"Well, Harry, it's clear that Rigel only wanted to get close to you." Ron said. "There are only two options, either he wants to use you, or kill you! Don't you think, Hagrid?"
The trio were walking from the school towards Hagrid's house, the man seemed rather silent ever since Harry explained what was happening.
"Well, it's difficult to say, you can't simply judge a person by their parents..." Hagrid said, feeling a little conflicted inside.
Ron looked at the giant strangely, but it was Harry who saw that something seemed amiss.
"Hagrid, what are you talking about? He's clearly a Death Eater! I bet Draco asked him to join Gryffindor and act as a spy!" Ron began to chatter, but it was Harry, who was looking at the elusive Hagrid, who seemed to have some thought.
"You knew!" Harry pointed, his eyes wide. "You knew his parents were Death Eaters, didn't you?! You also knew Sirius Black was responsible for my parents' deaths!"
Hagrid trembled all over, his gigantic body shrinking, although to the two boys, it didn't seem to make any real difference.
"I can't believe it!" Ron said, also shocked.
"Well, look, boys, as I said, you can't judge someone by what they didn't choose to be." Hagrid, being a half-giant, knew all too well what it was like to be judged by his birth. "Besides, all the professors know, even some of the older students probably know, and... well, I shouldn't have said that."
Harry and Ron's eyes widened, of course, now everything made sense, he was the only one on the outside all along!
Of course, Ron couldn't be counted on, Harry didn't feel like thinking about his friend at that moment.
"And why didn't you tell me?!" Harry asked angrily.
Hagrid stopped, let out a long sigh, looked at the two of them over his beard, feeling a little awkward. He hadn't wanted to be having this conversation, in fact, he thought Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall would have been better options, but at this point, seeing Harry's hurt look, Hagrid wasn't thinking that far ahead anymore.
Hagrid bent down, kneeling on one knee, so he could speak to Harry more closely, although this still didn't help much.
"Harry, it's not easy to talk about this, you know?" Hagrid began, thankfully, though hurt, Harry was still listening. "Talking about it wouldn't make you happy, it would only make you sad. Nobody wants to be the one to deliver this kind of news, and even more so, nobody wants to hurt you, so we don't talk about it."
Harry, though angry, still had his head on straight, years of suffering abuse at the hands of the Dursley family had given Harry patience and resilience, so even now he wasn't completely furious.
Harry understood their point of view, if he were in their shoes, he wouldn't have been the one to talk about it either, but that didn't make it any less bitter now.
"Besides, even if Rigel hasn't spoken about it, he might not even know about these things. He was just a baby when all this happened, not unlike you. I won't stop you from hating him, Harry, but I wish you could be the kind of person who judges a person for who they are, not what people say about them." Hagrid raised his large hand and gave Harry a heavy tap on the shoulder, almost making him fall.
However, Harry didn't mind. Thinking about what Hagrid had said, he began to wonder if he had exaggerated. Well, he didn't choose to lose his parents at birth or to be the boy who survived, he couldn't choose those things. Had he been too harsh on Rigel?
Furthermore, Rigel himself also lost his parents, although they didn't die, they spent their lives in prison...
Even Ron, standing beside him, didn't say anything, not because he didn't want to, he still disagreed with Hagrid's logic, in his opinion, a snake father has a snake son. Even so, he knew it wasn't the time to speak.
Hagrid gave a soft grumble, letting out a heavy sigh and rubbing Harry's head one last time before standing up and walking away. He didn't go very far, shouting over his shoulder. "So, do you still want cake and tea?!"
Harry awoke from his reverie, looking at the figure emerging from Hagrid's hut, and for a moment, he thought of those rock-hard cakes and couldn't help but chuckle, remembering the time he'd gone to Hagrid's hut with the boys, Rigel was there too.
He remembered that it seemed Rigel hadn't approached him deliberately, and he began to feel increasingly certain that he had overreacted.
"I still think he's a snake,. Ron murmured softly, but tactfully enough to keep it to himself.
Harry didn't mind, turned to Ron and smiled, it wasn't a full smile, it seemed a bit forced, but at least Harry's mood wasn't so bad anymore.
"Come on, we have to be quick and get Hagrid's cakes soaking in the tea as soon as possible, or else we'll need to stop by Madam Pomfrey to get new teeth when we get back." Harry joked lightly.
Ron laughed, agreeing with him, indeed, those things could be used as weapons, just hearing Hagrid chewing sounded like they were hearing him chew rocks.
The two quickly ran after Hagrid, although the weight hadn't completely passed, at the very least, Harry no longer thought Rigel was evil, although he still would have appreciated it if Rigel had told him sooner.
Even so, thinking about it more deeply, Harry wasn't sure if he could remain friends with Rigel knowing this, Rigel would have ended up the same way as Hermione in the end, right?
Well, Harry decided he would settle this with Rigel the next time he saw him.
[A/N: So, there was no conversation about Snape trying to kill Harry, that was on purpose, because Hermione never saw Snape's counter-spell. Since the little girl was focused on Rigel the whole time, even when Harry's broom started malfunctioning, she didn't immediately look for the culprit, although she guessed it was someone jinxing Harry's broom, but before she could even look, Rigel acted, so the conversation with Hagrid didn't involve Snape. In the end, because of that, Hagrid didn't mention Nicholas Flamel, so that clue died there for now.]