Chapter 8
Hagrid
"There's one more person we need to talk to," said Alice. "The friend of Harry's Ron told me about -- Hagrid the groundskeeper."
"Do we have to?" said Lisa. "I heard he was expelled from Hogwarts a long time ago in some sort of scandal. He just barely kept out of Azkaban, they say."
"All the more reason we need to talk to him," insisted Hermione. "If he was mixed up in scandals in the old days, he might know something now. I'd better be the one to do it. I saw Harry in the hospital and that gives me an opening."
Hermione didn't feel quite so brave as she approached the run-down wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden forest, especially when a large dog started barking inside. She was more of a cat person, anyway.
"Back Fang, back!" boomed a voice from inside. The door opened, and the sight of the enormous black-bearded man barely holding back a huge boarhound nearly made her turn and run. But then she noticed the dog was wagging its tail, and decided it wasn't as fierce as it looked. Maybe Hagrid wasn't either.
"Well, what yeh want, missy?"
"Mr. Hagrid, I'm Hermione Granger, a friend of Harry Potter's, and I heard you are, too," said Hermione. "I'm worried about him. I think someone's out to get him."
"An' what makes yeh think that?" asked Hadrid.
"It's not just the Quiddich accident. Someone sent him a get-ill card while he was in the hospital. I visited him and picked it up before he saw it. It made me really sick. If was powerful enought to do that to me, what would it have done to Harry when he was in a weakened condition?"
"I hadn't heered about that. Best come in an' talk," Hagrid invited.
Hermione took a seat at the kitchen table. Fang came over and nuzzled her ear.
"I've been worryin' about that accident," Hagrid said. "I dunno how it could've happened. Harry's a natural born flyer, an' the Nimbus 2000's a top-o-the-line broomstick."
"I suspect someone in the crowd was jinxing it," said Hermione.
"That'd take powerful Dark Magic. No kid coulda done it," said Hagrid dubiously.
"It would also take Dark Magic to make a get-ill card that strong, wouldn't it?" said Hermione. "And Hogwarts has two adult wizard experts in the Dark Arts -- Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell."
"Rubbish," said Hagrid. "Neither of 'em would do somethin' like that. Why would they?"
"One of them might if he thought Harry knew too much about the three-headed dog that's guarding a room on the third flooor," said Hermione abruptly, hoping to startle Hagrid into dropping some information. It worked.
"How do yeh know about Fluffy?" Hagrid demanded.
"Fluffy?"
"Yeah -- Fluffy's my dog. I bought him off a Greek chappie I met in a pub las' year. I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the --" He cut off abruptly. "I shouldn't oughta said that. That's top secret, that is."
"The package from Gringotts that Harry told Ron about?"
"Now see here, missey. I can't have this gettin' all over the school. That package is between Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel -- I shouldn't oughta said that. Now be off with yeh, and don't meddle in things that don't concern yeh."
Hermione left, satisfied to have a new lead. But who was Nicolas Flamel?
Hagrid
"There's one more person we need to talk to," said Alice. "The friend of Harry's Ron told me about -- Hagrid the groundskeeper."
"Do we have to?" said Lisa. "I heard he was expelled from Hogwarts a long time ago in some sort of scandal. He just barely kept out of Azkaban, they say."
"All the more reason we need to talk to him," insisted Hermione. "If he was mixed up in scandals in the old days, he might know something now. I'd better be the one to do it. I saw Harry in the hospital and that gives me an opening."
Hermione didn't feel quite so brave as she approached the run-down wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden forest, especially when a large dog started barking inside. She was more of a cat person, anyway.
"Back Fang, back!" boomed a voice from inside. The door opened, and the sight of the enormous black-bearded man barely holding back a huge boarhound nearly made her turn and run. But then she noticed the dog was wagging its tail, and decided it wasn't as fierce as it looked. Maybe Hagrid wasn't either.
"Well, what yeh want, missy?"
"Mr. Hagrid, I'm Hermione Granger, a friend of Harry Potter's, and I heard you are, too," said Hermione. "I'm worried about him. I think someone's out to get him."
"An' what makes yeh think that?" asked Hadrid.
"It's not just the Quiddich accident. Someone sent him a get-ill card while he was in the hospital. I visited him and picked it up before he saw it. It made me really sick. If was powerful enought to do that to me, what would it have done to Harry when he was in a weakened condition?"
"I hadn't heered about that. Best come in an' talk," Hagrid invited.
Hermione took a seat at the kitchen table. Fang came over and nuzzled her ear.
"I've been worryin' about that accident," Hagrid said. "I dunno how it could've happened. Harry's a natural born flyer, an' the Nimbus 2000's a top-o-the-line broomstick."
"I suspect someone in the crowd was jinxing it," said Hermione.
"That'd take powerful Dark Magic. No kid coulda done it," said Hagrid dubiously.
"It would also take Dark Magic to make a get-ill card that strong, wouldn't it?" said Hermione. "And Hogwarts has two adult wizard experts in the Dark Arts -- Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell."
"Rubbish," said Hagrid. "Neither of 'em would do somethin' like that. Why would they?"
"One of them might if he thought Harry knew too much about the three-headed dog that's guarding a room on the third flooor," said Hermione abruptly, hoping to startle Hagrid into dropping some information. It worked.
"How do yeh know about Fluffy?" Hagrid demanded.
"Fluffy?"
"Yeah -- Fluffy's my dog. I bought him off a Greek chappie I met in a pub las' year. I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the --" He cut off abruptly. "I shouldn't oughta said that. That's top secret, that is."
"The package from Gringotts that Harry told Ron about?"
"Now see here, missey. I can't have this gettin' all over the school. That package is between Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel -- I shouldn't oughta said that. Now be off with yeh, and don't meddle in things that don't concern yeh."
Hermione left, satisfied to have a new lead. But who was Nicolas Flamel?
