The blue tulip slowly began to trill, just barely vibrating at first but eventually turning into a deep, soothing tone with a steady rhythm.
The white tulip chimed in sooner with a clear, pure tone that barely trilled; it came in somewhat above the blue's tone as they blended in a tuneful harmony in a somewhat minor key.

The rich purple color of the tulip was matched by the rich, deep sound which came in below the other chords. Hmm....it sounded all right...maybe. But the melody was just a shade off.
Close...very close...but not quite right.

Tapio stood behind Brandon, listening to his tulips. "Hmm, I don't know why they're doing that those colors really ought to go toether. Though the purple tulips tend to be a bit snobbish sometimes, especially the ones with red in them. I tell you what, why don't you remove that one and try this?" Tapio walked quickly on his long legs over to the tulips and selected a purple one that was a trifle bluer than the first and brought it back to Brandon. "Go ahead," Tapio said encouragingly, pointing to Brandon's wand. "Give it a try."

Jude flashed Bella and Mouse one of his grins. Their flowers all sounded very well together. With DeVries moving the lesson along, he paid close attention to the refresher words on repotting. After all, there may have been a thing or two he forgot. So, these tulips had already been water, all the students had to do was get straight into the repotting. Aguamenti was one Jude was all too familiar with so there was no need for him to practice that one. With regard to the latter and former spells, there was a quick mutter of the incantations: “Defodio! Mobiliplanta! Defodio! Mobiliplanta!” Down, left down; flick. Down, left down; flick.

That was all very simple enough. Yep!

Class was going well, Tapio thought. The students had almost all found groups of tulips that blended together well enough to be planted, and now most of them were reviewing and practicing the spells.

Wandering over to the tulips, Tapio looked the rest of them over. He'd be planting these himself after class was over. Hmm...no one had picked an orange tulip yet, had they? Tapio lifted one of the orange ones out, tucking its pot under his arm, then picked up a yellow one and a green one. Stepping behind a partition he place them in a triangle and gently touched each of their stems, listening as each of them began to trill, one after the other--brightly cheerful, happily encouraging and ... sharply veering off on a different tone!

"Oh dear," Tapio said aloud, "and those colors usually go together." As he spoke, all three tulips began rising in volume toward a loud screech. "EARMUFFS!!" Tapio called out to the class, as he grabbed his own and put them on. He then removed the offending green tulip, touching it with his wand and saying Resido!, which silenced it immediately. He then replaced it with a blue one in a somewhat lighter shade than most. The blue trill was low and calming and gradually the three tulips softened down into a pleasing chord. "Well, I guess you all know now what the earmuffs are for," he said, turning back to the class. "And that's a good demonstration of the spell to silence a Trilling Tulip--Resido--and you just touch it with you wand like you to to make it trill. Left to themselves, the tulips will stop trilling on their own after a while, but if you get a really sour chord like that, you'll want to stop it sooner.

"Now I think this would be a good time for those who are ready to follow me into Greenhouse One--see, I've connected this temporary greenhouse to number one with this covered passageway." Tapio pointed to a covered fabric-like chute leading from their classroom into the first greenhouse. "I'll show you where the new beds are, right next to the Honking Daffodils, and then you can start planting your tulips. Each group, be sure to keep your plantings separate from the other groups so the tulips don't interfere with one another. You can either use the planting spells I've taught you, or do it manually the Muggle way. You'll need your spades, gloves, and wands. You students who are working singly, if you need help carrying your tulips, see if one of your fellow students has a hand free, or I'll be glad to carry some. All right? Then let's go." Tapio picked up all three of his group of tulips and ducked down to enter the passageway, trusting that the students who were ready would follow him.


[OOC: Even though we're going IC to another greenhouse, keep all your posts in this thread, and note in your title header where you are. If you're ready to plant, go ahead with that activity--dig a hole, get your tulip out of its pot, and plant it in. When you're done, feel free to set your tulips to trilling again. Those not quite ready, feel free to practice the spells a bit or finish selecting tulips. This activity will continue through Friday, Feb. 24]

Mouse was incredibly glad Jude was the first one to move to replace the plants, because she would have gone with what seemed to her the 'safer' bet, and replaced the yellow who hadn't seemed very happy with their combination. But instead he'd swapped out the red and she was so glad for it. The colors blended together beautifully, and the flowers must have agreed as the sound did as well. She shot her friend a thumbs up in response to his grin, before pushing one side of her earmuffs back in order to better hear Devries explanation (though it had slipped quickly back into place at the sound of flowers and their rather poor melody).

