"Something personal—"
Sure enough, the moment Amosta said those words, the three youngsters in front of him immediately grew tense. Hermione desperately signaled to Harry with her eyes, while Ron uneasily stared at his own toes. Their reactions made Harry, who had been determined to get to the bottom of this, hesitate.
Interesting. What exactly did these three youngsters want to find out from me?
Amosta studied the three of them with great interest.
"You three seem very curious about why I visited Hagrid?"
"That's right, Professor Breen—"
Harry carefully controlled his tone, trying not to sound too suspicious. "Hagrid is our best friend, and you're an Investigator..."
Harry stammered, unable to continue.
Amosta nodded in understanding.
"You're worried that the Chamber of Secrets incident might be connected to Hagrid, so you thought I went to investigate him?"
Harry's face turned a little pale, while Ron's cheeks flushed. Hermione fell silent for a moment, then fluttered her eyelashes and broke the awkward silence in a light tone.
"Sorry, Professor Breen. I already told them both they were just speculating wildly. Hagrid is Headmaster Dumbledore's most trusted gamekeeper. He couldn't possibly have anything to do with Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, could he?"
Amosta lowered his eyes and smiled. Miss Granger, you're still some thirty years too inexperienced to play hard to get in front of me.
After a brief moment of thought, he neither confirmed nor denied it. He merely smiled at the three of them and said mildly,
"Actually, pure theory and practice alone cannot prepare you to deal proficiently with dangers that may descend at any time. So, in accordance with the tradition of Defence Against the Dark Arts, I believe it is necessary for you to encounter some genuinely dangerous creatures."
Seeing Hermione and the other two listening