Wow this cave was amazingly beautiful. She had know idea that there were caves like this in the forest. She had been in the forest once when she heard that song from the hag or whatever all of that was from. She had ran into the forest with Katherine Moss because she had heard the song too. That was the first and last time she had planned on going into the forest... unless it was for lesson purposes only.

She slipped her gloves on after practicing the spell a few times. Now she was ready to actually perform this spell. She put her bucket in a spot near by her. She pointed her wand at the bucket using the correct movement. "Chawdensis." Now with her heated bucket she was ready to get some fire seeds in there.

She checked to make sure her gloves were not securely. Finding a spot to grab up some fire seeds. Once she had a spot, she stuck her hand in and gently pulled the seed off of the bush. That wasn't so bad. Of course she had gloves on. She carefully placed the seed into her bucket. Now all she needed was two more. Moving back to the bush she reached in twice more and placed those seeds into the bucket.

Now she was ready for the next steps......

Digging the hole.

Katerina just so happened to look up and see James who wasn't too far away from her. She give him a small grin before knelling down to dig the hole fore her seeds. She bit her lip nervously and spoke up to James. "Hey James, Can you come help me dig a hole?" Even thought she was totally capable of digging it on her own. She just wanted to flirt with the boy. Test out her flirting skills on him.

SWEEEEET.

So as long as Skylar wasn't offended (which she probably would be just to annoy him), Brent was off the hook. "Yes, sir," Brent replied, giving the professor his most sincere smile. He was now a FREE MAN.

Looking down into his bucket, he figured everything was hot enough and he could move on to the next step. He positioned the bucket over the hole and gently emptied the contents inside. He watched as everything slid out the bucket and fell into the hole, making sure everything went in and nothing fell out. He doubted whatever he was doing would work out if he lost half his stuff.

Putting the bucket back on solid ground, Brent positioned his wand directly over it and cast some water inside. "Aguamenti!" he exclaimed. He moved his wand in a sort of sideways S movement. "Finite!" she said, when he'd added enough water. Now it was time to heat the bucket a second time. "CHAW-DEN-SIS!" he exclaimed, moving his wand lightly over the bucket.

Now that she was done with picking the seeds it was time to get to cave to and get these babies planted. Checking her bucket as she walked into the cave she looked around the to the other students. Some busy at work, others seemed to have no clue what they were doing, and did she hear talks of someone melting their bucket?

Hmm, interesting...

Anyway, it was time to get to work and she wasn't going to get unfocused now. She started to dig the three holes she was going to need. The soil was pretty cool to the touch, wasn't it? Putting some of the soil into the bucket she mixed it with the seeds.

With her fire seeds now gathered, Cassie was ready to move onto the other steps of the project. First was the digging of the hole, the fourth year moving with her bucket to a clear space in the cave in which to work. She then proceeded to dig her first hole, glancing back and forth at her seeds as she worked as if carefully measuring to make the hole big enough. Some the dirt she dug out was carefully added to the bucket to warm up, the Ravenclaw being sure not to put out the seeds in the process like the professor cautioned them against. There would be no sense in wrecking her process while trying to do what she had to do.

Once she was satisfied enough time had passed for the charmed bucket and fire seeds to warm the soil, Cass added it and one of the seeds into the open hole. She then repeated the process with two more holes and her other gathered seeds. With an empty bucket, she took out her wand to continue one. “Aquamenti!” she cast, filling it up with water before ending it with “Finite.” Then another “Chaudensis…” was cast on her bucket to further warm up the water until it was eventually boiling as was demonstrated. Finally the Ravenclaw carefully poured the hot contents out her three planted fire seeds, still watchful that she didn’t accidentally stop their burning.

There…all set.

Pretend high five to her.

Katy had moved on to the second cave and found an ideal spot, well tucked away from the others and from the entrance, where the soil was nice and loamy. She dug a hole with one hand, tossing a few of the removed handfuls of soil into her bucket with the seeds. It would be plenty warm enough once she was ready to plant her seeds.

Swish, swish of the dirt in the bucket, and then she pitched the seeds AND dirt back into the hole. Just a pat, pat, pat, and that was it planted. Done. She was an Herbology genius.

Watering now? "Aguamenti," Katy filled her bucket with water, followed by, "Chaudensis." Boiling away. Also a culinary genius.

James already got his seeds, checking once in a while they weren't...dying. He heated the bucket once more in case it wasn't hot enough. He looked over to the same armor suit kid again, baffled at how he managed to melt the metal bucket. HAHA. Nice, kid. He wished he could do the same too so he wouldn't have to do all the...replanting business. Then he heard his name called again and looked over to see Kat already working on the ground. She wanted him to dig holes for her? He barely got started on his own. But of course, he wouldn't say no to her. James went over to her and knelt down by her side. "Sure thing." He grinned and started digging a few holes for her. He had the soil poured inside the bucket with the seeds in them too. "Go ahead, you can plant them now." He told her.

Once Henry placed his third fire seed into the heated bucket, he looked up at the fiery words for the next set of instructions as he half-listened to Professor Paul explain them. He also noticed that his group seemed to be going off to get their work done which probably was a good thing. He'd be happy to just talk to his friends, distracting them and himself in the process, and he probably should try to be productive. For all he knew, fire seed bushes could be on his OWLs so he should probably know the proper way to harvest and replant them.

Okay, there seemed to be a lot of steps for just planting the seed, so Henry read them over several times, doing his best to commit them to memory. Or maybe he could watch people planting them too. But first he needed to go over to the other cave. After watching Derfael and the professor helping him for a moment - how did one melt a metal bucket anyway? No, seriously, he really wanted to know - he headed out to the other cave to plant his seeds.

