He was beginning to wonder if he'd done something wrong when he had started his plant, because he'd checked on it twice now and it still hadn't sprouted. He was beginning to fear that he'd gotten a bad seed or something! So as he walked towards the greenhouse he had decided if he didn't see anything this time, he was going to ask Professor Bentley and see what might be wrong.

Walking to the back and finding his plant he saw it had a teeny little bit of it showing just above the surface! Sighing with relief, he went to work. Finding a watering can he filled it with just a little bit of water with the aguamenti charm, he had that down easily after creating a bit of ice for Amelia's hand at the duck pond. Well this time he needed hot boiling water.

"Chaudensis" he said pointing his wand at the water in the can and watched as it boiled almost immediately. Tipping the can over the water just slightly he splattered a few drops on the soil and the plant but not too much. Pouring the last of the water out where it should be disposed, he pulled his list out of his bag while putting his wand back in its holster.

Number 4: sprinkle blood and bone mix. It also said not to burn yourself. Pam thought for a moment. If there was a warning, she assumed the mixture wasn't all that safe to touch. Taking extra precautions, Pam pulled out her dragon hide gloves, and slipped them on. She then walked to the front of the greenhouse, and grabbed a small amount of the mixture. Carefully walking back over to her plant, she sprinkled it on the soil.

Ella's next step was to sing and dance around her fire seed. Well, what the heck. Ella cleared her throat and in the nicest voice she could muster, began to sing the song her mother had always sung to her before she fell asleep.

You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy,
When skies are gray.
You'll never know dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.

Ella realized it was weird singing this song to a plant who loved the darkness but it brought back good memories and so she went with it. As she sang, Ella circled around the little plant, waving her arms like a tree in the breeze. She was sure she looked silly but was actually enjoying her little performance. She was comfortable laughing at herself. When she finished, Ella took a little bow and smiled. That's the closest she would ever get to being a performer.

In the stored cupboard by the entrance of the greenhouse you will find a small bag of blood and bone mix. Take a pinch of it and sprinkle it around the Bushling's base. Try not to burn yourself.

Okay she could do this. Jezzabelle put on her dragon hide gloves and made her way over to the cupboard. She looked at all the things that was supplied in there and her eyes lit up. So much she could use for her other two plants. She grabbed the bag of blood and bone mix and took a little pinch. Being extremely careful around her own little sapling, she sprinkled the mix around the base and watched at it sparked just a little at the mix touched it's base. She removed her gloves carefully and at the last step. Sigh.

As Alex entered the greenhouses, he felt his heart catch in his throat--his poor fireseed plant was sitting in sunlight! EEP! Running over to his section of the greenhouse, he saw that the ivy had, for whatever reason, moved and allowed a streak of sunlight to shine right on his pot. Fortunately, it didn't look like the sun had been shining on it that long, since the soil didn't seem very dry. Thank goodness the sun moved during the day!

"Excuse me...Mister or Miss Ivy?" he asked the plant. "Could you please cover this section of the window please? So my plant doesn't dry up in the sun?" he asked. After a moment or two the ivy moved and covered up the empty patch, covering his plant in darkness once again.

"Thanks Ivy!" he said happily, petting the plant softly. He wasn't about to hug the plant though...too much opportunity to turn on him and suddenly strangle him.

Beezus took out her handkerchief for the day which was a red one with white polka dots, then she wiped the sweat on her forehead. All that dancing and singing drained most of the magic from her! She looked around and found a small stool just beside another pot behind her. She picked it up and placed it near her own pot then she sat down and stared at the little sprout on the 'Beezus' labeled pot. She needed a bit rest before doing the next step.

After a few minutes, she returned the stool back on where she found it, time for the next step. Referring to her parchment again, she read.."In the stored cupboard by the entrance of the greenhouse you will find a small bag of blood and bone mix. Take a pinch of it and sprinkle it around the Bushling's base. Try not to burn yourself." Blood and bone mix? Really? the Bushlings needed that kind of fertilizer?

