Scabbers, Run!

To avoid being spotted leaving the castle, Harry, Ron, and Hermione squeezed beneath the Invisibility Cloak and carefully tiptoed through the Great Hall. By the time they descended the stone steps outside the entrance, the sun was already about to set behind the Forbidden Forest.

After Hermione repeatedly instructed Crookshanks, the cat obediently followed the three of them to Hagrid's Hut.

Standing outside Hagrid's Hut, Harry cautiously looked around. Only after making sure no one was nearby did he raise his hand and knock on the door. It quickly opened from within, and Hagrid poked his head outside, carefully scanning the surroundings but unable to find his visitors.

At last, Hagrid noticed a cat passing by his feet. It slipped into the hut and began sniffing the air around it.

A cat knocking on the door?

Hagrid thought the idea was absurd.

"It's us, Hagrid," Harry's voice suddenly came from beside him. "Stop looking. We're under the Invisibility Cloak."

"Why are you only getting here now? It'll be night soon."

Hagrid stepped back and waited for the three to enter. After Harry pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, he said, "Didn't you only have one class this afternoon? You should've come earlier."

"Sorry, Hagrid, I had quite a few classes this afternoon." Hermione was helpless too. She had more classes than Harry and Ron, so she couldn't exactly skip them just to help Hagrid catch rats.

"This is your cat?" Hagrid studied Crookshanks, no longer mentioning their late arrival. He got up to make tea for the three of them, then brought over a plate of biscuits. "It looks sharper than the one Albert keeps. His cat is scared of mice."

"There are cats that are scared of mice?" Ron found that unbelievable.

"Yeah, Albert's cat is like that—lazy and especially