days at Hogwarts

Chapter 206 Hagrid is arrested

The third Friday in December is the day when little wizards who go home for the holidays leave school.

In fact, there is still nearly a week before Christmas. In order to give the young wizards who are far away from home some time to travel, and the reformed courses are not as intense as before, Professor McGonagall simply took the holiday a week earlier.

The festive atmosphere became more and more intense, and the auditorium was decorated magnificently.Hagrid brought in a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees from the forest, and a thick frieze of mistletoe and holly crossed from the ceiling.

Percy competed wits with Peeves in order to put up ribbons, and it is said that on Christmas Eve, the professor would release some decoration magic.

Out of consideration for their own safety, almost all the little wizards chose to go home, leaving only the Weasley brothers and sisters in Gryffindor, as well as Loren and Hermione.

Outside the Great Hall, the corridor leading to the foyer was crowded with young wizards lugging suitcases across the grass to the station and boarding the Hogwarts Express on their way home.

On the Gryffindor long table, Seamus Finnigan shrugged his shoulders and accompanied Harry and Ron to play Thunderbolt and Blast with a sleepy expression.He and Neville agreed to get on the car together, but Neville left a box full of candy wrappers on the bed, and he went back to the dormitory to get the candy wrappers, Seamus was here to pass the time.

Hermione spread out the notes, sorted out and recited the knowledge of the Transfiguration Club by filling in the gaps.

Loren sat beside her, tilting her head to read her notes, her head resting almost entirely on the girl's shoulder.

Hermione's cheeks were blushing, and her eyes were rolling to the sky. She obviously put the note between the two of them, but this person still rubbed against her, which was very annoying.

"boom"

There was another muffled sound, and Seamus' hands were already numb.

He put down the cards weakly, lay down on the table, looked at the four people around him and muttered, "I don't want to go home, I want to stay at school for Christmas!"

Ron said strangely: "Who would not want to go home for Christmas, we can't go back if we want to go back."

"I think Christmas in the castle looks good too." Harry looked at the hall decorations with expectant eyes.

Because of the upcoming holiday, Harry felt a sense of relief and peace, at least no one would be killed during the Christmas holiday, no little wizard would stare at him strangely, and those ugly comments would not be heard again for a long time up.

And they could come and go in and out of Gryffindor Tower at will, enjoy the whole common room, and play Thunderbolt loudly without disturbing anyone.

He didn't want to go back and face the Dursleys, but thought it would be nice to spend Christmas at school instead.Not just because of the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk thing, but because Sirius couldn't spend Christmas with him.

A few days ago, Sirius wrote him a letter.It is said that Malfoy's family has made a big move recently and sent invitations to many officials of the Ministry of Magic. He intends to find an opportunity to sneak in and find a way to find out where Malfoy keeps those shady things in the manor.

Seamus plausibly said: "You four stay in school at the same time, and there will definitely be wonderful adventures. Ah——I want to stay in school. But my mother said that if I don't go home for the holidays, she will definitely write to the professor. Tuck it into her bedside sock."

Loren chuckled: "Your mother's feet are really big."

Hermione rolled her eyes, stretched out her hand and slapped him: "You're rude."

"Seamo, let's go!" Just then, Neville's call came from the corridor.

Seamo looked around at the decorations reluctantly, and before he left, he suddenly remembered something, and whispered to them: "Although I don't know what you are doing, but be careful of Slytherin's Crabbe, many Slytherin houses Everyone says something is wrong with him. I suspect he has something to do with the Chamber of Secrets and the heir."

Slytherin has three young wizards staying at school, Malfoy and his two followers, Crabbe and Goyle.

After speaking, he dragged his suitcase and ran away quickly.

Loren looked at his back thoughtfully. Unexpectedly, the well-informed Seamus stumbled upon the truth by mistake.He looked faintly at the colorful candles floating in the air. The drama prepared by Dumbledore was really coming to an end during the Christmas holiday.

Ron sorted out the pile of cards on the table, and heaved a long sigh: "The Basilisk, the Chamber of Secrets, Malfoy, Hagrid, and the mysterious Tom Riddle, and now we add another Crabbe..."

Hermione closed the notebook and her face became serious: "Don't limit your eyes to Malfoy, maybe Tom Riddle passed on the method of opening the Chamber of Secrets to Crabbe. Let's sort it out again. I got it from Hagrid last time. Information."

Speaking of Hagrid's reaction, Harry frowned tightly, his face was full of doubts, and he began to talk about the situation in the hunting lodge at that time: "At that time, we slipped out of the castle while everyone was participating in activities in the auditorium. ..."

