(Y/N)'s POV

The class was lined up across the two sides of a large trestle bench with about twenty different coloured pairs of ear muffs. Hermione stood to the left of (Y/N) and to the left of her was an empty space that they agreed to save for Harry.

After just a few minutes, (Y/N) saw Harry slink back into the Greenhouse and he quickly took his spot in between Hermione and Ron. Sprout stood at the the end of the bench and after doing a headcount she begun her lesson.

"We'll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"

To nobody's surprise, Hermione's hand was the first in the air. "Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," as much as (Y/N) loved Hermione's intelligence, she sounded like she had swallowed the required textbook. "It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed, to their original state."

"Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor," said Professor Sprout. "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, quite dangerous. Who can tell me why?"

Hermione's hand shot up like lightning and almost hit straight into Harry's glasses. However, Sprout didn't take any notice of Hermione and looked around at the class. Deciding he might as well contribute something, (Y/N) lazily raised his hand into the air. "Ah yes (Y/N)."

"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it." As (Y/N) finished his sentence, there was a few gasps of horror from the class. Sprout went to speak but (Y/N) spoke first after he took one look at Hermione's face and saw her look of horror because she hadn't been chosen to answer.

Deciding to try and get more points to cheer her up, (Y/N) spoke, "It's only fully grown Mandrakes that can be fatal though. These ones can probably knock you out for about half a day but that's what the ear muffs are for. As long as anyone doesn't give them a megaphone, we'll all be fine."

(Y/N) got a few chuckles from the class and Sprout gave him a smile. "Precisely (Y/N), twenty points to Gryffindor. Now, as (Y/N) said, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young." Sprout pointed to a row of deep trays and it didn't take more than five seconds before everyone started to shuffle to get a better look.

The Mandrakes themselves were tufty little plants, purplish green in colour, were growing in rows and there were about a hundred of them. At first they look unremarkable but if (Y/N) remembered right, what's beneath the leaves isn't pleasant to look out.

"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs," said Professor Sprout. People were desperate to seize a pair of earmuffs that weren't pink and fluffy, it was surprise a riot didn't break out. "When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered," said Sprout. "When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right — earmuffs on."

(Y/N) put the the earmuffs over his ears and after she could see everyone had their earmuffs on, Sprout put a pink fluffy pair over her ears and rolled up her sleeves. She grasped one of the tufty little plants firmly, and pulled hard.

As the Mandrake was fully revealed, (Y/N) wasn't thrilled he was right in remembering they don't look pleasant. Instead of plant roots, a small muddy and extremely ugly baby popped out of the earth. The leaves were growing out of its head. It had pale green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of its lungs.

Professor Sprout took a large plant pot and quickly plunged the Mandrake into it, burying the baby in the dark, damp compost until the tufted leaves were the only thing visible. Sprout dusted her hands, gave the class the thumbs-up and removed her own earmuffs.

"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, it's like (Y/N) said, their cries won't kill yet," she said as calm as possible, as if she had just watered a begonia. "However they will knock you out for several hours, and I'm sure none of you want to miss you first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. Four to a tray — there is a large supply of pots here — compost in sacks over there — and be careful of the Venomous Tentacula, it's teething."

(Y/N), Hermione, Harry and Ron grouped together and as (Y/N) rolled his sleeves up, because of his desperation to pot as many Mandrakes as he could, a curly-haired Hufflepuff boy came over.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley," the boy grabbed Harry's hand and began to shake it as (Y/N) went to put his earmuffs on but had them snatched away by Hermione. (Y/N) looked at her pleadingly but she gave him a stern look as if saying 'be polite'.

"Know who you are, of course, the famous Harry Potter ... and you're Hermione Granger — always top in everything ..." As he shook Hermione's hand, (Y/N) saw her beaming at his compliment. "Ron Weasley. Wasn't that your flying car?" Ron didn't beam, smile or have a positive facial expression. Instead he sort of winced, the Howler was clearly on his mind.

"You're (Y/N) (L/N)..." Justin stopped speaking and instead just stared at (Y/N), as the two stared at each other (Y/N) felt a wave of rage and hate crash down on him.

