April 27, 1892 - Hogwarts

It was a true miracle Gus didn’t trip over his own two feet while rushing out the door of his office, the wailing still ringing in his ears. He half apologized to a student as he nearly ran them over, finangling his way around them as he pushed open the door leading to the outside, nearly cursing at how cold it was for April. Gus was a warm weather person; he’d sit outside all day even dripping in sweat. During the winter he’d rather be bundled up next to the fire with a hot cup of Irish tea.

Instead Gus made his way down to the greenhouse where he hoped Mason was currently at. It had been some foul joke to put a screeching mandrake in his office, and Gus, unknowingly, had stumbled into the room carrying his latest batch of essays, when the piercing screech of a young mandrake shook him to his core. A prank, he supposed, by a student who was still trying to prove his worth as a professor. He had to do a much better job at remembering to actually lock the door to his office when he wasn’t in it.

Proven at his time in Hogwarts Gus neither had a green thumb or good enough herbology grades to know how to deal with the baby mandrake on his floor - even as he’d run out the door and closed the door behind him, he could still hear its wails. He could only hope it wouldn’t cause harm to a student.

Panting, Gus pushed open the door as he barged into the greenhouse, thankful he wasn’t interrupting one of his classes. Taking a quick glance around, he could only notice all kinds of pots and plants, although he knew he couldn’t name a single thing. He took a minute to regain his ability to breathe, leaning against the glass windows. He was thankful for a beat of silence before he finally spoke

“Skeeter, I know you’re probably busy, but…” Gus always needed something from the elder professor: advice, a shoulder to lean on, someone to listen to his lame joke at meals. He mustered up an embarrassed laugh as he rubbed the back of his head. “How fast do you think we could move a mandrake from, let’s say, a certain professor’s office to here?”

---

---

  

---

Gus' intrusion into the Greenhouse was met with a raised eyebrow and a skeptical quirk of his head. A mandrake? Really? Mason wasn't sure how one of those would end up missing from his greenhouse, nor how it wound up in Guss office, but he was already unamused. "Considering you're still standing, it shouldn't be too hard. However I do not envy the student behind this, as stealing from my greenhouses will earn a long consequence." Even the teenage ones could knock a fully grown man out for hours; the repercussions of such a prank could legitimately be deadly.

"Luckily, mine are still young enough to be handled easily enough." Mason sighed as he stood up, and brushed the dirt from his hands where he'd been planting sunflower seedlings. "I hope nobody else was around..." He mumbled to himself, shaking his head.

"My beeswax is in my office, let's go." His outdoor office, and really the only one he used, was attached to greenhouse one. The small one he had inside, as well as the classroom reserved for lessons only in the extreme cold, had yet to be used in his tenure thus far. Frankly Mason always wished his living quarters could be out attached to the greenhouses too, but understood he was quite useless out there.

---

  

---

magic by MJ the magnificent

Gus couldn’t help but laugh as he rubbed the back of his head; of course he had plans to deal with the student himself, but it hadn’t crossed his mind Mason would do so as well. Maybe they’d just have to deal with that together when they crossed that bridge, although seeing as it was Mason’s mandrake that had been stolen, he’d let him take the reins. He breathed out as the other professor stood up, thankful he was willing to help him. Gus hadn’t touched nor come in contact with a mandrake since he’d been at Hogwarts and it hadn’t been a surprise to anyone when he’d dropped Herbology after his OWLs. A green thumb was not something he had, nor would he ever.

Nodding, Gus followed Mason into his office. He could only hope the wailing wouldn’t reach the ears of anyone else. “Beeswax? To stuff our ears?” He asked, pausing to take a glance around the room. He hadn’t even realized this part of the greenhouse existed, as he’d always found Mason in one of two spots when he came looking: the office he’d barged into, or the classroom where he luckily had yet to barge into when there was a class going on.

“I did kind of leave it on my floor.” Gus mumbled as he stayed in the doorway waiting for Mason to grab the items, his fingers twisting against his robes. “I forgot how loud they are.” Because that was helpful in this situation.

---

Mason Skeeter

---

  

---

Thoroughly disgruntled at the carelessness of whomever tried to pull his off, Mason threw open the cabinet in his office and rifled through the shelf and pulled the jar from the back. "The mandrakes are still young but can cause damage if not tempered." He growled to himself. Somebody was going to be in big trouble indeed.

"You're lucky you're not knocked out on the floor with it." Damn foolish children. There was some hard labor in someone's future. "Grab that pot there." Mason gestured toward a stack by the door while he moved toward the sack of soil on the opposite side. If they were lucky the thing fell asleep, but Mason somewhat doubted that. They liked the dark of the soil to do that.

