Chapter Twenty Four
A week had passed since the dreadful suspension of Professor Dumbledore. But it seemed that only Gryffindors were seriously affected by this. Many students believed that the Ministry had captured the real culprit when they arrested Hagrid. Gilderoy Lockhart began boasting about the fact that he always suspected Hagrid and was just about to confront him himself. Hermione was outraged at his antics and it seemed the illusion, in her eyes only, was shattered. Harry could not help but smile satisfied.
Hagrid's guilt was sealed in the minds of the students. The level of fear alleviated slightly and students continued with their schoolwork and mind boggling bedlam. But the curfews were not lifted and the strict rules set down remained obeyed. Harry had a sense of foreboding which he could not explain. Something had changed in the castle, something everybody else seemed to have missed. The air was thick with mystery and growing discontent. Something was about to be released and Harry's thoughts were with the shadowy and potent power that had sucked the souls out of five students.
Fear and silent panic still followed Harry around the castle wherever he went. It was apparent that the students were not so sure of Harry's innocence. Their whispers followed him into classes and irritated him through dinners. He had taken to eating in the library with Hermione at lunch and dinner times to avoid their inconspicuous muttering.
Thursday 27th of May Harry scribbled on the top right hand corner of his Charms essay. He checked his watch noting that it was nearly five o'clock. Harry, Hermione and Ron had scheduled to get together and work on an Astronomy project together and so he had rushed his Charms in order to create space to prepare.
"We should really go and get Ron," he said to a preoccupied Hermione. She looked up from her chicken salad and nodded in agreement.
"You know you're the only person our age that I know of who eats salad," Harry joked watching as she packed away her things and slung her bag over her shoulder.
"I have to watch my weight," she explained light-heartedly as they walked out into the adjacent corridor.
"For an intelligent witch you can be seriously stupid sometimes," Harry smirked earning a painful swat on the shoulder. "Ow…I suppose it is just another aspect of the female mind I will never understand," he said with feigned disappointment.
"Oh you will…but only when you are older. And wiser." She grinned teasingly at him and picked up her pace.
"So men understand women but boys could never comprehend girls?" he asked in bewilderment.
"The female mind is far too complex to be understood, Harry," she explained factually. "Men will never understand so to speak but they learn to adjust and deal with what they have got. Something which the female species have adapted to quite long ago."
"Deal with what they've got," he recited bemusedly "So males always want more?" he enquired baffled.
"Yes," she replied brusquely. Even from behind he could tell that she was grinning. He reached out and stopped her with his hand on her elbow. They did not stop walking but slowed their pace.
"And you don't want more?" he posed, somewhat boldly. He suddenly grew tense and nervous and he could feel Hermione stiffen under his light grip. Confusion was apparent on her face but she remained silent. Harry had to admit he was flummoxed at the topic of conversation and whatever had made him grasp her elbow was the same nagging thought that he had ignored a week ago.
He waited apprehensively but just as she opened her mouth to speak another voice interrupted his thoughts. One he believed had been lost months ago. Rip…Tear…Kill.
"What is it Harry?" she asked worriedly seeing the change in his facial expression. He was paler and his grip had loosened to nothing on her elbow. He heard the ghastly hissing again and fearfully took a step back, nearly tripping over himself. His attention was brought back when he realised Hermione was nearly shouting at him. "It's that voice…the one I heard just before Colin was attacked. Quick! Run!"
Catching on to the horror of the situation Hermione followed Harry as they sprinted down through the castle. "Where are we going?" she panted as they rounded another corner and began to descend another staircase.
"The Great Hall. Whatever that monster is it doesn't go into places that are heavily populated. Anybody who was attacked by it was alone." He spun on his heel seeing how far back Hermione was and when she reached him he grabbed her hand. "Quick…the more time we are alone the bigger chance of attack."
He only let go of her hand when they reached the Great Hall. They were both gasping for air and instantly collapsed onto the Gryffindor bench.
"What `appened to you guys?" Ron asked pleasantly with a mouth full of chicken. Harry gave him an earnest knowing look and Ron immediately blanched. He gulped down the rest of his food and unwillingly set his knife and fork down on his plate.
"We have to…" Harry started but was uncouthly disrupted by a loud drawl.
"Well Potter I guess I was right in the end. Dumbledore was never good enough for Hogwarts." Loud guffaws from Malfoy junior's Slytherin gang met his cold statement.
"Why don't you just go and piss off?" Ron roared icily as he stood to his feet.
