He sat at his place in the classroom fiddling with his quill as Professor Sprout explained the exercise for the class.  Benjamin Myers was not the biggest fan of Herbology, but he didn't dislike the subject either. Trying his best to pay attention Benji leaned on his arm as he listened. Sprout was saying something about Mimbulus Minbletonia and working in partners. Benji sighed, the last time he was given a partner he almost lost an eye brow.

"Logan Whitlock, you'll be paired with Benjamin Meyers."

Benji scanned the room, 'Logan Whitlock?' Who was that? He had never met Logan before and Benji found himself to be a little nervous. Meeting new people was not his forte, he usually let Eddie meet people and then was introduced to them later.

Professor Sprout sent the students off to work as Benji continued to scan the room for this Logan fellow. Then he spotted him, well, at least he thought he did. There was one other boy who was not standing with a partner yet, that had to be him. Getting up from his seat, Benji walked slowly towards the boy.

"Logan Whitlock, though I guess you sort of new that already, so...  Oh! Have you ever worked with Mimbulus mimbletonia before? "

Benji smiled, "Nice to meet you Logan," he said, shaking the boys hand, "I'm Benjamin, but... you can call be Benji," He cringed slightly at the boy's question, "My tutor had one when I was 9, I accidentally hit it off the table..." Benji rubbed the back of his head, "You can probably guess what happened next," He laughed a little, "The house reeked for a month."

Benji motioned for Logan to get out of his seat, "Come on, the other groups are getting a head start," Benji started to turn before pausing, "Have you ever done this before?"

 

Logan seemed like an okay guy and Benji laughed as the boy told him of his misadventure with a mandrake, Benji cringed remembering mandrakes from second year, they were no fun. He nodded a thank-you as Logan handed him his equipment. He paused for a moment to put on his raincoat, goggles and gloves. Logan seemed really knowledgeable about plants and Benji couldn't be happier. He smiled at his new friend, "I am so glad to hear you say that!"  Truth be told, Benji was a little nervous about working with the plants, after what happened when he was nine, he never wanted to spell anything like that again.

"I think this one is ours!" he motioned to a plant that no one was standing beside, "I will follow your lead, you know more about them then I do." He laughed," just warn me if I am being too rough with it okay? I would really like to avoid any foul smells." Just as the words escaped Benji's lips, one of the groups to the left of the boys made a wrong move with a shovel. A smell worse than death quickly spread through the area. "Well, there goes that goal," Benji laughed half chocking on the smell. He clapped Logan on the arm, "Come on, lets give this a try"

Benji headed though the cloud of stench toward the Mimbulus mimbletonia. The plant was rather large, on of the biggest that Professor Sprout had. It wiggle slightly and made a couple of weird sounds. Benji gave it a funny look before turning back to Logan. "Okay mate, what's first?" Benji stood a good couple of feet from the plant and learned awkwardly on his spade as he observed the fascinating and terrifying plant.

The two had no problem lifting the plant out of it's old pot. It wiggled a little, but no sent emerged and Benji breathed a sigh of relief. He smiles at Logan as they moved toward the new pot. "I think we're gonna make it..." Benji spoke too soon. Just as the boy finished his sentence the class turned to chaos.

Students were running all over the place, some were flailing their arms and others were trying to get away. The boys were so close to completing the project, just a little father and their plant would be safe. Benji glanced at Logan, the other boy had a look of worry spread across his face. What were they going to do? Benji thought for a moment, trying not to move. Coming up with no solution to their problem he shot Logan a 'what do we do look'. How could one little bee cause so much panic. Ben sidestepped at the left then immediately to the right in order to avoid being knocked down. He was short and didn't weigh a lot. Knocking his over was easy, and the last thing he needed was to fall and land on the poor cactus that he was holding

As the boys stood, just inches away form their pot another student fleeing from the bee tripped over a spade and came hurtling toward them. "SHIT!" Benji exclaimed seeing the boy, "Logan!" Benji had to think fast. The student was headed head first into their plant. Doing the fist thing he could think of, he lifted the plant as high as he could hoping Logan would do the same. The student was coming fast and Benji just stood their lifting with all his might and closing his eyes bracing for the impact that he was almost sure was about to come.

