"None of your business!" Hagrid's face immediately darkened. His huge hand swung violently as he barked, "Stay away from me!"
Then he strode toward his little wooden hut in great steps.
Even running, Snape could hardly keep up with his pace.
"Hey, Hagrid!" Snape called after him, "What's going on?"
Bang!
Hagrid slammed the door shut with a crash.
Now this was troublesome.
Snape stood frowning where he was. He knew he wasn't Harry,Hagrid would never easily reveal the truth of the past to him.
But he had not expected Hagrid's reaction to be so violent, not even giving him the slightest chance to talk.
As for doing what Patrick had suggested,asking the staff or the ordinary ghosts,he doubted he would get anything useful. Surely Dumbledore had long since instructed those in the know to keep it secret.
Did he really have to go straight into the girls' bathroom on the second floor?
But he had no legitimate reason to seek out Moaning Myrtle directly.
He would have to first obtain some seemingly reasonable information before he could approach that poor girl.
Otherwise, with Dumbledore's sharpness and wisdom, there was no way he could talk his way past him.
It seemed he would have to take a risk and push hard.
Knock, knock, knock!
Snape walked up to Hagrid's hut and pounded firmly on the door.
"Hagrid! Don't just hide in there in silence. If you had the guts to cause that girl's death, how come you don't have the guts to open the door? Open up!"
A few seconds later, the door burst open.
Snape found himself staring straight into the end of a giant crossbow that Hagrid was aiming at him.
"No, I didn't! Aragog would never kill anyone!" Hagrid roared, eyes bloodshot.
"Aragog? Is that the spider mentioned in the Daily Prophet?"
Snape stepped forward and pushed the crossbow aside with his hand.
"Hey, don't try to scare me, Hagrid. You wouldn't harm anyone."
Hagrid lowered the weapon, but his eyes still glared fiercely, his tangled beard trembling with his heavy breathing.
"So I was right,the one expelled from Hogwarts thirty-three years ago was you?
"Let's talk inside."
Hagrid was silent for a moment, then stepped aside to let Snape in.
The hut was a single room. Hams and pheasants hung from the ceiling. A large bed stood in the corner, covered with a patchwork quilt. Against the back wall leaned Hagrid's pink umbrella.
Snape sat down at the hut's only large wooden table.
"Patrick told me a few things about you. Could I have a taste of your rock cakes?"
Hagrid gave a heavy snort through his nose.
At last, he pulled a large tray of rock cakes from a cupboard and thumped it down in front of Snape.
Snape quickly regretted it. The rock cake nearly broke his teeth, but he forced himself to look as if he liked it.
He put down the half-gnawed cake, checked quickly to be sure none of his teeth were stuck in it, and said:
"Hagrid, I believe you weren't the culprit of that incident.
"If you had been, I doubt Dumbledore would have let you stay on at Hogwarts. I was only throwing out guesses earlier so that I could get the chance to talk with you.
"Since you're still here, then what happened must have another explanation."
Snape pulled several folded copies of the Daily Prophet from his robes.
"Here, look." He slid the newspapers across the table toward Hagrid. "These are the reports from back then."
Hagrid shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
"Could you tell me the story of Aragog?" Snape asked.
"I can't tell you," Hagrid said flatly. "I won't say anything."
"Then let me venture into speculation and conjecture."
Snape straightened up, locking eyes with Hagrid's beetle-black ones.
"In 1943, a series of attacks struck Hogwarts. A girl was killed, and panic spread everywhere.
"Tom Riddle discovered that you were keeping a giant spider in the castle, and believed it,Aragog,had killed the girl."
"No... Aragog didn't..." Hagrid's face, in the places not hidden by his hair, turned paper-white.
Ignoring his protests, Snape went on:
"Whatever the truth, the attacks stopped after that.
"Riddle received the 'Special Award for Services to the School,' while the supposed culprit-" Snape fixed Hagrid with a sharp look, "you were expelled, and your wand was broken. Am I right?"
Sweat beaded on Hagrid's forehead. His beetle-like eyes were wide with panic.
"Now, can we talk?"
Hagrid gave a stiff nod, his face expressionless.
"If Aragog wasn't the killer, then what do you know?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
"What?"
"I asked Aragog many times, but he wouldn't say.
"He only told me that there was an ancient creature roaming the school that he feared above all else. But no matter what, he refused to say the name of that terrifying being."
Snape tapped his fingers lightly on the table. He was close to the answer he wanted.
"What do you know about Riddle?"
"He was brilliant,always top of every subject, and he became Head Boy."
"And afterward? A man that brilliant?"
"I don't know." Hagrid shook his head. "After he left school, I never heard anything more about him."
It seemed Hagrid knew almost nothing about Riddle.
"Then about that poor girl,what do you know?"
Hagrid hesitated, unsure whether to reveal anything about her.
"Come on, look," Snape said again, leaning forward to spread the newspaper in front of him. "If the true culprit still roams free, how can she rest in peace in the other world?"
"She didn't go to the other world," Hagrid muttered hoarsely. "She's still in the castle."
"What do you mean?" Snape asked, feigning surprise.
"Moaning Myrtle. That dead girl. They found her body in the bathroom. She came back."
"You mean the ghost that's always crying in the girls' bathroom?"
"Yes." Hagrid hunched his shoulders awkwardly, his voice dropping to almost nothing.
"Thank you, Hagrid. This information helps me a lot," Snape said. "I swear I won't tell anyone but Dumbledore about your part in this. Of course, I expect he already knows.
"Besides, out of personal interest, I'll find a way to uncover the truth of what happened back then. And if possible, someday I'll clear your name."
Snape stood and made for the door.
He walked back toward the castle through the deepening twilight, the lamplight in the windows flickering in the fresh evening air.
Later, as long as he found a time when no one was around to meet Myrtle, he could openly discover the entrance to the Chamber,the tap engraved with the little serpent.
For now, he had no way to get inside. But it was progress nonetheless.