Closed A Reverse Heist

[Lysander Summers]

A quick in and out, that's all it was supposed to be. Professor Castillo wouldn't even have to know that Lysander had, very briefly, borrowed a few of his plants to show off at the club fair. He surely wasn't going to miss them for an hour or two, and the Gryffindor reasoned that the leaping toadstools were benefitting from stretching their stalks and getting some exercise. It was a win/win scenario. Or it would have been, had the professor's assistant not butted in and caused a mess. She'd been so eager to get him into trouble, and for what? A few plants getting some sun? Enjoying a change in scenery? Granted, he'd had to be careful not to give the fungi too much sunlight, but they'd seemed quite content all the same. As long as he could sneak the plants back into the greenhouse before anyone else realised they were missing, then he was safe to deny any accusations thrown his way.

Lysander had had to take the scenic route to get back to the greenhouse, to try and shake off the professor's assistant in case she tried to follow him around. But so far, so good. He hadn't caught sight of Castillo at all, and managed to slink back into the greenhouse without a hitch. Easy. This was easy. What had he been worried about? He set down the bubotuber on its bench, disappointed that Juniper had never gotten close enough for him to spray her with some of its pus, and returned the toadstools to their dark corner. "There you are. Home again. Did you enjoy your day out?" He asked rhetorically, giving one an affectionate pet on the cap. He turned to leave, not wanting to spend too much time loitering around, but he could barely take a few steps toward the door before he could hear the patter of a dozen tiny mushrooms bouncing across the floor, and around his feet. He paused mid-step, shoe hovering above the ground until he could find an empty place to safely put it. "Aw, I'm sorry guys. I have to go, and you have to stay here. Someone will get upset if I take you guys with me." He said, scooping up an armful of the little fungi that were preventing him from leaving. Or trying to beat him to the door and escape into their newfound freedom, he couldn't be sure. He was almost positive they'd simply grown attached to him, though. Almost. He had to try rassle them back into their pots, though just as soon as he'd put one in the soil, two more were leaping back out. So it went for a few minutes, trying to get them all back in, only for a couple more to escape when his back was turned. One of them had apparently managed to leap their way onto a bouncing bulb, who decided to join in on the fun, eliciting a groan from Lysander. He was used to this kind of thing anytime the menagerie had a new litter of cruppies or kittens come in, and often take turns wandering off when no one was looking. Only then, it was easier to wrangle six or seven baby animals who'd not quite learned to walk properly. It was a lot harder with two dozen tiny mushrooms jumping in every direction.​

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel was feeling a bit stretched thin already, darting between his new study in the Dungeons and the greenhouse. He supposed at least he didn't have the Gryffindors or Ravenclaws or he might have just given up entirely, but it did sting still to have to trek out here every time he forgot a paper or book he needed. He was debating the benefit of some sort of enchanted trunk to things in when he pushed open his office door, pausing at the commotion in front of him before noting the stampede of leaping toadstools making a break for the door. "Ooh no, not again, fellas," Angel said, immediately zapping the toadstools with an immobilizing charm before they could get too far. "It took me weeks to corral all these suckers last time they got loose, I'm not doing that again," he said, already checking the room for any he'd missed before properly registering the tableau in front of him. "But, right. To what do I owe this pleasure, Mr Summers?" He said, raising an eyebrow at Lysander standing so conspicuously in his until very recently unoccupied office.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander froze as the door opened and in walked Professor Castillo. Merlin's f*cking beard. Was everyone out to catch him red-handed today? A mushroom left from his outstretched palm, but was just as soon frozen in the air by the professor's spell. "Professor Castillo, you're - you're here! That's great! Wow." He flustered, trying to act pleased to see him and not at all guilty. He folded his arms, then unfolded them to lean against a shelf, trying to find a very chill and relaxed pose. "Mhm, yep. The pleasure. You see, uh." Why had he not come up with an excuse? He supposed he hadn't expected to run into the Herbology professor after already having the misfortune to encounter his assistant earlier in the day. Once was enough, he couldn't have possibly been unlucky twice in one day, right? Apparently that was not the case. Had she run off to tattle to him already? "Well. I was hoping you'd be in, you see. I wanted to ask you some questions about...gillyweed. You know me, always at the lake! Haha. So, then I heard a commotion and I had to check it out, being a prefect and all. I heard some students have uh, tried to break into the herbology offices before. Crazy, anyway. These guys were just everywhere, so I've been trying to put them back before you arrived but, here you are! What a surprise!" He cupped his hands around one of the floating toadstools as he spoke, and tried to look really helpful by sticking it back in its soil. "I don't think I've had a chance to congratulate you! Head of House! That's super cool. Good! For you. Good for you." Phew, nailed it. A flawless segue to distract from the fact he wasn't supposed to be here.​

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel did his best to keep his face neutral as Lysander stumbled his way through an explanation. "Gillyweed. Right," he said slowly as Lysander continued. Angel was no stranger to having to bullsh*t adults as a student (and even a fellow adult) for years and while he wasn't entirely certain what exactly Lysander was actually up to, a quick survey of the office showed there wasn't any immediate harm done. Plausible deniability was a powerful tool in Angel's wheelhouse, especially these days with his time split between class, Slytherin house, and his family. "Here I am," he repeated brightly, deciding to put Lysander out of his misery, brushing past the boy to make sure the leaping toadstools were properly contained. "Well, thank you for the... Help with the toadstools and the kind words, though in future I'd appreciate if you wait outside the office if possible when I'm not around," he said, content the toadstools weren't going to be making any immediate jailbreaks for now. "But now that that's sorted, did you still want to discuss- What was it? Gillyweed?" Angel said, leaning against the nearby bench.

 

[Lysander Summers]

The tenseness in Lysander's shoulders relaxed, able to let out a sigh of relief when Castillo bought his whole story, hook, line, and sinker. Nailed it. All this practice with lying he'd had to do lately was really paying off. He backed off to let the professor handle the remaining toadstools, eager to dust his hands off of this whole situation. "Don't mention it! Happy to lend a hand." He said, glossing over the whole don't come into my office part of the gratitude. He'd been slowly inching toward the door, until the gillyweed was mentioned. "What? Oh, yeah! Can I have some?" He asked. He was really pushing his luck today, but if he could score some gillyweed on top of getting away with borrowing some leaping toadstools to show off at the fair, then that was a double win in his books.​

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel could feel a bit of a headache coming on, keen to get Lysander out of his office so he could get in some quiet before his next class or someone else inevitably needed something. He raised an eyebrow at Lysander's request, mulling it over for a moment. "Assuming this is for your NEWT work and not anything that will involve me fishing you out of the lake, correct?" Angel said, moving to summon over a jar and holding it out to Lysander, not letting go until he'd giving him a pointed look that hopefully Lysander understood. If there was anything untoward happening with this, Angel did not want to be involved. Lysander was 17. He should be smart enough to keep out of trouble. At least any serious trouble Angel would need to deal with.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander nodded a bit too enthusiastically in response, more than happy to be spoon-fed an excuse rather than coming up with one on his own. "Of course, professor. It's purely for academic purposes." He said, reaching out to take hold of the jar. He paused for a moment, feeling uncomfortable under the man's gaze. The sudden and very real fear of disappointing him if something went awry had crept up, but he took the jar all the same. He'd been fine with his lake exploration so far, there was no reason to worry or feel guilty about it now. "Thanks. I won't let you down." He added on as he turned to leave, giving the jar a reassuring tap. "Academic purposes." He reiterated, as if it would make it any more believable the second time around.​