Chapter 36: The Trio's Investigation

After class, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out of the classroom while discussing the information they had just received from Professor Binns.

"I already knew that Salazar Slytherin was a perverted old loony," Ron said in utter disgust.

Hermione as she still sorted through the information so far, "Professor Binns mentioned there is a creature in the Chamber of Secrets, no one knows exactly what it is, but Harry, we have a lead."

She gave Harry a deep look.

Harry magically understood her words as he glanced quickly from side to side and whispered, "You mean, my Parseltongue ..."

Ron also looked at the two with a terrified look on his face.

"That's right!"

The Trio squeezed through the cramped corridor and soon came to the hallway where the attack had taken place.

The scene before them had changed considerably from that night; the water had been cleared away, the petrified cat is no longer hanging on the torch's stand, and the writing that read "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened" had been cleared away.

However, there is an empty chair propped up against the wall.

"Filch is always on guard here." Ron whispered, "He's been very grumpy lately, often finding all sorts of reasons to deduct points, like talking too loudly or being playful."

"But that's none of our business, we just need to check the scene and see if we missed any clues," Hermione said.

A few people moved quickly, Harry flopped down on the ground, his glasses almost on the floor, and soon he spotted the burn marks and Hermione spotted the impressive sight of spiders lining up to escape the castle.

"What does this mean?" Harry wondered a little.

Ron stepped away from the spiders with a horrified look on his face, "It could mean a lot - like that the spiders are afraid of that creature."

Hermione sorted through the clues as usual, "So, the one that launched the attack is a snake, characteristically its attacks cause petrification, and is a natural enemy of spiders. That clue is pretty close to the truth!"

The little witch said excitedly, "Give me a week, at most two weeks, and I'll find out what it is. Ron, honestly, why do you keep shivering there?"

So the next thing Ron told is the story of how he was holding a teddy bear as a child and the twins used lame magic to turn the bear with many legs, causing them to giggle.

Annoyed, Ron said, "You wouldn't think it is hilarious if you had that experience. Imagine you are holding a teddy bear and calling its name, only for it to suddenly sprout many legs ..."

"There are no more puddles on the floor," Harry said suddenly.

"Someone probably cleaned the floor, like Filch, that's what he does," Ron said without thinking.

"But where did the puddle came from?" Harry had a hunch that this might be a clue.

"Ah! I figured it out." Hermione let out a squeal.

"What?"

"I thought of something, a possible witness who lives right next to us and may have witnessed the whole attack."

Following her gaze, the two boys looked at the sign of the girls' lavatory and gulped in unison.

...

After dinner, they walked out of the castle and made their way down the path to Hagrid's Hut.

Along the way, they were still arguing about what had happened during the day.

"If you ask me, we shouldn't have gone to the girl's lavatory, that Myrtle, and that place ... just a nightmare! And we got spotted by Percy." Ron rambled on the way.

"But we also learned that she died fifty years ago, and before she died she saw a pair of big, scary yellow eyes, which means what? That's the eyes of that snake."

Hermione ignored Ron's muttered 'not necessarily' and continued, "Your details are also useful, we also know the name Tom Riddle, who won the school's special contribution award fifty years ago, so maybe it's not a coincidence!"

Harry's eyes widened, "You mean that Tom is the man who captured the previous successor to the Chamber of Secrets."

"Exactly."

The trio knocked on Hagrid's door, and he warmly welcomed the trio of little wizards inside.

Ron looked amazed, "Hagrid, your house looks clean."

Indeed, as the trio looked at Hagrid's hut, it had got more than a little cleaner, at least to the naked eye, the black floor had turned into a dark brown floor.

"Oh, you should say that," Hagrid said casually, "the last time Professor Hap came to visit me, he helped me clean up a bit on the way out, it was easy for him, just a wave of his wand."

"Professor Hap?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Yes, Professor Hap. Dumbledore recommended him, he needed a bit of advice on magical creatures, and I'm an expert in that field, but he's actually not too bad, very insightful in some cool directions, yes, very insightful."

