Nerida wondered what would be so interesting on level one...Was there any plants on level one? She never really payed attention....Then again she never really found herself on level one. As they entered the floor...She followed Professor Bentley and the other students and thats when she it....She saw a swamp....What??!! Why was there a swamp here.... Wait was it that Weasley swamp thing? HOW COOL!!! But eww it smelled...

Alyssa's nose twitched and then scrunched up. 'Holy Merlin!! Who died up here?' she thought to herself as she took a whiff of the smell and almost gagged on entering the area that Professor Bentley had led them to.

"OH WOW!! It can't be....can it?" Alyssa asked no one in particular. She had heard about the infamous Weasley swamp but she had never really seen...or breathed...it in real life and up close. She held her breath as she took a step closer to the edge of the swamp and looked as it bubbled like a witch's brewing pot.

"COOL!!" Alyssa smiled. 'I wonder whether I can duplicate this back home?' she smiled to herself.

'I guess this is the ecosystem we're going to be working with.' Alyssa thought to herself. She couldn't wait for class to end so that she could run back to her dorm and write back to the family about what she had seen today. Another one for the family history books.

Taylor stopped and glanced around with a grimace. She could have not cared less of the stinky old swam. She longed for the class to be over now.

Zhenya had followed Professor Bentley, half between a brisk walk, half between a run, and she stopped. She restrained herself from hunching forward whilst she got her breath back properly. But, she made it. She looked up to see what they could possibly be studying in relation to ecosystems in the castle. Surely they weren't looking at the Hogwarts Castle ecosystem. What, with the students and their predators, the Professors, and all the walls and food and elves.

But it all made sense! There was something on the floor. It was... what was it? A swamp? River? Lake? No, must be a swamp. It had a smell.

She looked at Professor Bentley and said "This is cool, Professor."

First floor.

There they were back at the first floor like Professor Bentley had mentioned before leading them back to the castle for the second portion of the lesson. And Ellura surely wasn't expecting what she noticed as she arrived there with them. The smell was first and foremost what was noticable. But the sight of a swamp...a seemingly real swamp...inside the castle...was certainly a surprise.

How?!

So this was cool... they were walking. She wished that the lesson would have been more interesting then just walking, but she could do this too. Um, yeah... where EXACTLY were they going? It was a long walk and were they heading back to the castle? OH MERLIN! COME ON! She had left her bags and such in the Greenohouse, which meant that when the lesson was over that she would need to head back to the Greenhouse to collect her things. That was a walk.

But she kept her mouth shut about the whole having to walk back and forth thing and just gathered around the.... WAS THAT A SWAMP?! Oh yeah, she had passed by this a few times. Was this were they were learning today? Cool.

She gathered around Bentley and waited for her to say something. Learning time.

Jory knew this was going to be an interesting lesson. One look at the swamp confirmed it. "Wow!'' he thought, staring at the indoor swamp. Indoor but it matched the outdoor one in every way. Looks, smell...

"This is so awesome,'' he muttered.

Mo leaned around Vivi's friend Selina before giving her ribs a nudge with his elbow to budge her over. Don't take up so much space, Head Girl. Even if she was a ginger and crazy pretty and friends with Vivi and on the list, it didn't mean she was allowed to take up all the space.

"This smells terrible, dunnit?" he grinned broadly, as if he was personally responsible for the scent of the bog and took immense pride in it.

Dylan followed everyone up and almost choked from a nasty smell that he could smell. "Urgh!!" slipped out of his mouth without meaning to, so he covered his mouth and nose, shaking his head at his Head of House to tell her it wasnt him that said it! Someone else said that.. honest! He then looked over at the swamp that they were looking at and lowering his hands for a second "Cool Professor!" not really meaning it.. but then again.. swamps were actually cool.. this was her surprise? He edged forward and he was now very interested in what they were going to do with this swamp, were they going to chuck someone in it.. or throw some plants into it? and see how the plants reacted with it.. what?.. what? "What are we going to do with the swamp professor? Are we going to take samples back to the greenhouse with us?" he asked cause then that would be cool, and then they could poke the swamp with plants or other stuff that came into their hands and see how the swamp reacted with all those items in its new environment. OK now he thought this lesson was cool! He couldnt wait to see what they were going to do with this swamp.

