OWLs were this year, and even though Toby was pretty confident in this subject and probably should be devoting more time to, say, History of Magic, he was already caught up in the idea of studying and doing more plant!research. He'd bought his battered Herbology journal with him, and was already kitted out in his own dragonhide gloves.

There was little to no chance of gaining permission to enter the higher level greenhouses, though he probably would have stood a good chance with Bentley (who, Toby admitted but refused to say out loud, he already missed quite profoundly). The Hufflepuff already felt eager to prove to this new professor of his ability when it came to Herbology. It was definitely the thing Toby found easiest at the the wizarding world, right behind flying. Maybe soon he'd be able to get permission to use Greenhouse Six or Seven, or at least Greenhouse Five. Hopefully. Maybe.

The fifth year pushed open the door to Greenhouse Four and breathed in the smell of that planty air. Man, how long had it even been since he was last in here? They'd not been able to leave the castle at all until the end of term, and it was too cold and tool late to come down here. It was... good to be back.

Closing the door carefully behind him, Toby took a moment to look around for any other students (or possibly the new professor) and, seeing nobody, headed straight into the main area of the greenhouse. Toby was careful to watch his step as he went; more than once in the past some of the more mischievous plants had snaked out a vine or tendril to trip him up as he passed, though Tobias wasn't sure if there were any plants that might try something like that in here.

When at last he reached his intended destinations (the fanged geraniums) Toby smiled to himself and crouched down to take a closer look. He flipped open to a fresh page in his journal and started a rough sketch, occasionally scribbling things down as he watched, intensely focused and eerily calm.

Normally Paris wasn't one to wake up early without his mum or sisters going through some efforts to drag him out of bed, but with all his excitement he couldn't stay sleep for long, ready to explore the castle. His NEW home. The fourth year had managed to wake before all of his new dorm mates (who were more than a little interesting) and shower in case he ran into GIRLS before heading down to the great hall. He wanted to see everything, but he needed substance first. Food was stuffed into his mouth and washed down, whatever leftover being wrapped in napkins and shoved into the one free pocket he had.

His first stop on his explorations was of course the greenhouses, seeing how everything inside was all too bookish and the Scottish lad was not into any of that.

How was he supposed to know which one he was allowed in? Ignoring any signs, he poked his head into each one that was unlocked, looking for signs of life that were human, hoping that he'd find the professor out here. What was that man's name again? He didn't remember much of ANY of that long speech that had been given last night.

It wasn't until he reached the fourth greenhouse, opening it up and poking his head inside that he saw someone with a notepad that he wanted to shout over a hello except they were working. They looked focus too.

........... Wasn't that his flying buddy from over summer?

As quietly as he could (which wasn't all that quiet), he moved further into the greenhouse until he was right behind the older boy, peeeeeeeering over his shoulder to see what he was drawing.

Hmmmmm. "..... 's pretty good."

Toby had heard movement in the greenhouse and figured it to be either a very active plant or perhaps some human company; both were equally as likely as each other. He made a point to look around and see in a moment, riiiiiiiiiight after finishing this diagram. Already his focus was SO MUCH BETTER. This was amazing.

He was still listening to those other noises for a moment, but became engrossed in his journal once again, and next thing he knew there was a voice right behind him.

Managing not to jump in surprise okay maybe just a tiny bit, Toby looked up and around, already smiling, and smiling wider still when he saw it was Paris from Diagon Alley.

"Thanks," Toby replied, glancing down at the page again. "S'just my Herbology journal. I'm filling it with as many of the Hogwarts plants as I can." He flipped briefly through the past pages to show Paris, and then turned to look at him again and straightened up so he was standing again. "What brings you down here? Checking out the place?"

More grinning. And it hadn't escaped Toby's notice that Paris was a Ravenclaw too; he'd been watching the sorting of course. How many Ravenclaw friends did THAT make? A ton? IT was beautiful.

Paris pretended not to notice the jumping for Toby's sake and because he hadn't done it on purpose. He just got curious about things like drawing or that looked like drawing and couldn't help himself. "Do you do this for fun or do we have to do it for class? Does the professor grade us on these?" Because he would ACE that class if so. "Oh, I'm just exploring the castle and I like plants so I figured I'd come down here." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his own sketch journal. "I was gonna draw all the cool stuff I saw."

