The Marauders: Year One | #Wattys2016

Shrivelfigs and California Girls

Shrivelfigs and California Girls

The greenhouses were stifling hot and Sirius was fanning himself with the trowel as he watched Peter struggling with the strong roots as he worked at replotting some Shrivelfigs in their garden box.

James was kneeling beside Peter at least, but not really helping, his eyes on the front of the class, where Professor Viridi was helping one of the Hufflepuffs with their Shrivelfigs. He glanced at Sirius and raised his eyebrows meaningfully before carefully getting up and pulling off his gloves. Peter looked up and swiped his brow, "Where're you going?" he asked. "Aren't either of you going to help with this?"

"I'm helping," Sirius said, still fanning himself with the trowel.

Peter raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry. Did I blink and miss it when you helped?"

"You must've done," Sirius answered.

"Well still, where's he going?" Peter nodded at James, who was weaving his way between the other students in the greenhouse, making his way toward the door that led to Greenhouse 3. James looked back at Viridi, saw she was still engrossed in the project at hand, and ducked out the door. Peter looked up at Sirius.

Sirius sighed and knelt down, aware that Lily was glancing over at their box with interest now, clearly wondering what Peter was so concerned about. Remus stood beside her, dirt up to his elbows as he tugged at the roots of one of their plants. "He's gone to get the mandrake leaves," Sirius hissed, leaning closer to Peter. "Don't go shouting about it like a prat or he'll get caught."

"Ohhh," said Peter, realizing what he'd done, "Sorry. I didn't know." Then, in a more despondent tone, "It isn't as though the lot of you included me in the plan."

"Because it was spur of the moment," Sirius lied.

Peter turned and focused on the plant, frustrated, tugging the roots from the ground as Sirius stared out toward the door where James had gone through. "You could help, you know," Peter snapped, "Since you're getting graded on it, too, and everything."

Sirius rolled his eyes, but he reached down and half heartedly started stabbing at the dirt 'round one of the plants with his trowel, still paying far more attention to where James was than the plant he was working on.

In the next greenhouse over, James was trying to stay low so that his silhouette wouldn't tip anybody off to his whereabouts. He crouched low and crept through the dirt, moving toward the front outer wall, where the mandrakes were potted and snoozing in their big barrels. They were in need of repotting and their mature heads stuck up out of the ground a little ways at the base of the stocks where the leaves grew. James peered over the rim of the barrel at the top of the mandrake he'd selected to get his leaves from.

A glance back told him he was still alone in the greenhouse, so he reached up onto the nearest table and felt about until he found some shears and turned back to the mandrake. Carefully, he trimmed three of the wide green leaves from the stalk and rolled them up neatly, like they were a scroll, and slipped them into his robes pocket.

When he got back to Greenhouse 4, where the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were having class, Professor Viridi had moved on to helping a different table with their Shrivelfigs, but did not seem to have noticed one of the Gryffindors missing. He slipped back in silent as could be and quickly knelt on the other side of Sirius from Peter.

"Where did you go?" Lily asked suspiciously, looking over.

"Why? Did you miss me, Love?" James asked, grinning.