Flesh eaters were a lot more easygoing than people. Or, more specifically, little kids. Unless this particular plant was just hungry. Still, the way it was chomping on the dead meat made the boy smirk. The future was faaaaaaaaaar away but he knew that he had to get himself one of these bad boys. He'd have to ask Bentley about these things. Uh huh. Not now, obviously.

Ten minutes left? Holy Merlin, he needed to hurry up!

Once the plant had eaten up the last of the meat, Grayson moved away to get some dung for it. The ten minutes warning rang in his brain so the boy couldn't take as long as he wanted to try and get the dung. Shame. He was going to have to sacrifice the opportunity to spy on carefully observe the other students. Shame indeed. All for a flesh-eating plant.

Scooping up some dung, the fourteen year old moved back towards the flesh-eating plant he had been working on before. He'd remembered what that Penelope girl had done way back during their lesson. Small sprinkles and whatnot. See? Observing people worked out VERY well in your favour about 98% of the time. Small amounts of dung were taken and then sprinkled on the base of the plant. He tried to make it as even as possible because the plant needed pleeeeeeeenty of this stuff if it was going to grow up to be big and dangerous.

Sprinkleeeeeeee....... sprinkleee......... sprinkleeeeeee.......

Done. Next. What was NEXT?

"Aguamenti!" he said softly. A small trickle of water shot out of his wand and he started watering the base of the plant, particularly over the dung he had sprinkled before. Dead simple, this was.

See? He totally cared. About flesh-eating plants, nonetheless.

Sophie glanced up just as the professor was announcing time was almost up. She still had most of the paved path to go, so she picked up her speed a bit. She swept from side to side as she cleared off the path. With a little help from a few others who were also working on the same task, the path was soon cleared enough for Sophie to try a different task.

She put up the broom then glanced around. She'd made a lot of leaf litter when she'd been sweeping, so she decided to pick up some of that and start bringing it to the compost bin. Walking over to the leaves, she scooped up a big pile then carried it over to the compost bin. Once it was there, she returned to the leaf litter and scooped up another big pile. She brought that, too, to the compost pile before decided to try one more activity before time was up.

Simon raised his eyebrows and nodded in response to Cutty. He chuckled a little at how Cutty described himself as the miscreant. "Oh cool. Well sounds like you have a good friendship there. My uncle used to say that trouble follows responsibility quite closely" he added with a teasing smirk. Shaking Cutty's hand, he gave the boy a genuine smile. "Nice to meet you as well, Cutty." See? Making friends wasn't too hard nor awkward. Simon could get the hang of this.... eventually.

He nodded. It was indeed his first year here. Transferring to a new school was tough for Simon. He had always had trouble making friends... But finding like-minded people at this school seemed easier...

"So far so good. It's definitely better than my other school. The academics are certainly more challenging because you can do more research on the side," admitted the Aussie as he also brought his wand out to begin feeding the plants. He raised a small bit of meat into the air with his wand and gave it to one of the menacing looking plants. The plant devoured the meat with much gusto that made the Slytherin feel a little uneasy. He didn't want to get to close to those plants. What would happen if they were a little too hungry and decided to.... No. That wouldn't happen. He shuddered. He wouldn't think about it. "What about you? Have you been here for the whole time?" he asked.

Caleb wasn't really in the mood to deal with the flesh eating plants right now, so he figured he'd head over and help Sophie with the leaves and whatnot. He smiled at his sis and then went to work, picking up the leaves and carrying them over to the compost pile in suit with her.

He knew they didn't have much time left, BUT they'd at least get the place cleaned up a bit and make it easier to focus when they got to the REAL activity!

Quote:

Originally Posted by OwlEcho63

And there was Marigold. "Hey, Mari!" she called to her friend. This plant she was feeding started creeping her out a bit, so she Ickes up her wand. The next plant over was looking a little bit dry. "Aguamenti," she muttered, watching happily as the water poured out of her wand. The plant looked much happier, and she smiled. It made her feel so great to help something, even if it was a flesh eating plant. Watering was definitely her favorite job. She looked up at the professor to see if there was anything else she could do to help out. Meanwhile, "Aguamenti."

