As she was watering the roses herself with the use of her wand Hady caught sight as a smaller girl whom didn't appear able to cast the charm. With a quite 'Finite' she slipped her wand back into it's holster as she made her way towards Rebecca. "Hey, why don't you try that again with a bit more intent and focus this time. Like you mean it, tell your wand what you want it to do," she whispered softly giving the kid a small smile. Nothing wrong with a little assistance here and there.

Before she could do anything else though the Professor was giving another riddle. What was he going on about? Staying tiny forever? The brunette shook her head blinking at him. Sorry Professor but that wouldn't be happening, not that she was really worried about that.

Fertilizer was good for plants though. It helped keep them strong and grow. However she didn't feel this was what the answer was. It was to easy. Think Hadleigh. Think.

All that studying for OWLs last term had to be more good then just the grade she had gotten. What else was sprinkled over soil to help boost plant life. She knew the answer she was sure of it.

Chewing her lip the snakette went over everything she could as quickly as she could before turning to Professor Myers. "Professor Epsom Salt helps boost the growth of plants...is that what the roses need?" She was sure of this having remembered reading it for her OWL studying...it had sounded strange at the time but maybe that was why she remembered it now.

Ilia laughed a bit at the poet comment. "I am a lyracist, close enough right? " Songwriting was a form of poetry mhm. As for his second riddle, she tilted her head with a quizzical smile. "It goes with pepper and makes things taste better, but not the ocean, it doesn't make things wetter. If you go beneath the waves shut your eyes, don't swallow this or you'll get a salty surprise." Answering riddles with rhymes was more amusing than she thought, this was impromptu, don't judge her okay? " You make me rhyme, it's not my fault, but the answer Sir is salt."

Heh, she wasn't wrong, but yes of course she knew he meant water. However, like all of her classmates had already answered that so she wanted to answer something else that the riddle COULD reference. Props to her for recognizing something else the riddle could be.

Onto the next riddle, which was a bit longer and a bit trickier. Ugh, she totally FELT that way more when the lunatic professor watered them (the rosebushes), compared to if she was her normal size. If he waters them, perhaps they'll grow again? Except then they'd totally crush the roses and that wouldn't be cool. But small!Skylar didn't like this.

Staring up from her rose petal, the first year deliberated a moment on the next riddle, trying to focus. Epsom salt? Was that a thing? Or was it more simple and basic answer than that?

"Fertilizer?" Sky piped up. That was her first thoughts at least...

...kick POW!?!?!?!?

Katherine eyed the little girl, gaping. Did she even know what an INSECT mean!? Like, a carnivorous insect???

Before she could properly tell her, her arm was grabbed by - TORRANCE, and she instinctively yanked it free, even though the boy let go either. And then, of course, because he had a sponge instead of a brain, he suggested that we tame them. She rolled her eyes and badly wanted to point out that insects weren't truly intellectual enough to be tamed. Besides, who would want to fly through the sky with a wasp?

Hogwarts seriously needed an IQ check before sending out the letters.

Yet another one, suggesting to pet them. WHAT was wrong with these people?! Had they ever seen a wasp before? Did they skip primary school when they were supposed to learn the word 'insect'? She looked at them all in bewilderment before she was luckily saved by the professor.

Yeah, obviously no boom kick powing them ever. "Thank you, Sir," she said and noted these three as people to stay away from for the duration of the lesson (or forever, to be honest).

Now, for the riddle...

This one was very easy, so she just got her wand out and said "Aguamenti." Water shoot from the tip of her wand and she watered the area around herself. Then, she heard a voice...


...which was like an insect's...

She looked around in fear for a second, before she realised that one of the Gryffidiots was doing it. She wanted to point her wand at him to silence him, but didn't. It was rude, and she didn't want Ravenclaw to lose more points. Instead, she just rolled her eyes as in 'These kids I swear' mood as the professor told him to stop it. For real...

Anyway, it was time for the second riddle, so she stayed alert. It was a hard one, but she thought she knew it.

"Salt, sir?" How many of the riddles before she could grow back enough to squish an insect?

