Greenhouse 9

Greenhouse 9 is full of greenery. Trees line the walls with smaller shrubs grow next to the path winding through the greenhouse. The space is divided into smaller garden beds, each separated from the path and each other by a border of black stones. You step over the boundary and find yourself in another world.

Whereas it had seemed like there has been only one row of trees before the glass walls, now there’s a whole forest. The trees are spaced apart and are dropping brightly coloured leaves onto the forest floor. The understorey is made up of different types of bushes and shrubs, many of them with a wide range of colourful flowers. The whole sight is stupendous, especially since the garden bed looked only a few metres deep.

“Beautiful, isn’t it”, Neville says.

You turn to look at him. In this environment, Neville has shed the mildly anxious look that he usually wears. Here, the trees and bushes are his equals. Here is where he belongs. You’re sure that Neville is going to be a great Herbologist one day.

“Where are we?” you ask in a hushed tone.

“This is one of the Garden Beds”, Neville explains. “They’ve been enchanted with Extension Charms so that we have as many different environments as we need. All we need to do is make a new bed and charm it. Though I also enjoy just walking around in them, just to see.”

Neville breathes in deeply. You’re loathe to disturb him, but you are here on a mission.

“So, can we find rue here?” you ask.

Neville looks around appraisingly.

“I don’t think so”, he says. “It feels a bit too wet for it. We should try somewhere else.”

You follow Neville out, still marvelling at how the forest transforms into a small group of trees in one step. Neville walks down the path, stopping at each garden bed to examine it. It seems like he can sense what they’re like and if they have the plant you’re looking for. Finally, he stops in front of one garden bed that looks the same as the others.

“This one seems likely”, Neville says.

You step into the garden bed. Until the previous bed, this one is a low hilltop. You look around and notice that you’re on a small island. There aren’t many big trees, but there are a lot of small shrubs. Neville walks over to one of them and picks a leaf. He immediately jerks back.

“This is it”, he says.

The plant is small and weedy. It has bluish leaves and yellow flowers, as Neville’s book describes, but until the flowering bushes in the previous garden bed you were in, this plant is quite boring. Nevertheless, you pick a handful of stems. This should be enough for your potion.