Old Blood at Hogwarts

On the way back to Gryffindor Tower, Aaron met Harry who had just finished his Divination exam. He looked a little worried.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Aaron asked, "Did you do well in the exam?"

"No." Harry shook his head and said, "It's Professor Trelawney. She just told me that the Dark Lord is about to rise again, and that his servants are going to return to him."

"Professor Trelawney told you?" Aaron said with a strange expression, "Are you sure this isn't another of her horror stories?"

Because he often spends time with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, even though Aaron has not yet taken a divination class, he already knows that Professor Trelawney likes to scare students with bad "prophecies" and takes pleasure in doing so.

"I don't know." Harry shook his head. "Looking at her, it looks like she made a real prophecy."

"Okay, Harry." Aaron comforted, "So far, none of what Professor Trelawney predicted has happened, has it? So you don't need to take her words to heart."

Harry thought for a moment and nodded: "You're right."

Five minutes later, they rushed past the security dwarf and arrived outside the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.People strode past them talking and laughing, heading in the opposite direction to them, towards the freedom they had longed for.By the time they entered the common room through the hole in the portrait, it was almost deserted.However, in the corner sat Ron and Hermione.Aaron and Harry walked over and saw their faces full of depression.

"What's wrong with you?" Harry asked.

"Buckbeak lost the case," Ron said listlessly. "Hagrid just sent this." He handed over a note.

Hagrid's note was dry this time and not stained with tears, but his hands were probably shaking so much that it was hard to read.

——The lawsuit was lost.The execution was carried out as the sun set.There's nothing you can do to help.Do not come.I don't want you to see the execution.

— Hagrid

"We must go," Harry said immediately. "He can't let himself sit there waiting for the executioner!"

"But, the sun sets..." Ron stared out the window, "There is no way he would agree to our going out...especially you, Harry..."

"We'll go wearing the invisibility cloak," said Harry.

"But there's no room for four people in the cloak," said Hermione.

"Don't worry," Aaron said, "I can use the Disillusionment Charm to make me invisible. You three just wear cloaks."

"The Disillusionment Curse? That's part of NEWT!" Hermione said in surprise.

They went down to dinner with the others, but did not return to Gryffindor Tower after dinner.Harry hid the invisibility cloak under the front of his robes and had to cross his arms at all times to hide the bulge underneath his robes.They crept to an empty room near the front hall and listened for a while until there was no one near them.They heard the last two people hurrying away across the Great Hall, and heard a door close, and Hermione stuck her head outside to see.

"Okay," she whispered, "There's no one there, put on the invisibility cloak."

Harry, Ron and Hermione put on their cloaks, and Aaron cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself.They tiptoed through the auditorium, then walked down the stone steps in front of the door and arrived outside.At this time, the sun had already set behind the Forbidden Forest, and its afterglow was shining on the treetops.

They walked to Hagrid's hut and knocked on the door.It took him a minute to open the door. When he opened the door, he couldn't find the visitor anywhere. His face turned pale and he started to tremble.

"It's us," Harry whispered. "We're wearing the invisibility cloak. Let us go in and we can take off the invisibility cloak."

"You shouldn't have come!" Hagrid whispered and stepped back.

Aaron, Harry and others walked in.Hagrid quickly closed the door, Harry pulled off the invisibility cloak, and Aaron removed the magic from his body.

Hagrid didn't cry, nor did he throw himself on them and throw his arms around their necks.He looked like a man who didn't know where he was or what he was supposed to do.

"Want to drink tea?" He reached for the teapot, his big hands trembling all the time.

"Where's Buckbeak, Hagrid?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"I...I took it outside just now." Hagrid poured the milk into the jug, spilling it all over the table. "Tie it on a string to my pumpkin patch. Thought it would look at the trees. And…breathe some fresh air…in it…”

Hagrid's hands shook so violently that the milk jug fell from his hand to the ground and broke into pieces.

"I'll do it, Hagrid." Hermione hurried over to clear up the mess.

"There's another jar in the storeroom," Hagrid said, sitting down and wiping his forehead with his sleeve.

