"Probably one of Hagrid's monsters," Cedric said. "I mean, he did tell you to follow the spiders, didn't he. They'll probably lead you to Aragog."
"So he's a giant spider," Hermione said.
"Oh, I hope not," Cedric said, looking at Harry. "It Aragog's the spider from the memory, he'll be a lot bigger, and, as an acromantula, he'll most likely be carnivorous."
"Great," Harry said.
Summer was creeping over the grounds around the castle; sky and lake alike turned periwinkle blue and flowers large as cabbages burst into bloom in the greenhouses. But with no Hagrid visible from the castle windows, striding the grounds with Fang at his heels, the scene didn't look right to Harry;
"Hagrid's a part of Hogwarts," Hermione said. "It would look strange not to see him."
no better, in fact, than the inside of the castle, where things were so horribly wrong.
Harry and Ron had tried to visit Hermione,
"But we're not allowed to," Harry said, frowning.
but visitors were now barred from the hospital wing.
"We're taking no more chances," Madam Pomfrey told them severely through a crack in the hospital door. "No, I'm sorry, there's every chance the attacker might come back to finish these people off ..."
"Can a petrified person actually be hurt?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know, but I'd rather not test it out either," Cedric said.
With Dumbledore gone, fear had spread as never before, so that the sun warming the castle walls outside seemed to stop at the mullioned windows. There was barely a face to be seen in the school that didn't look worried and tense, and any laughter that rang through the corridors sounded shrill and unnatural and was quickly stifled.
"That's going to be strange," Cedric said. "People are usually happy, smiling and laughing."
Harry constantly repeated Dumbledore's final words to himself. 'I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me ... Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.' But what good were these words? Who exactly were they supposed to ask for help, when everyone was just as confused and scared as they were?
"I don't think it's supposed to actually be someone in the school," Cedric said. "In fact, I get the feeling that it's not someone at all."
Hagrid's hint about the spiders was far easier to understand –
"Why couldn't Dumbledore's be that easy?" Harry asked.
the trouble was, there didn't seem to be a single spider left in the castle to follow.
"Of course, that might be a problem," Hermione said.
Harry looked everywhere he went, helped (rather reluctantly) by Ron. They were hampered, of course, by the fact that they weren't allowed to wander off on their own, but had to move around the castle in a pack with the other Gryffindors.
"That would be very annoying," Hermione said.
Most of their fellow students seemed glad that they were being shepherded from class to class by teachers,
"Less chance of anyone else being petrified," Cedric said.
but Harry found it very irksome.
"Of course you would," Luna said. "It stops you from looking for clues, after all."
One person, however, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere of terror and suspicion.
"I doubt any of us will get it wrong if we had to guess," Cedric said.
Draco Malfoy was strutting around the school as though he had just been appointed Head Boy. Harry didn't realise what he was so pleased about until the Potions lesson about a fortnight after Dumbledore and Hagrid had left, when, sitting right behind Malfoy, Harry overheard him gloating to Crabbe and Goyle.
"My guess is that he's so pleased that Dumbledore's gone, and that his father had something to do with it," Hermione said. "It's just too bad for him that, should something else happen, Dumbledore will probably be asked back. And I wonder what'll happen if the other governors say that he did threaten them in some way or another."
"I always thought Father might be the one who got rid of Dumbledore," he said, not troubling to keep his voice down. "I told you he thinks Dumbledore's the worst Headmaster the school's ever we'll get a decent Headmaster now. Someone who won't want the Chamber of Secrets closed."
"I can honestly say that the Ministry and others won't allow someone like that to take over, unless the ministry itself was taken over as well," Cedric said.
"McGonagall won't last long, she's only filling in .."[/]b
"Actually, considering that she'll become head of the school when Dumbledore actually does retire, she probably will last," Cedric said. "Usually the deputy head will become head, though there has been rare cases when that doesn't happen."
[b]Snape swept past Harry, making no comment about Hermione's empty seat and cauldron.
"Sir," said Malfoy loudly. "Sir, why don't you apply for the Headmaster's job?"
"Oh, god, no," Harry said. "He'd be the worse headmaster ever."
"True," Hermione said. "I would imagine that things would become worse than they already are. The only thing I think he would do right is close the Chamber."
"Which would be the opposite of what Malfoy wants and the whole reason why he wants Snape to be headmaster anyways," Cedric said.
"Now, now, Malfoy," said Snape, though he couldn't suppress a thin-lipped smile. "Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended by the governors. I dare say he'll be back with us soon enough."
"Yeah, right," said Malfoy, smirking.
"I think he expects his father to do something that'll keep Dumbledore away forever," Hermione said.
"That'll probably backfire on him, though," Luna said. "Dumbledore's to popular for Malfoy to get it from being suspended to thrown out of the job."
"I expect you'd have Father's vote, sir, if you wanted to apply for the job. I'll tell Father you're the best teacher here, sir ..."
"I'm sure the other governors have heard otherwise. Not all of them would be stupid enough to believe that," Cedric said.
Snape smirked as he swept off around the dungeon, fortunately not spotting Seamus Finnigan, who was pretending to vomit into his cauldron.
"Yeah, I'm sure that he would've been mad to see that happening," Cedric said.
