Lucifer awoke several hours later to an empty Dorm room.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. Images of Hermione's petrified form flashed in his mind.
He clenched his fists and held the base of his palm on his eyelids; faint red marks could be seen there.
The door opened, but he didn't care who it was until they spoke to him, "Lucifer, Ron and I are going to see Hagrid after everyone else has gone to bed... did you wanna go with us?" Harry asked him carefully.
He removed his hands from his eyes and looked at them, 'I don't care what Slytherin's Monster is, I'm going to find it...' he blinked.
"Sure," and laid back down, to try and focus on anything but her, 'And when I find it, I'm going to kill it.'
Later that night, after everyone else had gone to bed, the three boys got under Harry's cloak and made their way out of the Castle, Harry recounted what McGonagall had said to them and Lucifer understood why the teachers were distressed.
The journey through the dark and deserted corridors was eerie.
But the closer they got to the Entrance Hall, the more teachers and ghosts they came across, all traveling in pairs.
They thankfully got out of the Castle just fine, but did have some close calls with Snape, who just did not want to get out of the way until McGonagall called for him.
Once out of the Castle, they didn't take the Cloak off until they found themselves right in front of Hagrid's door.
Lucifer knocked quickly, and they were greeted with a Crossbow, aimed right at them.
Fang barked loudly and excitedly, "Oh," he said, lowering the weapon, "What're you three doin' here?"
"Who or what is the Crossbow for?" Lucifer asked as they stepped inside.
"Nothin' - nothin'-" Hagrid muttered, "I've bin expectin' - doesn' matter - sit down, I'll make some tea," Hagrid said.
It seemed to them like he was scatter-brained at the moment and didn't rightly know what he was doing one moment to the next.
He nearly extinguished the fire from almost spilling water onto it from the kettle, and then he smashed the teapot with a massive jerk of his hand.
"Are you okay, Hagrid?" Harry asked him, concern laced his voice, "Did you hear about..." he trailed off, not wanting to upset Lucifer.
"Oh, I heard all righ'," he said with a slight break in his voice.
He kept glancing over towards the windows, "Expecting someone?" Lucifer asked him.
"No... no... maybe, I don' know..." Hagrid replied, he was about to pour them large mugs of water when there was a loud knock at the door.
The three of them were quick to cover themselves with the Cloak and hide in a corner of the room.
Hagrid quickly checked they were hidden, grabbed his Crossbow, and flung the door back open, "Good evening, Hagrid," Came the voice of Dumbledore.
The old Headmaster then entered the humble abode, looking deadly serious.
He was followed by a second, odd-looking man.
Lucifer had only seen him in the Daily Prophet. The man was Cornelius Fudge, the British Minister for Magic.
He looked exactly like in the newspaper; he had rumpled gray hair and an anxious expression, and was wearing a strange mixture of clothes.
A pinstriped suit, a scarlet tie, a long black cloak, and pointed purple boots.
Under his arm, he carried a lime-green bowler.
"That's dad's boss," Ron said quietly, "Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic."
Lucifer wrapped an arm around Ron and placed his hand over his mouth, keeping him quiet.
Hagrid had gone pale and sweaty.
He dropped into his large chair and looked between Dumbledore and Fudge, "Bad business, Hagrid," Fudge said in rather clipped tones, "very bad business. Had to come. Four attacks on Muggleborns. Things've gone far enough. Ministry's got to act."
"I never-" Hagrid said nervously, and looked imploringly at Dumbledore, "You know I never, Professor Dumbledore, sir-"
"I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid has my full confidence," Dumbledore said without missing a beat. He was glowering at the Minister.
"Look, Albus," Fudge spoke, clearly uncomfortable, "Hagrid's record is against him. Ministry's got to do something - the school governors have been in touch-"
"Yet again, Cornelius, I tell you that taking Hagrid away will not help in the slightest," Dumbledore said, his blue eyes full of a fire that Lucifer had not seen before.
"Look at it from my point of view," Fudge said, fidgeting with his bowler, "I'm under a lot of pressure. Got to be seen doing something. If it turns out it wasn't Hagrid, he'll be back in no time and no more will be said. But I've got to take him. Got to. Wouldn't be doing my duty-"
"Take me?" Hagrid said, trembling visibly, "take me where?"
"For a short stretch only," Fudge said, and Lucifer noticed he wasn't meeting Hagrid's eyes, "not a punishment, Hagrid, more a precaution. If someone else is caught, you'll be let out with a full apology-"
"Not Azkaban?" Hagrid's voice was on the verge of breaking from the fear in his voice.
