I'm No Expert | Bleville

1. Herbology

Herbology

"I'm sick of this," Pansy stated as they treaded across the campus to the greenhouses. It was nearing Christmas and the snow was falling lightly, giving off a cheery atmosphere.

"Of what?" Draco asked, ruffling some snow out of his blond hair with annoyance.

"Oh you know, you pining after Potter, you whining about Potter, you checking Potter out," She stated, rolling her eyes when Draco glared at her. She had been trying to get Draco to admit his feelings for a while, and it was driving both Draco and Blaise mad.

"But besides that, I'm tired of having to walk through these conditions. Honestly, this weather is dreadful," She flicked some snow off of her nose for emphasis. Blaise rolled his eyes. He was certainly tired of both of his friends complaining about everything, be it about Potter or the winter.

They entered the greenhouses in a sour mood and took their places at some wooden tables near the back of the greenhouse. At least it was warm in there, so that Pansy would stop ranting about how much she hated the winter.

Blaise glanced over to Draco to see that he was searching the greenhouse for Potter.

"Please make it less obvious," Blaise pleaded, tired of Draco's behavior.

"Shut up Blaise," Was Draco's weak remark. It wasn't Blaise's fault that Draco was practically in love with Potter since first year. It was only natural that everyone would eventually tire of his obsessive behavior.

Professor Sprout entered the greenhouse with a pair of gloves in her hands and began to explain the lesson. They were to take care of the Fanged Geranium. Now that they were fifth years, they got to learn about the more...extreme stuff.

The three Slytherins exchanged glances. This was a dangerous task since they were flowers with teeth. Very sharp teeth.

"There are going to be groups of three, since you are going to need all of the help that you can get," Professor Sprout announced. The class immediately began to chatter excitedly. "The catch is that you cannot pair with any friends. If I see you with anyone that I know that you are friends with I will have to separate you guys."

"What?!" Draco whispered. He looked like he was going into shock. Pansy patted his shoulder solemnly and left to find someone to pair up with. As Blaise swept the room with his gaze to find a suitable group. He caught sight of the Gryffindor, Neville Longbottom and smirked. It was well known that Neville was particularly skilled at Herbology, so it would be an advantage to have him in his group.

Blaise sauntered over to the Gryffindor boy and tapped his shoulder. "Mind being partners?" He asked, smiling easily. He knew that the particular plant that they were to deal with was dangerous and hard to handle, so he would need an expert. Or at least, as close to one as he could get.

Neville blushed and mumbled something shyly. Blaise frowned and tilted his head. "What was that?"

"I said that y-you could, uh... I mean, I wouldn't mind if w-we were partners!" He blushed again and cast his eyes downwards. Blaise raised his eyebrows and shrugged. It wasn't news that Neville was intimidated easily.

"We need a third partner," He stated, searching the room for a suitable person. There didn't seem to be a lot of people left as an option and he mentally cursed himself. He should have been searching for someone else to help them instead of finding entertainment in Neville's blushing.

"W-what about...Hermione?" Neville proposed after catching sight of her. She seemed to be looking around for someone to pair up with.

"Good enough," Blaise approved. It was the perfect group really, with the smartest witch in their year, the Herbology expert, and of course, himself.

After Granger joined them, they approach the Fanged Geranium. Blaise had to admit that he was starting to feel a little nervous. There was a high chance of losing a limb or getting a chunk ripped out of you.

"You don't have to worry," assured Neville, as if he noticed Blaise's unease. "These plants aren't dangerous unless they have been neglected."

"That's kind of the problem, Neville," Granger said. "We have to learn how to take care of the untamed ones for the next few weeks."

Blaise felt the blood drain from his face. There was no way that he was going anywhere near a plant gone rogue with sharp teeth unless he wanted to lose a precious limb. Which he most certainly did not.

"That's alright..." Neville assured as he slipped his gloves on. "We are just working on giving it some water and fertile dirt today."

Somehow, Neville's words didn't do anything to make Blaise's palms stop sweating. He was no Gryffindor. He was not foolish enough to get close enough to water it, but what choice did he have? If he wanted to pass the class with at least an Acceptable, he had to do whatever the Gryffindors saw fit.

"Accio watering can," He murmered, filling it with water and handing it to Hermione. She had used a hovering charm to water the plant, but that resulted in the can getting devoured by the monster of a plant, splashing water all over her. In any other circumstance, he would have smirked, but he had to stay on good terms if he wanted to survive the day.

"Well, at least we watered it," Blaise sighed as he shoveled some fertile dirt. He was definitely not okay with the job, but it had to be done. He quickly tossed some dirt under the giant flower and backed off. The vines coming out of the base of the plants started to wreathe and send dirt flying.

Neville turned to Blaise and gave a small smile. He had dirt on his cheek, which Blaise had to restrain himself from wiping away for unknown reasons.

Probably because he was a neat freak.

Or maybe not, he didn't know.

"Why can't we just stun the damned plant?" He mumbled to himself as they tried to keep the dirt in one place instead of having the plant throw it all over the place.

Neville, who was in earshot gave a horrified gasp. "You can't do that!" The boy whispered.

Blaise wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Why's that?" He inquired. It was only five minutes into the lesson and he was already drained.

"You can't stun the plant even if you wanted to," he explained. "It doesn't respond to many spells, except for an exceptional few."

Blaise had to stop himself from chuckling at Neville's explanation. He just seemed to know a lot about plants. Sometimes he wondered why the boy wasn't in Hufflepuff.

They spent the rest of the hour trying to pack the dirt around the flower. It turned out to be a difficult process that left them physically drained. At least they didn't end up covered in mud and scratches like Potter's group.

Blaise laughed when he caught sight of Draco. His cheeks were red as Potter spelled some mud out of his fellow Slytherin's hair. He supposed that it was good that they were getting along so well. Maybe it would shut Draco up once they get together.

Somehow, Blaise doubted it.

"Uh, B-blaise?" A timid voice asked. "You h-have a little dirt o-on your forehead..."

He looked over to see a flustered Neville pointing at his head. His cheeks were flushed, making Blaise's stomach do something funny.

"You also have a little mud on your face," Blaise said and almost reached out to wipe it away. Thankfully, Neville took out his wand and cleaned the dirt off of his face before Blaise could do anything foolish. Which was nothing. At all.

He shook his head and charmed the mud off of his own forehead, trying to figure out why he was suddenly feeling so strange. Perhaps he had eaten something bad at breakfast? He would have to ask his friends if they were also feeling off.