Chapter 25: A Future Queen's Decision

After the excursion into the forest, Harry, Ron and Elsa were all a little shaken up by it. Harry noticed something additionally seemed to really be bothering Elsa. Harry could only guess the whole event was worse on her than it was him. Elsa was having to cover the back and he saw evidence before the car left the spiders may have given her a close call or two more than him and Ron.

Neville was a bit of a different matter. He was both disappointed in himself and very relieved. He was disappointed he didn't force the others to take him along to help, even after Harry made his point for why he should stay. Neville wasn't sure what good he could have done, but he was sure there would have been some way he could have helped. He was also relieved because he didn't have to go through that whole mess with the giant man-eating spiders.

Ron had to take a day off to just stay in bed apart from meals with his wand fearing spiders would jump out of every corner of the castle demanding his blood. Harry and Neville didn't let him do that two days in a row. Ron was still wary of corners that were too dark for his liking and very much capable of hiding an acromantula in his mind at least, but Harry's and Neville's actions were good for him as he got over his troubles.

Harry himself was too busy worrying about the effects Dumbledore's and Hagrid's absences would have to keep worrying about spiders. It seemed McGonagall was very much capable of stepping in to help, but it was still noticeable everyone was scared of a Hogwarts without Professor Dumbledore. Harry personally found Hagrid's absence more disconcerting. It just didn't feel right not seeing the giant of a man roaming the grounds and offering a friendly smile and wave to the students whenever he saw them.

At the moment, Harry was wishing he could do something more in some way. Hermione was petrified. Dumbledore and Hagrid were gone. Elsa seemed more distant despite being happy for the first day or two after they returned. Harry guessed there was something more going on in her head now that they were off the high from surviving that encounter.

The dark-haired boy felt more anxious as the days slowly went onward. He wondered if the attacks would again stop. He wasn't sure that would be the case this time. Before he was forced to leave, Hagrid said there weren't any double attacks last time. There had been two this time. That was easily a form of escalation. Last time the headmaster was still around as well. This time that wasn't the case.

Despite the situation, a sort of eerie calm once more fell over the school. This time it felt and was a lot more fragile than before. Harry was sure things were getting ready for one final crescendo before the end of the school year. He didn't like that. It made him feel uneasy.

{-} {-} {-}

Elsa had taken to spending most of her time with either Luna or on her own it seemed. Though finding time for herself was harder to come by now. Luna was a bit more attached after they admitted how close they felt to each other. Elsa for the most part didn't mind this change. She actually found it kind of adorable. Though, she did want to look more at the spells in the Archive, even if she wouldn't really be able to practice them too much presently.

She managed to occasionally find time to practice the two she was furthest along with at least. This was good, because the two were some of the most helpful spells she knew. Her ancestors made it easy to understand how they worked. Elsa supposed it could have just been one who did this in the end. She had an ancestor who was a Hufflepuff named Henrick. He took it upon himself to better study the spells and share the findings as his means of contributing to the Archive and future Royal Family members.

His choice proved very valuable in the end on several occasions. Some of her ancestors got mixed up with bad business in the magic world and their lives were most likely saved because of his contributions. It seemed not all of her ancestors were exactly goody two shoes.

One such ancestor was the youngest princess of three. Her oldest sister didn't awaken the gift but was the crown princess. The middle sister decided to support her older sister by being as helpful as she could be when dealing with the magical world and their tricky politics. The youngest sister decided the best way she could help would be controlling or keeping tabs on the less than savory side of the magical world.

The youngest sister was named Iliana. Iliana got into quiet a bit of trouble during her years at Hogwarts. Elsa couldn't help but find her exploits rather fascinating. She even went so far as to sneak out some of Iliana's journals for reading during her free time. Elsa simply disguised the books and no one was any the wiser.

Iliana's life seemed rather like a realistic adventure series. Elsa might have wondered how factual the tales she wrote were, but Marvin assured her they were truthful. She also happened to find other sources to back up what Iliana said happened in her journals.

Given the youngest princess' choice regarding the underside of wizarding society, Iliana found herself in a lot of trouble and it started while she was still in school. She had to build up connections and Hogwarts was the best place to start. Iliana was unsurprisingly a Slytherin while at Hogwarts. She also proved on many occasions, while saving herself, just how useful Henrick's improved notes were regarding the family's spells.

