MEMENTO MORI | DRACO MALFOY

SEVENTEEN

Ophelia, for one, wasn't laughing. She turned to Blaise with a sneer. "Did you find it this funny when I was covered in boils, you twit?"

Blaise clamped his jaw shut quickly, his face stoic. "Of course not, Eff." He explained. "You were hexed by Potter, that's not funny. This is funny because someone believed that wretched reporters article enough to poison Granger's mail with bobotuber pus!"

Hermione Granger wasn't with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley at their Care of Magical Creatures lesson that day. Pansy had been giggling about it all morning, whereas Ophelia found it to be getting a bit old.

As Potter approached, Pansy tossed her short hair over her shoulder and smiled smugly at him. "Why was your girlfriend so upset, Potter? Did you two have a spat?"

The Slytherins began to laugh again, but Potter refrained from retaliating. Unfortunately for Pansy, and to everyone else's shock, Hagrid emerged from his hut and quickly began his lesson. The very first thing Hagrid announced was that they would no longer be studying unicorns. There were some groans, knowing that they would be back to studying violent, dangerous creatures. Ophelia much preferred studying Unicorns, no matter how inhumane it was.

Hagrid lead the class around the pumpkin patch to where several open crates were sitting. Ophelia's stomach dropped. Not skrewts again!

"Bloody hell, even if we have brand new Skrewts, im sure yours'll kill all ours again, Eff." Blaise muttered uneasily, not taking his eyes off the crates.

"They're called Nifflers." Hagrid explained, noticing the class' uneasiness. "Mostly find 'em down in the mines. They like sparkly stuff. Go ahead, have a look!"

Ophelia inched forward with the other Slytherins and glanced warily inside the crates. These creatures were nothing like the Blast Ended Skrewts. These creatures were black and fluffy looking with small, flat paws and long snouts.

"EUGH!" There was a shrill squeal, and Ophelia jumped backwards to see one of the Niffler's had tried to take Pansy's watch from her wrist.

"Useful treasure hunters." Hagrid beamed, obviously proud of his newest lesson. "I thought we'd have some fun today." There were some glances of uncertainty throughout the class. "See over there, I buried some gold coins. So, pick a Niffler and see who's can collect the most coins. I'd suggest you remove any valuables, as they'll be sure to find a way to steal it."

Ophelia glanced around slowly. Blaise and Draco were quickly removing their rings and shoving them in their robe pockets angrily and whispering together. She could make out the words barbaric and ridiculous as they did so. She slowly reached behind her neck and unclasped the necklace that she very rarely took off and dropped it gingerly in her pocket. She worried for a moment that it might fall out, but was quickly distracted by Hagrid shoving a Niffler into her arms.

"There yah go, Rosier. The tamest one." Hagrid chuckled. "Wouldn't want you picking the runt again."

"The runt?" She questioned. There was no chance that her Skrewt had been the runt. It was the biggest and angriest of them all.

Hagrid nodded. "A Skrewt who kills its own kin is reacting out of anger because it was neglected by its mother and father when born. Just like puppies, there's always a runt of the litter."

"That explains a lot." Blaise joked, nudging Ophelia in the ribs with his elbow.

"Yeah, Rosier, your Skrewt had daddy issues just like you!"

Ophelia felt heat rising to her cheeks as she spun around to find out who said such repulsive words. She saw red the moment her eyes landed on Harry Potter, who was smirking proudly. Anger seared through her every muscle fiber. She had never felt anger or hatred like this before, and it was too late to push it away. She felt for her wand and started towards Potter, whose demeanour quickly changed as he began to back away.