Chapter 373: Sprout's Greenhouse
Chapter 373: Sprout's Greenhouse
In a dimly lit chamber, Room 7.
Cedric Diggory, Roger Davies, and Collins Flitwick formed a trio, facing a deep green Basilisk over fifty feet long.
"Collins! Your direction!" Cedric shouted.
Collins immediately closed her eyes. A second later, she sensed a cold gaze fixating on her. Her body began to stiffen, and her magic seemed to solidify, as if turning her into stone. But she knew this was the effect of the Petrification Curse.
"I'm not a Squib!"
She staggered backward, gasping for breath. "Whoosh!" A stone the size of a palm whizzed past her forehead, leaving a few drops of blood.
She silently crouched down, waiting for the right moment.
"Roger! It's looking at you!"
She heard Cedric's voice again and opened her eyes abruptly. The Blinding Spell she had prepared for a long time immediately flew out. Without waiting to confirm the result, she retreated, using several broken stones as a shield.
"Only the left eye left!" Davies reminded her.
A few minutes later, the Basilisk, covered in wounds, fell to the ground. It was still breathing, but its body was riddled with injuries, and its eyes were blind. Normally, it would be close to death.
They gathered from different places, silently watching the Basilisk dissolve into countless green light points, a sense of accomplishment welling up inside them.
Roger Davies, exhausted, collapsed to the ground, not caring about his appearance anymore. After all, they had seen each other at their worst. This was their fifth encounter with the Basilisk, and the previous four had ended in total defeat.
"An impressive victory!" Flitwick screamed, appearing before them. His legs transformed into a hazy mist, leaving a long trail as he suddenly appeared.
Cedric grinned. This was the first time he had seen Professor Flitwick in this form since he had supported a Shield Charm and navigated through a dark bat cave.
The current four administrators had distinct personalities—
Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher and Head of Ravenclaw, was always full of enthusiasm, never stingy with praise for any student's progress, often reacting with exaggerated excitement. Professor Mcgonagall, the Transfiguration teacher and Head of Gryffindor, exhibited a serious and meticulous character, offering useful advice at the beginning. Young Headmaster Dumbledore enjoyed chatting and demonstrated a sharpness and insight that left the students in awe.
Professor Hep, the Ancient Runes teacher, was the most unconventional. He often appeared while they were navigating challenges, staring intently at them, and pointing out errors in a less-than-pleasant manner. He was also willing to demonstrate the correct way to pass a challenge—using their own methods—after they failed.
"... You should have noticed that seeing the Basilisk's eyes can be fatal... This is actually a misconception. Killing a wizard is not easy. Without magic, you would find their eyes not much different from those of ordinary snakes."
Flitwick gave his usual summary, evaluating their performance.
"But Professor, the Basilisk in the Chamber two years ago caused the petrification of a student and a cat", Cedric asked, puzzled.
"That doesn't prove anything. The Basilisk was in an attacking state at the time, and any creature in its line of sight would be attacked. There's no reason to believe it would maintain a large amount of magic in its eyes when alone."
Collins calmly analyzed, "Professor Flitwick, can I assume that the Basilisk's gaze is similar to our magic, controlled and directed?"
Flitwick nodded, praising her with a high-pitched voice, "Exactly! From Severus's dissection of the Basilisk, it appears to be just that!"
"Can you provide more examples, Professor?" Cedric asked.
"Of course! Take the Invisibility Beast, for example..." Flitwick explained.
...
Cedric and the others dragged their weary bodies out of the Chamber. The dark, damp, and narrow room slowly disappeared behind them, and they now stood on a smooth, white floor in an endless space. Three buildings of different sizes and styles stood strangely together, indicating the presence of other students.
Felix and Professor Sprout approached, and the three students immediately squinted at the professors' clothes, a skill they had mastered over the past month—clothing of the custodians of Classroom Seven emitted a faint, silvery glow.
This was one way to distinguish the real from the illusory.
And the two in front of them... were both real.
"Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick!" the three greeted. Felix and Sprout nodded kindly and walked deeper into the room.
"Cedric, what do you think they're here for?" Davies asked.
Cedric's gaze lingered on the professors' backs, and a look of surprise and excitement appeared in his gray eyes. "Perhaps we're about to welcome a new professor..."
The usually calm Collins Flitwick was slightly surprised. "Oh no, please don't!"
"Why not?" Cedric asked, staring at her. Sprout was his Head of House.
"Think about which subject she teaches", Collins said, closing her eyes. "I dropped Herbology in sixth year because I didn't want to take care of increasingly twisted and ugly plants..."
Her lips trembled as she continued, "Stinging tentacles, biting fangs of geraniums, slimy pouch plants, and pus-spewing Mimbulus Mimbletonia... Take the Bubotuber, for example. In second year, we only had to observe them from a distance. In fourth year, we had to squeeze their pus. And in sixth year?"
She turned to look at Cedric.
Cedric replied bitterly, "Peeling dead skin and pollinating."
