Susan stared at him for a long moment, half-lidded with disbelief. "Is that what I asked? I meant: how did Madam Pince allow you in?"
"Because I have the Head of House's permission," Leonard said. "Professor Sprout told me to borrow this book from the Restricted Section."
"This one?" Ernie leaned in, curious. "What's it about?"
Ernie had always been the type to ask the moment a question popped into his head—unlike Justin, who would hesitate first.
"Dangerous magical plants native to Europe," Leonard said plainly.
Professor Sprout had given Leonard an assignment: pick one plant from European Dangerous Plants Compendium and study it in depth.
The book included bitterthorn, which Leonard had already grown, as well as mandrake that hadn't matured yet, and Venomous Tentacula. He was familiar with all of them. He could've easily skipped reading entirely and just told Professor Sprout he was studying one of those plants.
But Leonard couldn't be bothered with that kind of half-hearted shortcut. Learning was learning. When a professor was genuinely teaching you and putting effort into you, trying to trick your way through only cheated yourself in the end.
So Leonard chose a plant called Blood Grape.
As the name suggested, it was a grapevine. It really did grow delicious grapes.
The problem was, it ate meat.
It had no roots, but it was extremely active, capable of crawling across the ground to hunt for prey.
Leonard couldn't quite picture a grapevine slithering along the floor, but no matter how you imagined it, a plant that crawled around looking for prey was absolutely his kind of thing.
If he hadn't seen this book, he wouldn't even have known it existed.
"Dangerous magical plants…" Susan murmured. "I feel like most magical plants are pretty dangerous. Like Devil's Snare—we studied that. Just the name is terrifying, even if it's afraid of light."
"Some are dangerous in the usual way, and some are on a completely different level," Leonard said. "It's like magical creatures. There are Puffskeins you can keep as pets, and then there are things like Acromantulas."
He was mid-sentence when two people suddenly darted up behind him and clapped their hands onto his shoulders.
"Leonard!" George shouted, practically vibrating with excitement. "We did it!"
Fred chimed in just as loudly. "Yeah! We did it! We finally finished Phase Two!"
They looked absolutely wretched—covered in dust, and with a stray weed stuck in Fred's hair so he looked like he'd been branded with some ridiculous flag.
If they hadn't opened their mouths, Leonard would've thought they were refugees who'd wandered in from somewhere.
Leonard gave them a complicated look and said nothing.
George and Fred blinked, confused. They were about to speak again when they suddenly felt a wave of killing intent behind them.
A shadow fell over the two of them.
They turned their heads stiffly and saw Madam Pince, her face dark as the bottom of a cauldron.
"Out," Madam Pince said coldly.
"Yes, ma'am!" George and Fred didn't dare squeak. They spun around and fled without a single extra word.
This was the library's tyrant. Nobody was safe in front of Madam Pince. Even the headmaster would get thrown out if he dared to be too loud in her territory.
Watching George and Fred scuttle out, Leonard barely held back his laugh. He was just about to go back to his book when he felt that same murderous pressure settle on him.
Leonard looked up blankly and met Madam Pince's stare.
"You too," Madam Pince said in the same icy tone.
Leonard: …
What the hell? George and Fred dragged him down with them. They were the ones shouting—what did that have to do with him?
Still, no matter how annoyed he was, Leonard obediently closed the book and prepared to leave.
"Wait. Leave the book." Madam Pince snatched European Dangerous Plants Compendium straight out of Leonard's hands. "Restricted Section books are not permitted to leave the library."
Leonard: …Fine.
By the time Leonard reached the library entrance, empty-handed, he saw George and Fred whispering together, grinning like they'd just pulled off the greatest prank of their lives.
So it really had been deliberate.
They'd long since figured out Madam Pince's habits. She had a strange sort of "collective punishment" rule: if someone made a racket, she didn't only throw out the noisy ones—she also threw out the person who caused the commotion in the first place.
Apparently it was because someone had once deliberately provoked others into losing their temper, counting on Madam Pince to kick the shouting person out for making a scene.
After it happened a few times, Madam Pince caught on. So she started kicking out both sides and letting them settle things elsewhere.
George and Fred knew perfectly well how that worked. The point of the whole stunt had been to get Leonard kicked out too.
And why?
No grand reason. It was just fun. If you insisted on a motive, it was that they'd been training outside, rolling around on the ground like monkeys, while Leonard sat comfortably in the library reading. It irritated them, so they decided to get a little revenge.
The moment they saw Leonard, both of them immediately wiped the smiles off their faces and put on innocent expressions, as if they had no idea what had happened.
They even looked convincing.
Leonard's eye twitched as he strode up to them.
"Let's go," he said, cold and flat, as if Madam Pince's tone had rubbed off on him.
"Uh… go?" George asked, genuinely confused. "Where?"
"You said you succeeded, didn't you?" Leonard sneered. "You finished Phase Two. That means it's time for the assessment."
"Er… it's not that urgent," George said quickly, suddenly feeling danger creeping up his spine. "We can take it slow."
"Y-yeah," Fred added guiltily. "We… we've got something to do…"
They'd finally realized they might've pushed the joke too far. They'd been having a great time, but the person they'd targeted didn't look amused at all.
And it sounded like the target was about to settle the score.
The real problem was: if Leonard decided to "settle the score," they weren't sure they could win.
George and Fred exchanged a look. One glance was enough.
This place is not safe. Run.
They started to turn—
And then Leonard grabbed them both by the backs of their collars, one in each hand, and yanked them to a stop. That familiar, suffocating sensation hit immediately, like fate had seized them by the neck.
Since when was Leonard's grip this strong? If they hadn't stopped in time, they might've been strangled.
They turned back awkwardly and saw Leonard wearing a distinctly malicious grin.
"Don't go anywhere, you two," Leonard said, eyeing them like prey. "Why wait for another day? Let's test, right now, exactly how far your magical training has come."