𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗭𝗞𝗔𝗕𝗔𝗡 [𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍]

Chapter Twenty Nine: Mandrakes

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ ･⋆✵⋆･ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

"Sirius? Hello? Care to join me back on earth?"

"What?" Sirius asked, turning to Blake who was snapping her fingers in his face. Sirius slapped her hand away. He'd partnered up with her so James can work with Peter since Remus wasn't here.

"Just checking if you were still with me." Blake said, a little irritated now. "Professor Sprout just told everyone to put on their ear muffins." she added and dangled her own pair before Sirius.

"Right. Yeah. I heard that. I'm still here." Sirius said, blinking his eyes a few times to snap himself out of it. He must have dozed off.

The boys had spent more than half the night awake, waiting for the coast to clear so Remus can sneak out. He could just do it at regular hours with James's Invisibility Cloak but they didn't want the teachers to know about the Cloak because that would put an end to their nightly tours of the castle and some of their more successful pranks.

Sirius stifled a yawn and jammed on the ear muffins and pulled on his dragon hide gloves. He grabbed onto the leafy part of the mandrake while Blake held the pot down. It took a few forceful tugs but the mandrake finally popped free, it's ugly dirt covered mouth open in a silent wail. Then Professor Sprout motioned for the class to stick the mandrakes back into their pots and the class complied gratefully.

"Makes you not want to have babies." said Blake with a wrinkled nose, taking off the ear muffins and pulling out a piece of parchment to take notes.

"That is what the roots of a mandrake plant look like." dictated Professor Sprout while she tapped on the pot of the mandrake on her desk with a lecturing stick. "Their screams are very deadly. Can cause eardrum damage and sometimes even loss of hearing. But their screams could also be used to revive those who have been petrified. Their roots are the constitutes of many Potions, including the Draught of Living Death and Skelegrow. As for the leaves of the mandrake plant, they have an almost unlimited number of uses but the most important are that they can be boiled with tea leaves to produce an elixir to sooth the nerves and that it's a very essential ingredient in the Animagus Potion which is a very complicated potion to make. These plants are known to grow in . . ."

Sirius sat up straighter. The idea struck him like a lightning bolt. "Psst. James. James!"

"What?" asked James, with only one eye open.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Mr. Black." said Professor Sprout, snapping her lecturing stick on the table sharply. "Why do I always catch you talking to someone in my class?"

"I just have a lot of knowledge to share with friends, Professor." Sirius said and gave her his most angelic smile.

Professor Sprout frowned. "Five points for the cheek, Black. Now pay attention or I'll make it ten points and detention." she said and went back to her lecture.

Sirius sighed before slumping forwards onto the desk.

The bell for lunch finally went off and Sirius jumped from his seat, eager to share what he'd just found with James and Peter.

"I want a twelve inch long group essay on the uses of various mandrake parts for next class." screamed Professor Sprout after the retreating figures of the students.

"I'll catch up with you later." Sirius said and started to follow James but Blake held him back.

"Do you expect me to write a twelve inch long essay alone?" she asked while she shoved Sirius's book bag, which he'd almost forgotten, at his chest.

"Come on, Blake." Sirius pleaded. "You know I'm rubbish at this. I wouldn't really be of much help. I can barely tell which end of a parchment is which."

"What is that even supposed to mean?" she asked in confusion then shook her head. "You know what? Don't answer that. This is why I hate working with you." she added with a sigh but didn't try to stop Sirius when he left.

"You're a life saver, Ross." Sirius called over his shoulder before going to find James and Peter. So much for friends, he thought as he ran out of the greenhouse. Those gits left me behind for a bunch of roast potatoes.

"I wish Remus was here." said James when Sirius finally found them at the table. "I don't even know how much twelve inches is. Do you know how many words you need to fill a twelve inch long piece of paper?"

"Forget the essay." Sirius said, feeling more giddy than he'd care to admit. "I might have just found the solution to our problem."

"What's that?" asked James with his fork stuck halfway to his mouth.

"Do you ever pay attention in class?" Sirius said in a voice dripping with maddening superiority.

"Only Remus is allowed to accuse me of not paying attention in class." said James with a raised eyebrow. "So can we go back to your groundbreaking discovery which you made because you listen in class?"

"Git." Sirius muttered at James's sarcasm. "When Professor Sprout was talking about the uses of mandrake leaves she mentioned they were used to make the Animagus Potion. Does the Animagus Potion mean anything to you?"

"Merlin's beard." said James with a smile. "Sirius Black has a brain. We have to go tell Remus."

"Why do we need to tell Remus that Sirius has a brain?" asked Peter, concerned more with the fact he will have to cut his lunch short if they go see Remus now.

"Just get up, Pete." said James, grabbing the neck of Peter's robes and hoisting him up on his feet. "You can finish that later."

"It won't be here later." grumbled Peter but James just ignored that and ran out of the Hall, Sirius and Peter hot on his heels.

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