Schedules got passed around by Heads of House, McGonagall had given at breakfast, Lucifer and Hermione now both agreed that it looked 'far' more manageable than last year.
"Today's not bad... outside all morning," Ron said as he ran his finger down the column for Monday, "Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures... damn it, we're still with the Slytherins..."
Lucifer couldn't understand what he was talking about, this term, Slytherin and Gryffindor barely shared any classes at all. Only 'Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration' overlapped, with few Charms lessons at the start.
Hermione was sulking, she didn't want to go to the Greenhouse, why couldn't she be in RavenClaw, and enter into Transfiguration' or Charms, if she ever got the chance to be Sorted again, she'd choose it without hesitation, and took Lucifer with her.
By now, she understood that except Slytherin's purity nonsense, House affiliation wasn't what really mattered. Learning was your own responsibility, you could study anywhere. 'What mattered most was choosing the right people to learn from....'
"Double Divination," She heard Harry say somewhat cheerfully, "Could actually be fun now that Trelawney isn't teaching it?"
"Maybe, but I still think you should've just given it up like us, shouldn't you?" Hermione asked briskly, buttering herself some toast, "Then you'd be doing something sensible, like Arithmancy." She had just started adding some jam, a lot of jam, to her toast which made Lucifer wonder if she was high on drugs.
They soon found themselves on the way out of the Great Hall and heading outside towards the Greenhouses for Herbology. To Hermione's pure dismay, Professor Sprout had them enter Greenhouse Three where the Tentacula resided.
She knew it hated her, but no book could explain why it hated her, she just knew it did, Hermione really wanted to bunk her first class.
"I'm staying as far away from that blasted thing as possible," She said quietly, which caused Lucifer to laugh at her dark face.
Professor Sprout then showed them one of the ugliest plants Hermione had ever seen.They looked less like plants than thick, black, giant slugs, protruding vertically out of the soil.
Each was squirming slightly and had a number of large, shiny swellings upon it, which appeared to be full of a liquid. Just looking at it made her stomach churn, even collective reaction around her was disgust.
"What are those?" She heard Harry ask.
"Bubotubers," Lucifer answered without pause.
"Correct, Mr. Morningstar, take two Points for Gryffindor, why don't you?" Professor Sprout said, walking up to the Bubotuber, "And they need squeezing. You see this here? You will collect the pus---"
"The 'what ?" Seamus asked, sounding utterly revolted.
"Pus, Finnigan, pus," Sprout reiterated, "And it's extremely valuable, so don't waste it. You will collect the pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves; it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted... let me show you how to collect them from one spot here, and then get to work!"
Just looking at it made Justin Flint Fletchley nauseous, let alone handling it personally, gloves or not. He paid Ron a Galleon to complete both his and Ernie's assignments.
Faced with such a windfall, Ron worked until his hands nearly smoked. When Professor Sprout witnessed this, she affectionately ruffled the boy's hair and let him continue his antics. Everyone had their likes and dislikes, even Professors couldn't force preferences, could they?
Lucifer and Hermione promptly put their gloves on and each decided which task to do for themselves. She would be popping them and he would catch the pus in the Bottles.
Hermione was heard commenting how disgusting, but satisfying popping them felt, like crushing noodles in their packet, every burst came with a sigh of relief. Before long, girl was hooked.
She sped up, squeezing one after another. Lucifer had initially looked utterly revolted and handed his share over to her, but seeing how absorbed his girlfriend was, he slowly took his back and gave it a try.
Moments later, he discovered the appeal too. The two of them worked with alarming enthusiasm. By end of class, not only had they completed their assignment, but had decimated Professor Sprout's reserves. She looked pleased... and 'faintly' troubled.
Now she'd have to rethink the next few lesson plans, several pints of the Pus had been bottled.
"This ought to keep Madam Pomfrey happy," Professor Sprout said as she corked the last bottle, "An excellent remedy for the most stubborn of acne, bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples."
"Like poor Eloise Midgen," Hannah Abbott said in a hushed tone, "she tried to curse hers off."
"Silly girl," Professor Sprout said, shaking her head, "At least Madam Pomfrey was able to fix her nose back on in the end..."
