As people were poking and prodding the mandrakes, Cutty was searching for his gloves in his bag. He finally resorted to accio'ing them and put them onto his hands. They were the same old ones his mother had gotten for him. Previously used and with added wear to them, they nonetheless lasted and at last fit like...really good. His hands were no longer swimming in them.

His gloved hands cupped around two plush hamburgers one to go over each ear. Wasting no time he swung them over his head and over his ears, but then he saw the Headmistresses little red lips moves and he pushed the muffs so that they hung around his neck.

"Would yer say that the potency of their shrieks is in proportion to their maturity level, then? And that the younger they are, the less likely they'll be to kill yer." His hands idly pulled at the plushie hamburgers that hung around his neck for the moment as he considered the somewhat repetitive nature of what they were saying. "Is zar always going to be true? If yew were an infant like would the screams of a young magical madrake carry the same potency fer yew as the screams of an adult mandrake on an adult witch or wizard?" Or were young mandrakes always going to produce less lethal effects no matter the age of the audience?

Angel was going to enjoy this lesson, she totally went and got a pair of earmuff and put them on so they were on snuggly, she hoped that she could hear everything that the Professor said but there was only one way she could find that out and at the minute it wasn't time for her to find out.

Angel raised her hand. "Professor can't they do something to you, that makes It so you can't move?" Angel wasn't really sure but she thought that she would guess at that.

The corners of Kate's lips edged up into a small smile. She didn't know why she was so intimidated about giving an answer to the Headmistress. She guessed it was because the woman was in charge of the whole entire school. Yeah. That was probably it. That was a pretty big job, Kate thought.

Kate followed along with the lesson and quickly added onto her notes. She put her righthand glove back on, since she'd been taking notes with that hand, and then accepted a pair of earmuffs. Were those...hamburgers on the end? Great.

Headmistress Truebridge wanted MORE properties?! Kate could come up with loads, but coming up with things that had already been said was the hard part. Raising her hand, she added, "You can tell when a Mandrake is fully matured, because they start moving into each other's pots," she said. That was important, because wouldn't their screams be the most fatal?

Ilia had barely registered Henric draping his hufflepuff scarf around her until she felt the warmth. Blushing a little she wrapped it tightly around herself. It smelled like him too.....yup she piled the scarf a little higher to hide the blushing. It was enough that Leah and the school rag mag thought that they were a couple, she didn't need to be blushing in front of the whole class.
---------------
She added to her notes quietly, not having anything different to add then the rest of the class. Earmuffs.........she looked at the contraptions and frowned........they were all odd. Very odd. She didn't think the headmistress would find the color changing charm being used on them too amusing so she looked for the least ridiculous looking pair.........and nope some one else had grabbed them. Sighing to herself a little she picked up a pair of 'hamburger' muffs. It was a muggle sort of foreign food that she had seen but not experienced. Why one would want food shaped things muffing their ears made no sense to her. What if some sort of animal recognized them as food and attempted to snatch them on your walk outside? Food ears was not a good thing..........in here she figured it would be harmless though.

Yes, but after they got into a pot wouldn't they need water? Didn't all plants need water? That was pretty much gardening 101 or Herbology 101, whatever. This was her sister's area of expertise. AJ was just here hoping that somebody got bit or something else cool happened.

The earmuffs were bloody brilliant. AJ was all over the one that looked like a hamburger. Back up people. This one was hers. Snagging that one, she thought about what to add to the comments already made. Ohhh... she had a Ravenclaw-ish answer. "They get pimples." Beam.

Well no...he supposed you couldn't tell they were perennials from glancing at them. But Ben considered it a physical characteristic since it meant it was a hardy plant that didn't die at the end of the season. At least he had gotten the flower part right which wasn't hard given he could see them in the examples. The Gryffindor added all the acceptable observations into his notes, including the perenial fact since Truebridge had added it to the list anyway and then looked to the selection of ear muffs they were shown.

The least weird were the tartan ones so Ben grabbed a pair, securing them to his head before following the headmistresses attention to the cart she had just uncovered. Those would be the magical mandrakes. The plants even moving like they were creatures like their roots portrayed. As for the professor's request that he heard with only his uncovered ear, he stayed quiet.

His classmates seemed to have a good grasp of things.

Truebridge... liked what she had to say? That was mega cool, and Sophie grinned even more gratefully at the Headmistress for appreciating her verbalized thought process. She WOULD, in fact, go see Culloden about that later, too. Maybe they could experiment and SEE how a mundane mandrake component would work differently than a magical one, or... maybe Culloden would already know. Either way, SHE WAS GOING TO FIND OUT.

