Spike sat up at the mention of points, and looked closely at the flower. "Is it bindweed, Professor?" he pondered, unsure whether the weed he saw in the woods would be considered important enough to be used in a Divination lesson alongside all the more favourable flowers such as roses. Not that there was anything wrong with bindweed.

"If it is, I think it has something to do with being a busybody." Hehe. Busybody. Awesome word. How he knew that meaning though, was anyone's guess. Had he unwillingly read something relevant and retained the information? Shocker.

Penny wasn't sure, but thought she'd have a guess..."Professor, is it morning glory?"
"If it is the Morning Glory then it symbolises love, affection or mortality.. They represent the month of September and 11th wedding anniversaries."

Penny was annoyed with herself...cos she should now this for sure - her mum had planted some last year at the front door of their house, around the trellis.

Kurumi eyed the young Ravenclaw who told a story that she knew using different names. "We call that day tanabata in Japan," she nodded. Although, morning glories had no connection to the festival in her country.

Now, back to the flower, which had already been explained by many other students. "As others already said, that is a morning glory flower which represents affection or unrequited love. It is a flower that is also associated with the eleventh wedding anniversary. However, I have also read that the flower can also take on a somewhat more negative meaning like coquetry, or flirtation, or vain glory."

Kurumi paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "As many have already mentioned, the morning glory takes on the meaning of love, affection or mortality in the Victorian meaning of flowers. However, in China it represents a day where two lovers can meet. Since the flower will blossom in the morning and then die by the afternoon or evening, it also sometimes represents the fleeting nature of affection. While this may give the flower a somewhat negative image, the fact that its vines then produce new flowers everyday demonstrates the renewable nature of love."

Selina thought it was interesting that another student liked the same flower that she did. She had never met a person before who had liked the same flower that she did. Growing up her mother was away in Australia working for the Australian Ministry as the Head of the Education Reform Movement for the Ministry. So her mother was never home. As a way to remember her mother while she was away her father planted hibiscus flowers in their back yard because it was her mother's favorite flower. Sometimes when she missed home she would just look at the flowers and feel closer.

Then she looked at the next flower that she put up and suddenly recognized it, "It's a morning glory flower. You can tell by the coloration and the fact that it is a stem plant. Very specific characteristics to this breed of plant. And if I am correct they stand for affection. Although they do have a short life expectancy. The bloom opens in the morning and dies in the night. So maybe it is more appropriate to call them fleeting affection. Because affection replies something superficial and love is more intimate."

Simon looked at the Professor he wasn't going to get this right he had a feeling. "Professor is it a Morning Glory flower?" He wasn't sure but he had a feeling he had seen the flower before somewhere. "Though I don't know what the meaning is." Simon sighed. "Maybe it wants people to know how good morning is and so that's why it's called what it is?"

Danielle looked up at the flower and definately recognised it from somewhere... perhaps one of her Mum's photographs. She used to do a lot of flowers and natural things before she got into the fashion world. She smiled and raised her hand- she knew that other people had answered, but she wouldn't let it pass that she knew what it was. It's good to show interest- even if multiple people have first. "It's a Morning Glory flower, Proffessor. My Mum used to photograph them- a lot of people have them growing on walls and things like fences for decoration. They make a very pretty picture. I think they are associated with unrequieted love... or something like that" she said softly, remembering the old Victorian book about flowers they had at James's house for some reason.

The seventh year quickly jotted down the notes on the board onto his parchment and when he finished he looked back at the board and his notes again. He had been paying attention before but how is Merlin's wet socks did he land himself in a class dedicated to flowers? He looked around to see if any other guys in the lesson looked mortified....no not too much.

Riley looked at the flower that the Divination Professor was holding up to the class. He had seen those before back at home, they had a small greenhouse and his mother had those in her section. "Professor I believe, like a lot of the class has already said, that that flower is a Morning glory. The meaning given to that particular flower is slightly similar to the Liac in that it represents love but the Morning glory is more of a serious, undying love rather than just 'first love.'"

Hmmm...would his knowledge of flowers help him out with the ladies anymore? *shrug*

Isabelle thought about it for a moment. They learned about flowers in their Beauxbaton 4th year. She raised her hand. "Professor, I believe that is a morning glory. It for the most part has to do with love and affection. I was told last year it had symbolism in Chinese folklore. They thought it symbolised the single day for loversto meet, the month of September, and 11th aniversaries. Another meaning I learned last year was love in vain." Isabelle was happy wiith her response.

Ma'am The Morning Glory is a symbol of pure love. Oakey remembered hearing a story about these flowers from his foster father after he came back from China. I think there was a story in China about two people who loved each other. This love made them neglect their duties so God separated them on each side of a river and they were only allowed to meet once a year. Kind of like how Morning Glories bloom for a day only. He didn't care much for love stories when he was little but it was always fun to hear stories Harvey would bring back from foreign countries. Oh and Aztecs used them for Hal-Halo-Halosonog-Haloso...To make them see weird things.. That was a tough word to say. The Professor seemed to enjoy his info on the last flowers Aztec History, might as well do so for this one too.

Chewing her lip, Thea kicked her brain into gear. Um..
'Is is Morning Glory?' She asked. Thea knew the name, but that was all she knew.

Breathing deeply, the scents of the flowers made Thea feel lazy. Shaking herself slightly, she sat back up and tried to pay attention.

Presley grinned. This was her chance to earn points! She knew this one! She raised her hand high in the air....and everyone else knew it too. She considered putting her hand down, but didn't. It was worth a try anyway. "Like they said. It's a morning glory, professor." More specifically...no it was just to obvious to say that it was a blue morning glory. That was plainly obvious.

