Dear Miss Emsworth,

I do hope my letter finds you well.

I have been given your name as an eminent botanist who may be able to address my query, I shall endeavour not to take too much of your time but would very much appreciate your assistance.

I am a fifth-year student at Hogwarts, currently undertaking a year-long botany study as part of my class with Professor Skeeter. I am enjoying this project very much and hope it is something that would also interest you. The plant I have picked is the Vampiric Vegetation species and I have successfully grown four specimens to a height of approximately three inches since the start of school term. From my reading, I have gleaned that the growth of the species can be affected by the presence of fresh blood in the soil. To explore this possibility I have decided to inoculate three of the four specimens with rat, newt and human blood respectively.

My first query is whether there is actual scientific merit to this theory as the texts I have read are mostly anecdotal and somewhat contradictory, I would enjoy hearing your expert opinion to be able to add this to my project discussion. So far the variance between the specimens is minimal, with the only difference being that the specimens given human blood are perhaps slightly darker, but within normal growth variance.

My second query is about the blood. For both practical and moral ease I have had the school infirmary draw samples of my own blood for the inoculation, approximately 3 cc have been administered so far over three months. This, however, poses a problem, for which I unfortunately expect to lose marks for oversight in planning. I am a metamorphmagus, and I am now curious whether this will affect the outcome of my study. In your belief or experience, would the administration of metamorphmagic blood likely have any additional consequences beyond what would be expected from normal human blood?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the matter.

Sincerely yours,
Miss Antelope Grace