Alright so now...Oh! Someone was waving. Ella stretched her neck and saw that Kat was here. BEAM!WAVE Haiiii Kat! They totally needed to have a special keeper handshake or head nod or something, Ella decided as she turned her attention back to the flower bed again. She'd discuss that with the Snake at another time, though.

Observing the plants in front of her, Ella noted that several had dead leaves on them. Frown. She remembered reading something about the dead leaves forcing the plants to do more work and so she decided she'd need to trim them. ...Carefully, of course.

Picking up her wand, the fifteen year old tried to remember the spell used to trim the plants. It was Flippin...Snippin...Flippinsnippin? No. Ummm... Flipnsnipwitit! Hey, that was totally it! And this was the better spell to use as she was working with a smaller area. Mhm.

"Flipnsnipwitit!"

And Ella carefully trimmed off the dead or burnt looking leaves from the plants, making a small pile next to her that she could dispose of later. After a while, she stopped and considered the plants carefully.

"Looks much better now, I think."

Yup, much much better.

...Now to dispose of the dead leaves.

Occasionally Kat would think where Vindy went. Yeah, she remember what he said last term... but not clearly. She had too much things to learn for OWLs, and obviously wherever Vindy landed would not come out in them. Nope. Otherwise, Kat would lol during the OWLs testing period. Like one question asked "Where did Professor Vindy go after retirement last term?"

... Goodness, Kat was thinking of unrelated to Task Force things. Shake it off.

Since Elise agreed to the not-so thought out plan of Kat, the Slytherin just continued watering the grass and plants, dragging her wand along the paths. Heh. It seemed like back when she was a kid, helping her grandma in gardening. Just in Muggle ways. There wasn't much different to compare the two ways, though. It all just came to one result, and that is a neat and organized garden. But for here, an organized patch.

It was getting quiet and Kat could feel the awkward in her bones already. Pretending that it was an 'accident', Kat pointed her wand at Elise and it sprayed water on the Ravenclaw. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry Elise!" Then she turned to her side to hide her silent fit of giggles.

HEHEHEHE.

Vindy... He was a cool professor, even if he was as old as the dinosaurs. So was Professor Flamsteed, even if he wasn't as old as the dinoasurs. Did age have to do with awesomeness? Because Elise didn't think so. You don't have to be young to be coool cause you could be as awesome as Professor Vindictus. YUP. And Professor Cerulean wasn't old but she was as BORING as a plank of wood.

Elise was used to quiets and really didn't find them all that awkward, especially not when she was with Chris, but this one was a bit tense from things not spoken and Elise wondered what the Slytherin could be hid- "EEK!" she shrieked a little as her robes got drenched in water and she turned around.

Sending a silent jet of water towards her bestie, Elise snickered a little bit. Snickering, another Slytherin thing that she seemed to be doing a lot lately, other than smirking. Maybe it was all that time she spent around Slytherins, seeing as both her best friends were in that house. Who knew?

Okay maybe Vindy WAS old, but the guy earned lots of Kat's respect. He was probably one of the professor who stayed the longest on Staff yet his face didn't seem to be boring. He was a good official and Kat could say that also the new one, Professor James, was a good one too. Gah, why was she thinking about the older ones? She had a Task Force to finish.

... And there was the shriek. Kat couldn't help but giggle. She only did it QUIETLY though, because then Elise would know it was partly intentional. That was when a jet of water hit her side. Slight jawdrop. Oh no, she didn't. "We have a task force assignment to finish, bestie," she reminded and managed a tiny wink to Elise. NO TIME FOR PLAYING.

Flamsteed would be sooooo disappointed. Plus she wasn't going to lose points. Blek.

That was enough watering now. Kat went to fertilising the plants and soil.... also some quick turning of it. MEH. She should've done that before watering and stuff. The soil was damp and... whowantedtodirttheirnailsafteramanicure?! Oh well. SIGHS. Kat slowly turned the soil and mixed them with a shovel.

EW.

The things she'd do for HOUSE POINTS, really. After turning the soil, she placed the shovel aside. She wouldn't want to see that again unless it was only for digging and NOT turning soil. Specifically damp soil. And then she checked her nails.

