Mandrakes

Aber stared at the two of them with vacant eyes, then yanked off his earmuffs.

"Hey—"

"—thump, thump."

Fortunately, before he could offer his opinion, Professor Sprout tapped the table, interrupting the crowd's buzzing discussion.

"All right, when it's safe to remove your earmuffs, I'll give you two thumbs up. Now—put your earmuffs on."

Snape raised an eyebrow at Aber and immediately put on his pink earmuffs. At once, all sounds from outside were cut off.

Professor Sprout rolled up her sleeves, gripped a clump of leaves tightly, and pulled with all her strength.

What came out of the soil was not a root, but a very ugly baby, with the leaves growing from its head.

The Mandrake's skin was pale green and covered in blotches. The little thing flailed its tentacles, clearly screaming at the top of its lungs.

Professor Sprout took a large flowerpot from beneath the table, stuffed the ugly baby in her hand into it, buried it in damp, dark compost, and left only the cluster of leaves exposed.

She patted the dirt from her hands, gave them two thumbs up, and removed her own earmuffs.

"I imagine none of you want to miss Christmas and the chance to reunite with your families," she said calmly. "So make sure you keep your earmuffs on while working."

"Oh, and watch out for the Venomous Tentacula. It's teething," Professor Sprout added. "If anything unexpected happens, you don't need to use nonverbal spells in my class. Your safety is obviously more important."

"Besides, no one will hear your spells today anyway." She patted the leaves of a Mandrake in front of her, making it retract the tentacles it had been quietly extending toward her.

"Hello, my name is Patrick Aber." Aber finally seized the chance to speak. "Would you like to join our group? Honestly, I think your temperament really suits us..."

We're all weird people, right? Snape inwardly mocked. When Aber had been alone before, hadn't he always preferred quietly reading books? How had he become so talkative now?

There was not much time to talk after that. They put their earmuffs back on and focused on dealing with the Mandrakes.

It was not easy at all. The Mandrakes did not want to be pulled from the soil, but once exposed to the air, they did not want to go back in either.

They twisted their bodies and bared their teeth as they waved their venomous tentacles, trying to break free of the Wizards' restraints.

While dealing with the second Mandrake, Snape made one careless mistake and, caught off guard, let it grab Aber from behind.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

He hurriedly aimed his Wand at the Mandrake, trying to separate it from Aber.

But it was gripping too tightly, and it carried Aber into the air along with it.

Aber flew up and down through the air, flailing his limbs wildly, his mouth constantly moving.

He looked exactly like another fully grown Mandrake.

At the sight, Pandora laughed so hard she could barely breathe. She clutched her stomach desperately as her body rocked back and forth.

Snape could not help stopping the motion of his arm. A monstrous figure with a mouthful of sharp teeth suddenly appeared in his mind. Though he still felt somewhat guilty, at that moment, he felt he could eat three bowls of rice while looking at this scene.

Ah, was my soul no longer as pure as it used to be? he thought.

Fortunately, the ugly little baby had limited strength. Before long, it could no longer hold on, released its tentacles, and threw Aber down.

Snape hurriedly aimed his Wand at Aber, preventing him from landing face-first on the ground.

But that gave the Mandrake its freedom. It planted its tentacles on the ground and ran wildly among the silently screaming students.

Looking at Aber's furious expression and lips opening and closing rapidly as if spring-loaded, Snape decisively chose to keep his earmuffs on. He thought pink was actually rather nice; it really suited him.

This Herbology class ended amid complete chaos.

The Emeralds in the Slytherin hourglass set into the Great Hall's wall niche sank a little as a result.

"Why are they avoiding you?" Pandora asked.

They were crossing the Entrance Hall to have lunch when several younger students saw Snape and hastily stepped aside to make way for them.

"Out of respect for me," Snape said frankly. "It is their heartfelt recognition of me."

Aber burst out laughing, then remembered that he was supposed to be angry and immediately put on a stern face again.

"The next time someone calls you a strange girl, you can tell me. I can help you earn the same kind of respect."

"Oh... how should I put it..." Pandora shrugged. "It's actually not too bad. I suppose they just think I'm a little strange."

"All right, as you say." Snape said, "Pandora, come have lunch with us over here."

"But this is the Slytherin table."

"Oh, this is the Hogwarts table." Snape tugged at her sleeve. "Come on. I really can't understand what the point of all this fighting is. Could it be that the Wizarding World also has some rule that says, 'the founders' ways cannot be changed'? When I get the chance, I'll have a good word with the Headmaster about it."

He glanced toward the staff table. No one was sitting in the Headmaster's seat.

Thinking carefully, Snape realized he had not seen Dumbledore for several days. Ever since their late-night conversation last time, Dumbledore's seat had often been empty.

Could his words have prompted Dumbledore to begin his investigation early?

Forget it. There was no point overthinking it. He could probe him indirectly the next time they met.

After Snape had eaten a full three plates of food, Aber finally seemed to have calmed down.

"Do you want to go watch this afternoon's Quidditch tryouts?" he asked Pandora. "We're going to see what brooms they're using."

"I won't be going," she said. "I still have several experiments to finish. I need to make the most of my time."

After watching Pandora shove her hands into her pockets and skip up the stairs, they left the castle and headed for the Quidditch pitch.

Though neither of them was particularly interested in Quidditch, Aber's father had written last week and asked him to survey the school's broom market. Under the temptation and threat of Galleons, Aber immediately surrendered.

As he read the letter, he said to Snape, "No one picks a fight with Galleons, you included. A seventy-thirty split, how about it?"

"Deal," Snape replied briefly.

By the time they took their seats in the stands, the tryouts were nearly halfway through. Half the Slytherin students, from first year to seventh year, had come.

The younger students mostly clutched several battered old brooms picked from the school storeroom nervously, while the sixth- and seventh-years looked tall, imposing, and intimidating.

"I remember the Quidditch team has a dedicated training room, right?" Snape asked.

"Yes, Sevy. Are you thinking about exercising again?" Aber said. "Feel your stomach. You've only gotten fatter lately."

"So later, I'm planning to consult a professional." Snape pointed at Montague, the Slytherin team captain.

Thanks to Xigema for the monthly ticket!