(Herbology) Class II

[Erys Grace]

"I didn't figure Gryffindor to be a house of eavesdroppers." Erys murmured inconspicuously, sitting back down and crossing one leg over the other. "And yes, if you must know. My uncle owns a store there that carries them. I could get enough to restock the entire school." It wasn't like she had to swim, it was Veata who cast the spell- she was just too loyal to her friend, since V had stuck up for her. Erys couldn't let her get some by herself, there were easier ways. Anything to get her out of her clothes, eh? He should keep his hormones under control.

Knowing he was trying to push her buttons, and not falling for it, Erys stretched her arms out, tilting her head back. "I work out, which is more I can say for you." She remarked, sounding as truthful as her statement was. If he preferred it, she could simply Accio the weights down here from her common room. They might damage a few walls along the way, but at least he would be satisfied to know what she had spoken was real instead of a lie.

If this Gryffindor wanted another enemy, then so be it. Erys always made it a priority to be civil at first meeting, and since this was indeed just that, she wouldn't be against gaining his aquaintance. It was the Zerrubabel one that pissed her off, not him. But that was his business, and not hers. She had already begun to hate that house entirely, if it werent for a few special people.

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[Veata Bane]

Leaning over and casting a small grin to the Gyffindor who had just came in, Veata felt her fur start to lie flat. She knew she was in trouble for flinging mermaid crap at the pirate boy, and she knew she might have to go get it the hard way, but at least she accepted it. At least the boy Erys was now competing with had some wits about him, and a smart tongue. That couldn't be said for many Gryffindors.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she listened to Erys' voice, threatening, soothing, calming. Well, that girl should sure negotiate, not that it mattered. V was just satisfied she had tried to get that little asskiss Gryffindor, whether she had to shovel mercrap into a jar or not.

[Elijah Ellerby]

The Slytherin girl eyed him with indifference, nonchalant to his shot at her. Elijah had never been a fan of inter-house rivalries - or the ridiculous labels that came with them - but he had been unable to stop himself from defending Zerrebabel in some small way, even if his attack had merely been a slight upon the girl's appearance and nothing to do with the other Gryffindor whatsoever. He wasn't exactly the only one guilty of siding with his House mates anyway.

'Really? Well isn't that impressive,' He said patronisingly, although he wasn't trying to be snide anymore, just playful. 'Let's just hope there is enough to stock the entire school. Then you can throw around as much as you like.' He looked at her friend. 'If that's what you're into, of course.'

The first Slytherin began to stretch now, showing off. Elijah raised one eyebrow, a wry smirk spreading across his face. 'Surly you're not trying to seduce me?' He mocked, wanting to grin at his uncharacteristic audacity. It had been such a long time since Elijah had talked to someone his own age he was actually beginning to value this pointless contest.

[spaghetti231]

"How do you get to London from here?" asked Zerrubabel, genuinely interested in the conversation. Hell, knowing how to get to London easily would be a nice thing to know. Although her many slights at him had entirely ruined any chance of him ever speaking to her in more than indifferent terms, he didn't mind exchanging civility for information now and again.

"Thanks for joining the cause," he whispered to the newly entered Gryffindor.

[Erys Grace]

Twining her fingers together, Erys batted her eyes at him, breaking off the imitation to stick her tongue out. "You know it, handsome." Winking also rather playfully, the Slytherin continued speaking, hopefully explaining her hormonal display of affection, "I was stretching, not pressing my boobs together." Chuckling, completely ignoring the pirate poser now, the animagus glanced at her nails; long and deep red, as usual. Not a chip in sight, though it really didn't matter, they would get broken anyway while playing Quidditch. Ah, did she tell her friend this? That Erys had tried out for beater on the Slytherin team? No? Perhaps later then. It seemed now that this older Gryffindor boy also didn't wish to make a new enemy, which Erys couldn't agree more with. She had enough of them on her back, prejudicial fools hating her for her house instead of her personality. Which was civil, unless stated otherwise. Licking her lips with a small smile, the witch looked away, making a mental note to pick up some merdung later. Feeling more calm now than before, her mood had changed from pissed off to amused. The drama was over, hopefully. At least he was smart enough to break the tension with a funny.

All she wanted was to get more points of her house, but instead of doing that, gained herself an unexpected shopping trip. No matter. What were Slytherins if not flexible? "Im Erys." Everyone was so prejudiced, regarding her with hate before even knowing her. In Hogsmeade, before she was even sorted at all, a Hufflepuff girl had glared at her after mentioning she had hoped to land in Slytherin. Somehow Erys doubted any non-Slytherin had experianced the feeling of being totally alienated to one group of people, without even being given a chance to prove if they were like the rest or not. "Floo powder." She answered, her voice smooth. He was being civil, at least. London was easily reached if you happened to have a sack of the useful stuff on hand.

