Marik
"Alina!" he called out through heavy breaths as the world around him returned. A shot of pain went through his chest as he sat up and tried to adjust his eyes. Why the hell did she hit him with a stunner? One second all had seemed right in the world and then a few moments later she was freaking out and he was getting stunned at point blank range.
Kingsley would be pissed if he found out I just got stunned and knocked out from a first year. He thought to himself, fearing how long the dark arts professor would hold this over his head. It would probably be best to leave this story out in his next lesson.
His eyes were still fuzzy from the stunner and were taking their time adjusting to the world around him. What the hell had happened? He tried to rack his memory but it was just as fuzzy as his vision was.
Her eyes… Her eyes were the last thing he remembered seeing before getting stunned. Alina's eyes had been a beautiful shade of bright blue, like the color of the ocean in the Caribbean. They had been the first thing his eyes had been drawn to when he found her crying by the lake. Even after crying her eyes had reflected off the water just as brightly as the moon's silvery reflection had. But then…
Alina's eyes had turned from blue to red in a few blinks right before she had hit him with the stunner. The girl as a whole seemed to change along with her eyes in the process. In an instant she switched from the personable girl he had relished meeting to a completely different person. Even her voice had changed from a soft sweet tone to a raspy hollow sounding voice.
His eyes took their time adjusting but eventually he was able to make out his surroundings. Neither the girl or the lake were in sight. Instead the lake had been replaced by a sea of dark green trees and the girl's voice had been replaced by a song of singing birds from the canopy overhead. It seemed he had somehow ended up on the edge of the forbidden forest.
Did she bring me here? He wondered. The castle was just in sight from where he was currently situated. However, the spot he was sitting at now was at least a five minute walk from where they had been together at the lake.
He tried to find the sun in the sky to see how long he had been out for. It was already on a downwards path in the sky which meant…
"OH GOD! OH GOD I'M DEAD," he said out loud panicking to himself. Hermione was going to kill him!
If it was already getting close to dinner time that meant he had missed the tournament. And getting stunned by Daphne's little sister would not be a good enough excuse to calm the beast that was Hermione.
Hopefully Hermione won the tournament. Then at least her anger would be slightly less. However if Hermione lost… A chill and shiver went down his spine and he tried to shake the thought. No amount of stunners would come close to the pain Hermione would inflict on him for missing her duel.
"Sorry Harry but I have my fingers crossed that Hermione won right now," he said to himself.
He was surprised no one had seen his body laying there. He was right on the edge of the forest after all. The front doors of the castle were in sight from where he was currently sitting and on a weekend surely someone would have walked by.
How had nobody seen him? He wondered. His question was immediately answered though as he shifted his gaze down towards his feet, which surprisingly at first he could not find. Harry's cloak he guessed had been covering his body judging by the fact that it still was covering his legs.
Did Alina cover me? He wondered to himself. He took off the cloak and patted himself down to see if he still had all of his possessions on hand, everything checked out to be where it was supposed to be. His wand was still in his robe's pocket and his bag still had the books he had borrowed from the restricted section in them.
His body was sore all over and the pain in his chest made it hard to stand up. Based on the pain he was feeling it seemed that Alina was quite the strong spellcaster, her stupefy hurt almost as bad as Hermione's did. Although getting hit with a stupefy from two inches away hurt regardless of a caster's power level.
He was going to be in a lot more pain though when Hermione saw him. His best bet was to just rip the band aid off as quickly as possible and get it over with. She would forgive him… hopefully… by seventh year. He would deal with the crazy Hermione first then he could search and look around for the crazy Alina and find out what the hell her problem was.
Even though he was not required to be at the dueling tournament that day, in case a professor had taken note of his absence, or in case he found an angry Hermione waiting to pounce he decided he would make his way back into the castle under Harry's cloak. The only thing that was close to as scary as an angry Hermione was an angry McGonagall, so he would make sure he was not caught sneaking back in by either one of the witches.
He put the cloak back over himself and made his way out of the edge of the forest and towards the front gate of the castle. The grounds seemed extra quiet to him for some reason today. Usually on weekends the grounds were filled with students practicing magic outside or hanging out on the lawn but today there was nobody. Surely students should be out on the grounds by now. The tournament should have long been over by this time. Maybe the tournament had started later this year?
It was a short walk to the front doors of the castle from where he had woken up in the forest. More weird than there being no students on the grounds was the fact that the front doors were closed. In his short time at Hogwarts he had never once seen the front doors closed except after curfew. Out of instinct he reached in his robe's pocket and took out his wand. He slowly pushed in one of the doors to create just enough room for him to squeeze in.
