A New Competition Begins... Yes, Again
After Hagrid's fun and relaxing lesson, the Ravenclaw students headed off to Herbology. Even so, Harry and the others were still wondering whether Hagrid had actually brought a giant back from his holiday.
But it was probably better to ignore that for now. It wasn't as though it was the most dangerous thing hidden in the forest. After all, the dragons brought over for the Triwizard Tournament tasks were still there, except Red had set them free, and now they were part of his kingdom.
The door to the nearest greenhouse opened just as the fifth-years arrived, and the fourth-years came filing out. Among them were Astoria, Luna, and Ginny.
The moment Ginny spotted Harry, she gave him a quick wave before hurrying away at full speed, as though she didn't particularly want to see him. Harry watched her leave, unable to understand her behaviour.
Then there was Luna, who, for some reason, had dirt all over her nose and a ribbon in her hair that was sitting rather crooked, while Astoria continued trying to fix it. Judging by how the ribbon somehow looked progressively worse with each attempt, however, Astoria seemed to be growing more and more confused.
"The Duke of Sweets," Luna said the moment she saw Harry and the others. Without another word, she walked over and raised both hands, waiting for her share.
"When did my noble rank get promoted?" Harry asked, amused by his upgraded title.
"Tommy said that in stories, nobles who earn enough merits get rewarded with a higher title and more land," Astoria explained as she joined Luna.
Harry couldn't help thinking that lately his little brother had become rather addicted to fantasy novels full of kingdoms and nobility.
Without a word, Harry simply pulled out an enchanted bag, as though he'd had it prepared from the very beginning, and handed it to them. He had also prepared one for his siblings.
For some reason, Daphne had joined the queue as well.
After receiving their share, the two girls ran off after Ginny, making Harry once again notice the redhead's strange behaviour.
Harry let out a sigh.
Of course he knew about Ginny's feelings.
He just had no idea what he was supposed to do about them.
"Being popular is far too troublesome," he muttered arrogantly.
Draco couldn't help nodding, convinced he suffered from exactly the same problem.
Hermione and Daphne both gave them a flat look.
"One day you're going to get stabbed," Daphne said.
"Yes," Hermione agreed, though for some reason she couldn't help giving Draco a glance that felt rather threatening for a brief moment.
The group entered the greenhouse together with the rest of the students, waiting for Professor Sprout while chatting amongst themselves.
This time, however, it seemed the lesson wouldn't be taught by Professor Sprout.
Instead, it would be led by the trainee professor, Ryan Foster.
He was a large, heavily built man.
Even so, despite being second only to Hagrid in size, he was somehow capable of going completely unnoticed. The students continued chatting casually, never realising he was already standing at the front of the class, where Professor Sprout normally stood.
"Ahem."
He cleared his throat.
Only then did the students look at him, as though they'd only just realised he was there, and several of them gave a small start.
"When did he get there?" one student couldn't help asking.
His friend could only shake his head, looking just as bewildered.
Of course, Harry had noticed him arrive normally and had been watching him ever since he'd entered.
"Professor Sprout has allowed me to teach today's lesson. I know you're all preparing for your O.W.L.s and taking them very seriously, but I hope you'll be a little patient with me," the professor said softly, his voice surprisingly quiet and completely at odds with his appearance.
Several students even had to lean in a little just to hear him.
"As you already know, the other trainee professors and I will be working here at the castle throughout this year. That way, we'll not only help the Heads of House reduce their workload a little, but also prepare ourselves to become proper professors. Perhaps, once our training is complete, we'll even end up teaching here permanently, which would, of course, be a great honour," Ryan said.
Harry tilted his head slightly.
For just a moment...
The last word had come out with a completely different accent, as though he'd briefly forgotten the way he normally spoke.
"Ahem," Professor Foster cleared his throat again. "Today we'll be looking at the use of dragon dung as a fertiliser. Professor Sprout told me it may very well come up in your O.W.L.s, so it would be a good idea to pay close attention," he added.
Overall, the lesson went fairly well.
The only real problem was how quiet his voice was, forcing the students to ask him several times to repeat what he'd said.
On top of that, he seemed to have surprisingly clumsy fingers, knocking over several flowerpots as he walked between the tables.
"Dittany can be used in countless potions, especially healing ones, and it grows very well with almost any type of fertiliser. You just need to be careful not to add too much because—"
Before he could finish, the professor, who was holding a pot with a dittany plant in one hand and a one-kilogram bag of fertiliser in the other, suddenly tipped the entire bag over the pot, dumping every last bit of fertiliser onto the plant and completely burying it.
"Oh," he said, as though he'd only just realised what he'd done.
He then turned the pot upside down to remove the excess fertiliser, only managing to dump both the plant and the soil onto the floor, leaving the poor plant upside down and completely flattened beneath its own soil.
That made the students look at their new professor, convinced he was rather clumsy.
A few of them even let out small smiles before quickly hiding them out of respect.
Harry, however, didn't seem to interpret it the same way.
Even Draco had started watching the professor intently.
"Is this what you meant when you said Aunt Wanda teaches us while having fun at the same time?" Draco couldn't help asking his friend.
Harry nodded without hesitation.
"It's Professor Maximoff," Hermione corrected automatically, but then she seemed to realise the implication behind Draco's words. She turned to look at the professor. "Wait... Aunt Wanda's lesson was about memory-alteration jinxes and mind control," she said, not even noticing that she'd also slipped up and called her Aunt Wanda. "That means..."
"Out of the four trainee professors, two of them have either implanted or erased memories. And his memories have been implanted. I could see the gaps underneath them," Harry said as though it were obvious.
"Two? Who's the other one?" Daphne asked.
Harry was about to answer.
But before he could, an idea suddenly crossed his mind.
"You know, it's been a while since we had one of our competitions," he said with a mischievous smile.
The moment those words left his mouth, Daphne, Draco, and Hermione all turned to stare at him.
Just hearing the word competition seemed to ignite the competitive spirit in all three of them.
"Our detective competition ended... very badly, remember? So now we finally have a chance to continue it. This time we don't even have to figure out who the murderer is. We'll gather evidence, confirm our theories, and piece the puzzle together. Then we'll discover who our new professors really are," Harry said with a grin.
"You've already got a head start," Daphne said with a frown.
"Yeah, I know. Life isn't always fair. So... are you giving up?" Harry asked arrogantly.
Draco, Hermione, and Daphne all pulled annoyed expressions.
"I'm in," Draco declared seriously.
"Having a head start doesn't mean you'll win. Your own arrogance has defeated you plenty of times before," Hermione replied. "I'm in too."
"You think I'd give up that easily? Of course I'm joining," Daphne added.
The four of them exchanged looks filled with competitive fire.
Once again...
Chaos would rule Hogwarts Castle.
Several students who had happened to overhear the word competition let out resigned sighs.
Every single time those four decided to compete against one another...
Half the castle somehow ended up getting dragged into it.