Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his world belong to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 39

Harry was profoundly relieved when the reply came so promptly. Brandon, that while he did not approve of disobedience, and would be displeased if it happened again, that he did well saving the man who'd been in the forest, 'even though he was a criminal, escaped from Azkaban.'

A criminal. He'd saved a criminal. It took a lot of his sense of achievement away, but when he thought about it, he would have acted anyway, the best he could. Being carried away by spiders – what an awful way to go. There was a postscript written by Sonia, just a quick note. 'Stay safe, dear boy. I look forward to seeing you soon.'

Harry was pleased out of all proportion to the words. She cared about him, and so did Brandon. He didn't think he would have liked foster parents who were hugging and kissing all the time, and would want him to call them Mummy and Daddy, but all the same, it was in their words and their actions. They cared abut him. Not like their own children, but that was natural. He would settle for what he'd been given, so much more than he'd known in his earlier life.

But then he went outside along with hundreds of other students to watch as the professionals prepared to enter the forest.

But he was frowning as he regarded the group of men who were gathered just outside the temporary fence that had been erected between the forest and the castle. Just twelve men. There were so many spiders. Did they even know they were magic resistant? Or where to slice at legs?

Ron said, "Some of those men look proper mean!" and Neville said, "Look at that ugly bastard there with the axe. He can't wait to start chopping."

"That's Walden MacNair. He was accused of being a Death Eater in the last war. Dad told me."

"Three of them are carrying axes, and one has a sword. The rest must only have their wands, I guess."

Harry said absently, "Machine guns would be better, and grenades," and then he started toward the group. He wanted to tell them how to kill the spiders, and he wanted to tell them there could be hundreds.

Professor McGonagall, annoyed, went to bring him back, but Harry was already talking to Amos Diggory. "You have to get them just at the joint of the leg. But you can stand back and levitate a boulder, that'll kill them. Magic won't touch them, and there's..."

But Diggory interrupted, though in a kind voice. "Look, I know you had a scare there yesterday, young Harry, but we do know what we are doing, you can rely on that."

"I hope so," Harry said dubiously. "There are hundreds, you know that."

But McGonagall's hand was on his shoulder, and he obediently followed her back to where the other students waited.

McGonagall asked, "Hundreds?"

"There were more coming all the time, and that's when I apparated or I would have been overwhelmed."

"Come with me. I might speak to the headmaster."

Harry was grateful when the headmaster listened carefully, and then said to McGonagall, "They told me there was no need to bring down the anti-apparation wards."

"The wards have to be checked in any case - first, a trespasser, and then Harry managed to apparate..."

"It's a bit of a business to bring them down..."

Pucey looked back at Harry, thought of that bit of spider leg, and hurried to bring down the anti-apparation wards. Just because this particular boy had managed to defy the wards, it didn't mean that anyone could.

Meantime, the twelve men entered the forest. There were only three members of Diggory's department, the warriors, not the diplomats, and supplemented by several aurors plus the hit-wizard, Alastor Gumball. Like MacNair, he relished a bit of killing now and then.

Rollings said to MacNair, "Hundreds?"

"He's just a kid. Probably wet himself when he saw just the one."

"There might be other things as well, of course."

Diggory said sharply, "You're to treat the Centaurs with utmost respect and kill nothing without my permission."

"Giant spiders?"

"Yes, but remember they are magic resistant."

"We know that!"

Diggory frowned at Walden MacNair, who never had treated him with appropriate respect. Men like that were useful, though. Few others actually liked killing things, while MacNair liked it a great deal and was very good at it. And the more dangerous the foe, the better he liked it. Alastor Gumboil, a close friend of MacNair's. He would have refused his help if it would not have been taken as an insult. A hit wizard; he supposed he could be useful. He still detested him.

They were following a well defined trail that headed into darker and darker forest and became more and more overgrown. It had not been used for a long time.

Dawlish grumbled, "We should be on broomsticks," but Diggory said briefly, "This is business, not Quidditch."

Dawlish shook his head. It would have been a lot easier if they'd been on broomsticks rather than trudging through long grass and being caught by wandering limbs of undergrowth. This was no way to pass a Sunday morning. He guessed it would be worth it if there was some action at the end of it. Being an Auror was dull now that the war was long over.

xxx

Back at Hogwarts, the crowd dispersed, although Harry lingered. Magical creatures was their job, and that would include killing them when necessary. They must know better than a thirteen-year-old boy. They hadn't even asked exactly where the spiders were, though maybe they knew what to look for. It was only at the last, with spiders seeming to come down on him from everywhere, that he'd spotted the filaments of web high above him in the tall trees. Probably they'd just keep a look out for the strands of web, and follow them to where the brutes gathered.

He shivered. Fancy being carried away to be eaten by giant spiders.

There were a few others watching from further away, none of them seeming the slightest concerned. No-one else was imagining twelve men being devoured by hordes of giant spiders.

Perenelle noticed him there and went to join him. She scanned the quiet edge of the forest, and then said, "You are worried, Mr. Potter?"