O______________O

DIRT. NO. EW. YUCK. GROSS. Kat swallowed and tried to ignore her dirty nails now. This was a fashion (and don't forget HYGIENE) emergency. She should brought with her a nail cutter. Ugh.

The jet of water she sent was short, but clearly long and powerful enough to make Kat's jaw drop just slightly. What could Elise say? She was a Ravenclaw, after all and Ravenclaws were known for being good at these things. Once Kat hat gotten to her feet, Elise shrugged at her and pointed her wand at the puddle, evaporating it before drying herself with the Hot-Air Charm.

Kat would have to ask... or learn the charm herself.

Picking up a shovel, Elise turned the soil over, not really minding that it was sticking to her fingers. That was all a part of Herbology. There was no doing it without getting dirt on yourself. Washing her hands off with a jet of water from her wand, she turned to her bestie.

"I think we're done here, considering that everyone else's finished everything else..." she said, trailing off as she studied the place. Pointing her wand at the pile of leaves and twigs that she'd trimmed off, she breathed in deeply and visualized them going away before she muttered an "Evanesco."

And they were officially done.

After disposing of the dead leaves, Ella decided she would fertilize the soil and she eyed the manure she'd brought with her. The blonde wrinkled her nose a bit at the smell but knew it would provide nutrients to the soil and give it a little boost...or something like that.

Thank Merlin she had gloves, yeah?

Carefully and quietly she worked, spreading the manure around and working it into the soil. When she was finished, she removed her gloves gingerly and placed them to the side. Ick. She wouldn't be wearing those again for a while, yeah? Or...at least until they'd been cleaned several times. Oh and she was just praying her hair wasn't going to smell like manure because well ...that thought was horrifying. A shower was definitely in order.

But first...Ella was going to add a bit of water to the dry areas of the bed.

After fussing over her nails, Kat managed to calm down and to fertilise the plants and grass. She had part of her tongue sticking out from trying much effort not to dirt her nails much more. She already hated tiny bits of dirt under her free edge. MEH. She did a little bit of fertilising there, and a bit of there. Carefully though because of... same nail fussing reasons.

She could've brought her dragon hide gloves but apparently she was in a hurry and was stupid enough leave them behind. It was all too hassle. Kat should really plan on her schedule soon so that she could avoid this next term.

With the last bit of fertilising, Kat took her wand out and casted Tergeo on her hands. The dirt were all siphoned and her hands were now clean. But well, she'll still watch them later. Hygiene, yeah. Then she nonverbally casted the Hot-Air Charm on her side as well. She hated wet clothes and wearing them. It seemed uncomfortable and stuff. But yes, they were done. "Alright, let's go," she said to Elise and made her way out the Tower Patch.

Dirt. Everywhere. Finally she was going to be away from sources of filth. We're sorry, Professor Bentley <3

Alright, watering the plants.

This was sort of tricky because too much water could be extremely dangerous to the plants but too little water and they'd die too. Meep! Delicate plants were delicate.

Using her hands, the blonde felt the soil in the bed and was relieved to find that it was relatively dry. This was good because a) no one had over watered it and b) she could water it now without harming the plants.

Raising her wand, Ella concentrated on what she wanted to happen and, "Aguamenti!" That's it plants, drink up. She continued to water as she walked up and down along the flower bed, being careful that the stream of water didn't get too out of hand. "Finite!"

...

Eyeing the bed once more, Ella did one last check to make sure everything was in order. She then stored her wand safely, carefully placed the gardening tools and soiled gloves in the bucket she'd brought, and stood to go.

She had some major cleaning up and showering to do.

PLANT LOVING TIME!!!

No really, Ariana was tired of Dylan yaping at her for not doing her homework and projects and all that jazz so she decided to spend her WHOLE day today catching up and doing so. Thought she would of match rather been off doing ANYTHING else she was here on the astronomy tower tending to this garden patch thing..

She really wanted gummy worms too.

