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"You shouldn't let them get away with it," said Harry, taking another sip from one of the buckets Hagrid called teacups.

"Not much I can do really," said Hagrid.

Harry knew lazy. He knew the kinds of people in bureaucracies like the Muggle school administration, and the kind of lazy they were. It was different to his lazy, and usually pretty stupid.

"Well," he said after taking a moment to think about it. "You start by writing a letter to the place that deals with animal control."

"You mean the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures? Why would I do that?"

"To license the Basilisk as your pet," said Harry. "When they demand proof of ownership, you won't be able to give them what they want because you can't open the Chamber. They'll deny you, and you can use that to argue with the other department, the one that locked you up, as proof that you had nothing to do with opening the Chamber all those years ago."

"You reckon that'll work?"

"Can't see why not. If anybody asks, you can point them towards the bureaucrats to get their answers. The way those places work, nobody will ever get a straight answer out of them, and Beardy is pretty sure to back you up, right?"

"Great man, Dumbledore," confirmed Hagrid solemnly.

"I'll take your word for it. Anyway, just make sure to go get a new wand, because it's no good trying to fix a broken one – trust me, I've tried a few and none of them worked out well at all."

Hagrid frowned in concentration, the stirrings of hope in his heart as another idea sprung to mind.

"And if they do let me register, I'll be allowed to keep it!" he said excitedly.

Harry managed not to slap a hand to his forehead.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7330591/4/