"Neville? What are you doing here?" Rhys asked in surprise.
"Well, it's like this…" Neville took a wooden box out from his robes and told Rhys about what Professor White had done earlier in the Hufflepuff common room.
"Oh? May I take a look?" Rhys immediately remembered that Helga had created this invention specifically to filter students with outstanding talent. He hadn't expected her to leave it with Neville.
He tried it himself and found that it did indeed demand a very high level of sensitivity to magic. But for Rhys, who was thoroughly versed in magical flow, guiding the little balls into their corresponding holes was child's play.
For a brief moment, Rhys was tempted to take this little device back to Slytherin House and let the students there try it out.
But after thinking it over, he abandoned the idea. First, dealing with two students had already drained most of his energy. Second, what if some people he thoroughly disliked turned out to have extremely high talent?
Teaching them would disgust him, but not teaching them would feel like wasting talent. So it was better not to test at all. As long as he didn't test, he wouldn't know their talent, and it wouldn't count as wasting it.
As for taking talented students under his wing and personally teaching them, ever since Daphne got involved with magma, Rhys had very little confidence in that regard.
"So, Neville, you're here to return this box?" After handing the box back to Neville, Rhys asked an extra question.
"Yes." A smile bloomed on Neville's face. "I can do it now too!"
As he spoke, he demonstrated it right in front of Rhys. Sure enough, after just a few seconds, four crisp clicks sounded, and all four beads fell neatly into their corresponding holes.
Rhys's eyes widened at once. The level of magical control Neville displayed was exceptionally good. But that made things strange. If Neville had such excellent talent, why hadn't Helga taken him on as a student?
Could it be that…?
Sure enough, after asking, Neville told Rhys that he had only mastered the trick after a period of practice. Before that, the time it took him to guide the balls into the correct holes had been far longer than it was now.
"That day in the common room, I was too nervous and ended up overshooting with the beads," Neville said with an embarrassed chuckle, his round face turning slightly red.
Rhys nodded silently. He had to admit that he now looked at Neville in a new light, though he also felt a bit regretful. Neville did have talent in magical control, but it still hadn't reached the standard Helga required for taking on a student.
Only those who could return the balls to their places within ten seconds the very first time they touched the box could truly be considered up to their standards. In Neville's case, it could only be said that he had talent.
If Helga hadn't taken on any students yet, that would have been one thing. Unfortunately, she had already accepted Cedric, and it would be difficult for her to spare the energy to teach another student with merely average talent.
What a pity.
After burying that trace of sympathy for Neville deep in his heart, Rhys was just about to knock on Helga's office door when Neville asked him a question as well. Why had he come here? Was it to ask about Defense Against the Dark Arts?
Neville's words amused Rhys. If anything, Helga would be the one coming to ask him questions.
"I'm here to ask Professor White to design a puppet for me." As he spoke, Rhys told Neville about his visit to Professor Sprout earlier.
"Compass grass? Can I take a look?" Neville's interest was immediately piqued. As a boy who loved Herbology, he simply couldn't resist the temptation of seeing with his own eyes a rare plant that was said to have gone extinct long ago.
Rhys wasn't stingy. He directly took out the box containing the compass grass and handed it to Neville.
Carefully opening the box and holding his breath as he examined the compass grass inside for a while, Neville finally showed a look of complete satisfaction.
"If only I could draw, I could sketch it," he said with genuine feeling.
"You've heard of compass grass?" What surprised Rhys more was that, judging from Neville's reaction, he seemed to have known of its name for a long time. That was rather rare, because this herb was mainly famous among Muggles.
In the magical world, aside from witches and wizards who specialized in Herbology, almost no one had heard of it.
"Yes, I read about it in a book. Its extinction was such a pity. I just didn't expect to see a specimen here…" As he said this, Neville suddenly remembered something. Hadn't Rhys just mentioned that he went to Professor Sprout's office to look for a way to revive plants?
"Rhys, what did Professor Sprout say?" Thinking of this, Neville became visibly excited, asking in a voice that trembled slightly with anticipation.
"She did give me a formula, but the steps are far too complicated. That's why I'm considering asking Professor White to design an automated puppet to help me grow the herbs needed for the recipe."
"Um… could I take a look at the formula?" After learning that Professor Sprout really did have a recipe that could bring plants back from the dead, a wave of genuine joy rose in Neville's heart. A few seconds later, curiosity about the formula took over. Driven by that curiosity, he mustered his courage and asked Rhys about it.
Rhys had no intention of keeping such knowledge to himself. He directly took out the parchment with the formula written on it and pressed it into Neville's hand.
"It really is a complicated recipe," Neville said after reading through the process recorded on the parchment, feeling that it was indeed extremely complex and cumbersome.
"So it's better to have Professor White design an automated puppet."
"Rhys—"
"Hmm?"
Neville's entire face turned bright red as he told Rhys that he was willing to try helping him grow the herbs needed to prepare the Resurrection Water.
A puzzled expression appeared on Rhys's face. Hadn't he already said that he planned to have Professor White design an automated puppet to grow the herbs?
"But puppets are expensive, aren't they?" Neville rarely voiced his own opinion so directly. He truly wanted to take part in the work of reviving the compass grass.
Rhys was about to tell him that money wasn't an issue for him, but the words reached his lips and were swallowed back down.
"Alright then, I'll be troubling you…" He hesitated slightly, because he wasn't sure whether Neville could really handle this task. But it didn't matter. Letting him try was fine. At worst, if he failed, Rhys could just go find Helga later and have a puppet made after all.
"That's great!" Seeing Rhys agree, Neville was so excited he almost jumped on the spot. He repeatedly assured Rhys that he would definitely take good care of those herbs and the compass grass.
Rhys nodded, then pushed open the door to Helga's office.
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI