Somewhere that's Green

Beauregard didn't particularly hate Herbology, though he didn't quite like it either. He liked the hands on aspect of dealing with plants, but then again, wasn't too keen on their finicky nature. They weren't like the muggle plants that decorated his family's apartment back in Dresden. These didn't just need sunlight and occasional watering. Oftentimes the plants they dealt with in class had their own personalities and were sometimes dangerous.

They had been discussing Mandrakes for weeks now and the proper uses of mandrakes, once they matured. The ones they were to be dealing with in class were only babies, so their cries wouldn't be able to kill them yet. "Thank Merlin," Bo uttered with a roll of his eyes as the professor had relayed that much. It was bizarre to him how a simple crying creature could kill anyone.

They were told to take a pair of earmuffs and to place them over their ears as the professor demonstrated how to repot mandrakes. The pair Bo got stuck with was fuzzy and pink and over all 'not his style.' Once the plant was out of the dirt, it screamed louder than any crying baby Bo had ever heard. Even with the ear muffs on, he could hear it's annoying sound. Not until it was finally entirely covered with dirt did it finally stop screaming and that was when the Professor told them to pair up and try repotting them themselves.

Bo looked around him as the room buzzed to life with people meandering together in a pair. He never liked having to choose his own partner, since he was often paired up with the other last person by default. He'd rather the professor just put him with someone. However, there seemed to be someone who looked as partnerless as he did and he approached them with a small smile. "Partners?" He asked and then went to stand by two pots, one with a plant with twitching leaves in it and the other empty, waiting for the mandrake to be transferred over. "I think we should name it. What do you think of the name George?" He offered, trying to be somewhat friendly.

Non-wand related subjects were Lucie's strengths.  Herbology was one f them.  She didn't particularly like herbology but she knew she was good enough at it that she didn't attract the negative attention of the professor.  That was adequate for her.  Safer than being so good she would have more expected of her which was terrifying for the young witch.  

The Mandrake lessons hadn't done anything to push her one way or another regarding the subject either. She still had no opinion on plant life, the more unusual forms of it included.  Lucie pulled off the pink fluffy earmuffs after Professor Ellis was finished with his demonstration.  Time to find her  partner which shouldn't be too hard right?  

She looked around the room but had been slow to get moving as students were partnering up fast.  And now it looked like there was no-one left.  Lucie frowned at that.  Weren't there an even number of students in the room?  She could have sworn there were.  

It was with some relief she heard someone come up behind her and Lucie turned around with a smile.  "Yes.  Thank you."  Even better it was her housemate and teammate rolled into one.  "George?" she asked.  "Why that name?"  Lucie leaned in closer to the plant and recalled what the unpotted one looked like.  "I think Troy would suit it better.  Professor Ellis' demonstration plant looked very much like my younger brother in a temper tantrum."  She poked the leaves with her finger.  "I don't think this one will look any different to that."

George had been the first name that came to Bo's mind, inspired by the guitarist from the Beatles, and though his heart was unswayable set on the name, he still wanted to at least discuss the ups and downs of it. He listened to Lucie's suggestion and nodded with understanding. "But they all can't be named Troy. So was the demonstration one Troy or is our own Troy?" Bo reasoned. "Though I suppose Professor Ellis can name his own Mandrake so Troy can be our's," He added after a brief moment of thought. Professor Ellis told them to start then before he could add anything else and quickly the Feu boy popped the pink earmuffs back onto his head.

"Do you want to pull it out or re-soil it?" He asked her, offering her the chance to pick which one she would rather do. They could probably do the assignment on their own, but since they lacked enough Mandrakes so that each student could have their own, they had to find a way to split up the work. Bo certainly wasn't going to do all of it on his own, nor did he expect Lucie to do all the work, so he figured it was a fair split.

"Troy?" Lucie asked with a frown. "I thought I said Hans. That's my brother's name but I guess there's always Owen." Why had she said her father's name when it was her younger brother she'd been thinking of? Lucie was a little disturbed by that and needed something to draw her mind away from the dark path it was going down. She looked at the plant in front of them and shrugged. "But we can go with George if you like. I don't mind."