"I am worried, Professor Prewitt. I don't think they realise what's there, and they didn't want to listen to me."

"I had no idea there were Acromantulae in the forest."

"I hardly saw any animals. Maybe the spiders have eaten them all."

"Some of them are to be saved and moved to a safe area for breeding. Acromantula silk is valuable, and Acromantula venom is priceless. Once the spiders are contained, there will be collectors. I am hoping for a share."

"They should have taken flame throwers; maybe they would work."

"Maybe they should have. They wouldn't need to go close then."

"I didn't try magical flame, but they brushed off a powerful Bombarda. Magic just didn't seem to affect them much. Knock them over, maybe."

"I am very interested in your fight with them, Mr. Potter. Would you like to adjourn to my office and we'll have a cup of tea?"

Harry gave her a slight grin, "You want the full story? You know I'm in disgrace for being so rash?"

"A cup of tea?"

Harry gave a last look at the forest, and then nodded. There was really no point in hanging around. It was not like he could do anything to help, even if all twelve men were now gone.

Perenelle listened closely to Harry's account of his fight to rescue the man in trouble, and when she assured him he would not be in any more trouble, admitted that he'd been venturing there for some weeks, and then became enthusiastic as he told her about the waterhole and how he'd been trying to have a magical stream going up and around and down - perpetual motion, and asked her if she knew any spell for that.

"I have never heard of any."

"I thought there must be. I thought if you can make a space bigger on the inside than on the outside, and all sorts of other impossible things, then magic should be able to do this as well."

Harry was finding her surprisingly easy to talk to, and it was only when the bell went for lunch that they both noticed the time.

xxx

In the Forbidden Forest, Amos Diggory pointed overhead where strands of web ran between trees. MacNair said, "At last. I was beginning to be quite bored."

"Well, prepare your axe, MacNair," Diggory said. "There's a monster looking at us."

MacNair swung around and regarded the monster that had been sitting quietly on the ground in the middle of the overgrown trail. He grinned and hefted his axe. One swipe and the head would be separated from the body. This must be the grand-daddy of all giant spiders, the size of a sheep. He'd preserve that head, and add it to his collection of monstrous souvenirs. In their briefing, it had been said that Acromantulae could grow to the size of a cart horse, but no-one believed that.

Ready for movement, he started to move stealthily forward. The spider in front of him didn't move. It was another, almost as large, that appeared from above, plucked the man from the ground, and was away. The other men gaped. They could no longer see MacNair, though they could hear him, and then there was a thump from a hundred yards away. Rollings ran and called back to them, "It's his axe."

Diggory called, "Weapons out and bunch up," and the men did so, no longer confident. MacNair could still be heard yelling, but the noise was quickly receding. One of the Aurors said grimly, "I think there might have been a misjudgement here," and Diggory said quietly, "I think so as well."

Rollings asked, "We going after him?"

Diggory said, "Yes, but carefully. Stay close, and keep a lookout."

The 'grand-daddy' spider seemed to have disappeared, and the men continued along the trail, staying as bunched up as they could. Wilfred Rollings guarded their rear, wand out, very tense. But there was no sound to warn him before he, too, was plucked from the ground. He managed to keep his head and shot every spell he could think of at the spider, but there was no effect. The men below were sending stunners. One hit Rollings, who slumped in the spider's grasp and dropped his wand.

The spider was gone, and now there were ten.

"Retreat," Diggory called, "Carefully, staying together."

They turned, and two men broke away and started running, only to be snatched by waiting spiders.

Gumboil yelled, "Try fire," and several spells shot upward, sending hot fire into the wet boughs of trees. One scorched spider fell to the ground, writhing in pain, and then two more.

Diggory nodded, "That's the way, shield us with fire."

It seemed to be working, and the men were making progress. One said, "I wish we'd asked for the wards to be dropped," and another said, "The boy apparated," and another, "He couldn't have."

Diggory said, "On the count of three, attempt disapparation. One..." Three men vanished with a crack. With a rush, the spiders attacked the slower ones. Gumboil was grabbed and immediately bitten, not to paralyse, but to kill. Another disapparated while held by the spider, taking the spider with him.

Harry was watching again, just outside the fence with its prominent signage, 'Ministry Staff Only.'

Cracks in the air, and three men were suddenly there, sprawling on the ground, and then three more, cursing and yelling, one with a spider on top of him. The spider dropped him and started racing back towards the trees. Harry used his wand to make a large hole right under the spider, the spider dropped, and he ran towards it just as it started emerging from the hole. 'Incarcerus,' and the spider found itself tangled in rope. Carefully, he used his wand to cut the legs at the joints, just as he had learned.

Diggory glanced at him, half respectful, half resentful. It was obvious that they should have paid a lot more attention to the boy. Six men lost. Even if they were alive, it would be almost impossible to rescue them. Some of them might still have their wands. One or two might yet be able to apparate out of danger.