Marigold beamed at Hazel. "Hey! How are you?" Deciding not to be lazy and not do anything, she took out her wand to copy Hazel's watering skills. "Aguamenti," she said somewhat softly, watching a thin stream of water go out and touch a plant.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sararara

Norah beamed at Marigold's greeting. "Oh! Sorry, I'm Norah, she said, "First year, but you knew that." Of course, she wouldn't blame her for forgetting, considering it had been months since they had been introduced. Plus, she had bee close to forgetting the girl's name and her age had completely slipped Norah's mind. She blushed a little at the memory of her shouting. Should she apologize for potentially damaging Marigold's eardrums? Eh, a hug could cover all that. Holding her broom out to the side, she leaned forward and gave Marigold a quick one-armed hug around the middle before retreating and grinning once more. Maybe not worthy of the grand Hufflepuff hug status, but nice all the same.

And firstie buddy!!!!11!!!1!!! "Norah! That is such a pretty name!" To match Norah's pretty face, of course. And it was cute to see Norah being all flustered and stuff. When she felt arms around her, Marigold (on impulse) squeezed Norah gently but strongly back. Glad that she wouldn't have to disown Norah from the Hufflepuff family for not hugging -

JUuuuuuuust kidding. She would never do that.

Jasmine called over to Cris saying, "Let me know if any more of your plants need fertilizing" She had decided to move on to the Throat Latching Carnations next. The name alone was terrifying. Jasmine had visions of a pretty pink flower wrapping its stem around her neck.....not a great picture. She figured that there was no time like the present to face her fears. Standing waaaay back, Jasmine pointed her wand toward the plant and said, "Immobulus". She was happy to see that the spell worked and the carnations were indeed frozen.

Jasmine decided to wait for a second, just in case they woke up or anything. Seeing that all was well, she went to grab her supply of dung and headed toward the plants. Jasmine began to sprinkle the dragon dung around the plants just as he had done with the others. Then she bent down on one knee and moved in closer to spread dung around the base of the plant. Finally she was finished and backed away to her original starting spot. Retrieving her wand and saying,"Finite", Jasmine unfroze the carnations. Hoping that she had time to fertilize at least one more plant, Jasmine moved on.

Sophie had swept the paved path and moved some leaf litter to the compost pile. The professor still hadn't called time, so she decided to try for another task. Hmm...what still needed to be done? Looking around, Sophie saw a few more plants with dead foliage on them. She could always trim those.

She walked over to the plants and flicked out her wand. Studying the plant, she saw a good angle to trim and pointed her wand in that direction. "Flipnsnipwitit!" she said. She moved her wand to another piece of dead foliage and did the same. "Flipnsnipwitit!" she said.

She stayed at that plant until all the dead foliage was gone. Afterwards, she moved on to another plant. Pointing her wand toward a piece of dead foliage, she said, "Flipnsnipwitit!" Strange little incantation, that one.

Maddie smiiiiiled up at the older girl and eyed the plant she was talking to curiously. "Probably skipped breakfast, that one." Poor thing. The small brunette wondered just how MUCH they could actually eat without getting a tummy ache. WAIT, did plants HAVE tummies or were they called something else?! She'd need to research this, UH-HUH! "I bet I taste SUPER delicious but I'd rather him eat the small hunks of meat. I'm too young to be plant food, y'know? Can't RULE the world from inside a flesh-eating plant!"

The twelve year old watched the older girl levitate her meat and opted to toss her own towards the plant. OM NOM NOM. She grinned cause this was COOL.

Picking up another hunk, she stayed put and eyed the plant NEXT to the one she'd just fed. "Bet you're hungry too, huh?" Well one for you, flesh-eater! You go, Flesh-eater! Maddie threw the hunk of meat in its direction and watched what happened next.

Lucy saw the sisters and smiled them..
She said:"Maybye I can try too"..
AGUAMENTI!!! The water went out from the tip of her wand..and for Lucy this was amazing!!!

