"Stop biting my plant, you idiot! You're hurting him!" the Herbology professor scooted off her stool and came to crouch down beside the Devil's Snare. Her poor plant. She reached a soothing hand out for the tendril still slapping Jake, noticing right away that he had almost bitten clear through it.

The plant responded by wrapping around her wrist like a bracelet and staying there, suddenly calm. The rest of the plant also stopped squeezing the daylights out of the boy though it didn't let him go just yet. He was still being huggled.

"Now then," Anastasia brushed the few other tendrils off Jake's face so they could make eye contact. "Let me guess. This taught you nothing, as usual."

Shall she give him the use of his vocal cords again? Might as well. Bunz flicked his wand yet again and then set it off to the side, out of reach of the Devil's Snare. "Answer me."

HE was hurting THE PLANT?!

Are you kidding me?

Feeling sick as a dog, his head THROBBING from the overbearing squeezing, Jake sat still on the plant, head lolling from side to side, dopily. Usually, he'd have flinched with Bunz being so close... but right now, he just watched her, one eye feeling more open than the others.

AHHHHH! Finally, he could SPEAK!

"Ohhhh, ahlearntsummat," he said, slurring a little bit and closing his eyes so the light wouldn't affect his headache. "Learnt youraderanggged psych'path, dangerous teaching trildren," Jake said confusedly, noticing the plant wasn't squeezing him anymore and making a sudden lunger forward, but not getting very far.

"'ll 'ave you furr thisss," the boy grinned, speaking quietly and looking knowingly at Bunz.

She better keep an eye on her cat... lest someone thinks he might be safer walking the streets of London.

He was such a drama queen, acting all... half-dead like that. Psh. Little boy. Bunz knew her precious little Snare wouldn't deliberately choke him.... all the way.... would it?

Nahhhhh. Never.

"Upstead.... you...." what? What was up with that disturbing grin?

Bunbury abruptly stood up and dragged Jake to a standing position. The Devil's Snare let them go without a qualm and the redhead professor proceeded to stand Jake up against the wall....er...tilt/lean him against it, more like, so she could threaten talk to him more properly.

"YOU are not going to go anywhere or tell anyone about this detention, are you, Upstead?" she hissed in a low voice with an odd, icy glint to her blue eyes. "Because there is nothing to tell. Nothing happened here. You disrespected me and I tried to patiently teach you the meaning of personal space. That is all."

Groaning slightly at the sudden movement, Jake squeezed his eyes shut again. UGHHHH his head was POUNDING! With difficulty, Jake kept himself propped up against the wall and stared right back at Bunz, not even trying to grab his wand, forgetting about it completely.

Wait.

Was she insane?

"Uhyouuuinsssssane?"

Of COURSE he was telling.

"'Corssumtellin'," he smirked again slightly, though he really wanted to just collapse right now, not smirk or make ANY facial expressions. Facial expressions were tiring. "Andwaiitttt... you knowww... troof poshun, Prosseffuh... troof poshun," Jake repeated swaying dangerously and falling straight forwards towards Bunbury, feeling as though he was about to faint.

Bunbury was most definitely NOT going to answer the insanity question because..... ah well, she didn't know the answer? AHEM.

"UPSTEAD," she growled, grabbing his wand and flicking it at the boy so he would stay upright. If he fainted... well now that would be a bit of a problem. Anastasia didn't know the new Healer or how well she would react to receiving a half-strangled Hufflepuff in her office.

"Upstead, you have to listen to me," Bunz tried again more loudly, bounce/levitating Jake just a bit so he'd pay attention. "You are never to come near me, my greenhouses, my garden, or MY cat ever ever again. Do you understand that? I don't care about truth potion or WHO you THINK you will tell because NOTHING can be proven."

And it couldn't. She had done nothing wrong. He had sat on the plant. The plant had strangled him. All she had done was talk to the boy and confiscate his wand. Annie's hands were literally clean of evidence... why, even Jake's wand had done all the spellwork today.

All at once, the unfairness of the situation combined with the stress of his encounter with the devil's snare, and the exhaustion of the scavenger hunt all took it's toll on Jake's poor little mind and... well... he snapped.

Now, you maybe be thinking you've seen him snap before.

Lies.