"Who's there!" a voice shouted. Leaving the door ajar he quickly bolted through the space he had made into the entrance hall. He had expected the voice to have come from a professor or Mr. Filch but instead the voice came from someone he had never seen before. He backed himself into a corner away from where people might walk before observing the situation in the entrance more.
The voice had come from a man in dark blue robes. The robes looked similar to the auror robes that Kingsley wore sometimes. Sure enough as the man turned around he could make out a silver wand pin on the man's collar, signifying that he was in fact an auror.
Why are aurors at Hogwarts? He thought to himself. Loud footsteps announced the arrival of another auror from down the hallway.
"Why is that door open Marx?" the new voice was shouting angrily.
"It just opened on its own sir. There is no one here. It must have been the wind or something sir," the voice belonging to the auror named Marx answered, not sounding confident in his answer.
"Wind doesn't open doors that big Marx. Something is definitely going on here. Blood writing on the walls, two students missing, one student murdered, and now doors opening on their own. I told Albus to close this damn school and let us search it after the first incident! But that damn stubborn bastard…" the second voice continued to rant for a while longer but whatever he said Marik missed. His mind was racing on what he had heard them say.
"Someone had been killed… and two students were missing," he repeated under his breath. His mind immediately went to images of Harry. . . Hermione… and Alina. He left the corner he had been hiding in as quickly and quietly as he could to see if he could find his friends. He glanced inside the Great Hall as he passed by only to find that the dueling platform was still in place but the stands were void of any students.
He picked up his pace and headed towards the castle's dungeons to check out their potions lab. Along the way, the entirety of the student population in the school seemed to have been replaced by auror and ministry officials. Witches and wizards in auror blue robes and ministry red robes were stationed at every corner of the castle's first floor it seemed like. All of them looked unnerved and on edge.
The same was for the dungeons. From the school's entrance down to their lab he passed over fourteen stationed witches and wizards. He had no luck finding his friends let alone any other students in their labs though. His mind immediately went to the next spot that he thought they could be and he hurried off quietly in that direction.
His journey to the library to look for his friends led to the same results his other search had. It certainly seemed that all of the other students in the castle were gone. The castle's only inhabitants now seemed to be the aurors and ministry workers. He had not even seen a professor around yet.
Who had been killed? Who was missing? Was Hogwarts closed? Why? He wondered these questions and more as his mind continued to race and he thought about what he heard the voice in the entrance hall say.
He assumed he was one of the missing students judging from the fact that he was not with the rest of the students wherever they were. That meant that one other student was dead and one other was missing. The more he thought about it the more his mind worried that it was Harry or Hermione. Dobby's warning crossed his mind at the thought of his friends.
Was this what the house elf had warned Harry about?
Still not ready to give up in search for his friends he left the library and headed towards the hospital wing. Two more ministry workers stood guard outside the closed doors to the hospital wing. He quickly opened the doors and quietly slipped past the two guards who panicked at the doors seemingly opening on their own. He remain unnoticed though and after a few head scratches and searches the guards closed the doors again. In side of the hospital wing there was no sight of any students or the usual presence of Madame Pomfrey.
Instead there was only one ministry worker sitting next to one of the hospital beds. His heart started pounding as he saw what the worker was sitting next to. On top of the hospital bed was a body bag. More images of Harry, Hermione, and Alina flashed through his mind at the sight. He did his his best to quickly shake the thoughts away, though he couldn't shake the pounding of his heart. He quietly cast a silencing spell on himself and made his way over to the bed.
As he arrived at the bed and behind the ministry worker he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to see, and for what he was about to do.
"Stupefy!" He cast the stunner from behind the oblivious ministry worker who promptly collapsed in the chair he was sitting on. Moving closer to the bed he readied himself mentally one last time as he found the zipper on the bag.
"Oh thank god," he found himself saying out loud as he exhaled a huge sigh of relief, which briefly later he realised was highly inappropriate given the situation.
Thankfully the body was not Hermione, Harry, or Alina. Which meant that neither one of his friends had been the one murdered. The body instead belonged to a Hufflepuff student that he had never seen before. From his appearance the boy looked to be most likely a first year. As sad as the sight was he could not help the wave of relief that overtook him.
His friends were not dead. However he was still far from being at ease and still had questions that he needed answered. There was still another student missing. And he still had no clue where everyone was, what killed this boy, why a student was missing, and why there was ministry and auror officials here.
"Muffliato, umbrosio, rennervate!" He cast the spells quietly at the unconscious ministry worker. Five shadowy hands emerged from the ground and grasped each one of the man's arms and legs, and the final hand covered the man's mouth. His last spell hit the man and quickly brought him out of the effects of his earlier stunner. Panic filled the man's eyes as he took note of being stunned and now bound by shadowy hands. Marik decided it would be best to remain under the cloak to avoid any future trouble.
