Feb 12th
2:30pm
Edge of the Forbidden Forests

"Now I've assembled you all here," Graham Bombay began, pacing in front of the small mob of fifth year students, most of which seemed to be more interested in themselves or the forest than his own voice, "To put your knowledge to good use.  During Ms. Weidman's workshop, you worked with the Dhatura Benvicus.  These, among other plants can be found within our own Forbidden Forest.  However, you will not be going after such specimens, but be aware that these, along with other incredibly dangerous things are out there.  So it is absolutely imperative that you stay within sight of one another.  Send up red sparks if you get separated, or run into trouble."

He paused, glaring at a couple of his usual troublemakers to get the point across.  This class was already perilous enough as it was, he didn't need anything else added to the mix.  "Tonight," he stated with a bit more enthusiasm, glad to get the preliminary disclaimers out of the way, "You will be competing with your peers in groups of four. However, speed is not the key.  Accuracy and patience will be required tonight.  About thirty yards in, you will find four large stands of fanged geraniums. However, these are not your textbook geraniums.  Plants in the forest tend to mingle, leading to various strains that can amplify previous attributes.  Be careful.  Your job is to transplant two of them into the materials available.  Once you are done, remove yourself from the forest and return here.  You'll then analyze any differences between your samples and the textbook's ideal specimen."

"In the transplantation process, you will want to remove the entire plant, separating one and uprooting it to place within the prepared pots here that you will take with you," he stated carefully, gesturing to the assemblage of pots, filled with enough soil and fertilizer to serve as a temporary home, as well as a small pile of spades, gloves, safety glasses, etc.  "You will be rated on how perfectly preserved your samples are, as well as having inflicted minimal damage upon the original stand.  You want to complete this as precisely and as perfectly as possible.  I suggest the utmost precaution.  I would not be surprised if these geraniums had acquired the ability to spit poison if not consume you entirely.  They've been here for a long time and have certainly picked up a few new tricks.  Which is why it is important for you to disturb them as little as possible."

"The first group to bring back their samples and complete a full and thorough analysis of the plants, wins.  Be careful, and I'll be on the scene if any trouble occurs."  He paused, letting the anticipation build. 

...

"Begin!"

---

Students will be awarded 5 house points for attendance.  Students who do not attend will have five house points deducted as an incentive for participation, unless they contact Graham Bombay via pm stating that they will not be attending the class.

Callum wasn't a huge fan of Herbology. He supposed that Bombay wasn't as bad as some of the other professors- but all in all he typically found the class and assignments boring and mundane. When he discovered they would be meeting at the Forbidden Forest, his curiosity had definitely been peaked and he decided to show up this time.

He was the first to arrive- so perhaps his interests were too strong. He listened to the instructions- it sounded interesting, too. A competition- that was always a lot of fun.

Callum looked around, to see who he'd want to partner with for this project- preferably no Gryffindors. Or Hufflepfufs. Or most Ravenclaws.

First steps always seemed the hardest and this was the last first step he'd have to take.  After a week kept largely to himself in the Hospital Hut, Sasha had started back into classes that week.  What anyone knew or had been told about what had happened the previous week, Sasha wasn't entirely sure.  He knew his absence over the last week hadn't gone unnoticed he just hoped whatever rumors or theorizing had passed. 

He would just focus on the assignment - which should be rather effective.  It sounded like an assignment that would take all of their focus and concentration.  Unpredictable and potentially slightly mutated wild fanged geraniums had a tendency to do that. 

Sasha checked the contents of his rucksack, double checking he had his dragonhide gloves and made room to carefully stand the pot upright.  Patting his pocket to check his wand was still there, he turned to the students standing closest to him. 

"Alright, I - so ... should we team up?  I think we should try heading south-east.  There's a few spots where the trees are thinner; geraniums need some sun."

Herbology in the Forbidden Forest. Bridget could get behind this. Maybe if they were lucky one of her more annoying classmates would get abducted by the centaurs or eaten by…whatever else was in there. She could hope and have all those other positive feelings or whatever.

The challenge sounded simple enough. Not a lot of chances for abductions, but hey, this was a magical forest. Stuff happened. The girl eyes some of her other classmates, smirking at any discomfort she saw. She lived in (not next to) a forest. Maybe not as threatening as this one, but by 15 (16 now) she was confident that she was as likely to lose her way through the forest as she would navigating from her common room to the Great Hall.

And by virtue of growing and scouting out her own food, herbs and plants, Bridget was pretty sure a couple of wild geraniums weren’t going to be too difficult to find or transport. Being a hag-raised forest rat occasionally came in handy. Just one of the reasons she actually enjoyed this class.

