16 Chapter 15 - The Greatest Wizards (1/2)
”What do you thinks going to happen now?” Luna asked Vincent worriedly as they both sat outside, basking in the summer heat.
”With Dumbledore gone, there's a chance that Hogwarts will close,” Vincent said bitterly, ever since his meeting with Dumbledore he had been looking forward to going to Hogwarts. Now that there's a chance of it closing, he felt somewhat sad, ”however, if the culprit is caught, then I'm sure everything should be fine.”
”What about telling the teachers about what you've discovered so far?” she asked as she picked a small piece of grass.
”If I were to tell someone about the diary then they'd either not believe me or not act on it due to lack of evidence,” Vincent sighed, ”in either case, the chances of the culprit going into hiding if they heard the teachers were on to them are extremely high.”
”You're probably right,” she said while taking out her magazine to read.
”Change of subject, what's that magazine you read every day?” Vincent asked trying to get away from the depressing topic.
”Oh, this?” Luna held up her upside-down magazine titled, The Quibbler, ”it's something my father publishes,he sends me each new edition. It publishes what people find as 'unusual'. Oh, see here? This is about the Crumple-Horned Snorkack I've been telling you about!”
Vincent couldn't help but smile as he read the magazine with the somewhat quirky girl. Even with all the chaos going on, it was peaceful times like these that allowed Vincent to relax. He gave a small pat on the blond girl's head who just continued explaining what a Blibbering Humdinger was.
...
”How hard is it to find a single bloody spider!” Ron said in frustration.
”Are you sure you're just not too scared to find one?” Vincent asked as he stirred his pot, ”Ah, Seamus, don't add that!”
Seamus barely managed to stop at Vincent's command, ”What?”
”I suggest if you don't want to blow up again, you'd read your instructions carefully.”
Seamus paled as he went to look at his book, carefully scanning each instruction carefully.
”I'm quite surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by now,” Malfoy's voice came from behind, ”bet you five Galleons the next one dies. Pity it wasn't Granger —”
Vincent frowned before turning to face Malfoy who had his usual arrogant smirk on his face, ”What do you want, you filthy little—”
”Shut your mouth Malfoy,” Malfoy went silent at Vincent's incredibly threatening voice, ”you want to bet? Fine, let's make it fifty Galleons that no one dies.”
”Yo-you—”
”What? All talk and no bite?” Vincent smiled. Snape merely watched as did the whole class.
”Fine then, just don't cry to me once you lose Wong!” Malfoy said trying to put on a brave front.
”Right back at you,” Vincent said as the bell rang, ”here's the completed swelling solution Professor.”
Snape merely nodded as he took the vial that Vincent handed him, ”I will now escort you all to Herbology, note that those who will be left behind will be punished and you will be wishing that it was the monster when I'm through with you.”
”Jerk,” both Ron and Harry muttered.
Professor Sprout set them all to work pruning the Abyssinian Shrivelfigs. Vincent had his arms full of withered stalks when he noticed a Hufflepuff boy called ErnieMacmillan apologizing to Harry about something. Vincent didn't stick around though as he noticed Ron starting to shiver.
”V-Vince, I found the spiders,” he trembled before rushing off.
Vincent sighed at Ron's actions before looking at the abnormally large spider scuttling across the other side of the glass in an abnormally straight line. If they kept going in this direction, then the place they would end up in would be...
”The Forbidden Forest,” Vincent muttered looking at the tall trees in the distance.
The rest of the day involved having to listen to Lockhart's claims of the danger passing with Hagrid's arrest. Vincent had to control himself from stuffing an Animorph potion down his throat.
”I wonder what would happen to a human who drank it?” Vincent thought. Lockhart glanced towards Vincent and started shivering at his glare before proceeding with his lesson.
Vincent was interrupted in his thoughts when Harry threw a note, landing on his table.
'Let's do it tonight' it said. Vincent gave a nod towards Harry while Ron groaned. The three of them looked at the empty seat next to them, feeling their resolve strengthening. Ron sighed before nodding.
Sneaking out of the castle was far more difficult then they thought. After several hours of exploding snap with Fred and George, they were finally able to leave just after midnight. It took another hour to dodge all the teachers patrolling the corridors before they managed to arrive at Hagrid's hut, now dim and dark with him gone.
”Invisibility cloaks are good,” Vincent muttered while leading Fang out, ”but fitting three near teens under it is a bit much.”
”Maybe we won't find anything,” Ron said hopefully, ”Maybe the spiders were heading in another direction. Oh.”
Ron's hope faded away as he spotted the spiders trailing on the ground to the forest.
”Lumos,” Harry muttered with light coming out of his wand. He then started the walk with Fang trailing behind, ”Come on Fang, we're going for a walk.”
”Well come on, we don't have all night,” Vincent said to a frozen Ron sounding almost cheerful, scaring Ron slightly.
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”Why are you so happy?” Ron grumbled as they trudged right through, making sure to not lose sight of the trail.
”I've never been in a forest before, let alone a magical one,” Vincent said looking around.
”Maybe you would react differently if you knew that half the thing's living here were trying to kill you,” Ron mumbled.
”That's what makes it even more interesting,” Ron just groaned.
After half an hour of following the spiders, guided by Harry's light, they came to a small clearing covered by thick trees that nearly blocked the moonlight. The spiders also scuttled off leaving the three of them alone with Fang.
