Llew groaned, and began furiously attempting to change his charm. Inevitably the light just dimmed further and further or once brightened to the point that once the light had dimmed, he saw his plant had begun wilting. Bloody...Stupid professor, making us do charms in Herbology! We are supposed to be taking care of plants! Hasn't she ever heard of a sun lamp?! He thought to himself, attempting to conceal his failed plant from everyone's eyes.



Professor Virohsa noticed the boy's attempts to stabilize his charm. Walking over to him, she whispered, "There are sunlamps in the back. There's another girl who will use them as well. So please, help yourself. Keep in mind dear, that the sunlamps are extremely hot.. and will kill your plant if you shine them directly at them. So, place it far away"

After having mixed her mineral powder into the water & assuring herself that it was the proper shade of blue, Laurasia pulled out her wand & looked at her plant. She pulled over her quill & parchment in order to record the effects she has on the plant.

"Okay sweety, lets see how well we get along," she cooed to the plant. She flicked her wand & firmly stated "lumos". The tip of her wand lit up brightly. She held it over the plant, which began to wilt a bit. "Okay, love. Your thirsty, aren't you?"

The plant perked up a bit at the sound of her voice, but then began to wilt again. Laurasia began to gently pour some of the fortified water onto the plants base. "How's that sweety? Are you feeling a bit better now?"

The plants leaves brighten once again & the color seemed to intensify briefly. Suddenly the plany began to shrink & seemingly pull away from the brightness of the wand. Laurasia immediately pulled the wand a bit further away from the plant. "I'm sorry baby. I'm sure that wand is a bit warm, now isn't it?" The plant perked up once again.

Laurasia momentarily scanned around the room to see how her fellow students were doing with their plants. When she looked back down her plant had turned a sickly shade of pale blue & its' leaves were lying on the table top. "Oh no! I'm sorry sweety. Here, have some more water." She began to feed the plant again & it returned to its' original state. Laurasia noticed that she was beginning to feel a bit more relaxed & decided to sit next to the plant instead of stand. She had also noticed that the plant seemed to respong more to her voice than it did the light & water. "Hmm," she thought to herself.

She began writing her findings on her parchment, while watering her plant slowly. Seeing that the plant had begun to pull away from the water, she decided to give it some more light while she took her notes. When she was finished she looked up only to realize that her plant was now dead.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry professor, my plant died. I don't know what happened. I was just writing my notes & when I looked up it was dead."



"Yes, yes dear. I find that... Pouring water just about when you will turn your attention helps. So shower them with water and then turn your attention", she smiled. "Please feel free to use one of the other plants"

After a while Jamie saw that the plant was starting to loose it's color and then she poured another 1/4 of the water into the plant and the plant perked up within seconds and she then shone the light far away, but still directed on the plant. She switched hands with the wand and she picked up a pencil and set a notebook full of parchment on her lap and wrote down a couple of words then looked at her plant and it was still going strong. The aroma of the plant was really going strong, it was very pleasent, but it made her mind go blank so she put her parchment back and she just shone the light back on the plant.

Turning from the professors stern gaze, Laurasia went to get another plant. "I wonder if my thoughts are right," she said to herself. She scanned the plants & gathered up a large one in full bloom. "Well hello, love," she said to the plant. "My name is Laurasia & I'm going to be taking care of you for a little bit." The plants color seemed to deepen a bit & Laurasia smiled to herself. She returned to her table with the plant & once again used the Lumos charm.

Using her book, she propped the wand up so that it shined on the plant. She picked up the water & began to feed the plant, which had begun to slightly loose its color. "Its okay, baby. I'm here. I'll take care of you." At the sound of her voice, the plants color deepened once again. "Just as I thought," Laurasia whispered.

She continued to fawn over her new plant. "My but you are a lovely plant, aren't you? I should draw a picture of you, to remember you by." With that being said, she began to sketch her new plant. The plant seemed to bulk up & become a brilliant shade of blue as she concentrated on it & drew. As she was drawing, a strange calmness began to settle over Laurasia. Her eyes began to burn a bit & she yawned. When she looked up her plant had begun to loose some of its color.

She immediately snapped back to attention & speak to the plant once again. "Oh it's okay, love. I understand that you're not familiar with where you are. I'll keep you comfortable while you are here though." She began to stroke the leaves gently & the aroma from the plant increased. "Oh you like that do you? Well now, let's just make sure that you don't have any aphids or damaged leaves why don't we?" As Laurasia began to gently search over all parts of her plant, she began to again feel a bit drowsy. Her plant however was looking & smelling quite wonderful.



Professor Virohsa smiled proudly. "Oh my! That is wonderful!!", she exclaimed. "Good, good!", she smiled as she patted her in the back and kept walking.

