Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 232 Hagrid Likes Huge Monsters
Standing to Sherlock's right was the middle-aged Dumbledore, who was listening intently to Dipper's speech.

Upon hearing this voice, Sherlock turned to the other side and, unsurprisingly, saw an older version of Dumbledore to his left.

At this moment, he was looking at Sherlock with a curious and scrutinizing gaze.

"I thought you'd be surprised by me."

The older version of Dumbledore said this as he saw Sherlock turn his head.

“Your appearance was exactly what I expected, Principal.”

Upon hearing this, Dumbledore couldn't help but smile, and then reached out to support Sherlock's arm.

Sherlock immediately felt himself slowly rising like a balloon.

As he rose into the air, he discovered that the principal's office and the two principals in front of him had vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving only darkness.

Then he felt as if he had done a slow-motion somersault, and his feet suddenly landed on the ground.

The next moment, he found himself back in the principal's office.

The Pensieve gleamed in the cabinet in front of him, and Dumbledore stood beside him.

"Sherlock, how are you feeling?"

"If you're asking about the experience of using the Pensieve, my assessment is that it's so-so."

In some ways, it has an advantage over my memory attic now.

I must thank you for providing some insights into the evolution of my mental attic into a mental temple.

If you're asking about specifics, then I'll tell you Tom Riddle is lying. He knew about the secret room, but he didn't tell Principal Depp.

You're absolutely right.

Hearing Sherlock's words, Dumbledore sighed:

"In fact, that very night, Tom saw Rubeus and his pet monster with his own eyes."

He tried to catch the monster, but Hagrid knocked him to the ground, and the monster escaped into the Forbidden Forest.

After that, the truth could no longer be hidden, and Dippet originally wanted to suppress the matter.

But Tom bypassed us and wrote directly to the Ministry of Magic, formally accusing Rupert.

As you probably already know, Rubeus Hagrid, a third-year student, was expelled, and his wand was broken by people sent by the Ministry of Magic.

Tom Riddle received a special contribution award from the school for this, and became student council president in seventh grade.

At this point, Dumbledore glanced again at the portrait of Armando Dipper on the wall and explained, "I firmly believe that Rubeus is innocent, and so is Armando."

Furthermore, since the Ministry of Magic never managed to find any evidence that the monster directly harmed anyone, Hagrid was able to remain at Hogwarts—as a key keeper and gamekeeper.

To avoid panic and to protect Hagrid, the school ultimately announced that the student had died in a bizarre accident.

"So, Principal Dippert is really a good person?"

"You brat, watch your tone!"

Headmaster Depp's portrait read angrily, "The Ministry of Magic's consistent approach is: the less trouble, the better."

They don't care about the truth; all they need is for someone to take responsibility.

In this context, Riddell's public whistleblowing provided them with an excellent reason:

Parents no longer need to worry, because even if Hogwarts is indeed closed, it will have nothing to do with the Ministry of Magic.

Coincidentally, all the attacks really stopped after the child was expelled.

This confirms Rupert Hagrid's guilt.

“What a fine Ministry of Magic,” Sherlock said with a sneer. “To call it Scotland Yard of the wizarding world is an insult to Scotland Yard.”

"Yes, we all know... Hagrid is innocent."

Dumbledore's expression grew increasingly somber:
"I'm more inclined to believe the truth of this matter is that the real culprit, seeing that the truth had already blown up, chose to back down."

I was reluctant to tell you about this before because I didn't want this incident to be classified as a monster attack in a locked room again, and to prevent Rupert from being involved in this matter once more.

After all, as you know, Rubeus has always had a fondness for enormous monsters, which is really disadvantageous for him.

If things escalate, he might not be able to stay at Hogwarts this time.

My extended absence from school is also related to this matter.

Sherlock nodded; he understood this all too well.

Last year, Hagrid tried to hatch a fire dragon in his cabin in the woods, completely disregarding the fact that the thing would burst his cabin in a few weeks.

Not only that, he also obtained Baskerville's hounds from the Greek translator, those ferocious animals that could even bite Snape.

Although it was supposed to be to protect the Philosopher's Stone, Hagrid found it adorable and named it "Furry," highlighting the unexpected charm.

Considering these points, it seems quite possible that Hagrid might actually be feeding the monster in the secret chamber.

Perhaps in his eyes, that thing was just another cute little thing.

"I already understand the basic situation."

Sherlock took out his notebook, which he always carried with him, and stared intently at Dumbledore. "But I need more information."

"What else would you like to know?" "How many victims were there in total over the past fifty years?"

