Rhys shifted his position, wiggling a little to find a more comfortable spot and make sure the tree branch wasn't digging too painfully into his back.
"Hey, I can't see anymore!" But in the process of moving, his wide wizard robes ended up covering the crystal ball, prompting a protest from Ravenclaw.
"Alright, alright, can you see now?" Rhys gave in easily, fixing the crystal ball onto the tree trunk to ensure that Ravenclaw, watching from the dungeon, had a wide enough view.
"That's better… Eh? That necklace—wasn't it the one you gave that kid? The spell embedded in it is pretty impressive."
"Almost as powerful as one of your casual wind blades, right?"
"There's really no need to compare her to me," Ravenclaw's voice came from the crystal ball. "For you to craft a magical item of that level, Salazar, you clearly put a lot of effort into it!"
Rhys smiled but didn't respond.
"That girl Daphne—she should've already figured out the riddle in that little booklet I gave her, right? It's been in her hands long enough. If she hasn't studied it seriously, Salazar, you need to push her a bit more."
Rhys: "…"
He knew it! Ravenclaw was trying to make a move on him. Unfortunately, there was no getting out of it now.
He gave a couple of noncommittal grunts and then naturally picked up the previous thread of conversation. "You didn't seem to have equipped that Granger kid with any magical items for protection? Well, I get it—your situation's limited, and it's hard to send things out even if you make them. How about I make her a defensive magical item instead?"
"Thank you so much." Ravenclaw's tone was calm, almost as if she had expected it all along.
"Oh?" Rhys's attention was drawn away by the students' latest movements. "Daphne's finally found the spiders' weakness."
"Fire—a smart choice." Ravenclaw was quite approving of Daphne's quick thinking under pressure.
If they'd kept foolishly flinging spells at the Acromantulas, she would've had to start thinking about how to end this trial with some semblance of dignity.
"By the way, what kind of creature is that? I've never seen it before." The Acromantulas had piqued Ravenclaw's curiosity.
"A new species developed by wizards." Rhys gave her a brief explanation about the dangerous yet valuable magical creatures known as Acromantulas.
"Looks like something right up your alley." After learning that Acromantula venom was a highly valuable potion ingredient, Ravenclaw smiled knowingly.
"This species seems particularly weak against Basilisks, doesn't it?" Ravenclaw had picked up on another weakness of the Acromantulas.
"That's right—unrestricted vision brings many advantages, but naturally, there's a price to pay as well."
If Daphne understood Parseltongue and went to the Chamber of Secrets to call out the basilisk, these Acromantulas covering the ground wouldn't even be enough to feed it.
But of course, that was only a hypothetical. Without Rhys's authorization, the basilisk wouldn't heed Daphne's command.
While the two were chatting, the Acromantulas began calling out the name "Aragog."
"Looks like the spiders are up to something again?"
"Oh?"
…
"Hold on a second," Daphne reached out to stop Hermione, motioning for her not to ignite the web just yet. The Acromantulas' behavior had piqued her curiosity—she wanted to see what they were trying to do.
Her question was soon answered:
A spider nearly the size of an Asian elephant crawled out from the center of the massive web in the middle of the hollow.
It moved very slowly, and unlike the others, its fur was not pitch black but a dull grayish black. Every eye on its horrifying head was clouded over with a white film—it was clearly blind.
"What's going on? I hear the wails of my offspring, smell the scent of blood and flesh, and sense the presence of magic—tell me, what has happened?"
It could talk!!!
All three girls—Hermione, Daphne, and Astoria—were stunned. After fighting these Acromantulas for so long, this was the first time they realized that Acromantulas could actually speak human language.
Just then, Harry descended from the sky and landed beside Astoria.
"Quite the spectacle," he remarked first, then turned to look at Daphne, waiting to hear what she planned to do next.
"Let's wait and see what that big spider wants," Daphne said. Her plan was to hold position for now—they had the upper hand anyway.
After Aragog spoke, a commotion rippled through the gathered Acromantulas. Then, one particularly large spider opened its mouth to answer Aragog's question:
"Humans. Several humans attacked us!"
"Humans?" Aragog raised his head in confusion. "Was it Hagrid? He wouldn't attack us."
"No, strangers. They suddenly appeared and killed several of our kin. And now they've lit a ring of fire outside our home!"
As the Acromantula spoke, its pincers clicked open and shut rapidly, producing a constant clack-clack-clack. As its tone grew more agitated, the pace of the clacking quickened too, the sound becoming sharper and more frantic.
Realizing the attackers weren't Hagrid, Aragog let out a sigh of relief—if it had been Hagrid coming to slaughter his children, that would have put him in a very difficult position.
If it wasn't Hagrid, then things would be much easier.
Just as Aragog was about to give the order to tear those foolish intruders to pieces, he heard the word "fire" from one of his offspring.
"Fire? Tell me more," Aragog's tone grew serious. He knew exactly what his lair feared most.
The spider explained their current situation to Aragog in detail.
Aragog fell silent. After a moment, he slowly said, "Take me to see these people."
As soon as those words left his mouth, the surrounding spiders grew restless again. They were worried and felt that what Aragog intended to do was far too risky.
But Aragog held an extremely high status among the Acromantulas—so high that no other spider could overturn his decision. And so, a few minutes later, surrounded by many of his children, Aragog began his heavy, lumbering walk toward the edge of the hollow.
Once he arrived, even though he had lost his sight, he could still sense the presence of flames through the waves of heat rolling in against him.
"Outsiders, why did you attack my children? Why did you set fire to our home? All these years, we have honored our agreement—we have not left the Forbidden Forest, nor have we harmed any humans."
With the sharp click-clack of his massive pincers, Aragog questioned them in a voice full of anger.
But despite the harshness of his tone, his posture was low and non-threatening—clearly positioning himself as the victim, the one in the right. This took all four of Daphne's group by surprise.
Hermione, trying hard not to look directly at Aragog's horrifying face, stepped forward and summoned her courage to speak:
"There's an evil creature hiding in your nest."
"That's right," Daphne added from the side, then explained the existence of the black mist in full detail to Aragog.
Aragog fell silent.
_______
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