Written In The Stars IV -[Harry Potter xF!Oc]

Chapter Eleven: Gryffindors & Slytherins.

"Today's not bad... outside all morning," Ron was reading their new schedule. "Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures... damn it, we're still with the Slytherins."

"Double Divination this afternoon," Harry said with a groan.

"You should have given it up like me, shouldn't you?" Hermione shrugged. "Then you'd be doing something sensible like Arithmancy."

"If I remember correctly, we almost had to force you to give it up," Mel pointed out.

"You're eating again, I notice," Ron added.

"I've decided there are better ways of making a stand about elf rights," said Hermione.

"Yeah... and you were hungry," Ron grinned.

"Well I'm glad you changed your mind, I'm not a fan of starvation," Mel said. "I get moody when I'm hungry."

"Must be hungry all the time, then..." Ron mumbled.

"Yes, I am," She glared.

The mail arrived just then, and she received a small, simple note that read:

'Mel Dumbledore, we ask for your assistance tonight at 7 pm, Headmaster's office.'

She figured it would be about her lessons, though she didn't know why it was so formal now when last year it was some small pieces of parchment delivered by random students.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"I think I might start my lessons again tonight," She said, raising her eyebrows.

_________________________

Classes were going just fine until they had their second class of the day. Which was Hagrid's.

"Mornin'!" Hagrid said. "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.

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 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.

"Those are aliens," Mel grimaced. "Those are real monster-babies, those are..."

"On'y jus' hatched," said Hagrid proudly, not hearing a word of what she'd said, "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?" Draco asked. "I mean, what do they do? What is the point of them?"

"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." Hagrid said all that with a dangerous excitement, Mel had the dreadful feeling that things were going to get out of hand.

"Ouch!" yelled Dean Thomas after a few minutes. "It got me! Its end exploded!"

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

"When they what?" Mel retreated immediately.

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