return of the snargaluff | lusie

[tobias charles watkins]

@lusie

Note: i can never think of titles...

Toby was still a little embarrassed from the other day. He couldn't believe the Snargaluff won the battle, ultimately landing his lab partner, a princess of England, Lusie Windsor, into the  hospital wing. As well as the entire Herbology class laughing at him. Everything ended up being okay, but he hadn't seen her since the incident. So...he actually wasn't sure if she was okay... 

Flicking a piece of soil off of from the clean parchment, his quill traveled with unbroken precision as he scrawled in very meticulous handwriting. He was never one to procrastinate schoolwork - ever - but Toby was a little early for Herbology class today, so there was a bit of time to kill. He was hunched over his Divination dream journal, sitting in his lonesome at the end of one of the long, empty tables. He was happily minding his own business tucked away in the corner of the greenhouses, waiting for class to start.

A part of him desperately hoped that no one remembered the incident from the other day, but he was going to try to play it cool like nothing happened. He hoped that Lusie didn't hate him now. She was so sweet, it would have been really shameful to have the Hufflepuff dislike him so early on after just barely acquainting with her. Toby was looking to make it up to her if she still agreed to be his lab partner.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Deleted]

Lusie had been kept in the hospital wing overnight on Monday, the night that the event happened. It seemed to her that the main reason they kept here there was because the potion they gave her made her too tired to move until it wore off. She woke up on Tuesday morning and spent the morning getting checked out by the healer. The stitches would take 3 days to set and then they wanted her to keep her arm in the sling until Monday. Overall, she knew it was a very shortened healing process, thanks to magical healing methods. They let her go back to her common room on Tuesday but told her to stay out of her classes and rest for the day, just in case she experienced any side effects from the potion or, any signs of infection from the plant. So she spent a day doing schoolwork and reading her Italian books in her bed, only leaving her room for meals.

On Wednesday, she was cleared to go back to class and so she made it through the first part of her day and then went to Herbology. She thought that she would be scared of nervous entering back into the Greenhouse, but she wasn’t. She walked through the doors and was just happy to be back in class. While it had been nice to rest yesterday, she found herself incredibly bored. She was early for class, but she walked in anyway, and she found Toby, her lab partner, sitting there, frantically scribbling in the back of the room. She walked over to him, waving at the teacher as she passed by. “Hey.” she said in a chipper, Lusie voice.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@lusie

Note: i can never think of titles...

Toby was too distracted by the rhythmic scratching of his quill traveling across the parchment to notice anyone else enter the greenhouse. His warm brown eyes tore from his work when he heard a sweet voice, which broke his concentration immediately. Toby knew this voice before even having to look up at her. It was Lusie Windsor. His lab partner in the Snargaluff project that went terribly wrong.

Before greeting her, his eyes fell upon the sling securing her arm, and he froze dramatically, dropping his quill to the desk and smudging his meticulously neat writing. But he didn’t even react to that mess, he was still trying to digest the sight of Lusie. At least she didn’t appear to hate him...that was a relief.

Cocking his head to the side, ”Ooh, Merlin...Lusie...” his eyes widened to large brown saucers, mouth uncontrollably gaping open at the sight. He felt so guilty; the emotion couldn’t be hidden from his face. ”Are you okay?” Toby asked, obvious concern behind his voice.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Deleted]

The first words out of his mouth were asking if she was okay. She laughed and rolled her eyes. She could see that he was a bit upset by seeing her, and she didn’t want to cause him to be upset, she was thankful that he had been there when it happened and that he had been so on top of taking her to the hospital wing. She wasn’t mad at him at all, but she could see from his actions, including smudging his ink over what must have been homework, that he thought that she must hate him. “I’m fine. Really. I don’t think I’d be in classes if I weren’t okay.” he said, honestly, with a small giggle and a Lusie-esq twinkle in her eye. “How are you? Are you okay?” she asked.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@lusie

Note:

His eyes were awkwardly glued to the sling until she laughed and said that she was fine, making a point that the healers wouldn't have released her if she hand't been okay. The Hufflepuff said it in such a sweet and reassuring way, even he believed her, causing the corners of his lips to curl into a small smile. Toby quirked a brow at the girl, nodding into a submissive agreement. "That is an excellent point, Lusie." He chirped politely, wiping a bit of the smudged ink off of the palm of his hand. Toby still obviously wasn't over it, the look on his face uncontrollably remorseful, even though it wasn't really his fault. Snargaluffs were just unpredictable and they got unlucky with a vicious one.