Walking over to the far side of the tower wand in hand ariana saw a bush that was a bit over grown and wayy uneven, so taking out her wand she said the Trimming spell in her head and did the motion a dew times before executing the spell, she didn't want to kill the plant or burn it down.. "Flip-n-snip-wit-it " she said to herself slowly "Flipnsnipwitit " she said making sure it all flowed together nicely with a nod of her head she was ready. she raised her wand to a spot on the bush and began trimming slowly "Flipnsnipwitit" and she preformed the wand movement and she watched as she trimmed the bush and OHH it was FUN!

awesome

Theo was really tired, but he knew he had to do SOMEthing for the Herbology Task Force this term, since Herbology was his worst subject and he had to put a little effort in. He hoped people would be there, though he was a bit annoyed to see Ella leaving just as he had arrived. Oh well, the place was still pretty packed.

The third year pulled on his gloves for nail and hand protection and found an area to.. pat down.

Yep.. pat, pat, pat. Just preppin' for some serious magical BIZnizz here.

After a considerable amount of patting, Theo pulled out his wand and decided on an obvious spell to start off with. He wasn't great at it. But practice made perfect, right? "Flip... n... snip... wit... what?" He said with his eyes closed. Seriously, whoever made this spell up was an idiot.

Flip.... snip....

"Flippin-snip-twit!"

That was good, he'd have to remember that one and use it on Alice as an insult or something. Checking that no one heard his fail, Theo scratched his head with his wand. It took another three tries before he completely gave up with that spell. He looked over casually and saw Ariana snipping away her plants like a pro.

OH, "Pssssssst, Logan." HELP?

Dedicating his day to Herbology and GOING GREEN, Dylan made his way up to the Tower Patch to get started. He'd initially thought about skipping this Task Force assignment due to some personal things he was dealing with...but had changed his mind at the last minute.

The Slytherin had made a commitment this term...and begrudgingly, he didn't like breaking stuff like that. Not when important things were involved that concerned his house...and stuff. *SHIFTY*

PLUS...it was helping out Professor Flamsteed...and Dylan was such a fan of the man and his suits.

Up in the Tower Patch, he glimpsed some fellow Slytherins (Logan and Kinsley), and waved...Actually, a lot of people were present, he was just now noticing...Heh, was there anything left to do? Setting his bag down, he stepped over to gander.

Everything looked trimmed enough...so what he'd be focusing on was turning soil...Fertilizing...Maybe even some watering and planting. He'd see how things went...and if he had time.

Pulling gloves from his back pocket (that he always kept there), Dylan slipped them on carefully, surveying the area he'd be taking care of. It'd been his experience that 'turning soil' was important to let roots breath. Maybe he was wrong about that...but it seemed important enough a task. Or maybe people turned soil for different reasons...

Diving right in, the Slytherin got to his knees, immediately digging his gloved hands down into the dirt. It was done with care, though. Dylan wasn't trying to break roots or damage the plant in any way. It was also kinda like a replanting process, yea? Like...when you're removing one plant from one area and transferring it to another...He's seen his mother break up the dirt around the roots, letting old soil fall away...and then carefully sticking it down into the ground with new soil...

Could he do that, too? It hadn't been on the list...but it wasn't a bad idea. When was the last time these plants had been 'repotted', so to speak?

For right now, though...he just kept loosening the soil at the base of these plants, digging his fingers down and musing the soil, shifting it up so that it wasn't so packed down. He'd even lifted a few, scooping out their little holes and settling them back down into the dirt...Dylan decided he'd definitely need to fertilize and after a few more moments of messing in the dirt, went to grab fertilizer he'd gotten from the Herbology workshop when he'd been doing the mini-biome project. Why he still had the jar in his school bag, Dylan wasn't sure...but it'd been smart not to remove it. It was serving a greater purpose now.

Going back over to what he'd designated as his spot, he opened the jar, twisting the top off and getting it ready for use...

That area look AMAZINGGG!! this whole hedge trimming thing was EASY! and the spell was super fun to say! Flipnsnipwitit! Flipnsnipwitit! Flipnsnipwitit!
giggle!snort. she was having way to much fun with this really "Flipnsnipwitit." she said and began trimming the top right area of the hedge.

