The Mightiest Badger at Hogwarts

Looking down at the time on his watch, John shouted anxiously:

"Link! Hurry up! Class is about to begin!"

Link in the distance rolled his eyes when he heard this, took two quick steps and put the oil paper bag into John's hand and said:

"Eat quickly, don't be nagging."

John didn't reply when he heard this. He laughed a few times and couldn't wait to open the oil paper bag and start eating.

The breakfast Link brought to John was quite rich, including a poached egg, two grilled sausages, and a small pile of broccoli. There was still some juice at the bottom of the oil paper bag.

Normally, John would never touch broccoli.

But now I am very hungry but I can’t care about that much.

After three strokes, five divisions and two strokes, the breakfast was completely wiped out. Professor Sprout happened to come out of the greenhouse and announced the start of class.

NEWT level herbal medicine classes are essentially no different from OWL.

It is nothing more than getting to know various extraordinary plants and learning their cultivation techniques and collection techniques.

But the extent of the two courses is very different.

If we say that the extraordinary plants in OWL herbalism are the kind of plants that are a bit disgusting and troublesome, but they do not pose much danger to humans.

Then the extraordinary plants given in NEWT herbalism are the kind of plants that may cause fatal danger to wizards.

Just like this time.

What Professor Sprout calls a teaching prop is placed in front of everyone, rows of Ecuadorian man-eating plants neatly planted in huge ceramic flowerpots.

This kind of man-eating grass has an ugly color and unpleasant smell of humus as a whole, and its shape is like a relatively thick carpet, which can be hidden among rotten leaves.

However, when someone or other creatures pass by it, it will instantly transform into the most terrifying predator, its body suddenly expands ten times, and it devours the prey.

Then, these prey will be instantly corroded by the terrifying acid in their bodies, turning them into the nutrients they need.

The reason why it was recognized as an extraordinary plant and moved into Professor Sprout's greenhouse was because their powerful acid was an important ingredient in refining a variety of insecticide and killing potions.

In order to obtain the acid in their stomachs, wizards often trick them into assuming a predatory posture, then use a stake conjured by transfiguration to jam their mouthparts, and finally extract the liquid.

Professor Sprout finally announced the start of the practical operation after giving a complete account of all the matters that need to be paid attention to during the liquid collection process.

After hearing this, everyone also put on dragon skin gloves and various other protective equipment, and began to approach the Ecuadorian Man-eating Grass cautiously.

Then what happened to the students became a bit tragic.

Even with the experience of a top master like Professor Sprout, how could the students face the ferocious plant like the Ecuadorian man-eating grass, which can reach a maximum height of nearly 4 meters in its hunting state? Can you succeed easily?

Ever since, amid the bursts of screams, students were being bitten by the Ecuadorian man-eating grass.

Fortunately, these Ecuadorian man-eating plants have long been artificially limited in the opening and closing range of their mouthparts, and all the sharp teeth in their mouthparts have been removed, so they are still unable to swallow and digest the students whole.

However, the students who were bitten could avoid the death penalty, but they could not escape the punishment of living.

Unable to swallow its prey alive, the Ecuadorian man-eating grass began to hold the prey and swing it in a panic. The panicked students also began to instinctively use magic to fight back. Amidst the chaos of the demons, the greenhouse became a mess within a short time. .

Upon seeing this, Professor Sprout could only look helpless and began to help the students out.

As for those students who attacked the Ecuadorian Man-eating Grass, a lot of college points were deducted.

Because these Ecuadorian man-eating grasses are very precious resources for sustainable development, how to protect them during the process of taking the liquid is also a very important knowledge in herbalism, and those students were obviously too anxious and forgot about the The teachings of Professor Lauter.

This chaos lasted until the end of get out of class.

But there are only a few students who can actually complete the liquid collection safely and compliantly.

John is one of them.

As Professor Sprout announced the extra points, many people looked at John and others with admiration.

