Victoire Weasley and the Four Statues

The Fall

The whole next week felt unreal for Victoire. Since she had learned that she had been taken in, she felt overwhelmed by everything. Apart from James, who was stressed out and very odd lately, every moment with her friends felt more precious, and she was enthusiastic in every one of her classes. Well, of course she had always loved Herbology, which was mainly due to her teacher. Professor Longbottom. Though, she usually knew him as Neville. He was a family friend of Harry and Ginny's, and more generally, of all the Weasleys.

On Friday, she ended her day by a double class of Herbology with the Slytherins.

« So. » started Professor Longbottom, as they were starting their second hour ; « Who can tell me about the properties of alihosties ? »

Of course, Joy's hand next to Victoire rose to the air. Victoire did know the answer too, but she rarely spoke in class.

« Mrs Maureen. »

« Alihosties are magical trees of class 5. The leaves of the plant can induce hysteria and uncontrollable laughter. When they're chopped off, they can also be used as ingredients for the Laughing Potion. »

« Very good. », smiled Neville, « Very complete answer. That would be ten points to Ravenclaw. »

Joy, Elias, Samuel and Victoire exchanged triumphant smiles.

« So, » their teacher went on, « That's exactly what we're gonna do today, since Mrs Johnson, your Potion Teacher, is planning on brewing some Laughing Potion with her Fourth Years. So, I thought that we could pair up. I have some right here. » He ducked, and from under his workshop, he got out a large fagot of around twenty branches, with wood as black as coal, and large deep gray leaves. The classroom erupted in disgusted grunts. The branches let out a rancid smell of rotten.

« Yeah, yeah, it doesn't smell so good. But its leaves can have very useful properties ; for example, one of the parts of the processes to become an Animagus, is to hold its leaf in one's mouth for a whole month. »

Once again, the class seemed disgusted. Being an Animagus -having the faculty to turn into an precise animal at will -, was considered pretty cool. But Victoire, like many of her classmates here, had her enthusiasm slowed a bit by this idea.

« What we will do from now on and until the end of the class, will be to snatch or cut out their leaves, then chop the branches. Of course, be careful, because any kind of direct contact will cause crisis of hysteria. Now, we don't want that in here, do we ? » grinned their teacher, raising an eyebrow. Several Slytherins sneered, exchanging quizzical smiles.

Professor Longbottom started to hand out protective gloves to his students, and pieces of paper to fill. Mainly questions about impressions and remarks on the process. From the corner of her eye, Victoire noticed Hugo Maureen, on the other side of Joy, refusing the gloves. He already had his own. Now that she thought about it, Victoire had rarely seen him without gloves. Actually never. Joy leaned to her brother, and they exchanged a few words. He nodded, and then they grinned at each other. Victoire was definitely still as intrigued about this Hugo.

They spent the hour taking off the leaves of the Alihotsies, and chopping the branches ; it was a long and laborious job, and in the middle of the class, two students touched a leaf, and had to be evacuated to the Hospital Wing. Victoire couldn't help but notice they were both Slytherins, probably attempting to prove that they could touch the leaves.

As Joy had paired with her brother, and the boys were together, she was with Emma, one of their roommates. She was cool, but didn't speak so much. Which in the end, suited Victoire very much.

Finally, the bell rang, and everyone started to leave. As Joy left with her brother, waving at Victoire, she herself started to follow Sam and Elias. But Professor Longbottom finally said :