#28 - Rewards for surviving saplings
An owl delivered a large package to Harry.
From the contents of the package's attachment, Harry learned that Professor McGonagall had sent him the latest model of flying broom.
The Nimbus 2000.
The arrival of this wonderful gift offset Harry's fear of Potions class, and even Ron excitedly talked about going back to unpack the package after class.
However, not everyone had Harry's good fortune.
From the moment Neville entered the Potions classroom, his whole body was uncontrollably trembling.
"Don't worry, Neville, today we're learning about a potion for treating burns, and the steps are similar to last week's."
Hermione originally wanted to encourage Neville, but her words successfully triggered Neville's tragic memories from last week, making him even more nervous.
"It's okay, Neville, you'll only be responsible for recording later, and I'll do all the operations."
Hearing Moon's words, Neville turned his head and showed an awkward smile.
......
Professor Snape was as cold and ruthless as ever, which was a sentence Ron muttered in class, for which he was deducted a point.
Before brewing the potion, Harry was routinely asked three questions. Perhaps his attention was drawn by the flying broom, even though Harry had previewed this time, his answers were still stumbling.
"Harry Potter, fame can never represent everything. You'd better memorize this knowledge, instead of just knowing a little, otherwise you will harm many people."
Snape's tone of reprimanding Harry was very stern, which made Neville, who was sitting behind, subconsciously swallow.
Moon did notice a strange thing. He was sitting next to Neville, and he could just see that Snape was always staring at Harry's eyes.
Even though his tone was very stern, the look in his eyes towards Harry was a bit complicated.
This was a look that Moon couldn't understand.
After questioning Harry, Snape gave Moon, who was sitting next to Neville, a strange look, and then returned to the podium to announce the start of making the potion.
The magic potion for treating burns requires White Dittany, Evening Primrose, bat teeth, toad skin, and a small amount of unicorn tears.
First, clean the cauldron, then add the White Dittany cut into small pieces, heat it over low heat, and slowly stir the White Dittany until a faint green juice seeps out.
Moon's every step was very standard. When operating the next step, he would verbally describe it, while Neville, who was standing next to him, was responsible for recording.
Just as Moon was sighing that there would be no potion accident today, Snape walked over.
"Neville Longbottom, sir!"
Snape's cold and high-pitched voice suddenly rang out, causing Neville, who was still concentrating on recording, to drop the notebook in his hand.
Moon quickly caught the notebook that was about to fall into the cauldron, while his other hand was still stirring non-stop.
"Why don't you do it yourself! Or do you think you can learn potions just by recording?"
After Snape finished speaking, he turned to look at Moon again.
"And you, Moon Scarlett, do you think you are helping him!"
"This... this is not Moon's fault, it's... it's me......"
Just as Moon was about to explain, Neville interrupted, taking the blame with a trembling voice.
"It's you~, okay! Then Mr. Longbottom, do you really not plan to do it yourself this class!"
Under Snape's fierce gaze, Neville took the small knife for cutting White Dittany.
"I'm very sorry, what do I need to do now?" Neville looked at Moon with a trembling voice.
"It's okay, you just need to crush the bat teeth now, remember to make it as fine as possible."
Moon had already added the Evening Primrose to the cauldron at this time, and the emerald green Evening Primrose oil that had precipitated out was slowly fusing with the White Dittany juice.
Watching Neville tremble as he completed pulverizing the bat teeth, Moon first turned off the heat, then added the tooth powder, and then switched Neville to stir the cauldron.
Next, before the potion completely cooled, he had to add the mashed toad skin. Moon chose to do this step himself.
After adding the crushed toad skin, the flame was adjusted to the maximum accordingly. After the stirring rod could stand completely in the thick potion, he immediately added three drops of unicorn tears, and then turned off the heat.
At this point, the potion was successfully brewed.
After class, when Snape came to check, he left without making any comments.
......
On the way to the cafeteria, Neville had recovered from his panic, and a smile appeared on his face.
"This is Potions class, ah! I wasn't even injured."
Being able to successfully complete Professor Snape's Potions class was simply an amazing achievement for Neville.
The people around were also congratulating him, which greatly increased Neville's confidence.
Moon also noticed Neville's change, not in terms of confidence and courage, but in the wizarding bar above his head.
From the end of Potions class, Neville's wizarding bar increased from blank to a quarter of a bar.
This was already as long as Harry's wizarding bar.
Situations where the wizarding bar suddenly changes like this are rare.
Most wizarding bars grow slowly, and it is difficult to notice changes at ordinary times, so if you want to know the speed of progress of other students' wizarding bars, you need to compare them at intervals.
During lunchtime, Moon sat at the Gryffindor table and observed all the first-year freshmen.
Hermione goes without saying, her wizarding bar belongs to the type that grows slowly, but she is still the longest, already three-quarters of a bar.
As for the few people in the second tier last week, Malfoy, Michael Corner, Susan Bones, their wizarding bars are already close to half a bar.
As for Moon himself, he looked at the reflection of the golden plate on the table.
"One-third."
Moon was very satisfied with this progress. There were four or five students with the same length as him, but there were only those four people in front of him, so they became Moon's next target to catch up with.
As for his roommates, except for Ron, everyone had a quarter of a bar.
Looking at Ron still happily eating roast meat, Moon didn't know whether to worry about him.
......
On Friday afternoon, Moon carried three saplings to the greenhouse.
Today was exactly one week since the saplings were planted, and none of them had died.
The best growing one was the slender willow branch, which not only grew three leaves but also rose an inch.
The grapevine also adapted to the new environment, and tender buds appeared on it.
The most inconspicuous one was the holly tree, which had not changed in any way after staying in the flowerpot for a week.
"Not withering means it's living well. Holly trees will take root underground first, so you can't see much change now."
Professor Sprout observed the three plants and nodded with satisfaction.
"It is difficult for other young wizards to have the patience to cultivate plants, and even if they do, the cultivated plants rarely survive for more than three days. I must say that you are indeed very talented in herbology."
Moon didn't know if he really had the talent that Professor Sprout said.
He only knew that most of these things he had mastered after staying on the farm for three years.
"Alright, I said that as long as you can keep one of these saplings alive, I will give you a reward. Now that all three are alive, it seems that I can't hide it anymore."
As Professor Sprout spoke, she took out a vial containing a emerald green liquid from the wooden box behind her.
