Theo was feeling annoyed today. Things were getting on his nerves anyway, so the fact that he had to pay 6 sickles for a class that he didn't even like reeeally tipped him over the edge. He stepped into the greenhouse and sighed heavily to see that he was the first to arrive. That's so embarrassingggggggg...

He gave the professor an awkward smile. "Hi, Professor Bentley." He stood way away from the front and just watched the basket in front of him. And the door. Someone arrive.

IT felt odd having to make certain you had money before you went to a lesson. For all she knew she was paying to get eaten or something. Life ironic. Though Cassia was feeling slightly at east since the previous lesson wasn't bad. They had tea. Lots of it. She had bolted to the bathroom and had to wait in a line too. Yeah. Doesn't always happen.

The fifth-year paid and made her way into the greenhouse, her eyes flickering around cautiously. It was quite, no sound of chattering or anything. DID EVERYONE DIE!? She was about turn around and get the heck out of here just before she saw Theo. HAI! And he was the first to arrive. Well, look who was being punctual. Prefect, huh? Although it meant she was SECOND to arrive. In here. She so was going to be late next time.

"Good day, Professor," She greeted the woman before walking over to her friend and sliding in the seat next to him.

"Why hello,Theodore" She gave him a lopsided grin as she dropped her bag next to her.

There was a basket. Why was there a basket? Cassia eyed the thing curiously.

If the turnstiles were not gone before the end of next year, Charlie was going to require some form of scholarship, she thought, as she entered the greenhouse. "Morning, Professor," was offered, with a nod, as she looked around for a seat. Which wasn't hard, considering how she was pretty early for the class.

But there were baskets in front of the seats.

Charlie placed her bag down and sat, wondering if they were going to have a picnic.

She liked picnics.

Mack entered the greenhouse smiling, she really enjoyed Professor Bentley's lessons. "Good Morning Professor!" the blonde gave the woman a little wave before walking around a few of the tables to the left hand side of the greenhouse. She didn't know why but she loved this side.. maybe because there wasn't a glare on the board while the professor was teaching.

She took a seat and realized that there was a basket.. hmmm wonder what this is for For a brief moment she thought about peeking but didn't want to upset Professor Bentley so for now she settled with staring intently at the basket waiting on it to do something.

Adi happily made his way to the Greenhouse. He was sure there would be no more tea but one could hope, right? "Hi, Professor Bentley!'' he greeted as he approached the woman. He thought she was dressed rather smartly today. He scanned the greenhouse. No teacups as far as he could see but there was a basket at each seat.

Wondering what they would be using those for, the first year took a seat, curiously eyeing the basket.

By this point in the school year, Sophie was pretty confident about her spell casting ability. She was starting to feel less like a confused firstie and more like a confident almost-second-year. She still wasn't sure how she managed to get through that first Herbology Task Force assignment all by herself either, but she'd done it.

So she walked with a bit more confidence into the greenhouse. She first took note of the professors robes. Ohh, pretty green robes! "Hello, Professor," she said, and then she bee-lined for a seat. A basket? Hmm. Nothing inside, so who knew what that was for. There weren't many people in class yet, so she took her seat and just quietly sat waiting for things to start happening.

Smiiiirk.

Ascanius loved Herbology. So naturally when he saw it was on the line up for lessons today, he sported his smirk and it hadn't receded. Professor Bentley was a grade A hottie, yeah? Like super fit.

Coming to her lessons always did put him in a good mood. With that in mind, he put his money in the turnstile, as always, and walked into the classroom with a good, ol' fashioned grin, "Morning Professor. You look lovely today."

Compliment done. Now to sit...with a basket?

Alright, so the next class was going to be Herbology. Sure, not a problem. What other lessons would they be having this time, hmm? Kat just hoped they weren't drinking tea again. She felt like she had taken enough tea for a lifetime after that lesson. Four different teas with different flavours. Nope, it wasn't good. Hopefully they'd do something with a bit more... action. And fun. Tea was great, just saying, but too much of it was a stomach ache.

"Hello, Professor Bentley," Kat greeted the older woman with a smile before taking a seat. They'd start filling in later so yeah, waiting. That meant more waiting. And the tiny basket got some stares. Well......... it was better than seeing a collection of tea bags, am I right? Right.

