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[Professor d'Ambray]

Professor d'Ambray customarily regulated the temperature within his greenhouse, keeping it levels that kept the plants happy even more than the students he was teaching.Even though the grounds were still covered in deep snow, inside Greenhouse Two the temperature was magically maintained at toasty warm levels. Whilst students may be wearing thick winter coats, gloves and scarves when they arrived, these articles would not be required during his lesson. There were plenty of hooks near the entrance though so students could store their cold weather outer gear.

The plants that he had made available for his second year students were Abyssinian Shrivelfigs, they were around two and a half feet tall with oval leaves and lavender flowers, they were planted in trays which were placed in benches along the sides of the room.

In the middle of the room was the usual box filled with pruning sheers, a selection of empty buckets and a box with a handful of spare gloves, but not too many as students did have their own. If they ran out then any further forgetful students would not be permitted to take part in the class.

As the time for him to start the lesson approached, he opened the door slightly but not too much as he didn't want the warm air to escape. "Welcome, students" he called out to the crowd of students who were gathered outside "would the last person please close the dor behind you as you come inside. You will need your dragon-hide gloves for this lesson."

[James Mallory]

Orion hurried thankfully into the warmn air of the greenhouse, wondering why the rest of the castle couldn't be heated to the same standard. He wasn't normally all that fond of herbology, for he naturally detested dirt and manual labour; but it was suddenly rising rapidly up his list of prefernces. The Slytherin carefully stowed his hat, gloves, house scarf and cloak on a peg, making sure they were tidy and not mixed up with anyone else's stuff. He would have to be careful to make sure he got them back at the end of the lesson as their quality was much higher than some people could afford.

Keeping a wary eye on one or two people in second hand robes, Orion carefully pulled out his gloves ink and quills together with a piece of parchment. He stowed his bag and made his way to the benches to wait for the lesson to begin

[Allison Cassidy Rose]

Allison stomped off the last remains of the snow which stuck to her cloak and shoes just before entering the greenhouse. Snow was wet and sticky in the way that it grabbed a hold of everything. Flurries of snow fell from her hair as she crossed the threshold making her frown. Herbology had always been a favorite class of hers, but as it got colder outside she couldn't help but detest the class which forced her long treck in the dead of winter to here all the way from the castle. Luckily, warmth greeted the Hufflepuff as she neatly stored her outer gear on the provided hooks. As instructed, she pulled her dragon-hide gloves out of her pockets before finding an empty table to work at. Eager for class to start, she looked expectantly at the door as the last students dwindled in. If they were needing their gloves today, maybe it would be worth the journey.

[Adelaine Beaumont]

Adele shuffled behind the crowd of students entering Greenhouse Two, bouncing up and down on her tiptoes as everyone filed in. It felt like it was about negative 50 degrees outside, and she knew Professor d'Ambray would have the little building heated. Immediately after walking into the greenhouse, the frozen tundra outside seemed to disappear and her entire body regained heat. She quickly placed her cloak on a hook and found a seat by Allison Rose.

"Hello Allison, a hope your holidays were well?" she smiled cheerfully.

She and the Hufflepuff weren't exactly friends, but they certainly weren't enemies. They'd just never really spoken to each other. Her eyes settled on the plant in front of her; lavender was one of her favorite colors. Though Adele still detested Herbology for being so..dirty..she had decided that this term she would try her best no matter what. Hastily, she pulled out her gloves and set them in front of her, awaiting the professor's usual beginning-of-class-speech.

[Ellenore Clark]

Ellenore walked through the snow to Greenhouse 2. She hoped that it would be warm in there, as it usually was. She walked through the door and a wave of heat flowed over her.
"Hello there," she said cheerfully, carefully hanging her jacket and gloves on a peg. Ellen cast a glance at the plants they would be tending to today.
"Oh, those are pretty!" She said, leaning a bit closer for a look.

[Professor d'Ambray]

Noting that the students had now arrived, Kenton decided that the time had come to begin his lesson. "That door is shut isn't it?" he commented, then gave a slight pause before addressing the children once more.

