Professor Sprout paused, a flicker of surprise crossing her eyes before she broke into a warm smile.
"Would you like to try growing some herbs yourself?" She set down her trowel and brushed the soil from her hands. "Of course you can. As long as they aren't dangerous varieties like Biting Cabbage, you can come here whenever you like."
"That's wonderful, Professor Sprout. Thank you."
Gerald's gratitude was heartfelt.
He had thought it would take some persuading to get Professor Sprout to agree. After all, the greenhouses were teaching facilities, not places for students to conduct private experiments.
He hadn't expected Professor Sprout to be so much more accommodating than he had imagined.
"You're welcome, Mr. Green."
Professor Sprout bent down, retrieved an empty flowerpot from beneath the potting bench, and set it in front of Gerald.
"But there is one rule: you must take care of whatever you grow. Watering, fertilizing, pest control-you'll have to do all of it yourself. I won't help you."
"Of course, Professor."
Gerald stood there, looking down at the empty flowerpot as plans began taking shape in his mind.
Although he had no seedlings or seeds on hand yet, now that he had somewhere to plant them, he could try digging up some seedlings to transplant on his next trip to the Forbidden Forest.
He would start with Ironwire Vine. Even if he ruined a first-tier spirit herb during transplantation, it wouldn't hurt too much.
If Ironwire Vine could survive in the greenhouse, he could try Heaven-Subduing Flower next time.
Then Seven-Star Grass after that.
One step at a time.
Thinking of Ironwire Vine reminded him that he still had eight bottles of Foundation-Stabilizing Liquid.
The question was how to sell them.
Gerald reached into his inner pocket and felt the cool Galleons there.
His entire fortune now amounted to about fifty or sixty Galleons.
It wasn't much. In fact, it was rather little.
After all, both potions and alchemy, the subjects he wanted to study, were extremely expensive pursuits.
At Hogwarts, the school supplied the materials used in class, but if you wanted to do anything beyond the curriculum, you had to find a way to buy the materials yourself.
For example, Fred and George had obtained most of the powders and rune materials they used to research the Golden Egg on their own.
I have to start making money, and fast.
Selling potions and spirit liquids, as well as making joke toys with Fred and George, were all promising options.
Besides those, Gerald had an even bolder idea.
Over the past few weeks, he had discovered that some aspects of the wizarding world were actually quite backward.
For example, plenty of people still used quills.
Apart from some inexplicable sense of ceremony, there didn't seem to be anything worth recommending about dipping a quill into ink to write.
It was far less efficient than using a rollerball pen.
If I could bring in a batch of rollerball pens to sell in the wizarding world...
The Ministry of Magic's Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office wouldn't come knocking, would it?
It's only a pen.
Gerald didn't think it counted.
But whether the Ministry of Magic thought it counted was another matter entirely.
Forget it. I'll think about that later.
Professor Sprout's class ended with the bell.
It was still raining when Gerald left the greenhouse.
George caught up from behind and grabbed Gerald's shoulder.
"Gerald, are you coming to the Seventh Floor?"
Gerald considered it, then shook his head.
"Not right now. Maybe this afternoon or tonight."
"This had better not be a passing fancy. You won't get far studying alchemy on a brief burst of enthusiasm alone."
Gerald turned sideways, using his umbrella to block George's poking finger.
"I really have something to do."
"What?"
"Shopping."
George raised his eyebrows. "Going to Hogsmeade? It's not a holiday, so be careful."
Gerald nodded, then opened his umbrella and walked out into the rain.
After parting with his roommates, Gerald returned to the dormitory alone.
Gerald drew his bed curtains and dug the dark gray Winter Cloak out of the bottom of his trunk.
Its hood was large enough to hide most of his face.
He put the eight bottles of Foundation-Stabilizing Liquid into an inner pocket, then opened the Marauder's Map.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Ink appeared on the parchment, gradually unfolding into floor plans of every level of Hogwarts.
Gerald's eyes swept quickly over the map. Filch was in the second-floor corridor, with Mrs. Norris following behind him.
There were seven secret passages leading to Hogsmeade.
After Gerald had shown them the map, George and Fred had explored all seven passages.
Filch kept watch over three of them, and one had collapsed.
The three remaining passages included the one behind the One-Eyed Humpbacked Witch statue, which led to the cellar of Honeydukes.
Another was the passage beneath the Whomping Willow, which led to the Shrieking Shack.
The last was the passage behind a mirror in a third-floor storeroom, which led to the back storeroom of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop.
Gerald went over the three passages in his mind and soon made his decision.
The first was the One-Eyed Humpbacked Witch passage. It wasn't the weekend, so there were plenty of students in the Third Floor Corridor. It would be trouble if anyone saw him.
The second was the Whomping Willow passage. Although he knew how to make the Whomping Willow stop moving, it was inconvenient in this rain.
The third passage, behind the mirror in the castle's third-floor storeroom, was undoubtedly the best choice.
Gerald closed the Marauder's Map, jumped off his bed, and left the dormitory.
On the east side of the third floor, the third door was marked "Storeroom."
Gerald looked around, made sure no one was paying attention, then pushed the door open and went inside.
The room was crammed with dusty old desks, chairs, and broken bookshelves.
Gerald walked to the very back of the room and stopped in front of a dust-covered full-length mirror.
The mirror was huge, reaching almost from floor to ceiling.
A thick layer of dust covered its surface, leaving his reflection barely visible.
Following the instructions marked on the map, Gerald gripped the right side of the frame and pulled hard toward himself.
The mirror gave a low creak, as though it hadn't been moved in a long time.
Then it slowly swung outward, revealing a small doorway just wide enough for one person.
Gerald slipped through and gently pulled the mirror back into place.
The passage immediately became pitch-black.
From his inner pocket, Gerald drew his
wand.
"Lumos."
A soft white light shone from the wand's tip, illuminating the stone steps beneath his feet.
The passage ceiling was so low that Gerald had to stoop slightly to avoid hitting his head.
No one seemed to have used this secret passage in a long time. Moss grew everywhere.
After he had walked for nearly twenty minutes, the passage began to slope upward, and stone steps appeared again.
Gerald climbed the steps and soon spotted a wooden door.
The door was old, its brass handle corroded green.
Gerald pushed the door open.
Beyond it was a narrow room piled high with odds and ends.
Gerald stepped through the doorway, then turned and closed the door.
From this side, the door looked like nothing more than a wooden panel in the wall, giving no sign that a secret passage lay behind it.
This must be the back storeroom of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop.
Gerald put away his wand and stepped through the storeroom door onto the streets of Hogsmeade.
In the rain, only a few pedestrians walked along the cobbled main street.
The windows of Honeydukes were filled with colorful sweets, and the sign of the Three Broomsticks swayed gently in the breeze.
The entire village lay wrapped in a peaceful quiet, untouched by the cares of the world.
Looking at this wizarding village, at once familiar and unfamiliar, Gerald felt a swell of emotion.
So this is what it feels like when fantasy becomes reality.
Before you continue