Celestina stood up and walked over to the table, counting the first ten seeds as she pointed at them and giving up promptly. There were so many different ones which one was she to choose? And how did she know which seed gave what plant? Maybe there was a Gardenia seed somewhere. It was the only flower she could handle. They smelled so sweet.

Picking one at random she held it in her closed fist. And worried her bottom lip at the prospect of using a soil and fertilizer. Her green eyes quickly scanned the students hoping for someone who didn't seem to be bothered by stupid questions but they all looked pretty uptight from her standing point. Sighing heavily, blowing a raspberry almost again, she let herself randomly choose a very dark soil and a slightly fluorescent fertilizer.

"I hope this isn't toxic," she mumbled as she struggled to take back the items to her desk. Casting a curious look at the nearest Slytherin boy Bucky hummed, lips pressed tightly together. Oh, getting dirty was so troublesome.

Sho nodded to the professor and got up to look at the materials. He picked out a couple of seeds and rolled them around in his hand, examining each one. He found that he liked a little green one the best, so he took it and then set it by his stuff.

He went back to the soils and examined them. There were various colors and densities of soil, so it was hard to choose. Sho rubbed his chin and looked around at the soils, choosing a nice, soft soil he brought it in a pot to his area and then returned for fertilizer.

He smiled and picked one that smelled slightly... offensive... His mother often used the horribly scented fertilizers and her flowers bloomed like no one's business.

He sat back down and started to mix the soil and fertilizer, then planted the seed. He sprinkled a little water over them and smiled.

"There."

Jasmine smiled at the professor and made her way over to choose a seed. Searching through the various kinds of seeds, she tried to find one that jumped out at her. Suddenly she spotted one that made her smile fondly and her eyes sparkle. Picking up her seed, she held it close as she retrieved what she would need to plant it.

At her work station, Jasmine placed some pebbles in the bottom of a nice sized pot and placed a mixture of rich soil and fertilizer about 3/4's of the way from the top. Carefully she placed her seed in the middle and gently placed the remaining soil on top of it. Smiling still, she watered it and patted it lovingly.

Glancing up at the professor, she smiled secretively and wondered if her would guess what seed she had chosen.

Claudian made his way over to the materials and took a portion of fertilizer and some flat round white seeds chosen at random back to his station. With his hand he nudged a small hole for the seeds and put them in it, carefully sweeping some dirt over it. He attention then went back to the warm little boxes as he waited for further instruction from the Professor.

Seeing that wonderful vomiting girl from Potions shoot him a strange look, he tried not to laugh as he recalled the incident. Oh, god, she'd made it so wonderful!

Bucky threw her seed into the pot and stared at it hoping it would bury itself. Tough luck. Casting a sideways glance at Sho she wondered if he was good at everything. He clearly was. Quidditch...Herbology. Guh. So annoyingly perfect.

"Now you stupid little seed you better grow and grow quickly," she muttered shaking the little garden shovel at it before dumping soil on top of it. "I don't have time to coo over you. I just don't. And don't expect me to sing either. I know it always worked for my mother but do I look like the gardening type? I certainly am not!"

And little did she realize she was talking to a pot.

Seth walked up and stared at the seeds for a while. He finally decided which one he wanted, randomly picked the soil and the fertilizer and took them back to his table. Then, he put the soil inside a pot, made a hole, put the seed in and covered it. Then he applied the fertilizer and waited for further instructions.

Cassandra looked at Bucky, she couldn't help but smile at the girl. "If you are nice to it, it's grow faster..." She told her friend, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar..."

Sho patted the soil down a bit, waiting for further instruction when he turned to see a Gryffindor girl looking over at him. She seemed kind of annoyed and the she started talking to her pot. He blinked.

"Do you... need help?" he asked her.

Willow made her way, to where the seeds where. She took one of them before taking the fertilizer. She made a hole in the soil that she put on her pot and put the seed carefully inside of it before she used the fertilizer

Saylie bit her lip worriedly as she looked at the materials. She finally settled on a rich dark soil with a sweet smelling fertilizer and a couple of small fluffy type seeds.

