two rings and bad things

29_ professor moody

The next day, Ed and her friends had their first classes as fourth years.

One of the classes in particular was Care of Magical Creatures, which Malfoy had been complaining about.

"I can't believe they haven't fired him yet," he said as he took a bite out of a piece of chocolate (he had gotten a basket-full of sweets from his parents that morning).

"Delicious," Malfoy muttered.

"What kind of chocolate is that?" Ed asked.

"Dark chocolate almond truffle. It's from one of the best shops in London," he boasted.

But then he noticed that it was just Ed he was talking to—there was no need to brag.

"Here, try some," he said as he reached into his robe pocket.

"Thanks," said Ed, even though she was slightly taken aback by how generous he was being.

They soon arrived at Hagrid's hut, who was waiting anxiously.

"On'y just hatched, so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves!" He said proudly, indicating the crates filled with fairly large, deformed, slimy creatures.

"What in the world are those?" Ed asked.

"Blast-Ended Skrewts, they are!" Hagrid said enthusiastically.

"And why would we want to raise them?" Malfoy retorted.

Crabbe and Goyle chuckled.

Ed thought he had a point, the creatures gave off a horrible odor that smelled like rotting fish and were absolutely sickening.

"I mean, what do they do? What's the point of them?" Malfoy added.

Hagrid hesitated for a second.

"Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today."

But Hagrid clearly just said that because he didn't have answer.

"Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few different things—I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer," he said as he showed the class the variety of food he had.

Everyone started feeding them; it was disgusting.

Most of the Slytherins just threw the food at them, trying their hardest not to touch the gross slugs.

They were dangerous, too—it wasn't even 10 minutes before Dean Thomas got burned by one.

"Ouch, it got me! The end exploded!" He shouted as he showed Hagrid.

"Ah, yes, that can happen when they blast off," Hagrid explained.

"Blast off?!" Malorie whispered to Ed, in shock.

"I think I'd rather take care of the flobberworms," Ed commented.

"Um, Hagrid... what's that pointy thing on it?" Lavender Brown, another Gryffindor, asked.

"That's the stinger. I reckon they're the males, the females've got a sucker on their bellies... might be ter suck blood," Hagrid responded.

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

"Just because they're not very pretty it doesn't mean they're not useful," Hermione snapped.

"Dragon's blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?" She added.