. The Slytherin took off his gloves, set them aside and reached for his notebook and self-inking quill. He had to write some of his observations down, because hello, Herbology is his worst subject and that his notes is the most important thing right now. It’ll save him from getting a failing grade, yeah? Besides, Walton seems to be the tough proffy, and wouldn’t take any kind of excuse for not doing their best.

Now that he’s done, he peeked inside his pot once more and wondered if the Freezing Charm would have worked better than the Knockback Jinx. Immobilizing seems to be better idea to the boy, but he knew that there was a better explanation for it.

Oh yes. He’s got a question. Uhh…Professor sir?

It was time to collect her bulb. Brooklyn still wasn’t scared, but she wondered what would happen if the bulbs were stupid and forgot that she wasn’t scared of them. She’d fight back if any of them jumped out at her. She certainly wasn’t going to just stand there and let it happen, or run away. She’d taken her wand out and held it down by her side as she approached the cart again, however, just in case. Of course, that might make it hard for her to grab the bulb if she needed both hands. She felt like she was going to have to, but she still wanted her wand out. If anything, she could practice the jinx on anyone if they tried to get in her way. There hadn’t been any rules explicitly said that frowned upon that, after all.

She’d deliberately moved slowly toward the cart for the second time, already having seen others having difficulty with the bulbs. It hadn’t made her any more nervous than she had allowed herself to be, but it had made her wonder if the bulbs would get tired after a while. That would make things easier, yet she was getting one to pot no matter what. She refused to fail, and she eyed a particular bulb as she got closer. Yep. That was the one she was picking. It looked a little bit smaller than the others. She figured that might make it easier to pick up without dropping her wand, yet her eyes narrowed as it had wiggled when she’d reached her free hand out toward it. No. It wasn’t supposed to do that. She paused, but after a moment simply lunged forward and grabbed it, letting it try to bounce around and hit her hand as she made her way back to her pot. She had her wand still ready to jinx it if it looked like it was going to get close to actually hurting her.

Samantha stood at her desk and practiced the spell needed to retrieve a bulb. "Flipendo!" Sam kept repeating in her mind over and over again until she felt confident enough to get the bulb. She focused her mind on being calm and then walked over to the cart carrying her pot in her arm and her wand in her opposite hand.

She moved closer and closer to the cart and tried to grab a bulb but maybe she had a bit of nervousness inside her because just as her fingers touched a bulb, it bounced out of the cart. She aimed her wand at it and firmly said, "Flipendo!" The bulb hit a pot, not smashing it, thankfully and headed straight for Sam as her eyes widened and she held up the pot. The bulb landed inside and Samantha headed back to her table.

The final activity was more exciting than approaching the bouncing bulbs. And of course Zahra got some kind of detention. And Lex as well? ....BWAHAHAHAH!JUSTICE! He grinned and turned his attention back to the activity. This class was great! Student catching fire, LEX GETTING A DETENTION! AWESOME!

Oh right, the activity...

Practise the incantation? NO. He didn't NEED to practise because he was already awesome with spells, he was a third year for crying out loud! Yeah he totally got this.

So instead of practising, Kevin walked to where the pots were it was a miracle there were some left over and when he had one he placed it on his desk. Next he went to grab some soil and added it in to the pot until it was half full and then eyed the bouncing bulbs.

Alright then, time for some fun.

Trying to ignore some of the drama going around. He just wanted to give himself a chance to get this thing potted. After locating the pots, he went after one and grabbed up a nice one that wasn't too big, not to small. He got some soil and a trowel. He set a bit of soil in the bottom and then off to gather a bulb.

Walking slowly, trying to show more confidence than he felt, Ian headed toward the cart. He didn't whistle but in his mind the whole time he was telling the bulbs to stay calm. NOTHING going on here. Just walking by a cart. He took a couple practice runs, hoping another student didn't agitate the bulbs too much.

Er... yeah, so.... he was FAILING at controlling his bulb. It. Kept. Hitting. Him!!

....... T_____T

Zeke spent some time struggling with it still, but in the end he knew he had to concede, he knew that he had to wave the white flag.... he knew he needed help. It sucked being a first year that knew nothing. Boooo.

"Help!".... "Someone! Anyone! Someone!" Helllpppppp over here please!!! Knock it back! Kill it! Stop it from hitting him!!!! He could NOT control this thing!!!

"Pllleaaseee!"

A hand shot up in the air, waving and calling for help.

Quote:

Er... yeah, so.... he was FAILING at controlling his bulb. It. Kept. Hitting. Him!!

....... T_____T

Zeke spent some time struggling with it still, but in the end he knew he had to concede, he knew that he had to wave the white flag.... he knew he needed help. It sucked being a first year that knew nothing. Boooo.

"Help!".... "Someone! Anyone! Someone!" Helllpppppp over here please!!! Knock it back! Kill it! Stop it from hitting him!!!! He could NOT control this thing!!!

"Pllleaaseee!"

A hand shot up in the air, waving and calling for help.

Now that she had her pot half full of dirt and a separate cup with dirt in it off to the side it was time for the interesting part. She needed to go get that bulb plant thing without causing harm to herself or anyone else. Taking a deep breath Hady began to make her way towards the cart.

She was halfway there when she'd heard shouting. Was someone hurt? Glancing around she spotted a boy whom she knew to be a first year like herself calling for help. No one was helping him yet. Maybe now would be a good time to try that Knockback Spell?

Making her way over to Zeke she lifted her wand and did the movement for the spell stating firmly and clearly. "Flipendo!" As she pointed at the bulb the boy was holding. She hadn't expected it to work but when her spell hit the bulb knocking it back she grinned slightly. "Are you alright?" She asked the boy looking at him to see if he was hurt.

Adi joined ranks with him in an attempt to make sure the head girl didn't go off on the younger girl. Not so much because of her usual behavior, but because of how she had been acting since...well since History of Magic class. He certainly didn't want it to turn into a full blown fight like one of the boys was chanting about. Thankfully the professor also stepped in, sentencing them to service punishment and both seemed to back down.

Not without his fellow Gryffindors calling each other and then him and Adi crazy.

Feel the love?

About to move on and retrieve a pot for himself, Ben turned again at his name being called. He very nearly rolled said eyes after the comment he was given before being asked for help. Concentrate, he told himself as he picked up his wand once more. "Flippendo!" he cast carefully at the bulb, hoping to not only knock it back but get it to release its grip on Adi. That done, he turned to walk away and retrieve the rest of his supplies.

On his way back to his work station there was another call for help, this time from his friend from the quill shop. Innocently asking for help...not teasing with it. "Flippendo!" he cast again, using the wand movement over again at Zeke's bouncing bulb. "You okay?" he then asked the younger Gryffindor.

One minute he thought he was going to DIEEEE.. ahem... and the next minute, he was saved. Saved, and then saved again. Zeke wiped his brow but QUICKLY righted his pot, doing his best to shove in the dirt that threatened to fall out, and shoved the Bulb in with it.

"Th-thanks," he replied first to the Slytherin girl he didn't know. She was new though, like him... he was sure he'd seen her at the sorting ceremony. "How'd you do that? I couldn't get it to work for me before..."

His other rescuer was also appreciated, hehe... though, WAS he okay? Was he? "I think so," he started, though he sounded more as if he was wondering out loud. "Does my nose look alright? It hit me pretty hard..." and more than once. This was one thing he wouldn't be writing home about. No need to go telling people he was beaten up by a plant.

Zeke kept a firm hand on his bulb, slowly feeding more of the soil in and around the bulb in the pot.