Smacked silly. on Herbology

Nathan Xavier

April 08, 2022 9:10 PM

Intermediates: Bouncing Bulb by Nathan Xavier

Nathan stood inside the door of Greenhouse One, opening the door and quickly ushering each student into the warmth of the greenhouse as they got close. It was a cold day outside, and the greenhouse was pleasantly temperate. Only after the door was closed and the freezing temperatures were no longer intruding did he return the unit exam the newly arrived student had taken just before midterm. "Good job," he said to those who did well. "Doing better," he praised those who had seen improvement from their norm. "Perhaps a little more studying next time," he suggested to those who had seen a drop in their usual performance level. "Keep trying," he encouraged those who persistently had trouble. By now, most of those knew his office hours already, so he didn't feel the need to remind them.

"So, welcome to a new calendar year," he began once everyone had arrived. "We'll be starting a new unit on plants that move. We covered some of those in beginners. You may remember the jumping and climbing seeds we worked with then. Today, we have bouncing bulbs. It's a magical root that is quite active, and can get a bit violent if you're not careful with it, which is why we did not cover it in beginners class. You'll need a firm grip on them when handling them or they will try to shake free, and they are a bit stronger than you might expect."

"I've got a bin of them here, so I want each of you to take one and pot it. We've got empty ceramic pots over there on the shelves, potting soil in the bags along the wall there, and fertilizer in their usual bins. Use what you know from past lessons to pick an appropriately sized pot, and fill the soil deep enough to support a bulb that is about four inches in diameter. You should all be pretty comfortable with that by now. The trick with this one is that you're going to need to pack the soil pretty firmly to keep it from getting out, but not so much that it can't drain or get air."

"Does anyone know what bouncing bulbs grow into?"

He called on a student who raised their hand.

"Yes, very good. They'll grow into tulips that dance. We'll get to see that once these bulbs sprout this spring. Alright, we'll talk about some uses for both the bulbs and the flowers later, but for now, you should work on potting your bulb. As always, you can talk amongst yourselves as you work and you're allowed give each other advice, but you should each do your own bulb planting."

OOC: This is a canon herbology lesson. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of information known about bouncing bulbs other that one smacked Harry in the face in fifth year after it escaped his grasp, so be as creative as you like in making up more details.

Subthreads:

Time to try something different [Hansel] by Iris Cobb with Hansel Hexenmeister

Smacked silly. by Quincy Wright

1 Nathan Xavier Intermediates: Bouncing Bulb 28 1 5

Iris Cobb

April 11, 2022 6:05 PM

Time to try something different [Hansel] by Iris Cobb

Iris hurried into the greenhouse and was thankfully met with some wonderful warm air. She wasn't exactly a stranger to cold, especially after break, but inside the greenhouse was much nicer. Inside, she examined potential seating options. The bit of a 'talk' she'd gotten over break had made her notice that after the ball, nothing much else had happened. When she hadn't been thinking about it, it hadn't really bothered her. Now though she wondered a bit, she hadn't really wanted any sort of official relationship, and she still wasn't sure that she did, but the fact that Henry hadn't even tried last term didn't sit great with her. Was it her fault? She hadn't really gotten to know any of the boys really well, and maybe that should change.

So, she sat down in the seat next to Hansel. He always seemed nice, plus he had a pet snake. She took that to mean that he could at least handle something of the wilderness, Henry had given off a lot of 'city-boy' vibes. "Hi Hansel!" she greeted him with a warm smile, and finally looked at her exam paper. She'd been pleased with the 'Good job' she got from the professor and saw the grade on the paper matched his sentiments. If only she could get these sorts of marks in transfig and DADA.

Iris listened intently as the professor instructed them about the day's lesson. Ooo... she'd like to see the dancing tulips once they were grown. Once they were released to being work, she stood and turned to Hansel again, "Shall we go get things? Have you worked with these before?"

