To Hell ~ Fred Weasley

Chapter 27.

They had to wait several minutes for Flint and his posy to eventually get bored and walked back inside the castle. After that, they carried all the dirty cauldrons they had yet to clean, and placed them in a corner beside a low brick fence.

"Okay, I can still see them," said Fred with his arms on his hips, staring down at the cauldrons huddled together.

Helena took her wand out.

"We've cleaned most of them. And we can get back to these when we get back," and pointing her wand downwards, muttered "Bugambilia," turning the potion pots into a beautiful green bush with hot pink flowers.

"Or we could just leave them like that," said George, poking what used to be used cauldrons.

"We'll vote on it later, George," said Fred, winking at his brother already agreeing to his idea.

Dinner was going to start in an hour, making it the perfect time to sneak out of castle grounds without anyone noticing their disappearance. As the rest of the students that had been lingering around in the courtyard made their way inside, the three fifth years walked the opposite direction.

Passing the empty Herbology greenhouses, they went down the hill, approaching Hagrid's home.

"Buckbeak will be executed at sunset," Nina blurted out, a great sadness taking over when she saw the groundskeeper's hut. "Hermione told me yesterday."

Seeing their friend get upset about the matter, the twins nodded at eachother, both thinking the same thing.

"We can stop by, if you want," Fred's soft voice replied, putting a comforting hand over her shoulder.

"Yeah, Nina," said George, "We know where Sirius is. It would be nice if we talk with Hagrid for a bit."

So before catching up to Black, they made a stop at Hagrid's house, knocking on his doors several times before the large man showed up.

Helena had seen Hagrid cry over the terrible fate the hipogriff was doomed to face, but right now, he looked lost, like not knowing what to do or where he was.

"What'er yeh three doing 'ere?" Hagrid whispered. "I thought yeh were in detention."

"Well..." Nina said, staring at her feet. She was still getting used to disobeying orders, even if they came from Snape.

"We are technically still in detention--" began Fred.

"--But we wanted to pay a visit!" beamed George.

"Yeh shouldn've come! Don' wan' teh get yeh in more trouble," Hagrid whispered but stood back to let them in.

They entered the cozy hut, being greeted by Hagrid's dog, Fang. Helena took a seat near the door and started petting the big dog, scratching the back of his ears. Fred and George shared the huge armchair beside the fireplace.

"Wan' some tea? Or some food?" asked Hagrid, signaling to the table with shaking hands.

Nina could not bare to see him so broken.

"Oh, Hagrid! I'm really sorry about Buckbeak!" cried out Helena, with sorrow in her eyes. "He doesn't deserve this!"

"Malfoy was being a whiny git and took it too far," added Fred.

It was a known fact that Draco Malfoy did not like how Hagrid had taken over the Care of Magical Creatures class since the start of term, spitting out rude remarks and making the Gryffindors even more protective of the gameskeeper.