Chapter 69: Stay
In the corridor outside the greenhouse.
A lady in evening dress tilted her head, curious eyes following three passing Hufflepuffs.
"Have some gingerbread?"
Piste suddenly pulled a few foil-wrapped biscuits from his bag.
Bruce promptly retreated ten meters. "Sometimes I think you have no sense of taste, Piste. We have handled galangal powder for three days. The smell alone makes me queasy, and you can still eat gingerbread?"
"It's fine."
Leon ate a piece without changing expression. "Also, that is your sense of smell, idiot."
Bruce went slightly dazed, then muttered, "So I kept you two company, breathing in stinging galangal dust for three days, and I was the only one suffering?"
He seemed to remember something, face lighting up, words tumbling out fast. "What charm?"
"Bubble-Head Charm."
Leon's expression did not shift.
"I knew your heads looked a bit big these days. Merlin. And you did not tell me, you just watched me suffer?"
Bruce hopped in outrage.
Leon and Piste only looked at him blandly. "If you had not put Itching Powder in our hats and under—"
"Heh, say no more. My fault."
"Every year the same pattern," Bruce said breezily a moment later. "By the fourth week, the greenhouse is empty again."
He leaned in close to Leon, who held a book, and Piste, who carried a potted plant. "Want to make a bet?"
"No."
Leon shot him a glance.
"Afraid?"
Bruce lifted his nose high.
Knowing he would be pestered for a day if he refused, Leon sighed. "What is the wager?"
"I bet that after today, the greenhouse gains a Ravenclaw helper."
"The stake?"
"Do one favor for me on the next Hogsmeade weekend."
"Deal."
As Bruce cried, "Aha!" and sashayed off, Leon sighed again to Piste. "Looks like our Hogsmeade weekend just got busier."
Piste nodded over his potted plant, and his honest smile deepened.
The greenhouse air always held the damp freshness of soil and plant sap.
Sunlight poured through the crystal-glass dome, spreading a soft, bright glow that washed evenly over every leaf.
Professor Sprout, round and cheerful, was lecturing.
"Ginger is a rhizome with a pungent aroma and a common potion ingredient. It can be used in a Deflating Draught, and is also often added to Wit-Sharpening Potion and Beautification Potion. Beyond potions, ginger goes into simple wizarding foods such as Ginger Newt biscuits and gingerbread."
The first-years watched Professor Sprout intently as she displayed ginger roots from all the growing racks.
"Ginger Newts come from something this odd?" Shawn heard a Slytherin mutter.
Following Professor Sprout's guidance, the class processed the ginger roots. Then she led them briskly on to another plant.
A shriveled, pearly white bean, like an enlarged mistletoe berry.
"Now then, who can tell me what this is?" Professor Sprout smiled warmly as Slytherins and Ravenclaws alike flipped through their textbooks.
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore was the primary text they consulted. Though the witch died in 1408, her book was still assigned at Hogwarts as late as 1997. If Shawn remembered correctly, her portrait also hung in the Headmaster's office.
"Well..." Seeing several Ravenclaws glance the same way, Professor Sprout's eyes found Shawn in the crowd.
"Sopophorous bean. It has many magical properties and is also a potion ingredient. Note that the silver juice expressed from the bean, if taken directly, will remove a person's memories."
The scene felt strangely familiar to Shawn.
Herbology ended in a burst of chatter, and the greenhouse descended into disorder again. Soil had been turned and scattered along the paths, with footprints of varying depths crossing and recrossing.
Professor Sprout watched students file out. Normally, a cluster of Hufflepuffs poured in at this time, but today the space lay empty.
As an owl hooed overhead, a small wizard had already slipped to the hem of the professor's voluminous robes.
"Professor, may I stay and help?"
Shawn held up a pair of gloves. His emerald eyes shone.
"Of course, my dear Mr. Green. Remember? The greenhouse welcomes every child who loves the natural world."
Professor Sprout's smile was brighter than usual. Some children simply could not be sent away; they belonged to nature by birth.
"Come, child. We will tidy the greenhouse together. After that, you will learn to process galangal."
Her warmth never dimmed. Cleaning the greenhouse would raise Shawn's Cleaning Charm proficiency; preparing galangal would advance his Herbology knowledge. He was eager for one more reason: galangal powder was a raw ingredient for the Deflating Draught, and he intended to brew it this evening.
No one doubted Hogwarts professors were well-off. If there were a contest for the wealthiest, Professor Snape would be a strong contender. The rare ingredients alone—African tree-snake skin, gillyweed—told their own story.
Aside from hunger for magical knowledge, that was part of why Shawn pushed himself in Potions. It was the highest-yield, fastest path he could reach now.
Sometimes he wondered whether Professor Snape's robes were lined with an Extension Charm. How else did the Galleons never run out?
Good material support made magical study steadier. Shawn needed steadiness. He was too often unsteady, just as he had lately run out of notebooks. What lasted a term for an ordinary student did not last three weeks for him.
Learning to handle herbs was the prerequisite to brewing better potions and building savings. Think of the many kinds of potions and plants. The top tier—Felix Felicis, for one—sold for hundreds of Galleons, scarce at any price.
The panel refreshed again and again.
[You completely processed one galangal root at Apprentice standard, Proficiency +1]
[You completely processed one galangal root at Apprentice standard, Proficiency +1]
...
By the time the sun leaned west and he stepped out of the greenhouse, the panel had changed again.
[Herbology Knowledge: Apprentice standard (59/900)]
[Advancement: Entry-level Herbology Knowledge unlocks an Entry-level Herbology title]
Through processing galangal and other plants, Shawn had earned thirty-three points of proficiency.
And in the corridor outside the greenhouse, he had to pass, three figures slowly came into view.