Aragog

Castiel looked out of the window in his dormitory at the summer kissed grounds. Flowers were blooming through the grass and it looked peaceful, yet to Castiel it felt wrong. Without Hagrid striding through the grounds with Fang at his side, the summer might as well be on the other side of a glass wall. It did not penetrate the inside of the castle at all, where everyone walked around tense and unnaturally quiet.

They tried to visit Hermione but were barred by Madam Pomfrey.

'We're not taking any more chances,' she told them through a crack in the door. 'No, I'm sorry, there's every chance the attacker will come back to finish these people off...'

She'd even banned Castiel, who walked around despondently, not knowing what to do with himself or where he would be safe.

Dumbledore's departure had spread fear through the castle in waves and caused many of the students to appreciate being shepherded to and from lessons by teachers. It greatly irritated Sherlock, however, who became restless at being cooped up in Ravenclaw tower most of the time, and only being able to see John at meal times.

Hagrid's hint had been easy enough to understand, but none of them had seen a single spider in weeks, which Ron was far from devastated about. Hampered as they were by not being allowed to wander off on their own, they had no opportunity to search for any.

The Gryffindors were led down to Herbology by Snape one day and the lesson was very subdued. Two of their number were missing: Justin and Hermione.

John set to work on his Abyssinian Shrivelfig and Molly came over to him.

'Here you are, best shears in the greenhouse,' she said with feigned brightness.

John smiled at her.

'Ernie thinks that Draco Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin now,' she said, gesturing at Ernie, who was shaking Harry's hand.

John snorted.

'I take it that means you've already ruled him out,' she smiled. 'I'm sorry about Hermione.'

'Yeah, me too.'

'You must be scared,' she said sympathetically.

'No more than anyone else…'

John trailed off as he saw several large spiders scurrying through the greenhouse. He watched them as they headed towards the Forbidden Forest.

'John?'

He looked back at Molly and realised she'd still been talking.

'Molly, I'm so sorry. I'm just distracted since Hermione…'

'I understand, don't worry.'

John smiled at her warmly.

'Thanks.'

As they were escorted to Defense Against the Dark Arts, John lagged behind with Harry and Ron, out of earshot of the others.

'Did you see the spiders?' he asked.

'Yes,' Ron said moodily. 'Fun in the Forest. Can't wait.'

'We'll have to use the Invisibility Cloak again,' said Harry, 'and we'll bring Fang. He practically lives in the Forest, he might be some help.'

They had just taken their seats when Lockhart came bounding into the room. John frowned in disgust.

'Why all these long faces?' he cried. 'Don't you know that the danger has passed?'

The class exchanged exasperated looks but said nothing. Suddenly, Sherlock emerged from Lockhart's office rubbing his head.

'Mr Holmes, what are you still doing here?' Lockhart frowned. 'Well, you might as well stay. No wandering alone in the corridors after all. Why don't you go and sit over there with Mr Watson?'

'What's going on?' John whispered to him as he sat down.

Sherlock shook his head.

'I don't – understand,' Sherlock said, sounding dazed and confused. 'Why are you here?'

'Sherlock, this is my lesson. Why are you here?'

'This is my lesson.'

'Be quiet back there, thank you,' Lockhart called to them. 'Don't you people realise that you're safe now? The culprit has been taken away!'

'Says who?' Dean Thomas said loudly.

'My dear, young man. The Minister for Magic wouldn't have taken Hagrid away unless he had been one hundred percent certain that he was guilty.'

'Oh, yes he would,' Ron said even louder than Dean.

'I think I know a touch more about Hagrid's arrest than you do, Mr Weasley,' Lockhart said smugly.

John grew increasingly angry throughout the course of the lesson, as Lockhart hinted repeatedly that he had always know that Hagrid had been up to something, and that he was no good. John could hardly stand it, but he knew he would not be able to leave the lesson as he had done previously, without either Lockhart or Sherlock stopping him, despite Sherlock's apparent vacancy. Instead, he looked at Hermione's empty seat and decided that he would go in search of the spiders that night, alone if he had to.

It transpired that Harry had been just as annoyed by Lockhart as John had been and was easily convinced to accompany him into the Forest. John had also decided not to tell Sherlock or Castiel of his plans, as he felt that neither of them were in a fit state to be in the Forest, even if they could find a way to sneak everyone out of the castle. In any case, he didn't want them to worry.

The Gryffindor common room was very crowded after dinner, as it often was lately, and it was well past midnight by the time it had fully emptied. Harry, who had been sitting on the Invisibility Cloak since dinner, seized it and threw it over the three of them and they climbed out of the portrait hole.

It was a difficult journey through the castle, dodging all the teachers on patrol and wincing at every creak and whine the front doors made as they squeezed through them.

A crisp wind blew around them as they crossed the moonlit grounds. They reached Hagrid's sorry-looking house with its empty windows and Fang went mad with joy at the sight of them. Harry folded up the Cloak and left it on the table. They went to leave but Ron hesitated.