His body going rigid as a board, Jake's eyes were compelled to be forced to rol back into his head about 25 times a minute, his fingers made strange claw-like shapes out of pure habit, and limbs twitched. After his head threw itself backwards a few times, the boy clicked his own jaw over and over again. He stood as much as he could on the floor of the greenhouse and stared up at the roof, letting out hisses and spits like a cat, before a great high-pitched scream came forth that lasted at LEAST twenty seconds. Then, Jake's entire body relaxed and he lolled there, having finally passed out. A little blood dripped from his nose.

What. The. Hell. Was. Wrong. With. THIS. CHILD.

Was Jake Upstead suddenly an epileptic? Or did the demon possessing him just now decide to show itself to the world? AHA. Bunbury had KNOWN he was a little devil all along! SHE HAD KNOWN. That didn't stop her from taking a horrified step back from the boy as he twitched and rolled and lolled and screamed like the Basement Cat, though.

When he (it?) seemed to be calmed at last, Bunz reached out and gave Jake a sharp poke with his own wand. Hmm. Still alive. Fine. But she was not going to let him drip filthy child-blood all over her clean greenhouse floor.

Rolling her eyes heavenward and sighing deeply, Bunbury tapped his nose (still using Jake's wand, of course) and muttered, "Episkey."

There. That was one problem fixed.

"Levicorpus," she muttered next, proceeding to levitate Jake through the jungle of plants and out the front door of the greenhouses. Where to take the boy, however, now that was the real problem. She was NOT going to give in to the boy and take him to his wannbe-padres, Marcus and Iliana. No. She was going to turn him over to the proper authorities and then never ever go near that boy ever again.

Devil child.

Well, it had been colder outside then he had expected it to be. Broccoli stepped inside the greenhosue and rubbed his hands together with his glvoes still on as he let the steam from the green house seep into his cloak. He'd probably have it off in less then an hour.

"So, here we are." He said showing off the greenhouse to Jule as if it was his. "Stay away from that area," he pointed to the south east. "There's a Venomous Tentacula over there."

"Now that you've told me that, I might want to go over there now," she giggled. It was definitely cold outside. Jule was thankful she had long, thick hair that covered her ears and somehow kept them kind of warm in the cold. She looked down at her hands and saw her finger tips becomingred from the cold. "Oh well," she whispered and rubbed them together.

“Brococli,” Daisy said popping up from behind a potted Abyssinian shrivelfig. “Just the bipedal I needed.” She waved him over. “Please, Common…common…” she didn’t realize he had another person with him or else she would have said hi and introduced herself. “I’m having a problem with this scurvy-grass.”

Little flowers littered the greenhouse floor around a puffapod plant. Daisy has bumbed into it earlier and hadn’t gotten around to cleaning it up. “I can’t seem to get it to stop wilting. Any suggestions?”

Chris walked into Greenhouse Three as Professor Bunbury had told him too. She was talking to the other stduents whp wanted her attention, so she sent him on ahead. He looked excitedly at all the plants that lined the room. The Prefect wondered what she had in store for him.

Still half-tracing her steps for wherever her wand might have gone, Bunz had almost forgotten she'd told Chris to meet her in Greenhouse Three. Oh. Right. They were going to be cleaning up someone else's mistakes yet again.

"Hello Chris," she greeted the Gryffindor in a dull tone. "We're going to work with these today." She ambled over toward two rows of hopefully healthy, potted Mandrakes and brushed her fingers along their leaves.

Chris looked ta Professor Bubury as she entered the Greenhouse. He smiled a greeting to her and then wondered about her tone, she seemed a bit upset. "Is there anything wrong, Professor?" he asked kindly.

Chris looked at the potted plant she indicated with a brush of her hand. "Ooh are those Mandrakes, Professor Bunbury?" he asked excitedly. Hopefuly the plant work would help raise her spirits.

"Hmm?" Bunz was staring off into space with her hand still stroking the mandrake leaves. "Something wrong?" Her brow furrowed and she frowned at Chris. "Yes. Too many things are wrong."

SIGH. Working with the plants would force her to think about things other than a missing wand though. "These are indeed mandrakes, Chris. And I think two or three of them are growing too rapidly and may need new pots. And new fertilizer."

Chris furrowed his brow as he thought. He wasn't going to press her for any of her problems. He didn't want to pry. She would tell him about them if she wanted to. "Oh well I'm sorry Professor, I hope things go better for you from now on." he nodded.

