Herbalism and Astronomy

"But this is really funny, oh! Lily!" Edmund clutched his stomach. "The reason you're hindering your progress is because your thinking is too 'scientific,' I'm not saying this, but it's just too interesting—"

Lily Evans blushed slightly, her face turning bright red, from his laughter. But after a moment, she couldn't help but smile back, shaking her head helplessly.

"I'm quite surprised you know the word 'science'," she said casually, but Edmund felt a chill run down his spine.

"I know I shouldn't be so stubborn. Severus advised me long ago: 'Magic is magic, and miracles are things that Muggles can't understand or explain.' I know he's right, but sometimes I just can't get past that."

Edmund stopped smiling and nodded understandingly.

"I understand what you mean, Lily. I suggest you change your approach. Try thinking of this thing as a 'magic unit,' and temporarily forget its other properties. When transforming it, don't think about 'I want to turn a match into a needle,' but rather think about 'I want to turn A into B.'"

"You can also understand it this way: since our goal is to obtain the transformed object, we should pay more attention to the details and properties of that transformed object. Overly focusing on the transformation process can easily lead to a lack of self-consistency due to insufficient imagination, resulting in transformation failure."

Lily frowned slightly, thought for a few seconds, and then nodded. Then, in a very Gryffindor manner, she recited the spell again to try.

Magic, oh magic, it is truly a magical power that transcends the ordinary.

Okay, that's a pointless statement anyway.

"oops!"

As the shape of the branch changed, both of them unconsciously let out a gasp—Lily had succeeded.

"Now you can say you're very talented, Miss Evans," Edmund said seriously, which made Lily laugh.

When he wants to please others, he can always easily win their laughter.

"Stop teasing me," Lily shook her head. "You're right, Edmund. Targeted practice is more important than talent."

After this extracurricular exercise, Lily clearly began to see Edmund as a friend. She took the initiative to talk to Edmund about her mother's knitting skills, only to find that Edmund knew absolutely nothing about them.

"Sigh, I'm really not that close to the person who likes this." He wasn't ashamed at all. "But I have to please him. This guy has everything he needs, so I think I'd better cater to his tastes."

Lily nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

"That's alright. If you don't mind the trouble, I can write home and ask my mother if she has any old magazines she doesn't need anymore. If you want new ones, she should be willing to help you look for them at the bookstore."

"That would be too much trouble for Mrs. Evans..."

"It's okay." Lily smiled, revealing two small dimples. "Both she and my dad are very interested in magic, and they've been asking me all sorts of questions lately."

"I was thinking, are only Muggles curious about the lives of wizards? Why haven't I seen any classmates from wizarding families asking me how people who don't use magic live?"

She blinked her bright green eyes.

"So, I should be thanking you, Edmund. In your words, you've also given me the opportunity to brag to my parents: that wizards are curious about their lives! I think they'll be happy."

Edmund paused for a moment upon hearing this, then smiled and nodded. He also became interested, saying he could ask his mother to send some books from the family collection to the Evans, and even offered to do so himself.

"You can rest assured about books that are absolutely safe and absolutely interesting."

By the end of their conversation, the two had indeed enjoyed each other's company immensely. After Lily lowered her guard, she even asked Edmund a question:

"I'm quite surprised you're friends with Potter and Black, Edmund." Her expression was somewhat complicated. "Their comments about Slytherin were very rude..."

Lily swallowed the rest of her words. In fact, even now, James and Sirius's assessment of Slytherin wasn't exactly polite.

But as they spoke these words, it was as if they had completely forgotten that Edmund, with whom they had gotten along fairly well, was also in Slytherin. This puzzled the little witch.

But if she said it aloud, it would inevitably seem like she was talking badly about the two of them behind their backs. Lily forced herself to swallow her words.

"Is that what you all think?" Edmund shrugged nonchalantly upon hearing this. "I don't really consider Black and me friends. You see, I don't even call him 'Sirius,' and he doesn't really want to be associated with me."

"But James... well. I think he probably thinks, well, we're the same kind of people."

Lily's expression was incredulous, as if she were asking, "Why?"

Edmund, however, was not prepared to continue explaining. It would be too strange to tell a female classmate he barely knew that "James Porter and I both have the spoiled, pampered air of children born late in life"!

