You Reap what You Sow PV finished

"Oh no. The sadness… And I was hoping for us to be the next shiny couple at the Fall Ball." Ileen made sure to pull a face to underline her sarcasm. But at the same time she could have bit her own tongue. Why didn't she stop referring to an event that gave her goosebumps of the unpleasant kind.
Besides, even if she had no interest in George in any romantic sense, she couldn't help but feel that his comment conjured up unpleasant memories in her. Percival wringing his hand from hers when they should have stayed together in the darkness - people turning their backs on her when all she wanted to do was help.

Not that her thirteen-year-old self understood the context of her feelings and their cause.
And yet - she had wanted to help, in her own way, and now she was being pushed back. Well, it would be much worse if he liked her, she tried to comfort herself. Otherwise, she would have to work to get rid of him. At least she was spared that.
"What goes around comes around, princess. If you can’t handle a rough approach, don’t do stupid things”" Her eyes flashed. If he hadn't been up to no good which she just had assumed, she wouldn't have had to hold him at all! Her cheeks blushed, a clear sign that the situation did not leave her as unaffected as she would like to claim. And Geroge seemed completely calm, which further irritated her.

Her heart was still beating fast, he was clearly sitting on the longer lever and she had problems keeping her emotions in check. "Hm, no I always prefer to wait for the moment when you don't expect it. And yes,” She interpreted his reaction to her internship in her own way. “I'm also surprised that we haven't met in the hospital wing yet - although I can't say it makes me sad." Her answer was snarky, but she meant it by heart. Especially the hexing part - In a beautiful moment she would wait for him to do something and not even know what happened to him when she would be there, ready to interfere. Ileen had practiced the Sneezing Hex to perfection. It was her way of punishing people who did or said something stupid. By now she was so good at it that it couldn't even be traced back to her. But she was not an idiot - if she would make George sneeze near the plant, then they all would get punished.

And the fact that he hadn't expected her to be an intern in the hospital wing gave her another sting. Anything good done was so quickly forgotten. "And I would heal, but unfortunately I can't remove the problem that's making me sick right now so easily." She gestured in his direction, now clearly hurt.
On other days, things could have been very different. Ileen appreciated sarcasm, she could have fun with it, but Geroge pushed where it hurt. Intentional or not, with her irritable mood, she couldn't digest it at the moment.

But the Hufflepuff knew how to surprise her again. She had firmly expected him to do something stupid, and now he just, admittedly impressively, brushed the seeds off the plant and held them securely in his hand. Ileen was at a loss for an answer when he presented them to her, less confused by the fact that he was doing so well than by the fact that he had actually just followed the assignment.
Of course, he shattered this new image of him, that she was just trying to sort in, the next second.
She flinched at his question and her hand automatically shot forward as if to stop him, but this time she stopped herself before touching him.
No matter if George was a troublemaker or not, she wouldn't let that happen. Of course, once again, she took the situation far too seriously. "Don't you dare!" Her voice was a horrified whisper-scream. "What if the seed explodes down your esophagus or in your mouth? That could choke you!"
Her dark brown eyes were wide open and she probably looked like a startled deer. Her mind was already spinning with spells that could possibly free the boy if he actually did what he had just asked.

Images of her classmates flashed through her mind. Images of people she had pulled out of the dungeon and tried to save. Her classmates who had been injured through her fault when she had tried to heal them, people who had almost died and there was little she could do to stop it. And then Victor. Victor over and over again. The boy she hadn't been able to save.
The Hufflepuff couldn't know what his simple question had triggered in the girl, but it didn't take a genius to see that the idea scared the hell out of her.

Interacting with | @George Henry

George looked Ileen up and down at that proposal, shaking his head subtly, though his smirk gave away that he was only teasing. None of his attempts at humor seemed to make this any easier for her, and it was getting hard not to start laughing at her dramatics. "I am a princess. I'm extremely delicate. If I had a knight right now he'd be throwing you out the top of the greenhouse," George assured her. Wouldn't that be nice? Too bad chivalry was dead. "Could you stop threatening me for like, five seconds? Being a princess would do you some good. Maybe you should take etiquette classes."

