"Locked..." said Lupin, trying to open the greenhouse doors.
"I got this. Alohomora," said Sirius, pointing his wand at the door.
A barely visible yellow light came from Sirius' wand as it reached the door the sound of the lock moving could be heard. Lupin tried again, and this time, he was able to open the doors.
Without wasting any more time the group of four boys entered. The lighting was very poor. Only a little could be seen thanks to the light of the half-moon that created a dim and gloomy atmosphere.
Shadows twisted around potted and magical plants of all kinds. Some plants have even developed bioluminescent properties at night, filling the greenhouse with a soft, ghostly glow. Instead of the daytime bustle, the nighttime sounds of the greenhouse are more subtle.
"How creepy..." whispered Sirius with a slight smile. He enjoyed doing night scans.
"Lumos," said James, and the tip of his wand lit up. The others did the same.
"Me and Lupin will go that way. You guys go down that path," suggested James, and they began their exploration of the greenhouse in search of Mandrakes.
Fifteen minutes passed, and there was no trace of Mandrakes. On the one hand, it was difficult to find them since they were underground and only their green leaves were visible. On the other hand, it was difficult to search with so much darkness and be careful that no poisonous plants attacked them.
"Look James!" called Lupin as he pointed in a direction. Red sparks could be seen high up in the greenhouse, as if from a flare.
"That must be Sirius and Toby. Come on," said James as they headed that way.
"Here they are. Let's get started as soon as possible," said Sirius, pointing to a pair of Mandrakes sleeping peacefully under the ground.
James from his cloak pulled out a wallet made of leather that his parents and grandfather had given him for his birthday. He opened it and unbelievably pulled out four earmuffs, passed three to the others, and put on his own.
"What a convenient gift," Lupin commented, but no one heard him as they had earmuffs. Sirius looked at the wallet with envy. He couldn't believe how James' parents agreed to gift such an object to his friend.
In this wallet, his parents placed an undetectable extension charm. This allowed a large number of objects to be carried inside.
In addition to the earmuffs, he took out a magic cauldron, two flasks of distilled water, and two larger flasks to place the cooked Mandrakes in. He poured the water into the cauldron until it was full, then set the water to heat and in the meantime stood in front of the Mandrakes.
"Silencio Barriera!" exclaimed James as he waved his wand, and a barely visible barrier encompassed an area around the Mandrakes and the four of them.
It had been several months since he had learned the Silencio Barriera Charm. The barrier had lasted more than two hours and covered a perimeter of several meters.
James looked at Toby, and they both nodded. They each headed for a Mandrake. Without further thought, James grabbed the roots tightly and pulled it away revealing a human-like creature that was crying and screaming as if it was being killed. Luckily, no one heard its cry or they would be dead or lying on the ground unconscious by now.
Without a second's hesitation, James threw the ugly creature into the cauldron where the water was already boiling. Toby did the same.
The group of friends watched as the Mandrakes were stewed in the water, while still crying and kicking with their tiny root arms. James with a wooden spoon, began to stir to maximize the extraction of its magical properties or so said the book that explained how to cook a Mandrake effectively.
After almost twenty minutes, the process was over. James filtered the mixture and stored the stewed Mandrake in the magic jars. "Ready," he commented as he took off his earmuffs.
"I felt a bit sorry for them," said Sirius, taking off his earmuffs and passing them to James.
They all looked somewhat amazed at Sirius, as it was rare for something to give him grief and more so a bug as horrible as the Mandrakes.
"Did I say something weird?" asked Sirius, not understanding the strange looks.
"No, no... By the way, won't Professor Sprout get mad when she notices that two adult Mandrakes are missing?" asked Lupin.
"She'll be mad, but it's not our problem as long as she doesn't catch us," replied Sirius with a slight smile.
"That's true. Besides, we're learning about Mandrakes much earlier. If she finds out she'll be happy," James commented.
'What kind of logic is that...' thought Lupin and Toby looking strangely at James.
'Let's go to greenhouse four. I don't think the Poison Tarantula is here," said James as he stuffed everything into his leather wallet.
"Why do you think that?" asked Lupin.
"The Mandrakes are seen in the second year. The Poison Tarantula is too dangerous for second-year students. They must have them in another greenhouse," replied James.
"Makes sense. Let's get going," nodded Lupin.
As they reached the door to greenhouse four, again Sirius cast Alohomora and they entered. This time they didn't split up, as if a Poison Tarantula attacked them they would be screwed for several reasons besides the deadly poison of the plant.
The four advanced in a simple formation. Two facing forward and two backward as they walked backward. Because they were slower and more alert, it took them longer to explore the greenhouse.
Unfortunately for the group, they found nothing after thirty minutes of exploration. So, they moved on to Greenhouse Five.
"There! Those two look just like the picture in the book!" exclaimed Toby as he squinted to get a better look, but the darkness didn't help.
