[Avie Brocklehurst]

The early morning light filtered through the library windows. It had a hazy quality, that drew fingers across the bookshelves and their contents. The air had the dense quality that seemed to only exist in a library, the heavy books absorbing any sound and leaving behind a warm emptiness.

Any sound, that is, except for that of quiet snoring.

Avie's head was face down across a heavy textbook. She was wearing a hoodie, pulled tight against the chill of the castle, and her hair was ruffled at odd angles. She was fast asleep, unaware of the world around her.

This might have been an odd enough sight by itself; students usually got caught if they were out. But what made it particularly odd was the potted plant set on the table beside her. The pot was the heavy terracotta sort that was often used in the greenhouses, and the soil looked to have been freshly pressed in. The plant itself had wide, dark green leaves and a bulbous stem, sitting squat in the pot. It almost seemed to be quivering.

[Rose Pemberton]

Having been out for an early morning run with her dog Easton, Rose quickly showered, dressed in a simple top, wrap cardigan and pencil skirt and made her way to the library. She was in good spirits today, happy that the students had returned to Hogwarts to begin a new a term. Rose liked it when the library was busy with students and she could make herself useful by helping out with book suggestions or general advice. The days passed quicker that way and there was only so much reorganising of the shelves she could stomach before craving a break and human interaction.

Stepping inside her workspace she was surprising to find a girl already hard at work. Easton, the beagle, trailed into the library after Rose. He gave a little sniff here and there before settling onto the cushion beside Rose's desk. Great! He was absolutely knackered after their run. The same as most mornings, Rose stepped to the sash windows and opened them wide to let in some fresh air. It had rained overnight and the dewy smell of wet grass came flooding in. Rose took a deep breath. Today was going to be fantastic.

There were a few returns waiting for her in the library cart. Rose produced her wand, and gently pointed it at each book in turn, sending them flying back to their designated spaces. On her desk an enchanted quill was furiously crossing out lines on a list, processing each of the returns.

Roses eyes fell on the girl again. She didn't seem to have moved since Rose had gotten here. And that sound... was that snoring? A grin spread across Rose's features. Wasn't it a little early in the term to pull an all-nighter? She was used to seeing all sorts of strange things during exam time, but the first week wasn't even out and this one was already running herself ragged? Well, only one thing to do. It was best to wake the girl before she missed breakfast or any of her classes.

She made her way over to the desk when she noticed the plant. Was that the herbology Professor having gone crazy with homework then? Had that plant just moved? Must have been her imagination. Rose gently placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Good morning," she said softly. "It's time to get up. Are you alright?"

[Avie Brocklehurst]

Avie started awake at the touch on her shoulder. Her hair, violently out of control, fell straight into her eyes. She pushed it back, only managing to make it messier. Her mouth felt horrible, and she'd clicked something in her jaw against the hard text book.

She looked up through her scruffy hair, and realised it was the librarian, Madam Pemberton. Her heart sank, and she glanced down at the Herbology textbook that had been her impromptu pillow. With a shock, she realised there was a faint smudge of drool across one of the pages, and tried to surreptitiously move her hand to cover it.

"Uhhh." She tapped her other hand on the table nervously. "Sorry. I promise I wasn't here all night, Madam Pemberton. I went out for an early morning walk, and I found this little guy-" she gestured towards the potted plant. "A few hundred metres from the greenhouses. So I was going to return it, but the greenhouses were locked. And I didn't recognise what it was, so I thought there wouldn't be any harm in just checking it out. But I haven't yet found it in A Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, and I must have fallen asleep."

Her hand brushed against the plant's leaves. She frowned; she hadn't realised she'd still been gesturing, but she must have twitched.

She glanced hopefully up at Madam Pemberton. Were there any rules against taking plants into the library? She didn't think so, and Madam Pemberton didn't seem to be angry. "Maybe you know the place to look for what it is?"

[Rose Pemberton]

The girl stirred, tying to wake up and Rose couldn't help feel sorry for her. She really looked like she could have done with another cup of sleep. An explanation followed and Rose listened carefully. The story seemed plausible enough, though Rose wasn't entirely sure that she trusted and believed it. The again, what reason would Miss Brocklehurst possibly have for being dishonest with her? In the end, it didn't matter. Rose didn't like taking away points from any of the students. Though she'd been officially given the power to do so, as an educator she didn't put much stock into the idea of punishments. Children learned better through positive reinforcement. She let her doubts go.

"That's mighty early to be out exploring," she commented softly. "But I understand. I was just out with Easton myself." She pointed at the tired beagle now happily resting under her desk. "We tour round the lake and greenhouses every morning. Funny you should say a plant was left outside. I'm sure the groundskeeper checks every day after classes are out that everything's been stored away. Did you notice anything else amiss around the green houses?"

