How should I put this... Hearing Hagrid's words, Harry and the others fell silent for a second. It was classic Hagrid—reckless as hell—but it really was a little too much.
Still, if it hadn't been for Hagrid's big mouth, they never would've learned about the Sorcerer's Stone in the first place, so Harry kept quiet.
Hagrid, who'd finally connected every dot, looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He might be simple, but he wasn't stupid. A lot of things didn't hold up under scrutiny—he just hadn't put the pieces together until now.
Knowing the mysterious figure had revived on Quirrell, and that Quirrell had been after the Stone the whole time, even Hagrid finally saw the truth.
It had to be the cloaked stranger in the Hog's Head that night—Quirrell himself, or one of the Dark Lord's other lackeys. The whole point was to get Quirrell past Fluffy and into that room.
Hagrid raked his fingers through his wild hair, groaning. "It's all my fault. I never should've trusted that guy. If I hadn't told that scumbag about Fluffy's weakness, he never would've—"
"I'm an idiot. I've let Dumbledore down. If You-Know-Who really comes back, it'll be all because of me.
I deserve to get expelled and live the rest of my life as a Muggle."
He looked like he was about to cry.
"Easy, Hagrid," Harry said gently. "Nothing's happened yet. We can still stop him."
"Trust Dumbledore," Harry added. "He'll handle everything."
Watching Harry's confident face, Tom got a weird feeling. That old bee might already be hiding somewhere.
It was just a hunch, but to be safe, he cut in:
[Hold on. First, let's make sure Draco and the others actually reached Dumbledore. And remember—we only told them there was trouble in the forest. The real danger is inside the castle.]
"Then what are we waiting for?" Hagrid said. "Let's head back right now!"
He started sprinting toward the castle, but Harry grabbed his arm before he'd gone two steps.
"Hang on, Hagrid. With Tom here, we don't need to run."
Harry pulled the bewildered half-giant over to Tom. "Tom, if you wouldn't mind."
Tom looked at the whole group—especially Hagrid—and his mouth twitched.
You really trust me with this, huh? Good thing his teleport wasn't actual space magic, or hauling a half-giant plus everyone else would've been impossible.
[Fine. Close your eyes.]
He didn't wait for a reaction. Tom reached out, yanked a black curtain across their vision, then gave another tug—like swapping a theater backdrop. The scenery behind them instantly changed to Hogwarts Castle.
Harry and the others were used to Tom's teleporting, so they barely blinked. Hagrid, on the other hand, stood there stunned.
Wait, was this even possible? A first-year teleporting inside Hogwarts with this many people? In Hagrid's mind, only Dumbledore could pull that off.
Before he could ask, Hermione and Draco came hurrying over, looking a little panicked.
"Whew—we couldn't find the Headmaster," Hermione said, catching her breath. "He wasn't in his office."
She glanced around uneasily. "You guys okay? What about the unicorn? And—wait, why is Hagrid here too? Did you drive off the intruder?"
"It's like this, but—" Harry started, his face grim. He wasn't sure where to begin.
"Here's what happened," Hannah jumped in and gave them the quick version in a few short sentences.
"Wait—you're saying Quirrell's so-called 'master' is You-Know-Who? And he's literally on the back of Quirrell's head?! And he's doing all this just to steal the Sorcerer's Stone so he can keep clinging to life?"
Hermione stayed relatively calm, but Draco looked completely floored.
Unlike Ron and the others, his father had been a Death Eater—one of the important ones. So Draco had always held a certain admiration for Voldemort.
Hearing that the once-terrifying Dark Lord was now reduced to latching onto the back of a professor's head hit him hard.
"I'll go with you to the fourth floor!" Draco said after a brief pause. He needed to see for himself whether it was really that bad.
"Great!" Harry replied without hesitation. He still trusted this friend he'd gotten to know over the past few weeks. Draco could be a tsundere, but deep down he was solid.
Ariana gave Draco a thoughtful look. She could sense his emotions were complicated, but there was no hint of betrayal, so she kept quiet.
If Tom trusted him, then Draco was probably worth trusting.
Tom had no objections either. He was a little worried Voldemort might try to sway Draco, but with himself around to keep things in check, even a betrayal wouldn't cause much trouble. Worst case, it'd be a good early lesson for Harry about how treacherous people could be.
Ron—the one who might've complained—had already been through life-and-death stuff with Draco earlier, so he didn't object. Just like that, Draco officially became part of the group.
"Wait, no way!" Hagrid finally realized what they were planning. "The fourth-floor restricted area is guarded by a bunch of professors working together. It's way too dangerous—I won't let you first-years run off into something like that by yourselves!
Since Professor Dumbledore isn't here, we'll go tell Professor McGonagall. As Deputy Headmistress, she'll handle it!"
"Hagrid, trust us," Harry cut in. "And if you can't trust us, trust Tom."
"Don't forget," Harry added, "Tom can teleport us anywhere in the castle. If things get dicey, he can whisk us out in a second."
"But—"
Hagrid tried to argue, but Ron interrupted him. "Hagrid, you wouldn't want people saying You-Know-Who came back because of you, would you?"