The class bell rang, and the students packed up their belongings and left the Greenhouse.
Charlie and the Hufflepuff students crossed the lawn, heading toward Hagrid's hut, as the next class was Care of Magical Creatures Class.
From a distance, they could see Hagrid standing outside his hut, with Fang lying at his feet, his tail slowly sweeping the ground.
"Hey, good morning!"
Hagrid raised his hand and grinned.
Charlie raised his hand in response.
As he got closer, he noticed several large wooden crates beside Hagrid. The surfaces of the crates were damp and had several small holes.
Clattering sounds came from inside, occasionally accompanied by faint explosions.
"What are these?" Charlie asked.
Hagrid smiled mysteriously.
"I'll tell you when the Slytherin students arrive."
Charlie decided against the suspense.
He walked straight over and lifted the lid of the nearest crate.
"Hey—" Hagrid tried to stop him, but lowered his hand halfway through.
"Never mind, you were going to see it soon anyway."
Charlie glanced down and was silent for two seconds.
Inside the crate was a pile of whitish-gray things, covered in slime, resembling large lobsters without shells. Each was about six inches long and had many legs.
Sparks occasionally shot out from their tails, propelling them forward.
Over a hundred of them were crammed together in the crate, looking utterly disgusting.
"These are Blast-Ended Skrewts." Hagrid squatted down and poked the edge of the crate.
"They just hatched. They're only a few weeks old."
Charlie stared at the disgusting pile, falling silent.
"Today we're going to try feeding them different foods to see which one suits them best," Hagrid said excitedly.
"That's truly disgusting." A voice filled with distaste sounded.
The Slytherin students had arrived. Draco looked at the Blast-Ended Skrewts with utter revulsion.
"I'm not touching those things."
Goyle and Crabbe, standing behind Draco, nodded in agreement.
But soon enough, Draco was grabbing slimy frog livers and feeding the Blast-Ended Skrewts.
Because Charlie was assigned to his group.
Under Charlie's friendly gaze, Draco very proactively took on all the tasks.
"I just feel too sorry for these starving Blast-Ended Skrewts."
"Charlie, you can just watch from the side; I've got this covered."
Charlie nodded approvingly from the side, thinking, *A promising youth indeed.*
Draco grit his teeth and tossed the frog liver into the crate.
The Blast-Ended Skrewts immediately wriggled and crawled over, sparks shooting from their tails, causing several of them to collide.
"What the hell are these things?" Draco cursed under his breath, grabbing another piece of frog liver.
"Where did Hagrid, that big oaf, even find these disgusting creatures?"
Goyle and Crabbe nearby secretly glanced at Charlie, then back at Draco, their eyes full of sympathy.
"Ah—"
A Hufflepuff student suddenly cried out, clutching the back of his hand.
Hagrid quickly ran over.
"What happened?"
"It blasted me!"
The back of the student's hand was red, with several small blisters forming on it.
Hagrid took out a bottle of potion and applied it to the back of the student's hand.
"Sit there and rest for a bit. It'll be fine soon."
He turned around and spoke loudly to all the students.
"These little fellows have dangerous tails, keep your distance."
"Note that some Blast-Ended Skrewts have stings on their bodies—I reckon those are the males. Make sure you don't get pricked."
He then pointed to a few Blast-Ended Skrewts with swollen bellies.
"The females have suckers on their bellies; those things are probably for sucking blood."
Draco's face turned even greener. He threw the remaining frog livers in his hand into the crate all at once and vigorously wiped his hands on his trousers.
"I really don't know what these things are for. Who would want to raise them?"
Charlie didn't speak. He narrowed his eyes, smelling the rich fishy, shrimpy scent in the air.
These things looked and smelled very much like shrimp.
He wondered how they tasted.
He snapped his fingers, and a flame shot up from the ground.
The flame was small, shielded by his body so Hagrid couldn't see it at all.
A vine reached into the crate, grabbed a Blast-Ended Skrewt, and tossed it into the fire.
The flames enveloped the Blast-Ended Skrewt. It struggled a few times and then stopped moving.
Its outer shell gradually turned red, sizzling in the flames.
Draco watched Charlie's actions with wide eyes.
No way, Charlie couldn't possibly be planning to eat that thing, could he?
In less than a minute, the Blast-Ended Skrewt was cooked. Its exterior was bright red, exactly like a boiled shrimp.
Charlie controlled the vine to pick up the roasted Blast-Ended Skrewt.
The cooked Blast-Ended Skrewt wasn't disgusting at all. The scent of seafood mixed with a slight char smell was quite appealing.
Charlie pinched the Skrewt's head, and with a gentle pull, the soft shell cracked open.
Inside, it was full of white, steaming meat.
Draco's mind flashed back to the slimy, exploding pile of disgusting bugs from before, making him unable to look directly at the meat in Charlie's hand.
As expected of Charlie, to be able to eat that—what a savage.
Just then, Charlie handed the Skrewt meat to Draco.
"Here, try some."
Draco froze.
"Huh? Me?"
"Just try it. Look at this meat, it looks delicious." Charlie coaxed him.
"I wouldn't give this to just anyone. I'm sharing it with you first because I consider you a good friend. I promise it's tasty, hurry and try it."
Draco gritted his teeth, reached out, and took the piece of meat.
It was warm, almost hot to the touch.
He hesitated for a few seconds, then closed his eyes and took a bite.
The next second, Draco opened his eyes.
"This..."
"How is it?" Charlie asked.
"It's quite delicious." Draco took another bite, his eyes slightly wide.
"It's more tender than lobster meat, and incredibly fresh."
Charlie nodded with satisfaction and grabbed a few more Blast-Ended Skrewts to toss into the fire.
Draco finished the piece in his hand and licked his fingers.
"One more."
"Alright."
Charlie finished roasting one and handed it over, while he took one for himself and started eating.
The two of them squatted beside the crate, grabbing them one after another.
Roasting, peeling, eating the meat.
Their movements became more practiced, and their speed increased.
Before long, the end-of-class bell rang.
The students quickly put down their work, wiped the slime from their hands, and complained about how difficult the task was.
After working (and eating) for a whole class period, Charlie was full.
"Let's go, let's go, stop eating."
Seeing Draco still digging the meat out of the shell, Charlie urged him.
Draco reluctantly threw down the shell.
"Whoever bred these things, they're amazing once they're in your mouth."
To destroy the evidence, Charlie burned all the shells into ash and buried them in the ground.
After the students left, Hagrid began cleaning up the area.
He checked the remaining Blast-Ended Skrewts in each crate one by one, taking inventory of the numbers.
"This crate is missing three... this one is missing five..."
Hagrid frowned and recorded the numbers in his small notebook.
He felt a pang of distress, as the Blast-Ended Skrewts were hybrid creatures he had bred.
"It seems the survival rate isn't very high."
Hagrid muttered to himself and walked up to the next crate.
He lifted the lid and glanced inside.
Then he froze.
Hagrid rubbed his eyes and counted again.
"Why are so many missing!"
Hagrid stared at the crate for a long time, then finally shook his head.
"Never mind, maybe I miscounted."
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