Rose went over her morning walk in her mind. No, she hadn't seen anything herself. However, she was now worried that somebody unauthorised might have entered the school grounds. Her recent discussion with Professor Montgomery had made it pretty clear to her that the forces of dark where gathering and building power and that they were coming for people just like her. Muggleborns. Did this mean somebody had been looking into Hogwarts? Or maybe she was being paranoid. Still it would be for the better to be careful.

Rose eyed the plant sceptically. Reason suggested a student had probably just forgotten it, but what if something more notorious was going on? She pulled a piece of chalk out of the pocked of her skirt and wrote a few runic symbols on the little flower pot. Holding her hands over the pot she didn't sense anything dark from it. Hopefully that meant that it was safe enough.

"You probably shouldn't be out on the grounds alone so early in the day," Rose cautioned. "You didn't see anybody else out, did you?" Could this be a prank? If so, it was rather unimaginative. Leaving a plant out. They'd certainly had better ideas for pranks when Rose has been a student.

"And let's see if we can't find this little guy in a reference book." Rose flicked her wrist a book from one of the upper shelves came floating too her. It was bound in green leather and features a massive golden lock. The librarian summoned the key from her desk and unlocked the clasp and opened the cover. The inside title read 'Winnifred Worthcunning's Herbal Almanac'.

"I think they're sorted by leaf shapes in here if memory serves correctly." She pushed the book towards Avie, letting her look through the pages.

[Avie Brocklehurst]

Avie watched in bafflement as the librarian chalked the runes onto the plant pot. She'd got an Outstanding in Ancient Runes in her N.E.W.T.s, but she'd only recognised one of the runes Madam Pemberton had used. And she'd done them so fast!

Perhaps it was some means of identification? But Avie took the book she was handed, and set it down, somewhat dejectedly, on top of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. Leafing it open, she glanced back up at the plant, sitting in its squat pot. It must have got turned around, because some of the leaves looked bigger than they had previously.

Avie yawned, feeling a new wave of tiredness washing over her. She couldn't have slept well last night. Maybe that was why she had woken up so early. It was difficult to even keep her eyes open.

Winnifred Worthcunning's Herbal Almanac turned out to be much easier to use for identifying an unknown plant. The logical sorting by leaf shape meant that she flipped back and forth through the pages until she narrowed it down to the right page.

Feeling exuberant, she got to her feet, lifting up the heavy book. The illustration across its pages was definitely a match to the leafy plant with its fat, trailing vines.

It had been a few minutes, and she had been so absorbed in the book she hadn't seen what the librarian had been doing in the meantime. She called out. "Hey, Madam Pemberton! I found it! This book says it's a Poiso-"

The world slid alarmingly sideways around her. The Herbal Almanac spun out of her hands to land facedown on the floor. An inescapable exhaustion seemed to fill Avie from her fingers upwards, and she slumped down against the back of the chair.

[Rose Pemberton]

Poisonous? Really? While Rose hadn't recognised the plant it had looked pretty inconspicuous. Just when she'd somewhat reigned in her feelings of paranoia, Avie was making her reconsider. Maybe, somebody had left this plant on the grounds after all, even if she hadn't managed to detect any malicious intent. Her runes were hardly absolute and she had been wrong about things before.

Rose didn't get a lot of time to muse though as Avie suddenly slumped in her seat. Was she just tired or was this the plant having an effect on her? It seemed a little unlikely as she hadn't seen Avie touching the plant and the girl certainly knew better than to try and eat it. Maybe the plant secreted an airborne irritant? Then again those were rare and Rose thought she might have recognised the plant if that were the case.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked Avie just to be sure. Her tone was gentle, but her concern was pretty evident. Hopefully it was just tiredness and nothing more serious. Rose wasn't sure, but she  had a vague reflection that Dumbledore had mentioned something about the school nurse being arriving back at the castle a couple of days late. Apparently, there had been a bereavement on the family. Well, in the worst case she could take the girl to St Mungo's though she realised that she was once again getting carried away in her negative thinking.

"Does anything sting, or itch or feel unusual to you?" Her eyes raked over Avie but for now she couldn't detect any outward sign of something strange going on. To distract herself she pointed her fingers at the plant almanac and summoned it to her hand. There were dogs ears on a couple of pages now and Rose tried to smooth them out. Taking a look at the plant Avie had identified and the surrounding pages she wasn't convinced that the girl was right in her identification, but she also wasn't sure about Avie being wrong. Those lead shapes looked quite similar to Rose.