Valencia considered for a moment before raising her hand. "They really only need something to climb. The amount of sunlight and water varies." Just like it does for other plants.

SPOILER!!: mellamaet

Quote:

Originally Posted by mellamaet

At Professor June's remarks, Serena flushed scarlet. She wasn't trying to manhandle the vine, it wasn't her fault it was stubborn! And she did try to be gentle. But, at the very least, at least her vine didn't attempt to absorb her, like Violet's did.

Shaking off her terrible luck with the evil vines, Serena focused on Professor June's question. She raised her hand and answered "It depends on which vine, Professor, and at what stage." She felt proud, her neighbor loved growing plants and flowers, and fortunately for Serena, she also loved talking about said vines whenever they would bump into another "Most newly planted vines require a fair bit of watering, as they need the moisture from the soil. In terms of sunlight meanwhile, most vines are fine with either full sunlight, or partial exposure to the sun, but some variations require full sunlight, or only certain amounts of sunlight." Unfortunately, she had never really listened to Mrs. Hernandez in depth, so she couldn't remember any of the types of vines that the elderly woman prattled on about during their many chats about her plants.

]

June nodded with a soft smile, "Right you are, Miss Anders. Take two points"

SPOILER!!: astrocat

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat

Ashley surreptitiously stuck her hand into her pocket. She had gotten a fair amount of vines with only one gash, and she felt that was something to be proud of. Ignoring her slightly bleeding hand, she decided to focus on the question. "Uh, well I guess vines need light and a thing to climb on. Like a wall or a tree. Because the reason they climb on things is because- wait my wand is made of vine -where were we? Oh yeah, um they climb on stuff because they want light but they don't want to spend energy." That seemed like a good answer to her.

June was quick to notice that movement though, and she found herself raising a brow at the girl, "everything alright, Miss Fox?" she asked - eying that hand that went into that pocket of hers.

SPOILER!!: DaniDiNarDOOM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNarDOOM

She was done? "Oh!" The little girl was all set to grin and let the professor know she was welcome for the help but when she turned to look at Professor Flamsteed, all she saw was disappointment and....

The corner?

But...but why? What was in the corner? Why couldn't she touch any more plants today? Confused, Emmerson went to a table to place the secateurs down then over to the corner the woman had indicated. Emm blinked a few times over at her, green eyes silently questioning what just happened.

Timidly, the 11 year old lifted her hand. If she was standing in the corner and not meant to touch anything, was she still allowed to answer?

"They're always in jungles with other trees they can climb up on--can I come see the plants later?"

Or was she banned for...like....EVER??

June was still hurt over what Miss Cambridge had done. Had she not been clear in her instructions? Dry leaves and wayward branches? So, yes, the corner thing was going to stay at least until the end of the lesson.

Nonetheless, when the young girl offered an answer, June gave her a small nod, "maybe - if you promise to actually follow directions"

SPOILER!!: CruppieMom89

Quote:

Originally Posted by CruppieMom89

Ivy grinned when the professor praised her work. Oh good! She was doing something right! As she finished untangling the vines, removing the glass, and repairing the windows around where she worked, she dusted off her gloved hands on her robes and turned her attention back tot he Professor who was now asking question. She was still learning about Herbology, but she’d learned a lot about plants at her Muggle school, so she thought she could take a pretty decent stab at this one. ”Well, vines aren’t like people. They don’t stop getting bigger. They just grow and grow and grow until they run out of room or they die. So, they’d need good soil with lots of nutrients, maybe where there are lots of other vegetation or critters because when things die, they go into the ground which is part of how the stuff plants need gets there. Um... also they’d need space - up, down, sideways - wherever. Plants also have to have water and sunlight for photosynthesis! So vines would need those too!”

Yeah, that seemed like an actually intelligent answer for once!

"Very good, Taylor. A very vital thing for them is space, they need a lot of it" June nodded with a smile.

SPOILER!!: FatefulLeader19

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatefulLeader19

Claudine sent Flamsteed a smile in acknowledgement of the compliment. Really, it was tough work but at least she had been lucky enough to be working on vines that weren’t too stubborn. Still, the Slytherin was sort of relieved when they were moving.