'Maybe they weren't going towards the Forest,' he said, a desperate note to his voice. 'I know it looked like they were going in that sort of direction but…'

John grimaced.

'Come on, Ron. We'll be back before you know it,' he said reassuringly.

Ron swallowed and then followed them out of the door.

The Forest was pitch black and Harry lit the end of his wand with, 'Lumos!'

John did the same so that they could watch the ground for spiders.

'I'd light mine too but it'd probably blow up or something…'

Harry eventually found the trail of spiders and Ron sighed deeply, resigned to the worst. As they walked through the trees, John felt oddly relaxed and comfortable navigated of the twisted tree roots, without so much as a misstep. Fang scampered around him and he had to slow down several times to wait for Harry and Ron. After a while the trees became thicker and closer together, and the ground began to slope downwards. They were walking in silence, so when Fang let loose a great, booming bark, the three of them jumped out of their skin. Ron grabbed Harry's elbow and looked around, trying to see through the darkness.

'What is it, boy?' John asked Fang, scratching him behind the ears.

'There's something over there,' Harry breathed. 'Something big.'

Something fairly large was snapping branches as it carved its way through the trees.

'Oh no,' said Ron. 'Oh no, oh no, oh-'

'Shut up!' Harry said frantically. 'It'll hear you!'

'Hear me? It's already heard Fang!' Ron squeaked.

There was a strange, rumbling sound, then silence. They stood, waiting for whatever it was to pounce on them, and a blaze of light blinded them. Fang yelped and tried to run but got caught in a tangle of brambles, causing him to yelp louder.

'No way!' Ron shouted. 'It's our car!'

'What?'

'Come on!'

Ron ran towards the light, Harry and John close behind. A moment later they crashed into a clearing and John thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. In the middle of the clearing was an empty, turquoise Ford Anglia.

'It's been here this whole time!' Ron exclaimed delightedly. 'The Forest's turned it wild!'

'Hang on a minute, is this the flying one?' John asked.

'Yeah,' Ron grinned. 'I wondered where it had gone.'

As Ron walked around the car and patted it on the roof, John caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and froze in fear. Staring down at them were four gargantuan, hairy spiders. Before he could so much as open his mouth to warn the others, the spiders made some loud clicking noises and seized each of them, including Fang who thrashed and whined loudly, by two of their impossibly long legs. John felt completely limp. If he hadn't had a fear of spiders before, he would be shocked if he didn't now.

He didn't know exactly how long they were captive of the spiders for. It was too dark to be able to keep track of time or where they were going, but eventually the darkness lifted enough to see that they had stopped at the rim of a vast hollow. The spiders dropped them and walked towards the area that had been cleared of trees, where spiders the size of horses were clearly visible, and up to a large, domed web. John looked at the other two; Ron's face was stuck in an expression of sheer terror, eyes popping and his mouth stretched out in a silent scream. Suddenly he realised that the spiders were saying something, though it was hard to tell past the constant clicking sounds they made with their pincers.

'Aragog! Aragog!' they called.

From within the domed web, a spider the size of a small elephant emerged. There was grey in the black of his body and each one of his eight eyes was milky white. He was blind.

'What is it?' Aragog said, clicking his pincers together.

'Men,' clicked one of the spiders.

'Is it Hagrid?' said Aragog, moving closer.

'Strangers.'

'Kill them,' Aragog clicked. 'I was sleeping…'

'We're friends of Hagrid's,' Harry shouted, still on all fours where the spider had dropped him.

Aragog paused and John thought his heart my stop completely.

'Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before,' Aragog said slowly.

'Hagrid's in trouble,' Harry told him. 'That's why we've come.'

John was impressed with Harry's ability to speak. He wouldn't have been able to himself and may as well have been Petrified for the amount he could move.

'In trouble?' said the aged spider, a touch of concern in his voice. 'But why has he sent you?'

'They think, up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting some sort of monster on students. They've taken him to Azkaban.'

Aragog clicked his pincers furiously, which was echoed around the hollow by the other spiders. It sounded like applause, only applause didn't usually make John's blood run cold.

'But that was years ago,' Aragog said fretfully. 'Years and years ago. I remember it well. That's why they made him leave the school. They believed I was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets. They thought that Hagrid had opened the Chamber and set me free…'

John Felt a small twinge of hope through his hear, enabling him to speak up.

'You… you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets?' he said.

'I was not born in the castle,' Aragog clicked angrily. 'I came from a distant land. A traveller gave me to Hagrid as an egg. Hagrid was only a boy, but he cared for me, hidden in a cupboard, feeding me scraps from the table. Hagrid is my good friend and a good man. When I was discovered and blamed for the death of a girl, he protected me and brought me to the Forest where I have lived ever since. Hagrid still visits me and even found me a wife, Mosag, and see how our family has grown through his goodness…'

'So you never… never attacked anyone?' Harry asked, struggling to keep his voice steady.

