Closed Mission Improbable

[Lysander Summers]

It was late. The castle and its grounds were quiet, with the majority of students and staff pre-occupied in the Great Hall for dinner. Lysander had skipped it, a decision he now slightly regretted as his stomach rumbled in the absence of food. He hadn't had the foresight to eat anything beforehand. He'd been too focused on his plan with Kasim, and all the preparation leading up to it. It was a huge risk to take, but worth it to save the lives of the mandrakes that had been raised over the semester, instead of allowing Professor Carter to murder them. Wrapped in a black cloak for stealth reasons, as the school's standard uniform appeared to be the only piece of dark attire he owned, Lysander slinked down to the greenhouses, ducking behind corners and diving behind bushes at every opportunity, despite how there was literally no-one around to catch him. If there was any time for the Mission: Impossible theme song to play, it was now. And it was. In his head.

After what was likely to be a way more exciting espionage adventure in his imagination, Lysander rolled up to the front of the greenhouse and pressed his face to the glass, peering at the unlit interior and vaguely pot-shaped objects lining the tables. Bingo. Those were the goods mandrakes. "Which one is yours?" He whispered loudly to Kasim, wondering if he could spot it from outside.​

 

[Kasim Safir]

This had to be the stupidest idea Kas had ever had. He always knew empathy and getting invested in things was going to lead him astray someday, and he couldn't help but think, watching Lysander dart from shadow to shadow in his dumb uniform cloak, that at some point he had gone very, very astray. But he was in too deep to stop now, feeling the whizzbang hesitantly in his pocket as he checked over his shoulder back at the castle behind them.

Once they'd reached the greenhouses, Kas spent a few moments squinting through the glass feeling stupid before realizing he wasn't about to recognize his mandrake from sight alone, shaking his head and trying to remember where he'd left the pot after their last class. He was starting to suspect the sheer idiocy of this plan was somehow actively making him stupider. "That one, on the middle bench," He said, motioning through the window in his mandrake's general vicinity. He hadn't named his like Lysander, hoping to avoid getting attached and doing something stupid like the other boy had done last semester, for as much as that had helped. "I feel like asking you if this is really a good idea is already an indicator that it's not, so shall we just do this?" He asked, checking back across the lawn again for any witnesses. "How many mandrakes do you think you can carry?"

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander cupped his hands around his eyes, as if it would help him see better in the dark, and looked at where Kas had motioned. It looked...about the same as every other mandrake. He didn't know why he was surprised. "It is a good idea. We're saving lives, no matter the cost." He said, stepping back from the glass. They'd be heroes, and honestly he thought they both deserved points for rescuing the mandrakes. He shot Kas a look and flexed his arms. "I'm pretty strong. I bet I could carry two at once, and levitate another one at the same time." He boasted. It had been a whole semester since he'd last had to carry a grown potted mandrake, but he was sure it wouldn't be too difficult. He was totally stronger from all his beater practice anyway, he thought he could probably carry three if he wanted to. "We could be lucky, you know. Maybe the professor hasn't locked the greenhouse up yet?" He suggested, reaching for the handle. If they didn't have to use the whizzbangs at all, they could creep in and out quickly and quietly, like ninjas. His fingers wrapped around the handle and he tugged back to pull it open. A shock ran up the length of his arm and he jumped back from it with a shout. "Ouch!" He whined, rubbing the tingling out of his arm. "Okay, let's just blow it up."​

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas gave Lysander a dubious look when he gave his very noble response. He'd just been starting to wonder if all this house stuff at Hogwarts was made up, but Lysander can spit out a sentence like that unironically and now Kas had to reconsider. But, chivalry aside, it did feel at the very least like a solid plan, which was why Kas was certain it was going to go wrong. But hey, they were trying. "Okay well, once you're valiantly carrying three mandrakes, we should head for the forest right? I feel like they'll have a decent chance surviving there. Maybe," Kas said, eyeing the treeline. It seemed a better plan than trying to ship them off in the middle of the night by owl or smuggling them out shoved into their trunks. Like Kas was going to risk getting dirt on his stuff.

He had to stifle a laugh when Lysander went for the door and got zapped, grateful his usual strategy of hanging back and letting other people do the work was helping him already. But it did make him a bit leery of the greenhouse defenses. "That's probably the worst Professor Carter would do.. He seems like a softie," Kas said, passing Lysander his whizzbang so they could both lodge them, carefully, in the door. Kas let Lysander take the honour of lighting them, not trusting his wand to not take the opportunity to do away with him in one sparkling sweep.

There was a brief moment when Kas thought maybe they should put their earmuffs on first before the whizzbangs went off, the pop and bang of them sounding impossibly loud as it echoed around the lawn. He froze for a moment, eyes locked with Lysander as he waited for Professor Carter or one of the caretakers to materialize and tell them off, but it seemed like the coast was clear. Shaking his head, Kas had just opened his mouth to say as much when there was a rumble, the earth shifting beneath their feet. He didn't manage to get much out beyond an undignified "meep" before vines and roots were twining around their feet, Kas managing to lose his wand as he scrambled for something before he was entirely ensnared, staring stupidly at Lysander and the now smoking greenhouse door. "Oh. Great," He said flatly.

 

[Lysander Summers]

The tingling in Lysander's arm dulled down before too long, and he rotated it out to get the feeling back into his fingertips. He had to agree with Kas, Professor Carter didn't seem like the type to have worse charms protecting the greenhouse. He wasn't Styx, and the only thing he had to protect in there was plants and gardening tools. "I think so too. He's a Hufflepuff." He agreed with a teasing grin. He almost wanted to reach out and try the handle again, in case the trap was gone now that he'd set it off once, but they'd brought supplies for this very reason and he very much wanted to try them out. He took his share of the whizzbangs and stuffed them into the door, before nodding at Kas and withdrawing his wand. They were going to have to be quick if they wanted to get the mandrakes out in time. They hadn't really discussed any plan, though he'd assumed they'd take them into the forest to be free and agreed with Kas on it, since there was no way he thought they could raise a whole classroom of mandrakes hidden away somewhere, when it was just the two of them.

With a dramatic flourish of his wand, Lysander shot the fuse with a stunning spell, as per the instructions on the box. A flash of red light ignited the fireworks, and he stood back as they erupted into a series of blinding lights and bright sparks. A firework jettisoned from the door and whizzed dangerously close by his ear, exploding overhead with a crack. "Shh, shh!" He hissed at the door, throwing Kas a helpless look. He'd expected it to make a sound, but they were way louder than he'd thought. When they died down, he let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, and checked over his shoulder to see if anyone had run out. The sounds of everyone eating dinner might have been enough of a distraction. He laughed. "That was actually pretty awes-" He began, cut off by the shifting of the earth beneath his feet. He stumbled to his knees with an oof, eyes wide as he watched roots and vines sprout up around them. His arms and legs were quickly pinned down, and his wand was pressed against his chest. He looked back at Kasim, mouth hanging open in shock, unsure whether he should shout or simply laugh about the whole situation. "Great." He parroted. He struggled against the bindings for a moment, certain he could break out of them if he really tried, before giving up with a sigh of defeat. He hung his head back and stared up at the sky, where a few loose whizzbangs had managed to escape and now spelt out profanity in bright colours above the greenhouses. He decided to laugh. "Oh, man. We're toast. My dad is gonna kill me. Do you know any spells that can cut through vines?" He asked through his somewhat nerve-fuelled chuckling. Sander was officially a duelling champion, yet here he was, bested by some plants. No spells came to mind that weren't simply stunning or disarming, andh e wasn't sure he could dislodge his wand enough to hex them anyway.​