”Well what now?” Harry began before Fang started barking at a large object moving towards them, snapping branches in it's way.
”Oh, no,” said Ron, ”Oh, no, oh, no, oh —”
”Shut up,” said Harry frantically, ”it'll hear you.”
”Hear me?” said Ron in an unnaturally high voice. ”It's already heard Fang!”
Vincent pulled out his rods from his sheath, for some reason it seemed to glow a small silver colour under the moonlight. 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.
”Could be friendly,” Vincent said holding his slightly glowing rods out.
They waited, shivering, hardly daring to move.
”D'you think it's gone?” Harry whispered.
”Dunno—”
Then, to their right, came a sudden blaze of light, so bright in the darkness that the three of them flung up their hands to shield their eyes. Fang yelped and tried to run, but got lodged in a tangleof thorns and yelped even louder.
”Harry!” Ron shouted, his voice breaking with relief ”Vince, it's our car!”
”What?!”
”Come on!”
Vincent just looked at the wild-looking car and couldn't help but break a smile, this was the very thing that got him to Hogwarts in the first place after all. It was all scratched up with mud covering the sides and thick branches wrapping around certain parts. It certainly had gotten wild since the last time he saw it.
”The trails gone,” Harry said looking around while Ron turned extremely pale.
”Uh, Ron?” Vincent waved a hand over Ron's face.
He soon heard clicking sounds coming from behind.
”Harry move!” Vincent yelled as he narrowly missed getting snagged.
Harry wasn't so lucky. Something grabbed him by the leg before lifting him up. Vincent quickly threw a rod which collided with the furry like-limb. The moment of collision created a small boom sound followed by a gust of wind accompanied by the screech of the creature as it dropped Harry. Vincent caught the rod, the silver glow gone, and slid it in his sheath and back out. When it came out, it regained its silver light.
”Spiders,” Vincent mumbled as they surrounded them, ”just great.”
Spiders. Not tiny spiders like those surging over the leaves below. Spiders the size of carthorses,eight-eyed, eight-legged, black, hairy, gigantic. He heard a yell from behind and cursed. He turned to see Ron being carried off by one of the spiders, looking like he was going to faint at any moment.
”Dang it,” Vincent said with gritted teeth before running after with Harry and Fang right behind him.
He was about to throw his rod when Harry grabbed his arm, ”Wait, I think they're taking us somewhere.”
Vincent took a glance at the pale, yet unharmed Ron and nodded before following in pursuit. They were moving into the very heart of the forest. After a long time of chasing Ron, he was dropped off in a large open clearing. 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 Ron had ever laid eyes on to the point where he wanted nothing more than for this to be a nightmare.
”Ron, don't you dare faint now,” Vincent muttered as he held his rods at the ready while Harry held his wand up.
”Aragog!” spiders started gathering around them, ”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.
”What is it?” he said, clicking his pincers rapidly.
”Men,” clicked a spider with a broken limb, it was probably the one that Vincent attacked, ”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.
”Hagrid's?” all the spiders started chittering, ”Hagrid has never sent anyone into our hollow before, why are you here?”
”Hagrid has been taken to Azkaban, being suspected in opening the Chamber of Secrets,” Vincent said while readying himself for any attack that might come.
”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?” asked Harry.
”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.”
”So you never — never attacked anyone?” Harry asked, struggling not to sound scared.
”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.”
”What do you know of Tom Riddle?” Vincent asked.
”Tom Riddle?” Aragog paused, ”Yes, I remember that boy. He's the one that had gotten Hagrid expelled, the one who caused me to flee to the forest. Other than that, I know nothing.”
”Harry, Vince, I think we should go,” Ron said, making the boys look around to see the spiders slowly closing in on them.
”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 freshmeat, when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Good-bye, friend of Hagrid.”
”Crap, guys duck!” Vincent threw a transparent vial at the wall of spiders before tackling both Ron and Harry to the ground.
A booming sound went off, giving a blast of energy that sent spiders flying everywhere chittering in confusion. Both Harry and Ron stared wide-eyed as Vincent urged them to follow. However, that only brought them a few seconds of time before they started crawling back.
”There's too many!” Vincent cursed before a bright flash of light appeared in front of him.
The car came thumbing down into the hollow, knocking aside many spiders along the way. It screeched to a halt in front of the boys before opening the doors.
”In now!” Harry yelled while edging Fang in, Ron was all too eager to get away, ”Vince, come on!”
”Com'n!” Vincent said as he threw his glowing rods at some spiders that were too close, at the collision the spiders were thrown back a few meters with visible damage. He jumped in the backseat with Fang. The car's engine roared, sending them off through the forest.
It was by far the worst ride Vincent ever had. They smashed through the undergrowth of the trees, making the ride more than a little bumpy. After an excruciating ten minutes, they made their way out to the edge of the forest, getting chucked out by the car. Fang landed on Vincent with a bark.
”I am never, letting you drive anything again Ron,” Vincent said sounding slightly nauseous.
”That wasn't even me!” Ron felt wronged as he started vomiting beside Hagrid's pumpkin patch.
Harry guided Fang back into the hut before coming back out with his invisibility cloak.
”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?”
”That Hagrid really was innocent,” Vincent muttered as they trudged back to the castle under the cloak, ”just confirms the theory of Riddle being the culprit.”
”What was with your rods and that potion?” Harry asked.