Inside Hagrid's hut, the girls held the teacups he had served them and clutched a few rock cakes that, obviously, they had no intention of eating. They behaved with flawless naturalness, as if they hadn't blackmailed the half-giant just to be allowed in.
"So… what brings you here so late?" Hagrid asked awkwardly. The truth was, he no longer knew how to deal with this group of students: far too clever for their age, far too cunning.
"Hogwarts is a good place, don't you think, Hagrid?" Hermione remarked casually, taking a sip of tea.
"Of course it is. Hogwarts is the best place in the wizarding world," he replied without hesitation, almost proudly.
"But it hasn't always been… has it?" Hermione countered, letting the words hang in the air.
"It's also a place where terrible things happen… like the recent attacks," Susan added, timid but firm.
"That's just a temporary mishap. Don't worry, Dumbledore will take care of everything. He always finds a way to sort things out." Hagrid shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
"I hope you're right…" Hermione said softly, tilting her head and gazing at him with compassion. "Because we don't want something like what happened fifty years ago to happen again."
The teapot trembled in the half-giant's hands at those words. Hermione had struck right at the wound that had never healed.
"When Myrtle died…" she finished, lowering her eyes as though the memory was too painful.
Hagrid's face tightened. The memories returned like a blow: the accusing stares, the voices pointing at him, the chains around his wrists.
"You… you were the one they arrested back then, weren't you?" Padma asked, with pity rather than reproach.
"I wasn't!" Hagrid roared, leaping to his feet. His sheer size and sudden movement made the three girls flinch. He quickly realized his mistake and bowed his head. "No… don't be frightened. I'm not the monster they say…" His voice broke, tears welling up in his eyes. "I'm not the one to blame…"
The three rushed in at once.
"It's all right, Hagrid, don't cry," Susan whispered.
"We know, we know it wasn't you," Padma added firmly.
"You're innocent, Hagrid. We believe you," Hermione concluded.
The enormous man sobbed like a child, hunched over in his chair, while they tried to comfort him. They hadn't meant to push so hard, but the subject was too delicate for the half-giant.
"Do you really… believe me?" he sobbed, wiping his face with his sleeve.
"Of course we do," Hermione assured, leaning toward him. "None of us can imagine you doing something like that."
"Then… why?" Hagrid asked, confused.
"Because we want to know the truth," Padma said with an unexpected solemnity for her age. "We know you're not guilty. That means there's something else, something swept under the rug. If we uncover it, no one else will be wrongly accused and we'll stop the attacks. No one else will suffer Myrtle's fate—or yours."
"But you shouldn't meddle in this… Dumbledore will know what to do," Hagrid murmured, his throat still tight.
"Hagrid…" Hermione said calmly, locking eyes with him, "Dumbledore can't be everywhere. We don't want to replace him either… but we can't just sit idly by."
"Help us understand what happened. That's all." Susan laid her small hand on his massive arm, her pleading look dissolving any defense.
"Even if we do nothing else, we need to know the truth. So the innocent are never blamed again, and a tragedy like that never repeats." Hermione struck at just the right moment.
Silence fell like a shroud. Finally, Hagrid bowed his head and sighed in resignation.
"I… I… all right. I'll tell you what happened," he said in a trembling voice, blowing his nose into his sleeve, his eyes still red.
The girls barely suppressed a grimace at seeing him wipe his nose that way, but they stayed compassionate. Only now did they understand how painful it was for him to relive it all, and in a way they regretted not having been gentler in their search for the truth.
"Hagrid… what happened fifty years ago?" Padma asked cautiously, eager to draw the truth from his lips. The fear of being out of the castle at that hour gnawed at them—each minute increased the risk of being discovered—but the urgency of the answer was stronger.
The half-giant took a while to compose himself. He muttered unimportant things, vague memories and trivial details, as if circling the subject before facing it. The girls exchanged nervous, impatient glances… until at last Hagrid revealed what he had kept inside.
"…I had a pet…" he confessed with a broken voice. "But Aragog wasn't guilty of anything. He was just a tiny, fragile thing… he could never have killed anyone. It wasn't him… it wasn't…" he repeated in frustration, pounding the table with his fist.
"What exactly is Aragog?" Padma asked, trying to stay calm. Part of her feared the creature might really be dangerous—even if Hagrid thought him innocent—and maybe truly was the culprit, though it made little sense for it to be Slytherin's monster.
"Aragog is an acromant—" He didn't finish.
Loud knocks boomed on the door, freezing them in place. Silence fell instantly, sharp as a blade.
"It must be Harry," Hermione whispered, recalling what Hagrid had mentioned earlier. "Sorry, Hagrid, we have to go. We don't want anyone to know we were here. Don't worry, what you told us will stay between us. And we'll do what it takes to uncover the truth… and clear your name."
Hagrid nodded heavily, though deep down he felt a strange relief in speaking out, as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"All right… I'll distract the boys. But don't go getting into trouble, you hear me? Leave it to the adults.
"Even so, there are things we don't know. Tomorrow we'll come back so you can tell us the whole story," said Padma firmly.