"I'm quite surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by now," Malfoy went on. "Bet you five Galleons the next one dies. Pity it wasn't Granger ..."
Gonna kill him was the thought running through almost everyone's head in the room. Hermione just shook her head at him, wondering just how messed up his parents were to think it was acceptable for him to wish death on someone because of their heritage.
The bell rang at that moment, which was lucky; at Malfoy's last words, Ron had leapt off his stool, and in the scramble to collect bags and books, his attempts to reach Malfoy went unnoticed.
"Don't let him; I'd rather he not get in trouble," Hermione said. "Especially considering which teacher is in the room."
"Let me at him," Ron growled, as Harry and Dean hung onto his arms. "I don't care, I don't need my wand, I'm going to kill him with my bare hands –"
"Hurry up, I've got to take you all to Herbology," barked Snape over the class's heads, and off they went, crocodile fashion, with Harry, Ron and Dean bringing up the rear, Ron still trying to get loose.
"Yeah, I don't think it would do anyone any good to let him loose," Luna said.
It was only safe to let go of him when Snape had seen them out of the castle, and they were making their way across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses.
The Herbology class was very subdued; there were now two missing from their number, Justin and Hermione.
"Which means that you're going to have two others joining your group," Hermione said.
"I get the feeling that we know who at least one of those people are," Cedric said.
Professor Sprout set them all to work pruning the Abyssinian Shrivelfigs. Harry went to tip an armful of withered stalks onto the compost heap and found himself face to face with Ernie Macmillan. Ernie took a deep breath and said, very formally, "I just want to say, Harry, that I'm sorry I ever suspected you. I know you'd never attack Hermione Granger, and I apologise for all the stuff I said. We're all in the same boat now, and, well –"
"Well, at least he realized his mistake," Harry said.
"He should have at least thought to check before making accusations, though," Hermione said.
He held out a pudgy hand, and Harry shook it.
"You're rather forgiving, aren't you?" Hermione said. "I mean, in the previous book, you basically forgave the whole school when they turned on you for losing points, and now you forget Ernie for lying about you, despite the fact that it should have been obvious from the beginning that it wasn't you."
Ernie and his friend Hannah came to work at the same Shrivelfig as Harry and Ron.
"That Draco Malfoy character," said Ernie, breaking off dead twigs, "he seems very pleased about all this, doesn't he? D'you know, I think he might be Slytherin's heir."
"I think he just wants to blame someone," Luna said. "And Malfoy is now the target because of how he seems."
"That's clever of you," said Ron, who didn't seem to have forgiven Ernie as readily as Harry.
"If I were him, I'd probably be that way, but I kind of already explained the way that Ernie was probably thinking, so I think you forgiving him is a good thing," Cedric said.
"Do you think it's Malfoy, Harry?" Ernie asked.
"No," said Harry, so firmly that Ernie and Hannah stared.
"You might want to give some sort of explanation for that," Hermione said. "I mean, obviously you can't tell them how you really know this, but you can make up a reason for it, such as he wouldn't be able to keep it a secret and even more people would be petrified if it was him."
A second later, Harry spotted something that made him hit Ron over the hand with his pruning shears.
"That's going to hurt him," Luna said.
"Ouch! What're you –"
Harry was pointing at the ground a few feet away. Several large spiders were scurrying across the earth.
"I can see why you wanted to get his attention, then," Hermione said.
"Oh, yeah," said Ron, trying, and failing, to look pleased.
"He was probably hoping that you would never have to do Hagrid's advice," Cedric said.
"But we can't follow them now ..."
"He's probably hoping that we won't be able to," Harry said.
Ernie and Hannah were listening curiously.
Harry watched the spiders running away.
"Looks like they're heading for the Forbidden Forest ..."
And Ron looked even unhappier about that.
"I get the feeling that we'll be heading in there again," Harry said, frowning
At the end of the lesson Professor Sprout escorted the class to their Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. Harry and Ron lagged behind the others so they could talk out of earshot.
"You'll have to talk quietly," Hermione said.
"We'll have to use the Invisibility Cloak again," Harry told Ron. "We can take Fang with us. He's used to going into the Forest with Hagrid, he might be some help."
"Did you forget that he's also a coward?" Hermione said, a slight grin on her face.
"I think I did," Harry said.
"Right," said Ron, who was twirling his wand nervously in his fingers.
"Oh, please put the wand away," Cedric said, worried that there might be some kind of 'accident' if he wasn't careful.
"Er – aren't there – aren't there supposed to be werewolves in the Forest?" he added,
"Unless it is the night of a full moon -" Cedric started to say.
"There can't be any werewolves in the forest," Hermione finished.
"I would think that he would remember that," Luna said.
"Well, in his defense, we might not know if it'll be a full moon or not," Harry said.
as they took their usual places at the back of Lockhart's classroom.
Preferring not to answer that question, Harry said, "There are good things in there, too. The centaurs are all right, and the unicorns."
Ron had never been into the Forbidden Forest before. Harry had entered it only once, and had hoped never to do so again.
"Which, of course, is not what's happening," Harry said, sighing.
Lockhart bounded into the room and the class stared at him. Every other teacher in the place was looking grimmer than usual, but Lockhart appeared nothing short of buoyant.
