Chapter 27 First Day of School

First day of school.

Schelling's first class was herbal medicine. After having a hearty breakfast in the Great Hall in the morning and admiring the howling letter sent by Mrs. Weasley to Ron, Sherrin walked out of the castle with Daphne and Meredith and came to the greenhouse of Hogwarts.

"Two naughty students injured a very precious whomping willow. I spent the whole morning treating it!" Professor Sprout's voice was gentle: "I hope you will not do this in the future. Something!”

"Okay, now follow me to the third greenhouse!" She took the lead, with the second-year students from Slytherin and Ravenclaw following behind her. The plants in the third greenhouse are more interesting than those in the first, and certainly more dangerous. Professor Sprout stood behind a stool in the middle of the greenhouse. She clapped her hands, attracted everyone's attention, and said: "We are going to repot the mandrake today. Who can tell me about mandrake?" What are the characteristics of pulling grass?”

Maury McDougal of Ravenclaw pushed up his glasses, raised his hand, and answered at Professor Sprout's signal: "It is a powerful recovery agent that can help people who suffer from potions and spells." Or a person whose form has been changed by a transfiguration spell returns to his original state.”

"Very good, Miss McDougal, plus ten points for Ravenclaw." Professor Sprout nodded with satisfaction. "So, who can tell me why we need to prepare this thing?" She clicked on a pile of furry earplugs piled in the corner.

This time she chose Xie Lin from Slytherin to answer this question. Generally speaking, Slytherin students are not very good at herbal medicine. These noble young masters and ladies think that this kind of flipping will make themselves dirty. The menial work of soiling, watering and changing pots was the responsibility of servants.

But Schelling is an exception. Schelling's magical philosophy is to accept all available tools - whether they are spells, transformations, potions, herbs, magical creatures, or even Muggle tools.

He replied: "The cry of adult mandrakes can kill people. The former Minister of Magic, Venusia Crickerly, accidentally died while handling mandrakes in her garden. He died on the spot unexpectedly. Later, the Ministry of Magic established a series of regulations for this plant. Wizarding families must obtain special approval to plant Mandrake. Of course, young Mandrake will only make people unconscious for a few hours."

"Exactly, and a very appropriate addition to Mandrake's deadly record. It's even more perfect than the answer I expected - fifteen points for Slytherin. As Mr. Malfoy said, Mandrake is deadly. It’s dangerous, but the mandrake here is still very young, and you will be unconscious for a few hours at most when you hear its cry.” Professor Sprout said calmly.

Professor Sprout demonstrated first and then asked the little wizards to change basins in groups of four. Draco originally wanted to be in a group with Sherrin (Shellin is obviously the most reliable teammate in Slytherin) , but was forcibly captured by Pansy and sent to work as a coolie in the Slytherin girl group, a group consisting of Goyle, Crabbe, Nott and Blaise Zabini.

Sherrin had Daphne, Meredith, and one more person here. Sherrin walked to Ravenclaw and politely invited Maury McDougal. Maury was a little surprised by Sherrin's sudden invitation, but Still nodded and agreed to join Xie Lin's group.

Pulling mandrakes out of the soil is a physical job, not as easy as Professor Sprout's. It's harder than pulling up turnips in the field, and mandrakes don't want to be pulled out of the soil.

Daphne tried her best but failed, and finally Meredith helped to pull it out. The worst part was that this guy didn't want to go back after he came out. He twisted his body, kicked his feet, and waved. He held up his small fists and blocked the mouth of the basin with his feet, unwilling to be stuffed into the basin. Daphne struggled with Mandrake for more than half an hour, and finally completed the task with the help of Schelling.

Xie Lin usually pays great attention to physical exercise. During the summer vacation, Lucius also gave him and Draco the Strengthening Solution. This potion can improve a person's physique and enhance the body's strength - Xie Lin is now The physical strength can easily knock down an adult Muggle in hand-to-hand combat.

