Nerida held the paper telling her of the Herbology Task Force Mission. She had been thinking about it the whole time! She had so many ideas just running through her head...Seeing so many flowers, the ideas in her head just kept on blooming, one after the other...So many flowers, leaves, branches that she could use. Pansy, Daisy, Lily, Orchid,Daffodil, Roses, Hydrangeas, Carnations, Peonies, so many flowers to chose from...Seeing a white easter lily, she bent down and took out her gloves and put them on and then took out her shears and cut it at the appropriate length. Now what next...

For a moment Nerida forgot what she was doing, forgot where she was. When it was...Why she was there and what she was doing? She even almost asked somebody, but before she did, she just bent down at her basket with the one flower and the letter and she remembered. She didnt understand why her memory was suddenly full of black spots.

Spotting a daffodilshe walked over, this daffodil was yellow and orange. Bending down to get a good look at them after finding the best one she snipped it. Nerida had always been fond of lilies which is why she probablly found herself straying back to them, this time at a orange tiger lily. After finding one that was just right she quickly cut it and looked at the other lilies there were so many of them...One that stood out was a pink stargazer lily she found herself just staring at its beauty. She just stared at it for forever not even blinking, not even moving, she did this for a good ten minutes before resuming to bending down and snipping the lily, it was like nothing had even happened. She decided she would get two more flowers and if she needed more she would come back, she decided on a blue orchid and a purple pansy, after finding two pretty and perfect ones she snipped them and placed them into her basket, full of flowers. Feeling succseful she stood up with her flower basket wondering what next to do with her mission.

The little badger had signed up for this Herbology thing for one reason only, and that was to keep herself busy. Problem was with all the homework she had been getting she didn't even have time to be un-busy. Today she luckily had a whole afternoon free and she decided to take this time to finally do some work.

So off to the gardens she went with her warm purple coat and ear muffs on whilst holding a big square shaped basket in her hand.Her pygmy puff had wanted to come too, but she wouldn't let him knowing he'd might cause some unwanted trouble.Renesmee's long red hair was braided down her back, just too make sure it wouldn't get in her way. She was all ready and prepeared for this now. The Hufflpeuff walked into the eye catching student garden, that was filled with flowers of all sorts. From yellow ones to blue ones, from round ones to pointy ones, there must have been plenty of flowers, even too many to count. Of course only one flowers of one specific color caught Nessie's eye the most and that color was obviously purple.

The purple flowers were just so beautiful, especially the purple daises. They must have been what really got Nessie's attention and if they had gotten her's surely they would get other people's attention too right? That's what sounded logically to Ness. She began picking quite a lot of purple daises and picked a few white ones too. Then after she was done with that she went over to the lavender flowers and picked a few of those too. They smelled nice and Nessie particularly liked them. She took one and brought it to her nose, smelling its lovely fragrance. It was perfect.

And there it was, still healthy and beautiful.

The red head paused from her gathering and admired a familiar cherry blossom tree. It was there, that she had sat with Kurumi and Adam maybe a year or too ago. She walked over to it and began hugging it thinking of how special those two people were to her.

With a rather longish, largish, rectangular clay pot tucked under one arm, and a rather awkward looking netting structures floating beside him, Vickers descended towards the student garden and made his way to the mound of lose soil. He lay the items on the ground, laying the stiff netted structures a little ways away to make sure he doesn’t accidentally crush them as he worked with the pot.

Within the clay pot he took out the water bowl with the flowering seed he had set to soaking the day before, dipping his fingers in and picking up the moist seed. It felt nice and ready for planting.

Setting the seed bowl aside for a moment he took the trowel and started scooping the soil into the pot evenly, stopping a few inches from the brim. He reached out for the stiff netting and carefully dug the wooden ends into the soil, digging and pressing the soil around it to make sure it stays standing when he moves the pot out later.