Water had been right! Though Olly was proud that he had figured it out that did not mean he had much confidence for the next riddle. He still was not good at them. Figuring out the first one had been close to a miracle, and it had only been because it was not too difficult. He listened carefully to the next one though. There was still a chance he could get it.

Sprinkle on the dirt. Desert. Dry. Helps the roses. Uhhhh. No idea. Olly furrowed his brow, thinking hard but coming up with nothing. Sand? That was in the desert. But why would that help roses. Salt? That was sprinkled on roads when there was ice to dry it. But he didn't know if roses would like that or not. He looked around at some of the others to see if they had gotten it. A few were saying salt, so maybe that was right after all. One girl said fertilizer, which sounded good to him. It was sprinkled on dirt and it helped plants. Only it didn't dry things. Olly just listened for other guesses and waited for Professor Myers to give them the correct answer.

Azura finished watering and then moved back towards Professor Meyers carefully as he gave his next riddle.. It usually dried things out? And found in the desert? Well.. it was either salt.. or sand..

Neither one of them made sense.. but salt made a little MORE sense..

"Salt, Professor?" She asked as she looked around.. Uhh.. Where were they going to get salt? As far as she knew there wasn't a salt making spell.. or if there was.. She didn't know it.

"Do you have any Salt Professor?" She asked him as she moved closer to him.. Cause.. you know.. The salt grains would probably be almost as tall as they were! Azura suddenly had a feeling like she was in a kids muggle cartoon with a "magic" school bus.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Kitty's screams became squeaky as she shrank, becoming tinier and tinier with everyone else. Now they were all tiny. She was tiny! Miniscule. "Sweet baby Merlin!" Kitty gasped, echoing Mason's line. She suddenly found herself becoming very nervous. 'Professor, are there any insects or small animals around here? What spell should we do if we get attacked?" She whimpered nervously and went to stand closer to the others. Others were asking the same questions and he had assured them that they had their wands, but Kitty did not know any good fighting spells.

She was soon distracted slightly by the riddles. As a Ravenclaw, Kitty was quite good with riddles. Their common room entrance was protected by riddles, so every time she wanted to get in she had to answer one. "Water," she replied simply, repeating what all the others were saying. Even if they weren't saying it that would still be her answer.

"My guess is salt," replied Kitty a little absentmindedly. She looked up at the huge roses above them nervously, as if looking for giant insects that were about to swoop down and gobble them up.

Fiyero just started dumbly at the arguement unfolding in front of him. He couldn't believe anyone, let alone a prefect, would say something so rude! From the stories his cousins had told him about Hogwarts, he thought the prefects were supposed to be the fine upstanding students who did no wrong...

Before he had much time to think about it, Professor Myers's voice distracted him. Wait, what? He'd put a shrinking potion in their drinks?! Well. that was dishonest! He frowned indignantly as he felt himself growing smaller and smaller. Note to self: Never drink anything Myers gives you, he thought.

Fiyero forgot about his indignation as he looked up at the roses towering over him. This was awesome... and it fit with Alice in Wonderland theme that seemed to be ongoing in today's lesson. He chuckled to himself as he recalled a scene in the movie with Alice talking to a giant rose like these...

He was glad he'd had his camera on a strap around his neck when he shrunk. No one back home would believe him about this otherwise! He coudln't resst snapping a few shots while the teacher wasn't looking his way. These were going to be some great pictures... roses from an ant's-eye view.

He heard a Ravenclaw girl say something about insects, and before he knew what was happening, Bec was punching the air. He moved aside as she narrowly missed his arm, holding his camera out of her reach. He laughed. "Need some help with those insects, Bec, or are you planning to take them all on yourself?" he said.

Text Cut: Riddle 1

Paul glanced at Katherine. And to be honest, he hadn’t thought about it...but…”Don’t worry about the insects. We have our wands if need be,” and he just HAD to chuckle at little Rebecca’s response. “No BOOM KICK POWING them today! But also, I wouldn’t recommend petting a giant bug, Cornelius--”

HA! Precious students.



