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See chapter 1 for the disclaimer

Chapter 2: Acromantulas

They were slowly approaching me, their fangs clicking menacingly. I try to think of anything I can do, but all I can come up with is 'just try do die as quickly as you can so you don't suffer'- the exact words of my Head of House when I asked him about my options for life-threatening situations. There are three of the huge spiders approaching me from the front and, judging from the clicking, at least three more at my back. I'm surrounded, with no chance of survival, unless someone else comes and saves me - in other words, I have no chance of survival at all.

Spiders never bothered me much, but these really are in a league of their own. They are at least five feet tall with great big hairy legs and bodies. The legs look like they could pierce me without even trying and the fangs are twice as bad. Their shining black eyes, eight per spider, have a menacing glint of hunger in them.

If by some miracle I survive this I don't think I'll ever be able to like spiders again.

They're really close to me now and there's nothing I can do. My hand is resting on some rocks but I doubt those can hurt them, let alone kill them. They're not good as a distraction either, the beasts can clearly see me sitting here after all.

I shudder as I feel the hairs of one of the spiders touching my neck. I close my eyes and welcome death- at least it'll release me from this nightmare. But just as I feel the spider at my back getting ready to attack me...

Arania Exumei!

Through my closed eyes I can still see a flash of light shooting at the spiders. The curse is repeated a few times and I hear the huge hairy bodies thudding on the ground.

Who is stupid enough to rescue me? Are they cruel enough to want to kill me themselves instead of leaving it to the beasts? Perhaps they've made a deal with their Head of House; perhaps they've been promised a gift for each tribute they kill. Yeah, that has to be it.

Still not believing myself to be saved, I keep my eyes closed and wait for the inevitable killing curse. If they have a wand that's by far the easiest way of killing me.

But it never comes.

Instead, I hear a gentle woman's voice saying "Hey, it's alright now, they won't bother you anymore. Are you hurt? Can you get up? We should get out of here before they come back..."

I open my eyes and see a pair of green eyes looking back at me. The girl has her black hair tied back into a loose ponytail. I've seen her around during training, she comforted Rowan a few times. A Slytherin, but I don't know her name.

She extends her right hand to me and assures me it's alright, they're not going to kill me. It would be stupid of me to believe them, but I might as well join an alliance; I have better chances of living to see another day with them around. At worst they'll kill me tonight when I'm asleep; that'll have extended my life expectancy by at least a few hours, then. Gives me a chance to say goodbye to the world, I guess.

So, I take her hand and she helps me get up. I'm a bit shaky so she gives me a few moments to catch my breath. While I wait for the shakiness to go, I look around to see where the spiders went. The smaller ones are still scuttling around everywhere, but the big ones are gone. But like the girl said, they'd probably be back. What I do see, however, are three other people, two boys and one girl. I think I remember them and the girl who reached out to me hanging out together, but I'm not sure.

"I think I'm good to go now," I say. All four of them nod and they turn around. "C'mon, we should go find shelter. It's too bad the Acromantula's are still around or we'd have been able to use their burrows."