Perhaps it was Iliana's willingness to do what was necessary, even if it was dirty, that Elsa found most intriguing. It was true as a leader you may have to do things that weren't exactly fit for polite society. You would have to make morally tough calls.

This was something Elsa was going through on her own at the moment. She really did not like those Acromantula so close to the school. There was one solution she could easily come up with and she on a level agreed it was the right call. Elsa read between the lines during their trip to visit Aragog. She sensed what was going on there. This choice was weighing down on her, but Elsa saw it as a test of sorts. She didn't like it as she prepped herself for enacting her decision, but she was going through with it. She also wasn't sure how this would affect her in the long run.

{-} {-} {-}

It was finally dark and Elsa opened her eyes. Her dorm mates were fast asleep. She finally had the courage for what she had to do, even if it took a couple of days to build. She would be purposefully killing creatures that were sapient tonight.

She had thought it over much since their trip. She simply didn't see why the Hogwarts staff thought it was okay to have such dangerous creatures near the castle. Not only were they dangerous, but there was a massive amount of them. Sure, the leader was keeping the rest under control, but Hogwarts would be very lucky if he lived two or three years longer. He also had no qualms with letting Hagrid's friends be a meal for his underlings. It was obvious he thought little of humans as a whole.

The thought that finally led Elsa to making her decision was simple, "What will happen when Aragog dies?" Maybe at best the Acromantula colony will stay in the forest, but that wouldn't last. They would soon get hungry for humans and especially so for children. The staff wouldn't be able to save all of the children when that happened. She wasn't even fully sure if the staff were aware of the colony in the first place. They always did make a point of saying to stay out of the forest and she doubted the professors actually patrolled the tree line.

Elsa thought about telling the professors once this heir mess was finished, but then Hagrid would either get in trouble or they would believe him over her when covered for Aragog. Sure, Hagrid was Dumbledore's man through and through, but it was obvious he kept secrets even from the headmaster if they didn't know about the monster spiders.

Even if they believed her over Hagrid, it would still be a mess when the staff confronted them. Hagrid probably wouldn't fight against his fellow wizards, but he would warn Aragog of the attack. It was possible the leader would just have them all leave and nothing bad would come to pass in the end. It was more likely the younger spiders in the family would overrule their father in favor of the colony and attack first in that scenario. That would not be a good outcome.

There was an even worse scenario Elsa thought of on the matter. "Maybe Dumbledore already knows about the colony of acromantula." That thought made her sick to the stomach. She thought Dumbledore eccentric, but surely, he wouldn't be so far gone to think it was perfectly fine to have a massive colony of such beasts this close to the school.

No. It was obvious he didn't even know it existed. Perhaps that was the reason the Centaurs weren't on such good terms with the wizards at the school from what Hagrid told them. The fact such a colony exists and the wizards are doing nothing about it; is proof of either incompetence or a disregard for consequences.

"This is the only way…" she told herself quietly as she sneaked out of the castle. She used the same secret passageway out she did when they made their trip to the forest. Once she exited, Elsa pulled up the hood on her cloak and quietly made her way to the forest. She was focused on her course of action and didn't noticed the cold mist following in her wake as she 'froze' her heart to prepare for the task at hand.

{-} {-} {-}

Luna gave a stretch as she looked out a window facing towards the forest. Her roommates locked the door tonight. Luna supposed it made sense they forgot she was also in their dorm room. She spent a lot of time and nights with the second-year girls after all. Instead of dwelling on that topic too much, she decided to explore the castle. She would just sleep in the common room on one of the many comfy couches, or slip into Elsa's bed as she did on several occasions. The girls in second year didn't really lock their door unless they were having one of their infamous sleepovers and Luna knew they weren't tonight. She was usually invited if they were having such a party.

Luna lost track of time while exploring and soon found herself close to a door that went outside to the grounds. The blonde first year looked outside at the bright moon and smiled serenely. The moon always cheered her up. She was named after it and she almost always found it beautiful, even in all of its phases.