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[spaghetti231]

"Floo powder? I was under the impression that you cannot floo powder in and out of Hogwarts, but then again, I suppose you could do so from Hogsmeade," said Zerrubabel, realizing how painfully easy it was to fix that little problem.
Zerrubabel decided to turn to his book and check up on merdung, he expected it was some type of magical fertilizer that could dramatically increase the productivity of plants, or something like that maybe.

[Prof. Eithne l'Keitha]

"Well if you cannot acquire MerDung the proper way, I supposed you could go buy some, Ms. Grace. Muggles do use Ebay..." Professor l'Keitha shrugged, unimpressed. "Though I cannot advocate unsanctioned visits off school grounds, the largest problem would be that stores cannot provide a fresh stock of MerDung - just dried packaged kinds imported from China. Or is that wheat gluten? Nevertheless - if you are not capable enough, just say the word. I'm no disciplinarian - I will always take time aside to help struggling students or make allowances for 'special needs'." She tried to put on a concerned expression for the two Slytherins, but it was difficult to be civil with the delusional.

"Well, now that we've all gotten a chance to play 'I'm the biggest bitch here since I can't be one in real life,' let's get class started!" the professor smiled, clapping her hands together. "Now, since Ms. Bane and Ms. Grace appear inept at properly retrieving a new supply, we are all going to!" With a nod, the professor's robes swirled and transfigured into a prim one-pieced red bathing suit. "To the Lake! We're going on a field trip!"

[basilembry]

Spinning on his heels, Basil toppled into the greenhouse just in time. Good thing he got lost last time - he knew this was herbology!

"Yay field trip! Field trip!" he squeaked, nearly hopping up and down.

[Alexis Heart]

Yet again Alexis walked into class and had to admit she wasn't looking forward to it. Simply because she wasn't good with identifying these plants. When she walked in she found an empty seat and headed straight for it sitting near a Gryffindor student and she smiled at him while taking out her book, parchment, and quill. As she looked up she noticed that once again they were being asked to identify a particular plant. It was being passed around the room and several wrong guesses were bandied about she didn't have a clue either but then she saw something that made her eyes go wide a pile of glob was floating toward another Gryffindor boy. It was apparently sent his way by one of the Slytherin's he had the misfortune to be sitting near. Alexis couldn't believe their nerve and was glad that the teacher didn't let her get away with that tomfoolery. They were a menace to the school the whole lot of them why they behaved the way they did Alexis just didn't know. Figuring this was going to be a long class she just decided to forget about them and focus on the teacher and she just learned that they were going to the lake so she was ready to leave the room thinking that the fresh air might be good for them all.

[spaghetti231]

'Into the lake?' thought Zerrubabel, looking at his tattered, yet surprisingly still dry clothing. He did have some trunks upstairs though, "Accio...erm...water trousers", he said, wondering the best way to call a swim suit from his tower bedroom. He waited a few moments, looking around, before he heard a soft thump at the door of the green house. It was the younger Gryffindor, as well as his trunks. The poor kid had almost been hit in the back of the head with Zerrubabel's swim suit, but his timing seemed to be very good, walk into class just in time for a field trip. Zerrubabel walked to the door and picked up his suit, nodding to the Gryffindor on his way.

[Emily Leets]

Em had lifted her head up a bit to glance at the late comers, who all seemed to be sitting as far away from the Slytherins' as possible. She didn't blame them of course - it was what she had done as well, but she didn't like giving the Slytherins' a feeling that they could, with just their glares, send everyone away from them...making them look superior. She brushed this thought away, however, when the late Gryffindor started annoying one of the Slytherins. This had definitely turned into a more of a house rival than a Herbology class. Classes had changed since the last time she had been there.

She lifted her head up at their Professor's mention of going to the lake. It wasn't exactly her trip of choice - she would rather not go swimming for Mepeople's droppings. But it seemed as she had no choice, and was ready to up and leave to the Lake as soon as the teacher permitted.

[understanding]

Hadn't Oscar know he'd have to get in to the lake eventually? At each opportunity they'd come to interrupt his reading beside their waters, one of the few truly soothing places in the beautiful but cavernous school. That is, when a group of the lithe merpeople were not spraying him with their little jets of laughter or murmuring at him from just below the surface. The thought of their smooth, agile bodies, the wreathlike hair, and their breathless speech unnerved Oscar. It came to him that it was dangerously charged, beautiful and hugely frightening both. Surprised at himself, Oscar found that he was eager to meet his own fear in the lake. Perhaps the professor would even show them the charm she had used for her own impressive outfit; he certainly knew he had no suit of his own.

