Chapter 15: Happy Halloween, Harry Potter
Hermione woke up early on Tuesday morning. When she realized what day it was, she groaned, pulling her covers over her head.
You know, suggested her brain. It wouldn't make you Bad to use the time turner, get a few more hours of sleep before we go on duty?
The thought was appealing, but when she thought it out...
Wait a minute, wouldn't our time turned self have to sleep on the floor or something? Might as well just get up.
Today was a double holiday: All Hallow's Eve, as well as the celebration of You-Know-Who's defeat. One would think that the latter would replace the former, but Halloween was a British holiday and they were firmly determined to keep it. So, the two holidays had morphed into a day to prank your friends with as many jinxes as possible, a sort of macabre way to remind each other that the Dark Lord no longer threatened them with unforgivable curses.
What this usually led to in Hogwarts was barely controlled chaos. Due to the interschool competition, Hermione suspected it would be even worse this year. Britain had fought the Dark Lord alone and won, so there was no way they would be outdone in their jinxes and hexes by Durmstrang's dark arts.
Hermione just knew that she'd spend her day off from classes cleaning up vomit, rescuing panicking students from locked rooms, and deducting house points until everyone was in the negative except Hufflepuff. Of course, the annoying truth was that if the students knew that every house was losing points, then they'd stop caring and abandon themselves to chaos. At least there wasn't a full moon tonight.
When she finally got dressed and headed for breakfast, she was surprised to find no traps in the common room, and no students running through the halls on fire. In fact, other than wearing Halloween colors, everyone was acting the same as usual. Even the ghosts were on their best behaviour. Bewildered, Hermione took her seat at the Ravenclaw table next to Harry, who ate with one hand and held his book with the other.
"It's quiet this morning," she said.
Harry nodded, eyes not leaving the page. "I know. It's nice, isn't it?"
He ate another bite of food, and then said, "The Weasleys are hosting a Halloween party this evening at 9:00 pm. It is rumoured to be spectacularly ghoulish, and there will be merchandise giveaways. They've informed the students that if they wish to attend this party, then they need to contain their pranking until then. If even one student shouts "Boo!" at a first year, the party is cancelled."
Hermione studied Harry's face. Eventually, he turned from his book. "What?"
"That doesn't sound like a Weasley idea. Did you plan this?"
Harry shrugged. "Well, you said you'd been feeling stressed, so I thought it would help if you had one day of not dealing with idiots. Besides," his gaze darkened, "those twins owe me."
"Oh," said Hermione, suddenly very focused on her napkin. "Thank you, Harry."
"You're welcome," he said, turning back to his book.
The part of Hermione that tallied these things added one point to "Yes" on the "Does he like me?" poll. That was contingent on him not being gay, of course. Or asexual, for that matter. Sometime soon she needed to ask him, but it was weird and she wanted to wait for the right moment. "Will you be at the party?" she asked.
He snorted. "No, I'm going to be at the exact opposite side of the castle, hiding in my trunk. You'll probably want to make yourself scarce too," he added in an undertone.
Hermione noticed that most of the professors were missing from the head table. Either they were sleeping late, or they'd come to the same conclusion as Harry and decided to disappear for a while.
A student staggered into the Great Hall and ran towards the Ravenclaw table, stopping just in front of Hermione. In laboured pants, he gasped, "There's spiders in the dungeon! Help, Hermione!"
Harry narrowed his eyes at the boy, while Hermione sighed inwardly. She shouldn't even be surprised, really. At least no one was on fire yet.
"How many spiders? Describe them," said Harry.
The boy fidgeted with his sleeve cuffs, his eyes wide with sweat dripping down his temple. "I don't know, but there's a whole nest in there. They're huge! I've never seen anything like it."
Then, it hit her what he'd just said. "How big are the spiders?"
The boy held his hands out at around a meter long, and Hermione jerked from her seat so fast her knee hit the table.
"What's wrong?" asked Harry, who rose with her.