After the competition, Alexa found that she had a new appreciation for Herbology or more accurately put, the more flesh-eating side of Herbology. It only made her realize that they never had classes in Greenhouse 8. The plants in there must be SO lonely. She could keep them company, she could bring snacks too.

"HAI Professor!!" Lex greeted the woman with a wide grin. She noted the baskets on the seats and instantly found her curiosity peaked. "Are we harvesting seeds today?" Like say...snargaluff seeds?

Yes? No?

Looking around the Greenhouse she spotted a certain snake bestfriend. Lex walked over and flopped right next to her and gave her a nudge. "Hiiiiiiiii." Said in something like a whisper. No need to disturb the peace for the plants. "Good to know you haven't completely given up on this subject as yet." Company was always nice to have in this class.

Gah, the turnstiles were getting on her nerves. Marigold grumpily walked into Herbology, but her frown quickly turned into a smile. She smelled the plants, grinning, and greeted the professor.

"Hey, Professor! How are you?" All it took for the money thing to get off her mind was a good, relaxing class and a nice professor. Who knew?

Sarah hated the payment part. Why couldn't the lesson be in the student garden or something... this was too much for Sarah's deep pockets. Everytime she spent money it was emotionally draining and that is why she enetered this lesson \less happy as usual. Her eyes were not shining and she merely sat down at the table. She knew it was rude not to greet the professor, yet she could not help feeling so glum. She was scared that if she opened her mouth just a bit all her emotions would fly out.
She took her things out of her satchel. "hello professor" she said in a low voice. "is there no where else this lesson could take place?"

Hmm, baskets? Caleb wondered what they could be doing with those...but it was probably boring, no matter what it was. Aside from being able to do some tea tasting last lesson, Caleb still hadn't quite warmed up to this class. He just couldn't wrap his brain about the idea of getting excited about PLANTS.

"Hello Professor!" he said happily - despite not liking the class, Bentley was pretty cool - and took his seat. Hmm. Baskets. What did that MEAN?

Herbology! Because the grounds were so cold, Mo was happy to enter the warmer greenhouse and breathe in the aromatic damp air. It was sort of eternal summer in here... although not quite, and Mo appreciated being in out of the cold. Even if he had to pay to attend this particular class.

He nodded to the professor in greeting before taking a seat at one of the work stations. The basket caught his interest, and Mo spent a few moments examining it before putting all the things from his pockets into it one at a time and then removing them. Y'know... just testing it.

Ahh herbology again. Blair recalled the last lesson and all the tea drinking. Surprisingly she liked this class much more than she had expected to.

"Good morning professor, I love your robes," she grinned. She wished she was able to customise her school robes, they'd look pretty cool with a nice red fur trim.

She made her way to the back of the class and took a seat. It was then she noticed the basket. She had to control her curiosity, thinking it better to wait until instructed to look inside. She took her parchment and quill out her satchel as she waited for the lesson to begin.

Herbology.

Ella was a fan. Mostly because she wasn't the best at it and found that she was challenged by lots of the things they were asked to do. Plus Gran loved hearing stories about this class in particular given her love of gardening. It was always nice to have something interesting to write home about.

"Hello, Professor." She greeted cheerfully on her way by Bentley. The blonde then wandered over to the nearest empty work station. After she'd placed her bag down, she turned her attention to the basket. Hm. It made her want to have a picnic, y'know?

Making her way into the greenhouse, Bethany was greeted with the familiar scent of different types of magical plants. "Good morning, professor." She greeted politely. Bethany had noticed Professor Bentley's interesting robes, she chose not to really comment though. She was still trying to recover from her annoyance at the turnstiles, and wasn't in the mood to give compliments at the moment.

She walked towards one of the empty seats near the back of the room and sat down. Picking up the small basket in front of her, she studied it cautiously. It reminded her of the many baskets at her grandfather's orchard.

Are we picking fruit or something..? She thought, and set the basket back down.

Oh well, guess she'd find out soon.

Minerva headed for the greenhouse. Pulling her robes tightly on the walk outside the castle. So cold, but the minute she walked into the greenhouse she felt a little warmer. That was always welcomed. Glancing around she wondered what they would be working on for the days lesson. Since last lesson was tea she wondered if it could be herbs, which after last lesson she had become more interested in. Trying to be aware of the teas she was using and how they benefited her health.

