Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 168, Section 167: The Secret and the Sensation Fifty Years Ago – The Students
“They can’t be students forever, and this wonderful time only lasts for seven years,” Harry shook his head and said. “Those seventh-year students will become social wizards on the day they graduate, but are they really prepared to face all the rules of wizarding society? Do they have the ability?”

“From the day they become shamans, as long as they don’t give up, they will eventually walk a path that is completely different from others,” Harry said. “No one is willing to be ordinary, and having the power to protect themselves and their families is something many people dream of.”

"Compared to those who died tragically at Voldemort's hands—well, not just Voldemort, there are too many unexpected things in life—compared to those who can only passively accept their fate, they have already had a very precious opportunity to become strong—you won't deny that, will you?"

“…I don’t deny it,” Dumbledore nodded, “it was indeed their opportunity.”

For this centenarian, the era he grew up in was far more brutal than the present day. Based on his experience and the various aspects of human nature he witnessed, no one could understand Harry's words better than him.

“Protect them, Harry,” Dumbledore said, no longer insisting, “but if they want to give up—”

“If becoming a strong person requires being forced by others, then such a person is better off not wasting my life,” Harry interrupted Dumbledore with a cold laugh.

“That’s good,” Dumbledore nodded.

It was already very late at night, and Dumbledore yawned widely. Such an all-night activity was quite strenuous for an old man like him. The huge bonfire was still burning, but after the ceremony, the centaurs gradually dispersed and returned to their homeland below.

Unlike when they sent the apprentices away before, Harry and Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts using the Phoenix Force.

They even arrived first, so they had to wait at the door for the apprentices to fly back.

Seeing Fawkes expertly rummaging through Harry's pocket for herbs, Dumbledore was immediately exasperated—the man and the bird were clearly very familiar with each other.

You should know that Fox is a very reserved phoenix. It doesn't show any enthusiasm towards strangers, well, even when facing some people it already knows. It's rather indifferent.

But now... when you think of Fawkes rolling his eyes at you every now and then, and then look at Harry stroking Fawkes's beautiful feathers and constantly taking out fresh herb leaves from his pocket to feed him—it seems like Harry is more like Fawkes's owner.

"Ahem," Dumbledore coughed deliberately, and after noticing that the person and bird beside him did not react, he coughed louder, "Ahem, Harry, speaking of which, about the eight-eyed spider... well, I suggest you talk to Hagrid."

"Hagrid?" Harry paused, then asked, "Why?"

How come Hagrid is involved here?

Then, in the next second, Harry thought of Hagrid's unique and unusual aesthetic sense, as well as his furry little hobbies.

"Wait a minute, those eight-eyed spiders in the Forbidden Forest—could they be Hagrid's pets?!" Harry exclaimed, dumbfounded. "They're his pets?!"

In an instant, fragmented information flashed through Harry's mind: the centaur's words, the stories Hagrid had told him when he was drunk—he knew that Hagrid had also attended Hogwarts decades ago, but was expelled for committing a crime, and even had his wand broken. Fortunately, he was taken in by Dumbledore and was able to get a job as a gamekeeper.

However, when Harry asked Hagrid what he had done wrong, the burly man stammered and evaded the question... To be honest, this kind of behavior was quite rare for Hagrid, after all, he had a unique skill in keeping secrets.

This was the only thing that Hagrid instinctively resisted saying, even when he was drunk.

Harry was such an understanding person, so he didn't press Hagrid for details since Hagrid was in a difficult situation.

As a result, now——

"...The centaur tribes in the Forbidden Forest all hate the Eight-Eyed Spider to death," Harry said with a subtle expression. "According to Triton, every year several centaurs accidentally die tragically in the mouth of the Eight-Eyed Spider—does Hagrid know about this?"

“Well…we all know Hagrid has many friends,” Dumbledore said after a moment of silence, “and among his friends…”

“Hagrid doesn’t have any centaur friends.” As Hagrid’s good friend and drinking buddy, Harry could give a definite answer. He shook his head and said, “Never mind, let’s talk about what happened back then.”

“I think so too,” Dumbledore readily agreed, and continued, “Remember our conversation last year? The one about the Sorting Ceremony?”

“I remember,” Harry nodded, “that we used ritual magic to protect the young wizards during their time at Hogwarts by retracing the path the four founders took to find it.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Dumbledore said leisurely. “I remember very clearly that you asked me about Myrtle.”

"The ghost of a student?" Harry realized something. "I even asked you why students were dying despite the protection of ritual magic. Hmm... you mean Hagrid is involved?"

