HP Dual Masters and I had a blast in Hogwarts.

Chapter 322 Herbalism Lesson

I waved the toffee in my hand and raised an eyebrow at Sirius: "Let's talk about that after you've convinced Professor McGonagall."

Seeing him dramatically clutch his chest as if he was about to faint, I seized the opportunity to slip away quickly. Behind me, I heard his unwilling shout: "Ayers! You'll regret missing the most thrilling adventure!"

As you walk through the ivy-covered corridor, the damp scent unique to the herbalism greenhouse hits you.

The glass dome filtered the sunlight into a soft gold, which fell on rows of bubbling potion pots.

As soon as I opened the wooden door, I heard Professor Sprout's booming voice: "You've come at the perfect time, Ayers! Come and see this poisonous tentacle; it suddenly sprouted mutated flower buds this morning!"

I never expected Professor Sprout to arrive at the greenhouse so early.

Deep inside the greenhouse, enormous poisonous tentacles lazily stretched out their thorny vines, the flower buds at their tips glowing with an eerie purple light, their surfaces covered with fine, raised scales.

Professor Sprout, wearing bite-proof gloves and holding a magnifying glass, peered closely: "I suspect it has absorbed some of the properties of the mandrake next door. Come on, try using a calming charm to stabilize its emotions."

I drew my wand, and just as a pale blue spell light gathered at my fingertips, the flower bud suddenly trembled violently and exploded into a cloud of purple smoke with a 'bang'.

The pungent smell made me instinctively hold my breath, but then I saw the poisonous tentacles writhe wildly, and the vines swept across the flowerpot like whips, splashing me with soil.

"Use the Binding Charm!" Professor Sprout shouted.

I waved my wand quickly, and several silvery-white threads of light wrapped around the out-of-control vines, but they were easily broken off.

In the chaos, I glimpsed translucent wings peeking out from the flower bud, and a thought flashed through my mind—"Professor, it's not attacking, it's about to hatch!"

Before the words were finished, a creature the size of a hummingbird suddenly flew out from the purple smoke.

It had butterfly wings and a scorpion's stinger, and it was tilting its head, scrutinizing me with its compound eyes.

Professor Sprout gasped: "Scorpion-tailed butterflies! These magical creatures have been extinct for three hundred years!"

The little creature suddenly let out a melodious chirp, and the golden dust that fell from its wings drifted into my palm, instantly turning into a few seeds that shimmered with a faint light.

The greenhouse door was suddenly kicked open, and Sirius burst in, camera in hand: "I knew following strange noises meant there was bound to be something interesting—Ayers, you've found another treasure?"

"Sirius, you really have come at the right time. How come you're always involved in everything?" I said to Sirius with a smile.

Professor Sprout glared at him, then carefully took out the crystal bottle: "Professor Black, if you dare use this little guy as a teaching tool for Defense Against the Dark Arts..." Before she could finish speaking, the Scorpion Butterfly suddenly fluttered its wings and flew to my shoulder, lightly touching my wand with its stinger. At the same time, all the potion pots in the greenhouse bloomed with seven-colored flowers.

Sirius whistled, and the camera shutter clicked repeatedly, the lens precisely capturing the golden dust scattered as the scorpion butterfly flapped its wings: "Look at this gifted little fellow, it might be even more interesting than the wolfsbane specimens in my collection!"

He suddenly leaned closer, his wand gliding across the camera lens, instantly creating a magical filter in the viewfinder that slowed down the blooming of the colorful flowers into a dreamlike flow of light and shadow.

Professor Sprout abruptly held the crystal bottle to his chest, his round body almost blocking the entire potion shelf: "Black, don't get any funny ideas! Scorpiontail butterflies are crucial to the ecological balance. Last time, someone used their wings to experiment on improving flying brooms, and it almost caused—"

Her warning was interrupted by the sudden shriek of the scorpion butterfly, whose stinger glowed a dangerous red as it pointed straight at the northwest corner of the greenhouse.

I followed its gaze and saw a withered geranium with fangs that was strangely swelling, with black sap seeping from its dark green veins.

"Oh no!" Professor Sprout's straw hat tilted to one side in shock. "It's Shadow Eater spores! It must have been brought by Peeves' prank this morning!" Before she finished speaking, the slime had already spread over the edge of the flowerpot, and white smoke was rising from the floor tiles wherever it touched.

Sirius instantly drew his wand, the silver serpent pendant gleaming coldly with the movement: "Ayers, use your wand to guide the scorpion-tailed butterflies! Professor Sprout, should we move the mandrake over here for isolation?"

