As you enter the third floor, you notice that the lights are dimmed considerably and the temperature has skyrocketed. It almost seems as though you’ve stepped into a rainforest. It looks like one as well.

A number of plants line the walls, and if you peer closer, some seem to be quivering where they are placed. Tendrils of several Venomous Tentaculas line the walls, wiggling slightly if one steps too close. In one corner sits a bubotuber plant which spits out green yellow pus at random intervals. Be careful! Don’t get too close!

In one particularly dark corner sits a plant that is absolutely still; but don’t let its lack of movement fool you. This is one of the most dangerous plants on the floor.

“Devil’s Snare! Devil’s Snare!” A voice rings out. Having not noticed before, you look over to see a short, rather dumpy looking woman standing near an elevator, staring across the room at the plant with an almost loving expression upon her face.

She soon takes notice, however, of your presence; and turns her attention on you.

“Why hello.” She croons, waddling over in your direction as she flutters her eyelashes at you in a doe-like fashion. “Have you come here to see me? Oh, of course you have. I’ve been waiting for you.” She sings out.

Wrapping one arm around yours, she swings you around towards the Venomous Tentaculas. “Come now, come now. Don’t be shy. I’ll give you an extra special gift if you help me.” She gives a girlish giggle.

As you are drawn unwillingly closer, the plants snap towards your face while their vines slither down the walls and quickly wrap around your ankles, moving up your legs with no sign of ceasing.

"Oh look, dear! They've taken a liking to you!" She trills in delight as she looks down in adoration to see the vines slowly tighten around you. "Come now, move just a little closer..."

Her saccharine-like voice suddenly trails off as she takes notice of the bubotuber plant, which has begun to shoot its secretions in a more aggressive pattern around the room.

"Oh, you naughty, naughty plant! Stop that! Stop that right now!" She hurries off to tend to the plant, leaving you all alone in the grips of the Tentaculas, which have now made it up to your waist and incessantly keeps snapping at your clothing and face.

Well this just keeps getting better and better. The werewolf and then the billwigs and now Devil's Snare! "Wait come back!" She told the woman as the plant was winding up her waist.

Amon almost ran away from the crazy amount of bugs. He took a deep breath at the door. The bugs were over. And he had gotten out alive. He flattened his hair. And regained his breath, before the other two got here. He didn't want them to think he was the most scaredy cat in the world. He pushed the door open, and winced as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light. He pulled out his torch, and began shining it in the dark. He didn't want his wand to create any bad feelings. Wands make people angry, torches do not.

He saw a woman, "Erm hello. Do you live here?" Then he saw Franca in the torchlight. She was being wrapped by snare. Oh great. Heat and light, hopefully the torch would work. He didn't want to rick his wand.

Adrienne followed Amon into the dim light, letting her eyes adjust gradually to the darkness. And then he pulled out a torch. Trust him to think a torch would do the job. She rolled her eyes, and shook her head almost disapprovingly. How shining a bright light randomly round the room - and one that was emitted from a muggle object that some wizard folk wouldn't understand or recognise - was going to help, Adrienne really wasn't sure.

She quickly turned at the sound of Franca's voice, wondering how the other girl had got up the stairs so fast. And from the look of things in the torchlight, how she'd got trapped so fast. Adrienne slowly moved across to Franca, using light footsteps to not gain the attention of the surrounding vines. She needed to know what they were. She had originally planned to light her wand, since a voice had shouted about Devil's Snare, but something about the shape in the shadows seemed wrong. And the wrong use of light could cause problems.

"Keep still Franca," Adrienne said, bending down low and hoping she hadn't yet attracted the attention of the plants. Amon didn't need two of them trapped. Plus it'd make him all big headed about how males are better.

"It's got spikes," she said quietly, analysing the rough outline she saw, it wasn't much to go by though. So much for being careful, she needed to actually see the plant if she was to get anywhere. Hoping that the mysterious plant didn't mind light, or at the very least didn't attack at the detection of it, she whispered 'Lumos'.

