Beverly squinted her eyes at the plants on the cart in thought. The roots is what gave it away to the Slytherin. Had she only seen the leaves then her guess list was as long as Merlin's beard.

Raising her hand, Beverly straightened her posture absently. "A mandrake. They are used for various health conditions." Colic, pain, ulcers. Health stuff.

Touching stuff was happening. Reaching into her bag, Beverly took out her dragon hide gloves and slipped them on.

They were... mundane mandrakes. Toby could have kicked himself. Well, actually he did, even though it was kind of awkward to do so. REALLY, though, such a simple thing to have overlooked, but he'd gone and done it. Promising, right?

Shaking his head at himself, Toby did his best to write some of this stuff down. Truebridge was saying a lot of words and usually in Herbology that was never really a problem for him, but today he was having trouble getting his brain to do the thing and it was... well... kinda disheartening.

Anyway, right, so... physical characteristics. And an offer to get up and go have a look? Toby hesitated for a moment, though he wasn't sure WHY, and put up his hand first. He REMEMBERED now that stuff had already been SAID. Typical. "Well, the roots, they're all twisted, right? It's actually a thing where, well... y'know with magical mandrakes the roots as basically sort of... humanoid? And scream and all that. Mundane mandrake roots can sometimes sort of look like human bodies too, but it's usually more to do with that's just how they grow. They don't scream or cry or anything like that." Sooooo yeah. That was a thing. "I'm not sure if it's just coincidentally how they grow or maybe if like, a magical mandrake is just a more developed mundane one or something, but I think it's pretty cool."

Okay. He was gonna go say hello to the plants, even though he'd already answered. Toby had his gloves with him (small miracles; he often left them in his dorm on the days he actually needed them), and so pulled them on before heading over to the cart with the mundane mandrakes, and carefully picking one up to take a better look.

Kate stared at the mandrakes as she fished her dragonhide gloves out her bag and put them on. Did Kate want to come touch the plant? No, not right now. Her mind was racing with something different she could throw out there. She tried to remember what had been said so far, but there was so much information that she wasn't sure what would be new and what had been said.

Meh. She raised her hand into the air. "The roots branch out to resemble little human-like forms," she said, eyeing the mandrake as she spoke. "Both mundane and magical, right?" She was kind of nervous to speak up, especially when she wasn't sure of her answer. This was the HEADMISTRESS right here, people!

Oh the lesson was starting. Awesome! Now she got to see what was under the sheet on the cart. semi-dangerous plants? How come she liked the sound of that? hehe. She wrote down what Truebrigde had said about Herbology and being deadly if you were ignorant all of that stuff. Anyway... MANDRAKES! That's what was under the sheet. She sat up a bit straighter in her seat it see better. "Those are Mandrakes, They are a root. used for restoring things back ton their original state."

They could touch it! Fun. She fumbled around for her drangonhind gloves, She wanted to touch it. "Some call it “devil’s candle” because it resembles a flickering flame." She gave a little nod after she was finished with her in put on the subject. Finallly she found her gloves and put them on. She was ready to touch the Mandrakes.

Wow, she didn't mess around. Then again, she was the Headmistress as well, so she probably had Headmistress-y things to do.

Either way, Heather was learning more now than she had in any Herbology class she'd attended since she'd transferred to Hogwarts. Like the two forms of mandrake. She'd only known about the magical kind. Which meant that she was silently taking notes for now. After all, the Headmistress was only asking about the mundane mandrake, right? So she had nothing to add since she'd only learnt of it a few minutes ago.

Huh? What in Merlin's name was Sophie Brown on about? The Gryffindor gave her a strange look, but nodded and let her do her thing. Why the heck would the Headmistress be hiding from them, was the real question. Of course Zander probably would've known had he attended that Mandatory DADA class Truebridge held last term.... Except he had to attend a "Mandatory" Detention instead.

The strange look he gave Sophie, however, was absolutely no match for the even STRANGER look he gave the headmistress when she basically appeared out of nowhere and awarded points to Sophie and Marigold for the whole checking the perimeter thing. Uh... Had Zander missed something here? Because surely the whole school had gone insane if they were supposed to walk into an empty classroom just to expect the teacher to be hiding from them. Okay, Zander had always known there was something off about Hogwarts, but this was... much.

