Chapter 9: What Lurks



"Where are you going?" wheezed the mirror. It sounded almost exactly like Professor McGonagall.

"None of your business," replied Morgana. "As long as I know the password and I'm a Ravenclaw, you can't stop me."

"The last time I let you out late you were gone for nearly six hours!" retorted the mirror. "You ARE my responsibility, you know."

"You still can't stop me," said Morgana curtly.

The guardian of the entrance to Ravenclaw terrace reluctantly admitted Morgana was right. "Well, I suppose I can't, but I can tell Dumbledore! All I've got to do is wait 'till one of the ghosts come by and ask them to take a message!"

Morgana shivered slightly. The Ravenclaw ghost, the Grey Lady, was nice in many respects. However, she was very strict about students being out of bed.

It was better to be careful. She would have enough to worry about tonight without the mirror making a nuisance of itself.

Not even bothering to use her wand, Morgana whispered, "Quietus!"

The mirror as far as, "Now see here, don't you..." before it could say nothing at all.

"What's the matter?" taunted Morgana. "Student got your tongue?"

The mirror could not, try as it might, reply.

The Griffinqueen and one of the two most powerful witches in the world strode away, laughing.

* ~ *

"What are you doing here?"

Stormy and Morgana both screamed it as they saw each other in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.

"You're not supposed to be here!" accused Stormy.

"Well, neither are you!" pointed out Morgana.

They stared at each other for a moment. Then Morgana broke the silence.

"I won't tell on you if you won't tell on me," she said, reluctantly.

"Okay," agreed Stormy.

They made their separate ways.

* ~ *

Morgana, sharp as her ears were, was too preoccupied to listen to the rustling. She didn't hear a thing. Her back was turned, so she couldn't bring her extraordinary vision in play, either. It was much too late by the time she realized anything had happened.

She was caught now. It was carrying her away. She wasn't finished, though. As soon as it put her down, she would spring the trap.

* ~ *

Somehow, Morgana was not surprised to see Stormy there. But then, she wondered how many people could have avoided being ambushed by a very large and very cunning spider.

Both were now bound to a particularly large web in the hideout of the giant spiders by extra-strong threads of silk. Both were looking extremely unhappy at the thought of being eaten by twenty or so monsters before they had a chance to defend themselves.

A particularly large spider stepped to the front of the pack of arachnids. He was obviously the leader. He seemed young, however. Morgana wondered, as the last time she had come out here to spy, she had seen Harry Potter and his friend Ron Weasley confronted by a very old spider; the apparent patriarch. This spider seemed more like a war chieftain than a patriarch.

He spoke now, his speech slightly garbled by his mandibles.

"I am Baragoc, son of Faraboc, son of Aragog. I am Chief now. Aragog is dead. My grandfather showed too much mercy for his own good. He let the humans visit any time, refusing to harm them. I do not show such pointless mercy. You will die here. That is the penalty for trespassing on our grounds now."

"Excuse me, Barygob, or whatever your name is, you will find it very hard to kill me," warned Stormy.

"How can you?" taunted Baragoc, softly. "We have your wands."

"Ha," laughed Morgana, mirthlessly. "We don't need wands."

"Stop fooling," said a nearby spider bravely. "All our studies of wizards show they need wands to perform any kind of magic."

"Silence, fool!" snapped Baragoc. "I am master here, I will talk to the prisoners!"

"Aarrghh!" screamed the spider nearest to Baragoc. "Something hit me!"

"Damn right it did!" shrieked Stormy. "And it'll hit you again if you don't let us go!"

It was mayhem. The spiders had never seen anything like the two girls, who could do all but the most powerful spells without their wands. They soon learned to try to keep out of the way, but it was not very effective. Morgana and Stormy were having fun.

"Podswollopus!" yelled Morgana. Her spell hit a spider directly in the head. It keeled over as the powerful punch of the Podswollop Charm hit it, knocking it out.

"Diffendo!" screamed Stormy. A nearby spider split open in the abdomen. It was not a pretty sight.

"Eeewww," commented Morgana, momentarily distracted. A giant spider managed to get in a hit on her, but she quickly sent it up in flames, as well as a few other nearby spiders and a lot of web.

As if in response to an unspoken consensus, Stormy and Morgana dashed through the broken home of the spiders out onto the grounds... and straight into Professor McGonagall.