Those earmuffs. Toby knew them well, having donned a pair every single time he'd come to visit his mandrake over the last few months (just in case, y'know?). He'd actually managed to find himself a favourite pair... uh... well, NOT that he had favourites or anything like that, Merlin no. But he'd found a pair that FIT his HEAD the BEST and most comfortable...est. Uh. Yeah.

It was actually the 'HUH?' pair Toby had worn in that first mandrake lesson, and he sought them out now, sifting through and trying on the few pairs in that design before finally finding them. AHA. Toby made sure they were all snug and firmly wrapped around his ears before heading back to Mandy the mandrake.

So they had to... pull it out... and stun it. Oh. Well... as long as that didn't hurt it. Toby had never been stunned before, but all the times the spell had been mentioned in classes the professor never mentioned any pain, so he supposed it would be fine. Right. OKAY. Gloves were on too, so LET'S GOOOOOO. Time to Herbologiiiiise.

Before he did ANYTHING, Toby looked around the room properly to check and see that everyone had their ear muffs on and stuff, so he didn't accidentally kill them with his mandrake if it screamed. He couldn't SEE any earmuffless people, but he did see that a few kids had already started and nobody was dropping to the floor, so figured that meant it was okay to start.

Toby spent a few moments to properly take hold of the mandrake's leaves, wanting to get a proper grip nice and close to the head so he could free the mandrake with one sharp yank and not end up messing it up and having to re-pull. When he was ready, the Hufflepuff gave a great tug on the mandrake, pulling it free from its soily confines. His wand was in his other hand, ready, and as soon as the actual mandrake root was visible, still halfway in the pot, Toby shot the spell at it. "Stupefy!"

Luckily, his aim was spot on. Like, he didn't hit his hand with the spell or anything like that. The mandrake was well and truly STUNNED and Toby set it down on the desk, then looked up towards Truebridge but kept his earmuffs ON until instructed otherwise.

Beverly added the new information to her notes, marking an asterisk at the beginning of each point so she new which was new info. She liked organization, especially in her note-taking.

Next came the choice of earmuffs. She took the blue with the HUH? on them. It fit since she wouldn't be able to hear a thing. Huh? Exactly. Tugging on either side and patting them over her ears, she made sure they were securely on. There was no way Beverly Wayne would go out because of a howling plant.

Rubbing her hands together after centering the pot, Beverly wrapped her hand around its leaves and gave it a firm tug. The plant wriggled and opened its ugly mouth once it was out. Good try, potato. Wrinkling her nose at it, Beverly cast firmly. "Stupefy!"

It froze mid-cry--she guessed as its mouth was still wide open-- and she set it on the surface of the table next to the pot.

Breaking off from the rest, a small group of acromantulas scurried eagerly towards the greenhouses. Larger than the majority of their siblings, they were eager to stretch their 8 legs and follow through with Mother's instructions. One of the smaller, but also one of the more physically strong, took the lead and threw itself at the wall of the greenhouse.

Glass went everywhere.

Hairy black bodies began scurrying through the hole insie.

Pincers clicked eagerly as their black beady eyes fell upon their prey.

"Take them to Mother."

Mandrakes mandrakes mandrakes. Dot had her pretty fuzzy pink earmuffs on, and her gloves because GROSS dirt, and she was patting her little pot fondly. This was her mandrake and she was a good momma... was that DIRT on her wrist? Ew, no.

Professor! Dirt!

There was sort of... popping feeling around her, although Dot couldn't actually hear the crash of the glass, and she looked up curiously. Oh, hullo there giant spiders. Did this mean they didn't have to do any more Herbology? Run for your lives?

"PROFESSOR I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT RUNNING FOR OUR LIVES." She waved her hand.

Herbology was just okay, you know? Noel once thought he'd really like it but it didn't really. It was just okay. Kind of boring, not nearly as boring as arithmancy of course.

So he had been quietly writing down things and looking at his pot.

Noting the instructions, the blond grabbed his ear muffs and put them on.

So ... he didn't really hear when the glass broke.

He did ... however SEE when gross black things started crawling in.

The reason for the cobwebs ......

...

..