Amon rolled his eyes as Adrienne flounced up the stairs. That girl had weird issues. And then she pulled out her wand. "Adrienne put the wand away. I have a torch. It gives out enough light. Wands can be very intimidating. Especially to these psycho people. We don't want to be attacked especially, not when we are making our way through."

He shined the light at the plant, "Venomous Tentacula. We need to watch out. Franca hold on. Don't move. We don't want you to become endangered. I don't carry antidote with me."

He had to think about what he was taught in Herbology so long ago.

Nurse Betty paid no mind to the girls and boy who entered the floor. She was much too engrossed with the rather naughty plant whose thick secretions were splattering the walls. Besides, they could simply play with the Tentaculas. The plants already seemed to be taking such a liking to them. In fact...glancing back, she could see that three of the plants were now reaching for the the other boy and girl. Goodie! Time to play!

As soon as Lexi entered the next level, she felt the change in temperature immediately. The lights were dimmed, and the place actually resembled a rainforest. "It's sort of...pretty in here," Lexi said, looking over at Paul and motioning for him to look around, as well. "I've always liked the rainforest look. I just wonder what lies within." Lexi shook her head, remembering the chaos from the ground level, then the werewolf, and finally the billywigs.

"Hello," Lexi replied, noticing that a woman had greeted them upon arrival. "Why, yes, of course we've come to see you. And...you've been waiting for us?" That was odd...what was this lady waiting on them for? For some reason, Lexi was a little leery of that statement. That was when Lexi noticed the loving look that the woman was giving one of her plants. This plant looked to be a..."Devil's snare," Lexi said aloud to Paul.

That was when she and Paul were pretty much ushered away straight towards a plant that seemed to hate their very presence. Lexi jumped a bit as the plant snapped. "A liking to me?" Lexi questioned. "That's what they do when they like someone?"

Franca stood still as the plant wrapped around her waist. "Ok I'm not moving." She said fiercely to Amon and Adrienne. She looked at the woman on the floor. "Um ma'am. Do you think you could ask your friend to let me go?" She asked.

Amon dug into his pocket to find a nail file. He attempted to cut away the vine that was wrapped around Franca. Something grasped around his leg. He quickly kicked it away. He wasn't about to be dragged in with the rest of them. "Adrienne watch out. It wants you as well."

Arienne rolled her eyes at Amon. "I've only lit it." She with a small huff. "And you think shining around a possibly strange Muggle object isn't intimidating? I reckon it could be seen that way. Don't forget not everyone is as adaptable and acknowledgeable as us on that front." Even so, she lowered the light on her wand a bit. She refused to turn it completely out though, having a feeling she'd like to see anything nasty on this level before it decided to attack her or mess with her head.

And then to make it worse, he'd identified the plant just as she was about the say the same thing. Gah. Some people. "I don't have antidote either," she said quietly, thinking about the best way to get them out. Though she had a horrible feeling that the key was probably hidden 'safely' within one of these plants. Hopefully not the bubotuber, she didn't fancy getting covered in acky pus.

"You're doing great Franca," she said for reassurement, knowing that being trapped by a plant was horrible - and that it was even worse trying to keep still.

"I know it does." She had felt a vine gradually sliding over her foot, and for the moment she let it. It hadn't been an attacking movement, so at the moment Adrienne felt safe enough. "And if you're going to try cutting it, incendio the ends. It helps seal them and prevents them from reattacking straight away. Unless you happen to have a type of tranquillizer on you?" She sighed. "Else you'll only make the problem worse."

She twisted saw another two of the plants trailing towards them. "Great," she said sarcastically. "We have more company."

With a loud squeal, Nurse Betty suddenly turned and ran straight at the girl who dared to cut at her plant. "Stop that!" She cried. "They're not doing you any harm!"

And apparently the Tentacula did not enjoy the unpleasant sting of the attempted cutting. Vines slithered away from the other two visitors and immediately wrapped around Amon's arms, tightening quickly.

