Guilty

"Guilty? Of course not. I never believed the Hippogriff was guilty." Hagrid took a deep breath and began flipping through his cue cards for the answer.

What a sinister old man.

Luckily, Albert had warned him. Otherwise, he would likely have been led around by the nose.

"Then why did you hope the ruling could be changed so that you would compensate the victim's medical expenses?" the elderly wizard pressed. All he wanted was to secure a guilty verdict against the Hippogriff.

Once it was guilty, it could be sentenced to death.

Hagrid glanced at the contents of his cue card. He was not intimidated by the old wizard's question at all; Albert had even prepared the answer for him.

"That was merely out of sympathy for Mr. Malfoy and concern for his family's finances."

After saying that, Hagrid shot Lucius a provocative glance and continued reading from the card, his voice growing louder and louder. "As far as I know, Mr. Lucius Malfoy has already spent a large sum of Galleons trying to win this appeal, and he seems to be rather short of money. Of course, this is also a small gesture of goodwill on my part, so their lives will not become too difficult. You may consider it humanitarian aid. Naturally, since I do not have much money myself, I can only offer fifty Galleons."

Albert had gotten those Galleons from the Malfoys, so Hagrid did not feel the least bit bad about spending them.

In short, Hagrid meant to settle the matter with money, though he was very reluctant to give it.

After Hagrid finished, the elderly wizard turned to Lucius Malfoy and asked, "Mr. Malfoy, do you accept Mr. Hagrid's proposal to settle this matter peacefully, with him compensating you fifty Galleons?"

Hagrid's willingness to