"...aand that's how you make sure your Rumpusplume sprout isn't planning a prison-break!" professor Pauline announced cheerfully. The plant was struggling to get away from her firm grasp, but was unable to penetrate the charm-infused glove. "Any questions?" Pauline turned to her classfull of young students. Nobody seemed to have any, so she shoved the sprout back into the pot and the class got to work. "Don't forget to wear the gloves! And only use stunsnap when it's your last option!" She grabbed the pot with her example sprout and took it into the back room of the greenhouse. When she got back, everyone was already working on their own pot, and every once in a while there would be a bright flash and a stunned Rumpusplume would fall off someone's arm. She looked around, feeling quite proud of the classful of second-years. There were some quite talented individuals in the lot. However, that feeling faded away as she noticed Alma- one of the more troublesome witchlings. She was leaning on the back wall and staring out the window. With her earphones on, Pauline assumed she hadn't listened to a word of her lesson. She sighed, and grabbed a deep green wand off her belt pointing it at Alma's earphones. One flick of her wrist, and the earphones shot out, twisting into a neat roll on the way to Pauline's front pocket. Crossing her arms, Alma turned to look at her with the one eye that wasn't hidden behind droopy black hair. Pauline sighed. "You know if you keep this up I'm going to have to report your behavior to the principal". Alma turned her face back towards the window. Ugh. "If you don't need assistance, I assume you can show me how to remove the sprout from it's pot then?" Alma turned to look at the Rumpusplume. Her disgusted expression was only comparable to the expression on the face of the sprout. For a few seconds it seemed like neither one was going to yield, but eventually Alma turned once again to face outside. The Rumpusplume let out a mean victorious cackle. "Whatever" Alma muttered. Pauline pondered. She saw a lot of her younger self in Alma. Hell, if Pauline could go back in time to tell herself what she was going to be when she grew up, she definetly wouldn't believe herself. That thought reminded her of something. She hadn't been keen on botanism either. That was, until... That's it! "You're coming with me." Alma snapped back at her. "What?" "Or I can always write a letter..." "Yeah okay!" Alma said. "Great! This way!" Pauline walked through the greenroom door to the shool yard, Alma trailing her a few meter back. "Where are we going?" Alma asked. No response. "Are you going to expell me?" That did not seem to be the case, as the path they were walking led them away from the school, and towards Pauline's personal greenroom. Alma was getting impacient. "Come on, what are we doing?" "You'll see" Pauline smirked, opening the door to her own greenroom. The place was massive, divided into multiple different sections with different climates in each one. She led them through roomfuls of exotic plantlife, of all shapes and colors imaginable. Alma was eyeing them somewhat disinterestedly, but eventually the mean looks and hisses she was getting back made her just focus on where they were going. Eventually they walked through a door, and Pauline stopped. The room was circular, about ten meters in diameter- and completely empty. "Uhhhh... What is this?" Alma asked, looking around little nervous after everything she'd seen in the previous rooms. "Harvest time!" Pauline answered, a wide smile on her lips. She turned to her sidepack, pulling out two items: a small glistening pearl and a corcked vial of glimmering yellow liquid. She handed both to Alma. She took them, a touch of genuine worry on her face. Pauline took her wand from her belt, and the ground rumbled a little. Alma squeaked. "Here's what's gonna happen. That pearl- that's to protect you. If there's an incoming hit, you squeeze it hard and you should be fine." "H-hit?" The ground rumbled again, slightly harder this time. "Then the vial- it's crucial! I wan't you to hold on to that until the very moment I yell 'now'. That's when you're gonna shatter it! Got all that?" The ground rumbled- violently. Alma was terrified. "Um- what's hap-" An explosion at the middle of the room sent both flying against the walls. Alma's hair, eyes and dress were covered in dirt- and suprisingly she did not care at all. That was, because squeezed against the ceiling, held up by multiple massive stems was a gigantic peach, surrounded by a gaping maw of five huge petals chockfull of thorns and spikes. Pauline looked at the peach, her eyes wide and determined, redying herself. "Alma! If you can, do not let it see you!" she shouted. "See me? But-" Before she could finish, a cluster of vines sprouted from underneath the peach, each with an eyeball at the end. What the fuck. Alma scrambled up and ran behind the closest stem. Peaking behind her, she saw Pauline had done the same. There was a moment of silence, as both hid behind their stems, not daring to move. Alma wanted to look again, but afraid of being seen stayed where she was. She had no idea what Pauline was doing. This was scary. Then there was a skittering noise above her. She winced and looked up. One of the eyeballs had slithered behind her stem, and was now staring right at her. The peach roared. The peach roared? And then the chaos began. "What the hell did you do?!" Pauline screamed from the other side of the room, right before being hit in the stomach by a vine that had just sprouted right next to her. The five petals snapped shut around the peach, and it roared again. The stems started lifting and drilling into the ground again, blindly trying to crush whatever was underneath it. Alma was in panic, trying to look at Pauline for guidance. She had just got up from her blow, and was trying to gauge the situation. More vines were pushing from the ground. "Here we go!" Pauline shouted, whipping her wand behind her head and then thrusting it straight at the petals. A transparent glowing hand shot out, grabbing one of the petals. Pauline yanked back, and the petal came shooting back with the hand. The peach was now exposed. "Boojah!" Pauline cheered, immediately changing her expression as she noticed the stem that was in the air, about to crush Alma. "ABOVE YOU!" Alma saw the massive green stem, hurling down at her, and popped the white pearl in her hand a split second before the stem would've made porridge out of her. A blinding white light eminated, creating a brief force field around her. The stem went flying back, crashing into the thorny bud. The plant was stunned at least for a moment, and as one of the stems gave in the peach surrounded by the petals drooped down. This was their opening. "Alma, NOW!" Pauline shouted. Alma stretched her hand back, and then sent the vial hurling at the bud. Upon contact with the thorns it shattered and made a sharp hissing noise, as the liquid vapourized around the plant. This made it completely limp, the thorny bud making a loud thud as it fell. Pauline sent out another magical arm, which grabbed the peach inside the bud. She yanked back, but the fruit just wouldn't give in... The plant was getting back on it's feet, growling angrily. Alma saw that there wasn't much time. Suddenly she sprinted forth, jumping inside the bud. "What are you doing?!" Pauline screamed. Alma hugged her arms around the peach, pulling as hard as she could, her heels digging into the slimy interior of the bud. The vines around Pauline were readying themselves for an attack. The angry growling was increasing, and the bud was being lifted back up. With the last of the might Alma yanked as hard as she could. There was a loud SNAP, and Alma could feel herself falling...

Alma woke up, surrounded by her classmates. "What... where?" Pauline was kneeled next to her, looking quite guilty. "Uhm, so... Turns out the Rumpusplume was... A bit more mature than I had estimated" she said. "I would, how do I say this- appreciate, if you didn't- um..." "Bring this up with the principal?" Alma guessed, what could almost be described as a smirk at the edges of her lips.

After that day, they both had learned something important. Alma was much more active now, taking part in the lessons, and sometimes you could even see her other eye. Pauline on the other hand- even though she was pleased with the result, considered maybe trying to use less dangerous methods to motivate students in the future.