IN THE FOREST, AGAIN
When Natasha and Simran told Ron about Dumbledore, Ron just stood there shocked, and was of the same opinion that, the castle was a lot less safe now. Summer was creeping over the grounds around the castle; sky and lake alike turned periwinkle blue and flowers large as cabbages burst into bloom in the greenhouses. But with no Hagrid visible from the castle windows, striding the grounds with Fang at his heels, the scene didn't look right to Natasha; no better, in fact, than the inside of the castle, where things were so horribly wrong.
Natasha, Ron and Simran had tried to visit Hermione, but visitors were now barred from the hospital wing. "We're taking no more chances," Madam Pomfrey told them severely through a crack in the infirmary door. "No, I'm sorry, there's every chance the attacker might come back to finish these people off..."
"But she is our best friend!", Natasha wined. "We will never try to hurt her, or any of them who are petrified!"
"I am so sorry, Ms. Potter but I just can't bend the rules for just one person.", Madam Pomfrey said shaking her head. The three of them left the hospital wing with sad faces.
With Dumbledore gone, fear had spread as never before, so that the sun warming the castle walls outside seemed to stop at the mullioned windows. There was barely a face to be seen in the school that didn't look worried and tense, and any laughter that rang through the corridors sounded shrill and unnatural and was quickly stifled. There was both sadness, and fear that was hanging in the corridors. Natasha constantly repeated Dumbledore's final words to herself, 'I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me... Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.'. "But what good were these words? Who exactly were they supposed to ask for help, when everyone was just as confused and scared as they were? Even the teachers had solemn and sad looks in their faces.
Hagrid's hint about the spiders was far easier to understand. The trouble was, there didn't seem to be a single spider left in the castle to follow. The problem was that, Ron and Simran were not at all looking forward to hunting for spiders and following them. Natasha would try to pull both of them, but they will just refuse to come. She was hampered more, of course, by the fact that she wasn't allowed to wander off on her own but had to move around the castle in a pack with the other Gryffindors. Most of their fellow students seemed glad that they were being shepherded from class to class by teachers, but Natasha found it very irksome. Teachers were just everywhere inside the castle, Natasha was becoming more and more of a troublemaker, as she wanted to solve the mystery of the chamber really fast.
One person, however, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere of terror and suspicion. Draco Malfoy was strutting around the school as though he had just been appointed Head Boy. Natasha was just getting more and more angry, at the boy. "Did you hear that sir?" He asked Snape. "It said that Draco strutted, so does that mean that he is like my father as well?"
Snape chose not to reply under the scrutinizing glares of both Dumbledore and McGonagall, and what Natasha thought to be respect to the headmaster. Natasha didn't realize what he was so pleased about until the Potions lesson about two weeks after Dumbledore and Hagrid had left, when, sitting right behind Malfoy, Natasha overheard him gloating to Crabbe and Goyle.
"I always thought Father might be the one who got rid of Dumbledore," he said, not troubling to keep his voice down. "I told you he thinks Dumbledore's the worst headmaster the school's ever had. Maybe we'll get a decent headmaster now. Someone who won't want the Chamber of Secrets closed. McGonagall won't last long, she's only filling in..."
Simran and Natasha who were sitting next to each other were fuming at Malfoy. Natasha was wondering what happened to that, boy whom she was friends with last year. Snape swept past Natasha, making no comment about Hermione's empty seat and cauldron.
"Sir," said Malfoy loudly. "Sir, why don't you apply for the headmaster's job?"
"Now, now, Malfoy," said Professor Snape, "Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended by the governors. I daresay he'll be back with us soon enough."
"Yeah, right," said Malfoy, smirking. "I expect you'd have Father's vote, sir, if you wanted to apply for the job - I'll tell Father you're the best teacher here, sir-"
"Just shut up, will you! I am trying to make my potion here and you are distracting me.", Natasha snapped at Draco, as she heard enough of his rants.
