A few minutes later, Albert appeared near the hunting lodge. Hagrid, who was pouring food from the pot into Fang's bowl, heard the approaching footsteps, looked up in the direction of the sound, greeted Albert with a smile, and invited him in for tea.
"Hagrid, do you know what happened in the castle last night?" Albert asked straight to the point.
"What's the matter?" Hagrid picked up the big teapot, poured Albert a cup of amber tea, and brought a large plate of homemade rock cakes and placed them in front of Albert.
"Filch's cat was petrified?" Albert looked up and carefully observed the changes in Hagrid's expression.
"Who did it?" Hagrid asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The heir of Slytherin." Albert put down his teacup, stared at Hagrid and said, "That guy also left a note on the wall: The Chamber of Secrets is Opened. Those who are enemies of the heir, be alert."
Hagrid was stunned when he heard this, and the expression on his face became a little complicated, as if he was recalling some unpleasant past events.
"Hagrid, how much do you know about Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets?" Albert took a sip from his teacup, stared at Hagrid with sharp eyes, and reminded him: "Don't rush to deny it. Your expression tells me that you know about this."
Hagrid was silent. He absentmindedly picked up a piece of rock cake, threw it into his mouth and started chewing it. He seemed not to want to talk about it.
"The heir of Slytherin will release the monster in the Chamber of Secrets to attack the Muggle wizards in the school." Seeing that Hagrid was unwilling to talk, Albert said to himself: "Filch's cat was just a sacrifice used by the heir of Slytherin to announce his return. Next, there will definitely be other Muggle wizards who will be attacked, and I may be the next one."
In fact, Albert was not lying, because last night, he found two more panel tasks with rich rewards on his task board:
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
The heir of Slytherin has targeted you, and the attack from the monster in the Chamber of Secrets will threaten your life. You have successfully escaped a fatal attack.
Reward: 10,000 experience points, 2 skill points.
Wrong decision
It seems that the heir of Slytherin is not going to let you go. In this case, let him know that targeting you is the stupidest decision he has ever made in his life. Use any means to find the heir of Slytherin and make him pay for his stupidity.
Reward: 10,000 experience points and gain a designated skill.
A specific skill.
This is the most valuable mission reward Albert has ever encountered. He has always wanted to get the Special Contribution Award just for this mission reward.
This means that he can use this reward to directly master the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, or skip the tedious process to master Animagus... There is a lot of room for maneuver.
"We must find that damn Slytherin heir as soon as possible and put an end to this farce." Albert said righteously, as if he was shrouded in a layer of holy light.
"Well, the Chamber of Secrets was opened about fifty years ago. At that time, there were many attacks on Hogwarts and the school was almost closed because of it." Hagrid said hoarsely: "At that time, the professors searched the entire castle thoroughly, but still couldn't find the so-called Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets."
"Hagrid, how old are you?" Albert asked suddenly.
"Sixty-four, what's wrong?" Hagrid didn't understand why Albert suddenly asked about his age.
"I remember you seemed to be expelled from school, right?" Albert narrowed his eyes and continued to ask.
The expression on Hagrid's face turned ugly, and he obviously realized why Albert asked him his age.
"It wasn't me, it really wasn't me, and it wasn't Aragog either. It didn't kill anyone, Aragog didn't kill anyone." Hagrid was a little excited, and his tone was a little higher. "At that time, they said that Aragog was the so-called monster in the Chamber of Secrets, and they even fired me for it."
"Of course I know it wasn't you." Albert slowed down his tone, trying to calm Hagrid's excitement. "The Acromantula can't petrify Filch's cat."
"But, you don't know, at that time no one was willing to believe it. Only Dumbledore believed that I was innocent." Hagrid's eyes were a little red, as if he had suffered great injustice.
"Tell me what you know!" Albert calmed Hagrid down and used words to induce him to tell him about your situation. "Don't refuse Hagrid. If this matter is not resolved quickly, you will be in trouble too."
Hagrid was a little confused and obviously didn't understand why Albert said he would be in trouble.
"The cat is just a sign. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is still roaming around the castle and will definitely continue to attack the Muggle wizards in the castle." Albert looked into Hagrid's eyes and reminded him, "If people can't find the murderer, who do you think they will suspect first?"
"But, Dumbledore..."
"I know Dumbledore won't suspect you, but it's useless." Albert pointed this out grimly. "If the attacks continue, the Ministry of Magic will find a scapegoat, and you will definitely be suspected, or even thrown into Azkaban. Then, the Ministry of Magic will be able to tell others that they have caught the murderer."
After hearing what Albert said, Hagrid was stunned.