For a moment, she wanted to ask if they were allowed to just do the muggle way - but realized this was a magic class and held her tongue. These were new spells to her anyways, so the practice would be good. One never knew what would show up on the NEWTs, even if a year away for her. She paused for a moment to practice her pronounciation of the incantations, forgoing the wand movement as she was fairly confident in her ability to point. "Defodio, Defodio, Defodio." That seemed simple enough. "Mobiliplanta... Mo-bili-planta. Mobiliplanta. Mobiliplanta." The second one gave her a little more difficulty, but she just continued to mutter it under her breath as she gathered a spade, and double checked her wand was firmly holstered. She'd donned her gloves earlier in preparation of moving the plants so... no problem there. Once everything else was acquired though, she gently grabbed the pink trilling tulip and started towards the covered passageway and into greenhouse one to scout out a spot for herself, Jude and Bella.

Maxine felt ready to plant she had already water her tulips so she was more than ready. Collecting her tulips carefully placing her wand in her pocket she wrapped her warms around all 3 pots, she could do this. So marching her way into greenhouse 1 she selected a spot on a little ways away from everyone else and got started.

"Defodio" she said repated it twice more so she was able to have 3 spots. She then tapped on the side of the pots and with a little bit of manual effort they came free. Filling the whole around them so they were nice and snug, Maxine felt great about today's lesson.

Bella was confused to be honest. Why wasn't red, pink, and yellow a good trilling tulip tune combination? It seemed to stump Professor DeVries too slightly but he didn't seem to fazed he just suggested another plant colour. Jude took the initiative, and replaced Bella's chosen red tulip with a white one. They tried again together with their wandtips to the stems, and then the music that came out was beautiful. Bella smiled around at Mouse and Jude. "We did it guys! The tune is beautiful."

The lesson moved on and they all got a planting/potting refresher. Bella took it seriously and practiced the wand movements for each spell carefully. Then she moved over to the incantations. "Deffindo, no that's not right." Bella stopped herself and took a new look at the whiteboard "Defodio, Defodio, Defodio!" she practiced. Why did i suddently say deffindo? Shaking her head at herself Bella continued with the next spell "Mobiliplanta, Mobiliplanta, Mobiliplanta."Satisfied, she holstered her wand, picked up a spade and the white tulip, and walked after Mouse into greenhouse one for the replanting.

Earmuffs?

Jude heard DeVries’ call to the class and quickly replaced his own pair snugly over his ear. Not before hearing what sounded like wailing though. Clearly some terribly blending of tulips had been done! It was only when the professor addressed the class again that the young man removed the earmuffs again. ‘Resido’ to silence the tulips. Got it!

After making a mental note of the requirements {such as planting his and the girls’ group away from others}, he followed Mouse. The white tulip was sitting in his gloved palms, waiting patiently for its new home. His Ravenclaw friend seemed to already be looking for the perfect spot for the group, so he wasn’t going to rain on her parade. Instead, he hovered close by her - and Bella too -, eyes fixed mostly on the Honking Daffodils. Jude kinda, sorta found those Daffodils funny because he always imagined them being given to someone then the surprise on the receiver’s face when they gave an almighty honk. Yes, very amusing.

Hm. Brandon had expected it to sound good, but instead his combo was a little off. He decided that the purple flower was probably sad and didn't want to participate in this group. He watched as the professor replaced it with a more purple-bluey flower, then tapped the stem to see if it sounded better.

He heard a great screeching sound. Did that come from his station??? Thankfully not, but the noise drowned out his tulips and he had to tap the stem again to hear.

He really hoped this flower liked the others better! He was anxious to start planting, and thought that he'd just stick to two if this flower didn't work.

