"I think Hagrid has the wrong idea about me. He makes me sound like some kind of troublemaker who goes around pestering every creature she sees."
Eliana jabbed her wand at a vine hanging from a branch. It zipped back up.
"Ah, well..." Harry watched her, opened his mouth, then screwed up his courage. "Of course you're not. You're just a little lively."
"Exactly!" Eliana agreed with absolute confidence. She puffed out her cheeks at the vine. "Won't even let me touch you. Stingy thing."
Well, it had never seen such a shameless pest!
Take this!
The vine dropped down again, smacked Eliana, then curled its tendrils and retreated.
Eliana: ???
"How dare you! I only touched you because you're cute. Why are you so nasty? Such a pretty vine, with such a vicious heart!"
Fuming, she grabbed the trunk and started climbing. "You think I can't get you just because you're curled up in a tree?!"
She scrambled surprisingly fast. Before Harry could react, she was already three feet up the trunk.
"Hey, Ellie, don't. We still have to find the injured Unicorn."
Harry tried to talk her down.
"This won't take long!" Eliana climbed even faster, still feeling wronged. "It hit me! I'm going to teach it a lesson!"
The vine silently snaked up behind her and rose into the air, ready to whip her across the head.
Eliana suddenly swung around in a full circle, seized the vine, and used it to slow her fall, landing steadily on the ground.
She landed safely. The vine, forced to bear her weight, nearly snapped on the spot. It wilted from end to end and lay in her hand like a rotten rope.
"Playing pitiful now, are you?" Eliana shook the vine. It hung limp and silent, as though dead.