Chapter 101: 31st October 1991, Thursday: Part 3

The next couple of hours were spent with George and the rest of his class separating leaves from stinging nettles, it was just another 'thrilling' Herbology lesson. No one was having a fun time delicately separating the leaves from the stems whilst simultaneously trying not to injure the plants, instead the plants were injuring them. Sprout was not ignorant of the generally negative attitude, she kept reminding the class of all the beneficial applications of Nettles whilst they slaved away. Sprout started by telling them that nettles were a necessary ingredient in some potions such as the Boil-Cure potion but no one was impressed because they had already learnt about that in the potions class, Snape's teaching methods didn't allow them to ever forget.

Sprout also said that nettles can be used to make 'delicious' soup and 'rejuvenating' tea but the class didn't think much of that either, half of the students thought that she was making it up and the other half simply didn't care about tea and soup since the house-elves had them covered. She even told the class that the house elves were famous for their nettle wine, but they would have to wait a few years before they were allowed to try it, hence the students didn't care about that either. Although, Sprout did give George the idea of brewing his own nettle moon-shine. He had been looking for a source of alcohol to test on himself. Maybe the heavy-handed George would have to accidentally steal a few leaves in the future when he had the time to make his own distillery.

Sprout was getting desperate to prove the value of nettles and ended up making the dubious claim that the leaves can be used to make hair conditioner which nobody, other than George, believed. She was very insistent that nettle soap could improve the glossiness of anyone's hair even though her hair was dull and matted with dried mud. Even though George knew her odd claims were probably true, he couldn't deny that Sprout was starting to sound like a snake-oil salesman. He wouldn't have been surprised to hear her say that nettles could improve your memory or perhaps cure the common cold, just rub the leaves in your eyes and instantly gain twenty-twenty vision. Luckily, Sprout didn't say any more benefits of nettles and just convinced the class to work by offering house points to whoever gathered the most intact leaves.

Children being children, many of the less desirable students started making their own fun as they attempted to deliberately sting their fellow classmates. George received his fair share of leaves being thrown in his direction whilst Sprout's back was turned by various Slytherin students, the most consistent culprit being Draco and his goons. George's mood was a little shaky since he was still bitter towards Draco from past events, but the Calming Draught was doing a great job of quelling the thought of pinning Draco down and force-feeding him a handful of leaves. In the end, Draco and the rest of Slytherin's efforts were in vain since George was capable of catching every single leaf and adding it to his pile effectively reducing the amount of work he had to accomplish in that lesson.

By a combination of getting on with the task and students' charitable contributions, George was able to produce the largest pile of leaves by a considerable margin without getting stung once. The same couldn't be said about the other students since they were all walking out of the class scratching their forearms and necks as if they had all caught chickenpox. George stayed behind and patiently waited for Sprout to finish walking around the bench with a large canvas sack, she was taking all the piles of leaves the students had gathered and was tipping them into the sack. She reached George last and looked confused as she saw how grand his pile of leaves was compared to everyone else's.

Sprout kept looking between Goerge's stinging nettle plant and the pile of leaves before asking him, "are these all yours?"

Since she had such a well-trained eye, she could probably tell that there was an inconsistency between the number of leaves and the size of George's stinging nettle plant, that many leaves couldn't have come off one plant without stripping it bare. George didn't want to leave the impression that he may have been stealing from another student's pile, since Sprout already saw him as a potential thief, so he quickly formulated an excuse on the spot.

"The boy beside me seemed to be having a bad reaction to the nettles so I helped him cut a few of his leaves. As a gesture of thanks, he allowed me to keep some of his leaves. I tried to refuse but he insisted I keep them so our house won the points. It's cheating in my mind so I don't mind if you don't give Slytherin any points."

There were sixty students in his Herbology class so it wouldn't have seemed unreasonable for Sprout to miss something as trivial as a student cutting another's plant. Grant happened to be next to George today and he had a habit of letting his mind wander in Herbology so his pile was much smaller than George's. It's easy to believe that the reason for Grant's small pile was due to George claiming a portion of it.

"Well, that was very kind of you, I'm sure that lazy boy is very thankful for your help. I'm still giving Slytherin the points since you did harvest the leaves regardless of whose plant it was harvested from.

Right then, if you just like to follow me", Sprout said before walking out of the greenhouse from the professor's entrance.

Sensing an opportunity to witness something not normally reserved for students' eyes, George eagerly followed after her. They walked through another greenhouse George had never been in before, the plants were giving him an eerie vibe as he walked past them. It wasn't their appearances that were peculiar but instead their behaviour, they were acting a bit like the Whomping Willow. All of the flowers were moving around as if they were sentient, some of them were leaning over and sucking water out of a trough from their flower heads. It made him wonder if this implied that the plants were intelligent, perhaps they could feel emotions or had a sense of morality.

If that was the case then the plants at the end of the greenhouse, which looked a bit like mutant flycatchers, must have had aggressive tendencies because they were separated from one another by a foot gap. These plants seemed violent because they were desperately reaching for each other whilst snapping at the air like a starved animal, George had the impression that if they were any closer they would most likely rip each other apart. Sprout made it very clear that George should keep his hands in his pockets and refrain from going any closer to the little Audrey Twos than necessary or risk losing a finger.

George complied since one of the fly-catchers was looking at him funny, it had, "you look tasty", written all over its veiny petals and pointy thorns.

He continued to follow Sprout out of the weird greenhouse until they reached a narrow corridor with many normal-looking plants hanging from the walls on long rusty chains. This corridor was particularly damp and humid compared to the greenhouses, George could already start to feel his shirt sticking to his back.

