Chapter 116. Unsettling Hypothesis

“Wow… This is…” I muttered; Pansy, Draco, and I all staring absentmindedly at the crates of creatures bumbling around in Hagrid’s backyard. “Worse than last year…” Pansy finished my thought. I blinked to make sure my eyes were not playing tricks on me. “What exactly are these Hagrid?” Potter asked across the way, looking into another crate, just as dumbfounded as I. Hagrid smiled while returning with large wooden pales in each hand. “That there are Blast-Ended Skrewts! Bred from a Fire Crab an’ Manticore m’self!”

I snapped my head to the large groundskeeper, astonished that he had performed a frowned upon practice. Experimentally breeding magical creatures was looked on with much controversy, mainly from the abominations wizards created in their hubris of being gods. Many 5-X dangerous magical creatures were created by wizards, Basilisks and Acromantualas to name a few. I grasped Pansy’s hand tighter, using my free hand to block anything that may hurt her from inside the crate. “Isn’t that illegal?” I asked Hagrid, keeping my eyes glued on the crate while pulling Pansy back, Draco following my lead.

“A- Well normally something as dangerous as these… Yes.” Hagrid admitted, dropping the buckets at his feet while clapping his hands to get the rest of the student’s who were backing away to pay attention. “However, these ‘ere are sanctioned by the Ministry! They ‘ave been tested b’fore and we know their danger when they grow up!” He announced loudly, easing the tension from previous students of last year’s debacle. He nodded with a smile, holding up a bucket.

“Now gather ‘round! Today, we’re just gonna be feed’n em!” The students who approached first, recoiled, grabbing their noses in disgust, worrying those behind them. “Let’s just wait for him to explain from here…” Pansy offered, Draco and I immediately nodded our heads in agreement. Hagrid gave off a chuckle at the disgusted students, pointing the bucket higher for others in the back to see, including us. The sight of bloodied meat and white speckles of what looked to be mold made me throw my hand to cover my mouth, trying to keep my composure.

“I only ever been able to get ‘em to eat frog livers an’ ant eggs, so that’s what I got here!” He explained, while dragging a large crate of shivering and squirming creatures over. “Now! Make sure they all get som’ng to eat!” He announced, showcasing himself dropping some of the food with his hands in the corner of the container. The small creatures began eating some of it, and more scurried over to have some for themselves. A fight began to break out among them, but Hagrid didn’t bat an eye.

Having already been used to such a sight from what I could imagine from these rageful creatures. Blinded and filled with nothing but hate in their small minds, only the vaguest sense of self showcased from each one. Their minds filled with nearly nothing, much like non-magical creatures. “Ya gotta feed ‘em in one portion, ‘en another, ‘nd keep a’ it until ya got every corn’r! Helps reduce the risk of gett’n close. Now! Get in groups of about 3 or 4 an’ ‘ave everybody feed a crate!”

Instantly Pansy, Draco, and I all looked at one another, ready to group up, other people doing the same; instantly grabbing their friends to group up with. In a few seconds everyone was ready, and Hagrid gave each of us a crate to feed. Handing Draco a bucket, he instantly held back a retch and presented it towards me. “This one’s all you, Lucas.” I scoffed at him, taking the handle before looking down in the bucket. On closer inspection, the little white specks were indeed ant larvae. Knowing it wasn’t rotting helped quell any apprehension towards the food I was supposed to feed.

I held the bucket with one hand and rattled my free hand a bit. My robes’ sleeve raised on its own, and I mirrored the action again to raise my other sleeve. I couldn’t help but smirk at my own handiwork. The entire summer I had been working on this Lethifold robe. ‘I just wish I had it during the game…’ I took a small sigh, my good feeling tainted with the image of Chiara on the verge of death in my arms.

However, the feeling of someone touching my bare skin brought me back, and I glanced to my left to see Pansy gently rubbing my forearm. She grabbed at it, giving me a reassuring smile, throwing all of my negative feelings out of my mind with her graceful expression. I couldn’t help but smirk, turning away to stop a stupid grin that was about to form. I patted her hand in silent thanks, telling her it would be best to let go now since this would be when things would get messy. She obliged, just standing by my side as she watched with her hands behind her back to lean forward.

“Alright… Here we go.” I muttered, glancing between Pansy and Draco. They both nodded, and I dropped a few livers in one corner of the crate, the blast ended skrewts nearest jumping at the food to gobble it down. Others clamoring about to snatch even a piece for themselves. I did just as Hagrid showcased, using their excitement to bring another handful of guts to the opposite corner, free and clear of angry beasts ready to lash out at anything in sight.

I managed fine until going to the last corner, bringing my hand down to drop off the last of the food, I heard a shriek from one of the other groups. I snapped my head up to see what it was, and could easily see a Ravenclaw girl shaking her hand while her friends only screamed along, watching helplessly. Hagrid quickly ran over to see what was wrong, but a sudden pain piercing the back of my hand brought my attention back down. “Ow!” I yelped, yanking my hand back to see a small white creatures with its stinger attached inside my skin.

“Oh my Merlin!” Pansy yelled, instantly taking out her wand, and pointing at the underbelly of the creature to avoid accidentally glancing me with her spell. “Petrificus Totalus!” The creature froze, and slowly the stinger came off. However, it wasn’t a stinger at all, it looked to me like a suction cup. I didn’t get much of a look before it fell to the ground at my feet, Pansy dragging me back away from it and to Draco who already stepped away the moment Pansy yelled.

“It’s alright! Females don’ have stingers! They jus’ break skin like mosquitoes!” Hagrid announced in his booming tone, talking to the Ravenclaw girls while making sure the entire class could hear to hopefully ease the fear felt by everyone. I glanced down at the small creature, its legs and tails curled up over itself. “Pansy…” I muttered, and she looked at me with worry. I knelt down to take a closer look, but also to hide my agape fingers around my shining yellow eye, channeling my dominion through it with the help of my fingertips.

The creature had no flame. I blinked a few times, a slight sinking feeling in my stomach as I glanced down at myself to see my overwhelming blue flame, burning just under my skin. “Lucas, you shouldn’t get too close to that.” Pansy whispered, pulling me back to my feet. I squinted, shaking my head while pulling my hand away from my eye, its glow of yellow dimming as I looked over at her. “I think it's dead…” I spoke with disbelief, Pansy blinking a few times, matching my dumbfounded look.

We both looked down at the creature, curled up without a single movement. Pansy flicked her wand a bit, releasing the binding curse, and we both watched as not a single movement came from the little ball of hate. Pansy gasped, gripping at my robes in angst. “Lucas, I swear I didn’t mean to- I… I just-” I forcefully released her grasp on my robes, making her silent. Now that my arm was free, I could instead wrap it around her, bringing her into a one armed hug. “I don’t think it was your fault…” I murmured, holding out my right hand, deep crimson pooling just over the base of my thumb.

Pansy instantly understood my unsettling words, gripping on my robes tighter while whispering. “That potion…?” I took a deeper breath, unsure if this was Ekrizdis’ potion, my strange curse, or some combination of the two. “Accio…” I muttered, the small corpse flying into my robes, catching the creature before slowly wrangling it up into its ‘stomach’ as a means to store it. I looked down at Pansy, gazing into her deep green eyes, making a promise to her. “I’m not sure, but I’m going to find out.”