Professor Myers had said he wanted to hear answers from everyone, which meant Lucy had to speak up. So, why did she think they would whip graft these trees? "Because then one tree can do what two do and it helps make the earth better in two ways at the same time." Maybe there could be less trees that way. She didn't think there needed to be less trees. She like trees. But basically, they didn't need one of each when they could have one of both.

And where did she think they could be planted? "Everywhere." Lucy couldn't think of a reason they should be in a particular place more than another. Sure, like others said, cities have more pollution, but you might as well plant these two-for-one trees in forests and suburban areas, too.

So what now. Oh yes Professor Paul had asked some question or was it questions. All Dante hear was to much talking followed by the question of why do you think we could make such a tree. Which really had an obvious answer because we could. Why less would we make extremely dangerous weapons and such.

"To help air pollution"

That was all Dante got Professor Paul, herbology was never a barrington strong suit.

At least he is trying and not napping with his trees. He should get a metaphorical gold star for that or maybe another bubble in the face.

Ava had already picked the trees: Honey locust and mahogany. So now they just had to... Wait? Oh no, not yet. They needed to answer Professor Myers' question. Well... WHY do you think we would make such a tree? What could be the reasons? "I don't know very much about tree, Professor. But I think we create this tree to make a new one that can both give nitrogen back into soil and help the air pollution. You know, complete each other." Hehehe.

"And uh... I think we can plant it everywhere but since you said that one of them is to help the air pollution, so I suggest that we can plant them around the city park." Because usually the big city had bad pollution due to too many muggle vehicles.

Kaycee tried really hard not to snicker. But she couldn't help it. Geesh, Professor. It was only a joke. But... LULZ! Now Dante had to go see the Professor after class.

This just turned out better than expected.

She had a serious case of the silent giggles and wasn't able to participate for the first few questions. Which, was fine by her. She didn't really know anything about graphing. Or grafting. Or whatever they were talking about.

But yay for practical things. She made her way over to pick out some trees. Starting with the legrooms... Legumes? Sure.

She looked between the two before grabbing the Persian silk tree. Now to pick tree number two.

Ohh, so she'd lucked out and guessed correctly on a type of grafting? AWESOME. Okay, so, she hadn't guessed. She'd looked it up in the textbook. She'd gotten it right, though! YESSSS. But WHIP GRAFTING, it was called! She kind of laughed at the professor's attempt at humor. At least he was having fun with the lesson, which didn't make things boring at all! Ariadne listened to the explanation of whip grafting. She nodded along as he asked them if they understood. YUP.

When the professor had said it was okay to get up and get started, Ariadne headed to the back of the greenhouse. She really didn't know any major differences between the two legumes and the two anti-pollutants, so she'd just decide the best way she knew--which ones looked the COOLEST! She ended up choosing a honey-locust tree and a mahogany tree. Everything looked so similar to everything else, but something just drew Ariadne to those two. She kind of thought it might have something to do with the fact that when the two were combined, she could imagine the result being called 'Honey Hog Trees'. Heh.

Kaycee moved on to the next set of trees. The anti-pollutant trees. Now. Which one to pick? Mahogany and dadap red were both pretty fun to say.

It probably didn't matter two much actually. So she settled on the mahogany. Alright. Now. To make some new half tree baby thing. Bring on the practical part of the lesson. She was ready.

As for the professor's question. "I'm guessing they should be planted in whatever environment the roots need." Right? Because it still, like, has the qualities and needs of its components. Right?

Paul chuckled a bit at Jace’s question. “I should rephrase--grafting is a man-made thing--but the natural...ways of trees merging together does exist, and some Herbologists call it grafting...others do not. The term is not very strict, to be honest.” Did that make sense?



Well.

That was certainly...interesting. “Your sentiments are, Miss Johanson, very fascinating,” he grinned. “I would love to plant these on Mars--however, that would take an extreme amount of terraforming, I think. Are you suggesting these would be part of the terraforming process?” He liked seeing connections made between he and Airey Moxley’s lessons made since he had explained about the joint field trip.

Great thinking, Mel!



“Good point. Killing two birds with one stone, so to speak, then, yes.” He nodded. “However..these trees put nitrogen back into soil...and not the other way around.” He corrected her. It was an important difference to make note of.



