Harry Potter and Claire Smith's Adventures: Book Four

Snargaluff, Curses, and S.P.E.W.

Chapter 10: Snargaluff, Curses, and S.P.E.W.

It was Thursday morning and Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Claire were seated at the Gryffindor table for breakfast.

"We have Moody's class today." Ron said as he looked at his timetable.

"Wonder what he'll be teaching us," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts." Ron said.

"I know that," Hermione snapped. "I meant if he was going to teach us some new spells."

"I guess we'll have to wait," Harry said. "Too bad we have to go to Transfiguration first."

"I have Herbology first with the seventh years." Claire said, looking at her timetable. "Hopefully, we won't have to deal with pus like you did."

After they finished their breakfast, they went to their classes. Claire walked down to the greenhouses for Herbology. As she entered greenhouse seven, she saw there were only six students (seven if she counted herself) in the classroom. Two of them she recognized: Neville Longbottom and Cedric Diggory. She walked over to them.

"Hey, Neville! Cedric!" Claire greeted them.

"Hello, Claire," Cedric said. "How's your term been so far?"

"It's been alright, you?" Claire asked.

"I'm counting the days until the term ends." Cedric said.

"I've been doing the same thing since I woke up the first day." Claire replied. She then turned to Neville. "Hey, Neville!"

Neville smiled shyly at her. "Hi, Claire."

"It's nice to see that I'm not the only fourth year in the class." Claire said.

"Yeah, it's the only class I don't mess up in," Neville said, sadly.

"I'm sure that's not true, Neville," Claire replied. "You were pretty good in Charms the other day. You managed to do the Banishing Charm."

"It took me the whole period." Neville said, disheartedly.

"But at least you did it, several people couldn't even do it. I bet you'd've done it sooner if you didn't think so lowly of yourself. As cheesy as it sounds, you can do anything as long as you put your mind to it." Claire replied.

"Thanks, Claire." Neville smiled.

"Hello, class! Welcome to Seventh Year Herbology! " Professor Sprout greeted them as she walked in. "As I'm sure you've noticed, there is a small number of you. For Seventh Year Herbology, I choose certain students who have the highest grades on their O.W.L.s, N.E.W.T.s, or perhaps their third-year exams (she glanced at Claire and Neville). I also choose students based on their work integrity and their passion for Herbology. This is not an easy class to get into. Consider this an accomplishment for all of you to be here. Now, this class can be dangerous as well as difficult and because of this you will all be assigned a partner for the whole term. Since there are an odd number of students, there will be two groups of two and one group of three."

Professor Sprout pulled out a scroll from her robes' pocket and cleared her throat.

"Hinder and Jacobs," she said, to two Ravenclaw boys, "you two will be partners."

"Riley and McMillian," she said to a Hufflepuff boy and Ravenclaw boy, "you will be partners."

Professor Sprout looked up. "And that leaves Smith, Longbottom, and Diggory as the last group. Your first assignment will be to collect the pods from a Snargaluff. Before you collect the pods, please make sure to read page 12 in your books. It will detail the necessary steps and precautions for collecting the pods. You have until the end of the period."