Chapter 16: - Aragog
Summer was creeping forward; most of the forwarded mail to Yugi was now invitations for the Summer tournaments, they had to assume Yami's mail was the same. The sky and lake turned from grey to blue, and giant flowers bloomed in the greenhouses. However with no Hagrid around the grounds, and their friends in the hospital wing, the castle didn't feel right to Harry and the others.
They'd tried to visit their friends but everyone bar Yugi and Ombre had been banned from the hospital wing and even the two of them had only been allowed in after they'd snuck into the infirmary two days into the ban and slept there over night. They'd been awoken the next morning by an angry Madam Pomfrey, who, when she'd calmed down, had felt sorry for them and lifted the ban for them alone.
With Dumbledore gone, fear was spreading around the castle faster then Bakura's Dark Necrofear could. The sun warming the castle seemed to stop at the window. There was barely a face to be seen that didn't look worried and tense. Ombre and Joey had taken to guarding over the rest of their friends, Yugi in particular. The group were quiet and subdued, everyone was feeling sorry for them but no one was sure what to say.
Harry constantly repeated Dumbledore's final words, he wondered who they were meant for and who exactly they were supposed to ask for help? Everyone was just as confused and scared as they were.
Yugi thought that the hint about the spiders would be easy to follow, but none of them could see a spider for miles. They looked everywhere they went. However they we hampered by the fact that they weren't allowed to wander off on their own, but had to move around with a pack of Gryffindors. Even when Yugi and Ombre went to the hospital wing on the night time, they had to be escorted by both their monsters and two teachers.
Only two people seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere of terror, one was Malfoy, who luckily was still under the effects of his Shadow Game with Yugi, and as such had to leave the gang alone. The other one, Bakura, had no such restraint. Harry was glad when Potions ended, Malfoy had been buttering up Snape all class, annoying the group of Gryffindor friends. "I'm quiet surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by now," Bakura continued where his adopted brother left off, "Bet you Five Galleons the next ones dies. Pity it wasn't Granger, Ironhide or Kaiba."
The bell rang at that exact moment, which was lucky; at Bakura's words, Joey, Ombre and Ron had leapt of their stools, and in the scramble to collect bags and books, their efforts to reach Bakura went unnoticed.
"Let me at him." Joey snapped, as Harry, Neville, Dean, Seamus and a few other Gryffindors hung onto the arms of three. "I don't care, I don't need my wand, or a Millennium Item, I'm going to kill him with my bare hands." Yugi looked at him sharply, it didn't matter anyway, most of the Gryffindors knew about the Millennium Items by now, even if they didn't know the full story behind them. They knew what the golden objects carried around by 'the smallest Muto twin' and his friends were, and that they held some sort of magic.
It was only when Snape had lead the Gryffindors to Herbology and Joey, Ombre and Ron had stopped trying to get loose that Joey looked around and realised that someone wasn't with them.
"Where's Yugi?"
Yugi was glad he always carried his deck with him out of habit. The new one he'd created seemed to work fine, and he was glad Bakura hadn't seen it before.
Bakura smirked at him, "You know, little Yugi, I'm not sure whether to be impressed or annoyed."
"What do you mean?" Yugi asked defensively, well aware Bakura was blocking the only exit from Snape's dungeon.
"Well I never thought you had it in you." Bakura said, continuing to smirk, "I never would have thought that you would create a Shadow Game." Yugi took two steps back, right into a cauldron, as Bakura advanced towards him. "Draco's told me all about it, it and it's consequences."
"So?" Yugi asked, Bakura smirked at the quiver in Yugi's voice.
"So, I'm not sure whether to be impressed you actually did it, or annoyed that your first Shadow Game was against someone who's supposedly family now." Yugi darted for the door, he didn't like where this was going. Bakura was faster and grabbed Yugi's arm as he reached the door, pulling the boy back into the classroom. The Tomb Robber shut the door behind him. "I wasn't finished."
"What do you want then?" Yugi asked, as he attempted to yank his arm out of Bakura's grasp. The Slytherin released his arm and pushed Yugi backwards; he stumbled and fell backwards into a cauldron, bashing his head as he did so. Yugi groaned and got himself out, wondering which Bakura had pushed him.
