The Mysterious Heir

Chapter 12, Book 2, "Dumbledore's dismissal"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione have always known that Hagrid has an unfortunate liking for large and monstrous creatures. During their first year at Hogwarts he tried to raise a dragon in his little wooden house, and it will be a long time before they forget the giant, three-headed dog he'd christened "Fluffy." And if, as a boy, Hagrid heard that a monster was hiding somewhere in the castle, Harry was sure he'd have gone to any lengths for a glimpse of it. He probably thought it was a shame that the monster had been cooped up so long, and thought it deserves the chance to stretch its many legs; Harry can just imagine the thirteen-year-old Hagrid trying to fit a leash and collar on it. But he is equally certain that Hagrid would never have meant to kill anybody.

Harry half wished he didn't find out how to work Riddle's diary. Again and Again Ron, and Hermione make him recount what he'd seen, until he is heartily sick of telling them and sick of the long, circular conversations that follows.

"Riddle might have got the wrong person," says Hermione.

"Maybe it was some other monster that was attacking people...." suggests Hermione.

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

"We always knew Hagrid had been expelled," says Harry miserably. "And the attacks must've stopped after Hagrid was kicked out. Otherwise, Riddle wouldn't have got his award."

Ron tries a different tack.

"Riddle does sound like Percy - who asked him to squeal on Hagrid, anyway?"

"But the monster had killed someone, Ron," says Hermione.

"And Riddle was going to go back to some Muggle orphanage if they closed Hogwarts," says Harry. "I don't blame him for wanting to stay here...."

"You met Hagrid down Knockturn Alley, didn't you, Harry?" says Hermione.

"He was buying a Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent," says Harry quickly.

They fall silent. After a long pause, Harry voices 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," says Ron. "'Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?'"

In the end, they decide that they won't say anything to Hagrid unless there is another attack, and as more and more days go by with no whisper from the disembodied voice, they become hopeful that they will never need to talk to him about why he was expelled. It is now nearly four months since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick have been Petrified, and nearly everybody seems to think that the attacker, whoever it is, has retired for good. Peeves has finally gotten bored of his "Oh, Potter, you rotter" song, Ernie Macmillan asks Harry quite politely to pass a bucket of leaping toadstools in Herbology one day, and in March several of the Mandrakes through a loud and raucous party in greenhouse three. This makes Professor Sprout very happy.

"The moment they start trying to move into each other's pots, we'll know they're fully mature," she tells Harry. "Then we'll be able to revive those poor people in the hospital wing."

The second years are given something new to think about during their Easter holidays. The time has come to choose their subjects for the third year, a matter that Hermione, at least, takes very seriously.