HP: For a better world

The official first day of class.

For Harry, this couldn't be better.

Harry was glad enough not to have seen Snape sitting above the Slytherin in the Great Hall that morning, his robes swung aside, staring at him with a cold eye throughout breakfast.

Except that Hagrid's new pet is a little "uncomfortable" - or very uncomfortable - with having a wizard take care of him.

In the first Care of Magical Creatures class at the beginning of the school year, Hagrid took out a new gadget that looked like a deformed lobster without its shell.

This creature called "Exploding-Tailed Skrewt" disgusts everyone.

This was all the sadder when they learned that they would have to raise them—or at least keep them alive—with Hagrid's help.

No one thought that anything that Hagrid loved and took out specially was safe.

Harry sadly discovered that of all people, Winster was probably the only one who got along best with Hagrid... they shared a common interest in strange creatures... although Winster's interest seemed to be more about spying on the usefulness of the flesh or bones of those magical animals, and he was a pragmatist.

But Hagrid didn't care much, he just seemed happy that someone was interested in his new 'friend'.

He was talking incessantly to Winster, who was looking up at him, about what the blast-tailed skrewts might be used for.

Faced with Hagrid's expectations, Winster asked him for some accidentally dead blasting-tailed skrewts to use for experiments.

Perhaps Snape would be interested, too, Harry thought.

"Some of them have thorns on their bodies," said Hagrid happily. "I guess the ones with thorns are males... The females have things like suckers on their bellies... If they can suck blood, they can probably be used to replace some magical animals that can live blood!... I mean... if they can be kept alive."

Winster glanced at Loial.

Loial understood what he meant and glanced mockingly at Malfoy, who was about to open his mouth to assert his presence.

Malfoy shut his mouth in disapproval.

The moment he closed his mouth, he was stunned. His eyes were full of disbelief at his own behavior. One eye looked suspiciously at Winster, who took Hagrid's gift and lowered his head to calmly fiddle with the blasting-end skrewt, while the other eye pierced Cliff, who looked nonchalant, with a questioning look.

Clive laughed at him in all seriousness.

Noticing Draco looking at him, Winston gave him a small smile, winked at him and gave him a questioning look.

I always feel like something is wrong.

Draco held it in for a while, then rolled his eyes and found another excuse. He raised his chin and shouted at Hagrid with disdain: "If they are useful, what can this amount be used for? Big guy, you haven't told me what they eat!"

"Oh," Hagrid said cheerfully without getting angry, "I don't know yet... but I guess they might eat meat... or vegetables or something. I don't think you need to worry about being bitten or swallowed by them... they're still so small."

("Oh," Pansy said. "This is the first time I know that what's on our bodies isn't considered meat," she whispered sarcastically.)

Draco heard her voice and sneered smugly.

There are idiots, Harry thought.

Hagrid turned around and took out three basins. They were filled with the food they needed to distribute during the class, including frog livers, ant eggs and cabbage leaves.

"If they can reproduce later, I will choose a batch as rewards at the end of the semester." Hagrid announced happily.

Ron poked the white mass of ant eggs with his finger and made a "ugh" sound.

"How are we going to feed these things?" Ron whispered to Hermione. "With our hands? - Do you see those thorns and suckers? I bet they're not there for looks."

"Maybe they can all be used for something else..." Hermione retorted, sympathetically, "before they swell to six feet long."

"Can they grow that big?" Ron asked in surprise.

"If Hagrid finds out what they eat," Hermione worried, "who knows..."

Hermione returned with a basin of skrewt food and helped Hagrid distribute it to the other students. Ron and Harry also helped, keeping some for themselves.

"I really don't expect this result at all... I hope Hagrid can find out what they eat later. It would be best if he finds out their function and makes them all disappear by accident... That way we don't have to risk having our blood sucked or our hands bitten off by raising such a 'pet'." Ron avoided Hagrid and whispered in a low voice with an unsightly expression.

Hermione grabbed a handful of cabbage leaves from the remaining part of the basin and put them into the group of skrewts. Seeing that they refused to approach that side, she frowned and carefully touched the cabbage leaves in an attempt to push the food in front of them.

The blasting-tailed skrewt suddenly exploded. Hermione was burned by the sudden sparks, cried out in pain, and pulled her hand back.

That's where their tails are.

Ron suddenly said nervously, "How is it? Are you okay? Let me see..." He leaned over, snatched Hermione's hand, held it and studied it for a while, then said, "It's not a big problem." He said with certainty, "It's just an ordinary blister. It can be solved by pricking it and healing it as before."

Hermione was stunned by his serious expression. Ron lowered his head seriously and prepared to help her treat the wound.

Suddenly, there was a burst of laughter from the Slytherin group, as if someone was watching their annoyance and laughing at them.

Ron glared at them.

"You're crazy." He cursed inexplicably, "What are you laughing at?"

