Eternal Despair (Harry Potter/OC)

𝟙𝟜: Cornelius Fudge

Enzo, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had always known about Hagrid's unfortunate fondness for large and monstrous creatures.

During their first year, he had famously tried to raise a dragon in his tiny wooden hut, and they would never forget the enormous, three-headed dog he had affectionately named "Fluffy."

Harry half regretted figuring out how to work Riddle's diary. Again and again, Enzo, Ron, and Hermione made him recount what he had seen, until he was thoroughly tired of retelling the story and enduring the endless, circular conversations that ensued.

"Riddle might have got the wrong person," suggested Hermione. "Maybe it was some other monster that was attacking people..."

"How many monsters do you think this place can hold?" Ron asked wearily.

"We always knew Hagrid had been expelled," said Enzo miserably. "And the attacks must've stopped after Hagrid was kicked out. Otherwise, the Riddle bloke wouldn't have got his award."

Ron tried another angle. "Riddle sounds like Percy, the type who would squeal on Hagrid."

"But the monster had killed someone, Ron," Hermione pointed out.

"And Riddle was going to go back to some Muggle orphanage if they closed Hogwarts," Harry added. "I don't blame him for wanting to stay here."

"You met Hagrid in Knockturn Alley, didn't you, Harry?" Enzo asked.

"He was buying Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent," Harry said quickly.

The four of them fell into a heavy silence. After a long pause, Hermione hesitantly asked the most challenging question of all.

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

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

In the end, they decided not to confront Hagrid unless there was another attack. As more days passed without Enzo and Harry hearing the disembodied voice, they grew hopeful that they would never need to broach the topic.

It had been nearly four months since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick were Petrified, and most people seemed to believe the attacker had retired for good.

Ernie Macmillan even asked Enzo politely to pass a bucket of leaping toadstools in Herbology one day, and in March, several Mandrakes threw a loud and raucous party in greenhouse three, much to Professor Sprout's delight.

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

During the Easter holidays, the second years faced a new challenge: choosing their subjects for the third year. Hermione took the task very seriously.

"It could affect our whole future," she told Enzo, Harry, and Ron as they pored over lists of new subjects, marking them with checks.

"I just want to give up Potions," said Harry.

"We can't," Ron said gloomily. "We keep all our old subjects, or I'd've ditched Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"But that's very important!" Hermione said, shocked.

"Not the way Lockhart teaches it," mumbled Enzo.

Neville Longbottom had been sent letters from all his family members, each giving him different advice on what to choose. Confused and worried, he sat reading the subject lists with his tongue poking out, asking people whether they thought Arithmancy sounded harder than the study of Ancient Runes.