Not The Nettles! PV Mac Daddy

The number of students sneaking out and into the greenhouses was astounding!

Boniface couldn't believe how often he was having to deal with this! It was absolutely insane! What was it that attracted them to the greenhouses? Had someone slipped them a love potion gone wrong? Was this some sort of mass hysteria? What was it?!?

Whatever it was, Boniface Murtagh MacTavish was sick and tired of these students finding their way into his greenhouses and hurting his plants. It was an old, senseless routine that these poor children needed to grow out of. Luckily for him, and unluckily for the poor student, he was still awake, dressed in his daily attire.

Boniface didn't do much. He had managed to stay put for over a decade in the same place, not doing much of anything, unbothered by the world. Boniface was a boring man. There would be nothing for anyone to find out about him, other than he took very good care of his plants. Still, they insisted to wander in during the odd hours of the night or early morning, their curious eyes prying at all there was to see, and all there wasn't.

And to make matters worse, they always, always provoked the plants! Had none of them bothered to pay attention during their first lesson? He had cautioned them to never, ever provoke the plants, as well as to not enter greenhouses that they shouldn't. What was their fascination with breaking the rules? Had he been too nice?

He had wanted to be nice. That was all he wanted. Kindness and respect for his students. He valued that. However, they seemed to not hold the same respect for him. It made him so tempted to give up the acts of kindness and instead become rude and offputting. However, he knew that this wasn't fair to the students who genuinely wanted to learn. The ones who did their best to never find themselves in trouble.

Sometimes it was a misunderstanding. On occasion, it would merely be the wrong place at the wrong time. On other instances, however, it was about pissing Boniface off. That was what bothered him. There were other ways, not just poking around at the plants.

So, when the crash sounded, Boniface groaned. This was not his first rodeo.

"Lumos!" He commanded, a flick of his wrist making the light appear before him. He squinted ever so slightly, eyes adjusting to the new source of light. Letting the magic source guide him, he walked through, head peering around each corner.

Entering one greenhouse, the one that the crash sounded from, he cinched his eyebrows together. "Cò thèid ann?" He asked, wandering further in.

On the floor was a Gryffindor girl, one who he had met before, wrapped up in his precious Nettle.

Could this man not catch a break?!?

As the girl apologized, Boniface released a breath that he didn't know that he was holding. A kid. He was face-to-face with some kid. Well, in all fairness, Boniface didn't believe that any professor would come after his plants like this. They were mature enough and wise enough to know better. Kids, however, were much different. They had a natural disregard for the rules, much to his own dismay.

"You shouldn't be here!" He sneered, glaring at her. It was rare that Boniface got angry, and in all fairness, this wasn't exactly anger. He was mostly irritated. With a flick of his wrist, he could clean this mess up and call it a night. He was mostly hurt by the sheer lack of respect for him.

He ran a cold hand down his face, striking the soft bit of stubble. Now, what to do with her? This definitely constituted a detention, but what else? He was too irritated to think straight at the moment. All he knew was that he wanted this brat out of his sight so that he didn't have to deal with her for the time being.

But alas, his plants, his business. "Ye got a vendetta with my nettles, or just with me? Or if you're sneaking out for some romantic night in the greenhouses, then ye did a really bad job at covering it up. Ye'r a lousy criminal." He said, narrowing his eyes. It was the best he had for this time of night, anyway. Boniface wasn't anticipating giving a good talking-to to a student.

It was definitely clear that he was green. Unlike some other professors, he hadn't taught anywhere before this. Not only that, but Boniface didn't have much social experience to make him the worlds most requested professor. All that he had was a gift for planting things, and even that didn't feel like enough. As if he didn't already have a million different reasons to be insecure and unsure if he was making the right decisions, it was clear in how unprepared he was to handle this. Who was he kidding, anyway? Boniface wasn't a leader.

His eyes looked her up and down as if sizing her up. What could a short girl do anyway? Break plants, sure, but that seemed like an extremity for someone of her size. He didn't think she could do much worse than that, so he felt pretty lucky to be getting on the bad side of such an unthreatening kid. There were worse kids that he could make enemies of.

Enemies out of children, what was becoming of him?

He sighed once more, shaking his head. "Ye're in deep trouble, kid."

The Scottish man let out a roaring laugh. "Expel? Lass, do ye know how many of ye littluns would be expelled if I went around expelling every student who broke into a greenhouse? I don't even have the authority to do that; that remains with Professor Pendrast."

Boniface bent over, readjusting some plants that had been disturbed in all of the chaos. Carefully, his hands wrapped around the pot that contained the Nettle, picking it up to examine it. "This 'ere is called a Nettle. Tis a medicinal plant if ye know how to use it, but... Alone, it's just a bother, really." He shrugged, smiling at his healthy Nettle plant. His eyes then turned back to the girl, looking her up and down. "Best get ye to the infirmary before I send ye back to ye'r dorms. These buggers cause rashes if ye don't treat the wound right."

It was true that Boniface had the necessary equipment on hand to deal with this sort of thing, but it was late, and he was very tired. Though he was slightly annoyed by the young girl breaking into his greenhouse, and for likely no good reason at that, he wasn't so peeved that he would allow her to go untreated. The rash of a Stinging Nettle wasn't any fun to have, anyway.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Aye, ye'll likely have a nasty rash for at least 24 hours. That's why I don't keep Nettle all over meh greenhouses. They're dangerous, ya ken?" He shook his head some more, placing the Nettle back where it belongs. "Can't say ye'll have any fun writing with that on yer hands either. If yer lucky, maybe they'll let ye stay until it's gone. But tis not that serious, so I doubt it."

His fingers made a quick gesture as he began to walk towards the exit. He paused for a moment, however, and turned back to look at her again. "An' ye never did say exactly why ye were in the greenhouses, of all the places. Aren't there cooler areas to sneak off ta? Especially at this unholy hour." Truth be told, Boniface wasn't really sure what time it was. It had to be the early hours of the morning at least, but not so early that students would be waking up soon. Just early enough for there to be moonflowers blooming, beaming out from their tangled vines. While it was true that you could tell what time of day it was by the sky, the same could also be said about the plants (sort of). At least... He could roughly guess, anyway.

Maybe he shouldn't be so upset with her. Boniface certainly wasn't perfect. Being the brave, independent, courageous Gryffindor that he was back in his time, he spent many of late nights in the greenhouses, staying well after curfew; sometimes even waking up there. However, he was there to study. Merlin only knows what this fiery girl was here to do, other than destroy his Nettles.