Closed Of Sunflowers and Squids PV Elizabeth Lovett

Just how long the pair had fled he didn't know. In his adrenaline fueled rush to leave he had paid no real heed to their surroundings, and the only sound he'd heard was the slapping of their boots on the ground and the unrelenting thump of his erratic heartbeat which pulsed through his body and thrummed against his eardrums.

As Elizabeth slowed to a halt and released his arm, he turned a peculiar shade of green. Between the excitement, adrenaline, and just the exercise in general, Eliphas Dune looked and felt as though he was about to throw up. Holy smokes, they had nearly died! Not just died, but been eaten alive by some weirdly sentient plant! Surely that was a worse fate than straight death, no?

The anger which snapped through Elizabeth's tone was enough to push down the bile, and preoccupy him from his queasy state. She had enough rage in that moment for the both of them, and Eliphas found himself just standing there sheepishly. He wavered slightly in place, stomach still turning, and simply nodded in agreement.

When she finally turned toward him and noticed the cut on his arm, the anger seemed to fizzle away in favour of something else. Determination? Care? As he tried to come down from the swirling emotions he was feeling he couldn't quite trust his senses to give him an accurate reading of the more intricate expressions upon her face.

He slumped back on the grass, planting his backside firmly on the ground, and then followed her gaze down to his arm.

"Oh, would you look at that," he stated, rather plainly. It wasn't until the adrenaline began to wane and his heartrate began to even out that he even felt the pain from the cut. "Not too much, no," he lied, each beat of his heart made the wound pulse uncomfortably too. It was a strange feeling, as though he had a second heart in his arm. The sheer craziness of that thought made him shake his head and chuckle.

"That wasn't a good idea, was it?" he breathed, reaching up to wipe his brow with the back of his sleeve. "What were we thinking? This is Hogwarts... There's a damn tree with moving branches, and staircases which move!" In his excitement to explore, to regain that sense of adventure, he'd completely lost his mind and become irrational.

And what was worse, he'd roped another student into his mischief too.

He looked down, shame creeping into his already somber expression. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth, I never should have suggested we explore the greenhouses." It wasn't until she made mention of the lake that he finally checked their surroundings, and found themselves upon one of the inclines which led down toward the shore. "I think it will be okay," he said of his arm, and this time his words were said with sincerity. "My jumper took most of the bite from it."

Talking about the cut though made him realize just how much trouble they were likely in. "Shoot, the greenhouse! Do you think they'll know it was us?" Shattered windows were hard to ignore, after all. "Maybe it's best we tell them ourselves?"

As much as he'd have liked to hide away here by the lake, and pretend they'd done nothing wrong, he doubted they'd be able to escape justice for long. As much as Eliphas loved to explore, he didn't enjoy rulebreaking and was already beginning to feel mighty guilty about the whole entire excursion.

@Elizabeth Lovett

Time was never on Tuesday's side. He could never keep it, keep track of it, or even get ahead of it. Either one thing or another always dragged his attention away from a clock kicking and screaming. Let that be gardening, preparing for his next lesson, or giving detention to children who don't enjoy following the rules. The man was usually very relaxed, but the direction of not entering the other greenhouses is a big no-no. Some things are the thing of nightmares for certain children, and Tuesday was not about to let his name be besmirched with the death of children. Hell, it hasn't even been a whole year into his professorship at Hogwarts.

Now his class was running longer than expected, nothing drastic, but a couple of minutes, at least. He had a bad habit of going a lil' bit overboard in his teaching, so refer back to his lack of time management skills. But, time management be damned, the soft shrieks of children breaking the rules were something that always caught Tuesday's ear. There was no need for a clock to tell him that it was time to wrap it up.

With a hurried step and word, the man flippantly waved his hand before wrapping up what he was saying to the class, "Class dismissed. Don't forget to go over mundane herbs with healin' properties in your textbooks when you get the chance. Get out of here." With that, the Herbology professor strode out of the first conservatory like a bat out of hell.

Stomping across the crisp grass, Professor Irons' could feel his boot slide slightly from a patch of mud he wasn't too concerned about. His priority number one was the commotion going on in his other greenhouses. Finally, after a minute of stomping towards the other greenhouses, the man could catch sight of two children planted on the inclined slope that leads closer to the lake. It was pretty telling that these were the two troublemakers, considering the panes of shattered glass. Pressing his forefinger and thumb against the bridge of his nose, the man pulled his wand from the back pocket of his jeans. "Reparo." The man commanded before the pieces of glass lifted from the ground to fall back into place like a puzzle magically. "Hey! What do you two think you are doin'?" His voice failed to contain any of his normal mirth before quickly closing the distance between the students and himself. "What in the world happened?"