Min smiled at Professor Bentley, "Good morning professor, doing well this morning?" She seemed to be at least. Turning towards the tables she walked over to her usual area and set her things down. Pulling out her parchment, gloves and a quill. Now to doodle until class began.

It was time for another Herbology lesson. He was excited to go and learn more about plants. Plus the teacher was pretty cool. He liked her. He was learning a lot in this class. As he made his way into the greenhouse, he noticed fellow students were here. He smiled to them and noticed the professor was there. He waved and said, "Good morning Professor! Hope you are doing well."

Then he went to look for a seat. He found one near the window and sat down. He took out his parchment and doodled. He was actually getting quite good at drawing little creatures. He was working on his hippogriff.

Back to the Greenhouses. Back to Greenhouse Number Four. Why Professor? Are you trying to torture me? Tora shied away as best as she could from any plants nearby, keeping an especially watchful eye on the carnivorous ones with tentacles. And all the other incredibly scary plants. Hurrying to her seat, while whipping her head around to look at all the plants, she nearly knocked her basket onto the floor. Catching it just in time, she came up, just as scared, but more aware of her non-plant surroundings. Ahh the Professor, "Good Morning!" the second year tried to make it sound cheery, but it probably came out terrified.

Annabeth entered the Greenhouse Four bringing a pot with tiny cotton daisies she had made. She was very happy as she loved Herbology lessons. Anna noticed the round tables were still there and there were baskets at the seats. UM... Interesting. She approached the teacher and handed her the pot.

"Good morning, Professor Bentley. I made it for you. Each one of these flowers represents one of us, students of your class. They are charmed to have a sweet fragrance of flowers. I hope you like it!" The girl grinned. She placed the pot on the teacher's table. "It's a nice day to learn Herbology! And I did my best practicing the hot-air charm, I'm looking forward to see how we'll use it." She grinned once again and looked for a place to sit nearby.

Needless to say, she wasn't surprised someone would be earlier than necessary, but she hadn't expected it to be Theo.
"Morning," she greeted with a nod, noting the boys facial expression, "I trust everything's alright?" Yes? No? Would it be impacting him in class today?



And so the Slytherin's were the early birds today, an interesting trend indeed - thus far at least.
"Hello Cassia," she greeted her warmly.



"Morning dear," Seren greeted as the Ravenclaw joined them. She seemed a little preoccupied.



"Good morning Mackenzie," she greeted her lion cub. It seemed as though the other students weren't the only ones curious about the baskets.



"Morning Aditya, settling in well?" she asked the Hufflepuff.



It wasn't long until the Snakes had the numbers again, and their fortitude came in the form of a particularly bright first year no less.
"Good morning Sophie," she greeted with a nod and a warm smile. This one was cute.



And then there was this one. "Morning Ascanius, thank you," she greeted, "and you look rather chipper, good start to the day?"
She still wasn't sure what to make of this one, but he was harmless.



"Hello Katrina, well done on the task, you performed so well," Seren greeted the Head Girl... who also seemed to take an interest in the baskets. Hehe. They were in for a teeaaa-reat!



Aha! And here was her star pupil... or at least one of them... perhaps the most significant one for the term. Ahem.
"Alexa, it's good to see you.. and I never got the chance before, but wellllll done!" she was thrilled with the outcome, ecstatic even. It was a team effort of course, but herbologically, Lex was all over it.

"Mmmm.. sort of, maybe.. you'll see." It'll all make sense in the end, they always did.



"Morning Marigold," such a prettttyyy name, "I'm well, and yourself?" she asked.



Seeing the lion cub walk in and plop herself down was disheartening... super disheartening. All she wanted to do in this moment was to go and hug the girl tight, but that would be somewhat inappropriate, and for all she knew the girl may not like it. "Morning... dear," she greeted softly, a small smile on her lips.

The source of the girls troubles were soon revealed, and she instantly felt a little guilty. "Well, considering the weather... not really." They had far more options for the task in here than they did out there.



"Good morning Caleb!" Seren greeted brightly, perhaps too brightly... but that couldn't be helped.



Whatever his reasons for the nod was, Seren thought it amusing. She offered the Quidditch Captain a nod in return. Either it was a too cold thing, or a too tired thing... or simply a 'cool' thing. She could be 'cool' too, yearh?



