Allura checked her book slowly, she wasn't looking forwards to the project she was put into. Teamed up with a Gryffindor, worse it was meant to be one of the troublemaking ones, she wasn't happy about it at all really, she felt the professor might have something against her given the situation really, it was ridiculous, at the very least it was to tend to plants around the gardens and nothing that too dangerous.

She closed her book and looked up at the other girl. Mairead was her name, great, the girl only had one thing going for her so far. Slowly she put it away and started to walk up to her with a groan, why couldn't they just do it all independently, why was it all forced to be a group project, did they really want that much interhouse mingling...were the teachers taking bets on who would hook up with who in the years and as such were trying to force them up together?

The weather wasn't bad so they had that on their side for when they worked, lots of plants to tend to and alot of moving about, from some mandrakes in one greenhouse, to just simple cosmos flowers being grown, if anything it felt like they were just trying to get free labour of the students but Allura would keep that to herself for now, especially around the professor as she didn't want to have the house lose points or put on her charm at him, not that she could control it.

"Right then, lets start with the dangerous plants I guess right?" She said bluntly as she didn't put on her usual charms, it was another girl, it wouldn't work and she'd know that she was lying about it all, especially someone used to trouble and lying like her, or so she assumed. Although it might be fun regardless to work with someone like this, and if they somehow got along, she could be useful.

"Have we ever actually talked in class before? I'm Allura." She said as she shrugged, looking the girl up and down again, sighing as she did so. "Mairead right?"

Oblivious to her newly assigned partner's dismay, Mairead whistled cheerily to herself as she flopped her book closed.  As long as her partner wasn't a complete kill joy, group projects were usually Mairead's favorite.  Either her partner was just as prone to carrying more about fun than grades or her partner cared enough about grades that they were willing to compensate for her own lack of ambition. 

With the right partner, you just had to keep an out on where the professor's attention was directed and make sure you looked properly busy when it slid in your direction.  Otherwise, you could sit back, relax, and let your dutiful partner earn you both a passing grade. 

"Whatever works best for you," Mairead offered, cheerfully.  Not giving one iota about the other's lack of charm, Mairead continued to whistle as she left it to this Allura to lead the way to wherever she wanted to start working.  It didn't matter of the other girl liked the work, just so long as it got done.  Mairead stretched her arms and yawned, but caught a glimpse of professorial eyes moving in their direction and quickly turned to start poking her fingers purposefully and pointlessly into the soil.  "What are we doin' with them, again?"

Mairead had vague recollections about planting seedlings into the greenhouse beds but she couldn't quite remember if that was the more dangerous mandrakes or the less dangerous sage.  Or, both. 

"I don't think we've talked.  But, yeah, Mairead.  How are ye with all this Herbology stuff.  Keep up with notes and studyin' and all?" 

She was right with the name atleast, the fact she was asking if she knew much about Herbology and kept notes meant she knew little about Allura herself, which could both be good and bad in this situation.

"Well, I know some, I get rather good grades, although I don't take many notes. Mostly boys will just throw themselves at me to help me with work." She said casually as she shrugged her shoulders, giving a soft giggle with her. "Although that happens with most classes really, the boys will always be willing to let me use their notes, or help with assignments, they're very eager."

"What about you? Keep up also? Or prefer to sit it all out?" She side eyed the girl as she started off towards the mandrakes, they might aswell get rid of the hardest stuff first, and if they want to slack off, it meant they got something hard finished and could say they were just resting it off afterwards, recouperating after the mandrakes and ensuring neither were going to be ill or did anything wrong.

She dropped her hand into her bag as she walked, rummaging for her pair of ear muffs now to be safe, not wanting to be caught off guard and get blasted as they approach or get inside in the first place, she didn't think fainting suited her ultimately.

Mairead followed the other girl, pulling her own ear muffs out of her bag as she did.  There was another advantage to starting with the mandrakes.  If her current partner turned out to be a total bore, Mairead could 'accidentally' bump her earmuffs off.  A good screeching faint might win her a trip to the Hospital Wing and an easy pass to a free period. 

Might.  If Professor Prewett wasn't ready to call her out on that strategy. 

"I'm more of a 'get by with the least effort' kinda student.  Ye know?  I'm here mostly for the food and sports.  Just need good enough grades to avoid gettin' kicked out."  The same rule of thumb applied to mischief-making.  "Don't get a lot of voluntary help from boys.  But, I can usually find it when I need it.  Do ye like it?  The boys fawnin' over ye with notes?  Seems like it'd get annoying." 