Xie Lin firmly grasped the rhizome of the mandrake with one hand and pulled out the entire mandrake with just one pull. The mandrake was knocked unconscious due to excessive force, but he did not encounter any resistance. The repotting is completed.

After Meredith also successfully completed the task with the help of Sherrin, only Murray was left.

She and Xie Lin were in the same group for the first time. The two had never communicated before. Although she had heard that Xie Lin was approachable, her female reserve made her embarrassed to ask Xie Lin for help. She is a typical Ravenclaw girl, with a quiet personality and a relatively delicate physical condition. After seeing other people's mistakes, she is really not sure that she can complete today's class task alone.

Xie Lin saw Murray's difficulty and gentlemanly offered to help. Murray slowly pulled out the mandrake with the help of Xie Lin, but she failed to catch the struggling mandrake and accidentally let it break away from her hand, spraying herself and Xie. Lin was covered in mud.

Seeing the mandrake bouncing swiftly on the ground and about to run away, Murray stood there at a loss and uttered "Ah". Suddenly, Sherin swooped past Murray like a cheetah and pounced in the direction of the mandrake. He grabbed the little guy with great precision, and then roughly stuffed it into the flowerpot without giving it any chance to struggle.

At this time, Sherin and Murray were covered with mud. They looked at each other's predicament and couldn't help laughing. The original alienation between the two was instantly broken. Sherin took out his wand and cast a descaling spell on each of them. The mud on their bodies disappeared immediately, and even the smell of sweat disappeared.

Murray couldn't help but exclaimed: "You are so good at spells. Even Ravenclaw, who are known for their spells, can't master the Descaling Charm so thoroughly. Let alone the dirt, I can't even see the dust on my body now..."

Sherin smiled modestly and said, "Miss McDougal, you are too kind. I just practiced harder than others. When it comes to the theory of spell knowledge, you Ravenclaws are definitely better."

Murray rolled his eyes at Sherin, "Hey, being too modest will make you look hypocritical! Also, don't call me Miss McDougal anymore, just call me Murray!"

The group of four was the first to complete the task in the class, and Professor Sprout was happy to give each of them 5 points for their respective colleges. Many of the other students, especially the Ravenclaws, who were mostly weak scholars, were still struggling with the mandrake. Although the Slytherins performed better, most of them were disheveled, sweating, sore backs, and covered in dirt.

After lunch, it was Defense Against the Dark Arts. For some reason, Slytherin had changed this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class to be held together with Gryffindor.

(Note: For the needs of the plot, Defense Against the Dark Arts classes after the second grade are held together with Gryffindor)

Just like the potion class, the two houses that disliked each other sat on both sides of the classroom. Everyone came to the classroom early, holding their breath and waiting for the class to start, showing how much everyone was looking forward to Professor Lockhart's class - perhaps Harry and Sherin were the two exceptions.

"Hello, children!" Lockhart, dressed in a turquoise robe, walked in with impeccable demeanor. Almost all the girls subconsciously straightened their bodies and raised their heads. "Gilderoy Lockhart, third-class Order of Merlin, honorary member of the Dark Arts Defense League, five-time winner of the Most Charming Smile Award from Witch Weekly - but I don't talk about that. I didn't drive away the Bandon Banshee with a smile!" Lockhart took out a stack of parchment, "I see you all bought my complete set of books - very good. Let's do a small test first to see how well you read and how much you understand..." After handing out the papers, he returned to the podium and said, "You will have 30 minutes, start now!" The test paper had three full pages, all about his personal preferences. These questions were not difficult for Sherin, who had a photographic memory. Sherin wrote the answers on the test paper with great enthusiasm, and Hermione did the same. As for the other students - Harry and Ron looked at the test paper in a daze, Draco and Nott showed disgusted expressions, Goyle and Crabbe were in a daze and drooling... Half an hour later, Lockhart took away all the test papers and began to mark the papers in front of everyone. Most of the answers on the test papers seemed to be not to his liking, making him "tsk tsk" repeatedly.