The red of Zerrubabel's summoned short-pants had seemed almost a bird as they had passed the window before reaching the door. Oscar felt practically delirious from so many displays of magic. What was in them that made these things take flight at their calling? "I knew I should've stayed home today," he mouthed to himself lamely, Oscar's mind awhirl with strange birds and gold fish he couldn't make for anything.

[Erys Grace]

Feeling her jaw drop, the Slytherin slapped her mouth shut, experiancing lingering surprise at the teachers crass vocabulary. She obviously had no idea how hard it was being in Slytherin. You were prejudiced, teased, insulted.. Without even getting a chance to prove if you were nice or not. It was completely unfair. At least Professor Gainnes knew how she felt, and related to her. The serpent house was the toughest one to be in, and unless the teacher actually tried to understand how Erys felt, then she wouldn't be getting anywhere with her. Shaking it off, she shook her head, sighing bitterly. It was in these rare moments that the Slytherin would admit something that actually hurt her. "You have it lucky." She murmured to the seventh-year Gryffindor, her voice low and her eyes downcast.

Quiet now, wondering what the Ravenclaw girl's problem was, Erys dropped her irritation, figuring that if Miss Heart wanted to get her knickers in a bunch then all the power to her. The only problem on her mind right now, was how she was going to go deep into the lake with just a bikini on. Erys didn't own a one-piece swimsuit. Experiancing only a sliver of uncomfort at this, she drew her wand out once more, snapping her wrist towards the door. "Accio bikini." She commanded simply, sounding only slightly bored. At least this class would be more interesting than she had expected it to be. Why, Erys was all up for an adventure into the bottom of the lake! Her only issue was that, one, it would be cold, and two, there were merpeople down there that might not be too tickled to fork over some of their waste products. If some wizard came up to her and asked for feces, Erys wouldn't ever take him up on his offer. That was disgusting, and rude, to do that. Hopefully the Herbology professor was more respectful to them than she was to Slytherin students.

With a flurry of movements, the door to the classroom gently opened, allowing her swimsuit access inside. Landing softly in her hands, was a dark green bikini, complimentary to her sunkissed skin. Looking up with wide eyes, Erys wondered where she was going to change, since she sure as hell wasn't about to strip down infront of everybody. Brainblast! Slipping the top and bottoms through her sleeves, she fiddled for a moment, changing underneath her uniform. Sliding her school clothes back on again, overtop the swimsuit, the Slytherin stood, ready to get wet.

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[Elijah Ellerby]

Elijah laughed at the Slytherin’s quip. ‘Well I’m Elijah. Nice to make your acquaintance, Erys.’ Elijah murmured back with a soft, amused smile.

It fell however when Professor l’Keitha, while watching them bicker, had decided today’s lesson would turn from an observation into a practical – and a very cold one at that. Even in the middle off summer that lake could support an iceberg, and with a groan Elijah leaned back on his chair, staring past a gold coloured bonsai tree to stare down the lawn at the glistening water. Oscar too seemed to have a wobbly expression. He had seemed content up until now to examine the various plant life, and to sit in his own head and think whatever Oscar must’ve usually thought, but now he looked both intrigued yet agitated by the prospect of the lake. ‘I’m a rubbish swimmer too.’ Elijah leaned down and grinned, determining that must’ve been the problem. ‘I sink like a stone. Perhaps today that’ll work out, though...’ He looked back toward the lake, knowing it to be even half a mile deep in some places. The merepeople would live right at the bottom.

‘Are you going to use a bubblehead charm too?’ Elijah patted Oscar on the back, pulling him out of seat without registering his relluctance.

Professor l’Keitha had already marched out of the greenhouse and down the lawn and everal people were changing into summoned swim suits. Elijah wished he’d been more prepared, and he certainly wasn’t changing in front of Erys (although, she seemed rather unabashed by stripping down in front of everyone, even if she did look like a magician trying to get out of a straight jacket).

‘Let’s just go in in our clothes, should we? It’ll be easier to just use a drying spell afterwards.’ He said to Oscar, leading the way out of the greenhouse and down toward the water, which was a deep, thoughtful blue.

[understanding]

"Oh those merpeople loathe me. They're always splashing at me and trying to bait me in to singing with them. It's so dreadful!" he groans, and then hearing himself, disgusted by his own cries seems to harden up. "I'd like to make friends-- and I said that, before one tried to pull me in with them." It was an exceptionally warm day and from where he sat, even Oscar had to admit the water looked inviting. "I can't swim very well either," he concluded flatly, getting more and more excited at the thought of meeting them in the cool, abyssal lake. More than that, Oscar was strangely pleased to be ushered along by Elijah, intently aware of the more forward boy's hold on his arm as he lead them from the room. There the sun was high and the whomping willow thrashed about merrily.

"But what's a bubblehead?" Oscar asked at last, feigning ignorance. He leans in close to Elijah to hear him.