The Art of Appearing to Slack Off Open

@Jack Burnett

Herbology was necessary to Yseult, and even more, it was primordial for her to get good marks. She needed this for her future carrier, drug seller. Indeed, she was expecting to live in a small cottage, with her Pure-Blood husband and their two children, in which she would be able to cultivate some (illegal) plants.

When she arrived that morning, she was very motivated and determined. She had heard a rumor about a group task this day, and was more than prepared. She had spent the last three hours in the library, getting ready, and had even prepared arguments to motivate (more or less positively) her group. Most of the students considered herbology a an option, a useless topic, but Yseult was not ready to let them win this game, it was her moment, she needed to shine, to prove her value, and to be recognised, it was crucial.

While entering the greenhouse, the blond teenager immediately recognised the Puffapod, some kind of a magical plant that produces large pink seedpods full of shining beans, which instantly flower when they come into contact with any solid object. Its biggest particularity is that Trolls are allergic to it. Yseult smiled and quietly went to the back of the room, very satisfied. In effect, she knew everything about that plant that she had just revised an hour earlier.

Mister Murtagh MacTavish, the herbology teacher, entered at this very precise moment and took a few seconds to look at the students. He sorted the class into groups of four, each of them having access to a Puffapod. Silva being in the bottom of the alphabetic list, she was sorted in the last ones, and went to a table where there already were three students. She recognised one of them, Jack Burnett, as he was in his house, but was not excited about it as they never had the occasion to talk.

Jack also recognized Yseult as a fellow housemate, for he had seen her around, but he didn't know much about her personally because they hadn't actually met. When she picked their group, he regarded her curiously but didn't bother commenting on her choice.

"So...anyone know what we're supposed to do with these things?" he asked the other students he had been grouped with, holding up one of the Puffapods. "Didn't they have beans or something inside?" So saying, the redhead proceeded to split open one of the large pink pods, revealing many shining beans inside. Jack's eyes grew wide before a mischievous smile thinned his lips.

Carefully taking a handful, he passed the rest of the pod to another of his groupmates and peered at the beans closely. "Anyone here happened to have heard the story of 'Jack and the Beanstalk'?" he wanted to know, wondering if it was only a famous fairy tale among muggles or if wizards and witches told it as well. He wouldn't have been surprised if the tale had originated with the very beans he held in his hand...and how ironic that his name was Jack.

"There were these beans that a boy named Jack sold a cow for. His mother got so angry at him, she took the beans...and threw them out the window!"

As he said this, the Slytherin boy tossed his handful at Yseult's hair, anticipating that the beans would get caught in her braids and start sprouting there.

@Jack Burnett

Arriving, Yseult was very excited, but right now, she just wanted to die. She thought she had the WORST group ever, and her stupid classmate Jack was just being annoying and trying to prove his value.

-"Yes Jack, of course I know, and you should too. I would benefit you if you worked a bit more" she said with a voice full of superiority and arrogance. She did not even dared to glance at him, she was too proud for this.

The blond girl took a piece of parchment, and started to write on it the characteristics of the plants, not answering her neighbour's question. While her partners were debating of the aspect of the Puffappod, she was remembering everything she knew, starting by its instantly blooming if somehow the seeds was touching someone or thrown on something.

-"Anyone here happened to have heard the story of 'Jack and the Beanstalk'?"

This idiot was being very annoying, teaching others Muggle's stupid stories, and even if Yseult wanted to react or make an enormous scene right now, she controlled herself to stay in the teacher's good eye, but she promised herself to punish him later. She took a few seconds to analyse the boy. He had very common ginger hair and his appearance was actually not so interesting to watch, apart from his eyes maybe, that had a hazel colour she coud be reviewing for a long time as her favourite colour was brown and those eyes were some kind of perfection. Of course, the stupidity of the young Snake was ruining it all and...

Lost in her thoughts, Yseult did not directly understood what was happening, but the remembered shouting when the pink pods holding shining beans started to grow in her hair.