Types of environment for vines to thrive? She thought a bit then raised a hand. “An environment where there are objects for the vines to climb as they grow would be useful,’’ Claudine volunteered. And 'objects' didn't necessarily refer to just trees.

"YES" June smiled wider. She loved it when her students picked on the obvious. Because sometimes the obvious is certainly the most important thing. "Take a point, Miss Blaze"

SPOILER!!: Bizzariana

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bizzariana

Professor Flamsteed was wrong (no offense). Not that Kinsay would say that to her. She wasn’t brave enough for that. But it wasn’t about the vines not trusting Kinsay! It was about Kinsay not trusting the vines! This distrust is what made it so hard to relax. So she continued to battle them for dominance and as a result entirely missed the awful thing that happened to her best friend.

It also meant that Kinsay was stuck in a tangle of vines, even as they moved on to the next question. One that she could only think of answering with the basic stuff like water and sunlight. Mostly everyone else had already said that stuff though so she decided to stay quiet. This time around she wouldn’t be asking any questions of her own because they always got ignored.

......

Except when one of the older Slytherin’s mentioned the need for objects to climb… Kizzy’s hand shot into the air before she even had time to think about it. ”Can vines grow on people?” It was a question half born from curiosity, and half from concern. Aka, would the vines that had tangled her stay like that FOREVER?!

…. Was she a plant now?

Oh dear.

June watched as the girl continued to battle the vines. Sigh. Another one to not really listen. Maybe with time she'd understand. June shook her head at her next question as she waved her wand to get the vines off the girl, "they can't grow on people, but they can easily wrap themselves around them - and in some cases consume the person entirely" she offered before moving on.

SPOILER!!: MadAlice

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

"I was humming to them to try to coax them off the window," Violet explained as Professor June came over and started to try to get some of the vines off of her. "They seemed to like it, because they let me tug them right off, but then they wanted to find something else to climb on and I didn't have anything handy. So they started curling around me. I guess they liked the humming a little too much," Violet finished sheepishly. "Is there a trellis or something they could climb on instead? I think they'd come off if they had somewhere else to go."

June offered the young girl a small smile, there was nothing to be embarrassed about. "You did well, Miss Blackthorne - now let me help you," she offered before helping the vines off of her as well. She had purposely introduced them to vines which wouldn't hurt them. So the brunette wasn't really worried.

"Yes, there is one - and I will be bringing it out in a bit"

SPOILER!!: MadMummyMalfoy

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMummyMalfoy

Heath was so busy trying to soothe the wriggling vine that he didn't notice Professor Flamsteed's smile. He had barely enough time to get the window repaired before they moved on to the second question. He thought for several moments. It appeared that the kind of environment a vine needed would vary with the type of vine, but someone already pointed that out. All the other things he thought of - water, light, good soil, a safe place to climb ( as in not on broken glass shards) had been said too. Now what could he say?

As he racked his brains for something new to add, his thoughts turned to the tall vine he'd helped earlier, the one that seemed to like showtunes… or maybe it wasn't the song it responded to. What if it responded to him because he treated it with kindness? Was that something that made a good environment for vines, a place where they'd be loved and cared for? Maybe they were like humans in that way… Or not. There were plenty of vines that grew just fine in the wild, so that was probably wrong. And even so, there was no way in Hoth that he was saying that answer out loud! He shook his head, unable to believe he'd come up with something that sappy!

After a lot of careful consideration, Heath remembered something he read in the textbook, and his hand went up. "Some vines, like grapevines for example, are prone to mildew and fungus, so they need an environment with good air circulation."

"A very good point, Mr Jones," June nodded, as she moved toward the tool closet to bring out the trellis as she had told Miss Blackthorne.

SPOILER!!: TakemeTrickorTreating

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemeTrickorTreating

Cecelia smiled a bit sheepishly when the Professor intervened, watching as the woman handled the vine with WAY more ease than she had. "They're like creatures that way, then." It made sense you had to earn their trust, she supposed. They were living things, after all. "Promise I'll keep that in mind for next time." She crossed her heart and everything.

