The Rise of Rouge

The Newspaper (Ron)

Okay, the DADA lesson was really cool but I didn't want to let it show (anymore than I had already) because it bothered Harry and Hermione. More for just Hermione. I was ticked off at Harry. Why would he enter the Triwizard Tournament and NOT tell me? Harry insisted he didn't do it, but who would have put his name in? I knew he just wanted attention. It was always (A/N: Sob) Him that got the attention - being the 'boy who lived' and all.

We were in Care of Magical Creatures, after squeezing pus out of Bubotubers. Malfoy and his cronies were making fun of Harry, betting how long he would last in the first task. Usually, I would have stepped in, defended Harry, or something. Today, nothing. At least there was the exchange students to back him up. Hermione was just telling him to ignore it. In fact, Erza looked ready to beat Malfoy to a pulp. If I wasn't mistaken, there was ice forming in Gray's hands, and Natsu's hair was smoking. Weird.

A/N: this next bit... oh you know the drill.

However, we were all distracted when Hagrid spoke up. "Mornin'!" He grinned at Harry (who I was staying far away from), Hermione and I. "Ye won' want ter miss this! Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

"Come again?" I asked.

Hagrid pointed down at the crates.

"Eurgh!" Squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backwards.

'Eurgh' pretty much summed up the things. They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. There were about a hundred of them in each crate, each about six inches long, crawling over each other, bumping blindly into the sides of the boxes. They were giving off a very powerful smell of rotting fish. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt and, with a small phut, it would be propelled forwards 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?" Said a cold voice. Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled appreciatively at his words.

Hagrid looked stumped.

"I mean, what do they do?" Asked Malfoy. "What is the point of them?"

Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard; there was a few seconds' pause, then he 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 got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass-snake - just try 'em out with a bit of each."

"First pus and now this." muttered Seamus.

Nothing but deep affection for Hagrid could have made Harry, Hermione, and i pick of squelchy handfuls of frog liver and lower them into the crates to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts. I couldn't help feeling that the whole thing was completely pointless, because the skrewts didn't seem to have mouths.

"Ouch!" Yelled Dean, after ten minutes, "It got me!"

Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious.

"Its end exploded!" Said Dean angrily, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand.

"Ah, yeah. that can happen when they blast off," Said Hagrid, nodding.

"Eurgh!" said Lucy. "Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?"

"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," said Hagrid enthusiastically (Lavender quickly took her hand out of the box). "I reckon they're males... the females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies... I thnk they might be ter suck blood."

"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," Malfoy said sarcastically. "who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"