Wanting to Cultivate Some Land

Chapter 14: Want to Grow Some Land

After Charms class came Herbology, and Charles and his classmates headed to the first greenhouse outside the castle.

As Professor Sprout was explaining the precautions, she specifically glanced at Seamus, and her subsequent words seemed directed at him: "The current lesson does not require the use of wands. Please put your wands away and do not take them out lightly."

It was clear that Seamus's performance in Charms class had quickly spread among the professors. Professor Sprout likely also knew that he had blown up his own bedding last night.

The greenhouse was filled with delicate flowers and tender plants, and it also bore the important responsibility of providing funding for Hogwarts. If anything were to explode, the losses would be substantial.

The first Herbology lesson was to identify the various herbs they would be studying this academic year, to get a general idea of their names and effects. Only the second lesson would begin teaching how to plant and cultivate them.

"Mr. Potter," Professor Sprout suddenly said, "Do you like Comfrey very much?"

Everyone had been listening to the professor describe the characteristics of a plant called Devil's Snare. Now, they all followed the professor's gaze and saw that Harry was carefully observing a pot of lush green Comfrey, so intently that his glasses were almost touching the leaves.

"Huh?!" Harry suddenly realized the professor and his classmates were looking at him. Startled, he quickly said, "Sorry, I just thought it looked a bit familiar. I think I saw it in Charles's garden, and the smell is similar too. I just don't know if the taste is the same."

Upon hearing this, Charles feigned a thoughtful expression and said, "I thought it looked very similar just now. Someone gave it to my grandfather, saying that if you crush it and apply it to a wound, it heals very quickly. You can also eat it raw. We could plant some in the garden, though the fertilizer smells awful."

Professor Sprout said with a helpless sigh, "Sigh... another wizard casually gifting magical herbs. Fortunately, it was only Comfrey and not some other dangerous plant."

Then, her tone turned stern. "I must remind everyone here that you must never casually give Potion ingredients to Muggles in the future. It could lead to irreversible consequences!"

"For example, the Devil's Snare I just introduced. It looks similar to a Christmas Cactus that can move its tentacles. There have been many tragic incidents where wizards mistakenly gifted Devil's Snare, leading to someone's death!"

Then, Professor Sprout walked over to the Comfrey and said, "Comfrey is one of the herbs I will be introducing shortly, and it's the first herb you'll learn to cultivate this academic year. I'll introduce it now."

"Comfrey is widely distributed. Even animals will chew it up and apply it to their wounds."

"However, wild Comfrey that grows naturally is quite frail and has low medicinal efficacy. It needs to be fertilized with dragon dung or Mooncalf dung to grow robustly."

"It can rapidly heal wounds. The essential oil extracted from it, which Professor Snape will discuss how to extract in Potions class this year, can treat many severe wounds without leaving scars. Eating it raw is also effective for treating minor, shallow wounds."

Harry listened, suddenly enlightened. No wonder Mr. Smith always had him eat Comfrey salad whenever he got injured. After eating it, he would sleep, and his wounds would be healed.

After Herbology class, Charles found Professor Sprout and asked a question she hadn't expected: "I saw a patch of land south of the greenhouse covered in weeds. May I clear it and plant some herbs like Comfrey?"

Professor Sprout smiled and asked him, "Are you very interested in Herbology?"

Charles replied, "I've always enjoyed growing plants."

Professor Sprout chuckled and said, "If you clear that patch of land, I think Professor Dumbledore might have a go at you."

Charles blinked, then immediately understood her meaning and asked in disbelief, "Could it be some kind of herb?"

"That's right," Professor Sprout's face broke into a brilliant smile. "If you can identify all the herbs outside the greenhouse and find the real wasteland, I can approve you to clear it yourself and even allow you to use the fertilizer here."

Charles immediately agreed. He first walked around the greenhouse, noting down the plants he saw.

The afternoon only had one class: History of Magic. During lunch, he asked Percy about some reference books on Herbology. After lunch, he hurried to the library to borrow two books, and then History of Magic turned into Herbology class.

Anything that could be grown outside the greenhouse was a non-dangerous herb, narrowing down the search considerably. He soon had a discovery.

The plant Charles had mistaken for a weed was called Yellow-flowered long-root bean. The above-ground part looked ordinary, but the underground part had a main root, as thick as a finger, that could exceed one meter in length.

The juice extracted from its roots could be used as the main ingredient in a potion specifically for treating suppuration. Moreover, the longer it grew, the better its medicinal effect. The ones outside the greenhouse looked older than Harry and Ron combined.

A large portion of other herbs also had medicinal properties in their root systems. The next page recorded another herb grown outside the greenhouse, called "Purple-flowered ground grape." Its underground roots resembled a bunch of grapes, with round bulbs.

It was a powerful laxative. Dried slices of the root tuber, when ground into powder, could be directly used to treat constipation or serve as a secondary ingredient in medication for intestinal parasites.

By evening, Charles was still studying diligently at a table in the Gryffindor common room.

He drew a map of the area outside the greenhouse and labeled the names of the herbs he had found.

The Weasley twins, who had intended to discuss the Bag of Holding with him, saw how focused he was and didn't disturb him, instead sitting nearby to wait for him to finish.

Charles had found half the herbs from the two books. He put down his pen, stretched, and planned to switch to two different books tomorrow.

Just then, a cup of Pumpkin Juice appeared before him. Fred asked mysteriously, "Are you planning to steal herbs?"

George added, "The good stuff is all inside the greenhouse."

It was evident that the two of them had had their fair share of dealings with the greenhouse.

Charles took a sip of Pumpkin Juice and told them about his idea of clearing a patch of wasteland to plant things.

Fred asked him, puzzled, "Why would you think of that?"

Charles put down his empty cup and said, "I think growing those magical plants is quite interesting."

He couldn't exactly say that if the sky fell, Harry would catch it, and he'd just be farming to pass the time.

Fred and George exchanged glances, then said in succession, "Do you want to grow some valuable herbs?"

"We can help."

Charles shook his head. He just wanted to grow them for fun, planning to cultivate some herbs that looked pretty and weren't too difficult.

If he were aiming for profit, he'd contract a piece of land from Dumbledore and bring in a walking tractor to plow the fields, planting whatever was most valuable.

Electrical appliances weren't allowed at Hogwarts, so a purely mechanical walking tractor shouldn't be a problem, right?

At worst, when the Weasley family's flying car arrived, they could catch it to plow the fields.

If all else failed, there was always Seamus.

Just then, Percy walked over. Dumbledore requested his presence.