Taking avid notes and copying down everything on the board, Sophie was happy when both Toby and Zander, too, got approval for their answers. Though... Soph did not miss Truebridge's little thing about "trouble," and the Ravenclaw gave her fellow prefect a nudge of encouragement as if to say, hey, it's fine. Zander hadn't caused ANY trouble that she knew of this whole term, so he didn't need to let that bother him, right? His record was clean this term. No need to sweat it. He'd done well.

When instructed to put on their dragonhide gloves, Sophie did so, and when the earmuffs were passed out... she got the fuzzy pink ones, which was pretty much the best thing that ever could've happened. Too bad they weren't pink AND purple, but the pink would suffice just nicely, yes. Sophie put them on over her ears, testing them out to see how they would fit briefly before sliding them down around her neck to rest there while they continued their discussion.

Others were quick to offer up properties of magical mandrakes, which worked out just fine as Sophie didn't mind letting other people earn brownie points from Truebridge. She'd done enough impressing for one day, probably. But in reality, everyone else just said all the things she could think of offering up to the table. That was ALSO good, though, because that meant they were a smart bunch of students and the weight didn't all have to fall on one person's shoulders.

She was super excited for this, though. Mandrakes. MAGICAL MANDRAKES. How cool, right?

Marigold dutifully took notes, adding to the column she had made about mundane mandrakes. Magical mandrakes she knew a bit more about, like how they had been used to kill Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts. But that was more of a tidbit.

She raised a hand to answer before she put her earmuffs on, so that she could hear her own voice. "Dugbogs and Flesh Eating Slugs eat mandrakes." Did that count as a fact? "And their leaves are used for antidotes in potions."

With that, she slid the pink fluffy earmuffs over her ears and adjusted it for comfort. This was going to be SO FUN.

Y'know if it hadn't been for the rest of what she said, Zander would've actually thought that Truebridge was willing to see past the events of last term. Except for the comment about trouble. Because Zander was about 700.98% sure that she wasn't talking about the berries. She was talking about him. It didn't take a Ravenclaw to figure that out.

Except a Ravenclaw did figure that out. That much was evident enough when Sophie turned to give him a reassuring look. Which, by the way, most certainly helped, though he still felt pretty bummed out about the sneaky comment.

He had a REALLY great answer. And he had been all beamy before the trouble thing because now he was just, y'know. Man. So much for being hopeful. At least no one else got it though. AND he technically hadn't done anything wrong yet this term, aside from those OWL scores he got back, so ahem Zander Adair was moving forward.

Speaking of which, the class was moving forward from the mundane Mandrakes to the magical kind. Zander didn't really feel the need to add to the descriptions, seeing how well that went the first time, plus repeat answers were never really appreciated. So he just decided to reach for a pair of earmuffs.

.... Uh. Did they come in any other colors?

Not that Zander really cared about that kind of stuff, but when you could choose between burger muffs and pink fluff balls, he kinda did care a little bit? The Gryffindor opted to go for the least ridiculous option and opted for a pair of the "HUH?" earmuffs. It was kind of fitting considering "HUH?" was one of his main catch phrases.

So the headmistress actually had been there all along. Brooklyn had been sort of impressed by that, although not quite as impressed when it became evident they were studying mandrakes for the lesson today. That seemed way too normal for Hogwarts, in a weird way, and she’d stayed quiet during the question and answer session. Most of what she knew about mandrakes had been said already anyhow, so she’d just continued watching the proceedings. Notes could wait, and she’d slid her gloves on while she listened to the discussion. She wasn’t about to risk getting dirty or worse, bitten by an unruly mandrake baby. She’d dealt with enough bites for a while, even if it was fairly certain the mandrake wouldn’t leave her feeling horrible.

Pain wasn’t fun either after all. Neither was passing out due to the mandrake cries, so she’d grabbed a pair of earmuffs as soon as they’d reached her station. The pink ones, of course, as they seemed the least weird. Solid colors. It would have been nicer if they were green, but at least she didn’t have hamburgers on her head like so many others. She’d clamped the fuzzy pink earmuffs over her head solidly once it seemed like things were moving on, anyhow. The headmistress would have to figure out another way for her to hear things now.

"No, Professor. I was being metaphorical, like a Ravenclaw," Dot did inch forward and stroke a leaf, and then she skittered back to her workstation. She was super brave and didn't get dirty and the professor had made an almost-not-quite-smiling face at her. Maybe they were best friends now?

