Lyla gasped as she fell to the ground on all fours. Draco and Fang thudded down beside her. Fang wasn't howling anymore, but cowering silently on the spot. Draco looked exactly like Lyla felt. His mouth was stretched wide in a kind of silent scream. Lyla suddenly realized that the spider that had dropped her was saying something. It had been hard to tell because he clicked his pincers with every word he spoke.

"Aragog! Aragog!"

And from the middle of the misty, domed web, a spider the size of a small elephant emerged, very slowly. There was gray in the black of his body and legs, and each of the eyes on his ugly, pincered head was milky white. He was blind.

"What is it?" he said, clicking his pincers rapidly.

"Humans," clicked the spider who had caught Lyla.

"Is it Hagrid?" asked Aragog, moving closer, his eight milky eyes wandering vaguely.

"Strangers," clicked the spider who had brought Draco. "Children."

"Kill them," clicked Aragog fretfully. "I was sleeping..."

"We're– we're friends of Hagrid's," Lyla shouted, suddenly finding her voice. Her heart seemed to have left her chest to pound in her throat.

Click, click, click went the pincers of the spiders all around the hollow.

Aragog paused.

"Hagrid has never sent children into our hollow before," he said slowly.

"He's– he's in trouble," gasped Draco, breathing heavy and fast. "That's why we've come."

"In trouble?" said the aged spider, and Lyla thought he heard concern beneath the clicking pincers. "But why has he sent you?"

Lyla thought of getting to her feet but decided against it; she didn't think her legs would support her. So he spoke from the ground, as calmly as he could.

"They think, up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting a— a— something on students. They've taken him to Azkaban."

Aragog clicked his pincers furiously, and all around the hollow the sound was echoed by the crowd of spiders; it was like applause, except applause didn't usually make Lyla feel sick with fear.

"But that was years ago," said Aragog fretfully. "Years and years ago. I remember it well. That's why they made him leave the school. They believed that I was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets. They thought that Hagrid had opened the Chamber and set me free."

"And you... you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets?" asked Lyla, who could feel cold sweat on her forehead.

"I!?" asked Aragog, clicking angrily. "I was not born in the castle! I come from a distant land. A traveler gave me to Hagrid when I was an egg. Hagrid was only a boy, but he cared for me, hidden in a cupboard in the castle, feeding me on scraps from the table. Hagrid is my good friend and a good man. When I was discovered, and blamed for the death of a girl, he protected me. I have lived here in the forest ever since, where Hagrid still visits me. He even found me a wife, Mosag, and you see how our family has grown, all through Hagrid's goodness..."

Lyla summoned what remained of her courage.

"So you never— never attacked anyone?"

"Never," croaked the old spider. "It would have been my instinct, but out of respect for Hagrid, I never harmed a human. The body of the girl who was killed was discovered in a bathroom. I never saw any part of the castle but the cupboard in which I grew up. Our kind prefers the dark and the quiet..."

"But then... Do you know what actually killed that girl?" said Harry. "Because whatever it is, it's back and attacking people again —"

Her words were drowned by a loud outbreak of clicking and the rustling of many long legs shifting angrily; large black shapes shifted all around him.

"The thing that lives in the castle," said Aragog, "is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others. Well, do I remember how I pleaded with Hagrid to let me go when I sensed the beast moving about the school..."

"What is it?" asked Lyla urgently.

More loud clicking, more rustling; the spiders seemed to be closing in.

"We do not speak of it!" said Aragog fiercely. "We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid the name of that dread creature, though he asked me many times."

Lyla really didn't want to press the subject, not with the spiders pressing closer on all sides. Aragog seemed to be tired of talking. Ge was backing slowly into his domed web, but his fellow spiders continued to inch slowly toward Harry and Ron.

"We'll just go, then," Lyla called desperately to Aragog, hearing leaves rustling behind him.

"Go?" said Aragog slowly. "I think not..."

"But — but —"

"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Good-bye, friends of Hagrid."

Lyla spun around. Feet away, towering above him, was a solid wall of spiders, clicking, their many eyes gleaming in their ugly blackheads. Even as she reached for her wand, Lyla knew it was no good, there were too many of them, but as she tried to stand, ready to die fighting, a loud, long note sounded, and a blaze of light flamed through the hollow.

Mr. Weasley's car was thundering down the slope, headlights glaring, its horn screeching, knocking spiders aside; several were thrown onto their backs, their endless legs waving in the air. The car screeched to a halt in front of Lyla and Draco and the doors flew open.

"Get Fang!" Lyla yelled, diving into the front seat; Draco seized the boarhound around the middle and threw him, yelping, into the back of the car — the doors slammed shut — Lyla didn't touch the accelerator but the car didn't need her to. The engine roared and they were off, hitting more spiders. They sped up the slope, out of the hollow, and they were soon crashing through the forest, branches whipping the windows as the car wound its way cleverly through the widest gaps, following a path it obviously knew.

Lyla looked sideways at Draco. His mouth was still open in the silent scream.

"A-are you okay?"

"I– I– "

They smashed their way through the undergrowth, Fang howling loudly in the back seat, and Lyla saw the side mirror snap off as they squeezed past a large oak. After ten noisy, rocky minutes, the trees thinned, and she could again see patches of sky. The car stopped so suddenly that they were nearly thrown into the windshield. They had reached the edge of the forest. Fang flung himself at the window in his anxiety to get out, and when Lyla opened the door, he shot off through the trees to Hagrid's house, tail between his legs. Lyla got out too, and after a minute or so, she helped Draco get to his feet. She gave the car a grateful pat as it reversed back into the forest and disappeared from view.

Lyla quickly went back into Hagrid's cabin to get the Invisibility Cloak. Fang was trembling under a blanket in his basket.

"It's alright, Fang," she cooed softly, rubbing the dog's ears gently. "Your home now, you're safe now."

When she got outside again, she found Draco hadn't moved from where she'd left him.

"Are you… alright?"

Draco only stiffly nodded.

"How… how are you so calm about this…" he asked, pale eyes looking almost white in the moonlight. "We– we were almost eaten by–"

"We made it out, and that's what's important," soothed Lyla, wrapping the cloak around their bodies. Being this close to the boy, she realized he was trembling. His breathing was shallow and uneven.

"Follow the spiders," he spat, swallowing hard. "I'll never forgive Hagrid for that, never..."

"I bet he thought Aragog wouldn't hurt friends of his," said Lyla.

"Let's get back already," Draco said after a moment had passed.

As the two slowly began to make their way towards the castle, Lyla decided to wrap one arm around her friend's torso to keep him walking steadily. As the two came nearer the castle doors, Lyla pushed the creaking front doors ajar. They walked carefully back across the entrance hall and down the marble staircase, holding their breath as they passed corridors where watchful sentries were walking. At last, they reached the safety of the Slytherin common room, where the fire had burned itself into glowing ash.

"Thank you, Draco," said Lyla at the stairway split that led to the girls and boy dormitories. "Thanks for coming with me tonight."

"Not that it did any good," he scoffed, face flushing pink.

"Nonsense," chided Lyla with a smile. "You did loads more than you're giving yourself credit for."

They stood there for a moment, just gazing at each other in comfortable silence.

"Well, goodnight," said Draco at last. "Sleep well..."

"Only if you can."

P.S. If you could, if one has the time, please leave:

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