He watched some of his classmates a moment, but that only became more confusing because they all seemed to be at different steps. Deciding against that idea, Henry found an empty spot and began digging a hole for his seeds. And then....? Oh, put some of the soil back in the bucket and then dump it into the hole. Henry made his attempt at that, though it probably a little sloppier done that it could have been. Now what? He looked towards the fiery letters again.

Well she was totally just trying to get him over there to talk to him. She smiled seeing that he had even put the soil in the bucket. She didn't expect for all of this. "Thank you. I didn't have to do all of that. I just wanted you over here." She grinned at him. Plus maybe she could keep him from getting bored. Now he could flirt with her instead of that rock. Nah...

Well they still could flirt, "Where are you with this process?" She would be nice and help him out too. Dumping the contents of the bucket into the soil that he had dug for her. "Maybe we can work together, yeah?" That would be really cool. And give them a chance to hang out some too.

Olivia was about to joke back with Brent when Professor Myers accused the boy of such a thing with Skylar. They had been joking, right? Brent wasn't a mean person..... She didn't think he was mean. She eyed the Slytherin for a moment, watching his reaction. Poor Brent. He hadn't meant it like that. Poor guy. She hoped that he wouldn't be too, too embarrassed. She watched the situation, waiting for the Professor's response. Was the Professor just messing with Brent or was he being serious??? Olivia couldn't exactly tell so she set about completing the steps.

She squatted down to dig a small hole in the dirt. Dig. Dig. Dig. Just keep digging. When she was satisfied with how deep it was, Olivia took the dispersed soil from the hole and scooped it up with her hands, placing it carefully into her heated bucket. Olivia glanced up, wondering if she had to mix the soil up or something? She tried to see what her fellow students were doing briefly and then decided to just go ahead and do it. Mixing it slightly seemed to be a good idea.

Next step was to dump the contents of the bucket into the hole. Alright. That wasn't going to be too hard, right? She picked up her bucket, angling it slightly towards the hull, and shook it gently so that some of the soil could gently fall out. For the remaining soil still stuck in there, Olivia took her right gloved hand and scraped it out (as best she could). Pat. Pat. Pat. Good.

She glanced over to Brent momentarily, wondering if he was alright. He had always been nice to her so she was still a bit baffled by the Professor's reaction. Maybe it was just a joke? She hoped it was for Brent's sake. She was about to ask him if he was alright when Carlton came over. "Those look great! You're an expert" she said, giving him a thumbs up. Then she noticed the MUD on his face. Woah. What had happened? "Are you okay?"

Whilst waiting for an answer, she went back to her task. Boiling water. Pointing her wand at the bucket, she cast the spell, "Aquamenti!" and then moved her wrist (once again --just ever so slightly) and cast, "Chaudensis!"

Et voila! Boiling water.

Pouring the water onto her seed, she took a step back and admired her work. Perfect. It looked wonderful. Whilst admiring her work, now she decided to wander a little bit over to Brent. She just couldn't believe that he was the type of guy to say that stuff.... though... could she be wrong? Regardless... "Are you okay?" she asked, quiet enough, only for him to hear.

Tim followed the rest of the class onto the next cave. She wasn't quite sure yet on what they were going to do next, but she couldn't wait to find out. Maybe she can put these fire seeds to good use someday if need be. Or come up with a use for them on creatures; mainly dragons. Or even all types of fire creatures. Not really seeing where she was going, Tim stumbled over something and let out a small shriek. In the process, the blonde almost dropped her cauldron, along with the fire seeds inside. But alas, crisis averted. Regaining her posture and continuing to walk, she stopped to where Myers led them and looked around the best she could.

!!!!!!

They were going to be planting their own fire bushes! Okay, first Tim needed to pick a spot to plant her seeds at. Most kids had already picked theirs, so it was only logical to pick her own little special spot. Listening carefully to the professor, the blonde dug up some soil and dumped it into her bucket. Kneeling properly, she mixed the seeds and soil in the bucket so it can all be evenly heated. Once that was all done, Tim dumped the soil and side into the hole and casted aguamenti into her bucket. "Chaudensis," she casted next to heat up the water. Carefully pouring it onto where she planted her seeds, Tim set her bucket down and stood up. She wiped dirt off her jeans and casually just high-fived herself, no big deal. Now hopefully her plant will grow nicely with time being.

SPOILER!!: Thereos, Professor Dark Lord, & Rooney

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thereos

Thereos was glad when the hug was over, and he had meant to follow the majority of the class into the next cave, or to at least stand near the mouth of both caves at the same time in case there were too many stragglers in this one (there were a few). However, the boy continued to talk to him about his mother.

“We do not hug like you hug,” he replied. “If I have made your… ‘dreams come true’ by just existing in the same space at you,” and the boy got a rare Thereos smile, “You are easily made happy.” It wasn’t necessarily a bad trait to have, either.

“Ah, I knew your mother.” Thereos smiled again and bowed his head at the child.

But the smile didn’t last long. Somehow, the human had managed to melt his bucket. Orion’s Belt, this boy must be a handful for his parents! “I will go get Professor Myers,” he patted the boy’s shoulder and trotted off to the next cave and gave the professor a little tap. “Professor….we have a slight meltdown happening in the other cave. And not a figurative meltdown. A literal meltdown.” Centaurs prefered to speak in literal language for the most part.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

…….Paul heard Brent, and he gave the boy a slight eyebrow raise. “Well, if Skylar isn’t offended..” he said with pursed lips. And then he did the ‘got my EYES on you, boy’ with his fingers.

Hmph.

He might have been messing with the boy at this point, but still.



….”Well okay then,” he said, but again...EYE ON YOU, BOY. Paul would be WATCHING.