Muffies, though! Pink ones, which were fuzzy and fabulous but didn't quite fit over all of Dot's hair. She nestled them down as much as possible before raising her hand. "Professor! I think they get HORMONAL like people do. Moody brat plants. And they keep having to get repotted into bigger pots 'cause they get SO big."

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

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.

"Excellent, Adi! Exactly what I was looking for." And so his answer was added to the chalkboard, quickly quickly now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

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."

"Very good, Lux," Bunz combined that answer with Adi's, in a way, for the chalkboard notes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sararara

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.

"Excellent description," the Headmistress replied, with just a bit of amusement at the girl's ...teenage accuracy. Hehe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

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.

"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."

"Okay. You know where to find my office if you'd like to ask later," the Headmistress replied simply, because (nothing personal), she just didn't have time for discussions with today's lesson. They still had LOTS to do to be useful to Hogwarts.

But his second answer, yes, made perfect sense. "Very well said, Mr. Banner! Please take note of this, class!" And adding that to the board...

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

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.

Well, well, look who was getting along with whom in Herbology today! Bunz was surprising herself. No, it was Eden who was making the effort. Anyway. "Glad you approve," she replied lightly, looking to the board and then back to the Ravenclaw as she thought of something else. Oh, a thoughtful question.

"Interesting thought, but I had never considered these to be creatures... they simply don't have anything resembling the digestive system of a creature. They are still plants and still experience photosynthesis... you know, converting light energy into chemical energy for their fuel. I can't think of any creatures off the top of my head, magical or mundane, who solely use photosynthesis like a plant does. Also," she held up a finger, realizing as she did so that she was probably rambling now, "mandrakes are only humanoid or creature-like, if you will, in cosmetic appearance. That's just the fun or dangerous aspect of them. You do still harvest them like any other plant and chop them up like a plant and repot them like a plant and water them like a plant... but I digress. You'll see by the end of term, I'm sure, why mandrakes are 100% a topic for Herbology and not one for Care of Magical Creatures."

Why, the Headmistress was almost beaming by the end of that response. Wow. She really DID miss teaching Herbology.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Symphora

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.

"Excellent," she forced herself to stop thinking about the fun of harvesting mandrakes and instead went back to adding notes to the chalkboard. This lesson was an excellent showing for Hufflepuff, hehe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessiqua

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.

"Good point," the Headmistress chuckled briefly. "Take note, students: Do NOT stick any appendages into the mouth of a developing mandrake. Or the mouth of an older mandrake, for that matter. They WILL bite down, HARD, and I will not be responsible for trips to the Hospital Wing to get your appendage back. We simply can't afford to waste materials like that." Mandrakes were valuable, duh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

"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.

Preferable to dying but still very unpleasant... for some reason, Bunz chuckled at that part of Toby's answer. "I will add that to the board indeed."

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlytherinSistah

"Would yer say that the potency of their shrieks is in proportion to their maturity level, then? And that the younger they are, the less likely they'll be to kill yer." His hands idly pulled at the plushie hamburgers that hung around his neck for the moment as he considered the somewhat repetitive nature of what they were saying. "Is zar always going to be true? If yew were an infant like would the screams of a young magical madrake carry the same potency fer yew as the screams of an adult mandrake on an adult witch or wizard?" Or were young mandrakes always going to produce less lethal effects no matter the age of the audience?

"Yes, of course. That's the most logical way to describe a mandrake's cries." They more or less already had that on the board, though. "I haven't tested the fatality of a mandrake's cries against a baby, though...." And she was sure any Herbologist who was credible and published and would never admit to doing such a thing... "so I'm afraid I can't answer your last question with any certainty, Cutty."

She gave him a somewhat longer look, however, as though trying to gauge whether or not HE would test such a thing. Not a look of judging, just a look of curiosity...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Angel raised her hand. "Professor can't they do something to you, that makes It so you can't move?" Angel wasn't really sure but she thought that she would guess at that.

"Erm, their cries can knock you unconscious..." Was that was Angel was getting at?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Headmistress Truebridge wanted MORE properties?! Kate could come up with loads, but coming up with things that had already been said was the hard part. Raising her hand, she added, "You can tell when a Mandrake is fully matured, because they start moving into each other's pots," she said. That was important, because wouldn't their screams be the most fatal?

"Good detail to add, thank you dear." And it was added to the board.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixStar

The earmuffs were bloody brilliant. AJ was all over the one that looked like a hamburger. Back up people. This one was hers. Snagging that one, she thought about what to add to the comments already made. Ohhh... she had a Ravenclaw-ish answer. "They get pimples." Beam.