OOOH! A swamp! Anya had seen this once before. She wasn't quite sure what it was... or why it was in the hallway. But... she was tempted to throw things in it. It was probably a good thing she hadn't. That would completely ruin this lesson on ecosystems.

Unless parchment airplanes were naturally occurring in swamplands...

Mika's nose immediately crinkled as she walked closer to the swamp. It smelled like an authentic stinktacular swamp. With a slight smirk she chirped out, "I dare someone to try and swim in that..." She was awesome.

Sure if they did they would probably spend an entire week trying to get the stench of rotten cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and maybe even that oddly fishlike scent of rotten potatoes. Yeah, they would truly be stanktacular.

"Awesome" Nigel said nodding. He did not expect to be lead to the famous swamp. Even though it was a plant. But he wondered how it was still here. Maybe someone was taking care of it so it would not die.

He wondered what they could be doing with the swamp because Nigel did not want to touch it. Nope.

Following the crowd, Dylan readjusted his bag several times. Meh, something to do while he walked...Too bad they weren't staying back in the Greenhouse, though. Professor Bentley had organized it nicely...and the glowing tanks had been quiet interesting to look at...

When he'd arrived at their new location, however, Dylan got a little excited.

A PORTABLE SWAMP...Was this the same one...from the infamous Weasley Twins?

Stepping up to it, he stared openly.

THIS...was going to be awesome. Professor Bentley, you are WIN.

Nina was walking back to the castle, not knowing what they were supposed to do or where they were going except that she was now in front of a swamp...inside the castle...a swamp. Interesting. And not forget to mention that it smelled awful but ignoring that, she wondered what animals were there.

The girl stood not so far from the professor waiting for the lesson to continue and ready to know what they were going to do.

Rawdon edged his way next to Mika and scrunched up his face at the smell. Eww. It smells like an old pair of socks worn for an entire month and soaked with sweat that were kept in a container in the hot sun for a few hours.

But his hand shot up in the air and a question was blurted from his lips in typical Vindictus style "Professor Bentley, has anyone accidentally fallen into this swamp and vanished without a trace?"

Why was the walk so LONG? Her bag was heavy and her toes were going to fall off. Alice was excited about leaving the Greenhouses, but now decided that she would have much rather remained there. Less moving. And those glowing tanks, those were cool, too. So they could have just STAYED. And not walked anywhere, because then no one's shoulders would hurt from lugging around heavy bags and everyone's toes would be INTACT.

Of course, she changed her mind the instant they reached the Weasley Swamp. Yes, THE Weasley Swamp. Portable and all.

It smelled.. interesting. Alice stepped up to it and observed the murky-looking bog, being careful not to breathe in too deeply. Was this what they were studying today? AWESOME. She stared openly at it, not attempting to hide her fascination with it.

Maybe it was a good thing they had walked that very, very long walk.

Seren was feeling rather giddy now. It really was amazing, and it pleased her that the students were so approving. "It is rather nifty isn't it," she mused.

"If I told you that would ruin the surprise..." not that it was much of a surprise. It was school work after all.. not supposed to be fun, but accidents happened.

Shooting the Ravenclaw a disapproving look, Seren then eyed the roping, if a student stepped over it... they'd find themselves in detention popping bubotuber blisters for hours.

Turning her head to see Rawdon, Seren shhrugged. "If it's happened... I haven't heard about it." Perhaps that was something to look into. The last thing they needed were parents and the Board hassling them over safety issues.

The one thing that Breigh couldn't understand was WHY. Why, why oh why would there be a swamp indoors?

It was a question that should have required serious pondering, puzzlement and all manner of lip-pursing, hmm'ing and hawing: that was if she wasn't so occupied with being awestruck by the fact that there WAS a swamp indoors. It was certainly one of the things Dora had forgot to mention about Hogwarts, and made all the jostling of shoulders for a good position to look a little more bearable. Just a little.

Still, she clutched her books to her chest, narrowed her shoulders, turned her body frame sideways and did her best not to brush up against any one of the multitude of strangers around her. Never had she imagined a learning environment could be so cramped. So, it was tip-toes and long-neck peering to get a real good look at the swamp.

