Natasha raised her hand. "The pus is yellowish-green and causes painful boils on unprotected skin when not diluted." She said timidly, though confident her information was correct.

Valencia made a face. She'd heard of this plant. "It looks gross and oozy." At least that's what she'd heard. She made it a point to not experience those sort of things for as long as possible.

Ah, so Daisy had been correct. She raised her hand, not really caring if she mentioned something someone had already mentioned. "The part of the plant that is visible to the eye has a tendency to squirm on its own."

"Oh, gorgeous!" Chloe clapped her hands at the announcement they'd be working with bobotubers. Crazy, wicked, amazing plants. What was it that they were going to get to do? Collect pus? Tickle the pustules? Whatever it was, she was excited about it.

"They're amazing. The pus can be used in several different potions, but honestly, they're just glorious even if they weren't useful."

Tina shook her head at the professor's question. "No, sir," she said. "I've never used those products before, only read about them." Though she knew quite a few girls back at Beauxbatons who swore by them; apparently they smelled better than bubotuber solution.

So it was a bubotuber wiggling around under that sheet. Tina felt a bit relieved to know what plant she was dealing with, even if it wasn't one of her personal favorites. At least she knew it wasn't something dangerous (unless you count the disgusting smell)!She thought back to what she knew about the bubotuber's characteristics. Basically, it looked like a huge, squirming black slug and smelled like an auto shop... but somehow she didn't think that was the kind of answer Professor Wishart was looking for. Besides, other people had already mentioned those characteristics, as well as several others. It didn't need repeating. Now what could she say that hadn't already been said? tina couldn't think of a single thing except... "The bubotuber's pustules have a shiny appearance," she said after raising her hand being called on.

Rylee had nothing at all that she wanted to add to either of Professor Wishart's questions. Not that she couldn't answer the questions because she could. When it came to plants she generally had a lot to say about them or at the very least was able to offer up something in response but not today. Sorry Professor it was just one of those days were the words wouldn't leave her brain.

Therefore the fourth year remained silent. However at some point she did manage to pull a sheet of parchment and quill from her bag and was currently taking down notes. Note taking was better than doing nothing at all.

Grabbing his wand again Professor Wishart made the sheets on all the students worktables dissappear so that they all really could feast their eyes on the cool and amazing slug looking plant. He waited a moment before started with a little lecture. "The bubotuber is a cool magical plant that is endemic to Scotland and lives in the Forbidden Forest but we also have some specimens here in the greenhouses. The bubotuber resembles a big black slug with shiny porttrusions/pustules all over it’s body. Each pustule holds a thick yellowish-green liquid known as pus that can be a very effective against severe acne if applied topically but also cause painful boils and itching rashes if it get’s on exposed skin."

Grabbing one of the extra bubotuber plant’s as well as an empty bottle after pulling on a pair of dragonhide gloves Professor Wishart gestured for the student’s to come closer and form a half circle so that everyone saw his demonstration. "I’m going to let you all get hand’s on with your bubotuber plants now. What I want you to do is to squeeze out all the pus out of your bubotuber plants pustules/swellings into bottles." He showed how he applied squeezing pressure with one hand to one of the pustules and how the pus shot out that he quickly managed to catch into a bottle ignoring the new stench of petrol that filled the greenhouse. "Wear your dragonhide gloves and don’t be afraid to squeeze hard on the pustules but be alert when the pus burst out so you get it into a bottle and not in your faces. Now get to work you have 60 minutes to get it done! You should have bottles on your worktables, if you need more then i have spares on my desk. Have fun!" He assumed that they knew that if they got pus on their skins they should come to him.

OOC: Mini activity is up! You have 3 days until Saturday around 7 pm GMT + 1 to finish your activities. Joshua want’s your students to collect all the pus from their bubotuber plants by squeezing the pus out with their dragonhide gloved protected hands and put the outbursting pus into bottles in as many or as few posts as you wish! Be creative and most importantly have fun with the plants! Any questions or so post prof in your post titles or i might miss them.

Pimples. Pustules. Pus plants.

It was all a bit too gross for Max's liking and he watched the demonstration with a less than impressed expression on his face. Was this really necessary?

