"Actually, we need to know how we can tell a plant without physical characteristics" William expalined to Thea. " I am sure you are smart enough to know one." William smiled.

Simon looked at Kurumi and then he looked at the sky, he had no idea why he was staring there but he had just decided that he wanted to, he wasn't really paying attention to Kurumi, he had just seen something flying in the sky and had decided that was a lot more interesting that the work that Professor Bentley had set them.

Kurumi stared at Simon. What was he doing? Had he honestly not heard a single word she had said? It was one thing to avoid doing an assignment by diverting conversation in a different direction, but it was an entirely different matter flat out ignoring someone. She was regretting giving him a cup of tea. "Um....S-S-Simon," Kurumi said again waving her hand in front of his face. "I don't know if this is how you always do assignments, but I am not doing all the work for you. So...you can either help me and we finish this together, or I am going to go find another group to work with."

When it came to assignments, Kurumi meant business. No dinking around.

Simon looked at Kurumi and then looked at the drink near him. "Sorry I was thinking about something." Simon sighed, he had a lot on his plate that only Treyen knew about and he wasn't going to tell a stranger even if her face did look familiar.

Simon then was scared when she said she would leave him if he didn't help. "Professor I told you everyone hated me." Simon cried, he was really upset now. "Just because I'm rubbish at Herbology, how am I suppost to know how to identify, how am I suppost to know you should look at size of the plant, how well it is formed and what weather it likes best." Simon hadn't realised he was giving out ideas he was too upset.

Kurumi shook her head and giggled softly. "Do you always jump to such wild conclusions? Or am I special?" she laugh. Hey, was she just being witty? Perhaps some of Treyen's charm was rubbing off on her. "I can hardly hate you, especially since this is the first time we have ever met. All I wanted to do was to make you focus, which I seem to have accomplished." She smiled at him again. "S-S-Sorry if I hurt your feelings," she squeaked bowing her head over and over again.

She then shook her head. "That's just the thing, none of us know how to identify a plant in this manner.We can't see it. We can't use its appearance to tell us what it is, and that includes height," she said passing him the parchment and pointing to the area where they needed to brainstorm. "It's like I said before, when you were deep in thought about something else. We have to think about our other senses to help us identify it."

She tapped her finger on her lips again. Thinking outside of the box was going to be a bit difficult on this one.

Simon looked at Kurumi and then he drank a bit of his tea, he still wasn't sure if he should forgive her yet, she had said she would leave him and he didn't like it when people said that, it hurt his feeling and so she would have to earn his trust before he forgave her and it was her fault he didn't trust her at the minute.

Simon sighed, he was trying, seriously he was but he got distracted easily, suddenly he closed his eyes, he was going to prove to everyone that he could do this or fall asleep trying, he pictured a plant in his mind, making sure he couldn't see it.

After a few minutes, when people probably though he had gone to sleep he spoke. "Well you could taste the plant, or touch the plant to try and figure out the size of the plant, then you could listen to the plant." Simon was on a roll here, even if they thought he was silly he continued. "Then there's the shape of the plant you could feel the shape of the plant, and then there's the texture of the leaves that could help you." Simon smiled as he thought about what he was saying he was about to continue when suddenly something hit him.

His eyes jerked open. "Hang on if we can't see the flower who do we know there is one there to investigate?" Simon asked he was still upset with Kurumi and wasn't ready to speak to her yet, though he knew he would have to. "Can you think of anything?" He was giving Kurumi his full attention for some strange reason.

Still sipping her tea, and sitting back in her chair, Bentley observed the students' discussions... soe of them were on the right track.... and some of them not so. She looked at Simon. He was a little difficult to settle, perhaps she should have provided a little more scaffolding for him.

*Shrug*

Either way Kurumi seemed to be getting him to respong... finally.

She would be curious to read what they all came up with. This was after all the fun part. Wild scenario's ... strange, unorthodox practices. Creativity was divine!

Sierra paused and looked up at the two Ravenclaws. Blahh. Well, maybe they were like Kurumi Hollingberry. Maybe they did think group work meant friendship. "I'm Sierra Greingoth," she said. She guessed it was good they knew names now, because if one of them had called her 'Hey, you' or something, she couldn't promise the reaction would be friendly.

Sierra raised her eyebrows when the girl mentioned trying it on a creature. "Hmm," she said, not being able to help the smile on her face. They might be able to get along after all. "I was going to suggest a Hufflepuff, but creatures work, too." She shrugged and added that to the list.


Ideas

• Ask someone who knows (Herbologist or expert)
• Test the plant on a creature

Simon over heard someone saying they were going to suggest a Hufflepuff, well two could play at that game. "Kurumi, I forgot to add, that we could always test the plant on a Slytherin, you see if they scream we would know the plant was dangerous." Simon smiled, he wasn't going to let anyone pick on Hufflepuff. "And if the plant wasn't dangerous we could always get the Slytherin to tell us what it looks like."

