Tiptoe Through The Mandrakes // Rory

Humming under her breath, Amy sprinted across the school grounds to the greenhouses. She pulled out a chain from around her neck and consulted the pocket-watch hanging from it. She was late. Crap. Her bag thumped against the back of her thighs as she ran, but she didn't stop or adjust it. She hated being late, especially when she was supposed to be meeting friends. She was going to get this under control, if she had any hopes of making Head Girl next year, though thankfully her lateness didn't ever occur with classes. Just some extracurricular subjects.

Sliding to a stop next to Greenhouse Three, she allowed herself to fill her lungs with fresh air and took a moment to compose herself. She was meeting Rory to help him with some plants for the Herbology club, but she'd had to make a side stop at the library first. A few days ago she'd been studying in the library and had come across some Herbology books she'd figured that Rory might like. Having her hands full with her Transfiguration and Potions books, she'd left the books that day, but she figured she might as well get them out for him now.

He was already inside and Amy couldn't help the smile that came upon her lips as she watched him. Finally, she pulled open the door, wrinkling her nose only very slightly at the overwhelming scent of dragon dung fertilizer and gave her friend a grin. "I know, I'm late, but I can make it up to you, promise," she greeted him, running a hand through her windswept hair.

However weird it may have sounded, seeing that he was a 16-year-old teenager, Rory loved Herbology. He had been interested in studying about plants and taking care of them ever since he was only a little child, long before he had been accepted to Hogwarts. His parents had always had a big garden filled with all kinds of plants, some of them magical and some of them not. He had been only three or four years old when he had first got in contact with this side of the magical world, and ever since, he knew that this was one of his favourite activities.

When he was eleven and got accepted to Hogwarts, needless to say, his favourite subject immediately became Herbology, probably also thanks to the teacher. He had always thought that professors did have a big influence on the preferences of the students. For example, he was never good enough in Transfiguration, because he felt slightly intimidated by Minerva McGonagall, and he was a total disaster when it came to Potions, because Severus Snape simply scared the hell out of him. But Herbology was a passion and he got along amazingly well with their teacher, which was why he was also in the Herbology club. Many other students used to make fun of him for it, but he had learned over the years that sometimes, ignoring and going on with his life was the best decision he could ever make.

When the door opened, his head shot up from in-between the mandrakes, even though he knew exactly who it was supposed to be. His friend Amelia had agreed to give him a helping hand with the plants, and he could not be happier about it. Not only because some help was welcome at any time, but also because the redhead was his long-time crush he had always been too shy to talk to about his feelings. But, for the time being, he was happy with the friendship they had as well. And who knew, maybe someday he would grow the balls to tell her how he felt about her. "I am looking forward to seeing that, Miss! I almost died out of boredom here! I mean, the plants are my friends, but ten minutes?! That's unacceptable!" he joked, because he didn't feel like she was too late anyway.