"If he's happy because Hagrid and Dumbledore aren't there, I'm going to be so mad," Hermione said.
"Come now,' he cried, beaming around him, "why all these long faces?"
People swapped exasperated looks,
"His attitude must really be bothering people," Hermione said.
but nobody answered.
"Don't you people realise," said Lockhart, speaking slowly, as though they were all a bit dim,
"It's probably a good thing I'm not there, then," Hermione said. "I would probably be extremely insulted if I heard that."
"the danger has passed! The culprit has been taken away."
"Says who?" Hermione said.
"I wonder what he'll say if someone else gets petrified," Harry said.
"Says who?" said Dean Thomas loudly.
"I think Dean must care for Hagrid, too," Hermione said
"My dear young man, the Minister of Magic wouldn't have taken Hagrid if he hadn't been one hundred per cent sure that he was guilty," said Lockhart,
"Apparently, he would," Hermione said.
"I have to wonder what he'll do when Hagrid is proven innocent," Harry said.
"Probably try and say that he knew it all along," Luna said.
in the tone of someone explaining that one and one made two.
"Can someone hit him," Cedric said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, yes he would," said Ron, even more loudly than Dean.
"We would know," Harry said, "though, we can't exactly say that, not without getting in trouble."
"I flatter myself I know a touch more about Hagrid's arrest than you do, Mr. Weasley," said Lockhart in a self-satisfied tone.
"Ron should say that it's not true, and cite his father, who could easily know," Hermione said.
Ron started to say that he didn't think so, somehow, but stopped in mid-sentence when Harry kicked him hard under the desk.
"We weren't there, remember?" Harry muttered.
"So long as he doesn't mention something that he's not supposed to know – and since Lockhart's an idiot, that's going to be the fact that you were there. And by that, I mean saying to him that you guys were there when it happened," Cedric said.
But Lockhart's disgusting cheeriness, his hints that he had always thought Hagrid was no good, his confidence that the whole business was now at an end, irritated Harry so much that he yearned to throw Gadding with Ghouls right in Lockhart's stupid face.
"Do it. You might get lucky and knock a few of his teeth loose," Luna said.
Instead he contented himself with scrawling a note to Ron: 'Let's do it tonight.'
Ron read the message, swallowed hard and looked sideways at the empty seat usually filled by Hermione. The sight seemed to stiffen his resolve, and he nodded.
"He's going to face his greatest fear for me? That's nice," Hermione said, a small smile on her face. It was nice that he was willing to do that for a friend, despite their arguments.
The Gryffindor common room was always very crowded these days, because from six o'clock onwards, the Gryffindors had nowhere else to go. They also had plenty to talk about, with the result that the common room often didn't empty until past midnight.
"So it'll be about one by the time you guys leave. Do you think that's very safe to do?" Hermione said.
Harry went to get the Invisibility Cloak out of his trunk right after dinner, and spent the evening sitting on it, waiting for the room to clear. Fred and George challenged Harry and Ron to a few games of Exploding Snap and Ginny sat watching them, very subdued in Hermione's usual chair.
"I wonder if the guilt over what she's done is getting to her," Luna mused.
Harry and Ron kept losing on purpose, trying to finish the games quickly,
"I think you should at least win one or two," Cedric said. "You could be making Fred and George suspicious with those attempts, and they could be keeping the game going because of it."
but even so, it was well past midnight when Fred, George and Ginny finally went to bed.
"Lovely," Harry said.
Harry and Ron waited for the distant sounds of two dormitory doors closing before seizing the Cloak, throwing it over themselves, and climbing through the portrait hole.
"You'd better hope that the portrait doesn't notice this and keep track of it," Hermione said. "We don't know exactly just how many of the teachers know about your cloak, after all."
It was another difficult journey through the castle, dodging all the teachers. At last they reached the Entrance Hall, slid back the lock on the oak front doors, squeezed between them, trying to stop any creaking, and stepped out into the moonlit grounds.
"Okay, if it was after midnight when they went to bed, add two more minutes to whatever time that was, and you've got when you left the common room. Then, you add the most likely twenty to twenty-five minutes of going through the castle, and it's most likely one thirty or two in the morning by the time you get to the grounds," Hermione said. "You guys are probably going to be tired the next morning."
" 'Course," said Ron abruptly, as they strode across the black grass, "we might get to the Forest and find there's nothing to follow. Those spiders might not've been going there at all. I know it looked like they were moving in that sort of general direction, but ..."
"He really doesn't want to go into that forest, does he," Hermione said.
"No, he doesn't," Luna said. "And I don't really blame him."
His voice tailed away hopefully.
They reached Hagrid's house, sad and sorry-looking with its blank windows. When Harry pushed the door open, Fang went mad with joy at the sight of them.
"He's missed you," Hermione said, a smile on her face.
Worried he might wake everyone at the castle with his deep, booming barks, they hastily fed him treacle fudge from a tin on the mantelpiece, which glued his teeth together.
"So it doesn't just happen to you," Hermione said.
"Hagrid's food isn't edible to anyone other than himself, it seems," Cedric said.
