Continuing the Great Vegetable-Growing Enterprise

Chapter 45: Continuing the Great Vegetable-Growing Enterprise

People grew closer after going through certain experiences together, especially after Ron used the Accio Charm to save Hermione.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have lectured you so arrogantly in Spell Class."

"It was my fault. I shouldn't have bad-mouthed you."

Charles watched Hermione and Ron apologizing to each other from the side, a cup of Pumpkin Juice in his hand. A gratified smile appeared on his face. It seemed he no longer needed to lecture the children himself.

Eleanor arrived soon afterward. She hugged Hermione and checked her over, then finally let out a sigh of relief. "You scared me to death. When I heard you were the one trapped with the troll, my heart nearly stopped."

As she spoke, she took out a lipstick and stuffed it into Hermione's hand, then whispered a few words in her ear.

Charles's mouth twitched when he saw this. The thing looked like a lipstick on the outside, but inside was a small glass bottle containing some Exploding Liquid. It could be thrown when necessary, and given Hermione's arm strength, its range was shorter than its lethal radius.

After the commotion, peace returned. The dormitory was quiet, save for Seamus's snores.

Charles lay in bed, pondering the connection between what Voldemort had done today and the armor on the troll.

In battle, armor was far more important than weapons. In ancient times, privately keeping weapons was no big deal, but hiding armor was tantamount to rebellion. There was a reason for that.

Take the armor the troll had worn today. Seamus had roasted the troll until it was twelve times done, yet the armor was reportedly completely unharmed. If it had been hit with other spells, it probably could have withstood several blows—more than enough time for the troll to rush over and club a wizard.

The question was, trolls certainly could not have made the armor themselves. Then who had made it for them, and for what purpose?

Charles had originally planned to write to the Old Man about it, but ultimately gave up. That old man would probably finish this round before reading the letter, play another round before writing back, and then play one more round before sending it. By then, Christmas would have arrived.

If the sky fell, Dumbledore would hold it up. Charles decided not to think about it anymore and went to sleep.

After November arrived, the weather quickly turned cold.

Charles sent the Centaur tribe a batch of arrows, axes, and pumpkins as tall as mountains, trading them for some herbs.

After finishing that task, he still had other things to attend to. The Second Greenhouse was warm as spring. The plants he had previously propagated had basically all survived, and now tender shoots had emerged.

A problem followed close behind. There were insects in the greenhouse soil, and eggs hidden in the bark of the branches. Little bugs had begun crawling onto the tender shoots.

Whenever Charles had free time, he went to the Second Greenhouse to carefully tend the plants. First, he used the Leg-Locker Curse to make the insects fall, then scooped them into an empty flowerpot with a small shovel. Once he had gathered enough, he buried them in the middle of a pile of Dragon Dung compost. The compost's temperature was high enough to kill the insects.

That day, he brought over some small, colorful flags. He selected several pots of each plant, marked them, and began recording data.

Professor Sprout had come up behind him at some point. Seeing him busy, she did not disturb him and began working on her own tasks.

After a while, Professor Sprout noticed Charles placing a white crystal into a flowerpot and asked curiously, "Charles, what are you putting in there?"

Charles immediately replied, "Professor, I'm trying to see whether Muggle fertilizer can help the plants grow better."

His family had chemical fertilizer for their flowerbeds, and he had brought some along to try the last time he went home.

Professor Sprout smiled. "Students have tried similar things before."

Charles was not surprised. If he could think of it, others could too. He asked curiously, "How did it turn out?"

Professor Sprout answered, "They grew quite well, but their medicinal effects weren't strong enough when used to make potions."

Charles nodded slightly after hearing that and quickly understood the principle behind it.

Magical plants needed nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium too, just as wizards needed to eat. But they also needed other nutrients—things that nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium could not provide.

The plants in the greenhouse used Dragon Dung and Mooncalf dung as fertilizer. Dragons and Mooncalves were Magical Creatures, and their dung carried a certain amount of magic.

Using Magical Creatures' dung as fertilizer not only supplied magical plants with ordinary nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, but also gave them the magical nutrients those three elements lacked, allowing the magical plants to possess magical power.

Ordinary fertilizer and magical fertilizer did not conflict. If a magical plant was a money pouch for storing gold coins, ordinary fertilizer could make the pouch larger, while magical fertilizer could increase the number of coins inside. Overall, the combination could produce greater returns.

Charles explained these thoughts to Professor Sprout. After thinking for a while, she said, "What you said makes sense. I think you can give it a try. I also have some Chinese Mandrake seeds here. You can plant them here."

"You need to be careful. Once it grows up, it will bite people. At that point, you'll need to wear Dragonhide Gloves. You can't plant it outside."

After speaking, Professor Sprout placed a small bag on the table beside Charles.

After thanking her, Charles found a bottle, poured the seeds into it, and soaked them in water at approximately 30°C.

He prepared more than twenty empty flowerpots and used Dragon Dung fertilizer and some chemical fertilizer as base fertilizer. After soaking the seeds for several hours, he planted one seed in each pot.

Then all that remained was to wait. Chinese Mandrake took five to seven days to sprout. About a month later, during the rosette stage, he would apply nitrogen and potassium fertilizer once. After the head-forming stage began, he would apply nitrogen and potassium fertilizer once more. In the meantime, he would water the plants with diluted Dragon Dung and Mooncalf dung fertilizer, and remove the old leaves at the bottom.

"Professor," Charles asked again while working, "can I plant some mandrakes?"

Professor Sprout's expression turned serious. "Mandrakes are very dangerous. The slightest mistake can cost someone their life."

Charles replied, "Mandrakes can be used to make antidotes and healing potions. The Centaurs want some, so I'd like to grow them."

That was what he said, but he had actually just realized that he seemed to have fallen into a certain misconception.

When dealing with Acromantulas, saturating the ground with firepower was certainly satisfying, but air-dropping mandrakes would work too.

Although spiders had no ears, they had other ways of hearing sounds. They should be affected by mandrakes as well.

Mandrakes could also be recovered and reused. There was no need to worry about side effects such as forest fires, or about leaving traces. They were cheap and environmentally friendly. If not them, then what else?

Professor Sprout thought it over. There was some merit to what Charles had said, so she replied, "Mandrakes need a year to mature, so it's too late to plant them now. There are some in the greenhouse next door that will mature next spring. I'll speak to the headmaster. We should be able to sell them to the Centaurs."

Then she added, "You can also grow mandrakes, but your first planting must be done under my strict supervision. If anything goes wrong, I'll forbid you from touching them again."

Charles immediately thanked her. "Thank you, Professor!"

By the time he finished everything, it was already dinner time, and he reeked of Dragon Dung compost.

Perhaps because Dragon Dung carried magic, the Cleaning Charm actually failed to work. Everyone immediately ostracized him.

It was not only the other students. Even Voldemort, who was surrounded by the smell of garlic, could not stand the man. He put Charles on detention duty half an hour early and told him to get lost.

When Charles returned to the Common Room, someone immediately pinched their nose and dragged him outside. "Come on, I'll take you to the Prefects' Bathroom."