Lesson 1- Devil Snare

[ProfSprout]

Professor Sprout had a grin across her face, she was in a very cheery mood because she was rather excited for the first day of class. She had a great lesson prepared and she was more than eager to show her students.
"Welcome Class.", she said as the students began to come in,.
"This will be you very first lesson in Herbology. Herbology is the study of magical plants and fungi. Some magical plants form important ingredients in potions, others have magical effects in their own right." She smiled and pulled out a pot from under her table.
"Today we will be learning about Devil Snare!", She said as she showed the class the devil snare she had been keeping in her pot.
"As you can see the Devil's Snare is made out of soft, moss-like tendrils and vines. Right now it looks as if it is inanimate, but just observe what happens once I put this rat within it's vines." The Professor took a rat out of her drawer. She was holding it by it's tail with her index and thumb fingers. Then, she dropped the rat in and looked back at the classroom.
"The Devil Snare is now using it's vines to ensnare the rat which is how it got its name. Note how the rat is struggling to escape the Devil Snare's grip, the more the rat wriggles the harder it's clasp becomes.", Said Professor Sprout as she pointed got her wand out from her pocket.
"Immobulus", she muttered as the rat froze inside the Devil Snare. The Devil Snare began to notice the rat had ceased it's struggling and it's muderous grip settled causing the rat to slip out of the plant and on to the Professor's desk.
"If you were watching you could clearly see that once the rat stopped struggling the Devil Snare's grip became lighter and released the rat. So, if you ever found yourself in a patch of Devil Snare relax your body and wait till it let's you go, but if you need to escape the Devil Snare faster, say if you were caught in a room full of it than you would probably want to use a flame spell such as The Bluebell Charm." She said as she picked up her wand once again.
"Incendio", she muttered as a ray of fire shot from her wand and engorged the Devil Snare in flame and began to shrink slowly.
"The Devil Snare burns because it is usually adapted to a dark damp enviroment, but when it is exposed to extreme heat it shrinks and retreats into it's soil." She began put her wand away.
"Homework for this lesson will be to answer the following questions", She said as she began to write on the board.
Homework
1. What is Herbology?
2. What are the characteristics of Devil Snare?
3. What happened to the Rat when it was put into the Devil Snare
4. Where did the devil snare get it's name from?
5. How did the Devil Snare respond to the Rat's struggling?
6. How did the Devil Snare respond after using the immobulus charm to relax the rat's body
7. What is the Devil Snare's weakness
8. What happens to the Devil Snare wehen it is exposed to it's weakness
Email the answers to [e-mail] and [e-mail]
"Now I would like the class to work with the Devil Snare", She began to pass out little pots with a small amount of Devil Snare in them.
"I would like the class to put their fingers in the Devil Snare."

[skittles]

How can I sign up for this class, Prof. Sprout?
I sent my homework in anyway.

This is Albus Dumbledore, and I would like to say that ProfSprout has not chosen to have sign-ups for her class...so it is open to everybody. I will delete this post after everyone has read it.

[ProfSprout]

Professor Sprout looked around the class and noticed that none of the students were touching their Devil Snares'.
"Don't worry class, these Devil Snare's are so small they can't do anything except grab your thumb. It's the same thing as putting a rubber band around your thumb.", she said trying to get the class to touch their very un-deadly plants.

[Skye Barkson]

Skye looked at Proffessor Sprout,thinking she must be crazy. But, she put on a brave face,took a deep breathe, and lighty prodded the plant in front of her.

[ProfSprout]

Professor Sprout watched the unwilling student put her finger in the Devil Snare and began to applaude her.
"You see class she.....", Professor Sproout then noticed she didn't recognize the girl who was delicately prodding her Devil Snare, she leaned down and whispered to the girl, "Eh, what's your name again?".

[Skye Barkson]

Skye told her " Skye Barkson. I'm a Hufflepuff student."

[ProfSprout]

"Ooo, a hufflepuff", Professor Sprout exclaimed, she was Hufflepuff head of house and loved to make aquantances with new students she hadn't seen before. Professor Srout was highly involved with the Quidditch sport and quickly asked the student who sat in front of her, "So Skye are you gonna sign up for the Hufflepuff Quiddtch Team?"

[Skye Barkson]

Skye felt her cheeks start to burn. She had never met such a friendly teacher before but she liked her. "well,I really want to but I don't think it's likley" said Skye. "I think I will try out though!"

[skittles]

Lyra watched a girl put her finger at the Devil's Snare. She herself wasn't to keen on it, but what could happen? Professor Sprout had said it wasn't dangerous and she trusted her, so Lyra went up to the plant and carefully touched it...the plant reacted immediately, it grabbed her index finger and Lyra instictively tried to pull it away again, but the plant didn't let go. She wriggled her finger, but no, that hadn't been a good idea, now it started hurting a little.....then suddenly she remembered again what Professor Sprout had told them about the Devil's Snare."...if you ever found yourself in a patch of Devil Snare relax your body and wait till it let's you go...". So she relaxed her finger and stopped moving. Soon the plant let go of her finger and she was free again. "Cool!"she mumbled. "It really works!"

[Skye Barkson]

Skye was amazed when she saw the girl was able to get out of the Devils Snare. She hadn't even looked scared,thought Skye. She wondered if she should try it too but decided against it. She had grown very fond of all her fingers over the years and didn't want to loose them anytime soon. instead, she walked over to the girl and said " hello! my name is Skye. I just wanted to say that was amazing. I don't know how you managed to stay so calm!"

[skittles]

Lyra smiled at Skye. "Thanks, Skye, my name is Lyra, Gryffindor, nice to meet you. I wasn't calm, believe me, but I trust Prof. Sprout and just did what she had said. It wasn't too hard. C'mon, you try it, nothing can happen here. Prod the plant, it will grip you, but just don't move and relax your finger and it will let go in no time! It's easy, come on. I'll invite you to some ice-cream at Hogsmead if you do it. Now doesn't that sound enticing? "She smirked and waited for Skye's answer.

[Skye Barkson]

Skye laughed. "I already have touched it but not long enough to let it grip me" she says. "The ice creams ure does sound yummy but I'm only a second year. We could still be friends though,right?"

[skittles]

"Ah, you're a Second Year. That's annoying. I mean the way you can't go to Hogsmeade of course, not you!,"Lyra said hastily. "But sure, we can be friends, I always like to meet new people! If you need any help just ask me, I can answer most questions about Hogwarts." Just then they heard the bells ring. Lyra got up, said goodbye to Skye and left the classroom.

[Skye Barkson]

Skye gathered up her things and also left the class. She was extremely happy that she had met Lyra and that they were now friends.

[OtisGreenly]

Otis was staring mindlessly at the plant This is boring he thought to himself. He put his finger in relaxed it then took it out of the plant again. It was a rather easy task and it didn't take much skill. Otis wanted to get more out of the class then just this. He reached for his wand which was positioned in his back pocket and he put it up to the devil snare.
"Incendio", he muttered as fire emitted from his wand and burnt the Devil Snare. After a little while the Devil Snare had still not retreated.
"Incendio!", Otis repeated, but this time the spell was even less sucessful than last time. Otis's robe suddenly caught on fire from the spell that he had just performed. He began running around the Greenhouse like a wildman, flames followed behind him. Suddenly he tripped over a chair and fell into a patch of Devils Snare that Professor Sprout had been keeping for the class. He started flailing about when he noticed the Devil Snare's grip was only getting tighter.
"Help!", he pleaded.