Mandrake Madness/Transcript

Repotting Mandrakes
(The episode begins with an exterior shot of Solaris Academy's greenhouses, and cuts to Greenhouse 3, where Mrs. Rhoda Dendron is teaching her first-year Dragon and Gryphon students about mandrakes, which she writes with her left hand on the chalkboard.)

Mrs. Dendron: Today, we will be repotting mandrakes. Can anyone tell me what a mandrake is? (Carl and Lor raise their hands, and-surprisingly-so does Vivian.) Vivian?

Vivian: Mandrake, or mandragora, is a sentient plant whose roots are a powerful restorative. They are used to return living beings who are transfigured, cursed, petrified, the list goes on, to their original state.

Mrs. Dendron: Very good, Vivian my dear! Take ten points for Gryphon. However, we must also be careful around them because of their danger. Carl, can you tell us why?

Carl: The cry of a mandrake is fatal to any who hear it. My aunt Minerva works with preparing salves made of mandrake and using them for medicines.

Mrs. Dendron: Good boy, ten points to Dragon this time. As you can see, everyone, I have provided you all with noise-cancelling earmuffs (she gestures toward them with her left hand, and Carl picks up his purple pair while Tommy smiles at his orange ones) that will protect against the mandrakes' cries. Only put them on when I tell you, and I will signal you to remove them when it's safe. Right...earmuffs on.

(Everyone snaps on their earmuffs, including Mrs. Dendron, who rolls up her sleeves and pulls out the mandrake with her left hand. The mandrake's roots resemble a baby made of plant roots, and it is crying yet no one can hear its crying. Once Mrs. Dendron repots it, she flashes a thumbs-up with her right hand and everyone takes off their earmuffs.)

Mrs. Dendron: As our mandrakes are still young, their cries won't kill yet. However, they will render you unconscious for a while, so make sure your earmuffs are on tightly. I will signal when it is time to pack up.

Tommy: Sounds like a plan, teach!

Mrs. Dendron: Excellent, Tommy! Alright, everyone, partner up! We'll be repotting these in groups of two.

(To Carl's right, Lor scoots her desk next to Carl's, eager to be his partner.)

Lor: So, Carl...partner?

Evie: (scooting her desk to Carl from his left) Not so fast, Lor! Carl's my partner!

Lor: Says who???

Evie: Says me!

Carl: (aside to the audience) Oh, boy...they're gonna argue over me again, aren't they?

Lor: Oh, yeah?

Evie: That's what I said!

Lor: What you say doesn't matter, Evie.

Evie: Oh, bite me! (Behind Carl, Tommy gets a hungry look on his face.)

Carl: Lor's right, Evie. It's not what you say, it's what Mrs. Dendron says.

Mrs. Dendron: You got that right! And since you girls are having such trouble picking partners, I'll do it! So Lor, you can be partners with...Evie.

Evie: Eh, I can live with that.

Lor: Me too. You are my BFF, after all.

Mrs. Dendron: Carl, you're going to be partners with... (Carl looks anticipatingly as Mrs. Dendron stares around Greenhouse 3 before making her decision) ...Vivian.

Carl: Nice! I don't think I ever spoke to Vivian that much; I mean, I know who she is, but I don't know her that well.

Mrs. Dendron: Then this will be a fine time to get to know each other better. She's at that desk with the pots over there.

(Carl walks over to Vivian and takes a seat across from her. She weakly smiles at him.)

Vivian: Mrs. Dendron sure is something, isn't she?

Carl: I'll say! You and her are both elves, I noticed, and she's your Head of House too.

Vivian: You're half-right about the elf part; she's a pureblooded elf, and I'm only half-elf. While we half-elves do age like anyone else, our bodies grow at half the rate of a normal human or elf.