Chapter 24 I don't own Harry Potter, sentences from the books are not mine. Sorry for the wait, I kind of got inspired with my other fic and then I got inspired with something else, and also School sucks!
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 Harry; no better, in fact, than the inside of the castle, where things were so horribly wrong.
Harry and Ron had tried to visit Hermione, but visitors were now barred from the hospital wing. The only person allowed inside was Cassie, who's sleepwalking had gotten progressively worse since the last attack. She refused to go to sleep anywhere other than the Hospital wing now, and it was obvious. Her hair was dull, her face pale and her eyes had big purple bags under them.
"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..."
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.
Harry constantly repeated Dumbledore's final words to himself "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?
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. Harry looked everywhere he went, helped (rather reluctantly) by Ron. They were hampered, of course, by the fact that they weren't allowed to wander off on their 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 Harry found it very irksome.
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. Cassie didn't realize what he was so pleased about until the Potions lesson with Gryffindors and Slytherins about two weeks after Dumbledore and Hagrid had left, when, sitting right behind Malfoy, Harry overheard him gloating to Crabbe and Goyle and told Cassie and Merlin all about it during Herbology.
"I always thought Father might be the one who got rid of Dumbledore," Draco'd 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..."
"Sir," said Malfoy loudly. "Sir, why don't you apply for the headmaster's job?"
"Now, now, Malfoy," said Snape, though he couldn't suppress a thin-lipped smile. "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-"
Snape smirked as he swept off around the dungeon, fortunately not spotting Seamus Finnigan, who was pretending to vomit into his cauldron.
"I'm quite surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by now," Malfoy went on. "Bet you five Galleons the next one dies. Pity it wasn't Granger-"
The bell rang at that moment, which was lucky; at Malfoy's last words, Ron had leapt off his stool, and in the scramble to collect bags and books, his attempts to reach Malfoy went unnoticed.
"Let me at him," Ron growled as Harry and Dean hung onto his arms. "I don't care, I don't need my wand, I'm going to kill him with my bare hands-"
"Hurry up, I've got to take you all to Herbology," barked Snape over the class's heads, and off they marched, with Harry, Ron, and Dean bringing up the rear, Ron still trying to get loose. It was only safe to let go of him when Snape had seen 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. Harry went to tip an armful of withered stalks onto the compost heap and found himself face-to-face with Ernie Macmillan. Ernie took a deep breath and said, very formally, "I just want to say, Harry, 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-"
He held out a pudgy hand, and Harry shook it.
Ernie and his friend Hannah came to work at the same Shrivelfig as Harry and Ron. Cassie and Merlin ignoring them steadfastly. Macmillan had tried to apologize right after Hermione'd been petrified, but everytime he walked to her, she'd send him a withering, hateful look and pretend he wasn't there.
"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 Ron, who didn't seem to have forgiven Ernie as readily as Harry.
"Do you think it's Malfoy, Harry?" Ernie asked.
"No," said Harry, so firmly that Ernie and Hannah stared.
A second later, after Cassie had jumped up in fright into Merlin's arms, Harry 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. Harry hit Ron over the hand with his pruning shears.
Sorry." Cassie mumbled, red-faced.
"Ouch! What're you-"
Harry pointed out the spiders, following their progress with his eyes screwed up against the sun.
"Oh, yeah," said Ron, trying, and failing, to look pleased. "But we can't follow them now-"
Ernie and Hannah were listening curiously.
"Eavesdropper as well. Quelle surprise!" Cassie said, glaring at the blondes.
"We've already apologized! Harry forgave us, why won't you?"
"If you can't figure that out, then I guess it's obvious why you're not in Ravenclaw." Cassie said, frowning at him.
Harry'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..." And Ron looked even unhappier about that.
At the end of the lesson Professor Sprout escorted the class to their Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms lesson. Harry and Ron lagged behind the others with Merlin and Cassie so they could talk out of earshot.
"We'll have to use the Invisibility Cloak again," Harry told Ron. "We can take Fang with us. He's used to going into the forest with Hagrid, he might be some help."
"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. Cassie and Merlin rolled their eyes at that comment and followed the rest of the Hufflepuffs to Charms, escorted by Professor Sprout.