"I believe, as your guardian would say, that you've 'trespassed into the soul' of my adopted brother," The shadows closed in around them, "And I believe the punishment for that was a Shadow Game…"
Uh oh…
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Red Eyes roared, and Joey's head shot up, "Professor Sprout…" He called urgently. The Professor looked up walked over to him.
"Is something the matter Mr Wheeler?" She asked quietly, unfortunately, with the lack of usual banter going on around them, most of the class could hear them.
"I have to go back to Potions… I err… forgot something."
"I'm sure Professor Snape could…"
"No." Joey surprised her with the forcefulness of his reply, "I have to go there and get it now."
"Alright, but you're not to walk unaccompanied… Professor Snape?" She called, uncertain if he was still around. The teacher was nowhere in sight. "I'm sorry Mr Wheeler, but since he's not around… hey!" Joey pushed his way past Professor Sprout, leaving all his stuff behind, and raced back to the Potions classroom.
Joey stopped as he reached the door, "Not again." He moaned. He couldn't get in the room because of a large shadow bubble that had engulfed the classroom. "Yugi?" He called, and was promptly knocked on his arse by three toed fuzz ball. "GettoffameBoh!" Joey shouted quickly, the Kuriboh looked at him confused. "Get. Off. Of. Me. Boh." Joey said, slowly and clearly, Boh realised who he'd knocked down and got off quickly.
Joey got to his feet as the shadow bubble dissolved. He rushed into the classroom, where two badly injured teenagers were glaring at each other. "You got lucky this time, Muto." Bakura snapped, and took off. Yugi smiled weakly at Joey and put his amulet back on. Joey supported his friend as they made their way to the hospital wing. Joey looked at his friend cautiously.
"That wasn't mine, Joey." Yugi said, his voice laden with exhaustion. "Bakura wasn't too happy about my Shadow Game with Malfoy so he challenged me to one."
"And you won." Yugi nodded, opting to save his energy. "You're getting stronger, you know that don't you?" Yugi looked at him oddly, "Well think about it, when you duelled Pegasus, you were nearly lost to the Shadows, now not only can you survive a Shadow Game on your own, but you can create them too. Yami would be proud." Yugi smiled weakly, but tears ran down his face. Joey noticed, "It'll be Ok, you heard Madam Pomfrey yesterday, the antidote will be ready in the next couple of days." Yugi smiled, considerably happier at that news. Joey knocked on the infirmary door.
"No visitors!" Madam Pomfrey called through the door.
"Not a visitor." Joey called back. The door opened and Madam Pomfrey took in Yugi's condition and let them in.
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Harry and the others were concerned when Yugi and Joey didn't join them in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and didn't return to the Common Room until late in the evening. Harry and Ron mentioned the fact they'd seen spiders during Herbology and that they were heading for the Forbidden Forest, then Yugi and Joey explained where they'd been. "So that's why Malfoy hasn't been doing anything to our little group. Are you alright?" Ombre asked, her hand on her dragon's head, Shadowfae was growling.
"Better then I was earlier." Yugi smiled, "Who's going out tonight then?"
"Madam Pomfrey is expecting me tonight." Ombre said, "I told her I'd be back, when I went to see Kari this morning, since the Potion should be ready tomorrow. I think she's assuming you'll be there too, Yugi. Professors McGonagall and Lockheart…" Ombre made a gagging noise, her infatuation with him had been quick and had ended on Valentines Day. "Are going to be here any minute to collect us. Oh, and you lost Gryffindor House twenty points for breaking school rules, Joey." Joey grimaced.
"It's probably better if you don't go out tonight anyway; you need to completely recover from your Shadow Game." Joey said, Yugi glared at him, "I mean, you're still tired, and if you go out tonight you won't recover your energy." Yugi nodded, not happy about missing a chance to find something out but acknowledging the truth of the matter.
"So me, you and Joey?" Ron asked Harry. Joey had to wonder about the fact Harry had kind of become leader of their group.
"You alright with that, Joey?"
"There was no way I was going to stay behind anyway." Joey said, causing Yugi to smile. At that moment of time the two Professors walked through the portrait hole and Ombre and Yugi got to their feet, Boh and Shadowfae following.
