In September, Professor Sprout's magic roses were all in full bloom, their hot, gorgeous, thick color almost staining the pale green walls of the greenhouse. One free afternoon she cut a handful out of the greenhouse, tied it with gold ribbon into a pretty scarlet ball, and took some extra into the Hufflepuff common room.
Badgers like nothing better than to huddle together in their house's warm lounge to share snacks and chat, while passing around the latest popular magazines and the Daily Prophet. Professor Sprout entered the lounge at the height of its activity. The beautiful, fragrant flowers soon became the children's favorites, and without Professor Sprout's warning, the little ones swarmed around them of their own volition.
The Magic rose looks similar to the regular rose in the Muggle world, except that the flowers are a little bigger. Their green stems are covered with tiny, flexible, serrate branches that, when attacked, stretch themselves and intertwine with their neighbors. The serrates are filled with SAP and become sharp, forming a web of knives.
They don't have much medicinal value, but they're good for viewing, very similar to another exotic potions plant called the Heart of the Dragon, and have a strange ability to remember sounds. If you sing to them or play music to them, they record the sounds they hear and play them back when they feel the flow of air, a memory that will last until the flowers die.
Mrs Sprout had planted it for its beauty and special purpose, and that afternoon the Hufflepuff lounge was filled with songs of every style and the sweet, childish voices of children.
Each student present sang a few words or an entire song of their favorite to the flower ball, and Professor Sprout put a preservative spell on the rose and hung it in front of the lounge window. As soon as the wind blew in, the strong fragrance of the flowers would gently fill the room, followed by the sound of a song that could not be anyone.
It was as beautiful as a fairyland.
"I also picked some extra roses to reward the students who did well in herbology last year." With that, Mrs. Sprout took several more roses from her purse and handed them out to Aurora and the other herbology students, to a chorus of wonderment and applause. "Come on, children, sing a song. We are all your audience."
Using a rose as a microphone was new to Aurora. She didn't study music, and most of the songs she did were country ditties with no lyrics. But in that case, you can't sing the Hogwarts school song to the tune of a lullaby, can you? If she did, she'd be famous the next day. Perhaps Professor Dumbledore would have been pleased to give her a box of sweets.
Yeah, she can't sing the school song because of her hatred of sugar. It's too bad Professor Dumbledore's taste is sweet. If he had changed to one he liked, Aurora would have simply been singing the school song with indifference.
She sat down on the soft, earthy sofa of the Hufflepuff lounge, huddled in the dull shadows, and searched her memory for songs worthy of being recorded. Her whole face and most of her body were hidden by the shadows in the corner, leaving only her long, unconstrained, pale blond hair flowing over her shoulders and arms, and shining slightly in the sunlight outside, as if the bright, dreamy glow had materialized.
The last person in front of Aurora was Cecilia, who sang Audrey Hepburn's famous "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's to the roses.
The girl's singing is very beautiful, just because of the tension and a little stiff, but this does not affect the final effect. She received the loudest applause, then landed on the couch next to Aurora like a lithe butterfly, her white face a healthy, seductive color of tension and excitement.
"Come on Aurora, it's your turn." Mrs. Sprout beckoned to the blonde, and the others looked expectantly at Aurora.
But I really don't have any songs I can sing. Aurora suddenly felt a headache. Maybe she was destined to be a loyal supporter of the school song.
With a sigh, she jumped nimbly off the couch and walked to the center of the lounge, her long, pleated pale green cotton dress falling from her knees and spreading above her ankles, bursting into a cloud of white daisies around the hem. Aurora thought for a moment and began to recall the first line of the Hogwarts school song. God knows, she's only sung it once, and that was a year ago at the first semester dinner, staring at the words in midair.
So, what's the first one? Merlin, will someone please remind her. Salazar, did you write the lyrics? If she was, she would have laughed at him for the rest of her life.
The girl stood hesitating, and people around her looked at each other, wondering what she was thinking.
The sun climbed in more freely from the window, almost melting on Aurora's hair, the ultimate brilliance like burning. She imagines she's singing. What would she want to sing?
"Merlin, her hair color is really beautiful, like the sun." Aurora heard someone say that.