He then took hold of the bowl and picking the seeds out, pushing each one into the soil just beside the netted structure then covering them up quickly with dirt. Taking hold of his wand again he quietly uttered the water charm and sprinkled the soil with the newly planted seeds with water.

He stood and picked up his project, setting it at a corner of the garden where he would hope would lay undisturbed while the flowering plant took its time to grow. His grandmother did say it was a variety that would grow quickly enough for what he needs, so hopefully it shouldn’t take too long.

He was even more brilliant? Well. "Yeah, I know." Milton smirked. He was the Ravenclaw, after all. And he was quite confident in their task force project.

Oh, and the posters were done already. "Brilliant." Because that meant less time he had to hang out with a squeaky second year. Although, she didn't seem to squeaky today. Which was a plus.

Milton narrowed his eyes at the word 'partner'. He wasn't fond of that word, but it would have to do for the project. "You can only call me that today. Other days, I'm still your hero." Smirk.

"I'll get some more vines and ivy, you pick the flowers, yeah?" Milton asked, heading over to where a large area of the garden was covered in ivy. Because he wasn't really a flowery person.

Sarassi swooped into the Student Garden and looked everyone for the perfect flowers she would pin to each one of the posters she had made. Looking around it was such a hard choice, daisies, tulips, roses, carnations, lilies, so many to choose from...As she bent down to get a closer look at the flowers she got stung by a bee. Whinicing at the pain, she showd what was left of it away. She pushed the pain off almost immediatly as it happened. She picked up a purple tulip and nodded it was perfect. She picked five of them, thinking that would be enough and she even got some for insurance in case she wanted to add more than one...

West had already raided the greenhouses, being careful only to take scraps of plant material, and stuff that was on the ground or dead or whatever. Though he did take a fewwww flowers from the greenhouse, but he DID ask the flowers first if he could! And they didn't mind! And there were heaps of them so it was okay! Really!

He also had some candy cane vine, which he was torn about eating instead. Mmmm cos it tasted like candy canes, even if it was actually not candy at all. He settled for sucking on the end of it while he collected some fallen branches and added those to his backback. He had some pollen in there too, which he'd shoooooook freeeeee from a plant. It had made him sneeze some at first but now he was ALL GOOD.

AHA! LAVENDER! That was easy enough to get. There was so much of it that it was overgrown in that one corner so West figured that he was doing the plant a favour if he cut it back anyways. Some of that went in his backpack toooo.

It was BURSTING with STUFF by the time he was done collecting and he stomped through the snow back up to the castle for the INFILTRATION.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grangerfan8

Isidora took an actual moment to consider it. How insects tasted, or would taste, on first bite. "I think... that if I were to eat one, I would be too bothered by the squirming in my mouth, if it were alive. And even if it weren't alive, I'd still have to get past it being an INSECT."

She watched the one on her hand, not looking it as if she were going to test out this theory, but wondering why West did it so willingly, and how he enjoyed it.

The critter went into the jar, and the ants crawling around went ignored in favor of finding something that might not bite back. "Maybe the squishy ones would have more flavor, all that juice." It was probably like candy in totally gross way. She made a face at the thought.

"You do this for all things West? Find out what's safe and what's not?" Or in this unfortunate instance, what's edible and inedible. She still thought they all were the latter.

Aspen had yet to see the draw to eating insect either. But, she wasn't judging. If West wanted to eat bugs, then he could eat bugs. She just wanted to ensure safe and responsible consumption of Arthropods.

She also couldn't debate the first year on flavor and texture of certain insects. It did make her smile though, and her idea had some sense to it. "You'll have to ask him about the... squishy one. I'm sure he'll have data on the topic." Like, sure sure.

That last question gave Aspen a pause. She poked around the bush, digging out a centipede-looking critter. "Someone has to," she finally answered emotionless and quietly.

With the Herbology Task Force's first assignment in place, Gideon had been trying to find the time to do it. Though with quidditch, prefect duties and other school work it had not been an easy task by any means. But finally he had some free time and so the sixth year dove head first into the project. First things first was to acquire the supplies he needed and seeing as he had opted for flowers, either dried or in a vase, he figured the best place to begin was the student gardens. A bit safer there then the greenhouses with the latters perchance for having the more...interesting examples of flora.