Her dramatics were starting to grate on the badger again. The boy kept the seed pod near his lips, threatening to drop it down his esophagus and burst a bloom out of his belly at any moment. It was mutually assured detention - she could grab him, or jinx him, but that pod had to go somewhere and they'd both be in trouble. "Here," he suggested, pointing to his nearby textbook. "Balance that on your head. That'll make you stand proper. Back straight!"

George leaned his hip on the table, making the whole thing shift ever so slightly before he rapidly straightened himself out. Maybe he ought to take his own advice on etiquette, as a few students who nearly lost their seed pods were now giving him dirty looks. "Sorry," he murmured.

"Are you really asking me what would happen if I dropped it down my throat? You're the nurse intern, shouldn't you know what happens?" George said with a stern shake of his head, disapproving of the girl's lack of professional experience. Of course, George was 14 years old as well and only had professional experience in climbing trees. Still, to claim expertise from internship and not even know how to treat an acute case of puffapod poisoning was a disgrace. "Well, if it chokes me, just cast that charm what clears my throat. Easy as pie. Want to try?"

He leaned his head back and opened his mouth wide, sticking his tongue out. "Aaaah," he said, dangling the seed pod up above his head. A few other students had noticed and were waiting for George to make a scene out of himself, morbid curiosity distracting them from their lessons. Perhaps this is how you became a puffaperson. He could see her increasing distress, but he didn't realize how deep it went. On the surface level, this much of a freak out over a joking threat was hilarious. "Galleon says I'll do it!"

"A proper knight" The young Slytherin made sure to emphasize the word. After all, she herself was literally a knight, not only by her last name but also her beliefs. "Would teach you the code of honor and a lesson. I would take that a hundred times over a princess." With a scoff she looked him up and down in return. "Always waiting for servants that get the dirty work done for them. No thanks. We have plenty of those at this school. Maybe you should take knight classes."
Yep, she really wasn’t on the good side of humor today. Too bad that they had met in this particular situation. It could have been so much fun. But to Ileen, it wasn’t. At least, she tried really hard not to have fun.

But the worst part was yet about to happen. Completely dismissing her panic and warning, the boy had the seed near his lips and started teasing her again. Did he want to be hexed? Hadn’t she just told him how dangerous it could be to eat such a thing? And yet, he kept it close to his mouth, bossing her around and making fun of her as if she was acting overly dramatic or hysteric.
Part of her wanted to pick up the textbook that he had suggested as her new balance exercise and throw it at him. Another part of her was kind of fascinated by this scuril situation. What would happen if he ate that thing? She wasn’t gonna lie, a small dark place in the back of her mind wanted to see what happend. There was this small part of her that was tempted to let him do this nonsense. But Merlin, she knew her skills might not be good enough for the consequences.

Her eyes followed him like the scared deer that looked at the hunter and waited for the right moment to run. In her case, she waited for the right moment to act. So it was no surprise that she flinched when he almost knocked over a table by suddenly changing his posture. "Merlin, are you doing that on purpose?" Her wand had jumped into her hand at this rapid movement and her eyes were squinted and fixed on the source of trouble. "Put. It. Down. I already told you that I don’t know what happens and if I actually can help you'' There was a certain urgency in her voice, mixed with the obvious frustration. Her heart started to race in her chest. Was he really about to do that? Would he actually go through with it? Frozen in shock she watched him as he raised the seedpod over his open mouth.

The next thing happened without a conscious decision on her end. Part of her was sure that he just wanted to make her freak out which he obviously did successfully but the part who had seen so many injuries didn’t want to wait to find out.
"Put. It. Down you idiot!'' She didn’t care if the teacher would see her, she wouldn’t stand by and watch another student suffer in case she couldn’t help. Her wand moved almost by itself and pointed at the boy. "Expelliarmus!'

