Amelia Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PART 1

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it's a start, Harry, it's a start.'
He gave Harry a hearty wink and strode off. Harry stood stunned for a few seconds, then, remembering he was supposed to be in the greenhouse, he opened the door and slid inside.

'I saw through the greenhouse plastic. That guy is nuts,' said Amelia Harry gave a nod. 'Sprot told me that she is going to need my help healing the Wolmping willow tree. I would keep your head down today she is very mad,'

'Thanks for the warning,'

Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the centre of the greenhouse. About twenty pairs of different-coloured earmuffs were lying on the bench. When Harry had taken his place between Ron and Hermione, she said, 'We'll be re-potting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?'

To nobody's surprise, Hermione's hand was first into the air quickly followed by Amelia.

'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. Amelia sighed. She could never tell if she should just yell out the answer or wait to be called on.

'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 colour, were growing there in rows. They looked quite unremarkable to Harry, who didn't have the slightest idea what Hermione meant by the 'cry' of the Mandrake.

'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. Amelia probably took a fluffy blue pair.

'When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are com- pletely covered,' said Professor Sprout. 'When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right – earmuffs on.'

Harry snapped the earmuffs over his ears. They shut out sound completely. Professor Sprout put a pink fluffy pair over her own ears, rolled up the sleeves of her robes, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard.

Harry let out a gasp of surprise that no one could hear.