“Not just yet, Olivia--you can have some more later AFTER the activity--” he grinned. Was everyone ready?

“SO EVERYONE--I will say the riddle, and you all can discuss, or figure it out amongst yourselves and then...DO the action, all right?” He had made up the riddles himself, so they were probably very lame, and he KNEW It, but oh well. He didn’t mind it, heh. Made things a little bit more interesting at least.

“The first riddle is as follows:


This first clue is easy. I promise you this.
Don’t think too hard, or this clue you will miss.

It comes from the ground and sky,
so don’t dig too deep or fly too high.
My roses need this to survive!”

He chuckled. HAVE FUN KIDS!


OOC: lol, so I made these up with Paul’s silly help so I’m really sorry if they’re SUPER lame but you know. IF by any chance people are having difficulties, Paul will help them out, but I am doubting they will be hard...not yet anyways xD Catchup posts allowed as long as you LABEL it as such, please.

Water! That had to be it... but several of the others guessed the answer before Fiyero could speak. He shrugged, copying the students pointing their wands at the roses. "Aguamenti!" he cried, and a jet of water shot out of his wand. Whoa, it worked! He didn't think he was going to get it right on the first try...

Text Cut: Riddle 2

...well she wasn't wrong! Paul laughed a little. "You're right--oxygen AND nitrogen--" that was so funny! "But in this instance I meant....WATER." They had all gotten it correct! He was so proud. Granted, it wasn't a hard riddle at all.

JUST ENOUGH TO GET THEIR JUICES FLOWING.

He let a stream of water flow from the end of his wand and onto the soil. "MAKE SURE YOU ALL GET EVERYWHERE--" Well, everywhere that they could. But once he was satisfied the soil was mushy under their feet, he smiled. "ONTO The next riddle! This one isn't as easy...so..." Ahem.

"Good job kids.You figured it out!
The next clue is harder, no doubt!
So listen closely, peel those ears!
Or you’ll be stuck this small for years.

Sprinkle this next thing all over the dirt.
You’d think this substance would make the soil desert.
No no, don’t worry! Some things it does dry,
But for roses, sprinkling this will help them get by."

He was kidding about the staying small forever thing, though, students.




OOC: I made brief reference to this next riddle in one of my previous posts BUT I understand if literally no one gets it xD I'll post Paul if the students are having trouble. <3

Also, I see some of you not referencing the fact that they are SMALL and shrunk to the size of bugs...on the rosebush. *just wanted to clear that up for future RP reasons*

Fiyero scratched his head. He had no idea! This riddle was a lot harder than the first...

"Sand?" he guessed after some thought. He was probably wrong, but he couldn't think of anything else it could possibly be... or at least something that hadn't already been said. Sand was dry, and it was found in deserts, right?

Oh... he was not a fan of this new riddle. Jaemin gave Paul Myers a look, because the idea of staying small for years was just too much to handle. The twelve year old was already among the smallest in his class, and he would very much rather not be the world's smallest twelve year old overall, thank you very much. He sooooo better have been kidding.

The answer for this one was obvious too, and Hady managed to chime it out before him. Were her parents plant people too? Was she a plant people?! He was going to have to hunt her down later and forcibly befriend her, just in case.

Others though... were missing the important part. The VERY important part.

"It's not just regular salt... it's epsom salt. Mum says it makes the roses grow prettier, and that it's not real salt cause it's made of different stuff than table salt," the small(er) boy murmured, looking at his wand in his hand. "She puts it on before the water though..."

He did not know how to make epsom salt with his wand. He couldn't even make table salt with his wand. He looked at Paul again, frowning. Was there even a spell for this?

"How are we supposed to get it?" They couldn't really summon it, could they? At this size... the granules would be very big. WHAT IF A CLUMP OF IT FELL ON THEM?! He did not want to die in miniature size, and definitely did not want it to happen by getting squished by salt.

