Class #1: H&S / 4&5

[Professor Pomona Sprout]

INTRODUCTION

Group #1: Hufflepuff Fourth and Fifth Years
Group #2: Slytherin Fourth and Fifth Years
Discussion: How to safely collect bubotuber pus.

While late-September was not as torturously hot as it was closer to the end of the school, the sun still beat down angrily on the greenhouses, shining through the glass structure and warming it up. The fact that it was full of students breathing out hot air only served to increase the already-uncomfortable conditions. Or that's what anyone else would experience. For Professor Sprout, the heat no longer bothered her. Her leathery skin was tanned from the hours spent daily slaving under the hot sun, taking care of her plants and conducting classes. Over the years, she had seemed to grow a thicker skin against the ultra-violet rays and thus hardly ever broke a sweat during her first few lessons. It only became more difficult by the end of class. Thicker skin or not, there was no denying the heat, and she was not as young and fit as she had once been. Nevertheless, she prided herself in being a lot more patient than most of her students. Honestly, back in her day, she didn't have half the luxuries they did! They couldn't seem to stand longer than thirty minutes in the greenhouses while she, a woman more than triple their age, was on her feet in this very greenhouse - or any of the others, same thing really - for the whole day. Sigh. Children! And today, especially, she would be getting fourth and fifth years. Slytherins, too, who were the worse of the lot of them. Although the fact that she had Hufflepuffs today as well made it seem a lot brighter. Besides, her students were usually quite well behaved. Or so she hoped, anyway. "Good morning, class. Today, we will be discussing the properties of the Bubotuber plant, and how to safely extract the pus within it. Each of you collect a plant from the side, please," she ordered pleasantly, looking at the students expectantly.

[Gideon Prewett]

Herbology was one of the few subjects that Gideon Prewett was actually good at. He liked that it was practically all hands-on. Sure, he had to read up on some things, but to him, Herbology was basically learn-as-you-go. Plus, his mother was a Herbology nut, and there were plants practically everywhere at home that Gideon helped her care for. Now he was tall enough to reach the potted plants that were above his mum's head, which was good since Fabian had moved out and couldn't do it for her anymore. And you know, he liked Herbology. Gideon didn't mind getting his hands dirty every now and then - literally. He'd always been the sort to play in mud and eat dirt (thankfully that phase ended after one taste) and tear his robes and have gunk under his fingernails and all that. Professor Sprout was also the Head of Hufflepuff, and Gideon always found her jovial nature appealing and did what he could to not cause trouble in her class. She was such a happy woman, and Gideon found her positive nature always gave him an extra boost of confidence in his abilities too. Obediently, he followed her directions and grabbed a plant, trying to remember all he could about bubotuber pus. Umm... what did it do, anyway? Oh, wait! It was sold in tubes in apothecaries, wasn't it? Diluted pus or... well, he didn't know what it did, but he was pretty sure that it could be bought for something. He'd probably find out anyway. He grabbed the plant and strode to the table, setting the pot down and peering at it. Urgh, it was kinda nasty looking, wasn't it? All black and gross and slimy and - ew, it just moved. "Eurgh," he muttered, unable to control his shudder. Now that was just nasty.

[Gabriella Rivera]

Herbology was definitely one of Gabriella's better subjects. It probably had a bit to do with the fact that she felt most comfortable with the Professor. It wasn't that she disliked or didn't get along with her other Professors (although, admittedly, Professor Sinistra scared the crap out of her and Professor Dumbledore fairly awed her with his presence), but she simply didn't feel as shy around Professor Sprout as she did around the others. Perhaps it was the fact that Professor Sprout was so friendly, and she was head of the Hufflepuff House so, naturally, Gabby was around her much more than the rest of the professors. Whatever it was, it made Herbology one of Gabriella's favorite subjects. Of course, there was also the fact that it was dealing with nature, and Gabby loved absolutely everything and anything to do with nature. And they learned new ingredients that could be used in medicine and what-not, so it was definitely one of the more important subjects that she would need in her future career as a Healer. Didn't Healers need to know the components of the medicine they were giving their patients? They did, didn't they? Made sense. They might even have to brew the potions themselves! So yes, it was good that she did so well at Herbology, because it was definitely going to be beneficial towards her future. Admittedly, it was hard to remember that when they had to deal with icky plants such as the Bubotuber which they had to collect pus from. Now, Gabriella wasn't much of a girly-girl at all, and she liked to get down and dirty as much as the next...er...boy, she supposed, since not that many girls liked to get their hands dirty, but come on. It was icky, slimey, pus. She shuddered just thinking about it. She made a face as she grabbed her own plant and moved to stand beside her best friend, peering at her own plant and - ew. Just...ew. Did she really have to put her hand on that? Ew, ew, ew. She spoke to Gideon out of the corner of her mouth, not wanting to get in trouble for speaking out loud in the middle of class. "Why can''t we collect pollen or petals or something from pretty flowers? Why does it have to be pus?"

