บท 82: Magic Rooting Potion
William lunged at Alex almost tackling him, "Well done!" he shouted enthusiastically as he shook his hair roughly. The other members of the team also went to hug Alex.
"What a fabulous match! They wiped the floor with Hufflepuff!" exclaimed Sirius excitedly.
It was a great party in Gryffindor that day. The chances of winning the title had increased by far. Besides, Slytherin had a big responsibility on their shoulders. They had to win by a landslide, and although Ravenclaw plays very badly, nerves can play a dirty trick.
The league standings were as follows:
[1° Gryffindor: 570.
2° Slytherin: 370.
3° Hufflepuff: 360.
4° Ravenclaw: 70.]
The Slytherin team before catching the snitch must score fifty points to catch Gryffindor. With that tie result, Slytherin would win since they won their confrontation against Gryffindor.
They will have to make a strategy similar to that of Gryffindor in this match. Only with fifty points. They can already catch the snitch. The chances for Gryffindor to win the title were still low, but there was more hope than before.
The next few days there was a more tense air in the halls of the school. Most of the Gryffindor students when they met someone from Slytherin would try to get on their nerves, especially the members of the quidditch team.
They also started treating the Ravenclaw students with a lot of enthusiasm, to see if they get a miracle and manage to play a little better. If they continue at this pace it will be a stain on Ravenclaw's quidditch history. They will be remembered as the worst team.
...
In the marauders' dormitory, a nightly meeting was taking place. It was getting closer every day to the Slytherin match which would be the end of the quidditch league. It was also an important day for the Marauders.
It would be the day when the whole school would know the name of the group of pranksters who pulled the flower prank and the dungbomb prank.
His firm had already decided. On the grass of the Quidditch pitch in giant letters, they would write: 'The Marauders.' Below in smaller size, they would draw a pair of dungbombs and the flowers that emerged on the heads of the first-year Slytherin students.
And lastly, a message that reads, 'Slytherin sucks!' This way they could continue to taunt the snake house and could even distract the Slytherin players in the match as they will have to observe such words throughout the game.
The Terraforma charm polishes the earth and shapes it into letters. They had already practiced it during this time and were confident that they could firm up their work the night before the match.
The current problem was that the professors or the headmaster might fix the turf and make it grow back, erasing the message. None of them knew if there was an incantation to make the grass grow back, but they could not be confident. Since there would be all the professors and the headmaster himself, it was certain they could fix it.
"The ingredients of this potion are very rare, it's used for something else..." said Lupin, looking at the open book on the coffee table. They had found a solution to this problem: the Potion of Magic Rooting.
This potion is generally used by Herbologists to give special properties to the soil. One of the effects it has is that it protects the soil for a certain period. Just what the marauders need so that no one can reverse the message they write all over the lawn.
"Yes, plus we'll need more than one vial to cover a large area..." said James with a hard expression.
"It's the only thing we found! We won't find anything else these days. Time is limited. We have to get the ingredients any way we can," said Sirius in a serious tone.
Everyone was silent. It seemed that this potion was the only one that had the desired effect of protecting the message, "Well... read the ingredients" said James, looking at Toby.
"Two measures of standard ingredient. Two berries of mistletoe. One Cooked Mandrake... Two leaves of poisonous Tentacle..." read Toby and gulped.
"Lastly ten fairy eggs," he concluded.
"The only thing we have, and it's easy to get are mistletoe berries and the standard ingredient..." said Lupin with an ugly expression.
"I-I heard that the scream of a mandrake when it's dug up is deadly..." said Toby, shivering.
"It's not much of a problem. We put on earmuffs, and the problem was solved. I'm more worried about the poisonous Tentacula. What's that?" asked Sirius. The name poisonous didn't indicate anything good.
As usual, they looked to James for the answer. At first, he didn't know what this magical plant was all about, so earlier he went to the library to investigate.
"It is a poisonous plant that expels poison from its shoots, and its spikes are deadly. It is one of the most dangerous plants, and older students start studying it at Hogwarts," James replied, and Peter shrieked in fear.
"Why is everything deadly in this potion...?" whispered Lupin with a strange look on his face.
"W-we can't, guys! It's too dangerous. Besides, we have to go to the forbidden forest to look for the fairy eggs!" said Peter, stuttering and scared.
"We don't have to go to the forbidden forest..." said James.
"What do you mean?" asked Toby.
"In the orchard, Hagrid has behind his hut there are Fairies. Don't you remember he showed them to us?" replied James.
"That's right! Problem solved. Let's go there and get the fairy eggs," said Sirius with a smile. They usually visited Hagrid on weekends. They already had the confidence to ask him for some fairy eggs.
"What about the Poison Tentacle...?" asked Peter, who was still not quite in agreement.
"James and I will take care of that. As for the Mandrake, we'll go tomorrow night. James will cast a Silencio Barriera charm, and we'll take it out. Then we'll stew it right then and there to shut it up," Sirius explained seriously. Devising a plan to get the ingredients as quickly as possible and have the potion ready.
In the end, they decided to take twice as many ingredients so they could have more potions since they needed to cover a large area of land. Lastly, they would look for the fairy eggs in Hagrid's hut.
"Sleep well, gentlemen. Tomorrow will be a long day..." said Sirius as he went to bed.
'A day where we will visit greenhouses with deadly plants...' thought Peter and Toby fearfully.
There were seven Herbology greenhouses at Hogwarts. So far the marauders only visited two greenhouses: one and two. From three upwards are for more advanced years and therefore more dangerous magical plants such as the poisonous Tentacula, among others.
The next day at dusk, when everyone was already sleeping or staying awake while studying in the common room. The marauders slipped away in the invisibility cloak in the direction of the greenhouses.
It would be the first time they had ever left the castle late at night, it was forbidden, and if they were caught they would have a worse punishment than if they were caught in the castle corridors.
Peter did not come on this mission. He was too afraid of this dangerous mission. Anyway, only four people could go under the cloak. So, no one said anything to him. He only earned a little displeasure from Sirius, who didn't like cowards.
"Don't step on me Toby," complained Sirius as he felt someone step on his expensive custom-made robes.
"It wasn't me," said Toby, sounding a little indignant.
"It was me, sorry," apologized Lupin.
"Shh! Someone's coming," said James in an alert tone, and stopping. Sirius bumped into his shoulder.
"Ouch..." said Sirius in a low tone as he touched his nose.
"Sniff over there, my treasure. They may be hiding in a corner," It was Filch, talking to Mrs. Norris.
Mrs. Norris is Filch's pet cat. She has yellow eyes, a scrawny, skinny, skeletal body, and grayish fur.
The four boys held their breath and watched as Mrs. Norris passed close behind them, sniffing. Sirius had his wand in hand, rather than be caught he would rather cast a Fumos and run away from Filch.
The invisibility cloak couldn't be beaten by Mrs. Norris's sniffing, "Looks like there's nothing... let's go to the next corridor, my treasure" Filch said as he walked away.
"Why do you call your cat treasure?" asked Sirius with distaste.
"I don't know. Let's keep going," said James as he started walking again.
They made it out of the castle successfully. It was a clear night with very few clouds. The light of the crescent illuminated the dark fields of Hogwarts.
"We'll go into greenhouse three first. Hopefully, everything we need will be there," said Lupin as they began to march.
Luckily, the greenhouses were closer than Hagrid's hut. The greenhouses were next to each other, just a few meters apart, numbered 1 through 7.
When they arrived in front of the greenhouses they removed their invisibility cloak, as Filch couldn't reach this far. There was a sign with the number 3 somewhat rusted. The greenhouse was surrounded by battlements giving it an antique look.
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