I don't own the story or the characters of Harry Potter, this work is entirely fan-made. The rights to everything Harry Potter belong to J.K Rowling.
Thanks for reading this far, it means a lot.
Enjoy!
"Blimey, it's yeh. Don't scare me like tha'. Well, come in then, come in. Wouldn' want yeh to catch a cold now." Hagrid whispered to the cloak-wearing Gryffindors, lowering his crossbow. They all bustled into the small hut quickly, the half-giant looking around before he shut the door behind them. Harry stuffed the cloak back into his bag and took a seat at the table that looked more like a door than a coffee table. "Rock cakes anyone? Tea?" Hagrid offered his guests refreshments, which they gladly took, but looked sceptical at the rock cakes, now knowing if they were a recipe in his cookbook from Christmas. "So what're yeh doin' out at this kind o' time? Yeh could get in serious trouble with Professor McGonagall." Harry broke the ice and took the chance, letting Zoe speak whilst he took a wary bite of the rock cakes. Zoe shook her head relayed the information from the diary. "So, were you the culprit, answer wisely, I will know." She said, tapping her forehead, indicating her legilimency abilities. He sighed and let them know the truth. "Yes, I ad' an Acromantula called Aragog but he never hurt anybody. Never. I swear. I told that Riddle lad the truth. Yeh believe me, right?" He growled. Hermione spoke up, looking up from her surprisingly edible cake "Yes, we believe you on the point that you didn't open the chamber, however, an Acromantula not hurting anybody, that's the bit we all struggle to believe. Zoe looked up them in multiple books on creatures and some on dark creatures and know that they can do. They don't petrify people but they do inject a deadly venom if threatened, of which the effects are uncertain." Hagrid made a sort of mumbling protest but let Zoe continue in her assessment of the creature. "In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, it is classed by the Ministry as a XXXXX class magical creature, meaning it is impossible to domesticate and control them once they reach a certain level of size or intelligence. Please tell me it was disposed of, Harry couldn't make that part out in that past vision." Zoe emplored him to say that it was killed but he just shook his head.
Hagrid looked back up, guiltily at the twins, Neville and Hermione. A mix of shame and slight anger at them sparked in his eyes but disappeared when Hermione bore down upon him. "Hagrid, do you realise that if you had kept that Acromantula, it would have killed and probably eaten you? Mr Riddle probably did you a favour by scaring it from the castle grounds." Hermione stopped dead in her tracks and stared open-mouthed at Hagrids new expression, one of even deeper shame. Zoe used her ability to read his current thoughts and gasped, telling Harry and Neville instantly what he was thinking. "It never left the grounds. You are keeping it in that forest, this close to the school! Hagrid what were you thinking?! Oh Merlin, no! You can't be serious?!" She squealed in slight terror. She turned to Harry who caught her in a hug and held her by the shoulders. She quivered and looked up at them. "There's a whole colony of them. Only a kilometre from the edge of the forest. And 'Aragog' is over five metres tall now, at least." She rubbed her temples and sat down on the chair again. The other three looked at the teacher incredulously as he bowed his hair-covered head even further, looking as if he was trying to get his beard to envelope him whole. "I'm sorry, all righ'. I didn' know how dangerous he could ave' been at the time. And believe me, I've tried to approach him, to tell him to leave to another par' o' the highlands… but e's been adaman' bout' staying here an' feedin' his young. Tha's the only solution I could think of. I know he didn' hurt anyone back then. E' was too little and frail. All e' told me before he left for the forest for the las' time, was that he knew that the beast that killed tha' girl was born in the castle, long ago and that he feared it above all else. That all spiders did."
Lady Elizabeth was annoyed to be woken at 10 p.m. by a little girl with red hair but knew she was a first-year, so let her through with no more than a "Goodnight, hopefully" to her as she went through. Only minutes later, another four faces appeared at the entrance to the common room and gave the password. "Just so you know, you will be the last ones through here until morning, understood?" She hissed as she accepted the password and swung open. Harry shrugged off the invisibility cloak and kissed Hermione's cheek before they all split apart and went to their dorms, vowing to talk to the Society tomorrow about their new-found information. As they changed into their nightwear from behind the closed curtains of their beds, Harry and Neville agreed to tell Hagrid before they owled the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical creatures about an infestation at school. The following morning, after getting up and sending messages to the society members with Hedwig and Sidera using the post, Harry, Hermione, Zoe and Neville all headed towards the third-floor corridor, where they found the door wedged, nearly impossible to get open. Hermione got the others to keep an eye out for students and used a substantial amount of force in her banishing and unlocking charm combination. The door swung open and a large, black object skidded across the floor and came to rest again the far wall.
It was the still form of Colin Creevey, holding his camera to his eye, with his other shut to take a picture.