The entire class burst out laughing.
Because Eloise Midgen had terrible acne, she tried using a spell to get rid of her pimples, only to end up blasting off her own nose.
Fortunately, Madam Pomfrey was able to reattach it, but Eloise still spent three days recovering in the hospital wing. Several girls stared longingly as Sprout carried away the bottles, clearly regretting not secretly pocketing some.
They were at that age. Acne had begun to make its appearance. Sure, it symbolized youth, but no one wanted that symbol plastered across their face every day.
Hermione generously promised her roommate Parvati, that she'd brew 'acne-clearing potion' for her. It was hardly a big deal, she wouldn't even need Lucifer's help. She could just ask Harry to handle it, in exchange for her class notes.
Lucifer blinked his eye and looked taken aback, "Did I miss something?" He whispered to her. All she did was shush him as a booming bell rang out through whole Castle, signaling that class ended and to get to the next.
The Gryffindors separated from the Hufflepuffs as they made their way down to Hagrid's Hut, which was a shorter walk than it was for the Slytherin, wherever they were coming from.
Hagrid's Hut was situated at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, which Hermione had only ever entered once, at least when it came to going deep into the 'Forest', when she had served a Detention with her fellow Gryffindor's, and Malfoy. She didn't count any time last year with how she had only skirted the inside a little bit.
Hagrid was standing outside his Hut, waiting for them to arrive, one of his enormous hands was on the collar of his Boarhound, Fang.
There were several opened crates on the ground at his feet, and Fang was whimpering and straining to get over to the crates to investigate more closely; whatever was in them.
If Hagrid was keeping Fang back, it must not have been good.
When they got closer, an odd rattling sound could be heard coming from the crates, followed by what sounded like miniature explosions.
"Mornin'!" Hagrid grinned at the four of them, "be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' wan' ter miss this, Blast-Ended Skrewts!"
Lucifer stopped dead in his tracks, 'No... did - did he really?' He walked up to the crates and peered down inside, wanting to suddenly bash his head against something hard and stony. 'Hagrid, after behaving himself for a whole year, had apparently grown bold again....'
So, over the summer, he'd pulled off something outrageous: crossbreeding a Manticore with a Fire Crab to create a bizarre hybrid known as a Blast-Ended Skrewt. Gross was the most accurate word for it.
'Or maybe the Skrewt itself was the perfect definition of the word....'
After taking one look at the creatures, Lucifer immediately bailed. He'd already warned Hagrid last year, which counted as doing his duty and repaying the favor he had done him by helping collect Acromantula venom. 'If Hagrid insisted on playing with fire, this is Dumbledore's headache now, not mine....'
"Eurgh!" Lavender squealed, jumping back in horror.
Hermione peered inside and sure enough, Blast-Ended Skrewts were down in the crates. They looked worse than how the book described them; were like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places, and no visible heads.
There were about a hundred of them in each crate, about six inches long each, crawling over one another, bumping blindly into the sides of the crates.
They were giving off a very powerful smell of rotting flesh, something Hermione had hoped she'd never known the smell of before.
Every now and then, sparks would fly out of one of the ends of them and they'd skid 'forward' a few inches.
"On'y jus' hatched," Hagrid said proudly, "So yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we make a bit of a project out of it!"
"And why would we 'want' to raise them?" Came a cold drawl of a voice that had an "oh so punchable face" that came with it, Hermione thought to herself.
The Slytherins had 'finally' arrived and Draco Malfoy was the speaker for the group, Crabbe and Goyle chuckling appreciatively at his words.
Hagrid looked downright stumped at the valid question. Hermione might have hated Malfoy with every single fiber of her being, but with this, she couldn't agree more.
"I mean, what do they 'do?" Malfoy continued to question, "What's the 'point' of them?"
Hagrid opened his mouth and paused for a few seconds, very obviously, and thought hard about it. Then he said, "Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em, terday. Now yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'ren' things - I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll eat. I've got ant eggs, frog livers, an' a bit o' grass snake. Jus' try 'em out on each."
Hermione was about to walk over when she saw Lucifer pulling on his Dragon hide gloves. No one else put them on, and the Slytherins even laughed at him, but he ignored them.
