Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, they are the brilliant works of the marvelous J.K.Rowling. I also do not own Coldplay or To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.
CHAPTER 5
They walked around talking for what seemed only a few short minutes, but when they turned back on the main road and Hermione looked up to see the large town clock, she realized that it was 1:30, and they were supposed to be back at the castle right about now. They knew that as Head Girl and Boy they would likely get into trouble for being so late, and on rallying the students, Hermione thought of a plan that might just get them out of whatever punishment they were likely to be in for. She asked them to wait just a second, and that she would be back in a minute. Despite Malfoy's protests, she ran to the book store and rushed to the plant section.
She opened a book to a rare species of plant that grew in the area. She took the book and walked to the 'spells for knowledge section' and opened one of the incantation books. She zapped a piece of paper onto the empty space on the shelf in front of her. Hermione knew this was plagiarism, and in a book store you were supposed to buy the book and not just copy out at will, but she would come back and pay for the page another time. She whispered the spell to copy the incantation and plant information onto the same page, shut the books, ordered them back to their original spaces and rushed back outside to the group.
Malfoy firstly gave her a 'what the hell were you doing in there we're already late' look. When she did not give any signal to answer him, he followed it with a 'what the hell are you up to?' questioning one and the shrugging of his shoulders. She nodded as if to say 'it's ok' and started to lead the group back to the castle. When they were on the dense garden path in view of the castle, she curved them around so as to walk into a small area surrounded by trees, to be out of view from the castle and the public. Hermione caught Malfoy rolling his eyes and raising his arms in the air.
"What the hell is she doing now!" he muttered under his breath at the back of the crowd. She stood on a fallen tree trunk so the crowd could see her.
"As we have been out after our curfew, I have devised an idea for a plausible explanation. In these areas grows the rare plant named 'Horticulture's Nightmare'. In view of the fact that we are walking this way to get back to the castle, I thought we might stop off here for a minute and 'research' it a little." Hearing several groans and complaints from the crowd, she smiled.
"I know this sounds really lame, but it's not what you think. Here is a picture of the plant" she held up a picture she had copied from the book also.
"This picture is all the information you will have to remember on your own. I have an 'Applied Learning' spell with me which I... borrowed from the bookstore's pamphlet rack, and if you will all stand together it will be over in a second."
She muttered the spell and ran her wand over the lines of text on the page in front of her. She then pointed the wand at the group and watched as lines upon lines of information ran out of her wand and into the noses of all of the First years. Her, Malfoy and the other two house representatives were included, and in about thirty seconds everyone was gossiping about how it felt to have a spell put on them.
"Wow! It tickled!" she heard a few of them say.
"We are going to be heading back to the castle now, to be greeted and questioned by McGonagall and possibly some of the other teachers. Let me do the talking, and say nothing of the spell. We could all get in serious trouble if anyone found out." The students stopped and all eyes were upon her.
"Ok, ok, I could get in a lot of trouble, but I'm not afraid to hand out detention slips to anyone I know or even think has told someone! That sounds like trouble enough to me." she said triumphantly.
They made their way up the castle only to find Professor Sprout standing in the doorway. It would appear that the teachers had been taking it in turns to wait for the half an hour overdue students to return, and it just happened to by Prof. Sprout when they finally did.
"And just where have you been! You're half an hour late and there were no teachers with you!"
The students had ground to a halt upon seeing her in the doorway and Hermione was fighting her way through to reach the front. When she appeared, Professor Sprout demanded to know what had happened.
"Not very responsible of you Miss Head Girl! Did the time get away from you?"
"Actually, that's not the case at all Professor." her face betraying no guilty looks, she nodded for her to continue.
"We were on our way back and I thought it would be a nice idea to stop off on the way and learn a little something about Horticulture's Nightmare. Sorry it took so long, we would have been back in time, but I got a little carried away with the lesson"
The students groaned and one said
"Yeah she went on for ever!"
Hermione smiled innocently, partly because she had gone too far to go back now, and partly glad at the students for using their initiative and act as though the event had really happened. Hermione did not like lying, nor did she do it often, but found on this occasion that it came quite naturally to her.
"Right...well then, I guess I had better quiz you all on your new knowledge." Malfoy was standing at the back of the crowd again, listening to the whole event, somewhat surprised that she had pulled it off so far. He figured Hermione being such a goodie-two shoes she would never go in for such a thing, let alone think of it herself. Professor Sprout cleared her throat.
"How many times in the natural life of a Horticulture's Nightmare does it change it's colour?" She let out a small gasp as all of the first years' hands flew into the air, eagerly waiting to answer.
"You" she pointed to a small boy with dark blonde hair in the front of the group. She did not know his name, but she knew that he was not a very bright student, and she wanted to see just how well they had all listened; she almost felt as though she could not justify their lateness until she was sure they had learn something.
"17 times" he announced with a smile on his face. Professor Sprout was just about to move onto her next question, when he continued talking.
"They change colour every two to three years, depending on how strong they are and how long they are going to live for. If they are weaker and are not going to live for as long, they will change every two years, but if they are strong and are going to live for a longer time, they change every three years." The Professor was almost speechless. He continued...
"You cannot kill a Horticulture's Nightmare. They will live out their natural life no matter how many spells you put on them or how many potions you concoct to kill them. They can only be transplanted, though this has it's risks. You must make sure..." he abruptly stopped when elbowed in the ribs by the person standing next to him. His answer was sounding a lot like it had come directly from a textbook… He stood back up and smiled as though he had simply finished.
Not wanting to ask any more questions, she eyed them all suspiciously before turning and walking quickly inside. There were quiet cheers from the group as they made their way inside. Most of them tapped Hermione on their way past, and said things like 'good job' and 'nice cover'.
She walked through the entrance hall and was walking up the stairs toward her room when Malfoy ran up the stairs in front of her. On his way past he said,
"Nice job Granger. Guess we're all learning new things this year"