The Truth | Draco Malfoy

Chapter 16: Aragog

Fang crashed through low-slung branches and sharp brambles as Harry followed. Ron gingerly picked his way, then jumped... as Fang howls. Branches snapped. A Rumbling noise sounded, then... silence. Harry spied something and pointed. "There's something moving over there... something big."

Just then a blaze of light splintered the trees, blinding them. They started to flee... when Ron stopped. "Harry! ... Harry, it's our car!" Scratched and mud-smeared, with bits of earth and grass sprouting from its headlamps and hubcaps - the Ford Anglia looked half-animal. Ron circled it in wonder.

"It was there the whole time!" Arthur exclaimed. "The forest made it wild!"

"It's been here all the time! Look at it. The Forest has turned it wild." Harry nodded, then glanced back up the slope. "C'mon, we don't want to lose the trail."

***

Harry and Ron entered the Spiders' hollow ribboned with shadows. Enormous trees towered over them, strewn with strands of white webbing. Ron stepped on a strand, kicked it off queasily. Harry peered up ahead: at the far end of the hollow, the spiders streamed toward a dark opening. As Harry and Ron approached the opening, a clicking sound emanated from within, echoing in the branches of the tall trees. Growing louder. Ron faltered, glancing about nervously. "I don't have a good feeling about this, Harry..."

"Don't panic." Harry instructed. As Harry stepped to the mouth of the cavern, the air suddenly crackled with movement. Twigs snapped. A huge shadow emerged, slowly engulfed Harry. He peered up.

He saw an ancient spider (Aragog), the size of a small elephant. As it advanced, Harry and Ron backed slowly away. Then, its blind eyes caught the light, and it stopped... as if it were listening.

"Fuck no!" Zoe yelled. She moved to sit behind Draco and hid her face in his back. "Tell me when the bastards are all gone." Her voice muffled as she spoke into Draco's back, making him laugh.

"You do not come from the forest. Your hearts beat like... men." Aragog said.

Harry breathed heavily. "Yes. We're friends of Hagrid's. And you... you're... Aragog, aren't you?"

Hearing this, Aragog's head turned slightly. "Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before."

"He's in trouble. Up at school, there've been attacks. They think it's Hagrid. They think he's opened the Chamber of Secrets. Like before." As Harry talked, Ron's eyes darted warily about, then... a pair of long legs - spider's legs - curled slowly around the trunk of the tree to his left. Terrified, Ron nudged Harry, but Harry ignored him.

"That's a lie! Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets!" Aragog exclaimed.

"But if Hagrid never... that means... you're not the monster." Harry realised.

"The monster was born in the castle. I came from a distant land, in the pocket of a traveller." Aragog said.

Ron turned. Two crawling silhouettes inched forward. Waiting. Watching. "Harry..." He whimpered.

"That's so creepy!" Albus Severus yelled.

"I love magical creatures but I can't handle spiders!" Scorpius yelled, hiding his head in his father's head. Draco laughed at the sight, looks like their son inherited his wife's fear of spiders.

"Shhh!" Harry said, sharply to Ron before turning back to Aragog. "But if you're not the monster, what did kill that girl fifty years ago?" He asked.

"We do not speak of it! It is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others." Aragog said.