Astra

XLVII - The Blast-Ended Skrewts

"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."

Squeezing the bubotubers was disgusting, but oddly satisfying. 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 had collected several pints. It seemed like Harry continuously tried to say something to Astra, but she avoided his eye, hoping that he would forget what she had said about her father.

"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," said Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff, in a hushed voice. "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 booming bell echoed from the castle across the wet grounds, signaling the end of the lesson, and the class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration, and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn toward Hagrid's small wooden cabin, which stood on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

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.

"Morning!" Hagrid said cheerfully, and Astra waved. She knew what was going to come, and at first they looked dangerous (and they sort of were), but they were alright once you got used to them. Hagrid had showed her the creatures last week.

"Better wait for the Slytherins, they won't want to miss this - Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

"Come again?" said Ron.

Hagrid pointed down into the crates.

"Eurgh!" squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backward. Astra simply huffed. Sure, they didn't look very nice. Alright, they were absolutely ugly, looking like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. And they did smell, but Astra tried to look past that.

"Only just hatched," Hagrid said proudly, "so you'll be able to raise them yourselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!"

"And why would we want to raise them?" said a cold voice.

The Slytherins had arrived. The speaker was Draco Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were chuckling appreciatively at his words.

Hagrid looked stumped at the question.

"I mean, what do they do?" asked Malfoy. "What is the point of them?"

"They're new creatures, so it's still an experiment, Draco," Astra responded annoyedly. Hagrid beamed with pride at her, while Draco scowled.

"Now, we're just feeding them today. You'll want to try them on a few different things, Astra and I were practicing yesterday. Eggs and frog livers do well, and a bit of grass snake, just try them out with a bit of each.

"First pus and now this," muttered Seamus.

Astra went straight to work, with the others following reluctantly. She already knew that a mix of eggs and spiders worked the best (even though she didn't tell Hagrid this), so she slowly lowered them in the crates to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts.