Hogwarts: Becoming the White Lord from Breathing

Chapter 123 The Truth of the Past

Damon didn't say anything to Fudge; the two simply exchanged a few pleasant pleasantries.

There's no benefit in provoking Fudge at this time—he's always been remarkably tolerant of people or things that don't threaten his position within the system.

However, once he realizes that you might affect his position, he will immediately jump from extreme conservatism to extreme radicalism, falling into a state almost equivalent to paranoia.

Fudge then turned his attention to Harry, showing a more tolerant and inclusive attitude towards our savior. It's hard to imagine that this was the same person who would later persecute Harry.

After they left, Ron whispered:
"You're already able to chat and laugh with such important figures?"

“A big shot? Perhaps you’ll have a relationship with someone like that in the future, Ron.”

Damon patted him on the shoulder, and the group went into the cabin. Hagrid looked very downcast, and the four of them visiting did not make him any better.

"I'm so sorry to have you witness this."

He was sullen, took out some rock-skin cakes and distributed them to everyone, then sat in front of the extinguished stove, lost in thought.

Harry was a little reluctant to ask the question.

He turned to Damon and handed the decision over to him.

Damon spoke up decisively—he knew what had happened, knew that Hagrid had been misunderstood, so he wasn't afraid.

The reason he waited until now to tell me is that he believes everything has an emotional acceptance process—for example, the misunderstanding between Snape and Sirius—he couldn't tell Snape now that the person who told Voldemort where Lily was hiding was actually Peter Pettigrew, and that Sirius was misunderstood.

This is not convincing at all and is simply unacceptable.

The same applies to Hagrid's situation.

Now is a good time to bring it up.

"Hagrid, what did Fudge mean by his criminal record just now?"

Hagrid abruptly looked up, partly because of Damon's rudeness towards Fudge—he didn't even want to add the word "minister"—and partly because of that past offense.

"It was some bad things. I made a fatal mistake during my student days, which led to my expulsion."

Hagrid's expression darkened, and Harry's breath caught in his throat—so what Professor Lockhart said was true? Hagrid really killed Myrtle? And caused her to spend her days weeping in the bathroom?
Hagrid, oblivious to the expressions on the other people's faces, and reluctant to discuss the matter, rose to see the guests out.

"This has nothing to do with you. I'm in a really bad mood today. Please leave."

"Your mistake is related to the weeping myrtle, isn't it?"

"How...how did you know?"

Harry saw Hagrid's face turn deathly pale, while Hermione and Ron stared wide-eyed at Damon—why did he always know things that we didn't?

“Helena told me about this. As a ghost of the school, she has witnessed far more than you can imagine.”

Looking at the giant who resembled a child who had made a mistake, Damon said gently:

"Hagrid, you're actually a bit confused about this yourself, aren't you?"

"How could you say that? I know how it happened. It must have been Aragog."

"Who is Aragog?" Harry asked, seeing that the conversation had started. "Aragog is a male giant spider with eight eyes. When I was a student, a traveler from afar gave him to me as a pet, and I secretly fed him breadcrumbs at school."

"You're keeping it at school?" Hermione shrieked. "Eight-eyed giant spiders have a cannibalistic instinct!"

“It won’t do that! It promised me!” Hagrid responded gruffly, almost roaring. “It promised me that, as a token of its gratitude, it would never prey on humans!”

"Then what about Myrtle, Hagrid?!"

Ron was also angered by Hagrid's irresponsible attitude and questioned him seriously.

"I...I don't know," Aragog insists, "it didn't attack anyone, it didn't kill Myrtle, it was sleeping at the time."

"But Myrtle is really dead, isn't she? You should really see what she looks like. Even as a ghost, she's often bullied by Peeves, and the other ghosts don't like her either!"

Harry felt a little angry.

Hagrid's face turned bright red; it seemed the conversation was about to end.

“Calm down,” Damon suddenly said. “Haven’t you learned something from Lockhart’s case? You can’t judge things by appearances alone, and you can’t just believe what you hear.”

The three little ones all turned to look at Damon without saying a word.

Although they thought the facts were obvious, it was Damon, and none of them would question Damon's ideas unless they were 100% certain.

"Thank you, Damon. But you don't have to do this. I've thought about it many times over the years, and perhaps Aragog really didn't control its instincts back then. My fate is entirely my own fault."

"No, Hagrid, it wasn't Aragog who killed Myrtle, it was the monster in the Chamber of Secrets."

"Secret room?!"

Harry never expected that this was related to the Chamber of Secrets.

"That's right. The secret chamber was opened once in 1943, and Helena witnessed it—but because of that terrifying monster, she didn't see it with her own eyes—it was a basilisk that killed Myrtle."

"A basilisk?" Hagrid's expression became interesting. "But... how is that possible? Basilisks are such rare creatures! How could it possibly appear at Hogwarts?"

"Harry, you tell us what to do next."

Damon picked up the soft, mushy rock cake soaked in milk and began to eat it slowly.

"It's Salazar Slytherin! He had a falling out with the other three leaders and left Hogwarts in anger, but before he left, he left the Basilisk at the school! In the Chamber of Secrets!"
"Oh, you runaway Gorgon! You've left a basilisk in the secret chamber?"

Although Harry didn't know how terrifying the Basilisk was, just hearing its name was enough for him to imagine how evil the creature was.

Hermione, having finally sorted out her thoughts, said in a resounding voice:

"So, someone opened the secret chamber at that time, and it was the Basilisk who killed Myrtle, not Hagrid's Aragog? Hagrid was wrongly accused!"

Hagrid jumped to his feet, his hands trembling.
"The locked chamber! The basilisk! I've been framed?! Aragog didn't kill anyone! I knew it was a good boy!"

He was almost crying, his hairy arms covering his face as if he were about to burst into tears.

"Since Hagrid has been misunderstood, what are we waiting for! We should clear things up!"

Harry stood up right away, eager to unravel the secrets of the Chamber of Secrets!
(End of this chapter)