Nice and steady, she kept her hand moving carefully along a few inches before stopping and taking the shaved edges off the top of the hedge. heh it looked NEAT! She was pretty proud of herself really. but she was wondering if sylan was going to show up.. he was so insistent on everyone coming up here to work but where was he.. hmmm... odd odd odd.. Anyway She was about to begin again when she heard her name "huh?" she said turning around and seeing Theo "Oh Hi kinsley, you alright?" she asked since he obviously called to her. She began to walk over to him when she Dylan.. Finally.. and he was waving.. HAIIIII Captain. she wavved as well, it was about darn time.

As soon as Theo saw Dylan join the party, he regretted asking Ariana for help. Not that she was incapable or anything, but he tended to trust Dylan more with stuff like this. Oh well, it was done now.

It took a few 'pssssts' to get Ariana's attention, so meanwhile, he decided to jet his plants with water, because OH YES, Theodore Kinsley knew that water spell all right.

;-)

Oh. She was with him finally.

"Hi, I need your help with that flipping trimming spell." Excuse the pun. He looked over at Dylan again, then at Ariana and then back at his sopping wet plant. Next one? Ok. "Aguamenti!" WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH. The boy lowered his wand to judge his produce...
Er.

wET.

She was cutting and trimming away when she looked up at the sound of Daichi's voice. Huh? She turned and saw him a ways off and realized he was telling her a spell. "Oh! Flipn...flipnsnip, what?" She listened and heard some other students in the patch saying a similar word. Who on Earth made up THAT term? Flipnsnipwit..it...witit. Now that's weird. She mouthed the word aloud a few times before trying it. "Flipnsnipwitit...flipnsnipwitit...." It was almost like weird rapping sounds. Yoooo flipnsnipwitit! She realized she was bobbing back and forth slightly as she practiced the word in her head and quickly ceased all motion. Did anyone see that? At any rate, Daichi had given her good advice again, so she called back to thank him.

"Thanks Daichi!" she said cheerfully and then to show him she'd learned the word, she made a big grand gesture towards a smaller branch and swished her wand down at it in slow motion and said the incantation, "Flipnsnipwitit!" The small branch was clipped and dropped to the ground, so she picked it up and held it in the air like a small trophy to show her duck loving friend.

She then decided that her little area looked to be pretty well trimmed, so she gave it a little water so that the bushes wouldn't dry out from her trimming and exposing them to the air. "Aguamenti!" The water sprinkled out lightly as she'd intended, giving the bushes a little drink before she thought of what else she could do that hadn't been done already.

Peyton wandered up to the Tower Patch for some herbology activity and on a mission to keep the place nice and neat. She was carrying a watering can the shape of a bunny. She stopped in front of a plaque and read it. Then slightly wibbled at it. Poor, poor professor. She heard of what happened last term.

She then skipped off to some shrubs and tilted her head at them. They needed some trimming. And some watering. Good thing she was there. Peyton took out her wand and pointed it at an out grown branch. "Flipnsnipwitit!" she chirped.

Nothing happened. She gaped at her wand. What was it's problem?

Skip. Skip. Skip.
Okay she didn't really skip to him she walked and saw him shooting water at the plants as she did.. what the heck did he need her for.. he was doing fine with out her with the water.. Oh the FUN!Trimming spell and there was MOAR water.. whoa. "Oh, the trimming spell. It's Flipnsnipwitit.. that's Flip-n-snip-wit-it." pretty COOL huh!? "It reminds me of a really bad Muggle song really." it did. they were all crazy and about nonsense. "try saying it a few times broken up like that before blending it. that's what i did. Flip N snip Wit it" she nodded. "the motion is just a swish like this, you know that yeah." she still did the motion jusst in case though

Peyton blinked at her wand, offended. How dare it not work? Especially when there was people here. That was soooo embarrassing!

She waved her wand in front of her face as if that would allow her to see the problem. Bad wand, baaad! That's when she realized she had forgotten something. Something that was needed in order for the spell to work. She forgot the wand movement.

Oops.

This was not her. She didn't normally forget something as essential as a wand movement. It appeared she was still distracted because of her friend's disappearance. She sighed and shook her head. She'd catch Seth one of these days. With that decided, she focused back on the shrub in front of her, and said, "Flipnsnipwitit!" and swished her wand. Peyton heard the small snipping sound and grinned.