The blue tulip slowly began to trill, just barely vibrating at first but eventually turning into a deep, soothing tone with a steady rhythm.
The white tulip chimed in sooner with a clear, pure tone that barely trilled; it came in somewhat above the blue's tone as they blended in a tuneful harmony in a somewhat minor key.

The new purple tulip sounded low and dignified below the tones of the others, which seemed to alter their sounds ever so slightly to blend with it.

You would not think there would be much difference between one purple tulip and another, but you would be wrong, because this new tulip gets along with the others just fine. Success--these tulips are ready to be planted in the second step.

Yes! These three tulips seemed to get along much better. "Thanks, Professor!" The flowers- and Brandon's ears- were much happier. The previous sound, while nearly good, made him cringe a little.

Now his plants were ready. He wanted to figure out his planting methods first. They needn't water the plants, as the professor had done that already. He needed a hole in the ground: there were two ways. He'd use the magical version twice, then the nonmagical version. He had to put the plant in the hole... magic seemed best for that, since he wanted to make sure to be gentle with the plant. He didn't practice quite yet, not having anything to practice on. But he tried the incantations and movements separately. "Defodio." down, left, down, counterclockwise. "Mobiliplanta." Flick and move. He practiced these until he was confident, then moved to the greenhouse, carrying his plants one by one and then grabbing his tools.

Brandon wanted to dig all of the holes first. He used the spell twice. "Defodio. Defodio." One looked a little small and the other looked a little big, so he fixed it with his spade. The third hole was dug entirely with his spade.

Now, for the planting. Brandon tapped the pot and tipped the White flower out, using "Mobiliplanta." to levitate it into the hole. He patted down the soil around the little plant, feeling proud of himself. However, his spell had been a little shaky, so he changed his mind and gently planted the other trilling tulips by hand after taking them out of their respective pots. "Tada!" he whispered, touching each of the stems to make music again.

Desiree stared at the pink and purple tulips, listening intently for any sign of sound. She smiled as the pink one began trilling. She liked that sound; it sounded almost friendly! Her bright blue eyes shifted to the purple one. Why wasn’t it trilling too? Did it not like the pink one? Maybe it was just shy. Her smile grew when it finally started trilling, and the sounds meshed together. They sounded great! Yay! She knew those two colors would go together!

She giggled to herself as she listened to the tulips. Their trilling sort of reminded her of the singing flowers from Alice in Wonderland. Professor Devries’s mention of honking daffodils got a giggle too. More flowers that make noise… yep, definitely giving her Alice in Wonderland vibes. Ooh! That gave her an idea! She wondered if she could teach the flowers to trill and honk to the tune of All in the Golden Afternoon, but she’d have to come back to that idea later. They were moving on!

Desiree paid close attention to the professor’s spell demonstration. She was definitely going to try planting with magic! It seemed a lot less likely she’d get dirty that way, and Desiree Marchand was never one to turn down a chance to learn a new spell. Okay, so Augamenti… she already knew how to do that spell, and Professor Devries said he’d already watered all the tulips. Seeing no need to practice that spell, she turned her attention to the second one on the board: Defodio.

After jotting down the spell information, Desiree picked up her wand to practice the movement. Down, left, down. Down, left, down. That wand movement kind of reminded her of a sideways zigzag. Confident that she had that part down, she moved on to the incantation. “Deh-FOH-dee-oh,” She said under her breath. “Defodio, defodio…” The other spell’s wand movement wasn’t very complicated, so she went straight to practicing the incantation. “Mo-bil-lee-PLAHNT-ah. Mobiliplanta, mobiliplanta…” That one was a bit of a mouthful, but she got it after a few tries.

Spell practice done, Desiree glanced at the pair of tulips again. She was thinking about adding another pink one, but before she had the chance, she overheard Professor Devries telling Brandon that purple tulips could be snobbish. She giggled softly. Momentarily ignoring how hilarious it was that the color associated with royalty was the one with the snobby - and therefore princessy - disposition, she worried that adding another pink tulip would make her purple one feel outnumbered. Maybe she’d try another color instead, like white or a nice cheery yellow.

