Lucy listened to Professor then she said:"maybe the Vitaris charm works better to make the plants faster to blossom"

Sophie tried to follow along. Really, she had. The professor lost her at the fifth or so word, though. She got that they were trying to distinguish between two growth charms. What she got lost at, though, was where you point your wand and what the target is and all that jazz.

She blinked and slowly raised her hand. "Maybe one charm is designed for household plants that won't grow but just a few feet tall," she said, "and the other is designed for really large trees that typically go outside." Why else would there be two growth charms? She guessed they'd find out just why soon enough.

Gazing around one more time around the classroom and taking it all in Beverly settled down, tugging her robes tighter around herself. It was still chilly and it was somewhat distracting since her mind wandered off cursed the cold, but she did her best to concentrate on what Professor Bentley started saying.

Growth charms? That sounded interesting. Oh, but they get to choose a seed! Could she keep it? Could she grow it and tend for it and keep and show her dad and brother? Could she? Hopefully the answer would be a yes.

Collecting a seed Beverly chose an Enchanted Elm one. The name automatically caught her attention making it easy to decide. Setting the seed on the table she prepared to take notes. Were they going to grow it?



Note taking happened the moment Professor Bentley spoke again and words appeared on the board. Her skills in Herbology weren't as strong as in Potions, so Beverly made sure to pay extra attention and hopefully grasp it all in one go.

Briefly setting her quill down, Beverly raised her hand. She didn't know the answer, but she had a guess. "Since one of the charms requires more concentration can it be because it's for specific, much larger plants?" Not for tiny bitty bushes, but huge Devil's Snare perhaps?

If she was being honest she wasn't looking forward to the notes but then she was never looking forward to the notes unless they were from Defense Against the Dark Arts in which case they were treasured and read over a couple million times if necessary. Had to be sure they were understood you know? Herbology notes, when they didn't pertain to how not to get eaten by a dragon tree were essentially child's play. A firstie would have more use for them than her. She was like an EXPERT, hence her being named the Champion that one year, DUH.

So suffering through the notes...doodling on the tip of the parchment....and completely missing the talk on differences in spells. By the time the glanced around, people were already making guesses.

What in Merlin's beard were they talking about and why did she feel like she needed to jump in? Oh merlin. She'd just....scribble from the board and....pretend to not be as lost as she currently felt. How hard could that be?

The difference between the spells? Mo rolled his seed between his fingers and considered what might be the difference. He liked Benjy's answer, honestly, where the amount of concentration and effort in the more advanced spell suggested some differing long term effect.

Benjy was super smart.

Mo raised his hand. "Professor, could it be that the Vitaris Charm merely accelerates the plant through the life cycle, so while it grows more quickly it also dies sooner? And the Herbivicus Charm... maybe it actually grows the plant without shortening the life cycle of the plant?" Or some variant of those thoughts.

WAS SHE? She was glad? Kyroh beamed.

So they would be growing miniature trees. Who would have thought that even had a name for it?


As for WHY DID the spells vary?

Well Kyroh didn't know. Was this in his textbook? He'd probably know if he opened his textbook. It was hard though because it just talked about plans and after awhile it got boring. He raised his non-seed carrying hand anyways. "Maybe it's because one of them can be used on more than just plants?" The Herbivicus Charm maybe because it was more complicated? Hm.

Marigold scratched out a line of her notes where she messed up, then rewrote the correct information and spelling. as for the differences? She didn't really know, but she guessed anyway.

"Is the difference that one of the charms only works on plants with certain requirements, like size or type?" Trees rather than grass, for example.

Notes. Yes, right. That should be taken down. Ethan got his notebook and muggle pencil and started to scribble. He also stifled yawn and forced himself to concentrate, but all he could think about right now is a warm glass of milk, and his warm bed down in the dungeons. Sleep. Yes, after this class perhaps?

Merlin.

And now a question. The difference between the two? Hmm. Interesting answers his classmates got, but the other spell must have something to do with this miniature plant thing. Hand up. "Professor? Does the Vitaris Charm simply make the plants grow to its full size, whereas the Herbivicus charm, lets the plant grow but to a certain extent? Like...as small as a Bonsai but keeping the plant's full-grown profile?" Did that make sense?

Why did people did not understand that he did not need a Healer? He could take care of himself so he simply ignored his Head of House but in the back of his mind he did have a feeling that everyone was right. If he just went and get a pepper-up potion he'd be better ...but that meant he was having to show weakness and that was a big no no for the Gryffindor because he had sworn to himself he would never do that again. ..Maybe he could sneak in to the hospital wing undercover? yeah he had to think this out.