“Yes,” Dumbledore nodded, “but as you think, at least in the matter of Myrtle’s death, Hagrid is innocent.”

“I believe him,” Harry said without hesitation.

“I’m glad you have a true and trustworthy friend, Harry. I must say you haven’t made a mistake in trusting him,” Dumbledore said with a smile. “Let’s get back to the story of Moaning Myrtle. If you’ve read the book ‘Hogwarts: A History of the School,’ you should know about the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin.”

“I remember,” Harry recalled. “According to that book, Saracha Slytherin wanted Hogwarts to only admit pure-blood wizards, but the other three founders disagreed, so he eventually left the school. But legend has it that Slytherin built a secret room in the castle, where a monster that only his successor could control was hidden—you mean that monster killed Myrtle?”

“I don’t know,” Dumbledore said very frankly. “It’s just a legend. A thousand years have passed, and no one has ever found that secret room.”

"So what's your guess?"

“The magic of the ritual will ensure that the young wizards will not die in the castle before graduation, but what if the source of the harm is the castle itself?” Dumbledore said softly. “If it is indeed a monster left behind by the founder of Slytherin that murdered Myrtle, does that mean that a part of the castle murdered the students, which is why the magic of the ritual had no effect? ​​Of course, this is just my guess.”

These are things that the Dumbledore of the past would never have said to Harry, because no matter how powerful or mature Harry was at that time, he was still a student of Hogwarts.

But it is different now.

Professor Potter should play the role of Professor Potter.

“I think it’s very likely,” Harry was more inclined to this explanation, and he continued, “Then how did Hagrid get involved?”

The records in the library about this matter are very vague; Harry only knows that a student died many years ago.

“You need to know this, Harry, in a small wizarding society, the death of a junior wizard is enough to cause a sensation,” Dumbledore sighed. “Back then, it caused such a huge uproar that Hogwarts was even forced to close.”

"Wait a minute," Harry couldn't help but say, "No—never mind, you can continue."

Hogwarts is going to be closed just because one student died?
What about places like Dalaran where apprentices die so easily?
There's no such thing as learning magic without taking risks.

"What happened next was quite simple. Just as Hogwarts was about to close, a student stepped forward. He bravely found and exposed the monster that killed Myrtle, thus preventing the ancient school from closing and earning a special award for his contribution," Dumbledore said calmly.

"The monster he discovered is called the Eight-Eyed Giant Spider, and you should be familiar with that student's name—Tom Riddle."

Voldemort. "...Okay." Upon hearing this name, Harry rubbed his face vigorously before looking up and saying, "This name says it all, so Hagrid was expelled because of this?"

There was no need for even a moment's hesitation; the fact that Dumbledore specifically brought it up, and with such a name, made the matter quite clear.

“I have no intention of exonerating Hagrid. After all, keeping an octopus as a pet is a serious crime under wizarding law,” Dumbledore said, shaking his head slightly. “Similarly, releasing an octopus into the Forbidden Forest, resulting in the deaths of many magical creatures, is also a serious crime. These are facts. But one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that Myrtle did not die from the venom of the octopus. Her body is the evidence.”

"So Hagrid will still be fired?"

"The Ministry of Magic needs to quell this matter as soon as possible. Nobody wants Hogwarts to actually close down, and under this pressure, the Ministry of Magic has selectively ignored some... evidence," Dumbledore said with a deep gaze. "The end result is that Hagrid took all the blame, and Hogwarts doesn't have to be closed."

“I see,” Harry said softly. “So this is the relationship between Hagrid and the Eight-Eyed Spider.”

“Oh, they are good friends,” Dumbledore said cheerfully. “Aragog—that’s the name of the eight-eyed spider. It grew up well under Hagrid’s care, and after becoming the gamekeeper, Hagrid later sent Aragog another eight-eyed spider as its mate. If I remember correctly, its name is Mossag.”

“…A deadly friend, huh?” Harry sighed, somewhat speechless.

It is clear that, fifty years later, even Hagrid can no longer control those eight-eyed giant spiders.

Tonight, using his vision spell, Ha could see clearly that after their failed attack on the centaurs and subsequent escape, the Aragog's offspring had turned their attention to the group of apprentices.

They don't care about friendship, they just crave fresh...meat.

"In any case, you'd better go and talk to Hagrid before you start your dangerous homework," Dumbledore said casually. "He's a good man, isn't he? At least he's loyal to his friends."

