Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 49: Fifty Years Ago

Evan kept the diary with him at all times since there was still the threat that Tom Riddle would control the other person to take it back but he never opened it.

Thanks to Evan being cautious, there was not any attacks in the castle.

It has been four months since Justin was petrified.

Almost everyone seems to think the attacker has given up.

One day when Evan was at breakfast Evan heard Professor Sprout and several students talk about the nearly matured mandrakes.

This made people extremely happy.

Hufflepuff isn’t hiding from them anymore and Peeves has gotten bored of singing. The sales of the newspaper were picking up and people were turning their attention to the upcoming Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff Quidditch match which will determine who wins the Quidditch cup this year.

Evan saw all the third years sitting in the public lounge depressed on Easter Sunday.

“The school has asked us to choose a class for next year.”

Harry and Colin, walked in with a list of curriculums, “It looks like we have to add more lessons.”

“Professor McGonagall told us to take it seriously,” said Hermione as she looked at Harry and Ron with a deadly stare, “This will affect our future.”

“I don’t want to, but I want to give up potions,” said Harry.

“Impossible!” said Ron in a depressed tone, “If we could ditch the core classes I would have quit defence against the dark arts,”

“But that course is extremely important!” said Hermione in a surprised tone.

“With Lockhart, I haven’t learned anything,” said Ron

The students who are from wizarding families received owls from their families which told them what to choose. This made it more difficult for some students such as Neville who couldn’t decide.

As for Harry who grew up in a Muggle family, there wasn’t any advice.

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

“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 choose everything, the school didn’t say it’s not allowed, right?” said Hermione, unsure.

“Yes, but I don’t want to do that,” said Harry as he hurriedly shook his head.

“The divination class looks interesting, you should choose that,” said Evan as he went over and looked at Harry’s list, “I’m interested in it and I’d like to go over the material if you have the chance.”

“Evan’s advice is excellent since divination can help you see the future.” said Percy, after knowing that the Mandrakes will mature soon, he seemed to be back to his usual self, “What course you choose depends on what you want to do in the future.”

“People always say that it’s stupid to choose Muggle studies but I personally think wizards should have a thorough understanding of muggle society especially if they want to work closely with Muggles. For example, my father took it and he deals with Muggle related stuff. My brother Charlie likes the outdoors so he chose care of magical creatures and he now works with dragons. So, take classes that will help you in what you want to do.”

Percy’s advice didn’t make much of a difference since beyond Quidditch Harry didn’t know what he wanted to do.

“Professor McGonagall wants us to turn in our choices tomorrow, so think about it Harry,” said Hermione as she checked all the subjects, “You to Ron”

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

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

Finally, Harry and Ron chose the same classes. They thought even if the lesson is boring, they will pull through if they are together.

When they had just written down their course, they saw Hermione running in.

“I found out who was expelled from the school fifty years ago.”

Hermione then lowered her voice and said, “It was Hagrid, Hagrid opened the Chamber fifty years ago.”

“That is impossible!” said Harry hastily as he stood up.

“I wish it wasn’t him to but the evidence I found was concrete.” said Hermione, “Because I couldn’t find anything in the library I wrote to the editor of the Daily Prophet and asked for his help.”

“What did he say?”

“He sent me a newspaper from fifty years ago,” said Hermione as she took a newspaper out, “Look here, it says Hagrid was expelled from the school after a serious accident.”

“We already knew Hagrid was expelled!” said Harry unwilling to accept the truth.

“Look when it was reported, Harry,” said Hermione, “There was the article that reported Myrtle’s death and shortly after comes this article about Hagrid being expelled.”

“Maybe there isn’t a connection between the two,” said Harry distressed.

“But after Hagrid was expelled the attacks stopped!” sighed Hermione, “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 slugs,” said Harry while raising his voice, “Hermione, Hagrid would never intentionally kill anyone!”

“He certainly would not but what about the creatures he keeps” hesitated Hermione, “Hagrid likes to keep dangerous creatures and he thinks they’re all marvellous. Think about the three-headed dog and the dragon. We should go ask Hagrid about these things?”

“That would be a pleasant visit. Hello, Hagrid, have you recently put any horrifying thing in the castle?”

“That’s not funny, Ron, I think…”

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

The four people were silent, the atmosphere tense and for a while, no one spoke.