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Chapter 792: Scabbers Scrambles
Chapter 792: Scabbers Scrambles
To avoid being seen leaving the castle by others, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were huddled under the Invisibility Cloak, tiptoeing cautiously across the Great Hall. By the time they descended the stone steps in front of the main door, the sun was setting behind the Forbidden Forest.
Crookshanks, after being repeatedly instructed by Hermione, obediently followed the trio towards Hagrid's hut.
Standing in front of Hagrid's hut, Harry cautiously scanned their surroundings. After confirming that no one was around, he raised his hand and knocked on the door. It soon opened from the inside, and Hagrid poked his head out, scrutinizing the area but failing to spot his visitors.
Finally, Hagrid noticed a cat at his feet that had just slipped inside and started sniffing around.
A cat, knocking? Hagrid thought his idea was absurd.
"It's us, Hagrid," Harry's voice suddenly came from the side. "Don't look; we're under the Invisibility Cloak."
"Why are you here so late? It's almost nightfall."
Hagrid took a step back and waited for the trio to enter. After they removed their Invisibility Cloak, he said to Harry, "I thought you only had one class in the afternoon. You should have come earlier."
"Sorry, Hagrid, I had quite a few classes in the afternoon," Hermione added helplessly. She had more classes than Harry and Ron, and it was impossible for her to skip them to help Hagrid with the mice.
"Is this your cat?" Hagrid examined Crookshanks and didn't mention their lateness. He got up to boil some tea for them and brought over a plate of small biscuits. "It looks more agile than the one Albert is raising. His cat is scared of mice."
"There are cats that are afraid of mice?" Ron found that hard to believe.
"Yes, Albert's cat is like that. It's lazy and extremely fat; it even struggles to walk. Someone might mistake it for a pig," Hagrid said with a laugh as he watched Crookshanks searching for mouse scents. "A cat that catches mice is a good cat. But for Albert, it doesn't matter if his cat catches mice or not."
Hidden inside the milk jug in the cupboard, Peter was feeling devastated. He never expected Hagrid to get a cat to catch mice.
What a combination! He had thought it was just a casual remark, but he never imagined Hagrid would actually get a cat, and that cat turned out to be the very same one that had been relentlessly chasing him.
That cat was crazy, relentlessly pursuing him as if they had some deep-seated grudge.
If it weren't for Peter knowing about Black's Animagus form of a black dog, he might even have suspected that the black cat was Black in disguise.
Now, he could only pray that the crazy cat would leave after catching the mice.
The conversation in the room continued, oblivious to Peter's complex emotions.
"Hagrid, what happened last time?" Harry asked in a lowered voice.
Hagrid poured amber-colored tea for the three of them and, fixing his gaze on Crookshanks as he searched for mice, casually replied, "What do you mean?"
"When we were hiding under the Invisibility Cloak and watching from the side, Buckbeak suddenly disappeared without any warning just before the execution," Ron whispered.
"I don't know. Maybe it ran away by itself," Hagrid made a shushing gesture to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, signaling them not to discuss this matter further.
Even though some time had passed, Hagrid knew that this incident must be kept a complete secret. Otherwise, who knew what might happen if someone found out.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron understood Hagrid's intention. Although they were curious and wanted to know the truth, they didn't press the matter further, realizing that Hagrid wasn't planning to divulge any more information.
"Look, it caught the first mouse." Hagrid awkwardly tried to divert their attention.
Crookshanks had just crawled out from under Hagrid's bed, a dead mouse dangling from its mouth.
"Your cat is amazing. It caught a mouse so quickly," Hagrid said as he picked up the dead mouse from the floor and quietly marveled.
Hermione's Crookshanks was indeed remarkable. In no time, it had caught three mice in Hagrid's hut and even knocked over a bottle in the process.
Hidden inside the milk jug, Peter was already scared out of his wits, fearing that the crazy cat would discover him, which could potentially undo all his efforts and expose him to everyone.
Unfortunately, Peter couldn't escape Crookshanks' sharp nose. After Crookshanks, the mouse-catching expert, killed the fourth mouse under the kitchen cabinet, it finally focused on the cupboard.
As Crookshanks discovered another mouse, Hermione reached out, picked up the cat, and placed it on top of Hagrid's cupboard.
Crookshanks immediately fixed its gaze on the milk jug where Peter was hiding.
Peter, cowering inside the milk jug, felt like he was going insane.
Why was he so unlucky! Damn it!
This was truly maddening.
When Hermione removed the milk jug from the cupboard and opened the lid, she was startled by what popped out. Her fingers loosened, and the milk jug fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.
After the milk jug broke, Peter, who had been hiding inside, immediately took off running. He scrambled desperately toward the cabinet, trying to find a hiding place to avoid becoming the crazy cat's next victim.
"What's wrong, Hermione?"
The trio was startled by Hermione's exclamation and turned to see the milk jug lying on the floor in pieces, along with a large rat.
"Scabbers, what are you doing here?" Ron stared, dumbfounded, at the rat scurrying into the cabinet.
Crookshanks pounced but missed, letting out a low growl as he started clawing furiously under the cabinet.
"Crookshanks, stop it!" Hermione grabbed Crookshanks by the waist and struggled to lift him, placing him elsewhere to prevent him from harming Scabbers.
"Is that really Scabbers?" Harry asked, puzzled. Didn't Scabbers get eaten by Crookshanks some time ago? Ron and Hermione had even had a big fight over it.
"No, I can't be mistaken," Ron insisted, crawling on the floor and trying to catch the rat hiding under the cabinet. However, he was bitten badly, and his painful scream echoed through the room.
After a lot of struggling, Ron finally caught the squirming rat and held it up to examine it in the light.
It was indeed Scabbers, but he looked thinner than before, with large patches of fur missing, leaving behind bald spots.
The rat wriggled in Ron's hand, seemingly desperate to break free.
"Scabbers, it's me, Ron," Ron said, trying to calm the rat. He asked Hermione to take the cat away, assuring Scabbers, "I'm here, so there's nothing to be afraid of here!"
Ron attempted to keep Scabbers in his pocket, but the rat became violent, squealing, writhing, and kicking frantically. It bit Ron's hand again and slipped through his fingers as he cried out in pain, dashing to the ground and scrambling toward freedom.
Crookshanks wriggled free from Hermione's grasp and dashed after Scabbers, moving so swiftly that Harry and Hermione couldn't stop it in time.
As for Ron, he immediately gave chase as soon as he saw Crookshanks pursuing Scabbers.
"Hermione, let's go and see," Harry said, hurrying after Ron.
"Wait, Harry," Hermione said, sensing that something was amiss. She turned to Hagrid with a pleading look.
"Oh, heavens! What is going on here?"
Hagrid watched as the three of them rushed off, still perplexed. However, he was concerned about Harry, Hermione, and Ron wandering around in the dark, so he prepared to follow them. But as it was already quite dim outside, Hagrid went back inside to fetch an oil lamp before setting off again.
Sorry for the delay; I had something come up recently.
(End of Chapter)
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