She still was trying to calm her breathing and stop her shaking hand that was gripping her wand. Looking into those green eyes she nodded thankful he was right there. She forced plants on fire out of her head she looked at the roots. Honestly this should not be this hard, she though to herself knowing it was true. Usually she was worried of screwing up in this class in front of him and now she was just was just trying not to have a full out panic attack in front of the entire class. That was not what very preggers Bentley needed right now. Eyes glancing at the very tired looking professor she turned trying to focus.

Taking a deep breath she listened, "I.. I can't touch it.. I just can't." She knew it sounded stupid, but the last plant she touched well people could still see the aftermath of that and as she thought of it a and went to her short hair. Frowning she tried to focus again. Looking at the tree, "O..Okay I can do that." She tried to calm her shaking hand. Pointing at one of the roots he had pointed out. Taking a deep breath "Tergeo root" She watched some of the soil fall away. Then she looked at him to make sure it was where he wanted her to be.

Laura was a bit worried about this, she wasn't very good at doing anything like this, so she wanted to just stand there and do nothing and it seemed she might be able to since she couldn't find a tree to work on, well she could but she would have to do it on her own and she wasn't that good at it, she made sure her gloves were on properly and then just looked at the tree.

Kace was keeping in mind to get SO gentle. He knew these trees were delicate and at a sickly state right now. They weren't plants like they had at home, which were rough and required hard labor to take care of.

He liked getting down and dirty with nature. He was picking the soil gently from the roots. He noticed BIG clumps near the roots. "Awww poor little guy." Kace said and felt bad for the tree. He noticed he was still wearing his gloves. That was a positive sign. He was gonna have a good day.

"I hope you feel better that i am taking care of you." he said to the tree quietly. He didn't care if the students thought he was crazy. There were some studies that talking to plants helped them grow.

He was picking....picking....picking...and even MORE picking soil clumps from the roots. This poor tree. He wondered why it had so much soil..

Ethan continued watching Minerva carefully, waiting to see if Minerva would help with the task. He knew she was very strong and would be able to do this, especially with him nearby helping her, but she also looked like she was ready to dart out of the greenhouse any second. He nodded in understanding as she spoke. "I know.. but I know you can do the spell. You don't even have to come any closer." She was already at a cautious distance, but the spell would work fine from where she was standing.

He gave her a reassuring smile as she agreed to try the charm and he stood back a little to allow her room to work. Green eyes looked between Minerva and the tree as she hesitantly cast Tergeo, nodding as he observed her progress. "Good.." He moved back to the tree and crouched down in front of the roots. "Most of the bigger clump of soil is gone, I'll get some of the more stubborn parts." He gently ran his fingers down the roots were Minerva had already removed most of the soil and he pulled off what of the soil that was remaining in that area.

He continued in this way, gently sliding his fingers through the roots, until they were free of soil on that side of the tree. Most of the roots were now clean, but there was still a larger clump of soil at the back of the root system. "Okay, almost done.." he said, turning back to her with a smile. "Can you come around to the back and get the rest of the soil with the spell?" He stood up and moved around to the back, watching her and waiting expectantly.

Sarah took out her wand and examined the tree... where did it need it most? Oh there was a good spot, she did not trust her fingers as much as her wand so she decided to start with her wand. She pointed the spot "tergeo" she casted... The tree seemed to get quite a scare as whole chunks of soil came off. Nervously, Sarah decided to try the spell again, trying to make it more gentle... it was more gentle, yet not gentle enough

"Sorry, dude" she said patting it gently. Then with her long fingers she tried to pry some soil off the roots. She hoped she was being gentle enough. The gloves seemed to make her clumsy though. Some more soil came off and more until Sarah had uncovered more. She was still so nervous that she would mess up, one should never get too confident in their abilities.

Should she move in left or right along the trunk? She chose right, she would anyways meet up with the others.

Minerva watched as Ethan went under the plant. Her heart raced a bit seeing him put his hand on the root. She tried to keep the visions out of her head of her own hand in the flames. Closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths she heard his voice and opened her eyes again. "You want me to walk over there?" She blinked a few time and took another deep breath walking around the plant and trying to give a smile at the other two working. Going next to him she looked at where he was talking.

Calming her shaking hand she pointed her wand. Focusing on the roots that needed the soil removed Minerva calmed as much as possible so her voice wouldn't crack "Tergeo root" taking another deep breath she didn't it again to a few others. Watching the soil remove from the roots she gave a little smile. She was doing it, her heart was going to jump out of her chest, but she was doing it. Looking back at Ethan she grabbed his arm, "Thank you", letting go again so he could do his thing with his plants.

Having already gathered his gloves, Asher headed to a tree with only a couple of other students around it. He bent down and every so gently began to removed the dirt with his hands. He felt it was far too delicate for him, a first year, to use a spell he wasn't completely comfortable with.

He continued to slowly and gently brush and rub on the roots, hoping he wasn't doing any damage to them.