Then he let go, allowing Hermione to pull her hand away and begin complaining angrily about how Slytherins were always picking on them.

"I mean, did they take the wrong medicine this semester?"

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, taking the hand that Hermione, who was looking stern, handed to him and helping her pick the blisters.

Then Hermione cast a spell herself to heal her hand.

"I feel like they've been watching us today," Ron said angrily. "It's not an illusion. You see, they've been staring at us. Hermione was careless and the voice came over - Malfoy must have spread the news about my robes," he said angrily.

"They are all waiting to see the fun."

Harry was at a loss for words. He had no idea why Ron had suddenly asked his family to send him his old robes that he had given to Ginny.

Fortunately, Ginny gladly gave it up.

Wasn't the gift Winston gave him good? Obviously, no matter how much Malfoy spread it, it was already a rumor.

"Maybe it's because Professor Snape is not here today, and no one is taking care of them." Harry said. He had not forgotten that Snape did not appear in the teacher's seat on the first day of school today - he hoped that this good phenomenon could last a little longer, especially since Winster guiltily told him that he had forgotten the key points of the shrinking potion operation... Harry decided to start reviewing now, so that Snape would not find an excuse to take a surprise exam.

Without Quidditch this term, it would be more difficult for Gryffindor to maintain its house points.

"I thought they would be more arrogant with the old bat around," said Ron.

An hour later, they left the grounds and returned to the castle to have lunch.

"Snape is still not here!" Harry said excitedly, and lowered his voice to ask Ron and Hermione: "What do you think he is doing? He is not here just after the start of the school term - when do we have Potions class? I really hope he won't be back by then."

"There are two Divination classes this afternoon." Ron squinted at the schedule and said, "Potions is on Wednesday."

He ran his finger across the schedule and stopped at Wednesday.

"There are still two days left!"

"He will definitely be back in two days," Hermione said, interrupting their joy.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Winster said that Snape took his place in the experiment meeting on the Immobilization Potion. He won't be back for a few days, and he was asked to help teach a few lower grade classes." As she spoke, Hermione took the lamb chops and potatoes and began to eat quickly.

She swallowed a piece of fragrant lamb. "Winster specially asked for leave from the afternoon Arithmancy class, and he also got Professor Victor's consent. I heard that he was allowed to miss this class because he had a written test."

"How many days?" said Ron. "Then he might miss classes, too."

he said dreamily.

Harry completely gave up his fantasy and said with a sad face: "It's over, he won't let me go... We will definitely have an exam."

They simultaneously pressed Harry to find out what was going on.

Harry confessed Winster's slip of the tongue honestly.

"Then I'll have to review it again," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Oh, no..." Ron wailed, holding his head. "This is terrible news, why did you tell Winston this? He told Snape -"

("You should call me Professor Snape," Hermione corrected, but didn't take him too seriously.)

"I just said it while chatting." Harry responded angrily.

"Damn it..." said Ron.

Then in the afternoon, when they all finished their divination class and went to dinner.

Harry overheard Malfoy and his two lackeys complaining at one side of the corridor.

"I was planning to subdue him... Why do I feel like a lackey now?"

"Maybe he's not aware of it yet," Goyle said. "Why not just say it outright?" he suggested. Crabbe nodded in agreement.

"I thought this was something he and I had a tacit understanding about..." Malfoy pondered, "...My father gave him so much money, he should listen to me - besides, it's impossible for him to be a prefect or something, so what's the point of bringing Clive and others with him? He might as well listen to me. There are actually people who want to compete with me. It's really unreasonable." Draco said arrogantly.

Crabbe and Goyle agreed with him.

Harry tried to sneak past them from behind, but was spotted by Malfoy:

"Hey!" Malfoy said suddenly, "Potter, what are you doing there!"

He showed a mocking expression: "Are you eavesdropping on our conversation? What a pity -" He deliberately raised his voice to attract some people to look over, and then said: "We didn't talk about anything important. It was just a little internal discussion among Slytherins - did you hear what you wanted? Eavesdropper."

Malfoy said deliberately: "Maybe we can tell you directly."

Crabbe and Goyle both chuckled.

"I didn't hear anything," said Harry.

"Really?" said Malfoy. "That's great -"

He was obviously deliberately provoking Harry. I thought it was Snape's accomplice's partiality that made Slytherin so arrogant, but without him, Slytherin would only become more unscrupulous. He provoked several house fights in one afternoon - although they were all small-scale.

They were rampant. The prefects only managed them for a little while, which could be said to be indulgence. Even Slytherin had fights among themselves, just like raising poison.

"Let's go, Harry." Ron tugged at his sleeve and glanced at Malfoy and the others with disgust. "Leave them alone."

He lowered his voice and said, "I heard Filch's voice."

Draco stared at their receding backs, his eyes narrowed.