"There were four victims in total, all of whom were Muggles or mixed-race. The first few students who were attacked were petrified, and the last student unfortunately died."

Who was the student who was killed?

“Mettle Warren was also a Muggle-born witch. I was the one who guided her into Hogwarts.”

"What exactly is Hagrid's pet that's being treated as a monster in the locked room?"

"I later asked Rubel, and he called it Aragog, which is an eight-eyed giant spider."

"An eight-eyed giant spider? Keeping an eight-eyed giant spider at school?"

Sherlock was so surprised because when he heard Dumbledore's account, he had already retrieved information about the eight-eyed giant spider from his memory attic.

The giant eight-eyed spider is native to the deep rainforests of Southeast Asia, especially the dense jungles of Borneo.

This magical creature has eight black eyes and its entire body is covered in thick black fur.

Adult giant spiders can have legs that stretch to an astonishing 15 feet from side to side, and they have a pair of giant chelicerae, which are used specifically to hunt live prey and dead members of their own species.

As is well known, spiders are carnivorous animals.

The eight-eyed giant spider is no exception.

They also prefer large prey, including humans.

In addition, it secretes venom, is enormous in size, and is ferocious by nature, so it is classified as the highest level of magic in the British Department of Magic.

No wonder Hagrid thought it was nothing to keep a dragon in his little house last year; it turns out he had a history of this!

Dumbledore looked somewhat embarrassed. He coughed twice and continued:

"It was a gift from a traveler to Rubeus when Rubeus was still a student, so he secretly hatched it in the cupboard at Hogwarts."

Later it grew up in the cupboard, and Rubeus always fed it breadcrumbs..."

Perhaps it was due to his advanced age, but when talking about these past events, Dumbledore became unusually long-winded, recounting many old stories about him and Hagrid.

Sherlock had already sketched the outline of the eight-eyed spider in his notebook. He stopped laughing and looked at Dumbledore, who had finished his presentation:
"That's the only point I agree with Riddle: this creature is indeed unsuitable for keeping at Hogwarts."

“I know what you mean, but Rubeus told me that although Aragog’s instinct is to eat humans, it has never preyed on humans at Hogwarts for Rubeus’ sake.”

"absurd!"

Sherlock retorted bluntly, "Even if it can control itself, can it control its offspring?"
The giant octopus spider can lay up to 100 eggs at a time, with an incubation period of only 6 to 8 weeks. Once the eggs successfully grow to adulthood and hatch...

Uh, right, Hagrid only has one eight-eyed giant spider, so there's no need to worry about it having offspring.

Wait... what's with that expression?

Noticing Dumbledore's fleeting, subtle expression, Sherlock immediately and keenly caught it, and for the second time that evening, he showed a look of surprise:
"You're not trying to tell me that Hagrid bred it, are you?"

"Uh... actually, I had already contacted Rupert after what happened with Colin Crevy."

He told me that Aragok lived in the Forbidden Forest and fed on the creatures there.

They remained in contact, and Hagrid even found Aragog a wife.

These eight-eyed giant spiders formed a thriving family, living a peaceful life far from humans.

Sherlock: ≡(▔﹏▔)≡

At this moment, he didn't want to say anything more.

He even developed an understanding of the wizard named Tom Riddle.

If Hagrid were placed in Muggle society, even if it wasn't intentional, he would become a criminal.

Dumbledore clearly also felt that Hagrid's statement was somewhat unreliable, and said somewhat awkwardly:

"That's how it is, Sherlock. Do you have any leads?"

Sherlock pondered for three seconds, then spoke:
"The person who opened the secret room fifty years ago was not Hagrid, and the person who attacked and harmed the students was not the eight-eyed giant spider that Hagrid raised."

The reason is simple: people attacked by the eight-eyed giant spider will either die from poisoning or be eaten alive; they will never be petrified.

But based on your memories from fifty years ago and Principal Dippert's description just now, the deceased from fifty years ago did not die from poisoning.

Furthermore, the eight-eyed giant spider was always kept by Hagrid in the cupboard and had nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets.

As for Tom Riddle's accusation against Hagrid, I'm more inclined to believe that he didn't want Hogwarts to close and wanted to end the matter as soon as possible.

At this point, Sherlock paused, "Where is the Malfoy family's little elf? I want to see it."

"You mean Dobby?"

Dumbledore paused, “Snape has already used Truth Potion on it, and I can assure you that it has told you everything it knows.”

"I know, but I still want to confirm one thing."

"You suspect that the events in the locked room are related to what Malfoy planned before?"

“No,” Sherlock said slowly, looking at Dumbledore with surprise, “it’s Voldemort.”

(End of this chapter)