"I don't plan on hurting you. I just want to ask you a few questions, then I will release you. If you don't answer my questions… Nod once if you understand," Marik ordered. He really didn't want to hurt the poor guy, but he was not against hitting him with a few more stunners if it meant finding his friends. The man's eyes were darting all over the place trying to find the source of the voice. Eventually he nodded.
"I am going to release the hand from your mouth in a second. I have a silencing spell around us to make sure no one hears your answer. But even so if you make any attempt to yell or call for help…" Marik stopped talking. Instead of finishing his threat verbally this time he made each of the hands tighten their grips until the man winced. "Do you understand?" The man nodded much quicker this time.
"Okay, first question. Where are all the students in the school?" he asked the man the first question. The hand covering the man's mouth moved to allow him to answer.
"They. . . w-were. . . were all evacuated on on the tra-train this morning bac-back home," the man nervously answered. Even in the tight grips of his shadow magic the man's body was shaking intensely in fear.
"Why were they evacuated?" he asked the question assuming the reason had to do with the boy being killed.
"Because, this b-b-boy was found mur. . . murdered in the hallway and with the two mes-mes-messages the ministry feared another attack would happen," Tears were beginning to stream down the man's face as he spoke.
"What messages?"
"Someone or… s-something wrote with blood on the wall. I'm t-told this message was the sec-second one," the man answered nervously again.
"What did this message say? And where was it found?" he fired off another two questions.
"It said that her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever. It was discovered t-t-this morning by Mr. Filch I'm told in one of the dun-dungeon hallways," the man said, still shaking. His answer explained why there had been more guards in the dungeon then he had seen on the first floor.
"Whose skeleton? Who is the girl missing?" he shouted the question this time. The man didn't answer this time but just cowered over more and cried harder. He tightened the grip of his shadow hands. The man grimaced in pain.
"Answer me!" he shouted again.
"They said h-h-her name was Al-Alin-Alina B-Black! Please l-let m-me go!" the man cried out. Marik felt his heart drop. He had expected to be filled with happiness that the girl taken to the Chamber had not been Hermione, but instead all he felt now was sadness, disbelief, and rage.
"Alina…" he whispered the name to himself. Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever. The message replayed in his mind resulting in the sadness and anger inside him building.
"Who took her! Who murdered this boy!" he shouted more questions at the man.
"P-p-please stop," the man begged. "We don't know who wrote the messages, took the girl, or killed the boy. That's why the school was c-closed!" the man said, crying out another answer.
"Where is the Chamber of Secrets?" he asked the man.
"We don't know. . . know that either." The man was now heaving. Marik couldn't help his temper flaring up at the man's lack of information.
"Well what do you know?" Marik screamed the question at the man.
"I… I. . . I don don't kn. . . Know. . ." the man said through tears and heaves.
"Stupefy!" The spell came flying out of his wand and nailed the wizard right in the face. He collapsed unconscious still held up by the shadow arms. Marik's body was shaking. He couldn't tell if it was more from the rage or from the despair he now felt.
Alina had been taken into the Chamber. The message said that her skeleton would lie there forever. The sweet girl he had spent half the night with just one night ago was now dying or already dead. The worst part was that the man said they had no clue who had taken her or where the Chamber even was. She was all alone somewhere and no one knew where to find her.
The more he thought about it the angrier he found himself getting. He wished Hermione and Harry were here with him, they would know what to do. They would know how to help. He was glad they were safely at home though.
"That poor girl…" he whispered from under the cloak. She was all alone right now. She was probably scared and crying again like she had been last night. He punched the hospital bed in anger.
He had to do something. He had to find Alina. He would not let her die. Even if she was just Daphne's sister she was… she was… well Harry's family too… He gathered himself off the ground and started rummaging through his mind to find somewhere in the castle to start looking for her. The only place he could think of as a starting point was to find the second message on the wall. Maybe there would be some clues there.
He snuck out of the hospital wing again. This time as the two guards saw the door opening by itself they began shouting orders after they noticed the guard's body lying unconscious in the hospital wing. He had been careless in there and let his anger get the best of him. He would now have to be more alert to make sure he wasn't caught.
After leaving the hospital wing he made his way down into the castle's dungeons. This time he journeyed past their potions lab further into the hallways.
Closer to the Slytherin common room he found the message the ministry worker in the hospital wing had told him about.
HER SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER
FOREVER.
The message read exactly as the man in the hospital wing said it had. Just like the first message this one again seemed to have been written in blood. The only difference in this message was the absence of a cat hanging from a torch bracket, and this time a boy had ended up dead. And. . . Alina was missing.