Malfoy's grey eyes narrowed into slits as he peered at Ron in dislike. "No one asked your opinion Weasley so why don't you just butt out? I'm talking to orphan boy."
Many of the Gryffindors leaped to their feet at Malfoy's callous words. Harry remained seated, his face impassive but his eyes on Malfoy. "What? Don't like the word? But that's what you are?" he sneered.
"Leave him alone!" Hermione yelled at the contemptuous Slytherin. "At least Harry knows his father wasn't as foul and dirty as yours!"
There were a number of calls of encouragement from the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables for Hermione to continue but Malfoy rounded on Hermione with disdain. "Don't you dare insult my father. You shouldn't even be allowed to speak to me. Filthy mudblood! Worse than that oaf of a giant, Hagrid," he spat.
Suddenly Malfoy screamed and placed a hand to his face. A gash adorned his left cheek and blood spilled through his fingers. Malfoy's scared beady eyes found Harry's smouldering green ones. "You! Get him! He did this to me!"
As the Slytherins approached Harry, the Gryffindors prepared to launch an attack but it was unnecessary. With a flick of his wrist Harry roared "Petrificus Totalus". The entire ensemble snapped into rigidity and fell to the ground. Harry stood dangerously to his feet his blazing eyes never leaving Malfoy. Hermione, frightened at witnessing Harry's treacherous anger, pleaded with him to forget about attacking him fearing Malfoy's retribution.
Malfoy tripped over his own robes and fell in a heap to the ground, blood still pouring from his wound. Suddenly a red streak hit Harry and he was thrown into the air landing painfully a few feet away from Malfoy. He peered up to see Professor Snape looking livid. "Fifty points from Gryffindor for…"
"That's the end of you Potter!" Malfoy scoffed over Snape. "Wait till my father hears. You'll be thrown out before you can apologise."
Realising what he meant Hermione was stunned into silence. Harry would be expelled just as Mr. Malfoy had warned. Draco had probably been instructed to cajole him into a fight. Before she could respond Harry had seized her arm and motioned for Ron to follow, which he hastily did. Hermione only spoke when she noticed they were heading to Gryffindor Tower.
"What are we going to do? You'll certainly be expelled now. Oh Harry will you please just answer me!" she screeched, thrown at his silent demeanour.
He halted abruptly. "In less than two minutes the Ministry will be here under Lucius Malfoy's orders. I'm going to figure this whole thing out before I get arrested or whatever they'll try to do. You can come if you like; I mean I could really use your help. I don't exactly know what is going on so it could take a while. But first we have to hide somewhere the Ministry won't immediately look and I need my Invisibility Cloak."
"Well then let's hurry," added Ron. "I'm in by the way. I want to find out who hurt Ginny and they're not about to arrest one of my best friends just to use as a scapegoat."
"Me too…obviously," said Hermione. Without delay they sprinted back to their dorms and prepared for whatever the night would bring. Harry grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and rapidly changed his school shoes for a pair of sneakers, advising Ron to do the same. When he sped down to the common room he discovered Hermione had changed into a pair of jeans, a darkened red hoody and pair of worn sneakers.
"Where to?" she asked when Ron arrived down.
"I have no idea," Harry sighed miserably. Suddenly there was a commotion out in the castle. They heard distant hollering and the sound of organised footsteps. "Hagrid's cabin," said Ron enthusiastically. "They'll never check there."
"Fantastic!" Harry grinned, throwing the Cloak over the three of them. Congratulating Ron again they made their way out into the hazardous castle. Harry was astounded at how many Ministry members had been called. There was even a Law-Enforcement official pottering around at the Entrance Hall. "Not part of my fan base I suppose," joked Harry quietly causing the others to snigger.
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Out in the castle, the overwhelmed Ministry were searching frantically for Harry. Mr. Davis paced uncontrollably frequently stating how preposterous the whole ordeal was. Professor Sinistra had attempted hopelessly to calm his anxieties. Professor McGonagall was outraged at the Ministry's behaviour and vainly tried to remove them from Hogwarts but then had an order thrown in her face which had been signed by the governors. Apparently they had all agreed to the capture of Harry if he was found using advanced magic. It seemed to everybody that Harry had just vanished. But something else was preparing to reveal itself after playing for too long in the dark.
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Hagrid's cabin was devoid of sound, light or any indication that three students were currently occupying it. Fang, at first delighted to see them, was now slumbering in the corner. They avoided the windows, instead remaining close to the ground. Eventually Harry and Hermione ended up sitting on the dirty floorboards, Ron preferring to lie on Hagrid's colossal bed. The tension in the room was palpable.