"I always knew any creature with a name like that, cannot be any good," She whispered to Lucifer, who adjusted his gloves tightly.
"Just behave," Lucifer shushed, he took her hand and dragged over to the crate where he made her pick up handfuls of frog liver. "Don't frighten him," he whispered as Hermione lowered the frog liver into the crate.
"Who do you think is more frightened right now?" She asked, with an amusing tone in her voice, "The creature with no eye sight, and more than likely, no brain activity. Or the girl lowering her hands into a crate full of creatures that can blast fire out of their arse---"
"Hermione, 'language," Lucifer smacked her on the arm, causing her to drop some frog liver into the crate, hitting a Skrewt on the head and making it burst with sparks shooting out at the bushy haired girl's hands.
"Bloody Arseho- ho.. hope that doesn't burn for long..." Hermione quickly changed what she was saying as Lucifer raised his eyebrows at her.
She shook her burned hands, which were quickly enveloped in bandages at the flick of Lucifer's wand. He gently gripped his girlfriend's wrists and lifted her hands up to his lips, pressing a light kiss onto the bandages.
"Better?" he asked.
"Way better," Hermione said, falling into a trance, watching Lucifer's hair blow in the wind. She grew pink in the cheeks when she analysed his facial features. Eyes now going slowly downwards his body, massaging her eyes by using Lucifer as eye candy.
His masculine 'features' were a lot sharper than last year, showing off his curves better and he had definitely grown.... not just in height. Hermione was now 'full-on' staring at his crotch during the class with a drooling expression. She wiped her mouth using her robe.
"You like what you see?" Lucifer whispered seductively, knocking the girl out of her trance.
"It's you, how could I not?" Hermione said pecking his lips before returning to the crate.
xxxxxx
"Ouch!" Dean yelled out in pain.
Hagrid hurried over to him, "it got me!" He looked anxious as Dean then said, "It's end exploded!"
"Why do you think I put gloves on?" Lucifer asked, looking at Dean for a moment, but Hermione knew he was also pointing out at her. She noticed the Slytherins stopped laughing and promptly began to put their gloves on.
She herself couldn't help the few giggles that escaped her lips.
"Erugh," She heard Lavender say again. Because of her suspicions about the girl, Hermione had little care for her.
"Eurgh, Hagrid, what's this pointy end on some of them?" She had her gloves on after seeing what happened to Dean and grabbed one of the pointy ones.
"Ah, some of 'em got stingers, reckon those are the males," he said and Lavender continued to look revolted.
"The females I believe have these sort of sucker things on their bellies, reckon they are fer suckin' blood."
"Well, I can certainly see why we are trying to keep them alive," Malfoy said sarcastically as he handled one of the Skrewts with his gloves on, "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"
"Just because they're not very pretty, doesn't mean they aren't useful!" Hermione snapped at him, "Dragon's Blood has amazing 'magical properties', but you wouldn't want to keep one as a pet would you?"
That had got Malfoy to shut up and he went back to attempting at an attempt to care about the Skrewts. An hour later, they were making their way back up to the Castle for Lunch period.
"Well, at least they are small," Ron said naively.
"They're small 'now," Hermione said, disgusted.
"Once Hagrid realizes what they eat, they'll grow to at least six feet in length... and that's if they don't resort to cannibalism," Lucifer said, keeping his eyes forward.
"Cannibalism?" Harry asked, his face going white.
"Well... will that matter if they end up being able to cure some kind of sickness?" Ron asked.
"You know very well I only said that to shut Malfoy up!" Hermione said a bit more angrily than she meant to, "Actually, I think he's right, and I know Lucifer does as well."
"They are useless, and if I had my say, we would just stomp the little bastards and move onto something more fun, like Porlock's or Bowtruckle's. Anything right now is more 'fun' to learn about than those things," Lucifer said spitefully as they got to the Great Hall.
Once they sat down, Hermione began to eat incredibly quickly, and he just ate a few things, not much of anything. They'd already talked about going to the Library during Lunch and looking for info on House Elves, not actually though, since Lucifer could imagine her trying to give socks everywhere to 'free' slaves.
"Er - is this a new stand on Elf Rights?" Ron asked as he looked at Hermione.