Noel stared, wide eyed and then CURSED rather foully under his breath. CUZ HOW CAN YOU NOT??????

The sixteen year looked at the professor and then the giant spiders - AND his hand grabbed one of the empty pots nearby. HE WAS ALLOWED TO THROW IT AT THEM, YES? This might be an emergency .........

Kate had just put her earmuffs on and was about to follow through with the rest of the professor's instructions, when she heard the sound of glass shattering. Even through the earmuffs, the sound was unmistakable. Had somebody had an unfortunate run-in with a mandrake and fainted to their death?! OH, NO.

Kate spun around, earmuffs still in place, and just froze in her tracks as she took in the sight of HUGE, hairy spiders pretty much EVERYWHERE. Uhh... Something told her this was very, very, VERY unplanned and had absolutely nothing to do with their lesson on mandrakes. Kate spared a quick glance to her little plant. PSH. She could care less about re-potting it now. It was on its own, as it was every man for himself now.

Have a nice life, mandrake.

'Take them to mother'. THEM. Did they want the mandrakes? Kate began pushing hers forward. Take it. GO. Bring it to whoever mother is, and please don't ever let me see you again. Okay? Thanks. She drew her wand out, because that was just THE thing to do. Somebody else was going to jump forward and kill all of them, right? Somebody? Anybody?

GRYFFINDORS?!

Great, all the earmuffs were on and the students were moving ahead with pulling out their mandrakes and stunniii-----



ACROMANTULAS?! BREAKING THROUGH HER GREENHOUSES?!!! OH NO THEY DID NOT.

The redhead reacted with fury, immediately picking up the nearest empty pot (sorry, Adi) and hurling it at the spiders. "USE THE MANDRAKES--- NO MORE STUNNING!" she yelled, though it was very unlikely that anyone could hear because of their earmuffs. Heck, she couldn't even hear the walls shattering as the stupid giant spiders broke through.

Annie whipped out her wand next and started casting a giant shield charm over all the children. Run for their lives--- DUH! Just run AWAY from the spiders and not TO them, okay!

Her next instinct was to use the mandrakes as a weapon. FOLLOW THE PROF'S LEAD, kids! She saw that one Hufflepuff had the right idea. Annie rushed down the row of mandrakes the earmuffed students hadn't touched yet. She started pulling one after the other after the other, whipping them around her head and tossing them at the acromantulas as they began to scream their deadly cries. Had anyone tested the yelp of a mandrake vs. an acromantula yet? Well they were about to find out just how deadly these plants could be.

Oh oh oh! They could just unpot their mandrakes and throw the thing at the spider beasts? That was a for real and actual response to this particular danger? It might not be better than running, but the professor hadn't said they could run, and Dot wasn't going to lose house points for running out of bounds.

Sometimes Hogwarts was a LITTLE silly about rules. Like prison.

Dot tugged up her dragonhide gloves with a ferocious look before digging BOTH hands around the chubby belly of her mandrake. This excellent mandrake momma was going to have to say goodbye to her ugly baby. "Sorry about throwing you at a spider," she whispered to the thingy, which was screaming its head off.

And then she threw it. "GO AWAY, SPIDER BEASTS."

She had been busy poking her mandrake when all of a sudden...

A pot flew across the greenhouse....

Lifting her gaze, Beverly's eyes widened. ACROMANTULAS! Was this part of the lesson? Yes? No? By the look on the Headmistress' face Beverly took it as a no. THEY WERE UNDER ATTACK.

What does one do when they're under attack? They fight back.

Taking the Headmistress' lead, Beverly quickly cast Finite on her mandrake. It's face contorted, and assuming it was screaming, she tossed it over at the acromantulas like a grenade.

"GET AS FAR FROM THEM AS YOU CAN!" she yelled, dramatically gesturing with her arm for the students closest to them to move away. Following Truebridges' lead, she rushed on over and pulled mandrakes like her life depended on it--which it really did-- and tossed them the spiders's way.

Were acromantuala sensitive to screaming mandrakes?

Ohh, okay, well THIS might be fun in a weird and twisted kind of way. On one hand, Kate was so freaked out beyond belief that she was out of her mind and wanted to do nothing but flail about and scream. On the other hand, throwing plants at over-sized spiders kind of seemed FUN. Yeah. Like she said. 'Fun in a weird and twisted kind of way'.

