Serilda raised her hand and said, tentitively, "Possibly to use the tubers in potions for healing or something?"

"A fresh tuber was used by early witches to promote true love, while a withered one was used to curb it," Jo said with a raised hand.

Professor Virohsa nodded at Jo's answer. "Very good! 2 pts for you answer. Tubers were used for love spells and love potions", she explained. "he tubers are divided into two or three finger-like lobes, hence the plant has been known as 'Dead Men's Fingers', Hand Orchis, or Palma Christi. Gerard calls it the 'Female Satyrion,' orchids being known in his time as Satyrions, from a legend that they were specially connected with the Satyrs. Who can tell me about this legend?", she asked the class.

Sabrina raised her hand. "Orchis, in old mythology, was said to be the son of a Satyr and nymph, who, when killed by the Baccanalians for his insult to a priestess of Bachuss, was turned, on the prayer of his father, into the flower that bears his name."

Professor Virohsa nodded. "Ah yes, very good! 2 more pts for Gryffindor", she replied. "Tubers required for making Salep are taken up at the close of the summer, when the seed-vessels are fully formed, as the next year's tubers then contain the largest amount of starchy matter and are full and fleshy. How is this collected?", she asked the class.

"first, shrivelled tubers are discarded; only the plump ones are used. They're washed and boiled, but only for a little while. One thing this does is removes the bitterness from the tuber, it also makes it easier to dry them completely. after you remove them from the water the other skin is rubbed off the tuber and they're dried, in the sun or in artificial heat. When they are dry they will go from a milky state to almost transparent, though they'll be the same size as they were when they were hydrated. they're left to air dry and harden for a few days, tey are usually ground into a powder for use. this powder is a yellow colour." Jo said reminding herself of her textbook.

Professor Virohsa nodded. "Very good, 2 pts for gryffindor!", she stated. "Now, do any of you know any interesting facts about orchids?", she asked the class.

Julia glances at the first year Gryffindor next to her and opens her mouth to explain, then stops as Virohsa continues. She ponders for a moment and thinks, Interesting? Julia raises her hand and shrugs, "Well I don't know if this is interesting or not, but most African orchids are white, and Asian orchids are mostly multicolored. Some orchids only grow one flower on each stem, and sometimes others have more than a hundred together on a single spike."

Pausing for a moment, she decides Ravenclaw could use some more points and puts her hand back up. "Vanilla flavoring is made from the Vanilla Orchid, also," Julia says, unblinking.

Professor Virohsa nods, "Ah that is interesting indeed! 3 pts for Ravenclaw!", she replied. "Does anyone else have any interesting facts?", she asked the class.

Serilda raised her hand and said, "Certain orcharids are used during different holidays or occasions, like for funerals or weddings."

Nikky was writing her notes down as fast as she could so she could study all of this.She kept looking back at what she had writtin in case she forgot something.

Professor Virohsa nodded although not knowing why the fact that flowers were used for holidays and celebrations was interesting. "Very well. I think we can begin with our fossils and our plants. Please take your plants now, work in pairs or alone, and with the tweezers pick one of the leaves. After you had done so, please make sure to place the leaf on top of the rock and heat up the rock with the spell without burning the leaf!", she instructed.

Nikky got the plant from the Proffesor's desk and broght it back to the table.She then plucked a leaf off very softly."So, what spell do you think we should use?"Nikky asked the Ravenclaw girl that she sat next to.

"Sorry I'm late professor,"Kim said as she walked in.

Kim caught on and heated the rock without burning the leaf.

Kim tried anyway...

Jessica did as the Professor instructed, carefully watching the leaf so it wouldn't burn. She quickly took a look around the room to see if everyoen else was doing the same as she was, she would've hated to mess up at this time in the class.

Professor Virohsa looked at the late student. "10 pts off Slytherin!", she said severely. "Next time make sure you are not late", she said coldly. She then turned her attention to the students who were working with the plants.

Serilda was very careful and percise with her leaf; she made sure not to burn it. She examined it after she figured she had finished. "How's that, Professor?" she asked, holding up the leaf.

Nikky tried her best not to burn the leaf since it was her first time trying to make a fossil.Putting the leaf on the rock she started to heat up the leaf.After she had finished, she looked around to see what everyone else was doing.Nikky then raised her hand."Proffesor, did I do this right?"

Julia watches her partner, the Gryffindor girl, pluck off the leaf softly. She then watches as the girl puts the leaf on the rock, then starts to heat up the leaf instead of the rock! "D'oh," she says quite loudly.

Noticing the leaf not being burnt yet, Julia quickly stops the girl and starts to heat up the rock instead. As she does this, she watches to make sure it isn't burning the leaf. "You heated the leaf instead of the rock," Julia whispers to her partner, and can't help but giggle. "You can call me Julia, by the way," she adds in quickly, then stops heating the rock.

"Oh.Um....thanx Julia.I'm Nikky."She said reliefed that she had not made an exploztion happen."So, should I try it again?"Nikky asked as she pluked another leaf softly off the plant and put it on the rock.She then started to heat the ROCK up, just like her partner, Julia, had done.

Julia smiles at Nikky. "Nice to meet you, Nikky." She watches the girl redo it, and continues to smile. She nods and says, "Good job." Julia jots down a few notes then glances around the classroom at the other students and their work. Blinking, she shrugs and looks up at Virohsa, waiting to see what she says.

"Um...thanx!You did it fantasticly!"Nikky said to Julia.She then looked at the fossil that had appeared in the rock, and wrote something down.

Professor Virohsa walked around and nodded. "Yes, very good. Make sure that the rock is the one being heated. If you want, you can try your partner can levitate the rock while the other partner heats up the rock. Just be careful", she explained.