Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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For the next few weeks, Kyle went to the House of Requirement almost daily. Besides tending to the newly sprouted Devil's Snare, he also needed to keep a close eye on the Biting Cabbage.
Once they reached maturity, they could briefly escape the soil, wandering around with their outermost, broad leaves.
Kyle wasn't too worried about this, as the Biting Cabbage wouldn't easily leave their comfortable soil unless provoked.
What worried Kyle was their tendency to spit out seeds indiscriminately.
Mature Biting Cabbage could spray their seeds at any time, and the distance depended entirely on their whim, sometimes reaching hundreds of meters away.
The House of Requirement wasn't very large; if these seeds happened to take root near a Moonbeasts or Devil's Snare, it would be troublesome.
Biting Cabbage was a difficult plant to transplant, especially in its early sprouting stages; any slight change in the surrounding environment would cause them to snap open.
Only a master botanist like Professor Sprout could accomplish such a technically demanding and experience-intensive task.
Kyle was still somewhat lacking, so he could only use the simplest method: collecting the seeds before they sprouted and planting them in suitable locations.
After more than a month of this work, by the Easter holidays, there were five biting cabbage plants in the Room of Requirement: two mature and three newly sprouted.
After confirming that no seeds had been missed, Kyle felt much relieved; at least he no longer had to run to the Room of Requirement every day.
However, Cedric was busy, and not only him, but all the other Hufflepuff Quidditch players were as busy.
Harris was more demanding of them than ever before, and even in the continuous rainy days after the heavy snow, his enthusiasm for training hadn't cooled in the slightest.
But the others didn't complain at all.
If they won their next game against Slytherin, they would surpass Gryffindor in the overall score and become the leading house.
If they could win the final match or avoid being overtaken by other houses, they would become champions and bring the Quidditch Cup back to Hufflepuff.
To achieve this final victory, all the team members became training fanatics, practically living and eating on the Quidditch pitch.
Of course, Gryffindor was similar.
However, Slytherin seemed to be taking a more relaxed approach, training as usual and then dismissing everyone at the designated time, not lingering for even a second longer.
This wasn't surprising, as they only had a chance of winning the championship if they beat Hufflepuff by 300 points in the next match.
But that was clearly unrealistic; it might be more possible if it were Ravenclaw's easy-win team.
In the morning, during Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Kyle, while looking forward to tomorrow's match, was also recording various treatments for being bitten by a werewolf.
"Remember, the mixture of white cinnabar and silver powder can only seal the wound; it cannot stop the werewolf transformation,"
Professor Oren said solemnly from the podium. "Unless you are absolutely certain of victory, the best course of action when encountering a werewolf is to run, run as fast as you can. Choose spells that create obstacles to buy yourself time to escape, rather than trying to fight back.
Sometimes, carrying a flying broom is a good habit; it can save your life in a critical moment."
After explaining this, Professor Oren used a Transfiguration spell to transform the podium into a werewolf, then had the young wizards practice in a real-life scenario.
While queuing, Kanna leaned close to Kyle and whispered, "Do you have any rat potion?"
"Rat potion?"
Kyle blinked. "What, has Pochi fallen out of favor?
But even if it has, you don't need to kill it. Just give it to Percy; Scabbers is looking for a wife."
"What are you thinking? I'm not going to give Pochi away."
Kanna nudged Kyle and said irritably, "I meant the rat medicine. Pochi's been sick lately and has no energy at all."
"Sick?" Kyle frowned. "Have you been giving it the rat tonic on time?"
Kanna nodded. "Of course, I've given it to it every month without fail."
"That shouldn't be the case." Kyle scratched his head in confusion. "Did I buy fake ingredients?"
The rat tonic he sold Kanna wasn't the kind of sugary drink from the Diagon Alley store; it was a special tonic Newt had developed for Motra rats.
For ordinary field mice, this stuff was practically a "fountain of life." Just a small bottle a month would be enough to keep them healthy until they died of old age.
"Are you sure it's sick?" Kyle asked again.
"I'm sure, it was sneezing last night." Kanna thought for a moment and said, "I suspect it's related to the heavy rain during flying class a few days ago; everyone in our dorm caught a cold then."
"Maybe…"
Kyle glanced at the few people left in front of him and pulled Kanna to the back of the line.
"I do know a rat Pepperup recipe, but I'm missing some potion ingredients."
Kyle rubbed his fingers, thinking for a while before saying, "How about this, you give Pochi a bottle of rat tonic tonight.
If that doesn't work, I'll have the owl go to Hogsmeade to buy some after the Quidditch match tomorrow."
After a pause, Kyle suddenly asked, "By the way, have you lost Galleons recently… Sickles and Knuts count too."
"I haven't since I got the handbag you gave me." Kanna asked suspiciously, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Kyle smiled, "I just wanted to confirm if you could afford it."
"Uh… is it very expensive?" Conna took out the pink handbag, a little nervously saying, "I only have a dozen or so Galleons left."
"That's enough," Kyle said. "They're all common materials, just a few sickles."
Kanna patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew, that's good."
As they talked, fewer and fewer young wizards were in line, and soon it was their turn for practical training.
The main problem was that the young wizards knew too few spells, and when facing Professor Oren's controlled "werewolf," they were practically defenseless, captured in mere seconds.
No wonder they were so fast.
Kanna held out for a minute before also succumbing to the "werewolf's kiss."
Kyle was the last.
However, unlike the others, he didn't immediately run away. Instead, he quickly drew his wand and pointed it towards the classroom door.
"Accio Comet 260!"
A few seconds later, an old-fashioned comet smashed open the classroom door, carrying Kyle, who was running around the room, into the air.
"The correct answer... If you looked a little closer, you would have noticed that I had already placed the broom by the door beforehand. Even without the Summoning Charm, you could easily open the door and get it."
Professor Oren looked somewhat disappointed. He dispelled the Transfiguration spell on the podium and loudly proclaimed, "Hufflepuff, ten points!"
[End of the chapter]