With her wand still held tightly in her hand (because she was NOT putting it away), Kate ran after the Headmistress. She felt just like a warrior heading out to fight on the front line. The only thing she needed now was a battle cry, but the only thing that came to mind was, 'TAKE THAT'! Weak, Kate. Nevertheless, she ripped a mandrake from a pot and hurled it toward a spider. "TAKE THAT!" she yelled, because something was better than nothing.

The moment Noel saw the headmistress throwing the mandrake at the spiders. Noel THREW the pot he had in his hand at the spiders with all the strength he had. He really thought the pot with the mandrakes would work much more effectively you know.

FIRST THE IMPACT OF THE POT ITSELF.

THEY'LL think that they could recover from that impact but THEN THE CRIES would be happening.

DOUBLE ATTACK.

TOO caught up in the moment, the boy grabbed the pots one after another and threw them at the gross hairy things. "TAKE THAT YOU FUDGING THINGS!"

.

.

Well, THAT was a relief...because Gabriel had stunned his mandrake a few times during the homework phase...and had worried that he was going to get in trouble for it if the Headmistress found out. Plant cruelty...or something. Yes! Good call, Banner.

Selecting another pair of earmuffs...the burger ones, which reminded the Ravenclaw that he was hungry...Gabe snapped them into place. Taking a moment to make sure they were properly covering his ears, he went ahead and did the initial Stupefy...before uprooting his mandrake. He wasn't sure about the others...but Carbunculus had a rambunctious nature, despite maturing...

What happened next, though....Well....

Suddenly, the loudest shattering noise Gabriel had ever heard broke over the room...and he spun on the spot, eyes widening to the size of saucers. It was like his worst nightmares being realized, watching large spiders spill into the greenhouse.......................

Acromantulas.

Gabe could've cried.

He was officially the worst prefect in history. He wanted to run for his life, leave the lot of them for dead, and save his own neck....In fact, an exit strategy seemed like a pretty good idea.........but he didn't. Gosh. DOT was in here......and Toby. Even Gabriel Banner wouldn't leave his friends behind.

Right. They were....tossing mandrakes....

Stumbling backwards slightly, trying to steady his shaking limbs, Gabe followed Beverly's lead. "Finite!" was uttered before he ripped the plant up out of the pot and hurled it towards the nearest spider. The delivery wasn't the best...but HE TRIED. That...counted for something...right?

Merlin help, he really didn't want to die like this....

So the acne DID clear up. Well that was good to know. Hopefully it meant his mandrake wouldn't look as awkward now either because boy was that thing an ugly teenager. Just saying. And Zander was kind of looking forward to the moving them around thing. It'd be kind of cool to see how much they changed, y'know? Despite the fact that it was a total pain the last time.

He went to grab his earmuffs, which she had remembered to bring to the lesson this time. Then after putting them on he stood for a moment to debate whether stupefy would be a good idea, which it probably would be. So the prefect took out his wand to cast a quick-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

HOLY MOTHER OF MERLIN.

THOSE WERE ACROMANTULAS!!!!! Actually, Zander had come across them face to face before. So it wasn't even as terrifying. They just brought back TONS of warflashbacks. Also IS THIS WHY THERE WERE SO MANY COBWEBS?

O M G.

They were back here to eat Zander and Aegis!!! They must've been mad after they were only able to get Gregoire the last time and HOLY COW. This meant he was totally and singly handed my responsible for this years Hogwarts mystery and total mass destruction. Uh. Talk about oops? So THIS is what Flammy meant by tidal waves. Huh. Makes sense now.

So he was in Herbology with the Headmistress that knew he was one of those responsible for aggravating the acromantulas last term and now those spiders were breaking in to eat them all. What else could go wrong? Probably loads of things actually. It was just a typical day at Hogwarts after all. Nothing out of the ordinary yet.

EXCEPT YES PULLING OUT THE MANDRAKE NOW!!!!

"TAKE THIS SPIDER SCUM!!!" .... Did mandrakes work against man eating beats? Also while we're taking the time here RIP Gregoire you will always be remembered especially now when we will probably die the same way as you the end.