She spread the soil in the pot, mixing and breaking it up with one hand while slowly adding it with the other. She mixed in the fertilizer along with it, taking care not to overload it. She then set one seed in the center of the pot, about a half inch deep. Looking around, she noticed that a few other students were done as well.

"Uh," Bucky said raising her hand and showing Cassandra her palm. "Thanks but I think I got under control." She then leaned forward towards the plant. "The only reason I'm apologizing is because you're going to cost me a grade!"



She fumbled with her shovel briefly before smiling politely. "Oh no! I was just admiring your--" Irritating good gardening skills. "Your soil...patting..down..abilities."

Ahem.

"I'll just water mine now," she added with a small wave and wondered why she had waved to begin with before sprinkling her buried seed with water. Then humming she made sure no one was looking before leaning in to sing in a whisper.

"A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down," she sang, flush attacking her pale cheeks. " The medicine go down-wown."

Hermy picked a small round seed that she thought she recognised, though it was often difficult to tell. Carrying it carefully to her desk, Hermy also picked up her usual choice of soil - a simple muggle mix and some dragon dung manure. If her guess at the seed was correct, this combination would help her seeds thrive.

After layering the dung and soil in her pot, Hermy poked a hole with her finger and dropped the seed in. She covered the hole over, and poured in some pungent fertiliser. Smiling, Hermy put the pot to one side and started writing some experiment notes on a new piece of parchment.

Austin quickly grabbed his materials, and planted his rather large seed making sure that he did not use to much fertilizer. After he was finished he looked around at everyone else who had planted their seeds.

Sho nodded and turned back to his plant. The girl was singing now, but to each his or her own. He smiled and wiped his hands of excess soil and sat to wait for further instruction.

He wondered if the combination he chose would work well.

As they worked, he planted his own seed, taking very deliberate care with it. Once he was done, he watched the other students as they planted their seeds. Celestina really seemed to be the impatient type. He shook his head, chuckling. It reminded him of the reason Slade always called him in to work on the herbology assignments. The man just didn't have the patience for it.

"Alright, you all seem to be done, or mostly done. Now, let's start with a simple spell, vitaris. This spell is meant to speed up the growth of the plant. Gently. Now, watch carefully, please."

He tapped the side of the pot three times. "Vitaris!" He tucked his wand away. "Be patient, please. Do not forget that there are many processes to sprouting before one will even see the plant." By the time he'd finished speaking, a small sprout had begun to poke through the soil. Then, before their very eyes, it turned to two leaves, and continued upward, leaves sprouting out.

"Take care with this spell, and be gentle with it. You do not want to rush the plant too much. Get it to this stage, and this stage only. This means concentrate on exactly that as you cast the spell."

Sho nodded and watch the professor. He exhaled and gripped his wand, concentrating on the plant sprouting to the stage of Prof. Erikson's. He looked at his neatly arranged pot and tapped it three times.

"Vitaris," he said, drawing his wand back.

He watched the pot sit there for a bit before the plant started to sprout up through the neatly level soil. A leaf came forth followed by another and it stopped.

Hermy watched Professor Erikson carefully as he cast the spell. She had not had the chance to use a spell to speed up growth before, and she really did not want to mess up.

Pulling her wand out of her robes, Hermy started visualising the stage of growth she needed to halt the plant at, erring on the side of caution. She tapped the side of the pot three times and said "Vitaris!" She added this to her experiment notes and waited.

Claudian watched the Professor carefully. There was something about Erikson that made him terrified to disappoint. Made him feel like a Slytherin in the more traditional sense.
He took his white poplar wand and gave the side of the pot a tap, followed by another, and another before he leaned in a whispered...

"Vitaris!"

He stood back holding his wand back and waited to see if it would've had any effect. Very slowly the plant sprouted out of the dirt and twined upwards grasping the empty space immediately above it.

Cassandra's eyes went wide when she saw Bucky singing to her seed... that wasn't what she had meant but... alright...