Erica took her wand and staring at the plant, she muttered the incantation for light.

"Lumos!"

Her wand instantly exploded with light. Way too much light. In defense, the plant chucked some dirt into her face before withering away. Erica was completely caught off guard by the dirt and dropped her wand to get the dirt off her face and out of her eyes. When she turned her attention back to the plant, it was already dead. Muttering to herself about stupid plants, she picked her wand back up and went to fetch another plant.

Tania took her plant and the ingredients she needed. She was a little nervous, seeing as how she didn't know how the plant would react.

She decided to take as many notes as possible just in case her homeowrk required her to write about her plant's reactions. She took her gloves and put them on. Tania took the pitcher of water and using the minerals it became a bright blue. She began to water her plant and soon she began to feel less nervous.
"This plant does give off a nice scent, she thought to herself.
She then decided, while jotting down a few notes on her parchment, to give it a little light. After a few seconds the plant's color began to fade just a bit. She then gave it some more light. It brightened up again. After writing some more notes she added a bit more water and smiled when it brightened up again. Tania continued writing notes as she cared for the plant.

"Lumos," Birdy mumbled, aiming her wand carefully at her plant. She was determined not to let it die in her first 15 seconds she had it. The leaves began to quiver and rustle in the light. For a split second, it looked as though it would fall over- Birdy quickly reached over for her bucket and began pouring a consistant stream of blue water onto the plant.

She noticed as she poured that the water wasn't a very vibrant blue, more of a pale, periwinkle. Prehaps this was why the plant was continuing to shake omniously. Delicatly holding her wand between her thumb and forefinger, Birdy continued to aim the light at her plant. At the same time, she attempeted to reach over to the mineral substance close at hand to add more to her pale mixture. She was so close to the bucket...

But as her fingers scraped the edge of the pail, it wobbled off balance and fell to the floor.

"OH!" she yelled, fumbling her wand as she lunged for the bucket- but it was too late. The bucket made a loud thunk as it fell to the floor, accompanied by a SPLOOSH of the water spilling in every direction. Birdy had caught her wand before it fell to the floor. The plant was far from repair and she knew she'd have to start anew. Waving her wand, Birdy managed to clean up most of her spill until it was just damp on the floor, then she moved to the front to recieve her new plant.

Lauren took a deep breathe, She really didnt want to let her plant die. She let out a sigh and then said "Lumos!" She watched as light escaped from the ends of her wand, She bit her lip thinking it was to much for the plant. She quickly raised her hand, "Professor" She began, "How much is to much for the plant?" Lauren asked, Afraid she was sounding a bit dumb.



Professor Virohsa gave a slight grin, "Just give her enough so that she knows that you are keeping the plant warm and lighted. But don't put the wand too close, or else it would be too warm"

"Thank you professor!" Lauren said, Smiling at Professor Virohsa.
Seeing that the light had gone out at the tip of her wand she gasped and said "Lumos!" She then reached over carefull, Not to knock over the plant or anyone elses, and grabbed the can of liquid. She looked at is closely and then poured a bit into her flower. "So far so good" She said, Glad she hadnt damaged the pland in any way.

Diana spoke softly to her plant. "Hey there, little one. Lumos." At first, she gave off a teeny bit of light from her wand, but the flower seemed to need a bit more light, so she adjusted the brightness of the light at the tip of her wand. Soon, the flower began to wither a bit. Diana reacted to this by pouring about a shotful or two of the blue liquid. However, the flower still looked the same, but its shade have deepened a bit.

"Hmm...Too much light, I suppose?" She tuned down her light a bit. The flower showed its appreciation by regaining its former, but best, state, as well as giving off a beautiful shade of blue and aroma. "I'm going to take a quick sketch." Every few moments, Diana checked to see if the plant has not withered, as well as feeling and examining its features.

"okay i think its safer for you to do the experimenting" Lee said laughing "i would end up killing it or something. I will just take notes" Lee said smiling "unless you want to?"

"Okay, you can takes notes and we could swap after a few minutes if you want to." Sarah smiled turning her gaze to the plant which was losing it's colour slowly.
"These plants seem a bit too high maintenance for me." Sarah said as the plant waved it's leaves to try and catch their attention, Sarah picked up the pitcher of blue water and poured it onto the plant.
"Happy now?" She asked the plant kindly, the plant's colours then started to fade even faster, "Lumos!" She muttered brightening up the plant and holding the wand away from it so it didn't get too much light.
The leaves began to slowly wilt and slump down to the table.
"Oh, nox" She mumbled turning off the wands light and pouring more water onto the plant.



Professor Virohsa smiled at the pair. "Veryy good!! You are doing a wonderful job, child", she smiled at Sarah. After looking at the beautiful blue color, she nodded and kept walkign around the classroom.