'Never,' croaked Aragog. 'It would have been my instinct, but from respect for Hagrid, I never harmed a human. The body of the girl who was killed was discovered in a bathroom. I never saw any part of the castle but the cupboard in which I grew up. Our kind like the dark and quiet…'

'But then… Do you know what did kill the girl?' said Harry. 'Because whatever it is, it's back and attacking people again-'

Harry was drowned out by a sudden outbreak of loud clicking and the rustling of many long legs shifting angrily. Large black shapes moved all around them.

'The thing that lives in the castle,' said Aragog, 'is an ancient creature that we spiders fear above all else. Well do I remember how I begged Hagrid to let me go when I sensed it moving about the school.'

'What is it?' Harry urged.

More loud clicking and rustling and John felt a thrill through his body as he saw that they were closing in on them.

'We do not speak of it!' Aragog said fiercely. 'We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid the name of that dread creature, though he asked me, many times.'

Aragog seemed to grow tired of talking and began to back away into his web, but his fellow spiders continued to inch closer.

'We'll just go, then,' Harry called desperately.

'Go?' Aragog said slowly. 'I think not. My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid on my command, but I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Goodbye, friend of Hagrid.'

John turned, prepared to run the way they had come, but found himself face with a solid wall of black spiders. As he stared into their many gleaming eyes, he wished that he had told Sherlock, Castiel, anyone where they had gone. He raised his wand half-heartedly. There was nothing he could do. Just as he was about to give up hope, a long, low note sounded and a blaze of light flamed through the hollow.

The Weasley's car was thundering down the slope, headlamps gleaming, horn screeching and there, in the driver's seat, was Sherlock. He knocked several spiders aside; many were knocked on their backs and the car screeched to a halt in front of them. The doors flew open.

'Get in!' Sherlock yelled.

John immediately flew into the passenger seat.

'Get Fang!' Harry shouted, diving into the back seat.

Ron grabbed the boarhound by the middle and threw him, yelping, into the back of the car, then jumped in next to him. The doors slammed shut and the car accelerated away through the Forest, knocking spiders away as it went.

'What the hell did you think you were doing?' Sherlock shouted, absolutely livid. 'Why would you just walk into an Acromantula nest? Have you lost your minds or do you just have a death wish?'

'How were we supposed to know what they were?' John snapped back, still shaking.

'Because it's Hagrid! If Hagrid tells you to go anywhere with any kind of creature where do you think it's going to lead?'

'Well why didn't you say anything, then? Because excuse me for not knowing that giant spiders exist.'

'Because I didn't think you'd do anything so stupid as to actually follow the spiders!'

'Okay, enough!' Harry said. 'Sherlock, I think we've learned our lesson.'

Sherlock sat with his hands on the wheel, fuming, as the car made its way through the trees.

'Can you drive?' John asked.

'No, John, I can't drive,' Sherlock snapped. 'The car brought me to you. It drives itself.'

The car stopped abruptly at the edge of the Forest and shot them all out of their seats. Fang rocketed immediately towards Hagrid's hut and the rest of them followed, Harry giving the car a grateful pat as it reversed back into the Forest.

They all sat around in Hagrid's house, quietly attempting to recover from their ordeal before making their way back to the castle.

'How did you get out?' John asked Sherlock.

'Lockhart wasn't on his rounds tonight. Pretty stupid of him considering he was in optimal position between Ravenclaw tower and the front doors,' he said, rubbing his face. 'You were lucky.'

'Are you all right?' Harry asked Ron.

He shook his head.

'I'll never forgive Hagrid,' Ron said quietly. 'He always thinks monsters aren't as bad as they're made out to be and look where it's got him! A cell in Azkaban! What was the point in sending us in there? What have we found out, I'd like to know?'

'What did you find out?' Sherlock asked.

'That Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets,' said Harry. 'He was innocent.'

Ron snorted. Evidently, hatching Aragog in a cupboard wasn't his idea of being innocent.

'That still doesn't help us though,' John said grimly. 'We still don't know what the monster is or how it Petrifies or anything.

'What else did you find out,' Sherlock urged.

'Er, that spiders are afraid of whatever the monster is, that Aragog never attacked anyone and that he's not the monster in the Chamber,' John said, hoping that anything would spark Sherlock's mind.

'How do you know?'

'He said that the girl that died the first time was found in a bathroom and that he never left the cupboard he was born in.'

Sherlock sat up very suddenly.

'What? What is it?'

'A bathroom… What if the girl that died never left the bathroom?' Sherlock said.

'Wait, you don't think...?'

'Yes! It was Moaning Myrtle!'

Thanks to Keysmash5955, UberSupper, Mangaka Shuzen and TsubasaKEI for the reviews :D Seriously I'm your biggest fan.

The next few chapters are going to be relatively short, probably about the size of this one, but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway. Have a great day!