Hermione fished out her Auror mirror to call the others, letting out a huff of irritation when only Auror Lee responded with a "currently unavailable" automatic message. Wherever they were, they expected her to handle it.
That was the problem with having superpowers. Everyone else got lazy.
"Come on," Hermione said, beckoning Harry to follow. "We're going to go capture some spiders."
They walked down the hall so fast that Harry struggled to keep up. Hermione did that, from time to time, but he just grit his teeth and picked up the pace. It was bad enough that the boy had only begged Hermione for help with the spider infestation. What would have been so hard about saying, "Help me, Hermione and Harry?" Seriously, he'd been right there.
"…Spiders are resistant to stunning hexes," Hermione rambled as she walked. "They move fast, and if they bite you, the surrounding area goes into necrosis within 5 minutes."
"I know, Hermione," said Harry. "I read chapter 9 in Herbology, too."
They entered professor Sprout's storeroom, and Hermione directed him to stuff as many capture crates as possible into his pouch. They were designed to keep small animals safe, which in Harry's opinion, seemed completely unnecessary.
"Why don't we just kill the spiders?" Harry said. "The spell to stun is Arania Exumai, and we could use any method to dispose of them afterwards. Unless you need to keep the remains for potion ingredients, in which case we could use the engorgement spell on a few bags and then levitate them upstairs if it's too heavy."
Hermione shook her head. "We can't use Arania Exumai, as it can be fatal, and we can't kill them."
"Why not?"
Hermione's pouch swallowed another crate. "Because I believe these spiders are sentient."
Harry almost dropped the crate he was carrying. "Are you serious?"
"Yes," said Hermione. "The species Acromantula can grow to the size of a cart horse, can speak once fully grown, and has a taste for human flesh. There's a colony living in the Forbidden Forest."
Harry stared at Hermione. "The Forbidden Forest? You're referring to the patch of vegetation that is not 100 metres from our school gates?"
"Yes," said Hermione, then shoved his arm. "Come on, keep packing crates, you've got to have room in there."
Harry grit his teeth, ignoring the screaming in his head as he stuffed a crate in his pouch. If this were Muggle Britain, and Harry had casually mentioned a colony of man-eating spiders living in a nearby forest, that would have been the start of World War III. Everyone within 100 miles would have been evacuated, the forest would have been air bombed into a smoking crater, and in its place would be erected a statue proclaiming the day of victory. They would make a movie: Attack of the Demon Spiders.
But this was Magical Britain, where man hungry spiders roamed freely within the school zone.
He couldn't wrap his brain around it. If Dumbledore were still headmaster it might make sense, but McGonagall was sane enough to know better. Granted, Harry hadn't heard of spiders ever attacking a student before. In fact, he hadn't even known these creatures existed until now, which seemed to indicate they were meant to be a secret.
"How did you hear about these spiders?" asked Harry.
"Auror training," replied Hermione, glancing sidelong at Harry. "This knowledge isn't meant to be shared, you understand."
Harry had figured as much. If the Aurors were targeting Dark Wizards, and needed a secret torture weapon, man-eating spiders within convenient reach wouldn't be bad. Alternatively, they could be harvested for their venom. Maybe the spiders could only breed in certain climates, and the Forbidden Forest was their natural habitat. It would explain all the warnings to keep out.
But still, even taking that into account, and perhaps it was just his Muggle sensibilities kicking in, keeping a den of spiders next to a bunch of nosy students seemed like an Incredibly Bad Idea.
"That's as many as mine will fit," said Hermione, shaking the bag just in case. "How many did you get?"
"Fifteen, but I have some questions," said Harry. "First of all, on a scale of 1 to 10, how dangerous are these spiders to fifth year wizards?" If he was going to need something from his supply closet, it was better to know now.
"Umm…well, I'll regenerate if I get bitten, but you might need a protection spell. Madam Pomfrey could heal necrosis, but a head bite would really hurt. So, I guess 1 for me, and 3 for you? Of course, that's because I know you can defend yourself and you're not scared of spiders, otherwise it would be like an 8."
