Accidentally Disturbing a Mandrake PV Irina Shevel Finished

Irina walked through the grounds, enjoying the vague smell of the greenhouse floating through the air toward her. Although she knew she wasn't allowed inside, she liked being near the scent as it reminded her of her mum's small garden back at home. She stood still for a moment, closing her eyes and breathing deeply through her nose, enjoying the cool breeze on her face . . . when a piercing screech filled her ears, causing her eyes to jerk open.
She lost her balance, tripping forwards, and immedietely running towards the sound of the screaming reguardless of the risk. 'It sounds like a mandrake?' she thought, her interest peaking along with her bewilderment.

She covered her ears with her hands, struggling not to fall over as she pelted through the door of Greenhouse 3. Despite the deafening noise, she kept a level head and tried to take in all of her surroundings. Immediately, she saw the cause of the noise; a very tall boy, Ravenclaw by the look of his robes and possibly second year, was desperately shoving soil on top of a fledgling mandrake, whilst attempting to cover his ears.
She barrelled past him, grabbing the mandrake firmly by the leafs and shoving it down, grabbing as much soil as she could and smothering it completely. After a few seconds, the noise had quietened to a muffled gurgling and she felt safe enough to remove her hands.

Irina turned towards to the boy, worried he might be about to feint - she had had enough experience with mandrakes to know that if it had been any older, the boy would've been knocked out cold. He seemed a tad shaken but other wise unhurt. She gave him a shaky grin and said, "Gotta lot of nerve haven't you! Are you alright?" She realised she was probably speaking louder than strictly necessary but her ears were still ringing.
"You realise that we're not meant to be in here . . . and definititely not meant to be playing with the mandrakes! But I've never had any reguard for rules either." She gave him a cheery wink.
"I reckon we should go before anyone catches us."

She walked quickly past him, hurring towards the exit when she slapped her forehead in exasperation and spun around to face him once more. "Sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself! M'name's Irina. Nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand for him to shake. 'What's your name?"

Simon watched as the girl, who seemed to have arrived out of nowhere, covered the mysterious plant with the last soil that was needed to silence it. He quickly realized that the girl must have much more experience in magical plants than he had, being born and raised in a Muggle neighborhood. He felt somewhat stupid. Once again, he got to pay the price for his insatiable curiosity for things he did not understand and wanted to investigate.

When the girl turned to him he could easily tell from her facial expression that this plant was far more dangerous than he realized. She spoke so fast he did not even got a chance to respond, still trying to get his full consciousness back. His feet felt numb, his ears were ringing and his sight seem to struggle with gaining focus. The girl seemed to be gaining a transparent twin that floated in and out of her. Simon blinked heavily a couple of times. Then he watched as the girl set her course to the exit, before turning back to introduced herself to him.

"Name's Simon", he said and shook her hand. "Simon Tilia. I'm so sorry! I did not know." (The dizziness got slowly better as he spoke) "You are right. Let's go before somebody catches us... What even was that thing?"

Interacting with @Irina Shevel

As Irina shook his outstretched hand, she looked into his eyes and saw they were slightly unfocused. She bit her lip nervously, wondering if he needed the hospital wing. She decided to continue talking however, if only to keep Simon distracted from his dizziness.
"Don't worry at all - I don't think they tell anyone not to come in here so it's an easy mistake to make. Besides, I like coming near here too - I love all the smells and the sounds, reminds me of home!"
She started walking towards the door again, keeping him in her line of sight in case he looked as if he were about to fall. "That was a mandrake. It's a conscious plant that shrieks when taken out of it's pot and um . . . well, adult mandrakes are known to have killed a person with their shriek. But they're incredibly beneficial in antidotes and healing potions and stuff. Normally we don't learn about them until 3rd Year."
She stopped talking abruptly, silently berrating herself for talking so fast, not letting Simon get a word in edgeways! She turned to him, searching his eyes once more for any signs of dizziness and realising (now that the panic had subsided) that he was insanely tall!
She discarded this thought for the present and asked, "Are you still feeling dizzy? We can go and sit down somewhere if you need to?"

Interacting with: @ Irina Shevel

As he slowly gained his focus back, he recognized Irina as one of the first years. He remembered that she got sorted into Gryffindor. There was something about the way she spoke. Her tone and melody was almost like music to his ears and he found it soothing, despite the stressful experience they had just left behind them in the greenhouse. He found himself quite fascinated by this heroic and knowledgable Gryffindor that had come to his aid.

"Well, I would certainly lie if I said I wasn't still feeling a little dizzy", said Simon. "Sure, I'd like that. Anywhere is fine, really." He followed Irina.

"Mandrake you said?", continued Simon as they walked. "I've never heard of them... I'm quite fascinated by plants, you see. Well, perhaps that's obvious at this point." (He smiled.) "But I guess the problem is that my mother loves gardening, but she's a Muggle. My dad's a wizard, but he hates gardening! This is going to sound stupid, but I didn't even know Hogwarts kept dangerous magical plants here..." He paused for a moment. "So... You won't tell anyone about it? What happened back there, I mean?"

As Irina spoke, she could see him relax slightly. He watched her intently, a fascinated expression on his face. It reassured her to hear that he wasn’t feeling as dizzy and she led him towards a nearby tree, sitting amongst its roots and gesturing for him to fo the same.
Irina was always intrigued to hear other about people’s family's, not because she judged but because she found it interesting. It delighted her to hear that Simon’s mother too enjoyed gardening . . . though clearly a very different sort.