"Tonks, I'm taking over for you down here. Scrimgeour wants you to take my forest shift," a voice from down the hall said grabbing his attention from the wall. He moved over next to a suit of armor to avoid being detected.
"Uggh. Why does Scrimgeour want us in the forest anyways?" the auror near him named Tonks asked the wizard that just arrived in the hallway.
"Apparently, the school's half-giant oaf Hagrid ran in there when the ministry blokes showed up. Heard someone say summin bout them trying to arrest him because he was the one they accused of opening the Chamber up the last time," the voice answered.
"Hagrid opening up the chamber, killing a student, and kidnapping two others. That doesn't sound like something the Hagrid I know at all," the witch named Tonks said.
"Well if he is innocent or not it don't matter right now. Scrimgeour still wants you in the forest. Oh and the minister just arrived at the Great Hall to take a few photos for the prophet so stay clear of there if you want to avoid the bastard," the voice replied.
"The minister is here? Guess he wants the people to think he is actually doing something for once. Fine, I am going. Make sure Robbins stays up, she has dozed off twice already!" the witch replied and headed down the hall leaving him alone with the new auror guard in the dungeon hallway.
Hagrid opened the Chamber before. He thought to himself. Could Hagrid really have done this? His father used to say that only the guilty ran, and that was what Hagrid was certainly doing now from what the aurors had said.
The auror had also said that the Minister of Magic was here in the castle too. Maybe he knew something that these aurors didn't. If not maybe at least he could get another clue. Right now all he had to go on was that Hagrid may or may not have opened the Chamber for the second time. He would check in the Great Hall first to see if the minister might know something and would then go check out the forest to look for Hagrid. That was all he had to go on right now.
He quietly left his spot from beside the suit of armour and made his way up out of the dungeons. The guards in the castle seemed to be on higher alert than they had been earlier. He assumed it was most likely his fault for that. The walk to the Great Hall was a short one from the dungeons entrance and thanks to Harry's cloak he remained for the moment still unseen.
The doors to the Great Hall were still open and inside them were a few ministry workers stationed here and there along with an opulently dressed round man, who he guessed was the minister, in the middle of the Hall talking with a few other people.
He quietly creeped into the Hall to get close enough to hear what they were saying. Unfortunately, unlike in the hospital wing there were too many people in the Great Hall to risk any interrogation. Plus it was probably in his best entrance not to stun the Minister of Magic. Hopefully at least he might be able to hear something that would help him find Alina. He tip-toed as quietly as he could closer to the group of people and minister at the center of the Hall.
"Alfred just get a few more shots here then I think a few by the message in the dungeon." The minister was saying to another ministry worker with a large camera. "And Lucia I want the article to be focused on the good work I and the ministry officials are doing here to catch the culprit behind this, not on the Chamber. This is a good chance to gain some favor with the public if we handle this right," the minister continued through smiling teeth as he posed for the camera.
"Minister might I suggest instead of saying culprit that you say Hagrid. After all we know he was the one responsible for opening the Chamber the first time. Whether the dense Headmaster will admit it or not," another ministry worker with long blonde hair that resembled a spitting image of an older Malfoy suggested.
"Of course, of course Lucius. And also for now don't mention either the boy's or girl's names, we don't want to cause any more panic. Let's keep this working to our advantage," the minister continued.
"Minister I doubt too many people would be upset when they hear the names. After all it was just a mudblood who died, another mudblood missing, and a blood traitor who was taken," the ministry worker named Lucius responded. Marik's fist clenched.
"Oh you know I agree with you Lucius, it's unfortunate Hagrid did not take a few more of the mudbloods with him. But still you know those who support Albus still think those types of filth deserve a place in our society. You know quite well that Kingsley sings praises to the aurors about the mudblood boy that is missing, and the Black family still has some sway and favor with the public. So for now we have to use tact with this," the minister added.
"I couldn't have said it better Minister. Come now. Let's get some shots by the message in the dungeon then get back to the ministry, this place reeks of filth," the ministry worker Lucius said with a creepy smile.
It took all the willpower and strength he had inside himself to keep from stunning everyone of the ministry workers right then and there.
Calm down Marik… Think of Alina. She is still missing. Stunning them now won't help you find her. He told himself. He made his way back towards the Great Hall's doors as the workers and the minister made there way out of the Great Hall towards the dungeon.
So not only was the ministry doing the bare minimum to actually find the Chamber, find out if the killer really was Hagrid, and look for Alina, but the ministry and the minister were actually happy that this happened. He was beyond pissed. He had actually heard from the Minister of Magic's own mouth that he was glad the Hufflepuff boy was killed and Marik and Alina were missing because of their blood status.