Paul, as soon as he heard Junia, realized he had not clarified that very point. AHHH WELL! “You can put all three in one hole. It’s fine! Or separate. Either way works,” he smiled. “They’re relatively hard to kill.” You know, don’t dump water on them…..they don’t even NEED sunlight.



Paul turned to Miss Griffel and smiled. “Well...in the greenhouses, perhaps, but not like...in your dorm or anything.” He currently didn’t have any fire seeds in his greenhouses, but maybe he would add them?



And when the centaur appeared, Paul knew SOMETHING must have gone down in Cave #1 because LOL why else would he rush over to come get him? “Okay...okay…” and he left Thereos to supervise over THIS cave while he raaaaaaan to the first cave.

And Paul was an older man who was not in shape.

So, lots of panting.



…….he saw it as soon as he entered the cave BECAUSE IT WAS A BLOODY METALLIC PUDDLE ON THE FLOOR.

hfiufgheufgeuyfgeruyguygUYGUFOGERUFGERUFYGREUYG

“Derf...how in the world did you manage to heat your bucket up THAT MUCH?” he asked, and he raaaaaaised his eyebrows. “I happened to bring an extra bucket…” he held it up. “But um…” What to do about the melted one. Um.

Um???

“I will...figure this out…” Should he….siphon it up and put it WHERE???? But...he merely blasted the puddle with a freezing spell. It was frozen, now, but the cold also made it officially harden. So he picked it up [probably looks a bit harder than that, but the general idea]..it was puddle shaped….

And he LAUGHED.

A LOOOOTTTTT

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAAAHAHAHAhahahaHAHAhhAHAhaha!

“M’boy...I want you to decorate this for me so I can hang it up.” He held it up above his head. “It’s beautiful, really,” he winked at the boy. “You can use my bucket. Do be careful with this one.”

And it seemed Miss Kettleburn had a question, too!





“Well FIRST you need to practice the Chaudensis Charm..” he gave his wrist a twirl in a circle. “And..then you need to ACTUALLY do it...on your bucket, pick THREE seeds from the tree WITH GLOVES ON and then...go in the next cave and plant them. The rest of the instructions are in there in my FIERY letters.” Suspended in the air so they could all read them. “Dig a hole, take some of the soil from the hole and place it in the bucket with the seeds so the soil will warm instantly...then, dump it all out back into the hole. Once you do that, you have to boil some water and pour atop the new planted seed.” That was the quick and d----quick and...quick and EASY???? Way of putting it.

Ahem.

“Got it, Charlotte?”

Merlin, Paul rubbed his face. Children. They were wonderfully chaotic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shanners

Rooney wanted to scribble down the instructions himself, but he really didn't have the access to the notebook stored in the back of his trousers that he quite required for it. He followed Professor Myers into the second cave and listened carefully to ensure that he knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing even if he wasn't constantly looking at the instructions that would obviously be provided. Myers wasn't the type to provide fire writing instructions for one part and not the other. If so, Rooney would be picking his brains about WHY on Earth he would do that. Rip off.

But Myers was good and they did have access to instructions continuously. Which also meant that the students were all working at different paces and they were being allowed to. His favourite kind of lesson. Being able to work on his own and perfect his work to the point he was completely satisfied with it. And he supposed that the quicker he got his work done...the quicker he could offer his help to anyone else that needed it - although Rooney did not want anyone to need his help, he would much prefer to sit back against a cave wall and wait out the rest of the lesson.

As he set down his bucket in an area that wasn't sparsely populated with students, Rooney sat himself down on the floor and placed his wand at his feet, ready to use it when he needed to. Because he would need to. "All we do is dig, so we can hide hide so we can dig dig!" He whispered as he tucked his gloved fingers into the ground and started to dig out a hole for his seeds. The final handful, however, he tossed into his bucket to join the seeds and heat it how it was supposed to. Luckily, he was just going to wait here and finish out the song he had been singing quietly under his breath the entire time he had been digging.

"Quick before the hyena come!" Yaaaaaaaaaaaaas. This was the song of a winner. Or the song of someone who was really bored with his own thoughts and needed something to help him out of the funk he always seemed to be in. He watched the soil in his bucket with the seeds for a little while longer before dumping the bucket contents back into the hole, soil and seeds together. The dump was accompanied with a loud "HURRAY!" before he moved on to look back at the list of what he was supposed to be doing. Boiling water. Psh.. Couldn't they have used the fire seed bushes in the other cave to do that instead of casting ANOTHER heating charm? Time saving, really. "PROFESSSSSOOOOOOORR MYYYYEEERRRRRRRRRS" Did he have his attention yet? Actually, where was the white haired fox going? HEY PROFESSOR MYERS NO NO NO EXCUSE YOU COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW. Although, Rooney had only wanted to tell him that he had missed his lessons and to grin at him.

After a huff at his shortcomings and a cheeky grin about an idea he had, Rooney picked up his wand from the floor and pointed it into the empty bucket. "Aguamenti!" He secured enough water in the bucket that he would be have just a little more than he needed...unless heating the water made some of it disappear. That was a thing. He moved his wrist alone, still a little annoyed how much concentration that alone took and cast the Chaudensis charm on his bucket once more. "Chaudensis!" And sat...waiting.....for his water to bubble...and bubble....and boil....and oooooooooooh the steam was so fascinating!!! SO FASCINATING. Steam was definitely one of his favourite things to watch, but he didn't have an exact reason for that.

Had anyone realised that they were all witches and wizards, sitting around a boiling bucket of liquid? This was pretty much potions. Except it was just water and hE WAS GOING TO GET BURNED. "OOPS!" There had only been a few spatters of water and his bucket was big enough to keep the spits in it, but for a milisecond, the Prefect had definitely feared for his absolute life. He had plans, you know. Rooney Bronwyn was going to marry the Gryffindor girl in his life and they had totally already named their two children. And he'd worked all of that into his ten year world domination plan post graduation. Watch this space... In his distracted thoughts, Rooney had poured three quarters of the water from his bucket over the area he had recently dug out and refilled.

