Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 273, Section 272: The Origin of the Crown and Hagrid's Guidance

Hagrid was framed for murder. The young Voldemort pinned the blame for killing Myrtle on Hagrid, using the fact that the killer was the Octopod Spider as the conclusion of the case to prevent Hogwarts from being closed. As a result, Hagrid was sent to Azkaban and his wand was broken.

Normally, someone burdened with such a crime would never be able to have a prestigious profession like a Hogwarts professor, but who could blame them when the Basilisk attacked Harry and Dumbledore last year? Now that it has been confirmed that there is a Basilisk in the school, and Myrtle herself has testified that she was killed by the Basilisk, Hagrid's crime has naturally vanished.

No longer did he have to secretly hide the secondhand wand he bought in his little red umbrella to use spells. Instead, he could openly go to Ollivander's wand shop and buy himself a new wand. During that time, Hagrid was so happy that he drank himself into a stupor every day.

“There’s no need to say that, Hagrid,” Harry said after clinking glasses with Hagrid. “Actually, it was Professor Kettleburn who recommended you to take over his position. He said your knowledge of magical creatures was enough to teach students, and that you helped him take care of many little things every year.”

"Oh, he's so nice," Hagrid said, his emotions seemingly out of control, his eyes brimming with tears, perhaps because he was too happy.

“Whatever makes you happy, Hagrid,” Sirius said casually. “After all, you’ve become a professor now, which is something many people dream of. Now you can finally mess with your mighty little cuties.”

“Yes, I’ve received a letter from the Ministry of Magic, and from today onwards I can breed new magical creatures myself,” Hagrid’s eyes practically sparkled. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this day.”

Harry, Sirius, and Remus exchanged glances. Hagrid was still going on and on about his grand plan, but based on their understanding of Hagrid's preferences... they could only hope that he wouldn't let the students touch his furry 'little cuties'.

Every Fantastic Beast Master seems to have a fondness for dangerous magical creatures; the more dangerous they are, the more they like them.

"Wait, what's that?" Lupin suddenly said, after taking another sip of beer, towards the direction of the castle.

A pearly light shone, and before long, a ghost appeared before the group.

“You promised me, Principal Potter,” Ms. Gray said coldly.

“Yes,” Harry stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

After walking with the Ravenclaw ghost to a darker spot away from the campfire, Harry said, "So, is there something you need, ma'am?"

"I—" Lady Grey opened her mouth but stopped abruptly. Her previous aloof demeanor had completely vanished. After stammering out a few words, she lowered her head and whispered, "I heard from Dumbledore that... you obtained the Ravenclaw crown."

“Yes, it is indeed in my hands now,” Harry raised an eyebrow slightly. “He wouldn’t tell strangers about this, so… Voldemort took the crown from you?”

The only things that could trouble Dumbledore were Voldemort and his Horcruxes, and Voldemort gradually found these treasures, meaning that these treasures all had a previous owner—so, the Ravenclaw ghost was actually the original owner of the Ravenclaw tiara.
interesting.

Ravenclaw?

“It wasn’t from my hands…no, it was from me…I told him…” Denying it outright, yet denying it again, Ms. Gray looked even more dejected. Suddenly, she said, “May I see it?”

“I’m sorry, it’s not with me right now,” Harry said frankly. “It was damaged, so I sent it to a master alchemist to see if he could fix it.”

"Damaged?!" Ms. Grey exclaimed in a flash of anger after a brief moment of surprise. "How could it be damaged! It has so much protection! It's Ravenclaw's—"

“Watch your tone, madam,” Harry interrupted Lady Grey coldly. “Voldemort turned it into a Horcrux, so it must be destroyed, no matter what its significance is. That tiara that was turned into a Horcrux even orchestrated the demonic invasion of Hogwarts last year.”

“…It’s my fault.” Shaking her head sadly, Ms. Gray’s entire ghostly appearance became dejected. “It’s my fault…I told him…”

“So, Voldemort did indeed take the crown from you,” Harry concluded. “Then you have no right to accuse me or Dumbledore of anything.”

"He deceived me!!" Ms. Gray suddenly became agitated. "I've never seen anyone like him—handsome, dashing, and eloquent! And then he just vanished!!"

“That just means he’s already succeeded, so he disappeared,” Harry suddenly felt like laughing.

If we follow this line of thought, both the Hufflepuff Cup and the Ravenclaw Crown were Voldemort's ways of pretending to be kind to approach older women, using his handsome appearance to lower their guard, and then using his eloquence to win their favor, ultimately getting what he wanted.

He made his fortune by deceiving women.

Isn't Bellatrix the same?
Did Voldemort have any fanatical male followers?

Harry thought about it carefully, from Lucius to Snape to Peter... it didn't seem like there really was anyone?
Hmm, no, there seems to be another one, Crouch Jr. — Harry was thinking of Crouch Jr., who was impeached because of Sirius Black's case. He was clearly an upright and meticulous person, but his son was infected with Voldemort and even regarded him as his biological father.

It's amazing.

“My name is Helena Ravenclaw,” Ms. Grey said with a sorrowful expression. “Yes, just as you think, Ravenclaw is my mother.”

Harry raised an eyebrow.

The daughter of the founder of Hogwarts—that's a truly ancient ghost.

“…I longed to be wiser and more famous than my mother, Rowena Ravenclaw, so I stole her crown of wisdom and hid it in a hollow tree in the Albanian forest…”

Ms. Gray spoke in a low voice.

"...Barrow found me, and I refused to go back...then he killed me, and then committed suicide...we became ghosts together..."

