"That's impossible!" When Harry and the others told Hagrid about Snape casting a spell on Harry during the match, Hagrid shook his head repeatedly, unable to accept it.
"Snape would never do something like that. Granted, he can be a bit... unfriendly sometimes. But he wouldn't do that."
"But I saw it with my own eyes! The way he looked-he was definitely chanting a spell!" Hermione said with absolute certainty.
"But why would he do that? Surely not just over a match? Listen to me, Snape isn't that petty." Hagrid kept shaking his head, refusing to believe them.
Harry exchanged glances with the others. At that moment, he realized Hermione had been the wise one. If even Hagrid refused to believe them, there was no hope of convincing the other professors.
After a moment's hesitation, Harry decided to reveal more. "On Halloween, we saw Snape go to that corridor on the Fourth Floor, and then his leg was injured. That Three-Headed Dog must have bitten him. We think he wants to steal whatever the Three-Headed Dog is guarding."
"How do you know about Fluffy?" Hagrid's eyes went as wide as two enormous light bulbs, his face full of disbelief.
"Fluffy?" Harry and the others stared at Hagrid in surprise, their faces filled with suspicion.
"Er... yes..." Hagrid's gaze suddenly began to wander. "I bought him from a Greek fellow. You know, magical civilization developed earlier in Greece, so they've got more of all sorts of strange things... I happened to come across him. Er, three-headed dogs are pretty rare..."
"They certainly are." Ron nodded earnestly. "But why is he in the corridor?"
"Dumbledore borrowed him from me to guard..."
"Guard what?" All four young wizards' eyes lit up. If they knew what the Three-Headed Dog was guarding, it would be much easier to work out Snape's motive.
"Never mind, never mind. Stay out of it." Hagrid seemed to come to his senses all at once and hurriedly waved his hands. "You're not supposed to know about that. It's top secret. Don't go asking questions or getting ideas, understood?"
"But Snape wants to steal it!" Harry said urgently.
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible." Hagrid shook his enormous head vigorously. "Snape is a professor at the school. He'd never do anything like that."
"If he's willing to try to kill Harry, what wouldn't he do?" Hermione disagreed. Her opinion of Snape had changed completely. In her mind, he was now a thoroughly evil man.
"He was definitely casting a curse. It says so in the book..."
"I'm telling you, you're wrong!" Hagrid interrupted Hermione rather roughly. "I don't know why Harry's broomstick behaved like that, but it definitely wasn't Snape. Snape would never do that to a student."
Seeming to realize that his tone had been too harsh, Hagrid took a deep breath before continuing:
"Listen to me, children. You're meddling in something you shouldn't be involved in at all. It's very dangerous, understand? Forget Fluffy, forget that corridor, forget all of it. That's for Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel to worry about..."
"Nicolas Flamel?" Harry immediately picked up on the words. "Is that someone's name?"
Hagrid froze for a moment, then hustled Harry and the others out of his hut. He looked furious, though he was clearly angry with himself.
Hagrid had angrily thrown Harry and the others out because he had let something slip.
But although Hagrid had let something slip, Harry and the others still had no idea what was actually going on. A word that might have been a name, which they did not even know how to spell, was of very limited help.
"Who's Nicolas Flamel?" Harry asked Hermione on their way back to the Castle. He had a vague feeling that the name sounded familiar, but even after trying to think it over, he still had no clue.
Usually, whenever Harry and the others had a question they could not answer, asking Hermione or Padma would get them an answer, especially Hermione.
This time, however, Hermione frowned and shook her head. "I didn't even hear that word Hagrid said clearly. Besides, it might not be a name, might it?"
Harry and the others nodded. Although Hagrid had sounded as though he was talking about a person, his grammar... the less said about that, the better. Even if Hagrid had said a name, his pronunciation might not have been accurate...
"Should we... ask a professor?" Neville asked cautiously. His toad was wriggling nonstop in his arms, looking particularly lively.
"No!" Hermione immediately shook her head. "The professors probably know about that thing. If we ask about it, we might attract their attention. Once that happens, word could easily reach Snape. If he finds out, he'll be more careful, and it'll be even harder for us to catch him out. Our biggest advantage right now is that he doesn't know we're already watching him."
Harry and Neville both nodded at that.
"By the way... why hasn't anyone asked me?" Ron, who had not said a word since they left Hagrid's Hut, suddenly spoke up.
"What good would asking you do?" Hermione could not help rolling her eyes. "You sleep more soundly than anyone else in History of Magic!"
Although Harry and Neville said nothing, their expressions as they looked at Ron were exactly the same as Hermione's. They were thinking the same thing too.
If even a brilliant student like Hermione did not know, how could a hopeless student like Ron possibly know?
But Ron gave a smug smile. "I might sleep through History of Magic, but I happen to know exactly who Nicolas Flamel is."
Before you continue