As she looked outside, her silver eyes noticed a cloaked and hooded figure leaving a trail of icy mist in its wake as it headed towards the forest. Luna was intrigued by this mysterious figure. She couldn't see any Wrackspurts coming from it. After learning of her ability, Luna really took to embracing it. It was fun to lightly tease her friends about their emotions. It was also really handy for dealing with people and better understanding them.

"Maybe it's a Lunar Ice Fairy," she said with a smile and quickly made her way to follow it. She and her dad danced with fairies on many different occasions. One time after such an occasion, her dad told her about rare Lunar Ice Fairies. These Fairies were human sized and loved wearing cloaks. They would sometimes wander around magical places under the moon lit night sky. They also weren't quiet as vain as regular fairies, even though they were just as beautiful. The best way to notice them was if they left a trail of icy mist behind them that didn't freeze anything.

Luna left quickly and ran across the grounds trying to catch up. When she got closer, she slowed down to not startle the fairy. She wanted to just watch it from afar this time and study it. She might later talk to it if she felt it was okay to approach the fairy and possibly have another interesting article for The Quibbler. People actually seemed to enjoy her articles a lot more lately than her dad's for some reason. Maybe it was because she was learning how to better interact with others and this reflected in her writing, but she wasn't fully sure.

The Ravenclaw first year paused in her steps when the fairy entered the forest after crouching down and seemingly looking around before changing directions a little. Luna followed carefully. When the fairy seemed to enter the forest deeper, Luna was extra careful to remember her path. Fortunately, it seemed the fairy managed to find a rather straight path, which would make returning easier. Luna also had the handy tracking skills her father taught her if she needed them. The small girl was sure she would be fine getting back to Hogwarts.

{-} {-} {-}

Elsa made sure to follow the path they used during their escape the best she could. Her ice was gone, but she was able to follow the latent flows of her own magic on the ground. They would disappear soon enough, but she had time to make this trip and use those same flows to return. The car pretty much made a bee line out of the forest that night, so the path was rather straightforward. She looked back behind her as she felt like something was watching her, but it seemed whatever it was wouldn't be a hungry acromantula. It also wasn't a different creature who would bother her so she didn't focus on it. She knew this feeling of being watched was only natural in this forest.

It was getting darker in the forest now. Elsa looked around again. She closed her eyes and placed her powered hands to her lids and whispered "Ellaman Viscion". She felt her power spark a little and opened her eyes. She was glad she found that spell in the Archive's Spell Compendium and had time to practice it. The spell, Element Eyes, gave her night vision and a little bonus because of her powers.

The bonus her ice powers gave, let Elsa see what looked like motion trails as if a snowy wind was blowing in different directions following something. She could also get a feeling for the type of being leaving the trail. She could also focus on a trail causing it to stand out better for her eyes. This made tracking a lot easier. It wasn't hard finding a trail from the spiders or the Weasley family car, even if they were old.

Elsa quietly continued further into the forest. She took in a slow deep breath as she refocused and tried to prepare herself again for what she was about to do. If she had looked into a mirror, she might have been frightened of what she saw. Her eyes were icy and had a slight ominous glow to them. It was obvious her powers were coursing through her body more than usual, even if they were still under her control.

She started to move slower as she came closer to the nesting ground. Thanks to her vision she was able to make out movement from the trees above where the monster spiders were likely waiting. Before going any further, Elsa closed her eyes and focused her magic once more as she whispered, "Reflecsho". Elsa felt the effects of the spell.

It was the other spell she found in the archive and had time to practice. This spell was a more efficient and powerful version of the disillusionment charm. She had yet to master it to the point she didn't need to say the word, but she was working on it. There were many spells in the archive that were wandless more or less revolving around having elemental powers. Elsa discovered the reason for this was because if a family member had elemental powers, they couldn't use regular wandless magic. The trade-off in her case was using her ice powers instead. Elsa didn't really see a down side to this, especially since she found these family spells.

Elsa moved silently and carefully under the protection of the spell. She could probably do this without the spell due to her training, but the spell made it much easier and she wasn't sure how alert the spiders were. She convinced Vitus to really go overboard in his teachings including how to be stealthy. If she wasn't the Crown Princess of Arendelle, he would probably have her take over the work he did for the ADMS before he became her bodyguard/instructor. She had been really excited about this at first and kind of saw herself as learning to be a bit of a magical ninja if you will. However, she quickly realized the skills were needed because of how dangerous his work was.