Reason number 400067 as to why Zander should've skipped class today.
.

*Noah had been following the lesson and had just put the earmuffs on with something touch his shoulder. Turning he flicked off a bit off glass, wait... Glass? That was when he saw the spiders. He hated spiders with a firey passion. He was trying to think of a fire spell when he remembered where he was, not a good idea with people around. Backing away from the spiders he followed the professors lead and started chucking the ugly baby plant at the spiders.*

Zander seemed amused by her answer, and she couldn't help but to smile at him. Must be that he had a jerk of a mandrake to take care of too. Probably he could sympathize. He could probably laugh again now that he didn't have to play daddy to an undeserving, party throwing, disrespecting turd face.

And now they had to yank them from their homes. AJ had no problem with that. No problem at all. She would slowly yank them out... really enjoy this part. A fun little bonus was that their cries could kill you now. It wasn't like she wanted to die, but knowing that you could really got the blood pumping.

Earmuffs on! There. She was protected against the grim reaper. Watching Truebridge first, she grabbed her mandrake. S L O W L Y, she started to pull him up. Seriously, grass grew faster than this. Peter was wailing and trying to kill her obviously. Too bad he still was lacking in the manners department. But, trying to kill somebody... that was taking it to an unhealthy level. Peter needed counseling. She should know.

Finally, he was yanked all the way up. Well, not really yanked, more like slowly pulled up. "STU---"

Motion caught her eye, and sweet, majestical baby unicorns. There were spiders. Shattered glass and complete chaos. This was the thing that AJ lived for. She was going to ride that spider. Maybe it just wanted some company? Or not. Apparently they were under attack. The headmistress was slinging mandrakes like a side show at a circus. It was mad impressive.

For a moment, AJ bit her bottom lip. She was torn. Spiders were really just misunderstood creatures. But, when was she going to get the chance to sling another mandrake IN FRONT of the Hogwarts boss lady? Decision made.

"Peter you're up." Karma was something else, wasn't it? AJ was an athlete and baseball was her favorite sport. It was safe to say that her aim was spot on.

"CHAAAAAAAARGE!"

Peter was flopping by her side as she ran up on the closer spider. Left foot out. Right foot back. Peter was airborne. How do you like them apples, spiders? And she was sorry. Would they still agree to a spider play date with her precious spiders in the castle?

No?

Pot time. AJ grabbed as many as she could, and started flinging them like they were baseballs. You want some? Come get some.

....Eden nodded at Truebridge and grabbed her earmuffs. She was about to put them on when--

OH SNAP.

A GIANT. BLOODY. SPIDER. JUST LIKE THAT. APPEARED.

She'd heard the rumors--Damien's leg, hello?! And Now Bunz wanted them to sacrifice the lives of the poor, defenseless mandrakes to defeat the spiders? Eden clutched the pot that held Hippolanta and...had to reason with herself.

Eden...your life...it's important...these mandrakes might survive if you throw it...those cries MIGH be fatal to the spiders... But Eden also thought the spiders could be reasoned with. But alas....she bit her lip, and followed Bunz' lead.

She liked her life, thank you. And she didn't want to muck up now. She had too much going for her at the moment.

So she did it. She threw her mandrake at the spiders and burst into tears.

>.<

Angel was just looking at her mandrake, wondering how big it had got when suddenly there was a commotion. Seriously what was with these Spiders today and could she go and ask the COMC Professor for a dragon, because that would get rid of them right, you know Dragons could breath fire.

Angel watched as everyone else started to throw things at the spiders and she looked at her plant and lobbed it.... she really wanted to leave this place now.

Hum, hum, hum!

Wait! What was that out of the corner of his eyes?

SPIDERS!

Adi's instinct was to get his wand and blast the things but the next thing he knew was Truebridge grabbing his empty pot and throwing it at them. BRILLIANT! The Head was saying something- Use the mandrakes?- Was that what she was saying? YES! Look the others were doing it! Adi noticed something Bev and Gabe did which caused their mandrakes to start screaming. "Finite!'' Oh yeah! His mandrake was having a wail of a time again.

