Hogwarts a History – In the dark of the night
Chapter 02 – Justified Terror
…
"It's still out there you know. I'm telling you."
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
"It is!"
"So you say. And don't waste your time scowling at me, it isn't going to change anything."
Scowls rarely did, but Lavender's scowl was no common scowl. It had many aspects of pout worked into it. The aspects that worked to break the will of its target and demand they acquiesce.
Seamus was not immune to the power of this look. Even refusing to meet it proved insufficient to protect him. He could feel it, scowling, pouting, judging.
"You really think the monster's still around Lavender?" came Dean to the rescue.
"Of course. It was here before we ever came to Hogwarts. I don't for a second believe it's gone now just because they arrested Hagrid. And I don't for a second believe it was him letting it out anyway."
"They did arrest him," Dean argued.
"The same night they sacked Dumbledore," Parvati counter argued.
"If Hagrid's the heir of Slytherin then I'm Helga Hufflepuff," not Helga Hufflepuff declared.
Theirs was not the only voice of descent, though perhaps one of the louder. Strange though, to an outside observer, was the remarkable quiet from the two people who should have been the loudest.
Ron and Harry sat in a darkened corner doing their homework, Hermione would be so proud, until she saw the blank scrolls and unturning pages.
In truth, they were just killing time. Waiting for everyone else to wander off to bed so they could go scour the castle for spiders.
"Wish they'd just hurry up and go already."
His glare was discreet but no less annoyed as their housemates yawned and stretched yet continued to dawdle. Neville looked to be half asleep but remained in his chair rather than wander off to bed. Git.
"Be patient," Harry advised quietly, not because he was in any less of a hurry, but he knew there was no point jumping the gun and drawing attention to themselves. There were already enough things to thwart them, they didn't need to add their own impatience. They weren't likely to get a second chance.
The year was quickly drawing to a close and with no hint of the heir of Slytherin, they couldn't afford to botch it up by rushing. It also didn't feel like they could keep waiting. They were being pushed equally from both sides.
Time passed like a lame snail, and inevitably, one by one the Gryffindors slowly wandered up to bed. Neville was the last, already half asleep, he awoke with a start when he realized he was alone.
Harry and Ron grinned as the timid boy scrambled up to the dorm, never so much as glancing their direction.
"Let's go."
Pulling out the invisibility cloak, the two boys crowded under and slowly made their way out of the tower.
"So, what now?" Ron asked once they were well away from the tower.
"Find some spiders."
It sounded simple in theory. Hogwarts was a huge old castle. There should have been spiders housing in every dark and dusty corner for generations untold.
Argus Filch certainly complained about them with a frequency that would have suggested this was the case. He also complained about dirt like it were actively working against him. Not to mention Peeves, who 'was' actively working against him; students, the weather, the ever-elusive invisible dust bunnies and of course, all days ending in Y.
It was a 'fairly' short list.
But spiders and spiderwebs were near the top of this list and thus it was assumed, should be easy enough to find.
Don't you just hate when reality defies expectation?
"Where are they?"
"There's gotta be some around here somewhere."
But there wasn't. No matter how hard they looked, not a single solitary spider could they find.
"You think we waited too long?" Ron wondered. "Maybe there was some spiders in his house. Maybe that's what he wanted us to follow."
"Maybe," but that still didn't explain the absence of spiders in the castle which couldn't have been a coincidence.
Sadly, the longer they looked, the more likely Ron's theory seemed, as not a web, not a spider, not a single spindly leg could be found. Even an ant would have been welcome under the circumstances, six eighths is better than nothing after all.
But that isn't to say they found nothing.
"What the bloody neon hell!"
"Look's like your brothers have been through here."
The hall was covered in streaks and splatters of paint in every shade of the neon rainbow, plus a few never before conceived by sane minds.
"Couldn't be them. I saw them go to bed and this is all new. Look, it's still dripping."
And mixing, creating yet more colors not seen outside the best psychedelic drug trips.
A clang and a clatter echoing from further down the hall hinted at the culprit and the two boys, briefly forgetting their quest, went to investigate a mystery they might actually be able to solve.