Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Rewritten - A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter 11: Rivalries and Dislike

On Tuesday morning, Harry woke late, having elected not to take Slumber Potion. By the time he came down to breakfast, it was already seven o'clock and Ron was half finished with his meal. Harry loaded his plate and was just pouring himself a glass of juice from a pitcher when Hedwig soared into the Great Hall, a note clutched in her beak. She dropped it neatly in Harry's lap and then landed on the table next to his glass of orange juice. Harry opened the note and read through it.

"Dear Harry,

Hope you're settling in alright. Want to hear all about your first classes. How would you like to come and visit me this evening?

Best,

Hagrid.

"Fred and George have told me a lot about Hagrid" said Ron, who'd peered over Harry's shoulder to read the note.

"Can I come with you?"

Harry turned over the parchment and scribbled a reply.

I'd like to come very much. My friend Ron Weasley will be coming too. Hope that's ok.

Harry began folding up the note. Hedwig understood. She gave Harry an affectionate nip on the arm, dipped her beak into his glass of orange juice, snagged a few rinds of bacon and then plucked the note out of Harry's hand with her beak and took off.

Harry and Ron finished their breakfast, packed their bags, grabbed their Herbology equipment and protective gloves and then headed out of the castle. Greenhouse one was locked when they arrived. They waited outside the door. Professor Sprout arrived a few minutes after the bell, her robes muddy and her arms full of a strange-looking weed.

She unlocked the Greenhouse door with several complex movements of her wand. Harry heard multiple locks click followed by strange hissing and fizzling noises that were retreating. He wondered what would happen if anyone tried to break into the Greenhouse but did not dare to ask.

Sprout led them past neat rows of potted plants, towards a long worktable in the middle of the Greenhouse. She deposited the weed in her arms on a chair (probably hers since it was the only one) and then turned to face them.

"Gather round the table folks, and put on your gloves. Always wear your gloves. That's rule number one in my class." They obeyed. Sprout did not bother with roll call. She counted the heads and nodded when she got to forty, satisfied.

"Herbology is the study of magical herbs. In this class I will teach you about the growth cycles of magical herbs, their anatomy and magical parts and the uses of those parts in various fields. We will also cover magical methods of hastening plant growth. Later in the year, we will cover methods of cross-breeding for the derivation of herb variants with differing uses and also plant diseases and their treatment methods. Lastly, we will cover the making of various herb manures using the decomposed parts of discarded herb parts. Your syllabus for the PAT exam at the end of second year comprises five hundred magical herbs. We will seek to cover well more than half in this year itself."

Professor Sprout gave three ten-minute lectures about three herbs. Harry placed a piece of parchment on the worktable in between two potted plants and only noted down the key points but he couldn't see even the point of doing that. His textbook had all of the information Professor Sprout was offering them from memory. When Professor Sprout was finished, Harry had only written a few lines:

· Aconite is a shrub with leaves that are toxic (yellow and pink parts of the leaves) and used as an ingredient in many poisonous substances. The seeds at the heart of its flower have many restorative properties and find use in a range of Healing Potions.