Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Chapter 211 Magic Portrait and Mandrake

Key points:
magic portrait,

informal channels.

Because it can easily be mistaken for an "indecent magical portrait", it must be emphasized.

Fortunately, Sherlock Holmes, who heard Bourne speak, was alive in the 19th century.

This was an era when even men had to wear full-length wool swimsuits when swimming!

People who lived in that era, even when looking at today's conservatives, would probably feel sad and sad that "the world is in decline."

Therefore, Sherlock did not think wrongly, but just asked curiously: "The magic portrait from informal channels, does anyone really buy it?"

With his experience as a senior consumer, he "populated" the market situation of magic portraits with Bourne.

First of all, magic portraits cannot be judged from an artistic point of view. They do not differentiate between "white snow" and "lower people".

Wizards who can afford professional painters to draw magical portraits are, without exception, wealthy people.

The consumption preferences of this type of people are generally: beef B, limited quantity, unavailable (Happy).

Therefore, most of the magic portraits they purchased were full of personalized customization.

Not to mention ordinary hobbies such as horse riding and hunting, even obscene things like "Dragon Quest" have a lot of stock in magic portraits.

Secondly, it is precisely because of this "personalization" that the "beauty" of these magical portraits generally lacks other audiences.

In addition to the painting buyers themselves, most of their descendants cannot appreciate the portraits of their ancestors.

Therefore, although each magic portrait is expensive to produce, its consumer group is basically locked (literally "dead").

As we all know, the economic concept of "consumption" has two elements: willing and able.

A rich wizard is unwilling to buy a magical portrait that does not belong to him; a poor wizard simply cannot afford the price of a magical portrait.

Therefore, after listening to Bourne's question, Holmes was surprised that someone would really buy a magical portrait that was not his own?

"Generally speaking, only places like Hogwarts would purchase such things, perhaps for commemorative purposes."

After thinking about it for a while, Sherlock Holmes gave a guess that he thought was reasonable.

"Besides, for those who buy other people's magical portraits, I think their purpose is to get some information from those portraits.

They may want to know some secrets, hidden treasures and the like, and only magical portraits with memories of their lifetime can satisfy their needs.

As for 'informal channels'...

If so, we can assume that some people have hoarded some unclaimed magic portraits, but they are unable to get any useful information from them, and then they want to sell them in exchange for some liquidity.

People who meet these conditions are likely to be active in the black market of Knockturn Alley. The industry they are engaged in may have something to do with tomb robbing and treasure hunting. "

It can only be said that Sherlock Holmes is indeed a superb detective, and he quickly found a useful clue for Bourne.

In addition, he also recommended to Bourne a magic portrait studio opened in Diagon Alley. The name of that store is a bit strange, it's called "Cyclops".

According to him, this store may not be useful for the "informal channel to buy magic portraits" that Bourne is looking for, but at least if Bourne finds a magic portrait, he can take it to this store to authenticate it. Fake.

“Although some magic paintings look very old, they are actually contemporary paintings forged through distressing techniques.

I have even heard that there are some 'fake magic portraits' left on the market. Their patterns and patterns are all drawn with ordinary paints added with the developing potion in the magic camera.

The characters in this kind of portrait can also move and speak some simple sentences, but just like the cards in the chocolate frog, they are not really magical portraits at all, because they do not save the memory of the portrait characters.

Therefore, Bourne, when you find a suspicious clue, you can go to the professional painter of 'Cyclops'.

With their help, you can eliminate some wrong directions and save some unnecessary time. "

Bourne once again expressed his gratitude to Mr. Holmes for his advice.

However, he also saw that the great detective might not be interested in getting involved in other people's investigations recently. He might have something on his mind.

When Bourne left the corridor on the third floor, he couldn't help but think about this question in his mind: "Mr. Holmes has said before that he very much appreciates the life philosophy of 'do not add entities unless necessary', but now it costs money and effort to What's going on with him when he changes the portrait from paper to iron and from glue to welding?"
-
"Is this person afraid of some serious illness?"