Gideon had brought his scarf along with him but not for himself to keep warm. He had thought it might prove to be a gentle way of gathering whatever flowers he picked and carry them off to where he would be putting together his finished project. Wandering around the garden, he found himself picking various flowers...some rubeckia, a few daffodils, an iris or two. He was careful not to disturb the actual plant as he pruned the bloom and some stem for he doubted Professor Bentley would approve of harming plants to show care to them. when he was satisfied with what he had, he gingerly wrapped them in a bundle and slipped his gloves off, putting both them and his wand back in his pocket.

One step down...

Isidora WAS judging. In her own eleven year old way that mostly meant she still thought West was a cool friend, but he was definitely weird, at least in his taste for insects. Maybe weird and trouble went hand in hand.

"He probably has favorites too." She pulled a face and searched down a patch of dirt amongst all the plant life.

That response didn't really... satisfy little Dora. She shoved her hand into the dirt and started to carefully carve out a hole. "Yeah, but why you?" Was it a big sister thing? Did all big sisters hunt for bugs to classify what was safe to eat and what wasn't? Well... not ALL... but most?

Alyssa entered the Student Gardens to help clean up, but then she noticed that the other students had already done a great job doing that, so she decided to check the plants' soil to make sure that they had enough water. Alyssa kneeled down at each flower bed and touched the soil. She noticed that some beds had adequate water in their soil while the soil in some of the other beds required a little water.

Alyssa walked over to the supply cabinet and took out a watering can. Carrying it back to the flower beds, she placed it on the ground before unholstering her wand. Pointing her wand inside the watering can, Alyssa said, "Aguamenti" and water started streaming from her wand. Once the watering can was full, Alyssa ended the spell by saying,"Finite".

She then picked up the watering can and started pouring water onto the soil making sure that she didn't overwater the plant and end uo drowning it instead. Once the can was empty, Alyssa filled it up again by pointing her wand inside the watering can and repeated the words to the Aguamenti Charm, "Aguamenti". Again water streamed out of her wand and once the can was full to the brim, Alyssa ended the spell and holstered the wand.

She then carried the watering can to the next area that needed watering and poured the water onto the soil. Once Alyssa was sure that all the flower beds had been watered, Alyssa emptied the last drop of water onto the soil before returning the watering can back to the Supply Cabinet.

Now that her work was done, Alyssa made her way out of the Student Garden.

Sarah feeling very nurturing today, and decided to head to the student garden. She needed to water her ginger herbs, maybe the kitchen needed some. She was also eager to try out the Aguamenti charm she had learnt in transfiguration. She took out her wand and put it over the ginger plant and said "Aguamenti" and a jet of water went out. "Finite" she said when the plant ceased needing water. She felt proud of it- it was a question how long her plant will survive.

Minerva walked into the student garden. The smell of the plants and flowers filled her nose. She loved to look at the flowers. She smiled as she thought about her first term when she fell teaching Harvey to dance in here, but today was a different day. It was Maxwell's birthday and she had told him to meet her here for a surprise.

Maxwell walked into the green house and wiped the snow out of his hair and saw Minnie running to her side and giving her a huge hug, she looked well for the first time in a while. "Hi, sweety.." He said with a big dumb smile plastered on his face.

Minerva smiled as he gave her a hug, she knew he worried since she was sick. "Hey, Happy Birthday Maxwell." she smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad you decided to meet me here. I have a bit of a day planned, maybe something you aren't use to." she giggled a bit and put her arm through his and began to walk the garden. "First I would like to just take a walk around the garden and see all the plants. We can catch up since I have been sick all week." she hoped he wouldn't think her plans were to cheesy, but cute at the least.