His command carried an unquestionable force, instantly giving the panicked greenhouse a sense of direction.

I tried holding the wand horizontally, and the scorpion butterfly immediately seemed to understand and swooped down. The moment the golden powder on its wings came into contact with the black slime, a pale purple flame ignited.

"Open the windows quickly!" I shouted, using a spell to open the dome-shaped air vent. The moment fresh air rushed in, the Shadow-eating Fungus spores let out a reluctant shriek, turning into black smoke and dissipating in the sunlight. The Scorpion-tailed Butterfly flew around us merrily twice before finally landing on Sirius's camera, carving a small scorpion tail pattern on the lens cap with its stinger.

Professor Sprout breathed a sigh of relief and took off his mud-covered gloves: "Looks like this little guy has decided on the two of you."

She suddenly winked mischievously. "But Black, if you dare to secretly take one of its wings..." She paused deliberately, making a crisp sound as her wand tapped the crystal bottle, startling Sirius so much that he stumbled backward, nearly dropping his camera on the shattered flowerpots scattered on the floor.

I suppressed a laugh and bent down to pick up the camera that Sirius had almost dropped.

The metal casing still carried the warmth of his palm, and the brand-new scorpion tail engraving on the lens cap gleamed in the sunlight.

As if sensing our laughter, the scorpion butterfly suddenly flapped its wings and took flight, its stinger drawing a golden arc in the air, accurately piercing the tip of Sirius's upturned hair.

"Merlin's beard!" Sirius frantically waved away the butterflies, but a few specks of powder clung to his fluffy black hair, shimmering with an eerie purple hue in the sunlight.

Professor Sprout finally couldn't hold back anymore and laughed so hard he could barely stand up straight, while a half-peeked mandrake root from his apron pocket curiously wiggled its tendrils.

“Alright, alright,” Professor Sprout wiped away tears of laughter, pointing her trembling wand at the ground. The shards of pottery instantly pieced themselves back together to form a perfectly intact flowerpot. “Professor Black, shouldn’t you be taking your Defense Against the Dark Arts class? I’m about to start my lesson too. Remember, scorpion butterflies love moonlight nectar, every Wednesday night…” She suddenly fell silent, glancing warily around, and lowered her voice, “Don’t let Filch find out you’re keeping butterflies in the tower.”

Sirius solemnly held the camera to his chest, and the Scorpion Butterfly affectionately nuzzled his nose.

"Sirius, you take this little guy back first, I still have to go to my herbalism class." This little scorpion butterfly is indeed quite cute, but with Mingyue in my dorm, it's not very convenient for this little guy to be in my dorm.

I thought Sirius would find it troublesome, but instead he just muttered under his breath, "Maybe we should name it Regulus, after all, this little guy is even more mischievous than my brother..."

Before he could finish speaking, the scorpion butterfly precisely tapped his forehead with its stinger, causing us all to burst into laughter.

The sound of a school bell could be heard in the distance, and the air was filled with a wonderful aroma of moonlight, nectar, and earth.

The buzzing of the scorpion butterfly's wings suddenly made me shudder, and I almost dropped the moonstone watering can I was holding in my fingers—I had almost forgotten about Regulus.

The boy I quietly persuaded to leave is probably traveling somewhere right now, writing something on parchment with his carved quill pen.

After Sirius left, Professor Sprout and I helped each other prepare for the students' arrival.

This is the last herbal medicine lesson to teach knowledge; exam week starts tomorrow.

"Watch out!" Professor Sprout caught the tilting flowerpot just in time, and the baby mandrake let out a disgruntled whimper.

Her calloused hand rested on my shoulder, her gaze piercing through the rising steam of the greenhouse. "Ayers, you can't be distracted, you know." Seeing my surprised expression, she simply chuckled, and with a light tap of her wand, she automatically righted the overturned evening primrose. "Herbs will tell me a lot, child. If there's anything you haven't finished, you can take care of it later. Right now, we need to prepare for the last class." Professor Sprout said with a kind smile.

The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the newly closed domed skylight, casting a honey-colored sheen on the terracotta flowerpots.

The final herbalism theory class was about to begin. Crystal bottles were neatly arranged on the long table, and the specimens of Shadow-eating Fungi suspended in the bottles pulsated eerily in the magical candlelight.

As the first wave of students rushed into the greenhouse to the sound of the bell, I saw Sirius standing on tiptoe, peering at the perch of the scorpion butterfly. The newly added butterfly scales on the back of his neck shimmered with a mysterious purple in the firelight.

