Chapter Five-School Daze
"Wayne! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Professor Crane sneered.
"Why is he calling on me?" Harry thought. "I've just started classes and he already seems to have a distaste for me. But why?"
"Of course, Hermione has her hand up…..how does she seem to know everything?" Harry wondered. Harry thought back to a class from earlier that day that was another course for Hermione to show off her knowledge. Herbology class. Herbology is a mandatory class for first year students at Hogwarts and must be attended for the first five years that students attend. Herbology is the study of magical and mundane plants and fungi, which makes it the wizarding equivalent to botany. In this class students learn to care for and utilize plants, learn about their magical properties and what they are used for. Many plants provided ingredients for potions and medicine, while others had magical effects of their own right. Herbert Beery was the professor of this subject at Hogwarts for many years. After he retired, Pomona Isley took over the post.
"Professor Isley was a dumpy little witch…but she was undoubtably kind and still preferable to Professor Crane.
"Welcome to Greenhouse Three!" Professor Isley said. "Now gather round everyone!"
"Today, we're going to re-pot Mandrakes. Who here can tell me the properties of the Mandrake root?" Professor Isley asked.
Harry had no clue, but there she was…with her hand enthusiastically raised (just as she now had it raised to answer Crane's question).
"Yes, Ms. Kyle." Professor Isley called on Hermione.
"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is used to return those who have been petrified to their original state." Hermione proudly answered.
"It's also quite dangerous," Hermione continued. "The Mandrake's cry is fatal to anyone who hears it."
"Excellent! Ten points to Gryffindor!" Professor Isley replied, very pleased with Hermione.
"Now as our Mandrakes are still only seedlings, their cries won't kill you yet, but they could knock you out for several hours. Which is why I've given you each a pair of earmuffs for protection. So, could you please put them on right away?" Professor Isley continued.
This was strange indeed to Harry….plants that cry!? "Bloody insane!" Harry thought to himself.
"Quickly! Quickly! Flaps down! Now watch me closely!" Professor Isley directed. "You grasp your Mandrake firmly….you grasp it sharply out of the pot. Got it!?"
Harry watched as Professor Isley grabbed what looked like a normal looking plant, but upon yanking on it revealed something that looked like a baby made out of the roots of the plant. And its cry (or more like a shriek) was so abrasive and piercing, that all the students could still hear it, even when the protective ear muffs on.
Then, to make things even stranger; Ms. Isley demonstrated the rest of the re-potting process by taking the Mandrake to the new pot and dunking it down into the soil and sprinkling some new soil to keep him warm.
Suddenly, Longbottom; another student in the class started looking queasy and then fell over and was completely unconscious.
"Looks like Longbottom was neglecting his earmuffs again!" Professor Isley chimed in.
"No, he's fainted." Seamus, another student chimed in.
"Right, well, on we go!" Professor Isley added, leading them on their task of re-potting their own Mandrake and seemingly unconcerned about Longbottom.
"Now, grasp your Mandrake….and PULL IT UP!" Professor Isley commanded.
Each of the students pulled up their Mandrake simultaneously and if the sight and sound of one crying Mandrake was not enough, a whole slew of them crying all at once was flabbergasting!
Harry watched as Draco looked at his Mandrake and laughed. Draco seemed to be taunting the Mandrake and poked his finger into its mouth and then suffered the consequences when the Mandrake persisted to bite his finger. Luckily, Draco was wearing a glove and the glove protected his finger from any serious damage the little Mandrake could have caused. Draco then threw the Mandrake down in anger.
"Mr. Potter! I asked you a question. What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Professor Crane continued.
Harry realized that he had been in a daze thinking about the events from earlier that day and had in fact, not answered Crane's question. He knew it didn't really matter anyway…..for he knew that he had no idea what the answer to the question was. And now he felt quite embarrassed and put on the spot by Crane. He once again took notice of Hermione's hand still eagerly raised into the air.
"It seems that she knows. It'd be a pity not to call on her don't you think." Harry replied.
Professor Crane becomes even more perturbed by Harry's rebuttal. He swiftly starts to walk towards Harry's seat. As he walks past Hermione with her hand still up he retorts…
"Put down your hand, you silly girl."
He then sits very close to Harry looking him directly in the eye.
"For your information Wayne…asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful, it is known as the Draught of the Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for Monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant which also goes by the name of aconite."
Crane then looks around side-eyed at all of the students.
"Well, why aren't you all copying all of this down?" He asks.
The students then begin to nervously open their notebooks and start to take notes on as much of what Professor Crane said as they can remember. Professor Crane then swiftly walks back to his desk in the front of the class.
"And Gryffindors, please note that five points will be taken from your house…For your class-mates cheek." He retorts.
Draco then turns around and gives Harry that smug grin.
"One day, I'm going to wipe that smirk off of Draco's face." Harry thinks to himself.
Meanwhile, Professor Crane is still looking ever-so seriously at Harry.
"Why does he despise me so?" Harry thinks. "He does not even know me."
If only Harry could read the thoughts in Crane's mind…..he would hear what Crane is really thinking.
"Harry Wayne…..you are just like your father."
Epilogue
"Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Could young Hermione Kyle have answered the question that Professor Crane asked….most certainly so. Although she would have been technically correct in her answer; she would have missed some of the figurative language and hidden meaning in the question. You see, according to Victorian Flower Language, asphodel is a type of lily meaning 'My regrets follow you to the grave' and wormwood means 'absence' and also typically symbolized bitter sorrow. If you combined that, it meant 'I bitterly regret Lily's death.' As Crane said, if you did combine Powdered Root of Asphodel and an infusion of Wormwood, you'd brew a sleeping potion 'so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. Professor Crane, does indeed regret Lily's death. Lily Wayne, Harry's mother to be exact. In fact, he regrets it so much that at times he considers his own life now to be a "living death." That type of guilt and anger might be the type of thing to cause a certain potions master to find his only comfort from striking fear into the hearts of others.
To be continued….