Hagrid! The giant who had treated him best, cared for him like a father, and brought him into the wizarding world! He... he had been the culprit behind the Chamber of Secrets incident fifty years ago?! Dumbledore... Dumbledore had actually covered for him?!
Harry felt the world spin. Malfoy's accusation, Lockhart's hint about "bloodline," the entire school's fear and rejection, the Headmaster's Office closed to him... and now, on top of it all, Hagrid might be the true culprit, while Dumbledore might have protected him?!
Every clue, every suspicion, seemed to have found a twisted, horrifying point of connection at that moment! The outline of a vast, suffocating conspiracy rose before his eyes!
"No... impossible..." Harry muttered, his voice dry and hoarse. Yet deep inside him, an icy voice demanded: Why was it impossible? Hagrid truly did love dangerous creatures. He had kept a dragon, kept Fang, the Three-Headed Dog... He could absolutely have kept another monster! Dumbledore... Dumbledore might have concealed the truth to protect him, and to protect the school's reputation? And now, the Chamber of Secrets had been opened again... Could Hagrid...
The thought made Harry go cold all over, as though he had fallen into an ice pit! He did not dare think any further, but the thought clung to him like a parasite burrowing into bone, impossible to shake! He needed an answer! An answer that could shatter every suspicion, or... confirm the worst possibility!
Where could he find answers? Dumbledore was gone, and might even have been involved in the cover-up! Severus Snape? He would only look at him with even colder eyes! Professor McGonagall? Would she believe the words of a "Parselmouth"?
Hagrid! Only Hagrid! He had to find Hagrid and ask him face-to-face! No matter how terrifying the answer might be!
That