Chapter 98

Chapter 98: Defending Buckbeak

Looking at Hagrids pitiful look, Evan sighed .

He didnt know much about politics, but he knew exactly what he had to do . He could not keep watching while Buckbeak was going to be beheaded . Hagrid would certainly collapse .

Listen, Hagrid! said Evan . You cant give up . You need to prepare your speech for the defence . Harry, Ron, and Hermione can prove that Buckbeak is innocent . I can help you advertise it in the newspaper .

Evan is right; I definitely have read a case of a Griffins attack on a Hippogriff . Hermione mused . In that case, the hippogriff had nothing to do with it . We can find something useful if we go back on the matter and make a good research .

Yes, we will help, too . Harry and Ron hurriedly followed .

Although everyone said so, the work eventually fell on just Evan and Hermione .

After holding on for some time, Harry and Ron seemed to have completely forgotten about that matter .

However, they were not to blame . First of all, Harry has been very busy recently .

In late November, Ravenclaw defeated the Hufflepuff team which breathed life into Woods carcass . After all, Gryffindor still had the chance to compete even though they could not afford more losses .

He then asked the players to train day and night . Evan saw Harry several times training in the cold and biting snow of December .

Fortunately, since the last incident, no Dementors were seen on the campus . The

lessons they had been given last time and the anger of Dumbledore seemed to have completely confined them to their posts at the school entrance .

In addition to busy Quidditch training, Harry needed to learn the Patronus Charm from Professor Lupin .

He must be able to release the complete patronus as soon as possible to ensure that no more accidents would occur in the next match .

As for Ron, his status has become more and more abnormal recently .

He hardly communicated with most people and was not close to neither Evan nor Hermione . When Harry was training, he wandered around the castle alone .

In order to protect Scabbers from Crookshanks, he put it in his shirts pocket wherever he went .

On several occasions, they were beyond the scope of the Tracing Potion so Evan couldnt figure out where they went .

But he didnt have the mind to think about Ron and Peter Pettigrew . He and Hermione spent almost all their time in the library and could not care about anything else .

Let Peter Pettigrew be for a few days . In twenty days, it will be Christmas . At that time, the castle will have the fewest number of people in it, so Evan will be able to draw out Sirius black and solve this whole dilemma .

Now whats more urgent is to think of ways to save Buckbeak . He and Hermione found a lot of information and files in the library referring to the famous case cited above . He prepared the defence arguments for Buckbeak . The titles of these dossiers were: Summary of

of the Magical Animal Cases, Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology, The Poultry of Hippogriffs, and A study on the Griffins Barbarism . Each of them was very thick . .

Evan, you should look at this! Hermione put a dusty volume in front of Evan and whispered, This is a case of a Manticore in 1926 . It killed a human being, but was eventually acquitted .

That was because everyone was scared and no one dared to approach it . Evan frowned and looked at the small number of words on the file .

Yeah, youre right, said Hermione disappointedly and threw the thick volume aside .

Evan picked up the file and continued to read it . The following was a brief introduction to the magical creature: the Manticore .

The Manticore is an incredibly dangerous animal with a human head, a lions body, and a scorpions tail . It is very rare and it is reputed to croon softly to its victims as it devours them .

According to reliable documents, the Manticore skin repels almost all known spells . Anyone stung by its tail will die immediately .

This horrible creature was created by wizards and goblins . They were used to guard properties or important forbidden places and were once all the rage . However, since the Ban on Experimental Breeding decree was enacted, the numbers of Manticores had been gradually reduced .

In recent decades, it has even disappeared .

Evan put the dossier aside . From the text above, the danger level of the Hippogriff is nothing compared to that of the Manticore .

If Buckbeak had half the

half the power of the Manticore, they wouldnt have to sit there and worry about it .

In the following two weeks, in addition to assisting Hermione in perfecting the defence speech, Evan also wrote several articles defending Buckbeak .

He intended to put pressure on Lucius Malfoy and the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures through public opinion, but things were not as smooth as originally envisaged .

The Daily Prophet refused to publish these articles written by Evan . They considered that the matter didnt have much importance . The whole incident was at best a minor event at Hogwarts that couldnt arouse peoples interest to read it .

Although Evan eventually published these articles in the Hogwarts Magic News, their effect was limited .

Mr . Barnabas Cuffe, the editor-in-chief of The Daily Prophet, was right . Most readers did not care about the life and death of a Hippogriff, and the young Wizards already knew about the matter .

In contrast, they were more interested in Blacks connection to the Dementors .

Evan was not completely without supporters . Colin, Ginny, and Luna all expressed their support for his point of view . Luna even persuaded her father to publish those articles written by Evan in The Quibbler instead of the original headline about the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks .

However, that didnt make much difference . The current prints of The Quibbler were not selling even as much as the Hogwarts Magic News .

As time passed, it was getting closer to Christmas, but Evan and Hermione were not making much progress .

Although they wrote a full ten parchments of defences, Evan was very skeptical was very skeptical about the effect that it could have apart from being drowsiness-inducing and lethargic .

Not to mention whether those officials who deal with the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures would adopt that defence . It was doubtful that Hagrid could write down all these things . With his ability, it might be difficult for him to read the arguments in conjunction . The whole thing was strenuous .

Its useless, Hermione! looking at Hermione sitting across from him, Evan sighed heavily .

Hermione was still struggling with the boring files . She was often the last to leave the Common room at night . She was the first to go to the library the following morning . She was burdened with heavy school work, Rons intangible pressure, and the preparation for Buckbeaks defence argument . Those things were superimposed on one another, which had caused her to have dark shadows under her eyes like Lupin .

What did you say?! Hermione raised her head from the data .

Our thinking seems to be wrong . Whatever the reason, Buckbeak really hurt Draco Malfoy, didnt he? Evan said slowly . We cant defend Buckbeaks innocence, as long as Lucius Malfoy focuses on this fact, Hagrids hope of winning is rather minimal .

Then what shall we do? nothing? Like Harry and Ron?! Hermione looked annoyed . We just watch Buckbeak being beheaded and wait for Hagrid to collapse!

No, I mean, we should change our thinking . Evans eyes fell upon a Newt Scamanders book entitled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and the authors experience gave him Great inspiration .