"Serves you right!" She turned towards her plants and murmured a few 'shushing sounds' "It'll be okay...she won't do it again."

As she noticed a girl speak of the atmosphere being so pretty, Nurse Betty turned her way with a beaming smile. "Oh, yes, dear. It is beautiful, isn't it. And the plants make it even more so. Won't you have a look at the Tentaculas?"

Giggling again, she nodded. "Oh, yes, dear. They are very affectionate."

With a frown, she turned towards another girl who had been playing with her friends. "Let you go? But why? Don't you like playing with my friends?" She asked in a hurt tone.

"They might not be doing any harm now," Amon said, shaking his head, "But these plants can kill. And I am trying to save my companion."

Suddenly they were now wrapped around his wrists. He clenched his fists tightly, to try to avoid any stinging pains. "Hey excuse me lady. I am a man. She tends to be used when you are talking about females. I am a male." He took a deep breath.

"You do know your plants kill. These in particular are poisonous. Those there are irritable," he said pointing to the bubotubers with his head. "You should really be staying away from them."

"Your friends?" Adrienne asked, looking away from the plant and up to the lady. "Your friends, they don't happen to look after anything for you at all do they? Something important?" She smiled warmly, her eyes encouraging despite the dim light. Her usually strong makeup accentuated her friendly side in the wand light, and she hoped that the woman might trust her enough to reveal something about the location of the key.

"You're right though, they are very affectionate." She moved her gaze to the vine still running over her feet, hoping to emphasise the fact she was at ease with these 'friends'. "Do you have any other friends that I might like to meet? They are very nice."
Adrienne had a feeling Amon wasn't exactly helping matters. If the lady thought these plants were her friends, it probably wasn't the best idea to wreck that illusion whilst the psychosis was still hanging over the hospital. "Amon," she said softly. "They are her friends. She's right, there's no reason to injure them." She gave him a look as if to say 'bear with me here'.

Now there were two people stuck. Adrienne really hoped she was getting somewhere with her friendly approach. She had a feeling Amon wouldn't like being stuck too long. He wasn't used to not being the one in control. "Just stay calm," she muttered to no one inparticular. Good job she liked Herbology at school, and it was one of her favoured research areas.

Lynne was quite relieved when the plant let her go...so she backed away out of reach, in order to access the situation.

Franca was almost crying from fear. She had hear horror stories of someone dying from Devil's Snare. "Yes I like playing with your friends, but I would like to play with all your friends and I can't do that if I can't move." She said with a smile trying to keep from crying.

Franco looked at Amon, she was hoping he would help but with the crazy plant lady he seemed to be making things worse. She hoped that the woman would let them loose. She was going to die if she didn't. She didn't like plants.

Paul couldn't have run up from the bug floor any faster than he did. The bugs had been creeping him out, especially the billywigs. Thank goodness they hadn't had any bees in there or he might have just died.

He hardly had time to take in the atmosphere of the next level before the woman told them to take a look at her friends. Or, more specifically, one that seemed to take a liking to him and Lexi...the Tentacula. Just as Paul registered that there were a few other people there, the vine wrapped itself around his wrist and tugged, hard.

"Erm, MISS!" he demanded as his hand started to get numb. "Does it always do this when it, uh...likes people?" he asked, hoping another vine didn't creep up on him from behind. He could already feel this one trying to pull him closer.

Andrina sighed with relief as she walked into the next floor, she hadn't been long on the bug level, and she was glad, bugs.. tended to well.. freak her out. Thankfully she had kept her head.

However, she broke into an almost instant sweat as she walked into the room, and then suddenly found herself tangled in a vine. "Um hello?" She called out to the nurse. "Are they supposed to do this?" She asked as she found herself with vines around her legs. Her eyes were drawn to the still plant and she wondered quietly, if maybe that was where something was hidden. "Devil's Snare.." She murmurred to herself, as she saw the look in the ladies eye.. Yes.. That was where she should head.. or talk about.. considering she got free first.

