Chapter 11: Hagrid's Story

By Monday, the entire school had heard about Colin's Petrification, and the Hogwarts rumour mill was now pumping overtime as the castle's inhabitants became increasingly suspicious of one another. The first-years were the most affected, and could be seen only moving about the castle in large, tightly-knit groups, as though scared they would be attacked if they ventured outside of their common rooms alone. Ginny and Luna, who sat with Colin in Charms, were quite upset, and reported to the others that all their classes were quite tense and filled with apologetic looks toward them.

Blaise, their only contact in Slytherin, looked more tired and stressed than he had the last time they'd met up, and during a quiet moment alone with Draco, was able to inform him that his common room was basically a war zone; fights were breaking out in a frenzied attempt to narrow down who this mysterious Heir was. It seemed as though now that it was an actual person that had been Petrified, blood purity didn't matter to them, and all they wanted to do was neutralise the threat as soon as possible.

Harry had spoken to Enya, who liked to roam about the castle and grounds, Disillusioned, whenever Harry had class, about if she'd heard anything unusual when the attack had happened. She told him, :No, I heard nothing, snakelet. However, I did sense an extremely large serpentine presence, one bigger than your dorm room. The unusual thing was that I felt it was inside the wall, which is impossible and most disconcerting.: Harry relayed this to his friends, and they were all just as nonplussed as he was about the information.

Meanwhile, an almost black-market trade for talismans, amulets, and other protective devices had started. The teachers seemed blind to it, and it was only when the twins started selling slips of parchment with the incantations for the Disillusionment Charm and three variations of the Shield Charm written on it, that the trade slowed down. Instead, it was now common to find groups of students of all ages hunkered down in a corner, swishing their wands and muttering, trying to master spells that were actually helpful in protecting them. Fred and George found themselves with mixed feelings when the number of inter-house hexing incidents lessened substantially due to almost everyone knowing how to protect themselves. Now they were harder-pressed to successfully execute pranks on people, which was slightly irritating their status as Prank Masters. On the other hand, House unity was increasing, slowly but steadily, as people started to hear rumours of how hard the Slytherins were trying to prove that they weren't the cause of the problem.

There had even been talk of a Duelling Club starting up in the third week of December, due to the amount of people hoping to learn more defensive spells. However, as it was only the first week of December at the moment, the Duelling Club was a while away for the twelve-to-fourteen year-olds, and it was made moot when the Recruits were informed by Professor Snape that the one in charge of the club was none other than Lockhart himself. They all ended up simultaneously deciding that they wouldn't be there, and instead they'd managed to convince Remus to teach them some duelling techniques, and they were positive they'd learn much more in their lesson than what the rest of the school would from Lockhart (as had already been proven during their previous lessons with the werewolf). Besides, the end of term exams were coming up, and the Recruits were all being encouraged to study by Hermione who, although she'd calmed down a lot since meeting Harry, Draco, and Neville, was still determined to make sure that each of her friends passed any and all tests with flying colours.

The day after the supposed Duelling Club meeting had happened, something else came to light for Harry and his friends. As they were relaxing in the Room of Requirement and laughing about what they'd heard their other friends say about the disaster the Club had been, Dobby popped in and gave his usual report to Draco, but something stood out. "Again?" asked Harry. "The Chamber's been opened before? When?"

"Dobby does not know. That was all Dobby heard Dumbledore speaking about in the teacher's meeting. Old Master is meeting with no one sinister, and does not talk much to himself besides muttering and screaming about what people think about Mistress Cissa leaving him, and then he destroys a room. Nothing about the Chamber."

"Well," started Neville, "who's the oldest person at Hogwarts, besides Dumbledore? Maybe we could convince them to tell us if they know something."

"McGonagall?" suggested Hermione.

"Nah, she wouldn't go for it, and she'd be suspicious why we want to know," pointed out Ginny.

"Besides," added George, "She might tell Dumbles of her suspicions, and that could get bad."

Luna piped up. "The person you're looking for would tell Dumbledore anything, but I doubt he'd bring us asking these questions to him. It would embarrass him too much."

The group furrowed their brows and thought about who would tell the old coot everything. Then, slowly, recognition dawned on their faces, and they all exclaimed, "Hagrid!"