Shaking off the minor fail that was her vine handling skills, Cecelia couldn't help but notice that Emmerson had been made to stand in the corner, which was-well, it was embarrassing, wasn't it? And Cece couldn't help but feel bad for Emm, who looked pretty confused about her current position. Wondering if she could help somehow, the fourth year looked between the younger girl and the professor, thinking.

"It's probably helpful if the vines have lots of room to grow? So maybe somewhere spacious. Somewhere safe, too. Ideally without broken glass." That much she'd learned just a few minutes ago. Also.. "Professor, I wouldn't mind if Emm worked with me on whatever we do next. If that's okay, I mean."

Miss Summer's answer was correct and even more was her offer to stick with Miss Cambridge, "if you think you can make sure she doesn't do anything to hurt more of my plants, by all means"

June was still very very hurt, okay?

SPOILER!!: Daydreamer11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11

Naya kept working on untangling the vines. It was hard work, but she kept at it. She had just finished freeing another vine from a broken window when the professor said it was time to move on. Naya quickly aimed a “Reparo” at the broken window, fixing it just in time.

Turning her attention to the professor, Naya listened to the question that was posed. A good environment for vines to grow? After thinking about it for a moment, she raised her hand. “I think most vines need to grow in soil that is well drained. The roots need to breathe and like Heath said, they need air circulating around them.....so the water needs to keep flowing down into the soil and away from the roots.” As soon as Naya stopped talking, she wondered her answer sounded right. In her head it made sense but... when she said it out loud.....not so much.

"Right you are as well, Miss Lindsay" Pulling out the trellis next - the brunette pushed it to the middle of the room.

SPOILER!!: Nordic Witch

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

Cole was grateful for the compliment from Professor Flamsteed on how he handled the hard task of untanging vines. Not everyone was as fortunate. He felt bad for Emmerson and Cece. Cole refocused on the vines he was working with, freeing the last vine from an extra pointy glass shard. "Reparo!" he mumbled as he casted the spell to repair the last window.

Glad that they we're moving on Cole took a few moments to consider his answer. He didn't want to repeat other peoples answers. Raising his hand eventually he said "All though water is important you shouldn't water too often and in the mornings if i remember right? Vines also need a very big space to grow on and it's also pertinent that the soil is nutrious. You should put composted earth around the vine plant for good growing potential."

"Mhm," These kids were just really brilliant when they actually tried, did they know?

SPOILER!!: LilFox06

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

Valencia considered for a moment before raising her hand. "They really only need something to climb. The amount of sunlight and water varies." Just like it does for other plants.

Making sure the trellis was set just right, June took a step back and turned to look at Miss Phillips when she spoke, "Right you are, and that is why I brought this in" she said before turning to address the entire class.

"Alright, everybody, look over here" June stated, calling for everyone's attention. "This is a trellis - a simple structure but can do wonders for these vines"

"All these vines you have so wonderfully untangled need a new place and this will be it" she said before retrieving her wand. "Now, we are going to attempt a simple spell to help them"

"Vinea Cito" she said before repeating it with a clear breakdown, "Vee-Nee-A --See-Tou" Simple enough, yeah?

"Now, watch me closely - " she said, moving toward the vine she had untangled in the beginning - "pointing your wand at the vine, cast the spell" she further stated, before doing exactly that - and then without breaking eye contact and still with a pointed wand, she started guiding the vine toward the trellis. With almost snake like movement, the vine moved and climbed onto the structure - but only in the direction June was guiding it toward.

Once satisfied with where the vine had found its home, she turned back to the kids, "Easy enough?" she smiled, "Okay, your turn"

OOC: Thank you for sticking with me so far! This is the main activity! June will be walking around and will be available for anyone in need or questions. You can have the vines react the way you want as well. As always, have fun, guys!