Hagrid served up a plate of brittle biscuits, a jug of pumpkin juice, and three glasses. He said rather proudly, "Professor Hap is an excellent wizard, I didn't have much contact with him when he was at school, but -" he pointed to a book on his chair, "look guys, that's a gift from him! "

The trio couldn't wait to open the book, and Hermione noticed that it's somewhat similar to a comic book the Muggles had, with mostly photographs and a short introductory text at the bottom of each page.

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"Are these all magical creatures?" Ron asked curiously, it's nothing like the stuff he had seen as a child.

"No, these are creatures from the Muggle world." Harry said excitedly, "Look, this is a lion, this is a giraffe - it has a long neck, I've seen it in the zoo, and this one is a badger, somewhat similar to the Hufflepuff's symbol, but they're certainly aren't of the same kind."

Hermione is no stranger to these animals, she had read the full set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which had a section on animals. But the pictures in the Muggle books wouldn't move.

So Hermione asked, "Is this the book Professor Hap made himself?"

Hagrid took a big gulp of butterbeer and let out a crispy burp, "Yes, it's very heartfelt, isn't it? I feel like I owe him one ..."

It took most of a day before the trio remembered what they had come here for.

"The chamber of secrets? The heir? The creature?" Hagrid's face went pale for a moment.

"Yes, we found some clues, fifty years ago ..." Harry is about to present their findings, but he quickly got interrupted by Hagrid.

"Listen, there was no chamber, there was no creature, it was just an accident!" Hagrid got a little agitated and waved his thick palm, then his voice trailed off, and he muttered, "It really was an accident, no one thought it would happen like that, no one ..."

With that, the trio got shooed out of the hut.

"He's definitely hiding something!" Ron said indignantly.

"That much we can all see."

The trio returned to the warmth of the common room and, having to face reality, began to catch up on their homework.

When the sky darkened, Hermione suddenly closed her book, startling the two.

"Who do you think the heir would be?" Hermione asked them in a low voice, again seeming to be talking to herself.

"It's definitely a Slytherin, I'm guessing Malfoy," Ron said quickly.

Harry accepted this immediately, "There's the possibility that it's really him, you guys, their family has been purebloods for generations, he'd have a reason to do that, and on top of that, he's taken quite a bashing recently - he's been detained by Professor Hap for insulting Hermione!"

Hermione's breathing suddenly stopped for a moment.

Ron also seemed to discover a theory, "Harry your words are so right, he must have done it, maybe the Malfoy is a certain heir of Slytherin and their family has kept the secret for generations ... right Hermione?"

At that moment the twins came walking over from the distance, "I thought I heard you guys talking about Professor Hap, did he make any more interesting trinkets?"

The twins sat left and right on either side of Harry and Ron.

"Nothing," Ron said quickly.

Next to him, Fred put one arm around his shoulders and scowled at the trio, "Come on, we can exchange information. We admire Professor Hap, too."

George next to Harry chuckled, "Yeah, very much, we'd love to take him apart and study his head."

Fred sighed, "George, you sound as if we have some sort of ill will towards Professor Hap."

"Do you?"

"Of course not."

"At most we-"

"Trying to imitate his magic golem." The two men said in unison at last, after a word from you and me respectively.

Harry thought for a moment, "Well, we went to Hagrid's hut in the evening and saw a magic book that Professor Hap had gifted him."

"What's it about?"

"Muggle animals, and as you know, Hagrid is obsessed with those."

"Cool!" The twins said in unison as they looked at each other.

Ron said, "It's your turn, we agreed to exchange information."

Fred winked, "Our little Ronnie has grown up-"

"-not a good dupe anymore." George followed up.

"But - who made you our brother." Fred teased as usual, whispering, "We can provide information, you know, we're fans of Professor Hap, if any of you want to know his whereabouts, like to start a casual encounter or something ..."

Ron said in surprise, "You guys follow the professor?"

"Don't say that, we just got a little help, for example, Professor Hap has been going to the Forbidden Forest a lot recently for some time." Fred shrugged and blurted out a heavy dose of information.

"The Forbidden Forest?" Hermione said in surprise.

The trio looked at each other.

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