Jace was such an eager child. Paul enjoyed it. “Oooooh...you’re very much on the right track, m’boy!” He grinned. “A barren land that has been...destroyed in some way would definitely be a good option for these trees.” Focusing on the bottom half, yes.



Paul paused their discussion to watch Angel. “DId everyone see Angel? And admire her skills? Very good, m’dear. Do not be late next time,” he said as he swept on to the next student. There was a bit of an amused glint in his eye.



“Very good. Dual use is such a great way to put it! Yes yes!” he patted her head as he walked by.



“Oooooh yes! I like that you mentioned it could be used for...making the soil healthier in order to grow more plants--that is a VERY good point! Take two points!” he gave her an eager thumbs up.



...Merlin.

The child was….spurting out textbook answers...and in length, too, good GRACIOUS.

“Yes! To...all of that, Katherine.” She had pointed out a few important things. For one, “The introduction of nitrogen into barren soil does help on a molecular level--” she had touched briefly on that. “And also...the least amount of land wasted as possible...is a VERY profound thought. You should also take two points--” he beamed. He WAS impressed. “And yes, a good fertilizer for more plants to grow, as Kitty touched upon as well!”



“That’s a thought! Cities had limited space and so..combining these properties into one tree would, indeed, make sense!” he nodded.



“Very good, Janelle! Great thinking!” he smiled as he passed her desk.



AHAHA LEGROOMS. That was cute. Paul simply grinned. “Yes...very good...helping out soil in order to help out the plants there...and to aid against aggressive roots. Legrooms are cool like that.”

HEHEHEHE.



Paul nodded. “Yes, very good, Miss Darcy! You’re correct, for sure!”

He had such smart students.



Oooooh and a connection to Muggle Studies! “Yes, you’re right, it WOULD. Moxley would certainly have liked the plants you’re about to make for that lesson, eh?” he smiled. At lesst he had gotten to deliver the Honking Daffodils, though.



Ahem. Paul sent a slight LOOK at the child. “Well...this class is...about how we’re going to do that, Oliver….so...if you just pay attention ...in a few minutes, I’ll be walking you all through that VERY process.” The answer in his head had been much more snarky.

“And yes, very cool. Tis why we’re learning it.”



“You’re right! It helps everyone--very well put, so...take a point!” he clapped a little. Zeke was so bright.



OoH! It was nice to hear Lucy talk! She was adorable.

“Haha, everywhere, m’dear? Well, I would agree!” he winked at her.



“Well...yes, Dante.” He said with a short, curt nod in his direction.

Hmph.



Paul nodded. “Yes--the dual purpose thing is important.” He burrowed that terminology, hehe. “And oooooh right...muggle vehicles are so terrible for the air.”



Paul HEARD the “silent” giggles and whipped around to face her. “MISS RICHARDS. Would you like to also come forward and say the alphabet backwards, then?” he asked, not harshly whatsoever...more with a smirk and a mischievous head tilt.


He made his way back towards the front of the room. "Every have their plants? Does anyone have anything else to aaaaaadd?" he asked as he squinted at the back of the room. He should pick two plants, too...hmm.

He would do the...Persian Silk and the Dadap, too. He couldn't remember if he had ever done that combo before...

OOC: Hi guys! I have had a very long day and I am super tired, so I am not going to move on until I wake up tomorrow morning. Ten or so hours, maybe <3 Anyone who wants to catch up/finish their posts/ask questions/annoy Paul can do so! *hugs and kisses*

People were already chiming in and giving ideas for the question that had been asked. Truth be told, Ariadne had no idea why this plant would be beneficial. She only knew how to take plants and use them to make potions. She'd been around that kind of thing her whole life. Hybrid plants and why we need them, though? That part was new. She guessed Herbology wasn't going to be quite as easy as she'd thought.

She listened to the ideas and then raised her hand. "Nitrogen is good for plants, but it can also be harmful if there's too much of it. So maybe the bottom half gives the nitrogen that's needed, while the top half fights off the parts that aren't," she suggested. If that wasn't right, the she had no idea. She'd just wait to hear what the professor had to say. Now...where would this plant be beneficial? "We helped Headmistress Moxley clean up a disaster area in Muggle Studies. Maybe this type of plant would be good for areas like that one."

