Chapter 49: Fifty Years Ago

Ivan kept the diary with him at all times as there was still the threat of Tom Riddle controlling someone else to steal the diary while he was away.

Thanks to Ivan's caution, there was no attack on the castle.

It had been four months since Justin had been petrified.

Almost everyone seemed to think that the attacker had given up.

One day, when Ivan was eating breakfast, he overheard Professor Sprout and several students talking about the almost ripe mandrakes.

This news made people extremely happy.

The Hufflepuffs were no longer hiding from them and Peeves had grown bored of singing. Newspaper sales were increasing and people were turning their attention to the upcoming Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff Quidditch match that would determine who would win the Quidditch cup this year.

In this atmosphere, Ivan was very surprised when he saw all the second years sitting in the common room on Easter Day with sad faces.

Harry explained to Ivan and Colin, who had just entered the common room, with a class list full of marks in their hands, "The school has asked us to choose a class for next year. It looks like we need to add more lessons."

"Professor McGonagall told us to take it seriously, so you have to choose carefully, as this will affect our future," Hermione said as she looked at Harry and Ron seriously.

"I don't know, but I want to drop Potions class," Harry said.

"Impossible! If we could drop the core classes, I would have given up Defense Against the Dark Arts a long time ago," said Ron in a depressed tone

"But that course is extremely important," said Hermione in surprise.

"With Lockhart, I've learned nothing, except that you don't release goblins from a cage," said Ron.

Children who had grown up in wizarding families had asked their families for advice through the owls, for example Neville, who was sitting on the sidelines, had received many letters from relatives, which made the decision even harder for him, and he had to nervously ask people if they thought arithmetic divination was harder to learn than ancient magical texts.

As for those who, like Harry, had grown up in a Muggle home, there was no one to offer him advice.

In the end, he closed his eyes and pointed randomly with his wand to choose a class.

"You can't do that, Harry!" said Hermione as she hurriedly stopped him.

"Do you have any good ideas?" asked Harry with a frown.

"We can pick anything, the school didn't say it's not allowed, did they?" said Hermione, unsure.

"Yes, but I wouldn't do it. Hermione that's not the right idea for me," Harry said as he shook his head hurriedly.

"The Divination class sounds interesting, you should choose it. I'm interested in it and would like to go over the material if you get the chance."," Ivan said as he looked at Harry's list.

"Ivan's advice is excellent as divination can help you see the future, remember, the course you choose depends on what you want to do in the future," said Percy, after learning that the Mandrakes will be maturing soon, he seemed to be back to his usual self.

After thinking about it for a moment, Percy said, "People always say it's stupid to choose Muggle studies, but I personally believe that wizards should have a thorough knowledge of Muggle society, especially if they want to work closely with Muggles. For example, my father took it and deals with Muggle-related things. My brother Charlie likes the outdoors so he chose to care for magical creatures and now works with dragons. So take classes that will help you in what you want to do."

Percy's advice didn't help much, as Harry couldn't think of any strengths other than Quidditch.

"Professor McGonagall wants us to hand in our decisions tomorrow, so think it through Harry. And you too Ron, you're responsible for your own future," Hermione said as she went through all the subjects.

"You sound like my mother!" said Ron as he wrinkled his nose.

That night, Ivan, Harry and Ron sat in front of the fire and discussed each class.

Finally, Harry and Ron chose the same classes. They figured that even if the lesson was boring, they would get through it if they were together.

When they finished signing off on the subjects they had chosen, they saw Hermione rush in, saying, "I found out who was expelled from school 50 years ago."

Hermione lowered her voice and said excitedly, "It was Hagrid, Hagrid opened the Chamber fifty years ago."

"That's impossible!" said Harry hastily as he stood up.

"I wish it wasn't him, but the evidence I found was concrete, since I couldn't find anything in the library, I wrote to the editor of The Prophet newspaper and asked him for help," said Hermione

"What did he say?" asked Harry

"He sent me a newspaper from fifty years ago. Look, it says here that Hagrid was expelled from school after a serious accident," said Hermione as she pulled out a newspaper,

"We already knew Hagrid had been expelled," Harry said unwilling to accept the truth.

"Look when it was reported, Harry, There was an article reporting Myrtle's death and shortly after comes this article about Hagrid's expulsion," said Hermione

"Maybe there isn't a connection between the two," Harry said in anguish.

Hermione sighed and said, "But after Hagrid's expulsion, the attacks stopped, what would be serious enough to expel a student from school? Think about it, the last time we met Hagrid in Knockturn Alley."

"He was just buying potions to get rid of the slugs, Hermione, Hagrid would never kill anyone intentionally!" said Harry as he raised his voice

Hermione said hesitantly, "He certainly wouldn't, but what about the creatures he keeps, Hagrid likes to keep dangerous creatures and he thinks they are all amazing. Think of the three headed dog and the dragon, should we go and ask Hagrid about these things?"

Ron said sarcastically, "That would be a nice visit, `Hello Hagrid, have you put anything horrible in the castle recently?"'

Hermione looked offended and said, "That's not funny, Ron, I think..."

"No, Hermione! Hagrid must be innocent, I believe in him," Harry said stubbornly.

The four of them fell silent, the atmosphere was awkward. For a long time, no one said anything.