Henry wasn't sure when when was the last time he was this excited for a Herbology lesson. Sure, he liked the class enough. And he really liked Professor Paul. But today they were going into the Forbidden Forest! As in forbidden. Just the name alone was exciting. Who knew what they'd see in there.

Bouncing slightly on his heels as he waited impatiently for class to get started, he turned his attention to the professor as he spoke. Plants that liked darkness? Well, he knew of a couple, so he raised his hand to offer an answer. "Devil's Snare likes dark and damp conditions." They were pretty dangerous. Would they being seeing some of them today?

She had left her hair loose but had returned to wearing heavy Gothic makeup again. Her nails were twice as long as they usually were and painted black. Kitty hoped they wouldn't get damaged if they were digging around in the dirt, but that was an occupational hazard.

This time it looked like she was the second person to arrive for class. "Hey Professor," greeted Kitty politely as she curiously examined the buckets. "How are you?"

Panic hit her when Paul mentioned the Forbidden Forest. The truth was, prefect or not, the Forbidden Forest scared the living daylight out of her. During her second year of Hogwarts she had come to fear it as a potential hiding place for the evil former Divination teacher, Ursula Black the Hag. She had only been inside the forest once, and that was when the very next year Ursula had proven her fears right by dragging her and Brody into it and throwing them both inside a giant pot to eat them alive. They were rescued just in time and Ursula Black had been arrested. But even if that danger was gone, Kitty knew there were many other things lurking in the forest and to this day she still had nightmares about Ursula. Sometimes in her dreams Ursula had a family which came to wreck vengeance on Hogwarts, and Kitty always ended up in a pot in those dreams. *Shudder*

"Are there any dangerous plants in the Forest?" she asked nervously. That wasn't answering his question, but fear was clouding her normally calm Ravenclaw senses. And the mention of Devil's Snare only made things worse.

Herbology class!

Gardening had never interested Ambrose, but then again in the muggle world plants were pretty... boring. And interacting with them never involved magic. And they were boring. But in the magical world this was interesting! like everything else After the first class he'd actually spent hours flicking through his herbology textbook staring at all the weird kinds of plants and reading through the descriptions of them.

There were definitely a few that Ambrose did not want to get anywhere close to, but at school they wouldn't deal with the really dangerous ones. Would they?

"Hey professor Myers, how are you?" he greeted, waiting for the rest of the class to arrive.

They were entering the FORBIDDEN FOREST!!! Ambrose beamed at the thought, he was wondering what it was like in there... but he hadn't been brave enough to find out by himself after having read about it. At this point the first year was practically vibrating with excitment.

Any plants that might like the darkness of the forest.

"Uh... mushrooms? They usually like dark and damp places," he beamed at his head of house, even though he couldn't name a magical plant. He had said mundane ones were acceptable....

Okay. So, Dora didn't particularly TRUST the Herbo professor, but curiosity definitely got the better of her. The forbidden FOREST! How fun! Dora knew there were crazy cool creatures and plants in the forest.

As she sidled up she took up beside a bucket and peered inside. "Moss. Moss grows in the dark and wet places. And fungi, really, " she said with a raised hand. She did so like plants and things. And the mention of Devil's Snare made her a bit giddy. Could they PLEASE see some?!

They. Were. Headed. Into. The. Forest!

Leon was super excited as he headed down to the Herbology lesson. The seventh year nodded at the two other kids who had arrived before him and then smiled at the Professor.

"Hello Professor Meyers. If you need any help, I'm here. " The wanna be Auror said as his grey eyes darted towards the forest as he thought about the Professors Question..

Devils Snare was the only magical plant he could think of that would like darkness of the forest.. so hmm.. Muggle plants..

Leon raised his hand.."The non magical plant Peperomia would like it Professor. It likes the damp as well. " He said with a nod as he looked back over at the Forest,.

Excited 7th year was excited..

It was a little chilly once they were under the canopy of the trees, and Katy was glad she had her thicker robes on. There was some sun dappling on the decaying leaves underfoot, but it was mostly dark. Chilly. Super atmospheric, and it matched her mood a bit.

Katy settled by one of the metal bucket and gave the Professor a big grin. He was nice, if a bit goofy. Plus he was probably good to know if ever she wanted to get her hands on rare potions ingredients.

"Oh, oh, Professor!" She raised a hand. "I think that even some mundane trees are shade tolerant, and they'll be able to grow up under the canopy in spite of the fact that they don't get much sunlight."

Ooooooh. They were entering the forbidden forest today!

Etta was excited, to say the least. What it would it be like inside? And most importantly, would they get to see scary-looking plants? The girl really hoped so. She moved close to one of the buckets, wondering what the professor had in store for them.