Ariella raised her hand. Even though everyone was saying the same thing, she still wanted some points. "Like said, it's a morning glory, which is a flower that blooms in the morning and closes up by the late-afternoon to evening. It is a symbol of pure love, of affection, and of mortality."

She took a pause to think. She remembered her mother telling her about the Chinese folklore meaning of the morning glory. Was it the day that lovers would meet? She thought she might as well take the shot. "From the Chinese folklore meaning, the flowers represent the day for lovers to meet. The flower also represents the month of September and the eleventh wedding anniversaries."

Louisa squeezed her eyes narrow at the flower in the Professor's hand. Hmmm. "It is a morning glory, I guess." She said shortly. "I'm not sure what it means but I guess it is a symbol of affection between people?" Or even other creatures. Louisa wasn't sure where she read that but it sure crossed her mind when she prepared for her third year. Hmm.

Nika raised her eyebrow as she looked the flower over several times. She had absolutely no idea what flower that was whatsoever, but everyone around her was saying that it was a morning glory so she guessed that was right. This time Nika didn't enthusiastically burst with the right answer she just murmured it under her breath, "Morning Glory" Everyone had already said it so the points were probably going to go to someone else anyways. Kurumi had already told everyone the story behind it so there isn't really much of a reason to try and answer that one...

Wiliam raised his hand. " The flower is a Lily" Wiliam told her." the meaning is beauty, elegance, purity and sweetness" Willaim said to the professor.

As everyone started clamoring for the points she'd dangled over their heads, at least metaphorically, an almost cryptic smile crept onto Renée's face. She glanced at the innocent little flower in her hand again, and then took her attention back to the class. "No, it's not bindweed, or a lily," she replied, nodding slightly at Spike and William before glancing at everyone else who had spoken. "It's actually not a morning glory either, but that's a bit closer. Keep trying." The fact that everyone, or at least almost everyone, was in agreement as to what it might be was promising, at least when the possibility of twenty different answers was considered. But either way, the two points were still out there for the taking.

It wasn't a morning glory? No. She must be lying. It had to be! It looked exactly like a morning glory! "Is it a magical flower, professor, or just an average one?" That might be some help in discerning what it was.

Penny sat thinking some more...then it came to her..."Professor, is it Moon Flower?"

It wasn't a morning glory? Now Kurumi was a bit confused. "What about a Convolvulus?" Kurumi asked. Those were related to morning glories, but were in a different family. "Blue ones represent repose and night."

Presley raised her hand again as an idea struck her. She hadn't had a close look at the flower, but this was a vague possibility. "Is it hollyhock? Or hookers woodrose?" It was definitely part of the morning glory family.

As many, so many, people had claimed the flower to be a Morning Glory, Josh just kept sitting still and stared at the flower in the professor's hand. Yeaaa, it indeed looked like a Morning Glory. It was a nice looking flower yet the part Josh did not get was how its meaning happened to be 'Undying Love' if it tended to literally die that quickly in the nature as one of those poeple had mentioned.

The Gryffindor boy was about to raise his hand and ask that question about contradicting information when Professor Bishop had said that it was not a morning glory. Not? Ah...now that was...kinda confusing but Josh liked the fact that Bishop had given them something a bit challenging to find out instead of the obvious one.

Staring at the flower, Josh narrowed his eyes as he thought over what else it could be. Hmmm...hmmm. But there was another species which looked like this, right? Right? And probably there was more than one but the Gryffindor recalled one right now.

''Professor Bishop, is it a moonflower?''

Ha!

Sierra had very nearly cheated off everyone in the class and just said Morning Glory, but the professor had spoken up just before she did so. It was a good thing, too. Apparently, that wasn't a Morning Glory, but Sierra wouldn't have really known the difference anyway. She really knew nothing about flowers, so when she finally did raise her hand, she was giving the professor no more than what amounted to a wild guess.

"Is it a petunia?" she asked. "If it is, the meaning is anger or soothing presence." Bahhh. Whatever.

Renée was starting to wonder if she, in fact, had chosen too confusing of a flower for her little challenge. As it seemed most of the students couldn't get past it possibly being a moonflower, and she had a feeling most of the guesses since she'd said it wasn't were merely that: guesses. But just the same, she had thought she'd heard the correct answer in there, and her attention had gone to Josh after flickering past Penny and a multitude of others. She gave the Gryffindor troublemaker a smile. "It is. However, that isn't entirely what I was after. Identifying it was one part, but there was another part to my question," she pointed out, laying the moonflower down on her table near the rose that was still there just while she waited. She'd give him a point, but he wouldn't get the whole two unless he could get the other half of her answer before anyone else.

And then maybe she could move the lesson along.

Nika looked at Professor Bishop she was a bit unsure whether she could answer the latter part of the question, but she'd let Josh do it. He got the first part so really he should be the one to get the full points. Besides it will all got to Gryffindor in the end!

Seriously? There were so many flowers that looked like that one, she didn't know if they could name them all! Sitting back in her seat, she stared around at the others answering, rubbing her eyes every now and then. Sitting by the window wasn't helping, and there was no way she was using a bubblehead charm. She'd just have to fight this sleepiness!

Yet finally, someone was right. Josh. Teehee.

Glancing over to him, she smiled almost sleepy like before turning her attention to the Professor. Eh, she didn't particular feel like answering anything anymore. Her mind was all cloudy and if she leaned against the wall just a bit, right there, this would probably be the most comfortable she'd ever been in a divination lesson. Just...like this...Good Merlin, this flower scent was like an instant sleeping potion for her.