That day, they rushed to Hagrid's cabin in the heavy snow, and Hagrid welcomed them in warmly.

Before Ron sat down, he couldn't wait to ask loudly: "Hagrid, do you know Tom Riddle?"

Hagrid's hands that were adding wood to the fire froze for a moment, and the shoulders of the giant that almost occupied half of the room suddenly shrugged, full of embarrassment and panic.

"You found out what happened 50 years ago, didn't you?" Hagrid explained in a panic. "It wasn't me, it wasn't really me, I just kept Aragog and never let him leave the cupboard. No The little girl it killed..."

Sensing his master's emotion, Yaya leaned over and arched his calf.

"Hagrid!" Harry yelled, "Listen to us, Dumbledore believes in you, and we believe in you!"

"Yeah, Hagrid, we're here to investigate that man named Tom Riddle." Ron took the firewood in his hand, fiddled with the fire, and found a suitable place to put the firewood in.

The two comforted for a while, so that the three-meter-tall mixed-race giant did not cry.

Hagrid wiped his nose with the back of his hand: "Tom Riddle...he is an excellent student, just like Percy, he has a very good relationship with almost all the professors and all the students. After graduation, he seems to be looking for someone in Knockturn Alley. I took a job and haven't heard from him since."

"Knockturn Alley!"

Harry and Ron looked at each other, reaffirming that Tom Riddle was not a good wizard, and which good wizard would find a job in Knockturn Alley.

Harry glanced nonchalantly at his little pink umbrella, then at the big, careless-looking, heartless man.

He had been misunderstood as the heir of Slytherin for only two months, and Hagrid had been misunderstood for 50 years.Thinking of the funny little pink umbrella that Hagrid had been pretending to be wearing for nearly 50 years made his heart choke.

That is, the grievance that has not changed for 50 years...

Harry patted Hagrid's big hand: "Hagrid, we suspect that it was Tom Riddle who opened the Chamber of Secrets 50 years ago, and he was trying to frame you."

Ron nodded: "Yes. Maybe he is the heir of Slytherin."

"He is the heir of Slytherin!" Hagrid's pupils constricted violently, and he stood up abruptly, knocking down the rock cake on the ground.

"He's the heir of Slytherin...he... that man graduated from Hogwarts... no wonder, no wonder... no one knows... the name..." Hagrid seemed to have figured out something, and muttered Talking about some irrelevant words.

He seemed a little restless, and wanted to pick up tea to relieve his emotions, but his thick arms kept shaking, the tea spilled out, and a puff of white smoke rose from the fire.

Harry and Ron thought it was him who suddenly learned the truth about being wronged, and they were so excited that they couldn't control themselves for a while.

"Hagrid, did you remember anything?" Harry asked curiously.

Hagrid took a few deep breaths, lowered his head and stared at Harry and the scar on his forehead, tears welled up in his eyes, and he was forced to hold back: "Yes, I remembered something very important." matter."

Harry exclaimed in surprise: "Tell us quickly, maybe we can catch the real murderer soon, and that Tom Riddle. We can help you restore your reputation!"

Hagrid almost gritted his teeth. He stroked Harry's hair and said ruthlessly, "This is none of your business. I will talk to Dumbledore. You are not allowed to meddle Dumbledore will take care of the Chamber of Secrets."

Harry was stunned: "Hagrid, what are you talking about?"

"I said, this is not something you should get involved in, go back."

……

On the long table in the auditorium, colored candlelight shone on Harry's face, illuminating his depressed expression: "Later, no matter what Ron and I tried to persuade, Hagrid kept repeating this sentence."

Ron couldn't figure it out either: "Yeah, doesn't Hagrid want to clear up his grievances?"

Loren listened, his heart complicated and difficult to understand.

Fool, Hagrid doesn't want to clear up his grievances.You clearly understand that Tom Riddle is Voldemort, and I don't want you to get involved in Voldemort's affairs.

That silly giant, for their safety, swallowed decades of grievances into his stomach.

There was a sound of collision between flesh and wood, and he stumbled through the skylight in a cold body, and hurriedly landed in front of Harry, with snowflakes in his snow-white feathers, and he kept cooing, his voice was full of anxiety.

It was clear at a glance that the situation was urgent, and several people surrounded him. Harry unfolded the note Hedwig brought:

Hagrid's cabin, come quickly.

Harry's heart sank, and he ran out of the hall without saying anything, and hurried towards Hagrid's cabin.Hermione and Ron hurried to follow.

Loren fell behind, picked up the note on the table and glanced at it.

