The Professor's Advice

Professor Sprout was probably the most knowledgeable wizard in all of Hogwarts when it came to herbology and plants.

She was a little surprised by Mu En's questions about wand woods, but she happily gave him an answer nonetheless.

The wood used for wand making was not limited to the few varieties sold in wand shops. The easiest way to find such wood was to enlist the help of Bowtruckles, a type of Magical Creature.

As soon as a tree developed magical properties, Bowtruckles would always be the first to discover it. They would also prevent other animals, including wizards, from damaging the tree.

"Professor, aside from Bowtruckles, is there no other way to test for or discover the properties of magical plants?"

The bell had already rung, but Mu En was still asking about the question that had been troubling him.

"Of course there is. But that requires either a pair of eyes skilled at noticing such things, or witnessing the birth of a magical plant with your own eyes."

Professor Sprout loved discussing herbology and plants, especially with students who showed talent in the subject.

Although Mu En had only just enrolled, his performance had already earned Professor Sprout's approval.

"Witness it myself? How would I do that? Does the school grow magical plants?"

Mu En looked around the Greenhouse, feeling that such a low-ceilinged space could not possibly cultivate towering trees.

"Stop looking around, child. Hogwarts does have Magical Trees suitable for wand making, but they are all in the Forbidden Forest. Even Ollivanders selects suitable wood from there."

At the mention of the Forbidden Forest, Mu En's expression turned slightly disappointed.

He remembered very clearly that at the start-of-term feast, Dumbledore had explicitly forbidden First Years from entering it.

"All right, child, don't look so glum. Don't you want to grow a magical plant yourself and discover its magical wonders?"

Seeing the disappointed look on Mu En's face, Professor Sprout smiled and tried to cheer him up.

"Can I really do that, Professor?"

"Of course. Magic has never been merely knowledge found in books. Wizards need to experience its wonders for themselves."

As she spoke, Professor Sprout took out her wand and cleaned an worktable. Then she took out a quill and began writing on a piece of parchment.

--

In view of Mr. Mu En Scarlett's outstanding performance in Herbology, he is specially permitted to gather magical plants from the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Professor: Pomona Sprout--

Professor Sprout handed him the parchment and looked at Mu En intently.

"Mr. Scarlett, you must promise me that you will not enter the Forbidden Forest. Also, you must ask Professor McGonagall for her opinion. You may only go if she agrees as well."

Mu En glanced over the contents of the parchment, and a smile appeared on his face.

"I promise, Professor!"

"Don't be happy too soon, Mr. Scarlett. Keeping magical plants alive is no easy task. Of course, if you really can grow one successfully, I'll give you a mysterious reward."

Hearing that there was a reward, Mu En nodded firmly in agreement.

Although he had been responsible for watching over the Hazelnut Forest in Xilin and knew a little about cultivating various crops, he did not have much confidence when it came to magical plants.

But that did not affect Mu En's determination. Especially after receiving Professor Sprout's permit, he was even less willing to let down that trust.

Mu En left the Greenhouse happily. By then, his classmates were already preparing to eat dinner in the Great Hall.

"This child has such talent for herbology and plants. I truly don't know why the Sorting Hat placed him in Gryffindor."

Professor Sprout watched Mu En's departing back and quietly sighed.

During dinner, Ron kept urging everyone to eat more. It was advice passed down by several of his brothers, because they had Astronomy class that night.

Astronomy class ran from eleven at night until one in the morning.

Mu En had never imagined that he would have classes at night, especially during a time that was practically meant for sleeping.

Taking out his timetable and checking the times on it, Mu En found that he had no classes on Friday afternoon. Perhaps then he could go to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and gather some saplings.

However, he would need to speak to Professor McGonagall tomorrow first.

After dinner, Mu En resumed reading books about wands as usual. This time, he chose to read in the library. The Common Room was still too noisy.

Hermione was in the library too, though she was sitting rather far away this time.

When the library closed, Mu En hurried back to the dormitory and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He wanted to build up his energy for that night's Astronomy class.

Yet Mu En's early bedtime did not help much. Everyone in Astronomy class was wide awake, Mu En included.

Aside from the novelty of attending Astronomy class for the first time, the bigger reason for their alertness was the cold wind atop the Astronomy Tower.

As the tallest building at Hogwarts, and at midnight no less, it was battered by icy winds from every direction. Mu En found it difficult even to keep holding his Telescope.

Professor Aurora Sinistra was a dark-skinned witch. Whenever she explained the stars in the night sky, she would use the moon as a reference point before observing the other celestial bodies around it.

"All right, that concludes today's lesson. I also hope that everyone will draw a map of the moon by hand, with as much detail as possible, and hand it in before next week's class."

Once class was dismissed, all the Young Wizards crowded toward the stairway, simply to get somewhere warmer. Professor Sinistra seemed to have anticipated this and was waiting there in advance, letting the students pass through one at a time.

"You've got to be kidding me. Classes in the middle of the night, and she gave us such heavy homework too. Tch!" Ron sniffed as he spoke.

"Exactly! A moon map? Is that really something we're supposed to draw in First Year?" Seamus added.

Mu En, Harry, and Neville walked behind them without saying anything. They only wanted to get back and sleep as soon as possible.

Even though the stars were beautiful at night, staring at them continuously for two hours could still become tiresome.

When they returned to the dormitory, the Young Wizards made quite a commotion. Bouncing, who had been awakened, even crawled out of its tree hollow to warn them.

"Sorry, Bouncing. We'll go to sleep right away."

The next morning, Mu En got up early as usual.

While everyone else was still asleep, he had already finished that day's Modern Magical Phonetics Table and begun previewing the pronunciations of charms related to Transfiguration.

At breakfast, Hermione, who had not spoken to Mu En for an entire day, came over carrying a huge stack of textbooks in her arms.

"Here's the Oxford Reading Tree you wanted!"

Thud!

The thick stack of books landed on the dining table with a dull sound.

Mu En had always assumed the book would be a single large volume, but he had never imagined it would be dozens of textbooks. He looked at Hermione in confusion.

"I have to read all of these?"

"Of course. If you want to quickly write down the key points the professors explain in class, you need to finish all of them."

Hermione spoke smugly as she sat down across from him. The set of books had actually been delivered yesterday by owls from the school Owlery.

Hermione's father had rented three owls just to transport the set.

Seeing Mu En's tightly furrowed brow, Hermione felt a small sense of satisfaction.

"All right. Thank you, Hermione."

Mu En's expression gradually calmed, and he sincerely thanked Hermione.

When Ron heard that Mu En actually intended to read so many books, he froze beside them. He even forgot to chew the delicious pie in his mouth.

"What are you two doing? Aren't the textbooks for class enough already?"

Ron cried out in disbelief.

"Of course not. My goal is to finish every book in the library."

Seeing that Mu En had calmly accepted all of this, Hermione's expression cooled. She turned her head and answered Ron as if it were only natural.