"Of course, the spiders might have disappeared. Maybe, maybe there won't be anything to follow." Ron was nervously chattering on as the five of them reached Hagrid's hut. Bella pushed the door open and peeked her head inside the darkness. Fang's booming barks startled her and she dashed inside, clamping her hands over his large jaws. "Shh Fang, it's only us." She whispered in the whining dogs ears. Ron pushed the door further open, casting bright moonlight over the dusty furniture. As soon as Fang set eyes on the grass outside he shot off, pulling Bella to the ground.

"Daft dog." Bella muttered under her breath, brushing the dust from her front. Harry dumped the invisibility cloak on Hagrid's large table and pulled the door closed behind him. "I think Fang's excited to be outside." Freya commented as he ran around in circles on the damp grass on the outskirts on the forest. "He's the only one." Ron replied.

Harry lifted his wand arm and whispered 'Lumos', a small beacon of light emitting from the tip of his wand, just enough to show the path in front of them. Harry then led the way into the forest with Bella at his side, the remaining three following a few paces behind with Fang. Bella tapped Harry's arm softly and pointed to the marshy ground in front of them, a small gathering of spiders were scurrying into the shadows away from the wand light. "Did you see more spiders?" Emily asked quietly and Harry nodded his head, not taking his eyes off the scurrying mass of spiders.

Resigned to their fate, they followed after the spiders by Harry's wand light. Ron had now gripped Bella's arm tightly and was tightening his hold with every step they took. The trees began to get thicker overhead and the stars disappeared behind them, Harry's wand the only source of light keeping them on track. Ron gulped in Bella's ear when he noticed their spider guides veer off the natural path in the forest. Harry made to take a step towards the spiders and Bella grabbed his arm, pulling him back gently. "You know what Hagrid said." She whispered to him. "Don't leave the forest path." "Well Hagrid's not here right now, is he?" Harry replied. "He also said to follow the spiders." Bella let go of his arm and nodded her head at him.

Harry led them towards the spiders as they scurried around in front of him. Emily and Freya were walking as close as they could behind Bella without trodding on her heels while Ron had a death grip on her arm. They walked for what felt like an age, dodging low hanging branches and tripping over tree roots. Harry had to stop more than once to check they were still following the spiders. The ground below them began to fall away as the trees above them became thicker than ever.

All five of them jumped in fright as Fang's booming barks echoed around them. "There's something moving over there." Bella pointed off into the darkness ahead of them. "It sounds like something big." Ron wailed. "Shut up." Bella whispered frantically, elbowing Ron in the ribs. "It'll hear you." Harry hissed. "It's already heard Fang." Emily hissed back. The darkness was closing in around them as something large made its way towards them through the trees. A loud rumble sounded through the trees followed by an eerie silence. "What do you think it's going to do?" Freya asked, the fear evident in her voice. "Probably waiting to pounce." Ron replied with a tremble. They stood in the darkness clinging to one another, their shallow breathing the only sound around them. In an instant the darkness was invaded by an enormous beam of light brighter than the sun. Fang yelped louder than he ever had before and tried to escape from the light, only succeeding in getting himself tangled in the bushes.

"Guys!" Ron cried, shaking Bella's arm violently. "Guys, it's dads car!" He dropped his hold of Bella's arm and stumbled towards the bright light. The four of them shared a strange look before following after him, Emily dragging a terrified Fang behind her. Bella gasped in surprise when they emerged second later into a large clearing, her fathers car sat, empty, in the middle with it headlights ablaze. "It's been here." Harry breathed. "The whole time!" Ron beamed. "Merlin Ron, look at that state of it." Bella sneered in disgust. It was obvious the car had taken to trundling around the forest on its own. Fang wasn't at all pleased and stuck to Emily's side, whining quietly. Harry was walking around the car, looking for signs of the spiders. "We've lost the spiders." Harry sighed. "Let's go and find them."

Ron was visibly trembling as he stared off into the shadows behind them, his face contorted in terror. Bella didn't have a chance to even breath. She was grabbed violently around the middle, a loud clicking sound assaulting her ears. The blood rushed straight to her head as she was tipped upside down. She watched helplessly as the other around her suffered the same fate, all hauled upside down into the air. The last thing Bella caught sight of was the look of utter horror on Ron's face as they were carried into the darkness. The creature carrying her stood on six large hairy legs, the other two carrying her in its large pincers. Bella had never been as scared of spiders as Ron was but even she could admit that the situation they found themselves in was the stuff of nightmares.

She knew she had spoken too soon when the light shone through the trees and the real nightmare began. They were now being led into a vast hollow filled with spiders. Not just any spiders. These spiders were gigantic, as huge as the carts that pulled the students to school. Eight-eyed, eight-legged, gigantic and hairy. The spider that held Bella in its clutches began to advance downwards, a giant slimy web getting closer to her. The other spiders were gathering around them now, all clicking their pincers in excitement of what was to come.

Bella fell to the ground in a heap as the spider let go of her. Her friends were all dropped to the ground around her and she couldn't even bring herself to glance in Ron's direction for fear of what was to come. "Aragog!" The spiders behind her were all calling into the darkness. From the slimy web in front of them a large spider the size of a Rhinoceros emerged. His large hairy body and legs were going grey and it was clear by the milky white colour behind his eyes that this spider was blind.

