Daisy made her way into Greenhouse Two and the strong odour that welcomed her made her very grateful that she had a very light lunch. "Good Afternoon, Professor Wishart," Daisy greeted as she made her way to a worktable located somewhere in the middle and sat down, making sure her hands were nowhere near the sheet.

Józef's lunch (which had been considerably large, even by a standard thirteen year old boy's standards) felt like it was about to come back up when he first stepped into the Greenhouse. It was horrible enough that he had to take a few deep breaths and (rather dramatically) clasp his nose between a finger and thumb before he ventured towards his desk.

"Good afternoon," he greeted Professor Wishart, his muffled and strained voice due to the nasal clamping. He read the board as he sat, his curiosity and temptation to move the cloth growing. Dangerous plants? COOL.

Tina had spent most of her lunch time studying. OWLs were inly a fee montus away, and she wasn't anywhere near ready! After grabbing a quick bite to eat, she packed up her books and made her way to the greenhouse. As soon as she stepped inside, a disgusting stench hit her nostrils. She was glad she'd done more studying than eating at lunch! If the smell made her feel queasy now, she didn't even want to know how much worse it would be on a full stomach.

She held a hand over her nose to block the stink, fighting not to gag. "Hello, Professor Wishart," she greeted. Her eyes darted from the man to the instructions on the board behind him, then to the quivering sheets covering the tables. So apparently the smell wasn't the only dangerous thing about this plant... just perfect. Tina took a seat at the nearest empty work table, scrunching up as small as she could. She wanted to keep her body as far away from whatever was under that sheet as possible!

Well this was unpleasant. "Hello Professor." He didn't seem bothered by the smell at all, but Vita couldn't quite stop herself from wrinkling her nose as she approached an empty table and set her things down. It was likely to give her a headache, that smell was.

Pulling her sleeve over her hand, she placed it over her nose and mouth and tried not to breathe in too deeply.

Spring time... not a favorite time of the year for Stella, her asthma always acted up at this time, she couldn't blame the trees and plants for her being this way. Besides she would never blame them, she blames her stupid body reacting this way, good thing she took her potion to help her breathe. Walking happily towards the greenhouse she wrinkled her nose at the smell, what was that smell? Oh wow...it smelled horrible in here, and she was used to smells they used on plants but... this was unbelievable.

Walking towards Professor Wishart she smiled at him. "Hello Professor Wishart hope you're well." she said before she took a seat at a work table and looked st the board. Hm... what were they working on today? She couldn't wait to find out.

This particular Hufflepuff had a lot on his mind today, plain to see written across his face as he moseyed down to the greenhouses. The air was less brisk as it had been in recent days, allowing Aaron to inhale lungfuls without the usual bite. It was comforting. Nice, even. But it didn't erase his troubles.

The noticeboard had mentioned greenhouse two, so he hiked his schoolbag up higher on his shoulder as he slipped in.... All at once hit with a strong stench of petrol. It was a smell he associated with muggles. Oddly placed in a greenhouse devoted to greenery and living plants. Huh.. Before moving to one of the paired-off tables, Aaron got a good, hard look at the setup. Quivering white sheets cloaking the tables, strange odors... The concerning instructions on the blackboard...

Yep, just another day at Hogwarts.

"Afternoon, Professor!" His spirits were slightly dampened.

Wow, that smell was STRONG. Chloe was glad that she had enough fur to choke a horse hanging from her head that she could wrap it tightly under her nose and braid it to the back. So yes, she was now braiding her face.

"Good day to you, Professor," Chloe gave a cheerful fur-flutter before looking for a seat. Her voice might sound a bit pinched from the nose!fur braid, but she was otherwise upbeat. Plants were relaxing, even stinky ones. Now to find a partner.

Was it weird that he sort of liked the smell?

Everyone else seemed to be covering their faces and look at that, Chloe had enough hair to fashion herself a weird sort of mask....... cool. But not Max, no, the smell kinda reminded him of revving motorbike engines. He didn't mind it. It was better than the smell that had been emanating from that Corpse Flower. Remember that?

He shrugged off his rucksack and sunk into the seat beside Vita. He couldn't remember if she was any good at Herbology but hopefully, she was.

Ronan stepped into the greenhouse, took one sniff and instantly stepped back out again to inhale some clean air. WHAT was that SMELL. He didn't like it. It made his eyes water and reminded him of his muggle friends' parents' cars. This was herbology, right??

Sigh.

Taking a deep breath and on the lookout for his friends, Ronan quickly made a beeline for the next best thing (or even better thing to be honest, because Ronan Wallace wasn't all that sure his friends actually liked him), his teammate Aaron. On his way to him, Ronan passed by the head girl who, frankly, looked really scary and he couldn't help but stare. Couldn't someone help her maybe? It must be really uncomfortable to be covered with so much fur.