Toby shrugged his shoulders up and down nonchalantly, "I'm alright, thank you." He laughed, figuring she was okay by her chipper mood and cute flicker in her eyes. He cocked his head to the side, and narrowed his brown eyes at her, lines forming on his forehead, "--Considering I didn't get attacked by a bloody plant due to my stupid lab partner.." he jested sarcastically, but quickly finished with a still equally remorseful apology from before, "Ugh, I am so sorry, Lusie. I feel like that was my fault. I completely understand if you don't want to be my lab partner anymore." He said in a tone so pathetically sweet and innocent, it was almost painful. Toby couldn't help it, he was softer than a marshmallow.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Deleted]

He seemed to agree with her point that if she wasn’t okay, she wouldn’t be in class today. And yet here she was, so that had to say something, didn’t it? “I promise, I’m just fine. I’m in good spirits and I’m not in pain at all. They checked the stitches this morning and they’re already disappearing.” she explained to him, once again happy and thankful for modern magical medical practices. He said that he was fine, especially since he wasn’t the one who got injured due to having a bad lab partner. Of course, she didn’t think that he was a bad lab partner, or that this was his fault in any way. “Please don’t feel badly, we were working with deadly plants, nothing that you could have done would have prevented what happened. And it’s not the biggest deal anyway - I mean I didn’t die. If anything, you being my lab partner saved my life.” she said with a shrug. She really wanted him to feel better about the whole thing.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@lusie

Note:

Toby pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose, peering up at Lusie from the workbench with an unsure look on his face. Her words were very sweet, and she really did seem to want to make him feel better about the situation. Honestly, Toby had been obsessively overthinking that event since it had happened, dreading this current interaction they were currently having now. However, it was going considerably well. Lusie was darling. Somehow she knew what to say without knowing Toby very well. Her saying that he 'saved her life' was a bit of an exaggeration, but he understood what she was trying to convey there.

"Okay, y'know what, you did make me feel a little better. Thank you, Lusie." he laughed awkwardly, shrugging his shoulders to come off as passive, but he was still face-palming on the inside. Clearing off the table in front of him, Toby turned to the girl and politely offered a friendly gesture to sit down if she so pleased. "How long were you in for?" he asked with a comical curiosity, referring to her time spent in the hospital wing. This was the first time he had seen her since the day of the accident.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Deleted]

Lusie wasn’t entirely convinced when Toby said that she was making him feel better, but it was the thought that counted, right? The fact that he was trying to feel better about the event was a good start. She wasn’t sure what to do to convince him that she wasn’t mad at him, nor that her brother and family didn’t hate or blame him. But she wasn’t sure how. She hadn’t told her family what happened yet. The healers had sent an own to her mum, but she wasn’t too worried about her mum telling the rest of them. If she did though, Lusie wouldn’t mind. They’d find out eventually. She nodded with a smile when he thanked her for her words and then sat down next to him when he gestured for her to. She was glad that he still seemed to want to talk to her. She wasn’t sure why he wouldn’t want to talk to her, but she was glad that he still wanted to.

He asked how long she was in for and Lusie gave a giggle before answering, knowing what he meant. “They kept me until the next morning, but I slept the whole time. I’m sorry if I did anything weird. That potion was a lot stronger than I thought it was… I think…” she didn’t remember too much from her time in the hospital wing after the healer had stitched her up. “They released me to the common room yesterday and today cleared me to go back to classes.” she explained.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@lusie

Note:

Toby thought it was cute that Lusie was apologizing for anything she could have said after drinking the potion the healers gave her. He tilted his head to the side, slightly taken aback by the sweetness. "Nothing to apologize about, Miss Lusie." he reassured her with a soft smile, trying to hide the bashfulness behind his voice. "You didn't say or do anything out of the ordinary. I'm glad that you're okay." Toby told her genuinely, truly meaning it. This was a relief off of his shoulders.