Harry quirked a smile at that. "One more question. I used Legimens on the boy, and the terrain we're entering looks hard to fight in. There's not much light and it's full of dark corners that make perfect hiding places." Harry did wonder why the boy was hanging around in dark dungeons, but Legimens hadn't told him that. One more reason to be cautious. "While I don't doubt you can handle yourself against a few spiders, perhaps we should call for backup?"
Hermione folded her arms. "I did call, and no one answered."
"Really? Even the professors?" Surely at least McGonagall or Flitwick would have sent a reply.
"Well…no," said Hermione, shuffling her feet. "I don't have a way to contact them directly. I told the boy to find McGonagall, but I'm not sure if he succeeded."
Harry was about to suggest using her Patronus, but by the slump of her shoulders, he realized she still hadn't figured out how to cast one. Rather than draw attention to that fact, he said, "Give me a minute."
Harry cast his Patronus, directing it to McGonagall, and then again to Flitwick. After a minute, the Patronus returned and said, "McGonagall says: The Potions Master will be there in 10 minutes."
Harry frowned. "Professor Slughorn?" He was a capable professor, but it still seemed like they'd sent him a B-list player for a serious problem. "Hermione, does McGonagall know about the Acromantula or should I tell her?"
"She knows," said Hermione. "All the professors do. Perhaps Slughorn is the most qualified for this." She sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Or perhaps it's just a huge prank and I'm overreacting."
"You're not overreacting, you're being careful." Harry raised his wand. "But if it is a prank, just so you know, it wasn't me."
He cast his Patronus one more time, and sent it away.
"Who was that for?" asked Hermione.
The sound of Neville's voice emanated from Harry's robes. "Copy that. Meet you in Herbology. Dean and Seamus are coming with me."
Harry met Hermione's frown of confusion with a shrug. "Well, we needed a cavalry."
"I'm going to tell you something that might scare you, so don't freak out," said Harry, taking a deep breath. "Spiders are sentient."
Dean, Seamus and Neville glanced at each other, and then shrugged their shoulders.
"Umm…sentient means—"
"We know, Harry," said Neville. "Professor Sprout tells all Hufflepuffs in their first year, to keep them from exploring the Forbidden Forest."
"Wow, I wish McGonagall would have done that for us," said Dean Thomas. "Then we could have avoided that nasty confrontation in our second year."
Harry's jaw dropped. "Does everyone know about this except me?"
He couldn't help feeling disappointed. He didn't want to be the only one who'd almost started running around screaming.
There was a knock at the door, and it opened to reveal Professor Slughorn and Luna Lovegood. "Hello everyone," said Luna. "Mind if I help you capture the talking spiders? I've never seen one and I hear they have rich, raspy voices."
"Yes, indeed," said Professor Slughorn, chuckling. "And I shall be taking a specimen to show Slytherin, as they will be most keen to study it."
Harry sighed. "So this was never a secret, was it?"
Hermione frowned. "Not really, but just something you don't talk about without a professor present. Some people can't handle the news and must be Obliviated."
For a second, Harry wondered if that included the 1st year version of him.
"Why Hermione, what excellent preparation work," Slughorn said, nodding approval. "Now let's go hunt some vermin."
"That's five!" shouted Dean, snapping shut another trap.
"I'm on six!" cried Seamus.
"You call that a tiny thing a spider?" declared Dean.
Harry huddled beside his trap, which he had settled near a dark corner. He was not going to chase them, as the Gryffindors were doing, or coo at them like Luna Lovegood. Unfortunately, Harry's sit and wait strategy had caught him one spider, and a puny one at that. He might have cared more, except this entire quest reeked of Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, which meant it was no fun at all.
Hermione, for her part, was doing almost as well as Neville. They had adopted the "bait" strategy where they lured the spiders using tempting butterfly spells, which captured several spiders at once. Harry might have attempted that, but…well…
He couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. He decided someone needed to be on lookout duty, and he didn't trust Professor Slughorn to do that. The potions professor was currently standing a few paces from Harry, humming to himself and cleaning his glasses. When they were finally clean, he was smoothing out his robes, as if that mattered in the middle of a poorly lit dungeon.