But John didn't have the slightest idea of ​​pride.

Others may not know it, but he knows it.

The reason why he was able to successfully complete the liquid extraction was simply because he was already familiar with those Ecuadorian man-eating plants when he came to clean the house in the morning.

The person with real talent is the guy like Link who can make the Ecuadorian Man-eating Grass obey him as soon as he starts playing.

With this in mind, John secretly glanced at Link.

However, after Professor Sprout officially announced that get out of class was over, Link and Emily hurriedly left the greenhouse.

Perhaps he noticed John's gaze in the middle, and turned his head and waved to John.

John also smiled and waved hastily.

John has long been used to Link's behavior.

Not long after entering the new semester, Link and Emily began to become very busy. You would hardly find them in the common room or dormitory except for classes every day.

John also expressed his doubts about this.

But every time this happens, Link will smile mysteriously, and then say, "This is a surprise, you will know when the time comes." '

After doing this once or twice, John naturally stopped asking.

With a deep sigh, John saw that all the students had left. This time, John reached out and picked up the tools in the corner and started cleaning the greenhouse again. At the same time, he helped take care of the Ecuadorian man-eating plants that were injured by the students' rough hands and feet.

This was quite a tedious job, and it wasn't until noon that John was able to finish it and leave the greenhouse.

However, compared with when he came, he had a big cloth bag in his hand.

Contained inside were two large jars of Ecuadorian man-eating grass acid and some broken branches and leaves.

These are the leftovers from the previous class, and they are also John's reward for helping Professor Sprout.

He was a little tired, but John was very satisfied with the job.

After all, John now fully understood what Link meant when he told him earlier, 'Learning NEWT Potions is just a waste of money'.

You must know that due to teaching funding, NEWT Potions usually only provides one or two raw materials when teaching students to make advanced potions.

If you have outstanding talent and extraordinary luck, you can naturally make the best use of these two materials under the guidance of the professor, and finally make them into finished potions.

At this time, Professor Snape will buy back these potions and exchange them for credits to exchange for excess materials for practice.

It's a pity that John and most of the other students' talent and luck in potions are not that high.

In that case, if you want to continue learning and practicing, you will need to purchase raw materials at your own expense.

However, students like John, whose families cannot provide much support, are also very poor. The direct consequence of this is, of course, that poor students are quickly pushed back by students from wealthy families because of less training.

In this case, the job opportunity offered by Professor Sprout with herbal materials as payment is very attractive.

Because Potions and Herbology at Hogwarts are actually in a symbiotic relationship.

The Herbology Warmhouse often breeds special plants for Potions in order to help the school save money, which means that most of the materials John gets at the Herbology Warmhouse can be directly used for Potions course training.

Even if it cannot be used directly, John can also choose to let Professor Snape buy back these materials in exchange for other materials.

So John was really satisfied to get such a large package of materials.

Because this means that as long as he adds some more money, he can exchange for the materials needed for a potions course.

But this still couldn't offset the cost of attending NEWT potions classes every week.

Then you need to find other ways to make money.

For example - go to George and Fred's black shop to work part-time.

After returning to Hogwarts for a short rest and lunch, John separated from the large group and went upstairs with his own alchemy crucible and other tools.

After twisting and turning through countless forks, a dark corridor finally appeared in front of him.

At this time, John did not go in immediately. Instead, he was extremely vigilant and moved slowly and cautiously against the wall.

One step, two steps, three steps...

A huge red water balloon suddenly fell from the sky!

John, who was already very vigilant, exerted force on his waist, used his hands and feet to pounce directly to the side, and then narrowly escaped.

Watching the water balloon hit the ground and explode into splashes, John shouted with a gloomy expression:

"Peeves! Are you looking for death? You do this to me every time. I will never let you go this time!"

As John yelled, Peeves, who had been hiding behind the wall, finally came out.