When she looked at the window, she saw the incredible light penetrating the petals of the rose, tracing the path of each vein. It was a vibrant color that made people feel hopeful. Aurora suddenly remembered that she had woken up at such a beautiful and bright moment six years before and had come to this strange world.
A faint, sweet, almost whispering sound came into her head, flowing from the tip of the wand she was already holding in her hand, and reverberating gracefully and slowly through the lounge, as soothing as a long, warm dream.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy when skies are gray.
You'll never know dear, how much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away."
The dark green branches whirled in Aurora's hand, and the flower unfurled every petal of its own to catch the lilting, elfin notes, faithfully recording them.
It's a very simple sentence. Just repeat it twice in tune.
As soon as Aurora's song dropped completely, applause broke out.
...
She took the rose back to her dormitory and placed it in the pen holder, slanting its shadow directly above the diary.
Salazar deciphered the shape of the shadow for a moment and shook his head understandingly. "Girls." Aurora smiled back. "Old man."
Salazar's tail wagged dangerously.
It was followed by the usual Potions session in the library. Aurora doesn't want her roommate to find out she has a moving journal.
A tutorial, or rather a puzzle, Aurora asks Salazar only when she seems to remember something but doesn't. It's not that I don't trust him, it's just that he hasn't said what he wants to do, so I don't dare to be so reckless. Otherwise, if he suddenly revives the past, he won't even have a chance to defend himself.
As for those who would not at first glance, she was content to sit there and wait for Snape to leave a scathing remark or two on the pale yellow page the next day.
This is a strategic compromise.
Although, as far as I can tell, Salazar is simply bored and wants to talk to someone. Aurora imagined that if she had been locked in a diary for over a thousand years, with no one to talk to, she would have been mad.
Therefore, she sometimes in her spare time, she would transcribe in her diary some interesting things happening in school recently. Considering that Salazar would have been more interested in Slytherin House, Aurora had also vaguely mentioned once that Slytherin House was having a bad reputation because of You-Know-Who.
But Salazar didn't seem to have an obvious reaction to the incident, simply writing, "I guess."
Aurora could not tell whether by "guessed" he meant guessed what was happening in Slytherin House now, or whether he had known it would happen when it was founded. But Salazar's somewhat cavalier attitude struck her as odd. Generally speaking, such an attitude was her own, and it would not have done her any good anyway. It would have been better to leave it at that, and be less vexed and happy.
But she didn't think Salazar would feel the same way, so she was curious.
'Aren't you angry? I mean, it's clear that most of the malicious rumors about your college are false."
"You know it's fake, too? Salazar asked. "I've been dead for over a thousand years, and a lot of things just open up to you over time. And what am I going to do here in this state?"
Aurora did not answer, but he continued. "If no sick fool has altered my motto in over a thousand years, then they would know that being in Slytherin was never a shortcut to glory and comfort. It's just a mirror to help you see the whole environment, survival of the fittest, what you want, you have to pay and suffer."
So that's the core difference between Slytherin and Hufflepuff. One is above caring, the other is too lazy to care.
But really, what a tiring life it would be to see everything so clearly and measure it so precisely.
Salazar had only one thing to say about it -- "So I don't take students who live in a dream. Being alive is tiring. If being more tiring can lead to greater vision and achievement than most people, then why not?"
Aurora understood what the founder was thinking and stopped talking in her area of weakness, instead continuing to share gossip with him from time to time. Too often, though, Salazar doesn't even smile. Instead, he picks the subject apart.
So it makes sense that some people don't have much joy in their lives. In Salazar's eyes, Aurora was simply too unpursuing; As it happened, Aurora also felt that the founder had been too tired in his life, and that it was good to stay so relaxed in his diary.
"Typical Hufflepuff." "Salazar wrote.
"Like Helga? It's a great honor.
Strangely, every time Aurora asked, Salazar would not follow up, and the conversation would either end or drift in another direction. Over time, Aurora began to wonder why Salazar was so silent when it came to Helga Hufflepuff.
The reason for this, how to think is very valuable to study and explore.
With this idea in mind, Aurora tried several times to find the answer in the library, but of course there was nothing. Not surprisingly, but with some regret. She wasn't curious enough to ask Salazar directly, though; she might as well have asked Snape for their final exams. If she ever wanted to do it over again, maybe she would.
The desire to live and the desire to learn are two things that have clear priorities.