Harry tried again to cast a spell that enhanced his peripheral vision. This time it worked, and he could see around and above him much more clearly. Harry had prepared several emergency spells for situations like these, practicing them until they became muscle memory. He figured that a baseline level of preparation would minimize the likelihood of "deer in headlights" moments where all your training went out the window, and your wand might as well be a plain stick of wood.
He cast a few more protection spells around his classmates, grimacing because Slughorn was still preening. Luna turned and blinked at him.
A spider wriggled into his trap, and he snapped it shut. Two.
"Great job, Hermione!" cried Dean. "That's fourteen for you."
"I've got fifteen," said Neville.
"Oy, I haven't forgotten you," said Dean, clapping an arm around his shoulder. "I've got fifteen noogies for you."
Neville backpedaled away as Dean chased him, laughing, while Hermione shook her head.
"Boys, huh?" said Luna, who had moved to stand beside Harry.
"Yeah. Girls, right?" said Harry, just to see what she would do.
Continuing like he hadn't spoken, she said, "I wish the spiders would talk. I was really looking forward to it, but perhaps they're too young."
Professor Slughorn had informed them that these cat-sized spiders had the markings of an Acromantula at around 3 months old. They were small, he said, even for their apparent age. Harry had asked him, "Why would they be at Hogwarts?" Professor Slughorn had shrugged, and asked rhetorically, "How do most spiders get inside a dwelling?"
In Harry's opinion, when it came to man-eating spiders, that answer wasn't remotely good enough. According to Slughorn, the spiders had only been found in Hogwarts once before, back during his tenure, and never again afterwards. Something had changed recently, and Harry needed to figure out what.
With his enhanced vision, Harry studied the walls.
"What are you looking for?" asked Luna.
"A crack big enough for spiders to pass through," said Harry.
"The castle changes," said Luna. "It won't be there now, if it ever was."
Harry peered within the wards of Hogwarts, checking for signs of dark magic or tampering. He only sensed the crawling of spiders, a foreign guest in Hogwarts, but not considered an enemy. That would need to change as soon as this was over.
The room they stood in stretched into the distance, its stone walls covered in a layer of wet grime. The light from their wands flickered against the shadowed corners, as spiders scurried along just out of sight. Harry found his eyes drawn more than once to the back wall.
"Luna," said Harry, pointing. "Do you notice anything about the wall over there?"
"It shimmers," she said. "Like a mirage."
Harry examined it again. The Hogwarts wards said it was a real wall. He'd seen spiders crawling down just before being captured. But something wasn't right about it.
And then, as if it had never been, the wall winked out of existence.
In its place, weighing in at the size of two tanker trucks, was a screeching spider.
Generally speaking, Neville was fond of animals. Like many Hufflepuffs, he enjoyed Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. He respected all forms of life and wouldn't mind tending a small menagerie someday.
This creature, however, ought to be dropped into a bottomless pit and nuked into oblivion.
It was a demon spawn created from nightmares. Its legs spanned the length of the room, large as tree trunks, but covered in spiky black hair. Its body heaved with each movement, and its endless chitter of clicking jaws was only interrupted by a piercing scream. It sounded like a baby's wail, causing Neville's hair stand on end.
And as it screamed, Neville could hear its raspy, nails on chalkboard voice intoning, "Run little boy, before I pierce those juicy eyeballs just to hear them squelch."
Neville tried covering his ears, but it only seemed to highlight the throbbing and chittering as it reverberated throughout the room.
"Ahh, so the mother returns for her children," said Professor Slughorn, his tone wistful, almost reverent.
Neville saw Dean Thomas hissing and backing up, his robes drenched in sweat. Seamus stood beside him, his teeth grinding in fear. Luna sat on the floor, head in her hands, rocking back and forth and mumbling to herself. Hermione's eyes never left the creature, her face lined with worry.
