[greenhouse] A flower blossoms for its own joy (Jet)

Freddie was glad to be back at school after the holidays. While he had been happy to see his mother and to spend time with her, he always felt strangely sad when he was at home and also for the first few days back at school. Then, with time, the recent events were simply memories that he tried to dismiss.

At breakfast, on his second day back at Hogwarts a sudden realisation made him turn pale. He had absolutely forgotten about the plant he had to take care of. Before the holidays he had been preoccupied and had failed to make arrangements for anyone to water his fanged geranium. He took a deep breath, trying to reassure himself that someone surely had taken a pity on his plant and given it some water. Nonetheless, Freddie quickly finished his breakfast, grabbed his rucksack and hurried down to the greenhouse.

He pushed the door open and made a beeline for his plant, not really looking left or right but subconsciously assuming that he was alone. By the looks of it the geranium surely had been watered at some point during the holidays but it still looked quite thirsty and pitiful. Freddie chewed on his lower lip as he examined it.

“I’m sorry…” he told the plant, his voice and his facial expression clearly revealing how guilty he felt. “I didn’t mean to let this happen. I…” He shrugged and picked up a half filled watering can and gently poured some of it into the pot.

“I know I should have made arrangements for you for the holidays,” he told the sentient plant and sighed. “Just be glad I didn’t take you home with me. That might have ended even worse for you. Guess what?” Freddie let out a bitter laugh, “My dad threw the poinsettia I got for my mother against the wall in a fit of anger when he was drunk on Christmas Eve…” For some reason that Freddie himself could not explain, he reached out to stroke one of the bigger leaves of his fanged geranium in an attempt to console it. The plant apparently had some hard feelings as it took the chance to bite his finger.

“Ouch!” the boy exclaimed as he retreated. “I get that you’re mad at me but was that really necessary?” He looked at his finger which was bleeding a little and lifted it to his mouth to suck on the small wound. Suddenly he heard a noise and turned around only to find out that he was not alone, after all. He felt how his cheeks turned red and he quickly put his hand into the pocket of his school robes. “Hey Jet, what’s up?” he asked, trying to appear cool and relaxed.

@Jet Dylan

Chewing on a Jelly Slug, Jet walked slowly down to the greenhouses. He had a bag over his shoulder filled with fresh parchments, ink and books to get some of his assignments done. Today was a watering day for the Ravenclaw. Meaning he spent some hours around his cactuses to talk to them and give them what they needed to continue growing healthy. Then he planned to do some assignments or reading. He had a dog-eared a few pages about healing fractured bones earlier at breakfast, so he could get to them later once he had the time.

This was all a usual routine for him. The difference was the fresh addition on his watering list, which rested in a pot right next to a few of his cactuses. The fanged geranium, which looked to be barely hanging on when he came around (Jet doubted anyone actually watered it more than once over the Christmas break) and on which the Ravenclaw had taken pity on. He’d spent a while pampering the plant to get it back up yesterday and planned to do so today too. He’d searched and practised a nutritional spell to help the little one get back up faster. He was lucky the spell had been an easy one, nothing too complex to do, so he was able to get the hang of it quickly.

Entering one of the greenhouses, Jet stopped in his tracks when he realized the place wasn’t as deserted right now as he had thought. Huh. He recognized the boy. Gryffindor. Freddie. They had been paired up together in class a few times, but he couldn’t say they were that close. The other was talking to the geranium Jet had found yesterday, and his fingers twitched a bit because those words weren’t clearly meant for anyone else to hear.

Jet wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t really want to come back, but he felt a bit awkward, hearing something personal without meaning to. His eyes widened a little when the plant decided to bite Freddie. Jet huffed. Offering up fingers for the fanged plant you didn’t get water for who knows how long really wasn’t the smartest idea. His expression turned worried, however, when he glimpsed red and saw Freddie suck on his finger. He shifted a bit, accidentally nudging an empty pot that fell down.

Great. Now he’ll think I was listening in like a creep or something.

Jet’s cheeks turned red too, and he moved forward, embarrassed. He pulled out his wand. "Hi," he greeted the boy softly. "I’m here to water my plants." He said. "And this one." He pointed at Freddie’s fanged geranium. His eyes flickered to Freddie’s hand hidden in his robes, and he pursued his lips. He nudged Freddie’s plant gently with his fingers, petting one of its leaves. "Looks much better. It seems like the spell worked, huh?" The plant nuzzled into his touch as if trying to express its thanks. Jet wanted to coo at it. It was so cute. "I charmed it with a nutritional spell." He explained, turning back to the boy.

He felt a bit shy but knowing the plant hurt the other made him step closer to Freddie either way. "Give me your hand, please," he asked, blinking at him with wide blue eyes. "I know you got hurt."

Embarrassed Freddie looked down as Jet approached him. Apparently the Ravenclaw had taken pity on his plant and taken care of it when he had simply forgotten that it existed himself.

He wondered now how long Jet had already been in the greenhouse and how much he had actually overheard. He couldn’t ask him, of course. So all he could do was to hope that Jet hadn’t heard anything he wasn’t supposed to hear and if he had heard more than he should have, that he’d just keep quiet about it.

“Thanks,” Freddie said a little belatedly to Jet’s explanation of what he had done to his fanged geranium. “I do feel kinda bad that I forgot to make arrangements for the plant for the Christmas break…” Well, he definitely felt embarrassed and the fact that he might get a bad grade in Herbology didn’t feel great either. However, he did not care all that much about the plant itself. It was a nasty thing that had bitten him, after all.

Jet demanded to see Freddie’s finger and the Gryffindor frowned as he wondered if he should let the other boy take a look. It wasn’t a bad injury that needed attention but he didn’t want to put Jet off after he had been so kind to take care of his plan.

“It’s really not a big deal,” he muttered as he pulled his hand out of the pocket of his robes and held it out. “Do you think the geranium will recover more soon?” he asked hopefully. He really didn’t want to be told off in class for not having tended to it well enough.