"I reckon there's gotta be some kind of siphoning charm that'll get the job done easier," he mumbled, quiet enough that Wishart wouldn't hear but Vita, his desk buddy would. "Want me to give it a go? Or do you wanna get your hands dirty?"

Because he definitely didn't.

Aaron was starting to get lightheaded in the enclosed space of the greenhouse... That smell was strong, okay? and if he were a better student, it would've been the biggest clue as to what was lying in wait for them under the drop clothes. However, this wasn't the Hufflepuffs best subject, and all he could really do was squint and tilt his head at the quivering sheets.

...He was pleased when Ronan joined him. Hello, teammate!

Returning a much more substantial smile, because it would get better (he truly believed) the Hufflepuff refocused, though the odor was slowly doing his head in. Good thing he hadn't ate breakfast or he might the throwing up right now...Maybe it was already getting to the Professor, as he'd just called Ronan 'Aaron'. Not that the Botros minded. His name was awesome, but... maybe that was a sign.

.....He wasn't even thinking about what the professor was asking them. It was hard to piece thoughts together when other senses were being flooded with bad signals, given he was more sensitive to odors. His fellow Puff hadn't been wrong. They needed to open a window, for longer than a few moments.

Oh, lightblub!

Diving back into his schoolbag, Aaron shifted books and papers around, as he searched for any sign of neon yellow. It took several minutes, but once he pulled the small form-like ear plugs out, he quickly went about unwrapping them and sticking one apiece in both nostrils. And not to be rude, he deposited his second pair in front of Ronan..if he wanted to plug his nose, as well.... It was already helping immensely.

He tuned back in to the lesson just in time for the white sheets to disappear, revealing some... Well, if they were a person, Aaron would assume they had really great personalities. Silently praising his own good fortune at not missing instructions, the Fifth Year slipped from his seat, confident now that he could participate without his nose putting him out of commission. As he moved closer, he was already slipping into his gloves. It was nice to see a demonstration, but... It wasn't pretty work.

Once back at his seat, Aaron offered another smile to his younger teammate. "Hey, you wanna work together?" With his nose stopped up, the Fifth Year's voice came out far squeakier than it was normally, but there was nothing to be done about that. He was NOT removing the makeshift nose plugs. "It didn't look too complicated."

Valencia was not pleased. Not at all. Even despite what the Professor said, she still made a face when looking at the oozy plant.

Ew.

She pulled on her gloves -- then triple checked that they were on and protecting her skin. She then bounced a little on the spot in an effort to psych herself into doing this. After a few seconds, she picked up the bottle and looked between it and the plant. Alright. Now she just needed to figure out the best way to do this. She wanted as little contact with the plant as possible.

Vita felt a bit nauseated watching the demonstration and she had to look away, taking a moment to try and settle her stomach. The smell in the room plus the visuals were a bit overwhelming to the senses, okay?

...Getting through this lesson was going to be work.

Max's offer was actually exactly what she needed, did he know? "Please, be my guest." She was willing to let him try almost anything if it meant she didn't need to squeeze pus out of a plant.

Daisy carefully donned her dragon-hide gloves and then proceeded to remove the sheet that was covering the Bubutober plant. She grabbed a bottle and uncorked the top whilst looking for a pustule that was neither too big or too small to squeeze. She found one towards the top of the plant and with her thumb and forefinger of her left hand, she gave the pustule a gentle squeeze until a reasonable amount of pus emitted from the said pustule. Daisy quickly filled her bottle which she then corked.

Uncorking a second and third bottle, Daisy saw a slightly smaller pustule and gave it a good squeeze with her thumb. Luckily she had the bottle nearby and the pus was captured inside, otherwise, she'd have foul-smelling liquid on her face. The Hufflepuff quickly corked the bottle. She captured a decent amount of pus in her third and final bottle, thanks to a large pustule. Daisy corked the third bottle and made sure the bottles were corked properly. She grabbed her wand and magically cleaned her gloves but didn't take them off.