Reducio

Ileen casts Expelliarmus

Wisdom Check [DC 10]: 28 → success
Ileen Accuracy: 30
George Evasion: 19 → hit

Ileen tries to catch seed
Accuracy Check [DC 20]: nat 1 → crit fail

The spell hit the Hufflepuff right in his chest and the seedpod was ripped out of his hand, flying through the air towards Ileen. Trying to catch it, she reached out, but it slipped through her fingers and hit her right on the nose. A rough pain jerked through her face and suddenly her vision was blocked by a giant flower that was growing from the top of her nose.
Still in shock, she just stood there, unable to move as some of her classmates nearby started to giggle. The blood rushed to her cheeks and she gritted her teeth. No more, she decided. Next time, he would pay the price, not her.

Interacting with | @George Henry

"Is the knight's code of honor the one where you vow to help people except the people you get partnered with in lessons?" George asked with a curious quirk of his head, still letting the seed pod hang precariously over his mouth. While the wizarding world was medieval in many ways, George had to admit he'd never met any knights aside from the suits of armor and the half-headless ghost of Gryffindor. He ignored her sudden panic regarding potentially swallowing the seed pod, continuing to dangle it threateningly as he spoke. "I must not be a princess. If I was going to sit here waiting you to do my dirty work I'd be waiting for-"

The boy gasped as he was suddenly struck with a disarming spell, sending the seed pod flying high into the air. His hand closed on nothing and he glanced up, barely registering what had happened until a beautiful flower was growing out of the top of Ileen's nose. George joined the other students in laughing, covering his face as he enjoyed the very pleasant sight of the short-tempered girl suffering the consequences of her own charm. He'd expected far worse when he saw her wand.

"There's no need to go hitting me with spells, Ileen! What if that had gotten in your mouth? Why, I wouldn't know what to do, I'm not even a nurse intern," he said, fanning himself as though he were suddenly aghast about the idea of anyone swallowing those dangerous seed pods. It was hardly enough that the other students were giggling at her now - George wanted to make sure he came out of this looking like the more studious of the two. He stood up on his toes a bit, raising his hand in search of the professor's attention. "Professor Irons - what do we do if one of us plants a puffapod on our nose?"

He glanced sideways to Ileen and gave a little smirk at her misfortune, though he quickly replaced it with a look of feigned concern. "Maybe you should go to the hospital wing? It could be permanent... might've done yourself a favor, in that case... looks-wise," he murmured, stroking his chin in thought. His lips curled into the most sickly sweet smile he could muster for his class partner. "It's okay. I can finish this up just fine on my own."

Her eyes fixed on him with a hard and stern expression in them. Although she had to try really hard not to smirk or chuckle at his comment. Nope. She didn’t want to enjoy the banter, she didn’t want to think that he was funny. "I am helping you. Did you not notice?" She waved the seeds under his cheeky nose, which she already plucked from the plant. Conveniently, she forgot to give him credit for burying the flowers under the pot. But after all, that had been his fault anyway. Also, he was completely distroying any positive impression that she might have caught during their conversation so far by his stupid, dangerous, reckless (she added ten more less flattering adjectives in her mind) threat.

And now they were actually confronted with a flower that was not that easy to hide. Ileen’s face turned pink and she felt the anger rise in her as he chuckled with the others. “Well, that was unfortunate luck, but better than it being stuck in your throat! So count on more spells coming flying your way if you continue that stupid behaviour. I won’t have your stupid accidents on my record!” She hissed and cautiously touched the plant on her nose. Her head was pulled forward by the additional weight, being thrown off balance, but she kept it straight.
Embarrassment and anger did fight in her for the upper hand. “Also, I would not know what to do either if you swallowed that thing so you are better grateful that I took that hit for you.”
At least it didn't hurt. Carefully she wrapped a hand around it and moved it a bit to test the impact on her nose. There were no roots in her skin so it just felt a bit odd.

