Ron! It's Ron!
The boy's voice sounded like heavenly music to Scabbers' ears. Starving, it used all its strength to bite through the spider webs on its face and then screamed loudly. As the saying goes, hard work pays off, and its vigorous struggle finally got it rescued, preventing it from starving to death in those disgusting sticky spider webs.
However, even if it didn't die, this "wonderful journey" nearly cost it half its life.
Maybe Sirius never came to Hogwarts? Did he just break out because he got tired of Azkaban? Scabbers pondered deeply, but even if it racked its brains, it wouldn't think that the other saw it in a Prophet Daily photograph. Completely unaware that the castle had recently been broken into, Scabbers was weighing the pros and cons—
Forget it, no more running. Better to go back with Ron. Even though that stupid cat will chase and bite, hiding a bit better is better than playing with a bunch of spiders every day.
Compared to that group of spiders, even Crookshanks' squashed face seemed much better-looking.
"Since Ron is awake, you should all be leaving, too—"
Looking at the sky outside, which had completely darkened, Hagrid, wearing his moleskin coat, grabbed the large crossbow off the wall. He hesitated for a moment, then picked up the pink umbrella leaning against the door. One hand on the crossbow, the other on the umbrella, he took a deep breath and looked at Harry and his friends, "Alright, I'll take you back now."
"Oh, no need..."
Harry tried to refuse but was met with a glare from Hagrid. The giant had a stern expression and said gruffly, "Your safety must be ensured, because... because..." Hagrid blinked, his momentum stalled, seemingly searching for an excuse.
"Yes, I know Sirius wants to kill me."
Harry sighed, speaking somewhat helplessly.
"You know?"
Hagrid froze, blinking in confusion.
"Yes, Professor McGonagall told me, and Mr. Weasley too—"
As he spoke, Harry followed Hagrid out of the hut. The dim sky lowered the visibility of the surroundings, and he instinctively squinted his eyes, scanning around. But as he turned towards the Forbidden Forest, his breath slightly caught.
What is that dark mass?
"Meow~"
"Crookshanks?!"
Hermione walked out from behind Harry, looking at the ginger cat squatting on the back of a large black dog, she blinked in confusion.
"Hey! Keep your stupid cat away from me—"
Ron, who also walked out of the hut, glared. He quickly shoved the seemingly asleep Scabbers back into his pocket, shouting loudly. His commotion attracted several gazes, and the moment the large black dog, who was approaching, saw the big rat being hidden in the boy's pocket, it paused slightly—
It lifted its head, staring at the boy's striking red hair for a while.
"Is that... and Kabuda?"
Harry also saw clearly the dark mass from earlier. Diverting his gaze from the black dog, his eyes were drawn to the Niffler that was riding on Crookshanks' back—what kind of formation was this? A stacking act?
"Squeak squeak."
Kabuda waved a greeting to each of them in a human-like manner, but before it could even lower its paw, a sudden change occurred. The previously silent large black dog suddenly and silently leaped up, charging straight at Ron, who was just stepping down from the hut stairs—
"Bang—"
But even faster than it was Hagrid's fist.