"No," Lucifer spoke before Hermione could even attempt to with a full mouth, "Both of us are simply going to the Library for our Lunch Break, but doing so on an empty stomach is foolish...."
"What?" Ron asked in disbelief, "Hermione, Lucifer - i-it's the first day back! We-We haven't even got homework yet!"
They both shrugged as Hermione continued shoveling food down her esophagus until she tapped Lucifer on the shoulder, "Come on," her attention turned to Harry, "see you at dinner!"
She waved and sped off with Lucifer lagging a bit behind, only standing up as she got to about twenty feet away from him. He slung his bag over his shoulder and followed her out.
By the time he arrived at the Library, Hermione had already found at least five books on House Elves and had them stacked on a table.
Lucifer went ahead and sat down, spreading the books around and opening one of them. To be honest, he didn't expect her to 'find' any of the relevant information on House Elves outside the 'Restricted Section' like in the previous timeline, and that was assuming there was a book on the subject in the new one.
Hermione 'finally' arrived back at the table with another six books.
"Hey, is anything wrong?" She asked him as she sat down beside him.
"No, not really," he looked sideways at her, "but 'Care of Magical Creatures' was just so... mind-numbingly boring because of the Blast-Ended Skrewts... maybe Double Arithmancy can cull some of my boredom."
"I understand that... I don't know what Hagrid was thinking... it doesn't help that they are technically an illegally bred creature either, but it is Hagrid, and he did have a Dragon at one point," Hermione responded. Just on the way, she'd overheard Parkinson, Greengrass, Malfoy and a few other pure-bloods muttering about reporting the whole thing to the Ministry.
"Yeah... if I look back now, I don't miss Norberta at all, honestly, she's probably chilling off at her new home," Lucifer said, looking through one of the many books his girlfriend had picked out.
"I don't either. It was a menace, and if Malfoy had told Dumbledore, or worse, the Ministry, Hagrid would've gotten in serious trouble, and most likely been taken to Azkaban..." Hermione started scanning through a book as well.
xxxxxx
By the end of Lunch Break, neither of them had made much progress, even though they got through three books each, Lucifer sighed, wondering if he should tell her what he already knows as House elves being 'defeated parties,' but didn't say anything in case the History was altered, he just slid his hand under the front of her skirt and snaked his 'fingers' into her panties.
Hermione inhaled sharply. One digit parted her lips and traced through her soaked sex. "My, my, Granger. What do we have here?"
Her mouth pinched shut, breathing heavily through her nose.
"Did you find anything, pet?"
Turning her face, she whispered, "No, sir."
"Are you ready for today's night?"
Her eyes closed. "Yes, sir."
"Good girl." Lucifer studied her face.
She now looked distracted and nervous. "Is something wrong, pet?"
Swallowing around the lump in her throat, Hermione stared at the book in front of her, "...I came out of the bathroom in a hurry, w-without putting in my plug."
His lips twitched. "I'll let it go this time, it seems an understandable mistake. Unless... you 'want' me to punish you for it."
Now that he mentioned it, she 'did' want him to. "I'd feel better if you did, sir."
Lucifer smirked. "Come to our quarters early after dinner."
"Yes, sir."
"Let's go to Arithmancy for now."
He pulled his hand out of her knickers and licked his finger clean. Hermione stared at him, groaning at the sight. Spinning around, she quickly collected her books, and ran out of the Library before she lost her mind.
He chuckled as she fled, also stood up from his chair to move out.
xxxxxx
Professor Vector was at her desk, waiting for the class to arrive, which was only two students shy after Hermione and Lucifer arrived.
Like McGonagall, Vector was a shrewd, but fair woman. She didn't hesitate to take away House Points from anyone, or give them out when she deemed it fitting.
As usual, her main two students to answer her questions were Hermione and Lucifer, Vector didn't miss the chance to praise them both for being the only ones to pass her Third-Year Exam perfectly.
Hermione felt immense satisfaction after the debauchery at Library; her culprit did too, but his smile was more humble looking than her.
Lucifer wouldn't swear to it, but he was sure that, 'that' was the reason Vector didn't give them any homework by the end of class.
xxxxxx
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