Ahh. Yes! Water was correct. Perfect! That made Hattie happy. Because she had gotten something right. That was important to her because she wanted to do things right. Now she had to do the action! Oh. What was that spell? Would she be able to do the spell? She hadn't done many spells before. But she would certainly try! That would make the professor happy right? Smiling, Hattie began trying to water the roses. "Aguamenti!" The first year murmured, pointing her little wand at the Roses. A little bit of water came out, not much but some. "Yaay" She beamed, moving her wand, so that the trickle of water went around and water the Roses. Yaay. She was so happy because it really worked, and she was so cool.

Andd! The next riddle? The little first year looked up, and tilted her head to the side. That was harder than the first one. She stuck her tongue out a little as she thought about it. "Uh...." She was thinking about it. "ooh...Rose Food" The mused with a little smile. "I mean.... they need food to grow and stuff right? Or like Sky said... Fertilizer...." She mused with a nod. She didn't know if that was right. But it was an answer right. But where would they get that from? So that they could put it onto the Roses. Maybe she'd wait to see what the older students said first.

Marsha couldn’t even think about an answer for the first riddle before most of her class mates were telling each other the answers. Okay, water was good. Water they could do with their wand and with … her even smaller body. Honestly, was she not small enough already? Sighing, the redhead moved a little further away from the rest of the class and aimed her wand at the dry soil. ”Augamenti!” She said with a smile as she began to take care of the rose bush.


Moving around, she couldn’t help but laugh as it got all squidgy around her feet. Laughing she made patterns with the water on the dry soil until Professor Myers told them that that was enough water and that they could move onto the second riddle.

Once again, Marsha wasn’t quick enough to answer the riddle; salt. That was the answer, but she didn’t know how to get salt out of her wand… However, they were in the greenhouse still, even though they were smaller than normal… and the Professor usually had a stash of epsom salts here… for this very reason so they just had to get it… Which meant… ”Accio epsom salt!” She said, wand out and clearly as she looked around the rosebush base to see if that had worked or if she was too little for-

BEAMING, she watched as a few pellets of the salt came sailing over to them and landed by her feet. Jumping around a little in the dubby pot, the girl happily raised her wand a second time and accio’d for more salt. They would definitely need to work together this time if they wanted to get enough salt for the rose bushes.

Naturally everyone had managed to get the first riddle right because it was so easy. The second one was proving to be more difficult, however.

Biting her lip, Esme repeated the riddle in her head a few times. It's something that makes things dry... Like salt! Suddenly she remembered that her mother used epsom salts when she was gardening. Why...she couldn't remember. She raised her hand. "I think it's epsom salts. How do they help though?" HAD it been explained already? She couldn't remember because she had been so busy trying to make sense of this lesson. It was very fun, but she was still having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that she was so small.

Chloe HARDLY cared what the second riddle said. She was so focused on her professor being in a dress, why yes she was never going to let that go, she barely noticed that she had been shrunk. Shrunk down into a very small person. And she loathed that. Oh merlin, she loathed that more than any of the other nonsense Myers had pulled thus far. AND HE WAS PULLING A LOT TODAY.

Was he a Gryffindor? He was acting like one.

Also, she hadn't even drunk any of the things he had offered. SO why was she small? She supposed it was convenient to the plot, as it were.

She was so worked up from noticing her stature that she missed the first half of the riddle. When she tuned back in she had a vague-ish idea of what he was getting at but vague was the key word.

Her mouth formed a straight line. She wasn't going to answer him again. She hoped he enjoyed nasty looks from angsty Ravenclaw teens. Because she was giving him a lot of those today.

Philipe blinked slightly, the second riddle seemed simple enough... It's epsom salt, right?" It was great help in a fertilizer mix for roses. He smiled slightly and followed what he heard someone else say "Accio Epsom salt!" He glanced down as a few pellets landed at his feet, careful considering they were much larger than normal. The fourth year smiled, pretty sure he'd gotten this one right though he'd blanked slightly on the first riddle. He glanced up at his professor, hoping he was right.