The note was not signed, and the handwriting was not pretty, and it was neat and rigid.It seems that the messenger did not want his identity to be discovered.

Loren has seen Hagrid's handwriting, which is crooked and full of natural and wild meanings. To put it bluntly, it is the same as a ghost drawing.

It wasn't the kind of handwriting that Hagrid could write, anyway.

"It feels like Dumbledore is up to something." Loren put the note in his pocket and chased him out with his wand in his hand.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran all the way through the vegetable garden, to the greenhouse, round the Whomping Willow at full speed, and into the woods.They walked among the trees, along the edge of the woods, and when they were about to see Hagrid's front door, they heard the voices of many people talking.

Harry and Ron gasped for breath.They dodged quickly behind a large oak tree, peering from either side of the trunk.

Loren arrived last, and when he saw the backs of the three thieves peeking at the tree trunk, he felt a little speechless.

He took out his magic wand and tapped them on several people respectively. The ripples like water spread to everyone's body, and their figures disappeared into the vast snow.

"Phantom Curse!" Hermione's voice turned from loud to soft. In Loren's magical vision, Hermione quickly covered her mouth after recognizing the spell, her eyes widened.

"Shh~" Loren commanded, "There will be footprints on the snow, let's go around carefully and take a closer look at what happened."

They approached the cabin slowly, skirting the fence of the pumpkin patch.The door to the cabin was open, and Hagrid was in his moleskin overcoat, surrounded by strangers in uniform.

Ron lowered his voice and said, "That's an Auror. It seems to be someone from the Department of Legal Enforcement of the Ministry of Magic."

Dumbledore in a white robe was talking to another stranger, who seemed to be the leader of those people.

The man was stocky and stocky, with tousled gray hair and an anxious face.His clothes were a strange mishmash: pinstriped suit, bright red tie, black cape, purple pointy boots.A dark green top hat was tucked under his arm.

"That's my dad's boss!" Ron's voice trailed off. "Cornel Fudge, Minister of Magic!"

Loren looked at the Aurors and the Minister of Magic.

The magic fluctuations on the Aurors are not strong, at least much weaker than the professors at Hogwarts.There are the same magical light clusters on the wrists and waists, and they seem to be wearing some standard equipment.The unsophisticated alchemy circle reveals the function of the equipment, and the crude one-time defense transmits simple information within a certain range.

The defensive equipment seems to be unable to withstand his full blow, and should only be able to prevent sneak attacks.Loren roughly estimated that he could deal with five Aurors of this level by himself.

As for the Minister of Magic, the level of magic doesn't seem to be as high as these Aurors.

In order to hear the conversation in the house clearly, Loren and the others crept through the bushes, passed through the fence of Hagrid's pumpkin patch, and hid under the wooden steps in front of the hut.

In the room, Fang, which had been staying under Hagrid's feet, suddenly raised its head. It barked twice towards the door, and then circled around Hagrid's trouser legs.

Hagrid, who had been lowering his head all the time, moved his eyelids and glanced outside the door, but saw nothing.There was a silly smile on the corner of his mouth, and he gently hugged Fangya a few times with his feet, letting him sit down peacefully.

"I hope you understand, Connelly, that I have complete trust in Hagrid," said Dumbledore's voice.

"Sorry, terribly sorry. It had to be done, there were two assaults on Muggles, the Board of Trustees collectively appealed, and the Ministry couldn't let it go. And, Albus, you know, Hagrid's criminal record is He was very unfavorable, and after communicating with the school board, we had to take some measures."

It was the voice of the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge.

"He shouldn't be imprisoned without conclusive evidence." Dumbledore's voice sounded very serious.

"Of course, Albus, I assure you, he will not be sent to Azkaban."

Fudge paused for a moment, and his tone was brightly gloating, "Albus, as your friend, I want to remind you that there are some people in the school board who are unwilling to hand over the management rights of the school, and you must be prepared."

"I'll be careful," said Dumbledore.

"Then, let's go!" Fudge played with his top hat, and came to the open space in front of the cottage, waiting for Hagrid to come in front of him.

But Hagrid stood still, took a deep breath, and said cautiously, "If anyone is looking for something, they just have to follow the spider and they'll find the right direction! That's all I'm saying."

After speaking, he walked over to the stunned Fudge.

The Aurors formed a circle, and after a loud crack, they disappeared in place with Fudge and Hagrid.

Dumbledore waited for a while, walked down the steps slowly, and said inexplicably: "The centaur in the forest are very friendly."

"boom"

After a soft sound, Dumbledore also disappeared.