Draco looked at her in shock and asked, "Oh come on, Potter! You will have to agree with me that, Professor Snape will be a really good headmaster. He is your favorite teacher, after all.".
"Professor- ", Natasha started so as to make professor do something.
"Please stop talking and concentrate on your potion, Mr. Malfoy! We don't want to damage your perfect potion, do we?", Professor said.
Then Draco went back to his potion. The bell rang after they all submitted their potions. "Hurry up, I've got to take you all to Herbology," barked Snape over the class's heads, and off they marched, with Natasha, Ron, and Simran who were totally angry after Draco's behaviour. Snape saw them out of the castle and they were making their way across the vegetable patch toward the greenhouses. The Herbology class was very subdued; there were now two missing from their number, Justin and Hermione.
Professor Sprout set them all to work pruning the Abyssinian Shrivelfigs. Natasha went to tip an armful of withered stalks onto the compost heap and found himself face-to-face with Ernie Macmillan. They both had not talked to each other for weeks, and while Natasha was ready for another accusation coming toward her, Ernie took a deep breath and said, very formally, "I just want to say, Natasha, that I'm sorry I ever suspected you. I know you'd never attack Hermione Granger, and I apologize for all the stuff I said. We're all in the same boat now, and, well-"
Natasha could not believe her ears. At last, someone has come to the realization that she was innocent. She wanted to shout at the boy, for the hell he had given her all this time but decided that, it was not a good thing to do. He held out a pudgy hand, and Natasha shook it.
Ernie and his friend Hannah came to work at the same Shrivelfig as Natasha and Simran. Ron was standing opposite to them.
"That Draco Malfoy character," said Ernie, breaking off dead twigs, "he seems very pleased about all this, doesn't he? D'you know, I think he might be Slytherin's heir."
"That's clever of you," said Simran, who didn't seem to have forgiven Ernie as readily as Natasha. She was about to throw in a bad remark, before Natasha stopped her. Even Ron was looking angry at this, and was giving angry looks at Ernie.
"Do you think it's Malfoy, Natasha?" Ernie asked. "No," said Natasha, so firmly that Ernie and Hannah stared. "I have reasons to believe that, he is not.", she continued
A second later, Natasha spotted something. Several large spiders were scuttling over the ground on the other side of the glass, moving in an unnaturally straight line as though taking the shortest route to a prearranged meeting.
Natasha hit Simran over the hand with her pruning shears. "Ouch! What're you-"
Natasha pointed out the spiders, following their progress with her eyes screwed up against the sun. "Oh, yeah," said Simran, trying, and failing, to look pleased. "But we can't follow them now-"
Ron also noticed it and said, "Simran is right. What do you suppose we do?"
Ernie and Hannah were listening curiously. Natasha's eyes narrowed as he focused on the spiders. If they pursued their fixed course, there could be no doubt about where they would end up. "Looks like they're heading for the Forbidden Forest...", Natasha said matter- of- factedly.
Ron and Simran looked even unhappier about that. At the end of the lesson Professor Sprout escorted the class to their Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. Natasha and Ron lagged behind the others so they could talk out of earshot.
"We'll have to use the Invisibility Cloak again,", Natasha told both her friends. "We can take Fang with us. He's used to going into the forest with Hagrid, he might be some help."
"Do we really have to? Remember the last time, you went to the forest?", Ron asked.
"We will have to, Ron. You both can stay out, if you are so scared.", Natasha said.
"We will go with you, Natasha. We are not letting you go alone!", Simran said. "Isn't that right Ron?", she asked.
"Right," said Ron, who was twirling his wand nervously in his fingers. "Er - aren't there - aren't there supposed to be werewolves in the forest?", he added as they took their usual places at the back of Lockhart's classroom. Simran gave a flinch, when he said that. Preferring not to answer that question, Natasha said, "There are good things in there, too. The centaurs are all right, and the unicorns..."
"Unicorns? Really?", Simran said a bit relaxed. Natasha nodded at her.
