Chapter 12: Hagrid's Departure
The fading light of the afternoon gave the corridor a warm, pleasant glow. The Christmas holidays had come and gone, students had returned for the new term and the snow had long since melted away. Minerva walked slowly down the hall, her arms folded against her chest, feeling quite content with the world. Late afternoon was her favourite part of day, the golden colours and lazy feeling calming her down inside. Most of the students were either outside, in their dormitories or in the library at this time, so Minerva had most of the corridors to herself. She would wander through the stone halls, thinking about life and anything else that occurred to her. Her current topic of deliberation, brought on by her midnight conversations with Nick (now a regular occurrence), was life as a ghost and whether or not she would be able to handle it. She liked to think, on the whole, that she would be able to bare it quite tolerably. Actually, if she was honest, she didn't think she'd become a ghost in the first place. "Moving on", as some people put it, was too much of a learning opportunity for Minerva to miss.
She'd come pretty close to "moving on" over the past few weeks. Alecto's vendetta against her was now mutual and Minerva had lost count of the times someone had to tear them apart before a duel broke out. Rolanda's betting ring, rumour had it, was now taking bets on which of them would kill the other first. Minerva had come very close to winning, when she'd confronted Alecto about the Unforgivable Curse detentions. Alecto had denied everything and Minerva almost snapped, Pomona pulling her away at the last minute. She'd avoided Alecto after that, not sure if she could handle another heated confrontation. Thankfully Snape hadn't heard any of this. Either that or he was choosing to ignore it. It didn't really matter to Minerva, as Snape keeping his abnormally hooked nose out her business was just fine, thank you very much.
Snape kept to his office most of the time, his noticeable absence making Minerva's afternoon all the more enjoyable. In fact, it was the best afternoon she'd had in a long time and she was determined that nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to spoil it. But, as is often the case with perfect afternoons, it wasn't going to last. Something was about to happen that would ruin Minerva's day, week and possibly year.
She turned a corner and bumped into a trio of first years, their blue ties indicating a Ravenclaw allegiance.
"Sorry." she said, cheerfully.
The boy at the front had dropped what appeared to be a long strip of material. He hastily gathered it up again, looking extremely nervous. They all looked rather nervous, Minerva noted. By the time the boy had finished stuffing the white cloth in to a ball, she was more than a little suspicious.
"Can I please see what you are holding?" she asked.
The boy shook his head, an action that didn't support innocence. Minerva put on her sternest expression and held out her hand. Reluctantly, the boy gave it to her. She unfurled it and gasped. Written in big, block letters were the words SUPPORT HARRY POTTER. Minerva looked from the banner to the students to the banner again. Did they not understand the danger of carrying something like this?
"Where you get this?" she asked, weakly.
"We made it." a little girl with pigtails said.
"And why, may I ask, did you do that?"
"It's for a party. A Support Harry Potter party."
"What?" Minerva blurted out, "When, where, who? WHY?"
"It's down at Professor Hagrid's hut. Anyone can go, as long they're loyal to Harry."
That was all Minerva needed to hear. She dropped the banner and sprinted down a flight of stairs. As she ran towards the doors, she met up with a frantic looking Pomona Sprout.
"Minerva!" Pomona gasped, "Minerva, Hagrid's holding a Support Harry Potter party, down at his hut."
"How do you know about that?" Minerva asked.
"I heard from Sir Nicholas, who heard from the Fat Friar, who heard from Susan Bones, who heard from Hannah Abbott, who heard from Ginny Weasley, who heard from-"
"GET TO THE POINT WOMAN!"
"- Neville Longbottom, who heard from Seamus Finnigan that Amycus Carrow is bringing Death Eaters and Ministry officials down there to arrest Hagrid as we speak. How Mr Finnigan found out, I'm not quite sure but -"
"POMONA, DOES THAT REALLY MATTER?"
"No, I guess not." the squat Herbology witch apologized. "Minerva, there are students down there! What are we going to do?"
Minerva thought for a moment.
"Go the Greenhouses. I'll sneak down to Hagrid's hut. I can put the students under a disillusionment charm and send them up to you. Hopefully the Death Eaters will be too preoccupied with Hagrid to notice anything."
Pomona nodded. "How are you going to get down there?"
"I'll take the back exit and sneak round, stick to the trees. I'll be careful, Mona, don't worry."
The two women split up, with Minerva taking the back stairs. She went down a passage that led to a small door at the back of the castle, a passage probably only she, Filch and the Weasley twins knew about. Creeping along the side of the castle, she glanced in the direction of Hagrid's hut. Several cloaked figures were making their way towards it. Through the window, Minerva could see Hagrid crouched down. She ran across a stretch of grass, taking quick steps, and quietly knocked on Hagrid's back door.
"Hagrid!" she hissed, "Hagrid, it's me."
Hagrid opened the door slightly and peeked out. Seeing who it was, he opened the door fully.
"Professor! The Death Eaters are comin' this way!" he whispered, nervously.
"I can see that!" Minerva snapped, a little sharper than she had originally intended. "I've come to get the students out."
Hagrid stepped aside and five first years came to the door, wearing brightly coloured Harry Potter badges that contrasted nicely with their looks of terror. Minerva beckoned them outside and pulled the badges off their robes.
"Listen carefully." she whispered, "I'm going to put a spell on all of you, that will make you blend into your surroundings. Once I have done so, you will run to the Greenhouses, where you will met by Professor Sprout. You do not stop, you do not go anywhere else, is that understood? Good."
She tapped each student on the head and one by one they melted into the air. When they were fully gone, Minerva told them to start running. Then she turned back to Hagrid.
"What, in the name of all that is good and holy, were you thinking?" she sighed.
Hagrid hung his head.
"Sorry, Professor. I know I shouldn'ta, but I had to do summat for Harry!"
Minerva kindly placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about it now. We have to get you away from here!"
Hagrid shook his head. "Don' you try an' help me! Hogwarts needs you here! I can take care of it myself."
"Hagrid -"
"Get outta here, Professor. Hold the fort while I'm gone."
Reluctantly, Minerva cast a disillusionment charm on herself and ran towards the Greenhouses. She turned back to see Hagrid throw open the door and run into the forest with his dog, Fang, Death Eaters in hot pursuit. Though she desperately wanted to go after him, she knew she wouldn't be doing him, or anyone else, any favours. He disappeared out of sight and Minerva felt like a part of Hogwarts had just been torn out from under her feet. His hut stood empty, a shell of what it once was. Minerva could relate to that.