Chapter 106: Help and Concern [bonus]
Professor Sprout fell silent for a moment, then crossed the greenhouse to a locked glass cabinet.
She drew out a key and opened it. Inside, there was only a single pot.
A small shrub, no more than a foot tall. Its branches were black as charcoal, yet the leaves were pure white. Fine golden threads shimmered through the veins like liquid light.
"Sunlight Ebony Bush," she said softly.
"According to legend, it grows only in ancient church graveyards or on the grounds where martyrs fell. It survives only in an environment of extreme purity."
Her fingers brushed one of the leaves with surprising gentleness.
"And by purity, that doesn't mean sunlight. It means faith made manifest."
She looked at it the way one might look at a beloved child. "There's only this one at Hogwarts. It was left behind three hundred years ago by a Ravenclaw Headmaster."
Something stirred in Regulus's mind. The Relic Wand?