Chapter 4112 4114【Mandrake】
Suddenly, the new semester officially begins.
In the morning, while everyone was eating, they received the curriculum issued by the school.
It can be seen that the studies in the second grade have changed a lot compared to the first grade.
One is the cancellation of flying lessons. Flying lessons at Hogwarts are just like driving schools in the Muggle world. You only need to learn the basic operations. As for improving flying skills and making yourself fly faster and better, it is not the school's business, students need to practice on their own.
The second is the Charms class, Transfiguration class, Potions class, and Defense Against the Dark Arts class, each of which has an additional class. As a result, the course load increased significantly by nearly 30%.
"I have to take herbal medicine and history of magic all morning, my God~" Joey, the fat boy, couldn't help complaining.
"Stop yelling, the herbal medicine class is not bad either." Xiang Nan said with a smile, "After that, you can catch up on the history of magic."
If he remembered correctly, he started learning mandrake in the second grade. Mandrake is a must-have for practicing Animagus.
According to the books Xiang Nan consulted, to practice Animagus, you must hold a piece of mandrake in your mouth on the day of the full moon for a full month without spitting it out or swallowing it.
Then on a clear full-moon night, place it in a small glass bottle with the pupa of the Grimace Hawkmoth, add a hair and a teaspoon of dew, and place it in a quiet, dark room.
Then recite the spell every morning and evening, wait until the storm comes, take the bottle of magic potion, and then you can try the Animagus transformation.
Of course, there are many conditions. If one condition is not met, you may have to start over.
For example, a silver teaspoon of dew needs to be collected for seven consecutive days from a place without sunlight or where there are no traces of people; after the potion is prepared, it must not be taken out for inspection before taking it, let alone let it be exposed to sunlight...
So it is quite difficult to become an Animagus. Therefore, since the 20th century, there have been only seven legally registered Animagus in the UK.
Of course, there are also unregistered Animagus, but the number is still not very large. It would be good to have one in a hundred people at most.
…
The reason why Xiang Nan wanted to become an Animagus was because Animagus was better concealed. Animagus transformation will turn the wizard into an animal, but it will still be an animal that maintains sanity and memory.
Unlike the animals transformed by the transfiguration spell, that kind is really an animal, without reason and memory, unless it can be restored by using the reduction spell.
And becoming a small animal with reason and memory, such as mice, beetles, geckos, poisonous snakes, birds, etc., will not attract the attention of others, then you can freely enter and exit many places and spy on many secrets that are not easily noticed.
For example, Rita Skeeter can turn into a little beetle and spy on other people's privacy without being noticed. If Hermione hadn't been clever, her secret would have been difficult to discover.
Second, after becoming an Animagus, you have an additional way to save your life. In critical moments, you can turn into a small animal and escape. As long as no one knew about his Animagus form, it would be easy to get away with it.
For example, after Sirius turned into a big dog, he successfully evaded the Ministry of Magic many times; after Peter Pettigrew turned into a mouse, he also successfully concealed his identity...
Xiang Nan will fight against Voldemort in the future, and no matter how many ways to save his life are too many, he not only needs to become an Animagus, but also an Animagus that can change into multiple forms.
…
At nine o'clock in the morning, students from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor gathered in greenhouse three.
"We are going to repot the mandrake today. Now, who can tell me what properties the mandrake has?" the professor asked. Lily was the first to raise her hand.
No one is surprised by this.
Lily's grades have always been very good. In the entire grade, she and Xiang Nan are the ones who work the hardest.
As long as there is Lily, Xiang Nan never likes to be in the limelight.
"Mandrake, also called mandrake root, is a powerful recovery agent," Lily said very naturally, as if she had eaten the textbook. "It is used to heal people who have been transformed or are poisoned." The man under the spell returns to his original shape."
"Excellent, ten points for Gryffindor," Professor Sprout said. "Mandrake is an important component of most antidotes. But it is also dangerous. Can anyone tell me why?"
"Hearing a mandrake cry can kill someone," Lily blurted out again.
"Absolutely correct, plus ten points." Professor Sprout said, "Look, the mandrakes here are still very young."
she said, pointing to a row of deep-bottomed plates. Everyone moved closer to get a better look. There were about a hundred green and purple seedlings arranged there.
"Each person get a pair of earmuffs," Professor Sprout said.
Everyone scrambled for it, but no one wanted to get a pair of pink fluffy earmuffs.
"When I tell you to put on earmuffs, be sure to cover your ears tightly," Professor Sprout said. "When it's safe to take them off, I'll give you a two-thumbs up. OK... put them on. earmuffs."
Everyone quickly complied and put on earmuffs.
Professor Sprout also put on a pair of pink fluffy earmuffs, then rolled up his sleeves, firmly grasped a blade of grass, and pulled it up with all his strength.
When everyone saw it, they immediately shouted.
Because what was pulled out of the soil was not grass roots, but a very ugly baby with leaves growing on its head. His skin is light green with spots on it.
The little guy had his mouth wide open and a ferocious expression, obviously shouting at the top of his lungs. Although everyone is wearing earmuffs, it is not difficult to imagine how harsh its screams are.
Professor Sprout took out a large flower pot from under the table and stuffed the Mandrake doll into it, burying it in moist dark compost until only the clumps of leaves were exposed.
She patted the mud on her hands, gave them two thumbs up, and took off her earmuffs.
"Our mandrakes are just seedlings, and hearing their cries won't be fatal," she said calmly, as if she had just watered the begonias. "But, they can knock you out for a few hours, and I don't think any of you want to miss the first day of school, so make sure you wear earmuffs while you work. When it's time to pack up, I'll try to get your attention of."
"A plate for four... There are lots of pots here... The compost is in the bag over there... Watch out for the poisonous tentacle, it's teething." She gave a sharp tap on a spiky crimson plant, causing it to She retracted the tentacle that quietly reached towards her shoulder.
…
Everyone immediately started to get busy.
But this job seems simple, but in fact it is not easy to do.
Because mandrake doesn't want to be pulled out of the soil, but it doesn't seem to want to go back. They twisted their bodies, kicked their feet, waved their pointed little fists, and gnashed their teeth.
So except Xiang Nan, everyone was sweating from exhaustion.