"I need to get to the bottom of this, Merlin. Those damn dreams are only getting worse, the only constant is that boy. I only wish Dumbledore had been more specific. I've looked through about forty years' worth of pictures, and nothing!" Cassie hissed. "I haven't been able to go back to the library to find out more, do you think we could go later today?"
"Sure, we'll ask McGonagall for permission, say we might find something to help you figure out how to manage the dreams." Merlin said, not wanting to let her go anywhere alone with such a monster on the loose.
"Thanks." Cassie told him genuinely, sitting down in the back, not wanting to be in the front anymore. She grew to hate the attention Macmillan had forced on her.
The day went by, and Cassie and Merlin asked McGonagall for permission to spend a few hours in the library, looking for answers on how to manage her dreams. McGonagall granted them permission to do so, and the two spent the rest of the afternoon in the library, going through the pictures. It had taken Cassie half an hour to find the same book she had been looking at before, and then another half hour to remember the year she had left off on. When they looked at the pictures for the 1942-1943 school year, they both gasped, though for entirely different reasons: Cassie gasped at the face, while Merlin did so for the name.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle." they whispered in unison.
"I should have known! He's the one from the dreams of course he is!" Cassie said, thinking back to every dream she could remember, and then something popped into her memory. "Of course!" she said, standing up and going to the 'Beasts and Creatures' section until she found the one she was looking for. "I'm a complete dollophead! It's been here the entire time!" Cassie said, flipping through the book. "I was trying to figure out what the horses that pulled the carriages are-"
"They're thestrals." Merlin said.
"Yes, I found that out before… Anyways, I practically read the whole book! Chicken, toad, Greek. It's all here! 'The first recorded Basilisk was bred by Herpo the Foul, a Greek Dark wizard and Parselmouth, who discovered after much experimentation that a chicken egg hatched beneath a toad would produce a gigantic serpent possessed of extraordinarily dangerous powers.' Ugh, I'm such an idiot!" Cassie said, a bit too loudly judging from the death glare Madam Pince was sending her way.
"Are you saying you think it's a basilisk?" Merlin whispered quietly.
"What else could it be! Come on! We have to tell Harry and Ron!" Cassie said, standing up and leaving the library, a spluttering Merlin running after her.
"Cassie! Wait!" Merlin yelled as Harry and Ron found them.
"Tonight. Meet us by Hagrid's if you can. We're getting the truth."
"Okay." Cassie said, determined.
She walked to the Hospital wing with Merlin after dinner that evening and told Madam Pomfrey that she'd rather sleep in the dorms tonight, saying that being there with all the others was becoming too much for her, and requested the sleeping draught, thanking her when she handed it through the crack in the door.
"So what are we going to do?" Merlin asked her.
"I found this passage at the beginning of the year. Well got lost because of it, but whatever. It'll get us out of the castle walls, we'll wait inside Hagrid's hut for Harry and Ron." Cassie said, a steely glint in her eye. They waited for a few hours, Merlin making sure his bed curtains were closed and Cassie having an alibi for both Hufflepuff and Madam Pomfrey before Harry and Ron showed up.
"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.
They reached Hagrid's house, sad and sorry-looking with its blank windows. When Harry 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.
"Took you two long enough!" Cassie said. "Come on, let's find whatever we're looking for and then compare notes."
Harry 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 Harry, 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.
Harry took out his 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..."
Cassie and Merlin did the same. Harry tapped Ron on the shoulder, pointing at the grass. 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."
"We're following spiders?" Cassie asked with a squeaky voice.
"You can stay, you know. We-"
"No, I'm coming! Hermione's one of my best friends. I won't let some silly fear keep me from helping her, or you. You're both my friends too." Cassie said, looking at them in the eyes, determined to not be afraid. "Even if I faint at the sight of them." she added in an undertone.
"You should have been in Gryffindor, Cassie." Ron said, not looking as determined as she did.
So, with Fang scampering around them, sniffing tree roots and leaves, they entered the forest. By the glow of their wands, 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 their wands shone alone in the sea of dark, they saw their spider guides leaving the path.