McGonagall arrived, puffing, and then other professors, including Professor Prewitt - Perenelle. Harry said to her, "I caught one. You can get your venom now if you want."

"Um... How?"

Harry shrugged. He didn't know. But it was his by right of conquest, he reckoned. The Ministry team had made a right ballsup of the job and now they were glaring at him as if it had been his fault. But he had tried to warn them.

Less than an hour later, reinforcements arrived. Eighty men and several women, all in reinforced clothing or frank body armour, all with broomsticks in hand, and all listening carefully to instructions. Harry was ignored, although the captured spider was closely inspected. It was in a cage now, one that Perenelle had conjured. It was not as dangerous without its legs. Perenelle was still trying to work out how to extract the venom without losing her life. Harry thought she should simply kill it, especially as he could feel its pain and fright. No-one else mentioned being able to feel or hear it, and he could only just hear it. He wasn't even quite sure if there was actual sound, or maybe something like telepathy. He didn't mention it in case it was like being able to talk to snakes, and would be taken as a sign of being 'Dark.'

Nearly all of Hogwarts was watching now, including Headmaster Pucey, who was very pleased he had had the sense to drop the wards. By the sound of it, they might all have vanished without trace, and he suddenly remembered McGonagall mentioning a Defence teacher who had done just that.

Three reporters and two photographers arrived, and then six people dressed in St Mungo's robes - Healers. Without delay, the Healers erected a large tent, and started organising for possible casualties. One of the reporters, a woman, was looking at faces, and then pointed to Harry and said something to the photographer next to her. Harry cast a 'Don't Notice Me' spell on himself, and retreated. There was a flash of a photograph being taken, but he hoped it was only one of the castle or maybe of the group of students.

Finally, the army of Ministry workers, almost all of its Auror force plus volunteers, rose into the air on their broomsticks. They set off again to exterminate the spiders and hopefully, to rescue those captured. Diggory was with them. He felt he had disgraced himself, but refused to leave the dangerous job for other people. Now he knew what they faced, there would be no chances taken. He was second in command this time, lucky to even have that post. The one in charge was Rufus Scrimgeour. None of the reporters or photographers made any move to accompany them.

Hardly any of the watchers left this time, just watching and waiting, some in shelter, others ignoring the light rain and standing close to the fence, not thinking of how quickly a giant spider could go over that fence. Madam Pomfrey was talking to the Healers, while the reporters wandered, sometimes talking to the teachers, sometimes a few of the students. Harry took care to keep himself inconspicuous, but could not bring himself to leave the scene.

After a half hour, there was a plume of smoke coming from the forest, that quickly turned into billowing clouds. One of the prefects said to another, "Fiendfire?"

"Fiendfire is almost impossible to control. Just fire, I reckon."

The smoke was filling the air and darkening the sky, and then there was some flame leaping high in the air and taking the form of monstrous beasts. Fiendfire. Many of the students hurried for the shelter of the castle. Harry stayed, watching and waiting. Charlie was beside him, and a couple of other fourth years, Charlie's particular friends.

A small group of wizards on broomsticks came into view. Two had packages swaying beneath their broomsticks. From the spider larder, Harry thought, feeling sick.

Someone remarked, "They must have been close to the fire, they look burnt."

The photographers were taking pictures, the reporters getting in everyone's way as they tried to ask questions. The Healers treated the minor burns, and the two men wrapped in web were portkeyed to St Mungo's.

Harry said, "I didn't think portkeys were supposed to work here."

"They must have made special arrangements."

Silence fell again until another wizard, flying shakily, and with another package swinging beneath him, returned and went straight to the Healers' tent.

"Well, three rescued, it appears," someone said.

By the time the main force reappeared, the fire had been controlled, but a large part of the forest was burnt out. There was still a thick fringe of forest between the castle and the burnt area.

No-one was bothering to tell the watchers what was happening. All they knew was what they could see, that many of the wizards had burns, and that three packages, presumably men, had been brought back.

It was getting dark, and the watchers finally went inside.

Headmaster Pucey rose at dinner time, and said, "The forest is still dangerous. We don't know how many spiders are left. So keep right away from the forest and preferably stay within the castle. There will be cleanup operations over the next few days. The Centaurs are helping."

McGonagall murmured to him, and he said, "Oh yes, casualties." He consulted a list. "Missing: Alastor Gumboil, Wilfred Rollings, Walden MacNair and Conroy Landen. You would have seen three bodies brought back. Two were still alive. One was an Auror, Grant Vanstone, plus there was a stranger, a trespasser. Two are confirmed dead, and they are Albert Runcorn and Gawain Robards. Robards was the only casualty of today's operation. He died as he attempted rescue of one of the captives. There were some heroic actions today."

Harry said ruefully to Charlie, who sat next to him, "And I bet they don't get Detention for it!"

"Was Father furious at you?"

"Only a mild rebuke," and he turned to Charlie and said seriously, "I could not have asked for better foster parents. You must be so proud of them."

Charlie looked surprised. "I hadn't really thought about it, but yes, I guess I am."

xxx