Another thing that made him roll his eyes was the fact that no one helped him after he had literally shouted throughout the classroom for some tissues. Of course, it didn't cross his mind that people just ..didnt have tissues but he was very annoyed by it.

As class began, Kevin shuddered at the mention of reviewing and note taking. The reviewing part wasn't that bad but the note taking? BLEH. This was also the reason why the second year had not taken out his notebook. He didn't need to , he could remember it ALL. Not

As they were asked to pick a seed from one of the boxes, Kevin first listened to the types and the immediately went to the Enchanted Elm box. Flesh-eating tree yo! He then got back to his place and waited for further instructions. Which was in the form of a question. "Maybe because the incantation Herbivicus sounds like its used for Herbivores which are ...plant eaters and plants like enchanted elm are flesh eaters so they dont need a ....plant...." ok he was confusing himself.

Leah tried to pay attention and understand the two charms. It did seem like there was little difference, and she thought that they were practically the same spells. Except the wand movement, and the uh yes, name of the spell, of course.

So aaah the question was a hard one. Unsure of the answer, the second year listened to other people's replies before raising up her hand and saying, "The growing speed, maybe?" Leah said. The professor did say that the Herbivicus Charm needed more concentration. It could be because of this, the badger thought, as she continued to scribble down her notes.

And Aubrey was the first off the bat! Excellent! And Jasmine supported her...

"Mmm... it's not a bad idea, but no... not in this instance."



... Oh goodness gracious. Seren could only barely look past the girls shivering to hear her response. The type of plants the spells worked on....

"Interesting thought, but nope."




Turning to Aditya, Seren wobbled her head a bit in thought... musing between yes and no. "Again, interesting thought... but not in this instance."



Ahhhhh... and now this was a well thought out response. Seren was impressed.

"I like your thinking, and you're on the right track... but not quite there yet." Awfully close though.



....

.......

Well now wasn't that just a little bit snarky from the Badger? Seren's eyebrows were raised, clearly not amused by the girls lack of tact. "For the record, Bonsai is an art form and a skill... one which is part of the curriculum, so in learning these skills, while you may not be able to appreciate the art form I recommend you keep your comments to yourself. And should you think it be a waste of an Enchanting Elm seed, then why not swap it for one of the others?" It was a choice the girl had made all her own. This was not on her. "Two points for your disrespectful attitude."

Useless. Useless she said...

As for her response. "Nope, nothing to do with shadiness." At least it was an out of the box response.



He was returning her question with more questions... and not just one, but a string of them. Sigh.

"No, they both grow at the same rate, hence the same immediate impact... though your additional thought is a good one, it's not correct in this instance." Better luck next time, young Snake.



Intensity. Now that was a unique idea. Again she had a look that indicated she was impressed with his train of thought... but alas, "Good idea, but no... it's not about the accuracy or intensity." Shame.



She'd seen his hand go up, and nodded in his direction to give his response...

....

But it didn't come. Instead she had a very quiet, uncomfortable and red-faced looking Gryffindor.

He wasn't going to be sick was he? She gave him the benefit of the doubt for now and moved on....



Blossom... now there was an isolated point.

"Not bad, not bad... but nope... not the answer I'm looking for."

And at this rate she had a feeling she'd be looking for a while.



Household and outdoor plants. "Interesting idea," she started, nodding her head. Oh but no... it wasn't the correct answer. "Unfortunately though, no, that's not it."



Again, not a bad response, the ideas were at least sensible and logical, if not accurate.

"You're very nearly almost but not quite on the right track..." but she was very excited by Beverly's response. Obviously.



Ooohhhhhhhhhh! Now that was a very interesting point, and he wasn't wrong on that one either... so technically, she had to pay it.

"You know, that's not the answer I'm looking for, but you're quite right, Herbivicus may also be used against some Creatures." Don't ask her to explain that though, she was a flora girl, not fauna. Distinct difference there.



Again she found herself no-shaking her head... bobbing it around in a circle side-to-side.

"Mmm .. good idea, but no."



And Ethan was already attempting to link the two activities into one. She smiled broadly. "Your line of thinking isn't at all bad, though no... the immediate impact of both charms is the same," she reiterated. Ergo, same size, same speed.



And VIOLA!.............. the answer she had long awaited!

"Yes yes yes! That's absolutely it, was everyone listening?" she asked, directing the conversation back to the rest of the class.