When Lexi took notice of the woman finally replying to her, she looked up with a leery look. The situation in this room didn't look any easier than the situations on any of the other levels. As a matter of fact, everything just kept getting worse and worse...scarier and scarier. Lexi was afraid to even consider what may lie ahead at the upper levels. "Oh, yes...beautiful indeed. I've always loved the whole rainforest look," she said, politely smiling and nodding.

"Have a...look at the Tentaculas?" Lexi questioned. She wasn't so sure she wanted to do that. The plants were currently attempting to tug at each and every person in the room. Yikes. Reluctanly, Lexi began to step a little closer to the plants, noticing that Paul was doing the same.

"Paulie!" Lexi suddenly shrieked, seeing that the vines of the plant had wrapped around Paul's wrist and began tugging. "Oh, no! Paul, they're..." Lexi didn't even finish her sentence. She was too busy grabbing Paul by the arm and attempting to pull him away from the plant.

"Are you sure this plant likes us?!?" Lexi asked the lady, still tugging at Paul's arm in an attempt to get him away from the plant. "If so, it seems rather...friendly..."

Paul looked up at the woman again with slight fear in his eyes. Wait a minute...what had she said when she came in? If you help, you get a special gift? "Lexi stop!" he whispered, lightly smacking her hand to get her to drop her grip on his arm. "I got this, ok?" he asked with a small smile.

Ok, even if the plant was a bit...more friendly than he would have liked, he could suffer a bit of numbness in his hand if they were going to get somewhere with this whole thing. "What do you need us to do miss?" he asked her, taking a step closer to the plant. The tugging was hurting his arm.

Andrina was slowly edging her way across the room, a slightly difficult task as she was tangled up in vines, and she didn't want to hurt any of them. She pushed a now sweaty lock of her black hair, that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear as she struggled over to the nurse. " I am Andrina." She said in a kind voice, "How can I help you?" She asked as she once more eyes the Devil's snare. "What do you need done?" She asked, as she blinked her purple eyes as a vine had just snapped at her face. Guh, will this never end? She thought to herself.

Nurse Betty shifted her weight, placing one hand on her hip. "Well, excuse them for trying to make friends. They'll only attack if you antagonize them, as you did when you attempted to cut them."

Her attention was momentarily distracted by a girl standing nearby (Arienne) who seemed quite calm. "Are you enjoying the plants?" She asked sweetly.

Whirling back around, she spoke again, this time sounding thoroughly irritated. "They will not kill...not unless you give them a very good reason to. They are gentle plants."

With a sad sigh, she shuffled off again, this time ending further towards the door. "My beautiful babies..."

Pausing for a moment, Nurse Betty looked curiously over at the girl. "Look after anything? Of course they do!" She beamed. "They all are each their own little treasures." Oh, yes, they were. Of course, one or two of them might hold an extra gift or two, but no one needed to know that, at least not now.

"Oh, yes!" She trilled. "Yes, yes, I do." She steered the girl towards the Devil's Snare plant which seemed to nearly straighten up as they approached. "This is my favorite plant here. Isn't it beautiful?"

As the girl explained how much she wanted to play with her friends, the nurse frowned slightly and then nodded. "Okay!" Reaching forward, she gently ran her fingertips along the vines holding the girl. Immediately, they slackened and let her go.

"You've got to have the right touch." She explained in a near conspiratorial whisper.

"Now. Which one my lovely friends would you like to see next?"

Nurse Betty beamed again as a visitor agreed that it was all so beautiful. What a wonderful thing to hear! She had worked so hard to achieve the surroundings, but she had the plants to thank for bringing it all together. They were the pride and joy of the display.

"Oh, yes, yes! They do that whenever they wish to meet new people. And since there are so many people here, they're just getting so excited!" She clapped her hands together twice. When her plants were happy, then she was equally happy!

