Something… leafy had changed.

Small and modest glimpses of green when first tucked there at the start of term had quickly grown into something much MUCH more over the months. Their stems were impossibly long for their age, curling up the panes like they had somewhere to be. Their leaves shimmered with an almost uncanny vibrance, as though they'd been basking not in the mild light of early winter, but something far stronger...

At first, it had seemed harmless enough. A stray leaf wrapping around a quill left too close to the glass. A missing spool of twine later found suspended from a looped stem. But soon came the snapped stems of other neighboring plants, the overturned vial of powdered peppermint root, the ink-stained leaves of an innocent herbology notebook that someone swore they'd closed. One vine had even curled around a bench leg in the night and dragged it away from its usual resting place, flipping it on its side in the process.

Whatever the cause—enchanted soil? Unseen moonlight?—the plants were no longer just decoration. They had presence. Personality, even.

But of course… it could all just be the usual magic of Hufflepuff House.

Couldn't it?