Harry Potter and the Hidden Treasure (Volume 3)

Chapter 526 Blast-ended Skrewts

It was evident that Ron intensely loathed Malfoy, and what had just occurred was truly excessive.

Ron had been in a foul mood lately due to a series of unpleasant experiences. Evan, Harry, and Hermione had to console him. Nonetheless, Malfoy was punished. He was turned into a ferret, thrown high into the air to fall repeatedly onto the stone floor.

It was not surprising that Malfoy should behave better, at least for now.

As the four returned to the Great Hall for dinner, the topic shifted to Moody's first Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione inquired with Evan about what had transpired in class. They had heard some rumors.

Evan recounted everything except Moody being an impostor and the memories he had witnessed in his mind.

"How intriguing!" exclaimed Harry. "It's an Unforgivable Curse!"

"The Imperius Curse?!" Ron's face went notably pale; he had particularly bad memories of that curse.

"How could he use the Imperius Curse on you?" Hermione asked sharply. "This is not allowed. Do you have..."

"Don't worry, I broke his spell; he probably didn't anticipate I'd be so resilient," Evan said in a relaxed tone.

"How did you do it?" Harry inquired hastily.

"Resisting the Imperius Curse requires great willpower, or the Occlumency I taught you," explained Evan. "This magic can prevent your mind from being invaded by external forces. Not just the Imperius Curse, but all other dark spiritual magic, like the dreams you've been having recently."

"Occlumency is too challenging. Is there an easier way?"

"An easier way?!" Evan pondered for a moment. "If your magic is stronger than the caster's and you possess immense willpower, then their spell won't work on you, and it can even be reversed."

"But enhancing magic is even more difficult than learning Occlumency..."

"Harry, our focus shouldn't be on that. It's an Unforgivable Curse. Professor Moody should never use this curse on a young wizard," Hermione said. "If the Ministry of Magic finds out, Moody and Dumbledore would be in serious trouble."

"Yes, probably," said Ron distractedly, as if he were still contemplating the methods Evan had just mentioned for resisting the Imperius Curse. "But Dumbledore has always done things his way, hasn't he? And Moody has been getting into trouble for years, I suppose. Strikes first, asks questions later... Look at his bins. Nonsense..."

"And Professor Moody has a valid point. It's better to practice resisting dark magic in class than to face it for the first time out there against a dark wizard, right?" said Harry. "He's teaching us how to deal with real dark wizards."

Hermione remained silent. It was clear she could do nothing but agree with that.

Although Moody's approach made her uneasy, she had to admit she was beginning to look forward to it.

A few minutes later, they sat at the Gryffindor table, and there weren't many people in the Great Hall.

Seeing the delicious food, Ron's bad mood had slightly diminished. The four began to eat lamb chops and potatoes.

Hermione swallowed her food and ate quickly, with Evan, Harry, and Ron gazing at her in amazement.

"Hey, Hermione. Is this the new stance on elf rights?" Ron couldn't help but ask, "Are you going to make yourself sick like that?"

"No," said Hermione, with all the dignity she could muster with her mouth full of cabbage. "I just want to go to the library."

"What?" Ron said incredulously. "Hermione, it's our first day back! We don't even have any homework yet!"

Hermione shrugged and continued gobbling her food as if she hadn't eaten in days. She then jumped up, said, "See you at dinner!" and hurried off.

Behind her, Evan, Harry, and Ron watched her with surprise.

"Evan, do you know what she's up to?" Harry asked.

"No, I don't. Perhaps she wants to write an article for Magical Hogwarts about the protection of domestic elves' rights."

"She seems very concerned about this issue and genuinely wants to rescue enslaved house-elves," nodded Harry. "She has no afternoon classes and will likely stay in the library all that time. By the way, Evan, what's your afternoon class?"

"Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class. I have no idea what magical creatures he'll show us!"

"We have just finished, absolutely thrilling, I promise you," said Harry, "you will realize it when you see it!"

"Yes, a group of pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once," nodded Ron. "Hermione thinks they could be useful, like dragons, although they seem fierce, dragon's blood is incredibly magical."

A few minutes later, Harry and Ron returned to the Common Room to grab their copies of 'Unraveling the Future.'

They had Professor Trelawney's Divination class in the afternoon and needed to learn about how the planets worked.

Meanwhile, Evan walked away from the castle and followed the sloping grass slowly towards Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

He was still thinking about Caresio and the monster, and who could impersonate Bartemius Crouch Jr.!

Evan arrived at Hagrid's cabin and, just as he approached, heard a series of minor explosions that startled him.

Before he even grasped what was happening, a huge black creature lunged at him.

It was Fang, Hagrid's massive boarhound, who whimpered, knocked Evan to the ground, and licked his face.

"Come on, Fang..." Evan struggled to get up.

He was led to the side of the cabin, where Hagrid was busy in front of several quivering crates.

Inside, a very strange noise could be heard, along with the minor explosions Evan had just heard.

"There you are, Evan!" said Hagrid joyfully. "Come have a look at these Blast-Ended Skrewts. Harry quite liked them."

Immediately, Evan understood what Ron meant by a group of pets that could burn, sting, and bite people.

They were a large group of Blast-Ended Skrewts that resembled deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads.

There were about a hundred in each crate, each about fifteen centimeters long, crawling over each other, blindly striking the sides of the crates. They emitted a strong smell of rotten fish.

Occasionally, sparks flew from the end of a skrewt, and with a small hiss, it was propelled forward several inches.

Disgusting, those things were the worst abominations... Well, they weren't nearly as bad as the one Evan had seen in Caresio's memories...