Jinx Not-So-Malfoy and the Heir of Slytherin

Chapter 14

So I pre-read this chapter in my trusty Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and this chapter is VERY exciting. I'm so excited to write it. I bet you're excited to read it, too.

ON WITH THE STORY BECAUSE WE'RE ALL TOO EXCITED!

So apparently, Harry had gone into the past using Riddle's diary and apparently Hagrid did it.

SLAP ME WITH AND BANANA AND CALL ME SUZY! I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!

Who's Suzy?

Anyway, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I had always known that Hagrid had an unfortunate liking for large and monstrous creatures. During our first year at Hogwarts he had tried to raise a dragon in his little wooden house, and it would be a long time before we forget 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, we 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 many legs; I could just imagine the thirteen-year-old Hagrid trying to fit a leash and collar on it.

But we were 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.

And I wish he wouldn't tell me all this stuff. It's just gonna bite him in the ass quite hard one day.

Again and again Ron and Hermione made him recount what he'd seen, until he was heartily sick of telling us (I was sick of hearing it, mind you) and sick of the long, circular conversations that followed.

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

"How many monsters d'you think this place can hold?" Ron asked dully.

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

Ron tried a different tack. "Riddle does sound like Percy -- who asked him to squeal on Hagrid, anyway?"

"But the monster had killed someone, Ron," said Hermione.

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

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

"He wasn't doing what you think he was doing," I defended.

"He was buying a Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent," said Harry. The four of us sexy beasts fell silent.

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," said Ron. "'Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?"'

In the end, we decided that we would not say anything to Hagrid unless there was another attack, and as more and more days went by with no whisper from "the disembodied voice", we became hopeful that we 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 got 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 very happy.