"Good luck." Yugi said as they left the Common Room.
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It was well past midnight when Joey, Ron and Harry were left on their own in the Common Room. They slipped Harry's Invisibility Cloak on and went down to Hagrid's hut. There they were greeted by Fang, and Tobias, Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon, joined them there too. Harry left the cloak at the hut and the five of them made their way into the forest.
Harry and Joey pulled out their wands and murmured, "Lumos!" causing a tiny light to appear at the end of their wands, just enough to let them watch the path for spiders.
"Good idea," Ron said, "I'd light mine too but it might blow us up." Joey took off his amulet, and shoved it in his pocket.
"I'd rather be the right size if we're gunna do this." He said, Ron wondered if Joey was aware his real form had grown over the school year. Harry just nodded and the three of them followed a bunch of spiders off of the path. They couldn't move so quickly now because of the roots and brambles. Tobias had given up flying with them and was now flying above the trees.
Joey froze and wheeled around, "Harry, Ron, get behind me."
"Why?"
"Shush, there's something moving." Joey snapped, Harry and Ron looked around, they couldn't see anything. Then from their right came a sudden blaze of light, so bright in the darkness that the three of them had to shield their eyes from the light.
"Harry! Joey!" Ron shouted, his voice breaking with relief, "It's the car!"
"What?"
"Come on!" He called, and they blundered towards the light. The car was badly scratched and smeared with mud, apparently it had taken to trundling around the forest on it's own, completely wild. Fang didn't like it and kept close to Harry. Harry and Joey stuffed their wands into their robes. "And we thought it was going to attack us!" Ron laughed, as he leant against the car.
Joey looked around, "Err guys, we've lost the spiders." Ron did speak, didn't move. His eyes were focused on a point about 20 feet above the forest floor, directly behind Harry, his face ashy white with terror. Harry didn't even have time to turn around. He felt something long and hairy grab him and lift him off the ground, so that he was hanging, face down. "Harry!" Joey yelled, and seconds later was hanging upside down too. The two boys struggled but in moments Ron too was suspended. The creatures carried them into the very heart of the forest.
Harry was dropped unceremoniously by the creatures carrying him, by this point he'd worked out that they were in fact GIANT spiders. Ron, Joey and Fang landed next to him, Tobias, the dragon, swooped down and stood between his human and the big spiders. Harry realised that the spider that had dropped him was saying something, though it was hard to hear because it clicked its pincers every time it talked. "Aragog!" It called, "Aragog!"
From the middle of the dusty, domed web that the spiders had brought them to, emerged a spider the size of a small elephant. There was grey on its body and it's eyes were milky white, "What is it?"
"Men." The spider that had captured Joey clicked.
"Is it Hagrid?" said Aragog, moving closer.
"Strangers." Clicked the spider who'd brought Ron.
"Kill them," Aragog said fretfully, "I was sleeping."
"We're friends of Hagrids!" Joey shouted, Harry and Ron shared panicked looks and Joey's heart was pounding in his chest.
Aragog paused, "Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before." He said slowly.
"Hagrid's in trouble," said Harry, breathing quickly, "That's why we've come."
"In trouble?" The ancient spider asked, Joey was certain there was concern in his voice, "But why has he sent you?"
"They think… up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting a… a… something on students. They've taken him to Azkaban." Aragog clicked furiously; the noise was echoed by all the spiders in the area, it made Joey feel sick with fear.
"But that was years ago," Aragog said 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 Joey, cold sweat on his forehead, well aware the spiders were closing in.
"I!" Aragog clicked furiously, "I was not born in the castle. I can from a distant land. A traveller gave me to Hagrid, when I was in an egg. Hagrid was only a boy but he cared for me. He protected me when they thought that I murdered a girl in the school, but she was found in a bathroom and I never saw outside of my box. Hagrid's continued to help me as an adult. He found me a wife and as you can see, my family has grown. I have never killed anyone."
"But do you know what did?" Joey asked, "Because what ever it is, it's back and attacking people again…"
"We do not speak of it! We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid, though he asked, many times."
"We'll just go then." Harry said, backing away, well aware Joey was trying to count the spiders and losing count. The spiders were getting too close for comfort.
