The one thing Toby always fretted about when he came to Greenhouse Three to visit his mandrake was whether or not anyone else was present at the time. Not because he wanted to work alone, but because if he needed to take Mandy (his mandrake) out of the soil, that plant was gonna scream. And if there were innocent bystanders in the greenhouse who didn't have any reason to don earmuffs, or someone else walked in at that moment to check their own mandrake, and they caught an earful of THAT... well... Toby simply didn't want to inflict that on anyone.

So he'd ended up coming down here waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay early in the mornings, before even going off and doing his morning run. Toby would simply leave his school bag in here before leaving, then duck back in to get it on the way back. It was a system that had worked for him so far. Most kids, he'd noticed, never seemed to be about so early.

Toby entered the greenhouse now, closing the door firmly behind him in case of sound... escapage. It didn't take him very long to find his potted mandrake, because it was, of course, exactly where he'd left it. The plant was reaching what Toby thought must be the sort of... 'recalcitrant little kid' stage, which was... uh... interesting. He made sure to don his earmuffs before pulling the pot towards him, noting that a lot of the soil had 'mysteriously' been pushed or kicked out of the pot. He gave a Piers-worthy sigh.

Mandy seemed to suddenly realise Toby was there, either from the sigh or the sudden movement of the pot, and immediately began WRIGGLING and FLAILING.

Temper tantrum. Merlin.

"Mandy... Mandy, stop th-... Mand-... MANDY PLEASE!" Toby maaaaaaaaaay have yelled a little TOO loud, but he was pretty certain that the mandrake was putting on an impressive display of its own, screaming those little lungs out. Well... maybe not lungs... plant-lungs. Plungs. IN ANY CASE, Toby could tell when he rotated the pot a little that yes, it was screaming, a furious expression on its little mandrake face as the leaves flailed like limbs. Clearly it had managed to push the soil out, like a child who was passive-aggressively responding to not wanting to go to bed, and it's plant mouth (plouth) was free to holler and yell. Thankfully it hadn't started up until Toby's earmuffs were on.

Tobias had been planning to sketch the mandrake this morning, as it was a monday and he liked to document its growth every week. And he was STILL going to do that, but Mandy needed more soil and Toby needed to ascertain if something was really wrong or if this was just... mandrake rage (mandrage).

He retrieved his dragonhide gloves before doing anything else, and went over to get a bag of new soil. Mandy was still thrashing about in a fit of pure temper and Toby couldn't really think of much else to do other than hold the plant still with one hand and pile soil in with the other. No doubt this soil wouldn't last very long, but he was optimistic that the mandrake would calm. There was NO way he WASN'T putting more soil in; he didn't want Mandy to end up like that, uhh... not-alive mandrake that Truebridge had shown them before. Soooooooooo he took hold of the mandrake, ignoring how it thrashed and gently but firmly holding it still while using his free hand to pile in some new soil. By the time he was done, Mandy had miraculously quietened down, perhaps soothed by the comforting pressure of the soil.

For now.

Toby let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and set about cleaning up the old soil that had been pushed out, and returning the bag to where he'd found it. Returning back to the mandrake, he got his wand out and pointed it into the pot, uttering an "Aguamenti," to give Mandy what was probably a much needed drink.

The Hufflepuff checked his watch. That had taken longer than he'd expected, and he still wanted to have a nice long run to expend some of dat energy before starting the day, but there was still the matter of sketching the mandrake. Toby hurriedly pulled off his gloves and grabbed his journal from his bag, along with a normal muggle pencil. He actually had a Herbology journal he'd written up in his free time, full of sketches and descriptions of plants and all that, so this was something he was well practiced in, despite a lack of regular art skills.

He sketched out the mandrake, not taking as much time as he'd have liked, on account of running low on time. As a result, the sketch wasn't perfect, and Toby found himself deciding he would come back later in the day to try again if he had the time, though he did his best to make this one as accurate as possible. Every time his mandrake shook its leaves, Toby froze and eyed it, waiting for another blow-up... but none came.

Eventually, FINALLY, the sketch was done, and Toby stowed his journal, pencil, and gloves in his schoolbag. The written entry would have to be done before breakfast. Or during breakfast. Just... soon. For NOW, Toby headed back to the door of the greenhouse, stowing his bag off to one side, nice and out of the way, and returned his earmuffs to where he'd found them, before heading back outside and setting off on his run around the grounds.