"What is it?" The spider asked impatiently, clicking its pincers sharply. "Men." The spider directly behind Bella answered. By his tone of voice Bella knew if he could, that spider would look smug. "Is it Hagrid?" He asked. "Strangers." The same spider replied. "Kill them." Aragog said, clicking his pincers angrily. "I was sleeping." "We're friends of Hagrid's." Harry yelled from the ground a few paces beside Bella. The excited clicking of pincers all around the hollow sounded like the low hum of chatter as they all blended together. "Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before." Aragog replied, clicking his pincers again. "Hagrid's in trouble." Bella spoke up as calmly as she could as it seemed Harry's voice had failed him. "That's why we've come to you."

"In trouble?" Aragog asked and Bella could hear a hint of concern through the repeated noise of clicking pincers. "But why would he send you?" "They think, up at the school, that Hagrid has been setting something on the students. They've taken him to Azkaban for it." Harry explained as calmly as he could. It seemed this was not what Aragog wanted to hear as he clicked his pincers furiously. The spiders around them echoed his actions and Bella felt sick to her stomach.

"But that was years ago." His voice clearly showing his distress. "Many, many years ago. That is why they made him leave the school. They believed I was the monster that dwelled in the chamber of secrets. They believed Hagrid to have opened the chamber and set me free."

"And... and you didn't come from the chamber?" Bella asked anxiously. This question seemed to have angered Aragog as he clicked his pincers with such ferocity Bella feared what was about to happen. "I?! I was not born in the castle! I come from a distant land. I was given to Hagrid by a traveller when I was just an egg and Hagrid just a boy. Hagrid raised me in the castle, hidden away from prying eyes. He cared for me, fed me scraps from his table. When I was discovered and blamed for the death of a girl, Hagrid protected me. I have lived in this hollow from that day onward where Hagrid still visits me. He even found me a wife, Mosag, and you can see how much my family has grown all around you, all thanks to Hagrid's goodness."

Bella heard Harry audibly gulp before he spoke. "So you never... never attacked anyone?" He asked. "Never." The old spider answered. "The girl who was killed died in a bathroom. I never experienced the castle other than the cupboard where I grew up. It was in my instinct to hunt but in respect of Hagrid I never harmed anyone."

"If it wasn't you then do you know what did kill that girl?" Bella asked with more courage than she expected to have. Bella realised at once that this was the wrong thing to ask as a hoard of angry pincers got closer and closer to her, clicking frantically now. "That thing." Aragog said slowly. "The beast that lives within the castle is the creature we spiders fear above all. Oh, how I begged Hagrid to release me when I sensed its presence within the castle walls." "But what is it?" Harry asked.

"We do not speak of it!" Aragog bellowed, loud angry clicking followed his response. "I have never spoken the name, not even to Hagrid." Bella didn't want to press the aged spider anymore and neither did Harry, especially not with the hoard of angry spiders closing in on them from all sides. It seemed that Aragog wanted to talk no longer as he was backing away towards the large web behind him. "We'll just go then." Harry said awkwardly.

"Go? I think not" Aragog replied in a patronizing tone. "But -but." Harry stuttered. "My children do not harm Hagrid on my orders, but I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our hollow. Goodbye friends of Hagrid." Bella clambered to her feet. They were trapped. A wall of large hairy spiders blocked every exit and they were advancing towards them. Bella drew her wand, knowing in her heart it was useless, when a loud screech echoed around them and a bright beam of light shot through the hollow. Her fathers car came bundling into the hollow, knocking spiders out of its path as it went. It screeched to a halt in front of the terrified children and they bundled into it, pulling fang in beside them. The doors slammed shut and without warning they were shot forward. They sped up the narrow slope, hitting more spiders as they went. The car followed a path it clearly knew out of the forest, low hanging branches battering the windows and doors as they went.

They screeched to a halt so violently that they were nearly thrown into the windscreen. They had reached the edge of the forest. Fang launched himself at the window in an attempt to escape and his weight threw the door open. Freya tumbled out of the open door, heaving for breath. Fang landed on top of her and took of for Hagrid's hut with his tail between his legs. Emily crawled out of the open door after Freya and Harry stepped out into the cool night air. Bella raced towards Hagrid's hut, leaning against it as the contents of her stomach made an appearance. A hand made contact with her back and she turned her head to see Harry rubbing circles on her back.

By the time Bella had stopped vomiting Ron had finally managed to get himself out of the car and was sitting on the steps of Hagrid's hut with his head between his knees. "Let's get you inside." Bella said soothingly, taking Ron's arm and draping it around her shoulders. She hoisted him up and got him inside, dropping him into Hagrid's large arm chair. She left him sitting in the chair with his head back between his legs as she made her way to the sink, pouring him and herself a glass of water. She looked out the window and dropped the glass in her hand in fright. Bella was one hundred percent certain she had seen a figure lurking in the shadows outside Hagrid's hut. It was an exact copy of the figure lurking in the shadows during her detention last year.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked quietly, taking her shaking hands in his. "I'm fine, yeah I'm fine." She whispered quietly. "Just my nerves." Harry took the glasses from the sink and filled them with water for her, handing them around everyone. They sat in silence for a few seconds before Ron spoke the first words he'd spoken in hours.

"Follow the spiders." He breathed. "Follow the spiders. I could kill Hagrid!"