The first day of term was Wednesday, an absolutely terrible day.
The enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall was a gloomy gray, and at breakfast, pickled herring that was a little too heavily salted had appeared, no one knew whose idea it was.
Harley had no idea who had prepared it, but she figured they must have a lot in common with people who liked eating canned wolf fish.
Of course, for most students, something even worse was that Gryffindor second-years had a full day of classes.
When they got their timetables from Professor McGonagall, many young wizards couldn't help letting out a groan.
Harley, on the other hand, was quite happy, because their first class was Herbology.
After all the effort she'd put into studying over the holidays, Harley had gained a deep understanding of the properties of all kinds of herbs.
Now, what troubled her most was the problem of ingredients.
The ingredients for the Potion that could lift the Sequence 5 seal were easy enough to find; most apothecaries sold them.
But the ingredients needed to recover to above demigod level were truly difficult to find. She could only rely on luck.
So Harley was keeping in touch with Potion Masters, in case she needed to buy rare ingredients in the future;
at the same time, she was devoting even more effort to Herbology, preparing to gather ingredients herself.
After breakfast, Harley and Hermione headed for the greenhouses. On the way, Hermione was still reading Professor Lockhart's book Voyages with Vampires.
After all, while enjoying a late-night chat with Harley in the same tent the previous evening, Hermione had heard the magical masters' assessment of Professor Lockhart—
"Though that Gilderoy Lockhart is a flamboyant, womanizing show-off, and his books are practically all fiction, the details in them