It was a lot of drawing, but Paris didn't mind. He had a plan of taking his drawings and doing some paintings later when he made it back to his dorm if that Wesley kid didn't mess with his stuff. He hoped he wouldn't. "Can I join you?"

Toby thought for a moment, head slightly tilted. He'd never thought to phrase it like that, like an academic sort of activity was for fun, but... yeah, that was exactly right. "I do it for fun, and 'cause Herbology's probably my best subject. This makes it even easier to remember it, 'cause I find it hard to concentrate and remember things." Was that oversharing? Probably, but too late now. "But sometimes we get homework where we get to draw and stuff too, in a bunch of subjects, and that gets graded."

When Paris pulled out the sketchbook, Toby grinned at him. "Cool! So you do, like, proper art then?" 'Cause that was something on a whole other level from Toby's Herbology diagrams. The Hufflepuff was totally impressed by anyone who had the real creativity and patience for proper art.

"'Course you can join me," he nodded, gesturing down at the space beside where he'd been sitting, and returning to his own position on the floor. Maybe later he'd suggest going to check out the Puffapods; they were one of Toby's favourites. "How're you liking Hogwarts so far?"

Paris listened intently to everything that the older boy was saying, replaying it in his mind. They got to DRAW in lessons. That would make classes so much easier for him, not to mention more enjoyable. "'s hard for me to focus too. On anything but drawing and painting stuff." Which was why he didn't really feel all that much like a Ravenclaw, but no one was trying to kick him and he had BEGGED to be here, so no complaining from this kid. "Those classes sound awesome!" The question now was just figuring out which ones those where. "Are all the classes like that?"

Grinning proudly, he nodded and opened his sketchbook to the first page. It was new and only filled with sketches of all things Hogwarts. The first thing being the great hall on opening feast night, though it was more an imitation of how Paris had viewed that night more than how it actually had been, and so the sketch had been more romanticized. "Been drawing before I learned to write. 's my favorite thing. I do all types of art." It was the one thing that came easy to him, and that his parents had supported and allowed in some of his homeschooling.

Crossing his legs, he eagerly took up the spot beside his new friend, turning to a new page in his book and pulling out a pencil to draw with. "'s nice. People are friendly an' all." Which was not what he had been told, but then you couldn't trust everything that Dora told you. Or his actual cousins sometimes. "You're one of those badgers?"

"A few of them. Usually in the homework assignments," Toby nodded. "Airey, he teaches Astronomy, lets us be creative. And once in Care of Magical Creatures we had to draw ourselves with an augurey from class." Heh. That had been pretty cool; Toby had some awesome memories from that class, and it was pretty difficult not to go off singing the praises of most of his professors. "Sometimes in class I do little drawings in my notes next to the important things, so I remember them." Maybe that could help Paris out, 'cause he had the concentration problem too. In a way Toby was glad to have found someone who had a similar issue as he did, but at the same time understood just how frustrating it could get.

"Wow," Toby said in something akin to awe, looking eagerly at the sketchbook when Paris opened it. "That's so cool! You're super talented, but I bet you already knew that." All these Ravenclaws and all of this TALENT. What a good bunch.

Toby's own drawing/diagram of the fanged geranium was almost finished by this point. Next he wanted to get some more detail in and identify all the proper names of the parts, which was going to take a little more time. He got started with that while Paris got settled beside him, finding that it was possible (even easy) to carry on the conversation whilst focusing on the plant. So THIS was multitasking? 'Cause it was awesome, dead useful too.

"Yeah, there's a real good bunch here. I don't think I've met anyone I don't like, and this is my fifth year here." GREAT RIGHT? Toby thought so. He leaned riiiiiight in the geranium, as close as he dared get, and squinted at the fangs. Before his had a chance to chomp on his nose the Hufflepuff leaned back again and added that to his drawing. "Uh huh. I'm a Hufflepuff. Unafraid of toil and all that." Grinning. "I saw you get sorted to Ravenclaw.