A grimace followed her words. Seriously. Just....ew.

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[Emmeline Vance]

Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. This was gross, this was disgusting. Nasty, yucky, sickening, repulsive, foul, horrid, repugnant, revolting, abhorrent...and she ran out of synonyms. Why Professor Sprout couldn't give them flowers to work with instead of this slimy stuff that looked like it had come out of the rear end of a thestral or something, Emme didn't know. But there was no way she was touching this with her bare hands. No. Way. Pushing up her sleeves, Emme squished her way amongst other students to get some gloves on, something that nobody else was doing, but who cared - the pink ones, as always - and then got a potted plant and took it back to her station. She stared at it, trying to push down the nausea that was creeping up her stomach, making her feel as if she were about to throw up. Okay, come on, you can do this, she told herself, pressing her lips together and looking around. In front of her, Gideon and Gabby weren't looking too pleased about this either; she smiled. "I can't believe she's actually making us do this. When are we ever going to need to know this? It's not like bubotubers waltz around my life, or something.

[/color]" she commented in a low voice, poking at the plant's leaves with her gloved finger. "You planning on touching this with your bare hands?[/color]" She asked, glancing at their lack of gloves. She may seem petty, but better petty than drenched in pus.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/color]

[Gideon Prewett]

Thank Merlin he wasn't the only one disgusted with these plants. He poked his gently with the tip of his finger and already he felt greasy and gross. Wiping his hand on his trousers, he made a small grimace and shuddered again. "Ugh, I dunno," he said lowly, his eyebrows furrowing together in frustration. What on earth did the pus do, again? Was it something for hair? Hair, right? Yeah, that was it! Or... no... wait. Wait. Ugh, he just read the chapter on it last night! Or did he? No, he did, because he... oh. He fell asleep on it and wound up trying to read what was left of the text through the drool puddle he'd created. Spending ten minutes getting ink off the corner of his mouth was not how he wanted to start his morning, thanks. He looked to Emme and saw her hands adorned with gloves. Oh, how clever. He looked to the pile that was left and rolled his eyes. "I think I kinda have to," he chuckled, holding his hands up. "I seriously doubt Sprout's got anything that'll fit my bear paws." Besides... he was sure he'd touched something worse at some point in his life.

[Emmeline Vance]

Emme laughed despite herself, and shook her head at Gideon, surveying his hands and the gloves on the other side of the classroom. Thank God for her dainty ones. "You could always use alternatives, but I guess it doesn't bother you as much as it does me." she shrugged, rolling her eyes at herself. She glanced at Professor Sprout, who was docking points off some Slytherin for squishing the bubotuber, which might have caused pus to squirt out and give boils to half the class. Oh, God, if anybody got unprocessed pus on her, she would murder them. Warily now, she looked at the people around her; okay, she was so not going to give Victoria MacMillan, or Audrey Bingblott a chance to get near her. She spotted the former; okay good, she was on the other side of the greenhouse. "So what are we supposed to do with this?

