ALL NOVEL Chapter 27: Skrewts
After reassuring Hermione who was worried about Ron's less than favorable reaction, we headed to our first class of the day, Herbology. On the way, perhaps as relief to the previous tension, Hermione harped on incessantly about OWLs.
"Have either of you even started studying for our OWLs yet? They're probably the most important exam we'll have!"
Ron shrugs, looking at me for support:
"Not really, Hermione. I mean, we still have time, right?"
"Time?! Ron, do you not know that they determine our future career!", Hermione retorted.
"Dunno, Fred and George got three each, I think they're doing fine..."
Just as my bushy-haired girlfriend was about to chide Ron for his laissez faire reply, I reminded:
"Look, can't you two can continue this later? Look, the greenhouse will be crowded today, and Professor Sprout won't care if you're at each other's necks there."
Both shared a hesitant glance before nodding in tacit understanding, quickly hurrying into the Herbology classroom. Fortunately for us three, the ensuing lesson merely involved collecting Bubotuber's pus, a plant that looks like squirming slugs with large swellings.
Squeezing them looked positively nauseating, but oddly satisfying and stress-relieving. After an unsaid truce, Hermione and Ron both abused their Bubotubers and got much more pus than required, earning a point each from the Head of Hufflepuff for "active participation".
A bell echoed, signaling the end of this lesson, and the class split. Us along with several Griffindors headed down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's wooden cabin, by the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The Half-Giant was standing outside his hut, one hand on the collar of his enormous but cowardly black hound, Fang.
A few open wooden crates laid on the ground at his feet, and as we drew closer, an ominous rattling noise reached our ears, occasionally interrupted by what sounded like small, Weasley-esque explosions.
"Mornin'!" beamed Hagrid. "Better wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this - Blast-Ended Skrewts!"
I'm reminded of the monstrosity in the books: half-manticore creatures with scales that eats rotten flesh, has no potion usage and did more damage to Harry than the Acromantuala and Voldemort combined. Noticing my unconscious shudder, Hermione glanced at the crates uneasily.
"Come again?" said Ron, oblivious.
Hagrid pointed down into the crates as the other Griffindors gathered around. While Ron was distracted, I gave Hermione's hand a playful squeeze, earning a light, embarrassed slap from her. Unlike us who are enjoying each other's company, those who viewed the mysterious creature got an unsavory feast to their eyes.
"Eurgh!" squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backwards and colliding into Ron. Both ended up on the ground, Lavender in a questionable position that elected a few snickers. Ron's ears seemed red, but he didn't try to push the girl off.
"Got yourself a girlfriend, Weasley? Thought even you'd be more private doing that...", Malfoy arrived with the Slytherins, about to continue to tease Ron until he saw the creatures inside. Rightfully freezing up and looked as if he was going to puke, of course.
The Skrewts, fitting of their horrendous name, are deformed, shell-less lobsters, slimy with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. Worse yet, there were about a hundred of them in each crate, each about six inches long, crawling over one another, bumping blindly into the sides of the boxes. Occasionally, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and it would propel forward several inches.
"On'y jus' hatched," said Hagrid proudly, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!"
"And why would we want to raise them?" questioned Malfoy apprehensively. Nothing but the greatest respect for the Half-Giant stopped Hermione, Ron and myself from nodding in agreement.
Hagrid looked stumped, apparently not having thought of such common sense.
"I mean, what do they even do?" asked Malfoy. "What is the point of them?"
After thinking hard, Hagrid said roughly, "Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things - I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer - I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake - just try 'em out with a bit of each."
"Ouch!" yelled Dean Thomas after barely ten minutes. "It got me!"
Hagrid hurried over looking anxious.
"Its end exploded!" protested Dean, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand.
"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off," said Hagrid, nodding. He seemed to have no problem with an injury that would've resulted in expulsion for endangering students in the Muggle world. While marveling at the complete lack of protection laws in the Ministry's system, I witnessed a few more accidents on the side.
"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," explained Hagrid enthusiastically, as Lavender quickly withdrew her hand from the box.
"I reckon they're the males... The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies. . . . I think they might be ter suck blood."
"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," said Malfoy sarcastically. "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"
'Pretty useful student-torturing devices, for sure.', I thought, 'is this guy even a son of Death Eater or what?'
Sneaking a small Skrewt into my inventory, I pulled Hermione away from the danger.
"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful," Hermione snapped. "Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?"
Though Hagrid grinned at this defense, Hermione had a hard time keeping her multiple complaints away and averted her gaze from him. The ensuing rest of the lesson went on tensely, with a few more students falling prey for the poison stings or blasts.
"Well, at least they're small," said Ron as we made our way back up to the castle for lunch an while later.
"They are now," sighed Hermione in an exasperated voice, "but once Hagrid's found out what they eat, I expect they'll be six feet long."
"Well, that won't matter if they turn out to cure seasickness or something, will it?" said Ron, slightly absent-mindedly.
"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up," replied Hermione. "As a matter of fact I think he's right. The best thing would be to vanish the lot of them before they start attacking us."
I nodded in agreement to her statement.
"I'll see if I can find some potent poison to feed them. I have a feeling Hagrid will ask us to play with those Skrewts as if they're some kind of pet..."
With tacit understanding from both Ron and Hermione, we decided to head to the library after lunch to nip this poisonous, blast-ended problem from the buds.