"Okay, class" he continued "the plants you see before you are called Shrivelfigs, and today we are going to be pruning them. You will each want a pair of pruning sheers and be wearing your dragon hide gloves. The shears are in the box on the table there, as are buckets for you to store your cuttings. If someone would like to hand them out it would be appreciated." He looked arond a moment to see if anyone was going to volunteer for the task.

"Be sure to wear your gloves for this" he reiterated "as shrivelfigs have a number of sharp points on the twigs and it can be quite painful if you prick your finger on one. The areas you want to prune are those that are going brown as those are the ones that are dying off."

Of course Kenton wasn't going to let his class loose on the plants without checking to see if at least one of the students had read up on them first. "Who can tell me something else about shrivelfigs?" he offered "where did they originate and how might we make use of them?" As always, Kenton would be more than willing to award a few bonus hosue points to students who had fore-knowledge of their subject matter.

[[OOC: The usual rule applies, if you join the thread then please RP as though you had been there from the start of the lesson.]]

[Allison Cassidy Rose]

Allison brightened as she was joined by the friendly face of Adele. "My holidays were wonderful! It was lovely to see my mum and father again and with all the snow the house elves and i had a great time making angels and such." Allison replied then went into more detail about her holiday recalling the tale of there being no hams left when the elves had gone out shopping and the joke the butcher had told them. Soon Allison blushed as she realized she was monopolizing the conversation. "Enough about me, How was your time off?" she asked after a polite pause.

All too soon, class was starting and Allison found she would really be suffering for not having read ahead...or maybe really suffering wasn't exactly it but she definatley wasn't going to be gaining Hufflepuff any extra house points. At the very least, this lesson would be exciting, whether she had heard of the plant or not.

[Adelaine Beaumont]

"That sounds lovely," she smiled politely to the girl, thinking of her own break. "Mine was rather nice as well..we visited my grand-mère in France, and I spent some time in Diagon Alley --"

The conversation was then interrupted by Professor d'Ambray, giving his usual "new lesson speech" and unintentionally boring the students. It was just as well that he did, because Adelaine wasn't sure how she was going to avoid telling Allison about how unpleasant her holidays had really been. As a fellow Ravenclaw got up and passed out sheers and buckets, she directed her attention to the professor and immediately raised her hand.

"Shrivelfigs are skinned and the liquid inside is used for the Shrinking Solution," she announced promptly. "And I believe it induces euphoria..?" She would have also told him where the plant originated, but she couldn't remember the name. It would have been foolish to say "It starts with an A..."

Edited by Adelaine Beaumont, 14 December 2011 - 01:13 AM.

[Professor d'Ambray]

Kenton was pleased to see that one student at least he been reading up on these plants before attending his lesson, and of course it stood to reason that this person would be a Ravenclaw. "Excellent answer Miss Beaumont" he complimented her "the liquid is purple in colour and yes it is used in a shrinking solution that I am sure you will be creating in your Potions class at some point. The elixir they produce does indeed also cause euphoria. Take five points for Ravenclaw House." The girl had missed one particular point though "The plant originates in Abyssinia and is in fact known as the Abyssinian Shrivelfig." he pointed out.

He looked around at the assembled students "If you all have got your gloves securely in place, you may begin." he informed them. He had talked long enough, it was time for the students to get stuck in to the task, and it wasn't a difficult task after all. It was merely the simple job of pruning a plant. He had chosen this particular lesson deliberately too, as he had been informed that the shrivelfig was one plant whose supplies were running low in the Potions store cupboard. Hopefully their efforts would help to replenish the stocks.

[Ellenore Clark]

Ellen sighed and took a pair of shears and started to prune off the browning areas. She smiled lightly, hoping that someone would have pricked themselves by the end of class. ((RARG. I can't think anymore...))

[James Mallory]

The task of pruning the shrivel figs didn't seem very exciting, but it didn't sound very dangerous either. Nor particulraly messy. All in all it could be far worse. Orion pulled his sleeves well down and pulle don his thick dragon hide gloves. With clumsy fingers he picked up the sheers, not an instrument he was familiar with.

