bacchusnovels Chapter 333 Buckbeak
Chapter 333 Buckbeak
Chapter 333 Buckbeak
"He didn't go out, did he?" Hermione said nervously, wrapping her cloak tightly around herself and shivering from the cold.
Sophia carefully untied her cloak and draped it over Hermione's shoulders.
She gently patted Hermione's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Hermione, Hagrid won't get himself into any bigger trouble."
Hermione gave Sophia a grateful look, tightened her cloak, and relaxed slightly. "Thank you, Sophia."
Ron pressed his ear against Hagrid's cabin door, listening intently. "There's a strange sound," he said. "Does it sound like a tooth?"
Harry pressed his ear to the door, and heard low, seemingly throbbing moans coming from inside.
"Should we go and call someone?" Ron asked nervously.
"Hagrid!" Harry yelled, pounding on the door. "Hagrid, are you in there?"
Heavy footsteps sounded, and then the door creaked open.
Hagrid stood in the doorway, his eyes red and swollen, tears streaming down his face, staining the front of his leather vest.
"You've all heard?" Hagrid growled, his massive body leaning forward as if he were about to collapse.
He wrapped his arms tightly around Harry's neck, holding him close as if grasping at a last straw.
Harry was almost overwhelmed by Hagrid's strength, but luckily Ron and Sophia rushed forward, grabbed Hagrid's arms, and helped him into the house.
Hermione followed in, her eyes filled with worry.
Hagrid obediently allowed them to lead him to a chair, where he collapsed onto the table and burst into tears. Tears streamed down his face like a waterfall, soaking his disheveled beard.
"Hagrid, what happened?" Hermione asked, her face full of shock.
Harry's gaze fell on an unopened official letter on the table. He reached for it and asked, "Hagrid, what's this?"
Hagrid's sobs grew louder, but he gestured for Harry to continue reading the letter.
Harry unfolded the letter and began to read:
Dear Mr. Hagrid:
Regarding the incident in which the hippogriff attacked a student in your class, after further investigation, we have accepted Professor Dumbledore's assurance that you bear no responsibility for this regrettable incident.
Ron gently patted Hagrid's shoulder, comforting him, "Aren't you alright now, Hagrid?"
But Hagrid was still crying, gesturing with his huge hand for Harry to continue reading.
"However, we must express our concerns about this hippogriff. We have decided to support Mr. Lucius Malfoy's formal complaint and refer the case to the Committee on the Disposal of Dangerous Animals."
"The hearing is scheduled for April 24. Please bring your hippogriff to the committee's London office. During this time, the hippogriff should be properly tethered and kept in isolation."
With heartfelt greetings—
Below is the list of members of the school's board of directors.
“Oh,” Ron said, “but didn’t you say Buckbeak wasn’t a dangerous hippogriff at all, Hagrid? I believe it will be fine.”
"You have no idea about those people on the Dangerous Animals Committee," Hagrid choked out, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, "they specifically target interesting animals!"
Just then, a commotion came from a corner of Hagrid's cabin, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately turned around to look.
Buckbeak, the hippogriff, lay in the corner, chewing on something bloody, the ground stained with blood. "I can't leave it tied up in the snow outside!" Hagrid choked out, "all alone, especially on Christmas!"
The group exchanged glances. Although they had never quite agreed with Hagrid's definition of "interesting animals"—which were usually more like "dangerous monsters"—Buckbeak didn't seem particularly dangerous.
By Hagrid's standards, it could even be considered quite cute.
Sofia frowned slightly and said softly, "Hagrid, perhaps we can find some favorable evidence for Buckbeak before the trial, otherwise dragging this out will be detrimental to him."
Hagrid looked up at Sophia, his eyes filled with pain and despair. "You must prepare a strong defense, Hagrid." Hermione took over Sophia's words, sat down next to Hagrid, and gently placed her hand on his strong arm. "We can definitely prove Buckbeak innocent."
"It's no use!" Hagrid sobbed. "Those guys on the committee all listen to Lucius Malfoy! They're all afraid of him! If I lose, Buckbeak will—"
Hagrid quickly made a gesture in his throat, let out a long moan, and then collapsed onto the table, burying his face in his arms.