Still giving the Headmistress a funny look (not on purpose of course) he was a bit distracted to take a proper look at the plants. Of course if he had seen them himself, he would've known they were mandrakes right away. Or at least he would like to think that he would. Got an O on this OWL and everything, it was one of the few. He loved herbology, okay? Well he loved it before the crazy Headmistress who was out to get him took over.

Ahem.

He was only drawn back to the lesson when Sophie joined in with a very lengthy, intelligent sounding answer about something potions related. Honestly, Zander wasn't really able to follow her train of thought but he totally added to the validity by nodding a bunch and making it look like he completely agreed with her answer. And of course Truebridge loved it. Sophie Brown could do no wrong. Also she was probably the smartest student of all of Hogwarts, so that probably helped too.

Anyways.

Zander did put on his gloves as recommended, but he didn't get up to go pet the plant, deciding that mean having to get real close to the Headmistress. Keeping a safe distance was probably best. You know, maybe she forgot about the whole incident last year? Zander was hopeful. He did decide to raise his hand this time around though, just so she knew he was still paying attention. "Well, they have got fruit , berries that are kind of globe shaped," that counted as a physical description, right? He motioned his hands to replicate the globe shape as he spoke, "But they only really start fruiting in the autumn," of course the berries stick around for a while after. But you know, details.

Gabriel had been silent up until this point, diligently taking his notes and jotting quotes here and there from the more relevant answers given. Yes, most of them were comprised from Toby's contributions. He was just brilliant and the Ravenclaw admired his brain. It was a lovely one. Sophie Brown and Cutty Mordaunt were featured, too, as they both always seemed to know what was going on.

Smart people were smart.

...and he perked up with potions mention. Yes, potions from all things. And while Gabe wanted to ask more about the brewing aspects, there was another, more pressing question just on the tip of his tongue. So, slipping on his gloves, he reached out to touch the twisted plant.

Eden was right. It did seem very potatoequs.

"Do the properties of the plant change drastically depending on what species of Mandragora it is? As there are....five different types, if I recall right."

Thinking that the staring professor was merely stunned by her epic response, AJ kept eye contact with her while beaming. She would take five points like the others got for going that extra mile. See... it was such an amazing answer that it warranted repeating. This was probably for the benefit of those in the back of the greenhouse. Everybody have their listening ears on? Yes. Okay...

"I was saying that the pretty flowers are used---"

A light bulb went off. Oh. Erm. Well, this was awkward. The headmistress professor ma'am didn't actually want her to "come again." Fine. It was her loss really. Where she had read it was anybody's guess. AJ didn't normally pay attention to details. "Witch weekly, I think." She didn't know what kind of magazine it was at first, okay?

Touching the mandrake was going to happen. AJ slipped on her gloves and walked toward the plant. Squeeze. Squeeze. Yup, Eden was right. It was a potato or related to one at the very least as she had commented. "Feels kind of wrinkly to me. Maybe it needs some water." What was the question again?

So she had remembered the text correctly and her answer and been right. Awesome. A lot more answers were being given though and what she needed to do was catch everything that was being said, especially if the headmistress said it would be on the OWLs and NEWTS. Grabbing her quill and a sheet of parchment Hady opted to remain silent for this next question to catch up on taking down her notes.

Nothing wrong with that. And since she didn't actually "Have" to get up and touch one of the plants she didn't. What she did do was lift her head and stop writing for a brief moment to get a better look at the mandrakes when the cart was brought closer. That was enough for now, no sense in bothering with it if she didn't need to do so. Odds were she'd have to work with a plant at some point during this lesson anyhow. So back to jotting down notes for her.

Dot wasn't really interested in touching the plant, even with gloves on. Nope. It was kind of a nasty looking plant, with all the twisty bits, and apparently, it was dangerous? Why were they handling DANGEROUS plants? And dirty ones too, since there was dirt clinging to the roots there.

No thanks.

"I'm going to touch the thingy with my eyeballs, please, Professor Ma'am." Dot did wear her gloves, at least, but mostly because she thought they looked kind of fabulous, and she hung back and made a show of LOOKING at the plant. "It has a big root, so I bet it's tricky to repot. And probably fussy about the kind of dirt it likes." On account of the alkaloid, yucky poison of it.

