Mina jotted down all the plants mentioned in the lesson and looked up and raised her hand. [b]"The cry of the mandrake is fatal to humans and even the cries of baby mandrakes can knock people out for hours." Flipping through her text more she looked up again, rasing her hand. "In the class of the bubotubers, they have swellings filled with a yellow-green pus that smells like petrol. The pus reacts oddly when it comes in contact with human skin. Undiluted the pus can lead to horribly painful boils, but diluted it can help cure acne."

Wait the other students already said all this. Silly girl, pay more attention.

Devil's Snare and Flitterbloom. She really didn't know how to distinguish the two. All she did know was superficially they were alike but flitterblooms were non-violent. Looking at the samples, she studied them. In a very small voice she stated her decision. "I'm thinking A is the Devil's Snare. It's safer looking but once it's touched it's true nature will come arcoss and then it would entangle its prey in it's tendrils."

Jack had no idea WHAT the physical differences were between those two plants. He could barely identify the leaves they had been looking at during the last lesson--so it was not surprising that he was completely clueless at the moment.

He raised his hand. "Well, if you weren't familar with the physical differences of each plant, but you KNEW that one of them didn't like sunlight, you could use light or heat and see if the plant sort of...crawled away from you. If it stayed put even if you got close to it with light and heat, it'd probably be safe to guess it was the Flitterbloom," he explained.

He then realized that he had to IDENTIFY them too...gulpppp. "Erm, is the Devil Snare the 'A' plant?" he asked half heartedly. "Because it's all smooth and might be able to wrap around your arms and stuff. I don't remember the Snare ever being described as prickly."

Chris looked hard at the plant samples. The he spoke up. "Professor I think that the one labled 'A' is the Devil's snare and the one labled 'B' is the Flitterbloom. The reason for my thinking is that the Devil's Snare would look naturally more safe, without spikes and calmer. That is until you touch it. I think this would be an example of a means to trap its prey."

Dangerous? NOWAIII, plants were GOOD, I tell ya, GOOD. Still, Fyo gave the answer a shot. "Professor, the Fanged Geranium bites, doesn't it?" he as much asked as stated, hand in air. "Humans," he added, almost as an afterthought. "Bites humans. Need for caution there, I guess."

"Plus," he frowned slightly, a clear sign that he was thinking. "Eating the leaves of the Alihotsy can cause hysteria and, even though that isn't fatal, it's definitely not a very pleasant thing to experience. Besides, it can lead to hormonal imbalance and all that jazz - adverse effect on health."

No messy-wessy with the Alihotsy, people!
"Is A the Devil's Snare, professor?" Fyo suggested, hand in air. "I've read that the Devil's Snare has very soft, springy tendrils and vines, and B seems to be rather... prickly. Plus, plants with a fondness for ensnaring people would probably want to look innocent - would be a good strategy for catching prey."

Torin had no idea what the right answer was, but he wanted to take a guess. He raised his hand. "I think that Plant A is the Devil's snare because.." He paused for a minute hoping that he wouldn't sound like an idiot to her. "Because Plant B has pines and looks more threatening. I would think that Devil's Snare would want to seem more harmless to trick people, so it wouldn't have pricks on it. It's also piled more neatly and is more compact. I believe that Devil's Snare is supposed to be really compact?" He scratched his head.

Evelyn leaned as far away as she could from the plants, even though she was pretty much far away to begin with. 'One of those is devil's snare. I don't know which one it is...but it's there. And it's close...' she panicked in her mind. 'Which one is which!? Ummm...' "Maybe plant 'B' is the devil's snare because...well look at it! It's creepy and devilish looking." she said, grimacing at and ready to just stand up and move to the back of the room, not paying attention to everyone answering that plant A was the devil's snare.

Becca smiled, so maybe she wasn't rubbish at Herbology. Rebecca took a quick glance at the plants and held her hand up high, "I agree with him. It makes a lot of sense, to me.", she said and nodded in the male Slytherin's direction. Then she began to take detailed notes of what the other's had said.

Gulp.

'You mean one of them is Devils Snare!?'

Oh boy. Destiny couldn't believe it. Here she was sitting in class with a crazy plant and no wand to protect herself if it got loose, if plants can get loose, but that doesn't matter!

Of course she knew the answer, but would she answer? NO! If she answered, the professor would probably make Destiny go up and touch it to see if her answer was right. She didn't want that.
Destiny slid further in her chair so she could only see the professor and not the crazy plants. She will just listen to the others answer.