"So what now?" Ron enquired. From the uneasiness in his voice he was noticeably afraid. They all were, Harry was terrified that he would be caught and forced out of Hogwarts. Dobby would be delighted he thought miserably.
"We just have to wait here. The Ministry will leave once they realise that we're gone. They'll probably search Hogsmeade." Hermione began to fidget with a small hole in her hoody making it wider so you could see her school shirt underneath.
"Lucius Malfoy is protecting something or someone. That is why he needed to control Hogwarts or at least get rid of Dumbledore." Harry appeared to be talking to himself but Ron and Hermione listened nonetheless. "I mean he took a sizeable chance blackmailing the governors. He must be connected with the attacks. With whoever is doing them or organising them. Mind control is key in all of this-he blackmailed the governors."
"He could've even been using the Imperius Curse," interjected Ron excitedly. He sat up more alertly and Harry barely made his face out through the darkness. "My dad told me about it. It causes the victim to be put under the command of whoever casts it. Surely not all the governors could be blackmailed. And don't forget all those students who attacked others students and can't remember doing it. This could be it Harry, the link."
"The Imperius Curse does fit perfectly. It was used an awful lot during the First War with…" Hermione broke off leaving a dreadful silence.
"That would mean, that all this, is You-Know-Who's doing. It makes sense, Mr. Malfoy was a huge supporter and a known Death Eater," Ron explained chillingly.
"Consequently we could never inform the Ministry of this. They wouldn't want to hear anything against the Malfoy family," Harry added desolately. "So Voldemort again. I assumed but…Dumbledore said it could be someone acting in his name. I was sure he was too weak."
"The souls Harry," Hermione said in dawning comprehension. "He's using them to help him return. They were being sucked out of the victims. He is using students as batteries, while trying to cause as much havoc as possible…clearing Dumbledore out of the way and then even you. If you were taken he'd have a clear shot at returning."
"Christ," exhaled Harry letting his head drop back. It painfully connected with Hagrid's large stove and a piece of parchment fluttered down into his lap. "Spiders," Harry read aloud, perplexed. Suddenly he was brought back to the night of Hagrid's arrest when he thought he had heard Hagrid scribbling. "It's a note from Hagrid," he explained hurriedly, sitting forward.
"Spiders," Hermione repeated musingly. "I don't get it."
"Does it really say spiders? It could say spikes or spices. I don't like spiders," Ron moaned.
"No it is definitely spiders." Harry looked thoughtfully across dirty floorboards and his sight found a spider scuttling under the wooden front door. No wait, there were two. Three. Four. "Definitely spiders," he grinned getting to his feet. "Come on," he implored. When they were all under the Invisibility Cloak Harry explained that they must have to follow the spiders.
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"Well I am glad to rid the castle of them," huffed Professor McGonagall as she watched the Ministry carriages trundle down to the gates where they would Apparate. The other Ministry employees had used the Floo Network for a faster exit to escape her wrath.
"Now," she said turning to five of her most experienced staff members. "I think it is time we find Mr. Potter before this gets completely out of control."
"I think we are very much past all control," Ethan Davis snapped. "They are bloody well beyond their limits searching the castle as they have done. There is something seriously wrong, something doesn't smell right. You should contact Dumbledore immediately."
"Though Potters behaviour has been boundless and ultimately iniquitous, I must agree with Mr. Davis. I myself cannot understand the steps taken by the Ministry," Snape added languidly.
Ethan was on the verge of confronting Snape about the criticism directed at Harry but Professor McGonagall interrupted. "I have already tried to contact Albus but he seems out of reach. I am sending you, Severus, to find him. Check his castle and act under the strictest secrecy. We do not want to alert anybody. I want another thorough search of the castle for Potter perhaps we should also…"
"Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are also missing," squeaked Professor Flitwick. His small stature had him constantly looking upwards into the faces of his colleagues.
"Of course they would go with him," said Professor Sinistra. "He must have known of the Ministry's arrival. I doubt he has remained in the castle. He could be half-way to London by now if not already there."
"He would never let Hermione leave the castle if he had no intention of returning. There is no way he'd put her in dangers way and leaving the castle being hunted by the Ministry is hazardous. Continue the search of the castle. I think we should get a team to search the Forest." Everybody turned to Mr. Davis at this advice.
