Helena frowned. These big words were quite confusing to her. Most of them were okay, but some just didn't quite make it through. I of course realized that teaching the subject of Herbology was important. I was merely curious as to why there was such a position available, being I had never heard of anything besides potion-making that had to directly do with plants.

Helena was unsettled at the tone of Professor Carracio's voice, and therefore assumed that he was a hot-tempered man for no reason. No. I have no 'further'questions, she said coldly.

Allie raised her hand.
"Symbiotic-the living together of two dissimilar organisms, as in mutualism, commensalism, amensalism, or parasitism." said Allie.

He raised a brow at this, wondering if that could really be true. "Have you never read Hogwarts: A History, and the use of Devil's Snare during the Potter era? I don't recall if the use of the Whomping Willow was in there as well. I guarantee you also, that knowing your herbology amongst the magical world can be imperative to your survival. After all, how else would you know what to do if you encountered a devil's snare, or venomous tentacula?"

It was Helena's turn to raise her eyebrows. 'Hogwarts: A History'? She repeated questioningly. I'm afraid I haven't. It sounds most illuminating, though. As does the... potteraira? Her head tilted sideways some as the last of her heavily accented words slipped off her tongue.

He shook his head sadly. The stories were known world-wide, after all. Namely because those world-wide often remembered the terror spread at the time. "You must either be muggleborn, raised by muggles, or incredibly sheltered if you know not of Harry Potter, who saved the entire wizarding world less than a century ago. Stop by the library and have yourself a read sometime."

Helena's bright blue eyes narrowed and turned a stormy gray. Was that almost pity on his face? Actually, sir, I have heard of Harry Potter, but I simply couldn't distinguish his name out from under your accent.

She glared at him. And might I also bring to your attention that I was, in fact, raised by one of the most well known wizarding families in my country. My blood is as pure as yours, I'm sure, sir. Helena's eyes didn't dare leave Professor Carracio's face.

Astrid nodded and and pulled a couple smaller pots in front of her for the transplanted plants to go. She examined all the plants in the planter until she found the 3 that she wanted to keep. Then she turned to Maddox and said, "Okay, I think we should keep these three." she pointed them out to him and waited to see if he agreed. After he nodded she smiled at him and said, "Okay then Maddox, if you want to start carefully taking out the others and handing them to me, then I will try to keep the ones that we can."

As he handed over the additional plants, Astrid scrutinized each one to determine whether or not to keep them.

What was up with this girl? Did she want to get points docked off her house? At least she isn't in Ravenclaw! Rachel thought as she continued working in silence.

Resting his head on his hands, Dominic was caught in a semi-dreamlike state, half paying attention to what was going on around him. As he heard a student discussing something of use of caring for plants, he suddenly sat up straighter as he remembered where he was. Class; not the place to fall asleep. The fourth year looked at the pot sitting on his desk, attempting to recall what the Professor had mentioned about it.

Remembering something about a few inches of soil, Dominic carefully added some, filling the bottom of his small pot with care. Attempting to separate the plant from the others, he moved it carefully to his peat pot trying to remember what the Professor had said to note about the plant. Meh? Oh right, something about making observations of the stem and the veins. Noting down anything he could tell of his plant, he then wracked his brain for the next step.

Vaguely recalling the professor sticking his hands in the soil, he blinked when he realized he'd have to get his hands dirty. Taking a deep breath, he rolled his sleeves up and then dug the plant loose from the soil. Oddly enough the soil felt sort of nice between his fingers, though he would not admit that.

Dominic pulled the plant out and shook out the soil, surprised he was finding this herbology thing to not be so bad. He then put it into the pot carefully, going from his own sense rather than the professor's instructions since those were sort of fuzzy in the thirteen year old's head. He filled in the plant with soil and made sure to pack it in so the plant was well supported.

Repotting was complete. He had his healthy plant in a new put, but now what?

