Professor Sprout strode over. Seeing the students gathered, poised for conflict, alarms immediately went off in her mind.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you in class yet?"
She sternly asked, her face set.
Pansy immediately tattled, "Professor, Gray used a jinx on Draco, he can't speak now!"
Professor Sprout was very surprised. She glanced at Malfoy, then frowned and asked Wade, "Did you do this, Mr. Gray?"
Padma instantly raised her hand and loudly said, "Malfoy insulted a classmate first, Professor! Wade did nothing wrong."
Pansy retorted, "Michael insulted Draco first! He deserved it!"
Padma immediately countered, "How did he insult him? All he did was ask Malfoy how he contacted his parents!"
"Uh…"
Pansy was instantly stumped.
Professor Sprout had a headache from the two girls arguing. She pointed at a student at random: "You tell me what happened, Gr—"
No, Wade Gray was involved today.
Professor Sprout's finger stiffly veered, pointing to Anthony Goldstein next to him.
"…Mr. Goldstein."
Anthony was startled, then stepped forward and gave an unbiased account of what happened:
"…In the end, Gray used a nonverbal spell to prevent Malfoy from speaking, that's all."
"Nonverbal spell?"
Professor Sprout looked at Wade in surprise, her tone softening.
It was already time for class. She summarily removed the spell from Malfoy and said, "Regardless, insulting classmates or using spells on them is wrong. I'm deducting five points from each of you… and three days of detention."
Wade quietly accepted the punishment.
Malfoy, on the other hand, looked indignant, but under the professor's stern gaze, he said nothing.
Beside Wade, Michael watched Malfoy with a cold expression.
"Today, we're going to Greenhouse Three."
Professor Sprout led the students to a greenhouse they had never visited before.
She opened the door to reveal hundreds of Mandrake seedlings inside. Half of them were still in seedling trays, while the other half had been transplanted into larger flowerpots.
There was also a long bench in the greenhouse, on which rested over twenty pairs of earmuffs of varying colors.
"Today, we're repotting Mandrakes. As you can see, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff have already completed half the work in the first lesson. I hope your lesson goes just as smoothly."
Professor Sprout scanned the group and asked, "Now, who can tell me what are the characteristics of Mandrakes?"
Several students raised their hands, and Professor Sprout randomly picked one to answer.
Wade looked at the green-purple seedlings, feeling a little intrigued.
Mandrake is a potent restorative. In the original plot, it even restored ghosts petrified by the Basilisk to their original state.
At the same time, Mandrake is an essential ingredient for practicing advanced Transfiguration—Animagus.
Repotting Mandrakes was not easy, because their roots were ugly babies that would struggle and shriek when pulled out, causing anyone who heard their cry to faint for several hours.
If it was a fully grown Mandrake, its cry could even be fatal.
Wade, wearing earmuffs, dug holes in the large flowerpots beforehand, then quickly pulled out the Mandrake seedlings and stuffed them in. Michael swiftly covered them with soil.
The leaf-headed infants were buried before they even had a chance to stretch their arms.
Their efficiency was high.
After burying the third seedling, Michael looked up and saw that many students were still wrestling with their first Mandrake doll.
The pale green dolls squirmed violently in their hands, kicking their arms and legs, and even hitting with tiny fists.
The students were sweating profusely, struggling like they were holding a thrashing giant rat, afraid to let it get close yet unable to let go, with three or four of them busy at once.
Especially Malfoy's group.
Crabbe and Goyle were always clumsier than others; it took the two of them ages to hold down a single seedling, and they almost let it pull off their earmuffs.
Malfoy cursed angrily, but everyone was wearing earmuffs, so no one could hear what he was yelling.
Michael smiled mockingly.
To complete all the transplanting, class ended about fifteen minutes later than usual.
As the exhausted students left, Professor Sprout asked Malfoy and Wade to stay behind.
"Mr. Malfoy, your detention begins at nine o'clock this evening. Go to the Entrance Hall and find Mr. Filch; he will tell you what to do."
Professor Sprout said.
Malfoy glared fiercely at Wade, then turned and left.
"Mr. Gray." Looking at Wade, Professor Sprout's expression softened considerably. "I'm very pleased with your performance in class today."
"Thank you, Professor," Wade said softly.
Professor Sprout smiled, asking gently, "You've already mastered nonverbal spells now?"
It wasn't that she was showing favoritism, but in the witch's eyes, the Slytherin students had often shown malicious expressions towards Wade since last term.
As for the reason… did it even need to be said?
Slytherin never needed a reason to target children from non-magical families.
She could be certain that there had been direct, serious conflicts between the two sides.
The professors at the school all knew that one day last year, several first-year Slytherin students had cried their way to the hospital wing.
Since then, the conflict between the two sides had eased… but Malfoy still seemed to hold a grudge.
Comparing the two, even without considering the house differences and only looking at their attitudes, the witch unconsciously leaned towards Wade.
"Nonverbal spells are quite difficult. At the moment, I can only manage a small portion of spells nonverbally."
Wade said modestly, then waved his wand.
The earmuffs and shovels that students had left haphazardly on the shelves flew up and neatly returned to their proper places, and all the dust and fertilizer on the ground vanished.
It was so smooth and natural, showing no sign of being "barely managed."
"Excessive modesty is arrogance, Mr. Gray."
Professor Sprout chuckled, "A beautiful nonverbal spell. I'm awarding you ten points. And… hmm… your detention will also begin at nine tonight, at Greenhouse Two."
"Yes, Professor," Wade replied.
Both knew, implicitly, that this was less of a detention and more of the professor giving him some private tutoring.
As they left the greenhouse together, Wade added, "Professor, when these Mandrakes grow up, could I request a leaf?"
"A leaf?" Professor Sprout understood. "You want to practice Animagus?"
"Yes," Wade didn't hide it.
"That's very advanced Transfiguration."
Professor Sprout said with emotion:
"Minerva must be very pleased with your Transfiguration grades, but she probably wouldn't agree to you practicing Animagus at this age, would she?"
"Actually, I have a very excellent private tutor."
Wade smiled and said, "Could I ask the Professor to keep it a secret for now? Animagus preparation takes a very long time… I'd rather not let others know until I'm sure of success."
Some people even prepare for Animagus for several years. It wouldn't be surprising if he started now and only succeeded in his sixth or seventh year.
Therefore, Professor Sprout leniently said, "Of course. But you must promise me that the final step of this magic must only be carried out under a teacher's supervision."
"Yes, I won't be reckless," Wade said seriously.
He hoped to master this magic of turning from a human into an animal, but he didn't want to actually become an ignorant animal.