Before the Herbology class on Monday morning, after listening to Harry telling himself that he had just been unlucky to be "ran into" by Lockhart again, the professor strongly suggested that Harry join him to contribute to the "Hogwarts Weekly" he was preparing to organize. Taking a cover photo, Ron couldn't help but complain.

Of course, he didn't complain loudly, because Hermione, a loyal supporter of Professor Lockhart, was walking behind them.

"I guess so," Harry echoed in a low voice, and then said quickly: "Let's go into the greenhouse quickly, class is about to begin."

Their class is in the third greenhouse.

This greenhouse has a very bright-looking glass roof. The sunlight shines through the glass, making people marvel at the magic of nature.

Pushing open the silver handle that had been touched by someone's hands and turned discolored, a wave of moist and warm air immediately hit my face. It was very fresh, but it was also mixed with the smell of dragon dung fertilizer.

Dark red brick pillars stand on the walls on both sides of the greenhouse, holding up the roof. The mottled appearance seems to be full of traces of history. The sunlight on the top of the glass shines through the gaps in the leaves and reflects on the stone pavement on the ground, like a beautiful picture.

Some of the plants growing here are fatally dangerous, while others are rare and rare. Every plant is a masterpiece of nature, and every leaf seems to have the spirit of life. A tall silver-brown tree swayed its leaves excitedly, as if showing off to the ferns next to it that it had grown to such a high height. The mysterious Ganoderma hangs in the air, and occasionally sprays some spores, creating a Tyndall effect with the incoming sunlight.

Professor Sprout stood behind a long trestle table in the middle of the greenhouse. There are about twenty pairs of earmuffs of different colors on the table. When the little wizards all sat down at the table, Professor Sprout began to teach.

"We are going to repot the mandrake today. Now, who can tell me what the properties of the mandrake are?" Hermione was the first to raise her hand, as everyone expected.

"Mandrake, also called mandrake root, is a powerful recovery agent," Hermione said very naturally, as if she had eaten the textbook. "It is used to restore people who have been transformed or transformed." The cursed person returns to his original shape."

"Excellent, three points for Gryffindor," said Professor Sprout. "Mandrake is an important component of most antidotes. But it is also dangerous. Can anyone tell me why?"

Hermione's hand shot up again, almost knocking off Harry's glasses.

"Hearing a mandrake cry can kill someone," she blurted.

"Very good. This is the standard answer in the textbook "A Thousand Herbs and Mushrooms", but it's not entirely correct. Does anyone know why?"

Professor Sprout did not give Hermione any extra points this time, but continued to look at the other little wizards present with encouraging eyes.

Neville raised his hand. The professor liked the chubby little boy very much and smiled and motioned for him to answer the question.

"Mandrakes' cries can kill people, but only when they reach maturity.

Fully mature mandrakes require a growth cycle of at least 150 years, and there must be a sufficiently large community of moon-crazy beasts around where they grow.

However, the current community of Moon-Crazy Beasts in the world does not seem to be large enough, so theoretically there is no truly mature Mandrake.

The mandrakes now used for medicinal purposes are all so-called 'matures', which are at most only one-fifth of the size of the real 'matures' in the past. "

Neville spoke a little slowly and a little sheepishly, and finally his voice became quieter and quieter.

But when he finished speaking, it wasn't just Byrne who took the lead in applauding him, even Professor Sprout also applauded him.

"Very, very, very good." The professor repeated "very" three times in a row, expressing his affirmation of Neville's answer: "That's absolutely right. After coming to Hogwarts to teach and plant these virtues with my own hands, Before pulling the grass, what I knew about mandrake was not even as detailed as what you know.”

However, Professor Sprout now actually knows more, and she is not prepared to hide it.

"Neville said it very well, is there anyone else willing to add a little bit, even if it is just a guess?" The professor continued to encourage everyone to think and speak.

Byrne raised his hand.

"The sound of mandrake has a certain lethality, but it has no such effect on ordinary people and animals. At most, it is just an annoying noise.