Marigold nodded along eagerly, anything to please Truebridge. So it wasn't ginger, but it was a mundane mandrake. Okay. She could handle that. She slipped gloves on and touched the plant tentatively. She wasn't quite sure what to say, so instead of an answer, she asked a question.

"What makes the roots look like that, like people? Because I know ginger does that too. Or is it just random roots, and humans thought they saw themselves there? Like constellations?"

Her thought was concise and smart, but on the way out her mouth, everything got jumbled up. Oops.

Zhenya listened intently to everyone's answers and facts about the Mandrakes, making mental notes of their answers, as well as Professor Headmistress Truebridge's responses and comments.

But now Truebridge wanted them to describe it to the class. She commented "I always thought the leaves reminded me of spinach plants. You know, the big spinach, not the baby spinach leaves." But not so much in how the plant looked like something fat had sat on it and squished it. What else could she describe about the plant? Well, nothing really. Everyone was doing that, and a good job too. She noted the way everyone explained the characteristics of the plant and other useful or random facts. Zhenya thought that touching it would be okay, and she liked to get dirty. But gloves were a must, so she pulled her own dragon hide gloves out and put them on, walking forward to touch it. What other information could she say about them? "They look like the organic purple carrots my cousin buys. Each carrot seems to have four ends." It was true, they looked more like one of those wooden back massagers, or wire head massage/tickler things than a carrot. "Can you imagine peeling every nook and cranny of those things?" Zhenya never peeled them, she just chopped them up, much to Sophia's disgust. She didn't have much else to say, so she stepped back to let others come and have a play with the Mandrakes.

Yes! He had been right along with Zhenya and Hades. He made it a point to scribble down all the things that he could. NEWTs were next year but he liked to be prepared. Ocasionally, he would shoot AJ a look. Boy, did her answer amuse the heck out of him. He was positive she had made up that. LOL.

Touch the mandrakes! YEAH! The Hufflepuff pulled on his own pair of dragon hide gloves after dropping his quill into his open inkwell for safe keeping. On his way to the get closer to the cart, he supplied an answer, his hand up even though he was walking. "You can ell when the fruit is ripe because it has a shade of colour between yellow and orange.'' Berries were a physical part of the plant so yeah. Adi supposed that answer could work.

Anyway. With the dragon hide gloves on, Adi didn't really think he got the true feel of the plant. "I think the leaves are kind of smooth.'' Or was he off with that description?

Oh. OH. Mandrakes! She knew about those...kinda...but the type she knew about had babies at the bottom and these ones were much boring-er than that. Mundane, right. Not that they were REALLY boring because Norah didn't believe plants could even be boring, but they were boring-ER. There was a difference. Once she'd finished writing down all that the Headmistress said about the plants, she pulled her dragon hide gloves and made her way up to the cart.

She stuck one finger out and gave the mandrake root a soft poke. WEIRD. Heheh. She touched once more before returning to her seat and putting a gloved hand in the air. "Well, the root is pretty big right now, so I guess it's matured just like the magical kind of mandrake matures...except these ones just grow instead of growing like a baby." That part was obvious, right? These roots did look like twisty person-ish THINGS but they weren't real babies. Not that magical mandrakes were REAL babies, but y'know. This was getting confusing. "You have to wait for the magical kind of mandrake to mature before using it in potions, so I bet you have to wait for the mundane ones to mature too, before using them in the an- anes-" she squinted at the notes she'd written before. "Anesthetics." Theeeere it was. She'd gotten to the word eventually, okay?

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

She didn't REALLY want to stand up and touch the plant, but she would. Slipping on her gloves, she approached the plant and just let a finger swipe over the leaves...and the flower...and then the potato-like part..."Well, aren't they related to potatoes? It kinda' feels similar." She said. She thought she'd read that somewhere...in the vast, vast Herbology universe of knowledge...most of which Eden didn't possess, but she TRIED.

"They are related!" Bunz almost sounded pleased with Eden's common sense answer. "I believe they are of the same family, if we're doing scientific classifications." And they weren't, not for this lesson, but there was no harm in going deeper into the material if the students were curious.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Angel had been totally in awe of the plant that she had forgotten to answer the first question at first. She raised her hand and smiled. "They are supposed to be very rare right?" Angel was sure that was true, she hadn't seen them that much around.

