Dia shook her head, smirking slightly, as she followed Xana. She took one of the konkagmi plants from Xana curiously. "I suppose." she nodded, beginning to re-pot the plant in silence.


"Yes, they are...much more intriguing than tiger lilies..." she muttered, putting on a pair of gloves quickly and spreading a scoop of fertilizer onto the soil of the konkagami plant. "I'm not entirely sure I'd be disappointed, though I just know these will be more interesting to care for, honestly." she shrugged. "Ok--either is good with me, really...just as long it is stored away somewhere where other students will not be able to view them..."

She nodded and smiled. "I'll make sure they are stored in a secure location. I know just the place. " She finished caring for her konkagami plant and tended to her tiger lily. "It's not that I object to the tiger lily. I'm just curious about these. I guess we'll have to journal about both of them, though... "

She finished caring for her tiger lily and began to tend to some of the greenhouse plants, conjuring up a game of cards to distract the Venemous Tentacula with a game of slapjack. The cards began randomly flipping over and the tentacula's long, fanged tentacles all hovered over them eagerly. She smirked at Dia. "The thing most people don't realize about venemous tentacula is it can't resist a good card game... The trick is to never actually try to win." Sure enough, a Jack card appeared face up and the tentacula's long, fanged vines all shot out to be the first to slap the card. Xana moved in quickly and added water and fertilizer to the soil and then backed away while the tentacle-like vines were all still distracted, nd finishing up, she put away her tools and encouraged Dia to leave the greenhouse with her to put away their konkagami plants.

Dia blinked. "..." Shaking her head, she finished caring for her plant and headed off after Xana.

Xana dashed into greenhouse three, her duffel slung over her shoulder. She walked briskly over to the mandrakes and put on a pair of protective earmuffs. She noticed that the soil of a few of the plants could use watering. Don't forget to take care of that later... she reminded herself. She opened her bag and drew out her silver knife and went over to one of the 5 gallon potted mandrakes. She'd never harvested a mandrake of this size before, but it needed to be done, they needed a footlong root.

She locked the door so no other student could accidentally wander in and be killed, then snapped her fingers repeatedly and even yelled once just to be sure her earmuffs were on securely and the sound wouldn't penetrate... Death by mandrake was not the way she wanted to go. Satisfied that she was safe, she wrapped her hands around the base of the plant and yanked.

The ugly, writhing mandrake root was pulled from its soil home, furious and screaming its bloody head off. Ugh. She wrestled it onto the work table and picked up her knife, apologizing silently to the mandrake for what it had to endure.

She tried to whack off a root that seemed the right size, but the recalcitrant mandrake moved away. Damn. The tip of her knife got stuck in the work table, and with her right hand she yanked it free while still holding the stslks of the mandrake down with her left. Okay, now it was on. The mandrake grabbed for her knife but this time she was faster than it, neatly lopping off its armlike root. Like a dismembered tentacle, the root squirmed and flopped off the table onto the floor. For good measure -- and because she was fairly annoyed at the plant -- she took another whack at the root, taking off a large appendage-like root. There. Now they had extras.

She took the screaming mandrake back to its pot and shoved it back in, refilling it with soil quickly so that the entire root ball was covered. The plant stopped moving and she was satisfied that it was repotted, so she removed her earmuffs, collected the two long roots, and hurried back to the castle.

Cassandra walked to the back of greenhouse one. It was a less frequented part of the greenhouse. There was an off looking plant behind a rope. It had many tentacles and mouths at the end of each tentacle. It seemed to have grown since the professor had put it there.

She stepped towards the plant, and it reached out grabbing her wrist biting into her hand. The plant seemed to be drinking her blood. It released it's grip on her wrist and retracted it's tentacles.

"It recognizes me... I know it's crude, but it doesn't have a sense of smell, or eyesight... it doesn't know it's me until it tastes me." She shrugged.

Apedemak looked on without judgment only listening and nodding. "Crude or not, that is the creature's nature. One cannot expect it to be something it is not."

