Chapter 176 - 175 — Aragog

Chapter 176: Chapter 175 — Aragog

# Chapter 175 — Aragog

Harry and Ron continued following the spiders for another half hour. By then, they were beginning to regret venturing into the forest when Fang suddenly let out a loud bark.

The two boys were so startled that they nearly jumped out of their skin.

"Something big is moving!" Harry exclaimed, turning sharply toward the right.

Whatever it was, it was crushing branches, leaves, grass, and everything else in its path as it roared toward them.

"L-let’s go! We need to get out of here!" Ron stammered.

Both boys trembled as they imagined the horror approaching them.

Yet neither Harry nor Ron could move.

Their legs had gone weak, and all they could do was wait helplessly for whatever came next.

Would they be eaten alive by this enormous beast?

Or...

Suddenly, a dazzling light illuminated the area.

Ron stared in astonishment, his eyes widening as recognition dawned on him.

"It’s the car!"

He cried out in delight.

Fang barked and tried to run away, but Ron grabbed him.

"Don’t be afraid! It’s just a car!"

Harry recognized the enormous vehicle, too. It was the very same car Ron had used to escape from the Hogwarts Express.

"So it hasn’t disappeared after all!"

Harry walked over and patted the car’s headlight.

Its brilliant beams caused the spiders to scatter in every direction.

"Unfortunately, we’ve lost the trail of the spiders," he remarked regretfully.

"Look out!" Ron suddenly shouted.

Harry saw the horror in Ron’s eyes as he stared at something behind him.

Before Harry could turn around, two enormous, furry appendages seized him and lifted him into the air. He found himself dangling high above the ground.

He struggled desperately, but it was useless.

Ron had been seized, too.

And so had Fang.

The dog was dragged into the darkness, his barking gradually fading into the distance.

Harry felt himself moving as well. The furry creature with its long claws was carrying him and Ron deeper into the forest.

After an unknown amount of time, Harry suddenly found himself in a much brighter place.

Stars glittered overhead, and the moon hung high in the sky.

At last, he could see their captors clearly.

Spiders were everywhere, densely packed together. They were enormous and terrifying. The spider carrying Ron was as large as a horse, and the one carrying Harry was clearly the same size.

They had reached a deep hollow resembling a pit.

The spiders carrying Harry and Ron tossed them down into it.

Fang was finally brought in by another spider, which threw him down as well.

All three tumbled to the bottom of the hollow.

"Aragog!"

"Aragog!"

The spiders called out in unison.

From a shadowy place draped in cobwebs, an enormous spider emerged. It was as large as an elephant.

It moved slowly out of the mist, approaching Harry and the others.

"What is it?" Aragog asked.

"Humans!"

"Is it Hagrid?"

"Strangers!"

"Kill them!" Aragog said impatiently.

"I’m sleeping. I don’t want to..."

Harry and Ron hurriedly shouted over each other.

"We’re Hagrid’s friends! He sent us to see you!"

Aragog seemed to hesitate.

"Hagrid never brings anyone to see me..."

"He’s in trouble! The Ministry of Magic took him away because they think he raised a basilisk to attack the students!"

Click, click, click.

Aragog trembled at the news.

"How do you know it’s... it’s that creature?"

"My sister fought it! She saw it with her own eyes. Now the Ministry suspects that Hagrid raised the basilisk!"

Aragog angrily waved his claws.

"Ridiculous! Hagrid raised me. How could he possibly have raised that horrible creature? We fear it more than anything else. It would eat us!

"They suspected Hagrid back then, too, claiming that he had opened the Chamber of Secrets. But we couldn’t possibly have opened it, and that monster had nothing to do with me!

"The Ministry of Magic refused to believe us. They simply snapped Hagrid’s wand!"

"Then why didn’t you tell them the basilisk was responsible?" Ron asked warily.

If people had known about the basilisk all those years ago, why hadn’t anyone dealt with it by now?

"I didn’t dare tell them! That creature is our natural enemy!

"I came from a distant land. A child gave me to Hagrid, and he kept me in a cupboard. I have never harmed anyone!"

Harry and Ron had finally learned what they had come to find out.

They stood up, preparing to leave.

"Then we’ll be going..."

"Leaving?" Aragog interrupted. "You’ve already come here. Why should you be allowed to leave?

"I obeyed Hagrid’s instructions and have never eaten human flesh. But my children need food, so you’ll have to stay!"

Harry and Ron were horrified.

"If Hagrid found out..."

"He won’t find out. I’ll tell him that by the time I found you, there was nothing left but your skeletons. And I’ll simply be an old, dying spider."

Aragog laughed sinisterly.

Spiders swarmed toward them from every direction.

Harry and Ron realized that they were doomed. At this point, they could only hope to kill a few spiders before being devoured.

Suddenly, a dazzling light tore through the darkness.

The car burst into the hollow, knocking aside numerous spiders as it charged toward the boys. Then it came to an abrupt stop right in front of them.

"Come on, Fang!" Harry shouted in surprise.

He and Ron grabbed the dog and scrambled into the car.

The car roared away, carrying them out of the spiders’ clutches.

They had finally reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. If Ron hadn’t been breathing, Harry would have thought he had been petrified!

Ron sat there in silence, stiff as a statue.

He rubbed his rigid neck, then finally managed to move. He stumbled out of the car, staggered toward Hagrid’s pumpkin patch, and began vomiting violently.

Harry turned to look at Ron.

Ron’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He looked like a frog.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked worriedly.

Ron took a moment to collect himself before speaking in a weak voice.

"I will never forgive him. Following those spiders nearly cost us our lives!"

He let out a helpless sigh.

"Those things nearly got us killed! If I ever believe Hagrid again, I’ll be a dog!"

Harry understood Ron’s frustration.

"That was a terrible mistake," Harry said. "We went through all that trouble just to discover that Hagrid really was innocent."

"I don’t think Hagrid knew Aragog would let his children eat people..."

"But if he raises creatures like that, the Ministry of Magic will snap his wand, and I won’t feel sorry for him at all!"

Harry patted the car gratefully and sighed.

"Honestly, it sounds harsh, but I can understand why Riddle reported him back then. Look what happened to Hagrid!"

He shook his head.

"He deserved it! And let me tell you, if I’d been there, I would have reported him, too!"

Ron looked ahead, still shaken by everything that had happened.

"That’s the problem with Hagrid! Why would he believe that those terrifying monsters were harmless to humans and animals? Vesey would never be so naive. For a grown man, he’s acting like a complete idiot!"

Ron let out another helpless sigh.

"But if we expose Aragog, I think Hagrid might go from being falsely accused to actually being sent to Azkaban."

Ten minutes later, Harry and Ron stumbled back into the castle beneath the Invisibility Cloak.

Their nighttime adventure had exhausted them so thoroughly that they nearly fell asleep the moment their heads touched their pillows.

That night, they were plagued by endless nightmares.

But the next morning, they received some wonderful news.

**Vesey had woken up!**