Maxwell followed her lead. "I have the day all clear, i wanted to just spend it with you and a walk around the garden sounds wonderful.." He was happy to have their arms linked and just to be with her, it would be the best birthday to date just because of her. "I'm so happy you're better, Minnie i've missed you...the picture helped...ohh that reminds me here's sparkles." He said handing her the badger. "He's been everywhere with me." He said giving her a charming smile. He still didn't look rested but he wasn't nearly as much of a mess as he had been.

Minerva smiled as they walked happy he didn't think a walk in the garden on a winter day was to weird. She couldn't help but let out a little squeal as he gave her sparkles back. "I'm glad he helped" she nuzzled the little metal badger a bit then blushed, "Sorry, I'm a bit attached, I haven't been away from him since first term. He was from the charmed eggs." She placed him in her front pocket until she was near her bag, which was laying up ahead with gloves and small shovels next to it. She giggled wondering if he would notice the items or her bag.

Maxwell nodded and couldn't help but laugh a little at her squeal. "Yeah, he helped a lot, kept me good company." He looked up at the bag, seeing the gloves and shovels. "And what are these for?" he asked gesturing to them, wondering what she had planned.

Minerva blushed a bit and walked him over to her bag. She bent down and put sparkles in his usual home, which was a side small pocket in her bag. She then opened the bag and pulled out gift.This is for you, I thought you might like it. She then smiled and looked at the gloved and small shovels. "And this is the next plan for the day. I was thinking of something special to do and I remembered a herbology assignment I did once, where we had to plant something based on the moons and things. Well I thought it might be fun to plant a Lilly together and through our time here at Hogwarts, take care of it together." she blushed knowing it probably sounded so cheesy and weird.

Maxwell looked at the ring. "I love it!" He said putting the ring on. "That sounds lovely Minnie, I would love gardening with you...i've never gotten into it but i think anything would be great with you.." He said smiling, he loved the idea and didn't think it cheesy but really sweet.

Minerva smiled and bent down getting the gloves. She was glad he didn't think she was dumb, and if he did he didn't say. She wanted to do things with him, and doing new things was even better. "Here I brought some gloves down for you so put these on." she then put her purple ones on and grabbed the shovels handing him one. "We just need to make a whole deep enough to cover the roots of the Lilly." She tried to remember from when she planted one before. She felt the need to pull out her book, but decided that her memory wouldn't be wrong and then smiled at Maxwell.

Maxwell took the gloves and slipped them on. "Thank you sweetie." He said kissing her cheek, wanting to kiss her lips but not now..now he was planting a Lilly with her. "Okay, just show me where to dig!" He said looking at her smile and blushing a little, seeing how beautiful she was and thinking of how lucky he was.

Minerva smiled up at him. "Well we will dig the hole right here, just help me make it even and round." She put the shovel into the ground and began to dig. She was glad he didn't tell her no and that he seemed to be enjoying himself. As she continued to dig she couldn't help but glance up to his face and smile. She had missed him while she was sick it was nice to be hanging out with him again.

Maxwell began going behind her and making the hole perfectly round. "Okay, like this?" He asked with a toothy smile, showing his canines. "So i'm not gonna lie...i've missed you like crazy, i've done nothing but think about you...I missed your eyes most i think..." 'maybe your lips too' he thought to himself.

She smiled and blushed at his comment, "Well I'm better now and here. That flu was so horrible, I didn't eat for days and trying to get out like I did in the garden when you saw me was such a bad idea, it made things worse. I'm just glad you didn't catch it." She smiled at him as she dug more dirt out of the ground. "You are doing very well Maxwell." Once the hole was big enough she pulled the plant over. "Just help me take the bottom of the Lilly out of the pot and place it in the ground.

Maxwell smiled even more at her blush. "Well, i'm happy you're back...and while it was a bad idea you don't know how wonderful it was for me to see you..." He said going back to digging. "Thank you, dear." He said and then nodded to her instruction and held the bottom of the pot so she could pull the Lilly out of it.