... How in Merlin's Beard was she supposed to know THAT? Livvy's face scrunched up in contemplation as she stared at the two plants and as she tried to search through her brain of all the details about the Flitterbloom and Devil's Snare. Something... anything... anything that would help her identify which was which and be able to produce a reason why.

Unsure of herself, Livvy raised her hand. "I think.... A... is the Devil's Snare? And B is the Flitterbloom. Possibly because since the Devil's Snare is more dangerous, it would want to find some way to lure people in and to make them believe it's harmless. Just like how Venus Fly Traps have an aura... or a scent to attract flies. And appearances don't necessarily give away its true nature. Like how some flowers appear beautiful and may look yummy to eat, but in truth... they're absolutely DISGUSTING and you've wished you had never taken a bite out of it. Or maybe it's poisonous. And then there's some flowers that look dull and ugly, but really... they are delicious to eat and is healthy. So yeah. It's all about tricking people and luring them to believe what they want them to believe. Not to say that plants are evil. I LOVE plants. And. Um. Yeah. I'm... gonna... stop," she said, her face flushing bright red.

Anyhoooow... anyone else wanna go?

LouAnn sat up straight---alert and fully suspicious---when her wand was practically thrashed about so The Bunz could...salute? cast upon?...a Slytherin girl. She eyed the Herbology professor, fully intending to keep watch in case anything happened to her precious phoenix feathered-filled baby. "Excuse me, Professor?" LouAnn said, both her hands waving about in such a manner that one might think her to be flagging someone down. "For curiosities sake, what do you plan on doing with...*point*...that there wanddd?"

While LouAnn waited for an explanation, she fumbled through her textbook in search of any information on a Flitterbloom. With a name like that, though, who needed a proper explanation? A Devil's Snare she knew of, but a Flitterbloom... She frowned when the professor paid more attention to her Jelly Slug comment than she did to the fact that LouAnn had brought up the disgusting ability of bubotubers to cause boils on one's skin. I mean, candy is all fine and dandy, but really...must one overlook the dangerous threat of boils to focus on sugary goodness?

...and there she was...tapping the wand in her hand again. Oh, please be okay, my Willow; Phoenix Feather Core; 10 3/4 inches!!!

She watched with interest as The Bunz brought forth two plants---one Devil's Snare and one Flitterbloom. LouAnn's hand shot into the air. "Well, if you step a little closer to each, the one that snaps ya boots off is the Devil's Snare! The one that doesn't is the Flitterbloom...that's how you can tell which is which!"

"We could just see which one won't kill you," Rafe chuckle while thinking over all the differences. "They both have swaying tentacles, there's quite a few similarities...I suppose you could test each plant and whichever one is sensitive to light, you'll know that one is the Devil's Snare."

Fyo raised his hand again. "Professor, I guess we could chuck something at them, couldn't we?" He asked. "Of course," he added hastily, "Not chuck something that can harm any of the plants." Like LouAnn's BOOT OF DOOM. "The one that BITES, that's the Devil's Snae. I mean, that would sort of be the safest way to tell, no?" He was hungry.

Merlin, merlin, MERLIN. These children would not know real danger if it were sitting next to them in class, in their common rooms, hiding under their beds, borrowing their Arithmancy notes, stalking them down secret dungeon passages..... geez......

"For the thousandth time," Professor Bunbury called out in a clearly annoyed tone, "this plant is not that dangerous. It will not snap my boots off if I come any closer to it and it will not strangle me to death, as much as some of you are wishing that to happen."

She rolled her eyes and vanished the two glass coverings from each sample with a flick of that willow wand. There, see, that answered LouAnn's question. That was what she had been planning to do with it. She tossed the wand back into the bin with the others and continued.

"Now, to tell which plant is which, like some of you suggested," she nodded at the somewhat-more intelligent children of the group, "you could expose them both to light and basically kill off the Devil's Snare. And I will be teaching you a spell like that later. But for now, let's examine the physical characteristics."

She moved her hands out over each sample of the plant and held them there, just like she was absorbing the warmth of a fire or something. As Bunbury moved her hands closer and lower to the samples, they remained perfectly still and calm. Small samples. Not much personality there.

Then Annie went for the dramatic effect and sank both her hands into the two little plants up to the wrists. Immediately, both wrapped around her wrists and wrapped and wrapped up and wrapped and worked their way up to over her fingers, which she was deliberately wriggling, until her hands were completely covered and slowly turning purple.

