To be honest, Loren usually wouldn't personally do repetitive experiments like these. After thinking about his friends, he decided to give them a hand.
Over dinner, he told Hermione about Professor McGonagall's assignment and offered to do it with her—good practice for when she applies to the Transfiguration Club later.
Hermione happily agreed. She had always wanted to keep pace with Loren and show him what she could do, not get left too far behind.
After dinner, Loren began drafting the experimental plan. He wanted a thorough, polished design—something others could follow—and to help McGonagall collect cleaner data.
Two hours later, a complete plan lay finished. Hermione, reading all the materials and procedural requirements, felt it would be no small undertaking.
Seeing her brow knot up, Loren offered a solution.
"Hermione, you don't have to do it all yourself. Recruit help. Spread the word that the final report will be submitted to Transfiguration Today, and every participant's name will be listed, with a copy of the issue for everyone involved. Fame and a keepsake—most students at Hogwarts will want in."
"That's brilliant, Loren! I'll do it right now."
She pecked his cheek, ready to sprint off to rally her girlfriends—when Loren gently caught her hand.
"Hold on—one more thing. Every Club member will be doing this. Take the plan to Irene first—she leads Gryffindor's subgroup. I've written everything clearly, including participant requirements. Work with her to run it. You'll need upper-years anyway, and she's got the experience. Also, remember what I told you about sticking your head above the crowd. In the end, Professor McGonagall will be listed as the lead. We're just contributors. You don't want reporters pestering you."
Thinking of the Prophet's sensational nonsense, Hermione nodded quickly. "Got it. I'll do this with Irene. I absolutely don't want to be mangled by the papers."
Only then did Loren let her go.
Hermione didn't run off to find Irene immediately; first she corralled Harry, Ron, and Neville in the common room, where they were doing homework.
Watching this, Loren felt pleased. Pulling the famous Harry into the project would keep attention off Loren and Hermione; everyone's eyes would drift to the "Boy Who Lived."
He didn't worry about how Hermione would sweet-talk first-years into unpaid labor. He left the common room early and went back to the empty dorm to prep what he'd need tomorrow—he'd already set a date with the twins to, well, cause a little trouble.
…
Weekend, 7:30 a.m.
After breakfast, Loren and Hermione split up. Loren returned to the common room to wait for the twins; Hermione, with her newly recruited helpers, met Irene and moved into an empty classroom to begin preparations.
"Hail, mighty Lion King! Your most loyal vassals greet you!"
Loren didn't wait long before Fred and George's voices rang in his ears. Born pranksters, they'd decided that crowning Loren as Gryffindor's Lion King was their newest running gag.
Loren played along, then casually pulled a cookbook from his robe and told them to brew one of its soups in Potions to dent Snape's swagger.
When the twins accepted the cookbook with tragic faces, everyone watching burst out laughing. The Gryffindor common room filled at once with that particular kind of joy.
Jokes done, Loren led them toward the Room of Requirement. Mischief demanded secrecy; the fewer who knew, the better.
He paced before the wall and opened a fully equipped potions lab. The twins glanced at one another, impressed. They'd stumbled on the Room during a nocturnal wander. Loren, using it this smoothly, clearly did more than his fair share of nighttime exploring. A kindred spirit—and now they were even more curious about his plan.
Inside, they sat, and Loren laid it out.
"Harry's had it rough. Every Potions class, Snape docks points just to spite him. That hurts our bid for the House Cup. I'm going to help him—by turning him into a girl."
The twins had been nodding soberly up to that point. They also lost points often, but the House Cup still mattered; with Loren's help, Gryffindor now led Slytherin, and if they could stop Snape's constant deductions from Harry, they might actually win. Then Loren's last sentence wrenched their backs out of alignment.
One look at Loren's serious expression, and they knew the earlier "House Cup" reasoning was a fig leaf. He just wanted to turn Harry into a girl.
"Your Majesty, one mustn't—at least not… You already have a queen," George said, carefully.
"We can offer up our brother Ron instead. Please spare Harry. I'm sure Mum would be thrilled if Ron became a girl," Fred declared, heroic and shameless. In their eyes, Ron didn't outweigh Harry, and a little gender-bending hardly mattered. Maybe "girl Ron" would even improve his standing at home.
Loren sighed at their antics and explained the deeper reason.
"Harry's mother and Professor Snape were childhood friends. Harry's father cut in and bullied Snape at school."
He paused, watching the twins lean closer for gossip, then lowered his voice.
"They say Harry's father and his three mates hexed Snape upside-down. Snape was poor—wearing only a robe."
He gave them a look that said, "You get the picture."
"No wonder," Fred muttered. "If it were me, I'd have tried to get Harry expelled ages ago."
"But what's that got to do with turning Harry into a girl?" George asked.
"Harry looks almost exactly like his father—except for his mother's eyes."
Understanding dawned.
"That's brilliant," Fred said, clapping. Even George applauded. "Make Harry a girl and Snape will stop hounding him."
Loren leaned in, voice dropping further. "Not only stop docking points—he might even give Harry extra."
That sent them into a frenzy. They crowded Loren, demanding the juicy details.
"At the very first lesson, Snape asked Harry three questions. One: what do you get when you add powdered asphodel to an infusion of wormwood? Two: if I asked you to bring me a bezoar, where would you find one? Three: what's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane? From those, you can hear Snape's longing for Harry's mother."
The twins blinked. They hadn't heard romance in any of that and stared at Loren, baffled.
He relented, laying it out.
"Harry's mother was named Lily. Asphodel is a type of lily. In flower language, asphodel can mean 'my regrets follow you to the grave.' Wormwood's language is 'pain.' Together, the Draught of Living Death points to 'a living hell.' The message Snape aimed at Lily was: 'Lily, I regret your death beyond measure.' That's the pain of love."
He paused, hoping they'd piece the rest together.
"Don't stop—what about the other two?" they chorused.
Loren sighed.
"Second, bezoars are antidotes. Following the theme, it's asking how to cure his pain. Third, wolfsbane's meanings include living for love, tenacity, heroism; aconite's include malice. The message is: 'Whatever happens, I'll keep loving Lily—I live for love.'"
He finished in one breath.
Truth be told, Loren hadn't been some expert on Victorian floriography. The knowledge had surfaced from a past life when Snape asked those questions—along with the tangled tragedy between Snape and Harry's parents.
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