There was some movement from above in the trees nearby. Elsa flattened herself against the nearest tree as a large hairy spider leg extended to the ground and more followed. She held her breath and tried to still her heart as the monstrous spider clicked and clacked after seemingly searching around for something. It seemed to decide nothing was there of importance and so it moved off again.

Elsa slowly kept circling the nesting area not making a single sound while keeping aware of her surroundings the whole time. She fortunately didn't have any other close encounters. The area was pretty large and she had to plan how to attack.

Fortunately, surprise was on her side here. That was probably her only advantage. She retreated a bit and thought over what she needed to do here and what she could use. She tried her best to recall any spells or magic she came across in the archive during her studies earlier in the year.

She remembered one she could use very efficiently by making her ice transparent and hiding the symbols it required. She could make magical traps this way. She knew how to do them, even if she didn't fully know the magic behind them. This was another reason she already decided to study Ancient Runes as one of her electives for next year so early on. She just wanted it to work and work well at the moment though. There was no need for being precise here or careful. She was the only one here apart from the spiders she was sure.

Elsa focused as she used magic to draw a symbol in the ground. She shot out a small chilly breeze on the ground around it to cover the symbol up before moving on to the next. The symbols were easier to draw as she continued with her plan. She placed them in places she knew were the most likely for the spiders to use as escape routes. She would even make a magical blockade of sorts that would lead them into those trapped escape routes.

Once she finished with the symbols, Elsa found herself a spot where she could oversee the clearing. She reached it using her broom as she looked down below. She again 'froze' her heart so she wouldn't be as bothered by what she was about to do. She took in a deep breath and when she again looked down to the ground her eyes were giving off an icy and menacing glow to a degree far surpassing her earlier icy gaze. Some might even go so far as to say it was inhuman and terrified them to their souls.

She spread out her arms and quickly sent a deadly snowy and icy wind to surround the nesting ground and form the blockade where needed. The spiders stilled as they wondered what was happening. She then concentrated on the center of the clearing and made an upward movement with her hands.

The ground started to rumble and the spiders started to panic a little. A large snow and ice golem appeared before them all. Just after one of the monster spiders shouted, "Attack!" with its spidery voice, it was silenced as the golem shoved a massive ice spike through it! All hell seemed to break lose in the clearing below after that.

Spiders jumped to attack the thing, but to little avail. Others started to run towards the ice and snow storm barrier Elsa made. Many of these spiders instantly froze and turned to ice before shattering. Some ran through the weaker points she left and triggered the traps. Their final shrieks could be heard as they echoed in the clearing.

The Ice Princess moved her hands in a sweeping motion. Several ice spikes formed above the clearing before showering down fast and embedding themselves in several of the acromantula below. The spiders didn't know where to go and where to attack other than the large golem in the center. All of the other spiders that tried to escape were destroyed by the traps she laid.

With another movement of her hands, shards of deadly sharp ice shot forth from the barrier of ice and snow. She moved her hands more as ice spikes shot up from the ground impaling spiders. She then made a different motion with her hands as she froze a spider or two before then exploding them. She was doing a lot of damage, but the spiders' numbers were massive. It seemed there were even more of them then when she escaped with Ron and Harry last time they were here. It was proof not all of them made themselves known back then, even with the large number that chased her and the others.

Eventually, the large golem in the middle started to take damage and fall apart. Elsa clenched a fist and the thing exploded taking out several spiders in the blast. The remaining ones were shocked but after a second's pause one shouted, "It is defeated!" A few other spiders seemed to clack and click in celebration.

"It's not over," Elsa said in a calm voice that sounded chilly and cold while it echoed around the clearing. As soon as she said those words, there was a rumble as a small army of snow and ice golems rushed through the snow and ice barrier before attacking more of the spiders as the monsters shrieked in pain and fear.

Elsa gazed down below dispassionately. She wasn't sure how this would affect her later, but for now it didn't have any effect. She did grimace a few times as she heard the spiders scream in pain before they died at first. That seemed so long ago by this point despite little actual time having passed since then.

