Hello there, SOUP readers! I have returned from my adventures in Borneo with some exciting tales to share with you all. But first, I would like to apologise for the frequent disappearances. They are not intentional, I assure you. I'm sure you know what it's like, though. When a splendid expedition with potentially wonderful discoveries is dangled temptingly under your nose, it's tough to say no!
This time, Edward and Christopher virtually blackmailed me into returning to the jungles with them by saying that they would tell my darling Editors that they needed to replace me full-time with Tabitha. We can't have that now, can we? I need this job to at least be able to pay rent. That is beside the point though. I just think they were using this month's theme of Herbology as an excuse to drag me out of my comfy library and actually get a little more sun. As if I have not had enough this year already because of them.
But I digress. You don't all need to hear about my troublesome friends and their antics. I am sure you are much more interested in what I have to tell you.
This month's article will be neither a spell nor a potion but a story about how both were needed to prevent a catastrophe. It all begins in the summer of 1972 in the small town of Simunjan in Malaysia. It was a happy place, and its inhabitants were and still are mostly Malay and Iban people. Everyone co-existed peacefully, and the community thrived. However, there was one exception to this: a particularly foul-tempered and belligerent old wizard named Antonius Corazore. According to the Bones brother's father Charles. Who I incidentally met recently: the old sourpuss was very protective over his land and despised the muggles who wandered through it on a regular basis to reach the river on the other side - especially those who trampled all over his precious potion-making plants. It seems that that frustration made him decide to use his herbology skills in the most devious and underhand way possible.
After a little wrangling and a few shady dealings with some passing traders under cover of night, Corazore took possession of half a dozen young Devil's Snare plants and a generous supply of Venemous Tentacula seedlings. I bet you can guess where this is going can't you? You would be right, of course. The malicious old goat then spent several long months creating hybrids between the two plants that were both as vicious as a Boa Constrictor and as poisonous as a Cobra. Needless to say, it was also resistant to all measures to control it, such as the Lumos Solem spell that Devil's Snare usually shies away from and or the freezing spell usually used to pacify Venomous Tentacula.
As you can imagine, the whole situation got out of control at an alarming rate as the hybrids began to reproduce quickly. Their numbers appear to have tripled in just a matter of weeks. Placing Corazore under siege in his own home. If you are anything like me, I would say that it served him right if it wasn't for the distressing number of muggle children that disappeared at that time. The whole event triggered a massive response from the International Wizarding Confederation, and a large team of Aurors, Curse Breakers, and Herbologists were sent to the scene as a matter of urgency to suppress the growing infestation of violent, hungry vine monsters. From what I can gather from Charles, who was one of the ones called upon, there was a multitude of spells and potions that needed to regain control, and it took them over a week to stop the onslaught. I wish I had access to their records from the event so that I could figure out everything they used, but that is just me being an information sponge, as usual. It's not as if I would ever want to set anything unpleasant in motion, now is it? I simply do not have it in me. I assure you.
Corazore was, of course, arrested and sent to Azkaban for the rest of his life for his shenanigans. The Confederation took a very dim view of his actions, considering it was early in the rise of Lord Voldemort at the time. Who knows what would have happened if that nose-less pea brain had gotten hold of such a weapon? It doesn't even bear thinking about.
I think that is all from me, though, for now. I am not planning any more trips for the rest of the year, so my regular routine should return, and I will be back with more magical delights for you next month. That is, as long as Tabitha does not keep stealing my Quick Quotes Quill. I swear that girl needs to get her own.
So, until next time, lovely SOUP'ers. Be safe, don't get arrested for doing something silly and enjoy your casting and brewing! - Nikita