It was indeed a curious question as to what would come of this indoor pool of discovery and wonder, and Breigh turned her eyes to the Instructor quizzically. She dearly hoped they could wade around and look for some frogs and toads in there.

Peyton followed Professor Bentley along with her classmates into the castle and stopped short when she smelled that Merlin awful smell. Ugh. Uuuugh. One thing she disliked the most was bad smells and this was SMEEEELLY!

Time to breath through her mouth.

The red head stared at the swamp a bit more before looking up at Professor Bently. "How'd it get in here?" she asked curiously.

She's heard of a swamp inside the castle and she told all who told her that they were liars. Well, all be danged, she owed them a Sugar Quill. But the question still loomed over her head. HOW???

Professor Bentley hadn't entirely understood her point. That had been the first thought that had gone through Kendall's mind once her answer had gotten a response. Of course, most everyone else had gotten a simple response, and then she’d gotten a longer one. She wasn’t entirely proud of that, though, as it still made her feel like she’d been wrong in some way. Not like she’d ever thought Herbology was one of her better subjects, but she liked it. She liked the professor. Feeling like she was wrong was just a weird feeling, so she’d been quiet the entire way back up to the castle, after slipping her notebook and the pencil she’d been using for her notes and sketches back into her bag. And her curiosity had only reappeared as soon as they’d set foot onto the first floor, as all she remembered being up here was DADA, History of Magic, and other classes. Nothing that made her think of ecosystems, until she caught the odd scent of a swamp as she’d turned a corner to catch up with the rest of the group.

“How haven’t I noticed this before?,” she wondered aloud in a low voice, as she’d ninja’d her way through everyone to come out next to Rawdon and Mika, in time to hear Mika’s question, along with Rawdon’s, and then Professor Bentley’s reaction. She certainly wasn’t planning on stepping over those ropes any time soon, and not just because she’d rather not get stinky swamp goo on her boots. Or maybe that was the reason. She didn’t particularly feel like having to Scourgify herself to get rid of swamp stink. She didn’t feel like breathing, honestly, because of the smell, so she tried to take shallow breaths. Seriously, why hadn’t I noticed something like this before? She walked this corridor all the time, and somehow she’d avoided this. At least she was fairly sure they weren’t going to be asked to explore the swamp for the lesson, not with Professor Bentley’s response to her fellow Claws.

West had a million questions. Actually a million. For real. Numbered list and all, but he held it in. Mouth firmly closed, though he bounced a little in eagerness. SO MANY THINGS. He would wait to blurt questions though, until he was allowed to and until after she'd said stuff. Yesssss.

SWAMP!

But not just any swamp, the swamp. Will had told her a thing or two about it and she remembered passing by it once or twice...her memory didn't extend very far when it came to things she didn't interact with on a daily basis, okay? They were lucky she didn't completely forget seeing it and started spazzing out at the sight. She would.

"Coooool!"

She was about to ask if they would get to play in that Mika girl beat her to it and her Head of House didn't seem particularly pleased...she'd give her some time to cool down before asking again.

For now she settled in next to Alice and tried her hand at that waiting thing again.

Looooooooooong walk...

Yeah, it had been a rather lengthy walk and for some reason, she found herself panting when they finally arrived at their destination. Ugh. She needed Quidditch now so her respiration rate can climb back up again. But she'd dwell more on that thought later.

Because right now....she was focused on the swamp. The Weasley Swamp, established by no other than Fred and George Weasley. Mhhm! She'd read about it in Hogwarts, A History. Were they continuing the lesson there? She didn't mind the smell one bit.

She looked at the Professor and beamed. Her classes were always interesting.

Why can’t they just stay in Greenhouse 6? Looking up, he saw that the others started to walk out of the classroom and went to the castle.

Although he’d rather stay inside the greenhouse, Mordred approves of this walking thing. At least it gives them time to move and not doze off or something.

As they reached the swamp, the sixth year stayed behind the younger and smaller students and looked at the infamous swamp by the Weasley twins. He had questions in his head but he’d rather ask them once the professor’s done with her second introduction.