A Memorable Tale

27 | Glorified Cleaning Supplies

Well into January, I believed that I was ready to present all my evidence to the court - also known as show Hagrid what I found for Buckbeak's trial.

"So," I placed a large stack of paper on Hagrid's table. "This is everything I could find on hippogriffs and hippogriff trials and all that." With no help from my dad.

He stared at it as if I had just placed a Boggart on the table. "How long were you even searching for?"

"Eh..." I flicked my wand and the large stack separated into six smaller ones. "These are the different topics I found. We just need to sort through them and find what's important, take away any repetition, and organize them into main points."

I rubbed the back of my neck and leaned my head back, regretting the position I decided to take when I was reading the night before.

"Harry, Ron, and Hermione know now," Hagrid said. "They can help."

"Brilliant," I breathed, secretly thankful that I didn't have to sort through the nearly 500 pages of notes by myself.

Hagrid, however, didn't look too pleased.

"Don't worry, Hagrid. We'll make sure Buckbeak doesn't get executed. Me, Hermione, Harry, and-"

I was interrupted by Hermione bursting through the door, her bag threatening to break open as she held it together, books spilling out of it. That wasn't my main focus, though.

"Hermione?" I took the bag and placed it on the floor, giving me room to grab her shoulders and look at her face, which wore an expression that made her look like she was about to cry. "What happened?"

She quickly broke down, throwing herself onto me and rambling into my shoulder.

"Harry had gotten a Firebolt for Christmas, but I was worried that it was sent by Sirius Black, so I reported it to Professor McGonagall, but Harry and Ron are furious with me now because she took it away so she could check it for curses!"

She had said it so rapidly that even I needed a moment to process everything she just said.

When I did, I was furious.

"They're mad at you for being worried?!" I snapped. "I thought that they were your best friends, how could they be so enraged over a flying cleaning supply? Oh, god, I'll hit them. I'll buy a Firebolt and crash into them just for spite, you watch-"

"Now hold on, Y/N," Hagrid warned.

I stopped my angered rambling and sat down on a chair, my arms crossed.

Hagrid spoke to Hermione in a soft, slow voice, one that even I had to admit was calming.

"Look, Hermione. You know that your heart was in the right place. If they can't see that, then there's no point in destroyin' yourself over it. But maybe, you should try asking before doing that kind of thing first."

She nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"By the way." I pointed at the bag that was splitting at the seems. "What's with all the books? There's way too many in there for them all to be for school, surely."

"No, no, they're all for school," Hermione corrected.

I blinked. "How on earth do you have so many? We share literally every single class and I don't have that many."

She shrugged off the question with another question. "How'd you find time to find all that information?"

"Cedric helped and Neville borrowed things from the library for me when Madam Pince got mad at me for borrowing so many at a time."