The Ravenclaw turned toward the Puff, the corners of his lips tugging upwards. "I don't know if you know yet or not, but the Professor gave us the option to try again with the Snargalufff, since we've held a constantly high mark in class - but since you're in a sling - I honestly don't see this safely happening for maybe another week.." he said, looking down at the sling with a remorse he couldn't hide. But he forced another smile. "Are you willing to try it again? I understand if you don't want to." Toby urged with a sympathetic look. If there was one thing that Toby wasn't lacking, it was compassion. He cared too much for how people felt sometimes, he would have been a damn Hufflepuff if his nose wasn't crammed in books.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Deleted]

Toby assured her that she hadn’t done or said anything out of the ordinary when she was in the hospital wing, but she didn’t entirely believe him. He seemed the type to pretend that nothing happened even if something had happened. The last thing that she remembered from that time, was he and her brother getting along, and that had been nice. She wondered if they had spoken since, but she couldn’t see why they would have. “Okay. Good then.” Lusie said simply, she didn’t want to insist that she had said anything silly because, well, she didn’t really know whether or not she had.

While they sat there, waiting for class to start, he turned to her and explained that the professor was giving them another chance. Lusie wondered whether or not they really needed it, since they had gotten several pods from their first chance, but she supposed, they hadn’t finished the assignment and likely had to do it over anyway. “Of course I’m up for trying it again.” Lusie said, nodding her head without even taking any time to think about it. She wasn’t someone to get discouraged from one bad experience. “I should be out of this sling sometime during the weekend.” she told him, she’d be happy to try again next week during one of her free periods or something. “What are we doing today, do you know?” Lusie asked then, looking around the room as a few more students filled in.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@lusie

Note:

Toby was slightly relieved when Lusie agreed to try extracting the Snargaluff pods again once her arm was freed from the sling. He wasn't happy with having an 'incomplete' assignment, since he never experienced that problem before.  "That's great, Lusie. I'm glad you're willing to give it another go. I'm ready whenever you are." he said happily, taking a breath in and continuing with nerd-like jest, "We will be Snargaluff experts after this, next time that bloody plant won't see what's comin' for it..." he declared, putting on a dramatic face that was ready for vengeance, before correctly himself dorkily. "Well, it's pods..." he snorted thoughtfully, looking over at the chalkboard towards the front of the class.

When Lusie asked what was planned today, he shrugged slightly, "If I remember correctly from what I read in the syllabus...whomping willow....or venomous tentacula..." Toby stated the last one awkwardly, allowing air to slip past his lips with a soft laugh, "I kind of have my fingers crossed for whomping willow. " he chuckled. Since the venomous tentacula was far worse than the snargaluff for sure. Considered his partners arm being a bit handicapped, in a sling and all. Man eating plants were a trip. "-But I heard someone say that we have permission to swear loudy if the tentacula grabs us though, so that's a bit reassuring." Toby stated dryly, attempting to allow his sense of humor to show a bit. His lip twitch upwards, knowing that Lusie wouldn't be the type to curse anyways, since she was a princess. Wasn't that sort of language frowned upon? He knew better than to swear in front of ladies.  It wasn't polite, although sometimes they'd slip, or were inevitable for the sake of a joke.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Deleted]

He seemed happy, all though a bit surprised, when she agreed that she wanted to try again. She could understand why he was maybe a bit surprised by it since their last experience wasn’t too great, but she wasn’t one to let one bad experience ruin her experiences in life. She giggled when he insisted that they would be experts by the time that they were done with the assignment. “Absolutely! We both might as well go into taming them professionally after our second time around.” she teased in response. Obviously, she had no desire to work with them anymore than she had to in life, but she might need the pods if she did decide to be a healer.

Lusie gave another laugh and rolled her eyes when he told her what he thought they were doing today. “NEWT level herbology isn’t for the weak is it?” she asked with a smile. She was absolutely up for the challenge in front of her, especially if he was her lab partner. Wait, was that weird to think? She barely knew the guy. Sure, they had been in classes together for a while, and they were in the same year, but, she wouldn’t really have called him a friend until now. It felt a bit weird to already feel close to a stranger. But she found herself wanting to be closer to him, maybe because she really did think that she owed him her life. Either way, she wanted to be friends with him. Lusie blushed a little when he said that they could swear if they were grabbed by the tentacula. She had never sworn once in her life. “I’ll let you swear for me.” she giggled.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@lusie

Note:

When Lusie joked about them becoming Snargaluff experts, he nodded and played along. Thoroughly finding amusement out of it. "Definitely not for the faint hearted. There needs to be a warning on the class description." Toby quipped playfully with a laugh. As fun as it was to joke about hating the plant and being afraid of it, he felt like he was ready to get it over with so they can get onto the next plant that wanted to kill them. They could handle it. There hadn't been any fatalities in previous years, that he knew of at least...he didn't think it was anything they couldn't handle. The plant was just agitated last time...

