"Not," Fyo said, sticking his tongue out at her.

He had to grin when she laughed, though. It really was not a joke. Really! "Yep," he confirmed, giving half a nod of his head. "I thought the thing needed a name - you know how cute he was, Little Fyo II. Totally ... fluffy. Like a kitten." He wasn't as adorable as a duck, as he had been as a duckling. But Fyo still loved his sorta-pet duckiee to bits.

Professor Kapoor? Bwaha, YUS!

"Of course," he said, eyes still on the spider on her shoulder. Little Fyo III, the spider was, now. At least for him. "He had a good laugh at it, too. I think he liked the humour in the whole thing." He spoke fondly, and it was clear Professor Kapoor was a teacher he loved a lot.

One of his VERY favourites, in fact.

Whilst all the hugging and chatting and immature chit-chat and flirtmancing went on, Bunbury, being the clever witch she was, had successfully sneaked away from the main foyer of the Shrieking Shack.

Truebridge could deal with the children and the hugs and the bugs. She was here to learn how to teach and Annie hadn't forgotten the only REASON she would BOTHER wasting her PRECIOUS TIME AND ENERGY in a filthy slum for spiders.

Devil's Snare, of course. The settings were absolutely perfect for a vile, hostile, archaic strand of the vine to grow all about one room on the upper floor of the Shack. In fact, the dangerous plant was absolutely perfect for providing a challenge - a bit of a final exam, if you will - to the students below. Bunz had crept up the half-rotted stairs, peeked past the door to the ensnared room just to make sure it was still there and as nasty as ever, and then sneaked back out to watch the students from above. She had a lovely view of their cobwebbed heads just lightly leaning on the banister there.... as long as she didn't put too much weight on it it wouldn't crumble yet...

"Hemhem," the redheaded professor lightly cleared her throat from her perch. "When you lot have finished your alleged exploring and ridiculous discussions of the creatures crawling about this place.... and once Jacob Upstead removes the stupid hairy fake spider from his shoulder...."

Should she take points?

"You may approach the landing here by carefully climbing the stairs." And she nodded at Truebridge so he would come too. Please.

Whatwhat, WHAT?

Fyo had forgotten of Professor Bunbury's presence. The fourth year raised his head, scanned the place, and finally found the source of the noise. Err ... her voice. Well, sort of found it.

Carefully climb the stairs. WHY? Would they, like, crumble if he was not careful? He eyed them a bit, then began to do as directed.

He missed Trubury ... The Second.

SORRRELEH!

LouAnn knew that hemhem. It was the sound of Professor Bunbury needing the attention of the students for something or another. She spun around on her heels and glanced up towards the professor, ready to do practically anything she said if meant being any closer to exiting this creepy (and sometime crawly) Shrieking Shack. Speaking of which, why was it called a shrieking shack anyway?

LouAnn shrugged and began carefully making her way up the stairs. She fully expected one of them to give way and cause her to go crashing down below and into a pile of who-knows-what. After a bit of sloooow climbing, LouAnn was standing on the landing the professor had previously indicated.

Bunbury ran away. That's what she did. Ran up to that unsafe landing. Scared of a little hug, eh?

Oh, and now they were supposed to go up there? Up them steps, onto that unsafe landing. 'What if it breaks?' she actually asked Truebridge the Spider, but the spider was being rude and didn't answer her back. Figures.

To the steps! What is soooo important up here that the whole class had to go? When she finally reached the landing, Destiny had a feeling they had to face something bad. Oh no! Destiny knew what is was. 'Is the ghost of Severus Snape up here?' Bunbury heard Destiny talking about him, and now she used her evil witch powers to summon his ghost. Destiny would never try to hug Bunbury again, at least not in the Shrieking Shack.

Mina really didn't see what the big deal was. So what if she was covered in a little dirt and had a cute snake wrapped around arm. She found him kind of adorable in a creepy kind of way. Shrugging, she turned her attention to the voice above her.

Oh it was Professor Bunbury. Wait, how'd she get up there? Wasn't she just down here? Shaking her head, she listening to what the professor said and moved to the stairs. Eyeing them, she frowned. "Um. those don't look that safe..." she said to no one particular as she tested the first step. It creaked a bit but held the weight she placed on it. Slowly, she added more weight as she stepped completely on the first step. It held up, that was a good sign, right? Turning she noticed more students approaching. She really did need to get moving. Taking a deep breath, she continued up as carefully as she could.

