A/N: This is the second chapter, although shorter :( (only 8kb, while the first was 11kb!). Enjoy :)
Harry groggily opened his eyes to the darkness of his room. Although, he couldn't remember it being this small...
Harry sat up in surprise, ignoring the flash of pain his broken bones caused him, and banging his head on the low ceiling. "Owwww..." Harry muttered, comforting his head. Harry glanced around at the cupboard under the stairs, his old room. "Why am I in here?" Harry whispered to himself as he extended his right hand to open the door, which was locked.
Harry remembered that morning, and winced, remembering the pain. Harry carefully lifted his left arm and placed it over his waist, giving a soft sigh of relief as the throbbing in his arm stopped. Harry knocked loudly on the door, yelling, careful of his broken ribs, for someone to let him out.
"Shut up, Freak!" a gruff voice yelled, the sound muffled by the door. There was a rattling sound as the door was unlocked, and Harry was hauled out, his uncle ignoring the grunt of pain that Harry made as his broken leg was knocked against the door-frame.
"Are you ready to do what we want?" Vernon growled angrily, his brown eyes glistening with malice.
"For the last...time....I don't know...how," Harry panted, trying to ignore the pain shooting up his arm as Vernon held him up, "To...do the spell."
"Oh, you know how, Freak. You're just stalling for time. Well, I won't let you." Vernon raised his fist to strike the Boy-Who-Lived again, but he was interrupted by a strange clicking.
"Ahh, Friend of Hagrid. What...? What is this?" an old voice, disturbingly alike to Aragogs' said. Harry craned his neck to look behind him, but what he saw left him speechless. There were five, ranging from 3 feet to the largest one at at least 6'1" tall, spiders in the hallway, squashed in, and a dozen more, smaller ones outside in the yard, and in the kitchen.
If Harry was speechless, Vernon was scared stiff, his hold on Harry's arm kept tightening, if it was possible, and it was sending waves of pain through Harry's arm. Vernon was staring, wide-eyed at the spiders, who were climbing the walls, making bits of plaster break off from their weight. The largest spider, though, had not moved yet.
"Put me down...right now!" Harry panted the pain from his arm causing his vision to go blurry, "Or I will tell...them...to attack..."
Vernon instantly dropped Harry, which wasn't a good thing. Harry, bacause of his dismal size, fell alot further than another would have fallen, and had the misfortune to land on his feet. Both of them. As Harry let lose a scream of pain, the spiders attacked, several smaller ones entering the house from the outside to see what was causing the racket.
Petunia, who had gone to the store, Harry realised as the car entered the driveway, screamed and started backing up the car instantly. Vernon started running towards the car, throwing frightened lookes at the spiders, which were surrounding him from all sides. The spiders started chasing him, but slowly, as if wanting to frighten the Dursleys out of their wits. Dudley, who was in the back, (although he could hardly fit, because of his size) threw open the door as Vernon ran up to the car. The car sped down the street, exceeding the speed limit by sixty or seventy kilometers.
Harry tried to hold in his laughter, for fear of the pain, as he watched several spiders chase after the car with glee. Harry looked back at the largest spider. "Thanks, umm..."
"Gogara, Friend of Hagrid. My name is Gogara, first-born son of Aragog, from who I recieved my name." Gogara bowed, his hairy, front four legs bending at the joints. "Now, we must be going. Killati has informed me that one of the families on this street has called your...authorities." Gogara gestured towards a small spider with one of his legs.
Gogara muttered a series of clicks, which, Harry thought, was in spider language. Almost immediately, another spider, smaller than Gogara, but not by much, quickly scuttled up beside him. "This, Friend of Hagrid, is Ragalti. She will carry you back to the forest with us. And after you have met with Father, you will be sent to the castle." Gogara told Harry.
"Hello," Harry said, nodding towards Ragalti, who in turn, bowed as well. Harry climbed onto her hairy back, feeling a bit frightened at the thought of being on the back of a spider.
"Very well, we shall be leaving now." Gogara said, while starting to walk away.
"Hang on, what about my stuff?" Harry asked, gesturing back towards the house.
"They have already been taken away, never fear." Gogara replied kindly. And the long journey began...
Harry Potter opened his eyes slowly(... it ALWAYS starts like that :( ), wishing he could go back to sleep, but with the periodical jolts and the heavy swaying of the spider he was sitting on, Harry knew he would never be able to get back to sleep. Harry yawned loudly, attracting the attention of Gogara, who had been walking next to him.
"Slept well, Friend of Hagrid?" Gogara asked.
"Yeah, best sleep I've had in weeks." Harry replied happily, glad that the nightmares had ceased, for the moment, anyway. Harry took a quick look at his surroundings, which were rolling green hills, with the occasional tree here and there. In the horizon Harry could see a massive treeline, probably the Forbidden Forest, Harry thought. Harry glanced up at the dark, cloudless night sky, and a certain star drew his attention. "Mars is bright, tonight." Harry said, smiling.
"What did you say?" A gruff voice demanded. Immediately, Harry snapped his head down, and looked straight into the eyes, of a centaur. Harry yelped, and jumped backward, startling the spider he was sitting on. The centaur, apparently, had no trouble with the spiders either, and just stood there as the spiders detoured around him. The centaur looked up suddenly, searching for the star that Harry had seen.
"Indeed, it is so..." He sighed, as he looked back towards Harry. "I fear there is great trouble on your road tonight, human. Just make sure you don't bother us." He said, and galloped off towards the forest.
"Hmph, Centaurs. Believe that they are the best creatures in the world. Believe that nothing comes even close to matching thier brilliance." Gogara told Harry as he watched the Centaur gallop away. "They even exile their own if they spend too much time with humans, or any other creature."
"Yeah, I know. Firenze was exiled last year." Harry paused, "And sporting a few wounds as well." Harry smiled sadly. Harry stretched his arms behind his head, leaning backwards, and stiffened. "Speaking of wounds...Where are mine?" Harry asked as he regained his balance, and checked his arms and legs for bones broken or bruises.
"Ahh, the delights of spider-web casts. We are magical you know. Our webs, if used correctly, can be made into casts that have healing power. Much like a phoenix's tear." Gogara replied, a glint of humor in all of his eyes, that Harry could see anyway.
"Well, are we there yet?" Harry asked, revelling in the ability to finally being able to ask that one, simple question.
"Not yet, Friend of Hagrid. But we are nearly in the forest. It will then be only another one forty-eighth of a day till we get there." Gogara replied.
"One forty-eighth....you mean half an hour?" Harry asked.
"I believe so, yes."
"Well, lets get going then!" Harry said, smiling. Harry glanced around at the beauty of his surroundings again, flexing his left hand. Life truly was great.
The Betrayal, Chapter Two: The Rescue
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Well, the second chapter is up! I hope you like it :)
-Hilel.