"Groooooooooow seedlings, grooooooooow." And as per the class instructions, Rooney gave himself a high five -- and laughed to himself about how that was just a clap, but he couldn't BEAR to embarrass Professor Myers more than the man did himself. Still his favourite Professor, though.

"HEY PROFESSSSOOOOOR????????" Oh wait... he wasn't here. UGH. Roo used the end of his wand to draw a circle around his PRECIOUS area and then hurried back out of the cave and into the other one. This. Was. Important. And...apparently so had been the disaster that was happening in here. At the sight of the melted bucket and Professor Myers' request for the student to decorate it, Rooney HOWLED with laughter. "Show me how you did it!" Only because he wanted to do exactly that and use it in a gift. Always thinking of others, was this one.

"Professor Myers! Nice seeing you here. Come here often? Long time no see. Hello stranger. All of the previous, plus hey hi I have a question." Did the man already want to knock the annoying out of the Ravenclaw? This was only going to make him want to more, really.. "SO. I've been thinking -- a dangerous pastime, I know!" Hah, wasn't he just classic? A real funny man. Comedy was unlucky that he had chosen musical theatre over it. Although there was some comedy in that, but not nearly enough to capitalise on the talent of the one and only Rooney Alexander Bronwyn. "Can I put some sort of sign here? Stone, so it doesn't burn. To say that it's mine. In case you bring other students here after I'm gone. I bet you'll be able to fence it off and sell opportunities to see my handiwork one day." Especially when he was big and famous and Professor Myers was a mere memory.

Much love, Myers.

The first year BEAMED at Thereos when the connection was made. Mum would be ever pleased that the centaur remembered her, he was sure of it, and he would have to remember to include it in the next owl he sent home.

Easily made happy? He wasn't entirely sure about that, but he did have a certain niche that was easy to fill. "How DO you hug fen?" Because now he was keen on learning some centaurian customs - so thank you, Thereos, for pushing that door of inquiry and curiosity wiiiiiiiiiiiide open. "....can you s-s-show me?" he added after a bit of a pause. Perhaps TOO long a pause since Thereos was now leaving the cave to follow the rest of the group who all had their fire seeds and perhaps dreams of using them to help hatch a dragon egg still very much in their sights.

Crestfallen, Derf looked down at his wand and couldn't help but pout a little. Maybe if he had had an ash and lime wand things would work better. Not that he hated his wand or anything and he understood that the wand chose the wizard...but still...

SIGH.

And then the first year's small frame went RIGID when he heard THAT man's voice.

"Magic," he replied without a moment's hesitation. Was that not obvious? Sheepishly and reluctantly, the Hufflepuff accept the professor's bucket and stared into it. He would likely just melt this one too...so being careful was ---

Derf's eyes WIDENED at his Head of House's request - and maniac laugh. Decorate? He saw riiiiiiiiiiiiight through you, Professor Myers. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight through you. And since Charlotte was present he could make sure there was a proper witness to his question AND the man's answer AND his growing concerns. "You're...you're not going to us-s-se it to make a horcrux...are you?"

And then the Ravenclaw prefect reentered their cave...and Derf was looking back at his wand and new bucket confused. "Magic," he repeated, again, confused as to why people kept asking him HOW he did something when there really was just one answer.

But now he really REALLY needed to figure this heating charm out or he was never getting his fire seeds which meant he was never going to hatch a dragon egg in the comfort of the Hufflepuff common room.

Wand movement he was sure he had down...but incantation...that was harder.

"Chaudens-s-s-sis-s...." he said, blue eyes on the bucket - this time getting pronunciation a little more accurately. "Chaudens-sis-s-s-s...Chaudens-sis-s-s..."

After a few more practice attempts, the first year attempted both together and SOMEHOW managed not to melt the bucket...but his charm was not terribly powerful either. BUT...the bucket WAS comfortably warm to the touch so...yay? Well...kind of pulsing between warm and cold, as though the bucket had a heating heartbeat. That worked, yeah?

Seeds- Check
Soil-Check


So it looked like Nat was very close to being done. Her next step was to plant and then water, right? She checked over the list again to make sure and then went to place the seeds in their holes with the warmed soil. Being careful not to drop them too hard she set them down gently and made sure they were covered with the same warmed soil.

Pointing her wand she put water in the bucket with a wordless spell. Smiling a bit because she was getting better at the basic ones she did the movement, "Chaudensis" The water boiled and Natalia knew it was time to water the seeds. Lifting the bucket she poured out the boiling water carefully and evenly to each.

Finished!

Now where did her little group all go?

So James wasn't going anywhere, at least not right now. She supposed that meant she didn't have to worry about watching him. Now that she had his attention though, she didn't know how to end the conversation. "I like your hairstyle" she settled on, though she hadn't really been thinking about his hair. As soon as she said it she cringed, because now it sounded like if she was flirting with him. She very quickly went back to paying attention to Paul's next instructions, glad her pale makeup would cover any fluster she might be showing.

After that, she went along with Professor Myers and the others out of the cave and towards the darker one - making sure to keep on an eye on the younger students to make sure they were tagging along. The only source of light in this other cave was from Professor Myer, and for a few brief but terrifying moments, her panic started to return. "Lumos!" she hissed quietly, lighting up another part of the cave with her wand. She held up her wand high so she could see the end of the cave. Even with her lumos she couldn't quite see everything, but the panic had only been a triggered reaction to the darkness and soon it went away.