Just then, they returned to the auditorium, and it was time to say goodbye.

Edmund was startled by Severus Snape's grim face as soon as he entered the dormitory.

While chatting with Lily about weaving the magazine, Edmund vaguely sensed an unfriendly gaze. He had some suspicions then... and upon reflection, they were quite interesting.

Edmund had already discovered that Snape was quite possessive of Evans.

Of course, this isn't the kind of "possessiveness" that exists between boyfriends and girlfriends. Considering that the two knew each other before entering school, Edmund guesses that Snape was the kind of person who would be possessive of his friends.

This is a glaring weakness, especially since Lily Evans is not only a Gryffindor but also from a Muggle family. Continuing to associate closely with her will only bring Snape more criticism.

If Snape hadn't already shown his skill in Potions class and made the Headmaster remember his name, Travers wouldn't have been the only one to provoke him.

It's quite interesting to watch these 11-year-olds rallying allies, suppressing dissent, and making efforts that, in retrospect, seem utterly futile. This gives Edmund the illusion of returning to his childhood.

Haha, Cain killed Abel out of jealousy—at least that's how it's been passed down through generations, isn't it?

The following morning, after breakfast, Slytherin and Hufflepuff went to the greenhouse together for their first herb class.

Edmund deliberately slowed his pace, whispering with Frank as they inquired about the preferences of Professor Sprout, the headmaster of Hufflepuff.

An older student once said dismissively, "Those stupid badgers always like to burrow in and out of the castle, sticking their noses into the dirt and sniffing out some boring gossip." Edmund heard this and thought it was actually a compliment to Hufflepuff's intelligence-gathering ability.

Today he verified the authenticity of this information. He had barely expressed interest when Frank enthusiastically joined in, happily sharing with Edmund what the upperclassmen had said about Professor Pomona Sprout:

Legend has it that Professor Sprout was a kind, short, plump middle-aged witch with gray hair. She always wore a patched wizard's hat and rarely wore an unpatched wizard's robe.

This was definitely not because she was short of money—how could a Hogwarts professor be short of money? The Hufflepuff wizards and witches were convinced that their headmistress was simply into this trend: patchwork, or something else.

In addition, Professor Sprout loved tending to plants, just as other professors loved herbalism as much as the subject they taught, and was dedicated to developing more greenhouses for Hogwarts... Legend has it that she was also on good terms with Professor Slughorn, but in this legend, she was on good terms with everyone.

Finally, Professor Sprout loved crème brûlée and lamb chops with a crispy crust.

"..." Edmund tried to maintain his smile. "Very comprehensive, thank you, Frank."

He reached into his pocket and actually found half a bag of chocolates. Edmund shared a few with Frank, which made the round-faced boy smile. Frank then clinked candies with Edmund, made a toasting gesture, and ate the chocolates.

With Frank as a role model, Edmund had a very good impression of Hufflepuff, and the Headmistress of Hufflepuff did not disappoint him. Professor Sprout was very kind; more like a warm-hearted elder than a professor, she was adept at using simple and accurate language to tell the young wizards which plants they could touch and which they should not mess with.

Edmund quite liked the atmosphere of the greenhouse. Although many of his classmates wrinkled their noses as soon as they entered, seemingly overwhelmed by the earthy smell, Edmund actually missed this atmosphere—Cain was, after all, a farmer who had spent most of his life cultivating the land.

"Your dean is really great."

Edmund was sincere, but Frank gave a wry smile, seemingly confused by the various blades Sprout was introducing.

"I like her very much too... Of course, Professor Slughorn is also quite good!"

Edmund was as adept at herbalism as he was at astronomy at night. Professor Michael Sinister was a witty and humorous Black man, but he was too old, far too old.

Edmund suspected that he suffered from cataracts that no potion could cure, otherwise he would find it hard to understand why both Slytherin and Ravenclaw showed clear and innocent expressions when Professor Sinister observed the trajectory of a certain planet.

The young wizards looked at each other, completely bewildered by what the professor was saying.

"Herbalism is very interesting; I hope I can grow something myself. Astronomy is very relaxing, but it's a bit windy up in the astronomy tower."

Edmund put down his quill and, while pondering how to get in touch with Scrooge Barufeo, drifted off to sleep.