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Milo had to admit that when he received a letter from Hagrid asking him to come to the Hut with an escort, he was left quite confused. The letter sounded cheery but Milo hadn't taken Hagrid to be the cheery type as of late. With the decision of Buckbeak's fate resting in the hands of the unfair and biased, there was a possibility that Milo was going to walk into a completely different situation than he anticipated. The letter said around six to meet in the Entrance Hall since students were not allowed to venture on the grounds alone, but Milo wasn't going to wait that long.
He had ventured out numerous times on his own already, even with the new rules of no student walking around alone because of Sirius' latest "attack" in the Gryffindor Tower. The boy still wanted to scold his uncle for such a stupid action, but of course, he found himself with little free time to do so. Instead, Milo just made his way out to the hut before dinner time, knocking against the door casually. Everyone was so worried about Sirius Black trying to go after Harry and possibly Milo to finish the job, goodness, if only they knew that Milo had spoken with the man on numerous occasions.
The door swung open, revealing a mighty and confused Hagrid and as soon as he saw the Potter boy, a gasp escaped from him and he yanked Milo inside. "What're yeh doin', Milo?!" he asked before attempting to scold him for not listening to instructions. But Milo wasn't listening, it seemed nearly every time his brother broke a rule he was praised for it, Milo wasn't about to let the double standard phase him any longer.
Immediately, the boy noticed Buckbeak, who was actually inside the hut, resting on the sofa with a blanket draped over him.
"The trial is this Friday, isn't it?" Milo asked as he settled himself down by the creature, offering his hand to the hippogriff to ensure that he was approaching peacefully. Hagrid seemed to completely forget that he had been on the verge of scolding Milo for walking around on his own, as he gave a nod of his head and plopped down into a large chair. Under the man's weight, the chair seemed to groan and the floor creaked but Hagrid paid no mind to it.
"We'll be travellin' ter London, already booked the Knight Bus," Hagrid informed him. "I got a bad feelin' bout it, yeh know?"
"Well, Newt Scamander spoke on Buckbeak's behalf, didn't he? And his word should technically be law over anyone's when it comes to discussing the nature of the creatures."
"The problem wit' that be, people accusin' Scamander o' bein' in Dumbledore's back pocket!"
"So what?" It took everything in Milo not to roll his eyes at the mentioning of the headmaster's name. He knew the amount of respect that Hagrid carried for the man and it was more than likely that Newt did as well, since Dumbledore spoke for Newt back when he was expelled from Hogwarts for endangering the life of a student with a Jarvey.
"It doesn't matter who Newt is friends with, it matters if he can make a proper case in Buckbeak's name, which I'm certain he can do."
Milo was right in a sense but he kept neglecting the fact that Malfoy was running the show practically and had a bigger influence on the case more than anyone. It wouldn't matter if there were two Newt Scamanders arguing the case in favour of the beast, most than likely, Lucius Malfoy was going to see to it that Buckbeak was destroyed as payback for making his son look like a complete fool.
"Well, I'm sure you have built yourself a strong case for Buckbeak, you know him better than anyone else," Milo was trying to be as hopeful and encouraging as possible, but Hagrid shook his head.
"'Arry and Ron were supposed ter stop by an' help me, but I guess they had better things ter do, but Hermione's been here plenty o' times, trying ter figure out things fer me," Hagrid said quietly. Milo let out a sigh, blaming the sudden appearance of the Firebolt as a distraction for the two boys. However, he wasn't even sure why Hagrid went to them in the first place. As he looked around, Milo spotted the ugly suede brown suit that Hagrid apparently had picked out for the trial along with a yellow and orange tie.
"I'll help you," Milo said finally, he didn't want anything to happen to the innocent creature. "I'll come up with some pointers that you can bring up during the trial."
He pushed himself up, seeing the smile on Hagrid's face before he started searching for some ink, a quill, and some parchment paper to write it all down. Hagrid was going to let him get to it as he went to go get Ron and Harry from the Entrance Hall. He told Milo to stay put and not get into any trouble while he was gone. But it was a waste of breath as the boy didn't hear a single word he said. He was too busy scribbling things down at the table, preparing Hagrid's argument for Friday.
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When Hagrid did return to the Hut with Ron and Harry, the boys weren't sure what to be more surprised about, the fact that Buckbeak was inside or that Milo was there. There had been no mention of Harry's older brother being present, but Harry didn't find himself complaining as he greeted Mio, sitting next to him.
"What are you doing here?" Ron seemed disappointed about not being able to relive the story of his glorious battle against Sirius Black's attack in the Gryffindor dorm.
"I'm working on Hagrid's and Buckbeak's defence for the trial on Friday," Milo reminded them, and instantly, he saw his brother's face pale as he was washed over with the sense of guilt. Completely distracted by the Firebolt coming into his possession and the whole Scabbers and Crookshank incident, Harry had completely neglected his promise.
But Hagrid told them that they were there to discuss what had happened with Sirius Black nor were they there to discuss Buckbeak.