Now to dig a hole. Obviously there weren't any shovels, and it would have been silly to use a wand for such a small hole, so that meant they were going to use their hands. It was a good thing they had gloves, Kitty thought to herself as she bent down over a spot super close to the group. Earlier today she had just painted her nails, so it would have been anti-climatic to put a bunch of soil in them.

Watching the others to see how deep they dug their holes, she began to paw away at the dirt with her glove, being careful not to break a nail in the process. Once she had dug a hole around the size of most of the other holes, she took the dirt and placed it inside the bucket, being careful to spread it around a bit. Then after waiting for about a minute or so, she poured out the soil with one of the seeds. Then she moved to a spot close by to repeat the process with the second seed and then third. For the second hole she found a rock the size of a baseball (though much more jagged) but other than that things went smoothly.

In the third hole she found something awesome. "Worms!" Kitty squealed with delight, carefully picking up two worms and showing them around. "Professor, look at these worms! Aren't they adorable?" And she also showed them to Theroes, just in case he was interested.

Well that was kinda vague. Not that he expected anything more, certainly wasnt expecting a map with an X marking the spot, but he had to ask anyway right? And right focus. Task at hand. Gotcha.

So fire seeds..... The Curly Top plucked a couple more then followed the others to another cave then proceeded to listen to the Professor's next instructions. These things were tricky to plant werent they? Sure it wasnt that much tricky as the Fireroses from last term, but it was a lot to think about, since now he has to pay attention to the temperature of the soil. So dig dig dig he went, popping a spadefull or two of soil into his bucket, adding an extra Chaudensis to make the soil and the seed real warm and toasty. And for reals it is, because he could feel the heat seep into his thick gloves and his clothes.

Ok that should be good enough yeah? Well it better be because that metal bucket was getting a liiiiittle too hot now. Tenacius dumped the bucket's contents into the hole he made then flipped the bucket aside. Was it too hot? Errrr he hoped not?

He dropped to his knees, then on his hands and started to SNIFF the hot mound of soil in front of him. Yes he looks like he's making like a Centaur but hey he needed to make sure he just didnt inadvertently make roasted fireseeds fortified with minerals ok? Ok.

But oh they have to water this thing. Hot water, but water nonetheless. Hopefully that would stop the cooking process, yes potioneering slash culinary skillz at work here. Tenacius hastily grabbed the metal bucket again, aguamenti'd some water, chaudensis'ed it a bit-- but not much since the bucket was still really warm-- then swished the water around a bit more. Then pour. Was that enough water? It seemed like he should make more hot water-- but wait what if he'd end up making roasted fireseeds soup instead? Yeah ok maybe he should stop now.

Sniff sniff. Still smelled toasty.... but wet. This is what happens when he focuses a little too much.

Leon kept warming up the soil in the bucket as he mixed it around with his gloves hands. Once it felt like it was heated through, the older boy dumped the contents of his bucket into the hole he had created. There!

Now.. onto the the next step.

He pointed his wand down into the bucket and whispered "Aguamenti. " Water came pouring out of his wand and started to splash down into the bucket. He wasn't sure how much he needed, but Professor Meyers had said not a whole lot..

Leon pulled off one of his gloves with his teeth and stuck his finger into the bucket to measure how much water was in there, seeing as it was sort of dark and he couldn't see the water line. When the water covered the middle of his index finger he said "Finite," stopping the water spell and leaning him with a good inch, inch and and a half of liquid.

Now it was time to hear the bucket up! "Chaudensis. " The seventh year said as he sat back and waited for his bucket to heat up. While he waited he sat back on his heels a bit, put his missing glove back on and lit up his wand tip with a whispered Lumos!

Okay so a watched pot never boiled, but it was dark and he needed sight, yeah?

Finally the water started to boil and Leon carefully poured his boiling water over his seeds and smiled!

There! He was done!

He stood up and brushed off his pants and looked around for anyone who might need help.

Junia quite liked making water with magic and she'd practiced this particular spell for ages trying to manage the amount of water she could produce and just how quickly it poured from her wand. It took a lot of concentration to manage the flow of it, you know? She was just thankful she had a bucket this time around to make sure she didn't over-water the little fire seeds.

Wand pointed at said bucket, the third year said, "Aguamenti!" Professor Myers had said they didn't need too much water, so she only filled the bucket a third of the way. "Finite!" That looked like a good amount to her, it did. Next came the boiling part and he'd been pretty specific about that. Bubbling with boiling is what she heard, and she kept this in mind when she aimed at the bucket once more. "Chaudensis!" ...And then she waited and watched and hoped for bubbles...which was the most boring thing on the entire planet and universe. Gosh.

...OH! OH, BUBBLES!

Ending the spell, the third year very carefully handled the bucket and poured the boiling water right over the spot where she'd planted. "There. Have a drink, fire seeds. Enjoy!"

Olivia had been making her way over to the second cave, pausing momentarily to properly relight her wand...when she suddenly heard her name being exuberantly shouted. A little startled by the volume of it, the blonde turned away from the next cave's entrance, her eyes wide. Maneuvering the wand within her grasp, she flooded the area with its light, gaze finally settling upon young Carlton. OH! Oh. He'd.... He'd gotten his seeds! The small Slytherin was simply excited and proud of himself... and he'd also just nosedived into the ground. Breaking away from the crowd, Liv had planned to rush to his aide, but Carlton had pulled himself together quickly, and was already moving towards her again.

The Gryffindor's heart gave a little jolt at his unaffected smile. Even with mud caking his cheeks, the young boy had decided to remain positive. Warmed by this resilience, Olivia shrugged the material of her school robe down off her shoulder, so that she could use her sleeve to wipe at his face. "You did so wonderfully!" What she really wanted to do was give this smol child a big hug, but she quickly decided that wouldn't work for her. Sadly. So, in place of that, Liv continued to wipe at his face until the mud was a figment of their imagination. "Come with me. We'll get them planted." Having caught the steps (as the fire writing was deeply fascinating to her), she felt confident that she'd be able to get this done. If her new friend? would like to work with her. It was totally up to him...