Harry left the Invisibility Cloak on Hagrid's table. There would be no need for it in the pitch-dark Forest.
"I wouldn't actually say that," Luna said. "You just might need it."
"C'mon, Fang, we're going for a walk," said Harry, patting his leg,
"He's probably going to enjoy that," Hermione said. "I doubt that he's been given a lot of exercise since Hagrid's been gone."
and Fang bounded happily out of the house behind them, dashed to the edge of the Forest and lifted his leg against a large sycamore tree.
"He must have to go," Luna said.
Harry took out his wand, murmured, "Lumos!" and a tiny light appeared at the end of it, just enough to let them watch the path for signs of spiders.
"Good thinking," Cedric said. "It'll make sure you don't trip on anything."
"Let's hope that Ron doesn't attempt to do the same thing," Hermione said. "His wand would probably blow up or something, alerting people to your location."
"Good thinking," said Ron. "I'd light mine too, but you know – it'd probably blow up or something ..."
"Seems like he realizes that himself," Harry said.
Harry tapped Ron on the shoulder, pointing at the grass. Two solitary spiders were hurrying away from the wandlight into the shade of the trees.
"Ron is just going to love that," Hermione said.
"OK," Ron sighed, as though resigned to the worst,
"He's kind of got the right idea," Cedric said. "I mean, do you remember Fluffy. It he's sending you after a pet of his, it's best to assume the worse about it."
"I'm ready. Let's go."
So, with Fang scampering around them, sniffing tree roots and leaves, they entered the Forest. By the glow of Harry's wand, they followed the steady trickle of spiders moving along the path. They walked for about twenty minutes, not speaking, listening hard for noises other than breaking twigs and rustling leaves.
"Smart. Don't want anything to creep up onto you, after all," Cedric said.
Then, when the trees had become thicker than ever, so that the stars overhead were no longer visible, and Harry's wand shone alone in the sea of dark, they saw their spider guides leaving the path.
"I wonder if those spiders knew that they were being followed," Hermione said.
"It's possible. I mean, they could probably feel Harry and Ron's footfalls through the ground," Luna said.
Harry paused, trying to see where the spiders were going, but everything outside his little sphere of light was pitch black. He had never been this deep into the Forest before. He could vividly remember Hagrid advising him not to leave the Forest path last time he'd been in here.
"But he told you to follow the spiders," Hermione said.
"I guess that, for this time only, you follow them, and then, should you ever be forced into the forest again, you stick to the paths," Cedric said.
But Hagrid was miles away now, probably sitting in a cell in Azkaban, and he had also said to follow the spiders.
Something wet touched Harry's hand
"Probably Fang's nose," Hermione said.
and he jumped backwards, crushing Ron's foot,
"That probably caused Ron to jump in pain," Luna said.
but it was only Fang's nose.
"Knew it," Hermione muttered.
"What d'you reckon?" Harry said to Ron, whose eyes he could just make out, reflecting the light from his wand.
"We've come this far," said Ron.
"So let's continue," Luna finished.
So they followed the darting shadows of the spiders into the trees. They couldn't move very quickly now; there were tree roots and stumps in their way, barely visible in the near blackness.
"I hope that you're being careful and quiet," Hermione said. "I don't think it would be wise to alert the other creatures in the forest that you're there, after all."
Harry could feel Fang's hot breath on his hand. More than once, they had to stop, so that Harry could crouch down and find the spiders in the wandlight.
They walked for what seemed like at least half an hour, their robes snagging on low-slung branches and brambles. After a while, they noticed that the ground seemed to be sloping downwards, though the trees were as thick as ever.
Then Fang suddenly let loose a great, echoing bark, making both Harry and Ron jump out of their skins.
"I take it that his teeth are unstuck," Luna said.
"Oh, no, some thing is going to find them," Hermione said.
"I get the feeling that something is already heading in their direction, which is why Fang barked anyways," Cedric said.
"What?" said Ron loudly, looking around into the pitch dark, and gripping Harry's elbow very hard.
"He might want to be quiet," Hermione said. "Just cause whatever it is might have heard Fang doesn't mean that they should continuously speak and give away their position perfectly."
"There's something moving over there," Harry breathed. "Listen ... Sounds like something big."
"I wonder what it is," Hermione said, perfectly calm. For some reason, she wasn't really scared for Harry's book self at the moment, as he knew that he should have been. Maybe it was because a part of her knew what was coming up wasn't dangerous, her subconscious whispering this to her.
They listened. Some distance to their right, the something big was snapping branches as it carved a path through the trees.
"Oh no," said Ron. "Oh no, oh no, oh –"
"Shut up," said Harry frantically. "It'll hear you."
"Hear me?" said Ron in an unnaturally high voice. "It's already heard Fang!"
"Just because it already heard Fang doesn't mean that it automatically knows where you're at," Hermione said.
The darkness seemed to be pressing on their eyeballs as they stood, terrified, waiting. There was a strange rumbling noise and then silence.
'It's found them" Luna said.
"What d'you think it's doing?" said Harry.
"Probably getting ready to pounce," said Ron.
"Most likely," Hermione said.
They waited, shivering, hardly daring to move.
"Maybe you'll get lucky and whatever it is will leave because of that," Cedric said.
