A Broken Slytherin : Lunar Loss (Book 3)

The Midnight Forage

"Beautiful day!" Hermione breathed out as herself, Ron, Harry and y/n walked out into the courtyard. They were heading down to Hagrid to see how Buckbeak's trial had gone. The others seemed hopeful, but y/n, a tragic pessimist, was bracing herself for the worst.

"Gorgeous. That is if you haven't been ripped to pieces!" Ron snuffed.

"Ripped to pieces?" Harry said, "What are you talking about?"

"Ronald has lost his rat," Hermione stated glaring off into the distance.

"I haven't lost anything! Your cat killed him!" Ron argued back.

"Rubbish." Hermione shook her head and walked further along, not wanting to deal with Ron's attitude at the moment.

Ron turned to Harry, "Harry, you've seen how that bloodthirsty beast of hers is always lurking about. Scabbers is gone!" he said.

y/n had to quicken her pace to keep up with Ron's long strides, "Ron, keep in mind that Scabbers is-"

"More like was..."

"-was twelve years old! Rats barely live for two. I don't mean to sound so cynical but he was going to cark it sooner or later." y/n said.

"Well, maybe your cat killed him!" Ron accused.

"Nimbus is down the Slytherin dorms half the time, I don't think he even knows Scabbers exists." y/n snapped back.

"Well, then it had to be Hermione's then!" Ron concluded. Hermione quickly turned around.

"Well, maybe you should just learn to take better care of your pets!" she shouted.

Ron was about to respond but y/n had heard enough of their bickering for a while. She shot Ron a look that told him to keep his mouth shut and, albeit, with reluctance, Ron's lips stayed closed.

The four continued to trudge down to the lake where Hagrid was mindlessly skipping stones. He had pulled together the most formal attire he could to try and make a good impression at the hearing. He was wearing a large over jacket that looked like it was made of mammoth fur and an orange and yellow spotted tie big enough to use as a blanket.

"How'd it go, Hagrid? The hearing?" Hermione called out from the edge of the lake.

Hagrid fiddled with the smooth flat stone in his hand, "Well, first of all of the committee members took turns explaining why we were there," he skipped the stone along the water, "And then I got up and did my piece, talked about how Buckbeak was a good hippogryph; always cleaned his feathers. And then..."

"Then?" y/n pressed, preparing for bad news.

"Then Lucius Malfoy got up and you can imagine what he said. Saying that 'Buckbeak was a deadly and dangerous animal that would kill you as soon as look you'." Hagrid said, malice dripping off his tongue at the mention of a Malfoy, "And then he asked for the worst, old Lucius..."

"They're not sacking you, are they?" said Ron with concern.

"No I'm not sacked," Hagrid said. y/n saw his hands begin to shake and his mouth twitch, "Buckbeak's been sentenced to death!" Big hot tears were streaming down Hagrid's face and into his beard. y/n got up from the rock she was sat on and began to make her way over to Hagrid. She hesitated at the edge of the water for a moment but ignored the cold seeping into her shoes as she made her way over to her friend.

Hagrid threw the stone into the lake, the water splashing up violently. When y/n got to his side, she put a hand on his arm to comfort him. He looked down at her and y/n's heart broke. She had never seen Hagrid so upset before and it got to her really badly.