The New Beginning

Chapter 6

I get down to hagrid and frown I see out friend. I didn't know him to well but it still hurts.

"Horace."

"Merlin's beard. Is that an actual Acromantula?"

Slughorn and Harry have come to the hut, they stand close to us.

"A dead one, I think, sir."

"Good God.Dear fellow, however did you manage to kill it?"

"Kill it? Me oldest friend, he was."

I look to the older man and frown, he won't hurt him.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't--"

"Don't worry yourself, you're not alone. Seriously misunderstood creatures, spiders are. It's the eyes, I reckon. They unnerve some folk."

"Not to mention the pincers."

He makes weird movements with his fingers and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, I reckon that too."

"Hagrid, the last thing I wish to be is indelicate but Acromantula venom is uncommonly rare. Would you allow me to extract a vial or two?
Purely for academic purposes, you understand."

"Well, I don't suppose it's going to do him much good now, is it?"

He starts to cry and I feel bad, I touch his arm and I look at him.

"My thoughts exactly. Always have a ampoule or two about my person for just such occasions as this. Old Potions Master's habit, you know."

"I wish you could've seen him in his prime. Magnificent, he was. Just magnificent."

I look to see the professor has tore off on of his pinchers.

"Oh, dear."

He gets back up to us and look down at the dead creature.

"Would you like me to say a few words?"

"Yes."

"He had a family, I trust?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Farewell..."

"Aragog."

"Farewell, Aragog king of the arachnids. Your body will decay but your spirit lingers on. And your human friends find solace in the loss they have sustained."
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Hagrid and I buried him, were back inside the hut talking. I'm sitting beside Harry whole hagrid and slughorn are drinking a bit.

"I had him from an egg, you know. Tiny little thing he was when he hatched. No bigger than a Pekinese. A Pekinese, mind you."

"How sweet. I once had a fish. Francis. He was very dear to me. One afternoon I came downstairs, and he'd vanished. Poof"

"That's very odd, isn't it?"

"It is, isn't it?"

He looks at us and I frown, it isn't good but maybe he'll spill what had happened.

"But that's life, I suppose.You go along and then suddenly, poof."

"Poof."

"Poof."

It gets quiet and hagrid leans back, he starts to snore and slughorn looks at us.

"It was a student who gave me Francis. One spring afternoon I discovered a bowl on my desk with just a few inches of clear water in it. And floating on the surface was a flower petal. As I watched, it sank. Just before it reached the bottom it transformed into a wee fish.
It was beautiful magic. Wondrous to behold.
The flower petal had come from a lily. Your mother."