“Yes, I will,” Harry nodded. He understood what Dumbledore meant; it was a reminder to be mindful of Hagrid’s feelings—unless he wanted to lose his friend.

After all, no matter what Aragog had done outside, it was still Hagrid's friend.

“By the way, Harry,” Dumbledore suddenly said, “since we have a new way of searching compared to fifty years ago—if you don’t mind, could you help me find the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin?”

“As the headmaster of Hogwarts, the presence of a deadly force lurking within the castle does indeed make me very worried about the safety of the students. Well, as is your custom, you can treat this as a commissioned task. Once you complete the task, I will give you the appropriate reward.”

“Of course, no problem,” Harry said seriously. “As a professor at Hogwarts, it is my duty to protect the safety of my students.”

"That would be perfect."

He didn't wait any longer. Staying up all night until dawn was too strenuous for Dumbledore, an elderly man, comparable to dusting Harry's trunk. After reminding Harry about Hagrid's situation, Dumbledore ran off as fast as he could; he needed to get some sleep.

Before long, the wind elemental carrying the apprentices returned to the open space in front of the castle. For these young children, flying back to the castle on a giant wind elemental was something to be remembered and boasted about.

Unfortunately, it was too dark tonight, and apart from the wind blowing across their faces, they couldn't see much else from the back of the wind elemental.

Harry successfully led the excited yet sleepy apprentices into the castle. After instructing them to return to their dormitories to rest as soon as possible, Harry summoned the elements in an open area near the cliff of the castle.

Although it was a task recently assigned by Dumbledore, Professor Potter dared not take it lightly because it concerned the safety of the students, after all, a student had indeed died fifty years ago.

It's a good thing to finish the task early.

Harry called upon the elements within the castle, asking them for information related to the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin—but to no avail.

From the elementals' perspective, the only difference between the spaces in this castle is their size; in other words, they have no idea what the Chamber of Secrets is, let alone who Slytherin is.

When Harry expanded his search to include rooms that were unknown and hadn't been entered in a long time, or rooms that were difficult to access, he was told by the Elements that such rooms were everywhere in Hogwarts, and some of them could even change size on their own.

As for rooms that are normally difficult to access, well, they're everywhere too.

Ultimately, they are beings completely different from humans. Many things appear one way to the elements, but look completely different to humans.

And it's hard to understand.

As for things that happened before that, especially when Harry locked the timeline back fifty years, the Elements knew absolutely nothing about it; they were sound asleep fifty years ago.

With no other option, Harry could only ask the elementals to keep an eye out for any creatures in the castle that looked different from humans. After that, he sent the elemental spirits away—things were a bit more complicated than he had anticipated, and he would figure out a solution later.

And now, I'm sleeping.

....................................

On Friday, all the students at Hogwarts knew that the second-stage students of the Shamanism class had a trial that evening. It was called the second stage because it was the only course that divided students into three stages, and each stage had many students from different years.

Driven by curiosity about the new course content, the other students were eager to know what their trial would entail—but unfortunately, it wasn't until the afternoon of the following day that those who had participated in the trial finally caught up on their sleep and appeared before the others.

This time it wasn't just Ron; Harry didn't forbid them from sharing the classroom content.

Everyone! Even Penelope, the usually mature and composed Ravenclaw prefect, was surrounded by a large crowd, constantly recounting their experiences from the previous night—the reason for the constant recounting was that people kept coming closer, so they had to tell the story over and over again.

Making your own torch and traversing most of the Forbidden Forest at night, encountering an attack by eight-eyed spiders and the rescue by centaurs, the centaur rituals, and the burning campfire...

Before long, almost everyone knew what the shamanic apprentices had been doing the night before.

There was always someone who wanted to hear it again, and Ron was more than happy to tell it again—by ​​the time Harry returned to the castle from Hagrid's hut, the apprentices' great adventure of the previous night had gone through at least ten versions.

From barely surviving the attack of the eight-eyed giant spider at the beginning, it has evolved into the apprentices wielding elemental weapons to fight the eight-eyed giant spider. The ground is littered with the corpses of spiders and charred trees, and even the Forbidden Forest has been wiped out.

Led by several boys, almost everyone has their own version of the story, and the protagonist in each story is also different. In their stories, they are the ones who turn the tide after the appearance of the eight-eyed giant spider and hold out until the centaur comes to their rescue.

But in reality, Bane and Ronan only happened to encounter the apprentices during a normal battle to avenge the eight-eyed giant spider; they had not originally planned to participate in the ritual last night.

Well, that's just how boys are.

(End of this chapter)