Mairead slipped her ear muffs over her ears and tugged open the greenhouse door - no one appeared to be mid squeal, so she chanced slipping one muff half-off the ear.  "The bed in back's got the least plants.  But, the one in the corner's a biter." 

"We should do well then, if we do the Mandrakes now, then we do a little bit of some easier stuff, we can claim that we were so worn out by doing the Mandrakes at the start and get away with having done less work then others may do. We still get most of it done we can't get in trouble or have grades dropped, and we get to relax for the rest of the lesson, sound good right?" She said softly and matter of fact-ly, she'd pulled this before with others, but she got away with batting her eyes and she was off scot-free.

Besides if Mairead was up for just lazing about the entire time anyway, it made sense they should pull it off together, however she wasn't sure if it would be as believable since she was involved considering the Gryffindors record, she might have to pull out more acting then usual to get the two away with minimum effort for a change, which almost seemed to defeat the point.

Gently she looked over the pots, securing her ear muffs properly she shrugged before slipping an ear out so they could talk together, giving a smirk at the question of the boys fawning over herself.

"Oh it does get boring, I'd never trust a man further then I can throw them." She said with a soft tone, before adding on with a wink. "Girls however, are another story." She softly gave the other girl a look up and down as she put the ear muffs securely on yet again.

Well, this wasn't going to be that bad.  Allura was at least willing to be lazy, even if she was a little too worried about marks and grades in the process.  Besides, given Allura's approach, they should definitely be in good shape.  With Mairead keeping the bar low, she was always generating low expectations.  As such, doing some work - even if it was less - would be exceeding expectations and, therefore, guaranteed them marks. 

At least, that logic worked in her head. 

So, Mairead nodded and turned her attention to the pots.  She plopped her earmuffs in place and wrapped her fingers around the leaves and went through the motions of trying to unseat the plant without any real determination.  Give the impression of maximum effort, despite minimal results.  Quality over quantity, right? 

She felt a little give in the pot and loosened her grip, lest she pull out the plant prematurely and ruin her masterful performance.  Next to her, she should see Alurra had tugged a muff off an ear and had leaned over to speak.  Mairead unseated one of her own muffs to listen. 

"Ye trust girls?!"  Mairead retorted, scowling in disapproving surprise as the other put her muffs back on.  That made no sense to the Gryffindor.  Guys were easy.  Simple.  Predictable.  Girls on the other hand were sneaky and manipulative.  She'd always found it much easier to hang out with guys than girls.  If a guy stepped out of line, you could throw a punch and settle the issue before both of you went about your business.  Throw a punch at a girl and there was nothing but whining and tears and even more drama then there had been before. 

That weird look her partner had was a case in point.  Mairead cast a glance around the greenhouse, her gaze lingering a few moments on a few particularly whiny-prone classmates.  Still scowling, Mairead turned to her pot and wrenched the mandrake out before shoving the crying shriveled root into a larger pot and quickly filling the space unceremoniously with handfuls of dirt. 

Allura giggled, the girls reaction was accurate atleast, sure trusting other girls wasn't the smartest thing, but she'd still trust girls over guys. Guys just wanted her for her appearance and her charm, not for herself really, and so atleast girls she could trust that if they did really like her, it wasn't the charm most likely. Unless they were into girls themselves...

She delicately repotted the mandrake, yanking the disgusting plant from its previous pot before depositing it and filling with fresh soil, starting with its mouth to shut it up sooner, she found the plants too freakish, they were somewhat sentient from what she understood and yet they were raised like cattle and killed for potions, not to mention how gross they were in the first place.

She made sure that there weren't further mandrakes screaming about the place as she slipped off an earmuff to speak again, while continuing to fill the pot, ensuring the mouth area remains full to avoid any screams escaping and paralyzing herself.

"I'm guessing you don't trust girls at all? Any reason for that babe?" She asked straight faced as she ensured she was safe while working. This was the hardest task it seemed on the list so once these root monster babies were finished, they can start to relax, that was very promising for her. "Or perhaps you just find it so much easier to control boys, I get that, I can wrap most men around my finger to do my bidding, girls are far more fun in that regard."

She gently brushed back some of her hair before side eyeing Mairead once more. "I can teach you some ways to get a girl to do as you wish, if you desire to do so." She winked at her.