"D'you think it's gone?" Harry whispered.
"Dunno –"
Then, to their right, came a sudden blaze of light, so bright in the darkness that both of them flung up their hands to shield their eyes.
"What kind of -" started Harry, only for him to gasp as he remembered what he and Ron had done to get to school that year. "It's the car," he said.
"Do you mean the car that you and Ron arrived to school in," Cedric asked.
"Yeah. Remember, it said that it went into the forest after expelling Ron and me from it," Harry said.
"So you're going to pretty much be safe, unless the car has a grudge against you two," Hermione said. "Maybe that's why I wasn't feeling so panicked."
"It does make sense," Luna said.
Fang yelped and tried to run, but got lodged in a tangle of thorns and yelped even louder.
"Poor Fang. I'm sure, when you had him go with you, that this wasn't what he was thinking would be happening," Luna said.
"Harry!" Ron shouted, his voice breaking with relief. "Harry, it's our car!"
"What?"
"Come on!"
Harry blundered after Ron towards the light, stumbling and tripping, and a moment later they had emerged into a clearing.
Mr. Weasley's car was standing, empty, in the middle of a circle of thick trees under a roof of dense branches, its headlamps ablaze.
"It probably went wild in there," Luna said.
As Ron walked, open-mouthed, towards it, it moved slowly towards him, exactly like a large, turquoise dog greeting its owner.
There was some laughter as the image presented itself in their minds.
"I wonder what spells Mr. Weasley put on the car exactly," Hermione said.
"It's been here all the time!" said Ron delightedly, walking around the car. "Look at it. The Forest's turned it wild ..."
"Looks like you were right, Luna," Harry said.
The wings of the car were scratched and smeared with mud. Apparently it had taken to trundling around the Forest on its own. Fang didn't seem at all keen on it;
"Hagrid should really work on his pets names, then," Hermione said, shaking her head. "That dog is quite the coward."
he kept close to Harry, who could feel him quivering. His breathing slowing down again, Harry stuffed his wand back into his robes.
"You might want to keep it out. Remember, you were following spiders, after all," Cedric said. "And, just cause the car isn't going to attack you doesn't mean that nothing else will."
"And we thought it was going to attack us!" said Ron, leaning against the car and patting it. "I wondered where it had gone!"
"That's the first time I heard of him wondering that," Hermione said. "I wonder if he actually ever told us or not."
"I would guess not," Harry said. "Or, if he did, it wasn't really important for me to note."
Harry squinted around on the floodlit ground for signs of more spiders, but they had all scuttled away from the glare of the headlights.
"Should have kept an eye on them," Harry muttered to himself.
"We've lost the trail," he said. "C'mon, let's go and find them."
Ron didn't speak. He didn't move. His eyes were fixed on a point some ten feet above the Forest floor, right behind Harry. His face was livid with terror.
"I don't like the sound of that," Hermione said.
"Nor do I," Harry said.
Harry didn't even have time to turn around. There was a loud clicking noise and suddenly he felt something long and hairy seize him around the middle and lift him off the ground, so that he was hanging, face down. Struggling, terrified, he heard more clicking, and saw Ron's legs leave the ground too, heard Fang whimpering and howling – next moment, he was being swept away into the dark trees.
"I don't think you're going to have to look for the spiders anymore," Luna said. "In fact, I think they're bringing you to them."
"Why doesn't that fill me with much confidence?" Harry said.
"Because, if Hagrid sent you to the spider I'm thinking of, then they most likely think of you as food. And, since the spider is big enough to pick you up, then it's most likely that the spider has reproduced and created more of it's kind," Luna said.
Head hanging, Harry saw that what had hold of him was marching on six immensely long, hairy legs, the front two clutching him tightly below a pair of shining black pincers. Behind him, he could hear another of the creatures, no doubt carrying Ron. They were moving into the very heart of the Forest. Harry could hear Fang fighting to free himself from a third monster, whining loudly, but Harry couldn't have yelled even if he had wanted to; he seemed to have left his voice back with the car in the clearing.
"I doubt screaming would do you any good, anyways," Cedric said.
He never knew how long he was in the creature's clutches; he only knew that the darkness suddenly lifted enough for him to see that the leaf-strewn ground was now swarming with spiders. Craning his neck sideways, he realised that they had reached the rim of a vast hollow, a hollow which had been cleared of trees, so that the stars shone brightly onto the worst scene he had ever clapped eyes upon.
Spiders. Not tiny spiders like those surging over the leaves below. Spiders the size of carthorses, eight-eyed, eight-legged, black, hairy, gigantic. The massive specimen that was carrying Harry made its way down the steep slope, towards a misty domed web in the very centre of the hollow, while its fellows closed in all around it, clicking their pincers excitedly at the sight of its load.
"Somehow, I get the feeling that this isn't going to do much for Ron's nerves," Hermione said. "In fact, I get the feeling that it's going to make his fears even worse."
"I know that I'll probably develop a healthy respect for spiders now," Harry said.
Harry fell to the ground on all fours as the spider released him. Ron and Fang thudded down next to him. Fang wasn't howling any more, but cowering silently on the spot.
"Somehow, if Hagrid goes to visit there, I don't think he takes Fang with him," Cedric said.