By her estimation, Bridget had this competition in the bag. Or she would. If freaking professors weren’t all about teamwork and happy frolicking harmony. Gag.

Bridget didn’t even try to hide a loud sigh of disgust. She looked (or rather glared around), arms crossed over her chest and daring anyone to ask to be on her team. If she played her cards right, everyone would get into their groups leaving only Bridget and a single person to team up, or better yet, Bridget alone.

She gave the full weight of her glare to the toad-saving Ravenclaw that addressed her and started going on about geranium sun-needs.

“I don’t team up with dweebs,” she said acidly. “Did your toadies abandon you already?”

Percy enjoyed the classroom atmosphere.  While others were all eager to escape it and do something a bit more exciting and varied...Percy preferred the more predictable, mundane setting of a classroom.  It seemed to be the place he was most comfortable, because the social norms seemed to fit him there more than anywhere else.  The Forbidden Forest did not sound at all appealing...It was "forbidden" for a reason, right?

Poison spitting, wild geraniums?!?  Was their professor crazy?  If this was the muggle world...this class simply screamed lawsuit!

Teams.  Why was it always teams?  Percy had been used to being picked last and left out growing up...but now things were beginning to change a bit.  People knew that he was a typical booksmart Ravenclaw...but some of his social awkwardness still showed quite clearly, despite his repeated and growing attempts to conceal and stifle it altogether.

Was Sasha speaking to Percy in asking to team up?  The fiery dreadlocked girl seemed to snap back, as if offended...This perplexed Percy.  Percy was still embarrassed that Sasha saw him getting humiliated at the Flickwick's party...Well, maybe not humiliated...but that's how Percy felt.  The Reid girl had certainly embarrassed him, regardless of who else thought so.

"Sure...if you were talking to me, I mean.  That's...cool by me."

Still...Percy tried to play the nonchalant card.  It half worked.  Sometimes.

Bombay's favorite herd of sheep continued to mill about as the game of "Pick me versus I'm too cool to care" began with team formations.  He could have groaned, perhaps he should have chosen the groups but he was tired of the traditional 'I don't want to work with hiiiim' whine.  They were supposed to be adults, yes? 


He pulled out his timepiece, consulted it, and looked wearily back upon his flock.  "We only have an hour. I can only hope you'll have enough time to complete the task after we consult the cool book to form groups.  More of you should follow Schlagenweit's example," he added, glad to see his favorite student take the initiative to start his task.

A simple 'no' would have sufficed. 

Sasha shook his head at Nilson before shrugging his shoulders dismissively.  He didn't respond to the chiding inquiry about the frog; he had nothing to explain or defend.  She wasn't the first to chastise him and she wouldn't be the last; he was used to it. 

"Alright.  You can be on someone else's team.  Knight's looking for partners."  He offered with another shake of his head before turning towards Percy.  If she'd prefer Knight over him, more power to her.  He was more concerned about his grades than popularity contests.  "Ja, guess I was talking to you.  We should get started; we're going to need all the time we've got." 

He couldn't help but grin slightly (though he tried to remain humble) under Professor Bombay's compliment before turning and starting towards the edge of the forest.  Whoever wanted to follow and be on his team could do so.  They could manage between the two of them if they needed to. 

"Do you have a handkerchief of any sort?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder.  "I think we should do an initial, gross analysis once we find the stand so we can identify any obvious mutations and modify our approach accordingly.  Do you want to handle the pot or the plant?"

Percy couldn't help but admire the way Sasha rolled with the punches.  True...Schlagenweit had a lot of experience with such, but Percy still looked up to the strong quality.  Percy made a mental note of this and smiled faintly.  He was on a team.  In fact...he was on the FIRST team formed.  That never happened!

The fellow toad owner was very task oriented and his drive to succeed inspired Percy.  Percy smiled and nodded, quickly rifling through his cloak before pulling out a green bandana.  Percy had always liked the color green, until coming to Hogwart's and meeting a few too many Slytherins.  Nonetheless...the bandana would work for the intended purpose and Percy didn't mind to get it dirty if need be.

"And perhaps a few anti venom effects wouldn't hurt too much either?"

Percy  nodded with a smile and quickly volunteered.

"The pot!"

It wasn't that Percy had put much thought or consideration into his answer, but he had simply chosen the first answer.  Upon reflection...Percy was glad to choose the pot over the plant.  It seemed the safer, more conservative choice after all.  Percy began to think of various charms that would help keep them safe during their trek into the Forbidden Forest...and began muttering under his breath with light flicks of his wand toward Sasha and himself.