Harry paused, trying to see where the spiders were going, but everything outside his little sphere of light was pitch-black. He had never been this deep into the forest before. He could vividly remember Hagrid advising him not to leave the forest path last time he'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.
"I wish it wasn't so dark." Cassie said softly, sticking close to the boys.
Something wet touched Harry's hand and he jumped backward, crushing Ron's foot, but it was only Fang's nose.
"What d'you reckon?" Harry said to them, looking at Ron and the other two in turn.
"We've come this far," said Ron.
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. Harry could feel Fang's hot breath on his hand. More than once, they had to stop, so that Harry could crouch down and find the spiders in the wandlight.
They walked for what seemed like at least half an hour, their robes snagging on low-slung branches and brambles. 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 both Harry and Ron jump out of their skins and Cassie to hold her hands over her mouth to keep from shrieking.
"What?" said Ron loudly, looking around into the pitch-dark, and gripping Harry's elbow very hard.
"There's something moving over there," Harry breathed. "Listen... sounds like something big..."
They listened. Some distance to their right, the something big was snapping branches as it carved a path through the trees.
"Oh, no," said Ron. "Oh, no, oh, no, oh-" Cassie was just as scared and muttering a slew of curses under her breath.
"Shut up," said Harry frantically. "It'll hear you."
"Hear me?" said Ron in an unnaturally high voice. "It's already heard Fang!"
The darkness seemed to be pressing on their eyeballs as they stood, terrified, waiting. There was a strange rumbling noise and then silence.
"What d'you think it's doing?" said Harry.
"Probably getting ready to pounce," said Ron. They waited, shivering, hardly daring to move.
"D'you think it's gone?" Merlin whispered.
"Dunno-"
Then, to their right, came a sudden blaze of light, so bright in the darkness that all of them flung up their hands to shield their eyes. Fang yelped and tried to run, but got lodged in a tangle of thorns and yelped even louder.
"Harry!" Ron shouted, his voice breaking with relief "Harry, it's our car!"
"The one you two flew here at the beginning of the year?" Merlin asked, somewhat amused.
"What?"
"Come on!"
Harry blundered after Ron toward the light, stumbling and tripping, and a moment later they had emerged into a clearing.
Mr. Weasley's car was standing, empty, in the middle of a circle of thick trees under a roof of dense branches, its headlights ablaze. As Ron walked, open-mouthed, toward it, it moved slowly toward him, exactly like a large, turquoise dog greeting its owner.
"That is seriously strange." Cassie muttered to Merlin who was holding her shaking frame.
"It's been here all the time!" said Ron delightedly, walking around the car. "Look at it. The forest's turned it wild..."
The sides of the car were scratched and smeared with mud. Apparently it had taken to trundling around the forest on its own. Fang didn't seem at all keen on it; he kept close to Harry, who could feel him quivering. His breathing slowing down again, Harry stuffed his wand back into his robes.
"Don't do that Harry. Keep your wand out." Merlin said, seeing him put it away.
"And we thought it was going to attack us!" said Ron, leaning against the car and patting it. "I wondered where it had gone!"
Harry squinted around on the floodlit ground for signs of more spiders, but they had all scuttled away from the glare of the headlights.
"We've lost the trail," he said. "C'mon, let's go and find them."
Ron didn't speak. He didn't move. His eyes were fixed on a point some ten feet above the forest floor, right behind Harry. His face was livid with terror.
Cassie felt rather than heard the loud clicking noise behind them. She took deep calming breaths, refusing to give into her fear of spiders. She felt Harry being lifted off the ground before a long, hairy leg wrapped around her waist and lifted her off the ground as well, She clamped her eyes shut as they were carried off into the darkness, already knowing what she would see if she were to open them: Six immensely long, hairy legs, the front two clutching her tightly below a pair of shining black pincers. Behind him, he could hear more of the creatures, no doubt carrying Ron and Merlin. They were moving into the very heart of the forest. Cassie could hear Fang fighting to free himself from a fifth monster, whining loudly, but she couldn't have yelled even if she had wanted to; it seemed everyone had left their voice back with the car in the clearing.
She never knew how long she was in the creature's clutches; she 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 and realizing she absolutely had to check and see they were all still together, Cassie 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. Her voice caught in her throat as her sight swam. She fought against the fear, using her adrenaline to remain conscious. She saw Merlin being carried beside her and he nodded at her discreetly, conveying that she would be okay.