Angel then listened to the professor again and put on her dragon hives gloves, she loved this lesson and so she was totally going to touch the plant, she had to if she wanted to go exploring.

Angel raised her hand after she had touched one. "Professor, aren't they supposed too be tufty and they are purplish green in colour." Angel wasn't sure about the colour but well she decided that she was going to guess, she wanted to get on with the activity, saying that she would have to see the head about exploring, since that is what she wanted to do when she was older, she wondered if the head had an advice on it.

"I don't know if I would say 'very' rare... uncommon might be a better word, depending on your region." And was Angel talking about magical or mundane mandrakes? The Headmistress nodded to her next answer and added it to the board. "Correct. Purple, tufty, greenish in color... I even think some of the leaves look like a variety of kale, but hairy on the edges usually instead of smooth."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

"Um...they are perenials...with um branched roots and...5-petaled flowers."

"How do you know they're perennials just from looking at them?" the Headmistress probed the Gryffindor. Hmm? Hmm? "Correct on that description, very good." Adding that to the chalkboard...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz

Beverly squinted her eyes at the plants on the cart in thought. The roots is what gave it away to the Slytherin. Had she only seen the leaves then her guess list was as long as Merlin's beard.

Raising her hand, Beverly straightened her posture absently. "A mandrake. They are used for various health conditions." Colic, pain, ulcers. Health stuff.

Touching stuff was happening. Reaching into her bag, Beverly took out her dragon hide gloves and slipped them on.

"Correct." Oh that was already on the board though, more or less.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Anyway, right, so... physical characteristics. And an offer to get up and go have a look? Toby hesitated for a moment, though he wasn't sure WHY, and put up his hand first. He REMEMBERED now that stuff had already been SAID. Typical. "Well, the roots, they're all twisted, right? It's actually a thing where, well... y'know with magical mandrakes the roots as basically sort of... humanoid? And scream and all that. Mundane mandrake roots can sometimes sort of look like human bodies too, but it's usually more to do with that's just how they grow. They don't scream or cry or anything like that." Sooooo yeah. That was a thing. "I'm not sure if it's just coincidentally how they grow or maybe if like, a magical mandrake is just a more developed mundane one or something, but I think it's pretty cool."

Okay. He was gonna go say hello to the plants, even though he'd already answered. Toby had his gloves with him (small miracles; he often left them in his dorm on the days he actually needed them), and so pulled them on before heading over to the cart with the mundane mandrakes, and carefully picking one up to take a better look.

"Excellent. Excellent, Toby, I like where you're going with this." Bunz pointed at him, which made her chalk point to, and then gestured back to the board so it would write down his contribution.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Kate stared at the mandrakes as she fished her dragonhide gloves out her bag and put them on. Did Kate want to come touch the plant? No, not right now. Her mind was racing with something different she could throw out there. She tried to remember what had been said so far, but there was so much information that she wasn't sure what would be new and what had been said.

Meh. She raised her hand into the air. "The roots branch out to resemble little human-like forms," she said, eyeing the mandrake as she spoke. "Both mundane and magical, right?" She was kind of nervous to speak up, especially when she wasn't sure of her answer. This was the HEADMISTRESS right here, people!

"Yes, very good, Kate. We'll take a look at the magical mandrakes here in a moment."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saraie

Oh the lesson was starting. Awesome! Now she got to see what was under the sheet on the cart. semi-dangerous plants? How come she liked the sound of that? hehe. She wrote down what Truebrigde had said about Herbology and being deadly if you were ignorant all of that stuff. Anyway... MANDRAKES! That's what was under the sheet. She sat up a bit straighter in her seat it see better. "Those are Mandrakes, They are a root. used for restoring things back ton their original state."

They could touch it! Fun. She fumbled around for her drangonhind gloves, She wanted to touch it. "Some call it “devil’s candle” because it resembles a flickering flame." She gave a little nod after she was finished with her in put on the subject. Finallly she found her gloves and put them on. She was ready to touch the Mandrakes.