2 Iris Cobb Time to try something different [Hansel] 1526 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

April 14, 2022 6:36 PM

Being friendly isn't different though. by Hansel Hexenmeister

Utah had been cold over the midterm break, but not enough colder to make Sonora's winter feel any warmer. He had bundled up thoroughly and hurried from the school to the Greenhouse with only a faint resentment that they weren't closer together. The Professor kindly opened the door for him as he got close and he hurried inside with a breath of relief as the warmer air enveloped him. "Thanks," he said, more for the assist in getting to a warmer temperature than for the test he was handed back. Still, as he took a seat, he looked over the answers he'd gotten wrong and tried to burn the right answers into his memory. He still had a few years yet before he needed to worry about the CATS, but he was now in the class level that talked about them a lot, and he knew from Heinrich and Hilda they were important for his future. Luckily, there were not a lot of wrong answers - the exam, like the professor himself, told him he had done a good job with it, so he had mostly finished the review when Iris sat down next to him.

He mirrored her smile. "Hi, Iris," he returned her greeting in a friendly Teppenpaw way. That was coming easier now. People were not as foreign a concept as they had once been, and he found it easier to talk to them casually than he had when he first came to civilization from the desert.

Then the Professor started class, and Hansel turned his attention to his Head of House. It sounded like an interesting lesson. He enjoyed normal potting activities and this one had an added challenge with the bulbs not wanting to stay down. With luck, that would be more fun than frustrating.

"Nope," he declared cheerfully when Iris asked if he'd worked with the bulbs before. "And do you want to get the bulbs while I get the pots?" That seemed like a more efficient way of doing things than both of them going to the opposite sides of the greenhouse to get each item themselves. "Or the other way around?" he offered in case the bulbs were likely to cause problems or she wanted to pick pretty pots. He'd originally offered on the pots because they could be heavy and he though they might be the more onerous task and he was generous like that. He didn't want to take her options away from her though if she wanted to do it the other way.

1 Hansel Hexenmeister Being friendly isn't different though. 1524 0 5

Iris Cobb

April 16, 2022 7:36 PM

No, of course. Why would it be.... by Iris Cobb

Hansel had a nice smile. Iris couldn't resist smiling in return when he cheerily dashed any hope of having some experienced hand help work with these apparently difficult bulbs. Oh well. They would figure this out together, that would be fine. She didn't mind getting her hands dirty.

Iris brushed her hair behind her ear as she considered Hansel's suggestions about acquiring supplies. That did sound like the efficient way of doing things, but she didn't like it. "The professors said we needed to pick out a pot from what we knew from previous lessons. So I think we each need to choose one as part of the lesson." She thought a little bit more. "Also, if the bulbs are as problematic as he says they are, we may want to have as much prep work done before we get them as possible."

Her eyes scanned around the greenhouse, taking in the locations of their supplies before coming back to rest on Hansel's smile. No, just Hansel in general, yes. "Our best route may be to go and pick our pots and then fill them with the potting soil and fertilizer we think we will need. We can bring them back here to the bench and make the hole for a four inch bulb as he said." She paused briefly before continuing, "We'll need some extra soil, perhaps more than usual to cover the bulb with from the sounds of it. Once we have that all done, we can go pick up our bulbs. Then we'll have two hands to handle them and can drop them straight into place and bury them quickly without much difficulty."

Iris looked at him for approval, "What do you think?"

2 Iris Cobb No, of course. Why would it be.... 1526 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

April 26, 2022 8:05 AM

You said we should try something different though. by Hansel Hexenmeister

Everything Iris said made a great deal of sense, and he nodded along with her as she made her points. "It sounds like a plan," he agreed verbally when she finished. "So, pots first, then." He headed over that direction, checking to make sure Iris stayed with him through the crowd of other intermediates also going to collect pots.

Soon enough, they got to the shelf with the available pots on them. He picked one of about the right size - definitely big enough to comfortably house a bulb of four inches across. He was erring on the side of it being too big, if anything, as there wasn't really a penalty for that other than needing to carry around a big old pot and fill it with more fertilizer, and it taking up some extra space.