On Saturday morning, Aurora took the magic rose to Volquez and Beverly. But it was said that Volquez had been dragged off by Bill to experience the charms of Quidditch and take flying lessons, so Aurora found Beverly in the greenhouse, studying mandrakes.
She had asked Mrs. Sprout for permission to study the designated plants in the greenhouse, and, with her permission, had planned to make her own advanced potion to depetrification as part of the assignment, the most difficult of Snape's options. Aurora had chosen a relatively easy option for the assignment the previous two days.
She waved the rose at Beverly, smiled, showed her little white teeth, and asked mysteriously, "Guess what this is?"
Beverly looked at her in wonder and surprise. "Dragon blood? Where did you come from?" Aurora couldn't help laughing out: "Guess wrong, this is just the magic rose, the dragon's blood is not this."
When Beverly heard this, she looked at the flower with wide eyes and nodded understandingly. "The branches on the Heart of the Dragon stem are thicker than this. They are not." Aurora smiled happily, the rose in her hand swaying in the air hot and beautiful: "Wisdom of life! It disguises itself as the blood of a dragon, which will make many people not dare to mess with it."
"Yes, the juices from the dragon's blood will make the skin blister and fester." "Said Beverly, opening her potions notes." Did Professor Sprout give it to you?"
"How do you know?"
"She's an herbalist. You can't grow herbs without her, can you?"
'Of course! Aurora said with a touch of adoration and pride, and gave the rose a gentle blow. "But this is what I wanted you to hear."
Suddenly, a soft and graceful song and the sound of an acoustic guitar came out of the roses and spread throughout the greenhouse. Beverly's eyes widened. "Your voice?"
"Now it's the voice of the rose." Aurora bent her eyes and smiled. "It's a beautiful song." Beverly listened for a moment, and a faint smile crept to her lips. "What's his name?"
"I think it's 'you are my sunshine,' from a long, long time ago." Aurora heard it at an old used video store when she was very young. Her helpful boss invited her to sit through the entire album and eat blueberry jam cookies. Aurora's memory of the song has always smelled of blueberry jam and sunshine.
"That sounds good." "Said Beverly with her eyes down. "I love the way you make me laugh." Aurora patted her friend on the shoulder and grinned and winked. "It's not easy getting your proud Slytherin's approval."
Beverly shook her head and calmly replied, "It's not that we don't appreciate people, it's just that we're objective."
"..." Do you have a misunderstanding of the word objective?
"If it's really good, we're not stingy with our compliments." "Beverly continued. Aurora, sensing something, said quickly, "I didn't mean anything bad about Slytherin, don't get me wrong."
"I know." Beverly smiled helplessly and stopped. "It's a pity the others don't think so."
"Why care about other people?" Aurora asked curiously, saying something she hadn't said before in Salazar's presence. "You're good enough. What does anyone else's opinion do to you? There are a lot of people who think Hufflepuffs are useless, but we're just as happy to get together every day. Life is your own life, you know, why bother others?"
She put down the roses and put on her earmuffs to help Beverly with the troublesome mandrakes. Her movements are skilled and her tone is breezy, as if she were discussing the weather today: "I know what's bothering you. Many places and many people are hostile to Slytherin because of You-Know-Who. But they're just scared."
"Because they're not as good as you are." Aurora summed it up.
Beverly looked at her for a long moment, then smiled and said, "You don't really talk like our peers." "Maybe I'm older at heart." Aurora fakes emotion, but her eyes smile, "You know, optimism and happy-go-lucky is the only thing I have going for me."
'I want to work at St Mungo's one day, don't you? "Asked Beverly. "It's hard to say," Aurora replied, as she skillfully sprinkled the soil into the basin. "I don't have any specific goals yet. But I'd like to work with fantastic animals in the future. It's better to be like Newt Scamander, who came before us in the academy. I want to see more amazing creatures in more places."
"That's good!
"It was a compromise for my potions, after all, I had thought about opening a hospital for magical creatures. I decided not to do it for the sake of their breeding."
Suddenly, the door of the greenhouse opened. A young woman with reddish-brown curls came in, looking as if she had just sprinted up, panting. "Well, I'm a student at the hospital wing. Excuse me, is the dragon's heart planted here? Madam Pomfrey needs it for her potions."
