WHO: George Weasley and Alicia Spinnet WHAT: Confronting another of Layla and Richenza’s plants WHEN: 29 November, evening WHERE: Mould-on-the-Wold WARNINGS: 🔥
Alicia had seen the strange plants in Tinworth with her own eyes, so she figured she’d know what to expect when she arrived on the scene in Mould-on-the-Wold. But there hadn’t been any fire-breathing plants at home and this one had already supposedly put several muggles in hospital. So maybe that’s why the town seemed so quiet, almost too quiet, when George appeared beside her.
“What I don’t understand,” she said, keeping her voice down, “is why anyone would ever want a plant that sets things on fire.”
George looked more grim than usual as he glanced around from his spot beside Alicia. “I’m still confused about the whole plants thing to begin with. You said it’s been a thing these days in Tinworth? But fire-starting’s another level?” He reached up to run a hand through his short red hair. “Some Herbology arsehole gone mad?”
“I don’t know,” Alicia said, shaking her head. She moved slowly down the street in search of any sign of the offending ficus. “It’s like my brother told me, the plants have been attacking muggles for some reason. The ones in Tinworth were poisonous but this one—”
She stopped short and pointed over one of the nearby houses, where there seemed to be a plume of smoke drifting up into the sky. “That must be it.”
“Shit.” Whipping the wand from his sleeve cuff, George quickened his pace at the sight of it. “That’s a lot of smoke, Al,” he called back as they closed in on the source.
“It really is,” she said, keeping a wary eye on the plume as they got closer. But it wasn’t until they rounded a corner that the smoldering ficus came into view, surrounded by a patch of scorched earth. Alicia stopped and glanced at George. “Well this is just lovely.”
“Oh ficuses are the ones that look like trees,” George commentated, but his brows were furrowed and he brought the collar of his shirt up to hook on his nose and over his mouth, then looked back to Alicia. “Here goes nothing,” and with that, he began to approach with as much caution as he could while still moving relatively quick, unsure if the flames would be charmed or similar to leap toward him but feeling like the longer they let this burn, the more damage it could do. Swirling his wrist and wand, he began to shape the smoke and air above the plant into a miniature rain cloud, too distracted to notice the leaves glowing brighter.
From what felt like a safe distance, Alicia watched the change in the sky above the plant with nervous anticipation. But when she noticed the change in the plant, she took a few quick steps closer and put her hand on her friend’s arm. “Wait, George. Look,” she said, a note of urgency in her voice as she pointed to the tree’s leaves. “It looks like it’s catching fire.”
Arm stopping where he held it aloft, George looked back down. The leaves were starting to curl and get brighter still and - “Bloody-” He only had time to scramble back a few paces before the entire thing was so bright it was hard to look at - then with a loud CRACK he felt himself knocked backward on the pavement as the entire thing exploded in a burst of flames, the tree engulfed and debris starting to catch anything dry around them on fire. Coughing, George lifted himself partway up, eyes wide, shirt falling back around his neck. “ALICIA?”
Alicia coughed from the ground next to him. “I’m all right,” she said before picking herself up and dusting herself off. As she held out a hand to help her friend up, she caught sight of the ground around them. The fire had spread from the ficus, alighting the grass surrounding it. She took a deep breath and glanced at George. “Shit.”
Now back on his feet, George took a moment to stare before his limbs snapped into action. “Will the raincloud idea still work?” he asked, lifting his arm again. “We need to put it out before it spreads too much.” Regardless of the answer, he was already expanding the miniature cloud further, but at safer distance. Water began to pour from it, creating even more smoke as it made contact with the fire.
Shifting her eyes to the cloud, Alicia gave a short nod and sprang into action, rushing to douse the flames’ outskirts with water from the end of her wand. She ducked her chin into the collar of her shirt as smoke billowed around her. Blinking tears from her eyes, she kept moving, cutting off the fire before it could creep any closer to the homes nearby.
It wasn’t long before the raincloud covered most of the now charred ground and grass and pavement, and George moved to where Alicia was finishing up, his own eyes watering, the smoke making it hard to see, the smell causing him to cough as much as the debris in the air. He waited, letting the rain come down heavily… they couldn’t risk something reigniting and after the hectic past couple weeks, watching it wash away what was very likely Death Eater sabotage was almost soothing. When Alicia seemed finished, he threw an arm around her shoulder, looking at her with his puffy red eyes. “Mission accomplished,” he offered, and lifting his wand, the dark cloud started to dissipate. No rainbow or sunshine replaced it though, as the pair were left looking on the smoldering, burnt remains of a ficus plant and nothing else.
“You sure you and Ang don’t want to move?” he asked after a silence that was very un-George like, voice hoarse.
The question caught her by surprise and Alicia let out a cough from behind the fabric of her shirt as she turned to look at him. It took a long moment for her to answer. “I’d really hoped it wouldn’t come to that,” came a half-muffled reply.
Giving Alicia an affectionate squeeze, George nodded. “I know. Hopefully it doesn’t, but you know we’ve got your backs either way. Just don’t be too stubborn about it,” he gave her a small grin. “Said one Gryffindor to the other.” He coughed again, and shook his head. “Okay, let’s get out of here.”
She let her collar drop back down to her neck and returned his grin with one that both looked and felt forced. “Sounds good to me,” she said before covering his hand on her shoulder with her own. A moment later, they were gone.