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225 Hagrid leapt to his feet, his shaggy black head grazing the ceiling.
'An' how many did yeh have ter threaten an' blackmail before they agreed, Malfoy, eh." he roared.
"Dear, dear, you know, that temper of yours will lead you into trouble one of these days, Hagrid," said Mr. Malfoy. "I would advise you not to shout at the Azkaban guards like that. They won't like it at all." "Yeh can' take Dumbledore!" yelled Hagrid, making Fang the boarhound cower and whimper in his basket. "Take him away, an' the Muggle-borns won' stand a chance! There'll be killin' next!" "Calm yourself, Hagrid," said Dumbledore sharply. He looked at Lucius Malfoy.
"If the governors want my removal, Lucius, I shall of course step aside -" "But -" stuttered Fudge.
"No!"growled Hagrid.
Dumbledore had not taken his bright blue eyes off Lucius Malfoy's cold gray ones.
" For a second, Harry was almost sure Dumbledore's eyes flickered towards the corner where he and Ron stood hidden.
“Admirable sentiments,” said Malfoy, bowing. “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-”killin's”.
He strode to the cabin door, opened it and bowed Dumbledore out. Fudge, fiddling with his bowler, waited for Hagrid to go ahead of him, but Hagrid stood his ground, took a deep breath and said carefully, “If anyone wanted ter find out some stuff, all they'd have ter do would be ter follow the spiders. That'd lead 'em right! That's all I'm sayin'.”.
Fudge stared at him in amazement.
“All right, I'm comin',” said Hagrid, pulling on his moleskin overcoat. But as he was about to follow Fudge through the door, he stopped again and said loudly, “An' someone'll need ter feed Fang while I'm away.
The door banged shut and Ron pulled the Invisibility Cloak off.
“We're in trouble now,” he said hoarsely. “No Dumbledore. They might as well close the school tonight. There'll be an attack a day with him gone.
Fang started howling, scratching at the closed door.
C H A P T E R F I F T E E N.
ARAGOG.
Summer was creeping over the grounds around the castle; sky and lake alike turned periwinkle blue and flowers large as cabbages burst into bloom in the greenhouses. But with no Hagrid visible from the castle windows, striding the grounds with Fang at his heels, the scene didn't look right to Harry; no better, in fact, than the inside of the castle, where things were so horribly wrong.
Harry and Ron had tried to visit Hermione, but visitors were now barred from the hospital wing.
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