She was already over being tiny. It was one thing when she was tiny, back when she was younger. She was still human-sized, just short. Even now, Brooklyn wasn’t very tall, although she liked reminding herself she was an inch taller than her aunt. Tall people rarely did well in ballet after all, but being bug-sized was just annoying. Having to deal with answering riddles posed by a professor currently acting and looking like a bizarre version of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland just made it that much worse. At least the water riddle had been simple, but as the second clue had been given, she sighed.

Back to guessing that the Ravenclaws would get it, although as she listened to Hady’s answer she decided her friend was also a good person to listen to. Salt definitely dried things out. Sea water was a perfect example of that, insofar as she always felt like her skin was dry after swimming in it. The only question was how they were going to get the salt to actually use on the rose. She didn’t really feature being squished by a grain of salt. Therefore, she set about to search and see if Professor Myers had any hidden somewhere. It made just as much sense as risking a summoning charm.

"Aguamenti!" A little water over here and a little water over here. Bella thought as she moved her wand back and forth and all around. She wanted to make sure that everywhere got just enough water. She could feel the solid beneath her feet getting mushy and squishy. It was a good thing she didn't mind and the shoes she had on was not a good pair.

Bella listened carefully to the next clue and blurted out the first things that came to mind. "Compost... oh wait fertilizer...err both." What was it her great grandmother said about compost and fertilizer? One feeds the soil and the other feeds the plants. She wasn't sure if either of them was completely the correct answer because she was sure her granny used something else in her roses, but Bella couldn't remember what exactly.

Bec laughed when she saw Katherine gaping at her. She had the feeling this girl , like Bec herself, had been sorted in to her House even before the sorting hat had been placed on her head. She just had this vibe about her. The , no fun allowed in the very serious and intellectual world. The first year kept punching the air and nearly hit Fiyero whom she had forgotten had been standing near her earlier. “Whoops, sorry Fiy” she grinned sheepishly and rested her arms at her side.

The first year Gryffindor tried again to make water appear out of her wand but instead the bubble kept coming. Bec groaned in frustration as she waved her wand around violently. WHY was it not doing the magic she commanded it to do?! She stopped when she heard a voice next to her and Bec looked up at the sight of an older Slytherin student (Hady) offering help. She raised her wand and tried again, this time focusing on the spell more. “Aguamenti!” she said but instead of water, bigger bubbles, the size of tomatoes flew out. “Stupid wand” she cursed.

And ewwww! she really hoped the answer wasn't fertilizer. That sounded nasty.

Water was right. Janelle had gotten the first riddle and performed the task appropriately. Now it was on to riddle number two. Janelle listened as the professor recited the poem. Then she thought about it. Something that would make the soil desert-like. Something that makes things dry. Janelle thought about the desert. The desert certainly was dry, dry and full of sand. She couldn't imagine how sand could be beneficial for roses though. Maybe that wasn't the important part of the clue.

Looking at the riddle again, Janelle focused on the last part of it. It makes some things dry, but it would be good for the roses. She wished her sister was here. Certainly she would know the answer to the riddle. And then it hit her. Something that makes things dry. Salt! As usual, Janelle made a connection between her lesson and food. Salt was used to dry things, like in curing meat for one thing. It could suck the moisture out of something........but how could this be helpful for roses? Janelle wasn't sure about that, but she was pretty sure that she was right. Now where was she supposed to find some salt around here? Janelle began to walk around, looking for a place where she might find some salt. It had to be here........somewhere.

Angel watered her plant and then thought about the next riddle, this Professor had lost the plot seriously, what was this clue supposed to be. "Professor, we going to the desert?" Angel thought she would at least try and have a bit of fun with this all.

Never a dull moment in this class innit?

Professor Plantman went all out with his Queen of Hearts Cosplay! Now Tenacius WANTS to cosplay himself! But just as he was plotting how to go all Mowgli right in this class (hey he has the hair for it) he suddenly felt himself SHRIIIIIIIIINKIIIINnnnnggg

Dude forget Mowgli-- he got turned to friggin A N T M A N!