Okay, so now to work on the trees, kinda in groups. Penelope didn't worry about who was around her tree or anything, she was just gonna focus on getting the dirt and stuff off. And they had two options apparently, Muggle or magical way. It only took a second, but she decided on the Muggle way. That was the easiest way and probably what the gloves were for anyway. No need to waste them.

So she bent down a little to get a better look at the roots and which ones she should work on. This one right in front of her seemed okay...though the one next to it looked like it had a lot of dirt on it. The Gryffindor raised a gloved hand and started moving it over the root, trying to work the dirt off with her fingers.

Kace was finishing up the soil he could mostly pick up with his hands. He noticed there were hard to reach places that he couldn't get with his hands. He would need to use the spell Tergeo to clean it up. He knew the wand movement would be simple.

He got out his wand from his robe and said, "Tergeo Root!" and then the root was ALL clean. He was smiling and was glad this tree would getting some work done. He found another part of the tree where there was this solid clump of dirt that was hard to break apart. Hmmm.....this was gonna be a problem. He used his wand, pointed it at the clump and then said "Tergeo Dirt!" and the dirt went away.

He noticed a few other hard clumps of dirt and did the spell. AWESOME!!! He was doing great. He was getting the hang of this. He was learning so much about taking care of roots in this part of the lesson. He would even tell his sister to use this spell on the plants back at home.

Or they could blow the dirt off. Or Zahra could seeing how she had such a big mouth. Bwaha!

Michael picked up his gloves and deciding that it was probably a good idea if he moved away from his BFF before they got into some sserious trouble or she tried to hug him again. He quickly followed after an older Gryffie girl and watched what she did before copying her.

After a moment of teasing the dirt off the roots with his fingers, he looked at the girl. "How come you don't use magic to do this?"

For a horrible second, Jake thought he forgot his gloves. Thankfully, though, he found them after a frantic search in his bag. He slipped them on, tugging to make sure they were snug.

Now. On to business.

Finding an unclaimed tree, Jake inspected the roots. So. Should he ask for a partner or was it obvious that he was totally alone here?

Anya continued to stare at the trees in awe. She loved how they just... floated. Yup. She still wanted one.

Oh wait. Why were people moving?

She quickly put on her gloves and looked around for a sign of what they were supposed to be doing. She stepped over to her boyfriend. Perfect. He was probably paying attention.

"Need some help?" she asked. Because. She needed to be told what to do.

So these trees were really odd, weren't they? Interesting, though. And Jake was so interested in his tree that he didn't hear someone approach him. So when his girlfriend spoke in his ear, he jumped slightly.

"Oh." He looked over, flashing a half-smile at Anya. "Hey. Yeah. Um... just trying to decide how to do this." He looked back at the roots, taking out his wand. "I think the spell would be best, yeah?" He cast a pointed glance at his hands. They were big and he didn't trust them with the 'fragile' roots. Because he wasn't quite sure how fragile fragile was... but he didn't want to take the chance and accidentally break one of Bentley's trees.

Beezus has been somewhat playing idly with her gloves while she waited for Professor Bentley to speak again and when the woman did, she immediately averted all her attention the instructions she was giving the class.

Woot. Cleaning time!

She needed to find a tree to work on first....but instead of seeing a tree, her dark brown eyes caught sight of a certain couple. Aheeeem. Oh! Look at that, they already had a tree. That meant she could join them, right? Considering there had to be no more than four people in one tree.

Yay. She can interrupt their moment say hello.

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Keller...." That had been said in a low voice, mind...that only them could hear. Beezus wouldn't want Professor Bentley to think that she was just playing around in her class. "Can I join you in this tree?" But really, she wasn't giving them any choice to say no because as soon as she got near, the Ravenclaw had brushed some dirt on the root tendrils with careful fingers.

Continuing to clean the roots, without any noticeable damage being done, Asher glanced around at the other students. He hoped he was doing the task correctly, but, even if he wasn't, it did seem to be helping the tree.

"Does this look right?" he asked to anyone that happened to be listening around him. He pulled up his gloves and continued working.

... well Jake wasn't helpful. There were like... negative five context clues in that.

Anya simply nodded a few times as her eyes scanned the room. She watched Penne for a few seconds before her eyes landed on Elle Belle. Oh. Okay. Cleaning the tree. She could do that.

She smiled as the Ravenclaw Prefect approached them. "Of course." she said. She looked down briefly to hide her smile growing just thinking of Beezus's little nickname for her.

Ahem. Okay. Her cheeks didn't feel hot, which meant it was probably safe to back up now.

"I think I'll use my hands." she announced. ... In case they were wondering. She then went to work running her fingers down the roots.

Once he decided on using the spell, Jake repeated it a few times in his head to make sure he knew the incantation. He took a step closer to the tree, gently holding a root to get a look at the soil...

... And a voice interrupted him again. He was thankful that he was facing the tree, because the nickname that Beezus had for his girlfriend made him blush. And nobody needed to see that. Especially not in the middle of class. "Hey, Castell," he greeted without looking back.