The screeching of the professor’s tulips put that idea to bed! Desiree quickly clapped her earmuffs over her ears. Yeah no, she didn’t want to hear that racket again! She decided to stick with the pink and purple tulips she already had. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Filing the Resido spell information away in her mind for future reference, she put on her gloves and tucked her spade under her arm, Picking up one tulip with each hand, she headed toward greenhouse one to start planting.

At the professor’s yell of earmuffs, Rajesh hurried to put them back on his ears, just catching the first raised sound. Eeek…that didn’t sound like it had gone well, the seventh year pitying whoever had had the bad luck with their combination. He paid attention as the spells to help were gone over but he had to admit, he much preferred to work the soil by hand so he made sure to grab a shovel to go along with his gloves to help him. Then he took up his green tulip plant as well as the blue plant Lola had contributed to help carry them both over to the greenhouse that was to be their new home. It was the least he could do to help.

As was making sure his fellow Ravenclaw was with him and doing his best to stay a decent distance away from his classmates so the wrong tulips didn’t mix in proximity while they headed to a free section of dirt to work. Raj putting down both pots in his grasp down so they could work. Now to begin digging, his grasp once more on the shovel.

Dig...dig...dig.

Lola followed Rajesh, puzzled as to why they weren't practicing spellwork. But she wasn't going to question it. Much as the little Goth Raven might try to appear supwe knowledgeable, she knew she was inexperienced, and tended to follow the lead of whoever she deemed more experienced, which usually meant older students so long as they were Ravenclaws.

She carried the purple tulip with her. Following Rajesh's lead, she placed her pot gently on the ground next to his. She stared in dismay at the shovels. "Erm, would you like gloves for that? I have an extra pair if you need them." She took out from her pocket a pair of gloves.

Desiree stepped inside the greenhouse, her blue eyes scanning the beds in search of the perfect spot for her tulips. She found a place a little ways away from the other students and gently set the pots down. Now how should she arrange the flowers? She positioned and repositioned the pots several times until she found an angle she liked with the purple tulip slightly facing outward.

Setting the flowers aside for now, she picked up her wand and aimed it at the soil. “Defodio!” she cast, making the down-left-down wand movement and ending with a counterclockwise circle. A small hole appeared in the soil. It was a little rougher around the edges than she would’ve liked, but she couldn’t help but feel pleased with herself for getting the spell on her first try. One hole down, one more to go. Hopefully this one would turn out a little neater than the first! “Defodio!” Desiree cast again, making the wand movement again, this time with a tighter circle at the end. There, much better that time!

Glancing at her tulips, Desiree picked up the purple one - lest it get offended and stop trilling if she planted the pink one first. She tapped the pot a few times with her spade and, holding the pot as far away from her as she could to avoid getting dirty, she gently turned it upside down. The flower fell into her right hand with the soil and roots intact, thankfully little getting on her in the process.. With her left, she removed the pot and brandished her wand again. “Mobiliplanta!” she cast, flicking her wand at the plant and carefully levitating it into the neater of the two holes.

After covering the purple tulip with soil, she repeated the process with the pink tulip. First tapping the pot, then turning it upside down, and finally the fun part: casting Mobiliplanta. When she was done, she examined the freshly planted pink and purple tulips with an air of satisfaction. They looked so pretty together!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goblinfrog

Lola followed Rajesh, puzzled as to why they weren't practicing spellwork. But she wasn't going to question it. Much as the little Goth Raven might try to appear supwe knowledgeable, she knew she was inexperienced, and tended to follow the lead of whoever she deemed more experienced, which usually meant older students so long as they were Ravenclaws.

She carried the purple tulip with her. Following Rajesh's lead, she placed her pot gently on the ground next to his. She stared in dismay at the shovels. "Erm, would you like gloves for that? I have an extra pair if you need them." She took out from her pocket a pair of gloves.

Rajesh hadn’t been one to think that perhaps his partner might have preferred the magical way and this made sure to practice the spells with her. Seeing her eye the shovels it did make him think, especially with the mention and offer of gloves. “It’s alright…I have my own,” he assured her as he took them out from his own pocket, slipping them on. His hands were only mildly dusty from the work he had already done. “Would you prefer if I dig the holes and you planted,” he offered, figuring he could certainly cover the more manual labor since he had made the decision to do it by hand. He almost had one hole just right he believed for the one tulip, taking out another shovel or two of dirt to be ready for what she decided.

