Always Together

30. Double Attack

Chapter 30 | double attack

"It's not Hagrid!" groaned Caitlyn so loud that anyone could have heard. "It can't be!"

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Caitlyn had always known that Hagrid had an unfortunate liking for large and monstrous creatures. And if, as a boy, Hagrid had heard that a monster was hidden somewhere in the castle, Caitlyn 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.

Harry half wished he hadn't found out how to work Riddle's diary. Again and again Ron, Hermione and Caitlyn made him recount what he'd seen, until he was heartily sick of telling them and sick of the long, circular conversations that followed. Caitlyn was very confused — Tom Riddle had never told her those things.

"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?"

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

The four of them 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, they decided that they 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, 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 got bored of his "Oh, Potter, you rotter ... Oh, rosy-nosy-Montrose" 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.

"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."

The second years were given something new to think about during their Easter holidays. The time had come to choose their subjects for the third year, a matter that Hermione, at least, took very seriously.

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

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