Harry looked at Ron and Aaron, and Aaron and Ron looked at him helplessly.

"Can anyone think of anything, Hagrid?" Harry asked angrily. "Dumbledore..."

"He tried," Hagrid said. "He didn't have the power to control the Council. He told them Buckbeak wasn't dangerous, but they were afraid... You know what Lucius Malfoy is... He threatened Them. I think... and the executioner - MacNeil, who is Malfoy's old friend... the execution will be carried out neatly... and I will be by its side..."

Hagrid swallowed.His eyes looked around the hut, as if looking for a glimmer of hope or comfort.

"Dumbledore will be here when - when that happens. He wrote to me this morning and said he wanted - to be with me. Good man, Dumbledore..."

Hermione came over with the new milk jug and said to Hagrid: "We're with you too, Hagrid."

But Hagrid shook his shaggy head: "You should go back to the castle. I don't want you to see the execution. And anyway, you shouldn't be here... If Fudge and Dumbledore catch you leaving the castle without permission , Harry, you are in big trouble."

Hermione shed silent tears and prepared to make tea.However, when she picked up the milk jug to pour some milk into the teapot, she screamed: "Ron! I - I don't believe - that's Scabbers!"

Ron looked at her dumbfounded: "What are you talking about?"

Hermione turned the milk jug upside down.A mouse screamed in panic, slipped out of the milk jug and landed on the table.It was Banban who everyone thought was dead.

"Scabbers!" Ron shouted blankly, "Scabbers, what are you doing here?"

He grabbed the struggling rat and lifted it into the light.Banban looks very embarrassed now. He is thinner than before, and his fur has fallen off a lot, leaving patches of bare skin.It twisted in Ron's hand, as if desperately trying to get free.

"It's okay, Scabbers!" said Ron, "No cats! Nothing here can hurt you!"

At this moment, Hagrid suddenly stood up and stared out the window.His face used to be rosy, but now it has turned into the color of parchment: "They are coming..."

Aaron, Harry, Ron and Hermione all turned quickly.Through the window they could see a group of men in the distance descending the stone steps of the castle.Walking in front was Dumbledore, his silver beard shining in the sunset.Beside him were the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and two members of the Council.

"You have to go." Hagrid was shaking every inch from head to toe. "You must not let them find you here... Let's go, now..."

Ron stuffed Scabbers into his pocket, and Hermione picked up the invisibility cloak.

"I'll lead you from the back," Hagrid said.

They followed him to the door leading to the back garden.Aaron saw Buckbeak chained behind a tree in Hagrid's pumpkin patch just a few yards away.Buckbeak seemed to know that something was about to happen. He turned his head around and scratched the ground with his paws uneasily.

"It's okay, Beak, it's okay..." Hagrid said softly. He turned to Aaron, Harry, Ron and Hermione, "Come on, come on."

But they didn't move.

"Hagrid, we can't..."

"We need to tell them what's really going on."

"They can't kill it!"

"Go!" Hagrid said angrily, "If you get into trouble, things will get even worse!"

They have no choice.Hermione put the invisibility cloak over Harry and Ron's heads, and Aaron recast the Disillusionment Charm on himself.At this time, they heard voices outside the cabin door.

Hagrid looked at the place where they had just disappeared, and said in a hoarse voice: "Go quickly, don't listen..." He slowly walked back to the hut, and someone was already knocking on his door.

"If you want to save Buckbeak, now is a good opportunity." Aaron suddenly said at this time.

"You mean...?" Harry asked.

"You said if we let it go now..."

"No." Before Aaron could finish speaking, Hermione interrupted him, "If Buckbeak runs away now, Hagrid will be in trouble. Besides, it's too late."

At this time, they heard Dumbledore and others in front of them starting to enter the hut.

Aaron, Harry, Ron and Hermione began to walk slowly around Hagrid's hut quietly. In order to prevent them from getting separated, Aaron clutched the invisibility cloak as before.They reached the other side of the cabin just as the front door slammed shut.

"Let's go," Hermione said, "I can't stand it, I can't stand it..."