From the back of the room, Harry called out. "Hermione, can you subdue it?"
She glanced at him, her face deeply concentrating, then nodded. "I think so, but…"
"We'll back you up, if you need us," said Harry. "Do your best."
Hermione gave a sign of assent, and then moved to stand directly in front of the spider. A wordless exchange passed between the two, and Hermione raised her wand, her gaze shifting to one of defiance. She touched the wand to her chest, and a green spell swirled around her arms and legs. A few moments later, a glowing rope fell into her hands.
Neville's heart rate quickened as he realized Hermione had just challenged the spider to a duel.
When he was first starting out as a duelist, Neville learned quickly from the other boys about the unspoken rules. The first was that if a girl was attempting to duel, you must stop what you were doing to watch. First of all, because it was a rare thing of beauty, but also, what if she needed advice on how to duel properly? If it were two girls duelling, however, you had a moral obligation to call your friends and tell them to come to the duelling room immediately.
So, following the unspoken rule, all the boys positioned themselves to watch Hermione battle the spider.
The fight began. Hermione moved so quickly, Neville could barely keep up, but he watched her dodge the spider's pinchers, lacing each leg with a glowing rope before jumping off again, attaching herself to a wall or the ceiling. The spider's pincers snapped at her as she was leaping off the wall, and she spun and kicked its eye, dealing a sickening crunch that caused the spider to shudder and shriek.
Hermione did not let up. She grappled one of its legs and twisted, its outer shell snapping as she wound the rope.
Five legs bound. Six. The rope wound tense knots around poles, causing the legs to pull and stretch. Neville watched the fight with rapt attention. He was reminded of the time he'd seen some of his housemates grinning madly after an owl gave them a colourful book with pictures of an Amazonian woman on the front. He was beginning to understand the appeal.
When the fight ended, the spider's thorax barely touched the ground, as most of its weight was held within the twelve lines of rope that bound it—eight on the legs, four around the body.
Hermione tightened the ropes, binding them securely with another flick of her wand. Then, with another movement, she cleaned her robes, but it did nothing to tame her wild curls. Everyone's eyes followed her as she walked back over to confer with Slughorn.
The fight was over, but Neville's heart was still pounding, and he felt practically giddy. Neville knew he didn't like Hermione that way, but you'd have to be dead inside not to notice her.
"That was the most awesome thing I've ever seen," said Dean reverently.
"Y-yeah," said Seamus, swallowing.
Harry didn't say anything, but his stare spoke for itself. Then, blinking and shaking his head, he said, "Keep your wands on the spider. The stunning spell is Arania Exumai. Use it if you must."
He walked forward to join Hermione and Professor Slughorn, and Neville trained his wand on the spider.
Neville's mind went back to the first day he'd learned about Acromantula. He'd been a nervous first year, and his response to learning about this new enemy was to find out everything he could about them, so he could stop freaking out. He'd gone to the Gryffindor prefect, who told him that the Acromantula won't bother students because of Hagrid. He was friends with their leader, Aragog, and so all of his clan obeyed him. The prefect also said that Acromantula are repulsive, ugly beasts that are a prime example of why experimentation on animals is forbidden.
The spider barely stirred, but Neville could tell it watched them with quiet menace. A few paces away stood Harry, gesturing towards the beast, his voice soft but insistent. Neville suspected that Harry would want to kill the spider, but it wasn't so simple. Even though the spiders ate their own dead, they were loyal. The colony would see any violence as a threat against their community.
That still didn't change the fact that a giant spider was inside Hogwarts, attacking students, when Hagrid had expressly forbid it.
Neville could feel his stomach lurch when he realized. Aragog was dead.
His mind buzzing, he kept his wand on the spider as he moved towards Harry. He needed to warn him. As he approached, Neville realized they already knew, and were devising a plan.
