Maddie the Ravenclaw had come to stand by him, and Toby gave her a nice big friendly smile and a nod in greeting. He seemed to have a lot of these Ravenclaw friends these days, which was brilliant, right? House unity and everything. Awesome.

Toby was quiet as he went between eyeing the plants around him and watching other students enter Greenhouse Four, giving little smiles to his friends and acquaintances and those he'd met or spoken to once or twice. Herbology put him right back in a good mood, apparently.

When Professor Walton began the lesson and started talking, Toby made sure to pay attention and all that jazz. And he was happy about that first question; something nice and open where you couldn't really go wrong, which was perfect for the nervous first years, or those who weren't that confident in the subject.

Except not everyone felt that way, and Toby found himself kinda sorta side-eyeing that Gryffindor boy who'd just spoke up and was kind of...... rude. He immediately felt very protective, not of the professor, but of the question he'd asked. Though... he kind of did need to fight the urge to jump to the professor's defence. Walton could absolutely handle it.

Instead, Toby looked back to Professor Walton and raised his hand.

"We help them stay alive just by breathing, by creating carbon dioxide out of oxygen. And they do the same for us, but in reverse, when they photosynthesise."

Helping each other and defending and living. Typical Toby answer.