TRUST ME ── Harry Potter

( 069, pus and stuff )

( CHAPTER SIXTYNINE, "You amaze me." )

THE FIRST LESSON OF THE FIRST day was Herbology. Cassie was really excited for Herbology, as this class the Gryffindor's shared with the Hufflepuff's — meaning, she was able to sit by Hannah, Susan, Megan and Dahlia.

Professor Sprout was showing the class the ugliest plants anyone had ever laid eyes on. Each was squirming slightly and had a number of large, shiny swellings upon it, which appeared to be full of liquid. Cassie was grimacing as she stared at it.

"Bubotubers," Professor Sprout told them briskly. "They need squeezing. You will collect the pus -"

"The what?" said Seamus, sounding revolted.

"Pus, Finnigan, pus," said Professor Sprout, "and it's extremely valuable, so don't waste it. You will collect the pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves; it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted, bubotuber pus."

Callie looked across at Cassie, both girls just as disgusted.

Squeezing the bubotubers was disgusting, as each swelling was popped, a large amount of thick yellowish-green liquid burst forth, which smelled strongly of petrol. They caught it in the bottles as Professor Sprout had indicated, and by the end of the lesson, everyone had collected several pints.

Megan looked like she was going to spew. Susan was rubbing her back and Dahlia was just looking bored. Hannah, however, looked interested. When they received their timetables this year, they were beyond shocked to see that Dumbledore had put them into the same classes as Cassie.

"This'll keep Madam Pomfrey happy," said Professor Sprout, stoppering the last bottle with a cork. "An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples."

"Like poor Eloise Midgen," Hannah said quietly to Cassie. "She tried to curse hers off."

"Silly girl," said Professor Sprout, shaking her head. "But Madam Pomfrey fixed her nose back on in the end."

A bell echoed from the castle across the wet grounds, signaling the end of the lesson, and the class separated; most of the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration. Cassie waved to her friends before rushing after Callie, Harry, Ron and Hermione as they walked down to Hagrid's hut.

Hagrid was standing outside his hut, one hand on the collar of his enormous black boarhound, Fang. There were several open wooden crates on the ground at his feet, and Fang was whimpering and straining at his collar, apparently keen to investigate the contents more closely. As they drew nearer, an odd rattling noise reached their ears, punctuated by what sounded like minor explosions.

"Mornin'!" Hagrid said, grinning at them. "Be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this - Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

"Come again?" said Ron.

Hagrid pointed down into the crates. Callie looked down into the crate, Cassie copying her. Both girls gave each other disgusted glances.

"Eurgh!" squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backward.

The Blast-Ended Skrewts 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 one another, 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 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?" said a cold voice.

Callie rolled her eyes, ready to give a snarky response to Malfoy, but as she turned to look at him, she stopped what she was doing and stayed quiet.

Hagrid looked stumped at the question.

"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'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. Firs' you'll have partners. Malfoy, Callie."

Callie and Malfoy both seemed disgusted at that idea. Hagrid gave Callie a sorry glance.

After being paired up with Harry, Cassie was quick to poke her tongue out at Callie, teasing her for being partnered with Malfoy.

"First pus and now this," muttered Seamus. Cassie had to agree with him. This was a terrible start to her day. She loved creatures a lot, but these things? No thanks.

They all picked up squelchy handfuls of frog liver and lower them into the crates to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Cassie, though disgusted, was having a fun time feeding them.

Harry watched her. "You amaze me." He blurted. Cassie's head snapped in his direction, her blonde hair turning into a light pink.

"Ouch!" yelled Dean Thomas, making everyone look over at him. "It got me."

Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious. Cassie, too, hurried over. She wanted to see what was going on.

"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 Lavender Brown again. "Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?"

"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," said Hagrid enthusiastically. "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?"

Callie looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"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?"

The lesson ended shortly after, and Cassie walked side by side with Callie. Callie was complaining about Malfoy.

"Well, at least the skrewts are small," said Ron, interrupting Callie's rant.

"They are now," said 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, grinning slyly at her.

"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up," said Hermione. "As a matter of fact I think he's right. The best thing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they start attacking us all."

A/N: Not a lot of Cassie and Harry in this chapter.