She nodded, "Could you fill that bucket with water please?" she asked pointing to a bucket in the corner.

She pulled two sedatives out of her pocket... and went closer to the plant. "You miss him too, don't you..." she whispered to the bocca.

Apedemak nodded, lifting the bucket and carrying over to one of the hoses in the garden. Filling it, he listed to Cassandra talk to the strange plant. He returned when the bucket was full, setting it just inside the roped area near the bocca

Cassandra looked at Apedemak. "Accio Plant food." She cast and the bottle came hutling towards her. She caught it with her left hand and flipped the cap with her thumb.

"Apedemak, what is your lineage?" she asked as she dropped the sedatives and emptied the bottle into the water.

"How do you mean Prefect?" Apedemak asked, slightly startled by the suddenness of the question. "I am the son of Gehdi and I was born in the Sudan. My father would; however, rather that I say I am Nubian."

"I was asking for blood lineage. I am a pureblood witch, Adepemak. Do you know what that means?" She said as she began watering the bocca. The tentacles began moving slower behind her as she emptied the bucket right below the base.

Apedemak narrowed his golden eyes, suddenly very wary of the where the conversation was going. "I do know of what you speak Prefect. Why do you ask?"

"Merely curiosity..." she said with a shrug. "I noticed you filled the bucket by hand instead of using the water charm..." She looked at him and smirked, "One of my very dear friends is muggleborn, so please do not think this would change my opinion of you."

Apedemak nodded weighing Cassandra's words. "I have found that I rather enjoy doing gardening by hand, this is not particular exception. Though I would wonder, if food cannot be conjured, according to Gamp's infamous Law; then why can water?"

"I am not sure, maybe because water has no sustanance..." She shrugged. He still hadn't answered her question... no matter. The tentacles had come to rest on her shoulder and she pet them delicately.

It took a moment longer, but he finally made the decision. "Prefect Trelawney, I am what you would call half-blooded."

Cassandra smirked and nodded to him. "I think I'm done here..." she said looking out the window to Erikson's office. "We should go find Xana..." she said.

Xana worked her way through the greenhouses, working quickly and efficiently to manage all the maintenance chores. As was her custom, she started in greenhouse six and worked her way backwards to greenhouse one, tending to the plants and ensuring the greenhouses were being kept in good condition. . She had made it nearly to the back of the greenhouse when she was surprised to hear Prefect Trelawney in another aisle of the greenhouse, speaking to someone... And saying her name.

"Yes?" she said in a soft yet weary voice, hoping that whatever the problem was, it wasn't something that was going to take very long... she was exhausted. She made her way over to the area the voice had come from and was surprised to see Trelawney with Apedemak... whom she hadn't seen since their little battle in the hallway. She felt a small twinge of fear at the sight of the golden eyed boy, but tried to keep her face impassive."I overheard you say my name, were you looking for me?" She asked in a neutral tone.

Speak of Satan, and out come the horns...

"Apedemak was," she said as she waited for him to get the keys.

"Miss Venefica." Apedemak bowed respectfully offering a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I require the key that Professor Erickson entrusted you with so that I may tend to a pair of plants that are being kept in the safe near the back of his office."

"I'd be happy to let you into the office to care for your plant, Apedemak." Xana said softly, nodding. She noticed that his smile did not seem genuine and wondered if he was still angry with her for her 'breach of etiquette' after all, despite what he had said. "Shall we go to the office now?"

"Yes Xana," Cassandra said fighting herself from rolling her eyes, "The sooner the better." After all she still had to work on Homework.

Xana nodded. "All right then... I'm done in here anyway, so shall we?" She removed her gardening gloves and with a slight smile led the way to Professor Erikson's office.

Apedemak nodded politely and wordlessly followed the older student.

Armand made his way toward the greenhouses, pulling a slender box from his pocket as he did so. "I don't know if you even want this any longer, but it is paid for and cannot be returned. And you may yet find it helpful." He held it out to Xana without even looking.