Zack had not really paid any attention on the thing that was kept on the desk when he'd entered the class. He had just sat down on one of the benches far in the end of the room so he couldn't really see professor clearly. He liked potions but today wasn't a great day for him so he better thought to stay out of the professor’s eye.

He looked at the thing professsor pointed at the desk and knew what it was. He had read something about that in the library in his free time. He raised his hand and said "Professor is it a plimpy?" he asked bring his hand down.

Glancing at the desk, which she'd stupidly not payed attention to when she first entered class, Prue noticed the creature from a book that she'd recently seen her sister read. Now what was it? Was it a Plinsy? No... that just didn't sound right.

Raising her hand (with a pretense of confidence) she tried to make herself confident of her answer. "It's a Plimpy Professer" she stated. Nup, she wasn't trying to make herself sound unsure this time. This time she would appear confident and at least appear to believe she was correct.

And then melt under her desk if she was wrong...

Staaaaaaaaaaaring at Lafay, Louisa's brow furrowed. Did she... just... ask them... to not talk...too much? Six years in this classroom and Louisa had never ever heard the woman be so... request-ive.

She continued to stare at her for another moment before giving the creature tied up on her desk, thank Merlin, and... answered, "I believe it's a Plimpy, professor." No hand raising... just to test her theory; Would Lafay mind? She absolutely did before.

It was evident by the unattractive face Vinny had suddenly pulled that he didn't quite appreciate the nickname Elijah had decided on for him. Probably not the best way to go around trying to get someone to do your work for you, but Elijah was sure he would pull it back, "Vickers, ya say? Never even thought of that as a potential nickname. Wish I had now it is soooo much more awesommmee than Vinny. Like, proper cool." Oh, wait for it... yep, there was that amazingly gorgeous smile again.

Elijah was a firm believer that you could tell a lot about a person based on their handshake. Vinn- I mean, Vickers, had a surprisingly GOOD handshake (obviously not as amazing as his, but good). Elijah took this as a wonderful sign. Vickers must feel rather comfortable around him, which is exactly what he needs if he is to convince the boy to help him out.

When Elijah found out that the creature, if it could even be called that, was actually alllivvveee made him want barf. All over the place. He couldn't help but feel a little sorry for it when Vickers pointed out that it's feet were tied. Seemed a little cruel... But he had to CHARM, yes. "Wow, nice observation there, Vickeroo. You have some serrrrious smarts," he complimented him heavily. However, Elijah could sense something from Vickers... something didn't seem quite right....

WAIT.

They weren't going to be DISSECTING that thing, were they? He was too beautiful to be committing murder. It was official. He DEFINITELY needed Vickers help with this one. "You don't think that we're gonna be... ya know," he asked, uncertainty plaguing his tone.


Well, wasn't this Professor a ray of bloomin' sunshine. It was a highly unattractive look. She probably could take some notes from Professor Bellaschmlaire about how, despite age, being attractive is important. Elijah made note to put a mirror outside of the potions classroom when class was dismissed.

Quite a number of people had put forward the same answer, the one that his good friend Vickers had put forward first already because he was super smart! "Good one, man," he praised, without even waiting for confirmation from the Professor that it actually was a plimpsnotter.

He raised his hand to offer an answer of his own, "I agree with the rest Professor and me and my good friend Vickers here suspect that it is still alive." He winked in Elijah's direction, unaware of how silly he just sounded. But, he had answered for them, because they were a TEAM (well, as long as they weren't dissecting this damn thing, otherwise they were a team with Vickers doing the majority of the work...)

Lewis had chosen the last available seat when entering the classroom, not even caring who it was next to. As long as it wasn't next to Jonathan - who was sitting at the table with the OTHER available seat - it was fine. Only now...now Kurumi had to sit next to Jonathan. For a whole lesson. She didn't look too happy about the fact, and neither did the Slytherin. Would that change in the course of the lesson? Would they start talking again? What if they only needed something like this to realize that they-

Lewis swallowed and banished the thought to the back of his mind (though it didn't stay there for too long). Trying hard not to stare at the EX-COUPLE! pair, he shifted his gaze to the creature on his desk instead. Without actually seeing it. Even though he had suggested to Jonathan that the two of them should meet up so he could give Kurumi the envelope himself, seeing them sitting next to each other now was making him want to throw that slimy Plimpy at Jonathan's face.

Not that he ever would. And he was slightly startled by the fact that he had even THOUGHT about something like this.