It was about time Piers did some catching up with his old friend. It had been quite a while since he and Andy had spoken. Several years, actually (he was obviously SUCH a good friend). And since he had made plans at the feast to go seek him out to have a chat, that's what he was doing.

Piers ventured down to the greenhouses one afternoon in search of the new Herbology professor. He hadn't really had reason to go down to this area much before (since his student days). Herbology hadn't ever really been his thing. And he and Seren hadn't really been close... at all. But there he was, at the greenhouse. Looking at plants.

It felt so good to be finally settled in. His office was all set, his books were organized alphabetically and so where his plants. Well, the plants weren't in an alphabetical order, it simply couldn't be done because each one needed to be in a certain spot regarding the sun. He had obviously tried.

So, now that he had nothing to do, Andrew was roaming the Greenhouses keeping an eye on everything and making sure no one was attempting harm to his plants. And of course most of his attention was on the locked greenhouses especially when a certain Gryffindor showed HUGE interest in them.

He'd just passed the first greenhouse and was about to turn around and get something from the office when his eyes caught someone entering the greenhouse. And it wasn't a student. The Herbologist followed and was pleased to see his old friend. Not age-wise obviously, more like their friendship's age. "Peirs, good to see you here," He clapped the man on the shoulder. "I see the spiky bushes grabbed your attention," Or did they ?

Ooh. Spiky plants. Part of Piers' curious personality was tempted to poke it, but he was resisting. He didn't know what in here was flesh eating and what wasn't, so he was keeping his distance. Once he heard footsteps, Piers craned his neck to see just the man he was looking for.

"Andy," he greeted in return with a small grin. Oh, the spiky bushes grabbed his attention alright, but he eyed them warily. "Errrr, yeah..." They were... interesting... and... spiky.

"I was just looking for you actually. Figured we had some catching up to do." It HAD been several years after all. Piers wasn't so good with keeping in touch with old friends. But he WAS good at picking up friendships from where they left off... a decade ago. That had been proven twice now.

His friend did not look all that impressed by the spiky bushes which was quite amusing. Hardly anyone liked their sight. Wasn't a pleasant one with the many things sticking out in all angles and threatening to poke out the closest eye. "You see to have caught their attention as well," He chuckled keeping a close look on them. But Piers was keeping his distance so all was good.

Oh, the visit was meant for him after all. That gladdened Andrew, not that people visiting the plants didn't - but he rather preferred himself sometimes. "I was thinking the same myself," But clearly his younger friend was faster to act and make it happen. His Snake buddy hadn't changed, had he? But of course he had. Not entirely. "Tell me what I don't know about this Professor Fuller," He smirked. And he had that thought that even if they hadn't known each other before, they'd still have bounded now.

"Mind if we do this while I trim those because kids might be wander near them," he said stepping closer to the bushes and drawing out his wand. He figured they wouldn't need to sit down with a cup of tea before them like chatty ladies. They were men! Unless Piers preferred somewhere less .... green. Then Andy would totally be okay with it.

As for the catching up. The Herbologist considered what to start with of his current life. The fact that his very sick mother lived with him? Nah. That was grim. "You know, this whole thing is weird for me," he said waving his wand and cutting spikes in the process, "I've been tutoring for more than I can remember," and the thought with many students looking up at him wasn't sitting well with him so far but he was curious to try it out.

"Those are all the classes I'm okay at too." So it was all sounding like it would work out in his favor, and by the look on Paris' face it was obvious that he was more than thrilled to be hearing all of this. "I do most all of my notes in drawings, unless I have to write stuff down." In which case, if his mum had allowed, he hardly wrote anything. It gave him headaches.

He beamed and soaked up the compliment graciously. It wasn't often that he got complements on his artwork that weren't from his little sister or cousin. Sure he knew he was talented, but it was nice to hear it and be recognized as such from someone who wasn't blood or being forced to say so without a snide comment. "Thanks! I can always sketch or paint somethin' for ya if you like. Can always use the practice." And he liked passing the time with it.

Once he had a general image of the plant in his mind, he started to draw slowly so that this one could be more accurate than his usual pictures that mostly worked off how he viewed things.