She looked at the seed in her pot and tapped it with her wand three times, "Vitaris!" she said, and patiently stood back. She looked at the seed again and bent over to it... singing might help it speed up too... "Farfallina, Bella e bianca, vola vola, mai si stanca, gira qua, e gira la, poi si resta sopra un fiore, e poi si resta spora un fior," she sang to it softly.

ooc: Italian children's song, transl: "Butterfly, Beautiful and white, Fly and fly, Never get tired, Turn here, And turn there, And she rests upon a flower, And she rests upon a flower."

Jasmine paid close attention to the professor and took out her wand. Tapping the side of the pot three times as the professor had done, she concentrated on the stage of growth that he had told them to.

"Vitaris!"she said clearly but softly. Placing her wand down,Jasmine rested her chin in her hands and watched over her seed lovingly waiting for it to grow.

Nothing happened at first, then a small sprout poked through the soil. Jasmine let out an excited squeal, then quickly slapped her hand over her mouth. Giggling through her fingers, she watched with joy as her plant slowly turned into a small seedling and further on to a tender young plant.

Ellie listened very carefully to the professor .
She looked at her pot and tapped the side of him three times "Vetaris!" she said clearly. It took a while until she could see a small sprout poked through the soil.

Seth took out his wand and did exactly what the professor said using the spell vitaris. After a few minutes, a sprout came out of the soil and grew a little bit.

Celestina watched Erikson work his magic, literally, doubtfully. How was she going to pull it off.

It's a simple spell! He said. Take it easy! Don't blow it up! Don't engorge your own foot by accident!

Easier said than done Manly Man. Pulling out her wand she rolled up her sleeves first and cleared her throat.

"Alright Plant Head," she spoke to the pot. "I'm going to perform this spell and you will grow. Do you hear?!" Clearing her throat she closed her eyes trying to focus.

You know, your spells never work because you can't focus properly, Cameron, her older brother had said.

Are you saying I have a mild case of ADD

I'm saying you're lousy at concentrating. See? Just. Shut up and concentrate.

Okie day!

"Vitaris!" Exclaimed Celestina Warbuck as she thought about her brother and the way she had managed to turn his nose into a minuscule teapot. And then her pot shook violently. And it did nothing. "Oh you stupid stupid thing!"

And as she cussed at it for being an incorrigible little seed of something she didn't know. It began to sprout, quite rapidly, light green waxy vines reaching out for its owner. Bucky yelped and batted away the first three touchy-feely pieces of greenery but they soon turned into too many and the red-headed Gryffindor became trapped in a mess of vines.

"Oh. Yippe."

Bah Humbug.

And then, in the vine right before her eyes, a white flower sprouted. "It's not even a Gardenia."

Issy pushed a seed into a little pot of soil and mixed in some fertiliser.
Issy often thought about seeds, they were so small, yet they held so much. A tree, for instance, taller than a man, a house, a dragon, essential for human life. This little seed, was holding only a small flower in it, nothing with-standing, nothing strong and impressive, but yet, so powerful, if brewed right.
Issy poured alittle water ontop of the mixture of soil and pressed her fingers down lightly, on top of the soil.
Issy then looked around the room, to observe the other students in the green house, one was singing, Issy giggled to herself and started humming along, in the most delightful way.
Issy listened carefully to the Professor, then turned to her plant, she whipped her wand out of her pocket and tapped the small pot three times, "Vitaris!" She said meaningfully, she knew she was good at Herbology, it was possibly her best subject - but this was a new spell. She couldn't contain a grin as a small sprout pushed its way out of the top layer of soil in her pot. Issy could imagine, that inside of the pot small roots were climbing through the soil, sucking in nutrients from the fertilizer she'd mixed in.

Saylie eyed the pot with doubt as she focused on the spell. Remembering the lesson from flying class (doubt makes things not work right) she laid her wand on the side of the pot and closed her eyes. Willing all of her mind towards the spell and seeing two leaves attached to a stem in her mind, she tapped the wand on the side of the container and firmly stated, "Vitaris!"

Setting down her wand and getting down to eye level with the pot, she willed it to grow, still keeping the image of the professor's plant in her mind. Slowly a speck of green showed, then the stem uncurled from the ground and then the leaves unfurled. Soon she could see that it had stopped, precisely at the image she held in her mind. Two delicate, perfectly oval leaves were joined to a tiny stem.