His lip twitched upwards into a grin when she giggled and said that he could swear for her. It was so cute it practically made his heart melt. The smile couldn't be hidden from his face. "We can make up a code word for you." he commented, laughing again. Toby took a mental note not to swear in front of the princess, it would be impolite.

Toby turned toward Lusie casually, "Have you put much thought into what you'd like to do after this place?" Toby asked, genuinely interested in what kind of endeavors Lusie was looking to pursue when she was finished with Hogwarts. He wasn't going to assume that since she was a princess, she'd be stuck doing 'princess-y', political things, because she was still her own person. And they were basically friends now, so it didn't hurt to get to know her since they both seemed more comfortable around each other. The Snargaluff attack was a great ice breaker.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Deleted]

Lusie nodded along with his insistence that there should have been a warning in the class description that they would be working with dangerous, man eating plants this year. It would have been handy, “I think I would have taken the class anyway.” she insisted with a shrug. What was life if there was no small aspect of danger? It made class a lot more exciting, that was for sure. Lusie wasn’t easily scared anyway, she liked a bit of adventure. At least, sometimes. Though she did begin to worry for those who thought of Herbology as a comforting and wholesome topic. What would they be feeling now after working with the dangerous plants?

He suggested they make up a code word for her to use in place of a swear and she giggled, “Oooh, i like that. What should it be? It has to be something that wouldn’t normally come up in conversation… Or at least not in Herbology class conversation.” though, if they continued to be partners and kept talking during classes, she was sure their conversations would become more than just around the topic given to them by their professor, who, eyes Lusie curiously when she saw her in the greenhouse, possibly wanting to be sure that she wasn’t too fragile for class. While Lusie was a delicate person, she was good at not letting little breaks get to her.

He then asked the golden question, the one that everyone asked, the most basic of ‘get to know you’ questions. Lusie tried not to roll her eyes at his chosen topic. Not that it was cheesy per say, but, she just figured he could do better. Plus, she felt like she had been answering this question to everyone recently. Everyone seemed to think that she should know what she wanted to do with her life, now, at age 16. “I used to want to be a healer.” she told him. “That’s why I took herbology.” she explained. But then she shrugged. “Now, I’m not entirely sure. I could still go into healing… my sister thinks I’d be good at it.” she was calm under pressure and was very empathetic while keeping her calm demeanor. But, she wasn’t sure she wanted all of the stress. “I think I might want to go into politics. I speak 5 languages and I seem to keep learning more so I should find a use for that.” she concluded. It was a weird skill and possibly an even weirder hobby, but she had a knack for it. “Do you know what you want to do?” she asked in return.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@lusie

Note: i can never think of titles...

Toby nodded in fervent agreement when Lusie commented that she would take the class with or without a warning. That made him smile. He really liked her optimism, that was refreshing for kids their age. Toby thought it was very cute how Lusie was actually up for the idea of thinking of a code word for class, he was more than willing, always using any reason to be creative. He had an expanded vocabulary in cursing because of his little sisters, his father would never allow that kind of language around ladies.  

"Somethin' like...'Oh, fiddlesticks'...'Oh, fudge'..." he thought out loud comically, dramatizing the 'oh' each time with a comical winced face. Toby scratched the invisible goatee on his chin while reflecting thoughtfully on another. "Ohh, schnookerdookies..." Toby snorted to himself after saying it out loud, unable to resist a chuckle. Surprisingly, when not being attacked by plants, Lusie was very easy to talk to. Her sweetness was very comforting, for once he didn't feel himself on the brink of awkwardness while talking to a cute girl.

When he asked Lusie what she wanted to do after Hogwarts, he had that slight pestering feeling like, 'why did you ask her that'...but he was honestly curious. She answered it politely, however, her demeanor not changing, he just always felt lame asking. But he always did. She shared that she spoke five languages and Toby couldn't hide the impressed look from his face. That was really cool. "Woah, that is wicked." he gaped, suddenly unable to hold back his typical Ravenclaw curiosity in that moment, "What languages can you speak?" Toby asked quickly, suddenly feeling very uncultured in that subject, but he was very curious. 

"I would really like to go into Magiczoology and healing, but I'm also considering veterinary medicine." he answered her question honestly. Probably both, so he'd be set for both worlds. H turned to the petite girl with a quirked brow, "Are you sick and tired of that question yet?" Toby asked comically truthful, the corners of his lips tugging upwards, feigning confidence.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY