Open Hot on the Trail

[Ryan Fisk]

Yellow for @Lysander Summers, open after

Ryans' next delivery was proving to be the one of the most difficult by far, and while he was enjoying the challenge, it was starting to get frustrating. Lysander Summers had a decent reputation, he was a professor's kid and had been the one who, much to Ryan's envy, had been able to track down that niffler last semester, but he had so far elluded Ryan on his search around the castle. He also suspected that one of the student he'd asked earlier had pointed Ryan in the complete wrong direction while he was trying to follow Lysander's tail and Ryan lamented his lost time. He'd made a loop all the way up the towers when he spotted another deliverer ahead turning the corner who matched Lysander's description. "Hey, you! Wait!" Ryan called, putting on a burst of speed as he chased after him.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander's rose delivery was almost done, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out where the last of his recipients were hiding in the castle. There were too many older students that he didn't particularly know well enough to figure out where they might be hanging out, or what some of them even looked like. Since losing sight of Emma, who he'd wanted to do deliveries with, he'd quickly grown disinterested in doing random laps around the castle on his own, so decided to head up to the Owlery to see how viable it would be to have some of the owls find the last few people for him. He'd just rounded a corner to the stairs when he heard someone call out, and took a few steps backwards to march back into view. "Me?" He asked, realising it was another deliverer. He probably needed some help, and Sander was happy to bring someone else in on his owl plan if it came to it.​

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan paused to catch his breath, relieved when his target stopped and reappeared around the corner. "Yeah, are you Lysander?" He asked, checking the name on his list. "The guy who found the niffler, right?" As envious as Ryan was that someone else had tracked down the lost niffler, he was rather curious about the other boy's methods.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander couldn't help but grin with pride when the young boy mentioned his very famous accomplishment, nor could he help his chest from puffing out ever so slightly. "Yep! That's me!" He said. A real hero, with recognition and everything. "Hey, aren't you Nicole's little brother?" He asked, realising he recognised him vaguely.​

 

[Ryan Fisk]

It was a relief that Ryan had been right that this was Lysander, the same one who'd hunted down the niffler, as much as he envied the other boy. At the mention of his sister though, Ryan checked over his shoulder, half expecting to see Nicole standing somewhere nearby. He'd followed her already to deliver a rose so it wasn't impossible she was following him too. When the corridor proved sister-less, Ryan turned back to Lysander, nodding. "Sometimes she says she thinks I was an overgrown mandrake my parents have been too nice to stick back in the garden, but I already tried killing things with my voice so I'm pretty sure she's lying. Or joking," Ryan said. Sometimes he just didn't get the things Nicole said to him, but she was usually right about a lot of people stuff, so it was hard to tell when she was being silly. "I've got a rose for you," He said matter-of-factly, holding up the yellow rose now that he'd confirmed this was, in fact, Lysander.

Spoiler: Note

Hey champion nifflier catcher.
Thanks for letting me join your quest. And thanks for having my back in quidditch.
Willow

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander looked at the younger boy in silence for a moment, doing his best to keep his lips from twitching upwards, before bursting into a fit of uproarious laughter. It was the most hilarious thing he had heard in a while, and he couldn't contain himself. He'd had no idea Nicole was so funny. Or her brother. He wiped a tear from his eye, his shoulders still shuddering with the laughter he was trying to put a lid back on. "Merlin's beard, wow! That's so funny, I'm sorry." He chuckled apolgetically, reaching out to pluck the rose he'd been offered. "A mandrake. I have to use that one." He grinned. He'd tuck it away in his brain for the next time his own sister annoyed him. He peered at the note, and was happy to see that he'd gotten one back from Willow, too. The title was a nice touch. "Thanks for the rose! And I raised a mandrake last semester - you don't look like one to me, so I think you're just a plain human." He told him. His smile lessened at the memory of poor Owen, and his fate after Herbology. "But um, hey, do you like mandrakes?" He asked, in case he had to warn him about what was coming next. He still wished someone had told him what they'd be raising mandrakes for. It hadn't been fair at all.​

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan was little worried Lysander was having some sort of fit, and surreptitiously checked the rose in case it was the cause. But apparently he was just laughing, which was a lot better. Ryan wasn't sure he found it as funny as Nicole or clearly Lysander did, mostly it was disappointing that he was just a normal wizard. Even being part mandrake could have been cool. "Do you think you could make yourself part mandrake somehow?" He mused as Lysander took the note. He blinked at Lysander's question, not sure of the answer for a moment. "I've never really thought about liking them.. They're interesting as far as their properties go, and then there's the matter of whether they're really sentient or not," Ryan said, glancing up at the ceiling as he spoke his thoughts alive.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander had never considered the possibility of becoming a plant. If there were animagi, were there floramagi? It opened up whole new plotlines in his imagination, wild possibilities and adventures he'd have to come back to revisit in the future. "Yeah! I bet you could transfigure yourself into one. Or part into one. It has to be possible. If you can turn someone into a duck, or a chair, then you have to be able to make someone a plant too!" He grinned, enthusiastic about the very idea. If he were a floramagi™ , he figured he'd totally be a whomping willow or something equally awesome. His excitement was short-lived, and he had to put his serious face on to deal with the crushing truth about herbology. He reached out to put his hand on Ryan's shoulder, and looked him in the eyes. "Mandrakes are sentient. Like, super sentient. They eat food like we do, and they get pimples, and throw parties in the middle of the night, and move into each others pots! They're just like animals. Next year, you'll have to raise one for a whole semester, and put all your care into it, and then they take it away from you and chop it up before you can say goodbye." He told him, dramatically tearing his eyes way as the memories of poor Owen filled his mind. "So if you like them, you need to be careful. They don't tell you what will happen until its too late." He continued, dropping his arm and nodding solemnly. It was just so awful. People had to know.​