He did look at Anya, though, when she announced that she was going to use her hands. He gave a small nod in response. She wouldn't break anything. Jake glanced at Beezus, wondering what tactic she'd use, before he returned his focus to the tree.

"Tergeo," he muttered, aiming his wand at a soil-covered root. He watched as it crumbled away after a moment then smiled to himself and moved onto another root, mumbling "tergeo" again. This wasn't so hard.

Realizing he was making a horrible mess, Asher decided to multitask and started sweeping up dirt with his feet as he removed it from the roots with his hands. 'No need to make a giant mess while helping some trees' he mumbled.

Wondering what they were going to do once all the dirt was removed, and finishing up on his last root, he looked towards the professor for further instructions.

Focusing on working all the dirt off this one root, Penelope didn't notice someone else had followed her over to this tree until he spoke. Looking up from the now mostly dirt free root, she shrugged and replied, "I think it's easier this way. Spells aren't always easy, so I don't wanna waste time trying to get one to work." Tergeo might not be that hard of a spell, but she often had trouble with even the simplest ones, so she wasn't gonna bother with it right now.

This root seemed completely free of soil now, so she moved her hands to another one that was almost completely covered with muddy soil and carefully worked on it, watching the dirt and mud fall in small and large clumps to the ground. These trees were starting to look a little better already it seemed, yeah?

Uh....hullo. Was she welcome......or not? Yeah, they didn't seem to mind that she was joining their party but they were both suddenly turning away from her....or looking down. Was it something she said? Pssshhhh. She barely said anything.

Anya was going to use her hands, Jake went for the spell. As for her, she continued working with her hands too. Girls had to make use of their hands, yes? They were pretty useful to start with and her fingers loved playing with dirt...and a whole lot of other things.

So Beezus still painstakingly brushed the soil from the tree's roots and muttering things to it such, "Tree, we're going to clean your roots", and "Aww. Thank you for being cooperative" ...or "You have very beautiful roots, did you know that?" Yeah...don't mind her. That was how she worked with plants.

Pulling the gloves from his back pocket...that Dylan always kept there, he slowly slipped them on.....And then he eyed his peers and surroundings. They were going to play nurse to the trees. How very lovely....and chick-like. Seemed like Beezus would be all over it, though.

He was amused, too...as he looked around and spotted her working with his best mate and Phillips.

How very appropriate.

Stepping over that way, the Slytherin poked his girlfriend's side...before offering a nod to Jake...and then Anya. "Sup...I'm stealing you all." He started on a side not currently occupied and just used his hands to start breaking old dirt away from the roots. This was all they were doing, right?

Notice how Dylan didn't wait to be told he could, yes? Of course Jake would want to work with him...The chicks, too.

Anya cast Jake a glance out of the corner of her eye. She smiled a little then started focusing on the tree.

She brushed her fingers gently along the roots. She glanced over at Beezus as she started talking. Oh. Okay. Anya decided to hum softly to her side of the tree.

... and then someone else joined them. She smirked ever so slightly. "Should have figured you'd be joining us too." she said not averting her eyes from the tree roots she was cleaning.

And since that was practically a greeting to the Captain, she went back to humming softly. Social obligations fulfilled.

Aha. That made four.

Jake glanced up when he saw a familiar blonde head, and nodded in return to the Slytherin captain's greeting.

...Apparently they were all working with their hands, then? Jake glanced at his wand, but not wanting to be the odd man out, he sheathed his wand. He could work with his hands, too. A smile twitched at a corner of his lips as Anya started humming, and he could hear Beezus talking to the plant.

So he continued with his section of the tree, veeery carefully fingering the dirt off the roots. He steered clear of the super tiny ones, wanting to save those for last. Maybe if he waited long enough the soil on those roots would just fall off without his help.

Soil was... a bad thing for these plants.

Okay, right... well that made no sense whatsoever, but then again there wasn't much at this school that really made that much sense to his muggle-raised self, so Tobias was just going to roll with it.

He pulled on his gloves and eyed a small Tobias-sized gap at the workbenches between some older students and so he quickly made a beeline for it and reached up for the roots. He hesitated slightly. They could use tergeo, but Tobias wasn't confident enough with the spell so it was probably better to just do things the muggle way, 'cause he didn't want to be a plant murderer or anything.

So instead he brushed at the parts of the roots he could reach very carefully with the fingertips of the gloves and tried to beware of falling soil.

Brush, brush.

Soil. Yeah. Alice had totally known that.

She tagged along with the students taking a closer look at the soil that was supposedly making the trees ill. So.. what? Once they got it off, they would magically become well again? Squinting at the dirt analytically, the fifth year looked from it to Bentley a couple times. Seemed easy enough. Her gloves were tugged on, and then it only took a few seconds for her to locate a tree that no one was working on yet.

Tergeo? Hmm. Or hands first?