"Wow really? Am I? Never noticed." (Y/N) patted himself down and then turned his attention back to the tray but Justin seized him by the arm and once again (Y/N) felt that rage and hate crash over him.

"You're not well liked by Hufflepuff. Just a word of warning." Justin tightened his grip on (Y/N)'s arm but (Y/N) seized his wrist and squeezed it until Justin's grip loosened.

"Don't remember asking you to feel up my arm Justin. Cheers for the word of warning but personally, I couldn't give a shit what Hufflepuff thinks of me. What are you going to do? Be friendly and make me some cookies? Do me a favour, find a group and then piss off."

(Y/N) let go of Justin's wrist and watched him walk away. As (Y/N) turned his attention back to the tray he felt the rage and hate in him vanish. As (Y/N) dwelled on it he felt like the rage and hate was sort of artificial. Like they weren't his feelings.

Suddenly (Y/N) felt someone pinch the back of his neck and he turned around to see the disapproving faces of Hermione, Harry and Ron. "What?" Hermione's face went from disapproving to anger and she opened her mouth but as she did, Sprout gave the order to put their earmuffs on.

(Y/N) snatched the ones Hermione took from him and snapped them onto his ears to spare himself for any lectures. (Y/N) waited a few minutes before he saw people taking their Mandrakes out of the trays so (Y/N) did the same.

As he gripped the top of the Mandrake's tufty leaves, (Y/N) felt his anger rise again but this didn't feel artificial, it felt a lot more real. So, needing to vent some frustration, (Y/N) ripped the Mandrake from the tray before shoving it forcefully into a plant pot.

...

Harry's POV

Himself, Hermione and Ron gained envious looks from everyone in the class as they all made their way back to the castle. The class was sweaty, aching and covered in earth but the three of them were fine.

After (Y/N) and Justin had their argument, (Y/N) kept ripping the Mandrakes from their trays and shoved them into the pots and he didn't let Harry, Hermione or Ron help at all.

After Justin had left, Harry noticed the scowl on (Y/N)'s face and his obvious sour mood as he lost his temper with the Mandrakes. Hermione constantly gave him looks of annoyance because of his behaviour towards Justin but Harry didn't blame him.

Justin was polite towards the three of them but when he spoke towards (Y/N), the malice in his tone seemed completely unnecessary. Harry did have to admit (Y/N) wasn't the nicest either, it was justifiable since Justin was a bit of an arse, but Harry had to agree with Hermione that he went overboard.

Harry had seen (Y/N) angry before, but it was always more of a bothered anger, like when Ron had once spilled water on (Y/N)'s trousers at lunch. However, as (Y/N) spoke to Justin, (Y/N) had as much malice in his words as Justin did and it was clear it wasn't a bothered anger, (Y/N) was full of the same hateful anger Justin was full of.

However as the three walked from Greenhouse Thee, (Y/N) wasn't with them. This was because halfway through the lesson, a particularly angry Mandrake twisted itself around and used its sharp little fist to right hook (Y/N) and it left a large gash in his cheek. (Y/N) seemed unfazed by the injury but obviously Professor Sprout had instructed him to walk to the Hospital Wing.

(Y/N)'s POV

He sat there holding a cloth to his bleeding cheek as Madam Pomfrey made her way over to him with many remedies on a tray and bundles of clean rags. "I've told Pomona many times that if she insisted on teaching Mandrakes this year, that someone was bound to be hurt. Pull the cloth away."

(Y/N) sat there as Pomfrey took one of the rags, dabbed a maroon liquid on it and started to lightly press it into his cheek. (Y/N) winced as the liquid came into contact with his cheek, as even though it felt cold at first touch, it quickly began to grow hot and it burned his cut.

"Just to clear the dirt out (Y/N)." Pomfrey withdrew the rag as she spoke and dabbed more of the liquid on the cloth and pressed it back onto his cheek. "Once I can be sure there's no contamination in the wound, I'll send you on your way."

Pomfrey took another rag and dabbed a pale blue liquid into it and she begun to lightly trace it around his cut. This sensation felt cooler than the previous remedy and it alleviated any pain that the previous remedy left.