Jasmine hurried to tend to her next group of plants, the Pygmy Piranhas. Not wanting to rush too much, she took a moment to catch her breath and concentrate. Aiming her wand at the plant, she said, Immobulus". Jasmine felt that she could just about do this blindfolded by now, but this was no time to get cocky. That was how mistakes were made and she was very fond of her limbs, thank you very much.

Getting the fertilizer, Jasmine again spread it around, under and between the plants. Making sure to hit every nook and cranny she could see, she surveyed her work. Yep, everything looked good. Wand out, Jasmine said "Finite", and the plant immediately returned to normal. Would she have any time for feeding the plants before class began?

Sophie had finished with a third activity by now, and the professor still hadn't called time. Seeing as her wand was still out, she decided to walk around and find some more foliage to trim. The two plants she'd been working on were free of the dead foliage now, so there was no sense in sticking around them much longer.

She turned on her heels and ventured in a different direction. She found a few more plants that still had the dead foliage on them. Pointing her wand toward a piece of said foliage, she said, "Flipnsnipwitit!" She went around to the opposite side of the plant and pointed her wand at some dead foliage she saw there, too. "Flipnsnipwitit!" she said again.

Cris chuckled at Jasmine's have dung will travel comment. He waited patiently for her to add the fertilizer before watering the plants. "Aguamenti," he chanted the incantation and as water flowed from his wand, he kept a close eye making sure he wasn't overwatering them. Then ending the spell, he tapped down the soil with his gloved hands to remove any air bubbles before moving on to the next Flesh-Eating plant. A Snargaluff.

This one starting to look a little more alert, so pointed his waved at it and stunned it, saying,"Stupefy" remembering what Professor Bentley had told him about her preference of using the Stunning spell instead of the Freezing charm.

He waited give the spell to take effect, before leaning down to examine it for any dead foliage. Finding one, he lifted it up with one hand and with the other, he swished his wand at where the dead foliage was still attached to the plant and cast the Trimming Charm, saying,"Flipnsnipwitit."

Gently removing the dead tissue from the Snargaluff, Cris dropped the piece onto his trimmings pile. Seeing that he had already stacked up quite a pile, he decided to carry that out to the compost pile over at the back of the greenhouse.

With the pile of dead foliage in his arms, Cris carried it out to the back of the greenhouse and dumped them onto the compost pile. Seeing that others had also added to the pile, Cris took a rake and turned the compost before returning back inside the greenhouse.

After Caleb picked up some of the leaves to help with the compost pile, he decided to water some of the plants that had been overlooked by his classmates. There were just SO MANY of them, it was no wonder a few had been skipped.

"Aguamenti!" Caleb muttered, finding a nearby plant that had dry soil all around the pot, and watered it sufficiently until the soil was nice and damp. Then, he moved on to the plant next to it, which he was pretty sure was a sleeping piranha plant, and did the same thing. "Aguamenti!" he muttered, not wanting to wake the plant and possibly face the wrath of an angry flesh eating plant.

Oh, heyy--it was Caleb, and he was watering plants. That was a task Sophie hadn't taken on yet. She finished trimming the dead foliage on the plant she was currently working on then headed over to a line of plants that looked like they could use a good watering.

"Aguamenti!" she called out, pointing her wand forward. Sophie watched the stream of water as she thought about how much water this particular plant needed. When she'd reached what she thought was a good level, she ended the spell. She didn't want to OVER water the plants, after all.

She moved to the next plant in line and pointed her wand toward it, as well. "Aguamenti!" she said. She did the same thing with this plant--that is, she eyed the level of water until it reached the level she thought this plant needed. At that point, she ended the spell.

Sooo...what now?

SPOILER!!: Cris ^_^

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

...and there was Leah getting soaked by the water flowing from his wand. "Finite," he quickly ended the spell. "Sorry about that, Leah. Here let me use the hot air charm to dry you up," Cris offered as he moved his wand in little clockwise circles up and down along the length of her body and said, "Siccus Aerous."