"Alright, but you can't come at this hour." Hagrid's tone was gentle, though resolute.
"We'll come in the afternoon, after classes," Hermione nodded.
Quickly, the three girls hid behind an armchair while Hagrid opened the door. Sure enough, Harry and Ron had arrived, curiously with the same intention: to look for answers. They, however, were unaware that Hagrid had once been accused in the past; they simply trusted that the half-giant might know something.
Once Hagrid let them in and closed the door behind them, the girls slipped out quietly, holding their breath until they were outside. When they were finally far from the cabin, they exhaled with relief. The mission had been almost a success: now all that remained was to return the next day and hear the full story.
They reunited with the other girls who had been waiting, and together they headed back to their hideout to share what they had learned.
"Acromantula," said Hermione as soon as they sat down. "That was Hagrid's pet… and the reason he was blamed." She had only heard the word half-said, but it wasn't hard to deduce, especially after having researched so many creatures lately.
"An acromantula?" Tracey repeated, frowning. "That couldn't have been the monster. It's impossible for one to petrify. Besides… are you completely sure he's innocent? A student killed by one of those creatures would've been easy to identify. If he was arrested, it was for a reason. I don't think the Aurors would have mistaken something that obvious."
"Tracey… shut up," cut in Pansy, still carrying the irritation she'd had for days. "Clearly Myrtle didn't die because of an acromantula, or we'd already know. And Hagrid would've admitted it himself. Most likely, back then, the Ministry just needed a scapegoat to calm everyone down, and since there were no more attacks afterwards, it worked perfectly for them. My father does that kind of thing sometimes," she added bitterly.
"Yeah… we can't trust the Ministry," Susan spoke softly. "Red says it's like a basket full of rotten apples. Well…" she added quickly, blushing, "My aunt is one of the good apples, and even she complains about some of the people in the Ministry."
"Then the conclusion is obvious: we can't trust them," said Parvati with a shrug. "Nothing new… but what about the current attacks?"
"At least now we know it wasn't an acromantula behind them. Hagrid was wrongly accused, but that only means someone else was responsible." Daphne took the floor, her tone calm and analytical. "We have to investigate what happened fifty years ago: if there were witnesses, testimonies from other students, teachers, anyone involved. The real culprit could've manipulated everything so that Hagrid took the blame… and, once that was achieved, stopped attacking to erase the trail."
The group fell silent for a moment, absorbing her words.
"Then we continue on that path," Daphne went on. "Tomorrow, besides our classes, we'll review whatever information we have about the case from fifty years ago. And in the afternoon, we'll go see Hagrid. We need the rest of the story."
The girls nodded, exhausted but with a clear direction. After a while longer of discussion, they let sleep overcome them. At least they now had a plan: to follow the clues of the past in order to uncover the truth in the present.
The next day, the girls left class and, after dropping off their things, headed for Hagrid's cabin. They went in small groups, a few minutes apart from one another, like true spies. In truth, it wasn't necessary, but the gesture had its charm; it could even be seen as adorable.
Once gathered behind the cabin, they followed the same arrangement as the day before: only Hermione, Padma, and Susan would go in first.
This time, Hagrid wasn't surprised by their visit. He let them in at once, ready to continue the tale of what had happened fifty years ago. But he had barely begun when a sharp knock echoed at the door.
"Rubeus Hagrid, open up at once!" barked a firm, authoritative voice.
The half-giant and the girls froze. None of them recognized the voice. Cautiously, they approached the window… and what they saw left them breathless.
"It's Dumbledore…" whispered Susan, her face pale. "He's with the Minister, several Aurors… and Draco's father."
"What are they doing here?" Padma asked in a thin voice.
"Rubeus Hagrid, come out now or we'll be forced to enter by force," the Auror repeated from outside.
Minister Fudge was there, brow furrowed, demanding obedience. Dumbledore, on the other hand, kept his composure, though his gaze radiated displeasure.
"Minister, this is unnecessary," Dumbledore said gravely. "Hagrid is innocent. He will come out of his own free will and answer all your questions, without the need for this humiliation."
"He'll answer, yes… but from Azkaban," Lucius Malfoy sneered, a satisfied smile curling his lips.
He had been seething ever since the incident with the Black estate. Even his plans to strip Dumbledore of the headmastership hadn't gone as he'd hoped, but at least now he could claim a small victory: removing the half-giant from the school and depriving Dumbledore of one of his closest allies.
Cornelius Fudge wasn't in a good mood either. The attacks at Hogwarts were a disaster for his image, all the worse with foreign guests present. Although the responsibility technically fell on Dumbledore, the shadow of incompetence also touched him. He needed a bold gesture, a public display of authority. Sending Hagrid to Azkaban would be his way of "solving" the problem, regardless of the truth or anyone's protests.
"Hagrid… please, come out," Dumbledore sighed wearily. He knew the situation was slipping out of his control. For a fleeting moment, he felt tempted to deal with the basilisk and the shade of Tom Riddle himself, but he had to resist: that fight belonged to Harry.