As the man stepped in through the fire, it was almost a bit comical to Aurelian. Such a homely and gentle looking man had controlled the most dangerous beasts, and helped take down the worst dark lord in recent times.
He stepped forward and shook Albus' hand.
"Dumbledore! You haven't aged a bit since last time."
This brought a chuckle from Albus as he inspected his friend.
"You have, but it seems you have aged gracefully at least. But no more of that, let me introduce you to the new Headmaster here at Hogwarts."
Aurelian walked up and greeted the man as well.
"I'm Aurelian Fudge, it is truly an honour to meet you sir. I have read quite a bit about your feats through the years."
Newt smiled at him but clearly wasn't all that comfortable with praise.
"It was nothing really, just doing what I can and what I want out there in the world."
"Still, Mr. Scamander. I can not understate how grateful I am that you showed up."
He waved him off.
"Really, call me Newt. And I couldn't exactly let my old school go without help. If there's anything I can do to repay this place then it is my duty to do so."
Lian smiled at him. A true Hufflepuff in every way. He wished that his feats were more spoken about at school, the Puffs need more role models to look up to. Even though Newt hadn't actually finished his own schooling.
With that, they started walking down towards Hagrid's hut while explaining just how large the problem was.
"And how large are they? There are a couple of variants of Acromantula."
It was Aurelian who responded.
"From Hagrid's telling, they seem to be the Sri Lankan variant. Aragog and several of his children are about as large as a large African Savannah elephant. I'm sure there would have been more of them if it hadn't-"
Newt interrupted him.
"If it hadn't been for the Basilisk, yes. May I examine its remains at some point?"
That was the curious mind of a researcher speaking. He had no thoughts of dying to a colony of Acromantulas, he only looked towards what would be interesting.
"Of course, but first we must focus on what we have in front of us."
He waved it off.
"Yes, of course. Of course. So what is your Idea? I heard from Albus that you and Hagrid had one."
Lian nodded, it was time to be judged by Newt Scamander.
"We did come up with one, however we needed your help to see if it was possible, and to figure out the details."
Newt nodded for him to go on, Albus stood in the background sounding interested.
"We had the idea of establishing an Acromantula reserve here in Britain. The spiders would have a comfortable home, and Britain could stop importing all of their Acromantula Silk and venom from Asia."
Newt stopped in his tracks. He seemed to think it over carefully.
"I am not sure. The way they do it in Asia is very labour intensive. They have each and every egg grow up with one Wizard taking care of them and then that wizard extracts the silk from the spiders. Doing it on a massive scale would make it incredibly difficult to control them all."
Aurelian felt a heavy load sink in. He hadn't considered that. He felt kind of stupid for it, and it really did make a lot of sense. That was why they only existed in Asia as well, no other continent had enough willing people and enough eggs laying around to be trained. He let out a sad sigh.
"I hoped it would work. I even had the idea of feeding them beltian bodies to make sure they would be easily fed. You see there's a type of Acacia in Central America-"
He looked up only to be surprised. Newt's eyes were shining. He eagerly nodded him on, telling him to continue his explanation.
"Well Spiders and ants in the area have developed a taste for them. And very recently, a group of wizards managed to make a magical version which is way larger and produces a lot more beltian bodies. The tree even mainly feeds off of magic, so draining the ground from nutrients wasn't much of an issue."
Newt looked at him as if he had just managed to solve world peace.
"It..might just work. If we can suppress their instincts to eat humans and instead make them eat those 'beltian bodies' then we could probably make them accessible enough to farm some silk. It would also drastically decrease the risk of them escaping since they'd want to stay close to their source of food. You wouldn't happen to have any of these bodies with you?"
Aurelian blinked in confusion. It seemed like his idea wasn't just accepted, but praised! It took him a couple of seconds, and a nudge from Dumbledore, before he nodded and took one out of his pocket and handed it to Newt.
Newt examined it closely. He had heard of beltian bodies before. When he had first heard of the fact that Acromantulas were omnivores, he looked for similar examples in the muggle world and found one who was almost completely a herbivore. It ate beltian bodies, but he had never inspected them himself before now.
