Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 25 Pandora

Snape and Abbott left the castle together, walked through the lush green vegetable garden toward the greenhouse, where all sorts of magical plants were cultivated.

As they approached the greenhouse, a number of students had already gathered on the lawn, waiting in small groups for Professor Sprout.

Snape spotted the Whomping Willow in the distance. It was swaying gently in the breeze, its new leaves almost translucent in the sunlight.

His thoughts were inevitably drawn back to a full moon night last semester.

At Sirius's malicious urging, Snape used a long stick to poke the knot on the willow tree trunk and entered the tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack.

At the other end of the tunnel, he caught a fleeting glimpse of a werewolf with bared fangs and a ferocious nature.

Just before he was about to be pounced on by the werewolf, James Potter rushed over and pulled him back.

And that's how James saved his life.

But Snape clearly remembered that after Peter Pettigrew escaped in the chaos, Dumbledore told Harry, "When one wizard saves another's life, a certain connection is formed between them."

Later, Pettigrew was even strangled to death by his own silver hand in an extremely bizarre way right in front of Harry.

Therefore, Snape felt a sense of unease, worried that this connection might one day have some unpredictable and uncontrollable consequences.

"What are you spacing out for?" Abbot nudged him with his elbow.

"nothing."

Coming to his senses, Snape looked up into the crowd.

Remus Lupin—in human form—stood there, looking somewhat pale and haggard.

He thought to himself that perhaps it was because the night before was a full moon, and Lupin must have just undergone a painful transformation.

As Snape's thoughts wandered, Professor Sprout strode across the lawn.

She was a short, stocky witch with a patched hat over her flowing hair, her clothes always covered in dirt, and she liked to look at everyone with a smile.

“Today we’re going to the third greenhouse,” Professor Sprout said cheerfully. “We’ll be learning about some more interesting plants there in the future.”

The students whispered among themselves, clearly intrigued. Before sixth grade, they had only been inside the third greenhouse once.

Compared to the first greenhouse they were used to, the plants in the third greenhouse were more interesting, but also more dangerous.

Professor Sprout took a large key from his belt and opened the door to the third greenhouse.

Snape smelled the damp scent of earth and fertilizer mixed with a rich floral fragrance. The flowers were as big as Hagrid's umbrella and hung from the ceiling.

Professor Sprout walked behind a bench in the middle of the greenhouse, where a dozen or so earmuffs of different colors were placed.

After the students had all entered the greenhouse, she cleared her throat and said, "Today we're going to repot the mandrakes again. Now, does anyone remember what the characteristics of mandrakes are?"

After two weeks of classes, Snape noticed that all the students in the houses had become too lazy to raise their hands, since someone would always rush to answer anyway.

"Mandragora, also known as mandrake root, is a powerful restorative agent. It is an important component of most antidotes, but it is also very dangerous..."

“Yes, that’s right,” Snape thought to himself, “'Absolutely correct, ten points for Gryffindor!'”

“Very good, ten points for Gryffindor.” Professor Sprout said what everyone expected, “It seems you haven’t forgotten what I taught you in your second year.”

However, looking at the more than one hundred green and purple seedlings in front of him, Snape thought that it would be best for him to wait until this batch of mandrakes matured before considering entering the Chamber of Secrets.

“The mandrakes we’re dealing with today will take some time to grow,” Professor Sprout said, pointing to a row of deep dishes. “Hearing their cries will at most mean you spend an unforgettable Christmas in the school hospital.”

“Here, this is for you.” Abbott snatched two pairs of pink plush earmuffs and handed them to Snape with a smug look on his face.

"Excuse me, what are you doing with this color?" Snape asked, puzzled. "Why?!" "It looks great, I think this color suits us both perfectly." Abbott put on his earmuffs without a care in the world.

Snape looked at the bench in despair—the other colored earmuffs had already been snatched up by everyone.

"You've gone too far! How come I didn't see your true colors before—"

"—What did you say?" Abbott tapped his earmuff with his finger. "I can't hear you—"

“~！@#￥%……”

"It's like a young couple arguing."

Snape heard a soft voice.

A girl with messy, dirty, waist-length blond hair stood next to them, wearing a necklace made of corks from butterbeer.

She had light-colored eyes and eyebrows that were also very light in color. She had a faint smile on her face and exuded an unusual energy.

Luna?

Snape immediately pictured a bouncy, elfin figure in his mind.

He had never noticed her existence before.

Of course, in the past, he probably only had those bright green eyes in his eyes.

“You are the strange girl Pandora Flahers,” Abbott shouted in a loud voice.

Clearly, the earcups affected his control over the volume.

Pandora was not angry about this.

She simply blinked her big eyes and said gently, "You also call me a weird girl?"

After saying that, she turned and walked towards an empty table on the other side.

“Wait,” Snape called out to her, giving Abbott a flick on the forehead. “This guy isn’t very bright, don’t pay him any attention.”

"There are still empty seats here, why don't you sit here?"

“Okay,” Pandora said happily, sitting down opposite Snape.

“Did you know?” she said mysteriously, “the cry of the mandrake is actually a form of healing magic. When combined with a Carthaginian incantation, it can work wonders.”

"Three hundred years ago, a witch named Elfrida cured vampires' photosensitivity with the weeping of mandrake..."

Listening to her rambling words, Snape was absolutely certain that the girl in front of him was Luna's mother.

When Luna is nine years old, she will die unexpectedly due to a mistake in a magic experiment.

Now, she was standing right in front of Snape, enthusiastically sharing her wildly imaginative ideas.

Judging from her happy expression, perhaps no one had ever been willing to patiently listen to her talk like this before.

Sunlight streamed through the greenhouse glass and fell on her profile.

The sun is shining brightly today.

　Thank you, Lingzhi, for your first monthly pass.

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(End of this chapter)