The Weasley of Slytherin: The Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 16: Attack

The rest of the day I did my best to avoid Harry, Ron, and Hermione, although I did overhear Ron talking to Seamus.

"Did you see the way his eyes turned red? I've never seen anything like that before."

By the next day however they seemed to have forgotten about my lapse in control, and Harry even told me about how Hagrid had opened the Chamber last, and what Tom had shown him.

I had always known that Hagrid had an unfortunate liking for large and monstrous creatures. During our first year at Hogwarts he had tried to raise a dragon in his little wooden house, and it would be a long time before we forgot the giant, three-headed dog he'd christened "Fluffy."

And if, as a boy, Hagrid had heard that a monster was hidden somewhere in the castle, I'm pretty sure he would've gone great 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. I could easily imagine the thirteen-year-old Hagrid trying to fit a leash and collar on it.

"Riddle might have got the wrong person," said Hermione, as we talked about it once more in the Gryffindor common room. "Maybe it was some other monster that was attacking people..."

"How many monsters d'you think this place can hold?" Ron asked dully.

"I dunno at least three." I said.

"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 us fell silent, the only sound was the all too familiar voice of the diary.

(Y/n) help me

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, we decided that we 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, we became hopeful that we 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. I kept feeling weaker and weaker each day, sometimes struggling to get out of bed. The call from the diary was getting harder and harder to resist, the voice so loud that at times I could barely hear my own thoughts.

On the bright side though 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 us. "Then we'll be able to revive those poor people in the hospital wing."