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

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 97375

-> Carol:
> It's fortunate that the mandrakes happened to be on hand, but there's
> no need to assume that they were there because Dumbledore anticipated
> needing them to revive petrified students. It's quite possible that
> Mandrakes are simply part of the Herbology curriculum for second-year
> student, who need to know about them for their OWLs in another three
> years. 
> 
> 
> 
> SB4E:
> 
> I'm not arguing that they were there for the reasons that have been
brought up in this thread...but if they are part of the curriculum for
2nd year, why would they need to procure them?  Shouldn't they always
have them on hand?  After all, there is a 2nd year class every year at
Hogwarts.
> 

Carol:
True. But the whole idea of the herbology class is to *raise* the
mandrakes, so they have to start out with baby ones, not the previous
year's crop. But because (I'm assuming) there are many uses for
mandrakes, and not just Madame Pomfrey but Snape as well frequently
needs them for potions, their lives are cut short before they can make
it into each other's pots to breed. Better to chop them up for magical
uses than to have promiscuously breeding mandrakes in the greenhouse
for second years to see! ;-)

Seriously, I think each year's crop of mandrakes gives up its life to
science, Hogwarts style. So Madam Pomfrey would have to order new baby
mandrakes every year, but off the page because Harry wouldn't be aware
of it. 

Carol