Pulling the plant out of the pot looked scary and Lucie wasn't sure she was up to doing such a thing. "I'll resoil," she said quickly. That sounded less dangerous to her than pulling out a screaming baby mandrake. She picked up the empty pot and added some of the soil to the bottom of it. "I think that'll be enough for the roots," she said and then put her earmuffs back on. It wouldn't be long before everyone would be ready to pull out their mandrakes and Lucie did not want to test the reason for the need of ear protection.

Bo laughed nervously at Lucie's correction. "And here I thought I was bad with my siblings' names," He remarked before turning back towards Troy or Hans or Owen or whatever the plant was called. Who knew naming a plant could be so difficult? "George. Right. I knew it was a suitable name for the plant," He replied, though not as interested as before. Every else had already started their repotting and there they were discussing the name of the mandrake. They had to get started if they didn't want to lose house points.

"Sounds good to me," Bo replied, pulling on a pair of gardening gloves onto his hands. His hands hovered over the pot with the mandrake in it. He didn't know why, but he was sort of afraid of the plant. Lucie had placed soil into the empty pot and was waiting for the mandrake to go in before adding more.

Beauregard swallowed hard before his hands clasped around the stem of the leaves and with a firm grip, he tugged upwards. The plant was not quick to budge and Bo had to twist it around to work it from the soil. Once out of the soil, the baby resembling root screamed and thrashed about. Bo held it at an arms length as he brought it over towards the pot Lucie was positioned by. The mandrake's mouth found it's way to his hand and once it had a hold of his thumb, it bite down with all it's might. Bo let out a cry and immediately let go of the mandrake. The mandrake fell to the floor and writhed on the ground while the young Feu cowered from it and held his tampered thumb. It looked okay to him, but it still hurt a lot. His brown eyes dropped back down to the screaming mandake on the floor. He bite his lip. He knew he had to suck it up and pick it up, but he wasn't too keen on using his gloved hands. "Do you think I could just levitate it into the pot?" He asked Lucie.

Lucie shrugged her shoulders. "I'd much rather pretend they didn't exist," she retorted. "It'd be much more peaceful at home." Thinking of them did her no good. The name George was growing on her. No reminders of home with a name like that. She didn't want reminders of home with her brothers. Or that horrible little dog her grandfather loved for some weird reason.

With a spade full of soil in her hand she watched Bo closely. From the way he was struggling to get the mandrake out of the pot it looked like she had the much easier task. Just hold a pot and then fill it up with soil. Simple. Moving the plant not so easy.

Lucie dropped the spade seconds after Bo dropped the mandrake. She then ducked down to the ground and had no clue that her classmate was speaking to her. The earmuffs covering her ears were doing more than adequate. "I'll pick it up," she offered keeping her eyes on the screaming mandrake and carefully grabbed it by the top. His hair? Holding the wriggling, screaming mandrake away from her body she moved it to the prepared pot. "Okay. You can fill it up," she said, "whilst I make sure George doesn't get out."

His suggestion was not needed, for no sooner was the mandrake dropped, Lucie dove and picked it up herself. Beauregard gave her a hesitant smile as she placed the screaming plant into the pot and it took him only a moment to realize that meant he needed to add soil to the pot; which was originally her job.

He ducked down to pick up the spade Lucie had dropped and then addressed the pile of soil waiting to be shoveled in. Lucie had a good grip on George, so he wasn't worried about his thumbs being chomped again as he sprinkled soil over the plant. The more soil added, the calmer the plant seemed to be, until George was entirely submerged in dirt and his cries could be heard no more. A sweat had collected on Bo's brow from the mishap of dropping George, which he wiped away with the back of his dirty gardening gloves upon completion of the task.

"What a pity. I was just starting to like George. Finger biting and all," he remarked as class had come to an end. They wouldn't be seeing George again until he grew a little more and would need another repotting. A grown mandrake had many uses, which they were to learn about next class. "Sounds fantastic," he uttered, unenthusiastically as he took off the plush pink earmuffs and returned them.