Faster than Luna could have said blibbering humdingers, the entire group rushed out of the Room, and tried to make their way out of the castle towards the familiar sight of Hagrid's hut. However, they'd momentarily forgotten about the blizzard that covered the school in howling winds and large drifts of snow. Luckily, they came across Hagrid as he was making his way to the Great Hall with a huge Christmas tree in tow. Draco took charge and levitated the tree quickly as the others did the same, impatient to know if Hagrid knew anything or not. Once the tree was set up where Professor Flitwick wanted it, they invited him to sit with them at the Gryffindor table after Flitwick kindly enlarged the table slightly at their end and levitated Hagrid's normal chair to rest where the group was. Hagrid smiled happily when he saw that Harry and his friends wanted to spend time with him, and his smile widened at what Flitwick had done "Well now, what can I do fer you all today?"

"We need to ask you some questions, Hagrid," Fred stated after the house-elves had given them some tea and biscuits.

Hagrid furrowed his brows slightly, but then shrugged and made himself up some tea the way he liked it. "Yeh'll be wantin' some o' this tea, then."

When everyone in the group had a teacup in their hands, Hagrid asked, "So what was it yeh wanted to ask me about?"

Ginny started. "Well, we were thinking about the attacks that happened, and we thought to ourselves, 'who would know anything about it?'"

Neville took over. "We thought of you, Hagrid, because you hear and know a lot about Hogwarts."

"Besides," added Hermione, "You've been here for ages, and we've heard some rumours about how the Chamber was opened before, so out of anyone, we thought you might have heard something about last time."

Hagrid looked down at the floor, an almost ashamed look on his face. "That's mighty kind of yeh, and I do know summat about it. Only… it's kind of embarrassing."

Luna stepped in. "Don't worry, Hagrid. We won't judge you, and if you want us to, we won't tell anyone."

"Unless it's a matter of life and death," piped up Draco.

Hagrid gave a half smile. "All right, you lot. Yeh've convinced me, but I would like it if yeh didn't tell anyone, like you said, Luna."

They all quickly agreed. "The rumour you all heard is true. The Chamber was opened before, about fifty years ago, really. It was me third year, and the school was panickin', there were rumours that the school might be gettin' closed down. That would've been horrible for me, see, since me dad had died over the summer, an' I didn't know where me ma was, so I would've had nowhere to go if it had.

"Then, a girl from the year above me, Myrtle Warren, was killed in a bathroom by whatever the monster was. The teachers decided that they were definitely going to close the school, and so I had to tell Aragog, my Acromantula, that he had to leave. I'd almost managed ter convince him, when suddenly Tom Riddle, the Slytherin's sixth year prefect, burst in on me. He said that he was gonna turn me in, that Aragog was the monster in the Chamber, but I knew he wasn't. Aragog was mighty scared of whatever it was, he didn't want to leave his box, let alone the room I had him in. Also, I know a lot about Acromantulas, they can't Petrify no-one, let alone kill yeh without leaving a mark."

Harry and the others were captivated by his tale. "What happened then?" asked George breathlessly.

"Riddle brought me ter the Headmaster, Dippet, and said I was the one who opened the Chamber. Gave all this fake evidence, and the Headmaster believed him. He called the other teachers, and Riddle told everyone his story. The on'y one who thought I was innocent was Dumbledore. He was basically what McGonagall is now: Deputy Headmaster, Head of Gryffindor, and Transfiguration Professor. He couldn't do anything to stop them from expellin' me, but he convinced Dippet ter let me stay on as Groundskeeper. Great man, Dumbledore, great man. Now, is that all yeh wanted ter ask me?"

Most of them closed their gaping mouths, and all of them nodded, finished their tea, and thanked him as they left. They had a lot to think about.

Hermione halted in her tracks as they made their way back up to the seventh floor. "Myrtle…" she whispered.

"What?" asked Fred.

"Hagrid said the girl who died was called Myrtle. There's a ghost in the girl's bathroom on the second floor, and she's called Moaning Myrtle."

Ginny's eyes lit up. "Oh, brilliant deduction, Hermione! A girl who died in a bathroom and a ghost that haunts a bathroom both have the same name. They simply must be the same person."

"And even if that's not the case," added Luna, "surely she would know something about the girl that died."

Even though the group had rushed down to find Hagrid not too long ago, they all suddenly found enough energy to rush back down in the direction of the second floor, so eager to find out if they'd solved another part of the puzzle. However it was not to be, since McGonagall came across them as she was making her way to Gryffindor Tower. "Where have you all been? Never mind that, Gryffindors go to your common room, I shall escort Miss Lovegood to Ravenclaw."

"Wait, what's happened, Professor?" asked Hermione, confused.

"There has been another attack, Miss Granger. Sir Nicholas and Mr Finch-Fletchley were found Petrified in a corridor off the Charms classroom."

"Petrified?" asked George to the group as they walked quickly up staircases towards Gryffindor Tower. "How can a ghost be Petrified?"