Ron looked exactly like Harry felt. His mouth was stretched wide in a kind of silent scream and his eyes were popping.
"At least you seem to have more composure than he does. Hopefully that means that you'll be able to speak when you need to," Cedric said.
Harry suddenly realised that the spider which had dropped him was saying something. It had been hard to tell, because he clicked his pincers with every word he spoke.
"That would be annoying," Cedric said.
"Aragog!" it called. "Aragog!"
"That's the chapter title," Luna said.
"I wonder why there calling him," Harry said.
"It's possible that he's the one who is the leader of this group," Cedric said.
And from the middle of the misty domed web, a spider the size of a small elephant emerged, very slowly. There was grey in the black of his body and legs, and each of the eyes on his ugly, pincered head was milky white. He was blind.
"This spider is probably the one that Hagrid sent you to see," Hermione realized. "I mean, it definitely sounds like he's old enough."
"What is it?" he said, clicking his pincers rapidly.
"Men," clicked the spider who had caught Harry.
"Is it Hagrid?" said Aragog, moving closer, his eight milky eyes wandering vaguely.
"Yeah, he's most likely the one who Hagrid sent to speak with," Hermione said.
"He's probably the spider that Riddle tried to kill," Luna said.
"Strangers," clicked the spider who had brought Ron.
"Somehow, I don't think that's going to bode well for you," Cedric said, concerned for Harry.
"Kill them," clicked Aragog fretfully.
"Knew it," Cedric muttered.
"I wonder if he's worried about Hagrid," Hermione said. "I mean, it did sound like he was hoping that it would be him."
"I was sleeping ..."
"Nice, kill them because I had to woken up," Luna said, shaking her head.
"We're friends of Hagrid's," Harry shouted.
"That should make them pause," Cedric said.
His heart seemed to have left his chest to pound in his throat.
Click, click, click went the pincers of the spiders all around the hollow.
"That probably shocked them, since it's kind of obvious that it means that Hagrid most likely sent you there, and he probably has never sent people to the hollow before," Luna said.
Aragog paused.
"Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before," he said slowly.
"Hagrid's in trouble," said Harry, breathing very fast. "That's why we've come."
"In trouble?" said the aged spider, and Harry thought he heard concern beneath the clicking pincers.
"If that is the same spider that Hagrid saved, then I would say that there is concern for Hagrid that you're hearing," Hermione said.
"But why has he sent you?"
Harry thought of getting to his feet, but decided against it; he didn't think his legs would support him.
"It probably wouldn't be a good idea, anyways," Hermione said.
So he spoke from the ground, as calmly as he could.
"They think, up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting a – a – something on students. They've taken him to Azkaban."
"I wonder if Hagrid told Aragog that before," Harry said.
"Probably not. I mean, it's possible that Hagrid was being watched once the first attack happened, and he didn't want to lead anyone to Aragog. Either that, or he didn't want Aragog to worry," Hermione said.
Aragog clicked his pincers furiously, and all around the hollow the sound was echoed by the crowd of spiders; it was like applause, except applause didn't usually make Harry feel sick with fear.
"Most of them are probably not happy that Hagrid was taken, because Aragog isn't happy," Luna said. "I don't think they have the same feelings for Hagrid that Aragog has for him."
"But that was years ago," said Aragog fretfully. "Years and years ago. I remember it well. That's why they made him leave the school. They believed that I was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets. They thought that Hagrid had opened the Chamber and set me free."
"And book me is learning that Aragog is not the creature from the Chamber of Secrets," Harry said.
"And you ... you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets?"* said Harry, who could feel cold sweat on his forehead.
"I don't think that's going to make him happy to hear," Cedric said.
"I!" said Aragog, clicking angrily. "I was not born in the castle. I come from a distant land. A traveller gave me to Hagrid when I was an egg. Hagrid was only a boy, but he cared for me, hidden in a cupboard in the castle, feeding me on scraps from the table. Hagrid is my good friend, and a good man."
"He speaks very highly of Hagrid," Hermione said.
"I think Hagird has earned it, especially from Aragog," Luna said.
"When I was discovered, and blamed for the death of a girl, he protected me. I have lived here in the Forest ever since, where Hagrid still visits me. He even found me a wife, Mosag, and you see how our family has grown, all through Hagrid's goodness ..."
"Eh, I honestly don't think that's a good thing, as it makes the forest even more dangerous than it already is," Hermione said.
"Does Dumbledore know about Aragog?" asked Harry. "Because, if he does, why hasn't he done something to make sure that no one ever goes into the forest, or moved Aragog to somewhere else, somewhere were no one would ever accidentally run into him."
"Yeah, especially since we already know of some who take the warning as a challenge to try and go into the forest," Hermione said, thinking back to the first book, where it made mention that Ron's twin brothers kept trying to get into the forest.
Harry summoned what remained of his courage.
"So you never – never attacked anyone?"
"He probably respected Hagrid too much to do so," Cedric said.
"Never," croaked the old spider. "It would have been my instinct, but from respect of Hagrid, I never harmed a human. The body of the girl who was killed was discovered in a bathroom."
"Okay, that's kind of odd," Hermione said, shaking her head.