Please, don't break. Please, don't break.

Shumeeta grinned at Fyo. If what he said was true professor Kapoor sure had a nice sense of humour! But before she could open her mouth to reply, Bunz had addressed them and told them to ........ climb some staircase.

"Doesn't look too safe," the tomboy commented but she wasn't worried. This was fun! Like a tiny adventure.

Evelyn watched Destiny very carefully as she got rid of the spider. Or at least as much 'getting rid of' that the spider will possibly get with Destiny around. She completely missed the Professor sneaking up the stairs since all her attention was on that humongous monster spider, until she actually spoke up.

Fake hairy spider? What? Looking around for Jake, she didn't see him. Shrugging her shoulders, she moved towards the stairs and walked slowly up, almost dragging her feet. Aaand than she saw Jake. With the THING on his shoulder. Practically slamming into the wall behind herself out of shock, she ran the rest of the way up, tripping every now and then. 'Stupid spiders and their stupid 'living' and stuff.' she thought as she finally reached the top, but made no move to go anywhere else.

Aw well, she did run past Destiny, so she would wait for her before she went anywhere else. At least she got rid of the spider.

Ethan made a mental note about snakes and Torin Kane and spent a good few minutes quietly observing the students... and the spiders...

He quite liked spiders.

Oh what was this? The landing? Ethan eyed it doubtfully for a minute then used his borrowed wand to cast a few strengthening charms on it. Charms that may or may not have been temporary.

"Any inappropriate hugging will result in point loss." Truebridge spoke loud enough to be heard and of course this was solely for Annie's benefit. It had nothing to do with the fact that personal contact freaked him out.

He made his way up the stairs and joined Professor Bunbury at her vantage point.

Good. No hugs. Also good: the students were not falling through that trick 12th step that was mostly rotted to the core. Good good, because Bunbury did not believe in that 'leave no man student behind' nonsense.

Moving on. Anastasia moved away from the rickety banister and over to Truebridge. Her hand twitched toward his like she was going to make a grab for the wand but refrained. Errr. She'd let a few more students make their way up.

"As we wait on your classmates," Bunz announced, rolling her eyes at the Slytherin who honestly asked about the ghost of SevSev Snape, "tell me something useful about Devil's Snare...."

She took a few backward steps down the hall like a tour guide so the students would follow. "...what do you all recall from the other lesson...."

Fyo raised his hand. "It consists of a mass of soft tendrils and vines, professor," he began. "It has a well-developed sense of touch, which is part of its defense mechanism - if you wish to harm the Devil's Snare, it uses its creepers to ensnare you. It lets go if you do not struggle - but the more you do that, the harder and faster it binds."

He took a deep breath, then quickly went on, "It's not a vicious plant and, contrary to what a lot of people think, does not harm anyone or anything until it fears for its own safety and ... and it doesn't like light too much - in fact, one of the ways to drive it away is to produce a bit of fire - so, naturally, it prefers a dark and damp environment. "

Well, she HAD asked for what he recalled - and yes, he did recall all of that. So he had said it.

"What, you scared Mina?" Jason asked her. Jason went to the stairs. He has no fear. Creak, Creak, Creak, uo the stairs Jason goes.

Celandine liked the tunnel A LOT. Sooo much that she only just rolled out of it in the rollerskates she'd found in there. Ooooh. Oooooh. Stairs. In rollerskates. Celandine shufflebumped up the stairs, sitting on them and half crawling up them backwards until she was at the top. she settled on a strong looking cross beam, charmed her rollerskates shiny, clean and pink, then raised her hand to answer the question.

"Devils Snare can be trai... bred to be nasty professor!"

That it was unnatural and should be destroyed too? "It doesn't like the light and usually 'traps' someone in it's vine thingies if it feels threatened by them." she said, crossing her arms and sloooowwwly following the Professor. Ugh, why were they on the topic of devils snare again? 'I thought we were already passed that...'

But of course, they would have to learn about some kind of plant during a herbology lesson right? So why not study devils snare again. *snort* s'not like there was any in this place, right?

