Muggle Meets Magic (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

NINE Herbology Hazards

When I got to Herbology I apologized for my tardiness and went to stand with Will and Veronica, who shot me concerned looks.

"Where were you? We got worried," Veronica hissed.

"Eleanor. Spellmaster Championships. You know what? I'll explain later," I muttered back, focusing my attention on Professor Sprout.

"Now today we're going to be replanting Water Roses," she said. "Can anyone tell me what a Water Rose is and why it's important?"

No one said anything, but after a second Will raised his hand, though he hadn't ceased reading from his current book.

"Uh, yes Mr. Davis," she said, eyeing his book with confusion.

"A Water Rose is a rose that cries twice a year, and the tears have properties that can awaken people from trances and remove curses," he said, all without taking his eyes off his book.

"Very...very good. Ten points to Ravenclaw," she said, deciding to go with it. "This is quite handy in potion making, and we're running low on stock so it's an excellent opportunity to replant them. Now, I'll show you how and then you can do it," she said. She demonstrated planting one. It was a white rose, with a blue tinge to it, and looked fragile like it was going to start crying at any moment.

"You have to be gentle with them or they'll snap. They're delicate" she said, gently pressing the dirt around the stem until it was waving in the breeze on its own. We all got to work. The good thing about Herbology is it was pretty much gardening, just with magical dangerous plants. Not a lot of magic use was needed. Veronica was babbling to me about something Eva did in the common room last night after I'd gone to bed. She said she ate some kind of sweet and it made steam come out of her ears. I was glad she wasn't focusing on the potions accident anymore.

About halfway through the lesson something strange happened. I was looking around for another basket of roses to plant when I spotted Professor Sprout acting quite strange. She looked like she was in a daze of some sort, and was smiling airily at a nearby plant. The same one that had tried to eat Will's book on our first day. She was poking it, almost intimidating it.

"Hey, shouldn't we stop her?" I said, nudging Veronica and pointing. She looked over and her eyes widened. "Will," she said urgently, pointing. Will glanced over and saw the scene. The plant snapped viciously at Professor Sprout, looking angry.

"Professor Sprout?" someone called. "Maybe you should step away from there!"

She didn't reply. She didn't even seem to have heard anything.

"That's a Danderclump Plant," Will said to us. "It's poisonous, but not deadly. Still, it has sharper teeth than a bulldog..."

We had to get her away. I went over to Professor Sprout and tried to pull her away but she didn't budge. What was wrong with her?

"Professor Sprout? You have to get away!" I said anxiously. Veronica rushed over to help me but even with two of us she wouldn't fall back. She had a silly grin on her face, like she was on happy gas or something.

"Someone go get help!" Veronica said. "Quickly!"

A Gryffindor ran out of the greenhouse, sprinting towards the castle. The plant snapped at us, missing Professor Sprout by about an inch.

"Will, how do you calm it down?" I shouted. He flicked through his book and stopped on a page, his eyes darting from left to right quickly as he read. "It eats grandolia seeds," he said. I scanned the greenhouse frantically, looking for a box or sack with that label. But nothing. I had no idea what grandolia seeds were meant to look like.