Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 621 The Argument in Herbalism Class (Two Chapters Combined)

The first class of the sixth year students the day after Dark Arts class was Herbalism, but none of the Hogwarts students cared about Herbalism or any other class at all.

After a day of fermentation, the various stories about young Voldemort had spread thoroughly among the students of Hogwarts. Now, everyone having breakfast in the Great Hall was discussing the matter enthusiastically, talking about everything related to Voldemort—

When mystery is no longer mystery, when the veil of the unknown is lifted, all fear will naturally vanish.

When they came out of the dark magic classroom yesterday, they didn't dare to talk too loudly among themselves, and they even only dared to refer to each other as "mysterious people".

But today—

"Hey, let me tell you something. Voldemort, yeah, the Dark Lord, his childhood name was Tom Riddle, what a corny name." As Harry arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast, he suddenly heard a Slytherin girl walking towards him say this in a grumbling tone.

“Yes, yes,” one of her Ravenclaw friends nodded in agreement. “And I heard his father is also named Tom Riddle, and he’s a Muggle, not just any Muggle-born wizard, but a pure Muggle, the kind who can’t use magic at all.”

"Oh, Merlin? No way!" The Slytherin girl and her best friend chattered away.

Harry looked at the two girls with a mixture of curiosity and curiosity.

"Hey, let me tell you, Voldemort was really gloomy even when he was a kid." Before the two girls could leave Harry's sight, another group of couples walked towards them.

"Huh, really?" the girl asked in surprise, then said, "He's the Dark Lord. It's normal for him to be a little different from others when he was young. It would be abnormal if he wasn't different from others."

“But he liked to steal when he was little,” the boy said. “I saw it with my own eyes. He stole so much stuff that he filled a whole cabinet, and it was all stolen from Muggle orphanages.”

"Huh? Really?" the girl exclaimed in surprise, then said with a look of disgust, "That's going too far! Stealing from an orphan!"

Harry:
There was only one small metal box.

"Hey, hey, hey, I saw it with my own eyes! Yesterday in Dark Arts class, Voldemort used mind control spells to control the entire orphanage when he was a child!" Another student walked up to his friends, excitedly recounting what he had seen in Dark Arts class the day before.

Harry watched with a hint of helplessness as this obviously new student described to his companions how terrifying Voldemort was.

When Harry finally managed to squeeze through the crowded throng and sit down next to Hermione and Tyrell, he suddenly realized that he didn't seem to have much of an appetite.

“Let’s go.” Harry sat for a while, then stood up again, said to Tyella and Hermione, and then asked a house-elf for a sandwich. “We’ll eat as we walk.”

Then they ran into Ron again at the stairwell—

Ron had obviously overslept again.

"Ah! Harry, that's great!" Ron greeted Harry, Hermione, and Tyella happily, then stared at the sandwich in Harry's hand for a moment before asking, "Are you going to eat this sandwich?"

Harry had no choice but to silently hand over the sandwich he was holding.

Because the sudden strong winds and blizzards yesterday buried the road to the greenhouse, it took Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Tyella more time than usual to find their way there.

“Wow, I’m still terrified when I think about it now, the mysterious boy.” Ron finished his sandwich in a few bites on the way here and said, licking his lips.

They are now standing around a burrowed tree stump, which serves as part of the semester's plans, and are beginning to put on their protective gloves.

“Even when he was young, the mysterious man gave off a very unusual vibe.” Ron still referred to him as the mysterious man.

“Hmm,” Harry said calmly, putting on a rubber face shield. Before putting on the mask, he glanced quickly at Tyella.

“Tierra, that’s a brilliant idea!” Hermione said bluntly. “That way we can all learn as much as possible about Voldemort, and then we can work together to find his weakness!”

"It's like Voldemort has been plunged into a sea of ​​people's war!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh, by the way! How was the last Slug Party?" Harry asked her through his heavy face mask, trying to change the subject. For some reason, he always felt a little uncomfortable hearing Hermione talk about it.

“Oh, that’s really interesting,” Hermione said, putting on a pair of goggles. “I mean, he went on and on about his famous achievements and he fawned over McLean because of their close relationship, but he did provide us with very good food and he introduced us to Wenger Jones.”

“Wenger Jones?” Ron said, his eyes widening behind his goggles. “That Wenger Jones? Harpier’s captain?”

“Yes,” Hermione said, “but personally, I think she’s a bit arrogant, but…”

"Have you all finished talking over there?!" Professor Slept exclaimed sternly as he pushed his way through the crowd. "You're lagging behind. Everyone else has already started, even Neville has gotten his first tree pouch!"