Before Fudge could answer, there was another few knocks on the door.
Dumbledore answered the door and Lucifer now had to cover Harry's mouth as he let out an audible gasp that thankfully didn't reach anyone else in the room.
Lucius Malfoy strode into the humble abode.
He was swathed in a long black cloak.
He wore a cold sneer that turned into a satisfied smile.
Fang started to growl, and Lucifer was approving of Fang's reaction, "Already here, Fudge? Good... good..." he spoke in an approving tone.
"What're you doin' here?" Hagrid asked, his fear turning to fury, "Get outta my house!"
"My dear man, please believe me, I have no pleasure being inside your-" Lucius walked inside and glanced around, "you call this a house!?" He asked in utter shock. He regained his composure, "I simply called up at the school and was told the Headmaster would be down here."
"And what exactly did you want with me, Lucius?" Dumbledore asked politely, but he maintained the fire in his eyes.
"Dreadful things, Dumbledore," Lucius said lazily, taking out a long scroll of parchment, "but the governors feel it is time for you to step aside. This is an Order of Suspension - you'll find all twelve signatures on it. I'm afraid we feel you are losing your touch. How many attacks have there been now? Two more this afternoon wasn't it? At this rate, there'll be no more Muggleborns left at Hogwarts, and we all know how awful a loss that would be to the school."
Lucifer felt his anger rising, but he couldn't let the adults know they were there. He closed his eyes and took slow, deep, quiet breaths.
"Oh, now see here, Lucius," Fudge said, looking quite alarmed, "Dumbledore suspended - no, no - last thing we want just now-"
"The appointment, or suspension, of the Headmaster is a matter for the governors, Fudge," Lucius said smoothly, "And as Dumbledore has failed to stop these attacks-"
"See here, Lucius, if Dumbledore can't stop these attacks,'' Fudge said, whose upper lip was now sweating, "I mean to say, who can?"
"That remains to be seen," Lucius said, his face contorting into a nasty smile, "But as all twelve of us have voted-"
Hagrid leapt to his feet, his black hair grazing the ceiling, "Yeh can' take Dumbledore!" Hagrid yelled, which caused Fang to whimper and cower into his basket, "Take him away, an' the Muggleborns won' stand a chance! There'll be killin' next!"
"Calm yourself, Hagrid," Dumbledore said, his eyes never leafing Malfoy Sr, "If the governors want my removal, Lucius, I shall of course, step aside-"
"But-" Fudge started.
"No!" Hagrid growled.
Dumbledore had yet to take his bright blue eyes off of Lucius' cold gray ones, "However," Dumbledore spoke slowly and clearly, so that none of them missed a word, "you will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."
For a second, Lucifer saw Dumbledore's eyes flicker over towards the corner they were hiding in.
He knew they were there, but was saying nothing.
"Admirable sentiments," Lucius said, giving a bow, "we shall all miss your - er - highly individual way of running things, Albus, and only hope that your successor will manage to prevent any - Ah - killins ."
He strode to the cabin door, opened it, and bowed Dumbledore out.
Fudge, fiddling with his bowler, waited for Hagrid to go in front of him, but Hagrid stood his ground.
He took a deep breath and spoke clearly, "If anyone wanted ter find out some stuff , all they'd have tae do would be ter follow the spiders . That'd lead 'em right. That's all I'm sayin'."
Fudge stared at him like he'd lost his marbles.
"All right, I'm comin'," Hagrid said gruffly, pulling on his moleskin overcoat. As he was about to walk through the door, he stopped abruptly and spoke loudly, "An' someone will need ter feed Fang while I'm away."
The door banged shut and Lucifer waited ten seconds before finally releasing their mouths.
Ron threw the Cloak off of them, "We're in trouble now," he said hoarsely, "No Dumbledore... they may as well close the school now. There'll be an attack a day with him gone.
Fang started to howl, scratching at the closed door.
Lucifer walked up to him and got his attention. He sat on the ground and Fang nuzzled into him, "I know, boy... I know..." he looked off to the side when some movement caught his eye.
It was a line of Spiders, "Follow the Spiders..." it clicked immediately, "Potter, Weasely! What Hagrid said, 'Follow the Spiders,' he meant it literally, and those spiders are going in one direction, the Forbidden Forest."
Upon hearing that, Ron paled, "Wh-What do you mean 'literally'?"
"Just that, Weasely, we follow the line of spiders. Maybe not tonight, though... I need a good night's sleep before we do something like that."
xxxxx
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