Allowing the hot air from his wand to dry her up, Cris asked Leah,"Is it working? Did I get it all?" and as he waited for her to reply, an idea sprang into his head.

"Say Leah, would you like to learn the Trimming Charm too? I've seen how fast you pick up stuff, I'm sure you'll have no problems picking this one up," Cris suggested to his young friend.

Leah shook her head vigorously, trying to get some water out of her long hair. Pausing, she looked up. There was a hot air charm? Instantly, she felt hot air on her wet body and felt warmer. "Aah, thank you so much. It's all gone." she grinned. Heh, she got an extra free shower during a workshop!

The second year was about to ask the real reason she was standing behind Cris when he spoke. Either this guy could read minds or he was super clever. "Yess! But I don't pick up stuff fast." Leah said worriedly. "I'd love to learn, though. It's the flip snip thingy spell, isn't it?" she pulled out her wand.

Cris smiled down at the young Badger. "One thing you have to know about me, Leah. I'm really patient. I have a younger sister around your age and a brother even younger, so that's where my patience grew from," Cris explained as he grinned at her.

"One other thing you need to know is that spell casting can't be rushed. Practice makes perfect. So the first thing for this spell is the incantation," Cris chuckled at Leah's attempt at pronouncing the incantation.

"It does sound a mouthful doesn't it and you almost got it right. I had trouble pronouncing it too, until I broke it up where it made more sense. This is how I said it Flip-n-snip-wit-it. See it sounds like Flip And Snip With It. That's how I was able to remember it. Why don't you try that?" Cris encouraged the younger girl.

As usual, Ethan got distracted when he felt a prickling sensation on the back of his neck. You know, when someone's staring at you? Yeah, that kind of feeling. The Slytherin quickly turned around with his arms crossed across his chest and spotted Cutty and Simon.

Ethan gave them a grin, nod and wave. Cool bros, yo! But then gave Cutty some sort of questioning look. Was there dung on his faaaaaaace?



Turning again to his minions charges, Ethan tilted his head to the side in amusement and grinned at AJ. “How can your magic stick possibly hate you?” Legit question right there. “Your wand chose you, remember?” See? It’s not that bad. Just a little practice will do the trick. “You’ll get there, young ‘un!” Ethan patted her head again. Merlin, Gryffindors are the impatient kind, yeah? But then again, not all are that bad. Maybe except for Kevin who over reacts most of the time, but it’s all good. Hopefully that that kid will outgrow his…uh…unacceptable attitude. Ethan nodded at AJ and knocked out another plant for them. “Immobulus!” Heh. This is fun!

Ethan watched from time to time as the girls followed him to place dung on the stunned plants and watering them. See? Practice makes spell work a whole lot better. “Good job, Aguamenti Girls!” Ethan tucked his wand under his arm and clapped for them. Awesome, lions. Bentley must be proud.

Herbology wasn't too bad when they didn't have to answer questions. This was actually pretty nice. Workshops should become daily occurrences. Without the added pressures of an actual classroom experience, Zander was completely at peace. He had found his inner master of herbology. Kind of... He looked around the greenhouse to scout another plant that needed some attention. AH! THAT ONE!

Walking towards the plant in need, Zander held out his wand confidently. "Auguamenti," he waited for the plant to get just enough water, before cutting it off. Loookin good.

She managed to get her gloves a little dirty in between observing/supervising the students, and it seemed as though the brunt of the work for greenhouse eight was complete for the day.... and where feeding was concerned, for the most past of a week. Excellent!

"Alrighty guys and girls, finish what you're doing and assemble at one of the workstations to the west end of the greenhouse," she announced, indicating to where the stations were set up, each with a beautiful potted orchid and a selection of utensils and a jar beside it. If you look closely, you might notice that the orchids have uniquely shaped growth protruding out from above its lips... and suspiciously in the shape of a fairy.

"You'll need your gloves on still... your wand and any note taking equipment you have brought with you."

OOC: Students assemble! The activity will ACTUALLY start in 12 hours.