"…The Aurors don't want—"
"Well, they're not here, are they?" Harry's voice was sharp. "And if Slughorn is correct that they left all the spiders in the Forbidden Forest just because Hagrid liked them, then forgive me, but I don't trust them to handle this situation." Harry thrust a finger at the giant beast. "That Acromantula threatened us. We are responsible for protecting Hogwarts, and the only thing that spider will respect is power. They need a reason to fear us, or more specifically, me."
"You're talking about torture, Harry." Hermione's voice rose. "There has to be another way."
Harry shook his head. "No. You still don't understand. The spider laid its eggs in here to bait us. It wanted us to kill them, to give an excuse for its attack." Harry's eyes flashed, his voice sharp with cold anger. "Did you hear what the Acromantula said? It said they would invade, our students would be devoured, and our school would be left a barren ruin! And why? Because they're bored. Because they're tired of eating forest animals, and hungry for human flesh. They don't deserve your pity or mine."
Neville knew all about pack animals and displays of dominance. He understood what Harry was trying to do, but the coldness in his demeanour made Neville's skin crawl. Harry had explained to Neville once that he sometimes used his anger to go to his dark side, but only because it allowed him to think more clearly and get in the head of his enemy. Neville didn't know if this was a good idea or not, but he really didn't like Cold Harry.
"I don't plan on hurting the creature," said Harry. "Not unless I have to. But I will demand answers, and it has to believe I'm willing to kill it if necessary. If not, our plan won't work." He folded his arms. "Once we interrogate it and obtain the information we need, we can remove the colony from the Forbidden Forest by whatever method the Aurors choose. Until then, we have to make a show of force to protect ourselves from further attacks."
Hermione started to respond, but Professor Slughorn reached out and touched her arm.
"He's right," said Slughorn, gently. "There are some situations that require ruthlessness. You are too young to understand, but in many parts of the world, a leader is expected to return violence for violence. The people expect blood on the ground, and for them, a democratic approach is considered weak and submissive. The Acromantula are not a peaceful species—they are aggressive and warlike, and must be handled appropriately."
"But…we don't know all of that, you're just assuming…but even if it were true…" She bit her lip, her eyes pleading. "Harry, you're…you're just a student. It's not your job."
The cold look in his eyes softened, but only a little.
"I don't mind," said Harry quietly. "I'm doing what needs to be done...what we need to do to protect the school." He ran a hand through his hair. "In any case, we have to make a decision quickly. Those ropes won't hold it for long."
Neville squared his shoulders, and moved forward.
"Harry, please," he said. "I'm not going to try to dissuade you. I don't know what's right or wrong, but…just know that Acromantula are very loyal, and might decide to escalate rather than back down. If we're wrong about why the spider came here, then we need to figure out the truth before…" Neville's fists tightened. "We do something we regret."
"Of course," said Harry, his face tight. "Like I said, I'll interrogate first, and only use stronger techniques if I must." Harry cast a brief glance back to Hermione, and then moved towards the spider.
Neville had learned that at times fate liked to mess with you. He could almost see the hands of some higher power jerking the world order in ways that were too improbable to be coincidence.
At the exact moment when Harry approached the spider, it began twitching violently, and then died.
Everyone stood perfectly still, as if waiting for fate to deal another blow. Then Harry turned and asked, his voice confused, "Can spiders self-terminate?"
A moment later, the doors to the room burst open, and in strode a furious McGonagall.
McGonagall had woken a groggy mess that morning to the blinding sight of Harry's Patronus. She and the other professors had spent the evening tossing back a few pints, in preparation for the insanity of Halloween. Then Moody had suggested a drinking game, and somehow they'd all decided to accept, probably because Moody could be so damn charming when he wanted to be. And now she was wondering why her robes were pink, and she had no idea how she'd gotten into her bed.
"Professor, there's dangerous spiders in the dungeon, and I'm requesting assistance."
"Of course you are," grumbled McGonagall, rolling over. She mumbled, "The Potions Master will be there in 10 minutes."
She fumbled for her wand and sent her Patronus to Slughorn, who had a high tolerance due to his fondness for wine. His chipper response made her wince. "I'll be there in two shakes. Enjoy your lie in, Minnie."