"As Marcus just stated, and so very eloquently too, while in both instances the targeted plant reaches the peak of their growth, the Vitaris Charm does nothing to lengthen the plants life cycle, so as quickly as they have grown, they will soon perish... whereas, with the Herbivicus Charm, though the plants physical growth has been accelerated, it's life cycle remains the same and as a result the plant lives a longer mature life." Pretty neat huh? Yes? No? Maybe a little?........ Each to their own, though they ought to take note of that in their books. She wasn't going to have it written up just yet, just to see how may were really paying attention.

"So today, because we want to produce a longer lasting healthy Bonsai, we're going to practice with the Herbivicus Charm." And how they were going to produce a minitature tree out of a fully grown one, well that remained to be seen.

"Before we get onto the process of practicing Bonsai, we must first have a tree to work with. So to start off with, what I'd like you all to do is take your seed and plant it into the pot closest to your station, the pot should be to your left hand side..." each to their own, no stealing please, thank youuuuu. "Plant it using the potting mix in the barrows provided. Water them and then conduct the charm... practice the incantation and wand movement first if you're unsure."

"Like this," she introduced, raising her own seed for them to see and turning to the pot beside her - already prepped with soil. Sticking her index finger into the soil to make a cavity, Seren then dropped it inside and covered it up before giving it a light sprinkle of water from her wand. "And now we charm," she added, turning to them briefly before returning her attention to the potted seed, her wand poised and pointed directly toward the potted seed.

"Herbivicus," she recited, giving the pointed wand a flick in its direction. Fairly rapidly a seedling emerged from the soil and soon grew into a sapling... and then a tree. It stopped growing abruptly, the pot big enough to support its root system, and the ceiling high enough to contain it. The Alder was a solid 20-25 metres in height... a charming tree it was.

"Once you have your tree, give it a hug and stand by for further instructions..." because really, who didn't want to hug their tree?

OOC: The lesson will continue in approx 30-something hours. Ideally you want 3 posts for this part of the lesson, 1- planting/watering 2-practicing 3-executing.

Well, he tried at least? Ethan returned the professor’s broad smile with a grin of his own. Again, Herbology isn’t his strongest subject, so the effort was something really. And because of the sleepy feeling, he just had to take down notes right away because he was sure that Bentley’s words will float away in a few seconds. What if she forgot to write it down, yes?

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

And now the practical part! Now, this made the boy perk up a little. Blinking, and after subtly rubbing his eyes, he focused his baby blues on the demonstration up ahead. Take the seed, put the seed inside the cavity, cover it with soil, water it, then charm it to grow. Hmm. Easy peasy. He too wrote down the steps, because at this rate, he was sure to pause and ask Simon on what to do. He didn’t want to bother his best bud, no? He can do this.

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

Afterwards, he did a double take though because before them was a very tall Alder Tree. Wait, wait, wait. He picked an Enchanting Elm seed. And if it grows to that size, is Bentley sure that he could hug a flesh-eating tree? Did Simon get a different seed? Can he swap? Yes? No? Gaaaah. So much for being adventurous.

Well, time’s ticking, so he should go and do the first step. Potting. To his left, he took his pot, then filled it with the potting mix provided. Okay, what was next? Yes, taking the seed and making a cavity on the soil with his gloved index finger. Poke, dig, poke, dig. Satisfied with the mini-hole, he placed the Enchanting Elm seed in it and covered it with the soil he dug out.

The spells had nothing to do with what the plants ate. Instead it had to do with growth. AJ scribbled down notes because she was sure that she would not remember anything about this once she left the class. Most likely she wouldn't remember anything about this in five minutes. Anywho... she listened intently to the instructions and watched as the tree grew at quick rate. "Wicked." She could totally take care of a magical garden if you could get your plants to grow up in a snap.

It was time to get her tree going. She picked up the Enchanting Elm seed and rolled it around in her fingers. It was weird to think that it would soon be a full grown tree. Whoops. She needed soil first. Placing the seed down once more for safe keeping AJ picked up some soil and placed it in her very own pot. She stuck two fingers into the dirt making the seed a nice little home. The lion sprinkled some more soil on top, and she was good to move on to the next step.

The Puffer lots points. Hahahahahaha. The rules of karma dictated you not laugh at the misfortune of Puffers but man oh man, what'd the kid think would happen when you called plant related stuff a waste infront of Bentley. This was the woman who cried over the man-eating plant that nearly killed them all. The Gryffindor was mildly surprized there wasn't a detention in the mix but then Bentley was a tree hugging tea sipper, getting too angry wasn't really her thing....

Of course Lex scribbled down what Mo said after the Professor confirmed it was right. He was a Ravenclaw afterall, couldn't really trust a word of 'intelligence' that came out of their mouths. Needed a second opinion first. That sort of thing.