The young eaglet adjusted her gloves since she had not taken them off since she started the task. Then she walked over to the cupboard back near the entrance of the greenhouse. "Gaaahh, it feels good to see the sun again," she said dramatically as sunlight hit her face when she arrived back at the entrance. Afterwards, she neared the cupboard, "Hmmm..let's see..blood and bone mix..blood and bone mix.." she muttered as her fingers shuffled through the bags and bottles of fertilizers. "Oi. There you go." She said as she found the said bag, she opened it slightly but closed it again as soon as its smell covered that area. "Smells like dead. Ugh!" Beezus commented as she carried the small bag back into the deep part of the greenhouse where their Fire Seed sproutlings were placed.

When she arrived in front of her own pot, she crouched over and sprinkled a bit of around the sprout's base, carefully and slowly. When she was finished,she sealed the bag once more and returned it back to the cupboard near the entrance before she went back and scratched the fourth step on the spare parchment.

After glancing over the instructions, she cleared her throat. "Light sprinkle of boiling hot water." She nodded and pulled out a cup. She pulled out her wand, and cast the spell. "Aguamenti." The water filled the cup and she smiled. "I've got the water. Now make it boil?"

She stood back and tapped her wand onto the large cup and spoke. "Incendio." She giggled, clapping as she saw the cup bubbling. She pulled on her dragon hide gloves, picked up the up gently and pour LIGHT sprinkle onto the seed.

Tayla entered Greenhouse 2 and walked towards the Fire Seed Bushling she was tasked to take care of.

"Hello there my little Fire Seed Bush," Tayla said quietly. She smiled at the sight of the healthy-looking sprout and then looked around, checking to see if the greenhouse was dark enough for the Fire Seed.

"Hmmm...Ivy?" Tayla started, rather unsurely, but seeing a vine and tendril seemingly move in reply, she continued. "Ivy, could you please block a bit more light for my Fire Seed here? We need to keep this place dark enough..."

Tayla watched as the Ivy moved and did as she asked. She felt both grateful and a little creeped out, never really liking the wriggly movement of plants. All the same, she gave the Ivy a gentle pat. "Thank you, Ivy."

The instruction for this had said to be careful not to burn themselves. She found her dragon hide gloves and slipped them on. She walked over to the cupboard at the entrance to the greenhouse and took a small amount out of the bag. She walked back to her plant, the blood and bone mix was warm in her wands, not enough to burn her but perhaps had she not been wearing her gloves it would have burnt her.

Glenn sprinkled the mix around the base of the plant. The mix didn't look very nice, but if it helped the plant. That was good. "There goes your mix, little plant." She muttered. Taking off her gloves and looking at her book for the next task.

Right-o. So the first step was done, now he just needed to water it with hot water again. Easy enough. Alex stood up and walked over to the supply of watering cans and picked one up, bringing it back over to his pot. He used Aguamenti to fill it with water, and then muttered "Chaudensis," using the spell they'd learned in Herbology to make the water warmer.

He sat there and waited for the water to boil, watching the ivy near him move ever so slightly as it settled into it's position at the wind. Finally, after what felt like ages but was only a few minutes, the water began to boil, and he added a small amount of water to the fireseed plant. Just enough to moisten the soil and give his plant a nice drink.

As Alyssa walked into Greenhouse 2, she checked her journal to review the Homework task that Professor Bentley had assigned them.




Alyssa walked directly to where she had placed the pot of the Fire Seed that she had planted two days ago. Before picking up the pot, she put on her dragonhide gloves and wore her goggles on her head to protect her eyes. Picking up the pot, Alyssa checked the label to make sure that the pot was hers. The writing on the label said "ALYSSA". Yes this was the pot in which she had planted her very own Fire Seed. She looked carefully into the pot and could see a little sprout growing out of the soil. It grew upright and looked healthy. As Alyssa checked out the little sprout, a ray of sunlight shone on one of it's leaves. Alyssa quickly glanced over to see that the sun was starting to peak through the leaves of the ivy and was starting to brighten up the greenhouse. During other times of the year, Alyssa would be glad for the sun to shine through, but in order for the Fire Seed sprouts to grow healthy and strong and become Fire Seed Bushlings, they needed as much darkness as possible.

