Hogwarts Mystery [HP APPLY FIC]

year one, chapter four

"Don't poke our plant baby!" Nadine cried out. "How do we know they're a he?"

"Well, uh, I had to pot it, and—"

"Okay, okay, I understand," she cut him off, blushing. "We could name him something Herbology themed. Like... Thy? Or Aster?"

"I think he's more of a Basil," Barnaby commented.

"Okay, Basil, then. What about surnames?"

"Does he need a surname?"

Nadine gasped. "How can you say that?"

"Uh, okay then, we'll call him Basil Lee," he suggested.

"How come he gets your name?"

"Basil Seok, then!"

Nadine didn't mention the fact he'd memorised her last name, but it made her smile. "How about a combination? Basil Seok-Lee? Lee-Seok?"

"Seok-Lee."

She wrote it into their notebook, drawing a heart at the end for good measure. "Okay, perfect. I'll take him with me on Saturday, you take him on Sunday, and we'll leave him in the greenhouse during school hours, kind of like daycare, and rotate who takes him after school."

Barnaby seemed to agree because he stayed silent.

Over the next five months, Nadine saw more of the Slytherin common room than she thought she'd ever see of it.

While the Hufflepuffs were a little uneasy about having Barnaby in their common room, the Slytherins didn't seem to mind Nadine, so long as she didn't object to their conversation topics.

"I'd rather skin him alive than burn his flesh off," Ismelda would say.

Achilles would respond with, "I don't know, there would be something satisfying about the sizzling sound though, wouldn't there?"

Then they'd both turn to Merula and ask her opinion on the matter.

Nadine asked Barnaby why his friends were like that, and he shrugged, saying it was probably what they were used to growing up.

Delilah said the same thing when Nadine asked her, so Nadine took it to mean 'there's genetic psychological issues but we don't like to talk about it'.

Whilst the Slytherins mostly ignored Nadine (which to be honest, she was grateful for), Nadine's friends were all over Barnaby, asking him all manner of uncomfortable questions.

In typical Barnaby fashion, he didn't seem to mind.

"It must be weird, looking after a plant baby together," Winnie said when they were hanging out in the courtyard with Penny and Camille. "If I had to spend as much time with Ian as you did with Barnaby, I'd slip poison into his pumpkin juice, or my own, if it didn't mean admitting he'd got under my skin. He's insufferable, and ridiculously overconfident."

(Winnie was doing her potions project with Ian because Snape noted they both wanted to do the same thing, and neither of them backed down from the challenge. The problem was, they were academic rivals, and got a kick out of beating each other, so working together was irritating for them both.)

"Don't be cruel!" Penny chastised her. "She is right, though, Nadine. The two of you are like a married couple."

"It's for the grade!" Nadine had protested as her friends giggled. "Sshi-bal, you made him cry, Barnaby!"

He frowned. "It's a plant, it can't cry."

Their arguing overlapped until Winnie had interrupted them, saying, "Do you want your baby to be a child of divorce?"

"Sometimes divorce is better," Barnaby pointed out. "My parents aren't divorced, and nobody can stand them. Well, I can, but they can't stand me, so it doesn't matter much."

"What? Barnaby, that's horrible!" Nadine exclaimed.

"Sorry, sometimes I forget you're not part of that... weird, possibly illegal social circle, and this isn't normal to you," he smiled sheepishly. "I mean, I shouldn't complain. Merula's got it so much worse with... oh, I probably shouldn't say that. Oops. It's nice to have other friends, though. We're friends, right?"

"Of course we are!"

He grinned. "Good. Now, why's Basil so upset?" 

A/N 

here's me hoping this chapter makes up for the fact I didn't update this sooner? 

probably only one or two more year one chapters to go!! should I continue the gift chapters and finish them this year or leave them for a bit?  

might have to do some reshuffling of the casts' roles etc. because of inactivity from Ian & Dustin's creator, but we'll see! 

I am also aware we're in desperate need of some main cast action so I'm going to get on that soon! 

 behind the scenes of the gift chapter:

- I wrote most of this in one sitting, and I really enjoyed portraying Barnaby and this idea that he's always him no matter who he's around! 

- the first two plant baby name suggestions are the names of some characters from another fic of mine ;)

- Nadine has SO MANY FRIENDS it's crazy. I love how popular she is. I chose Penny & Winnie for this chapter as they were in the requests and I really liked that dynamic!!

- also my boy achilles is 10/10 

thanks for reading! any questions/thoughts/concerns, drop them here!! 

love <333