New Professor

Wizards could invent new spells, but doing so carried enormous risks. The caster was highly likely to suffer backlash from out-of-control magic, and wizards died from it every year.

The same applied to plant magic. Some plants were not as enormous as the Whomping Willow, yet were highly poisonous. Some harmless plants could even become dangerous after being enchanted, attacking in ways people could never anticipate.

Before 1782, no one had ever seen an animal called a Lethifold. It only became known after an attack. It looked like a black cloak, perhaps only half an inch thick, though it grew thicker if it had recently killed and digested a victim. At night, it glided close to the ground and attacked sleeping people, sealing their faces completely.

Victims rarely had a chance to use magic against it. Dorian Grubbly-Plank believed it was not a naturally occurring magical creature, but an artificial product of dark magic, because the only way to deal with it was Expecto Patronum. In other words, Lethifolds were very similar to Dementors. Dementors only attacked humans and would not harm other creatures such as cats or dogs. They resembled humans, wrapped in cloaks, their entire bodies looking as if they had rotted from soaking in water. Their hands were scabbed over, making them look like corpses summoned from graves.

Tropical regions often had carnivorous plants such as Pitcher Plants and Venus Flytraps. They lacked developed root systems and therefore had to prey on insects to obtain the nutrients they needed. Professor Dorian Grubbly-Plank believed Lethifolds were a form of plant dark magic, their true form being a kind of moss. To prove his theory, he intended to capture a Lethifold for study. Last summer, he had gone to Papua New Guinea.

Article Fifty-Five of the Hufflepuff Code of Conduct: What exists has reason to exist. Do not refuse to accept it.

When there was doubt, Hufflepuffs did not rush to curse or criticize. They first sought proof. Plants could not move, yet magical plants possessed animal traits. Perhaps Lethifolds appeared as harmless as ordinary moss during the day and emerged at night to attack other living creatures. Or perhaps, like Dementors, they only attacked humans. Hufflepuffs were experts in magical creatures and plants, just as Gryffindors excelled at dueling and Quidditch, Slytherins at potions and dark magic, and Ravenclaws at theory and spells. Everyone had their own field of expertise. Still, Dorian traveling alone was far too bold. After all, he had not gone to a city, but a true tropical rainforest, and the species he faced excelled at ambushes. Perhaps he had not returned yet not because he opposed Dumbledore's management, but because he had already been eaten by a Lethifold.

Tomorrow's first lesson was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Pomona worried that she might fall asleep in class, because they would probably be working through the night.

Normally, magic had a limited duration. For example, Petrificus Totalus could last a long time, but it would lift automatically once the time was up. Being stared at by a Basilisk caused genuine petrification and required Mandrake to reverse it. Using magic to alter soil quality was temporary; eventually, it would return to its original state. Therefore, Transfiguration spells could not be used to improve soil.

The senior Hufflepuffs cast "Reducto" on the earth beneath the Whomping Willow again and again, digging pits like Muggles mining for ore. Hagrid had found a group of Dugbogs from somewhere, and they were currently digging at the other end. These magical creatures lived underground and survived by hunting gnomes and moles. Their task was to find the Whomping Willow's vertical roots. After the soil was loosened, the Whomping Willow was visibly much more comfortable, occasionally emitting catlike purrs. It seemed they had indeed found the root of the problem.

"Why aren't you helping?" Lupin was drenched in sweat as he pushed a wheelbarrow piled high with stones. He was very displeased to see Pomona standing idly beside the bustling "construction site."

Pomona took out her little bag and showed him the purple-glowing liquid inside. "If it suddenly goes mad and hurts someone, I'm responsible for calming it down. Can you ride a broomstick?"

"What are you going to do?"

"Find some shears and prune it." Pomona pointed at the Whomping Willow. "That'll be more useful than carrying rocks."

The first-years lacked sufficient magic. Even if Lupin knew Wingardium Leviosa, he still could not move the stones.

"You really think it's a potted plant?"

Pomona waved How to Care for the Whomping Willow before Lupin. "Properly cutting away excess branches helps plants grow. Its condition actually isn't very good right now."

"Where did you find that book?" Lupin set down the wheelbarrow. It seemed he had taken Pomona's words to heart.

"Secret." Pomona smiled mysteriously. "Go on."

Lupin grumbled quietly as he headed toward the Gryffindors.

Accio differed from spells such as Wingardium Leviosa. It used "summoning," while the Levitation Charm was cast through a wand. Outside the school walls, House-elves were brewing fertilizer with cloth covering their faces. They did not need wands to cast magic, nor did goblins. Along with Lupin being a werewolf, it seemed all magical creatures could cast magic without wands.

Besides the wood on the outside, wands also had cores such as Phoenix feathers and Unicorn hair. When a wizard picked up a wand and resonated with it, they gained the ability to use magic. Once their skill became sufficiently advanced, they no longer needed wands to cast spells, just like magical creatures. Veela hair was essentially no different from Phoenix feathers; it was a receptor for their magic. Therefore, they could not cast magic on their own hair to alter its appearance.

Susan's cat was named Medusa. In Greek mythology, Medusa's hair could turn into snakes. When Veel as lost control, their hair turned into bird heads with long, sharp beaks, and a pair of scale-covered wings grew from their shoulders. The sight was absolutely terrifying. Pomona did not want to become like that.

Thinking about it now, whenever she had helped Madam Sprout care for the plants in the fields, she had always sensed strange fluctuations. Sometimes she craved eggs, sometimes fruit, and the eggshells and peels would be thrown into the soil.

Perhaps this was her "gift." Without a wand, she could detect which elements plants lacked, and the medium through which she sensed them was her own hair. By comparison, she was not skilled at the way human wizards cast spells. Like ordinary first-years, she could not even use the simplest Wingardium Leviosa.

"Looks like you've done quite well even without me." Wilhelmina had finally arrived. Though she was a little late, she had come after all. Having an adult nearby to rely on made Pomona feel much more at ease.

"Aren't you worried about your father?" Pomona asked. "I read his notes in his office. Lethifolds may not seem very threatening, but what if he gets ambushed alone in the wilderness?"

"Since I was six, he's hardly ever been by my side." Wilhelmina took out a pipe, lit it with her wand, and exhaled a long stream of smoke. "He never worried about me, so why should I worry about him?"

Pomona did not agree with her, but she did not know how to argue back.

"At first, when I heard Dumbledore planned to bring werewolves and Veel as into Hogwarts, I thought he had gone mad. Do you know what happens to men who become infatuated with a Veela?"

Pomona felt insulted, unable to maintain even a blank expression.

"They keep circling around her, neither eating nor drinking, until they finally die from exhaustion. Your father was human, and your mother was a Veela. He fell under her enchantment, filling his mind with that she-demon and forgetting you existed. That's why you're no less dangerous than a werewolf—especially to boys. Stay away from them." Wilhelmina warned coldly. "Though my main job is school healer, I am also a Hogwarts professor. I won't allow anyone to harm my students. If I find anything unusual about you, I'll send you to the Forbidden Forest. Do you understand?"

"Are you threatening me?" Pomona asked calmly, forcing down her fear.

"I'm not like certain people. I never threaten my colleagues." Wilhelmina smiled. "You needn't attend the first lesson tomorrow morning, Professor Martin. Sleep well. Good night."

With that, she smoked her pipe and slowly made her way toward the castle.