Gryffindors. Bunz nearly smiled back at the girl, though, so proud as she was of her answer. "True." Sure, why not add that to the board.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

She raised a hand to answer before she put her earmuffs on, so that she could hear her own voice. "Dugbogs and Flesh Eating Slugs eat mandrakes." Did that count as a fact? "And their leaves are used for antidotes in potions."

"Oooh." No one (Eden aside) had mentioned mandrakes as food yet! "Excellent excellent, Marigold, thank you for not letting us forget those key facts." It figured that a girl named Marigold would be good at Herbology. Her parents had named her well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"No, Professor. I was being metaphorical, like a Ravenclaw," Dot did inch forward and stroke a leaf, and then she skittered back to her workstation. She was super brave and didn't get dirty and the professor had made an almost-not-quite-smiling face at her. Maybe they were best friends now?

Muffies, though! Pink ones, which were fuzzy and fabulous but didn't quite fit over all of Dot's hair. She nestled them down as much as possible before raising her hand. "Professor! I think they get HORMONAL like people do. Moody brat plants. And they keep having to get repotted into bigger pots 'cause they get SO big."

Metaphorical, like a Ravenclaw... HAH. Truebridge chuckled for like the third time that lesson must be some sort of record and watched, with genuine amusement, as the non-Herbologist scuttled forward, touched the leaves, and scuttled back. "Moody brat plants is... definitely one way to look at these DEAD USEFUL plants, Dot." But okay, she'd add that to the board.

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: cries of fully-grown mandrakes can kill an adult human
• magical: roots of immature mandrakes look (and scream) like crazy, mad little babies
• magical: cries of baby mandrakes can cause temporary unconsciousness
• magical: behaviors match the growth and development of a human's; mandrakes experience childhood, puberty (acne), adolescence ("hormonal" without having hormones), and adulthood similarly to wizards
• magical: mandrakes are known to be mature when they start trying to move into each other's pots
• magical: require repotting as they grow
• magical: they WILL bite appendages off if you stick them in a mandrake's mouth
• magical: favorite food of both dugbogs and flesh-eating slugs
• magical: leaves can be used in antidotes
• magical: used to make the Restorative Draught
• magical: most famous use was during the Hogwarts basilisk attack of 1992

OKAY. Whew. This class had certainly delivered and proven that they knew the theory and a lot of background about mandrakes. And what some kids didn't know, well, with these notes they would certainly be able to study the mandrakes in more detail later. Now, moving on to some practical magic...

"I'm going to show you how to move a mandrake from its GENERAL HOME HERE," she spoke VERY loudly and gesticulated to the original cart full of rustling baby mandrakes (in case some people were already muffed up), "to HERE," and Bunz dramatically threw the sheet off the next cart, which was full of brown terra-cotta pots. She tapped both carts with her wands so that they expanded into one long workstation where students could belly-up with plenty of elbow space to work. "ONE MANDRAKE PER NEW POT, PLEASE. Toss some dirt from their original container on top when you move them; that way they'll feel more at home. Remember to firmly grasp the mandrake at the top of its head when you move them. DO NOT DROP THEM. Watch me first."

And... go! She led the way by snapping on her own pair of pink fluffy earmuffs, firmly grasping the mandrake at the top of its head (bottom of its tufty leaves), pulling it STRAIGHT UP and out of the general pot, and quickly over and into a new pot. She gently swatted its long finger-like roots away from the edge of the pot where it was clinging and crying, and tossed some dirt on top to stifle the cries and placate the 'moody brat plant,' in Dot's words. When it was all covered (it only took a matter of seconds), the Headmistress gave everyone a thumb's up to signal that they should try now.

Exactly what she was looking for? Adi blinked in surprise but he was pleased to heard that he had hit the nail on the head. This lesson was really shaping up to be an awesome one! Pleased with himself, the Hufflepuff modified his notes by adding the extra bits from the board. In his opinion, the best answer provided was given by Gabe. the Ravenclaw really had provided an accurate description.

Gosh, the read headed lady was shouting, yo. Hehe. At least Adi would be able to hear her VERY clearly. He was positive he would have heard her even with the earmuffs on, LOL. Alrightey, so move the mandrakes from thereee to there. that can be done! Yessers! Ahh, a demonstration! Time to earmuff up! He slapped the Big Bird muffs snugly around his ears.

