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She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder.
Harry potter and the chamber of secrets
Does draw here mean 'to pull or drag (something such as a vehicle) so as to make it follow behind'? So it means the plant pulled out its feelers?
Then what's the role of 'in' here? feel like it's not necessary here.. Or does this phrase have completely different meaning?
Here, "draw in" is the verb. It has a few meanings, but here it means to pull in, retract, or withdraw. It draws its feelers back towards (and perhaps into) itself to avoid further injury from being slapped.
In general, when encountering a verb with a preposition that seems out of place, try looking it up to see if it is a phrasal verb like "draw in."