Lee alughed as Sarah experimented "very high maintanence" Lee scribbled downsome notes as he watched the plants colour start to fade again. He still had no clue as to why plants were needed int he world but he got on with it anyway.

Llew sighed and poked his now dead plant. He looked around the room, and found solace in the fact that indeed he was not the only one to have killed his plant. He absently began stirring the remaining water around, staring at the inside of the pitcher.


Professor Virohsa took another plant and a sunlamp. Bringing both items to Llew, she gave him an encouraging smile. "Here you go, dear. I know you can do much better."

Professor Virohsa walked around the room. She was smiling and nodding as the children were trying to interact with their plants. Some of the plants have died.. In fact, most of them. However, what she was pleasantly surprised was the fact that the children appeared to be learning and very attentive. She continued to walk around, giving pointers here and there. Such as, "Too much light" or "Not enough water". "Well dears, just add more water. Water is like.. their way of breathing the air... They need it. Especially if you are shining them with light", she nodded.

ooc- I will continue the class at about 3pm Central Time. I'm posting this because I just realized I never did last night And, I'm adding Prof Virohsa's comments into your own posts. So to see what she said, go back and look at the edited posts

Preferring to work alone, Martha casts the Lumos charm confidently. Careful not to provide too much sun, she watches the plant closely for any response. Suddenly, she begins to feel a calming sensation. It is so strong that she nearly drops her wand because she relaxes too much. Concentrating, she pulls her wand back from the plant and notices that the calming sensation is not as strong. Writing down the effect that the Lumos charm had on her plant and on herself, she continues monitoring the amount of light she is administering to her plant. Putting her wand down, she decides to water it with her extremely blue water mixture. The plant soaks it up and the calming sensation eases off even more. Noting the reaction clearly in her notes, she continues to experiment with her plant.

Jamie had nodded off with the strong armoa of the flower, then she noticed that the plant was turning brown and she immediately put down the light/wand and she watered the plant with another 1/4 of the water in the pitch, the pitcher was 3/4 empty so she would soon need another pitcher filled with water. The flower became if beautiful sky blue while it puffed out another beauitful smelling aroma. She shone the light on the flower and the more the light was on it the more she realized that the flower like to be 'in the spotlight'.

Llewellyn smiled brightly at the sun lamp. There is some semblance of sanity in this place He thought to himself.
"Thank you professor." You said, quietly taking the items. Llewellyn set up the sun lamp so that it shone over the plant, then tied a handkerchief around his nose and mouth.
He then carefully poured the water on the base of the plant, sprinkling a few drops on its leaves and petals. Llewellyn sprinkled some seeds at its base, and hummed gently to the plant as he worked, trimming off dying leaves, and turning the plant in the sun lamp. The plant itself began to shine rather brightly as well as begun to give off a strong aroma. Llewellyn took some of the pollen from the plant out of it with a smile.

Erica walked back to her table with another plant in hand, ready and eager to try again. She mentally told herself again and again to tone down the light from the wand. She briefly considered using a sunlamp like she had seen Nadia and Llew, but decided against it in the end. She wanted to be able to do it by herself and she wasn't sure how many other wizards got along with things like sunlamps in the wizarding world. Sighing, she placed her plant on the table and concentrated on conjuring the correct amount of light from her wand. She mumbled the incantation.

"Lumos."

Less light came out of her wand this time and the plant seemed to react much better. It was chucking dirt in her face for starters. Instead, it seemed to indicate that it wanted the light a little closer when it tried, in vain, to move itself. She smiled as she brought her wand closer and picked up the water pitcher. She started to pour the water in the base of the plant, slowly at first. The plant reacted favorably toward the water as well by giving off the beautiful scent they were talking about in class. She continued to add more and more water as she took in the scent that the plant was giving off. The scent was so intoxicating that her attention started turning away from the plant to the wonderful aroma. It smelled so good...

It was a few seconds until Erica was able to regain her senses and a few more until she noticed that her plant was dead, yet again. She looked in her water pitcher and saw that all of the water was gone. Unknown to her at the time, she had mistakenly poured all of the water onto the plant causing it to drown. She sighed to herself, wondering if she was ever going to get it right. First too much light, then too much water, she thought with frustration. She grugdingly went off to get some more water, mixture and another plant. She wondered if the professor was going to yell at her for killing two of her plants in one lesson.

Just as soon as Diana finished sketching her flower, she had noticed that her plant had faded a bit in colour. "Need a bit more water?" she said as she stroked gently on its leaves. The flower nodded a bit. Diana poured a bit more water around the plant. "There, better?" The flower once again gave off its beautiful luster of blue.