Now came the difficult part. If the trees were getting to be that height on the table...and each person only got one pot....ermm....Lex glanced at her three seeds. This would never work. People needed to move. Like two seats down or something so each of hers could have their own room. Shoving was a viable option now that she no longer wore her Prefect badge but she highly doubted that would let it slide with her Head of House so....Alexa swiped the seeds from the table and grabbed the pot then hopped up.

Over there looked like a nice enough spot. Not too close to the flesh eater cages...not THAT far from the work table. There she flopped onto the floor and got ready to work.

Bay was having so much fun in this class! Professor Bentley was just awesome, mostly because she had just told them that they should hug their tree, he made sure that he will hug his tree because it will be the cutest thing ever.

Taking the bucket over to his left as instructed Bay put in some soil and then picked up his seed and placed it in carefully and covered it a little with some more soil. After that was done Bay went to go grab a watering can and when he came back he sat down in front of it and started to water. There all ready and prepped. he was going to let the water sink in a little bit before he cast his charm to make it grow.

Whooooa. That Marcus go, Mo as she knew him, was pretty smart, wasn't he? Ravenclaw to the bone, that one. Sophie knew she would have never been able to come up with some description about the life cycle, so thank you, Sorting Hat, for not making her a Ravenclaw. Expectations and all.

Sophie listened to the professor's descriptions and tried to take a lot of mental notes. The good thing about Herbology was that even when she was learning something new, Sophie could still follow along pretty well. She glanced to her left and noted the pot sitting there, just waiting on her like it had a mind of its own.

She collected some potting mix and began the process of adding a bit of it to the bottom of the pot.

Jasmine quickly grabbed her notebook and started to write down all of the information that she could. When she had finished, she found her designated pot and went off to get some potting soil. Returning to her spot, Jasmine took the potting soil and poured it into her pot. When she felt that she had added enough soil, she picked up her Blackthorn seed.

Sticking her finger into the soil, Jasmine made a hole just as the Professor had done. She took her seed and placed it well down into the hole. Then Jasmine filled the hole with soil. When she felt that the seed was adequately covered, Jasmine took out her wand. Saying, "Aguamenti", the water flowed from her wand and dampened the soil. "Alright my little tree, that should be enough water for you." Yes, she talked to her seed because....you know.....plants liked that kind of thing.

Aha. So that was the difference between the two spells. Adi scribbled that down. It was really interesting actually. After he was done done making his notes and being amazed by the demonstration Professor Bentley had provided, he located the pot to his left. Time to get started on his own seed though he was sort of apprehensive about hugging a Flesh Eating Plant. But Bentley would have warned them if they were in any danger, yes?

Using potting mix from one of the barrows, Adi filled the pot. Next, he scooped aside a bit of the mix from the middle to form a hole in which he dropped the seed in. With the seed now safely in, he covered it with the dug out mix. What next? Oh yeah. Watering.

"Aguamenti!'' The Hufflepuff allowed just a bit of water into the pot. "Finite!'' Didn't want to drown the seed now, did he?

The first order of business was the most obvious. One pot, three plants, she wasn't that great at Arithmancy but even she knew this wouldn't end well. In just two cast of the duplication spell she was now sitting across from three perfect pots for planting. That of course was also the easiest problem to fix. The Gryffindor found herself wondering why she didn't add the dirt before sitting, this was three pots to work with here.

With a heavy sigh, she hauled herself off the ground and headed for one of the barrows with the potting soil. Each pot was half filled before the seeds were dropped in and they were proper covered and snug tight for the impending growth that would be happening soon but it wasn't until she retook her seat on the floor that she patted the soil down neatly enough.

Know something? She probably should have labelled these right after potting them....being like this now surely robbed them of whatever little individuality they had and there was nothing she could do about that until they grew a couple metres and didn't look like each other anymore but first, water.

"Aguamenti." Some real sloppy work too just moving her wand over each pot, kinda like her neighbour did with that hose thing she had, but it got the plants watered nicely enough. "Finite."

But the floor....covered in water....she didn't suppose the Professor had one of those 'slippery when wet' signs? No? Didn't think so. "Tergeo." There, not a drop of water for any idiot to slip on--though what would anyone be doing over here to slip? Her sitting here wasn't an invitation for anyone else to do the same. THAT is when shoving would happen.

Ian listened intently to all the answers. His wouldn't have been so nearly succint as Marcus' had been so he was glad he silently listened as others answered, though he wouldn't gain house points that way. He'd need to be more assertive.

He looked to his left and pulled the pot toward him, he smiled, imagining what type of bonsai he'd like to have. He was certainly excited about the chance to engage in this ancient art form. He was a little disgusted at the student's rude assertion that this exercise was futile and useless.