Remembering the first task Professor Bentley had assigned them, Alyssa quickly placed her pot in the darkest spot of nearest her and walked over to the Ivy that was growing near the windows. She gently whispered to it. "Please Miss Wasima. I need your help. Could you help move your vines, to help keep the sunlight out?". As she saw the Wasima move its vines to help block out the sunlight, Alyssa gently gathered some of its vines and gave it a soft hug. "Thank you, Wasima for your help. You are a beautiful and gentle Ivy,"Alyssa thanked the Ivy before returning to her pot.

Alex looked at the instructions for this assignment that he'd scribbled on a spare piece of parchment. He had to...sing to it now?? Erm...ok. He'd heard of talking to plants before, because they liked the carbon dioxide you exhaled on them when you were talking but singing? Did it reallllllly matter? Sigh. Gotta do what you gotta do to get house points!

Slowly and VERY VERY quietly, he started to sing, leaning in close to the plant so no one around here could hear him.

"Hush little fire plant, don't say a word,
Daddy's gonna buy you a...phoenix bird,
and if that phoenix don't burst into flames,
Daddy's gonna buy you a...Salamander?"

That was all the fire related animals Alex could think of.

He repeated this verse over and over, doing a small dance around the pot that basically consisted of him bending his knees and waving his hands around slowly. He looked like a fool, but at least everyone else had to do this for homework, not just him, so he wasn't going to be alone in his foolishness.

Sophie was SO excited about this part! She pulled her pot a little away from the others so that she could dance around it properly. She was to do that right!

She stepped back a little and made a ballerina-starting-pose (or something like that).

"Deeeck the haalls with boughs of hoolly!!
Fa lalalalaaa lala la laaa!!
Tiiis the season to be jooolly!!
Fa lalalalaaa lala la laaaa!"

Sophie was smiling widely when she took her first steps towards her pot, standing on her tip-toes and placing her arms over her head, just like a ballerina.

"Doon we now our gaaay apparel!
Fa lalaaaa lalalaaa la la laaa!
Troooll the ancient Yule tide caarool!
Fa lalalalaaa lalaa la laaaa!"

Smiling at her pretty seedling - that was under the soil, but still -, Sophie continued dancing and singing for it, now mimicking the words.

"Seeee the blaazing Yule before us!
Fa lalalalaaa lala la laaa!
Striike the harp and join the choooorus!
Fa lalalalaaa lala lalaaa!!"

Foooollow me in meeerry measure
Fa lalaa lalalaa la la laa!
Whiile I tell of Yule tide treasure
Fa lalalalaaa lala la laaaa!

She now did a little spinning around, still on her tip-toes and with her arms over her head again. She felt her hair on her face as she stopped and turned around to face her pot again. That had been her little solo!

"Faast away the old year paasses
Fa lalalalaa lala la laaa
Haaail the new, ye lads and laasses
Fa lalalalaaa lala la laaa

Siiing we joyous, aaall together!
Fa lalaa lalalaa la la laaa
Heeeeedless oof the wind and weather
Fa lalalalaaa lala la laaa!"

Making all kinds of ballerina-like movements she could think of - and when she didn't know what to do, she would mimic the words to the pot - she danced happily around her pot, with the biggest smile on her face and not caring at all if other students were watching her.

"Fa lalalalaaaa lalaaa laaaaa laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...!" and she made a pompous final-pose as she sang the last note, with one foot in front of the other, one arm above her head and the other stretched in front of her. She was really feeling like a ballerina there. Hah!

Nicki walked into the greenhouse and immediately headed for the pot where she had planted her fireseed. She found it and quickly putting on her dragon hide gloves and goggles, she picked up the pot to see how her seed was doing. There was actually a sprout growing in it. "YES" Nicki said to herself. Her Fireseed plant was growing nicely. It looked like her pot was placed in the right amount of darkness until Nicki saw a beam of light reflected on the ground in near where she had placed her pot.

So Nicki walked up to the Ivy that was growing along with the glass windows and spoke to it. "Hello Miss Wasima. You have done a great job, protecting my plant from the sun, but now the sun is peeping through again. Could you help me block out the sun again?"Nicki asked the Ivy politely. As she waited, Nicki saw the Ivy move its vines until it totally covered every inch of the glass windows and blocked out the sun. "Thank you Miss Wasima" Nicki thanked it, petting and stroking its leaves before she returned to her pot.