Vivienne walked over to her station and pulled a pair of gloves on her dry hands. Then she got straight to it. Then she sprayed herself in the face. She continued until she had 6 bottles of fresh smelly pus. Then she pointed her wand at her gloves and shouted, "Scourgify!"

Stella shrugged, what was the big deal and all these girls saying ew for? It was just a plant that smelled, so what? Not all plants smelled like roses. She honestly didn't mind, it could've been worse and she knew it. Putting on her gloves she opened the cork of her bottles before taking the sheet off her Bubutober plant.

Taking her Bubutober plant in her hands she went to squeeze as it slipped out of her hands. "Oopsie not a good hold!" she said readjusting her grip on it. Taking a pustule that was the right size, she held it with her right hand as she used her index finger and thumb on her left hand and...

Squeeze!

As a good came out she put some in her first bottle before putting the cork on it setting it aside. That was one down, she was hoping to have all three done before the end of class.

Natasha pulled on her dragon hide gloves, then set up her bottles in a neat row. She liked a clean and tidy workspace. Next, she took a moment to just observe her plant. It looked a bit hideous at first, but then she started to notice little details she liked.

”You aren't ugly at all. You just look different. I hope this doesn't hurt you, I promise I'll be as gentle as l can.” Yes, she was talking to her plant. Finding a good sized pustule, she readied a bottle, then gave it a good squeeze. It burst with more force than she expected, and most of the pus ended up covering the bottle and her glove.

That first try failed miserably, but that's alright. She cleaned up the mess and prepared for attempt number two. She held the bottle different and most of the pus made it into the bottle. At least she had improved. Her third attempt was met with success.

Once she figured out the best technique, she found it was rather easy to harvest all the pus from her plant.

As the smell of petrol was starting to fill the room, Dorian resulted in breathing through his mouth after a couple of minutes. He had grabbed his dragonhide gloves and pulled them on before stepping closer to his working station and examined the Bubutober. He had to squeeze pus out of that...that thing? And have FUN?

For the longest of moments, the Ravenclaw wasn't doing anything and looked around at his classmates instead before he mustered up the courage and with his gloved hand he grabbed one of the bottlesl, held it under one of the swelling and with his fingers he squeezed.

The pus came out and he thanked everything that it wasnt too bad. The liquid dripped down in to the bottle and as he squeezed again and knew that it didnt hold more, he moved the bottle up and squeezed another swelling.

This time, the pus didn't just slide down but it hit the sleeve of his robe and the fifth year took a step backwards, looking at his robe with an disgusted expression on his face. He set the bottle aside for a moment and took out his wand from his sleeve. With a wave, he vanished the pus and then picked the bottle back up to try another swelling.

The next one went a little better, it didnt burst open and the pus dripped down in to the bottle until it was full. It took some time but he'd rather take his time and have the pus go inside the bottle than work fast and be covered with it. Even if this whole thing was probably the most disgusting thing he had ever done. And no, it wasn't satisfying at all. It was gross, disgusting and not only the petrol smell but also the sight of them bursting open made him gag each time.

Grabbing another empty bottle, he squeezed out another and tears started to fill his eyes as he watched. Not that he was crying or anything. He was trying his very best not to throw up. Thanking Merlin yet again, Dorian successfully filled a second bottle.

Max nodded at Vita's words, grateful that she seemed just as grossed out by all of this as he did. Phew. He quickly donned his dragonhide gloves and drew his wand before giving her a look. "You keep lookout, okay?" He wasn't sure if this was allowed but better to be safe than sorry, right?

He never would've attempted this had he not been confident with his Charms skills because the plant looked nasty, but he totally HAD this. After a teeny tiny cutting charm to make a teeny tiny hole in one of the bubotuber swellings, Max used another handy charm to siphon the pus into the bottles. One for him and one for Vita.

GENIUS.

Tina wasn't the slightest bit surprised when Professor Wishart said they were going to be collecting bubotuber pus. She couldn't think of anything else one would do with a bubotuber plant! When the sheet disappeared, she glanced at the plant in front of her. The way it moved was a bit… unsettling, but other than that, she wasn't too disgusted by its appearance. Better to have a weird-looking but useful plant than a beautiful but dangerous one!