"You seem too nice to have people on your don't like list." Paris observed over his sketch, almost dismissively, as if the other boy already knew this information and he was simply stating a fact. He was nice. A grin crossed the boy's face. "Hufflepuff is cool... I think. You're the only one I know." It was okay to judge the house based off Toby, wasn't it? Paris didn't see the harm. "Aye, I did. It's been great there too. We had a party the first night and Peeves crashed." It had been awesome.

Toby's eyes positively lit up at that.

"Really? Something for me?" he replied, chipper and enthusiastic as he always was. "That'd be awesome." Something that someone had invested time and effort into? That was part of their passion. Heck yeah! "Think I'll take you up on that."

All beamy and grinny, Toby went back to work on his diagram again. When Paris spoke again, he probably smiled even wider, if that was possible, but kept sketching.

"Thanks," was all he could really think to say. There was a pause, before, "I'm super glad people think I'm nice." That's the goal, really. Sure, people may not like him, but at least he came across as a friendly kid, right? "I don't really have a 'don't like' list. For... anything." Heh. Was that weird? Surely not. NOPE.

The Hufflepuff giggled a little at the mention of the party. "Did he really? I guess Peeves is kinda drawn to that kind of stuff. I've never seen him in person, y'know. Just heard his... shenanigans." Toby liked that word, shhhhh. "Have you made many friends in your house?"

Was catching the attention of spiky plants good or bad? He was going to go with bad, so he remained at a safe distance.

Good to know they were on the same page. Piers chuckled at Andy's question. Yeah, what didn't he know about him these days? Perhaps the last he heard from Piers was a wedding invitation over a decade ago. He was obviously not married anymore. Well, maybe not obviously. He DID have a ring on his left hand again now, but that wasn't from his relationship with Alex.

"Trim away," he said, just fine with his idea. Then he stuffed his hands in his pockets and figured out where to begin. "Well, I've been teaching here for a few years now. Don't know if you remember Javy from our school days. He was my best mate then. Still is. We're actually engaged now. You know, to be married." You know. Side note. Hence the ring. So NOW obviously, he wasn't still married to Alex.

Piers watched the spikes get trimmed as Andy spoke. He thought it was weird? Eh, he could see why. Sort of. "I did some tutoring too," he said. "The only difference is you get to assign them homework, he added with a laugh. No, but there was more to it, so he got what Andy meant. "What makes it weird?" Being in charge of a whole class? He'd get used to it. And if he was anything like Piers he'd get over it real fast.

Andrew's attention was on Peris as he spoke while the herbologist still tended to the bushes. This was a kind of plant that wasn't really dangerous and he could easily multitask. Merlin knew how many times he had trimmed spiky bushes. So no harm there.

His eyes cut to his friend's left hand noting the ring. He wasn't the man to look at other people's finger rings without a reason! But now that he thought of it, he probably didn't notice or think such a big deal of it because he knew Peirs was married. Was. That one apparently didn't work out, so yeah no need to ask about it. "His face did look familiar at the feast," He nodded. He probably didn't recall details or have specific details about Javy but a part of him knew he wasn't a total stranger. The engagement announcement proved that. The man must be decent t Peirs's significant other. "This is great news, congratulations," Andrew said pausing on the trimming and clapping a hand on the other man's shoulder. That was him being happy for his friend. He just ignored his plant, so there!

Back to the plants. Trim..Trim..Trim

Oh, the charms man did some tutoring, too? That was new information. Seemed like this catch-up was indeed needed. "I like that part," He half smirked referring to the homework part. It was new, the idea of telling a large number of people to do something or write an essay. He was going to be creative.... or absolutely boring, who knew. "I guess, it's the dozens pair of eyes looking at me," Not that he had trouble talking in public to crowds. He wasn't two. "And each one has different skills, capability to understand..." He was not looking forwards to the slow student but he knew he'd have to deal with everything. "Guess, it's nice for a change, though," It had become dull recently, tutoring that is. "Especially that Hogwarts seems to have kept its shifty reputation," he chuckled glancing at his friend. A semester was never dull at this school.