Either way, Liv needed to get this done for herself. See, she took her position in Professor Paul's Green Thumb Club very seriously, and no personal tragedy would ruin that for her this term. With some of that Gryffindor stubbornness rearing it's lovely head, she led the way towards the second cave, wand held high as they approached. Unlike with the first cave, this one wasn't alight with burning bushes and their embers. So, for the most part it was dark....but Professor Paul had thought of that. He'd called for a torch.... Oh, in another time and place, this wouldn't inspired a number from The Phantom of the Opera...but there would be no singing from her today. Also, it was bloody strange referring to the present time as "day" when it was as dark as midnight in this part of the woods. It was actually very disorienting...but she digressed.

Hmm, now to find the perfect place. Olivia had caught sight of Rooney working diligently with his own seeds; smiling to herself at all the little noises and phrases he'd been making and saying. They'd been together for a majority of the lesson, and Liv worried that she'd annoy him if she came across too clingy. So, instead of working nearby, she chose a space on the opposing side of the cavern. Curious about his sudden booming laughter, she simply smiled and ushered Carlton along with her, making her bum comfortable on the cave's floor. As for the steps, they were pretty simple, so she doubted much could go wrong; as long as she could remain focused on the task at hand. And she'd been doing pretty well during this lesson in that regard. So, there was a bit of confidence about herself. However small, but it was still there.

"Did you catch the steps? Do you need some help?" She was already digging into the dirt with a gloved hand, scooping a bit of it into her awaiting bucket. Again, she wanted to thank Rooney for charming hers before. Shout out to her wonderful boyfriend....who.... had left to go do something. Breathing through a moment of sheer distress, Olivia decided to focus wholly on Carlton. He'd need her help. So, that's what he'd get. "Okay...after we scoop out a hole...we add some of it to our buckets." Cupping her gloved hand, she shoved some of the displaced soil into her awaiting bucket. Professor Myers had mentioned that they could mix it up with their hands if they wanted to....which she did. And their fearless leader had been right. The soil did feel warmed from the bucket's charmed heat. Not that Liv expected anything different. He wouldn't have steered them wrong, for sure. "....And then we just dump the contents of out buckets into the hole." According to the steps.

Now for water.... Sigh. Water. "Do you know the Aguamenti spell?" It was strange because....it was basically conjuring water, which was definitely considered Transfiguration...but in a lot of places, it was listed as a Charm, but that seemed wrong to her. Maybe it was a hybrid or something... Who knew? "I think we're just suppose to fill out buckets up, boil the water, and then dump it onto the seed." And then give themselves a HIGH FIVE, but perhaps she and Carlton could give each other high fives. For his hardwork, and her own triumph over this pretty terrifying situation. At first. Terrifying at first, which was an important distinction.

Anyway, refocusing, Olivia trained her wand tip towards the mouth of the bucket; a natural crease forming between her eyebrows. Intent was important, again. And intent was kinda difficult right now. As well as concentration. "Aquamenti." Taking a deep breath to steady herself, water began rushing from the tip of her wand...and after a few moments, she staunched its flow, working towards performing her first Chaudensis spell. The only comfort was this this was a charm and those rarely gave her too many problems. But....um, just to be safe, because apparently some kid had melted his bucket, Liv took a few heartbeats to practice it. The wand motion wasn't too dastardly, but then again, she was used to performing some pretty crazy wand motions with other spells, so...this one seemed pretty tame in comparison. Without realizing it, she'd began to hum.... Something from Les Misérables. One day moooore....

"Chaudensis...." Taking a few moments...the Gryffindor was appalled to see that whatever confidence she'd had in regards to charms seemed misplace at the moment. It hadn't worked...but there was something to be said about being a Gryffindor, you see. She wasn't going to give up just yet. It simply took some thinking about. What had gone wrong? Had she not been focused enough? Was the pronunciation off? No, definitely not that. She'd been listening to many of her peers saying the incantation. It would've been MORE appalling to not work that out immediately, given her love of musicals and mimicking performances. Eh, perhaps she'd just not been concentrating hard enough. "See? Even I have problems with spells the first time." As a way to make Carlton feel a bit better....but also, Olivia had narrowed her eyes, zeroed in on the bucket. This new bit of magic would NOT lick her. She didn't care one bit about circumstances.

Retaking a breath, the Gryffindor nearly growled. Er, sorry... Olivia Phillips could get intense at times when it came to these things. "Chaudensis!" AH. There we go. The effect was instant...and the water was already releasing some steam. Now to let that come to a boil...

Or she could just go ahead and finish hers. Then she could help James to do his. Or maybe she would make him do his own while she watched. Now that might be fun to do that. But since he did dig for her, she would help him.

She turned back to her bucket, pointing her wand at it toward the bucket. [b"Aguamenti."[/b] Aiming the stream of water into the bucket. She didn't want to over fill the bucket with the water because when she went to boil the water it might boil over, or if she put too much into the bucket she could ovewater the fire seeds and that wouldn't be good either. She filled the bucket with just enough water to water the seeds. Once she was done she stopped the spell with a "Finite."

Now she had to heat her bucket up to get the water to boil. It was just like boiling the water in a pot at home or in the kitchen to make pasta. Well it was more or less the same idea. "Chaudensis." Now to wait and get everything hot enough for it to boil.

When the water started to bubble up she canceled out the spell and with her hands still gloved, the bucket was probably still extremely hot. She poured to the water into the soil and seeds she had put it the hole.

And now she was done. Good job Katerina. Good job. She actually did high herself, some way she did it.

