Chapter 203
The month of December arrived, bringing wind and cold to Hogwarts. Whenever Albert passed the Durmstrang ship and the Beauxbatons carriage, he thought about what they would look like inside, and when he saw the horses pulling the Beauxbatons carriage, he remembered Hagrid's care for them, as he noticed that Hagrid regularly supplied Madame Maxime's horses with suitable food and drink.
In one of the Care of Magical Creatures classes, Hagrid informed the students, pointing to those white creatures, of which he knew more about than he let on, "I don't know if they hibernate or not... but in any case, we will put them in those boxes."
All that remained of these creatures were ten, and their movements showed their desire to kill each other. Each of them had reached a length of about six feet, and that gray shell combined with their stinging needle and short legs formed the ugliest image Harry and Ron had ever seen of any creature before.
The students looked in astonishment at the large boxes that Hagrid had brought to put those creatures in before wrapping each box with thick blankets and saying, "Come on, lead them here and put the covers over the boxes, and we'll see what happens."
But it seemed that these creatures did not hibernate and did not want to remain like this inside the boxes, as they began to strongly hit the sides of the boxes and try to get out of them. Most of the students, led by Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, quickly hid behind Hagrid's hut, while the rest, led by Harry, Ron, Albert, and Hermione, remained outside to help Hagrid control nine of them. Only one remained, and Harry and Ron quickly directed their wands at the remaining one. Hagrid shouted, "Don't scare it!!... Try to cast something on its needle so that it doesn't harm anyone else!"
Harry and Ron continued to follow that creature, which headed towards Hagrid's hut, and from behind Hagrid's garden fence, Rita Skeeter appeared, wearing a long cloak with a scarlet fur collar, and with her was that small bag, saying, "What a comical scene!"
Finally, Hagrid threw himself on that creature and wrapped it with his jacket before seeing Rita and asking her, "Who are you?"
She replied, smiling broadly, which made her golden teeth visible, "Rita Skeeter, correspondent for the Daily Prophet newspaper."
Hagrid replied as he stood up, "Dumbledore told me you are no longer allowed to stay in the school."
Rita pretended not to hear what he said before asking with an even wider smile, "What are these enchanting creatures called?"
Hagrid replied, "They are Blast-Ended Skrewts."
Rita said, filled with interest, "Really? I haven't heard of them before... Where are they from?"
Harry noticed Hagrid's face redden when he heard this question, so Hermione poked Harry and said, "They are exciting creatures, Harry, aren't they?"
Harry replied, "What? Ah... yes... yes... exciting."
Rita turned towards Albert, saying, "Ah... you are here, Albert... so you like the Care of Magical Creatures, don't you? It's one of your favorite subjects, isn't it?"
Albert replied, "Yes."
She directed her speech towards Hagrid, who smiled, saying, "Wonderful... truly wonderful that you are teaching, isn't it? Since when have you been doing that?"
Harry noticed that she was looking towards Dean, who had been injured in the face, Lavender, whose clothes were torn, and Seamus, whose fingertips were burned, then she looked towards the windows of Hagrid's hut, where most of the class students stood, afraid of what was happening. Hagrid said, "It's my second year."
"Wonderful... I don't think you would like to record an interview, would you? The newspaper dedicates a weekly column to talk about non-human creatures as we know, and we can publish something about these creatures."
Both Harry and Hermione had a bad feeling about that, but they did not want to talk in front of Rita, so they continued to watch what was happening in silence, while Albert had advanced towards Rita, telling her something.
Harry saw shock on Rita's face immediately after Albert told her something.
Rita looked at Albert, fear showing on her face, and she said, "Well!!... Albert.... I'm leaving, goodbye!!"
Rita walked away, holding her crocodile leather bag with her left hand, and fled the place quickly.
Harry and Hermione laughed after seeing Rita Skeeter fall into a puddle of water due to the strength of her fear that prevented her from seeing what was in front of her.
Afterwards, Harry, Ron, Albert, and Hermione went to have lunch happily.
Harry enjoyed the Divination class, and although he did nothing more than track the movement of the stars and complete the prediction map, Ron was with him this time, which made it different. As usual, Professor Trelawney began to say, "Well... I think some of us..."
She certainly meant Albert, "will be interested in what I saw in my crystal ball yesterday... I placed it in front of me and stared into it... and do you know what I saw looking back at me from it?"
Ron murmured, "Maybe it's a gloomy old bat like you."
Harry tried to stop himself from laughing as he heard her continue, "It's death, my dears."
Parvati and Lavender gasped, placing their hands over their mouths, looking terrified. Professor Trelawney nodded in pain, "...Yes... it is approaching... approaching closer than before, circling in the sky... and descending, getting closer to the castle."
Then she stared at Albert, who yawned clearly and loudly.
As soon as they left the classroom, Harry said, "That would have sounded dramatic if she hadn't said it about eighty times before, and if I were to die every time she predicted it for Albert, I would need a medical miracle."
Ron said sarcastically as they passed the Bloody Baron, "You'll be a ghost of a special kind, and at least we wouldn't have all this homework. I wish Professor Krum would give Hermione more homework."
But Hermione was not at dinner, nor was she in the library when they went to look for her there. Viktor Krum was the only person in the regular library, so Ron watched him from behind the bookshelves, whispering, asking Harry if he could ask for his autograph now.
But Harry told him that Albert was the one who finished the first task faster than Viktor Krum, so he was the one he should ask to sign for him and not Viktor Krum. But no sooner had he finished speaking than he found six or seven girls advancing towards Krum for almost the same reason, so he abandoned the idea and said, "I wonder where she went?"
They left the library to return to the Gryffindor Tower, and there, at the Fat Lady's portrait, they heard footsteps behind them announcing Hermione's arrival, so they turned around to find her whispering:
"Albert, you must come with me, the strangest thing has happened... Please come..."
She grabbed his arm, leading him across the corridor, and he was extremely embarrassed, asking, "What is it?"
"You'll see when we get there... Come on... hurry..."
Albert looked at Harry and Ron, who exchanged an astonished look, then Ron asked, "Hermione, where are we going?"
Hermione was leading them towards the entrance hall, saying excitedly, "You'll see... just one minute and you'll see."
As soon as they descended the marble staircase, she headed towards that door that Fred and George had entered the previous night to announce the names of the champions participating in the Tournament, and Albert, Harry, and Ron followed her down a set of stone steps, which, instead of ending in an underground passage, they found themselves in a lighted stone corridor...
To be continued...