Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

Greenhouse Number One (George Weasley)

So these next two are being posted a day in advance, just because I'm honestly surprised that I have them completed so quickly. 

Now these are based on the fact that only George took O.W.L. level Herbology and Fred took O.W.L. level Transfiguration. And well, my imagination just wound up spiralling out of control. 

Hope you like it~

O.W.L level herbology might not have been an attractive idea to many of the students in my year, but it had always been my favourite subject. Well, it used to be.

Herbology wasn't like Charms, Transfiguration or even Potions where there was a chance of the Professor picking you to answer a question even if your hand hadn't been in the air. Professor Sprout would never do that. In fact, the older witch was more than happy to leave you to silently study your plant. And that suited me just fine.

Or rather it had until I'd been assigned to the seat across from George Weasley for the year. Salazar, the Gryffindor was a blabbermouth and the moment he'd settled into the seat across from me he had wasted no time in telling me that he was George Weasley. Not Fred. Because – just between us – Fred didn't have the brains to make it into O.W.L. level herbology. I could still remember the way he'd stared back at me, waiting for me to say something and I'd just sent him a wan sort of smile before looking back to the front of the class. He hadn't had enough sense to realise that my not speaking meant that I simply didn't want to speak to him. Well, even if he did realise it, it certainly didn't stop him from attempting to speak to me anyway.

But just when I thought that it couldn't possibly have gotten worse, Professor Sprout had decided to shuffle the seating arrangement around a little. I watched utterly helpless as Weasley rose to his feet to walk around the long table in the greenhouse until he eventually settled into the seat beside me. My eyes followed his approach and I wondered if my irritation was obvious on my features, but even if it was, Weasley smiled widely at me. Merlin, what happened to the whole rivalry thing between our two houses? Why couldn't he just start ignoring me like he was supposed to?

"Looks like we're partners, huh?" he said brightly, sorting through his bag before looking back towards me when my silence lengthened. "Aguilar?"

I held his eyes for a long moment, wanting to demand that he found somewhere else to sit, or that he at least didn't talk to me. Weasley was one of the more lively members of our class, with attention being regularly drawn towards him and as a result, to the people around him. That did not settle well with me.

Weasley continued to level his eyes with mine until I eventually sighed and turned away. I really wasn't going to be able to concentrate anymore, or even to escape notice for much longer. Well, there went my O average.

No matter how much I wanted to turn my attention away from the, for once, silent Gryffindor besides me, it was a useless effort. Even just the image of him that I caught from the corner of my eye was distracting enough and I struggled not to frown even more. Salazar, it was like he had been born to act as a distraction!

I started from my thoughts when he turned curiously to look at the plant I had been studying. And like an innocent child eager to explore all things novel, he reached out a hand towards the plant. I acted without thinking, slapping his hand away before he could make contact with one of the seemingly harmless, closed flower buds. Weasley looked at me in surprise, his hand clutched to his chest.

"It's poisonous," I explained quietly, gesturing to the plant which seemed to awaken at the sound of my voice. The flower bud opened quickly, revealing sets of carnivorous teeth the snapped at where his hand had been previously and the tentacles that sprung from the dirt around it reached out to grasp at something, anything that it found. I ducked away from one of the tentacles as I continued to explain, "One bite from it and you'd have wound up in the Hospital Wing."