The ones he had read about were very small, whereas this one was about the size of a large coconut. So he cracked it and tasted what was inside. It was incredible. Almost all of it was even digestible for humans, even if a small component acted as a weak poison. It contained fats, sugars, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and proteins, truly a superfood for an insect or a spider. Even one the size of an elephant. He looked up at Aurelian, who looked rather disgusted at the fact that he had just licked and eaten what was to be spider food, with a large grin.
"Let's test it out! It contains all they'll need, and if we can plant a couple of these trees in an enclosed area, then it should eventually turn into a stable reserve. We just have to find one acromantula, which I can put in my suitcase and test my theories on, then we will know for sure!"
It was only now that Aurelian noticed his suitcase. It looked rather old and worn out, but at the same time polished and well taken care of. He knew what kind of suitcase it was though, so he simply smiled at the man as they walked the last few steps.
Hagrid welcomed the man with open arms, quite literally as he seemed to almost squeeze him to death the next moment.
"A cheerful man aren't you?"
Hagrid gave him a heartfelt smile.
"You're here to make sure we don't have to kill my friend, that makes you an even larger hero to me than you already are."
As Newt didn't appreciate compliments, they decided to make their way through the forest without discussing it further. Hagrid explained to Newt about how he got the egg and how he raised Aragog up till this point.
"Impressive for such a young man to manage it without help. You'd make a fine magizoologist if you kept this up Mr. Hagrid."
He started tearing up but wiped them quickly.
"That's Hagrid to you, skip the 'Mr.' business. But I don't have much control over the rest of the colony. Only Aragog can control them."
The deeper in they went, the larger the spiders became. All around them were webs hanging from dying trees filled with the creatures. All of them stood still and just looked at them, with all eight black eyes.
Lian understood by now that he was, in fact, not a big fan of spiders. Looking around, he noticed that Dumbledore wasn't very fond of them either. Newt, however. Newt just seemed fascinated.
"You know. I haven't tried to talk to an acromantula in over 40 years now!"
Lian got interested. Perhaps he had some kind of decent experience with them.
"Oh yeah? What happened last time?"
"It tried to open up my stomach to separate the good bits from the rest, or so it claimed. Not the most pleasing conversation I'll tell you."
He said it as if it was nothing, but to Aurelian that was horrifying. He just started imagining a spider slurping up his intestines, even if he knew that's not how they eat.
Soon they were there, the central lair. Where Aragog and his mate Mosag resided. They didn't jump out to meet the crew straight away though, the four men stood in the middle of a nest for about a minute before Hagrid started trying to call for his friend. It worked, as an old scraggly, but ginormous, spider crawled out from the corner.
"Hagrid, my friend. You have come to me. But you have brought other humans, why?"
Hagrid took a step forward and stood with the others behind him, as if under his protection.
"Because they have come here with a possible solution. You are not allowed to live in this forest anymore, you and your family are too dangerous for the young ones."
The spider got closer. Aurelian could now see that instead of Black eyes, Aragog's were distinctly white. He assumed that meant he was blind, which would explain why he didn't move around much.
"This is our home, just as much as it is yours. You have even stopped us from expanding for many years and now you want to get rid of us? I thought you were different, Hagrid."
It was clear to see how hurtful this was to the half-giant. His old friend felt betrayed, but he was determined to try and convince him.
"We don't want to get rid of you, we want to move you to a better place. Don't you all suffer for months every year? I know you have had to eat your own children to survive. There isn't enough food here for you all, especially if you want to have more children."
The spider instantly got a lot closer to Hagrid, it looked a little bit hostile, and his voice sounded like it too.
"And why would we trust that you have the solution? Wouldn't a better solution be for us to just expand our hunting grounds?"
That was when Aurelian figured it was his time to step up. To overcome his fear somewhat.
"Because if you do, then you'll all die."
It was taken as a threat, and several spiders instantly tried to pounce on him. All of the wizards except Hagrid raised their wands in case a battle was incoming, but Aragog stopped them.
"Explain what you meant. Hagrid would not bring someone, only to threaten me."
Aurelian nodded and looked over to Hagrid. He received a nod in response so he went on.
"The reason you have been able to live here for so long is because you have been hidden by Hagrid from the outside world. Had the ministry, or the parents of the children at this school, known then there would be a horde of witches and wizards coming here to exterminate you all."
Aragog turned his head towards Aurelian.
