‘It's McGonagall!’ whispered Hermione.

‘It's McGonagall!’ whispered Hermione.

‘Leave him alone! Alone,I say!’ said Professor McGonagall's voice through the darkness. ‘On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such—’

Hermione, Parvati and Lavender all screamed. The figures around the cabin had shot no fewer than four Stunners at Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabin and castle the red beams collided with her; for a moment she looked luminous and glowed an eerie red, then she lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more.

‘Galloping gargoyles!’ shouted Professor Tofty, who also seemed to have forgotten the exam completely. ‘Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behaviour!’

‘COWARDS!’ bellowed Hagrid; his voice carried clearly to the top of the tower, and several lights flickered back on inside the castle. ‘RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O’ THAT— AN’ THAT—’

‘Oh my—’ gasped Hermione.

Hagrid took two massive swipes at his closest attackers; judging by their immediate collapse, they had been knocked cold. Harry saw Hagrid double over, and thought he had finally been overcome by a spell. But, on the contrary, next moment Hagrid was standing again with what appeared to be a sack on his back—then Harry realised that bangs limp body was draped around his shoulders.

‘Get him, get him!’ screamed Umbridge, but her remaining helper seemed highly reluctant to go within reach of Hagrid's fists; indeed, he was backing away so fast he tripped over one of his unconscious colleagues and fell over. Hagrid had turned and begun to run with Fang still hung around his neck. Umbridge sent one last Stunning Spell after him but it missed; and Hagrid, running full-pelt towards the distant gates, disappeared into the darkness.

There was a long minute's quivering silence as everybody gazed open-mouthed into the grounds. Then Professor Tofty's voice said feebly, ‘Um ... five minutes to go, everybody.’

Though he had only filled in two-thirds of his chart, Harry was desperate for the exam to end. When it came at last he, Ron and Hermione forced their telescopes haphazardly back into their holders and dashed back down the spiral staircase. None of the students were going to bed; they were all talking loudly and excitedly at the foot of the stairs about what they had witnessed.

‘That evil woman!’ gasped Hermione, who seemed to be having difficulty talking due to rage. ‘Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of night!’

‘She clearly wanted to avoid another scene like Trelawney's,’ said Ernie Macmillan sagely, squeezing over to join them.

‘Hagrid did well, didn't he?’ said Ron, who looked more alarmed than impressed. ‘How come all the spells bounced off him?’

‘It'll be his giant blood,’ said Hermione shakily. ‘Its very hard to Stun a giant, they're like trolls, really tough ... but poor Professor McGonagall ... four Stunners straight in the chest and she's not exactly young, is she?’

‘Dreadful, dreadful,’ said Ernie, shaking his head pompously. ‘Well, I'm off to bed. Night, all.’

People around them were drifting away, still talking excitedly about what they had just seen.

‘At least they didn't get to take Hagrid off to Azkaban,’ said Ron. ‘I ‘spect he's gone to join Dumbledore, hasn't he?’

‘I suppose so,’ said Hermione, who looked tearful. ‘Oh, this is awful, I really thought Dumbledore would be back before long, but now we've lost Hagrid too.’