"Very good..." And as for her second answer? Hmm. The Headmistress tilted her head. "I haven't heard it called that before. Do you think it resembles a flame?" Did she really, because nothing about the roots or flowers screamed fire to her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Zander did put on his gloves as recommended, but he didn't get up to go pet the plant, deciding that mean having to get real close to the Headmistress. Keeping a safe distance was probably best. You know, maybe she forgot about the whole incident last year? Zander was hopeful. He did decide to raise his hand this time around though, just so she knew he was still paying attention. "Well, they have got fruit , berries that are kind of globe shaped," that counted as a physical description, right? He motioned his hands to replicate the globe shape as he spoke, "But they only really start fruiting in the autumn," of course the berries stick around for a while after. But you know, details.

Gryffindors just weren't cut out for Herbology, in this redhead's opinion. Just look at this one, giving her weird looks like she was speaking English. Hello, Mr. Adair, wake up! Finally he was contributing something. "Very good," she added that to the board. Useful to know. "And these are berries you probably should not eat, by the way, because if you're not careful, they could get you in trouble...." Oh, trouble, what about trouble? Had she forgotten all the trouble Zander caused last year? Hmm?

Nope, never.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

"Do the properties of the plant change drastically depending on what species of Mandragora it is? As there are....five different types, if I recall right."

"I wouldn't say the properties change drastically, no, but you are correct that there are five different mundane varieties. The berries are probably the most noticeable different physical attribute from variety to variety." Great question though, Gabe. It was nice to work with students who seemed to enjoy herbology...

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixStar

"I was saying that the pretty flowers are used---"

A light bulb went off. Oh. Erm. Well, this was awkward. The headmistress professor ma'am didn't actually want her to "come again." Fine. It was her loss really. Where she had read it was anybody's guess. AJ didn't normally pay attention to details. "Witch weekly, I think." She didn't know what kind of magazine it was at first, okay?

Touching the mandrake was going to happen. AJ slipped on her gloves and walked toward the plant. Squeeze. Squeeze. Yup, Eden was right. It was a potato or related to one at the very least as she had commented. "Feels kind of wrinkly to me. Maybe it needs some water." What was the question again?

Witch Weekly? Really? And she thought that was credib--- never mind, hah, maybe this girl knew more about Muggles than the Headmistress did. It wasn't hard to know more about Muggles. "Anyway..." she found herself saying aloud. "They don't need water, these all need new pots." See how the mundane mandrakes were just sitting out, with their roots all exposed? Poor babies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"I'm going to touch the thingy with my eyeballs, please, Professor Ma'am." Dot did wear her gloves, at least, but mostly because she thought they looked kind of fabulous, and she hung back and made a show of LOOKING at the plant. "It has a big root, so I bet it's tricky to repot. And probably fussy about the kind of dirt it likes." On account of the alkaloid, yucky poison of it.

"Please don't literally touch it to your eyeballs, Miss Wojack." The Headmistress almost spared a smile for her, but didn't. "It's not as tricky or as fussy as the magical variety, actually." But wouldn't she like to find out? The Headmistress beckoned her closer. Come come, don't be a shy dot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Marigold nodded along eagerly, anything to please Truebridge. So it wasn't ginger, but it was a mundane mandrake. Okay. She could handle that. She slipped gloves on and touched the plant tentatively. She wasn't quite sure what to say, so instead of an answer, she asked a question.

"What makes the roots look like that, like people? Because I know ginger does that too. Or is it just random roots, and humans thought they saw themselves there? Like constellations?"

"Yes." More or less, Marigold had answered her own question. "It's not like these roots are cursed to grow humanoid in appearance, although Muggles have a lot of superstition regarding the mandrake, most like because of its magical cousin." She let out a small laugh and added a note like that to the board.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessiqua

Zhenya listened intently to everyone's answers and facts about the Mandrakes, making mental notes of their answers, as well as Professor Headmistress Truebridge's responses and comments.