Nearly all the students had moved to Greenhouse One by now, so Tapio had moved in there now. THough he kept ducking his head into the temp greenhouse now and then to check on the progress of the last young Gryffindor (Nora). The next time he pulled back into the main greenhouse, Tapio saw that many students were already getting their tulips in the ground--my, they were all progressing so well in Herbology this year! One of them, Desiree Marchand was done, it looked like, and Tapio stepped over to her.

"Go ahead and tap their stems again, see how they sound. You already know they blend well together, so you don't have to worry about that. And they're not as sensitive to each other once they're permanently planted."

Tapio heard some trilling nearby and turned to see that Brandon Fox had finished and gone ahead and tapped his own tulips, which were trilling pleasantly. And as the tulips trilled, the Honking Daffodils nearby began to softly honk, their tone gradually changing to accompany the tones of the tulips. Just like a little orchestra! Tapio had been waiting all semester for this. Once the others all had their plants in the ground, it should really be something!


[OOC: As Tapio said, your characters can go ahead and tap their tulip stems once all their tulips are planted. Class will continue throughout tonight.]

Once she had found an adequate spot near the honking daffodils (but not TOO close in case it messed with their flowers harmony), Mouse knelt down into the dirt and waved over at Jude and Bella with a smile. It looked like a lot of their peers were already well on their way with planting, so the Ravenclaw rolled up her sleeves (literally) and pulled out her wand. She was pretty confident in saying the incantations as she had muttered them under her breath throughout the short walk, but this was still her first casting of these particular spells. Here went nothing though.

She stared at the ground for a moment, just to gauge how large she wanted her hole to be for her tulip, and then pointing her wand. Down, left, down and a counter clockwise circle. ""Defodio!" The sixth year was pleased when a circle appeared as she'd wanted. With a small accomplished smile, she reached for her tulip then in her gloved hands, pulling the spade from her pocket to tap the base gently to loosen the plant within. Once she was confident it would leave it's pot easily, she flicked her wand at the target "Mobiliplanta!"

Once it was clear her spell caught, she used her wand to lift it up and out of the pot before then carefully levitating the tulip towards it's new home. Once Mouse lowered that down, she dropped the spell and instead decided to use the spade to carefully cover the roots again and fix the soil around it. There! A nicely planted tulip. Sitting back on her heels, she couldn't resist going ahead and tapping the stem again to hear the tulip sing - before then looking over towards Bella and Jude to see how they were faring.

After Minnie Mouse had selected them a spot {a rather excellent spot, if you ask him}, Jude set to work. First up, he used magic to dig a hole. A quick mutter of ‘Defodio’ along with the wand movement of down, left, down and a small counterclockwise circle meant that soon enough there was a hole exactly the size he had traced out with his hand. Excellent!

The few quick tap of the trowel he had brought along on the pot, he hoped they were enough to do a good job of loosening the soil. There was only one way to find out! The pot was carefully held upside down. Lots of dirt and then the tulip were soon sitting in his palm. And the root was still attached! Yay!

“Mobiliplanta!’’ Flick and at the tulip in his palm and move the wand so that the plant moves too… Jude meticulously navigated the tulip into the freshly dug hole. The activity left him feeling rather pleased with himself. The final aspect of planting was for him to top off the roots with soil. This was exactly what he did, using his hands to refill the whole, and around the roots. He gently patted the soil to ensure the tulip was firmly secured.

Were the girls all done? It seemed that Mouse one. He pulled off his gloves then reached for his wand. “Hopefully the Honking Daffodils would like the new sounds,” he remarked and tapped the stem of the yellow flower with his wand. The melody quickly joined Mouse’s tulip’s. Now for Bella's!

Even being the germophobe that she was, Lola had to admit to herself touching soil was probably not as likely to get one sick than touching another person's hands. Still, she mentally breathed a sigh of relief when Rajesh put on his own gloves. She pocketed her spare pair and adjusted her own gloves.

