HP: For a better world

"Hey, Hagrid, are you there?" After returning to the dormitory to change his cloak, Winston strolled over and knocked on Hagrid's door. He originally came to give the cat to Hermione, but because Crookshanks refused to approach Hagrid's hut, he broke free from Winston's hand, jumped into the grass covered with fresh snow, and disappeared in a flash.

There were strange, somewhat familiar noises coming from the cabin, and the voices of Harry and Hermione were also inside.

"...Do you think they care about this? They don't care. They have already got two hundred people to stay with them and sucked all the happiness out of these people. Who cares if they die or not... Without happiness, they are no different from a walking corpse."

Hermione came and opened the door for him.

When Hagrid saw Winster come in, he pulled up his facial muscles somewhat reluctantly and tried to smile at him, but obviously he failed. Winster could only see his wet beard twitching, more like a sob.

Ron was pouring tea for Hagrid. Harry looked at Hagrid intently. "Did you ever think of secretly letting Buckbeak go?"

"Of course... of course I thought about letting Buckbeak fly away," Hagrid said absentmindedly, "but how can I explain to a hippogriff that it should leave and hide quickly? It can't understand... and I'm afraid of breaking the law. If I can't see Buckbeak, they'll definitely say I let it go secretly... I don't want to go back to Azkaban." Hagrid's voice even changed at the end.

Winster frowned when he heard this. "Didn't Mr. Newt Scamander go to help you?" He realized that they were talking about Buckbeak being tried by the Dangerous Creatures Committee, and couldn't help but question it: "Aren't your and Mr. Newt's efforts to help Buckbeak avoid the review of the Dangerous Creatures Committee... How could it be?"

"Yes," Hagrid said calmly, his eyes red and swollen, "we tried, but Malfoy's influence was too great. He insisted that even if he couldn't expel me, Buckbeak must disappear - 'This dangerous beast must pay! I can't let my child stay with such a dangerous and ignorant professor.' - These are his exact words." Hagrid said gloomily.

"What about Mr. Newt?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"Plus Mr. Scamander and the Dangerous Creatures Committee always have a little problem, and things have become like this." Hagrid raised his teacup and drank it all. Buckbeak finished his ferret, shook his feathers and came from the corner to rub Hagrid with his head in a flattering way.

The four people watched Buckbeak come over to beg for food like a spoiled child.

Hagrid scratched its feathers, then stood up shakily and took out a long string of processed ferrets from the kitchen and threw them to Buckbeak. He stroked its strong wings and lamented in a painful tone: "Eat, poor Buckbeak, eat! They don't understand your beautiful figure... The Dangerous Creatures Committee... is always against these beautiful animals."

Winster walked over and bowed to Buckbeak, who happily agreed to Winster's approach as he enjoyed the snack and Hagrid's touch.

Winster walked up and stroked its neck. "Is there no other way, Hagrid?"

Hagrid replied dejectedly, "Win the case... convince the jury through defense that Buckbeak is safe... but the jury is all under the control of Lucius Malfoy, it's almost... almost... Alas -" Hagrid couldn't say any more, and the rest of his words turned into a sigh.

Will everything return to the original plot, even if changes are not allowed in advance?

"Don't say that, Hagrid. We will all help you prepare your defense, and you can let us be witnesses then. We all saw how Malfoy didn't listen to the professor, and Winston even saved him!" Harry advised.

"Yeah," Hermione echoed, "Don't give up on Hagrid, there's still Dumbledore. What did Professor Dumbledore say?" she asked.

"He has done enough for me. The Dementors that broke into the school during the Quidditch match this year were enough to make him angry. He also invited the famous biologist Mr. Scamander to speak well of me and Buckbeak..." Hagrid sobbed and covered his face with his big hands. "And Sirius Black, that bastard..."

Hermione and Ron glanced quickly at Harry.

Then everyone assured Hagrid that they would help to find a defense, and if they were needed to testify in court, they could call them up. Winster also suggested that Hagrid train Buckbeak to get close to other people. "I mean, Hagrid, if Buckbeak can behave obediently in front of the jury, then Malfoy and his team's arguments will not hold water."

Hermione agreed immediately, "Yes, Hagrid, you can train Buckbeak more, if you can make it more gentle - I'm not saying that we think so, we all think Buckbeak is the best hippogriff." Hermione lied, "It's just that you have to convince the jury who hate magical creatures. If you can succeed, it would be great... Of course, you have to memorize all the defense speeches we will prepare at that time." She added, "I happened to read some cases related to the Protection of Magical Creatures Act recently, and now I can think of several that can be used!"

"Thank you, thank you--" Hagrid walked them to the door, and when he heard these words, he couldn't help but open his arms and hugged them tightly.

Harry Winster, Hermione and Ron were huddled together.

Hermione squeezed between the three people with an awkward look on her face, with her hands on her chest. Seeing that Hagrid was hugging him tightly, she had to free up one hand to pat Hagrid gently.

Harry and Winston had no choice but to huddle face to face, while Ron, with a pale face, was held by Hagrid's waist. He struggled to pat Hagrid's excited arms - in order to take into account their height, Hagrid deliberately stretched his hands very low to hug -

"...Hagrid, let go. If you don't let go I will vomit everything I haven't digested today into your hands..." Ron struggled breathlessly.

----

"knocking"

"Come in," Dumbledore looked up at Snape while writing a letter at the table, "You are back, Severus. How was your potion shopping?"

"The owner of the potion shop happens to have a stockpile of herbal materials. He said that they can be transferred from other places soon, and it won't be a problem to restock the herbs before the holiday is over." Snape reported, staring at Dumbledore with his dark eyes.