And so another of her cubs arrived. Good. Or else there would be letters of concern home. "Good morning Blair," she greeted the lion with a griiiin. "Thank you... I thought it appropriate." Weather, festivities... it was that time of year.



"Morning Ella," Seren greeted with a nod. She was curious to know what the girl thought of the baskets.. they were allllll curious about the baskets. Was it not obvious?



"Good morning dear," she greeted another one of her lions..

...

it seemed she could get the lesson started shortly..

Seren did a quick head count. Perhaps she'd wait a few more moments.



"Morning Minerva," she smiled brightly, "always do... and yourself?"



Instinctively, Seren returned the wave, "Morning, Kace," she greeted. "Most certainly am!"



"Morning...." Seren replied... curious about the Ravenclaw. She looked almost paranoid. Bad dreams?



She had been about the check her pendent watch to see the time, when she was confronted by a Hufflepuff with a pot of... flower things that weren't really flowers. Interesting. She took it, smiling brightly as she examined it, occasionally looking up to meet Annabeth's glance.
"Ooooohhh thaaaannk you," she cooed, it was adorable, "that's really sweet of you, thank you."

It was also good to hear the girl had completed her homework... she simply winked. No giving away things just yet.

Placing the gift on the spare table nearest her, Seren then checked the time. Yep, time to get rolling....




"Good morning everyone! I trust you've been enjoying the competition so far..." she paused to give Katrina and Alexa a knowing smile. She was SO proud. Soooo proud. But they were all wonderful, yes.
"Now, at the end of our last lesson, you should have formed a list of tea attributes as they relate to their house blends... could you please take your notes out and compare them to mine..." there was a reason for this, primarily because she was sure some people didn't quite understand the term properties and weren't really sure how to link them to the house attributes.

"Now is your opportunity to correct or add to your notes..." she mused, "before we move on to our next task."

OOC: The lesson has officially started, no late arrivals unless you want to lose points. The lesson will continue in approx 22 hours.

Task...? It took Kat one whole second to figure out what 'task' Professor Bentley meant. So, it was that quiz bowl thing, right? What other task would it be anyway? "Thank you, Professor," she grinned at Bentley just because. It was nice to know that she and Lex had been acknowledged. And yes, they totally handled that snargaluff and managed to stay alive. That was even better right? Teamwork and the best one yet was that they saved the poor house elf.

And, of course. Kat saw that smile. She even returned it back, just because. She had to admit, they did well. Like, really... it was challenging and consumed a lot of time, but they finished it. It also made her wonder... was Professor Lafay there too? Kat actually hoped that her head of house had watched her because she totally bossed that deflating draft.

Oh... okay. So they were supposed to compare their notes with the ones Professor Bentley had. The Head Girl took her parchment from her bag and unrolled it. Hmmmm... she got some of them right. That was a good sign. Some of them weren't on Professor Bentley's list, but that could still count. Kat missed some points there too, but that was mainly because she got tired of writing way too much notes. But yeah, that was pretty much it. She took out her quill and inkwell and added more notes to her parchment, just in case.

"Yes, Professor,'' Adi replied. His Housemates had been really helpful and any thoughts that he might have gotten homesick had vanished. "Thanks for asking.'' Grin.

..........

So, compare their notes? Okay. Adi retrieved his notes from the first class and began the comparison. Meh. So he had to made lots of changes here and there but at least he still got a good set correct. Dipping, his quill into the bottle of ink before him, he started to cross off those that were incorrect and scribble in the right answers.

"I'm doing great professor" She gave Bentley one final smile before class had began. When Bentley started talking. Competition, she felt her stomach turn in notes she wasn't even sure when the next round was coming, but the whole thing was exciting and nerve wracking all at once. The group in round one did amazing, she wished she could have seen better, but she was sitting by some great company so all in all it was great. So yes she was enjoying the competition so far. She had to admit a few of the foreign students were a bi different but most seemed nice.

So they were talking about herb and that tea again. A smile crossed the prefects face as she pulled out the notes from last class. This was interesting to her and anything in Herbology that was interesting to her she would take. She thought about the healing side of the herbs and how this could really help her next fall at Uni.

Once they were told to look at the board Min looked at her notes and then back at the board, so she had missed a few of the properties, well that would need fixed. She went through and scribbled down fixing and changing some of her notes.