Ron had never been into the Forbidden Forest before. Natasha had entered it only once and had hoped never to do so again.
Lockhart bounded into the room and the class stared at him. Every other teacher in the place was looking grimmer than usual, but Lockhart appeared nothing short of buoyant. "Come now,", he cried, beaming around him. "Why all these long faces?"
People swapped exasperated looks, but nobody answered. "Don't you people realize," said Lockhart, speaking slowly, as though they were all a bit dim, "the danger has passed! The culprit has been taken away-"
"How can you be so sure?", Dean asked with questioning look. "My dear young man, the Minister of Magic wouldn't have taken Hagrid if he hadn't been one hundred percent sure that he was guilty,", said Lockhart, in the tone of someone explaining that one and one made two.
"Oh, yes he would," said Simran, even more loudly than Dean.
"I flatter myself I know a touch more about Hagrid's arrest than you do, Ms. Simran," said Lockhart in a self-satisfied tone.
"We know Hagrid! He is a really good person. I am sure that, he will never do any of this!", Natasha said. "I think they have got the wrong person!"
But Lockhart ignored her and went on. Lockhart's disgusting cheeriness, his hints that he had always thought Hagrid was no good, his confidence that the whole business was now at an end, irritated Natasha so much that he yearned to throw Gadding with Ghouls right in Lockhart's stupid face. Natasha knew that she had to go to the forest that very night.
Instead he contented himself with scrawling a note to Ron and Simran: Let's do it tonight. Ron read the message, swallowed hard, and looked sideways at the empty seat usually filled by Hermione. The sight seemed to stiffen his resolve, and he nodded. Simran also nodded with determination in her face. The Gryffindor common room was always very crowded these days, because from six o'clock onward the Gryffindors had nowhere else to go. They also had plenty to talk about, with the result that the common room often didn't empty until past midnight.
They all just sat and talked about some random things. Most of the talking was between, Natasha and Hermione. Ron stayed out of it as, most of it was just girl talk. He played some chess with his brothers, and Dean or Seamus. Natasha and Simran even played exploding snap with each other, in which Simran was defeated pretty badly. Natasha had already taken her cloak out, just after the dinner so that, they didn't have to go back to the dorm to get the cloak afterwards, and could immediately get out of the common room.
The three of them waited for the distant sounds of two dormitory doors closing before seizing the cloak, throwing it over themselves, and climbing through the portrait hole. It was another difficult journey through the castle, dodging all the teachers. At last they reached the entrance hall, slid back the lock on the oak front doors, squeezed between them, trying to stop any creaking, and stepped out into the moonlit grounds.
"Course,", said Ron abruptly as they strode across the black grass, "we might get to the forest and find there's nothing to follow. Those spiders might not've been going there at all. I know it looked like they were moving in that sort of general direction, but...", His voice trailed away hopefully.
"Ron! Let us think positively. We really have to get to the bottom of this nonsense.", Simran scolded him.
They reached Hagrid's house, sad and sorry-looking with its blank windows. When Natasha pushed the door open, Fang went mad with joy at the sight of them. Worried he might wake everyone at the castle with his deep, booming barks, they hastily fed him treacle fudge from a tin on the mantelpiece, which glued his teeth together.
"Do we really need to take him?", Ron asked. "You do know that, he is the biggest coward around here after Malfoy, right?"
"I do know that, Ron. But I know that, he will come in handy as he has more experience in the forest than us.", Natasha said. Simran nodded in agreement.
Natasha left the Invisibility Cloak on Hagrid's table. There would be no need for it in the pitch-dark forest. "C'mon, Fang, we're going for a walk," said Natasha, patting his leg, and Fang bounded happily out of the house behind them, dashed to the edge of the forest, and lifted his leg against a large sycamore tree.
"How scary is this place, from the inside. Even from the outside, I can see that it is scary as hell.", Simran said with nervousness in her voice.