"Do you think he would venture in there at this time of night?" McGonagall shock dissipated as she reconsidered. "Of course he would. He's James Potters son."
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The thin line of spiders grew and died occasionally but they continued to follow it deep into the depths of the Forbidden Forest. The trio kept their wands lit and at the ready. They found themselves entering a depression in the ground. The cracked and worn path was long forgotten and their dependence on the slender trail of spiders increased. Ron was slightly green in Harry's vision of light.
Gradually Harry heard the sound of furious clicking increase in the distance. "Anybody else hear that?"
"Yeah. It has to be the spiders," Hermione suggested causing Ron to groan.
The surrounding trees which were previously becoming thicker and denser suddenly stopped. Harry glimpsed fractured trunks lying sideways and desolate stumps before he found himself hanging unceremoniously upside down. He heard Ron and Hermione scream terrifyingly before they were also picked up. Six immensely long, hairy legs, marched deeper into the depression which suddenly became a steep slope into a cavernous hollow in the ground, while two other legs clutched him painfully. They had found the spiders.
Harry twisted awkwardly around and laid eyes on the most hideous sight he had ever witnessed. Eight eyes, eight legs, jet black, mass amounts of hair and absolutely gigantic. These were spiders like Harry had never imagined. They passed a wall of vague whiteness and a dome-shaped web lifted high into the air over them. Thousands of the colossal spiders were scuttling around frantically as they caught sight of the three new arrivals.
Harry felt himself free fall and slam firmly onto the ground. He groaned but clambered to feet nonetheless. Hermione grabbed his elbow as she stood to her feet, mass panic flashing in her eyes. She was shivering but immediately tried to calm herself down. Ron looked exactly as Harry felt. His mouth was stretched wide in a kind of silent scream and his eyes were popping out of his head.
With a feeling of overwhelming dread Harry heard the other spiders calling out a name. "Aragog!"
The walls of the dome they were in just looked like a constant movement of black. Then from the midst the largest spider Harry had ever seen stood out from the wall. As it approached them Harry's heart accelerated until the beating was almost painful against his chest. The chief spider moved at a snail's pace and finally halted not far from them. From the milky white blankness of the eyes Harry deduced that it was blind. There were grey patches among its thick hair.
"Hagrid?" The ancient spider croaked, clicking ominously.
"We are friends of Hagrid," said Harry, finding his voice. "He is in trouble. They think that Hagrid has been setting a monster on students. They've taken him to Azkaban." His breathing was rapid but he refused the urge to run hopelessly in the other direction.
"But that was so long ago. They believed that the monster was me. And so Hagrid brought me into the forest. But not before a girl was murdered. They discovered her body in a bathroom in the castle. Hagrid was distraught but managed to save me. He was expelled after being wrongly accused." The clicking built into a furious tumult of echoes that reverberated around them.
"Then what did kill the girl-if it wasn't you?"
"The thing that lives in the castle," said Aragog "is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others. When I sensed the beasts' presence I pleaded with him to let me go but he was determined to keep me. He cared for me from the moment I was brought into this land. It took a dire predicament for him to let me go. I will not give you the name of the beast. We do not speak of it," he said fiercely and with a tone of finality.
Behind him Harry heard Hermione gasp with comprehension. He wished he could just ask her but he felt it would be better to have that conversation in a safer environment. He took a tentative step backwards. "We'll just go then," Harry said loudly.
"Go? I think not. We do not harm Hagrid but I cannot allow fresh meat to wander so willingly in our midst and deny my sons and daughters. Goodbye friends of Hagrid's."
Within moments the black walls had enclosed them in a constricted circle. The incensed clicking almost sent Harry mad, it seemed to signal their deaths. He grasped Hermione tightly with one arm and implored her to grab Ron. "Just keep running and use Stunners!" Without another word they started to stun their way through the mass of spiders. Harry sent stunners in every direction while Hermione did the same. Ron kicked furiously and used his already broken wand to jab at any close range spiders.
They seemed to clear the bulk of the spiders and Harry saw that the dome had receded out of sight, the starry night taking its place. He grew weary and felt Hermione run out of pace beside him. Ron was panting heavily and gasping for air. Then, above the clicking, Harry heard a foreign sound. The roaring of an engine.
Shafts of blinding yellow light streaked through the spiders, scattering them away. Harry thought he had surely hit his head when he saw the turquoise Ford Anglia violently creating a path through the last throng of spiders. It came to an abrupt stop right beside him and the doors clicked open automatically. Hurriedly he forced Ron and Hermione into it and then climbed in himself. Again without instruction the car growled to life and sped off, away form the spiders and the dome.
