Professor Sprout took a place behind a trestle bench in the center of the greenhouse, scowling still. About twenty pairs of different-colored ear muffs were lying on the bench.
It was only a few minutes before Harry walked back into the greenhouse looking annoyed. When he had taken his place between Ron and me, Sprout said, "We'll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"
To nobody's surprise, Hermione's hand was first into the air.
"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," said Hermione, sounding as usual as though she had swallowed the textbook. "It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state."
"Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor," said Professor Sprout. "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"
Hermione's hand narrowly missed Harry's glasses as it shot up again.
"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," she said promptly.
"Precisely. Take another ten points," said Professor Sprout. "Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young."
She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke, and everyone shuffled forward for a better look. A hundred or so tufty little plants, purplish green in color, were growing there in rows. They looked quite unremarkable to me, although I knew they had to be something more to them.
"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs," said Professor Sprout.
There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn't pink and fluffy, which honestly I didn't know why, I totally rocked them.
"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered," said Professor Sprout. "When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right — earmuffs on."
I snapped the earmuffs over his ears, and they were pretty good, shutting out sound completely. Professor Sprout put a pink, fluffy pair over her own ears. I gave her a thumbs up pointing at my own pair since we were twinning. She smiled gently at me before rolling up the sleeves of her robes, grasping one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard.
Instead of roots, a small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby popped out of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head. They had pale green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of their lungs.
Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it, burying them in dark, damp compost until only the tufted leaves were visible. Professor Sprout dusted off her hands, gave them all the thumbs-up, and removed her own earmuffs.
"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she said calmly as though she'd just done nothing more exciting than water a begonia, not that I knew what a begonia was.
"However, they will knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up.
"Four to a tray — there is a large supply of pots here — compost in the sacks over there — and be careful of the Venemous Tentacula, it's teething."
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, Ron, Hermione and I were joined at their tray by a curly-haired Hufflepuff boy that I had seen before but had never spoken to.
YOU ARE READING
The Weasley of Slytherin: The Chamber of Secrets
Fanfiction(Y/n) Weasley. The only of the Weasley children to be sorted into Slytherin. After a break full of mischief with his brothers he is returning to Hogwarts for his second year, although what awaits him is beyond his imagination.