They all looked up at the two plants resting in a pot. One next to the other. James kept his distance. He didn't want to get close and be attacked by the moving vines with deadly spikes.
"Shit. Why are there two so close to each other?" cursed Sirius.
The Poison Tentacula behind its many leaves has a giant eyeless head with fangs, but because of the darkness and the surrounding leaves. It wasn't visible. It also had many large vine-like appendages that acted as arms.
The vines were quiet. As if they were sleeping and harmless.
Sirius made an ugly expression. Now, he wasn't so sure about approaching and fighting the poisonous plant, "Come on. We've got their backs," said Lupin, nudging Sirius.
"Remember, we have to use Diffindo to cut their vines. Once we cut it off we will use Wingardium Leviosa to put them in a safe place to remove the leaves," said James in a serious tone, looking at Sirius.
The Cutting Charm (Diffindo) is used to cut something with precision. It is usually taught in the second year, but James had taught it to the others in the Room of Requirement before. As for James, he had already learned it before he started at Hogwarts.
"I don't see very well. It's going to be hard to defend with Aeromanteo..." said Sirius doubtfully. The only light that helped them were Lupin and Toby's Lumos. Aeromanteo has to be cast at the right moment which makes it difficult and more so having poor vision.
Also, that they didn't know what the speed of the creepers was, "Don't use Aeromanteo. I'll take care of the defense for both. Just try to use Diffindo when the plant stretches its vines," said James.
Using Aeromanteo with such low visibility was very dangerous and more so when the plant had a deadly poison, and they didn't know its speed. So he would use Protego to protect both of them.
"What enchantment will you use to protect us?" asked Sirius with seriousness in his tone.
"Just trust me, mate," said James with a smile, and patting Sirius' shoulder.
"Okay," Sirius nodded without a second's hesitation. This surprised James. He was going to tell him that he would be using Protego but decided to joke a bit to lighten the mood. He didn't think Sirius would agree so easily.
Sirius considered James his first and best friend since he arrived at Hogwarts, if there was one person he trusted it was James. Even more than his family (except for his uncle and cousin Andromeda), as unbelievable as that sounded.
The two began to walk slowly. Approaching the two plants that seemed quiet and harmless. They couldn't shoot them right away, as they needed them to stretch their vines so they could cut them and bring back the leaves.
When they entered the perimeter of the two plants it seemed as if they had been alerted to the presence of intruders. Their menacing arms moved slowly until in an instant four vines launched themselves at James and Sirius who were startled by the sudden attack.
'Shit! What's that speed?' thought James in surprise. The speed was on par with Erika a fifth-year student. He never thought they could be that fast. He had underestimated them.
Luckily he hadn't decided to try to defend himself with Aeromanteo or he would have been screwed.
"Protego!" exclaimed James, conjuring an invisible shield that covered both him and Sirius. The four angry vines hit some sort of barrier that blocked them.
Sirius wore an expression of surprise and horror. He almost didn't count it he thought. Without James' Protego, he couldn't have defended himself not even Aeromanteo would have worked for him as he didn't have such fast reflexes.
However, Sirius didn't stand still and counterattacked, "Diffindo!" he exclaimed with determination aiming at a vine. From his wand came a light blue light that cut the vine with precision.
James also managed to cut another vine with Diffindo, "Let's move back!" said James as he and Sirius moved away from the range of the vines.
At a safe distance, they used Wingardium Leviosa to move the two vines towards them and remove their leaves from a safe place.
"Phew... that was close," said Sirius, sitting on the floor and wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Yes..." said James with a frown.
He underestimated the speed of the Poison Tarantula. If he didn't have Protego they would be in dire condition. Maybe he could have tried to use Aeromanteo and managed to deflect a creeper, but Sirius wasn't as skilled as he was at that enchantment.
Besides, it wasn't just one vine, he would have had to deflect two vines and each one was aimed at different places on his body. Which rendered Aeromanteo useless, unless he had perfect nonverbal casting and reflexes allowing him to cast two Aeromanteo quickly.
"Are you all right?" asked Lupin and Toby worriedly. Seeing how dangerous the Poison Tarantulas could be they realized how reckless they were being.
"Yeah, thanks to my friend's Protego, it went perfectly," said Sirius with a big grin as he rested an arm on James' shoulder.
"That's amazing, James..." said Lupin. Although he was getting used to James' prowess at offensive and defensive incantations, plus James kept practicing, so it wasn't so crazy that this one was so advanced it was very rare for an 11-year-old student to know Protego. There were adult wizards, who couldn't even throw a protego as fast as James.
Toby was also looking admiringly at James. He knew Protego was an advanced defensive charm.
"Luckily, I was able to react in time..." said James with a slight smile, calmed down by Sirius' attitude.
"Right. Let's pick up those damn hard-earned leaves," said Sirius as he looked at the vines that despite being cut off still had slight movements.
After removing the leaves being as careful as possible they left the greenhouse with the invisibility cloak. Thus ending their most dangerous nocturnal excursion so far.