Making eye contact with Logan, the boy knew instantly that his partner was thinking the same thing he was. The student was falling towards them at a terrifying speed and Benji had listed the plant as high as he could. He thanked the starts as Logan started to lift the plant and back away from him. Logan seemed to have the same idea he did. Benji closed his eyes as the student got closer. His eyes remained shut until he felt the thud of the other boy hitting the ground. Looking at Logan from under the plant Benji shot him a look of  'thank god'.

" Alright. Quickly, but gently. The professor's got the bee handled, so we need to get this in here while we can. "

Benji nodded and moved quickly to get the plant to it's pot. Working together the boys managed to get the plant safely into place. Shooting a thumbs up back at Logan he smiled and took a second to breath. "I thought we were goners for sure." A light laugh escaped his lips as he reached over a pulled a bag of soil closer to the pot. Reaching in a grabbing a handful Benji started to sprinkle the dirt over the roots of the plant. "Quick thinking there mate," He shot Logan a smile, "We should get bonus marks for that."

The plant wiggled and made some noise as Benji added more soil. "How much of this do we add?" Herbology was not his strong suit. Benjamin couldn't grow anything on his own if his life depended on it. He was good a following someone's lead though. Benji was glad that he had been partnered with Logan. The boy seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. Adding soil seemed like it was going to take a while so Benji decided that the best way to pass the time was small talk. It was better than standing awkwardly. "So... " Benji quickly discovered that he was no good at making small talk, "how is life as a Hufflepuff?" Benji mentally slapped himself as soon as the words left his mouth. What kind of a question was that. But it was too late to take it back now so the boy just stood in silence and continued to add soil to the pot as he waited for an answer. 

"More than bonus marks. We should get survival marks!"  Benji laughed a little and nodded in agreement. He shook his head a little as he looked around to see all the other students cleaning up in the aftermath of the bee. Multiple students were covered in sap and a few were still laying on the floor. Yet there the two of them stood, packing soil around a rather happy little plant, unharmed by the whole situation.

"I'd say....right about...here." He listened carefully as Logan pointed out where to add soil to. He was happy to have someone that knew so much about plants. Benji would have failed miserably if it weren't for Logan and his smarts. As it stood they had almost been taken out while carrying their plant from one pot to the other. "It's going to be cold for a few more months, and these buggers are sensitive about their roots getting chilly." Benji worked carefully to pack the soil extra tight so the little plant wouldn't get cold. He hated the cold himself and as such felt a little bad for the thing.

"Oh, you know. Huffle...puff-y? Not much to tell really. What about you? How's life as a Ravenclaw?"Benji laughed at Logan's response, at least the guy had a sense of humour. "Oh you know, Raven...claw-y." He laughed a little, "Not much to tell either mate, lots of reading and homework doing. I don't really know why I asked you in the first place." He shook his head a little as he finished packing the dirt into the pot. "You think Sprout will give us extra marks for not getting stincked?" 

Starting to clean up a little Benji looked around the area again, most people weren't even close to being done. Looking up at Logan he smiled and nodded across the room to two students that had lifted their plant and stood frozen as if they didn't know what to do next. "You think we should help them since we are done?"

"Yeah, they look a little lost. But it doesn't look like they've been stinked yet either, so maybe we can keep that from happening too!" 

Looking around he realized Logan was right. There were only two, maybe three pairs that had not been stunk up yet. He also noted that the Professor was standing at an empty table on the other side of the room. The boys would have to cross the entire class to get the plant to the correct place.

"First things first though, lets get this guy over to the Professor so he doesn't get toppled over by someone."

 Benji smiled as Logan started to count and lifted the plant at the same time as the other boy. He was good at following instructions, very good, and Logan made it easy. 

"Man, I never knew herbology involved so much heavy lifting," The boy grunted as they heaved the plant in it's new pot off the table. "Man this thing is heavy!" 

Together the boys shuffled across the area toward the teacher. It was slow going but they were doing well. Most of the other students had gotten the hang of working with the plants and things were going much more smoothly for the whole class. Benji adjusted his grip a little as they reached the halfway point. A smile came to his face. "You know... This is gonna be the best herbology mark I have ever gotten. All thanks to you."

Rounding the last table Benji began to think they were home free. A thought he really shouldn't have begun to think. Just as they reached the two boys they were going to help next, one of them slipped and their plant hit the floor with an unpleasant gurgle. Before Benji could so much as blink a large stink cloud erupted.