As Pomfrey worked she asked (Y/N), "What lesson do you have next?" As Pomfrey withdrew the rag and dabbed more liquid onto it, (Y/N) reached for his bag and pulled out his timetable.

"Transfiguration." (Y/N) skimmed the day's subjects as Pomfrey once again traced around his wound before placing the rag back on the tray and pulling out her wand.

"Transfiguration must be interesting. Never was a dull subject in my day." Pomfrey pressed her wand at the base of (Y/N)'s wound and she traced it down all the way to the end of the wound. "There, all healed. Now you should hurry to your Common Room and have a wash to get all this muck off. You might be late so take this note and give it to Minerva."

(Y/N) went to walk out of the Hospital Wing and as he reached the door he saw the gash itself was healed with no scar left behind. (Y/N) turned to Pomfrey and called out, "Thanks Pomfrey," before leaving the Wing completely.

...

(Y/N) opened the door of his Transfiguration classroom and noticed the class attempting to transfigured beetles into buttons. McGonagall gave him a stern look as he went to take his seat but (Y/N) handed her Pomfrey's note, her face became more lighthearted. "Mandrakes are always a bother. Sit next to Granger so she can bring you up to speed while I help others."

As (Y/N) took his seat Hermione gave him a glare as she let out a frustrated sigh before telling (Y/N) what he needed to do. She explained all he needed to do in terms of technique and even the best position of the beetle.

(Y/N) worked and had no problems in transfiguring his first beetle and managed to transfigure a handful more. However after transfiguring his thirteenth beetle into a button, a loud boom echoed in the class and when (Y/N) looked to the source he saw a thick grey smoke clouding two desks.

(Y/N) snickered as the smoke dissipated and Ron's face could be seen. (Y/N) snickered again but his face changed as the strong smell of rotten eggs hit him. (Y/N) let out a groan and returned back to his work.

...

After the lunch bell rang, (Y/N) made his way out of the classroom but did not make his way to the Great Hall for food. Instead he made his way over to Flitwick's classroom in hopes of catching the Professor before lunch ended.

(Y/N) knocked on the door before entering the classroom and announcing himself, "Professor Flitwick are you here?" As (Y/N) fully stepped into the room he saw Flitwick wiping down a blackboard from his previous class.

"Aah (Y/N). Wonderful to see you, is there something you need?" Flitwick gave him a smile as he collected numerous feathers from the desks around the room.

"I was just wondering if we could have a session now." (Y/N) gave Flitwick a hopeful look but unfortunately Flitwick shot him down.

"I would be happy to teach you something new over the weekend but right now isn't the be-"

"If you can't teach me right now, can I just use some of those dummies?" (Y/N) gave Flitwick
another hopeful look but once again was shot down.

"I think it would be be-"

"Professor please. I have Lockhart next lesson and Herbology left me with all this pent up frustration. I'd rather not curse him on the first day." This time Flitwick gave him a remorseful look before granting his request and allowing him to use the dummies.

(Y/N) spent the the first ten minutes of his lunch throwing various spells at dummies from his first year to ensure he could perform them correctly. He then decided to pull out Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 from his bag and flicked through its pages looking for a spell.

Deciding to practice Flipendo, (Y/N) repeated
the Knockback Jinx around seven times over the course of fifteen minutes before looking back into the book. (Y/N) reviewed the Severing Charm but decided against using it directly on the dummy and just practiced the pronunciation and the technique.

However as he repeated the motion, a large crash rang throughout the room and (Y/N) yelled out in shock. As he looked towards the commotion, he saw a large pile of books laying spread out across the room. "You shouldn't pile those so high Professor."

(Y/N) made his way over to the books and begun to sort them into three neat, short and separate piles before he heard Professor Flitwick. "(Y/N)."

(Y/N) turned towards Professor Flitwick and saw him looking in the direction of the dummy (Y/N) was using with a shocked expression. (Y/N) looked towards the dummy and saw its head had been separated from its body. "Professor, I'm so sorry I didn't mea-"

"It's quite alright (Y/N). It's just...I never expected you to be able to do that." Flitwick's expression turned from shock to pure excitement. "Bring out another dummy, we have some work to do."