Chapter 437: Blast-Ended Skrewt (Edited)

In the Great Hall.

The Hogwarts students were eating breakfast and studying their timetables for the term, while discussing the exam Dumbledore had mentioned, and the news Fish had heard about it had spread from Gryffindor to the rest of the Houses, even the twins' plans....

George and Fred were a little annoyed, nothing else mattered, the point was that the twins always felt at a disadvantage when Slytherin found out about it as well.

After thinking about it for a while, Fish didn't go to Hermione for help as Professor McGonagall had planned, but went straight to Sharpay.

Naturally, it was impossible for Sharpay to accept Fish's request, and they used to be in the habit of doing homework with Fish, but now they simply changed their homework to lecture Fish, which in the end made little difference.

After a simple breakfast, Fish took Hermione's hand and walked out of the castle, this morning's classes were all outdoors, Herbology class and Care of Magical Creatures class.

The ground was muddy from yesterday's rain and today the weather was gloomy, so there was little interest in discussing how to pass the registration test.

Through the damp orchard, the group made their way to the third greenhouse, where Professor Sprout led the group to an ugly plant....

"Bubotuber." Professor Sprout pointed to the plant that looked like a large, black, slimy slug, covered in shiny bumps, and cheerfully told the group, "You have to squeeze it with your hands and pick up its pus...".

All the students, except Fish, made a disgusted face, while Fish listened intently to Professor Sprout's explanation.

Since he had to spend the night listening to Sharpay, Fish decided to forgo Professor McGonagall's nightly story time for a while, so he wouldn't be as distracted as during his regular classes....

When Fish wants to accomplish something, he can be serious and hardworking.

Herbology doesn't really require much effort for Fish, but today Fish put on his dragon-skin gloves and joined his classmates in squeezing the Bubotubercle lump, just as Professor Sprout had taught him....

It was actually quite fun and, in a way, exciting, so, although at first some students were reluctant to the idea, after a while they gradually accepted the task, and even enjoyed it a bit.

After everyone had collected the greenish-yellow viscous liquid in the lump, which gave off a pungent smell of gasoline, into bottles, Professor Sprout said, "Madam Pomfrey should be happy now."

She capped the last bottle with a stopper, "Bubotuber pus is the best medicine for persistent acne, it will prevent students from using aggressive methods to remove acne."

Fish: "..."

(???)

It seems that this class has nothing to do with the registration test...

Well, it was fun after all.

The second session was Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class, where the big guy showed the kids a creature called the Blast-Ended Skrewt.

They look like misshapen lobsters with shells, white and gray and slimy, with a bunch of legs sticking out in all directions and no visible head....

Not much better than the Bubotuberculus.

Of course, Fish had no such feelings, as he crouched down in front of the box of Blast-Ended Skrewt, wiggling his nose.

The Blast-Ended Skrewt did indeed smell like fish and shrimp, but.... didn't they smell fresh?

Especially when their tails exploded, the stench grew stronger, like the canned fish Fish once ate.

It was one of the few foods Fish didn't like, almost on par with marmalade.

Fish crouched down on the floor, cocked his head to Hagrid and said, "These things shouldn't taste good, they all stink..."

()

"Uh... these aren't for eating..."

Hagrid scratched his bearded chin and explained with a bitter smile, "I need you to raise them yourselves! We can work on a big project."

"A big project?" Fish pondered for a moment and then asked, "Will this be used in the Triwizard Tournament?"

"What, what? why would you think that?!"

Hagrid turned pale with surprise and waved his hands like a madman in denial, "They have nothing to do with the Triwizard Tournament!"

Obviously, no one believed Hagrid, even the Slytherins, who had been so far away from the Blast-Ended Skrewt, came over at the sight of Hagrid's performance.

If this was what they had to put up with at the enrollment test, even if it was a bit disgusting, they could tolerate it.

"But, there's nothing more to do with the recent big event than the Triwizard Tournament."

(??)

Fish looked at Hagrid expressionlessly and questioned him reasonably.

Hagrid's expression froze for a moment before he let out a long sigh, then rubbed his big head and said helplessly, "It's still undecided...".

He looked around mysteriously, and said in a voice that sounded calm, but wasn't much more serious, "A certain item in the Triwizard Tournament needs some 'guardians', and Dumbledore asked me to see if I could create something new... and don't tell anyone."

How could it have anything to do with the Triwizard Tournament, the others, disgusted by the thing, managed to contain their discomfort and gather around the Blast-Ended Skrewt.

"Well, you're going to try feeding them some different things...I haven't raised them before and I'm not sure what they like to eat...I've got ant eggs, frog liver and emerald green snakes.... a bit of each to see if they'll eat them."

The sluggish Hagrid did not perceive the true mood of the students, and seeing them all gathered together, thinking they were all interested in the Blast-Ended Skrewt, he immediately greeted them enthusiastically and set a bucket full of various ingredients in front of them.

"First the Bubotuber pus, and now this."

Seamus muttered in a whisper, then pushed his way through the bucket and pulled out a slippery dead snake, pinching its tail with two fingers, and dropped it into a box full of fried tail snails.

Fish, on the other hand, grabbed a handful of frog livers, held them up to his nose and sniffed them.

"This smells better than the Blast-Ended Skrewt." said the cat to Hermione, who was standing next to him.

"You can't eat that!"

Hermione was horrified and covered Fish's mouth for fear that he would put the frog liver in his mouth.

"Fish hasn't eaten anything raw in a long time nya!"

?(?``?)?

Fish turned his head away and said angrily, "Don't make a fool of Fish!".

"Okay, sorry..."

Hermione smiled and patted Fish's head, she also knew she had overreacted, but there was a reason why she reacted so strongly.

Over the summer, Hermione had turned into Animagus, and then Fish had taken her to the river and caught her two live fish to eat. In her feline form, Hermione didn't react much, but when she recovered, she felt a slight upset stomach when she thought about what she did earlier.

In addition to squeezing the pus out of the Bubotubercle, the Blast-Ended Skrewt were a bit more dangerous, and several people were injured by their tails in the course of the lesson, but the Blast-Ended Skrewt were small enough that the explosions were not too powerful.

At the end of a less than pleasant lesson on the Care of Magical Creatures, the Gryffindor students dragged their weary bodies into the Great Hall.

"It's been a long morning, and I've lost my appetite for lunch... though I am hungry."

Neville touched his pudgy belly and said with a depressed face, which agreed with most of the students.

"The worst thing is... we're all going to be dealing with that stuff for the rest of our Care of Magical Creatures class..."

Dean looked down at his injured palm and said in despair, "If the last Triwizard Tournament hadn't used the Blast-Ended Skrewt, wouldn't we have suffered in vain?"

Out of friendship with Hagrid, Harry said nothing to agree with them, but in his mind he thought Neville and Dean were right, and then he thought about the two Divination classes in the afternoon, and felt even worse.

The group returned depressed to the Great Hall, and by now the long table was full of food, but Harry and the others had little appetite, especially for pumpkin soup, which they didn't want to touch.

Only Fish ate as happily as ever, and every now and then he gave Hermione a bite of food.

The others were envious....

Especially the girls.