[/color]" she asked the two in front of her, glaring at the plant with disgust. She was so not looking forward to this.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/color]

[Gabriella Rivera]

Gabby eyed the gloves Emme had put on almost enviously, a small pout forming on her lips when she looked down at her own, tiny hands. "I have the same problem,"

she replied, and then paused for a moment before hastily adding, "Except it's the opposite for me, obviously. I won't be able to do anything with my hands because it'll feel like the gloves are so awkwardly big."[/color] She shrugged slightly and peered at the plant once more. It didn't really matter if she got the gunk on her hands, really, because it would all wash off by the end of the day, so technically it didn't really matter. Just as long as it didn't splash into her hair or something because that would be super icky, especially since it was hard to wash gunk out of your hair and her hair was pretty much the only thing that Gabriella was particular about, so she didn't want any of the bobotuber pus to get in it. She turned to Emmeline, considering her question. "I remember the book said that those swellings,"[/color] she pointed at the plant and pulled a face, "contain the pus, so I guess we...pop them and collect them in the jars?"[/color] That sounded reasonable, right?

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[Emmeline Vance]

"You guys crack me up. You know," she added after a second thought, narrowing her eyes at the gloves on the ledge back there. "You could always use an Engorgio charm, or a shrinking one...

[/color]" she trailed off, looking at Gabby and Gideon, and shrugging. Anyway, they'd kind of have to, right? Professor Sprout hadn't given further instructions yet, but Emme had read an entire chapter on these things last night, and it said that the pus, when undiluted, and in contact with skin, caused boils to break out. So they definitely had to put gloves on, didn't they? She pointed this out to Gabby, and frowned at the things that were sticking out of the slimy black stuff. She had to resist her gag reflex once more. Jesus.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/color]

[Gabriella Rivera]

At Emme's reminder, Gabby's eyes widened slightly. Oh gosh, that was right! The pus had some sort of bad reaction when it came in direct contact with human skin. How could she have forgotten? "One second, I'll be right back! Gideon, do not touch the pus!"

she ordered firmly before scrambling off to get them both a pair of gloves, picking out the largest and the smallest and then returning with a skip in her step. She peered at Gideon's hands - God, they were more like shovels, really. But er, very cute and warm and uhh handsome shovels, of course! - and then at the gloves, calculating how much she'd have to enlarge them by and then pointing her wand and muttering the spell, stopping it when they became large enough and then handing him the gloves. She then shrunk her own to fit her and pulled them on, pleased to find that they fit quite snugly. "Thanks Emme!"[/color] she exclaimed brightly, and then turned her attention on the slug-like plant, brow furrowing in concentration. "Okay, who wants to go first?"[/color] She peered at Gideon hopefully. What? He was the guy. Guys always went first with this stuff, right? Right!

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[Gideon Prewett]

Engorgio? Oh, Merlin, why didn't he think of that! He wondered how long the spell would last before wearing off. Haha, hopefully he'd get through class with it, otherwise they'd have to cut the gloves off him and that just wouldn't be fun, and he might have to buy a new pair for the school and well, Gideon wasn't quite sure he could afford to do that, really. Obediently, he waited while Gabby fetched some gloves, giving her an affectionate half-pinch on the cheek as she magnified them and handed them to him. Well, they were still a bit snug, but at least they fit. He supposed the material didn't allow them to stretch as much as they needed to or something. "Thanks," he said, flashing individual grins to each girl, then bent over and peered at the plant. Seeing Gabby's expectant look, he gave a short, unamused laugh and raised his eyebrows. "I guess I'll go first. Be the man and all." He poked it again, relieved that he hadn't got any pus on him the first time, especially since it emitted a bit of the icky crap from one of the pore-things. Oh! Pores! Right, it did good things for the skin! "Aha!" he said proudly under his breath, a pleased expression crossing his face. Well then, score one for Gideon Prewett. Take that, foul memory. Now... how the hell was he supposed to get the rest of it out. Squeeze it? He looked from the plant to the little collection dish beside it. Hummmm... okay. Placing his fingers on either side of the stalk, he tilted it a bit toward the dish and squeezed one of the swellings. Pus squirted out, most of it missing the dish and landing on the table. "Oh, gross! Sorry." He leaned closer and stuck his tongue out the corner of his mouth in concentration, putting the stalk closer to the tray. This time he squeezed a bit gentler, and grinned proudly when he managed to collect a fair amount of the yellowish pus into the tray. "All right, ladies, your turn."