"What's odd?" Cedric asked.
"Well, remember in the other chapter, the Very Secret Diary, when you mentioned that the person killed was a student I had been thinking about how it was strange that a student died and that there is a student age ghost around the school that's been mentioned quite a bit in this book. And now, mentioning that the student killed was discovered in a bathroom, where we know the ghost haunts the most..." Hermione said, trailing off at the end.
"You think that the student killed was Myrtle," Harry said.
"Yeah. I don't exactly know why, but it just seems to fit," Hermione said. "I could be wrong, of course."
"I don't think you're wrong," Luna said. "You do sound like you're right, it does seem to fit quite a bit. Plus, she is mentioned an awful lot in this book, more so than any of the other ghost, who are just mentioned a bit, but not enough for them to have any real purpose."
"You're right," Cedric said. "I didn't even think about the fact that she was being shown so much, either."
"So, we've got a possible suspect as to the previous victim of the Chamber opening," Harry said.
"It appears so," Hermione said. "I do hope we get to know an answer about that soon, though."
"It's definitely bound to come up at some point, so I wouldn't worry about it too much," Cedric said.
"I never saw any part of the castle but the cupboard in which I grew up. Our kind like the dark and the quiet ..."
"Hence why they would like the forest," Cedric said.
"But then ... Do you know what did kill that girl?" said Harry. "Because whatever it is, it's back and attacking people again –"
"I don't think they're going to be happy to hear about that," Hermione said.
"Wouldn't they already know about it though. I mean, with how all of the spiders that were in the castle seemed to be heading towards them, you would think that he would have already heard about it," Harry said.
"Just because they head that way doesn't mean that they told them anything," Luna said. "They could just have been heading for the safety of the forest, not to the hollow."
His words were drowned by a loud outbreak of clicking and the rustling of many long legs shifting angrily; large black shapes shifted all around him.
"It appears that they are not happy to know that," Cedric said.
"The thing that lives in the castle," said Aragog, "is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others."
"Which fits in with what I've read about basilisks," Luna said.
"Well do I remember how I pleaded with Hagrid to let me go, when I sensed the beast moving about the school."
"What is it?" said Harry urgently.
More loud clicking, more rustling; the spiders seemed to be closing in.
"I do not think that is a good thing," Hermione said.
"We do not speak of it!" said Aragog fiercely. "We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid the name of that dread creature, though he asked me, many times."
"Sounds like a monster version of Voldemort," Harry said. "Even other creatures are scared to actually call it by it's name."
Harry didn't want to press the subject, not with the spiders pressing closer on all sides. Aragog seemed to be tired of talking. He was backing slowly into his domed web, but his fellow spiders continued to inch slowly towards Harry and Ron.
"Why do I get the feeling that they are not planning on letting us go?" Harry asked.
"Probably because they are most likely not," Cedric said. "None of them have any emotional ties to you, after all, so they probably feel free to attack you."
"We'll just go, then," Harry called desperately to Aragog, hearing leaves rustling behind him.
"I must either be naïve or I think that, since I'm a friend of Hagrid's, Aragog will be more willing to let us go. I mean, I'm sure that Hagrid wouldn't be happy with Aragog if he killed us," Harry said.
"Who says that Hagrid would ever find out?" Hermione asked. "Especially since I don't think that Aragog would mention it. Also, since Aragog isn't going to be the one who will be killing you, he might feel that he'll be blameless if you die."
"Yeah, all Aragog would have to say is that you were there and he only talked to you," Luna said. "Nothing about letting you get eaten at all."
"Go?" said Aragog slowly. "I think not ..."
"But – but –"
"I'm probably trying to come up with an argument that'll let Ron and me leave," Harry said.
"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat, when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Goodbye, friend of Hagrid."
Harry spun around. Feet away, towering above him, was a solid wall of spiders, clicking, their many eyes gleaming in their ugly black heads ...
Even as he reached for his wand, Harry knew it was no good, there were too many of them, but as he tried to stand, ready to die fighting, a loud, long note sounded, and a blaze of light flamed through the hollow.
"The car," Hermione said.
"It's coming to our rescue," Harry said.
"I definitely think it's a good thing you drove it now," Hermione said.
Mr. Weasley's car was thundering down the slope, headlamps glaring, its horn screeching, knocking spiders aside; several were thrown onto their backs, their endless legs waving in the air. The car screeched to a halt in front of Harry and Ron and the doors flew open.
"The car is basically saying 'get in', isn't it," Luna said.
"Get Fang!" Harry yelled, diving into the front seat; Ron seized the boarhound round the middle and threw him, yelping, into the back of the car.
"I hope Fang didn't get hurt too much," Hermione said.
The doors slammed shut. Ron didn't touch the accelerator but the car didn't need him; the engine roared and they were off, hitting more spiders.
"I get the feeling that those spiders are probably scrambling to get out of the way now," Harry said.
"Most likely," Cedric said.
They sped up the slope, out of the hollow, and they were soon crashing through the Forest, branches whipping the windows as the car wound its way cleverly through the widest gaps, following a path it obviously knew.
"Well, it's been there since the beginning of the school year. One would hope that it has a path it knows to take," Cedric said.