So lessons were happening and riddles were spun -- which for a moment this Curly Top thought the Professor was gonna cosplay as The Riddler-- and he just went sprinkling everything with water in a totally SUPERHERO kinda way. Pew pew pew pew!

There was another riddle, the first he barely got (mostly because he wasn’t paying attention) but this second one just flew over his head. What can you sprinkle on roses that will help get them by? He has no clue. His new grandparents are a farming family and he sees and hears them talk about all things that makes lots of things grow. Does he remember any of that?

"POOP!" he yelled in his little Antman voice.

Cornelius snickered at the Raveclaw girl's (Katherine) reaction. The fear and/or disgust people had for insects always amazed Cornelius. Did they not grow up playing in the mud and eating a few insects here and there? It amused him and so he shot her something between a smile and smirk.

They were supposed to sprinkled it with water. Ohhh. Okay! Cornelius pulled his wand out and chanted a cheery, "Aguamenti!" It was one of the first spells he had mastered (for teasing Rosie reasons), and so the next thing he found himself doing was sprinkling a bit of water. He got his shoes a bit wet but eh, what did that matter? Not like he was going anywhere fancy.

Water here, water there, water EVERYWHERE.

The Slytherin boy soon found himself instinctively balancing himself from foot to foot. UHMMMMM. Was there a loo nearby? Or could he just go behind a one of the roses?

WAIT. Next riddle. He could it for now.

...And...what? He thought hard and recited Myers' words in his mind...over and over and...HAND IN THE AIR..."Oh, oh--you fertilize with epson salts!" he shouted in excitement.

He glanced around. Epso-M? Oh. HAHAHA. Not Ep/son/. LOL.

"Epsom salts."

Paul was just admiring the bubbles, listening to the children guess the answers to the riddle, and Paul smiled. Ahh, bubbles.

Wait.

BUBBLES? WHERE were the bubbles coming from?!

The culprit, in the shape of the very small Miss Rebecca Meadows. It made Paul…….chuckled. “I’m sure the roses appreciate the bubbles, Rebecca!” He gave her a friendly thumbs up and stood up, hand on his hip. It was nice of Hadleigh to help her out!



“Take two points, Hadley...for being a nice older student…” he said softly, winking over at her. “And YES epsom salt!” he nodded. As some of the others seemed to have figured it out as well! Yippeeeeee!



Oh Paul was just delighted about this, about Ilia’s lyrics! He clapped, in an over the top way, at her. He LOVED it...just...LOVED it. And she knew it was salt, so she was also a smart cookie!

It went to show that Paul did not write many of the songs for his band. He would help, of course, but lyrics just weren’t his forte.



Well then, fertilizer! Paul smiled a little at Skylar. “Fertilizer is always a good idea, but……..” he gestured at her classmates. I’m afraid the answer is SALT my dear.” He winked.


….Sand. Paul chuckled a little at the guess. “Sand, m’boy?” he asked. “Sand would be terrible for my roses! Good guess, though!” he supposed the desert part had thrown him off.



Paul enjoyed how knowledgeable Jaemin always was about plant things and Herbology in general. He nodded at the boy. “Yes! All of that is right! Everyone should take NOTE of that!” Not literal notes, just...remember it, ahem.

Another smol child who thought the answer was fertilizer. Oh, bless them.



Oh that was smart….summoning the salt. There WERE buckets of the epsom salt scattered around the base of the rose bush...Paul had shrunk it all and set them out this morning. The salt would come, of course…



“Well, Miss Darcy, Jaemin just explained it pretty well!” he nodded. “And Epsom Salt is usually soaked in water…” which...these buckets were!



...and another fertilizer person. Hehe.



Paul whipped around to look at Miss Valentine. “Not today, Angel, not today! The desert would NOT be a good climate at all for my roses!”



….Poop. Paul just SNORTED and almost choked on his tea.



And before he could correct Mr. Baltazar, the boy got the hang of the pronunciation himself. “Well, most of you guessed correctly! It IS salt! Epsom salt...I hit the buckets around and--” he walked, and quite well considering heels and on SOIL, to grab a bucket of it. Taking a handful of the salt, he scooped it up and just..began to THROW it all over the dirt…”Just make sure you distribute it all EVENLY and whatnot!” he smiled. “He would help them do this one. “So far...COLOR CHANGING roses need everything MUNDANE roses need, eh? Water...epsom salt…” he grinned.