Also, wasn't there some sort of field trip that combined a few of their classes? Were Muggle Studies and Herbology in that group? Maybe this was one of the connections among the classes!

So she was right on one hand...though not necessarily on what they would be dealing with today. Olivia would take that in a heartbeat. It was better than being completely off the beaten track and lost before they really began. And then their was a late student, the first year having to keep from chuckling at her choice of punishment. Silly Gryffindor. As for today's class, whip grafting was the key for the lesson and the Ravenclaw copied the complete list as well as the focused topic into her notes. Oh and legumes and amti-pollutants, both stuff that came from the trees that helped nature in the long run.

How beneficial!

And now to pick the two trees she would be working with, while trying to think on an answer to the professor's questions? A lot of double duty there. Olivia moved with the class to where the four bunches of specimens were, two of each type. Starting with the legumes, she looked them both over before taking possession of one Persian silk tree. She moved it to her desk before repeating the process with the other duo. Finally opting on the mahogany, the Ravenclaw brought one to her work area as well.

Moaaar bubbles! Of course Tenacius appreciated more it. And he kept popping and catching as much as he could too. Much to the annoyance of those who are meditating though. But at least he's staying where he's at instead of leaping over their heads right? Right.

Grafting. What did he know about it? "Uh basically frankensteining a plant." Was that a technical term? It is to Tenacius.

Oh oh oh pick a plant any plant! Tenacius bolted for the back of the room to pick out his potential frankensteins, deciding on the Persian Silk and the Dadap. They look different enough to him that when he frankensteins them together it wont feel as odd as it would be looking at a mutant Mahogany. Yeah? Yeah.

Weirdly and surprisingly, Dima was familiar with all the plants Paul had just mentioned. Huh. Looked like OWL year had actually done him some good? He considered his choices before heading toward the back of the room to make his selections.

Naturally, he picked the Persian Silk for his legume and the Dadap for his anti-pollutant. They were the most interesting looking, drawing him in far more than a simple honey-locust or mahogany tree, so they were the clear winners in his eyes.

The sixth year carried them back to his work area, still debating answers to the questions he was meant to be answering next.

With his frankenstein plants now sitting before him, Tenacius looked up when the Professor posed his next questions. "Uhm, well because soil nutrition is said to be rather poor now, what with Muggles turning everything into agricultural land and just sucking all the nutrients out of the soil, making them imbalanced for other plants to survive in." At least that’s what he hears from the big adulty people "And again Muggles just pollute the air, so now we need plants to suck all the bad stuff out of it. So basically we are making a plant that can do two things at once." Huzzah for efficiency. Oh and where do they plant it? "Maybe we should plant these whereever Muggles have ruined nature. Or maybe exactly where Muggle cities are-- our Magical trees will take over and Muggles cant do nothing about it." Makes sense to him.

So.... there were a lot of reasons Dima couldn't quite think of an answer to any of Paul's questions:

1.) He was not the type of Ravenclaw who could spout textbook answers like there was no tomorrow (which some first years from his house were doing and making him feel ridiculously stupid. Thanks, guys.)
2.) Everyone else was taking the obvious answer, stating that you could help the soil and pollution. And he wasn't a repetition fan, so that path was out, too.
3.) There was actually no desire present in him to do well right now. Sorry, not sorry.

Which meant... he was raising his hand with this gem. "Because it'll make a cool looking plant, sir." In answer to the 'why' question.

Nailed it.

Standing up from her work station, Brooklyn had been halfway over to collect her trees when Professor Myers had chosen to respond to a few of their answers. Including hers, and she’d stopped walking and turned to give him a look as he corrected her. As he dared say she was wrong, although in general it seemed like he’d said she had a point even so. Actually, he’d said that outright, so she couldn’t get too angry with the correction. In all honesty she’d only been half paying attention to that part of the discussion anyhow, so getting her answer even partly right was good enough. She still was a little annoyed though.

After that moment, she turned again and went over to the trees. Picking out a Persian silk from what was there, she then turned to collect a mahogany tree. They were thankfully still small enough that she managed to get them back to her work station without too much trouble. If they hadn’t been, there were any number of people she could have gotten to move the trees for her. With a bit of coaxing, anyhow, or maybe bribery. Either way, the trees had gotten back to her seat and she hadn’t had to give anything up. Even better.

