Professor Sprout picked up a flowerpot from beside her, then had all the young wizards put on their earmuffs.
After making sure everyone had their earmuffs on, Professor Sprout seized the leaves above the soil in the pot and gave them a hard upward tug.
Hermione had forced Harry and Ron to review their lessons, so they had seen pictures of Mandrakes in their textbooks. But seeing a picture was one thing; seeing the real thing was quite another.
Even though he had known what to expect, Harry still could not help thinking when he saw what had been pulled out of the soil: If that's a child, it's a really ugly one.
Beneath the leaves in Professor Sprout's grip was an ugly child. A very, very ugly one, with leaves that looked like its hair. At the moment, this ugly child looked particularly displeased. Clearly, being pulled out of the soil had made it very unhappy.
Its mouth was wide open, and it was clearly wailing with all its might.
This was where the earmuffs proved their worth. Harry and the others heard only the faintest traces of sound, which had clearly been blocked out by the earmuffs.
"The cry of an adult Mandrake causes death, so Mandrakes pose a considerable danger even to adult wizards. Ours, however, are still babies."
Unlike the Mandrake's wailing, Professor Sprout's voice reached every student in the greenhouse clearly, without the slightest obstruction:
"The cry of a Mandrake this age isn't fatal-at least, not to adult wizards. It can, however, knock someone unconscious for several hours, and there is a chance it may cause confusion in their memories. Of course, if a dozen or more young Mandrakes cry out together, there is still a possibility of death."
Most of the young wizards clearly