Right?

Useful and Devil's Snare should never, ever be used in the same sentence. What was this lady getting at, sending them through the Whomping Willow, the tunnel, and the Shrieking Shack just to learn more about Devil's Snare? Its not like there was some in here, right?

Well Fyo had told everything there was to know about it. No bother repeating. But Destiny knew Devil's Snare did not like to get hit with a broom. But she wouldn't mention that..

Shumeeta raised her hand. "It's a plant with a sense of touch," she said brightly. "It wraps itself 'round anyone who tries to be bad to it." What else? "It doesn't like light, and its habitat is usually damp an' dark."

Not moving from where he sat, Jake raised an eyebrow. "Whhhat fuhhh-fuh-fake ssspider?" he asked the woman as Charlie decidedly chose to scuttle over his head, settling on his opposite shoulder and nuzzling the boy's neck, perhaps sensing some people in here weren't spider lovers.

"If suhhh-sssssomeone makes you sssssit in it yyyyou end up tuh-tuhhh..." he lowered his voice a little. "Like me." And then, speaking up again, the boy spoke with a hard look in his eye. "It's a buhhh-bad thing tttto use in a duhh-detention."

No... he had not forgotten.

At all.

And what had he learnt from last lesson? Well... nothing. Except that you shouldn't try and run.

"You shouldn't completely freak out if you find yourself trapped within the Devil's Snare," LouAnn said, her hand raised high in the air. She definitely remembered that fact, as she'd been one of the students to claim that a Devil's Snare would bite a person's boots off if they got too close to it. "You should just relax and let it slowly ease away from you. If you flail about, it just attacks you that much quicker."

Quote:

Originally Posted by SenoritaMaxie

Fyo raised his hand. "It consists of a mass of soft tendrils and vines, professor," he began. "It has a well-developed sense of touch, which is part of its defense mechanism - if you wish to harm the Devil's Snare, it uses its creepers to ensnare you. It lets go if you do not struggle - but the more you do that, the harder and faster it binds."

He took a deep breath, then quickly went on, "It's not a vicious plant and, contrary to what a lot of people think, does not harm anyone or anything until it fears for its own safety and ... and it doesn't like light too much - in fact, one of the ways to drive it away is to produce a bit of fire - so, naturally, it prefers a dark and damp environment. "

Well, she HAD asked for what he recalled - and yes, he did recall all of that. So he had said it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celandine

Celandine liked the tunnel A LOT. Sooo much that she only just rolled out of it in the rollerskates she'd found in there. Ooooh. Oooooh. Stairs. In rollerskates. Celandine shufflebumped up the stairs, sitting on them and half crawling up them backwards until she was at the top. she settled on a strong looking cross beam, charmed her rollerskates shiny, clean and pink, then raised her hand to answer the question.

"Devils Snare can be trai... bred to be nasty professor!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by individual

That it was unnatural and should be destroyed too? "It doesn't like the light and usually 'traps' someone in it's vine thingies if it feels threatened by them." she said, crossing her arms and sloooowwwly following the Professor. Ugh, why were they on the topic of devils snare again? 'I thought we were already passed that...'

But of course, they would have to learn about some kind of plant during a herbology lesson right? So why not study devils snare again. *snort* s'not like there was any in this place, right?

Right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessica

Shumeeta raised her hand. "It's a plant with a sense of touch," she said brightly. "It wraps itself 'round anyone who tries to be bad to it." What else? "It doesn't like light, and its habitat is usually damp an' dark."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

"You shouldn't completely freak out if you find yourself trapped within the Devil's Snare," LouAnn said, her hand raised high in the air. She definitely remembered that fact, as she'd been one of the students to claim that a Devil's Snare would bite a person's boots off if they got too close to it. "You should just relax and let it slowly ease away from you. If you flail about, it just attacks you that much quicker."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoerawrr

Not moving from where he sat, Jake raised an eyebrow. "Whhhat fuhhh-fuh-fake ssspider?" he asked the woman as Charlie decidedly chose to scuttle over his head, settling on his opposite shoulder and nuzzling the boy's neck, perhaps sensing some people in here weren't spider lovers.