Referring to her journal, Alyssa checked the tasks, to see what Professor Bentley wanted them to follow next. Alyssa picked up her pot and noticed that the soil was a little dry. She placed the pot on the work table and went to the cupboard to take out a small watering can. Taking out her wand, she pointed it into the watering can and said "Aguamenti" to fill it with water. Once the watering can had some water in it, Alyssa then pointed her wand into the watering can and making a circular motion with it, she said "Chaundensis". Once the water started to bubble and steam, Alyssa holstered her wand and picked up the watering can with her dragonhide gloved hands. She slowly poured the water into the pot making sure that she poured enough just to moisten the soil but not too much that she ended up drowning it. Once she was sure that the soil was moist enough, she stopped pouring and lay down the watering can.

Nicki checked her homework list to see what was next on the task. "Sprinkle the plant with boiling water,"Nicki read aloud to herself. Now that was easy to do. She went to take a small watering can out of the tool cupboard and then she filled it with water by pointing her wand in it and saying "Aguamenti".

Once she made sure that there was enough water in the can, she then pointed her wand inside it and moving it around in a circle, she said "Chaundensis". Soon the water in the watering can started to boil. Nicki put her wand back into her pocket and picked up the watering can and poured the boiling water into the pot where she had planted her Fireseed. She poured just enough water to moisten the soil before she placed the watering can back on the ground. Now for the next task.

'Oh wow! the Professor wants us to entertain the plants? Might as well get it over and done with it before the other students get here.' Alyssa thought to herself. Alyssa decided to pick a song sung by Play, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".



As Alyssa sang the lively song, she danced around her potted Fire Seeds, singing and swinging her arms and shaking her hips, as she circled around the pot. When she was done, she bowed and then curtsied in front of the pot signaling the end of her performance.

Four Steps done and one more to go. Beezus grinned upon reading the fifth task. A bedtime story? Like princesses and such? That was just silly..She wanted to tell her bushling a story that happened in reality. And so, she once again pulled out the little stool she sat on earlier and placed it in front of the pot.

She breathed before starting her story. "Once upon a time," Well..that was just awkward. Oh well..that was her story. "So, once upon a time little sprout, there were two persons. A boy and a girl." she paused and looked around. "And well..the two of them didn't get along well at the start." Beezus frowned a bit, where was she getting the plot from? "Not yet anyway. You see, one day..the girl had a wound on her leg and she needed to go home early." Really Beezus? Really? A voice kept nagging inside her. "And..err--the boy happened to bump into her on her way home. As they both hate each other, they bantered there and then." Another pause and a hard swallow. "However, when the boy noticed that the girl was limping, he decided to help her. At first, the girl objected saying that she did not need any help but the boy insisted," the young eaglet smiled weakly and looked at the sprout once more. "Guess what?" she asked. "The girl then gave up and the boy carried her until she got home. From then on, they became friends." Heavy sigh. "Great story huh?" Beezus questioned the little sprout even if she knew that it won't give any answer then she stood up and returned the stool. Afterwards she took off her gloves and placed it on her back pack.

Then she crouched in front of the pot again, "Too bad though, the boy suddenly disappeared and now the girl's still waiting to see him again," she said as she glanced on her shoes. "Oh well..good night my little one. I'll see you again. Have a dark slumber.." Beezus added as she grabbed her bag and walked out the Greenhouse.

Now that Alyssa had completely entertained the plants, she checked the Professor's list of tasks, to see what else she wanted them to do.



'This is easy enough to do,' Alyssa thought to herself as she walked over to the storage cupboard that was located at the entrance of the greenhouse and sure enough found a small bag of blood and bone mix. Alyssa cringed at the sight of it, but she reached in and took a pinch of it in her dragon hide gloved hand before walking back to her pot and sprinkling it all around the Bushling's base, taking care not to burn herself in the process.

She then took the potted plant and returned to the darkened area of the Greenhouse. She checked her journal to see what the last task of the homework assignment was.