But now Truebridge wanted them to describe it to the class. She commented "I always thought the leaves reminded me of spinach plants. You know, the big spinach, not the baby spinach leaves." But not so much in how the plant looked like something fat had sat on it and squished it. What else could she describe about the plant? Well, nothing really. Everyone was doing that, and a good job too. She noted the way everyone explained the characteristics of the plant and other useful or random facts. Zhenya thought that touching it would be okay, and she liked to get dirty. But gloves were a must, so she pulled her own dragon hide gloves out and put them on, walking forward to touch it. What other information could she say about them? "They look like the organic purple carrots my cousin buys. Each carrot seems to have four ends." It was true, they looked more like one of those wooden back massagers, or wire head massage/tickler things than a carrot. "Can you imagine peeling every nook and cranny of those things?" Zhenya never peeled them, she just chopped them up, much to Sophia's disgust. She didn't have much else to say, so she stepped back to let others come and have a play with the Mandrakes.

"I agree, and I also see a resemblance to curly kale." She smiled at Zhenya. The girl seemed to be a natural at Herbology. Organic carrots... very creative... "I would not enjoy peeling these, you're quite correct." Sounded like a job for the house-elf, if you asked her...

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Yes! He had been right along with Zhenya and Hades. He made it a point to scribble down all the things that he could. NEWTs were next year but he liked to be prepared. Ocasionally, he would shoot AJ a look. Boy, did her answer amuse the heck out of him. He was positive she had made up that. LOL.

Touch the mandrakes! YEAH! The Hufflepuff pulled on his own pair of dragon hide gloves after dropping his quill into his open inkwell for safe keeping. On his way to the get closer to the cart, he supplied an answer, his hand up even though he was walking. "You can ell when the fruit is ripe because it has a shade of colour between yellow and orange.'' Berries were a physical part of the plant so yeah. Adi supposed that answer could work.

Anyway. With the dragon hide gloves on, Adi didn't really think he got the true feel of the plant. "I think the leaves are kind of smooth.'' Or was he off with that description?

"Kind of smooth, but also kind of hairy, if you give it a touch." And she did so, without one glove for a brief second. "Good observation about the berries, however." She added that onto the list.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sararararararawr

She stuck one finger out and gave the mandrake root a soft poke. WEIRD. Heheh. She touched once more before returning to her seat and putting a gloved hand in the air. "Well, the root is pretty big right now, so I guess it's matured just like the magical kind of mandrake matures...except these ones just grow instead of growing like a baby." That part was obvious, right? These roots did look like twisty person-ish THINGS but they weren't real babies. Not that magical mandrakes were REAL babies, but y'know. This was getting confusing. "You have to wait for the magical kind of mandrake to mature before using it in potions, so I bet you have to wait for the mundane ones to mature too, before using them in the an- anes-" she squinted at the notes she'd written before. "Anesthetics." Theeeere it was. She'd gotten to the word eventually, okay?

"Great observation!" Aha, the class was THINKING. These kids were just so much smarter than the ones she'd had in her last Herbology lessons at Hogwarts... but anyway. "Good. I'll add that to the list."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chalkboard Notes

MANDRAKES

• also called Autumn or Mediterranean Mandrake
• perennials
• branched roots, which appear humanoid in appearance
• must mature before harvesting for use
• mundane: used by Muggles to make patients unconscious (anesthetic)
• mundane: highly poisonous when eaten (alkaloids)
• mundane: tufty, with purpleish greenish leaves
• mundane: related to the potato
• mundane: five-petaled flowers
• mundane: globe-shaped berries
• mundane: berries turn yellow-orange when ripe (in autumn)
• magical: used to make the Restorative Draught
• magical:
• magical:
• magical:
• magical: most famous use was during the Hogwarts basilisk attack of 1992

"Go ahead and add onto your notes, if you haven't done so already. Then EVERYONE needs gloves on a pair of earmuffs. I will not move on with the lesson until everyone is earmuffed, is that clear?"

She looked around and didn't wait for them to give her the all clear to start passing out ugly earmuffs. The bin of muffs was under her second cart, and to show WHY they would need earmuffs, she pulled the sheet off the second cart.

HERE were the magical mandrakes, all of them crammed together in one big planter, with their leaves all a-rustlin' and tusslin' because they were getting too BIG to be together. "Quickly, before we all get muffed... tell me some more properties of the magical mandrake so we know what to expect when we tug them up!"

