Scabbers, Run!

To avoid anyone noticing them 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 before the entrance, the sun was already setting behind the Forbidden Forest.

After Hermione repeatedly reminded him, Crookshanks obediently followed the three of them toward 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 finding no visitors.

At last, Hagrid noticed a cat at his feet. It had just slipped past him, and after entering the hut, it began sniffing around.

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 here now? It's nearly nightfall."

Hagrid stepped back and waited for the three of them to enter. Once Harry had removed the Invisibility Cloak, he said, "Didn't you only have one class this afternoon? You should have 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.

"Is this your cat?" Hagrid looked Crookshanks over, no longer mentioning their late arrival. He got up to make tea for them, then brought over a plate of small biscuits. "He looks sharper than Albert's cat. That cat of his is even afraid of mice."

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

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