#18 - Professor's advice

Professor Sprout was probably the most knowledgeable wizard in Hogwarts when it came to herbology.

Although she was a little surprised that Moon wanted to know about wand woods, she happily gave him the answer.

The woods used to make wands are not limited to the few sold in wand shops, and the easiest way to find these woods is with the help of Bowtruckles, those magical creatures.

Whenever a tree exhibits magical properties, the Bowtruckle will always be the first to discover it, and will prevent other animals, including wizards, from destroying the tree.

"Professor, besides Bowtruckles, are there no other ways to detect or discover the magical properties of plants?"

The bell for the end of class had already rung, but Moon continued to ask the question that troubled him.

"Of course there are, but that requires a keen eye for discovery, or that you witness the birth of a magical plant firsthand."

Professor Sprout enjoyed discussing herbology knowledge with others, especially with students who had a talent for it.

Although Moon had only just started school, his performance had already earned Professor Sprout's approval.

"Witness firsthand? How do I do that? Are there magical plants growing at school?"

Moon looked around the greenhouse, feeling that the low environment here made it impossible to cultivate tall trees.

"Don't look, child. Hogwarts does have magical trees suitable for making wands, but they are all in the Forbidden Forest. Even Ollivander goes there to select suitable woods."

Hearing Sprout mention the Forbidden Forest, Moon showed a slight look of disappointment.

Because he remembered very clearly that at the start-of-term banquet, Dumbledore had explicitly forbidden new students from entering there.

"Alright, child, don't look so glum. Don't you want to plant a magical plant yourself, and then discover its magical charm?"

Seeing the disappointed look on Moon's face, Professor Sprout smiled and tried to cheer him up.

"Really? Professor."

"Of course. Magic is never just knowledge from books; wizards need to experience its magic for themselves."

As Professor Sprout spoke, she cleaned an operating table with her wand, and then took out a quill to write on a piece of parchment.

-----------------

In view of Mr. Moon Scarlett's excellent performance in Herbology class, he is specially approved to collect magical plants on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Professor: Pomona Sprout

-----------------

Handing over the parchment, Professor Sprout looked at Moon intently.

"Mr. Scarlett, you must promise me that you will not enter the Forbidden Forest. Also, you must ask Professor McGonagall for her opinion. Only if she agrees can you go."

Moon glanced at the contents of the parchment, a smile on his face.

"I promise! Professor."

"Don't be too happy, Mr. Scarlett. It's not that easy to keep a magical plant alive. Of course, if you can really keep one alive, then I will give you a mysterious reward."

Hearing that there was a reward, Moon nodded heavily in agreement.

Although he was in charge of guarding the hazelnut forest in Xilin and knew something about planting various crops, he really didn't have much confidence in magical plants.

But this did not affect Moon's determination, especially after receiving Professor Sprout's note, he didn't want to betray this trust.

Moon happily left the greenhouse. By this time, his classmates were already in the Great Hall preparing for dinner.

"This child is so talented in herbology. I really don't know why the Sorting Hat sorted him into Gryffindor."

Professor Sprout sighed silently as she watched Moon leave.

......

During dinner, Ron kept urging everyone to eat more. This was the experience taught by his older brothers, because there was an Astronomy class tonight.

Astronomy courses are from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Moon had never thought that he would have classes at night, especially since the time of this course was simply when he should be sleeping the most.

Taking out the timetable and comparing it with the time on it, Moon found that he didn't have any classes on Friday afternoon. Perhaps he could go to the edge of the Forbidden Forest to collect some saplings then.

But this still required him to find Professor McGonagall tomorrow.

After dinner, Moon read books about wands as usual. This time he chose to read in the library, as the environment in the common room was still a bit too noisy.

Hermione was also in the library, but this time she was sitting a little far away.

When the library closed, Moon hurried back to the dormitory and fell asleep, wanting to get enough energy for tonight's astronomy class.

However, Moon's early sleep did not help much. Everyone in the astronomy class was very energetic, and Moon was no exception.

In addition to being curious about taking an astronomy class for the first time, this energy was more due to the cold wind on the Astronomy Tower.

As the tallest building in Hogwarts, and at midnight, the constant cold wind blew from all directions, making it difficult for Moon to keep holding the telescope.

Professor Aurora Sinistra was a dark-skinned witch. When she explained the stars in the night sky, she would always use the moon as a base point, and then observe other celestial bodies around it.

"Alright, today's class is over. Also, I hope everyone can hand-draw a map of the moon, the more detailed the better, before next week's class."

After announcing the end of class, all the little wizards crowded towards the stairwell, just to be warmer. Professor Sinistra seemed to have expected this and stood guard there in advance, letting the students pass one by one.

"What a joke, class in the middle of the night, and so much homework assigned, tch!" Ron said, sniffing.

"Exactly! A map of the moon, this is something we first years have to draw." Seamus also responded.

Moon, Harry, and Neville walked behind, they didn't say anything, just wanted to go back to sleep quickly.

Even if the stars at night are very beautiful, looking at them for two consecutive hours will also cause aesthetic fatigue.

After returning to the dormitory, the little wizards made a lot of noise. Bouncer, who had been woken up, even crawled out of the tree nest to warn them once.

"Sorry Bouncer, we'll go to sleep right away."

......

The next morning, Moon woke up early as usual.

While everyone else was still asleep, he had already finished reading today's "Modern Magic Phonetic Table" and previewed the pronunciation of spells related to Transfiguration.

When eating breakfast, Hermione, who hadn't spoken to Moon for a day, walked over, holding a large stack of textbooks in her hand.

"This is the 'Oxford Reading Tree' you wanted!"

Bang!

The thick stack of books made a dull thud on the table.

Moon had always thought that this book would be at most a large volume, but he never thought that it would be dozens of textbooks. He looked at Hermione somewhat blankly.

"Do I have to read all of these?"

"Of course, if you want to quickly memorize the key points explained by the professor in class, you need to read them all."

Hermione said, sitting opposite him triumphantly. This set of books had actually been sent by the owls from the school owlery yesterday.

Hermione's father had rented three owls to transport this set of books.

Seeing Moon's furrowed brows, Hermione felt a little relieved.

"Okay, thank you, Hermione."

His expression gradually becoming calm, Moon sincerely thanked Hermione.

Hearing that Moon actually planned to read so many books, Ron, who was sitting next to him, was stunned, even forgetting to chew the delicious pie.

"What are you doing? Aren't the textbooks for class enough?"

Ron exclaimed in incomprehension.

"Of course, my goal is to read all the books in the library."

Discovering that Moon had calmly accepted all of this, Hermione's face turned cold, and she turned her head to respond to Ron as a matter of course.