{-} {-} {-}

As the battle…

No…

Massacre…

Below started to come to an end, Elsa made her way into the clearing. Her eyes were still giving off that icy and unearthly glow. The icy mist continued surrounding her feet while she wore her cloak with the hood up. She walked the ground looking to and fro as she finished off the spiders still alive.

Some of the spiders managed to speak before she ended them. They would shout things like, "Slayer! Murderer! Death's Icy Mistress! Death's Chill! Cold's Darkness!" The words didn't seem to have any effect on her as she was still in her full-on frozen heart Queen mode.

As she made her way to the main part of the nest, there was nothing in the air but the chill of death and carnage. She had finished off all of them but one. One old, greatly injured, mostly blind and barely living acromantula.

It looked to her with its last good eye as he spoke. "Perhaps… we shouldn't have feared the beast in the castle… but instead the Princess of Icy Death," Aragog wheezed. Elsa stared at the dying acromantula. It gave a sound similar to a cough as it said, "Yes… I know who you really are… Why did you slaughter my family, Ice Princess of Arendelle?"

"Do you really have to ask? You told them to eat us when we were here to try and find a way to help the school and Hagrid. You are old, Aragog… The younger ones wouldn't have avoided the castle for long after you died. If they even waited that long," Elsa said in a cold but still queenly voice.

She looked around and sensed the flows of the forest as they seemed to become more harmonious. It served as further proof for her decision. She didn't know it, but she was desperately seeking such proof subconsciously. "This forest was never meant to be your family's home. This colony threw it out of balance. You had many chances to leave. Why did you stay?" She narrowed her icy blue eyes as she added, "I know it wasn't because of Hagrid. Your gratitude towards him is far more limited than you led us to believe."

The large spider seemed to consider her words. "It was easy for us here… No predators. No one knew of us apart from Hagrid. Even the centaurs didn't bother us… and there was plenty of easy to find food. We would have taken over eventually… If it wasn't for you… Does that… ease your conscious?"

Elsa frowned at Aragog. "No, it doesn't. I wasn't looking for excuses. I made my choice. I will live with it."

Aragog suddenly seemed to look at her with a deep hatred, "The school would have been a feast of feasts for us! No one would have been able to stop us short of the dark lord himself! And you Icy bit-"

Elsa's eyes turned colder as she glared at the spider. She made a thrust motion with both hands open. A large black colored Ice spike shot forward fast as it impaled and then shot through Aragog, cutting off his last words of anger. Elsa blinked in surprise as the spider then disintegrated before her eyes. She knew she could do such a thing as disintegration, but it was never that instantaneous and required her to really concentrate. Regardless, she now knew what she needed to do.

Elsa turned around and looked over the carnage again and fought back the bile rising inside her throat. Seeing what she had done was sickening in a way, even if she still felt it was the best and worst course of action. She 'froze' her heart again as she steeled herself for the next task. She started to concentrate on groups of acromantula corpses and opened her hands as she started to freeze them deeper. Once the group was frozen beyond what was possible without her magic, she closed and opened her hands again. The frozen bodies started to disappear as they shattered and disintegrated quickly. They became nothing more than a slight coolness carried away by the wind.

Elsa walked the slaughtering ground and did the same with all of the remaining bodies. She then did so with all of the eggs as well. She concentrated more as she made a spinning motion and the blood and other evidence of battle disappeared as well. Next, the Ice Princess used a cold breeze to whisk away the scent of death that hung in the area.

Once she made sure to remove all of the traps and clean up anything else that needed it, Elsa slowly made her way back towards the castle. She was glad it was the weekend and there wasn't any school tomorrow. She was going to need the rest. The Archive was going to be very helpful as a temporary retreat from the school and her dark deed.

{-} {-} {-}

Luna continued to follow the icy figure and was almost seemingly caught by it. It seemed the figure didn't sense her as a threat or an enemy. It might not have even noticed her at all. Regardless, Luna kept further back as she followed.

The silver eyed blonde girl started to shiver as they continued. She didn't like going this deep into the forest, but she didn't want to lose this chance to see a Lunar Ice Fairy.

The small girl gasped and paused in fear as an acromantula descended in front of her. "Why is there an acromantula here?!" Luna thought in panic as she stared wide eyed at it and seemed to hold her breath.