-"Wh-What is happening to me ? What did you do to me ? Please, help ?"

The young girl was terrified, but she also knew she did not have to move. She looked at her partners with a desperate view, tears coming up to her eyes. This time, she was not strong enough to keep them for herself. She took off the mask and started to cry, not knowing if there was a spell to stop the growth of the pink plant.

Little did Yseult realize that Jack was not trying to prove his value. In fact, he was trying to do the exact opposite so they would deem him as useless and leave him to his own devices. Therefore, he was feeling rather confident his plan was going well when his housemate chided him for not working harder.

It was when the girl started to freak out that Jack was caught off-guard.

He hadn't expected such a cold, arrogant Slytherin to react to his playful prank in such a manner. First she started to ask what was happening and what he'd done, which he'd thought had been fairly obvious, especially if she was as serious about her studies as she seemed. But then she was asking for help and, to top it all off, she began to cry. He, Jack, had somehow managed to make his own housemate cry. He hadn't even crossed that line with sensitive Oliver.

At a loss, Jack finally made up his mind to try to help. He normally detested doing anything of the sort, but this was a problem he had caused and if he didn't want to get in trouble with the teacher, he was going to have to fix it as soon as possible before he was tattled on.

"Hey, whoa, calm down," he instructed, approaching her with his palms out to signal he meant no harm. "They're just plants. You like plants, right? They're not gonna eat you or anything." His mouth twisted into an unimpressed frown. "All you have to do is undo your braids and get the sprouts out. I know they bloom quickly, but I doubt their roots are all that entangled or strong. You think you can manage that? Or you still think you need help?" His slow, careful words made him feel as though he were talking to a scared child or some skittish animal.

So much for his reputation as a student who didn't care. Well, at least he had a decent reason; he didn't want to get in trouble. Also, he would never let the girl live this down. It might have made for good blackmail material in the future.

@Jack Burnett

At this precise moment, Yseult hated herself. She was not the untouchable cold and strong girl she used to be, and showing a part of her weakness to others was terrifying her. She was already thinking about casting a Forgetfulness Charm to her classmates. Luckily, it did not happen thanks to.. Jack. Indeed, he was talking to her.

-"Hey, whoa, calm down" said the ginger boy with a very gentle voice, "They're just plants. You like plants, right? They're not gonna eat you or anything".

If Yseult was fully conscient, she would have realised the boy was not being very honest, and there was something disturbing in the way he was speaking. As a matter of fact, he was approaching way to close for it to be natural, and yet, the blond girl was being way too naive.

-"All you have to do is undo your braids and get the sprouts out. I know they bloom quickly, but I doubt their roots are all that entangled or strong. You think you can managed that? Or you still think you need help?"

He was clearly taking her for a fool, talking to her as he would talk to an animal, but Yseult was not an expert in relationships and she took it for kindness. Still afraid, she tried to smile to the boy, guessing he was helping her in order to apologise. Forgetting about the plant growing up over her hair, she started to imagine her life with a friend, but this break only took a few second, as a student said her name in order to bring her back to reality. Confused, Ysie intended to slowly remove the seeds, moving her head from left to right to tell Jack she did not need any help. The situation was embarrassing enough, and she needed to keep some kind of dignity.

When she had finished, her tears were gone so she was finally able to look around her. Surprisingly, there little din had not disrupted the class and she calmly went back to work.

-"Alright, where were we ? Oh, yes, while writing your essays, do not forget to mention that trolls are allergic to Puffapods" she said, her voice becoming louder and louder. Her inside was praying none would talk about this embarrassing incident ever again.

The snake girl decided not to be mean to the rest of her group until the end of the class. After all this time, Yseult was happy, she might have found a friend... Or maybe not ?

Caught off-guard by Yseult's smile, Jack wondered if the beans he had thrown had more of an effect on the other Slytherin than he realized. At least she seemed to be okay. And, most importantly, she didn't seem to feel inclined to tell on him for his little stunt.