Mason emptied some soil into the pot and hoisted it easily in one arm. "Come on," He scowled and pushed through the door once more.

---

  

---

magic by MJ the magnificent

Grimacing, Gus leaned against the doorframe as he watched Mason rifling through the shelves in search of something. If he knew the student who did this, he would offer them up on a silver platter for the other professor - he certainly wouldn’t want to deal with a disgruntled Mason if the anger was directed at him. His ears were still but Gus would deal with that later; he just hoped they wouldn’t be ringing by the time he was ready to fall asleep.

He nodded, happy he wasn’t going to meet his end on the dirty floor of his office. “And I thank my lucky stars for that.” He half-grinned, ducking his head shortly after because even he wasn’t daft enough to see this as a laughing matter. He knew how awful the mandrakes could be, and from what he’d heard Mason muttering, he was lucky it wasn’t an adult.

Gus jumped from the doorframe toward the pile of pots as instructed, where he pulled one free and held it for the other to fill. He stepped up beside him and held it out, watching as Mason filled it with soil before taking it. He fell in line next to him as they made their way from the greenhouse, and he couldn’t help but take a peek at him. “Thank you, for helping.” He couldn’t remember if he’d said it yet, but he’d probably say it a hundred more times to him, too.

---

Mason Skeeter

---

  

---

Having a bit of a walk to the castle was a good respite for him to simmer his annoyance from its full, rolling boil. Not that mandrakes were nearly as dangerous as some of the creatures the students studied, but they could be fatal if caught unawares. Blocking the ears when working with them was necessary for a reason!

"No problem," Not really. Mason had been handling the sentient plants for more than half his life at this point, he just wished others had the same regard for the potential harm that he did. What annoyed him the most was that he had taught them the dangers! He was disappointed to be let down by students who should know better and do better!

"We'll get it sorted." The stalking across the grounds was helping get the angry energy out.

---

  

---

magic by MJ the magnificent

Fiddling with the sleeves of his robe as they strode across the grounds, Gus let out a breath as they finally reached the doors. Pushing them open, he was glad to see that outside of a few students hanging out, the hallway was pretty much empty. He tossed a look over his shoulder to make sure Mason was still behind him, although given how long he’d been at Hogwarts, it wouldn't have been surprising for him to know where his office was. Although, it wasn't as if he saw the other much outside of the greenhouse. Briefly, he wondered if Mason had been friends with the professor he’d taken over for. He was a friendly guy, so it was an easy answer that yes, Mason absolutely was friends with the previous DADA professor.

Gus shook his head as he dragged himself up the stairwell to the third floor, although he paused at the end of it, listening for the wails of the mandrake that had sent him to Mason to begin with. They echoed, albeit quietly. He'd at least had the hindsight to close the door. Finally, he turned toward him and grinned sheepishly. “So what’s the plan? I hold the pot? You hold the pot?” Did they bite? No. If he remembered correctly, they just wailed. He hoped they wouldn’t see any students passed out on the floor as they moved down, but wouldn’t that be the cherry on top to his very first year.

---

Mason Skeeter

---

  

---

Most of his annoyance had dissipated as the made their way up the stairs through the school toward Gus' office. Thankfully he couldn't hear anything coming from the closed door, so either it had given up in the quiet or it had fallen asleep.

"You hold the pot, it'll start again as soon as I pick it up, I'm sure, but we'll have the wax in our ears. Then I will grab it and cover it quickly with the soil." Nothing wildly dangerous or anything, though he had wished he'd brought his gloves in case it got snappy, but a bite was far less of a problem than hearing it wail full force. Once it was safely under the soil, he could relocate it back to the greenhouse, which would now have some extra precautions put on it. Like an spell with that would sound a loud alarm if anyone decided to try this again. He would also be giving his classes a lecture on the safety of mandrakes and the dangers they posses. If he ever found out who did this, they would be spending quite a bit of their free time weeding gardens and fertilizing with dragon dung until their graduation, no matter now long that was.

"Here, put this in, we won't be able to hear one another, but it's pretty straightforward. If something goes awry, just stun it." Mason stuck some of the wax in his own ears, grimacing at the sensation, waiting for Gus to do the same before they could open the door to the office.

---

  

---

magic by MJ the magnificent

Gus nodded at Mason’s words. He could hold a pot easily, and had no problems letting the herbology expert do his thing. Of all of the professors he’d managed to befriend, Mason Skeeter was one of his favorites. He couldn’t help but flash him a grin, watching as the cogs turned in his head, making a plan that made sense to him - as long as he could hold the pot still and let him do whatever he needed to do the mandrake fiasco would be over and done with. Thank goodness.

