Chapter 147

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2/22/93

Dear Harry

What on Earth? Have I got this right? You wrote that Dumbledore was working at Hogwarts as a professor when Hagrid was expelled for bringing a monster into the school and then trying to hide it after it killed a fellow student and then knowing that, (and there is no way he couldn't know) Dumbledore hired him as the groundskeeper and keeper of keys (which sounds like the person who locks up the gates at night and unlocks them in the morning and perhaps is also responsible for locking the doors of the castle as well) when he became headmaster, then Hagrid continues to have dangerous pets without proper supervision to make sure he doesn't endanger the students? (That Dumbledore also had to know about since he borrowed the Cerebus from him to use to protect the trapdoor last year) And even when you complained that he had a dragon egg, one of the most dangerous animals he could have, still the professors didn't do anything to stop him and his pets from hurting the students, even after Ron was hospitalised by being bitten by the baby dragon! What were they waiting for, for the dragon to get too big to hide in Hagrid's cabin and everyone knew about it? For it to burn down his house or kill someone?

That is criminally negligent on the part of Hagrid and Dumbledore and every other professor who knows about it. Or did Dumbledore know something about what happened fifty years ago that proved Hagrid's pet wasn't responsible? But if he did, why didn't he get Hagrid's name cleared back then and get him the right to finish school and use a proper wand?

I know you want to believe in your friend Hagrid, and you might be right about his pet being falsely accused, but you don't know that for sure so please be careful. We still don't know who the boy in the memory in the diary is, but you said he was a Slytherin and Hagrid was a Gryffindor. Have you heard of an adult named Tom Riddle? Do we know what he went on to do after school? Are there any Riddle's among the students now who you could ask? They could have been enemies just like Ron and Malfoy who would go out of their way to get each other in trouble, or the boy might have been blaming Hagrid to cover up something he was doing. I don't know about magical creatures and obviously I've never heard of anything that was proven to be real that could turn a person into stone though myths suggest Medusa was capable of it and a creature called a cockatrice (a mythical cross between a dragon and a serpent with the head of a rooster) can kill with a glance, but surely even a magical spider that size would leave a very recognisable bite mark. Now we know nothing about the girl who died but the professors who were there back then think that the same creature is responsible and you would have heard if any of the petrified students have bite marks. Also you've never said you were able to speak to spiders and I'm pretty sure you would have mentioned it since there were so many in the hideout, so there's no reason that you would have heard a spider talking when nobody else can hear it, if the monster in the Chamber is a spider then what are you hearing, is it telepathic and one of your undiscovered gifts is telepathy? It would make more sense if the monster was a snake, and it would explain why Hagrid was allowed to return to Hogwarts after being expelled if there was proof his pet monster didn't kill the student who died. But if there was proof that it wasn't his pet he should never have been expelled in the first place! Whoever owned the snake should have been instead. Or Hagrid should at least have been able to get wand rights back and re-enrol in school when the truth came out unless the spider was just as dangerous as the snake was. Either way he shouldn't be working for the school and still using the broken pieces of his wand hidden in a pink umbrella.

The more I hear about the magical world, the more I think that all the adults in it are crazy. Though Mrs Finnegan and her friend seemed sensible from what you told me of them. Maybe you should get away from there while you are still able to think for yourself. Maybe Hermione isn't as "muggleborn" as you think she is since she already doesn't seem to be able to think rationally about information and realise it cannot all be true, even in the magical world.

A diary who writes back sounds like a good gift for a lonely child until you start to think about whether there's a person writing back. Do you think it could be like a wizarding version of email connected to an actual person somewhere? And if it is who would it be? Such a thing could cause emotional harm if the wrong sort of person wrote back. There are a lot of perverts on the internet preying on young children. Or is it just a spell somehow but it seems awfully complicated compared to all the other spells you've told me about and the answer's it gave Hermione don't fit with an automatic response. The spell would have to have a fair amount of intelligence to write back and answer Hermione's questions about the Chamber which wouldn't be questions I'd expect it to be programmed to answer, let alone to play 'movie clips' (for want of a better description) in response to a question. The Diary did answer the question, didn't it? Even if it wasn't an answer you expected. Or could the 'movie clip' just have been a bit of a coincidence and you were able to interpret it as the answer to one of your questions? I think you should take that Diary to a professor, though it's hard to know who to trust. Better yet, you should destroy it, since you can't trust a professor to do it for you. Something like that is probably worth quite a lot of money if it is a product designed for lonely people but it could also be really dangerous, sucking you into 'movie clips' like that.

After your stories, I'm relieved that Valentine's day really wasn't a thing here at college except among the people who already had a boyfriend or girlfriend to spend it with or had enough of a secret crush on someone that they wanted to give them a secret gift. I didn't give anyone anything, nor did I receive anything which is more than fine by me. The highly public singing valentines seem more abusive than romantic. I'm surprised that pranksters like the Weasley twins or wannabe pranksters didn't send dozens of joke Valentines to tease people. Did anyone send any to the teachers? You know that the Valentine you got might not have been from Ginny, she probably would have been upset and possibly furious at seeing you get one from someone else if she still has a crush on you, especially if she had wanted to send you one of her own and hadn't had the courage?

I wonder how Superman managed to convince his nephew to dress up like that, especially once he was a teenager, and why didn't Superman at least give him leggings to wear? It could almost be considered child abuse to dress a kid up like that and make him go out in public.

Your friend always

Wishing you were safe

Spencer

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Please stay safe everyone and don't forget to get your vaccination booster when it's due.