The Hufflepuff looked around at the other students in an attempt to figure things out, but was still lost. Oh wait. Other plants to repot. But he frowned at the other plant when he realized there was no room for this plant; at least it appeared as such. Sighing, he finally made a decision that he would remove some plants and replant them elsewhere.

"Professor?" Dominic asked, calling the professor over to him. "If we choose to not discard the plants, could we perhaps take them back to our dormitories?" It was a reasonable question, and considering is surprising enjoyment of the subject matter, he would like having a plant in there. Much better than a kneazle or crup or whatever.

Cale looked around in confusion. He was really struggling this lesson. Sighing, he followed his peers lead and started repotting his plants. What were they called again? He already forgot.

What if he ended up needed a tutor? In HERBOLOGY? Gah, that would be horrible.

That Slytherin girl seemed determined to get points taken away from her house, so he just shrugged. That was her problem. He continued to work until he had one plant repotted. That was what he was supposed to do, right? He glanced around and noticed that the sassy Hufflepuff boy he had met in the Alley was doing that too. Ok, cool. He was on the same page...or so it seemed.

"Thank you." said Allie.
Slowly, but surely she followed the steps to transplant this plant, just has the teacher explained. A little while later, she finished it successfully.....well she hoped anyway.
"OK...does this look okay to you?" she said, showing Chris the plant.

Melinda heard the instructions. She now must repot the plants. She wasn't sure of their name, but anyways did it. Carefully, really carefully, she started to put some soil in another pot, and after that, with much more care, took the plant out of the old one and put it on the new. She sighed. Whoa, that was more relaxing, stressing at first, but relaxing when you know you are saving a life.

ooc: Ack, I fell asleep! Pleh... Oh, and to 'Helena': What accent? He's Italian, but he was raised in the English language. He has no accent. I'll get a response to you guys soon, I'm still waking up.

After the whole repotting thing, Kaika sighed as the professor introduced the new plant. But obviously there was no space for it, it was a tough choice, but she didn't want to toss away any plant, the others needed to be repotted somewhere else. She still wasn't sure about it.

Ludo's attention snapped back to the Professor at the mention of Hogwarts a History. He must've read it ten times by now.

He raised his hand, "Yes Professor! Potter's encounters with both of those plants were an excellent read! Do you prefer working with the Snare or the Tentacula? If you don't mind my asking..."

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10DesmondsDaughter14

Helena's bright blue eyes narrowed and turned a stormy gray. Was that almost pity on his face? Actually, sir, I have heard of Harry Potter, but I simply couldn't distinguish his name out from under your accent.

She glared at him. And might I also bring to your attention that I was, in fact, raised by one of the most well known wizarding families in my country. My blood is as pure as yours, I'm sure, sir. Helena's eyes didn't dare leave Professor Carracio's face.

"If I have an accent to you, dear girl, then you must be foreign, as I had pointed out along with the probability of blood status. Or from a heavier speaking nation. I even have less accent than most in England, due to a short stint studying in the California valley. If you cannot understand my clear terms, then you should probably visit the nurse and have your hearing checked."

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

"Professor?" Dominic asked, calling the professor over to him. "If we choose to not discard the plants, could we perhaps take them back to our dormitories?" It was a reasonable question, and considering is surprising enjoyment of the subject matter, he would like having a plant in there. Much better than a kneazle or crup or whatever.

"They will be kept here, and in the same care as the others. And I guarantee you, if it dies in my care, then it was not meant to live. Each plant gets the utmost care in my possession."

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixFlame

Ludo's attention snapped back to the Professor at the mention of Hogwarts a History. He must've read it ten times by now.

He raised his hand, "Yes Professor! Potter's encounters with both of those plants were an excellent read! Do you prefer working with the Snare or the Tentacula? If you don't mind my asking..."

"The devil's snare is interesting, and yet boring at the same time, if you ask me. The care is simple, and responses are simple as well. The tentacula has more semblance of intelligence, and can be a bit more of a challenge to handle. Particularly if bred properly. And as you can imagine, I am always up to a challenge. If you ask favorites, on the other hand, like with children I typically have no favorites. I will admit to bring very proud of some of my creations, however, such as the rose bush in my private gardens."

