it won't let me add a dedication BUT this is dedicated to @-lovelypctter !!
When the first years came back from Christmas break, they were told to expect a surprise.
Whether it was good or bad was anyone's guess, though Nadine wasn't sure it could be a good thing given the way Snape had smiled sinisterly when he'd told them about it.
At the end of their first week, after they'd been given ample time to settle in and get used to the rhythm of the school day again, Professor Dumbledore assembled the first years in the Great Hall.
"I have news for you all," he announced in that wavery yet somehow omniscient seeming voice of his. "The ministry has suggested that the first years participate in a collaborative coursework class to prepare you for the undertaking of your OWLs."
Murmurs echoed around the room. Nadine and Penny shared a look but kept quiet, waiting to see exactly what the words 'collaborative coursework class' entailed.
Dumbledore held up a hand, and the hall fell silent once more. "You will be given a two-hour slot every Friday for the next five months to complete this task alongside any other time you wish to spend on it outside of lessons. The topic of your choosing will be guided by your teacher, and it shall be thorough and enriching, or so I have been told by the Minister." He paused for a moment, lips twitching before he continued on. "You may select a subject from the list of those participating in this initiative, however it may be worth considering the fact that this is a paired task before doing so."
Nadine could have sworn Dumbledore winked.
Professor McGonagall took over from that point, reading aloud the subjects. "Herbology, Potions, History of Magic, Transfiguration and Astronomy."
The list was depressingly short. Nadine guessed it was because these were the subjects that were more likely to have coursework at OWL level, but she was still a little bummed Charms wasn't on the list.
"What do you think you'll choose?" Penny whispered to her. "I'm going to take Potions."
"Five months with Snape?" Nadine wrinkled her nose. "No way. I think Herbology is more for me."
As Penny continued to talk about her love for Potions, Nadine scanned the room for her other friends. Camille was already making beeline for Talbott, determined to do Transfiguration, no doubt, and Delilah was sure to choose Potions too.
She decided to leave it up to fate. There was hardly anyone she wouldn't get along with, so unless Merula was doing Herbology she'd be alright.
Thankfully, Merula was in fact not doing Herbology.
Barnaby Lee was, though.
Nadine had never really paid much attention to Barnaby Lee before.
Looking at him now, hunched over his Herbology notes, taking in everything Professor Sprout was saying with an air of confidence to his body language, his hair messed up in spiked tufts and the freckles on his nose scrunched as he screwed up his face in concentration, she wasn't sure what to think.
This wasn't the boy she'd heard hung around Merula and Ismelda, or even the boy who got sent out of classes for asking ridiculous questions. There was something soft about the boy in front of her, something that told her he was unapologetically himself, which was why she'd walked up to him and decided to be his partner.
It was also how they'd ended up having to co-parent a plant baby.
"What are we going to name it?" Was the first thing Barnaby asked, poking at the little plant with his pen. "He looks like a Roger, doesn't he?"
"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