As Professor McGonagall looked over the faces of the four second-years that had brought a petrified Colin Creevey to Madam Pomfrey, she scowled and shook her head. "Why is it, when someone is hurt, you four are somehow at the forefront of knowledge about it." She exclaimed before turning to the hospital matron. "Poppy, is he alright? Not beyond repair?" Madam Pomfrey shook her head and the Headmistress sighed a deep breath in relief. "Now, I don't believe that any of you, would do this, or were even capable of doing this but you need to stop being in the wrong places at the worst times. Thankfully you were there to find Mr Creevey, or he likely would still be there until Mr Filch got around to the end of year cleaning of the castle." Hermione nearly gulped in fear of the meeting area for the society being stumbled upon by someone other than a student being petrified but held back the gesture. "Well, we had to go somewhere to avoid Peeves. He was taunting Harry down the hall, again. Isn't there something that we can do about him? Or you, as Headmistress?" Hermione asked, lying to cover their movements in the school. Professor McGonagall tapped her temples in thought. "Ah, yes. I remember Albus trying to communicate with the Bloody Baron to keep Peeves in order, so I shall try to as well. Now, be on your way, please… oh, and if possible, stay out of trouble." She said before waving them away and walking over to Madam Pomfrey again.
When the hospital wing was out of sight and any other students were out of earshot, the four Gryffindors ran to the third floor, discussing the new evidence to go with the further developing mystery with the Heir of Slytherin. Upon arrival at the door, they caught their breath and walked in, closing the door steadily behind them as Harry took his place at the head of the table. Cedric spoke up "Blimey, you actually made it. Good on you to show up. Where were you all?" After he had finished, the target of his joke stood and addressed the packed house. "Good morning. We were gone just then, briefly, I hope," he looked at Cedric who shook his head and smiled "as a matter that pertains to this meeting was the top priority. Colin Creevey was petrified, we don't know when but we assume that it was either late last night or very early this morning. Thankfully, the film in his camera was fried, so our meeting area stays private, for now." He saw the raised eyebrows and some baffled looks when he said camera, so he let Hermione explain. After she had told them quickly about what cameras were, much to the amusement of the purebloods and the clueless, Harry continued. "Anyway, another victim of the petrifications means more evidence has come up. Yesterday, we talked to the person who was believed to have set the monster loose the first time a person was exposed to it. Hagrid was accused of this and subsequently had his wand snapped in 1943 after a student was found dead in a bathroom. He knows of a possibly larger threat to the school, and so we shall be talking to the Ministry about it." He breathed out and looked at Neville, who nodded and saw Zoe and Hermione give the same response. "There is a colony of Acromantula living just over a kilometre inside the forbidden forest. The 'king', so to speak, was considered the killer last time, however, petrification is not a listed effect of the few that an acromantula's venom can cause. This means that we are dealing with a threat to Hogwarts from both the inside of the castle… and out."
The chattering coming from the students was overwhelming, so Professor McGonagall shot a noise equivalent to that of a hundred fireworks into the air to garner the attention of the crowds. "While yes, another student has been attacked by someone, we will stay strong. Hogwarts does not bow, to terrorists, nor does it kneel to those who seek to take it from us. We remain strong, unified and loyal to the end. If Hogwarts bows to the person doing this to the youth of our school, we are not fit to call ourselves residents, teachers and pupils of this great castle." Whilst the speech at dinner-time was rousing and brave, it would not stop the monster. How a wise and experienced witch, like Minerva McGonagall, thought that a student or even a human could rain down these blows on the student populous was beyond Harry and was likely just a coping mechanism for the other teachers, who might have thought correctly that a beast was doing this. When back in the warmness of the common room, Neville spoke up first to agree with Harry's internal thoughts. "She's scared and confused, no matter how brave her speech seems. She and the other teachers have come down with Dumbledore syndrome." At Zoe and Hermione's confused looks and Harry's raised eyebrow, he explained 'Dumbledore's syndrome'. "You know, the incredibly uncommon and stubborn ability to lie to everyone who matters about important and dangerous truths. That and the fact that they haven't said a word about this to parents. Sirius and the Potters are dealing with it behind the scenes with the DMLE and besides, they're too busy drawing up charges on Dumbledore and Lockhart to be bothered with a few near deaths." Nevilles moment of lighthearted humour was much-needed in the group, especially with accusations flying at Harry from every direction like a chaser surrounded by bludgers. With Hermione's head in Harry's lap as they sat lazily by the fire in the common room, she sighed. All was right in the world in that fleeting moment. All worries melted away as the world became as small as the two lovers, a herbologist and a young Magical Creatures expert joined in a singular cause. The only thing that brought them out of the daydream was that to rid the castle of a plot that would destroy it, the Rogue Society would have to intervene.
We're finally going to get into the really juicy stuff. You know what happens next in regards to the Heir, or I should think you know by now.
Stay Safe
-E