"I would prefer it that way, thank you," she said to his offer to dig the holes for her. He was an expert, she assumes based on his seniority, and she'd try to copy whatever he did (as long as it looked healthy duh.) "I was wondering," she offered in a casual tone as she carefully
placed the green and blue tulips into the holes he dug. "Do you prefer not doing magic? I was just curious." She wasn't going to try magic on her own in case it interferes with his plan.

She picked up the purple tulip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goblinfrog

Even being the germophobe that she was, Lola had to admit to herself touching soil was probably not as likely to get one sick than touching another person's hands. Still, she mentally breathed a sigh of relief when Rajesh put on his own gloves. She pocketed her spare pair and adjusted her own gloves.

"I would prefer it that way, thank you," she said to his offer to dig the holes for her. He was an expert, she assumes based on his seniority, and she'd try to copy whatever he did (as long as it looked healthy duh.) "I was wondering," she offered in a casual tone as she carefully
placed the green and blue tulips into the holes he dug. "Do you prefer not doing magic? I was just curious." She wasn't going to try magic on her own in case it interferes with his plan.

She picked up the purple tulip.

Alright…now that they were on the same page it would work. “You’re welcome.” Raj could certainly accommodate Lola’s preferences as he worked on the second hole. It quickly filled with its future occupant. Though he wasn’t aware of the germaphobe status of the girl. “Not all the time…magic has its uses,” he answered as he went to dig the third hole in the soil for the last of their trilling tulips. The blue and green having already being taken care of. “Sometimes I just lean towards the non-magical way…especially when working with nature.” It was a mix of being surrounded by it growing up and knowing the value of hard work at times. And having muggles and muggleborns in the family.

Dig…dig…dig.
Dig…dig…dig.

The final hole was done.

Bella got down on her knees in the dirt next to Jude and Mouse with her white tulip sat aside at a safe distance so nothing could happen to it before she was ready to plant it in it's new. Mouse had chosen a nice big space for their tulips. First task was to dig a hole which Bella saw that her buddies were already on the way to dig. Closing her eyes for a moment she reahersed the wand movement and incantation in her head. Feeling confident she opened her eyes and casted "Defodio!" as she preformed the down, left, down, counter clockwise motion and watched how a neat hole was dug out in the dirt in front of her knees.

Next up Bella got her tulip and gently removed the tulip from it's pot, shaking it a little to make sure that not too much soil was brought along. Seeing the roots at the bottom that seemed intact she gave another beam. "Mobiliplanta!" she casted, and carefully moved her tulip down into its new hole home. After reholstering her wand she used her hands to put spoil around the roots and also made sure the soil was nicely patted down before turning to Jude and Mouse "Jude! Mouse! Shall we put our wands to our stems again?" Not waiting for a response which Bella was going to be a loud yes she gripped her wand and put her tip to the white tulips stem.

Tapio looked over toward the sound of a melodic triple chord and saw that Jude, Minerva, and Bella had apparently finished their planting and were giving their tulip choir a try. The nearby honking daffodils were joining in like a strange little percussion section. "Excellent," Tapio exclaimed. "Really good work, everyone. Now class is nearly over, so everyone finish up what you're doing and when you're done, clean up in your area and take your gardening tools back to the temporary greenhouse where you can pick up the rest of your things.

"I'll be planting the rest of the tulips this Saturday, and if anyone has free time and would like to join me, feel welcome. Not at all a required activity--no points will be involved this time!" Tapio knew by now he needed to mention this, or he'd have some of the overly ambitious students show up who didn't really want to be there, expecting to be rewarded. "Thank you all for a great class, and if I don't see you before you leave, have a great rest of your day!"

Tapio waited until everyone had finished, gathered their things, and left the greenhouses before he looked over the colorful new bed of Trilling Tulips, then went back to the temporary greenhouse to see if he could find a match for that stubborn red tulip that had refused to cooperate.


[OOC: Class is over--thanks for playing! (The Sat. activity Tapio mentioned won't be a formal rp, but you can decide in your head whether or not your student would have been there. And of course anyone is welcome to rp at the Greenhouses at any time!). And the Trilling Tulips are now a permanent resident of Greenhouse One. 🌷🌷🌷 ]