The surrounding scenes shifted again. Sherlock saw Hagrid being taken away by the Ministry of Magic's Aurors in rapidly flashing images.
He also saw Headmaster Dippet tell a Daily Prophet reporter, "The Chamber of Secrets is just a legend. The student's death was merely an accident."
He even saw the Chief Wizard of the Wizengamot pronounce the young Hagrid guilty in court, strip him of his wizard status, and have an Auror break his wand on the spot.
After countless images flashed by, a new scene appeared.
This time, it was a rainy night.
The location was in front of a dilapidated wooden shack in a rundown town.
The young Dumbledore stood outside the shack, holding a black umbrella. Raindrops continuously fell from the sky, hitting the umbrella's surface and making a dull "thump, thump, thump" sound.
Sherlock and Dumbledore couldn't feel the torrential rain. Large raindrops passed through their bodies; for them, this entire world was illusory.
Standing beside the young Dumbledore, they could see the scene inside the wooden shack.
The shack had no door. Wind, carrying rain, blew into the house. Hagrid, wrapped in a tattered blanket and shivering from the cold, cried bitterly as he looked at the young Dumbledore.
"I... I didn't, Professor! I didn't kill that girl... it really wasn't me... it really wasn't Aragog! Not us... it wasn't us who did it..."
He curled up in the leaky wooden shack like a homeless puppy.
The young Dumbledore's face clearly showed reluctance as he asked,
"Where are your family members?"
"Mom... Mom abandoned Dad a long time ago... Dad didn't make it through this year either... he died of illness... I buried him in the forest... It's a good thing he didn't see me get expelled..."
Seeing Hagrid in this state, the young Dumbledore's gaze gradually became resolute. He said with extreme seriousness,
"You must tell me the truth, Hagrid—what was that creature you were raising at Hogwarts at the time?"
Hagrid trembled all over, his eyes clearly revealing struggle and hesitation.
He was scared. At this moment, he didn't fully trust Dumbledore. He was afraid that if Aragog was exposed, it would be killed.
"You must trust me, Hagrid!" Dumbledore's words carried force. "I can help you, but I need to know everything you've done."
Hagrid's last resistance crumbled. Just as Dumbledore said, he had to trust him. Otherwise, if things continued like this, not only would he starve to death, but Aragog might also become uncontrollable and very likely go out and harm people.
"It's an Acromantula! Aragog is a giant Acromantula!"
With Dumbledore's vast knowledge, he immediately knew what this creature was.
"Where is it now?"
Hagrid sniffled and called out,
"Aragog! Come out! Aragog!"
In the dark, rainy night, a giant spider slowly emerged from the curtain of rain and came before Dumbledore.
Its body was as massive as Hagrid's. It had eight huge eyes and could even speak human language.
"I have never harmed anyone. Hagrid treats me as his friend. I never used to harm humans, I won't now, and I never will in the future!"
Dumbledore looked at the wound on Aragog's massive abdomen, recognizing it as the one he had inflicted with a spell back at Hogwarts.
Aragog's appearance proved that Hagrid's words were true.
He was not the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets. Although Aragog, as an Acromantula, also belonged to the XXXXX dangerous classification of magical creatures, it could not, under any circumstances, kill a person without causing physical harm.
This completely contradicted the cause of death of the deceased girl.
In the rainy night, the young Dumbledore drew his wand.
Just as Hagrid looked horrified and the Acromantula Aragog went on full alert, ready to attack, Dumbledore cast a Waterproof Charm on the drenched Hagrid.
"Come with me, Hagrid. I'll find you a place to settle down."
The young Dumbledore extended his hand to Hagrid. Hagrid looked at him tremblingly, then slowly extended his own hand and grasped it.
The scene froze again.
Several brief scenes flashed by quickly afterward. The young Dumbledore brought Hagrid back to Hogwarts. Despite the opposition of almost all the professors and the silence of Headmaster Dippet, he overcame all objections and appointed him as Hogwarts' Gamekeeper.
Finally, the entire world began to shatter. Sherlock suddenly stood up, then took two steps back.
He was back in Dumbledore's Headmaster's Office. Dumbledore had already sat back in his chair and was gently sipping his still-warm black tea.
"So Hagrid is not the problem. The problem is the student who reported him—that male prefect named Tom?"
Sherlock also sat back opposite Dumbledore, asking with a frown.
Dumbledore put down his teacup and revealed Tom's identity.
"That student's full name is Tom Riddle, and he is also the future Lord Voldemort."
Sherlock's pupils constricted, and he was completely stunned.
He still remembered what Lord Voldemort looked like—a noseless old monster.
Who would have thought that the handsome and composed boy would turn into such an inhuman, ghost-like figure in the future?
"So, the Heir of Slytherin is him!"
"I traced Tom's family tree. His father was indeed just an ordinary Muggle, nothing more. But his maternal grandfather was from a surviving branch of the Slytherin family, so Salazar Slytherin's blood does flow in him."
Dumbledore's expression was grave.
"At first, I only suspected. It wasn't until he began to threaten the safety of the Wizarding World that I fully investigated and confirmed that Tom was the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets back then. It's the same now; there might be more than one Heir of Slytherin, but only Tom knows the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."
Sherlock murmured, following the information Dumbledore provided.
"But Tom himself definitely isn't at Hogwarts, so something is acting on his behalf to open the Chamber of Secrets..."
He stared at Dumbledore.
"It's still that diary! That diary is something he left behind, which is why you initially speculated that Lucius Malfoy was the one who sent it into Hogwarts! Among the Death Eaters still at large, he's the one with the closest relationship to You-Know-Who!"
Dumbledore clasped his hands on the desk and said in a deep voice,
"But Malfoy also doesn't know whose hands that diary has fallen into now."