Chapter 70: The One Who Once Opened the Chamber of Secrets
Chapter 70: The One Who Once Opened the Chamber of Secrets
"I mean, this diary contains some terrible past events. Some hidden events, some that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
As Harry read these words that appeared on the diary, his body began to tremble slightly. He took a deep breath and quickly wrote on the diary.
"I'm at Hogwarts, and something terrible is happening in this castle right now. Do you know about the Chamber of Secrets?"
Harry's heart was beating very fast. He felt that he was about to discover the truth about the Chamber of Secrets from this diary, which was written fifty years ago.
The writing in the diary became very messy, as if Riddle was eager to tell Harry everything he knew.
Riddle told Harry about his experiences in his fifth year, when the Chamber of Secrets was opened once before, and a poor student even died because of it.
In the end, he caught the murderer, but the then-headmaster of Hogwarts, to protect the school's reputation, did not allow him to reveal the truth.
The murderer was expelled, and Riddle was required to keep the secret. The school even gave him a medal, and the matter was quietly dropped.
Harry listened to the entire story, so excited that he almost knocked over the ink bottle beside him. He asked Riddle to tell him who had opened the Chamber of Secrets the last time.
Riddle readily agreed and invited Harry to see the events through his own memories.
Harry hesitated for a moment but then agreed.
Riddle then took Harry through his own perspective of the events that occurred fifty years ago when the Chamber of Secrets was opened.
He showed Harry how he had accused Hagrid, and how Hagrid had let his "monster" friend escape, only to be caught in the end.
When Harry returned from Riddle's memories to the present, he stared blankly ahead, breathing heavily.
They had speculated that anyone could be the Heir of Slytherin who opened the Chamber of Secrets, but they never imagined it was Hagrid!
Just as Harry was lost in thought, the dormitory door was suddenly pushed open, startling Harry, who quickly closed Riddle's diary.
Ron, wearing his pajamas and with wet hair, looked at Harry curiously.
"What's wrong?"
Harry, of course, wouldn't keep this from Ron.
He eagerly got up from his chair and told Ron everything about his conversation with Riddle and how he had seen, through Riddle's memories, Hagrid being expelled fifty years ago.
Ron's mouth grew wider and wider, and by the time he heard about Hagrid's expulsion, he was completely stunned.
"Wait! I've heard the name Tom Riddle before. Riddle received an award for special services to the school fifty years ago."
He repeated a sentence, and Harry looked at him in surprise.
"Where did you see that?"
Ron's expression turned pained.
"It was because of that trophy. Filch caught me because I didn't clean it properly and made me clean the trophy room again."
Harry's confidence in Riddle's story grew even stronger.
"It's because he exposed Hagrid that the school gave Riddle the special services award. So Riddle is telling the truth!"
Just as Harry and Ron were about to continue their conversation, the dormitory door was pushed open from the outside.
Neville and Seamus, who had been punished by Snape to process potion ingredients, returned.
Harry and Ron, in perfect unison, fell silent and quickly hid Riddle's diary in their drawers.
Neville and Seamus looked exhausted; they didn’t notice anything unusual about Harry and Ron.
"Dean hasn’t come back yet?" Seamus asked weakly, inquiring about their other roommate.
Ron shrugged. "I saw him in the next room a moment ago. He was showing off his new sketching quill."
Harry blinked and, with concern, asked Neville, who had collapsed onto his bed as if he had lost his soul.
"What did Snape make you do?"
"Frog brains", Neville said, his eyes vacant. "Professor Snape made us extract the brains from three large buckets of frogs. We worked from six o'clock until now, and our hands are covered in frog blood. Those dead frogs reminded me of Trevor."
Harry and Ron exchanged a glance; they knew Trevor was Neville's pet. Ron tried to comfort him.
"Don’t think about it, Neville. Trevor is a toad, not a frog."
But Neville didn’t seem to hear him. He had already started to snore lightly, clearly exhausted and asleep.
Harry and the others could only exchange a helpless look.
The next morning, during breakfast in the Great Hall, Harry, Ron, and Hermione gathered together.
Harry recounted everything he had learned from Riddle the previous night to Hermione.
Hermione and Ron made Harry repeat the details of what he had seen in Riddle’s memories over and over again.
Harry began to feel annoyed and even regretted learning about these things from the diary.
"Riddle might have accused the wrong person", Hermione weakly defended Hagrid. "Maybe it was another monster that hurt the people."
"There aren’t that many monsters at Hogwarts", Ron said, clearly not finding Hermione’s explanation convincing.
"We already knew Hagrid was expelled and that he always liked keeping large creatures, like Fang and Norbert."
Harry also wanted to find an excuse for Hagrid, but he struggled to come up with one.
"Besides, the attacks stopped after Hagrid was expelled. Otherwise, Riddle wouldn’t have received an award", Hermione suggested.
"Should we go and ask Hagrid about what happened back then?"
"How do you think we should bring it up?" Ron spread his hands. "Oh, hello, Hagrid. Have you recently let out your furry, wild, and terrifying friend?"
"And how do you think Hagrid will answer us?"
Hermione and Harry fell silent.
In the end, they decided not to confront Hagrid and not to tell anyone about what they had learned, pretending they never knew about it.
They also stopped investigating the Heir of Slytherin. The thought of Hagrid being involved made them subconsciously want to avoid the whole situation.
Meanwhile, under Professor Sprout’s care, the mandrakes in the greenhouse were gradually maturing. Once they were fully grown, the petrified individuals would be saved.
The castle remained peaceful until the following week, when an accident occurred during their Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
(End of Chapter)
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