Chapter 90: Planting Garlic
Chapter 90: Planting Garlic
Ever since Albert displayed his talent in Potions class, Snape had left him alone, one could even say he completely ignored him.
In the morning, after their Potions class ended, Albert and George went to the library during their free time before lunch. They returned the book, Simple Alchemy, and while they were there, they also borrowed a book on alchemy.
The book was titled, Extraction, Separation, and Potions.
Albert had originally thought that this book was related to Potions, but after browsing through its contents, he was surprised to find that it was actually a book on alchemy, introducing the relationship between alchemy and potions.
Although Potions and alchemy were not the same, there was still a significant connection between the two, with some overlap.
Some potion ingredients needed to be processed using alchemical methods, and there were even some potions that were directly obtained through alchemy.
The most representative example was the essence of mugwort.
Mugwort essence was something obtained by directly extracting a herb called mugwort, and it was an effective wound healing agent. Treating wounds with mugwort essence was far more effective than using the herb directly or making a potion with it.
Extraction, Separation, and Potions recorded in detail how to extract mugwort essence, which reminded Albert of the garlic cross in Simple Alchemy... Cough, cough. Albert quickly shook off the strange thoughts from his head and refocused on the book's description of extracting mugwort essence.
Fred and Lee Jordan returned from the kitchen empty-handed, and they sat dejectedly in the chairs next to the twins, helplessly spreading their hands at George.
As Albert had expected, the two had come back empty-handed. The house-elves in the kitchen did not allow them to take any garlic.
This meant that the twins' plan had failed before it even started.
"I told you so," Albert said to the dejected trio and suggested, "Maybe you can write home and ask them to send you some garlic."
"Are you crazy?" Fred stared at Albert in disbelief, his voice rising involuntarily, "If we dare to do that, we'll definitely be punished with a good whacking when we go back for the Christmas holidays."
"No, I think Mom might just tell you to stay home and keep planting garlic instead of coming back to school," George interjected.
There was no way they could get garlic from home, not even for the sake of researching Dark Magic defense.
"Do you have any other ideas?" The three of them looked at Albert, their eyes shining with hope, as if he was their only hope.
Albert spread his hands and said, "Give up! Of course, if you really don't want to give up, I suggest you go to Diagon Alley and buy some garlic by owl order."
The three of them wilted at his words. If they had galleons, would they still be worrying about this?
"So, just give up," Albert said indifferently as he flipped through the book in his hand, "Whether it's potions or alchemy, they're both money-burning hobbies."
"What's wrong with them?" Hannah asked as she looked at the dejected trio.
"It's nothing, they're just a little down. Don't mind them," Albert replied.
"Don't mind us unless you can get us some garlic," George waved at Hannah.
Hannah was baffled, so she stopped paying attention to the twins and started chatting with Albert about the homework from today's Potions class, asking him when he was free to go to the library together to work on the paper about Aconitum.
The difficulty with most papers lay in finding the relevant information, and it was faster to look for information together. As for putting the found information together into a paper, that depended on each person's writing skills.
Albert pulled out his homework sheet from his bag and set a time with Hannah before turning his attention back to his book.
To be honest, Albert was hoping to find the method for making the developing solution and magical photographs from the Extraction, Separation, and Potions book.
In Albert's opinion, magical photographs were undoubtedly related to alchemy, and fortunately, he did find something related to this in the table of contents.
Just as Albert was looking for the formula for the developing solution and its correct usage, he suddenly discovered that a new panel task had been activated.
Moving Magical Photographs.
You have discovered the secret of moving magical photographs and are trying to learn how to make them. Why not give it a try?
Make three magical photographs.
Reward: 500 experience points, obtain the Alchemy skill.
Even after lunch ended, Albert was still considering whether to make time to try making the developing solution. The task didn't give a lot of experience, but directly obtaining the Alchemy skill was also good. After all, the Magic Lamp task required the Alchemy skill to be lit.
As he was passing through the entrance hall, Albert suddenly heard someone calling his name. He turned his head and asked, "What is it? I didn't quite catch what you said."
"We're thinking of trying our luck in the neighboring village," the three of them seemed to have come to a decision, which was to see if they could get some garlic in Hogsmeade and then bring it back to plant.
"Oh, then good luck," Albert patted Fred's shoulder and said, "Actually, Hagrid definitely has some. If you want it..."
"What is it?" A sudden voice interrupted.
"Nothing," Fred felt a little embarrassed. They weren't very familiar with Hagrid, so they didn't want to bother him about this.
Even the previous suggestion of borrowing Hagrid's vegetable garden to plant garlic had been a joke. Hogwarts was so big that it wouldn't be difficult to find a place to secretly turn over some soil and plant some garlic.
"Garlic, we want to research whether garlic can repel dark creatures," Albert changed the subject and asked, "Is there something you need? It's rare to see you inside the castle."
"I have something to discuss with Dumbledore," Hagrid eyed the group suspiciously and started walking towards the headmaster's office, but before he left, he turned back and said, "If you need garlic, I can give you some."
The three of them watched Hagrid's departing back, at a loss for words. They hadn't expected that while they were still racking their brains over how to get garlic, Albert would have already taken care of it with a casual remark.
"Isn't this a bit..." George trailed off.
"Hagrid cooks for himself and has his own vegetable garden, so he definitely has garlic," Albert glanced at the embarrassed trio and said, "Just help me think of a Christmas present for him this year!"
Mm-hmm! The group nodded repeatedly, indicating that they would help come up with a Christmas present.
"However, I need to remind you that that little bit of garlic won't be enough," Albert added, "You should take the time to plant some yourselves. After all, planting garlic is quite simple."
This had originally been their plan, and as for where to plant it, the three of them had already decided on a spot at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, a little further away from Hagrid's hut.
After hearing their plan, Albert fell silent.
In fact, planting garlic was simple. Why didn't they just get a flowerpot and plant it themselves? As for fertilizer, wasn't the ash from the fireplace the best fertilizer?
However, Albert didn't plan on reminding the three of them about this, so he left them to figure it out on their own! (End of Chapter)
Chapter end
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