She flung her hand over her eyes, a sense of shame welling up inside her. She knew it was wrong. She wasn't a young witch anymore, and she couldn't be so reckless. But just once, she wanted to stay in bed and not be the one dealing with Harry's shenanigans.
About an hour later, the wards of Hogwarts told her something was wrong.
Feeling slightly better, she cast the Everywhere Vision spell, a gift from the ward spells of a Hogwarts. She was shocked to see Hagrid thrashing around the hallways, wild with fear, trying to throttle a house ghost. "Where is she?! Tell me where she is!"
She immediately sent her Patronus, and Hagrid responded, "Aragog is dead, and now his daughter is missing! One of the kids captured her for a prank!"
This was why she never told the Gryffindors about the Acromantula. Biting back a few swear words, she called a house elf. "Apparate me to Hagrid, and then the Dungeons!"
Moments later, the door to the dungeon room burst off its hinges as Hagrid stormed in, McGonagall and Sprout close on his heels. One glance at the spider, suspended in the air, and she knew they were already too late.
"No! Cronia!" cried Hagrid, falling to his knees before the creature's massive head. "What have they done to ye?"
Harry had the nerve to glare at her.
"Well well," he said, folding his arms, his tone icy. "I hope you all have an extraordinarily good excuse for being late."
The Headmistress gave him the Executioner Glare, cold enough to freeze a lake of lava, and Harry snapped his mouth shut.
"Explain this," she barked at Professor Slughorn.
During the ensuing explanation, which was about as ludicrous as everything involving Harry, she noticed Luna Lovegood approach Hagrid, who was crying into his massive hands. She patted his back, and said, "She had a nice voice."
Slughorn explained the situation. "We'd planned to send her back to her group with a disguised tracker when she died. We've been performing tests, but the method of death is not evident."
"I see," said McGonagall when they finished, though she didn't understand at all.
"In my opinion," said Slughorn, slipping into his lecturer mode. "The Acromantula probably suspected what we planned to do, and decided to end her own life. They are quite intelligent creatures, and poisonous Ashtree roots are plentiful in the Forbidden Forest.
"T'was the rope," sighed Hagrid, twisting a mite of it in his hands. "The Acromantula have lungs, just as people do. Strung up in the air like that, with its head twisted, it couldn't breathe."
Hermione blanched. "Are...are you sure?"
"I disagree," said Slughorn. "She didn't struggle before she died, so asphyxiation isn't likely."
"Look at these wounds!" Hagrid cried, pointing to red welts in the spider's neck. "The rope is too tight!"
"She tried to attack us!" countered Harry. "What does it matter how she died? It's better than dead students!"
"Harry!" The Headmistress shouted. "Watch your tone!"
The boy could be so insolent, and to a grieving man at that.
"No," said Hagrid, his voice bitter and broken. "Harry is right. It doesn't matter now. She's gone, and I know you didn't mean to harm 'er."
McGonagall wished in that moment she had a staff, so she could thump it on the ground, bringing order to the room. "Alright, everyone, this is what we'll do. Hagrid and Sprout will take care of the spider. Slughorn, you will come with me and we will discuss how to handle the Acromantula problem. Call the Aurors and the Professors, and if they don't respond, we'll send howlers. Hermione," she said, turning to the girl. "Get everyone out of here and ensure that all prefects know the school is under lockdown."
McGonagall called Hermione to her office that evening to apologize. She said the spider's death was not her fault, regardless of the cause. At the same time, she commended Hermione's efforts in protecting the school, and warmly stated that she would make a great leader someday. McGonagall showed Hermione a spell that would allow her to contact any professor immediately, in case it was necessary.
McGonagall and Madam Bones called each student, one by one, to relate their accounts of what happened in the dungeon, including what the Acromantula said to them. When Luna Lovegood recounted her tale, McGonagall was so shocked that she was thankful she was sitting down, or else her knees might have given way. Even Madam Bones' steel expression flickered.
By the following afternoon, there were no more Acromantula left in the Forbidden Forest.