"Beautifully written, Mr. Shaylin Malfoy! You actually remembered that my favorite color is lilac." Lockhart said excitedly: "This paper can get 100 points... Slytherin plus 10 points!" Then he turned to Hermione's test paper, "Miss Hermione Granger knows that my secret ambition is to eliminate evil in the world and sell my own line of hair conditioners. This paper is also 100 points... Gryffindor plus 10 points!"

He took out a large cage covered with a drape and put it on the table. "Now - be careful! My job is to teach you to resist the worst evil in the wizarding world! You will face the most terrifying things in this classroom. But as long as I am here, you will not be harmed. I only ask you to remain calm."

Harry poked his head out from behind a pile of books to get a good look at the cage. Neville shrank back and Pansy also moved a few steps closer to Draco. Daphne and Meredith, led by Sherin last year, broke through the Devil's Snare and defeated the giant. They have developed the courage to not fear actual combat and now seem eager to try.

"I must ask you not to scream," Lockhart said in a low voice, "that will anger them!" Then he lifted the cover.

"Yes," he said in a dramatic way, "the Cornish green fairy that was just caught." The green fairy is not a creature unique to Cornwall. It is mainly distributed in Cornwall and Devon in southwest England. It is famous for its mischievousness. The Cornish green fairy is bright electric blue, while the Devon green fairy is more simple steel blue. Sherin carefully observed the cage. These green fairies were about eight inches tall, with small pointed faces and very sharp and shrill voices. They were jumping up and down, shaking the cage bars, and making all kinds of weird faces.

A male student couldn't help but sneer, and Lockhart said angrily: "Be serious! They are cunning little destroyers like the devil!" After that, he opened the cage door.

It was chaos now - the little green fairies were flying everywhere, two of them grabbed Neville's ears and lifted him up, a few of them rushed out of the window directly, scattering broken glass all over the back of the classroom, and the rest were wreaking havoc in the classroom.

Harry showed the courage of a Gryffindor and tried to protect Ron and Hermione, but his strength was insufficient - his glasses were snatched away by the little green fairy, causing him to see nothing and could only wave his hands randomly. Trying to catch a little green fairy by luck; Ron didn't dare to use his wand that sprayed unknown sparks to perform magic; Hermione performed best, she cleverly used a holding spell to bind the two The little green fairy was settled and stuffed back into the cage.

After a few minutes, half the class was hiding under the tables and poor Neville was hanging from the chandelier. Seeing that it was almost done, Xelling glanced at Daphne and Meredith and shouted loudly: "This is the first lesson Professor Lockhart taught us - don't underestimate any enemy. Now, Slytherin - come with me !”

Xellin took the lead and used the fire spell to shoot out a raging fire, manipulating the flames to force the little green fairies into a corner. Daphne and Meredith stood on the left and right of Xuelin in a tacit understanding, using the whole body binding spell to bind one after another. The little green fairy was beaten so hard that it fell to the ground stiffly. The number of flying little green fairies decreased rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At this time, Draco, Pansy, Nott, and Shabini also stepped forward to help, and magic spells flew for a while. Within a few minutes, all the little green fairies were stuffed into their cages.

At this time, the chandelier couldn't bear the strength and fell down. Schelling used a floating spell to catch Neville who fell, and then used a repair spell to repair the damaged windows, tables, chairs, and chandeliers one by one. Finally, he spoke respectfully to Luo Hart reported: "Professor, we understand what you mean. What you want to convey is that even the inconspicuous little green fairy should be treated with caution and never despise any enemy, right? And you also gave us a precious Of course, I have no doubt that if we are unable to do it in the end, you will definitely show us your true skills. I must say, this is a rare and valuable lesson."

Lockhart stood up with great energy, "Yes, Mr. Malfoy completely understood what I meant. He is really an excellent little wizard! Everyone in Slytherin also did a great job! Let me think about it... Sixty points for Letling!”