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꧁Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀᴛʜɪʀᴛᴇᴇɴ꧂ Dᴏᴠᴇs 𒊹︎ "FᴜᴄᴋᴏFF ʜᴀʀʀʏ!"
"YOUR lying!" Rory told shocked, she had looked like she had been told her worst nightmare.
"He —- he sent me this," Hermione said, holding out the letter.
Harry took it as Rory moved closer to him to see, the parchment was damp, and enormous teardrops had smudged the ink so badly in places that it was very difficult to read.
Dear Hermione an' Rory,
We lost. I'm allowed to bring him back to Hogwarts. Execution date to be fixed. Beaky has enjoyed London. I won't forget all the help you two gave us. Hagrid
"They can't do this," said Harry. "They can't. Buckbeak isn't dangerous."
"But —" Rory started "he's still so young he had his whole life ahead of him —" Rory's eyes began to gloss, she had grown attached to Buckbeak.
"Malfoy's dad's frightened the Committee into it," said Hermione, wiping her tears as Harry gripped Rory she had been overwhelmed in emotion she loved creatures especially Buckbeak.
"You know what he's like. They're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. There'll be an appeal, though, there always is. Only I can't see any hope. . . . Nothing will have changed." Finished Hermione.
"Yeah, it will," said Ron fiercely. "You and Rory won't do all the work this time. I'll help."
"Oh, Ron!"
Hermione flung her arms around Ron's neck and broke down completely. Ron, looking quite terrified, patted her very awkwardly on the top of the head. Finally, Hermione drew away.
"Ron, I'm really, really sorry about Scabbers . . . ," she sobbed. "Oh —- well —- he was old," said Ron, looking thoroughly relieved that she had let go of him. "And he was bit useless. You never know, Mum and Dad might get me an owl now."
The safety measures imposed on the students since Black's second break-in made it impossible for Harry, Ron, Rory, and Hermione to go and visit Hagrid in the evenings. Their only chance of talking to him was during Care of Magical Creatures lessons.
He seemed numb with the shock at the verdict. "S'all my fault. Got all tongue-tied. They was all sittin' there in black robes an' I kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates Rory and Hermione looked up fer me. An' the Lucius Malfoy stood up an' said his bit, and the Committee jus' did exac'ly what he told 'em. . . ."
