"My godfather is on holiday with Remus currently, he might pop in after Christmas," not really knowing if his godfather would or not.
"It would be good to catch up with him."
...
Seeing that first approach was failing him, he decided to change tactics. "Yeah, I can't wait for the holidays, Sirius has got sothing planned. Plus, Hogwarts doesn't feel safe with Peter around and the Chamber being opened. But don't worry, I'll get you all a nice gift to help cheer you up," giving a smile which hinted at hidden excitent that was to be expected from a child thinking of Christmas.
"Yeah, that's nasty business, that. I rember the last ti it was opened," taking Harry's bait.
"Really?" playing naïve.
"Yeah, I was at school back then. They blad for it," the groundskeeper admitted bitterly. "Got expelled and snapped my wand. Only the Headmaster believed I was innocent of the cri. I was set up!"
"That's dreadful," Luna said, clearly listening to the chat.
"Want to tell us about it? Maybe it will help catch whoever is responsible and clear your na. Maybe it's a descendant of whoever set you up; if we catch them and can link it back to their family mber, it would clear your na," he suggested as Hagrid considered the idea. "You know Sirius and I have a lot of pull now in the Ministry. If we can find so evidence, there's no reason we can't clear your na. Madam Bones seems reasonable. If they're linked, I'm sure she'll look into it."
"Alright, what's the harm anyways," the half-giant said. "So 50 years ago, I attended Hogwarts. The Headmaster was the Transfiguration Professor back then, and Headmaster Dippet was in charge. He never really liked from the get-go. I was a bit clumsy back then, you see," he admitted to them. "For the most part, I got along with quite a few students the Muggle-borns mainly, and half-bloods too but Slytherins made my life hell."
"Then the Chamber of Secrets opened in my fourth year and the Muggle-borns started dropping like flies. Then Myrtle was suddenly murdered, and they were talking of closing the school," he paused, whilst taking a great gulp of his own drink. "Everyone was afraid when it happened. Tom Riddle burst into my room one night, saying I was the one responsible, on account of having a four-star pet. It just was a baby Acromantula!" the groundskeeper exclaid, as if the man-eating spider was a normal choice of pet.
'Damn, never ask Hagrid to buy a pet,' he noted.
"They searched my room and found notes on the Chamber of Secrets, which were clearly placed there for the teachers or the Aurors to find. Any idiot could see that it wasn't my writing—it was fine and elegant, while mine is basic at best. But it was his word against mine. Unfortunately for , he had a silver tongue, that slimy snake. Who would believe little old against the Head Boy? The Headmaster's favourite student?"
"Only Dumbledore argued that Tom should be questioned more. But nothing happened after that. Dippet needed to look like he was doing sothing, and the Ministry wanted to calm the public, so it was all blad on . I personally say it was Riddle; he had too many perfect answers to their clever questions. He painted a misguided oaf and that my Acromantula was a dangerous dark beast!" his voice shaking the hut. Harry held himself still, whilst his other hand held Luna in place as the giant slowly cald down.
"Acromantulas kill by laying web traps, and then wrapping their prey in webs, followed by a dose of venom to lt their insides. Myrtle was just found dead no bite marks, no webs just dead, like she had just dropped dead instantly. Plus, Aragog was only the size of your hand back then, how could he kill a second-year? Of course, these questions were all ignored. After all, I was just a half-breed to them, a freak of nature who should have never been born in their eyes," shaking his head at the painful mories.
"Aragog?" he asked after Hagrid had settled down.
"That's what I nad him. Now he lives in the forest with his children and grandchildren. Maybe I should introduce you soti," the groundskeeper said. "It's only a small nest."
The words 'only' and 'small' triggered so internal alarm bells; the last thing he would ever do was walk into a nest full of man-eating spiders. However, none of this showed on the outside. "That... would be an interesting experience," and ridiculously terrifying, his mind added.
He decided to imdiately change the subject lest Hagrid get any further ideas. "That's terrible, just proves that the Ministry was as incapable then as they are now. I'm sure Sirius will help you if he can."
"My father will print your story if you want?" Luna said, speaking up, laying her small hand on Hagrid's, trying to comfort the half-giant, which would have been rather funny if they weren't discussing sothing so serious.
"Well, it's a long ti ago, and Dumbledore believes he will find evidence to clear this ti, so leave it to the adults," he said sternly.
