The Unknown of the Order (Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

Help from Hogwarts

"Sarah? That you?" said Hagrid, squinting at her as he stepped forward, his crossbow dropping slightly. Sarah couldn't see his features well enough by the lantern at his feet, but there was no mistaking the size of the Hogwarts gamekeeper. 

"Yes, it's me, I swear. I once helped you find an augurey feather to make into a quill for Dumbledore and there used to be a secret quintaped in the forest only a few people knew about."

Hagrid let the crossbow down. "What's going on? What's happened?"

"It's Merula," said Sarah, stepping aside so Hagrid could see her. "She's been splinched. It's bad. She'll need a healer."

Hagrid's face blanched as he held the light over Merula's bloody robes. "Right. We'll take 'er to me hut." He slung the crossbow over his shoulder and handed the lantern to Sarah. 

Merula gave a small moan in her sleep as Hagrid scooped her in his arms. Sarah had to run to keep up with his large strides through the forbidden forest. 

"Why've yeh come 'ere?" Hagrid asked. 

"We were running away from some Death Eaters," Sarah explained. "They'd set a trap for us. This was the first place I thought of."

Sarah hadn't taken them far into the forest. They'd landed near the grove where Featherfur lived; but, it still seemed ages before they'd reached the tree line. Sarah saw Merula's arm dangling as Hagrid carried her like a baby; fresh blood had begun to drip off her fingertips. 

Hagrid paused at the edge of the forest, checking to see if anyone else was on the grounds. 

"Alrigh', 'urry up now."

He led the way through his garden and to the back door of his house. There was only one bed in Hagrid's hut. It was so large that Merula looked like a doll laying on it, her bloodless face like a porcelain mask. 

"Alrigh', I'll go find someone," said Hagrid. 

"Hold on, you've got blood on your clothes." Sarah vanished the blood with her wand. "Don't tell anyone we're here."

Hagrid nodded. "If Barnaby comes back, tell him where I've gone."

"Barnaby?" she asked, but Hagrid had already strode the door and exited the hut. 

Sarah watched him retreating across the lawns until he was swallowed by the darkness, then went to Merula's side and tried to heal the parts of the wound that had reopened. Once that was done, she washed the blood from her hands and put the kettle on, just to have something to do. 

She sat in Hagrid's large armchair, her legs not long enough to reach the floor, and stared about the cabin, frowning. The lantern light revealed what appeared to be party decorations all about the hut. Buntings with red and gold flags had been hug all around the ceiling. Hagrid's table was littered with paints and brushes, and a banter that red, in rather clumsy black letters. "Supp--"

What was all this about? It couldn't be Hagrid's birthday; she remembered that being in December. 

Hagrid seemed to take hours up at the castle. Sarah found herself rubbing her hands together and staring at Hagrid's front door, thinking that any second Snape or Barnaby might burst through it. She wasn't sure which one made her more nervous. 

Surely, she'd heard Hagrid wrong. Barnaby couldn't be here. It would be too dangerous to hide this near the castle, especially with Snape as headmaster. 

She relaxed when she heard the old but familiar sound of Fang's claws scratching at the wood. The door swung open and the boarhound bounded in, recognizing Sarah immediately and rushing forward to rest his head on her lap. Sarah smiled at his drooping eyes and scratched his head, then gasped at the sound of Barnaby's voice.