"And yet, you haven't told anyone."
"No. Because Hagrid convinced me that there might be another way. I was told you might exchange some of your silken webs for food."
Aragog nodded in agreement.
"So I figured you might be open to living in a reserve instead. You wouldn't be completely free, but your needs would be met and you would have a lot more room than you do here."
Aragog stepped back from Hagrid and got closer to Aurelian instead. He felt like he'd piss himself in all honesty, but he had been trained to suppress anything and he was rather good at it.
"What's the catch? How do you intend to feed us? Do you have enough meat to satiate us all?"
Aurelian shook his head and took out one of the pieces of the beltian body Newt had cracked earlier.
"No, but I have this. We could grow massive trees filled with countless of them."
He placed it on the ground in front of the spider and took a step back. Aragog was clearly sceptical, but he went ahead and tried to eat it. That was not something Aurelian wanted to see so he took a look around.
The spiders were interested, that's for sure. Whether they were interested in eating humans or in what was going on was more difficult to tell. After a while, Dumbledore nudged him to tell him it was over.
"Indeed. It seems to be rather filling, but how can I know if it will be enough to fully sustain us?"
Newt stepped forward.
"I have tested it myself and believe it will do so. I work with animals such as yourself, you see, and I have analysed food before."
Before Aragog could retort, Newt went on.
"The plan, however, is to test it out. Ideally, if you could convince one of your speaking children to come with me. Then we can fully verify the methods. I will be able to tell if it's not working and give them suitable other foods anyway. What do you say?"
The speaking children part was the important bit for Aragog. Only the more powerful acromantulas could properly speak with humans, and most of those only gained the ability a while after they had fully grown. Not many of his children lived to that age due to the basilisk, so he didn't have many which fit the bill.
"I'll go! Send me!"
A brighter voice, seemingly younger, came from a bit into the crowd of spiders. Soon it had crawled on top of its siblings to reach the front and it was indeed a young spider.
Newt was astounded to see such a young spider with seemingly perfect ability to talk, and really wished Aragog would allow it. The spider himself seemed reluctant, until another voice was heard from the dark.
"Let him go. We need a solution, there's no guarantee he'll survive here anyway. You know that."
It was an even larger spider than Aragog, and Aurelian could easily guess who it was. It was Mosag, Aragog's mate. She didn't look quite as old as him, and her eyes hadn't gone white either. She was probably the most powerful spider there.
It was silent for a couple of seconds, but eventually Aragog gave in.
"I'll allow it."
The small spider…started dancing. Tapdancing specifically. Right in front of them. It was an odd sight to say the least, but at least they knew the little one, who was actually still way larger than Aurelian would prefer spiders to ever be, would play along.
Newt opened his suitcase.
"In here, I have whole forests and massive landscapes. That is where he will live for a while. I will come back with him here in a few weeks to show you the result. He should have grown a bit in that time as well since he seems to be in a bit of a growth-spurt period currently."
"I am impressed you could tell, Human."
It was Mosag who answered. The little one looked back at Mosag once, and with her approval he entered the suitcase.
They left soon after that, and now it was all up to Newt. Aurelian had given him the location of the trees and he would be going straight there on a trip with his wife and grandson.
The following Saturday, Aurelian sat with Albus and Minerva in a private room at the Hog's Head. They were waiting for Emmeline Vance, who was going to be interviewed for the position of Professor for History of magic. It was not a position which had swapped professors in either of their lifetimes. Cuthbert binns had in fact died before even Dumbledore entered the castle for the first time.
They didn't quite know what to expect, or what to demand. But honestly, they had no one else in mind. There were only a handful in Britain who were eligible when Aurelian demanded an O for their NEWT in the subject. They would mainly make sure she was organised, had an interest for the subject, and was of sound mind.
They didn't really have many questions prepared, so instead they discussed what was happening at the school.
Sprout had arrived back from her trip to the amazons, a bit disgruntled, but when she saw what Lian had planned she seemed rather pleased. She even planned to grow some of the plants which were needed in lesser quantities for her classes as well.
She went straight out to the fields and had spent many hours with the elves already. She had placed all kinds of charms on the ground to make things easier, such as a spell which would prevent the ground from freezing. She would have to reapply it every week during the winter months, but it didn't take very long.
