Harry Potter: Who cares about belated motherly love?

Breakfast the day after the opening ceremony was a bit quiet. To be precise, although the atmosphere is always lively when growing children gather together for dinner, there was no situation like the "Yelling Letter", so it can be called quiet.

"Hermione, I think it would be better if you didn't read while eating."

I taunted Hermione, between bites of toast, as she read Lockhart's Vampires and the Perfect Voyage leaning against the jug of milk.

Harry looked at Hermione with an expression of "how much does she like studying?", but in fact, Hermione's behavior was more like chasing stars. It's just that her diligence and chasing stars are combined.

"Oh, because we are finally going to have 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' this afternoon. This is... Professor Lockhart's first class, I have to prepare well!"

Hermione's face was beaming and sparkling, and Harry seemed to realize that she had some resemblance to Aunt Molly.

Harry gave me an unspeakable look, and I just shrugged in response.

"Harry, please sit down. Otherwise you won't have time to eat."

"Um……"

I looked at the timetable distributed by Professor McGonagall and found that the first class of the new semester was "Herbology" with Hufflepuff. Since the greenhouse is a bit far from the castle, we have to finish eating quickly, otherwise we may be late.

When we arrived at the greenhouse, most of the other Gryffindor students had already arrived, waiting for Professor Sprout outside the greenhouse with the Hufflepuff students.

"It was a close call. I barely made it..."

"I was almost late..."

Harry and I breathed a sigh of relief when we saw Professor Sprout hurrying across the lawn towards us.

Hermione? She was looking at Lockhart behind Professor Sprout with admiration.

Professor Sprout always wears a patched hat and is always covered in dirt from taking care of magical plants. Although she is short, she has a straight back and speaks competently. As an excellent witch, her abilities convince all the children.

However, today, those of us (mostly girls and some boys), who normally would straighten our backs when we saw Professor Sprout, found it difficult to take our eyes off Lockhart who was standing next to her.

Lockhart was wearing a gorgeous turquoise robe and a matching hat with a gold trim. His bright blond hair was flowing in the wind, and he looked impeccable (at least from the outside).

"Hello everyone!"

Lockhart glanced at us, put on his charming smile, and talked non-stop about "I plan to show Professor Sprout the correct way to cultivate mandrakes" and "I happened to have the opportunity to learn more about mandrakes during my trip." Almost all the female students listened with fascination. But Professor Sprout, who was standing next to him, looked very unhappy.

"Alright, everyone! Today we're going to Greenhouse 3!"

Professor Sprout said this unhappily, and almost all the students (including those female students who were attracted to Lockhart before) started to whisper excitedly. The previous classes were held in Greenhouse 1, and Greenhouse 3 was said to be full of "real magical" plants, and everyone was curious about it.

Professor Sprout took the large key from his belt and opened the locked door of Greenhouse 3.

The scene there is really full of "magic feeling".

Huge flowers like umbrellas hung from the ceiling, and the strong floral fragrance mixed with the unique smell of soil and fertilizer filled the air.

"Wow……"

It seemed as if the greenhouse was another world, and I couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice.

Just as we were about to go in, Lockhart put his arm around Harry's shoulders.

"Harry! I was just about to have a chat with you. -- Professor Sprout, you wouldn't mind if he was a couple of minutes late?"

Before Professor Sprout could reply, Lockhart put his arm around Harry's shoulders and slammed the door in her face, nearly breaking her nose.

Professor Sprout was obviously very dissatisfied with Lockhart's behavior, and complained in a low voice, "It's simply unreasonable!", "It's too much to interrupt the students' classes!" She snorted angrily, then waved her wand, and two platforms and several benches appeared in the center of the greenhouse.

She waved her wand again, and about twenty pairs of earmuffs of various colors flew from the corner of the greenhouse.

Wow……

Seeing such smooth magic, we, the students who were not yet proficient in advanced magic, all let out a slight exclamation. At this moment, Harry walked into the greenhouse with a pale face.

Although I was worried about Harry's strange behavior, class was about to start.

I decided to wait until after class to ask him what happened and first listen carefully to Professor Sprout's lecture.