The Plimpy would be ruined!

His attention was caught when Professor Lafay finally started the lesson by asking them what kind of creature was sitting on their table. Raising his hand, he answered, "A Plimpy, Professor", drawling slightly. Sierra's answer made him smile just a tiny bit - though it may have been a bit bitter - as he thought about it. It was true really, as much as he liked animals, Plimpies would always be a Potions ingredient to him. Was that bad?

There was a relief in the Ravenclaw's face as the Hufflepuff referred him by his nickname, and could just give a self-effacing shrug when he was complimented for his smarts. Elijah was pretty generous with his compliments although at the back of his head he had wondered if the Hufflepuff was trying to.... loan money later?... get him to do his homework? But all that was chased from his mind when Elijah started to look as worried as Vickers was feeling. He had just heard the Hufflepuff's question when he heard this from the Slytherin Prefect....



AN INGREDIENT??? The color drained from the Ravenclaw's face as he shifted his eyes back at the slimy creature on their table. B-B-But its a creature that might still be aliiiiiivee. His hand shoots up in the air for the second time as he blurted out "Professor? Are we going to..." dissect? Nuuu he cant say it ".... learn how to GROW certain parts today, like the way we can grow bone?" starestarepleadingstare. He didnt want to slaughter a poor young living creature for parts like what almost happened to ickle!Roro

Daichi knew that Lafay was never in good spirit. He would freak out if she was... but he also had the feeling that there was something different about her. Maybe she was just tired? Could be right?

He looked down at the weird fish frog type thing and frowned a little in concentration. He had seen this before hadn't he? in a text book... "It's a Stimpy.. Dimpy..or something, Professor?" he finally answered because that was the closest he could get and could remember.

At least it sounded like it.

Mordred looked up from the creature to Theo who sat beside him. He returned the smile and glanced at professor Lafay before leaning close to his bro. “Excited for your first Potions class?” he whispered to Theo. He too wasn’t entirely sure if they should be talking…



A moment later another familiar face sat next to his other side. “Oakey.” He nodded and gestured his head on the creature. “Nothing much…” he whispered. He’s taking extra precaution since Professor Lafay is apparently…



Not being herself? Or…was she in a bad mood? Nonetheless he has to keep his mouth shut at this point and take notes since it seems that the lecture has finally begun. Now, she’s asking about the creature. Before he could even answer, he had to restrain a chuckle at Theo’s answer. He’s right…somehow. He raised his hand and gave his answer. “I believe it’s a Plimpy, professor.” Although, he read somewhere that a Plimpy has a counterpart in the Muggle world…he just couldn’t remember the name now because it has a funky name.

Everyone had said Plimpy already. There was no use in trying to speak up - the answer had been said. So instead Aurora wrote muttered "Plimpy." as she wrote it at the top of her parchment and quickly scribbled down everything she knew about them. Which wasn't much...

Oh! Would they be harvesting the ingredients? That would be awesome. A routine thing like that was exactly what she needed to distract her. Also, harvesting was something she struggled with sometimes... So this would be helpful in two respects.

Messer wondered what's wrong with the Potion Mistress. She seems not herself. Maybe she had a bad day. Well, if that's true this is going to be a very long long lesson.

The creature? Yes, Messer did notice the slimy fishy creature that it legs being tied up. "Its Plimpy, Professor." he said after raising his hand in the air. Or was it Slimpy? or Dimpy?

Dale took this as a cue to look haaaaaaaaaard at the creature before him. He had never actually worked with entire creatures before (other than the teeniest of dragons that Jake let him watch but not touch), including the ones found in potions. He'd always had the ingredients ready... which told him that this lesson did not bode well.

Anyway, he did not know the answer. Until someone mentioned the name, causing Dale to squint at the creature as he tried to remember it. Yeah... yeah... the tied up legs made sense. But it was a sea creature... and out of water, so...

Dale raised his hand and looked slightly hopeful. "Dead?"

... what? It answered the question, after all, and Dale was being deadly serious.

If you'll excuse the pun.

before Oakey could speak up and respond to Mordy, Lafay had begun class. He turned his head and smiled to Mordy. He looked down at the icky creature that was in front of him. It looked like a plimpy, in fact Oakey was sure of it. Even Mordy said so in his answer. Taking out a parchment and quill he started taking notes.

OOC: BEFORE Professor Lafay!

João snapped out of his thoughtful posture at last when someone took the seat next to him and glanced over, though he still looked a little distracted. Louisa. Her. Louisa.

