Disclaimer: The Hogwarts world belongs to J.K Rowling. I'm just screwing around with it.
A/N Sorry for taking so long to update. I had a wee bit of writers block. Thanks for your reviews. Make sure you check out the result of my challenge to madam-pyro here: MsoNormal>Malfoy Iz Mai Pony: "ho hum"? If you really don't like it, I'm not forcing you to come back, you know ;)
Neville stomped towards the greenhouse, dreading entering. Since the night in the Department of Mysteries in 5th Year, he had tried harder at school, especially in Defence against the Dark Arts, to make himself more prepared for when it happened again. His confidence had grown - as had his hatred for Dark wizards and witches. Pansy Parkinson, with her attitude, taste in men and even taste in plants, screamed 'Death Eater in training' to Neville. She even, in many ways, reminded him of the woman who had tortured his parents, Bellatrix Lestrange. When that thought occurred to him he could never look at her the same way again, and the feeling had only intensified after her comments of the day before.
When he entered the greenhouse he saw her sitting on a bench, dangling her legs and already looking haughty and bored. When she spotted him she sighed with great theatrics and slid off the workbench.
"Has Professor Sprout been here?" Neville asked, reluctant to speak to her at all, but finding it necessary.
"She left a note", Pansy said, picking up a sheet of parchment off the bench and scanning it, "blah blah blah staff meeting, blah blah blah control yourselves, blah blah blah start with repairing pots and re-planting" she muttered, then stared at him with a blank look.
Neville moved to the left side of the classroom, where there was a heap of broken pots. Pansy stood in the same spot with her arms folded.
"I'm not doing this by myself, you know" Neville said, getting his wand out. Pansy heaved another great sight, rolling her eyes as well, moved to another spot nearby and got her own wand out.
"Reparo" Neville said, and a heap of pottery shards converted into their original form. The pair worked their way around the room slowly, and by seven o'clock the room looked considerably tidier, with dozens of empty but whole pots sitting around the room. They did not utter a word in these two hours. His own mimbulus mimbletonia untouched, Neville moved toward Seamus' Brawn Blossom. Liquid held in the centre of the flowers of the plant when drunk provided incredible strength, but was notoriously hard to get to - the plant had a defensive reaction not unlike the Whomping Willow. Re-planting it would be impossible without Pansy's help to satiate it, and he couldn't afford not to. Not only would Seamus be angry with him, but the plant was also invaluable and would not survive long sitting on the ground. Neville reluctantly glanced at Pansy.
"Would you mind helping me with this? He asked as politely as he could. Pansy glanced back.
"You're joking".
"No, I really need to replant this".
"It's vicious!"
"You can talk. Look at your precious Fanged Fern".
Pansy looked highly affronted, and walked to the far side of the greenhouse.
"You wouldn't like me to tell Professor Sprout you were being difficult, would you?" Neville called to her. She whipped around, raising an eyebrow.
"Suit yourself" she said, but walked toward him.
"What do I have to do, anyway?" she asked nervously when she reached him.
"Just stroke this branch here. It's a bit like that book Hagrid gave us in 3rd year. It relaxes it" Neville explained. She looked at him dubiously.
"If this thing hits me, you're dead" she said threateningly. Neville was getting well and truly sick of her.
"Look, if you do what I showed you, it won't. Just don't stop until I'm finished. Now, are you ready?"
Pansy nodded and moved towards it hesitantly. Her hand slid along the branch like Neville had seen Seamus do so many times in class. The branch was easy to find, as it was completely bare and smooth. Neville reached towards the base of the plant, and not finding himself in a barrage of branches, grabbed the trunk and lifted.
"Can you see Seamus' pot?" he grunted at Pansy.
"How should I know what it looks like?" she asked nonchalantly.
It was Neville's turn to roll his eyes. He peered around the trunk and saw the pot nearby.
"Okay, I'm moving. Don't stop stroking" he warned, the shuffled towards the pot. The Brawn Blossom was rather heavy. With a great effort, he heaved the plant over the rim of the pot and inside. He jumped back and Pansy dropped the branch in shock. Her eyes widened as she ducked out of the way, but a flailing branch had caught her cheek. She backed out of the way quickly, and glared fiercely at Neville. There were tears of pain in her eyes, a cut on her cheek, and it was quickly going red. There would be a bruise in the morning.
"Asshole" she snarled and stalked out of the greenhouse, leaving Neville with the dilemma of a vicious plant in a pot with no soil. Five minutes later, he shambled away.
Pansy made her way to the Slytherin quarters after stopping at the Hospital Wing to get Madam Pomfrey to fix the cut and give her ice for her swelling cheek. When the door swung inwards, she found Draco lounging in the common room. There were few people around, and she approached him, clutching the ice to her face.
"Well, that went well" he said sarcastically.
"It was a plant" she spat back.
"Asshole" he said in a teary manner, a perfect imitation of her.
"You were there?" she hissed, her eyes narrowing.
"I thought I had better keep an eye on you"
"But how?" she asked.
"I didn't take Transfiguration for the fun of it, love" he said with a smirk.
"Alright" she said blankly. He must have Transfigured into a plant.
"So what happened to 'sugar and spice'? You seemed to be just as much of a bitch as usual, I must say".
"Well, it would be a bit out of character to be all lovey-dovey the day after I tried to hex him into oblivion, wouldn't it?" Pansy replied. Draco just cocked an eyebrow.
"And please don't spy on me every night, Draco".
"That was just a one-night thing", he stated, "I'll be far too busy to do that every night" he added, with a sly smile.