When Iris had picked hers out, too, he asked, feeling a bit chivalrous, "Do you want me to carry yours for you?" He would never dare to suggest that she couldn't do it herself, but he was used to hefting around heavy things on the snake ranch since he wasn't old enough to use magic yet, and it seemed like a nice gesture to offer.

1 Hansel Hexenmeister You said we should try something different though. 1524 0 5

Iris Cobb

May 02, 2022 5:25 PM

You do make a valid point. Suggestions? by Iris Cobb

Hansel agreed with her plan! A minor thrill went through her as he agreed. Admittedly she was probably being quite silly about all of this, but she couldn't quite bring herself to not feel rather delighted with the entire situation. She also couldn't help but smile again when Hansel looked back at her as they made their way towards the pots. Did he...? she wondered to herself. No... maybe?

Upon their arrival at the pot selection, she carefully looked over the pots that were available. Many of them were way to big or small for the task set to them. But there were plenty that fit their range nicely. Hansel picked on that was on the larger end of that spectrum. She decided on one closer to the middle of the range. It would fit the bulb just about right and not make her carry around anything heavier than she absolutely had to. The pot itself wasn't all that difficult, but the next stop was to fill it up with soil. The bigger it was the more soil she'd need to lug around as well. That could start to get heavy. This one would be fine though, and give her bulb a nice, snug little home to start off its life.

Hansel's offer caught her a little off guard. Her first thought was to wonder if he thought she was some delicate, little, high born princess that'd never done a lick of work in her life. Her second thought was that she'd need to break him of that impression fast. "Thank, but I've got it." She responded as she set the pot up on her right shoulder with that hand to steady it. "I've been carrying around pots for as long as I can remember." She gave him a friendly smile, "Ma had me out helping her in the garden as soon as I could walk."

She started off towards the soil, and this time it was her turn to look back to see if he was following her, "Have you done a lot of this sort of thing?" There was no time like the present to learn more about these boys after all.

2 Iris Cobb You do make a valid point. Suggestions? 1526 0 5

Quincy Wright

May 03, 2022 4:16 PM

Smacked silly. by Quincy Wright

Quincy was doing pretty alright with the lesson today, following along with relative ease and the sense of boredom that a student who could have probably been more advanced than this if there was any leverage for that sort of movement at Sonora. Of course, that was before everything had been turned upside down for him so who was to say what his life would have been like if everything had gone the way it ought to have gone?

He was following along with relative ease until the professor said the bulbs would be about four inches in diameter. That was huge! That was like the size of both fists put together. They'd need a big pot and lots of dirt and that was all just assuming they could even manhandle the thing into place. He enjoyed herbology, it was one of his favorite subjects, but he didn't enjoy danger. Science was supposed to be interesting, and there were supposed to be safety measures in place to ensure that experiments did not go awry and end up hurting anyone. As it turned out here, that was not the case.

Great.

He was avoiding both huffing and panicking by making himself immediately busy and his amount of notetaking increased dramatically as the class was dismissed from the lecture to begin the activity. He worked for a moment to catch up on the notes he was meant to have been taking before setting about planning his actual strategy. He figured that a small pot wouldn't do because even if the dirt amount was somehow sufficient to keep the dang thing squished, it would probably just bounce the pot right over. No, he theorized it would need to be at least eight inches in diameter - enough for two inches on each side of the bulb - or perhaps even more. He figured perhaps he'd go for a ten inch pot just to be extra safe, and get one deep enough that he could really shove the bulb in and cover it up well. It wasn't a sound scientific approach but it seemed like more would be better than less in this case. He wondered whether there was a type of fertilizer or something that would either sedate or appease the little monster plants and keep them in their pots.

When he was satisfied with his notes and ideas being written down and drawn out enough that he could proceed, he went to the pots to look for one on the larger side (relative to what they were using today, obviously some plants used much more massive pots than anything they'd have in this greenhouse). There were other students looking at various sizes and he caught sight of a pot he thought would work well just behind the elbow of one of them.

"Excuse me," he said. Then again when they didn't seem to hear him: "Excuse me! I want that pot. Please."

22 Quincy Wright Smacked silly. 1495 0 5