Adi got up again to move over to the mandrakes after watching the demonstration and seeing the thumbs up. The Head made it look totally easy but little did he know what he was in for. He grasped FIRMLY one at random at the top of its head with his gloved left hand and TUGGED upwards. Out popped the ugly, screaming mandrake though to Adi it looked more like a Silencing Charm had been placed on it. He quickly turned his attention to the elongated cart-turned- workstation to dump the screaming thing into a new pot.

the only thing was the mandrake seemed DETERMINED not to go into its new home O__O "Come on!'' Adi pushed away at it's flailing roots that were preventing it from settling in. GOSH. Such small plant was putting up such a fight! The Hufflepuff kept pushing away at the roots that wanted to keep hugging at the sides of the pot, all the while the thing kept screaming in his face and being all flaily. Luckily he couldn't hear otherwise he was positive he would have been knocked out by now. And deaf too.

FINALLY, after what felt like year, the mandrake was placed into the pot after Adi had somehow managed to move away all the roots from the new pot's end. What a work out that had been! He now scattered dirt from the original pot onto the top of the mandrake. Enjoy your new home, mandrake!

...Lux was going to take the difficulty with which she heard the instructions as a GOOD sign because it meant that her earmuffs were effective. If she couldn't hear Professor Truebridge shouting she wouldn't be able to hear the mandrakes. For the moment, however, she removed them from her ears and placed them around her neck. You know...so she would actually know what was required of her before starting.

Okay, re-potting it was!

Snapping the earmuffs back in place securely, Lux watched the demonstration. The Professor made it look pretty simple, but she figured it would definitely not go as smoothly for her.

Approaching the mandrakes, she chose one at random and FIRMLY grasped the top of its head so that she could remove it from the soil. Using a fair bit of strength she pullllllled the plant free. Ewwwww, it was HIDEOUS. O_o Seeing it up close made everything so much WORSE. Also didn't help that the plant was clearly throwing a tantrum. Thank goodness she couldn't hear anything because then she would be unconscious.

O_O

Quickly, Lux set about moving the mandrake to its new home. Hopefully it would be pleased with the living arrangements because they seemed to be very particular. With no small effort, she STUFFED it into the pot. Phew. This was a lot of work! Mandrakes did NOT make things easier when they kept trying to grip the sides of the pot and not settle in to their new home.

Dirt from the original pot was tossed over the plant; hopefully that would help calm it down.

Marigold squinted and focused all her energy on Truebridge's mouth, which was forming words. She had put her earmuffs on too early, evidently, and she didn't want to risk it by taking them off. She could make out some words from the lipreading - home, new pot, not dropping them. Plus, she got the body language too. But it had been about 10 minutes idolizing the Headmistress, and she COULDN'T LET her NEWEST idol DOWN, could she? (The answer was no).

So, she carefully ran through the steps in her head to make sure they made sense. Grab the mandrake by the bottom of its leaves and top of its head(?), then take some old dirt and put it into the new dirt, then put the mandrake in. Easy peasy. Hopefully.

She took a deep breath and, on Truebridge's okay, placed both hands around the stalk, low, near the head. She pulled hard and, to her surprise, was able to pull the plant out on her first try! Yes, STRENGTH! She put off a victory dance until later, then moved the mandrake (whose screams looked funny without sound to accompany them) over the second pot. She let go of the plant with one hand, which she used to scoop up some dirt from the original pot, then sprinkled the dirt into the new home.

Okay. Now for the hard part. Her left hand had returned to the mandrake, which was squirming around and generally being VERY DIFFICULT. She pushed experimentally down on the plant into the pot, but was halted. A root was stuck on the pot. Marigold pushed and prodded and pulled and did ALL THE THINGS until, at long last, the mandrake was potted and she was sweating. She swept a sleeve over her forehead, then went to take off her earmuffs.

o______O THANK GOODNESS SHE DIDN'T.

Did Zander realize how perfect his earmuffs were? Because they were completely perfect for him, and Soph offered the Gryffindor a goofy grin to convey this line of thinking. His "Huh?" ones, her fluffy pink ones - both of them lucked out in getting ones that were practically perfect for them. They looked AWESOME also.

More notes were being taken, then, as there were loads more things added to the board, but most of it she already knew anyway, so maybe she would've been better off just NOT taking notes. But... in case someone needed to borrow some notes later, she supposed she had some sort of duty to have very thorough notes, so she kept at it until the very last word was written down.

There. All caught up.

