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30 August 1942
Rubeus Hagrid's point of view
When the food trolley arrived everyone bought something. I bought 4 chocolate cauldrons and 3 packets of bertie botts beans in all flavours and 3 packets of chocolate frogs. When I sat down I looked at the 4 of them who were looking at me with surprise and I laughed.
'Don't look at me like that, I'm bigger than all of you so I need to eat more than all of you.'
The four shook their heads like cuckoos. I was eating Bertie Botts' beans of all flavours when suddenly Faye jumped out of my pocket, grabbed a couple of beans and started eating them quickly as if I was going to take them away from her.
I looked up to see the four of them staring at me in astonishment Anna Bones - she looked like the description of Susan Bones in the books. Dark red hair, prominent cheekbones, and maybe because she had started Hogwarts late because of the earlier maturity of girls or because of her birthday, she was already developing an hourglass figure - she was the first one to get out of the daze.
And she started to speak quickly.
'Is that a Bowtruckle? I thought it was forbidden to bring any animals to school except the ones in the letter.'
Rubeus said, 'Yes, it is a bowtruckle and it is allowed to bring other animals if the head of the house allows it. Professor Dumbledore told me it was okay to bring it in.'
Fawley 'cool, but you have to be careful bowtruckles are still grade xx magical creatures and I've heard they like to gouge people's eyes out. If it hurts someone you could get in trouble.'
Rubeus said, 'No need to worry, bowtruckles are quite docile unless the trees they were born in or themselves are threatened. The tree he was born in is quite far from Hogwarts and no one in Hogwarts threatens him.'
Carrow looked at me once more and said, 'Well, you're right about that. I don't think anyone at school would deliberately want to bother you.'
Just then Faye began to spit out the last of the beans she had eaten and tried to clean her tongue and mouth with her claws, as if she wanted to get the taste out of her mouth.
Seeing this state of Faye, Crouch let out a laugh.
Crouch said, 'I wonder what flavoured beans came in and caused such a reaction. Besides, I thought bowtruckles could only feed on wood lice and other insects, not beans.'
Rubeus said, 'Faye has eaten a lot of things that other bowtruckles don't eat and nothing has happened. I'm going to go and ask Professor Kettleburn tomorrow, though. I hope it's not hurting her.'
We continued to pass the time talking about next year's lessons, quidditch, etc. A few hours later, as it started to get dark, a prefect came round and told us that we were approaching Hogsmeade station and that we should start changing.
After a while
Sitting under the enchanted ceiling of the great hall, which was enchanted to look like the sky, I was impatiently waiting for the queue to end and for us to start eating. At that moment Professor Dumbledore walked in with a group of first year students behind him. There were about 100 students. Either this world was different from the original story or Voldemort and the Death Eaters had done more damage to magical Britain than I remembered from the Harry Potter series. When I thought of Riddle, I looked at the Slytherin table and saw him there. I didn't know what to expect, but when I saw how different magical Britain was from the books and films, I hoped for a moment that I wouldn't see him there, but there he was, the future Lord Voldemort, Tom Marvalo Riddle. He was sitting with his friends, or should I say followers. He was chatting with a smile on his face.
I turned my head thoughtfully to the area where the line-up was being made. I wondered if there was anyone I remembered from the films and books. In the end, no one you recognised was listed. When the queue was over, Principal Dippet stood up, cleared his throat and started to speak.
'Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. I'm sure everyone is very hungry now, but I have to say a few words before we start eating.' After pausing for a moment and smiling slightly, he continued speaking.