She was an aguamenti girl, did ya hear that? Ethan was full of praises and she could dig that. The first year gave him a big ol' smile. "Thanks." Annnd he was patting her head again. The first time she didn't really think anything of it, but now she was starting to wonder if he thought she was a dog or something.

Before she had time to comment or spread anymore dung, the professor was calling them to order. "C'mon guys let's go." They were all welcome to join her if they wanted, of course it was there choice.

Aj walked over to a workstation and waited for the others to follow. She already had her gloves on so she was ready to go. It was time to get dirty!

“I guess we’re good, guys.” Ethan nodded at the twins and Lucy and turned to where Professor Bentley was. He then looked at the place where she was pointing and saw that their workstations got pretty flowers. Ooh. Ethan started to walk towards the west end of the greenhouse, but stopped midway. Pointing his wand again at the bushes and flesh eating plants that Lucy, AJ and her twin was working, he casted another Immobilizing spell just to make sure that they won’t chomp off their lovely digits when his back is turned. He cares, all right? Don’t judge.

The Slytherin got himself a seat and did a staring contest with the plant…or…flower. Just like in their Transfiguration class, his cloud looked fluffy and friendly but in the end, it pelted him with things that are not supposed to come out of it. Evil. Cloud. Yes. Hearing the warning bells inside his head, Ethan kept a good distance as he eyed the new plant. Looks pretty, but could be deadly. Greenhouse 8 isn’t exactly where the friendly plants are, no? He then pulled his small notebook and muggle pencil from his back pocket, and placed it on the side of his workstation. And as he waited for the lesson to begin, he examined the utensils that were laid out for them.

Hmm…

Awww, Lux had wanted to feed more of the plants, but seemed as if it was time to move on. First things first though, she wanted to clean her gloves. Taking them off of her hands, she did quick work of it using Scourgify before on again they went.

Going over to one of the workstations, she waited for others to follow. She knew that this was going to be fun.

YAY! Marigold-the-old-and-mature hugged her BACK! Norah beamed at her, glad her awkwardness had at least gone somewhat unnoticed, and accepted her compliment gratefully. "Thanks! Yours is pretty too. Very flowery." A marigold is a flower, right? Is flowery even a word? She felt her cheeks grow warm again and was tempted to cover her face with her hands because DARN CHEEKS kept making her seem all embarrassed. Ahem, she was not embarrassed. It's just not every day that you're complimented by someone old, y'know. Figuring it was a good time to return to her task, Norah resumed her methodical sweeping. Nothing to see here, nope.

Oooh they were going to do stuff! Norah set aside her broom with a little more enthusiasm than she cared to admit and and made her way to the nearest workspace. Gloves? Check. Quill? Check. Parchment? Check. What was she missing? Oh yeah, her wand. Pulling it out of her bag, she looked towards the professor and smiled. Starting time! YEAH!

Professor Bentley was calling them to assemble. "Guess we're going to have to suspend teaching you that trimming charm for now, Leah. But if you want we can meet up here another day, and I'll be happy to teach it to you again," he reluctantly told Leah. "Why don't we finish up here and then head on over to join the others," he smiled at her as he finished trimming off the dead foliage of another Snargaluff.

Picking up the dead foliage, he carried it out to the back of the Greenhouse and added them to the compost pile. Raking them up and turning the compost. He then returned to join Jasmine where Professor Bentley had indicated.

He studied the potted purple orchid sitting on the workstation he was standing at. "Hey Jasmine, this orchid reminds me of you. It's so dainty and pretty...and fairy-like," Cris whispered softly so that only Jasmine could hear what he had just said.

Jasmine had just finished fertilizing the Pygmy Piranhas when the Professor told them to assemble at one of the workstations. She quickly put away her fertilizing equipment and gathered up her things. Seeing that Cris was busy working with a younger girl, Jasmine went on ahead to the other side of the greenhouse.

As Jasmine got to the workstations, she noticed an orchid and some utensils on each one. She wasn't sure what the Professor had planned, but it looked like it would be interesting. Jasmine selected a spot and put her bag down. Now all she could do was wait for the Professor to give them their next instructions.