And just in time, too, for Truebridge was moving on. Oh and she was DEMONSTRATING, TOO. Sophie quickly slid her earmuffs back over her ears and patted them down firmly, making sure the flaps were tightly down so no sound would get in, then she leaned over and did the same for Zander. Just a friend helping a friend, nbd, and she patted HIS flaps down snugly, too, so he would be all safe and sound and free of fainting and death and stuff, then offered him a cheeky grin.

GOT YOUR BACK, ZANDER ADAIR. SAVED YOUR LIFE.

After Truebridge's demonstration, Sophie gave a nod in response to the woman's thumbs-up signal. It wasn't THAT hard of a task, really, and she'd seen her mother do this before. It was nothing they couldn't handle, so Soph followed suit of the others and chose a mandrake to stand in front of. She tugged her dragonhide gloves on tighter, gave an extra pat to her earmuffs, then grasped her chosen mandrake firmly at the top of its head and PUUUULLED upward with all her might. OUT of the soil came a very, very ugly-looking thing - it looked like a half potato, half troll hybrid, if you asked her - and it writhed and wiggled in her grip as she struggled to nicely repot it into the new pot beside it. She succeeded, then quickly transferred soil from the old pot to the new one, covering up the mandrake root as it threw a hissy fit... until it was covered and hopefully much more content that way.

Nothing like some nice soil to soothe a crying plant, right?

Zhenya was making a lot of mental notes here, and hopefully she remembered them all when she got back to her dormitory after lesson, so she could write them all down. But now was time to repot the mandrakes. Zhenya watched what Headmistress Truebridge was implying they do, prior to having donned her earmuffs, and was impressed at the magical stretching the Headmistress had done. Awesome.

Following her lead, Zhenya quickly pulled on her pair of tartan earmuffs, immediately deafening her. She couldn't hear anything. So, she watched as Headmistress Truebridge pulled out a mandrake, and put it in the new pot. It was a swift transfer. But now it was Zhenya's time, and although she had done it before, it had been a long time. A very long time. 10 years perhaps. And even then, her grandfather was helping her.

Zhenya made sure everything was secure, her pot and her mandrake were there, and her gloves were pulled up properly. Done. So, with her left hand, she secured her hand on the head of the mandrake, underneath all its spinachy leaves, and pulled UP as hard as she could. It took a second, and the mandrake popped out of the soil, and into the terra-cotta pot. But it didn't want a bar of it. Roots shot out, clinging and wrapping around the corners, it didn't matter how hard she pushed its head, it didn't want to get in. With her other hand, Zhenya peeled off all the roots from the edge of the pot and held them in her other arm. There you go, I've got you now. And she put it all in the pot, letting go of the roots and letting them free inside the pot. Hopefully it didn't try to climb back out of the pot. She sprinkled the open areas with dirt from the original pot and covered the potato baby up. But no taking off her earmuffs until she got a signal or something.

Earmuffs were already put on perfectly. The Korean boy was busy to copied the facts about mandrakes on his precious notebook. Herbology wasn't his strongest subject so he had to pay attention more in order to succeed his OWLs. Besides, the others already spoke up about the facts of mandrakes so he didn't bother to add some in short, he didn't know any others.

Jackson then watched Truebridge demonstrated to re-pot the baby mandrakes. So they needed to pull the plant, then put it into the new pot and add the soil. It didn't seem difficult for him. Okay, now it's time for him to re-pot. Making sure that his earmuffs were on, then he grab his dragonhide gloves because you know, working in Herbology was messy and he needed to keep his hands clean. Taking a pot of mandrakes and its new pot, then he firmly grasped the top of mandrake's head and pulled it out. Wow, it really took a little bit strength to pull this plant of. It seemed like this mandrake didn't like to be pulled. Ugh. Was it crying? It seemed so, but he couldn't hear of course because of the earmuffs.

Then he tried to put the mandrakes to the new pot. "Welcome to new home, buddy." He said, but why on earth this mandrake refused to be placed here? Come on, this new pot was nicer and bigger for you! Maybe he needed to place some soils from its old pot. But still, it refused to move. "COME ON!" The Korean boy shouted and forced the mandrake to be placed. He peeled of the roots that hugged the old pot with his other hand and quickly put it on the new pot. There you go! He added more soils on the top of the plant. Woah, it wasn't as easy as he thought, huh?

Yoongi had been quiet throughout the lesson so far as he had been busy writing down useful notes he could use for his OWL studies later on. He stood up to reach for a hamburger styled earmuffs and put them on his head, covering his ears to protect himself from..not fainting or dying… Checking if it was secure, Yoongi got his answer when he realised he did not hear the Headmistress Professor until she started to shout.