"I'm fine," Ashley said, almost convincingly. On the one hand, she had definitely gashed her hand a little on that glass. On the other hand, she had seen worse and was not really interested in going to the hospital wing for the 5 billionth time. So she just focused on the vines, giggling a little because she was using her vine wand to guide vines, and that was hilarious. "Vinea Cito" she said, using her wand arm, and not really the hand that was still in her pocket. She gazed in awe as the vine curled around the support just the way it was supposed to. And then... she may have forgotten about her hand. Because this was so cool! But um... not the best thing to forget about, yeah?

Oh, a trellis! Well this was a MUCH easier place to put her vine than in a pot, which it OBVIOUSLY hated, since it was trying to creep out of there again. Bernie rehearsed the words to the spell in her mind first, before she would attempt to cast on it. Vee-Nee-A See-Tou, she said to herself. Vee-nee-a-seeee-tou!

Now, to cast on that vine that had given her a hard time earlier, without breaking eye contact, she cast, "Vinea Cito!" Bernie gently guided the vine from the pot to the trellis with ease. HUZZAH!

Ohhhhh boy. No, this did not look at all easy. She eyed the trellis and then her vine, and she took a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, she pointed her wand at the vine and carefully repeated the incantation, ”Vee-nee-a See-taaaaah.” But something went horribly wrong. Sparks shot out of her wand and hit the vine, which apparently made it very angry because it suddenly lashed at out Ivy, wrapping around her wand and tugging.

Ivy tugged back at first, but she was afraid the vine would break her wand, so she just let go and stared at it in astonishment. Now what did she do? Wide-eyed, she put her hand in the air and looked around for help. ”Uh... Professor? It stole my wand!” she explained with a tone that sounded like she was tattling on another child.

The Snakette blinked, not expecting the point. This wasn’t something that usually happened for her since she had an issue of not elaborating on her answers. Still, it was a great change and she smiled warmly at Flamsteed. Soon her, and all the others, had their attention on the trellis. This was exactly as to what Claudine had been referring to earlier; something for the vines to climb on. It made sense to help the Hogwarts vines adjust to this one.

Claudine watched with interest as Flamsteed did all the things to successfully get the vine transferred. It all seemed easy enough but the spell wasn’t one that she was that familiar with. It made sense therefore that she practiced first.

“Vee-Nee-A-See-Tou. Vee-Nee-A-See-Tou. Vinea Cito.” The wand movement was easy so there was no need for her to practice that. Now, Claudine selected a vine, pointed her wand at it and cast the spell.

Ah, of course the professor had already thought of a trellis! Violet edged carefully over to one end of it with her companion vines trailing after her. Hoping the vines would decide the trellis was better than a 14 year old girl to climb upon, she reached up to touch the trellis gently with her left arm while she held her wand in her other hand and cast the spell: "Vinea Cito!" Sure enough, the vines on her left side began curling up around the trellis. The vines on the right side had begun edging across toward the trellis as well.

Serena smiled, as two more points are awarded to her. Brilliant, that is now a total of 3 points for Slytherin. She waited patiently as other answers were given out, everyone had equally brilliant answers too!

When it was time for the actual spell casting, Serena listened carefully at the incantation, and repeated it "Vee-Nee-A...See-Tou, Vinea Cito", confident that she had the pronunciation of it right, she pointed her wand at the vine that she had untangled earlier - which was conveniently laying near the trellis, and cast "Vinea Cito", she moved her wand up slowly, watching intently as the vine snaked through the trellis frames.

"You're doing brilliantly!" The blonde Slytherin praised the vine.

The mystery was solved when the professor brought out the trellis. That was going to hold up all of the wounded vines. Paying close attention, Naya watched and listened for the spell that would get the job done. She decided to give it a little practice before trying it out on the actual vine. Repeating the incantation, Naya said, ”Vee-Nee-A See-Tou” For good measure, she went over it a few more times. “Vinea Cito, Vinea Cito, Vinea Cito”. Feeling comfortable with the incantation, she was ready to proceed.

Naya went over to the first vine she had untangled and got to work. She pointed her wand toward it and said, ‘Vinea Cito” Then guiding it with her wand, she directed the vine toward the trellis. Making sure to watch out for any straggling pieces, she successfully put the vine in place. That was way easier than the previous task of untangling the vine.

