Chapter 184: Curing the Boxing Willow (Edited)

Finally, Fish, who had fled the castle, was found by Professor McGonagall.

He poked his head cautiously down the hall, peering fearfully into the silent Great Dining Hall.

|ˇˇ)

After realizing that the noise had disappeared, he trotted back to his seat, picked up his plate of meat buns and headed for the end of the Ravenclaw table, the one closest to the door, where he could escape.

At the same time, the cat ears on Fish's head retracted to prevent him from being caught again.

Ron, already unable to hold his head up because of the roaring howler, was met with the murderous stares of the young witches around him, so he had to shrink back as best he could and quickly finish his breakfast to get out of the Great Dining Hall.

However, his modest wish was not granted, as it was the first day of school and Professor McGonagall had to give them their timetables for the term.

With Harry and Ron tormented by the stares from the girls, breakfast finally ended.

Professor McGonagall handed out the timetables, and the first Gryffindor class was Herbology with Hufflepuff.

Everyone crowded around Fish as he left the castle and they reached the outside of the greenhouse.

The doors were still closed, as Professor Sprout had not yet arrived, so the group had to wait outside for the time being.

"Fish, you can put your ears out now."

A young witch reluctantly persuaded Fish, who had put away his cat ears, "The howling letter will burn itself out when it finishes transmitting its message, and there will be no more scary sounds."

As much as Ron wanted to retort that his mother's voice wasn't scary, he kept very quiet in the face of the aggressive stares from the young witches around him.

"Really?" ?ω?

Fish looked hesitantly at the little witch who had spoken, and the others interjected.

"Yes, yes!"

"Don't worry Fish, the howling letter is gone."

"We'll let you know as soon as the Howling Letter shows up."

After the group reassured him and explained what a Howling Letter was, Fish hesitantly let go of his cat ears.

At that moment, Professor Sprout, with a bandaged hand, approached from a distance, accompanied by a cheerful-faced Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Pomona, Gilderoy, good morning nya~" (●ΦωΦ●).

Fish greeted the two, who had not been in the Great Hall before during breakfast.

"Hello, Fish."

Professor Sprout, who had been grimacing, cracked a small smile at the sight of Fish, but it soon disappeared again when Lockhart spoke.

"Oh, good morning, Fish, and my lovely students!"

Lockhart made his presence known with a flourish, "I've just given Professor Sprout a demonstration on how to treat Boxing Willow wounds..."

He unabashedly took credit for Professor Sprout's work, even if he merely made a few erroneous comments.

"Nya?"

Fish paid no attention to what Lockhart was saying, he turned his head toward the huge willow tree on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, several of its branches hung with bandages like those on Professor Sprout's hand, and the other intact branches looked a bit wilted.

Fish, who had often played in the Forbidden Forest, was no stranger to the Boxing Willow, and even knew that beneath it was a secret passage that led directly to an abandoned cottage in Hogsmeade village.

"Professor Pomona, wait for me nya!"

With those words, Fish broke into a run towards the Boxing Willow.

"Fish, come back here!" Ron and Harry, who had been attacked by the Boxing Willow yesterday, rushed up and shouted at Fish's back, "That tree is fierce!"

The other Gryffindors also looked worried.

However, Professor Sprout and the Hufflepuff students were calm about it, as they had seen Fish's magical affinity for plants when he had been a guest in the Hufflepuff Common Room.

So they spoke, reassuring the anxious Gryffindors, who were usually braver than the other three houses, and now it was their turn.

Oblivious to the noise of the group behind him, Fish leapt towards the Boxing Willow, which instead of attacking Fish, dropped its branches and rubbed against him affectionately.

Fish gently stroked the willow's drooping branches, then walked over to its main trunk, reached up and patted it.

A bright green light enveloped the willow, enveloping the entire tree.

After a few moments, the green light faded and the willow, fully recovered, shook its branches, shaking off all the bandages and dropping its branches again to rub them against Fish.

As the crowd marveled at Fish's wonderful spell, a voice broke the peace and quiet.

"Yes, and this spell, I actually forgot!"

Lockhart grimaced in annoyance and said pretending not to understand, "Actually, it's a very simple plant repair spell, but it was so simple I forgot it existed."

However, both the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff looked at him coldly, but he continued to boast about his talent for Herbology, oblivious.

"Today to the third greenhouse!"

Professor Sprout, now wanting to get away from this embarrassing creature, pulled out a large set of keys, opened the door to the third greenhouse and went in first.

The other students followed her, as they had not yet attended Professor Lockhart's class, but had no hopes for this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

However, before Professor Sprout could close the door, Lockhart stopped Harry in his tracks, increasing Professor Sprout's frown.

Finally, Harry entered from the outside and Professor Sprout's Herbology class began.

Today's lesson consisted of changing mandrake pots, and Professor Sprout asked two questions about mandrake, both of which Hermione answered correctly, as expected.

"Look, everyone, the mandrakes here are still very young." Professor Sprout pointed to the green and purple seedlings and said, "Their screams won't kill you yet, but they can still knock you unconscious for hours, so we need to wear ear muffs when we change their pots..."

As Professor Sprout spoke, Fish, who was crouched in front of the pot watching, reached over and pulled out one of the mandrakes.

"Oh, Merlin's beards!"

Professor Sprout let out an exclamation and quickly covered her ears, while Hermione and some students who knew about Mandrakes did the same.

Harry and the others didn't react, but they understood what Hermione had meant by "crying": it wasn't a root under the seedling, but a crumpled baby.

However, the baby did not cry out in Fish's hands, but only emitted a slight "ahhh".

Even this slight sound made Harry and the others feel slightly dizzy, but Fish seemed fine, and even stretched out his fingers and played with the mandrake.

"Well..." Professor Sprout dropped her hand with some embarrassment, and then said seriously to the rest of the class, "Fish's case is a bit unusual, so don't be careless."

Harry and the others, naturally, would not be stupid, and nodded quickly.

Then Professor Sprout coaxed Fish, who had interfered with her class, to go to sleep, while the others put on earmuffs and started changing the Mandrake pots.

Fish: "Zzzzz..."