Rosabella Black | Daughter of Sirius Black | (Book 4)

Mad-Eye Moody

Rosabella's Point Of View:
The storm had blown itself out by the morning but it was still gloomy with heavy cloud. I did Hermione hair in a messy bun again because she had grown quite fond of it. I just combed my hair and let it fall naturally around my shoulders. Hermione and I then left the dormitory with Winter following behind us. We met Harry and Ron in the common room and we all went down to the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall was handing out timetables.

"Ah, Miss Black. I have already informed your accomplices that you will join me in detention at seven O'clock tonight." Professor McGonagall said, handing us our time tables.

"Looking forward to it." I said as she moved along the table.

The trio and I studied our time tables.

"Not bad. Outside all morning." I said, spreading jam onto my toast.

"Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Care of Magical Creatures, damn it, we're still with the Slytherins!" Ron exclaimed.

"Double Divination this afternoon." Harry groaned.

"You should have given it up like me. Then you'd be doing something sensible like Arithmancy." Hermione said briskly, while buttering some toast.

"You're both eating again, I notice." Ron said.

"Hey, I only stopped eating because of how harsh and bluntly Hermione was about house-elves. I lost my appetite. I hate how they are treated and how they live but most are happy and not all house-elves are abused. Dumbledore would never let the ones here be abused. Still they should have better living conditions at least." I said, defensively.

"I've decided there are better ways of making a stand about elf rights." Hermione said, haughtily.

"Yeah . . . and you were hungry." Ron said, grinning.

The owls then arrived but I didn't spot Hedwig or Soren or any of my brothers owls. I hope Dads reply gets here soon.
We then set off to Herbology, with Winter following behind us. We were collecting pus. It was disgusting but Neville, as usual, excelled us all. It's only in Herbology that he does better then everyone else. I smiled encouragingly at Neville and he smiled shyly and blushed.

After Herbology, we made our way towards Hagrid's hut. When we reached Hagrid's hut, there was an odd rattling noise. Hagrid told us we were studying Blast-Ended Skrewts. They weren't the prettiest of creatures but they grew to be absolutely massive and could well, you know, blast things. I grinned. Harry looked at me and groaned.

"How dangerous?" Harry asked, reluctantly.

"They grow to be enormous and can sting, bite and blast you. They'll be great fun." I said, smirking at Harry's hopeless expression.

"They only just hatched so you'll be able ter raise 'em yourselves. Thought we'd make a project out of it." Hagrid said proudly.

"And why would we want to raise them?" A familiar, cold voice sneered.
Here we go again. Hagrid looked stumped by the question.

"I mean, what do they do? What's the point of them?" Malfoy asked.

"That's next lesson, Malfoy. Yet jus' feeding 'em toda. I got a lot of diff'rent things. Just try 'em on a few and see what they go fer. I've never had 'em before." Hagrid said, roughly.

"First pus and now this." Seamus whispered to me.

I laughed.

I moved forwards with the trio to feed the Skrewts, nothing but deep affection for Hagrid could make us do this. One Skrewt blasted Dean. Hagrid then told us that he believes the ones with stingers were the males and the females had suckers on their bellies to suck blood. I quickly withdrew my hand from the crate.

"Not smiling now, huh?" Harry said, teasingly.

"I like to keep my blood inside my body where it belongs." I retorted.
We both laughed.

"Well, I certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive. Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting and bite all at once?" Malfoy said, sarcastically.

"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful." I snapped at Malfoy.

"Dragon blood's has amazingly magical properties, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?" Hermione said, backing me up.