Percy Jackson and the Heir of Slytherin [Book 2]

46) Aragog

"We're friends of Hagrid's!" Harry yelled. I looked over at him from beneath Ron's arm. He looked about as panicked as I felt.

Aragog hesitated, then said slowly, "Hagrid had never sent men into our hollow before."

"Hagrid's in trouble," I said. "That's why we've come."

"In trouble?" The old spider sounded concerned. "But why has he sent you?"

"They think, up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting a — a — something on the students. They've taken him to Azkaban," Harry said, quickly.

Aragog's pincers clicked angrily, and other's pincers clicked with his.

"But that was years ago," Aragog said. "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 you... you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry said.

"Dude... no," I whispered, shaking my head at Harry.

Aragog had not heard me, and clicked angrily, "I! I was not born in the castle. I come from a distant land. A traveler 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. 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..."

"So you never — never attacked anyone?"

I glared at Harry while Aragog croaked. "Never. 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. I never saw any part of the castle but the cupboard in which I grew up. Our kind like the dark and the quiet..."

"But then... Do you know what did kill that girl?" Harry asked. "Because whatever it is, it's back again and attacking people again—"

I couldn't hear the rest of what Harry said because the area was filled with sudden and angry clicks from the spiders.

"The thing that lives in the castle," Aragog said, "is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others. 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?" Harry questioned.

There was more loud clicking, and the spiders moved in slightly. I could feel myself shaking beneath Ron.

"We do not speak of it!" Aragog said wildly. "We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid the name of that dreaded creature, though he asked me, many times."

I watched Aragog inch into his domed web, and the other spiders close in.

"We'll just go then," Harry called.

"Go?" Aragog questioned. "I think now..."

"But — but—"

"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, friends of Hagrid."

I watched Harry scramble up, and Ron was about to pull me to do the same, but I mumbled loudly, "Damn, I thought I was friends with spiders."

All of the spiders paused, and Aragog questioned, "What do you mean?"