Blast-Ended Skrewt

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

- Draco Malfoy

The Blast-Ended Skrewt is a hybrid creature bred by Rubeus Hagrid in the autumn of 1994, by crossing Manticores and Fire crabs. Whether Hagrid used magic or somehow got the two to mate is unknown. Newly-hatched Skrewts looked like pale, slimy deformed shell-less lobsters. They had legs sticking out at odd angles. They were about six inches long and smelled strongly of rotten fish. Sparks flew out of their ends every so often which propelled them forward a few inches. The males had stingers and the females had suckers on their body to suck blood.

After two months of caring for the Skrewts they were three feet long and extremely ill tempered, making it hard to get close to one. They grew grey, shiny armour over their pale bodies and began to look like a cross between giant scorpions and elongated crabs. The males held their stingers over their backs, and were highly dangerous and repulsive.

By June, the Skrewts had grown ten feet long, and were incredibly dangerous (and quite probably lethal). They resembled giant scorpions with stingers curled over their backs. Their shiny armour deflected most spells, and they used their blasts to propel themselves at a foe. Its single undefended spot was its armour-less underside. One of these Skrewts was placed inside the Triwizard Tournament maze, and Harry defeated it by using the Impediment Jinx on its underside.

Hagrid began breeding the Skrewts at the beginning of September, and had several hundred. By the following June, he only had one, which was the one that was placed in the maze. Hagrid never found what they ate, and they killed each other off mostly, so it is not surprising they died so quickly. The remaining one may have been released in the forest, or maybe Hagrid kept it for breeding.

They appear to be massive violations of the Ban on Experimental Breeding, but Hagrid is never charged for it.

Etymology
The term "blast-ended skrewt" may be a reference to the term "blast-off" which means a british slang for "breaking wind".

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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