The red and gold Snake.

Chapter 15: No one is safe

"I'm not sure if this is gonna be a cheerful talk." Hermione muttered as they walked across the grounds towards Hagrid's hut.

"How could it not be cheerful, Mione. It's not as if we're gonna ask him if he's been setting a monster loose in the school that has been hunting down Muggleborns." Theo said.

"You can be such a sarcastic little shit sometimes, Theo." Blaise said dryly.

"Wow, you did a good job on noticing that, Blaise. What gave it away? His cheerful attitude or snarky remarks?" Harry asked, pulling up a brow at his friend.

"Both of you are spending too much time with Draco." Daphne remarked. "Now shut up, we're here."

Harry knocked on the door and the five kids waited patiently for the half giant to open the door. His friends were all shuffling nervously behind him, making his heart beat even faster. He wasn't looking forward towards this conversation, but it had to be done! And anyway, they knew he wasn't the heir of Slytherin. Hagrid was too kind for that.

The door was open, and they saw Hagrid standing in the door opening, looking at them in surprise.

"Harry, Hermione, guys. What a surprise." He said. "Do you want to come in, have a nice cup of tea?"

"Yes please, Hagrid." Harry said, trying his best to be cheerful.

"I'm sorry we come so unannounced, Hagrid." Daphne said. "We just really needed to talk to you."

"Tal' to me? 'bout what?" The giant asked as he poured all of them a cup of tea. He had made sure he had an extra chair in his house after the last time they had visited, not wanting Blaise to have to stand again.

"Some older years were talking a lot of crap in the common room." Blaise said, as if he didn't really want to tell Hagrid. "It was about the attacks fifty years ago."

"I see." Hagrid muttered, taking a sip from his tea. "What does that have to do with me?" He asked.

All of them were silent before Hermione blurted out:

"They say you were expelled because you set the monster free." She blushed slightly and once again the Slytherins were surprised about her lying capabilities. "But of course we know that's not true."

"We just wanted to know the full story, Hagrid." Harry said quietly. "So, we can tell them Riddle made a mistake."

"Oh alright." The half giant said.

And so, Hagrid told them the story about how fifty years ago he had had this completely innocent baby Acromantula – this made Blaise actually choke on his tea. As if giant spiders were ever innocent! – and how this very popular guy from Slytherin, Riddle, had caught him trying to feed poor little Aragog.

"The guy obviously g't the wrong conclusion and told Dippet. I got expelled but Dumbledore made sure I could stay on Hogwarts." Hagrid said. "Poor lad must have felt horrible knowing he accused the wrong guy, he even visited me with this nice girl – Knight something – to show his regret I was being kicked out of school. But the attacks had stopped, so whether it was me or not, at least s'mthing good came from it."

"At least Dumbledore made sure you could stay here." Harry said, not really knowing what to say anymore. If Riddle had known Hagrid was innocent, why had he shown him that memory then? And Knight? As in the Knight family?

"Yeah, saved my life. B't now they're questioning my integrity again... One more attack and they're probably sending me to Azkaban." The man said sadly.

"They can't do that!" Hermione said horrified. "Dumbledore must stop them!"

"Nothing he can do." The giant said before focussing on his tea again and asking them how school was going, not wanting to spend a minute longer on the last subject.