Wish Upon A Star

Hermione's Teeth

Herbology with the Hufflepuffs was...depressing. The Hufflepuffs were remarkably cold and chuckled darkly, every time the Bouncing Bulbs they were repotting, smacked a Gryffindor. The Ravenclaws were rather distant too. The reaction from the Slytherins was expected.

Care of Magical Creatures was a mini-disaster. 

Malfoy arrived at Hagrid's cabin with his familiar sneer firmly in place.

"Ah, look, boys, it's the champion," he said to Crabbe and Goyle the moment he got within earshot of Harry. 

"Got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he's going to be around much longer. . . . Half the Triwizard champions have died . . . how long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet."

Ashlyn sighed, frustrated.

 But Malfoy had to stop there, because Hagrid emerged from the back of his cabin balancing a teetering tower of crates, each containing a very large Blast-Ended Skrewt. To the class's horror, Hagrid proceeded to explain that the reason the skrewts had been killing one another was an excess of pent-up energy and that the solution would be for each student to fix a leash on a skrewt and take it for a short walk. The only good thing about this plan was that it distracted Malfoy completely.

"Take this thing for a walk?" he repeated in disgust, staring into one of the boxes. "And where exactly are we supposed to fix the leash? Around the sting, the blasting end, or the sucker?"

"Roun' the middle," said Hagrid, demonstrating. "Er — yeh might want ter put on yer dragon-hide gloves, jus' as an extra precaution, like. Harry — you come here an' help me with this big one. . . ."

Hagrid's real intention, however, was to talk to Harry away from the rest of the class.

The skrewts were now three feet long and very large, with a shiny grey armour, but still without distinguishable eyes. Ashlyn picked, what looked like the smallest skrewt, which however was incredibly large compared to many of the others. Tentatively, praying that the skrewt wouldn't blast off, she tied the leash around its middling, slightly jumping every time it squirmed.

Walking it was yet another disaster. Every now and then, with an alarming bang, one of the skrewts' ends would explode, causing it to shoot forward several yards, and more than one person was being dragged along on their stomach, trying desperately to get back on their feet.

Ashlyn spent most of the lesson swearing under her breath. 

"Holy shit!" she had cried, when her skrewt let out a bang. She let go of her leash in alarm. Cursing furiously under her breath, she went to get hold of the leash.

"Skrewt got you, Clarke?" Malfoy mocked.

"Don't try me, Malfoy. I'll set my damn skrewt on you, I swear," she snarled back walking away from there, not that the skrewt helped much.

Another fifteen minutes later, her skrewt hadn't blasted off or dragged her around. This scared her, she was in for a huge blow. Ashlyn had her wand out, in case the skrewt exploded or something. And then it came. 

Bang!

'Protego' Ashlyn yelled in her head, casting a shield charm. Something that seemed like a fireball hit her shield and ricocheted off, almost hitting Malfoy, who yelped and jumped aside, knocking Crabbe down in the process.

" I almost got burned!" Malfoy yelled at Ashlyn, adjusting his robes furiously.

"Great! Let me get marshmallows to toast," Ashlyn said sarcastically.