Cale raised his hand. "Well, there's always the risk that the plant could turn on the person using it for defense. Even if you know how to defend yourself against a Devil's Snare, when it's actually attacking you could be a whole different story. You might be so panicked you forget what to do." he explained. "Or you could also accidently attack someone you don't want to use it against, since it attacks anything to gets in it's way."

Curt nodded in Cale's direction, the rumor's were true... that guy was smart. The the Slytherin Quidditch guy, Clifford answer. One eyebrow involuntarily raised as the Slytherin had finished and Curt looked at him. After just a moment, Curt burst into laughter... that guy had a good sense of humor. "Yeah, exactly. A devil's snare has no sense of who's who and what's what. It's a plant." Curt said with a shrug. "Even if you plan on using it to your defense, it could end up attacking you, instead of the attacker. Which if you are in that setting, makes you just that much more vulnerable." He finished with a nod.

"Very good, a point to each of you, and that does bring up another point which I want to make sure we're all clear on later. However, what is the one weakness of the Devil's Snare?" He pointed into the dark corner.

Nicholai raised his hand, "Fire, sir. Because Devils snare is partial to dark and damp- as mentioned before- and Fire changes both of those."

They can't grow in the damp and dark professor" jason hoped his answer was right as he raised his hand.

"Fire." Will answered. "It likes the dark, and damp places, and withdraws from light and heat."

He nodded and twirled his hand in a slightly impatient two-fingered gesture. "Yes, very correct. Now, apply that to the last question. What would be a problem with using the plant to guard something?"

"A wizard who knows the weakness of the plant would have no problem defeating Devil's Snare and stealing what it guards, Professor." James finished.

Raising his hand once more Nico answered, "A Wizard could simply cast a fire spell to overcome the Devils Snare," he nodded, "I still stand by my earlier statement regarding using Devils snare to keep certain Beasts or Beings out however - at least those that cannot readily produce a flame- also it would still be effective against Muggles and If it is just one line of defence of many, then it would at least slow a Wizard down." he paused before musing out loud, "If you could find a way to intertwine it with something that is activated by fire it would certainly be useful."

Cale raised his hand once more, "If you knew any spells to conjure fire or light, you could easily get past the plant. You could also just relax and get by the plant unharmed, allowing the intruder to get past it easily."

The right spells Professor and leaving it in the dark and damp places" jason told the professor as he raised his hand.

Cale raised his hand in the air, "Well, a dark, damp place with lots of room for it to spread out would be the ideal place," he answered. "Professor, are you alright?" he asked when he noticed that the professor was having...trouble up there.

"Completely out of the sunlight and a vary dark and damp corner" Jason raised his hand.

"Erickson," Alex raised his hand in the back, "Because the plant would be usless out doors during the day. Any one could walk right past it." Alex sighed looking a round.

"Underground." Nicholai responded with a frown on his face. "In a chamber or cave." He looked away from the professor and starred grimly at his notes.

"And none of you see how that could be detrimental?"

Once again there was the language that no one could understand as he paced the room in exasperation before he let out a very relieved "YES!" as he turned and pointed to Alex. "That is exactly it! How many of you are keeping dark and dank cellars full of dirt in which to grow a devil's snare? It is honestly one thing for Hogwarts or a rare plants collector or other sort of herbologist to have a devil's snare on hand, but what's the point of having it guard a home or being used as a way to escape if the only place that it would be useful is lit during daylight hours?"

"Well i have a nice dank basement full of dirt, but it's not for..." Alex stopped realizing he was talking, "...uuummm nothing, nevermind." sat down looking around.

Will raised his hand. "I see your point, sir, but it would be useful to guard your valuables if you stored them in a basement or other dark and cool location. However, that'd raise another problem-- the devil's snare is not by nature a loyal creature, so you'd have to use fire or light to get it to shy away any time you wanted access to your valuables yourself. So... could it, by repeated exposure to heat and light, become acclimated to them enough that it wouldn't shy away, or does devil's snare not have enough intelligence to actually learn?" He was curious about the strange plant... there seemed to be many facets to it, and it made for a truly interesting herbology class. Though all things being equal, Will would still rather be making mud pies.