...
In the depths of Classroom Seven, the two professors stood quietly side by side.
A silver, short figure appeared before them, becoming increasingly clear. Felix felt as if he was seeing a pair of twins, both with flowing gray hair and wearing thick, patched hats.
The memory of Sprout hummed a tune and cheerfully pulled up magical plants from the air, planting over a dozen Whomping Willows. She moved with agile steps, scattering black seeds, and in no time, clusters of black thorns grew to about six feet tall.
Beside Felix, Professor Sprout watched the scene enviously, as the black thorns intertwined to form a tall wall.
"I once suggested to Dumbledore that we plant a circle of these around the Forbidden Forest, but the workload was too great, and we had to abandon the idea."
"Uh, I think the students will have a headache with that..."
Meanwhile, the Weasley twins were complaining in the common room, lamenting how they seemed to have forgotten how to fly. Harry, busy with homework, was surprised to realize he hadn't touched a broomstick in a long time.
So, in the evening, he dragged Ron and Hermione, who seemed to be drowning in a sea of books, to the Quidditch pitch.
In the southeast corner of the Quidditch pitch, a construction site now occupied the area. Several houses were connected in a ring, surrounding the central, largest building, which was almost complete except for the spire.
Some workers were busy with the final touches.
Harry and the others watched from a distance for a while before mounting their brooms to enjoy the cool October breeze. Hermione side-sat on her broom, keeping it three feet off the ground, and leisurely circled the pitch. Harry, on his Firebolt, kept accelerating until he became a scarlet blur. He flew higher and farther, seeing from hundreds of feet away Hagrid carrying a log at least thirty feet long approaching.
“Hagrid, do you need some help?” He swooped down, circled Hagrid once, and landed in front of him.
Hagrid looked at him with a skeptical expression.
Without saying much, Harry pulled out his wand and cast the spell: “Wingardium Leviosa!”
Hagrid shifted the wood on his shoulder and grunted, “It’s a bit useful…” They headed back to the field together, where a red-faced wizard wearing a sun hat shouted, “Over here… Hagrid! Give it some effort, and we’ll finish today.”
Hagrid lifted the wood with little effort and set it upright. Harry noticed it was one of the support beams for the building.
The red-faced wizard who had called out cast a spell to secure the beam in place. Two others nearby examined a blueprint, one of them complaining, “Are they trying to move the school here? Finn… leave some space, we need to reserve spots for the statues.”
“Statues? What statues?” the wizard named Finn called out.
“They’ll bring them themselves, but we need to reserve the spots, got it? Where you’re standing will have a giant Thunderbird statue.”
Harry walked over to Hagrid and asked, “This is…?”
“The Ilvermorny School’s outpost,” Hagrid said succinctly. He glanced at Hermione and Ron, who was excitedly flying around the top of the Quidditch hoop, shouting with enthusiasm.
Hagrid mused, “Looks like you’ve been cooped up for a while. You should come over for tea sometime. Luna and Ginny visit often, and so does Firenze…”
“Luna and Ginny?” Harry asked, surprised.
“Yeah, I’ve learned a lot from them. Ginny even asked to borrow Aragog to test if Ron really isn’t afraid of spiders anymore. You know, she’s always been curious…”
“Is Aragog… uh, is it still…?” Harry asked, hesitating. He actually wanted to ask if the old spider was still alive, but it seemed impolite.
“Just about,” Hagrid mumbled. “To be honest, not great. It’s been wanting to go back to the Forbidden Forest, but there’s no place for it in the Acromantula Colony anymore. It’s been a bit lost… Felix has to cast the Size-Altering Charm every month so I can let it out for some fresh air and some frogspawn… a bit of sunshine and food does it good…”
Hagrid’s rambling left Harry quite surprised. He realized he had missed a lot.
As they returned to the castle, Hermione was still grumbling that she had missed fifty pages of reading, but her smile gave her away. Harry and Ron were used to her insincerity. Ron interjected that he hadn’t finished his Divination class homework.
“But you don’t seem worried at all?” Hermione looked at him skeptically.
“Thanks to the time we’ve spent in the Restricted Section with Harry, we’ve got some new ideas,” Ron said. “It helps us maintain good grades.”
“Right, by making up our own misfortunes to get high scores,” Hermione said. “Are you sure Trelawney will know the effects of the spells from the Restricted Section?”
Ron’s confidence wavered, and he looked hesitantly at Harry.
At that moment, they entered the entrance hall, where a new notice was posted on the large bulletin board, surrounded by a crowd of students.
‘Triwizard Tournament: The Ilvermorny delegation will arrive at 10:00 AM on Sunday, October 16th. Please prepare accordingly—’
“I knew it!” Ron exclaimed, as if he had discovered some profound truth. “No wonder the professors have been reminding us about our manners these past few days!”
Harry didn’t speak. His mind was already drifting to the next two days. Ilvermorny… what would their students be like?
(End of Chapter)
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