Harry looked sideways at Ron. His mouth was still open in the silent scream, but his eyes weren't popping any more.
"Are you OK?"
Ron stared straight ahead, unable to speak.
"I think that means that he's not okay right now," Hermione said.
They smashed their way through the undergrowth, Fang howling loudly in the back seat, and Harry saw the wing mirror snap off as they squeezed past a large oak. After ten noisy, rocky minutes, the trees thinned, and Harry could again see patches of sky.
The car stopped so suddenly that they were nearly thrown into the windscreen.
"I think the car wants to stay in the forest," Hermione said. "Oh, and you're probably at the edge now, too."
They had reached the edge of the Forest. Fang flung himself at the window in his anxiety to get out and when Harry opened the door, he shot off through the trees to Hagrid's house, tail between his legs.
"Poor dog. He'll probably be too afraid to come out of the house again," Harry said.
Harry got out too, and after a minute or so, Ron seemed to regain the feeling in his limbs and followed, still stiff-necked and staring. Harry gave the car a grateful pat as it reversed back into the Forest and disappeared from view.
Harry went back into Hagrid's cabin to get the Invisibility Cloak. Fang was trembling under a blanket in his basket. When Harry got outside again, he found Ron being violently sick in the pumpkin patch.
"Follow the spiders," said Ron weakly, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "I'll never forgive Hagrid."
"I doubt that's true," Hermione said.
"We're lucky to be alive."
"That right there is true, though," Harry said.
"I bet he thought Aragog wouldn't hurt friends of his," said Harry.
"That's exactly Hagrid's problem!" said Ron, thumping the wall of the cabin. "He always thinks monsters aren't as bad as they're made out, and look where it's got him! A cell in Azkaban!"
"You know, that's kind of true," Cedric said. "I mean, no matter how nice Hagrid is, and the fact that he has good intentions, his perchance for dangerous monsters can't be good for people, no matter what he seems to think. Sooner or later, someone will get hurt, and he will most likely get into trouble."
He was shivering uncontrollably now. "What was the point of sending us in there? What have we found out, I'd like to know?"
"The truth," Hermione said. "Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets. He was innocent."
"I'm surprised that he asked that question," Cedric said. "It's kind of obvious what they found out, even if he didn't believe that Hagrid had open the Chamber to begin with."
"That Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets," said Harry, throwing the cloak over Ron and prodding him in the arm to make him walk.
There was some sniggering at that.
"He was innocent."
Ron gave a loud snort. Evidently, hatching Aragog out in a cupboard wasn't his idea of being innocent.
"I think I was saying that for the Chamber, nothing else," Harry said, sounding a bit annoyed.
As the castle loomed nearer Harry twitched the Cloak to make sure their feet were hidden, then pushed the creaking front doors ajar.
"Do they creak because they're not taken care of properly, or are they charmed to creak to help teachers know when a student is out of bed?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know," Cedric said.
They walked carefully back across the Entrance Hall and up the marble staircase, holding their breath as they passed corridors where watchful sentries were walking. At last they reached the safety of the Gryffindor common room, where the fire had burned itself into glowing ash. They took off the Cloak and climbed the winding staircase to their dormitory.
Ron fell onto his bed without bothering to get undressed. Harry, however, didn't feel very sleepy. He sat on the edge of his four-poster, thinking hard about everything Aragog had said.
"It is quite a bit to think about," Harry said.
The creature that was lurking somewhere in the castle, he thought, sounded like a sort of monster Voldemort – even other monsters didn't want to name it.
"You're thoughts don't really change, do they?" Hermione said.
But he and Ron were no closer to finding out what it was, or how it Petrified its victims. Even Hagrid had never known what was in the Chamber of Secrets.
"I do have to wonder if the whole point was just so that you would know that Hagrid was innocent over actually getting any information," Hermione said.
"Probably," Luna said. "Though, they did get some interesting information."
Harry swung his legs up onto his bed and leaned back against his pillows, watching the moon glinting at him through the tower window.
He couldn't see what else they could do. They had hit dead ends everywhere. Riddle had caught the wrong person, the heir of Slytherin had got off, and no one could tell whether it was the same person, or a different one,
"It's kind of both," Hermione said.
who had opened the Chamber this time. There was nobody else to ask. Harry lay down, still thinking about what Aragog said.
He was becoming drowsy when what seemed like their very last hope occurred to him and he suddenly sat bolt upright.
"I wonder what I think of," Harry said.
"Ron," he hissed through the dark. "Ron!"
Ron woke with a yelp like Fang's,
"I hope that didn't wake up anyone else," Hermione said.
stared wildly around and saw Harry.
"Ron – that girl who died. Aragog said she was found in a bathroom?"
"Ah, I've probably realizing what it is that you did, Hermione," Harry said. "About Myrtle being the one who died the first time the chamber was opened."
said Harry, ignoring Neville's snuffling snores from the corner. "What if she never left the bathroom? What if she's still there?"
"We will, hopefully, have another clue," Harry said.
Ron rubbed his eyes, frowning through the moonlight. And then he understood.
"You don't think – not Moaning Myrtle?"
"That's the end of the chapter," said Harry, handing the book over to Hermione.