25: The Intersection of Magical Subjects

"Ah, warm sunshine, gentle breeze, and fresh new shoots..."

Professor Sprout tilted her head slightly and spoke with warmth and delight.

The young wizards immediately turned all their attention to the squat witch.

A patched hat sat atop her floating hair, and her clothes were stained with quite a bit of soil.

"I heard—"

Michael spoke quietly.

"Professor Sprout is the most popular professor at Hogwarts.

She is also the Head of Hufflepuff. Whenever you run into any problem, asking this professor for help is never a bad choice."

Amid the scent of damp soil and fertilizer mixed with rich floral fragrance, the professor continued:

"Welcome to Herbology, where you will learn how to cultivate these strange plants and fungi, as well as understand their uses."

She lightly tapped a pink pod, and a sparkling Bean immediately hopped out and bloomed into a vivid flower.

A chorus of "wows" instantly broke out.

"Is that magic?"

Michael murmured to himself, then suddenly thought of something.

"Sean, do you know..."

"It's the magical plant Bubble Pods. It appears on page sixty-two of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

Bubble Pods grow plump pink pods filled with glittering Beans.

Once these Beans come into contact with solid objects, they immediately bloom."

Anthony and Terry, who had perked up their ears, almost simultaneously wrote down Sean's explanation.

Michael merely said:

"Mm-hm, I knew it."

What Professor Sprout taught was no different from what Sean had learned the first time.

Worth mentioning was that whenever the plump professor could not find someone to answer a question, Sean was always called upon.

"Does anyone know what plant this is?

Hmm, you, Mr. Green."

"Moly, a plant with healing and restorative magical properties."

"Very correct. One point to Ravenclaw.

Then can any young wizard tell me how we should process Moly?

Oh, all right, it seems no one knows. Then, Mr. Green?"

"Generally speaking, Moly has better effects when extracted into an essence, but eating it raw can also heal shallow wounds."

"Completely correct. One point to Ravenclaw.

One final question: what is Moly used for? How should it treat a Werewolf bite?

My dear shoots, think carefully about your Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson."

Unfortunately, the professor's hopes were destined to be disappointed, because no one had been able to focus during Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Professor Quirrell's progress was also significantly behind schedule. Material that should have been completed in the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class had only been stammered through at the beginning by Professor Quirrell.

"Oh! What a pity... Then..."

"Wizards once used a mixture of Moly and silver powder to treat Werewolf bites, preventing victims from dying of excessive blood loss."

Sean answered with a fluency that was almost heartbreaking.

"A perfect answer. Two points to Ravenclaw!"

Professor Sprout swept her gaze across the young wizards with their heads lowered. She was not discouraged in the slightest and continued enthusiastically leading them through the processing of herbs.

"All right, shoots. Since you did not learn this in Defense Against the Dark Arts, then don't zone out from here on..."

Professor Sprout had everyone take a pair of gloves, carefully observe the Moly, and then taught them how to process mature Moly.

"Sean, you wouldn't happen to be some distant relative of Professor Sprout's, would you?"

Michael suddenly asked in a low voice.

Sean shook his head.

"Could you be the professor's priv—mmph mmph—"

Anthony clapped a hand over Michael's mouth. The brief lack of oxygen also allowed his intelligence to reclaim the high ground.

He scratched his head, pressed his palms together, and made an apologetic gesture.

What terrible imagination.

Sean shook his head speechlessly.

After teaching them how to process Moly, the professor also added some knowledge about processing Dried Nettle.

This made Sean thoughtful.

Perhaps education in the Magical World was not as embarrassing as he had imagined.

For example, in Defense Against the Dark Arts, they learned about Moly for treating Werewolf bites.

And in Herbology, they not only covered Moly, but also explained how to identify and process Dried Nettle, which happened to be a necessary ingredient for brewing Scurvy Paste.

Seen this way, Hogwarts' teaching system must have been carefully designed.

Sean processed the Moly as he thought.

You completely processed a Moly plant to Apprentice standards. Proficiency +1

You completely processed a Moly plant to Apprentice standards. Proficiency +1

You completely processed a Moly plant to Apprentice standards. Proficiency +1

Although his skills remained at the Apprentice stage, he was far more at ease than the other young wizards.

Just like the difference between him and Bruce, his senior.

After class, Professor Sprout assigned an open-ended homework task on distinguishing mature Moly.

As they left, the plump professor even winked at Sean.

The corridor outside the Greenhouse.

Sean stopped beside a suit of armor.

In the portrait ahead, a lady in a ceremonial gown smiled and nodded at him. He politely nodded back.

At the same time, he opened the System Panel:

Herbology Knowledge: Unlocked (80/90)

By processing Moly, Sean gained 21 proficiency.

Apprentice-level Herbology Knowledge can unlock an Apprentice-level Title in the Herbology field.

There was another Herbology class that afternoon. Presumably, he would be able to unlock the Title then.

Oh, and his Herbology talent.

Sean barely needed to guess what it would be.

It was like those difficult exams in his previous life.

The moment he received the test paper, he already roughly knew the result. There was no suspense at all.

Well, perhaps there was some.

Maybe he was ordinary green, not White Trash?

But after observing the Greenhouse, Sean realized one thing:

Hogwarts was very rich.

The professors at Hogwarts were even hidden tycoons.

He had seen Dried Nettle in the shaded areas. Some had already passed maturity and should have been processed, but had not been dealt with in time.

The Greenhouse was too large. They had been placed separately beneath plants as large as umbrellas.

Sean thought they were probably going to be sold.

Perhaps he could ask Bruce who sold herbs.

The professors were always busy. Bruce had once mentioned that all of this was handled by Hufflepuffs.

That way, perhaps he could buy some in advance.

They would certainly be expensive.

But without giving, there could be no gain.

Thinking this, Sean subconsciously took out his pocket notebook.

The moment he took out his Quill of Acceptance, he put it away again.

His steps toward the Great Hall for lunch only quickened.

Unexpectedly, before Sean even reached the Great Hall, Justin stopped him with a mysterious look on his face.

"Oh, Sean, I know now, but only a little.

I swear I didn't read any more, but as it happens, I can help."

Justin said something that left Sean completely confused.