"Over there." Aurora pointed to the flaming dragon's blood. "Thank you! She took her special scissors and lead pail to the red cloud, carefully avoiding the SAP that spilled when she cut the roots, and laid them flat on a table next to the magical rose Aurora had placed there.
When she had finished, she asked again, "By the way, where is our new Potions professor's office? Madam Pomfrey said only he could make it."
"One floor underground." 'said Beverly.' I'll be there soon, too. Are you in a hurry? Give me a minute."
Considering that Professor Snape had only been teaching Potions for a little over a year, it was not unusual for graduating and graduating students not to know, Aurora offered, "Or I could take you."
"That's very kind of you." The other smiled and then said, as if remembering something, "Amanda Galen, Gryffindor."
"Aurora Field. Hufflepuff. '
Amanda wiped her sweat, neatly scooped up the drained dragon's blood and placed it in the lead bucket. She followed Aurora to Snape's office.
...
Now that Madam Pomfrey had said there was no urgency, Snape did not hesitate to point to the corner of the potions cabinet when he saw the almost flaming dragon's blood and motioned to Amanda to put the materials aside.
Perhaps because they were both Slytherins, it was easier for them to get along, and Madam Pomfrey had the good sense not to bother Snape with basic potions after the first year, but to ask him for help when necessary.
After dinner in the dining room, Snape returned to the cellar and prepared to begin making the potion from the dragon's blood. But as he approached his office, before he could open the door, he heard a melodious sound, ethereal and beautiful like a music box playing alone in the silent water, bursting a series of aqua bubbles.
Snape recognized the sound of an acoustic guitar almost at the moment he heard it. It was clear, smooth, happy and crisp, reminiscent of the beautiful sight of a little girl dancing on a crystal platform in her glass slippers, dexterous and ethereal.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
"You make me happy when skies are gray
." You make me happy when all my skies are grey.
"You'll never know dear, how much I love you." You'll never know dear, how much I love you.
"Please don't take my sunshine away." Please don't take my sunshine away.
Gradually, the girl's voice also diffuse, tender sweet, clean and warm. Those simple and pleasant words fall into the gray air, bursting into bright colors, woven into the picture:
The blonde girl sat on the grass, playing an acoustic guitar, her hair winding over her shoulders brighter than the sun.
The black birch wand slipped silently from its sleeve into Snape's hands, but his mind drifted uncontrollably back to his own childhood through the song. He had no idea of such a thing as childhood. All he could remember were the broken bottles here and there, the dusty potions notes, his mother's frightened, thin face, the endless invectives and cries, the earthen quilt, and the song.
His mother, Eileen Prince, hummed the song with a shudder as she held him close to his shivering young son, a hoarse voice that stayed with him until he fell asleep.
"The other night dear, when I lay sleeping. I dreamed I held you in my arms." The other night dear, when I lay sleeping. I dreamed I held you in my arms.
"But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken. So I hung my head and I cried." But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken. So I hung my head and I cried.
When his mind had calmed under the influence of Occlumency in his mind, Snape, frowning, pushed open the wooden door of his office, sending a cloud of dust into the air that shook its panels. His voice was lower, almost menacing, and his rapidity was sulky and irritable. "Field, this isn't your concert! Give it to me at once..."
No one.
In the dark office, empty and crowded with overlapping shadows, there were only bursts of song and wind. The only bright hue was the dragon's blood, glowing like red flame, that had been piled up beside the potions cabinet.
Snape quickly identified and scanned his office, then walked over to the pile of red, reached out his hand and picked out the odd one. The delicate, fragrant roses blossomed with enthusiasm, and the girls' songs and the happy notes of the acoustic guitar came to him as if they were humming to him.
"Sorry, Professor..." From the doorway came the slightly embarrassed voice of the singing master. Snape looked back darkly and saw that the little blonde girl was wearing a long linen dress and slippers that he had not yet changed into, and that she was holding in her slender hand a flame-red flower very similar to his, its bright color tingling slightly on Aurora's running cheek.
"Well, Amanda accidentally picked up the wrong one this afternoon. But I have chosen a new one from the greenhouse, the one you wanted." "Aurora said, tentatively handing over the dragon's blood." Would that, would that... Let me take it?"
Dim basement, two bonuses like two beating hearts.