It was almost impossible that they didn’t catch the professor's attention yet but Geroge made sure to destroy even the smallest chance by calling her out. “Shut up!” She courageously grabbed the flower and tore it from her face with a strong jerk. It came off without any problems and left only a sensitive, reddened spot. Quickly she let the flower disappear, following George's example. She now joined the others under the flowerpot. Then she carefully touched her nose with her free hand. It was not bad. Just sore and bleeding a little. She quickly made sure the professor wasn't looking at them yet and pointed her own wand at herself. "Episkey." Immediately she felt the familiar tingle as the skin closed.
Thus reasonably patched up and looking perfectly innocent with the evidence hidden, she turned to the Hufflepuff in anger. "I'd say it was more of an enhancement to your appearance, since it completely blocked my view of you." She grunted unkindly and nodded gruffly at the plant. "But go ahead. you're welcome to do everything on your own and i'll stand here, just like this, with my wand and intervene as soon as you need help. for example, to save yourself."

Interacting with | @George Henry

"it's left a bit of a clown nose," George whispered to Ileen with a grimace after she'd torn the flower away from her face. It was a barely visible spot, but George could not resist rubbing her nose in it, after all. She's perhaps saved his life - if he had dropped it down his throat, he might've choked on it, but he was not thinking about that at all. In his mind there'd been no dangers until she'd started wrestling him and slinging spells at him. "I think you'd ought to work on your interventions. Worried about me dropping the seed pod, so you shake me about like a rag doll. Worried I'll drop one in my mouth, so you try and catch it in yours. Ex cetera."

He hummed thoughtfully as she made the red spot disappear with a healing charm. Those would've been useful spells to know when he was out on the grounds getting scraped knees in his first year. Sadly, professor Irons did not deign to come over and criticize Ileen, disappointing George greatly. How nice would it have been to watch her explain her inattentiveness and reckless behaviour in sticking puffapods to her nose. Maybe next time...

"Oh, if you want something good for that, I could cast the blindfolding spell on you," he suggested earnestly, with a helpful smile all the while. He couldn't stop smiling, in fact. It seemed like luck was on his side today, even if it had taken them some tribulations to get their actual work done. "Sit back and watch what? Look at the thing - we've stripped it of seed pods, but we've only got half as many as anyone else 'cause you shook them all out of my hands and tried to eat one."

To him, it seemed that the task was complete. Maybe they hadn't been the most efficient harvesters, but they didn't have none, so it wasn't the worst they could do. Considering this was herbology, a class George mostly enjoyed because it meant spending some time in a room which generally smelled nice, with a professor who did not scare him - he would take Acceptable any day. "Do you think he'll notice all the ones underneath?"

Ileen rewarded his teasing words with an extra sinister glare. In protest she opened her mouth but then decided to swallow the snarky words that were waiting on her tongue. It wasn’t worth it. And part of her knew that he was right which made her feel even worse. But she was not ready to accept her responsibility in all of that yet. Easier to just blame it on the troubler maker. Should he think whatever he wanted, she didn’t care!

The only thing that gave her some sort of satisfaction was that the professor hadn’t decided to follow George’s cry for attention and thus won’t notice the mess that they’ve created. At least something. A very small win in a battle probably only she did fight.
She kind of doubted that she could have presented the situation in the right light where everyone would see that it had been the badgers fault. And she had no energy left to argue.

At his next suggestion she could only roll her eyes. "Or you could just leave and get out of my sight. That would make this day at least a little bit better.”- Her eyes wandered to the plant that they had worked on. Indeed, all of the seed pods were gone. “Well, there are always some to be lost in battle. I am sure they fought bravely." She slipped the pods in the small bowl and looked at the amount they had collected. If George added his, they still had a decent success. Not counting the pancake ones under the actual plant.
She couldn’t help but give him some sort of credit for his quick reaction to erase their trails of error. But never ever would she say that out loud.

She tilted her head. “Not for a while and then it will be hard to trace it back." She shrugged and grabbed her bag. Time to leave this room and assignment. A fake smile was given to the boy. “Was a pleasure to work with you. Not." With a sigh she turned around and walked towards the exit, tempted to throw another seed pd at him, but she resisted. “See you in the hospital wing - sooner or later, I guess" With that she left the greenhouse. As soon as she was out of sight she would start running. Her day had been bad and that really killed it.

Interacting with | @George Henry