Callum knew that they needed to get started- and since the only other person available at the moment was the fifth year Hufflepuff girl, he decided to suck it up and take what he could get. "C'mon then, Nilson," he said to her. "Might as well partner off. I'm not bad at Herbology. We can get it taken care of and be done with it." Besides, he had liked that she had insulted Schlagenweit. He hated Schlagenweit.

Fanged geranium strains sounded... interesting, at least, Callum supposed. Besides, transplanting them shouldn't prove too hard. "Got your gloves?" he asked, heading toward the forest- hoping he wouldn't give her enough time to argue with him and try to find a different partner.

Potting samples? Gross. That meant she was going to be spending this class on her hands and knees in the dirt. She would rather not be doing that. All Arielle had to continue to do was, remind herself this was her last year of this class. Arielle had to do this otherwise she would never get through the class. She was continually disturbed by how dirty it was. Couldn’t she go to her aunt and request another way to finish her last year of this dreadful class. Why was herbology a core class? The last thing she wanted to do was shove her newly painted nails into a pair of gloves, from a pile no less, and then dig about in the dirt to remove a sample. Whose hands had been in those gloves previous? What disgusting treasure would be in there? What if the person who wore those gloves previously picked their nose? Gross!

Now Arielle wanted to do this even less. She had been processing the very idea of doing the actual act, and in turn missed everything Professor Bombay said. Now how was she going to actually complete the lesson? Could she just fake illness and run back up to the castle claiming to go to the hospital wing? She had no idea what she was supposed to be doing, and truthfully the last thing she wanted to do was ask Professor Bombay to repeat himself.

She twisted her lips awkwardly as she looked around. Nobody else was ready to pair off to do this project. Maybe if she didn’t have a partner she wouldn’t have to participate. Maybe she could just look onwards as someone else dug about in the ground. Hey, perhaps if she did find the partner she wouldn’t have to do any of the dirty work? Rather than seeking out a partner she looked down and examined her nails. Yes, the colour was quite nice. She had mixed it last night and had been on the fence as to whether she liked it enough to add to the growing catalogue of colours for her small nail polish business. Her mind was once again slipping away from the lesson at hand.

Bridget felt that nice warm sense of satisfaction that came when the insulted didn't bite back at the insultee. Although a little more cowering would have been nice. Eh. He was leaving her alone know and some other kid had run up to partner with the new hero of Toadsville. Maybe they'd get eaten by a werewolf. Or skewered by a rabid unicorn.

Some other student called Bridget, this time by name, and her eyes turned to Callum Knight. The guy was a pureblood, physically capable and kind of an ass. He was probably her first pick in her year if she was forced to partner with someone. She didn't want to throw up every time she was around him.

"Yeah, you'll do," she said, shrugging her shoulders and walking over to him. "Herbology's one of my best subjects. We'll be fine."

She just held up the gloves in response to his question and continued to walk with the Slytherin. Small talk an formalities. So not her thing.

 Once they hit the tree-line, she immediately went into 'forest-mode.' Bridget was a forest rat- she grew up and lived in the woods.  She was no soundless-step wonder, but she did have a pretty light step for her age and was able to avoid twigs, low branches and larger stray rocks without glancing down.

"God this is stupid," Bridget commented, pushing aside a branch. "There are so many things I would rather be looking for in here than freaking geraniums."

Sasha glanced over as Arielle joined the cluster of students just as he and Percy were setting out.  They were supposed to be in groups of four though, until the Gryffindor's arrival, it was clear there was no way that the current group of four would team together.  No grade was worth partnering with Knight.  And, apparently, no grade was worth it to Nilson to partner with him.  "You can join us," he offered Snark though it wouldn't surprise him if she dismissed him as readily as Nilson had. 

He readied himself as he trekked through the trees: tying his own handkerchief over his nose and mouth and tugging his dragonhide gloves on.  Just in case the geraniums spotted them before they spotted it and it had developed any spitting or lunging tendencies. 

"Anti-venom effects?"  Sasha glanced over his shoulder at Percy.  "That's a good idea.  Do you know any good charms for that?  I didn't bring any anti-venom potions."  Avoiding getting bit was his first choice of anti-venom tactics.

"Alright," Sasha agreed without a second thought.  He didn't mind handling the plant; he'd grown up handling animals competitively - getting injured was just part of it.  Of course, horses and dogs weren't, exactly, venomous.  Nor were they really aggressive. 

Unlike Percy, Sasha refrained from pulling his wand.  He still wasn't exactly fond of it or comfortable using it even though it worked better for him than any of his previous wands.  He was gradually getting over the mental hurdle of the thing's history.  Unless they found themselves in trouble, he'd leave the protective wards to Percy and whatever other students joined them. 

"Did you hear that?"  Sasha paused and turned towards the sound of rustling.  Was it rampaging plants or something more ... mobile?