Harvey glanced over the remainder of the instructions before starting to work.
This didn't look too difficult...

3. Dig a small hole where you’d like to plant your seed
4. Put some of the soil into your heated bucket that contains the seed
5. Dump the contents of the bucket into the hole
6. Boil water!
-Aquamenti some water into bucket
-Heat bucket using Chaudensis charm

Ah, and this is where it would get interesting. For some inexplicable reason, charms and Harvey didn't always get along very well. That would probably explain why, despite his intensely focused frown of concentration, the water which spurted into the bucket from his wand tip was... turquoise.

He wasn't even going to speculate why.

Heating it went a bit better. No problems there. The colour didn't change, though. Hmm.

7. Pour water onto the planted seed

This was also easy enough. Harvey was almost glad you couldn't see the results yet - he was pretty sure the turquoise water was going to influence... something.

But at least he'd managed the rest of it as expected... right?

Carlton's hand squeezed Olivia's robes as he followed her. He happily swung his bucket but was very careful to not hurt the little seeds that were in there. He looked down at them as he walked. They trusted him completely to plant them and he would. "You're getting a new home." He explained to them. In case they were wondering why he was moving them around.

When Olivia sat down, Carlton followed suit. Trying his best to get as comfortable as possible right next to her. He watched her dig a hole and put the displaced soil in her bucket. Carlton mimicked her exact movements. Dig, dig, dig. He grabbed a handful of soil and started to veeeery gently drop it over the seeds. He almost put his entire head inside the bucket so that he could see exactly how the little ones were doing. "Look out down there!" He called, his voice echoing slightly in the metal bucket. "Here it cooomes!"

They wouldn't suffocate would they? He was suddenly anxious. Not his fire babies! Carlton glanced over at Olivia and saw her move around the soil in the bucket so he did the same to his.

There you go, all nice and warm.

"Aguamenti..." He repeated, thoughtfully. He took a second to think. Nope. Not a clue. He had not learned that yet. He shook his head vigorously. "I don't know what that is..." So he hugged his bucket close to his chest and sat watching Olivia as she performed the last steps of the task.

When the water in her bucket was almost boiling, Carlton continued with his steps. "In you go!" He let the fire seeds along with the soil fall down into the hole he'd dug. "Home." He told the fire seeds that were hiding somewhere under all that dirt. Then he looked up at Olivia again, eyes flickering to her bucket full of water and then back to his empty dirty one.

"My seeds need water! THEY'LL DEHYDRATE!"

He couldn't let that happen. Help. Help. HALP.

While her own water did the boiling thing, Liv focused all her attentions on the small Slytherin boy and making sure he found success. Because this was Herbology and it always deserved the fullest amount of effort! Also, Professor Myers got so excited when they did well. It honestly pushed her, a Gryffindor who wasn't very Hufflepuff-like, to impress the Head Badger.

"It's the water-making spell. Here, watch me." Directing his attention towards her wand, she traced out, very carefully, a sideways S shape. "That's four syllables, by the way. AH-GUA-men-ti...." Rooney had mentioned before about enunciating the syllables and he was so terribly clever with it that she'd quickly decided it was the best way to explain any new spells.

"Just relax and give it a try." It was comical that Olivia Phillips was telling anyone to relax, but...this was a NEW Olivia Phillips these days. Relaxation was a must for her. "The seeds will be okay, in the meantime."

While she waited, Liv dumped the liquid contents of her own bucket over her planted fireseeds.

....And she was finished!

Kitty's excited outburst on finding worms wouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knew her very well. Worms were among her absolute favorite animals: she kept nine of them as pets and had brought them to Hogwarts every year since the previous Care of Magical Creatures professor (Draper, a few years ago) gave her permission. Some people found her fascination with the wriggly things odd, but Kitty was not ashamed in the least bit. Still, one might think she would have gotten used to finding worms in the ground, but in reality she rarely dug within the Hogwarts grounds - not knowing if it was appropriate. Most of her worm seeking had been done in her mom's garden.

"I'll put them back as soon as I'm finished planting the seeds," she assured Professor Myers, moving back to finish the process.

Next she had to summon some water. "Aquamenti!" she said, flourishing her wand smartly while pointed at the bucket. Now to heat the water. "Chaudensis!" It didn't seem to work, the temperature of the water remained cool. Then she realized that in her haste she had forgotten to twirl her hand. "Chaudensis," she said again, this time making the correct motion. The bucket immediately became warm, even through her gloves she could feel the heat it gave off.

She carefully poured the water into each of the holes. Then with her gloves she swept the dirt back over their original spots.

Paul was too busy trying to help Derf to answer Roo’s first PAUL CALL. But when he followed the older man into Cave #1, and then proceeded to be absolutely SILLY, Paul had to turn and chuckled at the prefect. “Have you had too much caffeine today, Mr. Bronwyn?” he smirked. “Thinking is dangerous for some people, eh?” Yes yes, go on, Roo. Aaaaaand to the point of Roo’s coming to talk to him at all --”Yes, yes you can, Rooney! I don’t mind whatsoever,” he smiled at the enthusiasm.

It was very endearing to Paul.



……..Paul’s eyes widened at Derf’s question. Did he know what he was asking the man? Did he know for one, just how deeply offended Paul was….and two, what it REALLY was? The Herbologist’s face grew very serious, and he straightened up. “I don’t know where you’ve learned that term from, but we will be having a talk. Today. See me after class immediately. I will write you a note to be late for your next class.”

Paul would be writing to his parents. Absolutely. He hated to bother poor Seren, but…

His heart was...a little sad as he continued on. “If you need anything else, ask me, Derf,” he said in a soft, much less cheerful voice than he had used before. And he tucked the metal under his arm. “You can still decorate this if you wish, but you will never mention that term to me again, do we understand?”