"Go?" Aragog said slowly, "I think not."
"But… But!"
"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid on my orders. But I cannot deny them fresh meat when it walks so willingly into our midst. Goodbye, friends of Hagrid."
Tobias took off as the spiders closed in, "Tobias, Inferno fire blast!" Joey yelled, his dragon started attacking the spiders. Harry pulled out his wand but was well aware there were just too many spiders. He was about to help Joey and Tobias when a loud, long note sounded, and a blaze of light flamed through the hollow.
Mr Weasley's car thundered down the slope, knocking spiders aside; several were thrown onto their backs. The car screeched to a halt in front of Joey, Harry and Ron. "Grab Fang!" Harry shouted, diving into the front seat. Joey dived into the back and Tobias shot up into the starlit sky, beyond capture as Ron threw a yelping Fang into the car, on top of Joey.
The doors slammed closed and the engine roared to life on its own. They were off, hitting more spiders as they went, the car drove them through a path it obviously knew, Harry turned to Ron and Joey, "Are you both ok?" Ron nodded but Joey looked green again, the same colour he'd been when they'd been flying in the car. After ten noisy, rocky minutes they stopped so suddenly that they were nearly thrown into the windscreen.
When they got out, Fang raced off and Joey promptly barfed behind a tree. Ron was the last to get out of the car and Harry gave it a grateful pat as it reversed into the forest and disappeared from view. Harry went back into Hagrid's hut to retrieve his Invisibility Cloak. Fang was trembling in his basket. When he got outside, he found Ron being sick in the Pumpkin patch.
"Follow the spiders! Follow the spiders!" Joey was storming.
"If he ever gets out of Azkaban, I'll kill him!" Ron was fuming too. "What exactly was the point of sending us in there?"
"We found out that Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets." Harry said, as he threw the cloak over the three of them. "He was innocent." Ron snorted, but they didn't talk again until they'd reached the safety of the Gryffindor Common Room. "We have to tell Yugi and Ombre what we've found out."
"Harry, Ron…" Joey started, thinking hard, "That girl who died. What if she never left her bathroom? What if she's still there?"
Ron looked at him like he'd sprouted an extra head, but Harry twigged right away. "You don't think… not Moaning Myrtle?"
They'd tried to visit their friends but everyone bar Yugi and Ombre had been banned from the hospital wing and even the two of them had only been allowed in after they'd snuck into the infirmary two days into the ban and slept there over night. They'd been awoken the next morning by an angry Madam Pomfrey, who, when she'd calmed down, had felt sorry for them and lifted the ban for them alone.
With Dumbledore gone, fear was spreading around the castle faster then Bakura's Dark Necrofear could. The sun warming the castle seemed to stop at the window. There was barely a face to be seen that didn't look worried and tense. Ombre and Joey had taken to guarding over the rest of their friends, Yugi in particular. The group were quiet and subdued, everyone was feeling sorry for them but no one was sure what to say.
Harry constantly repeated Dumbledore's final words, he wondered who they were meant for and who exactly they were supposed to ask for help? Everyone was just as confused and scared as they were.
Yugi thought that the hint about the spiders would be easy to follow, but none of them could see a spider for miles. They looked everywhere they went. However they we hampered by the fact that they weren't allowed to wander off on their own, but had to move around with a pack of Gryffindors. Even when Yugi and Ombre went to the hospital wing on the night time, they had to be escorted by both their monsters and two teachers.
Only two people seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere of terror, one was Malfoy, who luckily was still under the effects of his Shadow Game with Yugi, and as such had to leave the gang alone. The other one, Bakura, had no such restraint. Harry was glad when Potions ended, Malfoy had been buttering up Snape all class, annoying the group of Gryffindor friends. "I'm quiet surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by now," Bakura continued where his adopted brother left off, "Bet you Five Galleons the next ones dies. Pity it wasn't Granger, Ironhide or Kaiba."
The bell rang at that exact moment, which was lucky; at Bakura's words, Joey, Ombre and Ron had leapt of their stools, and in the scramble to collect bags and books, their efforts to reach Bakura went unnoticed.