“Remember,” Professor Sprout suddenly clapped his hands, shaking off the dandelion fluff from his hair, “exam week starts tomorrow. After that, my classes will be all about highlighting key points and helping you review.”

Her gaze swept over Sirius, who had returned outside, and she paused deliberately for two seconds. "Of course, some clever little devils who always try to slack off with spells will have to listen carefully."

Amidst the laughter, I quietly clenched the paper crane hidden in my sleeve. The note curled in the crane's beak read: "Something's up tonight, don't worry."

After class, I went straight outside the greenhouse to prepare to go to Hogwarts Castle.

I don't know if Sirius had already received my paper crane, because I didn't see him when I came out after class.

I simply put my textbooks into my portable backpack and then strolled leisurely toward the hall/auditorium.

Today was particularly strange; when I got to the hall, I didn't see the twins, Fred and George.

The moment I stepped into the auditorium, I immediately sensed something was amiss.

At the end of the long table, which is usually filled with laughter and screams, two seats are now empty.

Honeydukes' chocolate frog wrappers no longer fluttered in the air, nor did prank confetti rain down from the beams; even the floating candlelight seemed listless.

"Where are Fred and George?" I asked Ernie, who was very close to them, my gaze sweeping over the empty seats at the Gryffindor dining table.

Ernie swallowed the pumpkin pie in his mouth, a look of sympathy on his face: "You don't know? They used the Enlargement Charm on Snape's potion cauldron in Potions class, and now they're locked in the underground classroom wiping the bottoms of bottles."

I couldn't help but gasp.

You should know that Severus treasured those crucibles the most, and he would carefully inspect them after each use.

The twins have probably stirred up a hornet's nest this time.

Just then, Sirius suddenly appeared from behind him, his scorpion-tailed butterfly landing on his messy hair, its stinger rhythmically tapping his earlobe.

"Have you heard?" He waved the parchment in his hand, on which the words 'Rescue Plan' were scribbled in large characters. "I just took a key mold from Filch's office. After lights out..."

“Sirius Black!” I interrupted him in a low voice, “You want them to get another grounded punishment before exam week?”

The scorpion butterfly seemed to understand our conversation. Suddenly, it flapped its wings and flew into the air, its stinger leaving a golden trail that spelled out a question mark in the air.

Sirius stroked his chin, his eyes suddenly lighting up: "Perhaps we can use a diversionary tactic? Like creating a leak of Shadowfly spores in the tower to distract Snape..."

"Absolutely not!" Professor Sprout and I shouted at the same time.

Before we knew it, Professor Sprout passed by behind us, tapping Sirius's shoulder lightly with her wand: "Professor Black, instead of thinking about how to break the school rules, you should think about how to help your two troublesome friends review for Potions. After all," she deliberately dragged out the last syllable, "the exam will require you to prepare a remedy on the spot."

Sirius's shoulders slumped, but the scorpion-tailed butterfly excitedly fluttered around Professor Sprout, its stinger leaving a trail of glowing footprints on her apron.

As I gazed at the ever-changing starry sky above the Great Hall dome, an idea suddenly struck me: "Perhaps we can do something that doesn't break the rules? Like... taking this scorpion butterfly to see Professor Snape."

Sirius looked up abruptly, and the scales of the scorpion butterfly fluttered down onto his raised eyebrows: "Using butterflies to bribe Snape? Are you crazy?" Before he finished speaking, the scorpion butterfly seemed to understand, fluttering its wings and landing on my fingertip. Its stinger gently poked the back of my hand, and its scales reflected a cunning purple light.

Professor Sprout chuckled, stroking his chin, and flicked a wisp of dandelion with his wand: "The scales of the scorpion-tailed butterfly can neutralize the toxicity of potions...it might actually come in handy."

She suddenly leaned closer and lowered her voice, saying, "But Snape hates uninvited guests the most, so you'll have to come up with a proper excuse."

The cellar at midnight was filled with the pungent smell of mugwort mixed with bat spleen.

I clutched the crystal bottle containing the scorpion butterfly and watched Sirius carefully knock on the door with his wand.

When we pushed open the door to the Potions classroom, Fred and George were huddled around a cauldron covered in slime, their noses smeared with suspicious green grime.

"The savior has arrived!" Fred exclaimed, dropping his brush, but froze in place, startled by a sudden burst of green light behind him.

Severus appeared, his black robes billowing, the serpentine carving on the tip of his wand gleaming coldly: "Black, what are you doing here?"

“Severus, I’ve got something good here.” I held up the crystal bottle, and the scorpion butterfly spread its wings under the magical light, its scales like flowing amethyst.