"Um, professor?" She raised a hand hesitantly. "What about ferns? They can grow in the darkness, right?"

Another day, another Herbology lesson.

And one on location, as the notice had mentioned meeting by the groundskeeper’s hut for the start of the class at least. As she made her way down across the grounds to the location in question, Cassie could see a few student already there as well as Professor Myers. “Good day, Professor,” the Ravenclaw greeted with a smile at the man when she got close to the hut. Hmm…forest? Right the notice had said something about that too. Not that the fourth year was worried about that even without Gryffindor bravery. As for the question posed to the class by the Herbology professor…

Devil’s Snare…yep.
Mushrooms…yep.

The latter kinda covering the whole variety of fungus and toadstools and such so it limited options if she didn’t want to copy someone. Well she could expound upon it the Ravenclaw supposed. “Mosses like the dark dampness of the forest,” Cass finally supplied to the question on her own. They were similar to mushrooms in that respect.

Colt decided he would give herbology a try. He heard they were going into the Forbidden Forest. He couldn't pass up a trip there. He heard all the awesome stories so he figured what is the worst that could happen. As he approached the classroom, he saw some others made it here on time. He only two familiar faces but he went to join Dora in the adventure. He was walking beside her and heard Professor Meyers ask a question? He couldn't really hear it because of the crunching of the dirt and twigs. He could barely make it out when he heard a classmate's answer. So what plants could thrive in the forbidden forest?

He had no idea, he agreed with the dude saying devils snare but he didn't see any here but there could be other forms. Little form of devils snare. He thought about plants and he had on idea. He learned this with his cousin one day. "Professor could bubotuber's thrive here? I mean them squeezing puss and all would make a perfect hide out in my opinion.." He heard other answers and he thought some of them were advanced.

Well this slytherin wasn't much to study plants so Meyers was lucky he even answered.

They were going into the Forbidden Forest? Trixie bounced up and down on her toes in excitement. She had been coming to Hogwarts for over three years and she was finally going to see what was so forbidden about the forest.

Maybe they would see a Centaur.

Or a Unicorn.

First though, they had to answer the Professor's question. She raised her hand in the air while still bouncing on her toes. "I think Hellebore prefers to grow in shady areas."

Sam was SUPER excited for today's lesson for two reasons. First, it was outside, which was always a plus in Sam's book. Stuffy classrooms were no fun at all, whatever the lesson. And second, they were going into the Forbidden Forest.

Okay, she wasn't sure that Myers would be her first choice of professor to protect her in the forest, but she had her wand pocketed and legs to run if necessary. Or climb. There looked to be LOTS of awesome trees to climb.

"I dunno about the darkness, but bluebells magical and mundune apparently thrive in woods." Not that she'd ever seen the so called 'carpet' of them in a wood, being stuck at Hogwarts in the spring. But still, they sounded nice. Especially the chiming sort that Dora's Uncle Spike had in his greenhouse.

Charlie could really get used to doing classes like they did at Hogwarts (she had to anyway, so it was a nice arrangement). First, they had Divination class at the lake. And now, they were having Herbology class in the forest!

As she walked up to the front of the caretaker's hut, she noticed that the forest looked particular mysterious and dark and scary; However, they would be going as one big group, and in light of safety in numbers, the prospects of the forest only excited her. The girl also took note of the many metal buckets scattered about. Maybe they'd be collecting plant specimens, or something. Cool.

Professor Paul then asked a question, and Charlie had to scour her mind for a possible response. She wasn't sure that she was very familiar with plants that thrived in the darkness of the forest. Well, she should attempt to answer anyhow. Hmm, maybe there was something that'd apply that she learned about in science class in primary school.... Oh! She had a GREAT answer.

"How about detritus, Professor?" Charlie asked, not speaking incredibly loud but not wavering much either. "It's all over the forest floor." She could say she was almost obdurate in light of her answer. Hopefully the professor would like it too.

The Gryffindor girl was excited for this class. Not only because it was herbology, but they'd probably be going into the forest today. Which meant the girl had to behave and not get too delighted at anything new she might see out there. But that hardly ever happened. Skipping to a spot near the front, Tim grinned the her professor. "Hello, professor," she smiled and eyed the buckets that were near him. Were they going to retrieve soemthing from inside the forest today? Tim had sure hoped so. It'll be an even more interesting class if they did. "Black flowers are known to grow inside the forest. As for mundane plants, there's dracaena, snake plant, and Chinese evergreen," At least those were a few off the top of her head. Tim hadn't read much on magical plants that grow without sunlight and she was mentally kicking herself for it.