[Emmeline Vance]

Yes, she was smug. Yes, she was looking smug. No, she didn't really care. Of course she'd been right, and she loved that. She loved that she'd been the one to point out the effects of the pus to the other two, and she loved that they had listened to her and that now they were grateful to her. It made her feel good, it made her feel great. Oh, the joys of being smart. She watched, yes, still smugly, as Gab ran to fetch gloves for Gideon and her, as other students realized that they needed some as well, and went back for them, and returned with a pair of gloves that were ridiculously big, and ridiculously small. She had to stifle back a giggle. Alright, just Engorgio it now. As if she had read her mind, Gabby performed the spell and handed them to Gid, who put them on. At least they fit. Yet another one of her ideas that turned out wonderfully. She really was a prodigy, wasn't she? "Anytime, bugs," she replied, grinning at them, as she used the nickname she'd given the pair of them ages ago. It had nothing to do with her abhorrence of the creatures, not at all, since she adored Gid & Gab; just a funny coincidence. Stepping back a little as Gideon offered to go first, and reached into the pot, Emme raised her hands slowly in front of her face, you know, just in case, as there was a squirting sound and something ridiculously gross and slimy spurted out of the bubotuber and onto the table. "Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Gross, Gid!

[/color]" She wasn't sure she could do this anymore. What if she slipped like he had and it got on her clothes or her face, God forbid! Um... she turned to Gabby. "Go ahead,[/color]" she said nervously, avoiding her turn.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/color]

[Gabriella Rivera]

It wasn't difficult to guess that Gabriella looked up to Emme. Gabby was a follower while Emme was a leader, so it made sense that the former would be willing to do pretty much any idea the latter came up with. She'd learned long ago to accept the fact that Emmeline was smarter, prettier and pretty much better than her in every aspect, and thus she pretty much looked up to her, to the point where she idolized her. It probably wasn't very healthy, but eh. It was nice to have someone to look up to, and there were worst people you could idolise, like Rita Skeeter or something. At least Emme was nice and sweet and perhaps a little egocentric at times, but hey she had every right to be! When you were as wonderful at everything as Emme was, your ego was bound to expand at least a little, right? Of course right. Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, Gabriella watched as Gideon reached for the pus, automatically taking a small step back as well, just in case. She wished she'd pulled her hair back into a pony tail today. It meant less damage. She didn't care very much if it got on her clothes since, once again, that washed out easily. Although it would still be gross, not to mention smelly and, ew, okay, no she didn't want this stuff on her clothes either. When Gideon squeezed out some pus she made a face, shuddering as the squishy component landed on the table. When he got it right the next time, she beamed and even clapped a little, bouncing slightly. Raising an eyebrow when Emme turned to her, she let out a little laugh and then looked at the plant again, her laughter dying as she adopted a more serious expression. Okay, she could do this. If Gideon could do this, so could she, right? Stepping forward, she reached for one of the swells and wrinkled her nose, aiming for the collecting dish and squeezing gently. Thankfully, nothing splattered and she beamed once more, waiting until all the pus was excreted before stepping back, looking quite proud of herself. "Your turn,"

she said almost teasingly, glancing at the blonde. "It's really not so bad,"[/color] she assured her as an after-thought, throwing in a smile for good measure.


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[Gideon Prewett]

Gideon loved his friends. Of course he did, all of them. Gabs and Emme were especially close to his heart, and he gave them both a look of fondness as he watched them work with their bubotubers. They were good at it - haha, of course they were! They were both really smart, and they worked hard and tried harder, and Gideon admired them for it. He watched them affectionately as they squeezed out the pus, then turned back to his own with a determined face. He'd done it once, he could do it again, right? Ugh, but it was so sicknasty, even he was grossed out, and Gideon had been grossed out by a lot of things in his life. Also, the pus really felt disgusting as it moved out of the plant. It was like... like popping a lurker the size of a tube of toothpaste. Ugggh it was gross, it really was. Other students seemed to be just as grossed out; Milo Whittle looked ready to vomit. Grimacing, he gripped the black, sluggy part of the tube tight and squeezed more of the pus into the dish. "Not so bad? Haha. This is honestly probably the most disgusting thing I've ever done. Ever." ... Damn Herbology.

[Professor Pomona Sprout]

POINT COUNT

TALLY	Gryffindor	Ravenclaw	Hufflepuff	Slytherin
Attendance	00	00	60	00
Earned	00	00	00	00
Total	00	00	60	00