Now Naya went over to the vine near the second window she repaired. She went through all of the steps again and hoped that things would work out just as well on her second try. “Vinea Cito”, she said with authority. Pointing her wand, she began to move the second vine toward the desired destination. Then she made sure to get everything in the right place. Letting out a deep breath, she was satisffied with her work so far. Looking around, the Gryffindor tried to find another vine in need to help.

Heath smiled, giving Claudine a nod of congratulations for her extra point. A second later, his attention was back on Professor Flamsteed, watching her demonstration intently. He didn’t know until just now that there was a spell to guide a plant on to a trellis. It was rather interesting to see! Eager to try it out for himself, Heath repeated the incantation a few times. “Vee-Nee-A See-Tou, Vee-Nee-A See-Tou...” That spell was a bit of a mouthful, but nothing he couldn't handle with some practice. “Vinea Cito!”

Once he was comfortable saying the incantation, Heath looked around the greenhouse for a vine to help. It wasn’t a hard choice to make; he immediately gravitated to the vine from before, the one that seemed to like his voice. The vine perked up as he approached, and he smiled. “See? I told you I’d be back,” he said, gently petting the plant. He just didn’t think he’d be back that fast! As he kept petting the vine, he overheard someone (Ivy) say her wand was stolen and quickly held his right arm behind his back, just in case the vine got any ideas about taking his wand. And not a moment too soon! Just then, the vine began to wind itself around his left arm, as if giving him a hug.

Heath laughed, allowing it to stay there for a minute or two. “Hey, I know something that’s a lot more fun to climb than my arm,” he said. The vine lifted a tendril, as if showing interest. “Hold still, this won’t hurt a bit…” He pointed his wand at the vine and said firmly, “Vinea Cito!” He watched in satisfaction as the vine snaked up the trellis in the direction he guided it. “There, that’s better, isn’t it?” he said, giving the vine one last look before moving on to help another one.

All Josh heard was that it was okay for him to deal with cleaning up the pots, which meant that he absolutely could put his plan into action. PERFECT. The winds of change and whatever were upon him at last! Something else moderately going his way. "Oh yeah, sure thing!" he chirped before scooting off to deal with a couple more broken pieces. He laid them out on the floor in front of him and attempted to put them all together, like a puzzle, before giving Reparo a try. He had managed to fix two pots before Professor Flamsteed was moving the class discussion along a little...which meant that she was well and distracted so he could slip in the sloppily wrapped box containing a tea strainer and container of lotus orange jasmine green tea into the topmost pot and then suuuuuuuuper caaaaaaaaaaaasually place it beside her station. Totally casual and not suspect at all - he even whistled a bit because he was just THAT casual.

Which basically meant that he had missed the opportunity to answer about vine locations and climate...or whatever it was she had asked about. Uh...vines grew from the ground and into the air? Anyway. Not important...ish. Patting his pockets again for his wand, he kept glancing over at the pot and then back towards Professor Flamsteed while humming the new incantation, Vinea Cito, under his breath and lazily practicing the wand movement. Would he actually get to SEE her find the surprise? And what would she think of the Secret Admirer angel? Eliza had absolutely teased the beejesus out of him when she had found it hidden in his trunk - which was unsurprising but ANYWAY.

Thing was that some Gryffindor could chew gum and walk at the same time while others...could not. In this moment, Josh was one of the latter and since he was not paying attention to where he was going SLAMMED right into a trellis and stumbled back just in time to topple over a stool.

He was pretty sure at this point the vines were laughing at him too. Maybe the one that had suddenly taken a great interest in the laces of his shoes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat

"I'm fine," Ashley said, almost convincingly. On the one hand, she had definitely gashed her hand a little on that glass. On the other hand, she had seen worse and was not really interested in going to the hospital wing for the 5 billionth time. So she just focused on the vines, giggling a little because she was using her vine wand to guide vines, and that was hilarious. "Vinea Cito" she said, using her wand arm, and not really the hand that was still in her pocket. She gazed in awe as the vine curled around the support just the way it was supposed to. And then... she may have forgotten about her hand. Because this was so cool! But um... not the best thing to forget about, yeah?