The dark-haired Ravenclaw picked up a pair of dragonhide gloves, double and triple checking them for holes before she put them on. Just because she wasn't grossed out, it didn't mean she wanted that pus getting on her skin! She examined the plant, sizing up its pustules. There was a good sized one on the left side, big enough to squeeze but small enough to not make a mess. She opened the nearest vial and positioned it underneath the pustule. Then she gave it a quick pinch. and… nothing happened. She must not be squeezing hard enough!

Tina hesitated. The harder she squeezed, the less control she'd have over where the liquid went. What if it splashed in her face? She tried to take a deep calming breath but wound up nearly gagging from the smell. Ugh, just when she thought her nose was finally getting used to that smell! She turned her head as far away from the plant as she could while she squeezed again - not because she couldn't handle the sight of pus. She was trying to avoid contact with any stray droplets. When she looked again, Tina saw that half of the pus had flowed into the vial; the other half oozed onto her glove. Nope, she wasn't taking any chances on that pus leaking through her glove! Before she did anything else, she siphoned away the excess pus with a quick Tergeo.

After that first try, Tina had a better idea how much pressure to apply while squeezing. Her next attempts were a lot easier. She squeezed two more small pustules to finish filling up the vial in her hand. When she was done, she picked up another empty vial to fill. Squeezing the shiny bumps on the plant was strangely calming, almost like popping bubble wrap… shiny, stinky, ooze-filled bubble wrap. Before long, the filled vials started to pile up, and Tina wondered what they would be doing with all the pus they'd collected. Would they be using it for an anti-acne potion? That would be useful!

Vita busied herself with her own gloves as she glanced around, getting a feel for what everyone else was doing. Her hope was that the professor would be focusing on the younger students just in case they needed assistance. Her and Max were practically grownups, there was no reason he'd need to be checking up on them, right?

...

Giving the older boy a smile, she nodded and casually looked up, pretending to double check the instructions. Ah yes, endemic to Scotland .... thick greenish-yellow liquid...how fascinating. She could hear said liquid going into the bottle and her brown eyes sought out the professor, making sure he wasn't paying attention. They seemed to be in the clear.

"This is so disgusting," She said quietly to Max, taking her bottle ad pretending to squeeze one of the pustules. Her nose wrinkled as she swished the bottle around. "I'm happy to get my skin care remedies at a local shop."

While the student’s started to tackle the pus task he had set for them Joshua observed for a few minutes from afar, going over the lesson notes lying on his desk. Pleased that he hadn’t missed mentioning anything Joshua started to put up the supplies needed for the main practical of the day. When that was done he left his desk and went out amongst the student’s to assist and give advice where it was needed.



Several minutes later Professor Wishart stopped up front to face his student’s again clapping his hands to get attention. "That’s enough everyone! Great work! I hope most of you managed to get the pus out of the oozing bubotuber pustules without too much difficulty. If anyone who got sprayed with pus is still experiencing discomfort after the lesson’s end then let me know and i’ll give you a note to give to Professor Adara so you’ll get more treatment." He paused here to pick up an acne potion from the supply on his desk.

"Let’s move on shall we to the main part of our practical portion of the lesson. I’m going to let you all get very hand’s on with the pus as you will be actively self-treating yourself from severe facial acne that drinking these acne potions will give you. Everyone is expected to drink a full acne potion and heal the pimples that form in your faces if you want to get full marks for this part of the lesson." Demonstrating Joshua took off the cork of the acne potion and swallowed down about a mouthful of it.

Within seconds his face that wasn’t covered by his dark beard had gotten several red and very visible acne pimples. Ignoring the acute urge to scratch his face Professor Wishart took up his pus bottle and used his wand to add water by use of the water charm. After stirring the pus and water he continued. "You need to add water to your pus bottles to dilate the pus or it will be too strong for your skin and can be very harmful. Half of the bottle should be pus and the other half water and then you stir it around 3 times clockwise either with your wand or with a spoon."