McGonagall decided it was her time to speak.
"You know, I am astounded with the amount of change happening currently. I haven't even seen your full list, but from my talks with Albus I hear there are more suggestions for the school life itself."
Aurelian nodded along with a smile at his old professor.
"I must thank you for what you're doing. Sometimes, when you're a part of something for a very long time, you grow used to what is imperfect and stop trying to fix it. I had many plans when I started teaching, but then I got so busy I never had time to do any of them. I am just glad you actually put in the effort this summer. Don't think it'll be a walk in the park during the school year though!"
It filled Aurelian with pride to hear these things from one of the professors he looked up to most of all. It seemed she truly believed in him and his vision. Some elderly people, such as many of those he met at the ministry with his father, were so afraid of change they'd never let anything major happen without three confirming processes. Without three unrelated groups of people's approval there was no way they'd even consider something. And if the change was too large they wouldn't agree to it anyway.
That was the reason the ministry often seemed to stand still when things happened, the older generation rarely wanted to act. And the older generation was always in charge. But both Albus and Minerva had agreed with him and allowed him to continue. They trusted that he'd try his best, and that was enough. Sure, they'd step in and help if he went the wrong direction, but they let him test the waters. Test the boundaries. And he was grateful for it.
In the middle of his gratitude, a knock on the door could be heard and soon a woman stepped in through the opening.
She looked..rather plain in many ways. She had a very proper look. She had short brown hair tied at the back with curly bangs. Her clothes were what made her look plain mainly. They were very..ministry-like. Very dull. Very boring. The only bit of colour was a dark green fluffy shawl. Her face was rather thin, but her mouth seemed to take up a lot of the width. She had rather strong eyebrows over purple eyes. Aurelian thought she looked like a professor, that's for sure. Not in a bad way, but her clothes and demeanour screamed 'Let's start today's lesson by talking about the Wizengamot'.
After having properly judged her on first appearance, he stood up with a smile and walked over to shake her hand.
"Welcome! I am Aurelian Fudge, the new Headmaster."
Her eyes lit up as she heard the name, and she grabbed his hand in between both of hers and shook it fervently.
"So it was your idea to replace the old ghost? Thank you! It doesn't matter if you pick me, as long as he's out of the castle that's good enough for me. You know, despite truly loving history and everything about it, even I grew bored of his 'lessons'"
She had said all of that in one breath. Her voice and tone of voice was kind of like his female classmates back in the day when they talked about their largest famous crushes. There was a lot of passion and reverence in her tone, he didn't know for who but he guessed it was to the subject at hand, not him personally. Before Aurelian could respond she scoffed.
"'Lessons'..those were barely any lessons. Though we did get into some interesting parts in the final two years. Made me wonder what he had been doing for the first five years. Not that he was actually any good, just that every semester we at least covered two events of importance for the NEWT course. Oh, and by the way. How are you going to do with the assigned book? I'm guessing I don't exactly have time to write my own book, but could I hand out my own notes as complementary material to the course? Oh and what about the ministry? Will there be some kind of formal change if the course is altered too much?"
It was at this moment she realised that she had been rambling. She had also been shaking his hand for the entire time. She also realised that she hadn't even introduced herself. She let go of Aurelian's hand with a sheepish face, cleared her throat, and suddenly the voice coming out of her was a lot more serious. It sounded regal in some way.
"My name is Emmeline Vance. Thank you for meeting with me."
Lian looked back at Albus who had started chuckling at his expense. Minerva also seemed rather amused with what she was seeing, but didn't go as far as the old man.
This was going to be a rather rough interview, Aurelian thought. For him especially, not for Emmeline. If she showed she was even remotely capable of keeping her cool and properly teaching someone then he'd hire her on the spot. That remained to be seen though as she took a seat across the table from the professors.
"Allow me to introduce them, although I doubt their names are a surprise to you. On my left, we have Albus Dumbledore. Former headmaster, current professor of Alchemy and Warding. He will be helping me in the recruitment process. On my right, we have Minerva McGonagall. Deputy Headmistress and current professor of Transfiguration. She is here in the capacity of deputy Headmistress to make sure I don't hire anyone I'd regret."
He smiled at Emmeline to show it was a joke, and she appeared to take it that way.
"Well then, shall we begin?"