❝You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?❞
❝You should know the answer to that by now, Harry.❞
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Life has always been a bit disorganized for Novana Lupin. With her father's monthly transformations, the girl often found herself in the comp...
❝What does she understand?❞ ❝Loads more than I do.❞
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THE QUARTET HAD ALWAYS KNOWN that Hagrid had an unfortunate liking for large and monstrous creatures.
Nova couldn't believe what Harry had told them about Hagrid opening the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago. He told them what Tom Riddle had shown him through the diary, which scared and confused Nova.
She was scared because Harry was getting closer to discovering the truth about what was happening. She was confused because her theory was the only one to make sense to her. After all, if Tom was forcing her to unleash all these attacks through the diary, then who's to say he didn't open the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago?
Nova simply couldn't believe it had been Hagrid, despite his valiant attempts to care for such dangerous creatures himself.
"Riddle might have got the wrong person," Hermione said after Harry had recounted the story to them for the tenth time. "Maybe it was some other monster that was attacking people. . ."
"How many monsters d'you think this place can hold?" Ron asked dully.
Nova grew to hate these talks. They always made her feel so guilty for not telling them the truth outright.
But she couldn't yet; she wasn't ready. She wasn't prepared to lose her best friends because of what she'd done.
"We always knew Hagrid had been expelled," Harry spoke miserably from beside Nova. "And the attacks must've stopped after Hagrid was kicked out. Otherwise, Riddle wouldn't have got his award."
Ron tried a different track as he scowled, "Riddle does sound like Percy — who asked him to squeal on Hagrid, anyway?"
"But the monster had killed someone, Ron," Hermione said with a frown.
Harry shook his head slightly as he spoke, "And Riddle was going to go back to some Muggle orphanage if they closed Hogwarts. I don't blame him for wanting to stay here. . ."
"You met Hagrid down Knockturn Alley, didn't you, Harry? Nova?"
"Yes, but he was only there to buy a Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent for his cabbages," Nova spoke up as she looked up from the parchment on which she was writing her homework. The other three shared a surprised look, not having heard from the girl since they started the conversation.
They fell silent as the pale girl returned to her piece of parchment. After a long pause, Hermione hesitantly asked, "Do you think we should go and ask Hagrid about it all?"
"That'd be a cheerful visit," Ron scoffed, " 'Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?' "
Ultimately, they decided they would not say anything to Hagrid unless another attack occurred. As more and more days went by with none, they became hopeful that they would never need to talk to him about why he had been expelled.