Piers had a smile on his face when Andy seemed to be pleased about his announcement. "Thanks, mate. We're both excited." And that was an understatement. Oh, if he only knew the half of it. "What about you?" he inquired, subtly looking for a ring on the man's left hand. Had he been married? He figured Andy could figure out what he was trying to ask. Part of the catch up, after all.

He watched the herbologist trim his plants and nodded at what he said. The eyes. All the eyes. That was a strange feeling when he started, too. "You'll get used to it. Either that or they'll just stop paying attention to you," he teased with a chuckle. Some students came for the attendance and not the participation. Teaching was certainly different, that was for sure. Piers chuckled at his comment about Hogwarts' reputation. "Oh yeah. Never a dull moment here." Maybe that's why professors went in and out so quickly. Couldn't handle all the crazy.

"Yeah! Anything. Just name it." The only thing he loved more than are was SHARING his art since he didn't really have too many friends or family who appreciated it and got excited like Toby just had. It made the boy's day.

His rough sketch was partially done when he started to perfect some of the finer details, pausing when the plant decided to move on it's own accord. "Do people ever think you're mean?" He didn't think it possible, but it SOUNDED like some people did? Or possibly once did. Crazy. "I have a don't like list for my sisters. And school." Like he didn't like book work. Too many headaches with that.

Andrew could sense the excitement and the happiness of his friend. Which was great, to know that a friend was having a good life and had found love in his life. Again. THAT was true love, the man was reminded by the fourth-year Gryffindor who thought his tiny crush was true love. Snort. Silly kids. What about him. "I've been with someone for a over a year and a half now," he said. This was surprising news for most. What? The grumpy man could love, too. "Her name's Katelyn," Saying her name actually made him smile. He was going to talk to her today.

"I wouldn't be surprised, those kids seem to have a short attention span," he shook his head though his shoulders indicated a silent chuckle. He obviously wasn't a fan of kids but didn't entirely dislike him. He just felt that he didn't have a way of getting to them. Something he didn't think was that important since his job was to teach them and he was good when it came to plants and explaining. Or so he hoped. Heh. At least they were in for a hopefully eventful year?

"And what are the other staff like?" Since Andrew only knew Peris and Airey well it'd help to get an idea of whom he was working with.

Boy. ANYTHING? Anything covered a big range of things, many of which suddenly flashed in front of Toby's eyes in that very moment. Just name it? That would take some thinking.

"I'm definitely gonna take you up on that, Paris," the Hufflepuff replied cheerfully. "I'll have to think of something though. What's your favourite thing to sketch or paint? It'd be cool if it was something you like to work on best." That seemed like the best idea to him.

Toby was working more on the information part of his diagram now, labelling up the different parts of the geranium and occasionally adding little details to the picture. When the plant moved, he quickly scribbled down an observation.

"No." He shook his head at Paris' question. "At least, I don't think so. I try really hard not to be, but nobody's ever called me mean to my face." He managed to stop himself mentioning about how people stopped liking him. Like Cutty. And... other people. Nope, none of that. Toby looked at Paris, still smiling. "That's totally fair, about not liking school. It can be super tricky, right?" Understatement.

The choice between drawing a stupid picture or help potting the rest of the bouncing bulbs hadn't been that difficult for Kevin. Of course he went with the more dangerous activity because he loved it.

He entered the herbology greenhouse with his school bag hanging over his shoulders and placed it on one of the tables. He took out his own personal gloves and put them on just in case before looking around. He first needed to get some pots and soil as well. The Gryffindor looked around before spotting what he needed in the open cupboard and left his bag. If anyone touched it he would simply hex them, Professor included yo!

He grabbed two pots which he supported under both of his arms and then waved his wand with the "Wingardium Leviosa" charm to levitate a third one in front of him to the table. He lowered the levitating pot on the surface and then placed the two other pots next to it. Next was the soil. Where had the soil been last time?

As Ian had read the homework notice on the board, he decided (actually, he surmised) that his creative skill was lacking. He figured any attempt at actually drawing an image that would be discernible as a young bouncing bulb would fail. So...he found himself in the greenhouse, wearing some old work clothes (that may or may not smell of fish) and had his gloves, goggles (gotta protect the peepers) and a good attitude. He had no desire to repeat his performance in class.