"Let me at him." Joey snapped, as Harry, Neville, Dean, Seamus and a few other Gryffindors hung onto the arms of three. "I don't care, I don't need my wand, or a Millennium Item, I'm going to kill him with my bare hands." Yugi looked at him sharply, it didn't matter anyway, most of the Gryffindors knew about the Millennium Items by now, even if they didn't know the full story behind them. They knew what the golden objects carried around by 'the smallest Muto twin' and his friends were, and that they held some sort of magic.
It was only when Snape had lead the Gryffindors to Herbology and Joey, Ombre and Ron had stopped trying to get loose that Joey looked around and realised that someone wasn't with them.
"Where's Yugi?"
Yugi was glad he always carried his deck with him out of habit. The new one he'd created seemed to work fine, and he was glad Bakura hadn't seen it before.
Bakura smirked at him, "You know, little Yugi, I'm not sure whether to be impressed or annoyed."
"What do you mean?" Yugi asked defensively, well aware Bakura was blocking the only exit from Snape's dungeon.
"Well I never thought you had it in you." Bakura said, continuing to smirk, "I never would have thought that you would create a Shadow Game." Yugi took two steps back, right into a cauldron, as Bakura advanced towards him. "Draco's told me all about it, it and it's consequences."
"So?" Yugi asked, Bakura smirked at the quiver in Yugi's voice.
"So, I'm not sure whether to be impressed you actually did it, or annoyed that your first Shadow Game was against someone who's supposedly family now." Yugi darted for the door, he didn't like where this was going. Bakura was faster and grabbed Yugi's arm as he reached the door, pulling the boy back into the classroom. The Tomb Robber shut the door behind him. "I wasn't finished."
"What do you want then?" Yugi asked, as he attempted to yank his arm out of Bakura's grasp. The Slytherin released his arm and pushed Yugi backwards; he stumbled and fell backwards into a cauldron, bashing his head as he did so. Yugi groaned and got himself out, wondering which Bakura had pushed him.
"I believe, as your guardian would say, that you've 'trespassed into the soul' of my adopted brother," The shadows closed in around them, "And I believe the punishment for that was a Shadow Game…"
Uh oh…
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Red Eyes roared, and Joey's head shot up, "Professor Sprout…" He called urgently. The Professor looked up walked over to him.
"Is something the matter Mr Wheeler?" She asked quietly, unfortunately, with the lack of usual banter going on around them, most of the class could hear them.
"I have to go back to Potions… I err… forgot something."
"I'm sure Professor Snape could…"
"No." Joey surprised her with the forcefulness of his reply, "I have to go there and get it now."
"Alright, but you're not to walk unaccompanied… Professor Snape?" She called, uncertain if he was still around. The teacher was nowhere in sight. "I'm sorry Mr Wheeler, but since he's not around… hey!" Joey pushed his way past Professor Sprout, leaving all his stuff behind, and raced back to the Potions classroom.
Joey stopped as he reached the door, "Not again." He moaned. He couldn't get in the room because of a large shadow bubble that had engulfed the classroom. "Yugi?" He called, and was promptly knocked on his arse by three toed fuzz ball. "GettoffameBoh!" Joey shouted quickly, the Kuriboh looked at him confused. "Get. Off. Of. Me. Boh." Joey said, slowly and clearly, Boh realised who he'd knocked down and got off quickly.
Joey got to his feet as the shadow bubble dissolved. He rushed into the classroom, where two badly injured teenagers were glaring at each other. "You got lucky this time, Muto." Bakura snapped, and took off. Yugi smiled weakly at Joey and put his amulet back on. Joey supported his friend as they made their way to the hospital wing. Joey looked at his friend cautiously.
"That wasn't mine, Joey." Yugi said, his voice laden with exhaustion. "Bakura wasn't too happy about my Shadow Game with Malfoy so he challenged me to one."
"And you won." Yugi nodded, opting to save his energy. "You're getting stronger, you know that don't you?" Yugi looked at him oddly, "Well think about it, when you duelled Pegasus, you were nearly lost to the Shadows, now not only can you survive a Shadow Game on your own, but you can create them too. Yami would be proud." Yugi smiled weakly, but tears ran down his face. Joey noticed, "It'll be Ok, you heard Madam Pomfrey yesterday, the antidote will be ready in the next couple of days." Yugi smiled, considerably happier at that news. Joey knocked on the infirmary door.
