“But why? What happened?” Harry asked urgently.

The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.

“I never expected this,” he said, in a low, worried voice. “I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh — but someone's gotta — yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'.”

He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.

“Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a greatmyst'ry, parts of it…”

He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, “It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows—”

“Who?”

“Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does.”

“Why not?”

“Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who 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 down?” Harry suggested.

“Nah — can't spell it. All right — Voldemort.”