"All my greenhouses are chock-a-block so I've had to start moving some projects into the corridors. The humidity charms aren't working so well so you're going to have to put up with it. Anyway, these are what I wanted to show you", Sprout said whilst gesturing toward the plants hanging from the slimy walls.

George inspected the plants and didn't immediately notice anything different about them, they looked just like the ones he could find in the gardens. There were some English staples such as lavender, delphinium and roses all in full bloom and ripe for picking. George saw no reason to not use these flowers for what he had planned but he found it hard to believe that Sprout would take him so far out of the way if there weren't something special about these particular flowers.

He turned to her and asked, "I don't mean to be rude, professor. These flowers are very beautiful after all, but why have you brought me here? What's so unique about these particular flowers?"

Sprout smiled and tilted her head towards the flowers, "why don't you give them a sniff?"

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George complied with her and leaned over to the basket of roses which happened to be the nearest bunch of flowers and inhaled deeply. His fine sense of smell should pick up on whatever magical changes Sprout had made, perhaps she had amplified the scent or enhanced it to provoke a pleasant emotion in the smeller. He was struck with surprise as a faint but very distinct odour filled his nostrils, his guesses had been completely off the mark.

George spoke whilst continuing to inhale the scent, "I didn't know this was even possible, it smells like…"

"Dark chocolate, I know. I haven't quite got it right yet, the smells are a little too bitter for my taste", Sprout said whilst attempting and failing to sound humble.

George hadn't read anything about magically modified flowers that had fundamentally changed scents and yet here he had an example of that exact thing in front of him, these bewitched flowers had to be the first of their kind. To be able to control the smell of a flower and change it to whatever a customer desired, this advancement had to be one of the greatest dreams of any florist. It was so freaky for George to smell a rose petal and get a whiff of a tin of Roses instead.

He wondered what sort of bewitchment would need to be concocted to have this unusual effect, it had to be something that changed the genetics of the flower to exclusively affect the secretions. He couldn't begin to imagine what this magic could evolve into, controlling the genetic makeup of a creature had too much potential to be ignored.

Not hiding his curiosity, George asked Sprout, "do they all smell like chocolate?"

Sprout smiled and shook her head, "no, only the Roses. The lavender is much more potent and smells of freshly baked bread. The delphiniums smell like a crackling fireplace and, although I haven't had a chance to prove it, they make you feel warm and cosy. My personal favourite is still the Roses though, that's where I've put the most elbow grease."

George walked along the corridor and sniffed each flower only to find Sprout wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. If he closed his eyes and kept walking, one minute his brain told him that he was walking past a bakery and the next he was walking past a bonfire. He would never have known that living plants were creating these odours by smell alone, his nose had let him down for the first time.

Sensing the value of these plants, George's expression turned serious as he insisted, "I can't possibly take any of these flowers Professor, they are far too valuable. You could make a small fortune if you sold these at Diagon Alley. I would be truly happy with the normal flowers instead."

Sprout waved her hands like she was batting away a fly as she retorted, "not at all, the only place these flowers will end up is on my desk. The Ministry is very particular about selling genetically modified animals or plants on the market, it would take them years if not decades to approve a new strain of plant. These flowers are just a small project that I had taken up over the summer holidays and I will soon be moving on to the next as soon as I've got that chocolate scent perfect."

Of course the Ministry was responsible for dismantling such a revolutionary advancement in magic, George would have expected nothing less of those blithering idiots. Everything had to be how they were one thousand years ago and anything that threatened change, whether it be good or bad, should be destroyed or shunned according to them. Even the creator of these amazing flowers had been fooled into accepting the Ministry's conduct and was willing to roll over without any resistance, it was self-destructive systematic indoctrination at its finest.

George had no plans of following in Sprout's, or any of the other professors, footsteps. If there was one life lesson his patron had taught him, it was not waiting for the world around you to change. He would take the initiative to do what he wanted no matter what the wizarding community, or the Ministry, say is right and wrong. George felt a cool numbing sensation from the Calming Draught and realised he had become a little distracted. He needed to continue the conversation before Sprout noticed him spacing out.

George said hurriedly, "are you sure, professor? The flowers should be..."

Sprout insisted, "of course, I'm sure your friend Miss Granger will appreciate the lengths you've gone through to provide her with nothing but the best. I know I would have if I was in her position."

Seeing that Sprout was working under a very similar logic as Gemma, as long as it was for a girl they will let you get away with murder, George suppressed his snear and proceeded to take a small bundle of each uniquely smelling flower. Sprout picked up a plain vase that happened to be on the floor by their feet and filled it with water she conjured from her wand. The water sparkled unnaturally with a rainbow of colours as it poured into the vase which suggested to George that it wasn't ordinary tap water. Then she placed the flowers George had gathered inside the vase and handed them back to him.

"The conjured water will preserve the flowers until the charm wears off, they should be good for at least a month. Just tell Miss Granger to keep them near sunlight or they'll die within the month," Sprout explained.

The scent from all of the flowers combined filled George's nostrils as he bowed, "I can't thank you enough, professor. I do not doubt that Hermione will be ecstatic to have received the fruits of your labour."

Sprout nodded and looked back toward her hanging plants, "go on now before you miss your dinner. If you're not too embarrassed, then that would be the perfect time to give them to her. Oh and mind yourself on the way out, that juvenile Devil's Snare can be real nasty if you let it grab you."

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