world knows --”
”who? ”
”well -- i don like sayin the name if i help it. no
one does.”
”why not?”
”gulpin gargoyles, harry, people are still scared. blimey,
this is difficult. see, there ho went... bad. as
bad as you could go. worse. worse than worse. his name was...”
hagrid gulped, but no words came out.
”could you write it dested.
”nah -t spell it. all right -- vrid
shuddered. ”don make me say it again. anyway, this -- this wizard,
about twenty years ago now, started lookin fer fot em,
too -- some were afraid, some just wa o his power, cause
he was gettin himself pht. dark days, harry. didnt
k, didnt dare get friendly with strange wizards or
witches... terrible things happeakin over. course,
some stood up to him -- an he killed em. horribly. ohe
only safe places left was hogwarts. rebledores the only
one you-knoas afraid of. didnt dare try takin the school,
not jus then, anyway.
”now, yer mum an dad were as good a wit wizard as i
ever knew. head boy an girl at hogwarts in their day! suppose
the mystry is why you-kried to get em on his side
before... probably koo close ter dumbledore ter want
anythih the dark side.
”maybe he thought he could persuade em... maybe he just wanted
em outta the way. all anyone knows is, he turhe village
where you was all living, oen years ago. you was just
a year old. he came ter yer house an -- an --”
hagrid sudde a very dirty, spotted handkerchief
and blew his h a sound like a foghorn.
”sorry,” he said. ”but its that sad -- knew yer mum an dad,
an nicer people yeh t find -- anyway...”
”you-know-who killed em. an then -- an this is the real
mystry of the thio kill you, too. waer