"If suhhh-sssssomeone makes you sssssit in it yyyyou end up tuh-tuhhh..." he lowered his voice a little. "Like me." And then, speaking up again, the boy spoke with a hard look in his eye. "It's a buhhh-bad thing tttto use in a duhh-detention."

No... he had not forgotten.

At all.

And what had he learnt from last lesson? Well... nothing. Except that you shouldn't try and run.

"Yes yes yes yes yes and no," Bunbury nodded as each student provided an answer. The no, obviously, applied to Upstead. "Devil's Snare, as we went over, is USUALLY perfectly HARMLESS if you approach it correctly. No need to use wands."

She paused and her mouth almost twisted into a silent scream as the GIANT HAIRY SUPPOSED-TO-BE-A-FAKE SPIDER crawled OVER Jake and onto his other shoulder. Twitchtwitchtwitch. He always had been a filthy little boy. Absolutely untrustworthy.

"Ususususually..." she swallowed and averted her eyes from Jake to stare at Evelyn instead, "You ddon't need a wand... but today," Annie grabbed Ethan's hand and started marching down the hallway. Yes. Away from the spider. "Today we will be looking at a variation of Devil's Snare that is not so 'nice.'"

She came to stop outside a rather ominous door and waited for the class to catch up. A definite mildewy stench permeated the air and the tendrils wrapping the gateway to the room hid any sign of a doorknob and did a clean job of blocking out any light that might have escaped the room.

"How and why would one need to... maybe... permanently ward off a bad batch of Devil's Snare?" Bunbury softly addressed the class, taking her eyes off the door for just a minute to frown at the class. "I would never advocate harming a plant of course but.... I might have maybe neglected to teach you this last lesson...."

Fyo raised his hand. "One would probably have to ward off a bad batch if it's insistent on harming one - even when one wishes, or causes, it no damage... or maybe one needs it? For a potion that can save a life a life, or something like that?" Yeah? Yeah. "... and, well, we know it's scared of light, so maybe LOTS of sunlight? We could levitate it - from a good, safe distance, of course - into an open, well-lit space or, more effectively, produce a good bit of fire that keeps it back. Unless you're asking for ways to ... destroy it, professor?"

It did not seem like Professor Bunbury could ever ask for something like that - no, not ever - and Fyo did NOT like that prospect.

At all.

"Fire." Celandine answered, hand up as she rolled along behind the Professors. Had to be fire, right? Light made it all eeeeee!unhappy, but fire made it all blaaaaahh!deaded. And why? "It might be a nasty batch or you might have no other choice or you might like, want dead bits of it for something." For what, Cel had no clue but someone out there probably liked dead bits of stuff.

Glaring at Bunbury juuuuust a little when she was all NO at him and then SEEMED to fake a stutter, Jake transferred Charlie the tarantula to his hand and jumped down from the great height he was sitting at. Moving quickly, he rejoined the rest of the class but stood a little far back from eveyone.

Okay...

Alot far back.

Like, beside the entrance to the tunnel far back.

He did NOT want to see Devil's Snare ever again.

Still he raised his hand. "Ssssssunlight... or... FIYAH!"

For a moment, as she stood and stared at the door, LouAnn wondered if saying "I don't know" was a suitable answer. It was to her, but then again, this wasn't her class, was it? She honestly had no idea about special circumstances that would require her to permanently ward off anything. In her eyes, if the plant moved on its own accord, it was worthy of being permanently warded off.

She raised her to ramble off something or another anyway. She had nothing to lose. "What if the plant has been tampered with? You know, controlled by outside magic? It'd probably be really dangerous then, and a person might need to have some more permanent damage control going on," she suggested. "Maybe it's been used to help hide something, and a person...a not-so-nice person, used magic on it."

Shumeeta raised her hand. "Sunlight or fire," she said confidently. But whyy? "If it wants to harm you without a reason, then?" she more asked than answered.

Some Devil's Snare that's not so nice? No Devil's Snare is nice.

Ehhhh, that was one scary door. With all the vines and scary snare on it. 'Scary Snare.' That made Destiny laugh. But then Bunbury asked a question. A question Destiny didn't know the answer to. But it never hurt to guess, 'Burn it?' Or feed it a very mean, hug-hating professor.