Satisfied with the pot, he went to the barrow with his pot to gather some soil.

Almooooost done.

Just a bit of casting and these would be looking impressive. The Professor had suggesting them practising first and she would be...on the plants. What's the worst that could happen if she didn't get the spell right--and what were the odds she wouldn't get the spell right anyway? It was a lot like the vitaris charm only with more concentration. Sitting all the way over here by herself, the odds of something breaking her concentration were minimal at best. She didn't have to be elbowing anyone to move over. This was thinking ahead even if she hadn't thought about it 'til now.

"Who wants to go first?"

No one? Well jeez, don't all hop out of your pots at once. This is what she got for trying to connect with the plants. Bet the flesh eaters would have been more enthusiastic about this. Couldn't she have grown one of those instead?

A flick toward the first pot. "Herbivicus." All focus on this one right here, she watched first a tiny leaf sprouting up then another until the plant stretch it's way up and out. If she had to guess she'd say maybe 22 metres but what did she know? A second flick. "Herbivicus." And another masterpiece coming up from the soil. There was really nothing to it when you got the hang off it. Pffft and the Professor suggested practice. The third flick of her wand was directed at the only one left. "Herbivicus."

She wouldn't hug them all though. No. They could hug each other.

Ian had the soil in his pot and returned to his work station. He blew into his hands to warm them a bit and then dug his right index finger into the soil to have a place to place the seed. He went to pick up the seed he'd left on his table and was surprised he didn't feel it where he'd set it. He began to look around on the floor for it. It didn't seem to be on the floor. He looked around his pot. He moved his notebook around and his quill and his gloves (which he should really put on) and nothing!. He sighed and decided to pick up the pot. Maybe he'd mistakenly set his pot on the seed and it hadn't hurt the seed.

He was disappointed when he picked up the pot and there appeared to be the remains of the seed he'd set on his desk. He was rather disappointed. He hoped there would be another when he went back up there. He picked up the remnants and walked to the professor. Ma'am. Apparently I wasn't careful enough and I smashed the seed I picked up. Is it possible to get another?

Look at Glasswall. All grown up and making negative comments. Cutty didn't think she could do that. He'd passed her desk on his way up to pick out an alder seed, but drew none of his attention toward her. Not during classtime at least as he had an agenda.



Merlin that was a lot of guesses. Cutty found he sort of liked Kyroh's the most. What did she mean by against some creatures? Did it just make them grow like another version of the growing spell? Or did it also have other consequences?

Cutty looked to the left and found there the pots of which Bentley spoke of. He reached for the barrow with the potting soil in it and grabbed a huge handful, and then another. His index finger then went into the dirt as though he were gouging out an eye. Gently, though the seed was dropped into the mix and covered with the soil. "Aguamenti." He said calmly watering the seed. How did it know what to do? It was like SO TINY.

Now she could practice this tree growing spell. She was just about to pull out her wand to give the movement a go when she remembered... THE WATER. A bit dramatic, and totally not her style? Maybe, but water was crucial if she wanted her tree to all big and strong like the professors. She wanted her tree to be the biggest of the all. Big dreamer over here.

"Aguamenti." That was one spell that AJ had down. Once the soil seemed to be nice and hydrated she stopped the water flow. NOW she could get on with practicing. The lion felt kind of dumb for practicing the wand movement since it was a flick and who couldn't flick? There was a chance that if she didn't practice the flick, that her arm could forget what to do in mid incantation and then result would be trees on fire EVERYWHERE, and a furious Bentley. Plus, they had just saved the plants and such, and how terrible of luck could Bentley have when it came to her leafy little friends? AJ flicked her wand. You are welcome head of house. Crisis averted!

Now it was time to get the incantation down. She was only thinking of Bentley. Herbivicus. "Herbivicus... Herb-ivi-cus." AJ rolled the word around on her tongue until she was sure that she could say it without causing a forest fire. Heh. It was go time. She was ready. Let's make a tree in five seconds flat.

Angel was so cold but she had a lot of things to do and she was shivering like crazy but she wouldn't let the plants down they needed looking after. She had always been there for them and she wouldn't let them down now even if she just wanted to go to bed.

Angel wrote down some notes before getting a seed, she couldn't believe how fast this seed would grow but for now she had to make sure everything was perfect, she got hold of a pot and put some soil into it.

Once she was satisfied with the amount of soil in the pot she put two fingers into the soil and made a nice little bed for the seed to go onto, she then put the seed in and put a bit of soil onto, now though she needed to see what she had to do next.