The thing clacked at her and looked at her. It probably would have eaten her if it wasn't for the strange icy snow storm that seemed to be moving further down the path ahead of her. Then there was a scream in a horrible sounding spidery voice, "Attack!"

The spider staring at Luna turned around quicker than her eyes could follow as it charged down the path towards the scream. It was getting close when suddenly a large Ice spike shot up from the ground impaling the monster. Luna gasped and quickly hid behind a nearby tree and shut her eyes tight.

She should have run, but she was too scared. She kept hearing spider screams of pain and awful crunching sounds. She brought her knees up to her chest as she lowered her head and covered her ears and shut her eyes tighter. She could still hear the sounds and the screams even like that.

Whatever she was following, it wasn't a Lunar Ice Fairy.

Ice Fairies were supposed to be calm and gentle beings. They weren't supposed to be capable of such slaughter. The air felt cold but not in a natural way and not in a kind way either.

Try as she might to ignore it all, Luna eventually couldn't help but look again. As she looked, she saw spiders running towards her. Each and every one of them was killed by an ice spike. Luna was terrified of what was doing all of this, but at the same time there was a part of her that was thankful. She had never seen so many acromantula together like this. It had to be a large colony if not one of the largest. She didn't like that it was so close to her school.

Eventually, Luna couldn't take it anymore once it went silent apart from random screams and yells from dying spiders. She couldn't help but vomit on the ground a couple of times. She panted heavily as she tried to catch her breath. Once she caught her breath, she sprung up and ran as fast as she could back the way she came. Whatever had caused all of this was cleaning up and she didn't want to be around for that.

{-} {-} {-}

As Luna ran back to the castle, she quickly threw the doors open, glad they still weren't locked. She didn't even try to quietly close them behind her. She merely waved her wand behind as raw magic slammed the great doors shut. Luna quickly dived into a nearby empty and kind of hidden room. After she closed the door, she huddled in the corner and shook as she cried a little again. She could still hear the horrible screams in her head.

"Why does this happen to me?" she asked aloud. Her voice held no hint of her usual dreamy serenity. It was bad enough she watched her mother die before her eyes just a couple of years ago. Her mother's death was extremely horrifying as the magic her mother was experimenting with collapsed in on itself.

Luna didn't really remember much of it. For better or worse, her brain blocked the memory. The healers said she was found by her dad just staring with empty eyes at the spot that had once been her mother. She didn't say anything as tears seemed to leak from her eyes. The girl was never really allowed to even properly mourn her mom until recently. Her father became rather lost and twisted up inside as a result of losing his wife. The way Luna initially acted after the accident didn't help matters. She ended up being the one that had to be strong and ignored her own feelings on the matter for her father's sake.

Now, the first-year girl had just witnessed something else that was horrifying. She wasn't just frozen in shock watching events play out. She actually experienced them. She saw several of them die and heard many more despite her attempts not to hear them. She could even feel the cold in the area. It was so chilling even the usual Wrackspurts she sensed weren't around Luna now realized as she once more squeezed her eyes shut.

{-} {-} {-}

"So much for my Lunar Ice Fairy…" Luna sighed as she got up after some time. As much as she wanted it, she knew she couldn't stay here all night. She made up her mind for her sleeping arrangements tonight.

Even after she got back to the dorm and found her room unlocked, she simply changed into her sleeping clothes before leaving again. She sniffed as she gave a final shudder for everything that just happened. Luna was glad she had someone she could turn to in times like these as rare as they were for her. She didn't have to force her self to stay falsely strong. She didn't have to just ignore her own feelings. She quietly opened the door to the second-year girls' room and made for one of the beds.

Luna thought she did so without waking anyone up, but as soon as she approached Elsa's bed blue eyes looked to her quickly. Unnoticed by the smaller girl, the blue eyes seemed icy and powerful for a moment before Elsa blinked a couple of times and quietly asked, "Luna?"

Luna paused for a moment and then simply said, "I was locked out again and had trouble sleeping…" It wasn't technically a lie. She didn't want to share what she saw just yet, if ever.

