After Bruce, their senior, left them behind, a heavy silence settled over the group in the greenhouse. They faced a daunting task: who was going to deal with extracting the pods from the Snargaluff vines?
Leon, another senior, told them not to worry—though it wasn't clear if he meant Bruce's absence or their own predicament.
Then Sean and the others watched as the older students sprang into action.
Even before they'd entered, they'd seen Leon looking rough—blood dripping from his lip, half his face scratched up with red marks, clutching a wriggling, grapefruit-sized pod that made your stomach turn just looking at it.
It had been tough enough before. Now, down one person, how were they supposed to manage?
"Let's do this!" Leon shouted.
Piers, the other senior, had just finished venting his frustration. He cast a worried glance outside the greenhouse, then joined Leon, taking a few deep breaths before diving in to tackle the gnarled stump of the Snargaluff in front of them.
The stump sprang to life. Long, thorny vines shot out from its top, whipping wildly through the air.
One vine wrapped around Leon's arm, but Piers quickly slashed it back with a pair of shears.
Seizing the moment, Leon grabbed two vines and knotted them together.
A small opening appeared among the writhing, tentacle-like branches. Leon bravely thrust his arm into the gap, only for the hole to snap shut like a mousetrap around his elbow.
Piers yanked and twisted the vines frantically, forcing the opening back up. Leon finally freed his arm, clutching another pod like the one he'd grabbed earlier.
The thorny vines retracted instantly, and the knobby stump lay still, looking like a lifeless piece of wood.
"Ugh, no way I'm planting these things in my garden," Leon said, pushing his protective goggles onto his forehead and wiping sweat from his face with a strained grin.
Anyone could see his smile was forced.
Piers gave a shy chuckle too—
But they still had a long way to go.
Outside, Justin's eyes were deadly serious. "I'm going to help!"
He glanced at the group, skipping over Sean and lingering for a moment on Neville, trembling with nerves, and the scrawny Harry and Ron.
Of the lot, Justin was the strongest.
His mum always said: those with ability carry the most responsibility.
"But…" Harry started, unsure how to finish.
Inside the greenhouse, Leon seemed to sense the group's restlessness. He tossed a pod their way. "Don't just stand there! Squeeze the juice out quick—it's best when it's fresh!"
Neville grabbed the wriggling pod and hurriedly started working on it in a bowl.
"I'm… going in," Ron said, addressing the group with a grim, determined look, like he was marching to his doom. "The seniors'll keep the vines under control, right?"
His attempt at a joke fell flat. Again.
Sean glanced at Justin, Harry, Ron, and Neville, a bit puzzled.
Then he strode into Greenhouse Three.
"Green?" Leon asked, confused but not questioning further. Sean was reliable, after all.
"Be careful," Piers added gruffly.
While the two seniors caught their breath, Sean quietly raised his wand. He'd been itching to test the limits of his advanced Transfiguration, and now was his chance.
With a wide arc of his wand, a massive snowman rose in the snowy greenhouse, nearly brushing the ceiling.
[You practiced Advanced Transfiguration at Expert level. Proficiency +1000]
"Merlin's beard—" Leon craned his neck, staring up at the snowman's nostrils.
"Uh—" Piers poked the snowman's foot. It twitched as if to kick him but shrank back.
Sean gave Piers a nudge—controlling the snowman took serious willpower.
"Oh—sorry!" Piers said, realizing his mistake, his face flushing.
"I'll go—wait, what is that?!" Ron's red-faced argument was cut off by the snowman's roar.
Everyone peered into Greenhouse Three. The snowman was grappling with the Snargaluff's vines, holding them tight as Leon and Piers darted in to grab pods from the plant's openings.
Sean stood back, wand moving, the snowman roaring with each command.
"Easy, right?" Leon said, grinning. He'd never seen the plants in Greenhouse Three so… tame.
"Losing a deadweight like Bruce for a guy like Green…" He even started humming a tune.
"Don't lie, Leon," Piers teased quietly, casually collecting pods.
"How do you know I'm lying, Piers?" Leon shot back, flustered.
…
Outside the greenhouse, Justin's face shifted. "Sean—!"
He'd just reached Sean's side when a massive boom echoed—the snowman had collapsed.
Sean wasn't much better off. He popped a chocolate frog from Justin into his mouth, slowly recovering.
"Where'd that snowman come from…?" Ron gaped, looking between Sean and the snowman, feeling the gap between them was bigger than the one between wizards and Muggles.
"That's… real magic," Harry said, awestruck.
Neville just scratched his head. Nothing Sean did surprised him anymore.
The "daunting task" seemed tough only for the rest of them. When Sean waved his wand, it felt like any problem could be solved.
Just like always.
The group eagerly cleaned up the battlefield—heating the pods over flames until they glowed bright red, then squeezing out the juice.
Sean sat on a cushioned seat he'd conjured with Transfiguration, sipping honey tea from Justin.
His ears rang with notifications:
[You handled a difficult plant at Skilled level. Proficiency +100]
[You handled a difficult plant at Skilled level. Proficiency +100]
[You handled a difficult plant at Skilled level. Proficiency +100]
…
Difficult plants?
Apparently, different plants carried different challenges, like the gap between Intermediate and Advanced Transfiguration.
Checking his panel, Sean saw his Herbology knowledge was nearing Skilled level:
[Herbology Knowledge: Beginner (2700/3000)]
Handling a simple Fluxweed at Skilled level earned him 10 proficiency points, but a Snargaluff vine gave him 100.
No wonder these plants had a role in the Battle of Hogwarts. Sean was starting to get it.
In the books, it was described like this:
Peeves swooped over Harry and the others, hurling Snargaluff pods at the Death Eaters, whose heads were soon engulfed in wriggling, fat, green worm-like growths.
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