Aha! Hairy too, huh? Adi nodded happily at the Headmistress. She certainly gave him a bit more of an idea to the feel of the plant. He bounded back towards his seat to make more notes. Wheee! He was LOVING this lesson! He looked up from his notes taking to take a pair of earmuffs that were handed to him. They had Big Bird's head sticking out of them. COOL! Big Bird was nice... and yellow like all things Hufflepuff. Hehe.

Okay, soooooo properties of the magical mandrakes. The Puffer raised a hand. "We can expect the mandrakes to be screaming and crying but we shouldn't be able to hear them because of these.'' He held up his earmuff. "That's a good thing because their cries are dangerous but only if they are fully grown.'' Adi didn't state what happened to persons who heard the younger mandrakes' cries on purpose. He would leave that for someone else.

Opening her notebook, Lux began recording the information about mandrakes. Even though she had read a bit about them last term there was always more to learn and notes never hurt anyone. They actually helped a lot, and NEWTs were next term so a lot of studying needed to be done.

The opportunity to touch the plant arose, and even though she didn't really WANT to do it she figured she might as well. Pulling her dragonhide gloves from her bag she placed them on her hand and approached the mandrake. Carefully she felt it. Eden was right about the potato relation. Yummy potatoes.

Now she was hungry.

Back at her desk, Lux added on to her notes so that she was up to date with everything that was going on in the lesson. ... And of course there was the big reveal. She had been expecting that given the nature of today's lesson. Raising her hand to answer the next question she said, "The cry of a mandrake is fatal to humans."

Grabbing a pair of gross looking earmuffs, she placed them securely onto her head so that there was no way she could hear the plant's noises.

Didja hear that? Didja HEAR THAT? She, Norah Lillian Kittredge, had said something GREAT. Man oh man this was one for the history books, especially 'cause the real live actual headmistress had said is so it was definitely the real deal. She beamed at Headmistress Truebridge before ducking her head down to add the new notes to her parchment. Maybe having the headmistress for a professor wasn't really that bad. Maybe.

She looked up quickly as Truebridge uncovered the second cart, hazel eyes wide 'cause look at those leaves RUSTLE. This was going to be totally radical. She could feel it. The fourteen year old held a pair of fluffy earmuffs to her cheek as she put a hand in the air to answer the question. These things were crazy soft, did everybody know? Ahem. Mandrakes. Riiiight. "They scream like crazy, like mad little babies! That's what the roots look like, too. Mad little babies. I think they're really loud." Hence the earmuffs. The soft, soft earmuffs.

Gabriel flushed slightly at the redhaired woman, carefully settling the mandrake in hand back down on the cart. "I have other questions about this...but I can ask later." They were moving on, or so it seemed, and he didn't fancy holding anyone up. And it was just knowledge for knowledge sake. anyway. So, nothing urgent.

Retaking his seat, he ducked back into his notes, hand flying quickly to add the new information, and to quote his peers. Smart peers. Gabe couldn't even have snarky, 'tude-filled thoughts about the situation. It was kinda nice, actually.

"Their behaviors match what a human child's would?...As...they grow older, they mirror their age.".....That had actually sounded much smarter in his head. Was he even making sense right now? "For instance, they'll act out as teenagers will do when they reach adolescence...and when they mature, they'll demonstrate more adult conduct."

That....had also sounded better in his head.

Cheeks flaming slightly, he stood to select his muffs. Plaid for him, thanks.

Eden sat up a little straighter when Truebridge....well, to say she had been impressed would be over stating it. But Eden noticed that..."oh, I don't think your answer was completely stupid" look. Hmph.

She eyed the choice of earmuffs...and...let out a laugh. Wow. Okay. "Your...earmuff choices are....brilliant, Headmistress." She said with a small chuckled as she SNATCHED the hamburger ones because those were REAAAALLY cool. She wondered where Bunz had gotten them...she kiiiiind of wanted a pair, to be honest.

MAGICAL MANDRAKES.

Eden raised her hand once more, the other one scribbling down notes frantically, and sighed. "Well. I remember reading somewhere that mandrake behaviors parallel that of humans...which I find really interesting. I also had another question, Headmistress--" she said, blinking a lot, and hoping...well, wow. Okay. Her cheeks turned red. Nervousness. Ahem. "These plants definitely seem to...somewhat have their own little minds and whatnot--what stops them from being creatures? Is it just the fact that they have ROOTS and grow in the ground?" Because they seemed like such a mixed.......oddity, really.