"No visitors!" Madam Pomfrey called through the door.
"Not a visitor." Joey called back. The door opened and Madam Pomfrey took in Yugi's condition and let them in.
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Harry and the others were concerned when Yugi and Joey didn't join them in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and didn't return to the Common Room until late in the evening. Harry and Ron mentioned the fact they'd seen spiders during Herbology and that they were heading for the Forbidden Forest, then Yugi and Joey explained where they'd been. "So that's why Malfoy hasn't been doing anything to our little group. Are you alright?" Ombre asked, her hand on her dragon's head, Shadowfae was growling.
"Better then I was earlier." Yugi smiled, "Who's going out tonight then?"
"Madam Pomfrey is expecting me tonight." Ombre said, "I told her I'd be back, when I went to see Kari this morning, since the Potion should be ready tomorrow. I think she's assuming you'll be there too, Yugi. Professors McGonagall and Lockheart…" Ombre made a gagging noise, her infatuation with him had been quick and had ended on Valentines Day. "Are going to be here any minute to collect us. Oh, and you lost Gryffindor House twenty points for breaking school rules, Joey." Joey grimaced.
"It's probably better if you don't go out tonight anyway; you need to completely recover from your Shadow Game." Joey said, Yugi glared at him, "I mean, you're still tired, and if you go out tonight you won't recover your energy." Yugi nodded, not happy about missing a chance to find something out but acknowledging the truth of the matter.
"So me, you and Joey?" Ron asked Harry. Joey had to wonder about the fact Harry had kind of become leader of their group.
"You alright with that, Joey?"
"There was no way I was going to stay behind anyway." Joey said, causing Yugi to smile. At that moment of time the two Professors walked through the portrait hole and Ombre and Yugi got to their feet, Boh and Shadowfae following.
"Good luck." Yugi said as they left the Common Room.
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It was well past midnight when Joey, Ron and Harry were left on their own in the Common Room. They slipped Harry's Invisibility Cloak on and went down to Hagrid's hut. There they were greeted by Fang, and Tobias, Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon, joined them there too. Harry left the cloak at the hut and the five of them made their way into the forest.
Harry and Joey pulled out their wands and murmured, "Lumos!" causing a tiny light to appear at the end of their wands, just enough to let them watch the path for spiders.
"Good idea," Ron said, "I'd light mine too but it might blow us up." Joey took off his amulet, and shoved it in his pocket.
"I'd rather be the right size if we're gunna do this." He said, Ron wondered if Joey was aware his real form had grown over the school year. Harry just nodded and the three of them followed a bunch of spiders off of the path. They couldn't move so quickly now because of the roots and brambles. Tobias had given up flying with them and was now flying above the trees.
Joey froze and wheeled around, "Harry, Ron, get behind me."
"Why?"
"Shush, there's something moving." Joey snapped, Harry and Ron looked around, they couldn't see anything. Then from their right came a sudden blaze of light, so bright in the darkness that the three of them had to shield their eyes from the light.
"Harry! Joey!" Ron shouted, his voice breaking with relief, "It's the car!"
"What?"
"Come on!" He called, and they blundered towards the light. The car was badly scratched and smeared with mud, apparently it had taken to trundling around the forest on it's own, completely wild. Fang didn't like it and kept close to Harry. Harry and Joey stuffed their wands into their robes. "And we thought it was going to attack us!" Ron laughed, as he leant against the car.
Joey looked around, "Err guys, we've lost the spiders." Ron did speak, didn't move. His eyes were focused on a point about 20 feet above the forest floor, directly behind Harry, his face ashy white with terror. Harry didn't even have time to turn around. He felt something long and hairy grab him and lift him off the ground, so that he was hanging, face down. "Harry!" Joey yelled, and seconds later was hanging upside down too. The two boys struggled but in moments Ron too was suspended. The creatures carried them into the very heart of the forest.