"Ooo, hello dear. What a pretty name..." She stared off dreamily for a moment before refocusing on the girl. "Help me? Oh, I don't need any help...but my plants certainly do." Waving her hand around, she leaned a bit closer. "You see, the Devil's Snare has been a bit ornery lately, but I still do love it..." She sighed, glancing again at the plant with an adoring smile. "However, I simply cannot figure out what is the matter. Perhaps you can help?"

Franca smiled in relief with the plant let her go. "It is really a beautiful plant. With such a gentle touch." She added quickly. "I would love to help you with the Devil's Snare. Since we are such good friends now." She said happily.

Andrina smiled and gave a slight curtsy as The nurse spoke. "Why thank you." She said smiling kindly. "Okay, so your plants need help? I can certainly help with that." She said with a nod. "Devil's Snare? It has been ornery? Do you think it may have accidentally trapped something that didn't agree with it?" She asked carefully as she pushed her hair back again from her sweaty face. "Could I take a look at it perhaps?" She asked as she gently ran a finger down the plant, and the tendrils let go of her. "Please, I will try to help you." She said smiling.

"Very much so," Adrienne said with a smile. "They are such wonderful specimens. So healthy. You and your friends have done a most impressive job with this floor." She moved her wand so the light felt differently to help examine some of the other plants, since she was sort of stuck here with the vine running over her feet. "Tell me, do have a special technique to get them like this? Or is it just love and care?" Yes, she was relying on flattery and interest here. But hopefully it would work. The Nurse person seemed to care very much about her 'babies'.

"Ah, yes, but of course they are. Each one special and unique in their own way. How they react to things, what conditions they prefer, even the type of person that cares for them." She smiled softly. Unfortunately the nurse hadn't helped her work out where the key might be hidden. She needed to know more.

Before she knew it, Adrienne was being steered towards another plant. A Devil's snare. Funnily though, it seemed to move and straighten up as they got closer, as if for politeness or respect. Perhaps these plants really were the Nurse's friends. They certainly acted that way in the fact that she seemed to be protected from them. She studied the snare carefully for a few moments, noting any differences from other specimens.

"It really is beautiful," Adrienne agreed. "I can see why it is your favourite." She looked thoughtful. "Very well controlled. I've seen some varieties just grow and spread out all over the place, but this one is so balanced in size with the tentaculas."

She watched as the nurse freed Franca, intrigued by how the plant reacted to the woman's touch. That was pretty amazing. A plant that could be vicious had reacted purely to that stroke. There really was an understanding and connection there. That might be fundamental in understanding how to find the key.

At least there were two of them free now to search. Something told Adrienne that the place to search most was the Snare. Historically such plants been used to help protect things before, and if that was the Nurse's favourite plant it was logical that the key might be around there somewhere. But how to find it? She wasn't sure it would be as keen on her touch as that of the Nurse, and it was such a huge plant she could be there for a while even if it did let her get close. Hmm.

Adrienne couldn't help but overhear the nurse's words. She looked at it with a furrowed brow. "Ornery? In what way? Is it the whole plant, or just a part of it?" she questioned quickly, thinking of the possibilities. It wasn't that she wanted to scare the woman and cause her to go protective, more because Adrienne's Ravenclaw brain was finally getting the work out it wanted. She hadn't found a key out of her group yet, and she knew she had the best brains to get it. Plants were one of her favourite subjects, and she wanted help the lady to get to the key before Amon barged straight through. Bad luck he was currently stuck. The girls were going to get this one.

She smiled at Franca's words. They both seemed to be working along the same wavelength, which was good. "Glad to have you back," she said, "I thought you were getting a bit too friendly with the tentacula and were going to leave me to work with Amon on my own." She winked, and her eyes twinkled in the wandlight.

Paul looked from the nurse and to the plant currently grabbing his arm with one of its many vines. Now would be a GREAT time to remember something, anything from herbology class. "Maybe it wants more plant companions to play with, or it needs to be relocated to a damper area. Maybe if the plant had more Devils Snare to interact with in a more suitable environment for it, with less light and less humans who don't understand the delicate nature of this plant." he suggested. He was buttering up the nurse, yes, but communicating with women was his best skill, after all.