"What did Dumbledore say, Hagrid?" Harry asked.
“He’s already done enough for me,” Hagrid choked out. “He has so much to worry about now, keeping the Dementors at bay, and Sirius Black is hiding nearby—”
Ron and Hermione immediately exchanged glances, worried that Harry would be upset that Hagrid hadn't told him about Black.
But Harry didn't blame him; he simply couldn't bear to see Hagrid so dejected and terrified.
“Listen to me, Hagrid,” Harry urged. “You can’t give up. Hermione’s right, all you need is a strong defense. We can testify—”
—
Sofia watched Hagrid quietly from the side, unable to bear seeing him in such pain.
She said softly, "Hagrid, Buckbeak has always been your pride, you can't abandon him. Perhaps we can find precedents for successfully defending similar cases in the past; I can check the Ministry of Magic's archives."
Hagrid looked up, his eyes filled with tears, and asked in surprise, "You'll help me?"
"Of course," Sophia nodded, "we're all here to help you."
"We'll help you," Harry added. "You can't give up. Hermione and Sophia are right, we'll definitely find a way."
Hagrid's cries grew louder.
"Well—how about I make you a cup of tea?" Ron suggested.
Harry glared at him.
"My mom makes tea whenever someone is sad," Ron muttered under his breath, shrugging.
Finally, after some words of comfort and a cup of hot tea, Hagrid wiped his nose with a huge handkerchief and sighed, "You're right. I can't break down, I have to pull myself together—."
The hound, Tooth, cautiously crawled out from under the table and rested its head on Hagrid's knee.
"I haven't been feeling well lately," Hagrid said, rubbing his teeth and wiping his face with his other hand. "The Buckbeak situation is worrying me, and nobody likes my classes—"
"We love it!" Hermione immediately told a white lie.
"Yeah, your class is fantastic!" Ron chimed in, secretly crossing his fingers under the table. "So—how are those Flobber caterpillars doing?"
"They're dead," Hagrid said dejectedly. "They ate too much lettuce."
"Oh, this is terrible!" Ron's lips trembled slightly.
"And those Dementors give me a terrible feeling," Hagrid shuddered. "Every time I go to the Three Broomsticks, I have to pass by them. It feels like being back in Azkaban—"
He stopped and silently took a large gulp of tea.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all held their breath. They had never heard Hagrid mention his experiences in Azkaban.
After a while, Sofia frowned at him and asked softly, "Azkaban? Is it really as terrible as the legends say?"
Mingming heard her father describe Azkaban as a hot spring resort—except for the lack of hot springs, everything else was wonderful.
“You can’t imagine,” Hagrid said softly. “I thought I was going crazy. My mind was filled with terrible things—the day I was kicked out of Hogwarts, the day my father died, and the day I had to send Norbert away—”
His eyes were glistening with tears. Norber was the little fire-breathing dragon Hagrid had won in a card game.
"If you stay in a place like that for too long, you will gradually forget who you are, and you won't even know what reason you have to live."
Sometimes I even wished I could die in my sleep. When they finally released me, it felt like being reborn, everything coming back to me. It was one of the most wonderful feelings in the world. You know, Dementors don't like letting me go.
"But you are innocent!" Hermione said anxiously.
Hagrid gave a soft snort.
"That doesn't matter to them at all. They don't care who is guilty or not; as long as there are hundreds of people locked up there so they can suck all the joy out of them, they're content."
Hagrid fell silent again, his gaze fixed on his teacup. After a moment, he said softly, "I really want Buckbeak to fly away and escape, but how can you explain to a hippogriff that it has to hide? And—I'm really afraid of breaking the law." He looked up, tears streaming down his face again. "I don't want to go back to Azkaban."
Although the visit to Hagrid was far from pleasant, it at least achieved some of the group's objectives.
Although Harry hadn't completely forgotten about Black, he could no longer focus solely on revenge, as they had a more pressing task—helping Hagrid win his case against the Committee on the Handling of Dangerous Animals.
The next day, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Sophia went to the library and brought back a huge pile of books to the empty common room.