The twelve year old only stopped staring when he almost walked into a plant, and sidestepped to sit next to Aaron, eyes slightly watering. "Hey.." he greeted his teammate before turning to greet the professor too with a nod, a wave and a weak smile.

"Um, Professor Wishart, could we crack open a window maybe? It smells really bad in here and I can't breathe," and his head was starting to hurt.

Rylee entered the greenhouse silently adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder, her nose crinkling in displeasure at the smell that was settled over her quickly. Yup, it was great to be back after nearly two weeks of being pulled out by her sister. It was time to get back into the swing of things and catch up on all her work.

"Hello, Professor," the Gryffindor greeted much more quietly than normal. Slipping into the first empty seat she came across, letting her bag slid off her shoulder and onto the floor at her feet. Blue-gray eyes took in the sheet covering something on her desk before finding the writing on the blackboard. So they weren't supposed to peek or touch whatever it was that was on their desk. Yeah, got it.

Setting her hands on her lap, Rylee mindlessly twirled one of her bracelets around her wrist. As long as she could keep her focus on doing that for the time being all would be well. At least she appeared to be in thought?

Lifting his eyes up to the clock above the greenhouse as he customly did Professor Wishart stood up from his desk to stand by his blackboard. He erased the message on blackboard before he turned his full attention to the students infront of him with a big beam on his face. "Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another wonderful lesson in the subject of plants. I’m sorry about the strong smell in here. I hope it will become less disturbing and troubling as we start working with the plants."

Taking his wand out of it’s place in his left robe pocket Joshua tapped the tip of it to the blackboard making the word 'Acne' appear in big legible letters. "As growing teenagers I bet that many of you if not all of you have first hand experience with dealing with facial acne. Acne at least i felt in my own teen years we’re mighty irritating since new pimples kept appearing without warning. So I wonder from your own experiences how shall acne best be treated? Is there any muggle/magical remedies that are effective against acne? Is there a spell you can use to make the pimples go away?"

OOC: The lesson has started! If you are just now joining us then just jump in and act as if your student has been there the whole time unless you want them to suffer ic consequences. The first question is up and it’s simple. Joshua just want’s to know how the student’s deal with their facial acne. Do they use some special muggle/magical remedies or do they take away the pimples with a spell? Lesson will move in approx 24 hours @ 7pm GMT + 1 on Tuesday evening.

Maxton Carden got a smile from the sixth year, though she might be disappointing him where her herbology skills were concerned. She wasn't exactly the girl with the green thumb, but if the work involved charms, she could help out there. That was her specialty.

...they were talking about spots, really?

It was a rather unfortunate part of growing up, wasn't it? One that she didn't fancy thinking too much about because it was stressful and stress would probably cause more of them and her skin had been good lately, so she was really quite fortunate...

As for remedies, well, she did know a little bit about skin care. Her mum had had beautiful skin. "Drinking water is important, Professor."

Patrick had walked into the green house knowing that he would have rather been in his bed. Taking his hand through his hair he sat down trying to get his attitude right. As Slytherin captain he needed to make a somewhat decent example for the younger students.

Watching some of the other students begin to arise he crossed his ankles while he waited for the.... ACNE? They were going to be talking about acne today. It made him cringe he hated his acne stage. It was ridiculous how hard it was to keep his face clear, but he didn't use spells. His mama had told him spells to make you look good would eventually catch up and make you look bad. It may have been false but he took her words to heart.

Raising his hand he answered the question, "I myself use a muggle regiment of a salve before I wash, washing my face, and then using a liquid solution after. The solution keeps the acne dry and doesn't let it start causing acne." Not sure that answer was sufficient enough he wrote down a few magical solutions.

Daisy thought about magical and mundane methods for removing acne and immediately raised her hand. "Bubotuber pus can be used to cure acne but I think it has to be diluted."

It would be lovely to have a problem as SIMPLE as acne rather than a face full of fur, but Chloe considered the problem quietly as she nommed on her own hair. Nom nom... oh, idea!

"Washing your face is important. I know that's a simple thing, but it's a good start. And not overwashing, because some oil is healthy for skin."

Seriously? They were going to talk about ACNE today? What about EXCESSIVE hair growth?! That seemed like a more pressing issue at the moment, at least to Nettie. She had been blessed to not have THAT much acne at the moment - but she was also only 14. There was time for her body to turn on her still.

She raised her hand. "I read in a muggle beauty magazine that you can put toothpaste on a pimple overnight and it like, sucks the junk out of it or something and shrinks it. You have to be careful though because it CAN mess up the pimple even more if your skin is sensitive. Or something," she muttered. The handful of times she had tried it, it had worked so...yeah. Probably not the BEST thing for her skin but it had worked!

Valencia had yet to experience the joys of puberty, so she didn't really have first hand experience in the topic. She raised her hand anyway, "I read in a book you can use green tea to help. You can drink it and spritz some on your face."

She had no idea if that worked though.