The trio were left wheezing as trees whizzed by the windows. There seemed to be no words to speak or even to try to talk of the situation they had found themselves in. Ron, who was sitting in the passenger seat across from the empty driver seat, was visibly shaking, his face pale green and his hair sticking up in all directions. Harry, in the seat behind him, leaned forward and shook his shoulder to reassure him that they were out of danger. He smiled encouragingly and Ron answered in an uncommonly cheery voice. "Spiders. Hmm." His eyes narrowed and then he burst. "Follow the spiders! I'm going to kill Hagrid when I see him." Yes, Ron was back to himself.
"I gathered you knew what Aragog was speaking of?" Harry asked as he turned to Hermione.
"I am pretty sure in my assumption. Spiders, above all else, fear Basilisks," she let out a shuddering breath before continuing. "Basilisks are giant snakes, some reaching fifty feet long. They can live up to nine hundred years. Their eyes…have the power to kill anyone who looks into them. Unless reflected, in which case, that person would suffer…"
"Petrifaction." Harry raked his hand through his hair. "Nobody who was Petrified looked directly into the Basilisks eyes."
"Ginny was found with a mirror. She must have known what was after her." Ron collapsed back into his seat. The Ford Anglia continued at a steady pace every now and again veering to avoid a tree.
"But I could hear it. Why could I hear it?" Harry's brain seemed to have jammed.
"Do you remember the run in with the centaurs? Well, one of them referred to you as Slither-Tongue…" started Hermione apprehensively.
"Salazar Slytherin was a Parseltongue," Ron exclaimed. "You must be too."
"Of course," Harry whispered to himself. "Voldemort is the Heir of Slytherin. When he tried to kill me he must have transferred some of his powers to me. That's why I've been hearing the voice. It was the Basilisk moving around the castle."
"It must have been using the plumbing system," suggested Ron. "Oh Merlin…a giant snake! First spiders then snakes."
"We have to find the chamber," Harry said resolutely. Ron instantly blanched. "Why?"
"Why do you think? To finish off Voldemort," Hermione declared.
"We don't know where it is?" Ron signed exasperatedly.
"Aragog mentioned that the girl was murdered in a bathroom. What if she never left her death scene? What if she is there right now?" Hermione's words sent a wave of comprehension through the car and Ron was first to speak. "Moaning Myrtle was killed by You-Know-Who?!"
"Voldemort would have been young. Only sixteen perhaps seventeen. It very well could've been his first dark act. A true Slytherin living up to his ancestry. But he must've been terrified and so in one swift move stopped attacking students and got Hagrid blamed. He sealed the chamber and kept it like that for fifty years. But the diary?" Harry asked, still confused.
"Well I'm sure we'll find out tonight," said Hermione forebodingly. The trees thinned out and the car halted suddenly not far from the border. They climbed out into the menacing darkness of the forest once more. Instantly the car trundled back in the direction it had came, the bonnet lifting up resembling a sloppy wave.
"What's that?" Ron asked hurriedly pointing to an approaching shadow. Harry momentarily wondered whether a spider had managed to follow them but soon realised that the shape was human. "It's a student. I think there's more. What are they doing out here?" Hermione responded.
Harry felt a presence behind him and spun around in time to see a student's blank face approaching him. He counted at least ten other black forms before the one closest to him lifted an arm in attack. With great precision Harry parried the attack and aimed a kick acutely at the boy's chest sending him soaring into the others.
"What's going on?! They're all impervioused." Ron's shout was suddenly muffled out by a hand across his mouth. More hands clawed at his robes and dragged him to the ground.
Harry glimpsed some of the faces and recognised students from every house, including Slytherins. This must be the final stages of Voldemort's plans before taking control of the entire castle. He wondered how the teachers were faring in the castle if they had resisted the attack.
A foot collided with his midriff and he found himself hunched over in pain. His vision swam as the pain subsided and his eyes found Hermione being hassled to the ground by about five students. She was not submitting defeat easy though, her feet made contact with three of their noses and he could see they were struggling. Without prior warning a spell hit her chest and she slumped listlessly onto the dead leaves. A small throng congregated around her small body and he tried to regain his feet in terror.
Harry's brain registered that there were about thirty students now surrounding them before something incredibly solid connected with the back of his head. The last thing he remembered was the ground rushing towards him and then blackness.
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