With all the upper body strength Adi could muster, he tossed the mandrake at the spiders. HAVE FUN WITH IT, SPIDEYS! Wasting no time to check where the mandrake landed, he hurried to follow Truebridge's lead with the other potted 'drakes.

Hope you like screaming mandrakes, Acromantulas! Mwahahaha!

The first spider charged forward.

Suddenly its legs bent at odd angles and it began to screech a warning towards its siblings to move back. Writhing in agony for almost a full minute, it eventually flopped over on its back.

Dead as a door nail.

The rest of the swarm hissed and waved their arms angrily from a distance outside of the greenhouse. A few, whose eyes you could swear were darker than before, charged forward with nothing to lose and began ripping and tearing up any mandrakes they could find on the ground before succumbing to the mandrakes' screams and joining their group's leader on their backs with legs folded across their bodies or sticking up in the air.

Still more came scurried inside and around their fallen companions. The screams of the mandrakes hindered their advancement and some continued to fall, but as more and more mandrakes were torn to pieces the more agile and confident the acromantula's movement became.

"THAT ONE! IT IS MINE!" screeched one. Pincers clicking together aggressively, it began making wild and unpredictable movements toward the human fleshie who was clearly one of the leaders (Samia).

"YOU AND YOU, WITH ME!" ordered another as three acromantula converged on the red headed human (BanaBatGirl).

The rest continued to dispose any mandrakes they could get their pincers on.

Eden's eyes were full of tears--MERLIN MERLIN--those spiders--they were RIPPING through some of the poor mandrakes, and Eden almost died of grief right there--

TRUEBRIDGE.

Eden brandished her wand and sent a sharp freezing spell int he direction of the spider that aimed for her. "IMMOBULUS--" she didn't know what else to do, and it was the first spell that popped into her head.

.

.

.

THEY WERE TEARING THROUGH THE MANDRAKES!!! This....this wasn't working. Not in a way that was really making much of a difference....and they were closing in on the Headmistress. She was their LEADER. What would happen if they took her?!

They would die.....that's what. They were going to die.

.....and Gabe...Gabe didn't want to die like this. No...He...he had NEWTs to sit in a few weeks...and then Germany was happening. He was going to move there and study the sciences and change the face of the world. He....this....they.....

The Ravenclaw prefect doubled over, dry heaving. No....no....no, no, no, no, no....Not an anxiety attack. NOT RIGHT NOW....

He stumbled, gripping at the workstation surface. Eden was nearby, crying and shouting spells...or was it just one spell? There was too much commotion; he couldn't focus enough to...pinpoint. "We need to...get out of here...." They ALL did. How could they fight off an army?! It....it wasn't logical. They were just kids...or students, to be more politically correct

...AND....! THAT was the Hufflepuff that had given him the brownies! THAT'S WHO THAT WAS! Gabe stared at the enormous spider snapping up Noel Wallace and gasped. IF ONLY HE HAD CHEMICALS...He could make a molotov cocktail...because science....Science fixed everything....but he...he could've accidently Incinerated Noel....BUT IF THEY COULD JUST MOVE NOEL OUT OF THE WAY...

Shakily, still, Gabe forgot about the mandrakes and pointed his wand................"Accio Noel Wallace.".......No, that wasn't going to work...but he'd been about to cast Bombarda...and well....HE'D REDIRECTED LAST MINUTE. He didn't want to fry his classmate!....or set the place on fire. HE WASN'T MADE FOR WAR...

....."S-s-...STUPEFY!" There.......That...that, was better.

FLAILING!!!!

Pretty soon they were going to run out of mandrakes and pots. Surely, the headmistress had a plan B, yes? For now though ... Noel was hurling mandrake pots at the spiders with all his puff power. And it seemed to be working .. the spiders were starting to die. IT WAS WORKING.

...

Only ... not so much anymore.

More of them started to emerge and WAS THAT ONE LOOKING AT HIM? Noel hurled a pot at it but missed because the hairy monster was moving fast and unpredictable. WHAT DID IT MEAN THAT ONE IS MINE? "NO I AM NOT YOURS!" The puff wailed, grabbing a pot and throwing in it's direction.