"Of course," he quickly agreed, deciding that he was spread too thin at the mont to really help anyways. Maybe when things had settled down and he had fewer problems, he could deal with it. Who knew, if he could help Hagrid out, it could lead to COMC being a walk in the park, plus getting into another staff mber's good graces.
The next couple of hours were actually rather interesting; however, as the morning slipped into the afternoon, he knew that it was ti to leave and head back to get sothing to eat. Frankly, he rembered the last ti he had tried so of Hagrid's cooking and was nowhere near hungry enough to try rock cakes again. Plus, he needed the bathroom badly and wasn't willing to use Hagrid's.
Slowly making their way back to the school, they ran into Neville and his group of friends making their way down to Hagrid's hut. However, Ron was looking a bit green, like he was going to be sick at any mont. They were forced to sidestep around the boy and the group, since it seed like they weren't looking where they were going, just for Dean to bump hard into Luna's shoulder, knocking the smaller girl to the ground. Dean didn't even stop to check on the girl, just kept walking down like nothing happened. Only Hermione looked sowhat concerned, but she stayed quiet.
Offering Luna a hand up, she didn't even bat an eye at what happened. Clearly, the girl was used to such treatnt and considered it normal, and frankly, that was going to change, starting right now.
"Let show you a shoelace-tying jinx. It's simple to learn, and if used correctly, can have so rather devastating results; I'll teach it to you later," he said before casting the spell at the group, while ntally focusing on the image of it tying the whole group's shoelaces together like a long chain.
The spell did what he envisioned, and the next thing they saw was the whole group comically falling to the ground in a heap, causing Ron to vomit as they went down, liberally coating the group in his noxious vomit. Looking over at Luna, he could see amusent dancing in her eyes and a small smile on her lips.
"Co on, let's go before they realize it was us." They quickly moved away from the little bit of anarchy he had caused with the first-year prank jinx. There was also the added motivation that he needed to go to the toilet rather badly; he really should have stopped after that first cup of tea, but he had a bit of a sweet tooth and had gone for the second cup anyways.
"Give a sec, just need to use the toilets," he said, while stepping into the boys' toilets. He avoided the urinals altogether, as they had been bewitched a couple of days earlier by the twins to talk back with witty remarks. And frankly, when nature called, he did not want the toilet talking back at him.
He felt much better as he stepped out of one of the stalls, now that the growing pressure in his bladder had been relieved.
Walking over to the sinks to wash his hands, he saw Luna in the mirror's reflection, examining a urinal. "So this is what a boys' bathroom looks like," the unusual first-year said. "Ours slls like lavender, but pinecones is rather nice too," she added offhandedly as he just looked at her.
"Luna, this is the boys' toilet," he stated, stressing the 'boys'' part.
"Oh yes, I know," she stated flatly in reply, as if they were rely discussing the weather, whilst inspecting the stalls. "I always wondered what they would look like; I thought they would be more different. Plus, I need to go to the loo as well."
"Luna, the girls' toilet is just around the corner," he answered back, moving over to escort her out of the boys' toilets before another guy walked in on them.
"Oh yes, I know," nodding her head, causing her hair to dance. "But Hermione's brewing a potion in there, and it's ant to be a secret, so I can't go in there; otherwise, it's not a secret," she answered back, as if this was the most logical answer in the world. She then deftly slipped out of his hold and into one of the stalls, closing the door on him.
He saw that there was no way he was going to win this. "I'll be outside waiting," he stated before leaving the room.
Leaning on the wall opposite the toilet door, he thought over Luna's comnt about Hermione brewing a potion, while hoping that no guys would co his way with a desire to use the toilet.
However, luck wasn't on his side, as a Slytherin boy ca along, maybe sixth or seventh year by the looks of him, but it was hard to tell. Stepping up quickly to intercept him, he spoke in a conspiratorial manner.
"You don't want to go in there, mate. The Weasley twins have pranked it again; the toilets and urinals have teeth this ti! And they set off stink bombs too! I'm just standing guard until my mate cos back with a professor," he said seriously, hoping the boy would buy it. After all, would you use a toilet if it had teeth? Hell no! "After all, I doubt you want to see if those teeth are just for show," making the Slytherin cringe.
"rlin! Is no place sacred to them?" the older boy said to no one before moving away. Looking over his shoulder, "Thanks, Potter," the Slytherin said before quickly slipping away, clearly able to hold off nature for just a bit longer with the extra incentive.
He looked back at the door. 'What have I gotten myself into?' he mused while thinking about Luna's actions.
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