Chapter 45: Farming and Professor Oren
It felt like finding a long-lost toy. Kyle was having the time of his life in the Room of Requirement, experimenting with its magic. With just a flick of his fingers, he turned the gentle rain into a fierce blizzard, and with another flick, he conjured hailstones the size of eggs. The power to alter his surroundings with a wave of his hand was exhilarating.
After indulging in the magical weather changes for a while, Kyle suddenly remembered he had actual work to do. Reluctantly, he changed the room back to a sunny, serene atmosphere. Never mind, there'll be plenty of time for this later, he thought.
Squatting down on the ground, Kyle carefully pulled two fava bean-sized seeds out of his pocket, handling them as if they were made of glass. They were incredibly precious, and, more importantly, they weren't even his. They had come from the herbology class, where he had... picked them up. Really, he had just picked them up.
Earlier that day, during Herbology, a Gryffindor student had been so excited after successfully answering one of Professor Sprout's questions that he accidentally flung the shovel he was holding straight at the Chomping Cabbage on the other side of the classroom. Predictably, the Cabbage had reduced the shovel to a mangled piece of metal in seconds, and the student had been docked a point for his blunder.
That would have been the end of it, but Kyle noticed something curious. After spitting out the remains of the destroyed shovel, the Chomping Cabbage had spat out two small seeds. Professor Sprout, busy fetching another shovel at the time, hadn't seen a thing.
As a good Hufflepuff, Kyle naturally wanted to help his Head of House, so he'd picked the seeds up for her. But, distracted by the lesson on Dittany, he had completely forgotten about them... until now.
Kyle dug two small holes in the soil, just the right size for the seeds, and gently placed them inside. After covering them with a thin layer of soil, he stood up and nodded, feeling satisfied with his work.
"Very good," he muttered to himself. "I'll keep them here for now, and I'll take them to Professor Sprout next time we have class."
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