Alyssa Meep – Sixth Year – Gryffindor
The Mandrake Who Got Away
Raising a Mandrake is harder than it looks. I promise you, it'll be one of the most difficult things you've ever done. Trust me, I've been there.
Some people would say raising a Mandrake is like babysitting a little kid—except full time with no pay. No pay. However, it doesn't matter if you're raising a Mandrake or a baby: There are definitely things in this story worth knowing.
Let's see… My story starts on a sunny day. I walked out to my garden and noted that there were indeed gnomes there. Ever since I invited George Weasley's son Fred II over one day, they had been swearing up a storm, not that I minded; I'm a fairly frequent swearer myself. Anyway, I was almost to my Mandrake when I realized that I forgot my earmuffs! I quickly felt around in my robe pocket for them, and sure enough they were there… but they were the pink, ugly, fluffy pair that Fred put in there, the little, sneaky jokester. Sighing, I put them on despite the ghastly color. Not much I could do there. It's either ugly earmuffs or die by my full-grown Mandrake's cry, as it's fatal to anyone who hears it.
"All right, let's do this," I said to myself; I sounded distant with the earmuffs on. I made my way to my Mandrake. I named him Colin after Colin Creevey, a friend of my parents who perished in the battle of Hogwarts. He was certainly as enthusiastic as Colin (so deemed my parents), only in a different way: Colin the Mandrake cried a lot, whereas Colin Creevey was a very able wizard who was willing to do anything for Harry Potter, the Chosen One, the Boy who Lived.
Anyway, I finally made it to my Mandrake. I poked his pot. "Colin, come out, it's time to repot you."
That's odd, I thought to myself. Why, it doesn't look as though he's even in the pot! Why, I do think he's gone!
"Oh no!" I screeched. I didn't dare take off the earmuffs, but I knew that it would be terribly hard to find him. "Colin, Colin! Come out now, this isn't funny!"
Yes, I talk to my Mandrake. Is that so odd? He's so humanlike that I can't help it.
"COLIN!" I bellowed. I stomped around my garden and flung some gnomes over my fence to vent some anger. How dare that little Mandrake just leave! How dare he—
"Ohhh," I said, sighing. It was that time, wasn't it? It was time for my Mandrake, who wasn't so little anymore, to go out into the world and move into another Mandrake's pot. I felt a pang in my chest. He didn't even say good-bye.
I took my earmuffs off: there was no use for them now.
"Hey!" called my neighbor. I looked over and waved to Neville Longbottom. He was my Herbology teacher at Hogwarts, but during the summer he was my neighbor, not Professor Longbottom. "Alyssa!" he called. "Are you missing Colin?"
"Yeah!" I shouted back over to him. "It's that time, I guess." I held back a cry; why was I so sad?
"Come here!" he said. I shrugged and walked over to the fence. "Climb it," he said.
I glanced at his house nervously. "Won't Hannah get mad again?" Neville's wife is Hannah Abbot, and she's usually perfectly nice, but recently she'd gotten to telling me that I couldn't jump the fence anymore into their very Herbology garden.
Neville shrugged. "I'll deal with Hannah later. I want to show you something."
So I jumped the fence and began walking behind Neville. Once we got a few feet into his magnificent garden (Oh, I'll have to tell you about it sometime! So many plants and fungi; it was really wonderful), he looked back and said, "Put your earmuffs on." Then he did the same.
Once our earmuffs were secure, we made our way a little further into his garden, toward where he kept his Mandrakes. We stopped in front of one of the pots. Neville pointed with a grin. "Look," he said.
I glanced in and squealed with joy. My little Colin was now living with Neville's female Mandrake named Luna (after the ever-heroic Luna Lovegood, I love that girl). "Oh, how wonderful!" I screeched. "We're in-laws!"
Neville laughed, and so did I. I glanced one more time at my grown-up Mandrake Colin; it seemed like only yesterday he was a fat baby made of roots. Then, I waved good-bye to them all and jumped the fence back into my garden.
Well, maybe I was alone now, but Colin would always be in my heart.
And in case you're wondering, yes, I did get another Mandrake. I named her Luna.