"That's great, Severus. It's difficult for the potion stockist who provides us with medicinal materials to deliver this amount in such a short time." Dumbledore put down his quill and said with a smile.

He looked at Snape for a while, "...Why don't you leave? Is there something wrong, Severus?" Dumbledore asked gently, "If you suddenly want to share my dessert, I'm afraid today is not a good time." He showed the empty table.

"No. Of course not," Snape mercilessly denied Dumbledore's conjecture about sweets. "Don't indulge in your sweet dreams, Dumbledore, don't you have any doubts about this matter?"

Snape paced back and forth in the office with difficulty, "Destroying my storage room, stealing my treasures - I saw some at the door of my storage room -" His face darkened, and his voice became soft and slow: "Some familiar traces."

The corners of his mouth curled down in disdain. "Only second-rate idiots like thieves, robbers and criminals would leave such traces... Such crude methods certainly cannot break through the barrier I carefully set up."

"Perhaps you are overthinking it, Severus. There have been rat troubles in previous years." Dumbledore said calmly, with his hands folded on his knees. "It has happened more than once in the history of the school."

One of the portraits dozing with eyes closed in the headmaster's office, one that Snape had never heard speak before, continued: "Our young headmaster is right. The plague in Europe didn't end until the year I took office. Before that, you could always see rats in various places."

Snape raised his head and searched for the portrait that had spoken among the pile of portraits.

"I remember... the Bubble Head Charm was invented at that time." It emitted a vague, old ending sound, and the frame was marked with 1648-16XX. The numbers at the back were worn out and unclear, but it could be seen that he was the headmaster in the 17th century.

"I am delighted to see you awake today, xx. This is a wonderful Christmas present," said Dumbledore, raising his glasses to look at one of the portraits.

"But I have to add, Prewett, I am over a hundred years old, and I am afraid it is difficult for me to use the word 'small' in your words." He said with regret.

"Hmm..." The portrait hummed unconsciously.

Snape stared back suspiciously.

Dumbledore shook his head and sighed softly: "Don't look, Severus. I'm afraid our respected former former former... former headmaster Mr. Prewett has fallen into sleep again." He said the word "former" several times in a row, deliberately making the sentence very long to highlight the antiquity of the portrait.

"Aha, Dumbledore, I told you that you should prepare a grave for Prewett." The portrait of Phineas, the most unpopular headmaster in history, said sarcastically, "When the day comes that I lose consciousness, I want you to send me to a place far away from Muggles and away from this stinking school. It would be best if you bury me in the old Black house!"

"I'm afraid I won't be the headmaster by then, Phoenix," Dumbledore replied coldly.

"Humph……"

"That's it," Dumbledore looked at Snape again, "We have experienced many accidents, but not all of them were caused by humans. You are too tense, Severus..." Dumbledore saw the fatigue hidden on Snape's face, "You need to rest."

"Hmph." Snape snorted from his nose. "I think that was because the Black Death was spreading at that time, but what about now, Dumbledore? I'm afraid the world is as peaceful as it can be."

Fox lazily preened her feathers in her cage, which had all grown back to her grace and beauty, and sipped her favorite food.

Dumbledore looked at her for a long moment. "But these are just appearances. The tide has already begun to surge in places we cannot see."

"Then these rats seem even more strange." Snape gritted his teeth and lowered his voice. "I suspect that Black is still wandering around the school and has not left at all. This also explains why he came to attack my storeroom - listen to my opinion, Dumbledore, and see if this makes sense - I think Black wants to disrupt the school. He knows that Lupin... your dear Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, is a werewolf, and I."

(Snape jabs himself with his finger)

"I followed your orders to provide Lupin with the wolfsbane potion, so naturally he paid special attention to where I stored it - with all the new and old grudges, what else could I expect? - Of course, he could not have imagined that the barrier I set up was specifically aimed at some students with dirty hands, and it happened to stop him."

Dumbledore paused for a moment. "But how do you explain all those rats? Severus, he also raided the kitchen. I'm afraid he was not, and is not, a beast whisperer."

"What's there to question, Dumbledore?" Snape replied without hesitation, "I'm not surprised that he can control so many mice. People like him just like to stay with those hairy and dirty guys... dirty, shameless, and obscene... Even if he stood in front of me now and told me that he could turn into a mouse, I would believe it." Snape said coldly.

Dumbledore frowned, "...Then I can only say that there are indeed no unknown outsiders in the school recently...I have been keeping an eye on the entire school."

"But there must be a reason for this increase in rats," Snape replied without giving in. "Either your Care of Magical Creatures professor has suddenly decided to bring some dangerous creatures into his hut, or someone is controlling these rats - but I'm afraid Hagrid hasn't had the energy to pay attention to his 'cute' gadgets lately. He's been caught up in the vortex of the Hippogriff recently, and Malfoy can always control the jury to get the results he wants."

"Anyway, Severus, there are no outsiders entering the school these days, unless you want to think that our Minister of Magic is Black."

Snape took a deep breath. "I will maintain my suspicion until this is all over," he said grimly.

"You're most welcome," Dumbledore replied graciously, and then watched the furious Potions Professor storm out of his office.

"Fawkes?" Dumbledore picked up the letter from the table, sealed it, and handed it to his phoenix: "Can you help me deliver a letter to someone else?"

"Chirp?" Fox jumped out of the cage, picked up the letter and put it in his paw, then tilted his head at him in confusion.

"To Newt Scamander."