Though he wouldn't admit it out loud... he really did like Professor Myers... the praise, the praise was appreciated. The kudos, the clapping, the point. Yaaaasssssss. This was why he was doing Herbology - aside from it obviously having an influence on his results and being a standard for gaining entrance into WU.

All good. He was all good.

Looking smug, he waited for everyone else to get their things together so they could start their grafting. He was suddenly VERY motivated. Yes.

Bella wouldn't say that she was completely clueless when it comes to plants, both magical and non-magical, but she had no idea what grafting was. So she sat there quietly while others answered the question on the different types of grafting. However, she was ready to take notes as each one was listed just so she could familiarize herself with all of them later since they were only focusing on just whip grafting today.

Once she was finished jotting down some notes she got up to pick out her two trees. It took her a moment before she finally decided on the two she wanted. She grabbed one Persian Silk and a Dadap. She still was thinking about the question the professor had asked, still not sure on her answer.

Tia knew most of the different types of grafting already, but regardless she was still jotting down notes and mostly just giving her peers a chance to answer the questions. Cause like, NEWTs were soon and grafting questions were likely to be present on those exams. It was rather fascinating how you could graft with plants, as well as with human tissues she'd heard of from reading muggle medicine magazines.

Whip grafting. She highlighted that and underlined that in her notes, because well, that was today's topic. So they got the choice of two plants, one anti-pollutant and one legume. Going over to select her two plants, the seventh year decided on one honey-locust tree, noting to take the bottoms of that one, and one mahogany, to which she would take the top of that tree.

Oh, and another question. While she was considering the how to do it, Tia glanced over at Myers thoughtfully before raising her hand. "Grafting, whether for plants or for human tissue, is done to not done necessarily to get the benefits of the other plant, but because one plant, the legume struggles with air pollutants and might be sick and dying. So by combining plants in such a way where you can help it better cope with air pollutants but also in keeping with nutrients from the soil, the plant will thrive better in the long-term."

"I'd imagine that these grafted trees could be used anywhere where air pollution is a problem, which is for the most part urban areas, but it's really anywhere on Earth."

Paul nodded. “Absolutely, Miss Geinrgroth! These would have been helpful in that sort of area, for sure!”



Paul listened to the boy’s response and just...nodded a lot, because he made some good points...but his answer did concern Paul. Did the boy had...things against muggles? The way he worded that last sentence… “I...think you’re correct, muggles do a lot of stuff to the environment that is not good--but I should advise you against saying that only muggles mess up the environment. Wizards do, too. Toxic spills, magic holes or magic that has a reaction in the environment...weather magic...while we may not do it as constantly, m’boy, when we mess with the environment….the reactions are much worse immediately and on a larger scale.” Hmmmm. “And I hate to tell you this---but what we’re doing today, the muggles can do as well. We’re just doing to speed up the process since we have magic!” He would explain in due time.



Aha! That had Paul laughing and he nodded. “It will indeed, Dima! You’re right!” It certainly wasn’t a WRONG answer.



Tia did know grafting fairly well, for he could tell by her confidence while speaking on it. "And yes yes, you're right! Heh...these would be good anywhere--except for soils already rich in nitrogen. As Ariadne say, having too much of that is bad...the right amount is needed." ANYWAYS.

TIME TO MOVE ON.

Paul went to grab a Persian Silk and a Dadap and brought them to the front, on the table he would be working on. “Does everyone have the previous notes copied down?” he asked and waited only a second before wiping the board clean with his wand. “TWO more vocabulary terms that will most definitely show up on any exam I give you--and they are scion and rootstock.” He paused, letting the chalk write. “A SCION is, essentially, the tree with the leaves or fruit you’re taking. The branches part. The ROOTSTOCK, as it would indicate, is the plant whose roots you want. Easy enough, right?” he hoped so.

“Everyone got it?” he hoped they were taking notes. Paul’s lessons were typically ones you needed to take notes in, after all.

“Now! I am going to walk you through the steps as I do them up front. If any questions should pop up along the way, please ask me!” he grinned as he pulled his gloves on. “Gloves on, everyone!” For safety!