The head of magical Britain couldn't care less about him, Alina, and the dead boy. He never really understood why Hermione had gotten so upset after the dueling tournament first year when Draco had called her a mudblood. After all who really took anything the dumb blonde said to heart.
But after hearing that ministry worker and the Minister of Magic himself actually say the words he now understood. He had read that many purebloods thought themselves better than the rest of the magical world, that's one of the reasons he assumed Daphne was so cold towards others.
This was different than that though. He would make it a point to not forget the words he heard today. The Minister would get what he deserved one day for what he said. For now though he had to let it go. He still had to find Alina. The longer he took the longer he risked…
He shook his head of all the thoughts. He needed full focus. The conversation he overheard while it did not help him in his search at all it did intensify the haste that he needed to take in his search. His only option at this point was to look for Hagrid. If he found the giant he could hopefully either find the culprit behind all of this if Hagrid was in fact guilty, or if Hagrid was innocent at least he he might have some more answers.
With that in mind he slipped passed the guards at the Great Hall's entrance and headed towards the front gate. Thankfully lady luck was on his side this time as an auror had the front gate open while he talked to someone outside. He sucked in his stomach as much as he could and squeezed through the gap between the aurors and made his way out onto the grounds of the castle.
The forbidden forest was huge to say the least. So finding Hagrid would be no easy task. He figured his best bet would be to head into the part of the forest near Hagrid's hut, although once he was in the forest where to go from there was up in the air.
Out on the grounds there was a ministry worker or an auror stationed at every ten feet or so around the edge of the forest. He assumed it was to catch Hagrid if he tried to come back into the castle. Thankfully he was still hidden under Harry's cloak so getting by the guards would not be an issue. Pulling the cloak tighter around him he made his way over to Hagrid's hut.
One thing that was clear was that Hagrid was not in his hut. The newly rebuilt hut had about fifteen guards all around it. It really was hard to believe thinking back to the few times he had spent with Hagrid, like the time he helped the half-giant rebuild his hut when he was looking for Thestral hair last year, that the half-giant was capable of something like this. However he also would have never thought someone like Quirrell would be capable of bringing a troll into the school so regardless of if Hagrid was innocent or not his mission was to find the half-giant and get answers.
At the edge of the forest, near Hagrid's hut, he found the auror named Tonks he had overheard talking in the dungeon earlier heading into the forest. Keeping his distance he followed the auror deeper into the forbidden forest. There were barely any aurors and ministry officials actually in the forest it seemed compared to the number there was inside of the castle.
After following the auror for a few minutes he decided it would be safest for him to split up from following the same path as her. Even with a silencing spell cast on his feet there was no telling if the auror might be aware of magic to catch him under the cloak.
He stopped moving for a quick minute to let her get further ahead and then turned at an angle to head in the other direction that the auror was headed. Even though the sun was still up, the deeper parts of the forest were just as dark now as when he had came with his friends in search of a unicorn. The canopy of brush overhead blocked out all of the light and made it almost impossible to see more than a few feet in front of him. Had it not been for a few gaps in the leaves overhead here and there the forest would have likely been pitch black.
Unlike the first time he had explored the forest, this time he did not have a trail of the half giant's footprints to follow or a compass. To keep himself from getting lost he did his best to walk in as straight of a path as he could away from the castle.
He walked for about thirty minutes, listening hard for noises other than the quiet snaps of twigs under his feet and the leaves rustling overhead. The forest during his journey so far remained silent and Hagrid remained hidden. Since he was not wanting to risk using a lumos spell and being discovered, he was forced to rely heavily on listening out for the half giant instead of relying on his eyes, which to this point was not really working too well.
The sun overhead seemed to have set, since no light seemed to be breaking through the gaps in the leaves anymore. Thinking back to his first trip to the forest with Harry and Hermione they had not come this deep during their first trip to the forest he guessed. The trees had been less thick back then.
After a good ten more minutes of walking through the forest a cold chill shot down his spine making his body shiver. He instinctively stopped where he stood. He could feel something moving near him. The air seemed thicker here and the darkness seemed to press hard against his eyes. With his eyes being practically useless already he closed them and concentrated on the sounds around him.
It sounded like a hundred quiet whispers were talking all around him. Following each whisper he could hear gravel moving on the ground like it did when someone was walking. It sounded like a quiet stampede of footsteps. Someone… Or something was here.
He raised his wand and opened his eyes. Still under the cloak he was ready for whatever it was. He hoped it was Hagrid, but from the quiet soft sound of the footsteps he highly doubted it.
