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Just as Hermione had guessed, explaining everything to Hagrid in advance and asking him to cooperate with Harry was meant to turn Hagrid into a "mouthpiece," using him to tell Harry and the others about the basilisk.
Dumbledore knew none of this, however. Vaughn had merely suggested bringing Hagrid into the plan, on the grounds that Harry would inevitably seek his help.
Dumbledore had not thought much of it. Although Vaughn had mentioned the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk to him last year, Dumbledore had never imagined that Voldemort would choose the Chamber of Secrets as the setting for his fateful showdown with Harry.
Vaughn had done this because once the plan began, there would be no time to waste. Even with his soul connection to Voldemort, Harry was completely in the dark about the whole affair.
The only information he had was false intelligence Voldemort had deliberately fed him.
If Hagrid did not lay everything out, and Harry and Hermione were left to investigate on their own, who knew how long it would take them?
"A basilisk? What's that?" Ron, who was hopeless at studying, almost instinctively looked at Hermione.
Harry was actually no different. He had never heard of basilisks either. The twins knew a little, but not in any detail.
Hermione's expression grew grave as she slowly said, "It's a very terrifying magical creature, also known as the king of serpents."
"It can grow to an enormous size and usually lives for several hundred years. Legend says it hatches from a chicken's egg incubated by a toad." "A toad hatching-a chicken's egg?" Harry felt that even in the wizarding world, that made very little sense.
"Listen to me-" Hermione shot him a glare, warning him not to interrupt, then continued, "The way a basilisk kills