“Voldemort defiled my mother’s crown, without a doubt,” Lady Grey said softly, gazing into Harry’s eyes. “I was furious, but I was powerless to do anything about it—thank you for destroying his Horcrux and preventing my mother’s crown from remaining defiled.”

“As the headmaster of Hogwarts, it is my duty,” Harry said calmly. “So, have you revealed any other clues about treasures to Voldemort? I suspect he has more than one Horcrux.”

“No,” Ms. Gray shook her head. “I’ve said enough… Can I ask you for a favor?”

"What?" "Get the crown back for me from that alchemist, even though it's damaged... I still want to see it again..."

“I will remember,” Harry promised.

Without saying anything more, Lady Grey floated back into the castle.

Harry was unsure whether he should show the remains of the crown to Madam Grey; he figured he'd have to discuss it with Dumbledore.

The appearance of wizard ghosts is because they cannot continue on the path after death. In other words, only wizards who are afraid of death will become ghosts, or they may have some unfulfilled strong wishes.

So the question is, will Lady Grey suddenly be filled with courage again when she sees the Ravenclaw tiara once more?

If she suddenly sees things clearly and moves on, disappearing completely from the real world, wouldn't Ravenclaw be without its own ghost?

Does Professor Flitwick eat people?

Shaking his head, Harry decided not to disturb the two elderly people's peaceful sleep and returned to the campfire.

"What's wrong? Does the Ravenclaw ghost want to see you?" Sirius asked.

“It’s nothing,” Harry said to Hagrid. “Let’s get back to what you’re saying, Hagrid. I saw the textbook you decided on.”

"The Yokai Book!" Hagrid perked up immediately at the mention of this, and said enthusiastically, "How about it? Pretty good, right? Isn't it interesting?"

Harry fell silent. He really couldn't comment on Hagrid's choice. He could only say that this book was indeed... very much in line with the style of the Magical Creatures Protection class.

"Interesting?" Sirius laughed. "The word 'textbook' is never associated with 'interesting'."

“Oh, this book is different,” Hagrid retorted. “You should have this book too, right? Harry, get it out quickly, let Sirius see it.”

"The monster books of the monsters are flying in!"

A summoning spell was cast, and a book flew out of the window of the Great Totem and landed straight in Harry's hands.

It looked almost like it was dead.

“Hey! I’ve never seen this book turned out like this!” Hagrid exclaimed in surprise. “What did you do to it, Harry!”

“I…I beat it until it stopped biting,” Harry said with a strange expression. “It was far too energetic for a textbook.”

"Biting?" Sirius Black immediately perked up, taking the textbook from Harry's hands and exclaiming, "And this—ah!!!"

Before he could finish speaking, Sirius Black was bitten—the book had only appeared to be subdued just moments before, but as soon as Sirius Black's hand reached out in front of it, or rather, in front of it, its protruding fangs snapped open and bit into his hand.

"...I can't imagine what this book will do to the students this year," Lupin said with a subtle expression. "Based on my understanding of the Hogwarts students, at least 80% of them won't be able to beat this book."

“Eighty percent?” Sirius burst into laughter. “You really should be confident, Remus! Ninety-nine percent! I dare say only outstanding students like Harry and Hermione can handle this book! Hagrid, you're a genius! Damn it, Remus! Why don't you find such an excellent book as a textbook?! That way we could hear the students' wails!”

Sirius didn't seem angry at all about being bitten; on the contrary, he couldn't stop laughing.

He really got along well with the Weasley twins; the three of them would get incredibly excited whenever they saw something that could be used to play a prank or bring a surprise.

"Looking for what?" Lupin said speechlessly, "Looking for a book to bite off the students' heads?"

"Huh? Is it that difficult?" Hagrid's expression became troubled. "You just need to stroke them, look."

As simple as putting food in one's mouth, Hagrid ran his thick index finger down the spine of the book, and the book, which had just been baring its teeth and trying to bite, immediately quieted down and lay peacefully open in Hagrid's hand.

Sirius Black clapped his hands dramatically. “It’s aggressive, yet so easy to control. It’s the perfect prank prop.”

“But it’s a textbook!” Hagrid retorted. “It’s not some kind of prank prop.”

“It’s all the same,” Sirius waved his hand. “Believe me, Hagrid, you have to teach those brats a lesson—especially those Slytherin bastards! Do you think they’ll respect you? The kind of respect you have for Professor McGonagall? The kind that won’t dare to laugh at you?”

This problem... Although Hagrid wanted to stand tall and say that he was a professor and they wouldn't dare to disrespect him, his reason told him that Sirius was right—Slytherin students did indeed look down on him, the gamekeeper, quite a bit.

"See? You know it yourself," Sirius snapped his fingers nonchalantly, "so you have to use this book to bite them hard!"

"Just a reminder, Sirius, Hogwarts banned corporal punishment of students decades ago," Lupin said with a helpless look at his friend, who was starting to get worked up.

"That's why I say Hagrid is a genius! Because this book is his textbook! Since it's a textbook, how can that be considered corporal punishment?!" Sirius Black said confidently, "Believe me, Hagrid, your current attitude is unacceptable, too weak! Those Slytherin bastards will take advantage of you when they see you acting like this. You need to be tougher! Let them know how powerful you are, let them know that you are the professor!"

"...Uh, is that so?" Hagrid looked at Harry with a puzzled expression. "Is that right?"

“In a sense, that’s true,” Harry thought for a moment and said, “Actually, your situation is similar to mine back then. I became a professor at the school as a second-year student. At that time, it wasn’t just Slytherin students who questioned me, so I first let them know how great I was, and that would shut them up.”

“Those elemental giants?” Hagrid instantly recalled what had happened in Harry’s first lesson. “Indeed, those elemental giants…were truly awe-inspiring.”

(End of this chapter)