"You will see.", said Natasha without finding a suitable word to calm her friends.
Natasha took out her wand, murmured, "Lumos!" and a tiny light appeared at the end of it, just enough to let them watch the path for signs of spiders.
"Good thinking," said Ron. "I'd light mine, too, but you know - it'd probably blow up or something..."
Simran also lit her wand and started following her friends. The forest was really dark and scary, and Simran knew that, without her wand there will not be even a speck of light. Natasha tapped Ron on the shoulder, pointing at the grass. Simran came nearby and saw two solitary spiders were hurrying away from the wandlight into the shade of the trees.
"Okay," Ron sighed as though resigned to the worst, "I'm ready. Let's go.". Simran also quickly overcame her fear, and started following. So, with Fang scampering around them, sniffing tree roots and leaves, they entered the forest. By the glow of Natasha's and Simran's wand, they followed the steady trickle of spiders moving along the path. They walked behind them for about twenty minutes, not speaking, listening hard for noises other than breaking twigs and rustling leaves. Then, when the trees had become thicker than ever, so that the stars overhead were no longer visible, and Natasha's wand shone alone in the sea of dark, they saw their spider guides leaving the path. Simran and Ron shivered in fear.
Natasha paused, trying to see where the spiders were going, but everything outside her little sphere of light was pitch-black. Even Simran's wand had the same problem. She had never been this deep into the forest before. She could vividly remember Hagrid advising her not to leave the forest path last time she'd been in here.
But Hagrid was miles away now, probably sitting in a cell in Azkaban, and he had also said to follow the spiders. Something wet touched Natasha's hand and she jumped backward, crushing Ron's foot, but it was only Fang's nose. Simran struggled to contain a laugh, but she knew that, loud noise may attract danger. "What d'you reckon?", Natasha said to Ron, whose eyes he could just make out, reflecting the light from his wand.
"We've come this far," said Simran. Ron just nodded. So, they followed the darting shadows of the spiders into the trees. They couldn't move very quickly now; there were tree roots and stumps in their way, barely visible in the near blackness. Natasha could feel Fang's hot breath on his hand. More than once, they had to stop, so that Natasha could crouch down and find the spiders in the wandlight.
After a while, they noticed that the ground seemed to be sloping downward, though the trees were as thick as ever. Then Fang suddenly let loose a great, echoing bark, making the trio jump out of their skins. "What?" said Ron loudly, looking around into the pitch-dark, and gripping Natasha's elbow very hard.
"There's something moving over there,", it was Simran who replied. "Listen... sounds like something big..."
"Better not be some really big spider, as if it is I am going to freak out.", Ron said scared out his wits.
They listened. Some distance to their right, the something big was snapping branches as it carved a path through the trees. "Oh, no," said Simran who turned pale as the form became clear. "Oh, no, oh, no, oh-"
"Shut up," said Natasha frantically. "It'll hear you."
There was a loud clicking noise and suddenly Natasha felt something long and hairy seize her around the middle and lift him off the ground, so that she was hanging facedown. She screamed, as did Ron and Simran who looked at the scene in horror. Struggling, terrified, she heard more clicking, and saw Ron's and Simran's legs leave the ground, too, heard Fang whimpering and howling - next moment, they were being swept away into the dark trees. Head hanging, Natasha saw that what had hold of them was marching on six immensely long, hairy legs, the front two clutching her tightly below a pair of shining black pincers.
Behind her, she could hear another of the creatures, no doubt carrying Ron and Simran. They were moving into the very heart of the forest. Natasha could hear Fang fighting to free himself from a fourth monster, whining loudly, but Natasha couldn't have yelled even if she had wanted to; she seemed to have left his voice back in the clearing. Natasha felt really bad that, she dragged her other friends to this horror show.
She never knew how long she was in the creature's clutches; he only knew that the darkness suddenly lifted enough for her to see that the leaf-strewn ground was now swarming with spiders. Craning her neck sideways, she realized that they had reached the ridge of a vast hollow, a hollow that had been cleared of trees, so that the stars shone brightly onto the worst scene she had ever laid eyes on.
