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The fire in the chimney had burnt far more piles of useless information even the prodigious memory of Hermione Granger could remember, but the knowledge they had written in their research for the Chamber of Secrets was two or three times greater than the regular assignments given by their Professors in first-year and second-year.
"Alright. After months of research, we have finally managed to find in the Daily Prophet where the modern knowledge and the myth of the Chamber of Secrets originated."
Hermione and Morag smiled widely. In all honesty, they had excellent reasons to be happy. Most of the second- years students facing the challenge of finding a clue in old library texts would have abandoned long ago, but not them. Ultimately, their long and methodical quest had bore fruit. It was Nigel and she yesterday who had found the edition of the Prophet they were looking for.
"When?"
"1945. May 7 1945."
"1945? Professor Dumbledore wasn't Headmaster at that period, no?" Asked Hermione.
Alexandra made a sign of denegation. "No, he was the Senior Professor of Transfiguration and head of House Gryffindor. Professor Armando Dippet was the Headmaster when the attacks happened. In fact..." Alexandra grabbed the old edition of the Daily Prophet where she had found the information long-awaited, "if the newspaper can be believed, Dumbledore had left Hogwarts to go fighting on the continent. Two days before this date, he had vanquished the Dark Lord Grindelwald in a duel which had destroyed half of Berlin...but everyone knows that part of the story. Needless to say, the affair of the Chamber of Secrets happening at that exact moment was not that popular or noteworthy."
Needless to say, the coincidence of two momentous events happening at the same time...was it really a coincidence?
"And they caught the person responsible?"
"Yes. Gryffindor student Rubeus Hagrid was expulsed from Hogwarts and had his wand broken for his participation in six attacks and one murder." Revealed the Potter Heiress.
"Rubeus Hagrid was arrested for the murder of a fifth-year Muggle-born student. Are you sure you read correctly?" Hermione tone was full of scepticism. For good reasons, since the Keeper of the Keys wasn't exactly the picture of a bloodthirsty assassin.
"See for yourself." Alexandra affirmed, handing the incriminating pages. "That's what the Daily Prophet, the Dancing Farfadet and the Loch Chronicles are saying." With the three main newspapers of Magical Britain all saying the same thing, it did not leave much place for other interpretations.
"I have difficulty believing this. He's a gentle man..."
"I have too," agreed Alexandra. "But not for the reasons you might expect. It is common knowledge Hagrid loves giant beasties and animals no one in his or her right mind would want as pets. Moreover, he's also reputed to be brash impulsive and wouldn't be able to lie to save his own life. A true Gryffindor if there ever was one."
"No trace of cunning or sneakiness." Approved Morag, who had taken the Dancing Farfadet article once Hermione finished reading.
"Hagrid is perhaps the last person which would be acknowledged by Salazar Slytherin as his Heir or a possible claimant. With his gigantic stature, Hagrid is certainly not fully human, therefore making him a natural antagonist of the pure-blood ideology."
"You think he was framed." Said flatly Nigel, a statement rather than a question. Alexandra shrugged.
"Yes and no. If the paper can be trusted, he was caught with an Acromantula in his possession. These are XXXXX creatures, huge spiders with powerful venoms which are not above eating humans when they have captured them."
Alexandra shivered. The description of the Acromantulas she had read in the library was way too much approaching the description of the spiders haunting the tunnels of the Cirith Ungol's pass in the Lord of the Rings for her mind not to imagine dreadful scenarios. The green-eyed girl had no fear of 'normal' spiders - although Petunia Dursley had a huge phobia of them - but meeting one bigger than you with taste of human flesh was...not good. And it was undoubtedly a generous understatement.
"Hagrid really deserved his expulsion. I don't think there's much doubt about that." If raising a man-eater spider in secret wasn't grounds for expulsion, then nothing would be. The Acromantula could have attacked young first-years unable to defend themselves and the venom these creatures could inject was extremely counter-indicated for your health. Hogwarts standards may have slipped during the last decades under Dumbledore's rule, however it appeared that with Headmaster Dippet they were limits one did not cross. "But I don't think he was the Heir of Slytherin. Not unless he did what Quirell did during years if not decades."
"Well the attacks ceased, no?" Morag had decided to play the role of the devil's advocate. "I mean, if Hagrid had been expulsed and the attacks continued, that would have proved his innocence."
"Think about it, Morag." Hermione had a face a bit...frustrated anyone could consider the gentle Keeper of Keys the culprit behind the recent climate of fear in the Scottish school. "Slytherin House is supposed to be the embodiment of cunning and ambition. What better way to triumph than for the culprit to blame someone else?"
"You're right." Answered the red-haired Ravenclaw in a not fully convinced expression. "You're right. But you realise it leaves us not better advanced, yes? If Hagrid was not the culprit fifty years ago, then he is not going to be responsible for the attacks now. And we can't exactly interrogate the former students who studied there that year to prove or disprove our theories."
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