"Yes, yes I am" said Harry. It seemed that everywhere he went in this school, people were interested in him. He wasn't sure whether to find that flattering or uncomfortable. Coming from a giant who looked like the wild man of the woods, he definitely found it more uncomfortable.

"Ah knew it!" said Hagrid "The moment I saw yeh. Yeh look jus like yeh dad but yeh got yeh mum's eyes"

"You knew my parents?" Harry replied. A lot of people knew about his parents but he'd never gotten much from the people who actually knew them. Aunt Petunia didn't much like to talk about it and he'd not spoken to Dumbledore since the trip to Diagon Alley. Perhaps Hagrid might be able to tell him something.

"I did" replied Hagrid "Lily an' James Potter. Two o' the best wizards an' witches yeh could ever meet. Everyone liked 'em"

"I don't know much about them" Harry admitted. It was true – he'd heard a lot about how they died but very little about how they lived.

"Yeh don' know anything 'bout yeh parents?" Hagrid replied incredulously "ev'ry child in the discarding world knows"

"I know what happened to them" said Harry " but I don't know much else"

"Well I'd be happy to tell yeh" said Hagrid "why don't yeh come down to my hut sometime an' I'll let yeh know"

"That'd he nice" said Harry "but I'd better be going now"

As Harry climbed the stairs to Ravenclaw Tower he wondered if he'd made the right decision. Hagrid had seemed nice but his appearance still made Harry a little uneasy.

As he entered the Common Room he searched for his friends. He found Ron and Mandy playing Chess at one of the tables and Hermione sat in an armchair reading a book. Mandy turned to look at him as he entered – this gave Ron the opportunity he needed.

"Knight to king four" said Ron "Checkmate!"

"That's not very fair" said Mandy "you waited till I was distracted"

"Not much you could have done if you weren't" replied a smirking Ron "Hi Harry"

"Hi Ron, Hi Mandy" said Harry "hi Hermione". Hermione put her book down and looked at him.

"What's been keeping you?" she asked.

"I ran into somebody" he replied "you remember the really big man with the West Country accent who took us across the lake?"

She nodded and so he continued " I ran into him on my way back. He says he used to know my parents"

"You mean Hagrid?" Asked Ron. The others all looked at him. "He probably did. He's been at the school since forever. Charlie got on really well with him."

"Why is he so big?" Asked Harry " I mean most wizards aren't that big and I don't think many Muggles are either"

Ron just shrugged " I dunno . Maybe he got on the wrong end of a spell when he was little. Fred and George heard something about an experimental growth charm"

Something about that sentence stuck out to Harry " Hang on a minute, wizards do experiments? Like, science experiments?"

"What's a science?" Asked Ron.

"I think they do" replied Hermione " A History of Magic talks about experiments all the time. They don't say what they're trying to learn or how though"

"They wouldn't" Mandy interjected " my mum works at some experimenting place. I remember her telling dad that she wasn't allowed to say anything about what she was working on"

This gave Harry a thought. If wizards could learn about magic through experiments, then maybe it was just another part of science ,not something different. Maybe he could learn what magic really was and Where it really came from. Maybe the library had something to offer.

He was suddenly filled with an insatiable curiosity. He left after a few minutes ,much to the confusion of his friends and sister.

He set out to find his way towards the library. He had learned how to navigate Hogwarts more easily but he was still very new to this and unlike on many previous occasions he did not have Hermione to guide him. Still, he felt he was making good time. He made sure to avoid Filch and smiled at Professor Quirrell as he passed.

It was not long afterwards that something began to go wrong.

The roof of the corridor was held up by a number of great stone pillars. Suddenly, Harry began to hear a rumbling noise coming from close by him. He instinctively turned away from the source. When he looked back, he saw that the pillar had cracks in it. Cracks that were spreading rapidly.

Harry turned to run away, just as the pillar snapped in half and prepare to topple over him.