Then the man was spouting off a plan if any thing went awry. Stun it. He was capable of that level of spell easily. Taking the wax that was offered then, Gus stuck it inside his ears and twisted his face at the sensation of losing that sense. It was weird and he shook his head before he flicked his gaze toward Mason and grinned widely at him. Then, he wrapped his fingers around the doorknob and pushed open his office door to reveal a baby mandrake wailing on the floor; he listened closely for any signs of being able to faintly hear it, but the beeswax did its job well. Where was this when things got loud in the jungle and sleep evaded him?

Gus shuffled inside the room and stepped off toward the side to allow Mason to enter, his hands firmly wrapped around the pot; he held it out for him to stick the creature inside.

---

Mason Skeeter

---

  

---

With Gus holding the pot and the plan in place, Mason moved into his colleague's office. The beeswax did its job for him, so he glanced sideways at Gus to make sure he was still upright. All set on that front, so Mason turned his attention back to the wailing mandrake on the floor.

Motioning for Gus to follow him, Mason could see the the squalling juvenile letting out its little ugly cry and he pulled a face. Shaking his head, Mason waved his hand to get Gus to come over, pointing down to put the pot on the floor. Mason opened the sack of soil in his hand so he was ready to toss more on top. Grabbing the mandrake by the top, he plunged it into the pot and started to hastily toss more dirt from the bag over the wailing plant, hoping to silence it sooner rather than later.

---

  

---

magic by MJ the magnificent

The room was oddly silent, although he supposed that was the beeswax doing its job; how some people reveled in this was beyond him, but then again Gus was never one to want to sit in silence, let alone been able to. He was always moving; twitching his fingers, tapping his feet, sighing... he hated silence. His fingers twitched around the pot as he blinked at Mason, offering him a smile and a nod at the other’s movement.

The baby mandrake was still wailing on the floor and Gus frowned, wondering if Mason felt sorry for it (Gus did, because who wanted to be kidnapped and dumped on the floor?), or he was still unhappy about the situation. Shuffling forward when motioned, he carefully set the pot on the ground then stepped back to be out of the way, watching as the man worked to put the creature back inside and then pack it with soil. Gus helped with that - squatting down and pulling handfuls of dirt out to pack around the mandrake until it seemed satisfied, and quieted down.
Gus wrinkled his nose before he flicked his eyes up to Mason; then he gave him a thumbs up and shrugged - they were good?

---

Mason Skeeter

---

  

---

Appreciative of Gus' help, the mandrake was quickly covered to Mason's satisfaction. They liked the cold darkness of being surrounded by the dirt, which was a little morbid if Mason thought about it too long, but they were plants after all and their thought process was both limited and more instinctual than anything.

Nodding at the thumbs up, Mason pointed his wand at his left ear and expelled the wax that way; it was far more efficient than trying to dig it out by hand. "Well that should solve that," He nodded decisively, using his wand to remove the rest of the wax from his other ear before moving to clean up any spilled soil on the floor. "Now I need to catch the culprit for a month's worth of detention." Cleaning pots the hard way. Or maybe working with the dragon dung somehow, whichever seemed less pleasant at the time.

---

  

---

magic by MJ the magnificent

Following Mason’s lead, Gus reached for his wand to expel the wax from his ears, shaking his head as the noises came rushing back; he found he didn’t like the silence in any capacity, but then again being quiet in most situations wasn’t something he did well. (At least in tombs he had a partner or a small group of people who he could whisper to, as working alone was rare.)

He breathed out a laugh as his fingers fiddled with the edge of his scarf; if they were closer (even though Gus had dubbed Mason one his best friends and wasn’t going to let him weasel out of a friendship in any capacity), Gus probably would have hugged him. But that was weird to most people. He still managed to flick his gaze toward him and grin. “Mason, thank you.” Because he hadn’t said that enough. “Can I help?” He asked.

The idea of setting a trap came to mind but that might be too mean for kids - surely they’d come back around and do what? Take the mandrake back? Or see if he was dead on the floor? Well, if they were smart they wouldn’t actually come back to see their handiwork.

---

Mason Skeeter

---

  

---

With a mandrake-filled pot and everything else he'd brought up to solve the problem, Mason could use a hand getting everything back to the greenhouse. He waved off Gus with his free hand. "Not a problem, don't want anyone getting hurt, least of all you." He chuckled.

"Ah yeah, if you don't mind that would be great." With his luck, which was historically terrible, he would drop something and then the mandrake would get loose and all hell would break loose after that. "Get that soil if you don't mind?" Normally he would have tried to manage by himself, but he also figured Gus wouldn't take no for an answer either.

Making sure the mandrake was securely tucked in, he motioned toward the door. "Then I think I need something to eat." He laughed. That was enough excitement for one day.

---

  

---

magic by MJ the magnificent