Harry Potter 04 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

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.
    ‘Mornin’!’ Hagrid said, grinning at Harry, Ron and Hermione. ‘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.
    ‘Eurgh!’ squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backwards.
    ‘Eurgh’ just about summed up the Blast-Ended Skrewts, in Harry’s opinion. 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 each other, 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 forwards several inches.
    ‘On’y jus’ hatched,’ said Hagrid proudly, ‘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?’ 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?’
    Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard; there was a few seconds’ pause, then he said roughly, ‘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.’
    ‘First pus and now this,’ muttered Seamus.
    Nothing but deep affection for Hagrid could have made Harry, Ron and Hermione pick up squelchy handfuls of frog liver and lower them into the crates to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Harry couldn’t suppress the suspicion that the whole thing was entirely pointless, because the Skrewts didn’t seem to have mouths.
    ‘Ouch!’ yelled Dean Thomas, after about ten minutes. ‘It got me!’
    Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious.
    ‘Its end exploded!’ said Dean angrily, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand.
    ‘Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off,’ said Hagrid, nodding.
    ‘Eurgh!’ said Lavender Brown again. ‘Eurgh, Hagrid, what’s that pointy thing on it?’
    ‘Ah, some of ’em have got stings,’ said Hagrid enthusiastically (Lavender quickly withdrew her hand from the box). ‘I reckon they’re the males … the females’ve got sorta sucker things on their bellies … I think they might be ter suck blood.’
    ‘Well, I can certainly see why we’re trying to keep them alive,’ said Malfoy sarcastically. ‘Who wouldn’t want pets that can burn, sting and bite all at once?’
    ‘Just because they’re not very pretty, it doesn’t mean they’re not useful,’ Hermione snapped. ‘Dragon blood’s amazingly magical, but you wouldn’t want a dragon for a pet, would you?’
    Harry and Ron grinned at Hagrid, who gave them a furtive smile from behind his bushy beard. Hagrid would have liked nothing better than a pet dragon, as Harry, Ron and Hermione knew only too well – he had owned one for a brief period during their first year, a vicious Norwegian Ridgeback by the name of Norbert. Hagrid simply loved monstrous creatures – the more lethal, the better.
    ‘Well, at least the Skrewts are small,’ said Ron, as they made their way back up to the castle for lunch an hour later.
    ‘They are now ,’ said Hermione in an exasperated voice, ‘but once Hagrid’s found out what they eat, I expect they’ll be six feet long.’
    ‘Well, that won’t matter if they turn out to cure sea sickness or something, will it?’ said Ron, grinning slyly at her.
    ‘You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up,’ said Hermione. ‘As a matter of fact I think he’s right. The best