See, she had this under control. Heh.

He DID wonder which muggle song she meant, cos muggle songs were pretty cool, but he'd ask later because PRIORITIES.

Flip-n-snip-wit-IT... OHKAY, that clarified things. Theo nodded at the girl and cleared his throat, ready to pronounce it. "Flip-n-swip-wit-it. Flipnswipwitit!" There! And it STILL sounded absolutely ridiculous.

The third year turned to his soggy plants, pointed his wand in a SWISH movement, like Ariana had said, aaaand... "Flipnswipwitit!" Hey, presto - The wet leaves trimmed down a bunch! He bent down low to have a closer look... "You know... I think I drowned them." He knew what they needed.... INCENDIO.

Kidding.

Theo pulled out a hefty spade and started digging around the plants, just to turn the soil over a little, and hopefully soak up some of those surrounding puddles. It would do. For now.

"What now?" Mizz Herbology Queen?

Sooooo....Dylan was just going to use this awesome fertilizer and all all the lovely plants GROW big and strong. He'd also seen some patches of dirt that were unoccupied. Well, he'd take care of that in a few moments...Yes. The Slytherin was on a mission to beautify this stretch of...plant life.

Scooping some of the fertilizer out with his fingers, he started manually mixing it in with the base soil around the plants, taking extra care and precaution to not break roots...again. Eh, he was nervous about doing that...There had been a time when he'd tried helping his mother in her garden and had accidently ripped roots. The scolding he'd gotten afterwards would never be forgotten. Perhaps that was helping him here, too. That...and Dylan didn't want to let Professor Bentley down...or Professor Flamsteed. He respected them both a great deal.

It took nearly the whole jar, but after he was done, the already planted stuff was good and treated. All they'd need was some water...and he might sing to them, too. Wouldn't that help? He'd sang to his star...and Professor Flamsteed had praised the use of his music. It was something to consider, anyway. It was showing love, after all.

Removing his gloves for a moment, the Captain started unbuttoning the cuffs of his uniform shirt, rolling up the sleeves. His wand, that stayed stashed there, feel out onto his lap...which was okay...because he was about to use it anyway. IT ALL SERVED A PURPOSE.

Gloves back on, he muttered "Aguamenti!" POINT. To keep from giving the plants full pressure and upsetting the soil too much, Dylan capped the tip of his wand with a finger...causing the water jet to turn into droplets.

SPRINKLE. SPRINKLE.

Also...

"It's a SWISH."...You know, just in case they didn't know.

The third year was now a happy snake. The shrub was being trimmed and looking great. Peyton abruptly stopped when her wand was almost directed upon something colorful and...moving. She slowly moved closer to this small, moving creature as it fluttered it's wings. "Oooh," Peyton breathed in awe. It was a butterfly. And it was pretty. "Go, go," she said. "I don't want to trim your wings. They're too pretty." She shooed the butterfly away with her hands and continued where she left off.

She checked that there were no more butterflies and finished the trimming. She was sort of hoping to see another one and have it land on her nose like one once did a very long time ago when she was younger. But there seemed to be no more butterflies. Sad.

Since she was done with trimming, she was going to water the plant next. Eeeep! She was finally going to get to use her bunny water can! :3

"there you go Kinsley." she said encouragingly as he trimmed the branch successfully. "That was good!" really it was, she couldn't of done it better herself.. well maybe she could.. but she'd keep that to herself.

heh

then he was looking down at the plants talking about the water. " there's no way to really over water a plant. the soil and the plant will absorb the water and hold it for when it needs it like on a hot day and no one water this section, it will already have water in it's roots and soil thanks to you." and that was GOOD. cause now they didn't need to really be watered for about two or three days maybe more.. she wasnt sure exactly how much water he had poured on them. but then he began turning the soil 'that's a good idea." she put her gloves on and began turning over some soil on the other side of the plant you know quicken this up a bit.. and dylan said something but she didn't hear him really. " what next? uhm we can trim that one there then water adn turn it's soil as well." then they fertilize or something

"Aguamenti!" Peyton said, her wand over the top of her water can. She had not carried the thing filled with water all the way up the tower. That would have been ugly since she hated climbing all of those stairs to get up here. Add the added weight of the water, no thank you.

