Disclaimer : No Naruto, No Harry,
The storm had blown itself out by the following morning, though the ceiling in the
Great Hall was still gloomy; heavy clouds of pewter gray swirled overhead
Harry, Ron, Sasuke and Hermione examined their new course schedules at breakfast.
A few seats along, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were discussing magical methods of aging themselves and bluffing their way into the Triwizard Tournament.
Naruto, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were laughing about their schedule. All their classes are being shared with the Gryffindors.
"Today's not bad.. . outside all morning," said Ron, who was running his finger down the Monday column of his schedule. "Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures... damn it, we're still with the Slytherins. . . ."
There was a sudden rustling noise above them, and a hundred owls came soaring
through the open windows carrying the morning mail.
Instinctively, Harry looked up, but there was no sign of white among the mass of brown and gray. The owls circled the tables, looking for the people to whom their letters and packages were addressed.
A large tawny owl soared down to Neville Longbottom and deposited a parcel into his lap -
Neville almost always forgot to pack something.
On the other side of the Hall Draco Malfoy's eagle owl had landed on his shoulder, carrying what looked like his usual supply of sweets and cakes from home. Trying to ignore the sinking feeling of disappointment in his stomach, Harry returned to his porridge.
Was it possible that something had happened to Hedwig, and that Sirius hadn't even got his letter?
Meawhile Team 7 each received the same letter:
The mission starts now
L. M
The bell sounded.
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.
"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. There were dragon-like creatures.
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 one another, 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 forward
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?"
"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."
"Ouch!" Naruto yelled as he was trying to pet one.
"Dobe" said Sasuke shaking his head.
"Well, at least the skrewts are small," said Ron as they made their way back up to
the castle for lunch an hour later.
"Yeah" agreed Harry
After a lunch of mashed potatos and gravy, everybody departed to different classes.
idkwtsb-san: thank you for wishing me well. Right now I'm at "The Computer Cafe" and I only have five more minutes so it's going to be a little messed up.
Kisame-san: Thank you for your wonderful reviews!