"N-nothing. I... I was just talking to myself. Come on, let's go. We shouldn't keep the Ministry of Magic waiting!"
Hagrid put on his mole-skin coat and quickly put out the fire. Then he stroked Fang, who was trembling in his basket. "While I'm gone, if you get hungry, go to the Castle and bark a few times. Luo Bin knows what you like to eat!"
Whimper! Woof, woof! Whimper, woof!
Fang understood more than most dogs. He knew he was about to be separated from his master, and he clamped his teeth around the mole-skin coat, unwilling to let Hagrid leave.
"Be good. I'll be back before long, and I'll bring you a burger from London, stuffed full of chicken!"
But Fang's teeth could not hold his master back. Hagrid left with Cornelius Fudge, and the Wooden Hut fell into darkness. Apart from Fang's soft whimpers, there was no sound.
Then a low, tentative voice came from a corner of the stone hut. "Have they... gone far enough?"
"I think so!"
Luo Bin put away the Glass Orb and its invisibility spell, then felt his way to the basket in the dark. He rubbed Fang's big head and comforted him, telling him not to cry. Harry took off the Invisibility Cloak too.
"Oh, we're in real trouble now. The Ministry of Magic has taken Hagrid, and Dumbledore has to leave too. I have a terrible feeling the school's going to panic. It might even close. I was joking when I said all that before. If it really closes, Mum will never let me hear the end of it!" Ron said hoarsely.
"Harry, even Dumbledore said Hagrid was falsely accused. Do you still not believe him?"
Hermione waited for his answer.
"I never doubted Hagrid was a good person. I...