" We can can read about plants and tell them by their pictures in the books" Wiliam told the girls.

Kurumi was beginning to worry that Simon had decided to completely check out and take a nap during Herbology, so a wide smile appeared on his face when he did finally speak. "Good ideas," she nodded jotting down a few things on her paper. "Extremely bitter tastes usually imply poison, so taste would certainly help identify those plants. Granted, when you did try the plant, you should really only nibble a little bit of it just to be safe." There were loads of problems with popping some strange object into your mouth to see what it was, but wasn't that what they all had done as babies? Find something on the floor and a baby's first reaction it to stick it in its mouth? Perhaps babies were onto something there...

She added a few notes about touching the plant - feeling for the shape, the texture of the leaves, and so on - before cocking her head to the side. "Listen to the plant?" she repeated with a confused look on her face, but not one that was condescending. "How would you suggest that we listen to a plant? I have heard that plants enjoy listening to music, so perhaps playing different genres of music and listening for how the plant reacts could work. For example...perhaps the carnivorous plants prefer heavy rock music?"

Kurumi blinked a few times when Simon had turned the tables a bit and asked her a question. "Well, flowers have very strong smells for the most part, so smelling the plant would certainly give us insight. Let say you come across a plant that smells like petrol. You know there is really only one option as to what is in front of you."

Kurumi continued to write down some notes and looked up when Simon had made another suggestion, this time frowning a little. She had heard Sierra's suggestion, but had come to realize that the Slytherin had set up walls around her and hide behind prejudices that really were unnecessary. "I wouldn't pay any mind to her," Kurumi said nodding her head in Sierra's general direction. "There is no sense in snapping the string on your tolerance bag."

Kurumi rubbed the back of her neck. "However, I suppose observing what wild life was attracted to the plant would help us identify it."

Aiden is distracted from her thoughts as a voice greets her. She nearly groans, but when she looks up, it is only Helena. At least it is someone she is familiar with. "Uh... Sure," she says, still not having any ideas.

Alright.

Helena gave her a smile as she took a seat next to Aiden. Now... three ways to identify a plant without... waaaait. Was the blackboard professor Bentley telling them that they should find ways to identify a plant without looking at it? Great.

She turned her attention back to Aiden. "How about... we try to listen if the plant makes any noises? We surely wouldn't get the chance to identify a Mandrake," since... they could be knocked out or even die, "but maybe there are some plants that..." that... do what?

"... groan." Or maybe snore. "What do you think?"

Enya was just sat there, bored, inspecting her nails. All this was boring, she could just about get through copying from someone else...Wait she should do that. That way it looked like she'd done work. Smiling she straightened her back and grabbed some parchment and a quill and began to write. Leaning over Louisa to look at what they had so far - two things - she paused.

'Test the plant on a creature' She read before she turned sharply to her two partners.

"That's the same as animal cruelty" She said sharply, thinking back to a book she had read once back in the day. No that wont do. "And what if it is poisoned?" She asked next before she grabbed her quill and extending her arm scratched out the second sentence on the parchment.


Ideas

• Ask someone who knows (Herbologist or expert)
• Test the plant on a creature

Yeah that was good, she liked that. She had been close to standing on her seat and crying to the class about it all. Hmm, not the best idea no matter how funny it would have been. "How about this, Look in a book for the answers?" She asked semi sarcastically.

Aiden looks more serious than usual now. She might even make someone run for their lives with her current expression. Nodding in agreement, she pulls out a piece of parchment and a quill from her bag.

"How about try to poke them with something? Like a stick or a wand," she pauses, tickling her chin with her quill. "Then, we could determine whether it can move or not," her voice drops, thinking how stupid that answer was.

"That's a good idea," Helena agreed, as she took a piece of parchment for herself and a quill to write everything down. "It's a good thing to know whether to run away or not." Yup. Definitely good. "And there's the Chinese Chomping Cabbage, that wakes up if touched." But that wouldn't quite be a good idea. To wake it up, that is. The second years and the older ones knew why.

There. They already had two ideas out of three.

"Alright. One more." Hmmm. How else could they identify a plant without looking at it? Helena couldn't identify them even if she looked at them. "We could also... check if they're poisonous or not, but that wouldn't be a good idea, since they might be fatal." So... what else?

Simon smiled at Kurumi. "Well you could listen to the way he wind moves on a plant?" He had no idea there he was guessing, but at least he was trying, he was confused of course, he wanted to know how Kurumi had got his full attention no one had done that before except of course his parents.

Simon was happy with Kurumi. "That's a great idea." Simon knew people smelt flowers and so they would know which one was which, he then suddeny had enough idea. "How about you find someone who isn't blind and ask them what the flower is." Simon was sure that would work, though asking a stranger might be weird.