These books may offer clues to defend Buckbeek.
The four people sat around the warm fire, slowly flipping through the dusty files, occasionally exchanging a few words in hushed tones when they came across relevant information.
"Here's a case from 1772. But the hippogriff was found guilty—ah,
"Look what they did to it, it's disgusting—" Ron said.
"This might be useful. Look—in 1296 there was a sphinx that attacked a man, but it was released—oh wait, that was only because no one dared to approach it," Hermione said, flipping through the book with some disappointment.
As Sofia flipped through a file, she pondered, "We need to look at things from a different angle. Perhaps it's not just about a simple act of attack, but about proving that Buckbeak's actions were in self-defense or due to a misunderstanding."
Harry nodded: "Yes, we need to prove it meant no harm."
By evening, despite having consulted numerous books and files, the four men had not found any case favorable to Buckbeek.
Each related record made them even more heartbroken, either because of misjudgment or because the animals ultimately suffered extremely cruel punishment.
"We need to find something, this can't end like this!" Ron slammed a heavy book shut in frustration.
He seemed somewhat disappointed.
"Yeah, it feels like we haven't found anything." Harry leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the table, his brow furrowed.
Buckbeak's affair somewhat dampened his eagerness for revenge against Sirius.
Hermione also seemed frustrated. She sighed softly, pushed a large volume aside, and gave up hope on the books.
Just then, Sophia's gaze drifted thoughtfully between Hermione and the books scattered on the table.
He said softly, "Perhaps we can ask others for help; after all, these books alone might not be enough."
Hermione raised her head slightly upon hearing this, a hint of hesitation in her eyes: "Ask someone else for help? Who do you mean?"
"For example, a very knowledgeable professor who is very willing to help students?" Sophia said in a meaningful tone, a sly smile playing at the corner of her eye.
Hermione's cheeks flushed instantly, realizing who Sophia was referring to.
She subconsciously lowered her head, avoiding Sophia's gaze, but the events of that night involuntarily surfaced in her mind.
In fact, she had witnessed Sophia walk into Sean's office that night and heard those sounds coming from inside, a memory that had haunted her ever since.
She was aware of her feelings for Sean—a deep-seated love and admiration.
It was this feeling that made her feel particularly uneasy about what happened that night.
She kept wanting to ask Sean what exactly happened that night. Why was Sophia in his office? What was their relationship?
These questions lingered in Hermione's mind like a tangled ball of yarn that she could never unravel.
However, every time she mustered the courage to find Sean and ask him, she swallowed the words back down her throat.
She was afraid, afraid of receiving an answer she couldn't bear.
What if there really was something between them? What should she do? Her relationship with Sophia had always been close, and this complicated feeling made her increasingly conflicted, afraid to easily lift this thin veil.
Hermione gently turned the pages of the book on the table with her fingers, her heart filled with remorse and hesitation. She truly didn't know how to deal with these feelings.
"Hermione?" Ron called softly when he saw Hermione lost in thought.
Hermione snapped out of her reverie and said somewhat embarrassedly, "You mean—Professor Phillips? But he's already helped us so many times—wouldn't it be too much trouble to bother him again?"
“I don’t think he’ll mind,” Sophia chuckled, nudging Hermione’s shoulder with her elbow. “Besides, he’s very good at these kinds of problems. Since we can’t find any useful information, we might as well ask him for help; perhaps he can find some clues we’ve overlooked.”
Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, and although they didn't say anything, they both nodded in agreement.
They were well aware that Professor Phillips was indeed very insightful on this kind of matter.
In addition, Hermione usually has a certain awe and respect for her teachers, so asking Professor Phillips for help might be the key to their success.
Hermione was still hesitant: "But—but what if he's really busy? We can't keep bothering him."
“Hermione, he’s always been very willing to help us,” Harry said encouragingly, “and Buckbeak’s situation is really important. Like you said, we can’t give up hope.”
Hermione bit her lip gently, thought for a moment, and finally nodded: "Okay—I'll give it a try."
Sophia smiled with satisfaction, pleased with her suggestion: "That's more like it. Trust me, Hermione, Professor Phillips will definitely be willing to help."