Welp. WELP.

Toby had never lost a single house point IN HIS LIFE. EVER. Of course, the fact that it was a sort of blanket punishment meant that it wasn't SUCH a huge deal, but that was a long streak to break, y'know? Though... judging by how not-happy Professor Walton seemed, Toby very privately thought that maybe it was a good idea that they all take the blame for it. One kid against Walton? Scary.

But... Grayson didn't seem too happy, of course, and obviously wanted to know WHO had done it so they would be dealt with properly, and Toby ALSO agreed with THAT. It was difficult, sympathising with both sides, and sort of made his head hurt. In the end, Toby just thought to himself about how thankful he was that he'd not seen any more (like who had done it) because he didn't know WHAT he'd have done in that situation.

Okay. Right. He was composing himself, ready for this activity. Luckily enough for him, Toby was much more relaxed and settled than he might usually have been; he wasn't sure if the bouncing bulbs would appreciate a bouncing human. As for nerves? None here, 'cause Toby was a confident kid (for the msot part), and was at his most confident in the Greenhouses (or in the air, but that was another matter). But yes, the important thing here was being calm and not seeming like any sort of threat.

Tobias watched Walton push the cart around the greenhouse, and the other kids approach the cart with varying degrees of success, and then finally it was his turn. The Hufflepuff looked to Walton first, giving a little smile out of pure habit, before focusing on the bouncing bulbs.

The trick here was not to be TOO cautious or casual, because it was like when people tried to act natural, and ended up acting the very OPPOSITE of natural. Plants could be super sensitive and, like animals, could sense when something was up. So being too cautious was just as much a problem of being too forward and excitable and everything.

Having waited a moment or two to process all these thoughts and work out a plan of action, Toby finally got to it. It probably LOOKED like he wasn't trying anything differently at all, when really he was TRYING to... not try anything? Acting natural totally WAS hard... but it was apparently... right? Toby simply... strolled up to the cart, not too fast, but not too slow. Not tense, but not careless. Not anything, really. It was sort of like how they'd had to clear their minds in Divination, but the more you thought about it, the harder it got. Here it was just... easy. Because plants.

And it paid off. Toby got more or less right up to the cart without anything untoward happening. He looked up at Walton again, somewhat surprised and smiling a little, and then back at the bulbs. Having something academic come so naturally to him was really quite... awesome.

At that moment, the bulbs started to quiver. Toby didn't know if they would attack or anything, but he was aware that they might have caught on to his slight change in demeanour, and courteously took half a step back, and waited. And wasn't attacked or anything. Nice.