Harry Potter Male Reader Insert - Book 2

Chapter 13. The Serpent of Slytherin

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The four of them had always known that Hagrid had an unfortunate liking for large and monstrous creatures. During their first year at Hogwarts, he had tried to raise a dragon in his little wooden house, and it would be a long time before they forgot the giant, three-headed dog he'd christened „Fluffy." And if, as a boy, Hagrid had heard that a monster was hidden somewhere in the castle, Harry was sure he'd have gone to any lengths for a glimpse of it. He'd probably thought it was a shame that the monster had been cooped up so long and thought it deserved the chance to stretch its legs. Harry could imagine the thirteen-year-old Hagrid trying to fit a leash and collar on it. But he was equally certain that Hagrid would never have meant to kill anybody.

Harry half wished he hadn't found out how to work Riddle's diary. Again and again, Ron and Hermione made him recount what he'd seen until he was heartily sick of telling them and sick of the long, circular conversations that followed.

„Riddle might have got the wrong person," Hermione said. „Maybe it was another thing that was attacking."

„I've told you what I saw. And I think this is not in Hagrid's favor. Riddle wouldn't have got the award. What would you say, Y/N?" spoke Harry.

„Do not make me get involved, for I do not care as much to say anything."

„Why? What's with you? Y/N . . ." Harry called angrier.

„No, nothing. Why would something be wrong? Just continue talking with each other."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at him curiously. Y/N noticed and glanced back shortly and a sigh.

„What. Just . . . do your thing."

They looked away. Ron cleared his throat.

„Well, Riddle does sound like Percy. Why would he say anything about Hagrid?"

„The monster did kill someone. He would be sent back to the Muggle orphanage otherwise," Hermione told them.

„I don't blame him for wanting to stay here," Harry said.

Y/N looked up. He thought he hadn't told them about his place of living.

„You met Hagrid down Knockturn Alley, didn't you, Harry?" Hermione said.

„He was buying a Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent."

The three of them fell silent, matching Y/N. After a long pause, Hermione voiced the knottiest question of all in a hesitant voice.

„Do you think we should go and ask Hagrid about it all?"

„That'd be a cheerful visit," Ron said. „Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?"

In the end, they decided they would not say anything to Hagrid unless there was another attack, and as more days went by with no whisper from the disembodied voice, they became hopeful that they would never need to talk to him about why he had been expelled. It was now nearly four months since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick had been Petrified, and nearly everybody seemed to think that the attacker, whoever it was, had retired for good. Peeves had finally gotten bored of his „Oh, Potter, you rotter" song, Ernie Macmillan asked Harry quite politely to pass a bucket of leaping toadstools in Herbology one day, and in March, several of the Mandrakes threw a loud and raucous party in greenhouse three. This made Professor Sprout glad.

„The moment they start trying to move into each other's pots, we'll know they're fully mature," she told Harry. „Then we'll be able to revive those poor people in the hospital wing."