Chapter 234: Experiment

The next morning, the weather was still bad.

Although it had stopped raining, the sound of the howling wind could be heard clearly even inside the castle.

Sitting in the Great Hall, Arthur and Hermione were discussing their class schedule.

"We only have Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts together."

The young witch was a bit unhappy. She and Arthur had too few classes together this semester, and most of them were with Slytherin.

"It's alright. Actually, I'll only be attending classes for the beginning of this semester. After the Triwizard Tournament, I might need to miss classes more often."

Arthur reassured Hermione.

The Triwizard Tournament this semester had become a mess because Arthur had added two more tasks, making a total of five tasks, and each task was more complicated than before.

He had brought it upon himself.

"What did Headmaster Dumbledore mean by 'technical advisor' yesterday?"

Looking at Arthur, Hermione was very interested in what kind of designs he had contributed to the Triwizard Tournament.

"I designed a live broadcasting system. You won't be able to see the details of some of the tasks in the Triwizard Tournament. So, for the audience's sake, I came up with this alchemical device."

Arthur explained. His speech made quite an impression, and the other young wizards who heard it looked up to him with admiration.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. Arthur definitely made a good profit.

Patting Hermione's head, Arthur left the Great Hall. His first class of the semester was Herbology, and he had to go to the greenhouse outside the castle.

When Arthur arrived at Greenhouse Three, Professor Sprout was already there.

"Venomous Tentacula,"

Professor Sprout introduced a plant to everyone while holding a tray of it. Arthur looked at it carefully; wasn't it just a Venus Flytrap?

"This is an herb that can be used to make a Poisonous Potion. Our task today is to extract the liquid from them."

Professor Sprout explained the process and then distributed a tray of Venus Flytraps to each student.

Arthur held one in his hand, gazing at the largest 'mouth' of the Venus Flytrap in a daze.

In his previous life, Arthur had read about Venus Flytraps. He was quite curious about these carnivorous plants.

Following Professor Sprout's instructions, he applied a special ointment to the 'mouth' of the Venus Flytrap.

The plant's leaves closed, and soon a clear liquid began to ooze out.

Arthur collected the liquid in a crystal bottle and completed the task easily.

Looking at the Venus Flytrap restored to its original state, he felt an urge to do something mischievous.

Do these plants have a sense of taste?

He glanced at where Professor Sprout was correcting the mistakes of other students, then sneakily took out a Ghost Pepper.

It was a souvenir Padma Patil, a girl from the Patil twins in Ravenclaw, had given Arthur as a gift from her trip to Patil's country. She brought back many souvenir products.

Every fourth-year student at Ravenclaw had one.

Using a small knife, Arthur cut off a small piece of the pepper and turned it into powder using a crushing spell.

Then he controlled the chili powder to evenly sprinkle it on the leaves of the Venus Flytrap.

At first, the Venus Flytrap showed no reaction, and Arthur thought they weren't affected by spice.

However, after about ten seconds, the plant's leaves suddenly closed and collapsed.

Immediately after, the entire Venus Flytrap began to squirm wildly, which also attracted the attention of nearby classmates.

Hannah Abbott curiously leaned forward, about to ask how Arthur did it, when the Venus Flytrap leaves suddenly opened, spraying a strong flame.

"Aguamenti!"

A water spell appeared between Hannah and the Flytrap, blocking the flame and preventing a potentially dangerous encounter.

"Phew!"

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. If he hadn't been on guard due to the Venus Flytrap's movements, Hannah Abbott might have been seriously injured today.

"What happened here, Mr. Gaunt?"

Professor Sprout had also noticed the noise and approached to ask about the situation.

"Sorry, Professor. I just conducted a little experiment with the Venemous Tentacula."

Professor Sprout glanced at the now dying Venus Flytrap, then looked at the still startled Hannah.

It was clear that Arthur hadn't revealed everything.

Since there was no accident, the mild-mannered Professor Sprout didn't say anything and just left.

"Are you okay, Hannah?"

Arthur looked apologetically at Hannah. He hadn't expected her to suddenly lean forward.

"I'm fine, Arthur. How did you do that, though? I mean, how did you make the Venemous Tentacula breathe fire?"

Hannah was curious and had completely forgotten the danger just now.

Instead, she was eager to learn how the Venus Flytrap could shoot flames.

Arthur handed her the remaining Ghost Pepper and explained the process.

The young witch's eyes brightened as she looked at the Ghost Pepper.

"Is this the spiciest pepper in the world? I've never seen it before. I wonder what dishes I can make with it."

Arthur was speechless.

Truly worthy of a Hufflepuff—everything, including herbs and plants, appeared in their eyes as potential ingredients.

"If you like it, I have some more here. You can have the rest of what's in my pocket. I'll give it to you for free."

Finishing his words, Arthur took out the remaining Ghost Pepper from his magical pocket and handed it to her. He also gave her the other spices Padma had given him.

"These are spices Padma brought from India. You can try them together."

Hannah happily accepted them and enthusiastically invited Arthur to taste the dishes she would create.

However, Arthur declined, not wanting to suffer the pain of eating food made with Ghost Pepper.

The bell rang, signaling the end of Herbology class.

Next, Arthur took Care of Magical Creatures. However, he had already informed Hagrid that he wouldn't be attending his classes this semester.

After a more peaceful last semester, Hagrid's reputation had greatly improved among students due to his adorable magical creatures.

But as soon as the new school year started, he went back to his usual self.

During the summer, Hagrid sent Arthur a letter, very excitedly introducing his newly discovered magical creature—the Flailtail Snail.

This semester, he had prepared a course for students on how to make these Flailtail Snails grow faster.

Arthur had seen photos of them—they looked like white shrimp without their shells, and they were scary.

He definitely didn't want to take care of these monstrous magical creatures.

...

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