“The very first step...is to take your STOCK tree...meaning the one with the roots you want, and make a very precise cut.” The baby trees were currently in little pots with soil. “Feel free to stand as you work.” It would probably be much easier. “The cut must be about THREE INCHES above the surface of the soil.” He had pictures! Huge ones! Like...slightly bigger than a posterboard! He pushed it onto the chalk tray so that everyone could see it. “About right there!” he pointed at the spot with his wand, the same one the arrow was pointing at.



“Now...that cut can’t just be ANY cut...it has to be at a 45 degree angle.” he slipped another picture in front of the other. “Like that. You want to make it a smooth...straight...diagonal cut. You can either use Diffindo or--” he shook a little tool bag to make the contents clank around. “I do have some grafting knives if you’re paranoid about making that cut perfectly with the spell.” Paul could do either/or. He grabbed his wand and muttered ‘Diffindo’ underneath his breath and made the cut, split through the rootstock’s thin trunk. “Now...set the top of this tree aside--don’t worry, we’ll make use of them!” he smiled. It must feel weird to cut a tree in half. Almost...cruel. Paul had grafted many times before, though, and thought this was nothing to feel bad about. “But for right now...set it to the side and focus on the bottom half, the part still in the dirt.” Obviously.”



He cleared his throat.

“We’re going to make what we call a TONGUE in Herbology...but really, it’s kind of like a little flap. Halfway up from the bottom of the cut--” he put the picture in front of the last one on the board. “You want to go about halfway up the length of this cut...and make the little flap with either your wand or a grafting knife. When you make the flap...you just...cut straight back!” he hoped that make sense?



“Does anyone have any questions? If not--let’s do those steps! I’ll put them up on the board and walk around to make sure everyone is okay.” He quickly cut the flap into his rootstock’s cut and moved the pictures on the blackboard to the side so that they could see the steps clearly written for them.

Two steps so far. He didn’t want to go further just yet, in case they couldn’t...get this or...some people had ISSUES and whatnot. “All right then, everyone, let’s get started then!” He smiled.

OOC: Wheeee y'all are all doing so great and amusing me/Paul so much xD For this part of the lesson, either one detailed post or two baby!posts will do <3 I'll move on in a little over 24 hours. I keep forgetting to tell you guys this--but please number your posts if you're doing more than one xD Thanks!

Ps. If you want to do catch up posts/post go ahead--just label please so I know! Thanks!

Bella continued to think of the best possible answer to Professor Myers question. Well she knew that nitrogen was needed in plant growth so if a plant was giving it back to the soil it was probably meant to help other plants grow. If you combined that with an anti-pollutant, it would really help the earth.

"To help the environment," She finally replied to why they would be making sure a tree. "I believe these trees would be useful just about everywhere humans live."

Jaemin hadn't realised his mistake with the word until Professor Myers pointed it out by doing the same; at that point, his little face went bright red, and a rather horrified look entered his eyes. He was a Herbologist, how could he not pronounce the words correctly?! His father would be ashamed! (Not really.) The small boy deflated just the slightest bit and he gently petted his Honey Locust tree some more. It really did have very nice leaves, it was a shame it would have to part with them.

The activity beginning, however, had Jaemin immediately brightening again. REDEMPTION TIME! He nudged the mahogany tree back a bit, out of the way, and looked at Julia. "I'm gonna use the knife to do it. Do you wanna too?"

How comfortable was Julia with using spells like that? He wasn't really sure. He just knew that he felt a way about it, as he was inexperienced with magic still and he didn't want to destroy this precious little tree.

Haddie just stared at Paul, dumbfounded. He didn't explain what they were supposed to do. Er, how they were supposed to do it. Roots of one plant and the top of the other... okay... uh...

She got up to get one of each plant, still completely lost. Skin grafts they sewed the new flesh on, was that what she was supposed to do? She didn't see any thread or needle. How were they...

Her arm just flicked a moment, which meant her counter-charm to casting Disillusionment on herself days ago was about to wear off. Again. And then Haddie faded fully from sight. See?

The two plants she was holding seemingly floated themselves back to Haddie's bag and set themselves down. Her bag opened itself and started to shift its contents around until a jet black wand floated out of it, and waved about as Haddie cast the counter charm, again. And Haddie was visible again, a bit annoyed and still completely lost.

