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Chapter 26: The Magic Behind Lettuce Accident
🕑 Added 2024-12-20 10:55:01 +0000 UTCIn a dimly lit room, pale light emanated from wall-mounted lanterns, casting long shadows over everything.
"…Your friend was that witch?" Harry asked in shock. "But blinding someone is against wizarding law, isn’t it?"
"Yes."
"But by then, her mental state was already deteriorating," Viktor said slowly.
"In fact, ever since the witch brought the lettuce into her care, her personality became increasingly extreme, harboring an unnatural hostility toward the outside world, completely different from how she was when I first met her."
"But after she banished the lettuce for a while, she finally realized her instability and came to me, trying to resolve it."
"That’s when I discovered the lettuce she had cultivated was toxic and had already caused irreversible damage to her magical abilities."
Viktor seemed to recall the witch’s incredulous, despairing expression and her anguished wail—a sound filled with anguish when she learned she would never wield magic again.
After a pause, he continued, "The witch initially sought to develop magical lettuce to achieve eternal youth. However, she overlooked the fact that the lettuce variety she chose was poisonous. While it granted her an alluring magical charm, it also left her perpetually irritable and insatiable, ultimately corroding both her body and mind until she succumbed to the toxicity."
"Actually, the reason the prince fell in love with the lettuce princess in the first place was that her mother had consumed lettuce for every meal during pregnancy. As a result, she herself became like a giant head of lettuce. Everyone around her was profoundly affected by this magical influence."
A chill ran down Harry’s spine as he suddenly recalled a term he’d read in A History of Magic:
"So, this was a magical accident?"
"Precisely."
Viktor nodded.
"The villager’s craving for the witch’s lettuce was a manifestation of her lack of resistance to magic. Pregnancy further weakened her defenses. The witch wanted to raise a child imbued with the lettuce’s magical properties to amplify its effects, but she ended up being undone by her own creation."
"What happened to the witch?"
"She died."
"She sacrificed everything, only to be met with the answer ‘irreversible,’" Viktor said casually.
Harry finally understood the story, feeling a lingering unease. He resolved that whatever magic he studied in the future, the first priority would always be to check for potential dangers thoroughly.
Viktor left the topic there.
What he didn’t tell Harry was that when the witch first showed him her cultivated lettuce, he had immediately recognized its toxicity. Yet, he chose not to inform her.
Instead, he watched as her obsession with youth grew, ultimately consuming her completely—
After all, who else would trade their life for a prophecy as trivial as "don’t touch the lettuce"?
It was through this incident that Viktor conceived the idea of coming to Hogwarts.
Searching for clients one by one was too inefficient. If the entire wizarding world knew about his prophecy abilities, and if young witches and wizards were taught early that "prophecies can solve many problems," clients would soon come knocking at his door, eager to pay anything.
Then, he could choose with whom to make deals, while sitting at home and enjoying a steady stream of visitors.
Viktor thought about it and felt his plan had great potential.
Back in the present, Viktor retrieved a leather bag from under the table after finishing his explanation about the lettuce.
The bag appeared heavy, seemingly filled with many items. Under Harry’s curious gaze, Viktor emptied it onto the table, revealing several green vegetables with white stalks, oval leaves, and wavy edges.
Harry immediately recognized them:
Lettuce.
Magical lettuce!
"These are the remnants of her magical lettuce," Viktor explained. "I’ve studied them for some time and discovered they have a slight effect on divination. When peeled and chopped, they can be mixed with spices to produce a spirit-enhancing smoke…"
Before he could finish, he noticed Harry backing away in alarm. Viktor added, "Don’t worry; its toxicity won’t affect you."
Harry reluctantly accepted the lettuce, then asked curiously, "Why not?"
"Your willpower is stronger than most people’s, so you won’t be influenced by the lettuce’s magic. You’ll only feel mildly thirsty near it. This aptitude isn’t related to age—it might be because… well, your soul is a bit bloated."
"Alright, enough chatter. Please help me chop these into small pieces," Viktor said, handing Harry a small knife and then opening the door to the fireplace with a casual wave. He gently nudged Harry outside.
"You can use the table out there."
"Oh, alright," Harry replied, still processing Viktor’s comment about his "bloated soul." Unable to make sense of it, he carried the lettuce to the worktable outside.
But as he turned back toward the office, he caught a glimpse of Viktor.
Inside, the professor had retrieved the leather bag and was now pulling out a black cloak, seemingly preparing to nap. His desk was spotlessly clean, devoid of any work documents.
—Wait a minute, was the professor planning to slack off while Harry did all the work?
Harry: "…"
He stared blankly at the closed fireplace, a flicker of doubt crossing his mind: Could Professor Viktor really just be lazy?
After a moment of hesitation, Harry dismissed the thought. The professor’s sinister demeanor didn’t align with such a mundane theory. He quickly chastised himself for his suspicion.
With a mix of curiosity and determination, Harry arranged the magical lettuce on the divination classroom’s table. Once laid out, their massive size became apparent—each head of lettuce was as long as Harry’s torso.
Raising the knife, Harry sliced through the center of the largest lettuce.
The ancient-looking white blade he wielded was strange but extremely sharp. With a single motion, the lettuce split cleanly in half, revealing its translucent green flesh and a small trickle of juice. As the lettuce was cut open, a faint, thirst-inducing fragrance filled the air.
Thirst.
Harry shivered and immediately stepped back, covering his nose with one hand while awkwardly stretching out his arm to continue chopping.
Slice… slice…
The soft sound of lettuce being chopped echoed through the classroom.
During the task, Harry encountered nothing particularly unusual. Though the thirst intensified slightly after cutting three heads of lettuce, it was no worse than the sensation of eating an overly salted dish. It was hard to imagine these vegetables once drove a witch to madness.
But if just one head of lettuce made him thirsty, how overwhelming must it have been to stand next to the human incarnation of lettuce?
He shuddered at the thought.
Viktor’s next class was scheduled for around 3 PM. In the meantime, Harry delivered the chopped lettuce, earning himself a handful of enchanted candies as a reward.
The candies, made specially by house-elves, were not only delicious but also capable of crawling across the table like tiny spiders.
As Harry left, he asked, "Professor, are you planning to use these lettuces to enhance students’ spiritual sensitivity?"
"Yes, though that’s only part of the purpose," Viktor said nonchalantly, carefully placing the lettuce into a small dish as though handling a treasure.
"The other is to scare off at least half the students."
