From the Ashes

Who: Gerard and Spencer
Where: The grounds
When: Early Tuesday morning
What: Carnivorous plants

If that kid had gotten Diluclo mixed up with thistles, Spencer was going to start handing down some slightly unjust detentions. It was not quite half past five in the morning and he was trudging through long grass that soaked his robes up to the knee with dew, clutching a large mug of coffee at his chest and trying to stay awake in order to avoid faceplanting on the ground or something.

On the one hand, if it was Diluclo, he thought with faint hope, everything would be awesome and completely worth it; he'd been trying to get his hands on some for months, and the idea of it growing wild at Hogwarts was too good to miss. Unfortunately, Diluclo -- or Dawn's Bloom -- looked exactly the same as thistles at every moment except the brief one when the first rays of the sun touched it, and now Spencer was stumbling about in the blue gloom, with a vague direction in mind based on a fifth year Slytherin flapping her hand idly and saying, "Yeah, there was something glowing all blue for a few moments, I don't know."

He was abruptly distracted by sudden shouts, one most definitely a young student screaming, and swung around, blinking in the dim light. Just past a clump of trees near the shore of the lake he thought he saw movement, and he whispered, "Lumos," and set off quickly, flicking a quick charm in the way of his cup so that he didn't slop hot coffee all over his fingers.

There were two students and an adult, and -- perhaps more importantly -- a really pissed off looking Venomous tentacula. Spencer swore under his breath and then pointed his wand, shouted, "Immobulus!" and darted closer. The spell wasn't targeted to work on plants, but it did slow its frantic thrashing down somewhat, and Spencer said, "Domito!" That managed to do the trick; the Venomous tentacula made a harsh, crackling sound and then retreated, drawing its spiky tendrils back into the bloom, and snapping its petals shut closed.

Spencer lowered his wand, breathing quickly, and said, "What's going on?"