Hagrid's Defense Material
The whole incident caused Neville to lose face completely and made him the talk of the town at Hogwarts.
Professor McGonagall was furious and anxious. In front of the entire Gryffindor school, she severely reprimanded him, not only immediately stripping him of his right to go to Hogsmeade Village and punishing him with a week of detention after school, but also issuing an extremely strict order that no student should ever reveal the password to the Gryffindor Tower to him again, for fear that he might once again be negligent and cause a major disaster.
In the days that followed, Neville's situation became increasingly awkward. Every night after class, he could only stand alone in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, helplessly waiting for his classmates to come and go in groups before he could sneak into the common room, not daring to even lift his head.
The Troll security guards standing in the corridor seemed to have noticed his predicament. They would sneer in their rough, unpleasant voices, their heavy bodies blocking the corridor, and occasionally poking his shoulder with their short, stubby fingers, vaguely mocking him as a "fool who lost his password." Every time, Neville wished he could disappear into a crack in the ground.
But compared to the ridicule from outsiders, the accusations from his family were what hurt him the most. Just three days later, an owl carrying a scarlet Howler landed on the Great Hall table in the auditorium, and its eye-catching color instantly attracted everyone's attention.
Neville stared at the letter from his grandmother, his face ashen, his hands trembling uncontrollably. He had barely opened the envelope when his grandmother's furious and disappointed roar echoed throughout the Entrance Hall. Her shrill voice unabashedly rebuked him for his stupidity, cowardice, and carelessness, accusing him of nearly endangering the entire academy and bringing shame upon the Longbottom family. Every word felt like a needle piercing Neville's heart.
He stood frozen in place, head down, ears burning red, listening to the whispers and undisguised laughter of the Slytherin around him. He was filled with shame and helplessness, enveloped in a heavy sense of defeat, and didn't even have the courage to look at anyone.
The turmoil hadn't subsided, but Hogwarts gradually returned to its usual order, and Saturday arrived in the blink of an eye.
The campus was less bustling with classes than usual, with many students either relaxing at Hogsmeade or resting in their dormitories. However, the Slytherin Common Room was a hive of activity.
Hermione Granger sat at the Slytherin table, surrounded by crumpled parchment, heavy magical books, and scattered documents, engrossed in helping Hagrid organize the defense materials for Hippogriff Buckbeak.
Lucius Malfoy used this opportunity to pressure the Ministry of Magic to put Buckbeak on trial before the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. If they lost the case, the docile Fantastic Beasts would be executed.
Hagrid was simple-minded and had no idea how to prepare defense materials, so Hermione took the initiative to do it, determined to get justice for Buckbeak.
Daphne sat next to Hermione, her posture gentle and graceful. She was carefully sorting the scattered documents by date, occasionally reaching out to help Hermione hold down the parchment that was blown away by the wind. Ka-jie sat opposite her, one hand supporting her chin and the other holding a quill pen. She was reviewing Hermione's written defense points with a slight frown, occasionally pointing out logical flaws in a low voice.
As for Fa-jie? Oh, Merlin's Beard, Hermione seems she prefers to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic Ministry of Magic than report it to them...
Knowing they were short-handed, Su Yu specially invited Theodore and his girlfriend Olivia, and even Malfoy and a few others came to join in the fun...
Theodore sat next to Ka-jie, his expression calm and taciturn. In front of him was Compendium of Fantastic Beast Cases, in which he meticulously sifted through historical precedents of Fantastic Beasts defending themselves and being exonerated. His fingertips lightly tapped on the yellowed pages, and he would quietly push the key passages to Hermione. Olivia sat next to Daphne, her handwriting neat and tidy, and she was responsible for transcribing the prepared defense statements and drafts of witness testimonies.
The long table was piled high with various files: <A Detailed Guide to Hippogriff Habits>, <Casebook of Fantastic Beast Attacks>, <Past Rulings of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures>, and old Ministry of Magic documents that Hermione had found in the Restricted Section of the library. The group had a clear division of labor and each performed their duties. The only sounds in the common room were the scratching of quills, the crackling of firewood in the fireplace, and the occasional hushed discussion.
Ka-jie rubbed her aching wrists, looked at the gradually tidying documents in front of her, and said softly, "We're still missing a few cases from a hundred years ago where the Hippogriff was exempted from liability for self-defense. Theodore, have you found any?"
Theodore looked up and nodded slightly. "There are three. I've already numbered them."
Ka-jie then added, "The defense should emphasize Malfoy's provocative behavior and Buckbeak's usually docile nature; these two points are key."
Malfoy was speechless. Who says something like this to the person involved's face? Doesn't he have any pride? You said it Ka-jie who said it? Fine, he, Malfoy, will just listen. He can't beat her anyway...
Blaise Haha heartily; he thoroughly enjoyed seeing Malfoy's embarrassed and speechless state.
However, the current Malfoy is completely different from the one in the movie. Many people always use the image in the movie to judge Draco Malfoy, thinking that he is only cunning, cowardly, and cowardly. He only knows how to back down and run away from problems, bully the weak, and has a negative and mean appearance.
In reality, he wasn't exactly kind and gentle; he remained arrogant and picky, possessing the haughtiness of a Pure-blood aristocrat, yet he was never the slightest bit weak or cowardly.
Draco harbored deep resentment towards his father Lucius's repeated opportunistic, unscrupulous, crude, and arrogant actions. In his eyes, his father's disregard for dignity, recklessness, and foolishness were unworthy of the Malfoy family's long-standing aristocratic status. He was simply tarnishing the family's reputation and disgracing the dignity and face that a Pure-blood family should possess. He transformed from a Little Dragon who blindly worshipped his father into someone who disdained blindly following his family's extreme ideas and would not shrink back in the face of adversity, always maintaining his pride and refusing to bow down.
Daphne chimed in, "I've already prepared a draft of Hagrid's witness testimony. See if you want to revise it."
Olivia looked up, smiling, and handed over the transcribed parchment. "This is a summary of case law; please take a look."
Hermione felt a warmth in her heart as she looked at the people around her who were earnestly helping her. She knew that this defense would be difficult— Lucius Malfoy wielded immense power in the Ministry of Magic, and many members of the committee were influenced by him.
But looking at the increasingly thick stack of defense materials on the table, and at her companions who were willing to lend a helping hand, Hermione felt that perhaps they really could fight for Buckbeak and Hagrid's survival. In Slytherin, she had truly experienced a completely different feeling from Gryffindor. Compared to those two big idiots... well, never mind, there's no comparison. They've probably forgotten all about it by now.