June didn't quiet believe her. "Come on, Miss Fox, show me your hand" Sigh. Why did she think she wouldn't notice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by CruppieMom89

Ohhhhh boy. No, this did not look at all easy. She eyed the trellis and then her vine, and she took a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, she pointed her wand at the vine and carefully repeated the incantation, ”Vee-nee-a See-taaaaah.” But something went horribly wrong. Sparks shot out of her wand and hit the vine, which apparently made it very angry because it suddenly lashed at out Ivy, wrapping around her wand and tugging.

Ivy tugged back at first, but she was afraid the vine would break her wand, so she just let go and stared at it in astonishment. Now what did she do? Wide-eyed, she put her hand in the air and looked around for help. ”Uh... Professor? It stole my wand!” she explained with a tone that sounded like she was tattling on another child.

Oh dear.

SO very very amused, June turned to Ivy, and couldn't help a small chuckle, "did you make it angry?" she asked, before looking around to see where it went.

Ah, there it was, "there there," she cooed at the vines, "Miss Taylor was only trying to help - come on, be a good sport and hand it over" she demanded softly.

And sure enough, the vine eventually gave in and brought back the vine. "Okay, Miss Taylor - why don't you practise saying the spell before attempting it with a wand first"

Then no rouge sparks may escape that wand of hers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

All Josh heard was that it was okay for him to deal with cleaning up the pots, which meant that he absolutely could put his plan into action. PERFECT. The winds of change and whatever were upon him at last! Something else moderately going his way. "Oh yeah, sure thing!" he chirped before scooting off to deal with a couple more broken pieces. He laid them out on the floor in front of him and attempted to put them all together, like a puzzle, before giving Reparo a try. He had managed to fix two pots before Professor Flamsteed was moving the class discussion along a little...which meant that she was well and distracted so he could slip in the sloppily wrapped box containing a tea strainer and container of lotus orange jasmine green tea into the topmost pot and then suuuuuuuuper caaaaaaaaaaaasually place it beside her station. Totally casual and not suspect at all - he even whistled a bit because he was just THAT casual.

Which basically meant that he had missed the opportunity to answer about vine locations and climate...or whatever it was she had asked about. Uh...vines grew from the ground and into the air? Anyway. Not important...ish. Patting his pockets again for his wand, he kept glancing over at the pot and then back towards Professor Flamsteed while humming the new incantation, Vinea Cito, under his breath and lazily practicing the wand movement. Would he actually get to SEE her find the surprise? And what would she think of the Secret Admirer angel? Eliza had absolutely teased the beejesus out of him when she had found it hidden in his trunk - which was unsurprising but ANYWAY.

Thing was that some Gryffindor could chew gum and walk at the same time while others...could not. In this moment, Josh was one of the latter and since he was not paying attention to where he was going SLAMMED right into a trellis and stumbled back just in time to topple over a stool.

He was pretty sure at this point the vines were laughing at him too. Maybe the one that had suddenly taken a great interest in the laces of his shoes.

....

One minute everything was fine, the next the trellis was ALMOST falling over.

DEAR MERLIN.

"Mr Miller??????" What was it with this boy? Was his head in the clouds again? He just seemed that type, didn't he? "Are you okay? Or do I need to take you to the hospital wing?"

OOC: Alright, guys, a few more hours and I'll be closing this thread. Lets wrap up <3 Thank you!

Ashley blinked. What? Oh right. Her hand. She guiltily removed her hand from her pocket and showed it to the professor. It was gashed diagonally down the center, and bleeding. "See? Nothing's wrong here." Oh well. If she went to the hospital wing, at least it was the end of class. So she started to walk away, probably in the direction of the hospital wing.