It was her. And she was looking back. Not angrily or furiously. She just looked... softly, whereas he looked at her curiously. It had been too long. He didn't miss her anymore, but still... it was... weird to be sitting next to each other and not glaring. An urge pressed him to smile, but he merely looked at her curiously and then they both turned away at the same time.

So she decided they were good now?





Was professor tired? João frowned to himself. She had always been the most energetic teacher here. Shrugging, he raised his hand and said "Tadpole."

Oichi noticed the professor speak up and showed that their were creatures like the on she first saw on every table and she was asking what it was. She had no idea and the looks of it was making her feel ill making it hard for her to concentrate at all. She turned away from the creature knowing up chucking certainly would not help anything.

"Yes, they are Plimpies." She said and continued her class.

"Not exactly, Miss Greingoth..." It was many ingredients. "But that's a good answer. Only a potioneer would see a creature as such."

She smirked. A genuine smirk... was this boy a muggleborn? Didn't matter, but it was a pretty funny answer. "No Master Kinsley, you find this creature in nature... though it is hard to detect by muggles."

"It's what it looks like... but it has a name." She said and nodded.

"Master Wilde, I assure you they are not still alive." She walked to his table and touched the creature with her wand. "I made sure of that before class..."

...

"Uhmm... no." she said not understanding why the boy was asking that question.

"Plimpy." She corrected the boy...

...

Way to go Captain Obvious!

"Very good Master Upstead." She said shaking her head. "That it is."

"No... these particular specimen are fully grown." She said to the Slytherin.

"Every one of these creatures are from our own lake. Merpeople in general consider these creatures to be pests, like farmers may consider squirrels to be. They eat their crops and destroy their hard work. The way they get rid of the creatures is by tying their legs into a knot and letting them drift away. The younger Plimpies are able to untangle themselves, while the older, they float away and die. Our house elves have placed traps for the older ones to fall into... sometimes they are dead and sometimes still alive. When they catch a live one, they'll untangle it and throw it back in the water. The dead ones are..." brought to her... "disposed of."

"The first step in harvesting ingredients from a dead plimpy is to untangle it's legs. Be very gentle, and you can damage them." She began showing the students how to take the knot out of the plimpy's legs by demonstrating on her own, very large plimpy. "There. No bruising. The legs are intact. You may try." She said and began walking around the class but stopped. "If you haven't understood what we are going to be doing, I'll be more clear. We're opening up this creature and taking it's parts to use as ingredients in potions. If you are squeamish, you are free to leave. If you wish to stay, and not participate but watch... you may chose to do so as well... though you will not receive full points on this lesson." She waited a moment, again rubbing her temples and then added. "But you'll need to chose now..."

...but, Sierra had said Plimpy, too!

At the end of her answer, but it'd been there! She frowned just a little but otherwise said nothing. She didn't have a death wish, after all. Still, she thought her answer was more than correct. Especially after Lafay said they'd be opening up the creature and taking its parts to be used in a potion.

See, just as she'd said--ingredients courtesy of a plimpy.

Of course she was staying. Who would leave? Looking around the room, she saw a number of students who she was sure had taken things like a Pepperup Potion before. Where did they think that Bicorn horn came from, hmm? So she got herself comfortable and sat back, waiting for the next part of the lesson.

Aurora listened and nodded, not moving. She didn't want to leave - this was actually pretty cool. She didn't have a problem with cutting up animals - they were dead anyway. You may try. AWESOME!

She moved closer to the plimpy in front of her and gently taking the legs in her hands - copying Professor Lafay's actions to untangle the knot...

SUCCESS!

Plimpy... okay. João nodded shortly at the woman. Now, poor plimpies, really... not. He didn't consider these worthy to write down, so he just listened. And of course he was staying. He looked around to see if anyone really left. He'd make sure not to talk to them again.

Then, on to the practical part. Having watched the demonstration, he looked back at his plimpy and being as gentle as he could, he untangled the rope carefully, hurting no part of the animal and waited the next set of instructions, eyes travelling involuntarily to Louisa.

O___O

Professor Lafay say whaatttttt?! They were o-opening up the plimpy for parts?! Ella didn't like this. Didn't like this one bit. The mere thought of dealing with a dead creature freaked her out but harvesting it for parts...that seemed kind of erm-dark? Unfortunately for Ella, she hated to not participate. That was the only thing driving her own despite her immense uneasiness at the whole cutting open bit.