The Gryffindor watch her demonstrate how to repot the mandrake and watched her movements carefully before she gave a thumbs up for them to do the same. Yoongi stared at the hidden mandrake in the pot in front of him and grabbed the top of its head under the leaves with his gloved hands. He pulled it straight up and the mandrake began to shriek and cry so loudly that he could hear it through his earmuffs but he was still standing so he had them put on right.

When the Headmistress had demonstrate how to do it it had looked pretty easy. But this was proved to be wrong because Yoongi had trouble holding the mandrake with just one hand with all its struggling so he used his other hand to support the bottom which made him hold it closer to his body.

He did not hear it nor felt it but during the struggle of placing the mandrake in a freshly new pot, the Gryffindor crest of his robe had torn as the mandrake had bitten that area and it was only after he had put the mandrake secured in the pot and he had thrown some of the original sand in to the pot that he saw his torn robe.

Grabbing his wand, the Gryffindor pointed it at it and repaired his robe to its original state. Being an advanced charms student did come in handy some times.

Even though her earmuffs were already firmly in place covering her ears nice and snugly the third year gave them one more pat just to confirm so. Just in time too because the Headmistress was now shouting rather then speaking the next set of instructions. She was sure she'd have heard her either way but this was good for she knew she wouldn't miss anything.

Quickly grabbing up her quill once more Hady took down the rest of the notes she needed to before turning her attention to the demonstration that was being given. It didn't look very hard to do. Grab it, move it to the other pot and cover with dirt. Simple enough really. It was time to get started.

Moving forward she got herself one of the old pots with the baby mandrake inside and stood herself at the long table where the new pots were. Setting the pot down she used her right hand to hold the pot and with her left she grabbed the mandrakes head firmly just beneath all it's leaves and gave a good yank upwards. This took more strength to do then she thought at first but she managed it, dirt falling from the struggling screeching plant thingy. Thankfully she had her muffs tightly over her ears so it wouldn't affect her.

Quickly she went to move the mandrake to it's new home. This wasn't so easy either. Hady had to use her free hand to pull it's roots together in a bunch and not let them go for when she did it would grab onto it's pot again or flail about to much. After a few seconds of struggling with this she was able to gather all the roots together in one hand the best she could. Hastily she placed the mandrake down into the larger pot holding it still with her hand while pouring some dirt from it's old pot over top of it. Patting the dirt into place seemed to help a lot for now it appeared to be once more happy? Or at least it wasn't struggling to get free anymore.

With that not so simple task now complete she turned her attention back to the Headmistress. Was there anything else she needed to do?

So Kate had concluded one thing for sure: the Headmistress was REALLY nice. Kate couldn't imagine the woman being too hard or too cruel to anyone. She felt herself becoming less and less nervous and more focused on the lesson itself. Kate dipped her quill in ink and copied down the last of the notes before turning back to the Headmistress. Or was she considered a professor while in this class? Or both? Hmm.

Kate gave a light gasp when the sheet was suddenly thrown off one of the carts. Was that MANDRAKES? She shuffled around until her hamburger-shaped earmuffs were firmly on her ears. Ohh. No, not mandrakes. Something else. Well, her earmuffs were on just in case anyway, and it was a good thing because the Headmistress promptly began her own demonstration of the repotting process.

Kate then followed suit.

She got a firm grasp on the mandrake at the bottom of its leaves and pulled it straight up out the general pot. She moved it quickly into its new pot, laughing just a little as it held on to the sides the same way the Headmistress' mandrake had. Kate finally got the Mandrake situated the way she needed to then tossed some dirt on top until all the necessary parts were covered.

Angel was totally enjoying this lesson and now she was going to get to repot the mandrake. How awesome was this... she was torn between learning about magical plants and muggle plants when she left the school but there was still time for her to decide what she wanted to do.

Angel took out the Mandrake and smiled, this was going to be awesome, she had her earmuffs on correctly and she was glad about that because the little plant was making a lot of noise by the way it was moving in her hand, she held on tightly as the little devil continued to make a lot of noise and continued to wiggle in her arm.

Angel took the creature and pot it in another pot, she was fed up of watching the wiggling and attempted escape of the Mandrake, she pushed some soil around the plant from the original pot and tried to make the mandrake feel at home she didn't want the poor thing crying and not liking the new arrangement that she was giving it, once she had the dirt in the new pot she patted it down making sure it was nice and firm and waited to see what the Professor wanted them to do next.

