Chapter 50: Hagrid and Aragog

Late at night, Ivan was left alone in the common room.

He stared dazedly at the journal in front of him and realized that he could no longer be suspicious of everyone or he would get nowhere. Even though there had been no more attacks, his business with the chamber of secrets wasn't over yet.

Maybe he should give it to Dumbledore!

Dumbledore should be able to recognize that it is a Horcrux and he should know exactly how to handle it.

Before Ivan could decide what to do, he saw Harry emerge from inside the dormitory.

"Ivan, why haven't you gone to bed yet?" said Harry, surprised.

Ivan replied to Harry, "I should ask you the same thing."

Harry said with an expectant look on his face as he looked at Ivan, "I can't sleep because I'm thinking about things to do with Hagrid. He's certainly innocent, but I have to go to him to confirm it. You think so too, don't you?"

Ivan said as he nodded, "Yes!"

"Then let's go!" whispered Harry.

Ivan asked in confusion, "Go where?"

Harry took Ivan's hand and said, "I was going to go alone, but I didn't expect to see you."

Ivan smiled helplessly, he should have known to go back to bed.

He didn't want to sneak out of the castle to find out what he already knew, but Harry didn't give him a chance to refuse, Harry pulled him out of the Gryffindor common room.

Before they left they saw Hermione standing next to them looking at them with a serious expression.

"Hermione!" said Harry in surprise.

"Don't look at me like that Harry, did you think I would let you go alone? I said we had to talk to Hagrid, although I don't think he would, he must know something" said Hermione.

"Well, since we're all going, let's get going," said Harry as he pulled the invisibility cloak over them.

The castle that night was exceptionally gloomy as they walked through the empty corridors.

It was clear that Harry had wandered the castle countless times at night as he led Ivan and Hermione out of the castle door.

The three of them ran to Hagrid's house, went to his door and took off their cloaks. A few seconds after they knocked on the door, Hagrid opened the door and Fang barked loudly behind him.

"Oh, it's you guys, why did you three see so late?" said Hagrid as he glared at them

"We have something to ask you, can you tell us about...,?" Harry said as he entered the hut, but hesitated.

"About what? can't it wait until tomorrow? you three should go back to bed now, what could be so important that you have to sneak out of the castle?", Hagrid asked as he picked up a kettle and poured each of them a large glass of boiling water.

Harry hesitated, "But, Hagrid...."

"We wanted to ask you about a past incident that happened inside the school when you were a Hogwarts student, something to do with the Chamber of Secrets," Ivan said.

"The Chamber of Secrets?!" said Hagrid as he accidentally knocked over a teapot and knocked it to the ground.

Harry was quick to say, "You know, Hagrid, there have been three attacks in a row where people in the castle have been attacked by the monster in the Chamber of Secrets. We've been investigating and have discovered that the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago..."

"What do you want to ask?" said Hagrid as his face turned pale and he began to sweat.

"Fifty years ago, when the chamber was opened, you were expelled from school for something, not that we don't believe you, but you must know something," said Hermione as she pulled out a clipping from a newspaper.

"I don't know anything!" shouted Hagrid, he seemed to be fidgeting and almost made the kettle put out the fire.

This was so suspicious that Harry and Hermione looked at each other silently.

Harry said in a pleading tone, "We need your help, Hagrid! When the Chamber of Secrets was last opened, the monster killed a student and if we don't act, the monster will probably..."

"No, Aragog was wrongly bullied, he didn't attack anyone," Hagrid said.

"Who is Aragog?" said Harry hurriedly.

"It's an Acromantula, a traveler gave it to me when it was just an egg, he was terrified when the Chamber of Secrets was opened, he just told me it was an ancient creature that all the spiders were afraid of," Hagrid said as he wiped his tears with a giant handkerchief.

Hermione quickly asked, "An ancient creature, what is it?"

Hagrid shook his head as he said, "I don't know, even though I asked countless times, Aragog never told me. And after a Ravenclaw girl was killed, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named blamed it all on Aragog."

"Hagrid, you don't mean Voldemort, do you?" said Harry as he stood up with a pale face.

The name made Hagrid visibly flinch, as if he had just come out of his own sad memories.

"What did I say, it's not something you should know, they should go back to bed immediately, don't ask any more questions, I won't tell you anything," said Hagrid sadly

They were then chased away by Hagrid, and Harry and Hermione whispered to each other as they walked.

"Hagrid said that Voldemort blamed everything on his spider, but I think it must have been Voldemort who opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago and killed Myrtle, so then Hagrid was framed, I knew it wasn't him, but who opened it this time, it can't be Voldemort, can it?" said Harry angrily

Harry suddenly thought about what happened last year, Voldemort snuck into the school to steal the philosopher's stone, but thanks to him and his friends, he stopped Voldemort.

"I don't know, maybe, like last year, Voldemort snuck into someone's head. Remember the curse that was on Ron, he must have been the one who did it," Hermane said in a shaky voice and shaking his head

"Where is he hiding and what is the monster hiding in the Chamber of Secrets?", said Harry.

Hermione tried to remember what it was, but to no avail, so she looked at Ivan and asked, "Hagrid said it was an ancient creature that spiders are afraid of, I seem to have seen similar creatures somewhere, Ivan, do you know anything?"

"That's simple, the creature hiding in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk, it's a deadly enemy of spiders," Ivan said.

Ivan had decided to give the diary to Dumbledore, it was time to finish everything.

As for the person Tom Riddle was controlling, it didn't matter who it was, as long as the Horcrux is gone, sooner or later he should be back to normal.