He looked at John with a sly expression, pointed to the security hat on his head without fear and said:

"It's you again, little poor John, you are so lucky, you can escape every time. But you don't think you can deal with it with such a little luck, do you? You know, I am the security guard here! Believe it or not, I asked Boss Weasley to fire you?"

"you--"

John was so angry that he finally closed his mouth, picked up his work bag and walked forward.

Now Peeves was unwilling to let him go, and kept following John noisily and provocatively, hoping to get John to 'play' with him for a while.

Unfortunately, John thought he was farting, so he quickened his pace and entered the second-to-last classroom in the back.

The environment in this classroom, or workshop, is still as bad as when Link last came.

Workstations made of old tables and chairs are densely placed in every corner of the classroom, and dozens of students in different clothes and ages are busy inside.

This is not the first time John has come here.

He raised his hand and threw the iron plate with his name on it to a Gryffindor boy who was guarding the door and was responsible for accounting and timekeeping. Then he shuttled through the gaps in the workbench with great difficulty until he stood at the end of the window. in front of a workbench.

Standing behind this work table was a Ravenclaw boy with sparse hair.

He didn't control several workbenches like other workers, but he couldn't relax either.

Because what he is making on his workbench is a degraded version of the love potion.

Naturally, this kind of love potion will not have the exaggerated effect of the genuine version. The materials used are inferior and cheaper, and the manufacturing process is more time-saving and labor-saving. But at least it can have some relationship with high-end potions, so it still cannot be produced. A little sloppy.

When the Ravenclaw boy saw John coming, his eyes lit up and he said with great joy:

"John, you finally came to take over! I'm almost starving to death!"

"Go and eat quickly if you are hungry," John said with a smile, "I have left all the food in the auditorium for you, you can just go and eat hot."

"Really? This is great! I have just processed the initial materials for the love potion I am making now, you can just continue working on it."

After the Ravenclaw boy finished explaining, he was overjoyed and packed up his tools and was about to run out of the classroom. But halfway through, he stepped back as if he had discovered something, "John, what's wrong with the dragon leather gloves on your hands?" ?”

"What else can happen to the dragon leather gloves?"

John said nonchalantly, and at the same time turned his hands over, showing the intact back of his hand to the Ravenclaw boy.

However, looking from John's perspective, one can find that the dragon leather glove he wears on his right hand has a small tear in the palm. Not only that, the palm of the left hand has also become very thin and looks thin. The breach is not far away.

The Ravenclaw boy had obviously discovered this, otherwise he wouldn't have come back.

He said with a serious expression:

"John, you are also a student in the NEWT Potions class, so you should know this, right? The materials that these two bastards George and Fred tinkered with are all of the lowest quality. You don't have dragon skin gloves to handle such materials. If you use it as protection, your hands will be ruined!"

As he said that, he took off his gloves and put them on the workbench, "I'll give you my gloves first. Just switch over to me when the next shift comes."

"How can this be possible?" John was immediately worried when he saw this. "You also said that handling these inferior materials will hurt your hands and gloves. If you do this, your gloves will also wear out..."

"What kind of wear and tear are you talking to me about!? You left me a meal and asked me if I wanted a reward? That's it! Listen to me, I'm going to eat!"

The young man directly interrupted John's words and left the classroom without looking back, leaving only John behind the workbench. After a long time, he sighed and put on his clothes that were still stained by the young man's body temperature and sweat. The smelly gloves began to gather their material again.

Not only that, John also put an additional bubble charm on himself to isolate the bad smell in the workshop.

This is also a necessary protective measure. The pharmacist's nose is as important as his hands. There are many potion making processes that rely entirely on the sense of smell.

John also plans to continue on the journey of potion for a long time, so naturally he will not joke about protective measures.

As for the damaged dragonhide glove.

In fact, even if the Ravenclaw boy didn't ask, John would borrow it from others. With his popularity here, borrowing a pair of gloves wouldn't be a difficult task.