"Aragog!" something called in a strange clicking voice. "Aragog a man has walked into the nest!"
Marik turned to where the voice had originated from. How had it seen him? His thoughts were interrupted though. From above him eight bright searching eyes were slowly becoming bigger in the darkness. The eyes were so bright in the darkness that they almost illuminated the entire section of the forest he was in. As the eyes got larger he could see that they belonged to a giant spider the size of a small elephant.
Oh shit. He thought to himself.
"Is it Hagrid?" the giant spider above him said in a harsh voice, his eyes still wandering as it made its way to the ground.
"It smells too small to be Hagrid." clicked the strange unseen voice again. Marik checked his surroundings. Although it was too dark to make out almost anything he was able to see that there was a lot more movement going on around him. Looking straight down at his feet he could see that entire floor of the forest seemed to be moving in response to the large spider.
Or are those… He squinted his eyes to get a better look and immediately regretted it. The floor of this part of the forest was in actuality thousands of tiny spiders moving frantically. If the large voice that had came from above named Aragog was a spider he guessed all the clicking around him was also more large spiders.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit… Was the only thought that came to mind at his situation.
"Kill it. It's been too long since we had fresh meat walk into our home." the large spider Aragog clicked fretfully. All at once the sound in the quiet forest turned to chaos. The air, following the largest spider's command, filled with the sound of clicking and the movement of thousands of spider legs. He was going to be dinner if he just stood there. Even under the cloak eventually they would find him with. Damn him not thinking to put a anti-smell charm on.
"Lumos maxima!" he screamed out the spell with as much magic as he could muster as he whipped off the cloak. The forest around him was illuminated with a blinding light and thousands of angry clicking spiders were screaming as they were blinded. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust but as soon as they did he started getting to work.
Operation-don't-let-the-large-fucking-spider-eat-me. He thought to himself as he started moving. The first thing he noticed was that he had managed to waltz right into a terrifying looking spider's nest. There were webs all around him and each one housed more spiders than he had time to count. And they were all coming towards him.
"Incendio!" He sent out a jet of fire towards the closest spiders hitting a few of them. Most of the spiders were able to scurry away and dodge it however. The flame seemed to have zero effect on the spider's webs as well. So much for plan A.
"Umb…" He started the spell, but quickly found his mouth to be slammed shut and held close by a spider's web. A group of them had apparently got him from behind while he was distracted.
Fuck… The web around him was now making its way towards his feet and he was almost fully wrapped up. He closed his eyes eyes and focused his magic, remembering all of Kingsley lessons. This is just like a bind. He thought to himself. He concentrated forcing all of his magic out into his skin and breaking through web just like you did when you wanted to break a bind spell. Slowly small pops could be heard as sections of the web began to snap.
It's working! He mentally celebrated for a moment and gave himself a mental high five before he put his focus back into breaking the web. After a few more seconds there was a loud rip and his body was fully freed from the webbing. He found his footing quickly and stood up wand raised.
"Umbrosio!" He put all of his magic into the spell; he had to if he wanted to survive this. And thankfully he could not have hoped for better results.
Focusing on his shadow magic all around him thousands of shadowy spider legs were emerging from the floor and grabbing a hold to the many scampering spiders that were casting shadows around him. The spider's found themselves by the hundreds being pulled down tightly against the earth as their own shadow legs held them down and tightened their grasped. The sounds of clicking died down and the forest grew much quieter as each of the large spiders found it impossible to move under the grip of their own shadows.
"Stop struggling!" he attempted to say in his most confident and intimidating voice. "I did not come here to be eaten, and I did not come here to hurt you. I am looking for Hagrid. . . You." He pointed his wand at the largest spider named Aragog in the nest that had come down from the ceiling. "You asked if I was Hagrid earlier. How do you know him?" he asked the spider.
The spider made no attempt to speak. He focused his magic more and summoned more shadow spider legs from around the large spider and tightened their grip more.
"Hagrid is my good friend," the spider announced sounding like it was in a little pain. He had never thought of a spider having a friend.
"I am also a friend of Hagrids. He fled the castle earlier today into these woods. He is being accused of opening the Chamber of Secrets. . . again," Marik started to say, before he was interrupted.
"Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets!" The large spider interrupted him. "That was years ago. I remember it well. That was why the Minister of Magic made him leave the school and snapped his wand. They believed that I was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets. Hogwarts was me and my families home! They thought Hagrid opened the Chamber and set me free," the spider named Aragog clicked angrily.
"The monster that dwells in the Chamber you said?" He paused thinking for a second. "What monster dwells in the Chamber?" he asked curiously.
"We do not speak of it! We do not name it! The thing that lives in the castle, is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others," said Aragog coldly.
