The Plane Merchant of Hogwarts

A new day began. After Rolf got up early, he and Cedric went to the hall to have breakfast.

Today the ceiling is a cloudy gray, and on the long tables of the four houses are bowls of porridge, plates of pickled herrings, mountains of bread slices, and plates of eggs and bacon.

Rolf and Cedric sat down at Hufflepuff's long table. As soon as he started to drink porridge, he heard a commotion above his head.

Hundreds of owls swarmed in, hovered in the auditorium, and dropped letters and packages into the conversing crowd.

A large bulging package fell on Neville's head. It seemed that his forgetful memory had not improved just because he was a year older.

Not long after, the little wizards appeared in the cafeteria one after another, and Professor Sprout also walked over with a smile and distributed the curriculum to them along the long Hufflepuff table.

Rolf got his class schedule, and the first class was Herbology, which he took with the Gryffindor students.

After Harry finished eating, he asked Rolf to go with him, because they had to go around the castle to reach the greenhouse where the class was held.

When they arrived at the greenhouse, they found that all their classmates were standing outside and no one went in. Professor Sprout, who had never been late, was actually late?

Wasn't she just handing out timetables to everyone in the restaurant? Is it because there are too many Hufflepuff students and she is too busy?

After a while, Professor Sprout finally appeared. She strode over from the direction of the Forbidden Forest, followed by Gilderoy Lockhart.

Gilderoy Lockhart was spotless from head to toe, wearing flowing turquoise robes, and wearing a turquoise top hat with a gold rim on top of his shiny blond hair.

Rolf really couldn't figure out who he was dressing up for? Professor McGonagall? Or Professor Sprout?

"Oh, hello!" Lockhart shouted to the students with a cheerful face, "Just now we heard that there were some small problems with the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest, and Hagrid invited us to come and have a look.

Professor Sprout thinks my method is not effective, but I can guarantee that I am the only one in the entire magical world who knows how to cure that disease."

"Go to the Third Greenhouse for class today!" Professor Sprout said angrily. She was obviously sullen, contrary to her usual cheerful demeanor.

The students were very interested in taking out the owl notebook and started writing in it. It seems that they like to talk about these gossips in the Hogwarts communication group?

In the past, classes were usually held in the first greenhouse. I heard that the plants in the third greenhouse were more interesting, but also more dangerous.

Professor Sprout took a large key from his belt and opened the door. Rolf smelled the smell of moist earth and fertilizer, mixed with the strong fragrance of flowers.

The flowers were as big as umbrellas and hung from the ceiling. Rolf followed his roommates and walked in. At this time, Professor Lockhart spoke.

"Harry! I've always wanted to talk to you. Professor Sprout, do you mind if he's two minutes late?" From the look on Professor Sprout's face, she did mind.

But Lockhart pretended not to see it, and said happily: "That's great." and closed the greenhouse door towards her.

Professor Sprout stood behind a stool in the middle of the greenhouse. On the stool were twenty pairs of earmuffs of different colors.

Not long after, Harry trotted in. The good-tempered Professor Sprout was in the same mood as a rainy day outside.

She tried her best to control her temper, and then tried to make herself smile as she did in class before: "We are going to repot the mandrake today. Now, who can tell me what the properties of mandrake are?"

Hermione was the first to raise her hand, which was expected by everyone, and Rolf followed closely, which was also expected by everyone.

After all, the two of them often did this when they were in first grade.

"Mandrake, also called mandrake root, is a powerful recovery agent," Hermione said very naturally, as if she had eaten the textbook. "It is used to restore people who have been transformed or transformed.

The person under the spell returns to his original state."

"Excellent, ten points for Gryffindor." Professor Sprout said, "Mandrake is an important component of most antidotes. But it is also very dangerous. Can anyone tell me why?"

Hermione raised her hand again, almost knocking off Harry's glasses, and Rolf raised his hand again reluctantly.

"Hearing the cry of Mandrake will kill you." Professor Sprout blurted out after he waved his hand in Rolf's direction.

"Exactly, ten points for Hufflepuff!" Professor Sprout finally smiled from the bottom of his heart. A smart and studious student finally appeared in his college.

She continued with a smile on her face, "Look, the mandrakes here are still very young." She pointed to a row of deep-bottomed plates.

Everyone moved closer to get a better look. There were about a hundred green and purple seedlings arranged there.

"Each person get a pair of earmuffs," Professor Sprout continued.

Everyone scrambled for it, but no one wanted to get a pair of pink fluffy earmuffs.

"When I ask you to put on earmuffs, be sure to cover your ears tightly," Professor Sprout said. "When it is safe to take off the earmuffs, I will give a two thumbs up. OK! Put them on.

earmuffs."

Rolf quickly complied, and all the sounds outside were no longer heard.

Professor Sprout put on the pink fluffy earmuffs himself, rolled up his sleeves, firmly grasped a blade of grass, and pulled it up with all his strength.

Fortunately, Rolf and the others had prepared in advance and saw them letting out a scream that no one could hear, but in fact nothing was heard.

What was pulled out of the soil was not a grass root, but a very ugly baby with leaves growing on his head. His skin was light green with spots on it. The little guy was obviously shouting at the top of his lungs.

.

Professor Sprout took out a large flower pot from under the table, stuffed the mandrake doll into it, and buried it in moist dark compost until only the clumps of leaves were exposed.

She patted the mud on her hands, gave them two thumbs up, and then took off her earmuffs.

"Our mandrakes are just seedlings, and hearing their cries won't be fatal," she said calmly, as if she had just watered the begonias.

"But, they can knock you out for a few hours, and I don't think any of you want to miss the first day of school, so make sure you wear earmuffs when you're working.

When it's time to pack up, I'll try to get your attention. One plate for four, there's a lot of potted compost here in the bag over there, and watch out for the poisonous tentacles, it's teething."

Professor Sprout gave a sharp tap on a spiky crimson plant, causing it to retract its tentacles that quietly reached towards her shoulder.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Rolf were standing next to a plate. They looked at each other in confusion at the mandrakes in front of them, not knowing what to do.

They put on the earmuffs again and had to concentrate on dealing with the mandrake. Hermione took out the owl notebook and wrote on it: Harry, you come first!

Just now I saw Professor Sprout doing it very easily, but in fact it is not like that at all. The mandrake does not want to be pulled out of the soil, but it seems even less willing to go back again.

They twisted their bodies, kicked their feet, waved their pointed little fists, and gnashed their teeth. It took Harry a full ten minutes to stuff a particularly fat doll into the basin.