CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention
Hogwarts at all?”
“Mighta come up,” said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remem-
ber. “Yeah . . . he asked what I did, an’ I told him I was gamekeeper
here. . . . He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I look after . . .
so I told him . . . an’ I said what I’d always really wanted was a
dragon . . . an’ then . . . I can’ remember too well, ’cause he kept
buyin’ me drinks. . . . Let’s see . . . yeah, then he said he had the
dragon egg an’ we could play cards fer it if I wanted . . . but he had
ter be sure I could handle it, he didn’ want it ter go ter any old
home. . . . So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy. . . .”
“And did he — did he seem interested in Fluffy?” Harry asked,
trying to keep his voice calm.
“Well — yeah — how many three-headed dogs d’yeh meet,
even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy’s a piece o’ cake if yeh
know how to calm him down, jus’ play him a bit o’ music an’ he’ll
go straight off ter sleep —”
Hagrid suddenly looked horrified.
“I shouldn’ta told yeh that!” he blurted out. “Forget I said it!
Hey — where’re yeh goin’?”
Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn’t speak to each other at all un-
til they came to a halt in the entrance hall, which seemed very cold
and gloomy after the grounds.
“We’ve got to go to Dumbledore,” said Harry. “Hagrid told that
stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Volde-
mort under that cloak — it must’ve been easy, once he’d got Ha-
grid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Firenze might
back us up if Bane doesn’t stop him. Where’s Dumbledore’s office?”
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