"Ohhhhh no OHH NOOO, what am I EVER going TO DO??! I think I'm being STRANGLED! GEEEEE!!!" the redhead dramatized, flailing her arms about like Jake Upstead a headless hippogriff. Then, as abruptly as she had started, she stopped and calmly placed her hands on her hips and let them rest there immobile for a few silent minutes.

Slowly, bit by bit, tendril by tendril, the Devil's Snare - for yes, both samples had been Devil's Snare - unwrapped itself from Bunbury's wrists and fell to the ground. She calmly picked them back up and placed them in their respective spots before rubbing her wrists and glancing back at the class.

"There now, see, that was not dangerous." Okay so her skin was a little red and a little irritated but otherwise unharmed. "Now which is which? Now what can you tell me about the physical characteristics of Devil's Snare? Do you see why it's vital to NOT PANIC and be intelligent around some plants? Hmm?"

"Oh," said Becca raising her hand, once more. "They both reacted in the same way, and Devil's Snare practically feeds off of panic, so they're both... Devil's Snare?", she asked more than stated, a little unconvinced.

Fyo raised his hand. "They both tried to ensnare you, so they're the same, right?" Physical characteristics, whatWHAT? "So the Devil's Snare is, like, a mass of springy tendrils and vines that may or may not be very prickly, but definitely like to ensnare anyone who dares to touch them? Doesn't like light much, and that's probably why it's habitat is generally dark and damp."

"And it's vital not to panic and be intelligent around some plants," he added, as an afterthought. "Because they might not kill you as quickly, then." He grimaced, and said, pretty quickly, "Or might not kill you at all." Bleh.

"Devil's Snare has some sense of touch. The more you move around the tighter the plant will wind itself around you. The Devil's Snare uses its tentrals to ensnare anyone who touches them. The plant generally starts with your legs and arms and works its way around until it chokes you. The more you move the faster the plant will ensnare you because it reacts to your movement. You should remain calm and still when being attacked by Devil's Snare."

Evelyn's heart started to race when the professor took the coverings off each plant. 'No no no don't do that.' Preparing to stand up and run if necessary, she forgot all about the wands in the bin and kept her eyes glued to each plant. Slowly, she saw the professor lower her hands to each plant 'Keep breathing Ev.' and even lower until suddenly both plants started to tangle around her hands! AH!

Jumping up and backwards, slamming slightly into the table behind her, she tried to scoot away as much as she could without bringing attention to herself. "Both devil's snare. Both dangerous. Both there. Both in here. With me!" she rambled on quietly to herself, still scooting to the back of the room. What was even worse was that the professor started to yell too. Not good for Evelyn. Finally, without moving her eyes from the two plants, which were safely and NOT MOVING on the table, she sat down in the nearest seat, not even looking to see who she was sitting next to.

'Stupid devil's snare. Shouldn't even exist!' she thought, glaring at the plants and trying to calm herself down so she didn't look even more like an idiot. 'And the professor has my wand! ARGH! Can't even do anything about it.'

"Welll professor, Flitterbloom sways around even when there isn't anything nearby, while the Devils Snare is dormant unless provoked." Celandine answered, having watched the demonstration with great interest.

Hand still up she added, "See the Devils Snare isn't a bad plant, it isn't even a predator really, it doesn't really hunt, it just takes advantage of prey that is stupid enough to go crazy around it and react instead of think. Also, the environment the two plants grow in is different, aside from the light and heat thing, the Devils Snare totally prefers a dark and damp environment, while the Flitterbloom is more like a mundane plant in the sense that it likes light and air and stuff."

Rafe laughed at Professor Bunbury's little act. He even clapped at the end of the performance.

"Well, if we're just calm around both plants, then we have nothing to worry about right?" Rafe said as he stepped closer. "When you get in a panic, that's when the Devil's Snare will kill you. So, basically, if you remain calm the plant will. Struggling will cause the plant to constrict more." Plants weren't exactly his strong suit, but the deadlier the more interesting. "So are we going to test are calming abilities? Let the tentacles wrap around us and we have to try and not panic?" That definitely sounded fun. This class was getting more and more interesting. "Is that why you have our wands? To test our skills without magic?"

"Well professor" said Damon raising his hand. "Im assuming that the devils snare is just soft in nature. It seems to be composed of several large areas of smoothness on the plant itself." Damon really wondered how they felt but was not quite sure.