Julia stared at all of the pictures the professor was showing them, willing herself to match what he was saying to what the pictures showed. It was a bit overwhelming, if she were to be honest with herself, but she had Jay there being awesome—and really, who cared if he mispronounced one little word? Goodness—and she’d always been more of a hands-on, kinetic learner than a reading learner, Ravenclaw or no.

Besides, scion and rootstock weren’t that hard to learn, especially when one had the word of what it meant in it. Easy peasy.

”Oh, I’m using the knife too.” For a number of reasons, one of them being that if this turned out to be something she could do, and do [i[well[/i], she wanted to be able to practice over the summer and show the Muggle half of her family what she’d learned. ”Do we have a protractor? How will we know the cut’s exactly forty-five degrees?”

Yeah that’s right, Julia knew basic maths.

Did he have a thing against Muggles? Nope. Was he unapologetic about the truth that Muggles are largely responsible to why the planet was kinda dying? Yeah pretty much. The ugly truth became a catchphrase for a reason.

But now it was time to frankenstein the plants! He paid attention, yup he did, but it was kinda confusing so he had to go back and forth on those poster boards. He hasn’t had much experience with the Diffindo spell, but normally that wouldn’t stop him from winging an attempt to learn it yeah? He took his wand and moved his hand about, tilting his arm up, then down, turning the plant this way and that.... Just trying to get the right angle like what the Professor has demonstrated.

This feels very awkward. And as he looked at his plant, he felt that if he's gonna have to cut it down, he shouldn't have to put it through the misery of cutting it the wrong way AND keep on CUTTING to get it right. Plants have feelings as this Professor always says.

And with that, Tenacius set his wand aside into its holster then stood to get a cutting tool.

Yeah doing it the Muggle way.

A protractor. Jaemin had a distinct moment where he realised that stuff like this was the reason that Julia was in Ravenclaw, because that word just felt like a Ravenclaw word. He looked up at the professor, then back at the girl. "I don't think he has protractors."

Professor Myers did not look anything at all like a protractor type of person. Still... Jaemin pushed his seat back a little, leaning down until he was eye-level with the pot that his tree was in. It shouldn't be hard to make it close to what that picture looked like, right? Herbology wasn't an exact science... at least not that he knew of. At least not exact-exact like that.

"I think it'll be okay if we're close. It just can't be a straight cut." He nodded slowly. His dad didn't use protractors or anything like that... he just kinda did it. The small boy hopped out of his seat. "I'll get the knives!"

He bounced up to Paul, little cheeks going pink again as he remembered his failure at saying the word correctly, and collected two of the grafting knives for himself and Julia before bouncing back to their station and setting them down.

Ready to goooooo.

"Can you do it?" She probably could. Julia was smart and capable and surely she would be just as careful with plants as Jaemin himself was. "Do you want help?"

He could hold her tree very still for her. They were little. They would be easy to move around if they weren't anchored and stuff.

Rachel smiled as she was patted on the head for her answer. Such a kindly man Professor Myers was. She waited until he was ready to move on, scribbling notes in her books as she did so. She then proceeded to add the two definitions before setting down her quill so that she could pull on her gloves.

The Eagle paid rapt attention to Myers and his demonstration. The diagrams made this even easier and for this, she was grateful. She wanted to do her best for this lesson and all Herbology lessons alike as they were preparing her for her future with plants. When the demonstration was over, she went to collect a knife. As this was her first time doing grafting of any type, she wanted to be precise and she trusted herself doing it manually for now.

Back at her desk, she remained standing and got to work. The honey locust would be used as the rootstock. Rachel measured three inches above the soil then angled the knife. With one careful movement, she sliced through the stem at the forty five degree angle.

Now to make the tongue- a term which was fairly new to her in terms of Herbology. She studied the picture on the board before moving on to this step. Again she measured but this time halfway up the first cut with the knife as was instructed then proceeded to cut to make the flap then she cut straight back.

Had she done it correctly? She wanted to be sure this hadn't gone wrong as everything else in her life recently so she raised her hand. "Professor Myers? Can you please check to confirm that I completed those steps correctly?''