He looked straight at Kurumi. "Okay so our group doesn't get into trouble I'll ignore it this time." He looked at Sierra and then thought to himself, that she deserved to be fed to the merpeople or a plant, that would get rid of the nastiness in her.

Professor Bentley continued to observe the groups discuss their brilliant ideas and curious theories. This was so exciting!

She picked up another cupcake... this time it was decorated with a brilliant blue Iris. Lovely. She plucked off the petals and popped them in her mouth. Mmmm sugary. This was by far one of her more brilliant ideas of the term. She paced around the long communal table, stopping every now and then to listen into conversations... make sure they were on track.

OOC: Don't feel as if you have to rush through this. I will leave the thread open for as long as we/you need it... and that can be up 3-4 days. No rush. Also if you do ask Professor Bentley a question IC could you also send me a VM or something- nudge me, just so I don't miss it. Thansk everyone, you're doing great!

Penny walked over to William..."Um. er Hi William...I was wondering if maybe I could join your group please - I still don't have a partner"

Ariella nodded her head in agreement.

"That's a good idea," Ariella said, but then realized that may be studying them by physical characteristics. Oh well. She couldn't really think of anything better. "What about by the plant's smell?"

"Sure!" Ariella said, trying not to leave anyone out. "You're welcome to. Just bring up a chair." She motioned to an empty chair.

As Sierra continued to jot down a few notes here and there, she listened to the conversation going on between Simon and Kurumi. Test the plant on a Slytherin?! Ha! That is, if he was lucky enough to find a Slytherin willing to cooperate. See, Hufflepuffs were loyal; they'd probably do anything a friend needed. Slytherins, on the other hand, weren't quite so friendly. Still looking down at her notes, she smirked at Kurumi's reply but otherwise said nothing.

Sierra rolled her eyes. So now the girl, whichever one she was, decided to speak up. Sierra drew in a deep breath then shrugged. "...better than one of us getting poisoned," she mumbled to herself. Nevertheless, she, too, put a scratch mark through the suggestion and added the one about a book. "How about...," she said, looking down at her notes, "observing it. You can look to see which animals are attracted to it or how the plant reacts to other things in nature."


Ideas

• Ask someone who knows (Herbologist or expert)
  
• Test the plant on a creature
• Research (books)
• Observation (Which animals eat it? How does it react to other things in nature?)

"Wait wait wait wait wait wait," She raised her hands in the air and glared at Enya, "Did you just remove MY suggestion?" HUH? Because that was it! "I don't appreciate this. Besides, some creatures are only good for experimentation. If it wasn't for this method, you'll be still using dirty mud for your skin to smooth it!" Hinting at the facial care products... don't ask. "We're not here to talk about animals' cruelty. We're here for a scientific reason. You want sympathy, go pet your owl." HAHAHAHA! A smirk was put on her face.

On the other hand, their suggestions made sense to her. As if nothing had just happened, Louisa wrote down their idea withOUT removing her brilliant one.
"Let's see.." She pondered a minute before Enya would explode at her or whatever, ".. we can analyze it. Cut something out and take it to the lab..?" Very mugglish but she enjoyed this part in biology.. so..

Well Enya was happy someone was taking what she said into account, and that person didn't happen to her HER BEST FRIEND! Enya turned and glared at Louisa and even more when she noticed the girl didn't cross her suggestion out on her parchment. She only said! no need for the younger girl to snap at her! To take her mind off the fact she really did want to just snap at her friend she turned back to her parchment and copy'd what the other girl; Sierra? had written.


Ideas

• Ask someone who knows (Herbologist or expert)
  
• Test the plant on a creature
• Research (books)
• Observation (Which animals eat it? How does it react to other things in nature?)

She was glad that her suggestion had been put on the list, she'd only been sarcastic about it to cover up her outburst a moment ago. She meant, why hadn't any one thought of it before!? Sigh. Twiddling her quill between her fingers she sat through both her partners giving yet more suggestions. "Wouldn't that be boring?" She asked lazily looking at Sierra, who would want to observe a plant for god knows how long?

But then Louisa was going on about science yet again, "Do you ever shut up about science? this isn't the muggle world you know.." She shot at her friend, dropping her quill and turning to face her. Hello fight number...what number was it?

Penny smiled at the girl Ariella, "Thank you.... ok so what have we got? - what can I do?

Go ahead and joing our group" Willaim told Penny. " I am sure yo uwill be a great help to Ariella, Thea and myself" William said to Penny. " Have you met Ariela or Thea?" William asked Penny. Very good partners for us" Willaim explained to Penny. We need to figure out how to tell plants without physical charactistics" Willaim explained to Penny.

" The plants smells are are a great idea" William told Ariella.