130 Mandrake

Draco was frowning looking at Lockhart, cursing the Obliviator in his head who seemed to have put in some unnecessary plotline between him and Lockhart. 'Admirer my ass.' Draco thought to himself. Every person in that bookshop knows that Draco wouldn't hesitate to blow up Lockhart just for touching him and now he was treating him as his underling of some sort. Draco wanted to use a spell on Lockhart to get rid of this annoying conversation, but he couldn't because they were in Hogwarts ground, so he just sat there silently glaring at Lockhart.

"Remember you can come to me for advice anytime, and since I am your defense against the dark teacher, I will make sure to teach you everything I know... since a special young man like you needs proper counseling and guidance." He said giving Draco a hearty wink and strode off. Draco stood stunned for a few seconds wondering how a man could come up with such bluffs, then, remembering he was supposed to be in the greenhouse, he opened the door and slid inside.

Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the center of the greenhouse. About twenty pairs of different-colored ear muffs were lying on the bench. When Draco had taken his place between Daphne and Pansy, she said, "We'll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"

To nobody's surprise, Theodore's hand was first into the air.

"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," said Theodore, sounding as usual, due to the influence of Draco, he had gotten good with botany as well and knew quite a lot about magical plants, "It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state."

"Excellent. Ten points to Slytherin," said Professor Sprout. "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"

"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," This time Draco answered lazily.

"Precisely. Take another ten points," said Professor Sprout. "Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young." She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke, and everyone shuffled forward for a better look.

A hundred or so tufty little plants, purplish green in color, were growing there in rows. They looked quite unremarkable to Ravenclaw and Slytherin students, who didn't have the slightest idea what Draco meant by the "cry" of the Mandrake.

"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs," said Professor Sprout.

There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn't pink and fluffy.

"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered," said Professor Sprout. "When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right — earmuffs on."

Draco snapped the earmuffs over his ears. They shut out sound completely. Professor Sprout put the pink, fluffy pair over her own ears, rolled up the sleeves of her robes, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard.

The students let out a gasp of surprise that no one could hear, due to the Mandrake's shriek.

Instead of roots, a small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby popped out of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head. He had pale green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of his lungs. Draco frowned as he looked at the Mandrake as he had previously handled a couple of Mandrake's himself and knew how annoying they could be, luckily most of his mandrakes were young and weren't fatal but he still remembered the first time he handled a Mandrake, where he nearly went deaf.

Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost until only the tufted leaves were visible. Professor Sprout dusted off her hands, gave them all the thumbs-up, and removed her own earmuffs.

"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she said calmly as though she'd just done nothing more exciting than water a begonia. "However, they will knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up. Four to a tray — there is a large supply of pots here — compost in the sacks over there — and be careful of the Venomous Tentacula, it's teething."

She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder.

Millicent and Blaise quickly pulled Theodore away, as he was the only one they could trust enough to work with them expect Draco. While Pansy, Daphne, and Draco were joined at their tray by a very attractive girl with dark eyes and long dark hair, from Ravenclaw named Padma Patil. Draco had seen her before but he had never held a conversation with her.

"Padma Patil." She introduced herself, "Know who you are, of course, the famous Draco Black... and you are Pansy Parkinson, the Seeker of Slytherin and you're Daphne Greengrass."

She raised her hand for a shake but Pansy just ignored her as she said, "Are you a half-blood?"

"Yes." Padma said awkwardly, suddenly remembering that she was chatting with Slytherins, seeing Draco, she got a bit excited and forgot about it. She thought that they were going to ignore her, but to her surprise, Pansy shook her hand and so did Daphne and Draco.

Draco sighed looking at Pansy, even though she wasn't rude to muggle-born wizards anymore but she still hated acting friendly with them, especially people she had never talked to before. Draco smiled awkwardly at Padma, saying hello.

"That Lockhart's something, isn't he?" said Padma happily as they began filling their plant pots with dragon dung compost. "Awfully brave. Have you read his books? I'd have died of fear if I'd been cornered in a telephone booth by a werewolf, but he stayed cool and — zap — just fantastic. But of course, you aren't lesser than him, considering your age, I am sure you'd be greater than him." She continued looking at Draco.

Draco didn't want to say anything else about Lockhart and neither did Pansy and Daphne, so after a bit of pleasantry, they didn't talk much as their earmuffs were back on and they needed to concentrate on the Mandrakes. Professor Sprout had made it look extremely easy, but it wasn't. The Mandrakes didn't like coming out of the earth but didn't want to go back into it either. They squirmed, kicked, flailed their sharp little fists, and gnashed their teeth. Even Draco struggled as this was more about technique and experience which Draco didn't have. He usually used magic to deal with these sort of stuff but it wasn't possible to do so in the middle of the class, but being more used it to it than the others Draco managed to squash a particularly fat one into a pot within minutes.

By the end of the class, everyone was sweaty, aching, and covered in earth. Only Theodore and Draco looked decent enough to carry on. Everyone traipsed back to the castle for a quick wash and then the Slytherin's hurried off to Transfiguration.

Professor McGonagall's classes were always hard work, especially considering that Transfiguration where one of his weak subjects. Today's work was to turn a beetle into a button but since Draco wasn't allowed to use magic, he couldn't do anything but just sit there looking at others trying their best to figure things out. People who didn't know about Draco's wand being gone were wondering why he wasn't doing his work but looking at McGonagall's who didn't seem annoyed or surprised by it, they ignored it as well.