"Well I don't fear it," he said trying not to break eye contact with the large spider. It was hard since he had to slowly move from eye to eye. "A girl was taken into the Chamber. I have to save her. Tell me what the creature is!" he shouted at the large beast and tightened his shadows more.
"I told you we do not speak of it!" the spider argued back.
"Then can you at least tell me where the Chamber is?"
"You will die if you go there," said Aragog.
"Well if that's what it takes then that's what it takes. But I doubt I will die. Now tell me."
"I do not know the entrance but I do know that the creature moves through the pipes of the castle. There is a pipe that drains out into the lake on the eastern edge of the castle. That pipe most likely connects with the pipes the creature uses. That is all I know," the spider clicked. It wasn't an exact answer but it was more information than he had coming into the forest. For now it was his best shot at saving Alina.
"Thank you Aragog. I'm sorry that I had to restrain you and your family. I just wasn't to keen on being dinner today," he apologized to the spider. Mainly so that he could sleep at night knowing that a thousand angry spiders weren't hunting him down for revenge.
"I will be leaving now. If you see our friend Hagrid tell him I said hello," he said to Aragog, gave a slight bow, and turned to head out of the nest when an idea came to mind. "Actually…" He thought it through a little more. "Aragog I have a proposition for you." He turned back to face the spider.
"You come into my home, and you imprison me and my children in this dark magic, and now you want to make a proposition?" the large spider's voice raised as he clicked the words loudly. Well he guessed the spider kind of did have a point with that.
"Ya ya just hear me out. You said earlier that Hogwarts was your home right?" he asked the large spider but didn't wait for an answer before he continued. "I know that feeling. Hogwarts has honestly become my home in my short stay there…" He paused briefly. "What if I help you make it where Hogwarts can once again be your home, and to make the deal sweeter throw in some fresh meat for your family since you missed out on eating me?". His idea's plan hinged on its answer.
"What you say I believe to be impossible," the spider said sounding suspicious and still angry at him.
"Maybe it is but how about you just hear me out. Can't hurt you to just listen right?" he asked.
"Fine. I'm listening," the spider said, his voice still angry.
"As I said earlier I am going to the Chamber of Secrets. And I am going to kill whatever the monster you won't tell me about inside is. I have to. There is no choice in the matter for me. However, I would like you and your family's help," he started explaining.
"Preposterous! There is…" the large spider loudly interrupted him.
"Silencio!" He shouted the spell at the spider as he sliced his wand through the air. "Enough! I was not finished!" he shouted impatiently.
"As I was saying, I would like your family's help getting back to the castle. I imagine you know the way back there better than I do and could help me get there much quicker than I could do alone. In return for you and your families help I would like to give you something in return." He paused again briefly before continuing.
"While I was looking for clues to help me find the Chamber I overheard the Minister of Magic saying something that… well that I did not like very much. If we get back to the castle quick enough the minister may still be there. Correct me if I am wrong but I'm assuming he is the same minister that had you removed from the castle and got Hagrid expelled.
I imagine you dislike him as much as I do now. In exchange for you helping me you may get a shot at paying back the bastard. If he isn't there I make a promise to you and your family that I will try and clear yours and Hagrid's names, as well as find a way to pay him back for you." He could hear the spiders clicking all around him in response to his words.
"Plus I am going to kill this monster. I would greatly appreciate it if your family helped me defeat it. When the beast is dead whether you help me defeat it or not I offer you and your family the monster's body to do what you want with, as well as the Chamber of Secrets if you wish to make your home there and return to Hogwarts.
"If you help me you get the chance at revenge, food, the monster you fear slain, Hagrid's name cleared of charges, and most importantly your home back. If you don't help… You get to keep this… nest.
"A girl is missing… and maybe worse. I ask you to please consider becoming my ally or at least just take me back to the castle." He finished proposing his offer.
The idea seemed like a no brainer to him. He felt like his inner Hermione quick thinking had really done well. He truly meant it all too. The spiders could get him back to the castle much quicker than he could walking and wandering through the forest at night. And whatever the monster in the Chamber was he imagined it would be a lot easier to kill if he had a thousand spiders by his side. Plus the minister was a bastard. If the minister was okay letting a monster kill Alina, him, and other people because of their blood status he was okay letting a spider who helped him out get a good meal. And truthfully the spider had helped him out more than anything already, he already owed the spider for all of the information it had given.