Something was telling him the 'pot throwing' alone was not going to work anymore. There was too much panic and DID SOMEONE TRY AND ACCIO HIM? Noel wanted to look back but that hairy thing was too close ... the 'accio' reminded him to use his wand. Without another thought, the boy pointed his wand at the thing and: "Confringo!"

O_______________________________O

Everything seemed to happen all at once. Toby didn't HEAR the acromantula arrive, but it was impossible to miss the glass that went literally everywhere. He span around to see what the heck was going on and... yeah. Big, terrifying spiders. YEAH. YEAH. OR, MORE ACCURATELY, NOOOOOOOOOOOPE.

It was bizarre, because Toby could SEE the chaos, but the fact that he couldn't hear anything made it feel like it wasn't even REAL. Like a dre-... no, nightmare. Definitely a nightmare. He could see mandrakes FLYING through the air, and big spiders curling up dead, and the Hufflepuff automatically picked up his own stunned mandrake and clutched it protectively to his chest before anyone could grab it. Priorities.

He didn't hear any instructions of course, and he didn't know whether he wanted to fight or flee. Because this was clearly a fighting situation, the way they were advancing on people, but Toby didn't want to believe it, but everyone else was fighting back and throwing spells and mandrakes, and they wouldn't do that for no reason. He WANTED to run, because SPIDERS, but there were people here he didn't want to abandon.

So mostly he just sat there, wide-eyed and staring, doing nothing until he saw three of those big spiders go for Truebridge, at which point he went into autopilot. Nuh-uh. Not our headmistress. Toby's wand was back in his hand in a second, and Toby automatically cast, not at the spiders, but at the floor they were scurrying over. "Glisseo!"

... He was also still cradling his mandrake protectively. His mandrake was NOT gonna be savaged.

In the middle of her pot tossing, and mandrake slinging good time, she noticed that the first spider died. He killed over. WOOT. Mandrakes were super powerful. Good thinking, headmistress. Even better for leading by example. This was the BEST lesson ever.

More spiders were coming, and they were going down one by one. YESSS. Only some were making it. EEP. Was there going to be enough mandrakes to go around? Was it just her or was Noel looking like a target. What was up with that? Before she could think too much into that she noticed three of them coming at her headmistress.

RUDE. Bullies. "SPIDER BULLIES. BULLLIIIIESSS." Pick on someone your own side. Nobody was going to be taken from the greenhouse. Not today, spider bullies. And not on her watch. You got that?

Spells were flying, but she didn't know which ones were being used because of the whole wearing earmuffs so she doesn't die thing. What spell would be useful? She stopped and thought for a moment. Like, this was a normal lesson and she had all the time in the world to figure something out.

Hopping around in her little area while trying to think was happening. Oh, she had something. "Confundo." What? It was the best thing she could come up with under pressure. Plus, confused spiders sounded like a good idea. Maybe they would forget about trying to eat them and instead give them all spidey rides. After the fun was over they would just go back to their homes and all would be well with the world. AJ just REALLY wanted a spider ride.

There were still some pots left, and the fourth year just couldn't help herself. One, two, three. Pots were flying. A nice bump on the head will surely help with the confusion thing. You know, if the spell worked. Spellwork wasn't always her friend.

Once again, Kate had that startling feeling that all she wanted to do was around screaming her head off with her hands flailing madly in the air. She was only a second year! Couldn't this have happened when she was a little older and had more experience? Or, better yet, couldn't this have just not happened at all?! For a split second, Kate's senses returned to her, and she jerked a mandrake from a pot and flung it at the nearest spider.

It really just bounced off the spider like a ping pong ball, though. She didn't think it noticed, really.

...but then they started barking orders and staking claims on actual people, and umm...no. Kate could NOT let that happen for many reasons, but mainly because Truebridge was the only adult in the greenhouse at the moment and one of the spiders wanted to take her with it. "No, no, no, no, no. NOT the Headmistress!" Kate firmly told it, as if she expected it to pout but nod and move along.

Uhh....Kate pointed her wand at the spider. "Arania Exumai!" she said. She'd honestly never cast the spell before, only practiced it, but it was worth a shot. Besides, what was the worst it would do? Shoot a little sparkle then fizzle out?