They looked around—

Indeed, Neville's lips were cracked and his face had several disgusting scratches, but he was still clutching a grape-sized, pulsating, disgusting green thing.

“Alright, Professor, let’s begin now!” Ron said, and as the professor turned around again, he whispered, “Should we wear leather gloves, Harry?”

“No, we can’t!” Hermione said immediately, as she always had been doing. “Well then, let’s get started…”

She gave the other two an understanding look, and they took a deep breath and began to fight the burled stump between them. The stump immediately came to life, and long, thorny, bramble-like vines flew from its top, swaying in the air.

One of the vines got tangled in Hermione's hair, and Ron knocked it back with a pair of pruning shears. Harry managed to lure a few vines and tie them up, as if opening a hole in all the tendril-like branches.

Hermione bravely reached her hand into the hole, looking very much like her arm was trapped. Harry and Ron struggled to pull the vines open, forcing the hole to open again.

Hermione pulled her hand away, her fingers clutching a sac that looked very much like Neville's. The thorny vines immediately retracted, and the knotted stump stood there looking like a harmless piece of wood.

“You know, I don’t think I’ll have this in my garden when I have my own home,” Ron said, wiping sweat from his face as he pulled his goggles up over his forehead.

“Give me a bowl,” Hermione said, holding the pulsating sac at a distance.

Harry handed her a bowl, and Hermione threw the tree sac into it with a look of disgust.

Tierra, on the other hand, worked alone in a group and had already finished picking all the tree sacs—

After all, it's Tiera, isn't it?

How could someone who can escape even death not even be able to get a tree pouch?

"Don't be afraid of getting dirty, squeeze them open. They're most effective when they're fresh," Professor Slept called out from a distance.

“Anyway,” Hermione said, continuing their interrupted conversation as if no wood had ever attacked them, “Slug’s supporters are planning a Christmas party, and Harry, you can’t escape it this time because he wants me to find out which night you’re free so that we can make sure you can come.”

Harry murmured, and at the same time, Ron, who had been trying to break the tree sac with both hands, stood up and squeezed the sac with all his might.

"Is this yet another party for Slug's favorite student?" Ron said angrily.

“Yes, for the people at Slug Club,” Hermione said, puzzled.

The sapling sprang from Ron's fingers, hit the greenhouse glass, and bounced off Professor Sleipter's head, knocking off her worn, patched hat.

Harry went over and retrieved the tree pouch.

When he returned, Hermione was saying, "See, I didn't use the name 'Slug Club' to decorate myself..."

“'Slug Club',” Ron repeated with a Malfoy-like sneer, “pathetic. Well, I hope you have a good time at the party. Why don't you go flirt with Melon? Then the Slugs will recognize you as the King and Queen of the Slug Club…”

“We can bring other people. I was going to invite you; it’s been a long time since the few of us have done anything together,” Hermione said coldly. “But if you think that’s silly, I won’t bother you!”

Harry suddenly wished the tree bag could fly further so he wouldn't have to sit between Ron and Hermione listening to their petulant and somewhat childish argument.

Without being noticed by the two men, he grabbed a bowl containing tree sacs and began trying to break them, making as much noise as possible.

Unfortunately, he still heard every single word they said.

“You were going to invite me?” Ron said, his voice completely changed.

“Yes,” Hermione said coldly, though with a hint of anger, “but it’s obvious you’d prefer Myron to join our little group, isn’t it…”

The two paused for a moment, then Harry continued to break open the elastic tree sac with his shovel.

“No, I didn’t,” Ron said in a very soft voice. He had clearly realized his lapse and was preparing to apologize, but—

Unfortunately, at that moment, Harry missed the tree sac and smashed the bowl instead.

"Restored to its original state," he said hastily, poking at the fragments with his wand, and the bowl was put back together.

This incident clearly made Ron and Hermione aware of Harry and their experiments.

Hermione frantically began searching for a way to extract juice from the tree sac in her book, *The World of Carnivorous Plants*.

“Pass that to me, Harry,” Hermione calmly instructed. “The book says we should pierce it with something sharp…”

Harry placed the tree sachet in a bowl and handed it over. He and Ron both pulled down their goggles and began their struggle with the tree stump once again.

This didn't seem like he was genuinely surprised, Harry thought, as he struggled against a vine determined to strangle him.

"Got it!" Ron shouted, and just as Hermione had successfully broken open the first sac, Ron pulled the second one out of the stump, and the bowl was filled with wriggling tubers that looked like grayish-green worms.

For the rest of the class, no one mentioned Slug's party again.

(End of this chapter)