"By the way, you mentioned Miss Davis?" Professor Sprout asked, gently placing a huge pod into the tray.
Anthony precisely picked out beans along the seam. "Yes, second-year Slytherin, Roger Davies' sister. What about her?"
Professor Sprout hesitated and said, "I'm not sure... That girl has something unsettling about her. I think she might not be very popular with classmates, often left over when pairing up, so I often plant herbs with her."
"So...?"
"So I noticed she always has a potion smell, not the kind from brewing but from long-term consumption... You know, I'm an herbologist. I often cooperate with those potion people... I'm a bit worried she's taking large amounts of medicine, but Poppy says that's not the case. I also asked Davis. She said I must have smelled wrong, that she'd just come from the Potions corridor..."
Anthony said surprised, "Drug addiction?"
Professor Sprout also jumped. "No, not that serious. Potions are much better than those Muggle things... I just think she might constantly need injury medicine, chronic insomnia, or very poor health... I don't know." She shook her head. "Perhaps I really misjudged. That would be a good thing."
Because Tracey's Herbology grades were always good and class performance excellent, Professor Sprout never gave her detention and thus didn't have many opportunities for private communication with her.
"I'll pay attention," Anthony promised and fed the pod shells to the magical Venus flytrap eagerly reaching over.
Friday was another overcast day. Continuous rain made even the castle's corners exude moss breath. Cold drilled into bone crevices with dampness. Only flames crackling in the fireplace baked the surroundings dry and warm.
Anthony hung his coat by the fireplace and commanded chairs to become appropriate size. "Sit, Davis."
"Snargaluff pods?" Tracey looked puzzled at the table.
"Right, we've been harvesting these things recently," Anthony said, indicating she could also put her scarf and gloves by the fireplace. "This is the last batch. Trouble you to help me shell them."
He'd specifically stopped Professor Sprout from helping after finishing the pods this afternoon and left these Snargaluff pods for evening detention. Professor Sprout told him this was third-year Herbology content, but he wasn't surprised Tracey could recognize them.
Tracey nodded, skillfully rolled up her sleeves, and sat down. "Yes, Professor."
Anthony carefully looked at her and didn't sense wounds on Tracey—as a necromancer, he was confident in this sensitivity—so the good news was she at least had no difficult-to-heal injuries. But her dark circles were heavy, made her complexion even paler, and the whole person looked somewhat tired and dazed.
"Be careful not to drop them on the floor. Though I estimate you don't need my extra reminders?"
Tracey silently opened a pod and carefully poured beans into the bucket. Those few shiny little things rolled gurgling to the wooden bucket bottom.
"Very good," Anthony said, pulled out a chair and sat opposite her, and pinched open a pod. "Today's detention content is these pods. When you finish processing them, you can return to your dormitory."
His opposite student's hand movements quickened somewhat.
"How was this week?" Anthony moved the full wooden bucket away and replaced it with an empty bucket beside the table.
Tracey thought and said, "Very good, thank you. And you?"
"Excellent," Anthony said.
After finishing Pansy's detention, he had plenty of evening time for research and lesson preparation. Going to the greenhouse to chat and work with Professor Sprout pleased him. Hagrid sent over a few unicorn tail hairs as compensation for never seeing unicorns during his visits. After losing the driver election, Mr. Weasley tirelessly wrote asking about his schedule, seemingly wanting an "accidental" encounter with students.
Tracey smiled. "That's wonderful." She volunteered, "Thank you for allowing me to watch the meteors last time."
Anthony looked critically at the bean in his hand. "It's nothing. Don't mind it. Were there stars in Tuesday's Astronomy class?" He held it up to the light and still threw it into the waste pile.
"No," Tracey said. "Still overcast. We memorized another class of star charts."
Anthony said regretfully, "That's rather unlucky." He asked half-jokingly, "Any night wandering recently, Miss Davis?"
Given the concentration of darkness under her eyes, he guessed the real answer was "yes," even though he didn't expect to hear an honest reply.
Tracey actually hesitated for a moment before saying, "No, Professor Anthony."
Anthony said surprised, "That doesn't sound like a firm 'no,' Davis. Where have you been going at night recently?"
A trace of smile quickly passed Tracey's lips, then she said firmly, "No, Professor."
Anthony shook his head. "All right. I'll leave this question for Mr. Filch to investigate."
Anthony checked the beans in the wooden bucket, straightened up, and said, "Well done, Davis. You can go back."
Her movements were quite nimble. Now it wasn't even curfew time yet.
Tracey took her gloves and scarf from beside the fireplace, carefully wrapped herself up, and said goodbye to Anthony. "Thank you, Professor. I'm going back."
Anthony nodded. "Go. Don't let me catch you again, Davis." He checked the time. "Forget it. I'll escort you to the dungeons." Based on his previous time escorting Pansy, Tracey should reach the dungeons just about past curfew. Having a professor along was always more convenient.
Tracey lowered her head and accepted his kindness.
She seemed accustomed to walking a completely different route back to the dormitory than Pansy. Anthony walked with her turning and circling through stairs and corridors. She walked more and more off-track. Gradually, they encountered fewer and fewer students on the road and got farther and farther from the dungeons.
"Do you always walk this way?" When they climbed stairs for the third time, he couldn't help asking. Considering the destination was underground, Tracey's exercise amount was unimaginably large.
Lost in thought, Tracey suddenly woke with a start and face paled. "No... I went the wrong way."
Anthony looked at her thoughtfully and smelled a very faint potion scent. He looked around—abandoned corridor, bathroom door with posters—he recognized it. This was the Weasley twins' laboratory before moving into their current Room of Requirement.
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