Amelia Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PART 1

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while now. So tell me,' said Hagrid, jerking his head at Ron, 'who was he tryin' ter curse?'

'Malfoy called Hermione something. It must've been really bad, because everyone went mad.'

'It was bad,' said Ron hoarsely, emerging over the table top, looking pale and sweaty. 'Malfoy called her "Mudblood", Hagrid –'

Ron dived out of sight again as a fresh wave of slugs made their appearance. Hagrid looked outraged.

'He didn'!' he growled at Hermione.

'He did,' she said. 'But I don't know what it means. I could tell it was really rude, of course ...'

'It's about the most insulting thing he could think of,' gasped Ron, coming back up. 'Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who was Muggle-born – you know, non-magic parents. There are some wizards – like Malfoy's family – who think they're better than everyone else because they're what people call pure-blood.' He gave a small burp, and a single slug fell into his outstretched hand. He threw it into the basin and continued, 'I mean, the rest of us know it doesn't make any difference at all. Look at Neville Longbottom – he's pure-blood and he can hardly stand a cauldron the right way up.'

'that bastard!' Amelia screeched standing up. 'Why, I should have punched him twice!' Harry pulled Amelia back down.

'An' they haven't invented a spell our Hermione can't do,' said Hagrid proudly, making Hermione go a brilliant shade of magenta.

'It's a disgusting thing to call someone,' said Ron, wiping his sweaty brow with a shaking hand. 'Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It's mad. Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out.'

He retched and ducked out of sight again.

'Well, I don' blame yeh fer tryin' ter curse him, Ron,' said Hagrid loudly over the thuds of more slugs hitting the basin. 'Bu' maybe it was a good thing yer wand backfired. 'Spect Lucius Malfoy would've come marchin' up ter school if yeh'd cursed his son. Least yer not in trouble.'

'Him and his dad are both a bunch of's,' Amelia blew a raspberry.

Harry would have pointed out that trouble didn't come much worse than having slugs pouring out of your mouth, but he couldn't; Hagrid's treacle toffee had cemented his jaws together.

'Harry,' said Hagrid suddenly, as though struck by a sudden thought, 'gotta bone ter pick with yeh. I've heard you've bin givin' out signed photos. How come I haven't got one?'

Furious, Harry wrenched his teeth apart.