Mandatory mandrakes (Was: Albus Dumbledore: the myth and the man)

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 96999


> Potioncat:
> I'm not sure, but IIRC, the original question or concern was that the 
> mandrakes appearing at the beginning of term was a hint that DD knew 
> he would be needing them.  I still think that if DD anticipated 
> petrification, he should have obtained mature mandrakes.  On the 
> other hand, why did they wait for this batch to mature?  Wouldn't you 
> think they could have gotten mature mandrake root and chopped it up 
> for the potions?
> 
> And as I think of it, wouldn't you think there would already be 
> mature mandrakes at Hogswarts?  For that matter, if Mandrake is that 
> hard to get, why teach it to 2nd years, why not to an older group?
> Potioncat

Annemehr:
Perhaps a simple explanation is that mandrakes are indeed hard (and
expensive) to get, so that Professor Sprout only manages to do so,
say, once every five years or so.  Thus, when she does have mandrakes,
she teaches them to every year's students who haven't already seen
them.  The only problem with this theory is that, as far as I know,
mandrake plants are not actually that rare.  On the other hand,
*magical* mandrakes may indeed be rarer than mundane ones, similar to
wand trees and normal trees.

Annemehr