laconic • t.nott ✓

42 ➺ spiders, giants, and death eaters

「 SPIDERS, GIANTS, AND DEATH EATERS」

THEO WATCHED IN HORROR THE Death Eaters destroy the defences they have just put up. Hundreds of flashes of light shot out of their wands and hit the protective dome, creating cracks and fissures over its surface. Standing at the Ravenclaw tower - one of the tallest in Hogwarts - Theo was able to get a good view of what was happening and he didn't like what he saw. The Death Eaters set fire to Hagrid's hut and his famous pumpkin patch, infiltrated the defences within ten minutes, and ran up the grounds toward the castle, shooting spells haphazardly.

Theo thought of what Seamus had said before they'd parted - Great! You'd be safe. - of how Theo was up in the safety of the tower while Seamus was down there, waiting to meet their attackers head-on. A cold fist clenched his heart at the thought and Theo gripped his wand tightly between his fingers.

He shouldn't have come up here.

There didn't need to be any teams. This was a war and there were no rules in war.

Theo pulled away from the window and turned back the way they had come from. The sound of footsteps a moment later told him that Daphne was following. She caught up quickly. "Where are you going?"

"Downstairs."

He was grateful to her for not asking any more questions.

But after a while, Theo began to realise that fighters were needed in all parts of the castle, not just on the ground floor. As they were crossing the fourth-floor corridor, he heard a faint scuttling sound drawing closer and closer. He stopped, cautious and scared.

Then a giant black figure leapt out at them through one of the open windows and landed at their feet, multiple large milky eyes blinking at them as the creature scurried toward them in its eight legs. Theo and Daphne shot a hex at the same time and the giant spider toppled, unconscious.

"What the fuck was that?" Daphne screamed and then there were more.

Thankfully, Theo and Daphne were not alone. They were soon joined by more students in pyjamas who collectively managed to ward off the giant spiders - Acromantula, Theo remembered having read about them in a book. They were ugly, hairy, and giant and he thought they feasted on flesh, though he couldn't be sure.

The spiders stopped coming after a while. They breathed a sigh of relief and Theo hurried over to the window to look outside. Most of the fighting was going on inside the castle, but Hagrid was down by his burning home fighting five Death Eaters at once with an umbrella. Kingsley Shacklebolt duelled three and seemed to be giving each of them a hard time.

Theo regretted not having known him before.

He joined Daphne who was observing one of the dead Acromantulas with great concentration. Theo nudged her with his elbow. "Let's keep moving."

She nodded as they made for the stairs. "I didn't know there were Acromantulas so close to our school grounds," she said breathlessly. "Imagine if they decided to have a nice birthday feast and came to visit Hogwarts with all its beautiful fleshy human children."

Theo felt a shudder pass through him. Explosions erupted all over the castle and at one point, he saw one of the high walls crash down to the ground. There were no teams anymore - everyone fought individually or in pairs as more and more Death Eaters flooded their home.

"Maybe the Death Eaters brought them," he suggested, though he didn't really believe it.

"I doubt that." Daphne pointed to the far side of the corridor, where one of the spiders bit off a large chunk of a Death Eater's foot.