Mmhm? Cole guessed that Professor Flamsteed liked his answer so he took it as a good sign. He was doing good. Then a trellis was brought out and he watched and listened carefully to how they we're going to guide the injured vines to their new homes. The wand movement was simple so he took time to practice the incantation silently in his head; "Vee-Nee-A See-Tou, Vee-Nee-A See-Tou..." You had to keep your tongue in check or you could easily say it wrong, like Vinea see through or similar.

Feeling confident Cole walked over to some unattended injured vines with a trellis in tow. "Vinea Cito!" he casted firmly pointing his wand at the vines and then very gently started guiding the vines over to it's new trellis home. One vine though didn't want to cooperate at first, but Cole coaxed it patiently over to the trellis. "Come here little vine, this is your nice new home. You won't get hurt on glass anymore i promise." The trellis was after all made of wood.

Seeing Ashley’s bleeding hand when he was done with his work, Cole said to both her and Professor Flamsteed with a worried tone."That gash doesn’t look good. I can go with you to Healer Recard if you want me to Ashley?"

”Thanks, Professor,” Ivy said gratefully as she took her wand back. Now eyeing the vine warily, Ivy paced back and forth in front of it, wand safely stowed away, and repeated the incantation several times, but it still didn’t sound right. Pausing, she looked around and listened to some of the older students. After a few moments, Ivy realized what she was saying wrong - the last vowel was an O not an A.

Unfortunately, in the few seconds during which she’d been distracted, the vine had crept back toward her and gently wrapped around her leg. Feeling it slithering, Ivy shrieked loudly and tried to dash away only to trip and fall to the ground. ”No, no, no, no...” she muttered. Trying her best to stay calm, she managed to extricate herself from the vine. Quickly standing up, she authoritatively pointed her wand at the vine and said, ”Vinea Cito!” and guided it as quickly as it would go to the trellis.

Huffing, puffing, and looking very disheveled, she stood in triumph with her hands on her hips.

Take that vine!

She was definitely going to have nightmares about this...

”I can. Thanks Professor.” Cecelia was glad Professor F was so forgiving. She knew sometimes it could be tough, ‘specially when something you cared about so much wasn’t being cared for like you wanted, but Cece did honest to goodness think Emm wasn’t trying to do the wrong thing. A mistake was a mistake. Speaking of, she offered the younger girl a smile. ”Just like this, ‘kay Emm?” She did exactly as Professor Flamsteed had, her voice clear as she said, ”vinea cito!” She then started carefully guiding the vine she’d been helped with over to the trellis. It was sort of funny because it was almost as if the vine knew just where it was headed and it started to wiggle a little bit more as it approached its final destination, almost as if in anticipation. Then, when it did make contact, it climbed right on up, winding itself around the trellis. ”There. That’s better, I bet.” Much much better than broken glass.

Heath’s earlier smile might have also encouraged her for on her first try, Claudine succeeded in transferring the vine. It looked good upon the structure with the others. At least now they would all have the chance of growing merrily. The Slytherin returned to working on the vines after a minute or so.

Wand pointed at a new vine? Check. “Vinea Cito.’’ The Dragon Heartstring wand was moved in the direction of the trellis. Was it just her imagination or was that vine really moving most of its leaves in a sort of wave? No, she definitely wasn’t imagining it. Claudine almost lost her concentration in amusement but soon had the vine in place.

Claudine turned around sharply at the sound of a commotion to see that Josh had apparently taken a great fall. Was he okay? Did he injure his back? His foot? Some other body part? She gave him a look of concern though she made no move to help him up. In her mind, physical contact with anyone was invading her personal space.

Valencia had to admit that this was probably one of the coolest and most useful spells she'd ever seen. She was excited to try it out and already had some ideas of where to use it over the summer.

!!!

Vee-Nee-A --See-Tou. She repeated it in her head a few times before giving it a go.

"Vee-Nee-A --See-Tou." she said carefully while aiming her wand at the vine. She then carefully guided it up a trellis, grinning as it snaked matching her wand movements.

This. Was. The. Coolest.

