1001 herbs n' fungi [OPEN]

When it came to academic ability, Walden knew that most people had a reasonably low opinion of him. Teachers at least, he knew for certain. After all he was barely scraping a P in most of his NEWT level classes, and not only was he untalented but he was disruptive too, mumbling to Mulciber when they were supposed to be listening to the teachers and harrassing most of his female class-mates. The only thing it was well known that he did reasonably well in was Care of Magical Creatures, mostly because his dad had many of the example creatures at home and he had learned how to look after them since he was quite young. So that was one thing he could be smug about - not that he wasn't smug in showing off his ignorance in other classes though. In fact Walden thought it was rather cool, and wore his bad-student-badge with pride.

However, despite popular opinion Wally did have other skills, outside of CoMC (well, if you asked him he'd tell you that he has countless skills, most of them imagined and many to do with his sexual prowess). One of his small array of actual skills was a slightly-extra-curricular knowledge of Herbs that unfortunately didn't get a chance to show itself to its full extent in normal Hebology classes. Walden was more concerned with thieving small amounts of ingredients from the Greenhouses after class and mixing them on his own. His mother had been a dab hand at choosing different herbs and plants to mix in teas and simple potions - mostly to help her darling boy when Walden fell ill as a child, or as a change to beautifying potions. As he grew older, Walden, who was a keen athlete, became more interested in herbs he could chew or burn or mix into liquids that would make him stronger, faster or at least look the part. Mrs. Macnair, who admittedly had spoiled Wally rotten all his life, was there to help this purpose in the Summer, but at school merely instructed him on which to ask the Herbology and Potions Professors for, nicely, of course.

But Wally worried it might interfere with Quidditch. They might (wrongly of course) think that the enhancements were cheating in some way, and despite the fact that Wally was a dunderhead in class, he was not stupid enough to advertise his endeavours to the teachers. Which unfortunately meant he had to inconvenience himself every so often by sneaking down to the Greenhouses, which were thankfully often unlocked. Tonight was one of those nights. Slightly worried that his stomach would go flabby with only three nights a week jogging and flying on the Quidditch pitch, Walden snuck out onto the grounds earlier than usual. He hunched over, tongue sticking out in expression of deep concentration as he tried to free some Gurdyroot as quietly as possible. Walden looked slightly more grumpy than usual, both from flabby-stomach worries and also getting caught in the rain as he snuck out, and wanted to work quickly. He needed lovage and nettles as well, according to his Mum's note, and would need to work quickly. He was just wrapping the Gurdyroot in some brown paper so it wouldn't stain the pocket of his robes as he hid it away, when a sudden small noise near the entrance of the Greenhouse he was sneaking around in made him stop. Crouching down, Walden squinted in the darkness, instinctively tensing up and clenching his fist.

"Whossat? Who's there?" He called gruffly into the semi-gloom. This calling out was admittedly, not the best idea, but whilst he was reasonably good at stealing herbs and CoMC, Walden had still taken a few bludgers to the head in his time, and had always been a bit dim to begin with.