So, now that it was filled, Peyton watered the shrub she had been working on. Not too much, nor too little. Her sister had somewhat showed her when to know when it was too much water poured on a plant. Deciding that the other plants needed some water as well, Peyton walked along, the water can leaving a trail of water as she went.

This was actually nice. She got to give back to Hogwarts in a way.

Oh, the watering was a good thing? Well... that required a beam, then! "Ok, I already trimmed mine so..." He was NOT doing any more than the two he had already prodded at. The third year stroked his imaginary beard as he weighed up the next options for his plants.

Deciding that his soil needed even MORE soaking up, Theodore chose the patch of plants nearby him to steal borrow some of the soil. It didn't look like it had been used by anyone else, so it wasn't actually borrowing at all. He patted it around his plant very neatly, then proceeded with a little bit of fertilizer on top.

Ahhhh, pretty.

More spade time, though! Theo poked and jabbed the two substances together until it had a fluffy texture all around it. "Look. At. That. Oh and here." He dumped the bag of fertilizer over to Ariana, so that she could use it. Back to his own work, he nearly, VERY NEARLY, jetted it down with more flipping water.

....
He really did love that spell, it was a problem.

But he managed to keep a lid on it, because he was pretty much done. In fact, the only thing he hadn't done was any mowing. But did it look like he had a lawn mower handy? And even if one was lying around, Theo would never EVER work one of them. The third year pulled off his gloves, tucked them away, and stood up straight. "Thanks for helping me, Ariana. Byyyyyyyye."

Yea, he was OUTTA here. Places to go, hearts to steal and that.

So, fertilizer was IN...and Dylan had some left over that he could use for the new seeds he was about to plant...He'd procured fire lily seeds from a while ago, all boss-like...and had been meaning to add these little babies into his mini-biome. Unfortunately, he'd already stuffed too many flowers into the jar and had to leave some out...which was okay. They'd been saved for another day. THIS DAY.

It was ALSO amusing to him that the Herbology homework was helping him with Task Force. It was like a puzzle...and the Slytherin liked those. Everything was coming together...

We see what you did there, Professor.

Deciding just to keep using his fingers, Dylan began scooping out holes for the new flowers to go...He could put several to one hole, right? Would that give them a bunched effect...or would the roots be too clustered. Thinking on this a minute, he figured he was probably safe doing this...for two reasons. One...roots would naturally be intertwined underground...Especially with the plants being so close together...Two, they were just flowers. Fire lily roots wouldn't try and strangle each other...since they were a mundane plant. Right...? And if not...Well, they were gorgeous!

OKAY...with the holes ready. he took the remaining fertilizer and distributed it among them, making sure each got a fair share in the plant-nutrients. Then he stuck his hands down in them, mixing the fertilizer manually into the soil...The seeds needed to be welcomed with FOOD ready. After a few moments of this, he started adding in the seeds.

He had several...all fire liles. They were scattered into the holes, the Slytherin not stopping to wonder about how many or how much each hole got. This took several minutes...but once he was finished, Dylan knew it was time to cover them up.

Gathering up some excess soil that had also been treated, he buried the tiny seeds, patting the dirt where they lay lightly. "Aguamenti!" POINT. Pressing down on the tip again, he sprinkled water onto the spot where the new flowers would grow...

He hoped they did, too. Fire lilies were his favorite...How beautiful would that be? Maybe he could even photograph them next term...He'd need to ask Professor Flamsteed, of course...

What the heck!?

One minute she was working and talking with theo then the next he was shoving a bag of fertilizer in her face and saying BYE!?

Ariana took the fertilizer with her right arm and waved at him awkwardly with her wand in hand.. "UHmm, Bye.. your welcome." weird kid really. She just didn't get it sometimes with that boy she really just didn't get it.

Putting the fertilizer down she finished what she was doing to the ground shifting the soil already down and adding some fertilizer to it...

finally she was donel, and when she stood up she realized she had kneeled in a puddle of water and her knees along with the bottom of her robes were soaked.. BOO