After he finished speaking, Hagrid swept his massive hand across the table, knocking the two kegs onto the floor.
He grabbed a rag and quickly wiped the table clean, drying up the mixture of Butterbeer and Firewhisky. Then he managed to find a roll of reasonably clean parchment.
Hagrid picked up a special quill, but before he could start writing, he lowered it again and looked up awkwardly.
"Harley, Hermione, um... my handwriting's probably a bit messy."
"So, could you... write it for me?"
"I'll do it!" Hermione hurriedly offered. She'd been stunned by Harley's maneuver earlier, and wanted to feel at least a little involved in this.
Harley propped her chin on one hand and leaned against the table.
She'd been hoping to trick Hagrid into giving her a map of the Forbidden Forest, but it looked like she'd have to wait until next time.
Sirius, standing nearby, was even more astonished than Hermione and Hagrid.
He'd been troubled by this matter himself. After all, even though he and James and the others had spent seven years matching wits with Hagrid, they'd still gotten along quite well.
Otherwise, when he'd gone after Peter Pettigrew, he wouldn't have chosen to give Hagrid his beloved modified motorcycle.
He'd come up with plenty of plans to help Hagrid, but the only workable one was to ask Professor Dumbledore for help.
Harley's solution... Honestly, he wanted to shout, "You can do that?"
After Hermione finished writing the letter, Hagrid didn't keep the two of them for long. He hurried off with the letter toward the Owlery.
With Hermione accompanying her, Harley couldn't find an opportunity to explore the Forbidden Forest, so she had to go have lunch with Hermione and then spend the afternoon in the library.
At three o'clock, Harley and