Staying where she was, she took a deep breath and frowned at the dead creature and its extremely large legs. Then, wrinkling her nose a bit, she began to gently try and untangle them. She tried her best to think of those long legs as shoelaces. Yup. These were just shoelaces tied in a knot and she had to untangle them, right? Right. And try to untangle them she did.

This was going to be fun. Sarah was not the kind to be squemish (she couldn;t really, beinmg the only girl in a family of boys.). She wrote some notes.

She then proceeded to untangle the legs. Sh liked untangling knots, but this was - different. She copied the professors instructions and untangled her specimen.

Kennedy's eyebrows slightly rose when the Professor mentioned them to try what she did. He wasn't squeamish with these sorts of stuff. Plus, he had a bit of practice from his old muggle school where he had dissected a pig and a frog.

He turned his attention to the plimpy and then back at Professor Lafay when she have the class options...in a non-scary manner. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Better turn his attention back to the task at hand before he gets reprimanded for eye googling his Head of house.

The Prefect loosened the knot on his plimpy's legs and carefully unwrapped the ropes from around them like Lafay had done. It had no bruising as well so that was good.

Theo eyed Mordred, who was attempting to chat whilst the lesson began. He wiggled his fingers in his bro's face and muttered, "SHHHDHfds." One does not simply start chatting in a potions class. NOPE.

Okay, so... He made Professor Lafay smile? Or smirk... it didn't seem like a friendly kind of smile. More like a 'laughin'-at-chu' smile. Theo kept his head low.

Plimpies. Gotcha.

They were doing WHAT? Dissecting Plimpies? That was not okay. But Theodore was far too much of a wimp to walk out of the classroom. But also, a big part of him couldn't quite bring himself to miss this. He watched the demonstration of untangling the legs, and felt his stomach churn at the sight of it. They haven't even begun chopping it up yet!

He looked to the Plimpy in front of him and hesitated, with his hands stopping a few centimeters away from it. He just... couldn't. No, he had to. Theodore used the tips of his fingers and grabbed two of the legs and GENTLY waggled them to untangle them.

Ugh.

Aha! See! Dale was RIGHT! ... though the Potions professor was shaking her head. Hm.

As Lafay spoke, he stared at the Plimpy, eager to get started. When she finished up, the Hufflepuff looked around. Some faces weren't all that... well... happy. But that was understandable enough.

"At least we don't have to kill it," he reasoned mainly to himself but for the benefit of anyone who may hear him. "That would have really sucked."

Without further ado, Dale leaned forwards and began attempting to extricate one leg from the other. It was kind of complicated, but then Dale had never been one to have enough patience or long enough attention span to do intricate things and things that took time. He tried hard not to screw up his face in concentration, as there was one particular problem.

"It's... all... slimy." And difficult to get hold of. But if Lafay could do it... he'd prove he could too.

You know.

Eventually.

It was DEAD!

Vickers watched the Professor poke POKE their Plimpy with her wand and it remained perfectly still. The Ravenclaw lowered his head to his chest so much that only the top of his head would've been seen unless you sat near him. He wanted to WIBBLE for the death of the old, disposable Plimpy. But awesome Elijah was sitting next to him and he cant be all wibbly and depressing too much.

He patted the creature's body with his gloved hands the way friends would give their final respects to someone who just passed away. So this is what they look like, the old Plimpies once they've been collected. He wanted to give some sort of last rites for the poor creature who would be sacrificing itself for the greater betterment of Hogwarts Wizards and Witches. Placing his hands over the Plimpy's body he paused for a moment of revered silence. When he finally straightened up in his seat he sighed mournfully before starting to untangle the Plimpy's legs with great care and respect, stretching them out gently on their work tray.

Mordred gave Theo a quick smirk and immediately gave his full attention to Lafay. Now, did she say the Merepeople tie them Plimpys and let it drift to die? That was awesome…and clever. But then again—if it was part fish…okay enough. Maybe he can read about it more after class..

So Sierra was right. They will be taking out parts of the Plimpy as potions ingredient. Mordred carefully watched their professor do it and looked back at his own Plimpy. But before he could even get his fingers on the creature, Mordred eyed Oakey because he was quite unsure if he was going to stay. He figured that if he fainted back at Herbology, then this class was worse for him. Heh.

Mordred turned his attention again on his Plimpy and made himself more comfortable in his seat. “Here we go.” He muttered to himself and GENTLY untangled its legs. Good. It’s all ready to be opened up.