"By the way, my private gardens are always open to viewing. However, do not damage the plants. I swear I will take it out of your hide, so to speak. If you do, however, inform me immediately. You are less likely to receive detention that way. And believe me, you do not want detention with me. I do not believe in common chores for detention."

Ludo listened to the Professor's talk of plants and then about his private gardens. Rare and unusual plants? Excellent! he thought.

The Professor warned them not to harm the plants or it'd be severe punishment. Ludo didn't doubt it for a second...

Via had been listening to everyone as they recited. And even Rachel had points for RAvenclaw. She must answer too. "You're great," Via whispered to Rachel. Via continued on working with the plants, although she still listened with what the professor had been saying.

Nancy was surprised to hear that she had actually received two points for her, in her eyes, rather stupid answer.
Watching Camira pull out the plant and repotting it she put her head in her hands. Herbology was so boring. She'd rather be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Her eyes lost focus and she almost fell asleep.
Pulling herself together again when she heard the professor's voice giving them new instructions she refocused her eyes towards him.

After Professor Carracio had finished she let out an exasperated sigh and put her head between her hands again. Could this lesson please be over soon? Please?
Turning towards Camira she asked, "So, what do you think? Should we throw the plants away or should we replant them?" Nancy's eyes definitely said, "C'mon, let's throw the stupid plants away, okay?" but she wanted Camira to decide.

While waiting for Camira to respond Nancy heard Professor Carracio tell a student that his "private gardens are always open to viewing". Yeah, right. Like anyone would actually go there and watch the plants grow.

Freya looked up from her plants. The gardens seemed to be one of the only places she had not visited yet, 'Maybe another day.' She thought as she examined the leaves and stems of her newly repotted plants, keeping a careful eye to spot any damages. They looked just fine.

Lizzie blushed again as the professor mentioned her name, and felt a struck of excitement as he gave her three house points! And she got one extra, one more than the rest!! It wasn't much, but it was the first points she'd got so far, and she felt great. With a wide smile on her face, she turned to Shaylee again. "I'm sorry, where were we?" She thought for a second. "Yeah, right I remember, we were discussing what to do with the plants. But since we're now supposed to do something else, where do you think we should start?"

Sarah looked down at the newly shorn pot,then over at the plant she now had to fit in it.
Hmmm.This was going to be a difficult decision.I'll see which ones of the ones left are the healthiest...and move them.The scrawny ones will just have to die, she thought sadly.

Luckily she only had to move 3 plants to make room for the new one.
Carefully lowering the thing into the middle of the pot,she filled in the hole around it with compost.
Pushing it down and smoothing out the leaves,Sarah stood back and got a good view of what she had done.
"Hm looks ok."

Helena's eyes turned from stormy gray to icy blue with the fierceness of her gaze. Well, we have a winner, I guess. I'm terribly sorry if English being my second language is a problem. Each words she said came out almost in a hiss.

Helena then looked straight into Professor Carracio's eyes, no sense of fear hinted. I'm obviously ill, in my opinion. Maybe I should leave, then? It was with great effort that she didn't roll her eyes at this extremely ignorant teacher.

ummm... Shaylee said. I think were still pulling the leaves but i dont know. Shaylee pulled her hair back in a ponytail and thought.

It seemed as though Nancy didn't share Camira's fondness for Herbology. She looked like she would either fall asleep at any moment or chuck the whole pot at someone's head. The latter image gave her great amusement for a few seconds before she snapped back to reality.

"Well", she said, eying the plants, "There are two that look like they might survive a move", she said pointing to the two best plants that were still in the pot. "I think we should replant those and toss the rest. That should give us room for both the Cardia Mythos and the Cardia Rose."

She started pulling the ones that were going to be tossed, careful not to disturb the ones she hoped to save.