He turned his attention back to the Mandrakes in front of him. Ah they did seem a bit big for the particular pots. "Ok so where is the fertilizer I can grab that for you." he offered, eager to start.

"Uh.... thanks," the redhead acknowledged Chris with a curt nod. "The fertilizer - it's actually recycled compost - is in a pile in the back corner I believe."

She, meanwhile, went around and poked and prodded at a few plants here and there, selecting three pots with extra-large leaves and setting them off to the side. They would be the ones needing repotting.

"Annie?" Ethan popped his head around the doorway to the greenhouse. He was checking each and every one for her having not found her in her office and finally managing to escape from his own.

He spotted her and stepped inside, not smiling though his eyes lit up somewhat at seeing her, even if there was going to be a 'we need to talk' moment upcoming that he was not looking forward to.

Anastasia's head snapped up at the sound of a familiar voice and her blue eyes widened just slightly at the sight of the other professor.... in the greenhouse. Hmm. "Ethan...." she hesitated, still twiddling with one mandrake leaf. Annie let it be and stepped closer to the door and away from Chris. "What... er, where have you been?"

Not in HIS office on the FIRST FLOOR, clearly.

Ethan pointed UP.

"Found myself relocated."

Indeed.

"I hear that you met Lord Borr." At least judging by the wanted posters everywhere, that had to be the case.

"Where....to?" Annie blinked and took another step closer to Truebridge. Up like... on the roof? In a balloon? Up?

Boar. That PIG. "Unfortunately, yes I encountered a person named Borr. He took over your office and wouldn't say what he did with you." She scowled and crossed her arms. "Rude, rude man."

"Astronomy office." Ethan answered.

"Is that why you took his cane, my..." He cleared his throat and glanced at Chris, "...Annie?"

He looked back at Anastasia and pressed his lips together thoughtfully. "Is there somewhere we can go, a little more... private?"

Astronomy. Well that made no sense. Annie looked at the ground with a clear frown on her face and slowly nodded yes to both questions. Ethan didn't sound too happy either. "Sure... the gardens? My office?"

She glanced back at the Prefect and spoke up for his benefit. "I'm going to step outside for a moment, Chris. If you want to spread the fertilizer out and heap it up by the smaller mandrakes, that would be lovely."

"The gardens?" Zan suggested softly, offering his arm for her to take. It would be nicer, even with the snow, to wander around with her outside. Particularly since he'd been indoors almost all term.

"I find myself wondering exactly why Borr is here. He isn't technically teaching astronomy, there is some lunatic in the owlery doing that. Also, I can't find my chihuahua anywhere."

Also; Jake Upstead.

Chris smiled and walked over to the corner Professor Bunbury had pointed to containint he fertilizer. "Oh I see, I guess that compost is much more natural and healthy for plants?" he wondered aloud.

Just as he had retrieved the bag and brought it back to the worktable where Bunbury was standing. She was looking towards the door. Chris hadn't noticed the man that walked in. He put on a smile and waved shortly. "Oh [Hello professor Truebridge!" He put on some gloves and began pulling some of the compost through the top of the bag to get it ready for the mandrakes, as the two professors had a whispered conversation, which Chris closed his ear to.

He nodded when Bunbury said to go ahead and begin while she and Truebridge went to go finish talking. "Ok Professor I will start, and have a good day Professor Truebridge." he smiled brilliantly.

When they left adn shut the door to the bitter cold outside, Chris tipped the bag and the contents onto the work table and began to spread the warm dark soil onto the table around the smaller mandrakes. Oh how he loved Herbology.

The best bet for leaving a gift for Bunz was to put it someplace obvious and hope she appreciated jars of dung. It almost seemed like a mean thing to do... did anyone really get EXCITED about dung? Perhaps Bunz did...

Copernicus deposited the jar in a bag, but it seemed like an awful Muggle practical joke. Poooo in a bag. Yuck.

With a flick of his wand, Cope transfigured the wand into a much more appropriate receptacle. If Cope knew girls who liked pink (and he did), then he was pretty sure Bunz would like whatever was in this bag. Including dung.

He left a note in the bag, placed it on a shelf and departed back to the castle.

Professor Bunbury,
Please enjoy this humble gift in all its finery. I hope you can make use of both, and please know I am always willing to help "spread" the joy.

Sincerely,
Copernicus P. Kettleburn