Rosa got out her wand and stared at it. she'd never tried lumos before, so how was she going to do this? she could just try... she pointed her wand at her plant and said: 'lumos' but nothing happened. she tried again and again and looked around to see how others were doing it. then she finally turned to her plant again and after whispering 'lumos' pointed the lighting tip of her wand at it, to discover that her plant was looking bad. the leaves were hanging by the sides and one'd already fallen off. she moved her wand a bit away to make sure she didn't give it too much light and grabbed the water pitcher. she poured a bit of the water into the soil and looked at the plant, convincing herself that the plant was looking better already.

Breathing a thankful sigh Nadia tucked her wand back behind her ears mechanically (and forgetting about it once more, heh) and moved to find the lamps. She reached one - hopefully needed no plug, since wouldn't work in Hogwarts magical area anyways -, and placed at her table. Only that small parting of ways with the Nemesia had provoked the most immediate reaction: the plant seemed to be dying in a painfully fast way -

Nadia moved like mad to find the nutritive water and started to pour some more of it. Then she connected the lamp and was mid-way to light the plant directly before she remembered what the professor had said AND about what the book saying it liked it chilly and shadowy. Which made one wonder what was the need for the lamp any ways.

Thinking quick, Nadia placed the lamp at her feet on the floor and poiting downwards. She figured the reflection of the light would first hit the ground, then the roof and only then the plant. Though she was in two minds if maybe that was -too- much shadow and too little light. This small distraction from her attention on the plant was shown when the plant seemed to be dying again -

Nadia moved to add more water though it seemed a little too much by now. checked that the water was blue -- Ack, only seemed to depress the flower more which was each time wit less color. It could almost look white! Ghost white! Ah, Nadia coudl kick herself. This would probably demostrate what awful a mother she could make.

Breathing some sigh of relief, she left everything as it was and waited, looking piercingly and attentive at the plant and anything but the plant. If attention it wanted, attention it would get. However, looking at it did only some more coloring but it didn't seem enough... Nadia moved to direct the lamp upwards so it hit the roof directly, then the plant; all this without taking her eyes from the Lagoon Nemesia. Nadia's eyes travelled a little though it, trying to take it's features. The color, the shape of the leaves and petals... Only when Nadia's eyes turned to that of curiosity, Nadia rubbed her eyes and recognized an improvement in the plants's mood.

Pity no sooner she had sighed relieved, the plant had gone back to look colorless. Nadia chuckled to herself - at least it wasn't brown or yellowish, she decided.

Based on her observations, Professor Virohsa was ready to hand in points for classwork. She smiled at her class and their struggles and was greatly pleased at their commitment with detail. "I just want to congratulate you students, for being incredibly attentive and for struggling with such a task. I must admit, I expected all of you to fail miserably... but you have all quite surprised me! Your plants survived longer than I had expected", she nodded. "Before I assign you credit for your wonderful work, does anyone have any questions regarding what you have seen that will not be addressed in our discussion of these plants (i.e. what you did, what you were supposed to do, why you worked with these plants, specific things that happened)?", she smiled at the children, who were now covered in dirt.. and some drenched in water...

Nadia was half way raising her hand when noticing the plant took even that small distraction as reason to feel offended and start to loose color again. She had to tend it before she could raise her hand, her eyes going from the professor to the Lagoon Nemesia every now and then,

"What parts of plant care will be more possibly found in exams?" she asked, "And, if there is a way to ever please this plants? Oh and how do we know when they... undoubtly died."

She dropped her hand and tended the plant as soon as she had said this.

Professor Virohsa grinned. "In the exams you will find that they might either ask you to identify plants and which parts are used.. or they shall ask you how to properly handle them. Or in the remote case you take a NEWT, you will be asked to properly take care of an extremely vulnerable plant.. or to raise its health", she grinned remembering her NEWTs. "Usually the most commonly parts of the plant that are asked are leaves, stems, and their behavioral attitudes", she explained.

She smirked as Nadia asked the question she hoped it would be asked. "Oh yes dear. As you can see, from what you may have seen during your brief stay at the Greenhouse, they react quite differently in a room filled with people. The easiest way to please these plants is to give them plenty of water and leave them in the company of their own kind", she nodded.

"Ah! Your third question is most intriguing, perhaps because you remembered what we talked about in the beginning of class. These plants are highly adaptable and resistant. Then, why would they die from lack of attention? Simply explained, some of the dead plants did not really die", she smirked. "They will revive and be quite normal once they are placed away from a big group of wizards", she nodded. "Dear child, I must say, you are quite thoughtful and rule-abiding. As such, I will award you 3 pts"

"With that said, please bring your plants to the tray in the right side of the room and return to your seats. If you have any further questions, please ask them now.. before we move into the credit for your classword and a further discussion", she nodded.

Laure was anxious to hear the points, But she was going to wait. She got up from her seat and carefully put her plant on the tray. She walked back to her seat and Smiled.