All The Small Things (Harry Potter) *Fred/OC*

06. A Scare In Class

In Herbology the next morning, they were dealing with Snargaluffs. None of them were particularly happy about this. They had to try and collect the Snargaluff pods by pulling them out from the hole in the middle of the plant. This was made much more difficult by the fact that the Snargaluffs had thick vines and loose roots to protect themselves with.

It was nearing the end of the lesson – Fred, George, Tee and Rose were all aching, covered in earth and backed up against the wall so that they were out of reach of the Snargaluff's vines. So far they hadn't managed to get any of the pods. Professor Sprout had told them they weren't allowed to use magic in case they damaged the plants, so they had to do everything manually.

"Everyone ready for another go?" asked George, wiping sweat mingled with dirt from across his forehead. The others groaned but nodded. "Okay. Rose, you go for the pods, I'll get the roots, and you two deal with the vines." They all nodded again. "One... two... three... go!"

As soon as they darted forward, the vines whipped up into action to prevent them from getting any closer. George grabbed hold of as many of the roots as he could and Fred and Tee wrestled with the vines, whilst Rose attempted to get to the pods.

"I don't think this is working very well," said George, struggling to stay in control of the roots. One of them slipped past him, wrapped around Fred's ankle and tripped him over.

"Ow!" Fred yelped, as he fell back and his head hit the floor. He lost his grip on the vines he'd been wrestling with. One of them snaked across and then proceeded to try and strangle him.

The next minute, Tee had dived onto the floor and was trying to pull it off him. She aimed a sharp kick at the root that was now trying to grab at her own ankle.

"Now!" George shouted to Rose.

Without hesitating, Rose plunged her hand into the hole in the middle of the plant's body, which was now unguarded. She pulled out a grapefruit-sized pod. "Got it!" she announced happily. She ducked as a vine lashed out at her head, then retreated back to a safe distance.

"Oh, this is stupid!" cried Tee, still desperately fighting with the vine that was intent on winding around Fred's neck. She pulled out her wand. "Relashio!"

Fiery red sparks shot out the end of her wand. The Snargaluff made a horrible screeching noise and the vines and roots all withdrew sharply. Fred rolled over and started coughing. George straightened up and leant against the wall in relief.

But they didn't have time to relax because Professor Sprout was suddenly running towards them shrieking, her hat lopsided. "I told you not to use magic!" she shouted. "You might have done the Snargaluff some serious damage!"

"I think it did more damage to us!" Tee retorted, her hand on Fred's shoulder, who was still fighting to get his breath back.

"That's why these lessons are good for you," insisted Professor Sprout, not even slightly disconcerted to see them both on the floor. "It keeps you on your toes! Now, you have ten minutes left. I expect you to finish without using any more magic."

"We've been trying that all lesson, and look what it's got us... One pod," said Tee, rolling her eyes as Professor Sprout left them to it. She got to her feet, then gave Fred a hand up.

"I say we quit for this lesson," suggested George.

"Yeah, we can't really do much in ten minutes away," agreed Rose, who was still clutching the Snargaluff pod.

Sure enough, the next ten minutes flew past. They wouldn't have had enough time to get another pod.

"Well done, everyone," praised Professor Sprout when the ball rang. "You've all done really good, apart from a few... mishaps." She glanced pointedly towards Tee, Rose and the twins. "If you'd like to put your Snargaluff pods in this tray on the way out... We'll be taking cuttings from the Devil's Snare next lesson."