There were spiders. Not tiny spiders like those surging over the leaves below. Spiders the size of cart horses, eight-eyed, eight-legged, black, hairy, gigantic. The massive specimen that was carrying Harry made its way down the steep slope toward a misty, domed web in the very center of the hollow, while its fellows closed in all around it, clicking their pincers excitedly at the sight of its load.
She knew exactly what they were: Acromantulas.
Harry fell to the ground on all fours as the spider released him. Merlin, Cassie, Ron and Fang thudded down next to him. Fang wasn't howling anymore, but cowering silently on the spot. Ron looked exactly like Harry felt. His mouth was stretched wide in a kind of silent scream and his eyes were popping. The only two who seemed to be keeping their composure in check were Merlin and Cassie, although Cassie's was merely a mask hiding her absolute terror
Harry 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.
"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 gray in the black of his body and legs, and each of the eyes on his ugly, pincered head was milky white. He was blind. And somehow, that was worse than anything.
"What is it?" he said, clicking his pincers rapidly.
"Men," clicked the spider who had caught Harry.
"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," Harry shouted. His heart seemed to have left his chest to pound in his throat.
Click, click, click went the pincers of the spiders all around the hollow.
Aragog paused.
"Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before," he said slowly.
"Hagrid's in trouble," said Harry, breathing very fast. "That's why we've come."
"In trouble?" said the aged spider, and Cassie could have sworn she heard concern beneath the clicking pincers. "But why has he sent you?"
Harry thought of getting to his feet but decided against it; he didn't think his legs would support him. So he spoke from the ground, as calmly as he 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 Harry feel sick with fear. Cassie only had one word for it; fury.
"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."
"And you... you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets?" said Harry, who could feel cold sweat on his forehead.
"No. he didn't. He is just as terrified of it as we are. Right?" Cassie asked, her nerves making her words come out with an even thicker accent than usual.
"I!" said Aragog, clicking angrily. "I was not born in the castle. I come from a distant land. A traveler 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… The girl is right."
"Hagrid's always been innocent. Like I said. A-Aragog is innocent."
Harry summoned what remained of his 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..."
"That's good to know." Cassie muttered to herself.
"But then... Do you know what did kill that girl?" said Harry. "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 and Cassie's voice left her once more, heart pounding in her ribcage.
"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 Harry 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 dread creature, though he asked me, many times."
Harry didn't want to press the subject, not with the spiders pressing closer on all sides. Aragog seemed to be tired of talking. He was backing slowly into his domed web, but his fellow spiders continued to inch slowly toward Harry and company.
"We'll just go, then," Harry called desperately to Aragog, hearing leaves rustling behind him.
"Go?" said Aragog slowly. "I think not..."
"But - but-"
"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. Good-bye, friend of Hagrid."
Harry spun around. Feet away, towering above him, was a solid wall of spiders, clicking, their many eyes gleaming in their ugly black heads.
Even having his wand in his hands, Harry knew it was no good, there were too many of them, but as he tried to stand, ready to die fighting, a loud, long note sounded, and a blaze of light flamed through the hollow.
Cassie had never been gladder to see a car in her life, Merlin quickly grabbed her arms and yanked her up, not letting go until they were safe.
Mr. Weasley's car was thundering down the slope, headlights glaring, its horn screeching, knocking spiders aside; several were thrown onto their backs, their endless legs waving in the air. The car screeched to a halt in front of Harry and company and the doors flew open.
"Get Fang!" Harry yelled, diving into the front seat; Cassie and Merlin dived into the back just as Ron seized the boarhound around the middle and threw him, yelping, into the back of the car - the doors slammed shut - Ron didn't touch the accelerator but the car didn't need him; the engine roared and they were off, hitting more spiders. They sped up the slope, out of the hollow, and they were soon crashing through the forest, branches whipping the windows as the car wound its way cleverly through the widest gaps, following a path it obviously knew.
Harry looked sideways at Ron. His mouth was still open in the silent scream, but his eyes weren't popping anymore.
"Are you okay?" he asked everyone.