Tina blinked at the professor's greeting. Fantine? Nobody ever called her by her full first name, not even her parents (when they were still around)! It was always Tina or Miss Dantes. That was. . unexpected, but not quite as unexpected as the question about acne treatments.

The first thing that came to Tina's mind was a solution of bubotuber pus. That was the method she always used to treat her acne… but Daisy had already mentioned that and it didn't need repeating. Then everything clicked… the strong gasoline-like smell, the occasionally wiggling sheet on the table. There must be a bubotuber plant under there! She couldn't believe she didn't make the connection sooner. The smell must've affected her brain!

Tina frantically wracked her brains for an answer that hadn't already been said. She was more knowledgeable about magical acne treatments than mundane ones, but she vaguely recalled reading something about it. Her hand went up, and she said when called on, “Benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid are common ingredients in non-magical acne remedies like cleansers and spot treatments. Benzoyl peroxide reduces bacteria on the skin while salicylic acid removes debris that clogs pores.” She didn't know for sure if they worked; she'd never used those products herself, only read about them.

Acne? That was something that Stella haven't gotten yer, but knew that with her getting older she would. She really wasn't looking forward to it, but she knew it was a part of getting older and growing up. Although her brothers use alot of things to get rid of their acne, so she knew quite a bit about how to get rid of them thankfully. Although some of what her brothers do was already said, but she knew some still.

Biting her lip she rasied her hand. " My brothers spot treats his acne with tea tree oil, but always dilute it before applying it to your skin I heard it's very powerful. " she said before going back to her notes she was writing.

The smell certainly was noticeable. Very noticeable. But it was different to the other smells usually dealt with in Herbology. Mostly the fertiliser-type smells. The subject of acne came up, and Hanna had a sinking feeling that people would put petrol, or whatever it was she could smell, onto their pimples.

Listening to everything people said about treating acne, Hanna thought of one more thing. Something she sometimes dabbed on her pimples, or made into a solution if she was having a nasty breakout. Usually around the time of a competition or a big match. She raised her hand and said "Tea tree oil is good, too, Professor. Especially because it can help kill bugs that might also cause acne." Like, she knew some of her muggle friends were on antibiotics for their pimples.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As the students had given their answer’s Joshua had tapped the blackboard with his wand to make a list form there while he had responded to each of them separatley in turn.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackboard

Acne remedies muggle/magical:
Wash your face regularly
Drink a lot of water
Tea tree oil
Green tea
Muggle salve and foundation
Bubotuber pus
toothpaste
cleansers and spot treatments

Turning his eyes to the class Professor Wishart summarized "Facial acne or pimples as it also can be called in everday tongue is something that everyone deals with in their youth and teens and there are numerous ways to treat it best. I hope that if you have acne that some of the suggestions that your peers have given can be worth testing so that you all can be acne free."

Gesturing to sheets on the worktables he continued ”I bet your all eager to feast your eyes on the plant we are going to get practical with it in just as few minutes. I can reveal now that it will be the bubotuber plant. Can you all tell me how you think you can identify a bubotuber plant from other plants. What does a bubotuber plant look like? Does it have any special characteristics or uses other than acne?

OOC: Question two is up! Joshua want’s to know how the student’s think’s they can identify a bubotuber plant; what does it look like? Does it have any special characteristics or uses other than curing acne? All answers correct, wrong or quirky are welcome! Class will move on with the mini activity tomorrow around 7pm GMT+1.

EWWWW. As soon as Wishart revealed the plant they would be working with, Nettie wrinkled her nose in disgust. The Bubotuber? She knew that the plant was GROSS, and it smelled something awful when you popped the...boils? Pus pockets? Whatever they were. She had no idea that it was a cure for acne, though. She'd thought he'd picked the plant at first because it resembled acne, and some kids who got a kick out of popping their own pimples might get excited about it too. But no, apparently it had some sort of use.

She raised her hand. "It looks like a black slug, covered in pustules," she explained. G A G.

Well, that explained the spell, didn't it? It was the bubotuber pus, which, was actually pretty gross when you thought about it. Vita wrinkled her nose, eyeing the covered plant between herself and Max. It might be a useful plant, but it wasn't a pretty one, that she knew.

"They can be found in the forbidden forest, I believe. The pus inside of the pustules is what smells so...pungent." That was certainly a distinctive characteristic.

Stella noticed Professor Wishart big eyes at her answer, did she say something wrong? She didn't understand what she did wrong, maybe tea tree oil was bad for you and the skin, she was going to avoid it at all cost. She didn't want to be covered in boils, hopefully her brother's would kmow it's more deadly then helpful. Yeah she was going to find other ways of taking care of her acne from this moment on.


Raising her hand she bit her lip. " I think I read that their pus can affect unprotected skin in unintended ways. " she said not knowing if that would help. Although that was something that they did to you, so she wasn't wrong was she? Going back to her notes she wrote down what was on the blackboard.