'Firstly, it is forbidden to enter the Forbidden Forest at the end of the school yard for any reason whatsoever. Secondly, it is forbidden to leave the school grounds for any reason whatsoever, except when necessary and authorised. I also have to inform you that biting boomerangs have been added to the list of items that are forbidden to be used in the school, a full list can be found in janitor Arnold's office.' A few people chuckled. I don't think a single person at Hogwarts had looked at the list, but Dippet ignored the giggles and continued. 'Due to the war going on outside, every owl mail that comes into the school must be examined. That's all for now. Now that everyone is hungry enough, dig in.' With the command, the food appeared on the tables and everyone started to eat. When I looked up from my plate, I saw the Gryffindor table silent and some of the younger classes looking at me in fear. 'What am I, a growing boy?'
I heard one of the upperclassmen muttering quietly, 'I'll never get used to this view. I swear this kid has a black hole in his stomach.'
After lunch was over, Principal Dippet stood up again. 'Now that everyone has finished eating, let's sing the school song.'
Unlike in the books, everyone sang in a certain rhythm, not in the rhythm they wanted. I think Dumbledore changed it when he became headmaster.
'Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogwarts, we've come to you, Take us in your arms, Our heads are empty inside, Tell me, what's so nice about it? With hair, without hair, Let our heads be full of knowledge. Let us learn interesting things, Let us improve inch by inch. We'll always work tirelessly, We'll get used to spells. May our hopes never be dashed, What dawns before the day dawns.'
After the song was over, I walked past the prefects as they were trying to get the first years in line and headed towards the stairs. After climbing the Gryffindor tower, I headed towards the portrait.
'Password please?'
'The Lion's courage' After I said the password told to us by the prefects at lunch, I entered the common room through the portrait hole. It looked bigger than in the books. But when I thought about it, it made sense. Because of the undetectable extension spell, space was not a problem for wizards, and magical Britain seemed bigger and more crowded than it was described in books and films. I didn't wait long in the common room and headed for my room in the boys' dormitory. No-one had wanted to room with me because I was half giant and Hagrid had told everyone that in his first year. Apparently they were afraid I would kill them in their sleep at night. The magical world and their bigoted tendencies!!! Hagrid was quite upset at the time. But I had never been a very sociable person and it was more profitable to have my own personal room at Hogwarts. When I entered my room, which hadn't changed in the past two years, I saw that my trunk and belongings were already in place. After taking off my robes and uniform and putting on my pyjamas, I sat on my bed and started meditating. Since I was going to have classes during the day, I decided to practice occlumency at night before I went to sleep.
After I finished studying occlumency, I went to bed to sleep, but I couldn't fall asleep. Seeing Riddle at the feast today reminded me of some things I've been avoiding for a long time. Things like what I'm doing this year and a 1000-year-old basilisk. I couldn't just go to the headmaster and tell him that Tom was going to release the basilisk. It would raise too many questions, like how did I know that? Questions that I can't answer without revealing that I'm reincarnated and that I know the future, and I don't know what will happen to me if I reveal them. It's quite possible to be torn apart in the circle of mysteries. Tom was the best student in the school, loved by all the professors except Dumbledore, and I couldn't accuse him without solid evidence. The only thing I could do in this situation was to show what I knew thanks to my knowledge of the future after a few people were petrified, as if I had found it myself. Besides, no one was going to die until the end of the year. I don't think it was just luck. I think the basilisk was fighting Tom. I mean, what are the chances of anyone petrified by chance seeing the basilisk's eyes on a shiny surface? Besides, the basilisk hadn't attacked a student for 1000 years until Tom arrived. He was not the first Gaunt to come to the school in the past. In fact, according to what I read in a history of Hogwarts, the Gaunt family did the plumbing of the school. So they knew where the room was. It means that they could easily enter the school and unleash the monster in the room before they went crazy due to excessive incest and fell out of favour. All this leads us to the conclusion that the purpose of the basilisk is not to kill all muggle and muggle-borns. At the same time, we know that high-level magical creatures are intelligent, the simplest of which is the Aragod, which can speak and communicate with humans in films and books.
So I came to the conclusion that the basilisk was clever and that he was up against Tom Riddle. While I was deep in thought, I fell asleep before I even realised what had happened.