As he walked through the greenhouse, he went and grabbed what he would need initially. He grabbed a pot, some soil and a gardening trowel. He placed about half the soil in the bottom of the pot and made sure he had hollowed out a spot for the bulb. He took a deep breath in....psyched himself up for this and headed to the cart with the bulbs. His wand at the ready, he began to talk to himself to steel his courage. It sure would be nice to have a partner doing this with him. NOTHING going on wee bulbs! Just a lad out for a pleasant stroll in a greenhouse. He walked by the cart and peeked in to pick out one that seemed kind of lazy.

He decided to take a direct approach. He quickly reached in to the cart, trying to grab one swiftly.....and.......failed! The bulb sensed his intention, bounced from between his rapidly closing hands and hit the corner of the cart. This caused the other bulbs to scatter and grow agitated.

Now he was invested. He quickly moved his hands, trying to grasp his original target. No such luck as it bounced up, struck him in the shoulder and careened to the right and under a table filled with pots of immobile plant life. Ian scrambled over and got on his hands and knees and looked into the dark underside of the table for 'his' bulb.

Rumplestiltskin had decided he liked the plant teacher. He wasn't sure why, but he just seemed like he was...sneaky. And Rumple liked sneaky people. So to get on his good side, he was going to do this ridiculous homework and make him like him. Then he'd talk him into handing over his first born child, as usual. He was confident he'd be able to get him on his side - he did it ALLLLL the time.

There were a few people there, but Rumple was going to ignore them. He was on a mission to get this done as fast as possible so he could get out of here and get back to searching the castle for the Genie that one Aladdin kid kept going on about. He was starting to think the boy was delusional, but if he WASN'T, he wasn't about to just let this opportunity pass him up!

For some reason, Rumple had this idea in his brain that he had to approach the bulbs carefully. He wasn't sure WHY, but he had to do it. Something in his brain told him that was how he went about this. So he decided to start walking slowly towards the cart, just as his brain told him. Slowly but surely. Ugh this was annoying. He was starting to regret this, maybe he should have just skipped out on this stupid plant assignment, surely one of the other professors could be talked into doing his bidding, yes?

Layla had decided that it was far safer to conduct the second herbology homework task purely because it hadn't been that hard to do in the lesson and quite frankly she didn't want to have to draw out a plant or whatever. She COULD draw, she was surprisingly artistic considering she had such a logical brain but she didn't want to. And she was getting bored of just sitting about in the Common Room during this cold weather anyway.

The Ravenclaw had got up early on a SATURDAY morning to be down here, 8am if she was precise so that she could get it over and done with as quickly as possible. Plant a few bulbs here and there and then leave by midday. That was her plan at least, whether she would be able to execute it was a completely different matter.

She grabbed a pot from the desk and brought it back to where she had set up her station for the morning. There were a couple of others in the room but she chose to not give them any attention. Other people slowed you down. Sh plopped the pot onto her desk and half filled it up with the soil that had been required. She tilted her head over at the bulbs with a slightly malicious grin.

It was YOUR turn now. And luckily for the fifteen-year-old she had written down every single instruction that they had been told during the lesson.

Finding the soil, Kevin didn't even bother trying to summon it because he was still bad with that spell and he didn't want to make a mess of the greenhouses when he knew he had to clean it up himself. So the Gryffindor walked to grab it.

Returning to his station, he put the three pots in a row and added some of the soil in all three of them until they were half full. Then he looked over at the cart with the bouncing bulbs and grabbed his wand again.

He sneaked up on the bouncing bulbs from behind so that if he had to use the knockback spell, which he was sure he had to, he could push the bulb in the direction of one of the pots. Another step closer and the bulb began to shake, another step and it began to bounce slightly. He stopped in his track , held his breath and then reached out with both hands to grab the bulb.

With the bulb in his hands, Kevin RAN towards his station to put it in the pot but even before he reached the table the bulb slipped out of his hands, hit the floor, jumped up by the impact and hit him right in the face. "Owww!" he yelled as he rubbed his nose. That HURT! The bouncing bulb continued to bounce and the Gryffindor didn't take another second and pointed his wand at the plant. "Flipendo!" he shouted. Why hadn't he done that in the first place?!