How Lonely It Is to Be Invincible

The Third Greenhouse was thick with the warm, damp smell of earth, mixed with a sharp odor that might have come from herbs or animal secretions.

Rows of clay pots lined the long table, each filled with dragon-dung compost.

Some students were wrinkling their noses before they even got close.

"Dragon-dung compost certainly doesn't smell pleasant."

Professor Sprout stood at the front of the greenhouse, her round face wearing its usual kindly smile.

A few strands of short gray hair stuck out from under her hat, with a dead leaf caught in them.

"But you'll get used to it soon enough. Once you learn to repot Mandrakes, you'll find the dragon dung is the least of your worries."

She pulled a large clay pot from beneath the table. Inside was a gray-green plant with leaves that drooped like crumpled baby clothes. Its roots were buried, but the bulge in the soil suggested that what lay underneath was much bigger than what showed above.

The whole plant twisted restlessly in its pot, and a few leaves gave a listless shiver.

"This is a Mandrake." Professor Sprout patted the rim of the pot. "Your first second-year Herbology lesson is repotting Mandrakes. I know some of you have read ahead. Who can tell me a Mandrake's most important property?"

Before she had finished speaking, a hand shot straight up on the Gryffindor side—

Hermione's.

She had been in perfect "I know the answer" position since before the bell rang—

Back straight, heels together, arm raised crisply without the slightest wobble.

After an entire summer without raising her hand in class, she had clearly been bursting to do it again.

"Miss Granger?"

"The Mandrake, also known as Mandrake Root, is a powerful restorative."

Hermione spoke clearly and quickly. "It is an important ingredient in