This may be because the sound of Mandrake only works on magic, and it can induce magic to become active, so that it becomes too active and causes harm to wizards and magical animals.

Therefore, mandrakes will not grow in areas where ordinary people and animals live on a large scale, because then they can easily become food for herbivorous animals..."

Byrne made some additions to the properties of mandrake. Such secret knowledge is not covered in ordinary magic textbooks. It was all taught to him by his Grandpa Horace during the summer vacation.

He even concealed a large part of the knowledge Horace told, because that knowledge was too dark for other young wizards.

For example, now that Mandrake no longer has the conditions to grow into a truly mature body, it is due to the disappearance of large-scale populations of Moon Crazy Beasts. So how did those Moon Crazy Beast populations disappear? What role did the Ministry of Magic and wizards play in this process?
For another example, if you want to cultivate a more "robust" mandrake, in addition to using the feces of magical animals, you can also use some magic potions based on the blood of magical animals to fertilize. Moreover, this method of fertilization can also "directionally" cultivate mandrake roots with various properties of killing sound waves.

These are difficult to explain, but some of the supplements Bern just gave still satisfy Professor Sprout.

She added a few more points to Gryffindor.

The professor of herbalism once again expanded on some knowledge about mandrake based on what their few little wizards told them, and then entered the main topic of the lesson, teaching them how to take care of the young mandrakes. .

"Look, the mandrakes we have here are still very young," she said, pointing to a row of deep-bottomed flower pots on the shelf table.

Everyone moved closer to get a better look. There were about a hundred green and purple seedlings arranged there.

"Each person get a pair of earmuffs," Professor Sprout said. There are also some plush earmuffs on the shelf table.

After confirming that everyone had the tools, Professor Sprout continued: "When I ask you to put on earmuffs, you must cover your ears tightly. When it is safe to take off the earmuffs, I Two thumbs up. Okay... everyone put on earmuffs!"

Everyone quickly followed the instructions. After putting on the earmuffs, Bourne felt that all the sounds outside suddenly became imperceptible.

Professor Sprout also put on a pair of pink fluffy earmuffs, then rolled up his sleeves, firmly grasped a blade of grass, and pulled it up hard.

Many little wizards were frightened, and some even screamed in a way that was undetectable by those around them.

Because what the professor pulled out of the soil was not a grass root, but a very ugly baby with leaves growing on its head. Its skin is light green with spots on it. The little guy was struggling and swinging his "body", obviously shouting at the top of his lungs.

Professor Sprout took out a large flower pot from under the table, then stuffed the mandrake doll into it, burying it in moist dark compost until only the clusters of leaves were exposed.

She patted the mud on her hands, gave the little wizards two thumbs up, and then took off her earmuffs.

"Our mandrakes are just seedlings, so it won't be too painful to hear their cries." She said calmly, as if she had just watered the begonias. "But if you're not lucky, the sound will still knock you out for a few hours. I don't think any of you want to miss the next class, so everyone must wear earmuffs when working. When it's time to pack up, I will Trying to get your attention."

"One plate for four people... There are many flower pots here... The mature Moon Chi Beast manure is in the bag over there... Watch out for the poisonous tentacles, it's growing teeth."

She gave a sharp tap to a spiky crimson plant, causing it to retract its tentacles that crept toward her shoulder.

Although Professor Sprout did it very easily just now, in fact it was not the case at all. The mandrake doesn't want to be pulled out of the soil at all, and it doesn't seem to want to go back to another pot.

After they were pulled out, they twisted their bodies wildly, kicked their feet, waved their pointed little fists, and gnashed their teeth.

Only a little wizard with the strength of Bourne could easily pick up a mandrake and quickly stuff it into another flower pot.

Children with thin arms and legs like Harry and Ron almost took off their earmuffs several times when they were "fighting" with the mandrakes. Professor Sprout had to walk around behind the students all the time. Pay attention to their safety.

Until the end of get out of class, there were still a few young wizards who had not finished repotting the mandrakes, and had to ask Professor Sprout to deal with them later.

(End of this chapter)