"Hermione," Hagrid told the two boys, bringing Milo to look up from his work for a few brief seconds to listen.
Ron didn't seem at all pleased with the topic as he crossed his arms and looked out the window. "What about her?"
"She's in a righ' state, that's what. She's bin comin' down ter visit me a lot since Chris'mas. Bin feelin' lonely. Firs' yeh weren' talking to her because o' the Firebolt, now yer not talkin' to her because her cat—"
"—ate Scabbers!"
"Oh, come off it, Ron," Milo interjected, bringing all eyes to fall on him. "You're being beyond ridiculous at this point. You never liked Scabbers, don't pretend that you suddenly care, I saw you show more affection to the garden gnomes at the Burrow than you ever did with that rat until he was gone! Don't act like some high and mighty pet owner now."
"And what about Hermione, is she some model pet owner? Her cat ate Scabbers!"
Milo rolled his eyes, not sure how Hermione put up with Ron's behaviour sometimes because Milo was getting on the verge of smacking the boy on the back of his head.
"Because her cat acted like all cats do," Hagrid interjected another fair point, "She's cried a fair few times, yeh know. Goin' through a rough time at the moment. Bitten off more'n she can chew, if yeh ask me, all the work she's tryin' ter do. Still found time ter help me with Buckbeak's case, mind... She's found some really good stuff fer me... reckon he'll stand a good chance now...I got her and Milo workin', should have no problem."
"Hagrid, we should've helped as well—sorry-" Harry attempted his own form of an apology but Hagrid waved it off.
I'm not blamin' yeh! Gawd knows yeh've had enough ter be gettin' on with. I've seen yeh practicin' Quidditch ev'ry hour o' the day an' night—but I gotta tell yeh, I thought you two'd value yer friend more'n broomsticks or rats. Tha's all. Really upset, she was, when Black nearly stabbed yeh, Ron. She's got her heart in the right place, Hermione has, an' you two not talkin' to her—"
"If she'd just get rid of that cat, I'd speak to her again!" Ron continued to rant. "But she's still sticking up for it! It's a maniac, and she won't hear a word against it!"
"Ah, well, people can be a bit stupid abou' their pets," Hagrid added but Milo shook his head and stood up.
Harry could swear in that moment, he saw McGonagall looming over Ron as the boy looked somewhat fearful with Milo standing before him.
"It's not a matter of her being stupid about her pet, it is a matter of you being stupid about your pet, Ron.Crookshanks didn't do anything wrong. If you knew that her cat was after Scabbers, why not keep him on you? If you were so fearful about Scabber's life, you would have taken every necessary precaution to ensure his safety. But you didn't, because you didn't care about Scabbers. Not until after he was gone really. But obviously someone does care about you two, she's made that clear multiple times this year."
Milo looked to his brother, but Harry immediately looked down.
"Hermione hasn't been doing anything out of spite, she's been doing things to protect you, Harry. She obviously cares a great deal about the two of you since she gets so upset by the idea of either one of you getting hurt. Treating her poorly by taking Ron's side and for what? You should have taken no one's side, instead, you two piled yourselves up against her, leaving her to just feel so alone and cry. And the problem is, I'll say all of this to you, Hagrid has already said all of this to you, and Hermione has tried reason with both of you but you will still continue to ignore her. You'll still treat her poorly. "
"Milo," Hary frowned, "I'll-"
"Hermione doesn't deserve friends like you two, she deserves better."
Harry watched as his brother gathered his things and went to leave, Hagrid attempted to stop him, not wanting Milo to face any danger, but the boy simply walked out without a care in the world. However, after all the fighting that had been taking place between them, Harry really didn't want Milo going back to ignoring him. The boy quickly rushed out the door behind his brother to talk to him.
"Milo, I'm sorry!" Harry told him but it seemed Milo was waiting for him to add more onto his apology.
"For what, Harry? Why are you sorry?" Milo questioned him. Harry seemed stuck for a few seconds, but his brother's face was eerily cam, which certainly didn't help his nerves at all.
"I don't want you angry with me."
There was the sound of a small sigh that escaped from Milo before he walked over and pulled his brother into a hug. "I'm not angry with you, Harry," he told him and instantly felt Harry relax, " but I am disappointed in you."
The two broke away from the hug, leaving Harry with an even bigger frown than before as Milo continued. "I'm disappointed because you don't appreciate what people do for you. The sacrifices they are willing to go for you and the amount of effort they will put forward to ensure that you're alright. I bet the Dursleys never showed you anything like that, I understand, it may have come across as foreign to you. But now that you have it, you're not being appreciative at all. "
"But I-," Harry shook his head, attempting to disagree, but he couldn't form a proper sentence at the time.
Milo placed his hand on Harry's shoulder, attempting to reassure him that they weren't in bad standings, but Harry had to clean his act up. "You're acting spoiled and entitled and you've been neglecting those who care about you the most. Sound like someone you know?"