@Eliphas Dune & @Elizabeth Lovett

Elizabeth was in total "tiny nurse" mode, scanning the ground and looking for something to help them. Clearly, Eliphas was in some form of shock after the incident. His expression was distant and he didn't seem to register any pain from the cut. "No, it probably wasn't a very good idea at all. But it's not your fault Eli." She meant this sincerely. "We just weren't thinking."

He was right though, this place was extreme to both of them. Exploring as a couple of first years was pushing it. But exploring an explicitly restricted area was another level of stupidity. Lizzy prided herself on her smarts but, as her uncle always said, she was more book smart than life smart.

She could see what he meant about his jumper being the worst part damaged. "Well- that maybe true. But you should still be careful. I feel horrible that you got hurt."

His words reminded her of their situation as well and she gulped. "Um- probably not. How would they know it was us? Unless that frickin' thing talks." She shuddered remembering the plant's drooling gaping mouth.

Not two seconds after she said that she heard the tinkling of glass and spun around, half expecting to see a walking plant with teeth. Instead, she saw her Herbology teacher striding towards them, the greenhouse behind him repairing itself. Her eyes widened and she took a step back. As a child, she had known all of her teachers in school very well, and she had rarely ever gotten disciplined harshly.

"I-" She took a step back, "I'm sorry Professor." She hung her head, trying to put together an explanation. "I just like plants, my dad is a gardener- well a healer but he has a garden-" She began nervously rambling, managing to stop herself after a moment. "We were just exploring and one of your- plants- well it tried to eat us!"

Lizzy then remember Eliphas and pointed to his arm, "He got cut from the glass. Can you help him?" She felt deeply guilty for all of this.

It seemed as though any chance he might have had at coming clean of his own volition was shattered against the rocks below before he could so much as take one step toward the castle.

He had just opened his mouth to respond to Elizabeth, to insist that they head back to the Greenhouses, when lo and behold Professor Irons appeared on the hill above them. Eliphas' whole face paled, and given that it had already been rather green to begin with the change in hue was odd.

A quick show of Reparo had the remnants of glass which had come this far sliding back toward their initial roosts, though as much as he wanted to see them move around and fix themselves his gaze was locked at the floor by the Professor's feet. Shame brought some colour back into his cheeks, and he was grateful that Elizabeth was quick to respond. He wasn't sure if he could even force out a squeak in that moment.

Even so by the time she was done he did so anyway.

"It's my fault, Professor," the small Eagle said, finally lifting his gaze to meet the man's face. As much as he wanted to look away, he'd learned through watching his Father that it was good manners to look another in the eyes when you were saying something sincere. Especially an apology. "I was eager to explore, and in my excitement I got Elizabeth involved. I should have known better. I'm sorry about the Greenhouse..."

He waited for a moment, before another thought came to mind. "Is... Is the plant okay?" If he'd been injured by the shards of glass, maybe the plant had too. That wasn't something he'd wanted, in fact the mere thought of it made him feel sick to his stomach. With nothing more to say he dropped his gaze once more to the ground.

A carnivorous plant was simply acting on impulse and nature, but mischievous children who knew better? Well, that could be helped couldn't it?

@Elizabeth Lovett | @Tuesday Jeremiah Irons

Tuesday stood for a moment as if trying to decide if he should be upset about the children's apparent need to explore the greenhouses. But, honestly, he wasn't a fan of getting upset, and he tried his best to remain positive even while reprimanding. The corner of Tuesday's lips turned down slightly as he exhaled a small puff of air from his mouth in the form of a sigh. "I appreciate the sentiment, Mr. Dune, but I don't think that absolves Miss Lovett of her guilt." The man finally said after a moment of inspecting the two before continuing, "And Miss Lovett, I love that you have a love for plants, but I did make the rules of my greenhouses very clear. I doubt you will find plants like the one you just encountered in your dad's greenhouse. You're honestly lucky that you only ended up with a cut from glass."

The man shook his head before glancing down at the poplar wand in his hand. "The plant should be fine. I doubt you did anything too severe to it, but it seems that you are in worse shape, as Miss Lovett so kindly pointed out." The Herbology professor kneeled next to the first year and pointed his wand at the boy's cut. "Ferula" The man flicked his wand as a single bandage coiled itself around the boy's arm like a snake twisting around a tree branch. "There. I want you two to report directly to Nurse Brumby. And you two will be receiving detention as well," The professor made sure to make eye contact with both students before continuing. "so don't be surprised when I call you to complete it." The man's tone was severe but with a tone more disappointed than angry. "Do y'all understand?" Before either could answer, the man would stand again, sticking his wand into the back pockets of his jeans and dusting his hands from the matter.

@Eliphas Dune & @Elizabeth Lovett