"Hello Sarah," she greeted the young Lion. "Oh good, I'll keep that in mind," she added with a wink. Because dung was always a requirement in this subject... and not many of her contacts were willing to provide it pro bono.
------
Seren checked her pendant watch... it was about time to get the ball rolling. Quickly marking down the attendance, Seren moved away from the door and positioned herself in front of the arrangement of stools.

"Welcome, everyone, to a new beginning." And there were a number of things that were new this term... some which would take some time to get used to.
"For those of you who don't know me, I'm Professor Bentley and I will be your Herbology teacher for the term." She paused to make eye contact with a few new individuals. "I trust you have all familiarised yourself with the class rules, there is one rule which is particularly significant...." no, she wasn't going to make them guess, they ought to know it by now anyway, ".. and that is to wear protective garments at all times," she concluded, holding up her own gloved hands. "If you haven't done so already, can you please put your gloves on now... if for some reason you have misplaced them, you will not be able to participate in today's lesson, or any others until you find some."

Giving the students a moment to rummage in their bags and whatnot for their gloves, Seren turned her attention to the flowers hanging from the ceiling of the greenhouse, directly above them. The large, thick vines criss-crossed along the beams that have been set there. Large pink and white flowers hung down in places, and where the petals had parted from their receptacle, seed pods could be seen.
"Now this term, we will be looking at cultivation and the various skills which are involved in preparing the land, planting the seeds, and growing for profit." Yes that's right... for profit. They were going to do something useful with their curriculum. "The focus of today's lesson will look at harvesting or collecting seeds from some interesting plants." Again, she turned her attention to the large flowers above them.
"Can anyone hazard a guess what this particular plant is?" she asked.

BINGO!

Seren nodded, encouraging the responses. "Correct! These are in fact, Umbrella Flowers, and it will be one that we will be cultivating and selling in Hogsmeade later in the term."

"Now if you look at the seed pods, you'll notice that some are starting to open... and the black seeds are protected by a fibrous coat." Which was the white fluffy stuff of course.. "One of our tasks for today, is to remove the pod from the vine, and extract the seeds."

Simple enough right?

"How might we do this? How might we overcome our height issue?" she asked. Considering the plants and the pods were quite high up.

Brooms.. well that was fairly practical, for a proficient flyer, which was maybe a quarter of them...
"Good, brooms can definitely be useful in situations such as these, though considering the space restrictions, flying isn't the safest method." Solo or in groups...



Levitation, it had its merits.
"Again, great ideas, in theory... but remember we need to consider hazards and safe or appropriate methods." At any rate, she wouldn't trust a single one of them to levitate her up... let alone allow them to levitate each other. They'd end up falling out of the sky and breaking their legs... or plants... or something.



A human ladder?

"Oh Merlin no... there are far better ways." Far more comfortable ways.



Stretching Jinx, now that was out-of-the-box thinking. "Stretching could ahve its merits, but you would still need to consider the hazards and potential consequences should the jinx go wrong."



"Yes, that's a good idea... though this isn't a potions class, so we won't be using that method." Still, it was a good idea.



"Growing spell, stretching jinx... yes they're not bad options, but we do need to consider the potential hazards with those." Particularly with a room full of students... who may or may not ave used the spell previously.



"Yes, we will be using the severing charm, though not from such a great distance." Distance was not wise, it meant there was a greater opportunity for error.



Summoning charms.. not bad, not bad at all.
"Great thinking, though summoning the pods or the seeds had the potential to cause harm to the plant." And that was something they wanted to avoid.



Ladders.

Practical, sturdy, fool proof... unless you were completely uncoordinated and/or cursed.
"Yes, absolutely. Ladders, particularly when secured with protective charms, are often the best and safest methods of gaining access to hard to reach places."

Withdrawing her wand from her robe pocket, Seren gave it a quick flick toward the other end of the greenhouse and waited for the slow moving enchanted ladder to join them.
"Now unfortunately, we only have one ladder," because the school was broke, and even this one was only on loan/borrowed/stolen from her mother, "... so I'm going to need one volunteer to reach the pods."

So... any volunteers?

OOC: The lesson will continue once we have our volunteer (;

Fantastic! A newbie as well... that was brave, how come she wasn't a Lion then? Huh?

"Wonderful.. Miss Ferrier is it?" she asked for confirmation.

"Right, your task, will be to navigate the ladder by pointing your wand in the direction you want to go.... then once you are beside one of the pods, you will need to cut it off its stem by casting diffindo... it's alright if you don't get it straight away, it's good practice. Just use a slicing wand movement and utter the word diffindo very clearly, this should sever it clear off," she whispered the last part to the girl.

"Everyone else, you will be working in teams to ensure the pods don't hit the floor and break... most of you should have learnt aresto momentum in your second years... use this, and we'll need people catching the pods as they slow down."

Or was all of this a bit ambitious?

"Derryth, once you cut three you may disembark and we'll let someone else have a go."

Now... to make some space for a game of catch.
"Everyone, could you please start by moving your stools to the side, out of the way please, then take your positions!"

OOC: Alright, now, I'm trying something different with this, so we'll see how we go XD. Here are some guidelines to follow:

The pods are approximately the size of a quaffle, some perhaps a little bigger, but they are feather-light.

SPOILER!!: Volunteer Conduct

Ladder Enchantments: A number of protective enchantments have been placed on the ladder, making it impossible to slip or fall off the steps or over the edge. If you find that you miscalculated a step and feel as though your about to plummet to your doom, the charms will bounce you back on.

SPOILER!!: Everyone Else

ALL students must start by moving their stool to the side out of the way of the activity area. If you are a third year or greater, you should know "aresto momentum"... and are able to use it. If you are a first or second year your task will be to catch the pods and place them out of the way near the stools.

Once you have caught a pod successfully, please let somebody else have a turn catching it successfully.

I will be grading you on your participation, not the number of pods you catch. So be motivated, interact with others and have fun!

1. The pod must be slowed with Aresto Momentum BEFORE it can be caught!

TEAMWORK! (;

You are all welcome to interact with each other, discussing game plans, etc.

Once JustAlice has severed her 3 pods, I will ask for another volunteer to cut 3 more, when this happens will largely depend on when I will be online and wen SS will be working. Please do not volunteer yourself until I have posted. I will aim for either in 4 hours time OR 12 hours time.