Chapter 46

After returning to their dormitory yesterday, Albert went to bed early. The twins came up with multitudes of plans to prank Finch. They were so engrossed that they didn't realise the ruckus they were making. It ended up with Lee Jorden waking up and joining them. As a result, they stayed until four in the morning.

When Albert woke up, he saw the mess left by his roommates on the floor. There were scattered parchments and quills everywhere. He decided to be a good roommate and levitated it under their bed so they could clean it up in their free time. He went about his daily morning routine and left for the Great Hall for breakfast.

After finishing breakfast, Albert came back to wake them up and brought breakfast from the kitchen, as he believed they wouldn't get to herbology on time if they stopped for breakfast.

"I'm so sleepy," George said as he yawned. He went to the bathroom to clean himself up.

"If I had known we'll be doing that until four, I would've stayed asleep," Lee said as he put his uniform on. He then turned to stare at the food on Fred's desk. "If you're not going to have that, can I?"

"Who said I'm not going to have it?" Fred said as he got out of bed. "I'm waiting for George to get out of the bathroom."

"What did you guys come up with?" Albert asked.

"We are going to same Lee's stash of 'Dung Bombs' on Finch's door," Fred said.

"That's it? You said awake until four in the morning to come up with that," Albert said.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" George said as he exited the bathroom.

"I thought you guys would come up with something better," Albert said.

"We did, but we can't do they because we don't have the materials for it yet," Fred said as he enter the bathroom.

===

On their way to the herbology classroom, they met a group of first years waiting at an intersection. They looked around to see what the holdup was. Sitting on top of the archway, Peeves was holding a bottle of ink and below, there were some students with ink in their hair. The group of student standing next to them had their wands drawn and were prepared to fire spells at him.

The only problem was that they didn't know many spells, so they resorted to threw screwed up parchments at him. Peeves could fly and with that, he avoided every single paper ball the students threw at him. Peeves was laughing maniacally, and he suddenly threw the rest of the ink at the student who was throwing stuff at him.

Seeing as there was nothing they could do, the student put books over their head and ran past Peeves. That only left the four Gryffindor boys at the intersection. Albert stepped forward until he was within touching distance of Peeves.

"Peeves, are you a ghost?" Albert said, as he looked at it. Peeves was a raucous poltergeist, with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth. From what he could remember, he could turn invisible at will and liked to cause mayhem around the school. He frequently played pranks on students and teachers.

"What do you mean?" Peeves asked in confusion as he stared at the boys. A mischievous glint in his eye.

"From what Sir Nicholas told me, ghost can't physically interact with the physical world," Albert said as he drew his wand. Peeves got another bottle of ink and threw it at the boys.

Albert quickly cast | Vis Agri Zona |. The ink hit the barrier and missed the four boys. Peeves was stunned as he hadn't seen a student used that spell in a long time. It meant that he could do some pranks on that student and his friends when they were together.

"Huh, annoying. You're no fun," Peeves said as he disappeared through the wall.

"No wonder everyone hates him. I feel sorry for what you two went through yesterday," Lee said as he patted the twins on their back.

Albert was prepared to use a Scouring Charm to clean this until the twins stopped him.

"No, wait Albert. Don't clean it up," George said.

"Leave it for Finch. We won't get in trouble this time, as we had nothing to do with it," Fred said.

"If that's what you want," Albert said as he put he put his wand back in its holster. "Come on, hurry, we don't want to be late."

"What spell did you use back then?" George asked when he entered the classroom.

"| Vis Agri Zona |," Albert said as he looked at most student in class with ink stains all over them.

"I'm pretty sure I've never heard about that," Fred said.

"I wouldn't expect you to. The spell creates an invisible barrier that protects the caster. It is the previous version of the Shield charm before the Shield charm became popular and it's not taught in Hogwarts anymore. It is significantly weaker than a simple Shield Charm and significantly easier to cast. Compared to the Shield Charm, it could protect the caster from magical as well as physical damage to a limited degree," Albert said as he saw Professor Sprout enter the greenhouse.

"If it's not taught in Hogwarts, where did you learn it?" Lee asked

"I found it in the book 'Disillusionment Charm and Co: The Basic Guide for Any Aspiring Aurors'," Albert said.

"That's cool. That means you'll learn two different protection spells at Hogwarts and you won't have to worry if something like that happens again," George said.

"Good morning, first years. As many of you know, I am Professor Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff and a master in Herbology and an apprentice in Potions. It seems you have had an accident before you arrived. | Scourgify |. Now that you look presentable, we will start your first lesson. Open your 'One Thousand Magical Herb and Fungi' to the introduction," Professor Sprout said as she waited for everyone to get out their parchment and quill. "Today I'll be giving you a crash course on some of the most important magical plants in the wizarding world and their uses. From the next lesson, we'll be handling actual plants, so remember to bring the correct equipment next time."

She then went and got a flower pot from under her desk and placed it on her desk. "Can Anyone tell me want plant this is? Yes, Mr Diggory."

"Dittany, Professor," Cedric said.

"Well done. Five points to Hufflepuff. This is Dittany. Dittany is a magical plant used in potion-making and is a powerful healing herb and restorative. Its use makes fresh skin grow over a wound, and after application, the wound seems several days old. Besides its essence being applied, the raw plant can be consumed to heal shallow wounds."

<<Note: | Vis Agri Zona | is not a spell mentioned in cannon. It is self-created by me. It comes from the Latin "Force field zone".>>