Harry was dropped unceremoniously by the creatures carrying him, by this point he'd worked out that they were in fact GIANT spiders. Ron, Joey and Fang landed next to him, Tobias, the dragon, swooped down and stood between his human and the big spiders. Harry realised that the spider that had dropped him was saying something, though it was hard to hear because it clicked its pincers every time it talked. "Aragog!" It called, "Aragog!"
From the middle of the dusty, domed web that the spiders had brought them to, emerged a spider the size of a small elephant. There was grey on its body and it's eyes were milky white, "What is it?"
"Men." The spider that had captured Joey clicked.
"Is it Hagrid?" said Aragog, moving closer.
"Strangers." Clicked the spider who'd brought Ron.
"Kill them," Aragog said fretfully, "I was sleeping."
"We're friends of Hagrids!" Joey shouted, Harry and Ron shared panicked looks and Joey's heart was pounding in his chest.
Aragog paused, "Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before." He said slowly.
"Hagrid's in trouble," said Harry, breathing quickly, "That's why we've come."
"In trouble?" The ancient spider asked, Joey was certain there was concern in his voice, "But why has he sent you?"
"They think… up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting a… a… something on students. They've taken him to Azkaban." Aragog clicked furiously; the noise was echoed by all the spiders in the area, it made Joey feel sick with fear.
"But that was years ago," Aragog said 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 Joey, cold sweat on his forehead, well aware the spiders were closing in.
"I!" Aragog clicked furiously, "I was not born in the castle. I can from a distant land. A traveller gave me to Hagrid, when I was in an egg. Hagrid was only a boy but he cared for me. He protected me when they thought that I murdered a girl in the school, but she was found in a bathroom and I never saw outside of my box. Hagrid's continued to help me as an adult. He found me a wife and as you can see, my family has grown. I have never killed anyone."
"But do you know what did?" Joey asked, "Because what ever it is, it's back and attacking people again…"
"We do not speak of it! We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid, though he asked, many times."
"We'll just go then." Harry said, backing away, well aware Joey was trying to count the spiders and losing count. The spiders were getting too close for comfort.
"Go?" Aragog said slowly, "I think not."
"But… But!"
"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid on my orders. But I cannot deny them fresh meat when it walks so willingly into our midst. Goodbye, friends of Hagrid."
Tobias took off as the spiders closed in, "Tobias, Inferno fire blast!" Joey yelled, his dragon started attacking the spiders. Harry pulled out his wand but was well aware there were just too many spiders. He was about to help Joey and Tobias when a loud, long note sounded, and a blaze of light flamed through the hollow.
Mr Weasley's car thundered down the slope, knocking spiders aside; several were thrown onto their backs. The car screeched to a halt in front of Joey, Harry and Ron. "Grab Fang!" Harry shouted, diving into the front seat. Joey dived into the back and Tobias shot up into the starlit sky, beyond capture as Ron threw a yelping Fang into the car, on top of Joey.
The doors slammed closed and the engine roared to life on its own. They were off, hitting more spiders as they went, the car drove them through a path it obviously knew, Harry turned to Ron and Joey, "Are you both ok?" Ron nodded but Joey looked green again, the same colour he'd been when they'd been flying in the car. After ten noisy, rocky minutes they stopped so suddenly that they were nearly thrown into the windscreen.
When they got out, Fang raced off and Joey promptly barfed behind a tree. Ron was the last to get out of the car and Harry gave it a grateful pat as it reversed into the forest and disappeared from view. Harry went back into Hagrid's hut to retrieve his Invisibility Cloak. Fang was trembling in his basket. When he got outside, he found Ron being sick in the Pumpkin patch.
"Follow the spiders! Follow the spiders!" Joey was storming.
"If he ever gets out of Azkaban, I'll kill him!" Ron was fuming too. "What exactly was the point of sending us in there?"
"We found out that Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets." Harry said, as he threw the cloak over the three of them. "He was innocent." Ron snorted, but they didn't talk again until they'd reached the safety of the Gryffindor Common Room. "We have to tell Yugi and Ombre what we've found out."
"Harry, Ron…" Joey started, thinking hard, "That girl who died. What if she never left her bathroom? What if she's still there?"
Ron looked at him like he'd sprouted an extra head, but Harry twigged right away. "You don't think… not Moaning Myrtle?"