Taking the cork off the pus bottle he had just mixed he stuck a gloved finger down into it to take some pus up and then he applied it to one of the pimples that he felt on his forehead and felt it dissapear. "As you just saw the pimple vanished. Now get to work everyone I have enough acne potions, spoons if you prefer and if you aren’t comfortable with the water charm you can use sink water from the back. You have 2 hours to complete activity have fun!" As he had been talking and demonstrating the instructions had appeared on the blackboard beside him.

OOC: Main activity is up! You have 4 day’s to complete it in as many or as few posts as you wish. I’ll wrap up the lesson on Wednesday @ approx 7 pm GMT +1. Have fun! Be creative! As always post ‘prof’ in your post titles if you want to ask something….

What Wishart want’s to see for full marks is these steps:
1. Drink a whole acne potion
2. Dilate the bubotuber pus by adding water to half the bottle and stir 3 times clockwise.
3. Make all the pimples disappear from your faces
4. Answer questions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parchment

How did it feel when the pimples formed in your face?

Did you feel anything when you applied the pus that made the pimple disappear?

UhhhhHHhhhHHhh.

There had been a moment of wide-eyed panic when Wishart had stopped by their desk to check over their progress but Max quickly said something about him and Vita being pro's and that absolutely everything was fine. Fiiiiiiiiiiine. Nothing to see over here, Professor.

And then just when he was positive this lesson couldn't get any nastier, it did. Because apparently, Wishart expected them to purposely give themselves acne and then rub this pus all over their FACES!? Ackkk! No no no no no. He didn't want to do it.

He turned his attention back to Vita, expression grim. "I.... dunno how we're supposed to get out of doing this part. You don't happen to have one of those other remedies in your bag right now, do you?" Maybe they could do some more pretending.

Mallari and Carden being pros in Herbology? Yeah right! Wishart went back to the front and continued. Why would Wishart want Vivienne to give herself acne? How preposterous! That would cause a breakout on her face! She looked at Maxton and said, "Just do it! Don't complain. I'm sensitive to everything that gets put my face so I cannot do it."

.....................uh-oh.

Vita nodded along to Max's insistence that they were just quite skilled at this particular task, the sixth year adding something about her being a clean freak and having made sure their gloves were good as new after bottling the pus. It wasn't really a lie, considering she was all about keeping herself pus-free during this lesson, a task made harder by Wishart's next set of directions.

Dis.gus.ting.

"I don't have anything on me, no..." If she sounded a bit like all hope had been lost, it's because it had been. They were going to have to rub that pus on their faces. ON THEIR FACES. She cringed just thinking about it. "If you do it, I'll do it. We can suffer through this together, right?" ...Right? Merlin, this was going to be SO GROSS.

She retrieved a bottle of acne potion, one for each of them, and offered his to him. "Quicker we do this, quicker we'll be done."

Did...... they just get told off by a first year? Surely not. Huh.

Shuffling uncomfortable in his seat, Max pulled all the disappointed faces when Vita shared the terrible news that she didn't have any remedies on her. His brain was working overtime, trying to come up with another genius plan to get them out of having to actually complete the task but he was drawing blanks this time....

"Ugh, I suppose. I hate Herbology. Let's just get this over and done with then," he grumbled, accepting the vial of acne inducing grossness and clinking it with hers in a quick cheers before downing the contents. Hi pimples.

Did he look completely and utterly grossed out? Because he was.

Nettie KNEW that this was where the lesson had been going - why else would they be talking about bubotubers if they weren't going to be doing squeezing? She wasn't even comfortable squeezing her OWN zits, and now she had to do it on a plant? GROSSSSSS. Not to mention, as she started to get her station ready, he explained what they were going to be doing LATER, and...that was even more gross. This whole thing was just making her feel icky and she couldn't wait to be out of here so she could take a shower.

Putting on her dragonhide gloves, she walked up to the front of the classroom and grabbed a bottle. She then walked back to her plant and picked one of the biggest boils. Might as well go big or go home, right?

Wrinkling her nose, she grabbed the boil and...squeezed. It didn't take much pressure for it to bust open, and she held the bottle underneath it as the pus trickled in. "ewewewewewewewewewewewew," she muttered as it oozed in. Maybe she was being dramatic, but she gagged a little, turning away from the horrid petrol smell.