Norah pressed her fluffy pink earmuffs to her ears and turned her attention to the the Headmistress's hands as she pulled up the mandrake and stuck it into the other pot. MAN, these things were funny looking. She shut her mouth tight to keep from giggling, before realizing that nobody could hear her anyways and letting out a few tinkling laughs. Plants were the coolest things EVER, did everybody knew? She sure knew. Look at that thing, like an entire person except a plant. That was crazy cool.

The fourth year positioned herself in front of a plant and watched for Truebridge's signal. This couldn't be too hard, right? At the sight of the thumbs up, she used both gloved hands to puuuullll the mandrake up by its leaves. AW YEAH, LOOK HOW MAD THE LITTLE DUDE WAS. She beamed at the squirming thing as she she tried to jam it into the other pot, poking the roots down under it with one hand and scooping soil into the pot with the other. She gave the roots another poke because they kept clinging onto the edge of the pot for some reason, and added more soil. Stubborn little things, weren't they. Adding another handful of soil, she gave everything a few firm pats and looked around. Could she do another? Pretty please? That was RADICAL.

No snotty remarks, eh? Her beam was getting bigger. Her face would soon be hurting from all of the smiling. It was official. AJ had given an answer that was good enough to be added to THE BOARD. Did everybody see that?

Now they were getting down to business and she made sure the hamburgers were placed firmly on her ears. As cool as it would be to get knocked out from a screaming baby mandrake, she wouldn't be able to pull one out by its mandrake head if she was passed out. Why did life have to be so hard? She wanted her cake and she wanted to be able to eat it too. Would would want a cake to look at anyways? Okay... she was getting sidetracked.

Focus.

AJ watched the professor demonstrate what they needed to do and once she got a thumbs up, she eyed her work station. Baby mandrake uprooting time. Or were they really babies because they were "mature" enough to be moved? Maaaybe she should pay better attention next time. That probably wasn't going to happen.

Two handed mandrak snatching was going to happen. The lion grabbed the mandrake hard... didn't want to drop it, right? She pulled it straight up by it's head. Oh yeah, it was definitely crying even though she couldn't exactly hear anything. Imagination time it was then. She suddenly wanted to stick her finger in its mouth even though somebody had claimed they would bite. How hard could they bite anyways? Instead of finding out, she booped him on the nose and plopped him into his new pot home. "There you are..." Nice digs, yeah?

AJ flung some dirt on top of him. "Bet you feel snug as a bug." Pretty legit eviction. She would be down to uproot some more plants from their homes. It was be even cooler if they were super dangerous. You know, just sayin'...

He'd made the Headmistress laugh, that had to be a good sign. Laughing always meant happy, didn't it? And happy was always good. Yeah. Definitely a good sign. Even though he'd not actually intended his answer to be a funny one, Toby could definitely roll with it.

Once it was time to get started, Toby pulled the earmuffs back up and over his ears, only when he was extra super certain that Truebridge had finished giving her instructions. The world went suddenly silent, eerily so, and Toby wondered if perhaps the earmuffs were enhanced with magic to make extra sure they did their job. His gloves were still on from when he went to take a look at the mundane mandrake, so Toby went ahead and moved to the work area, eager to get started quickly.

Wasting more time at all, Toby zoned in on one of the mandrakes. He firmly grasped at the leaves, right at the base where they sprouted from its head. He adjusted his grip, making certain that he would wrench the plant from the soil and not accidentally pull any leaves out. When he was absolutely certain he had hold of it properly, Toby gave the mandrake a great pull.

It took a moment, 'cause Toby wasn't exactly amazingly strong, though the fact that other kids had removed other mandrakes meant the surrounding soil was more likely to give when he pulled. But out it came, the mandrake, covered in soil and quite clearly bawling its head off, though Toby wouldn't have been able to know that without looking. The earmuffs were doing their work.

He allowed himself a second just to take a good look at the mandrake, because he was curious about all the plants ever. Not wanting to get TOO distressed, or... like... cold, or whatever, Toby quickly and carefully moved it into its new pot, the one right in front of him. After settling the mandrake inside, the Hufflepuff used his gloved hands to scoop up soil from the original plant, taking it from the exact position he'd found his plant, and adding it to the new pot as well. So it felt more at home, like Truebridge said.

When that was done, Toby looked up and towards Truebridge, because they weren't going to be able to hear her if she called out for their attention again. Yeah. His EYES were his EARS now. Except that his EAR!EYES kept straying back to the mandrake, watching the leaves squirm slightly, and then back to the Headmistress again. And back to the mandrake... and then the Headmistress.