Merlin.

Where would a kid LEARN THAT FROM?



Paul went back to Cave #2 to check up on those students. He nodded at Kitty a little. “Very cute indeed!” he smiled his best for her, but his mind was still...stuck on what Derf had said. Horcruxes...at eleven, knowing...even that word? Or that it was a THING? And Paul knew that Derf wasn’t a fan of plants nor Herbology NOR himself...so...he clearly associated horcruxes with ‘bad wizards.’

Concern. Much concern.





“All right everyone, it’s time to start heading baaaaack! If you haven’t already finished, wrap up what you’re doing, and Thereos and I will be waiting outside the caves for you all!” He smiled gently once more and went to wait outside for the students.

***

Once everyone was ready to leave, Paul started the trot back towards DAYLIGHT. He had cast lumos, and he hoped some of the students would know to do so as well.



OOC: OKAY CLASS IS WRAPPING UP. We’re just walking back to McLeod’s hut! I know TLs right now might be wonky because some of you haven’t finished up planting seeds----but you have about 24 hours to wrap up those post(s) and follow us back to CIVILIZATION. Take as many or as little posts as you need, loves.

Thanks for a wonderfully interesting lesson, I truly enjoyed it, you all, and your characters. <3 Happy posting. I’ll try to post Paul interacting with students when I can!

Carlton looked around for his wand. Where had he put it? Ít had a knack of disappearing since he didn't really use it much because it just refused to obey his orders. He found it tugged inside the inside pocket of his robes. That was a neat place. Maybe if he just put it in the same place every time he would know where it was at all times. Which was: tugged away.

He wipped it out and cleared his throat. He had almost but not really successfully called for a broom to fly up to his hand at his first flying lesson. He could conjure up some water. No biggie. Hey ho, H20!

"AHHH-" A little twist of his wand. "gua-menti. No. Gua-men-ti." He frowned at his wand which just, as per usual, did nothing. He shook it a few times. "Work!" He'd told Professor Hirsch that his wand didn't work, to which the professor had replied that he had to show the wand who was in control. And he was trying to. He was rrrreally trying to. The problem was that the wand just didn't listen to him.

"Ah-gua-men-ti." He watched it do nothing again. Oh. Right the S-shape. "Ahhh-guaaaa-men-ti." He moved his wand when he spoke the words and to his surprise he'd actually done it. "GAH!" His bucket was filling up and he quickly crawled away from Liv and the seeds to avoid drowning them. Save the seeds, don't flood their homes!

That was enough of the water. Stop. Stoooop. He gave his wand a little wave. "I don't need anymore, thank you!" He exclaimed, trying to hide his annoyance at his wand. "Yes, yes, very good now that's enough!" How much water did it think he needed? Jeez. After another wave of his wand the water stopped. He smiled. "There." He scooted back over to Olivia with his bucket filled up to the top with water.

"Did it." He nodded to her. He was so proud. "I did the spell.".

Now back to the other one, he knew this already after having to practice it about 52432764 times before getting it to work. He pointed his wand at the bucket. "Chaudensis." Eagerly he put his hand on the bucket to see if it had worked. He wiggled a bit to sit more comfortably. "Chaudensis." He tried again, adding as much authority he could. Pressing his hand up against the bucket told him it had worked.

Somewhat at least.

Carlton glanced back at his seeds. "Hang in there!" Liv had told him they would be fine, but it couldn't hurt to reassure them they hadn't been forgotten. He watched ever so pleased and proud how steam rose from his bucket of water. It was working! He reached out and patted the soil where he'd hidden his fire seeds. Pat, pat, pat. "Little fire babies."

Tiny bubbles appeared on the surface and he looked up at Olivia taking a huge breath. It was time. He grabbed the bucket with both hands before quickly setting it down again. Owie. Hot, hot, hot. Except he was wearing the gloves again and it didn't burn him at all. He giggled. Silly.

"Alrighty little seeds here comes the water..." He gently let the boiling water leave the bucket. For a few seconds he eyes the ground, not knowing what to expect. Nothing happened. He hoped he had enough water.

"It is done." Carlton said giving out an exhausted sigh, looking up at Olivia happily. "I'm happy." He told her, beaming with pride. Just in case she hadn't got that. "I hope the seeds are happy down there as well!"

Pat, pat, pat.

Magic. Ah, well that had been a boring answer. Rooney nodded, quietly ignoring the way Professor Myers was with the first year and instead offering the younger boy a sympathetic sort of smile. It hadn't been that awful of a comment, really.. But Rooney probably thought that because he was equally as inquisitive as this young one seemed. But he wasn't going to get on the bad side of the Professor - had anyone remembered when Professor Myers had taken POINTS from Rooney and he had cried for hours after class? Yeah he remembered way too well. "Wellllllllllll oooooooookay. I'm going to go. THANKS Professor Myers." For permission.

Although they both knew that Rooney would have gone ahead and done it either way.

The sixth year flounced back out of that cave, realising that he was soon being followed by Professor Myers who was letting them know that it was time to get ready to get going. HELL TO THE NO. Rooney had a WHOLE plaque to make. Hold your horses, Professor Myers. He had grabbed a rock from the floor nearby and ran straight back to the planting area that he had marked out with a circle as his. HIS. HIIIIIIIIS. Setting the rock out on the floor, Rooney sat in front of it and started to use his wand to carve out his name and the date. That was all it would need.

"Hey Liiiiiiiiiiiv?" He looked around the cave for his girlfriend, smiling at the sight of her with the laundry kid. "Professor Myers said I can make a plaque for my bush to grow near! Do you wANT one????" He could even put 'Girlfriend of Rooney Bronwyn' on hers if she wanted.

Man oh man she was pretty.