And as he sprinkled the damp salt, he cleared his throat. “ONTO the next riddle!” And he hoped they were READY.

“You all have done it! It indeed was salt,
But onward we must go, we cannot halt!
They used to be green, now they’re brown.
Don’t let their death make you frown!

You can use your wand, snip snip snip!
Cut these dead appendages off, lickity-split!”

He even added in a MAD LAUGHTER to go with the theme of the lesson.

Also, if anyone was wondering...Paul had charmed the “ground” (soil) with a cushioning chaaaaaaaaarm.

Hadleigh watched the smaller girl from the corner of her eye. She seemed to have it down but only she was making was bubbles. "Don't worry about it, you'll get it if you keep trying," she told her with a light smile. "It takes practice is all." If she kept at it enough she would get it in no time at all.

Professor Myers voice caught the brunettes attention when she heard her name. Points for helping Rebecca. Alright. With a small smile she nodded her head. It wasn't about the points so much as it was tough being younger and just learning, she easily remembered all the times the older students had assisted her with charms. Oh, and her answer had been correct too! Awesome.

It seemed a few others had gotten it right as well but only one of them earned a grin from her. Jaemin a second year from her house, smart kid he was.

Watching Myers walk around and easily get a bucket of the epsom salt had her walking about too. It didn't take long to find it herself. Scooping up a handful of the stuff Hady tossed it about on the soil were she was doing her best to make sure it was done evenly.

Then came another riddle and this had her laughing. Snip, snip snip. That was a clue? Clearly he was speaking of the severing charm but how exactly were they supposed to get up there to reach the dead leaves? Hadleigh tilted her head to look at the roses and leaves high above her head. A levitating charm perhaps?

He was small now. Not small in the metaphorical sense where he felt he was insignificant in the perspective of infinity, and just all-round tiny in terms of the universe which was arguably a multiverse though the scientific community had yet to prove that theory so it was really just conjecture but STILL. His point was that it wasn't in that sense that he was small. No. He was literally small. Literally smaller than his fifteen-centimeter ruler. Bug-sized. It was horrifying. And wrong. And really, what if his clothes hadn't shrunk to match? God that would have been embarassing. But still it was still not cool what had happened. A warning would have been nice. An opt-out. A skip-class-if-you-don't-want-magic-used-on-you clause. Because guess what?

Brian Woods despised being small. And with his leg being bad, getting to places was now TWENTY TIMES as hard as it was. Really, this hufflepuff was a HUFFlepuff. HUFFING. IN IRRITATION. Seriously, if he was a little less disabled, he would be headed for the door but that was so far away.

And then the riddles begun and the eccentricity continued.

And wow, Brian was horrified. Absolutely, totally and completely horrified. Mortified, even, that might be a better adjective. What even was this lesson? The further along they got in the class, the more Brian recoiled and edged closer to the door and away from the insane man he called his head of house. The riddles were a nice touch but he was very, very close to getting himself to the Headmaster's office and suggesting the man visit a shrink.

"Pruning." That was really all he was going to say. Could he hide now? Myers might not be embarassed by himself at all but Brian was feeling all the embarassment for him. How was this supposed to command respect?

.... Salt....

SALT KILLED MOST PLANTS... and really he figured it'd kill roses, but apparently not. GOOD THING THAT WASN'T ON THE O.W.Ls... seriously, he'd gotten SO lucky there. Following the clearly absurd directions they'd been given, Zeke did help himself to a couple of fistfuls of the salt... epson or whatever, and then .... SCATTERED it about the soil in a single flurried THROW. There. Snowing salt. Or something.

But then they were given ANOTHER riddle clue thing.

Really?

Really?

But at least this one was easier and made sense. "Flipnsnipwitit?" Yeah? YEAH?! The trimming charm, obviously.