As Jonas entered the forest for Herbology, there was barely any introduction before professor Myers was already talking about plants and stuff. Jonas thought this was the best Herbology lesson ever. Plants that thrive in the dark? Jonas felt like being a smarty so he raised his hands.
"Would it be the trees in here, professor?" He asked.

Into the forest, they go? Deep deep deep DEEP? She liked this lesson. This was exciting. She stood beside her new friend, Etta, and listened to the Professor's questions. Magical or mundane plants that like the darkness of the forest? That couldn't be too hard, right? Well there was Devil's Snare and... and.... She blinked. Oh Merlin. There had to be more. Muggle plants were a better option, perhaps? Yes. So was moss but someone had said that already. Hmm..

Olivia beamed and raised her hand. "Perhaps mint?" Mint usually grew in a bog, right? So perhaps that could work?

Katherine was neither scared, nor thought it was 'cool' (okay maybe a little because she didn't think she would have the chance again) (okay okay she really was excited about it) - this was just another lesson and they were merely entering the forest (!!!). Those acromantulas had better truly be gone, or Professor Myers had better be right about the 'protection'. In any case, it was going to be great and she was frenetically looking around to remember the Forest later.

Okay this was cool. And probably her one chance to see this beautiful place. She wanted to remember all of this. Why didn't she have a Pensieve to record her life???

So not bothering to raise her hand since they were walking and she didn't think Professor Myers would turn around to see their hands, she said "Wiggentree." Because Bowtruckles lived here, and Bowtruckles liked Wiggentree best.

It was so bright and sunny today! Zara liked that a lot and was rather excited for what was going to happen, even if she wasn’t completely sure what was happening. It was a pretty day and what could possible go wrong.

Skipping her way down to where she saw everyone gathering for the lesson, she grinned and waved as she stopped just behind the group of students already there. "Good day, Professor Myers. Beautiful day we are having." It was an observation and it put her in a good mood for the lesson. Glancing around she noticed the buckets and tilted her head slightly in question. She could only assume they would be of some use during the lesson, but her mind was slowing trying to guess what the day would really hold for them.

Focusing her attention back to Professor Myers, Zara listened closely as a sense of excitement and a tiny bit of fear took hold of her. They were actually going into the forest! Looking over at the end of the forest, she blinked quickly. She knew it wasn’t best to be fearful of the unknown, but she had heard about what could lie in the forest. Anything could be in there! Yet, she was kind of excited to be venturing in there. Plus, it wasn’t like she was going in there alone. There was nothing to be worried about and she felt safe. As long as she didn’t wander off and stayed close to the other older students, she really had nothing to fear.

Turning her full attention back to listening, she nodded as she took in everything being said. Pulling out a small notepad, she wrote down short notes of the examples being given as quickly as she could. "How about belladonna?" she offered with a raise of her hand. She vaguely remembered reading about how deadly nightshade being native to open woodland, but could also be found in shady and moist locations. Biting her lip, she raised her hand again. "Could flitterblooms be an example too?" She knew they resembled Devil’s Snare and it was very possible they both prefer the dark.

Brent was seriously pumped up about Herbology class. Not in a dorky kind of way, though. As far as subjects went, this was placed third right after Potions. After all, Potions and Herbology pretty much went hand in hand. That wasn't the best part, though! The best part was that they were heading deeeeeeep into the forest, and Brent had heard some crazy things about the forest.

Too bad he didn't have a girlfriend to comfort and whose hand he could hold.

He gathered around the professor and all his four thousand-ish metal buckets and looked around. The forest was SO close! This was going to be awesome! So awesome that he almost forgot to stay focused on the fact that this was a Herbology lesson, and he had a question to answer. Okay, sooo...

"I agree with the person who said Devil's Snare," Brent mentioned, raising his hand. "That forest is about as dark and damp as you can get around here. I think the Devil's Snare would think it's a pretty cool place to live for sure." That was one crazy sneaky plant!

Tenacius has been looking forward to this day ever since he saw the agenda in the Common Room.

THEY.ARE.GOING.INTO.THE.FOREST!

He zoomed towards the forest as fast as his cruiser could carry him, so excited that he may have clumsily nicked a metal bucket with his own metally cruiser, inadvertently gonging his presence. Oops. Hehe hello hello... oh metal buckets anyone anyone? Here ya go....

Was there a question? He didnt hear it. He was listening though, but really he was more or less moseying his way closer to the forest-- checking it out for when students start trekking in yeah? Ya know Prefect duties and such....

..... and maybe he can get lucky and spot a hooved one....

*CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK*

Derfael Mitchell Ashburry-Hawthorne was READY! Or, well, as ready as he would ever be to face the life threatening consequences that came from attending a class about dog massacring plants. BUT, the first year had taken precautions. He just wished that he had found an older student to shrink his helmet before he had stumbled his way down from the armour gallery to the grounds because it kept sliding all around his head and whacking him. He probably had a bump on his forehead from an especially hard WHACK just a few moments ago...but at least it hadn't been his nose.

Sporting a helmet, chest plate, and...some piece that he was not sure what it was or if he was even wearing it in the right spot...Derf arrived and lifted the lid-thingy so he could SEE the professor and offer him his best threatening first year glare.

A glare that turned into a look of complete TERROR. Not because they were going into the Forest, because that was COOL, but going in and looking for PLANTS...

THEY WERE WARNED ABOUT DANGEROUS CREATURES LURKING THERE ALL THE TIME - probably just misunderstood - SO HE COULD ONLY IMAGINE THE GREEN HORRORS THAT WERE WITHIN!

WHAT IF THE SHRUB THAT TORE HIS DOG APART RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS YOUNG EYES WAS IN THERE!?

And yes... that WAS the answer to the professor's question that he was not going to actually voice.

Oh holy flaming salamanders.....he made have just scared some secretion out of himself.

No way was he missing this lesson in the forbidden forest. He heard a lot of horror stories going on about this place and he couldn't believe that he was going to experience it first hand. Nice. Oh, and of course the odd professor was already standing by the groundkeeper's hut, waiting for the rest of the students to gather. "Sup professor." He saluted before making his way to the seventh year griffindor, Tim, who seemed to know more about plants than he would normally do. James shrugged, "Maybe a ZZ plant?" Merlin, what a half-hearted answer. It was just another type of plant his mom usually like to keep in the house. Could we just get on with the program? What were those metal buckets for though?

For the record, Professor Plants, Suri Rider Mae was never excited for any lesson, ever. Just because she was actually showing up to all her classes this year and had actually handed in her first piece of homework days before the due date, it did not mean she was turning over a new leaf or something. (... Pun not intended.)

She just... needed something to do. Now that her mind was clearer, less foggy than last year, Suri had realised quite a few facts about her studying abilities. For one, she apparently had some, which had been a somewhat pleasant surprise. And secondly, her constant source of distraction had disappeared. She didn't know what to do with herself now that there was no reason to talk to him or think about him ever again. Had spent hours during the summer trying to figure out what she wanted to do, but the nights spent with Jacobi and her brother had made her come to a very unSuriesque conclusion: maybe, just maybe, she didn't need him like she'd thought. Maybe, he wouldn't even be coming back. Maybe, just maybe, he was gone for good.

And that's why, Ridiculously Cheerful Professor Plants mister, Suri Rider-Mae was giving this whole school thing a chance. Pulling her sleeves down and shifting her bag on her shoulder, she stood off to the side and studiously ignored all the ridiculous noises her unfortunate classmates were making. Seriously, there was a first year with armour present. Cue eye roll.

Suri considered the question posed for a few moments, mentally scanning the relevant textbook page in her head. Fairly quickly she deemed the question far too simple and moved on to casually glancing towards the trees. Could they go now?

Even the notice that the lesson was going to involve the forest wasn’t about to stop Elle from being excited about Herbology. Moreso than any of the other subjects she was taking, she looked forward to Herbology the most. All that remained was to find out what exactly they were going to be studying in the forest, but she was prepared either way. She had her wand, after all, and she was well-versed in light spells. Besides, she fully believed that plants couldn’t hurt you unless they weren’t treated or used properly.

“Good day, Professor Myers,” she’d said as she’d arrived at the meeting place, curious about the reason his gaze had kept flickering toward the tree line. The only thing that made her slightly nervous about the field trip was the chance there were still acromantula roaming around in there. She wasn’t going to admit that, though.

“I agree that devil’s snare might like the shade of the forest. Possibly Dicentra as well, and trillium. Barrenwort and mistletoe.” Okay, maybe she’d gone on a bit, and most of what she’d mentioned were definitely more mundane than magical. Either way, she hadn’t wanted to not answer at all. Not when it was plants they were talking about.

Ava was definitely NOT scared about going into the forbidden forest.

Well, maybe just a little. But it was called the FORBIDDEN forest for a reason right? Scary monsters, dangers lurking, that kind of thing. It was perfectly reasonable to be a little nervous. But she was also excited. Because now she had permission to see the forest for herself, which was something she really wanted to do, despite herself. And if the Professor said it was safe, well, she believed him.

She was busy looking around at what she could see, which was not very much actually, when the Professor asked a question. She didn't know the answer, so she decided she was going to pay attention to learn a bit about it.