The yound Slytherin chose a rather small and straggly snivelfig which looked like it would be easy to prune, and would certainly be improved by his efforts. He took a firmer grasp of his cutters and started wrk on the first withered stem. Somehow it didn't seem very exciting.

[Allison Cassidy Rose]

After checking three or four times that her gloves were secure and would not indeed leave her thin, elegant hands to harm, Allison plucked up the pruning shears and turned to her work. Despite her limited experience prior to Hogwarts with the instruments, they felt right at home in her hands as she used them gracefully and with ease. Carefully identifying the brown spots and trimming them off was easy busy work for Allison and she quickly picked up a tune and began to hum softley as she worked. The thorns weren't too bad as Allison realized they had a sort of natural pattern to them, protecting the parts of worth the the plant more heavily than spare greenery. Allison was quite surprised to see herself go through a whole plant quite quickly and without hesitation emptied the bucket, found a new plant and began again.

[Adelaine Beaumont]

Adelaine grinned proudly to herself as the professor awarded her five house points. However, she could have slapped herself for not remembering the name of the place the plants originated in. With a small sigh, she pulled on her thick dragon hide gloves.

Doesn't seem like it'll be too unsanitary of a task, she thought, pulling one of the potted plants toward her slowly, as if fearing the little lavender flowers would explode. Adele carefully picked up the sheers and set to work, constantly glancing at the small gold pocket watch her father had given her. The end of the class period couldn't come soon enough.

[Professor d'Ambray]

To Kenton's delight, the class appeared to continue without incident, with the students quietly attending to their tasks and while some appeared a little more enthusiastic than others, everyone was taking part and that was at least acceptable. He was in a way surprised, yet pleased that nobody got so bored that they neglected their work. There was only so much pruning of plants that could be done without the work starting to appear kind-of same-y.

Tine wore on, as time tended to do and eventually the moment came when Kenton felt he should start winding up his lesson. "Right, class" he intoned "time has caught up with us once again it seems. If you would please take the buckets with your cuttings in them to the back of the greenhouse. The sheers want to go back in the box where you deposited them."

As well as tidying up of course, there was one other task that Kenton always set at the end of his lessons, once which was often met with less than enthusiastic response. "For your homework, I want you to describe in at least 400 words the life cycle of a shrivelfig and what it's ideal growing conditions are." Homework, was to Kenton as much an essential part of study as the practical lesson itself. "Once you have tidied everything away and made a note of the homework assignment you can collect your things and make your way back to the castle" he dismissed his students "thanks for all your help."

He hoped that the students would have the sense not to rush too much on their way out of the door. It wouldn't be all that pleasant if the tripped and fell face-first in the snow but if they did then that would of course be their own dumb fault.

[[The homework is a literary device, you don't need to RP this]]

[Adelaine Beaumont]

Adelaine breathed a sigh of relief and set her sheers aside as the professor announced the end of the class. She had successfully pruned the entire plant. How she was going to write a 400 word essay on the life of said plant, she did not know. There was only so much one could say about a Shrivelfig.

"Well, Allison," she said politely, gathering her bucket and sheers. "I suppose I'll see you around?"

Rushing to the back of the greenhouse, Adele set down her bucket along with the others and walked back to her station to pick up the rest of her things. She had to get to the library as soon as possible; she and a few housemates had planned to meet there to finish a potions essay. Six inches on the Hiccuping Solution was a lot harder than it had seemed when the professor assigned it.

"Have a nice day, Professor," she smiled, plopping the sheers in their box and heading out the door.

[Professor d'Ambray]

Points awarded:

Orion Baines Slytherin, = 4 points
Allison Cassidy Rose Hufflepuff  = 6 points
Adelaine Beaumont Ravenclaw = 14 points
Ellenore Clark Slytherin  = 4 points

House updates: Gryffindor (0), Hufflepuff (+6), Ravenclaw (+14), Slytherin (+8)