As the blonde insisted she didn't need any help, the redhead simply watched and waited until she was able to get all the sprouts out of her hair. He didn't want to risk accidentally aggravating her any further in case he pushed his luck too far and she decided she was angry with him after all. Fortunately, after the plants had all been removed, Yseult seemed content to simply return to the lesson at hand.

Her matter-of-fact know-it-all demeanor surprised Jack, especially after she had just begun to cry in front of the whole class, but he was impressed that she was able to pull herself back together so quickly. After a minute or two, he decided that if someone as dedicated as her was in their group, making certain that everyone was sure to get good marks, perhaps he could trust their grade to be okay after all.

Growing uncharacteristically quiet, the boy kept to himself and did his work, hoping to keep his head down and thinking that maybe his housemate would forget him by the end of class.

@Yseult Silva

The rest of the hour went calmly, everyone minding their own business, and Yseult was satisfied with that. Her Slytherin partner did not make any other mistake, she was sure he was feeling a little miserable. Sometimes, the blond haired teenager surprised herself. Indeed, she was smiling, and this was very rare.

A few minutes before the class ended, Yseult realised she was not being herself. Who was this nice and smiling stranger, talkative and opened ? Certainly not her ! Her face lost the joy that was illuminating it and Yseult focused entirely on Puffapods.

To be sure of what had just happened, of what was the meaning of this strange episode, and to understand the guy's intentions, the Silva girl decided to stay a little bit at the ending, even if she had to be late for her next class, in order to have a serious conversation with Jack. She needed to know if he was being friendly, fake, cruel, shy... She needed answers.

She gave again all of her attention to the task, being careful about the writing. Sometimes, she was standing up, raisin up leaves, turning around the plant, smelling it, even touching the earth or the base before going back to work. Some minutes later, the young girl had a quick look at the boy, and saw he was...

Every time Jack glanced over to check up on the blonde Slytherin girl, she appeared to be smiling. All the other times he had seen her prior to this class, she hadn't smiled as far as he'd known, so her unusual behavior was beginning to alarm him. Perhaps the beans really had done something to her that no one had anticipated. It could have been some kind of allergic reaction, but with a mental or emotional effect.

Finally, near the end of class, Yseult seemed to stop smiling. He breathed a sigh of relief because he had been wondering if he ought to have asked the professor to make sure the girl was alright...which also meant admitting to what he had done. As everything seemed to go back to normal, however, it didn't look like Jack had anything to worry about in that regard.

There was, however, still the question of their grades. The Slytherin boy decided to linger after class, waiting to check the answers of his group mates before their assignments were turned in to the professor. If any answers were wrong or insufficent, he could correct them or add to them before anyone noticed. Jack was so intent on this task that he didn't even notice Yseult stay behind as well. Instead, he looked through their group's papers, analyzing each picture and answer as quickly as he could and making adjustments here and there where he thought they were needed.

@Yseult Silva

@Jack Burnett

The class had ended, Yseult was ready. She had prepared all of her arguments, so she just walked outside to wait for him. Surprisingly, she looked behind her and saw her partner cheating. He was taking HER answers, and the snake girl was not happy about this at all. Finally she was able to see what kind of guy he was.

Jack was no different from others, he was using people for his own sake, and was being fake. If there was one thing Yseult could not stand had to be lies. Indeed, as wicked as she was, she was always telling the truth, trying to be as honest as she could, even if what she was saying was not pleasant the other one. At this precise instant, she was very disappointed, her comrade had deceived her a lot. It was not so much the fact that she had been ridiculed, but more that she was feeling sad and lonely. However, she decided this episode was not going to impact her.

-Hum hum.. said Yseult coughing, I think you mistook our parchments.

She shoved the boy 'accidentally', and let him lie on the ground. As usual, she was using violence instead of words but it did not matter too much, as she was sure the boy had understood her point. She glanced at him, with a sad look full of anger and left the greenhouse, determined to go to her next class.