Ron stared straight ahead, unable to speak.
"I think I might belong in Gryffindor." Cassie said breathlessly. "I can't even stand dead spiders, how the fuck did I talk to it just now?"
"I think we can tell when Cassie's afraid because she decides to curse worse than a ruffian." Merlin joked halfheartedly; even he couldn't find his voice to speak with Aragog, forgetting the spells he knew to defend against such creatures among the throng of so many.
They smashed their way through the undergrowth, Fang howling loudly in the back seat as Merlin tried soothing him with his magic, closing his eyes for no one to see them glow, and Harry saw the side mirror snap off as they squeezed past a large oak. After ten noisy, rocky minutes, the trees thinned, and Harry could again see patches of sky.
The car stopped so suddenly that they were nearly thrown into the windshield. They had reached the edge of the forest. Fang flung himself at the window in his anxiety to get out, and when Harry opened the door, he shot off through the trees to Hagrid's house, tail between his legs. Harry, Cassie and Merlin got out too, and after a minute or so, Ron seemed to regain the feeling in his limbs and followed, still stiff-necked and staring. Harry gave the car a grateful pat as it reversed back into the forest and disappeared from view.
As soon as the car retreated from view, Ron went to the pumpkin patch and was violently sick. Cassie, knowing he would want his privacy, turned herself around and took deep calming breaths, thinking about shoes and sparkling dresses and purses to help her calm down.
"Guess it does work!" Cassie said incredulously as she felt her heart stop hammering as hard as it had been.
"What does?" Merlin asked, worried for all of them.
"Thinking about shoes and purses and dresses." Cassie said, still wide-eyed as she saw Merlin clamp his mouth shut at her and shake his head in confusion.
Harry went back into Hagrid's cabin to get the Invisibility Cloak. Fang was trembling under a blanket in his basket.
"Follow the spiders," said Ron weakly, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "I'll never forgive Hagrid. We're lucky to be alive."
"I bet he thought Aragog wouldn't hurt friends of his," said Harry.
"That's exactly Hagrid's problem!" said Ron, thumping the wall of the cabin. "He always thinks monsters aren't as bad as they're made out, and look where it's got him! A cell in Azkaban!" He was shivering uncontrollably now. "What was the point of sending us in there? What have we found out, I'd like to know?"
"Ron, calm down. Think of something good. It worked for me, but I doubt shoes, purses, or sparkly dresses would work for you." Cassie said, getting nearer to him and putting a semi-shaking hand on his shoulder, earning a confused look from the boys.
"That Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets," said Harry, 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.
"He was innocent of opening the Chamber, Harry. Accepting the egg is illegal, it's a Class A Non-Tradeable Material." Cassie told him with a slight quiver to her voice.
"Come on, we need to head back." Harry said, walking towards the castle and putting his cloak around his shoulders.
"I think they can see our feet. You guys go ahead, I won't get in too much trouble."
"Why?"
"I sleepwalk. I can just say I woke up not in my bed and made my way back to the common room."
"Not dressed like that. They'll know." Merlin said, pulling twigs from her hair.
"Easy." Cassie said, transfiguring her robes into a pyjama and breaking off from the group.
"We can just crouch, Cassie." Harry said.
"No, I'm good." Cassie said.
"I'll stay with her. We'll tell you what we found out tomorrow. It's better that way, less chance for nightmares."
"He's right, for once." Cassie said, saying goodbye to them at the stairs and going down to the basement with Merlin.
The next morning at breakfast, Harry told Merlin and Cassie what he had realized last night after getting back to their dorm.
"All those times we were in that bathroom, and she was just three toilets away," said Ron bitterly, "and we could've asked her, and now..."
"There's no point in regretting what could have been, Ron. Trust me on that." Merlin told him just as bitterly, "All we can do now is try and figure out a way to sneak away and ask her."
"Yeah, because that's going to be easy! The only class we have together is Herbology, and I don't see us fooling Professor Sprout anytime soon." Ron said, pushing his food around his plate.
"Let's just get through the lessons today. We'll think about how to get away. My guess would be Lockhart, the man's an idiot! He wouldn't be hard to fool. I'm sure it'd be harder to fool a first year." Cassie said darkly.