"I still believe what you say is impossible…" the large spider started. "I do not think you can give us what you offer…" the spider continued. It looked like he would not get his plan after all. "However… We will help you get to the castle. We will not help you kill the monster. If you hold true on what you proposed and kill the monster, clear Hagrid's name, and we are able to move into the Chamber you will have an ally in us strange wizard. But if we discover you lied to us. . . I will have all of my children, my cousins, brothers, sisters, and all of their children find you and…"
"Yeah, I get the point Liam Neeson you will find me and kill me. So do we have a deal?" He interrupted the large spider with his question.
"For now strange wizard we have a deal. Now release us from this dark magic," the large spider ordered. Following the order he slowly released his shadow magic from the spiders. He started with a few of the smaller spiders to make sure they did not immediately pounce on him and kept his wand raised as the last few larger spiders were released. "Torag my son come here!" the spider clicked loudly behind him. Another large spider that was almost as big as his father emerged from the webs behind his father.
"Strange wizard you will ride on Torag's back to the castle. The rest of us will march together. We will take you to the pipe I spoke of, then me and my family will look for this minister. I still remember his smell. Whether the Chamber can be reached from the pipes or not you are on your own from there. Understood?" the large spider asked him.
"Understood. Thank you again. I also ask that you not harm any of the aurors or ministry workers stationed at the castle outside of the minister. They are innocent in all of this. The ones in the minister's group are all fair game though," he told the spider. He might be cruel but he wasn't that cruel.
"Revenge on the minister is all we want," the large spider clicked. "Now let us march!" The large spider named Torag, the son of Aragog, quickly scurried over to where he was standing and before he could say quidditch had thrown him onto his back with his long pincers.
In a blink of an eye the trees of the forest started flying by him in a blur. The once quiet forest was filled with the sound of a thousand marching feet, as all around him spiders of all sizes were running rampant. Even if they had said they would help him he had never been so close to pissing his pants in his entire life than he was currently as he watched the sight before him now. There was no way the Chamber's monster was scarier than this.
Never in his life when he first arrived at Hogwarts would he ever imagined that one day in this new world of magic that he would be riding on the back of a giant spider. Unfortunately riding on a spider was not as smooth as riding on a horse or riding in a car. For one there was nothing to hold onto, and the whole exoskeleton thing was kind of bumpy, hard, and uncomfy.
Within a few minutes he already could see the edge of the forest. Like dots between the trees he could see the colored coats of the aurors and ministry officials already running away. He pulled the hood of robes over his head to make sure no one was able to see his face. After a few more seconds their massive party of spiders broke through the forest and onto the grounds.
Louds screams of horror filled the air as all the ministry and auror officials on the grounds started running towards the castle's front gate and away from the spiders. Flashes of light could be seen appearing in every direction as certain wizards had decided to fire of spells at the spiders. That quickly proved to be the wrong decision he noted as they made their way across the grounds. Each of the wizards who had decided to cast spells at the spiders found themselves shortly after bound in a sticky web shell.
As their group passed the front gate a large number split off from him and Torag and headed into the castle to search for the minister. If he had not hated the man so much right now he might have felt bad for the guy at what he had coming. Torag and his group led him further across the ground and past the spot where he and Alina had spent the previous night together. A sting of pain went through him at the thought of her.
At the edge of the lake they reached a large cliffside. Sure enough just like Aragog had said there was a large drainage pipe a few feet down the cliffside. Torag and the group stopped moving which he guessed signaled that this was as far as they were willing to take him. He jumped off the spiders back onto the ground.
"Thank you Torag for bringing me here. Thank your father again for me. If there is anything else I can help your family with in the future please let me know. I can't thank you enough," he said to the large spider and gave a slight bow to further show his thanks. Torag just clicked his pincers in return and led the large group of spiders away from him back towards the castle.
Without wasting anymore time he ran towards the large drainage pipe. The cliffside was steep but he was able to slowly make his way up it and into the pipe.
"Expulso." He pointed his wand at the metal bars blocking off the entrance and took cover outside the wall of the pipe.
With a loud explosion the metal bars went flying down the cliffside in bits and pieces. He swung himself into the pipe and began walking inside. Thankfully this seemed to be a drainage pipe and nothing to do with sewage. The pipe was huge, and he continued to walk straight through it for at least five minutes before he finally ended up in a room that had three pipes a little bit smaller on each side of the room.
Shit. Was the first thought that popped into his mind. He had no clue which one to pick. For a few moments he just stood there thinking but no good ideas came to mind. After a few moments though he thought he heard something. He closed his eyes and listened to see if it was coming from a specific pipe. Sure enough a small sound seemed to be coming from one of the pipes on the right wall. He moved closer to the pipe to try and hear better. The sound was muffled and hard to make out. He focused more.
His hands tightened on his wand as his heart skipped a beat as the sound got louder for a brief second. It was a scream. It was a muffled girls scream. It was Alina.
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