Avalon was in the midst of attempting to guide her vine up the trellis. She had a rather creative vision for it - she wanted it to weave in and out of the wooden planks. But that would take extra concentration, and the vine wasn't exactly being cooperative. "Vinea Cito!" she said again, trying to gently guide it through the lattice. The vine started to move, but in the opposite direction. Ugh. When she tried again, the vine simply lurched toward her and smacked her in the arm. "Ow!" she exclaimed, rubbing her arm and pouting at the vine.

Well. Herbology was never one of her strong suits.

Avalon closed her eyes, trying to concentrate as much as she could. "Vinea Cito," she said again, a bit more firmly this time. Thankfully, the vine decided to behave. It started to climb the trellis.

But her concentration was short lived, due to a clash behind her. She spun around, her own vine droopign back to its original state in the process, only to find Josh splayed out on the floor. Yikes. Was he dealing with an unruly vine, too? "You okay?" the Ravenclaw asked, offering him an arm to help him up. At least she wasn't the only one struggling today.

The vine was a little more than JUST interested in its shoes, specifically his laces...and somehow while he had been flat on his back, the vine had untied his shoelaces and was now pulling it through the loops like wet spaghetti. "HEY!" he barked while kicking his leg to try to discourage the vine. "HEY! Give that ba---"

And here was Professor Flamsteed at his side and looking all kinds of concerned...and suggesting he might need the hospital wing.

"Is my nose broken again?!" There was no panic in his voice, rather an almost acceptance to this possible fate. Though he really hadn't slammed into the trellis that hard, had it? He had taken bludgers and quaffles to the face harder. He quickly reached up to touch his nose and check for any bumps or blood. None of the above soooooo...A-OKAY? "I'm fine professor...no need to bother Healer Recard again. Just...er...maybe a little help with getting my shoe lace back? I mean...I'd maybe do this vine spell on them but...that sort of feels like Imperio on a plant?" Miller. Shut. UP. "Not that I think YOU are a Dark wizard or encouraging us to do shady things, Professor Flamsteed! I think you're great! Beauty in brains too!"

SHUT. UP. MILLER.

Heath had no sooner finished his spell when a loud noise caused his dark head to whip around in the direction of the sound. He saw the fallen Gryffindor (Josh) but pretended not to notice what happened to spare him any more embarrassment. Besides, he still had work to do!

He made his way to the other vine he'd helped earlier, the wiggly one. This was probably going to be harder to guide than the first one! If Heath recalled correctly, this vine didn't like to be touched. So what else could he do to distract it while he did the spell? Maybe he could pretend to touch it… If it was anything like before, it would start wriggling away, so maybe he could get it to wriggle into the path of his spell. No, it might panic and try to take his wand.

Then another idea occurred to him. If his song put this vine to sleep before, certainly it could do it again. He knew what to do now! Leaning in closer to the vine, he sang very quietly, "Hardly a care finds you, little one…" As if on cue, the vine went limp, as if it had fallen asleep. Heath quickly pointed his wand at the sleeping plant. "Vinea Cito!" By the time the vine woke up, his spell was already guiding it onto the trellis. Just a little more… and done!

Kizzy usually listened…. When it was what she wanted to hear. Selective listening was a skill. It kind of works the same way that skimming books does. You get all the important information without having to sit through the boring stuff.

She did say a quiet “thank you,” to Professor Flamsteed for helping her get out of the tangle of vines though. Even though Kinsay could get out all by herself if she wanted to because she was a strong, independent girl who could do anything she set her mind to. Just to clarify. Also? Was Professor F telling the truth about vines consuming people? Or was that just something she said to be scary. Because, just to make it clear, Kiz had her doubts.

She thought this over as they received their next set of instructions. Already knowing that she wouldn’t be able to get the spell to work, she had decided she wouldn’t be trying it out. She’d just add it to the list of spells she practiced after dinner when no one else was around to see. Mhm.

So she casuaaaaaaaaally weaved her way towards a quiet corner of the room and simply observed. Which meant she also had the opportunity to witness everything going down with Joshua Miller. Well, actually... she could only bring herself to watch that for a few minutes. The second hand embarrassment she felt made it difficult to keep looking. He really was a dumpster fire. Emm was right (she always was).