When Nicki read what the next task of the homework assignment was, she started to laugh. "You've got to be kidding me," she said to herself. But the Professor wanted her to perform for the plant and so she belted out an old Rock and Roll song called "Heartbreak Hotel"



As Nicki sang the song, she shook her hips left and right to the beat of the song and danced all around the plant, shaking her hips and swinging her arms above her. Once she was done singing, she bowed and said, "Thank you. Thank you everyone." in a Southern accent and then broke up laughing again. She hoped that the next task wasn't going to be as ridiculous as this one.

Alyssa couldn't believe her eyes when she read what the next task was. "Read the Fire Seed Bushling a bedtime story? If I didn't know better, I would think that Professor Bentley was playing around here. But her wish, is her command. Not for me to question why." Alyssa told herself. Placing the pot on the ground, Alyssa took off her dragon hide gloves and reached into her mokeskin purse which was lying inside her work robes and pulled out a book entitled, "The Tales of Beedle the Bard". Leafing through the pages, she picked one of her favorite stories from it and started reading it to the Bushling in the pot. "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot. There was once a kindly wizard who used his magic generously....."Alyssa read the story to the bushling glancing at it as she paused once in awhile during her reading to see whether it behaved differently at all. She continued reading until she came to the end of the story "....lest the pot cast off its slipper and begin to hop once more. THE END." Alyssa told her Fireseed Bushling.

"Alright. It's time for bed time for you."Alyssa whispered to her bushling. Tucking her book back into her robe pocket, Alyssa put on her dragon hide gloves again and picking up the pot, she placed it on the ground in the darkest area of the greenhouse. "Sleep tight little one and sweet dreams of nice things."she bent down and whispered to it.

Satisfied that she had completed all the tasks that the Professor had assigned them for homework, Alyssa looked at her plant one last time, before she exited the Greenhouse and headed back to the castle.

"Okay, little Fire Seed. Time for some water..."

Tayla took her wand out. "Aguamenti," she said, filling a small can with water. "And now to boil it...Chaudensis," she continued with a circular motion of her wand. A moment later, the water started boiling hot. With protective gloves on, she took a little of it from the can and lightly sprinkled it over the Fire Seed.

Messer made his way to the greenhouse 2 and he immediately went to where he put his pot contained his Fire Seed. The sight before him was shocked him. He was pretty sure that he left his pot in the dark area but now there's sunlight there

Ehem "Excuse me..Ivy. Would you be so kind to move to the right a little bit so there won't be too much light brighten my plant here?" he asked. Its little weird talking to a plant and he was not really sure whether the plant was listening or not but to his surprise the ivy was moving to block the sunlight. WOW! "Thank you sooooooooooo much, Ivy." he hugged the plant.

With a parchment on which she wrote down the instructions for her Herbology assignment, Nora made her way to greenhouse number two, ready to be humiliated, regarding instruction number three. But she'll do it, if that is going to make the little guy happy.

Entering the dark greenhouse, she spotted a few pots and started searching for hers, until... "Mr Deadly Fire Seed!" She found him! Uhm... she had no idea whether it was a he or a she, but she wanted the plant to be a he. Since there were a few rays of light around, she looked at the Ivy, the one that terrified her so much.

"Uhm... Mr Ivy Plant?" She wasn't very good at naming plants, was she? "Would you please block the light for Mr Deadly Fire Seed?" Raising her eyebrows expectantly, she kept waiting, but nothing happened. Until... the Ivy started moving a little bit until her seed was hidden from the light. "Thank you," she said, unsure how to do this next part. "Come here," she outstretched her hands, inviting Mr Ivy Plant to hug her and... it started wiggling around her arms, which only meant it was its way of hugging.

Alright. Take a deeeeep breath.

Messer returned to his notebook to see what's in his next list. Give the Fire Seed a light sparkling water. This should be easy, right? He grabbed the water can and he used Aguamenti to fill it with water. Okay he need a boiling water. He made a circular motion with his wand "Chaudensis!" He waited for several minutes for the water to boil.

A few minutes later, he heard a noise that indicate that the water was already boil. Carefully he grabbed the water can and he added a small amount of water to the fire seed plant. Just enough to moisten the soil but not too much that he ended up drowning it.