"Okay…" Elsa said as she gave a tired smile and patted her bed after opening the sheets. Luna gladly climbed in as the two girls snuggled in together and tried to fall asleep. Luna felt there was something different about Elsa, though she didn't let it bother her too much. Elsa still seemed like a welcoming presence to her and soon the younger girl closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Elsa found herself wrapping on to Luna tighter than she usually would. Luckily, the younger girl didn't seem to notice or she just didn't care. Elsa again wondered how this night would affect her in the future. Holding Luna there as she heard the girl's rhythmic breathing while she slept along with the rest of her roommates, caused Elsa to again feel it was the best and worst choice. The people she cared about were now safe from being eaten by acromantula.

Elsa took in a deep breath and let it out before slowly falling back asleep.

{-} {-} {-}

"Bane! Did you get the reports?" a centaur asked their leader as he finished getting ready for the day.

"Yes, I did. Gather a war party. We need to check. Have them all ready and willing to fight. If the reports are wrong, then we will need to be ready. If they are right… We will need to be ready," Bane ordered the other centaur who nodded before galloping off.

Something big had happened in the forest tonight and they needed to see what it was. The reports said it happened near the foul acromantula colony. Bane still wished Hagrid hadn't introduced such beasts into the forest while the wizards in the castle ignored them, if they even knew about them.

Bane made his way to the gates where there was a sizable band of Armored Centaurs with weapons in had waiting for orders. "We're going to investigate the Acromantula Colony. I don't need to tell you how bad things could get, but we must find out what happened. Follow me!" he shouted as they galloped out beyond the safety of their village.

It didn't take them too long to reach where they were headed. They were galloping as fast as they could safely. They were ready for anything: an attack from the acromantula, some new foul creature that hunted acromantula, and anything else they could think of.

However, they were not ready for what they saw where the colony was supposed to be.

"How is this possible?" Ronan asked from Bane's side. "No trace…" he muttered from next to his leader.

Bane narrowed his eyes as he searched the clearing. There were traces, but they were very few and small. They also didn't make sense, even when taking magic into account. There was a slowly dissipating chill in the clearing and not much else. He saw some melting ice, but not much of it.

What he didn't see were bodies. He also didn't see any real signs of the webbing or the nesting ground either. It was as if the colony simply vanished completely. There wasn't anything that could do that without a trace of residual magic and even then, it would have been something that took a lot of time. The Centaur chief also knew this wasn't something Dumbledore was able to do either. Not even the foulest of foul wizards, the one called Voldemort, would have been able to do this without more traces and clues.

"Look around carefully. It appears nothing is here, but make sure there aren't even eggs left. We do not want these creatures returning," he ordered his men. The other centaurs nodded and got to work.

{-} {-} {-}

"Nothing… really nothing at all," Ronan said in disbelief as he gave his report to Bane once the search was over.

Bane frowned in thought. He knew what this could possibly mean now that he thought about it more. He knew who to ask. Even if he didn't much like Firenze with his human sympathies, he was one of their best when it came to prophecies and reading the stars. What happened here could be a good thing or a bad thing. He as of yet didn't know which it was. Especially, if that person was involved and already this powerful at such a young age.

He broke from his musings and looked around before nodding in thought. "We will take this as a blessing for the time being. We shall feast in celebration! The foul creatures are gone!" Several Centaurs cheered in response as they all made their way back home. They would be able to help restore the rightful balance of the forest now that the worst threat was seemingly gone. It was a good day for their kin. They would also make this a good day for the Forest and nature.

If this turned out to be a good thing in the years to come, Bane would even make this a holiday for feasting in the future. The acromantula had taken many of their numbers. The centaurs tried to fight back against them early on but to little avail. They were lucky it seemed this group of acromantula were lazy because of how easy they had it in the forest. The foul monsters saw the centaurs as too much of a hassle to eat on a regular basis. They still would hunt down lone centaurs or small groups from time to time for sport it seemed though.

Bane hoped their disappearance was a sign of good things to come. However, he wasn't foolish. He knew whatever destroyed them could turn out to be far worse in the future. For now, he would join his kin in celebration. The centaurs learned to take moments of hope when they could, long ago. This was one such moment. Tomorrow would be the day to look more into this and think more on it. Today was for celebration and joy.

A/N: Hopefully this doesn't upset any Aragog fans. I wouldn't think he had fans, but this is the Harry Potter fandom so anything is possible.