As the students gradually returned, classes resumed as normal.
Lewis soon saw Hagrid again during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson.
To everyone's surprise, Hagrid had prepared dozens of bonfires, each containing several Fire Salamanders.
The lesson turned out to be exceptionally enjoyable.
The students gathered dead branches and fallen leaves to keep the fires burning, while the Fire Salamanders, which adored flames, happily darted and leaped across the glowing, crackling logs.
After class ended, Lewis didn't leave immediately.
Instead, he stayed behind and watched as Hagrid busied himself extinguishing the students' campfires and carefully placing the Fire Salamanders back into a large stove.
"That was a fantastic lesson today."
Lewis walked over and sincerely praised him.
"Oh... Lewis."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it."
Hagrid forced out a smile, though he still looked rather dispirited.
Lewis immediately noticed the wrinkled official document clutched in Hagrid's enormous hand.
"May I take a look?"
"Oh, of course."
Hagrid handed it over without hesitation.
Lewis read aloud,
"Hearing Date: April 20th.
You are required to bring the hippogriff involved in the case to the Ministry of Magic in London to attend a hearing before the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures."
Although Hagrid was a half-giant...
His heart was astonishingly fragile.
Simply hearing Lewis read the notice aloud caused tears to begin streaming into his enormous beard.
"Oh..."
"It's just so cruel..."
Hagrid sobbed as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
"The Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures..."
"Buckbeak isn't dangerous..."
Lewis remained silent.
As much as he liked hippogriffs himself...
Even he had to admit that Buckbeak was only "harmless" to people like Hagrid or himself.
To ordinary witches and wizards...
A hippogriff was unquestionably a dangerous magical creature.
Of course...
That didn't stop Lewis from helping Hagrid.
"You know, Hagrid..."
"Hermione spent her entire Christmas holiday preparing your legal defense."
Lewis patted the giant's broad shoulder.
"Oh..."
"Yes..."
"I know."
At the mention of Hermione...
Hagrid's emotions threatened to overflow again.
He hurriedly rubbed his eyes, trying desperately to hold back his tears.
"Hermione..."
"Such a wonderful girl."
"She's already done far too much for me."
"But it won't matter!"
Hagrid shook his head miserably.
"The Committee..."
"Those devils..."
"Lucius Malfoy's bought them all!"
"They've all taken his dirty money!"
"If I lose..."
"Buckbeak..."
His voice caught in his throat.
Unable to continue, Hagrid nearly broke down entirely.
Seeing that another flood of tears was imminent, Lewis quickly interrupted.
"Actually..."
"I have a plan."
"And..."
"I happen to know a few people at the Ministry."
"We became friends during last year's dragon hunt."
"They're not afraid of Lucius Malfoy."
"Thank you..."
"Thank you, Lewis."
"You're a true friend."
Hope gradually returned to Hagrid's eyes.
Among everyone Hagrid knew...
Lewis ranked second only to Dumbledore in reliability.
After all...
This was the young wizard who had subdued countless dangerous magical creatures.
"But..."
"I can't let you spend all your money."
"I've got a few things..."
"You know..."
"I've collected them over the years in the Forbidden Forest."
"They ought to be worth a few Galleons."
As Hagrid began mentally calculating his assets...
Lewis's eyes lit up.
He hadn't expected such an unexpected bonus.
As Keeper of Keys and Grounds—and caretaker of the Forbidden Forest...
Hagrid wasn't nearly as poor as most people assumed.
Even the cushions inside his hut were stuffed with unicorn hair.
Countless rare magical ingredients from the Forbidden Forest passed through his hands.
Even by Lewis's standards...
Hagrid's private collection was extraordinarily valuable.
Just as Lewis had said...
This matter really wasn't difficult.
With a single word from his "dragon maid," Onyxia...
Lucius Malfoy's influence could be neutralized without much effort.
When Lewis informed Hermione that both the lawyer and the Ministry connections had already been arranged...
The girl looked as though an enormous burden had finally been lifted from her shoulders.
For weeks...
She had been worrying about Hagrid while simultaneously keeping up with twelve separate classes.
Even with the Time-Turner...
That workload had been crushing.
Every evening...
Lewis accompanied Hermione to a quiet corner of the library to study.
Her table was always piled high with books and study materials.
Everything from Arithmancy charts...
To Ancient Runes dictionaries...
To Muggle engineering manuals on moving heavy objects...
Along with endless pages of densely written notes.
She no longer studied in the Gryffindor common room.
Lewis understood exactly why.
After her arguments with Harry and Ron...
Seeing them every day would only be awkward.
Studying in the library...
Allowed her to quietly avoid them.
The only thing that still made Hermione uncomfortable...
Was that whenever she studied with Lewis...
Other girls inevitably joined them.
Cho Chang appeared most often.
Next came Sherry and Penelope.
Even Ginny occasionally wandered over.
But the one who bothered Hermione the most...
Was Luna Lovegood.
Every time Luna arrived...
She and Lewis would begin discussing subjects Hermione couldn't understand.
Things like...
"Psionics."
When Hermione finally asked what they were talking about...
She discovered Luna possessed an exceptionally rare gift known as psionic talent.
Lewis had become fascinated upon discovering it...
And immediately began teaching Luna how to become a psion.
Honestly...
Why couldn't I have been the one born with psionic talent?
Time passed quickly.
Soon...
February arrived.
The bitter winter cold showed no sign of easing.
Throughout the entire month...
Aside from his usual routine...
Lewis devoted himself to one additional task.
Searching the Forbidden Forest for Scabbers.
According to Hermione...
Ever since Sirius Black's attempted attack...
The pet rat had become increasingly anxious.
Combined with Crookshanks constantly hunting him...
Scabbers had disappeared entirely during the Christmas holidays.
Ron remained convinced that Crookshanks had killed him.
That belief had become one of the major reasons his conflict with Hermione had escalated so dramatically.
Now that Scabbers had fled Ron's side...
Finding him became significantly more difficult.
According to the Marauder's Map...
Scabbers wasn't inside Hogwarts Castle.
Fred and George had never once seen his name appear.
Meanwhile...
Lewis's divination magic indicated that Scabbers hadn't actually left Hogwarts grounds.
Unfortunately...
Because Lewis knew relatively little about Scabbers—or Peter Pettigrew himself—the spell couldn't reveal a more precise location.
Even so...
That was already enough.
If Scabbers remained somewhere within Hogwarts...
Yet wasn't inside the castle...
Then there was only one possible hiding place.
The Forbidden Forest.
So...
For an entire month...
Lewis continuously used druidic magic to establish magical sentries throughout the forest.
Borrowing the vision of countless trees and plants...
He turned the entire Forbidden Forest into his own surveillance network.
It was almost like covering every corner of the forest with magical observer wards.
No matter how inconspicuous a rat might be...
How could Scabbers possibly hide from a forest filled with Lewis's eyes?
Sure enough...
That very evening...
While Lewis was quietly reading in the library with Hermione...
He suddenly sensed that one of his detection spells deep within the Forbidden Forest...
Had been triggered.
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