Had Sasha just invited Arielle Snark to join their duo and transform it into a trio?  Whatever nerves had been acting up previously were sure to flare considerably if the lovely Gryffindor joined their troupe. 

Still...Percy followed Sasha's lead as they penetrated the depths of the Forbidden Forest.  This place always gave Percy the creeps and the thought of tracking down vicious geraniums didn't exactly soothe his mind.

Dervish began to cast a few charms that he thought might be handy in the forest...such as stone skin, which should hopefully keep any fangs from penetrating the party's flesh.  PerDer had always come overprepared and had indeed carried an anti venom potion with him to Herbology class.  He always had in fact.

"There's a cover all spell that will work wonders with the potion actually.  It should help keep a protective coat over our skin to catch venom, acids, or even fire."

Percy popped open the top to the anti venom potion and cast the cover all enchantment on himself and his partner(s).  After this was done, Percy snatched up the pot and nodded...still clutching his wand all the while as he hugged the large pot to his chest.

"Ready!"

And then Percy proceeded after Sasha's lead.

Over the past two weeks Xavier had proven that he could focus on his studies and become the man his grandfather wanted him to be. He hadn't started a single fight, he walked down the corridors of the castle smiling and he was even in the process of gaining another girlfriend. Throw Quidditch into the mix and he was turning into a completely different guy and when it came down to it he actually liked it. He was finding he could still get all the things he wanted by being nice (or at least decent) to people rather than threatening and scaring them. Whatever modifications his Grandfather had done to his memories seemed to make things easier to deal with. Though he was curious as to what had gotten taken away he supposed it was all for the best.

He was momentarily distracted by the thought of Dazmond after Bombay had mentioned her guest speaker class. He had a fleeting thought that he had spent some personal time with her recently but couldn't exactly pin point when or what had happened. The forest itself was also causing a distraction for him. He had echoes of thoughts, perhaps partial bits of modified memories that weren't all together gone about being in the forest and getting in trouble. Something bad had happened the last time he had attended a class out here but he couldn't figure out what.

Shaking himself out of trying to grasp at lost memories Xavier looked around at the forming teams. He knew Bombay had said teams of four but the students seemed to be partnering up. He watched Callum and Bridgit go into the woods and not long after Sasha and Percy left. Arielle seemed wholly unconcerned about the project and he really didn't want to end up with her. Knowing that Peyton was likely to tag along with the other Ravenclaws Xavier jogged a bit to catch up with his former best friend and his 'disgraced' cousin.

"Mind i I join ye? Betta than that Snark witch or Schlagenweit right?" He smirked giving both a nod. He was ready to get this project over with and wasn't against doing any of the dirty work if they wanted him to.

Bellatrix had, for once, been listening intently to Professor Bombay and was one of the handful who kept her eyes locked on him when he tried to sort out the troublemakers. She nodded and, without bothering to join a group, sped off towards the edge of the forest to leave the other students behind. Draped across her chest was her bag full of ink bottles, parchment, broken half-quills, and the like.

The reason for her lack of enthusiasm in choosing a group was mostly due to the fact that she was ignoring everyone else. Having been dumped by Xavier Tawse some time before, Bellatrix hadn't grown nastier as the entire school had anticipated. Sure, their relationship had put her in a royally sweet mood, but once it had ended... Well, no one heard much from her anymore. She stayed away from people, suspected of being humiliated and tormented by the sight him, but this was quite untrue: she simply wished for people to leave her alone as they had done in her first and second years. There was, however, a secret burning desire to take her rage out on the world and hex, jinx, and curse those around her until they were forced to St. Mungo's, but this she kept under control. Why? No one had a clue.

The Herbology professor had clearly instructed that they go in groups of four. She understood the point of the lesson very clearly. On the other hand, no one wanted to be her partner. Bellatrix had accepted this fact only weeks ago and didn't care much in the way of forcing anyone to do anything with her--not even Beatrix, who had seemed peculiarly busy as of late. With Bombay's stressed warnings of the Forbidden Forest being dangerous, as well as the death of Ava on her mind, Bellatrix saw fit to come to a stand-still at the edge of the forest.

Just in front of the trees, her back to the other students, Bellatrix Dark waited for three others to join her. To curse was in her nature and she wouldn't hesitate if anything in the forest tried to harm her, but she wouldn't try it on another student. Perhaps she should make that point clear? No. She didn't really want to say anything to anyone. Her icy blue eyes caught sight of Xavier making his way into the forest with Peyton, the guy he had once grown jealous about because of her. He'd been jealous... She dropped her gaze before anyone could see that she was looking and waited still longer for someone, anyone, to join her as a team.