Spiders. Not tiny spiders like those surging over the leaves below. Spiders the size of carthorses, eight-eyed, eight-legged, black, hairy, gigantic. There was a collective shudder. Natasha knew that, her other friends was now encountering their worst nightmares. She felt really bad for both of them. The massive specimen that was carrying Natasha made its way down the steep slope toward a misty, domed web in the very centre of the hollow, while its fellows closed in all around it, clicking their pincers excitedly at the sight of its load.
Natasha fell to the ground on all fours as the spider released him. Ron, Simran and Fang thudded down next to him. Fang wasn't howling anymore, but cowering silently on the spot. Ron looked exactly like Natasha felt. His mouth was stretched wide in a kind of silent scream and his eyes were popping. Simran was having a near panic attack herself. She knew that, her fear for spiders was just going to increase exponentially.
Natasha suddenly realized that the spider that had dropped him was saying something. It had been hard to tell, because he clicked his pincers with every word he spoke. To her astonishment, they were speaking perfect English.
"Aragog!" it called. "Aragog!". And from the middle of the misty, domed web, a spider the size of a small elephant emerged, very slowly. There was grey in the black of his body and legs, and each of the eyes on his ugly, pincered head was milky white. He was blind. Natasha realized that, the monstrous spider must be the leader of the group.
"What is it?", he said, clicking his pincers rapidly.
"A man and 2 women," clicked the spider who had caught Natasha.
"Is it Hagrid?" said Aragog, moving closer, his eight milky eyes wandering vaguely.
"Strangers," clicked the spider who had brought Ron.
"Kill them," clicked Aragog fretfully. "I was sleeping..."
"We're friends of Hagrid's," Natasha shouted desperately. His heart seemed to have left his chest to pound in his throat. The other two seemed to have gone completely mute. Click, click, click went the pincers of the spiders all around the hollow. Aragog paused. "Hagrid has never sent other people into our hollow before," he said slowly.
"Hagrid's in trouble," said Natasha, breathing very fast. "That's why we've come."
"In trouble?" said the aged spider, and Natasha thought she heard concern beneath the clicking pincers. "But why has he sent you?". Natasha knew that, she has captured the giant spider's attention.
Natasha thought of getting to her feet but decided against it; she didn't think her legs would support him. So, she spoke from the ground, as calmly as she could. "They think, up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting a - a - something on students. They've taken him to Azkaban."
Aragog clicked his pincers furiously, and all around the hollow the sound was echoed by the crowd of spiders; it was like applause, except applause didn't usually make Natasha feel sick with fear. "But that was years ago," said Aragog fretfully. "Years and years ago, I remember it well. That's why they made him leave the school. They believed that 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."
So, the spider knows about the attacks, Natasha thought. "And you... you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets?" said Natasha, who could feel cold sweat on her forehead.
"I!" said Aragog, clicking angrily. "I was not born in the castle. I come from a distant land. A traveller gave me to Hagrid when I was an egg. Hagrid was only a boy, but he cared for me, hidden in a cupboard in the castle, feeding me on 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. I have lived here in the forest ever since, where Hagrid still visits me. He even found me a wife, Mosag, and you see how our family has grown, all through Hagrid's goodness..."
Natasha summoned what remained of her courage. "So, you never - never attacked anyone?"
"Never," croaked the old spider. "It would have been my instinct, but out of 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 the quiet."
Natasha wanted to shout with joy. So, she finally had evidence that, Hagrid was innocent. The only problem was that, the people should believe the testimony of a giant spider. But she wanted more answers. Natasha looked at her two companions, and saw nothing but shock on their faces just like before. She did not know, whether they were paying attention to the spider.