Abby takes out her camera and snaps a picture of Professor Bunbury with her hands covered in Devil's Snare. Photograph number 5 finally.

Jack looked over at LouAnn and raised an eyebrow in concern. What had gotten into that girl?! Sheesh. You'd think she had taken Essence of Insanity or something. He raised his hand and looked back at Bunbury.

"Well, Devil's Snare don't have eyes or a nose or anything, so the only way they can detect danger is if they feel something trying to attack it. That's what they think is happening when you move around, right? The plant feels it is in danger and attempts to strangle whatever is threatening it...but if you're standing still and not posing a threat to the plant, you won't have any issues," he answered.

Herminny just rolled her eyes at the professors comment cause the current question did not support her aguement at all unless she meant that we should keep or distance from the that plant but either wway she answered saying, " It's a mass of soft, springy tendrils and vines that possess some sense of touch. Devil's Snare uses its creepers and tendrils to ensnare anyone who touches it, binding their arms and legs and eventually choking them. The harder a person struggles against Devil's Snare, the more faster and more tightly it binds them; if they relax, it will not kill them as quickly. Devil's Snare prefers a dark, damp environment and shrinks away from fire, so a well-placed flame spell such as "bluebell flames" will drive it away from its victims. Which means to say I think with physical characteristics like this it is best to keep you're distance from this plant cause if you touch it and it entangles you you're gonna die it's just if you stay still and scream it gives someone more time to find you but either way unless someone comes to you're rescue and does a spell that brings about intense light which is there one and only weakness you're gonna die if you get entangles in devil's snare.".

*blink*

Well pin a rose on your nose, hmm?

LouAnn studied the plants in a bit more detail, eying them on the off-chance that one of them did sneak an attack on The Boots of Bunz. You know, just in case and all. Otherwise, she just nodded in reply to what the professor had mentioned.

Quote:

She rolled her eyes and vanished the two glass coverings from each sample with a flick of that willow wand. There, see, that answered LouAnn's question. That was what she had been planning to do with it. She tossed the wand back into the bin with the others and continued.

Okay, so the Willow; Phoenix Feather Core; 10 3/4 inches was being tossed about a bit too much for LouAnn's liking, but at least it was back inside that container and not on the floor in three pieces. Yes, that had indeed been feared once upon a time.

Quote:

"Ohhhhh no OHH NOOO, what am I EVER going TO DO??! I think I'm being STRANGLED! GEEEEE!!!" the redhead dramatized, flailing her arms about like Jake Upstead a headless hippogriff. Then, as abruptly as she had started, she stopped and calmly placed her hands on her hips and let them rest there immobile for a few silent minutes.

Slowly, bit by bit, tendril by tendril, the Devil's Snare - for yes, both samples had been Devil's Snare - unwrapped itself from Bunbury's wrists and fell to the ground. She calmly picked them back up and placed them in their respective spots before rubbing her wrists and glancing back at the class.

"There now, see, that was not dangerous." Okay so her skin was a little red and a little irritated but otherwise unharmed. "Now which is which? Now what can you tell me about the physical characteristics of Devil's Snare? Do you see why it's vital to NOT PANIC and be intelligent around some plants? Hmm?"

LouAnn sat back in her seat, one eyebrow raised, and watched in amusement as the plants snuggled their way around Bunz's arms. This woman, she'd finally decided on, was insane. When everything had returned to normal and Bunz still had all her limbs in tact, LouAnn calmly raised her hand to provide an answer.

"Well, clearly the plant possesses a sense of touch, and...oh, a Flitterbloom likes the sunlight, but a Devil's Snare doesn't. So you know...if you toss a bit of light on each, the one that bites the dust is your Devil's Snare," she said, not really sure if she was answering the question or giving a 'beat around the bush' kinda answer. "I guess you sort of freak the plant out if you flail about...and maybe it gets bored with you if you just stand there."

Fia sat in her chair playing with the dirt underneath her fingernails. She paid no attention to the professor's dramatic attack of the Devil's Snare. If anything did happen, it would serve her right for taking all the wands of the students...well, almost all of them. Her eyes finally flicked upwards when the professor so kindly released herself. All better, yes. No need in answering as everyone knew that both plants were the devil's plant thingy. She really needed to pay attention to this class if she wanted to work as a Healer but this professor was just...too...oh what was a good word? Snooty for her taste!