Upon entering the indoor garden, Mary knows this area is going to be quieter than the common room. She walks about, examining the plants. She has her Herbology textbook, so she tries to recognize sone of the plants.

Mary does not know why she has both her potions and Herbology textbooks, but she would have never left her dorm without a book. Deciding the adventure is over, and that she had found her quiet space, she started to head back to the dorm, vowing to come back to this area.

Her favorite place in all of Hogwarts castle was definitely THIS place right here. A small smile touched Penny's lips as she let her fingers dance across the leaves and vines as she made her way back toward the fruit bushes. Having no aversion to school food she was always glad to have fresh berries at her disposal, ya know.

Upon making her way to her FAVORITE spot the fifth year kicked her shoes off before sitting cross legged on the seagrass mat. Of course she had a book with her, one not of the educational nature for once. Instead she had snagged one of her brother's books of poetry before leaving for the platform. Assuming that the school rules had in fact changed she was sure not to get into too much trouble for this, right?

But whatever.

Penny Lane opened the book to a random page and started to read, her entire focus there on the print in front of her. This was the best way to spend her evening, next to being with Benji.

Mary had promised herself she would come back. Throughout the day, she had read parts of her Herbology textbook. This was, in part, because she wanted to make a potion today. She knew that there had not yet been a potions lesson, but the subject seemed utterly fascinating, so much so that she just had to.

She flipped through the book, eventually selecting the Concentration Concoction. It was labeled as beginner-intermediate and the ingredients were all readily available. She claimed one of the brewing stations and set her Herbology book down, looking for a reference on how to harvest the ingredients.

"Now, where to find a Ginkgo Biloba plant," she murmered to herself, searching around the garden and constantly referencing the image in the textbook.

OOC: The recipe I am using is listed here. It's part of the potions recipe book thread.

He wasn't sure what brought him to this part of the common room today. Usually he only really graced this area because of a certain family of bowtruckles, but he was without them today. Though as he meandered a bit, his eyes falling on the flowers on the walls, he found himself thinking about them and opted to pick a few of those to bring with him when he headed down to the barn later.

It was during one of his passes that he noticed Mary nearby seemingly talking to herself. "I reckon you're not gonna find that tree in here. Better luck in the greenhouses," he offered with a small smile as he plucked a few more flowers into his palm.

Few more flowers later and Derf realized he needed to step a bit more IN to the garden to get to some of the other flowers, so he oh-so-carefully did so when he happened upon Penny. He had noticed she had taken to this area as her sorta...sanctuary of sorts? And seeing as he was reading he really didn't wanna disturb her soooo...he carefully tried to move around her without doing that. Or saying anything. She seemed super focused.

Mary felt somewhat silly. Of course, that was a tree!! She wasn't going to find Ginkgo Biloba tree in here. It was a tree. She set the items down on the potion workstation and searched for another recipe. She wanted to brew something, still hoping that the interesting subject would reveal itself to her.

Maybe she should just go to the greenhouses. Was there some sort of potions laboratory? Maybe there was a basic ingredient store somewhere. She, having no idea, just stood there, hoping the boy would react. She certainly wasn't going to strike up such an awkward conversation.