"But then... Do you know what did kill that girl?" said Natasha. "Because whatever it is, it's back and attacking people again-". His words were drowned by a loud outbreak of clicking and the rustling of many long legs shifting angrily; large black shapes shifted all around him. "The thing that lives in the castle," said Aragog, "is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others. Well do I remember how I pleaded with Hagrid to let me go, when I sensed the beast moving about the school."
"What is it?" said Natasha urgently. More loud clicking, more rustling; the spiders seemed to be closing in.
"We do not speak of it!" said Aragog fiercely. "We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid the name of that dreaded creature, though he asked me, many times."
"Please just tell us what is it? It is really urgent for us. People can be saved because of this.", Natasha begged.
"We can't. We are forbidden to do it.", Aragog said.
Aragog seemed to be tired of talking. He was backing slowly into his domed web, but his fellow spiders continued to inch slowly toward the three of them.
"We'll just go, then," Natasha called desperately to Aragog, hearing leaves rustling behind him.
"Leave! Leave from here and never come back. Because if you do, my fellow spiders will eat you on my command. I am leaving you now only because, I see some good in you. Now run away before I change my mind!", the giant spider ordered.
Natasha just could not believe her luck that, the spiders just left them free. Natasha nudged the other three up, and started walking in the direction they thought was the way they came. Thankfully, that was the right direction. Not the single one of the three spoke a word till they reached the grounds.
Natasha went back into Hagrid's cabin to get the Invisibility Cloak. Fang was trembling under a blanket in his basket. When Natasha got outside again, she found the other three being violent sick in the pumpkin patch.
"Follow the spiders," said Simran weakly. "I'll never forgive Hagrid. We're lucky to be alive."
"They never hurt us, did they?", Natasha asked.
"Still, it was just terrifying. All this just increased my fear of them exponentially.", Ron said still shaking.
"He always thinks monsters aren't as bad as they're made out, and look where it's got him! A cell in Azkaban!", Simran was shivering uncontrollably now. "What was the point of sending us in there? What have we found out, I'd like to know?"
"That Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets," said Natasha, throwing the cloak over Ron and prodding him in the arm to make him walk. "He was innocent."
Ron gave a loud snort. Evidently, hatching Aragog in a cupboard wasn't his idea of being innocent. As the castle loomed nearer Natasha twitched the cloak to make sure their feet were hidden, then pushed the creaking front doors ajar. They walked carefully back across the entrance hall and up the marble staircase, holding their breath as they passed corridors where watchful sentries were walking. At last they reached the safety of the Gryffindor common room, where the fire had burned itself into glowing ash. They took off the cloak and they climbed the winding stair to their respective dormitories.
Natasha fell onto her bed without bothering to get undressed. Natasha, however, didn't feel very sleepy. She sat on the edge of her four-poster, thinking hard about everything Aragog had said. The creature that was lurking somewhere in the castle, she thought, sounded like a sort of monster Voldemort -even other monsters didn't want to name it. But she and her friends were no closer to finding out what it was, or how it petrified its victims. Even Hagrid had never known what was in the Chamber of Secrets. Natasha swung her legs up onto her bed and leaned back against her pillows, watching the moon glinting at her through the tower window.
She couldn't see what else they could do. They had hit dead ends everywhere. Riddle had caught the wrong person, the Heir of Slytherin had got off, and no one could tell whether it was the same person, or a different one, who had opened the Chamber this time. There was nobody else to ask. Natasha lay down, still thinking about what Aragog had said. She was becoming drowsy when what seemed like their very last hope occurred to her, and she suddenly sat bolt upright.
She then ran to Simran's bed, and tried to wake her up. "Sim," he hissed through the dark, "Sim-"
Simran woke with a yelp like Fang's, stared wildly around, and saw Natasha. Thankfully none of the other girls woke up.
"Sim - that girl who died. Aragog said she was found in a bathroom," said Natasha. "What if she never left the bathroom? What if she's still there?"
Simran rubbed her eyes, frowning through the moonlight. And then he understood, too. "You don't think - not Moaning Myrtle?"