Henric had his own dragonskin gloves on but he felt it was a little crowded over at the front so he preferred to remain seated and listened to their observations instead. He took down notes as well about the Autumn Mandrakes, carefully putting them in each bullet points.Then, they were told to put on earmuffs because they were going to pull out magical mandrakes now..cool! There were tons of different colour earmuff designs available for them to choose from. Henric chuckled at the variety he saw, there was even the pink fluffy one, why did it remind him of pebbles?...Man...he missed that little pet rock already. He hoped Prof.Flamsteed found her soon...Anyway, he grabbed quickly a piece of earmuff with no girly, frilly things on it...nope.
"Umm...they look like humanoid babies when they're young, professor,"he answered.

YES that kale stuff, it looked just like that too. It surely wouldn't have much Vitamin K in it... maybe it would, but the toxic effect would outweigh the healthy effects of the Vitamin K. But anyway, it was time to move on and write some dot points, which she did. Mentally and physically.

And now they were asked to put on some earmuffs. Oh, WOULD they be repotting magical mandrakes? A beat of excitement bubbled up as she reached for a pair of tartan earmuffs. But just before she put them on, there was going to be more discussion. Probably because the earmuffs were the good magic kind. And there they were; mandrakes. Oh, look at them and all their spinachy goodness.

What would they expect? Zhenya could make a big list of them, but she would just settle for one. She raised her hand and said "They will bite your finger if you put it in their mouth." She remembered that; finger was NOT to be used as a dummy.

'Excellent' made him feel a bit better, and elicited a smile from the Hufflepuff as he paused to watch it get added to the board. After a few more moments checking out the mandrake, Toby backed off in order to make space if someone else wanted to have a look.

Earmuffs only really meant one thing: they were about to look at the magical version. Toby took his pair of earmuffs (a 'HUH?' pair), and was about to put them straight on when another question was asked. Sooooo he placed them around his neck in the meantime, letting them hang there instead while he raised his hand.

"Even though only the adult cries are fatal, even the cries of the super young baby ones will knock you out, which is preferable to dying but still pretty unpleasant." And, y'know, counterproductive when it happened in the middle of the classroom. Toby glanced at the contents of the cart that had been uncovered, trying to ascertain what life stage they were at. Not adults, he guessed, mainly because Mandrakes were usually re-potted when they were still super young, and those ones were all together. Likely they were babies. Curtis-aged. Maybe toddler mandrakes. Toby didn't think they'd be allowed to work with the adult ones, not with much closer supervision; earmuffs could malfunction or get knocked off accidentally and everything, after all, and that would not be a happy accident.

As the lesson continued to move forward Hady hadn't stopped with her note taking. Not until she had listed everything that was being said nice and neatly on her parchment. Setting her quill aside she lifted her gaze once more to the mandrakes.

As more talk about the magical plant was going on she leaned over bending down to get her bag that was sat on the floor near her feet. Quickly rummaging through it she found and pulled out her dragon hide gloves. Slipping them onto her hands she made sure they fit nicely before doing anything else. No sense in taking any chances when working with something dangerous.

Accepting her pair of earmuffs the Slytherin couldn't help but grin at it knowing who Big Bird was from her childhood. She remembered watching him all the time growing up. Placing them earmuffs on her head she left them just covering her ears halfway so that she could hear what else was being said for the moment. When nothing more was being said or done she pushed the muffs down firmly over her ears and gave them a good pat to make sure they were where they needed to be and she'd be safe from the mandrakes shrill shrieks of displeasure.

Not unusually for Brian, he was in a state of disbelief at how much the magical world had managed to hide from Muggles. Every time he thought it couldn't get weirder, the universe just seemed to have to prove him wrong and chuck something even stranger in his face. This time, it was plants that look like babies whose cries were fatal. Good gosh. Brian didn't offer any feedback this time, perfectly satisfied to take notes. There was SO much he didn't know.

OH. EARMUFFS! Brian snatched a pair blindly, grinning at the depiction of Big Bird on them. Cool. His gran would probably be really excited about those.