Chapter 148. The Split Devil's Snare
Hermione's findings about the "Chamber of Secrets" were nothing more than what was written in Hogwarts: A History: Salazar Slytherin had left behind a hidden chamber that housed a monster, which Slytherin used to purge Muggle-borns.
"Slytherin's Heir is definitely in Slytherin," Hermione said with certainty. "Only people from that House look down on a Muggle-born witch like me."
Wesson thought the first half of that sentence was pointless.
"Like Malfoy!" Harry added.
"A reasonable guess," Wesson said. "But we still need more leads."
With the Basilisk lying low, the case had reached an impasse.
There were no new attacks, and every lead had gone cold.
The matter suddenly became murky.
Wesson wanted to investigate, but there was nowhere to start. All he could do was continue to stop by the first-floor girls' bathroom to ask Moaning Myrtle and the Chinese Chomping Cabbage if anything unusual had happened.
Of course, there was still nothing.
Life at Hogwarts carried on.
Mid-November arrived quickly.
While nothing more came of the Basilisk, Wesson made a breakthrough in his research on mutagen.
With Luna's special ability, Wesson discovered that different plants absorbed the mutagen he emitted in different ways.
Most plants would stop absorbing after a certain point.
A few, however—such as Gulu and Devil's Snare—were the prodigies of the plant world and could continuously draw mutagen from him.
In other words, simply by observing how a plant absorbed mutagen, Wesson could pick out the naturally gifted specimens to cultivate.
However, this seemed possible only with Luna's help.
Wesson studied for a long time and still could not replicate Luna's ability.
In Greenhouse Three—
Remus Lupin and Wesson were working in the beds—they needed to transplant the Giggling Mushrooms into this plot today.
Giggling Mushrooms were bright red toadstools, their caps covered with colour-shifting spots.
Whenever anyone drew near, they would let out a "giggle," making that person laugh along.
They weren't lethal, but the laughter would continue for a full hour.
In short, they were poisonous mushrooms.
Blocking the poison was simple enough: a single Bubble-Head Charm did the trick.
While Wesson and Lupin worked, Luna followed behind them with a notebook, bouncing on her toes and stopping now and then to scribble on the page.
After they set the first mushroom, Lupin peered at Luna through the transparent bubble of his Bubble-Head Charm and asked Wesson, puzzled, "Who's the girl?"
"A Hogwarts student, first year," Wesson answered.
"First year?" Lupin looked surprised. "Don't you think she's a little young? What help could she be?"
"But she's extraordinarily gifted," Wesson said.
Luna's presence was irreplaceable. He had her record how every Giggling Mushroom was absorbing mutagen.
That way, he could pick out the gifted individual and watch it closely.
"Do you mean to mentor her? Like you do with Potter?" Lupin nodded and asked.
Like Harry?
Hearing this, Wesson glanced thoughtfully at Luna.
She was crouching, studying a mushroom with rapt attention, then making a mark in her notebook.
Indeed, though he hadn't known Luna long, all signs pointed to her being a very clever witch.
"Of course I'd like to," Wesson told Lupin.
Naturally, it was still too early to talk about that.
When the work was done, Wesson brought Luna back to his office.
He poured the girl a cup of hot cocoa.
Luna sat in a chair, swinging her legs, taking small sips, and humming a tune Wesson didn't recognise.
Then Wesson, pleased, looked over the notebook—Luna had already recorded the status of every Giggling Mushroom.
Among them, No. 33 was the most sensitive to Wesson's mutagen.
On the page, she'd written: No. 33—its appetite is marvellous!
Very Luna.
"Luna," Wesson shut the notebook and looked up at her. "Thank you for your help. I wonder—do you want any payment?"
"Payment?" Luna blinked her slightly prominent, silver-grey eyes.
"Like how Dad pays contributors to The Quibbler?" she asked.
Wesson nodded. "Something like that. It could be Galleons, or anything else you'd like."
"Then I don't need anything," Luna said, shaking her head. "There's nothing I want right now."
"You can ask for anything within my power," Wesson continued.
He very much wanted to know what interested Luna, since he'd surely need her help again later.
Luna tilted her head in thought, her carrot earrings swaying gently.
Her gaze wandered around Wesson's office and finally came to rest on the Devil's Snare that had stretched out from the suitcase and was watering the flowers on the windowsill.
"Mm…"
Noticing her gaze, Wesson shook his head helplessly. "That… probably won't do."
"What a pity," Luna said—though her face didn't look the least bit regretful.
Just then, two tendrils of Devil's Snare reached out towards Luna.
One thicker tendril twined around the middle of a thinner one, twisting lightly as if wringing a rope.
"Rrrip—"
With a tearing sound, a section of inky green vine—about a metre long—was cleanly separated.
The severed vine traced a graceful arc through the air like a living thing and floated gently into Luna's hands.
In her grasp, the Devil's Snare vine writhed like a lively little snake.
It coiled affectionately around Luna's wrist, and a tiny purple bud opened at the tip.
"Oh!" Luna's eyes widened in delight. She tapped the bud with a fingertip. "I like this."
Wesson stared, astonished.
It could do that?
He had not expected Devil's Snare to voluntarily separate a part of itself—an unheard-of phenomenon.
More astonishing still, the severed vine showed no sign of wilting; if anything, it brimmed with vitality in Luna's hands.
Wesson, however, wasn't puzzled for long.
After all, Devil's Snare was an aggregate of many lives; if it could join together, then separating was naturally possible as well.
It was just that this new individual probably wouldn't be as clever as the main body.
And as for the Devil's Snare itself, such a division posed no real problem.
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