She smiled warmly as Simon nervously asked if she would keep the events in the greenhouse private. “Course I will! It’s nothing to be ashamed of though. Loads of kids do things like this in their first few weeks of school. Some do it intentionally!”
She giggled, saying reassuringly, “And I don’t think it sounds stupid that you don’t know that. That’s part of life at Hogwarts - learning new things in surprising and terrifying ways! I mean, I’ve been raised in a wizard family my entire life and I’ve still been shocked by the amount I don’t know!”

She settled back into the tree, arms behind her head, and released a contented sigh. Outdoors was her favourite place to be. “So you said your mother is a gardener? Mine is too! What sort of stuff does she grow. I don’t know many muggle plants.”

Interacting with @Irina Shevel

Simon's shoulders sunk an inch as he learned from Irina that he was not alone to do a little mischief during his first week. From all of a sudden, it did not feel like a big deal at all. He knew it was wrong but quite honestly – he did not regret it. However, he was sure that most of his fellow Ravenclaws would not be so impressed by him taking any risk of losing house points. They were keen on winning the House Cup this year and that required hard work, discipline and focus. At least, that was what he Prefects said. But then he did not see himself as a clear-cut Ravenclaw. He had traits and desires that he tried his best to hide. To fit in. Perhaps that was why he was so captured by this Gryffindor girl Irina; none of the Ravenclaws he had met so far was likely going to admit so light-heartedly that they 'never had any regard for rules'.

"Thank you, Irina. I really appreciate it", said Simon. "I guess I should be glad I bumped into you, then, and not somebody else."

He moved a little so that there would be enough space for Irina beside him. His hip pressed to the large root next to him and he could not help but to imagine that there would be a face buried in the ground beneath them, same as with the Mandrake.

"Oh, well, my mother has a lot of plants. There is the Japanese section and the Mediterranean section, for instance. We have cherry trees, olive trees and orange trees, different types of palms and flowers. But we have to move the Mediterranean trees indoors during the winters, of course... They are potted. So, both your parents are wizards? Was it expected that you would end up in Gryffindor?"

"Thank you, Irina, I really appreciate it. I guess I should be glad I bumped into you, then, and not somebody else."

Irina gave him a cheeky side-smile and and agreed, "Yeah, it could have been trouble if someone else had found you. You're lucky it wasn't a teacher! If they'd found you we probably would have got detention!"

She listened intently as Simon reeled off a list of plants his mother had. It was intriguing to hear how many different species of plant he had! As her mum was a botonist, Irina had inherited her love of plants, and though she wasn't keen on becoming a botonist herself, she did like learning more about different types.
"Yeah, both my parents are Wizards. Half-blood, half-blood either side."

She thought momentarily about whether it had been expected for her to end up in Gryffindor. It brought a wry smile to her face as she remembered the conflcit she had had at ending up a lion.
"Well, my mum was a Hufflepuff, my Dad was a Gryffindor and my sister is a Ravenclaw. So, we weren't really anticipating for me to be in a specific house at all!"

She shifted onto her back, staring up through the leafy canopy of the tree, before turning to look at Simon.
"Did you know where you were gonna end up? What house was your Dad in?"

Interacting with @Irina Shevel

Simon noticed a shift in Irina's voice. He was not sure if that was because his question was inappropriate in some way, but on the other hand, Irina did not seem like the type that was sensitive for the inappropriate. Learning that her house was not entirely clear for her either made him all the more happy since he could relate to that himself.

"Wow. So you are a family of many colors then", he said and chuckled. He wondered who her sister was since she was in Ravenclaw same as he.

"I did not know where I was gonna end up either. My dad's a Hufflepuff. He's been going on and on about the Hufflepuff common room so it almost seemed impossible for me to end up anywhere else. Trust me, I even had dreams of the Hufflepuff common room before coming to Hogwarts... But I was actually glad to end up in Ravenclaw. That means I do not have to walk in his foot steps." Not that it was something wrong with his father's foot steps, but he could not escape the feeling that his future was already laid out for him. And that feeling tend to smother him.

"So, you have a sister?" he said and looked at Irina with a smile. "Does she attend to Hogwarts too? I have a sister as well..." His eyes wandered to the grass and he regretted mentioning that.

"Wow. So you are a family of many colors then."

Irina chuckled and nodded lightly. "Haha, yeah. You could say that. I wonder what house my brother is gonna be in next year!?"

Irina listened as Simon explained about his dad. She understood perfectly the feeling of not wanting to be stuck in someone's shadow. She had been expecting to be majorly stuck in Idril's shadow, being such a smart and beautiful student - she had in fact been pleasantly surprised at how much she was valued as herself.
"I get the feeling . . . wanting to carve a path for yourself rather than following the path already made by others. That's a good thing to want." She gave a pause, silently surprised and proud of how mature she sounded. 'Normally I'm good at giving jokes and sarcastic comments!' she thought, smug at her sudden wave of wisdom. 'Better savour that whilst it lasts.'

"Yeah I have a sister! Her name's Idril and she's in 3rd Year - super smart and super pretty. Love her to bits."
She was about to exlaim with interest at the news that Simon to had a sister, when saw the look on his face . . . regret? She knew immeditely she was in dangerous waters and searched around her head for something sensitive and kind to say. She decided not to poke around to much into the topic - clearly it was a touchy issue.

"You alright mate?" she asked in a warm tone, concern lacing her voice.