"Don't doubt my words, Hagrid. Politics is such a dirty thing. Even though they know it's useless to do so, you will definitely suffer with them."
"How could they do this?" he muttered.
"Of course they could have done that, otherwise you wouldn't have been fired that year." Albert sneered, "Although I don't know what happened that year, it's not hard to guess the general situation. You must have kept the eight-eyed giant spider in the castle, and it was discovered, and you let it run away, right!"
"But why do you..."
"Why would you take this so seriously?" Albert finished speaking for Hagrid. "Don't forget Hagrid. I'm a Muggle wizard, and I have a great reputation in the school. To the Slytherin heir who hates Muggle wizards, I am the guy he hates the most. It's not an exaggeration to describe me as a thorn in his side. This was destined from the beginning. To be honest, if I were him, the first person I would attack would naturally be me, the guy he hates. At the very least, I would definitely be the first on the Slytherin heir's 'purification list'."
"For my own safety, I must strike first." Albert said confidently. He was so concerned that he even violated his principle of keeping a low profile at the beginning. It was not just for the mission and experience, but also because he could not escape from the beginning. Sometimes being too famous can also cause troubles.
Therefore, Albert planned to trigger as many panel tasks as possible, get more tasks and rewards, and then with the help of Dumbledore, completely clean up Tom Riddle's diary.
He will never give up on a specific skill.
For Albert, over 10,000 experience points or one or two skill points are not as important as specific skills.
"Okay." Hagrid hesitated for a moment and began to talk about the past. "It was probably when I was in my third year. Well, that was fifty years ago, around this time, there were many serious Muggle attacks at Hogwarts, and everyone was saying that Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets had been reopened. Later, someone died, and someone exposed me, saying that I was the murderer. I was regarded as the murderer by everyone and was expelled from school."
"Who revealed that you were the murderer?" Albert asked
"It seems to be Tom." Hagrid said at last, "Tom Riddle, that's right."
"I see. Probably because of this incident, Tom Riddle won the Special Contribution Award." Albert nodded. Noticing Hagrid's puzzled look, he explained casually, "I've seen this name in the trophy display room on the fourth floor."
"Oh." Perhaps the mention of this name made Hagrid feel even worse.
"What kind of person is Tom Riddle?" Albert suddenly asked again, "Is he a student of Slytherin College?"
"How do you know?" Hagrid was a little curious about how Albert knew.
"Are there any other clues?" Albert continued, "Do you know any monster that can petrify cats?"
"I don't know," Hagrid shook his head, "But Aragog may know. It seems to be very afraid of the monster in the castle, and even begged me to let it leave the castle more than once. At that time, I also asked Aragog many times, but it never told me what Slytherin's monster was."
"Well, the scope has been narrowed down a lot. There aren't many creatures that can scare the Acromantula."
"Do you know what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is?" Hagrid couldn't help asking.
"I don't know, but it's not difficult to find out. I just need to check what natural enemies the Acromantula has, and then I can probably guess what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is." Albert took notes quickly and took the time to explain to Hagrid.
“You’re amazing.”
Hagrid stared at Albert in amazement, and it took him a long time to utter these words.
"Are there any other clues?" Albert thought for a while and asked, "Who died at that time?"
"I don't remember," Hagrid tried to recall, then shook his head and said, "It seems to be a Muggle girl from Ravenclaw."
"Where did she die?" Albert continued.
"The good news is in a bathroom," said Hagrid. "What did you find?"
"If it is the natural enemy of the Acromantula, it means that the monster is very large. Otherwise, how could it be the natural enemy of those big spiders?" Albert pushed his gold-rimmed eye sockets and analyzed: "A monster like that cannot blatantly wander around the corridor."
"You have a point." Hagrid nodded, thinking that Albert was very capable. If the professors at Hogwarts at that time had some of Albert's ability, perhaps he would not have been unjustly expelled.
"Hagrid, I'm going to go back first." Albert finished his tea and walked to the door, then turned back to Hagrid and said, "If anyone asks you about this, don't tell them, especially Harry Potter, their mouths are not reliable. Well, if you want to talk, you can go to Dumbledore and tell him about our conversation today. Although it may not have any effect, the headmaster will definitely think about it carefully. I think it should not be difficult for him to guess what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is. I have to go to the library first."
"You'll catch him, won't you!"
"Of course, I will find that damn Slytherin heir, and help you clear the grievances and restore your reputation." Albert nodded and said.
As he left Hagrid's hut, the quest panel was triggered again.
"Almost done." Albert muttered as he looked at the new task. "But I really have to be careful this time. When I succeed, I don't know how much I can get out of that diary."