"Professor!"
The door to Pomona's office was burst open by a reckless intruder. She began seriously considering whether to put protective wards on the door, just like the old bat did.
"Hello, Mr. Longbottom." She looked at the panting Neville. "What is it?"
"They're going to execute Buckbeak." Neville swallowed. "The executioner is Walden Macnair."
Pomona did not ask why Neville knew that Buckbeak's executioner was the former Death Eater. Walden Macnair was unlike other Death Eaters; he handled the "cleanup" work and therefore had to deal with Werewolves. He belonged to the organization's lower ranks, and Karkaroff had not even named him.
"What do you want me to do?" Pomona asked.
"Save Buckbeak, of course." Neville sounded somewhat shocked.
"I think you should know that the Ministry of Magic issued the sentence to execute Buckbeak," Pomona said.
"But Buckbeak is innocent. Malfoy is the guilty one," Neville said accusingly.
She studied Neville.
Children often could not hide what was on their minds, no matter how good they thought their acting was. She wanted to determine whether Neville truly cared about Buckbeak, or whether he wanted to use this chance to get back at Malfoy for always bullying him.
In the end, she turned the thick book before her around and pushed it toward Neville.
"What's this?" Neville asked, looking at the hefty volume.
"A book Hermione Granger has been reading recently: 'The Presumption of Innocence and Reasonable Doubt in History.'" Pomona said. "She thinks that if Buckbeak were allowed to defend himself at the hearing and behaved civilly and politely, the committee members might develop 'reasonable doubt' about the crime he is accused of."
Neville looked at Pomona in surprise.
"There is historical precedent. A Troll was accused of attacking a villager driving a carriage, but he behaved very