Don't Eat The Science

There was a lot going on in the personal life of Luna Lovegood. Tragic loss, betrayals, flares of other women's jealousy and her father's continued absence. She found distraction in her science experiments, having done several over the course of a few days. Each was more wreckless than the last but none topped the riskiness of her current project, working with live venomous tentacula. She managed to score the plant through one of her professional connections, a herbologist who quite enjoyed her articles in the Quibbler and was glad to lend a helping hand, questionable legalities aside. The dangerous bush currently sat in it's pot atop her work space, vines snaking out and waving lazily in the air, occasionally having to be batted away while she peered through her miscroscope, studying a sample of the plant's venom on a slide. 

Normally she was assisted by Meg Ashland, but the woman had a lot on her plate. Things were still a little awkward between them, she supposed and at any rate the blonde Ashland had been unavailable to help her today. No matter, Luna had some wonderful friends who were unafraid to lend a hand when it was needed. The best of said friends being Ginny Weasley, the youngest of the Weasley clan. The two women had been friends since their time at Hogwarts and there weren't many Luna would consider herself closer too. Weasleys made good lab assistants anyway, it was in their blood or something. Luna was decked out in her normal 'laboratory' attire. She wore a chemical apron to guard against venom spills, safety glasses sat uselessly atop her head like a crown and protective gloves were left unused on the counter. Luna never used gloves and would mumble something about manual dexterity and need for precision whenever the issue was pressed. 

"I've been trying to see if I can somehow neutralize the plant's venom." she explained, pushing the microscope aside and carefully plucking a leaf off of the plant's vine. "I studied the leaves before and believe they have some very beneficial properties." The blonde tilted her head as she observed the stolen leaf. "Ingesting the plant has proven fatal on several occasions, only one person has survived eating the entire plant. And then there's the risk of a bite while harvesting the leaves as well. But I've been applying the anti venom to them topically in hopes that they'll absorb it. I wanted to feed them chizpurfles that had ingested the antidote but they're far too small. I do wonder if the antidote would neutralize the plant's beneficial properties or if it had any effect on the venom at all." Luna looked up at Ginny, vague smile across her dreamy features. "There's only one way to find out." the witch declared before popping the leaf into her mouth, chewing it up and swallowing it down. Within several moments Luna had grown quite pale and a touch jittery.