𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫: 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐇𝐨𝐠𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬

Ch 118 - Race with Spiders

"We're friends of Hagrid's" Harry spoke quickly and loudly.

The smaller Acromantula clicked rapidly.

Aragog turned back around, "Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before..."

Lucifer slowly stood up, "Hagrid is in trouble and he sent us here to get him help."

"Help? What help could I possibly offer to you?" Aragog asked him.

"Well," Harry said from the ground, "They think Hagrid has been setting loose a... a... something on students. They've taken him to Azkaban because of it."

Aragog clicked his pincers angrily, and all around the hollow, the sound was echoed by the smaller spiders, "But that was years ago... years and years ago... 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 Hagrid had opened it and set me free."

"No... you didn't come from the Chamber... Acromantula are native to Borneo," Lucifer said knowledgeably.

"Intelligent you are, boy. It is true, I was born in a far away land, likely the one you mentioned. A traveler had given me to Hagrid when I was but an egg. He was only a boy when he took care of me, hidden in a cupboard in the castle, being fed scraps from the table..." Aragog seemed like he was reminiscing happy memories, "Hagrid is my friend and a good man."

"Of that we have no doubt. He's one of the nicest men, I know," Harry said in a respectful tone.

"It's true, when I was discovered and blamed for the death of a girl, Hagrid protected me. He let me go so that I could thrive here in the forest. He even found me a wife, Mosag, and around you are all of my children. Hagrid is a good man," Aragog said proudly.

"And you never harmed a human because of Hagrid?" Lucifer asked him.

"Exactly. It was my instinct, but out of respect for the man who cared for me, I have never harmed a human. The body of the girl who died was discovered in a bathroom. I never saw the outside of the cupboard I grew up in. Our kind like the dark and the quiet..."

"Do you know what did kill that girl?" Lucifer asked next, but that made Aragog angry.

"The thing that lives in the Castle is an ancient creature that we spiders fear above all others. Well do I remember how I pleaded with Hagrid to let me go when I sensed it moving about the Castle," the large spider said.

'If it's moving about the Castle... how is it doing it? And the girl... I think I know who it was.'

"What is the creature?" Harry asked in an urgent tone.

"We do not speak of it!" Aragog said fiercely, "We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid what the creature was called, even though he asked me many times."

They all decided that it was better to not press their luck, "Well, thank you for all your help, we'll just go now..."

"Go? I think not..." Aragog said slowly.

"But-"

"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid on my command, but I can't deny them flesh when it so willingly walks into our midst..."

"But if we die here, then we can't help Hagrid," Lucifer tried to reason with the old spider.

"That is not my concern... Hagrid will live even if he's in Azkaban... good bye, friends of Hagrid," Aragog said and retreated back into his domed web.

The Acromantula began to swarm the three of them and Fang, who was hunkered down near Lucifer.

Who himself felt a surge of anger at the betrayal of Aragog. His eyes glowed red and he raised his hand, bringing his palm down onto the forest floor.