Secrets and Stories
“The headmaster isn’t even here, Madam Pomfrey, surely—”
“Mr. Potter, Professor McGonagall has maintained the security protocols.”
“But—”
“Hadrian, I’m sorry, but I cannot allow you or your friends into the hospital wing at this time. As I told you the other day, the petrified students are in a separate section, and you won’t be able to see them.”
Harry sighed, but bowed. “I apologize for my impertinence, ma’am.”
“It’s not an impertinence, I understand your desire to visit with them. I just… I can’t allow it.”
“I get it. Have a good day.” He turned away, working his hand as he worked his way down to the Great Hall, mind racing.
He just… he needed to see Hermione.
A flash of red on the landing below gave him an idea.
“Fred!”
The twin turned, grinning when Harry jumped the railing to land on the floor half a staircase below. “Hey, Hadrian, what’s up?”
“Can you borrow Percy’s runes textbook and meet me in the Nook tonight? Right after curfew?”
“Course. You okay?”
Harry gave a wry smile. “Depends on how tonight goes, I guess.”
That night, the Nook was alight with the soft glow of candles as Harry, Ron, Fred, and George circled around a table covered in textbooks and notes.
Ginny, who had just followed out of curiosity, took one look at their plan, and backed away, shaking her head. “I want no part of this unless it works. If it doesn’t, I’m writing to Mum immediately to tell on all four of you.”
Harry flushed at the inclusion but just shot her a vee. “We’ll be fine. You won’t have to tell Mum anything.”
She just huffed, called for Fang, and left the room, leaving the boys to argue over the correct formations and angles of their work.
Three hours later, just as the clock tower rang for two AM, they crept through the halls, easily avoiding any professors or prefects with some map parchment that the twins had.
Harry eyed it with interest, but George flicked his nose.
“You can’t tear it apart, it’s too valuable for that. Wait until you know how to figure out what spells were used to make it.”
Harry stuck out his tongue, but nodded.
When they got on the floor that contained the hospital wing, they found a specific corner of the wall in the corridor, and the twins cast notice-me-nots while Ron and Harry started to painstakingly draw runes into the bricks.
Harry and Ron had been self-studying runes all year, if they were being honest. Ever since the mirror peaked their interest the Yule before, the two had been reading up on the theory behind it.
(They were waiting until they were actually taught to combine the runes with hearth rituals.)
They were decently sure that they could do this.
The twins, even though they weren’t in Ancient Runes, didn’t think they’d blow anything up.
It was a… heady feeling, building magic through runes.
Each stroke of chalk, each layer, added a buzz to the air.
A few minutes later, the wall in front of them was glowing softly.
Another few minutes, and the wall within their array started to become transparent, and then fade away entirely.
Soon, they were left with a decently sized hole in the wall, just large enough for them to squeeze through.
It wasn’t hard to find the petrified students.
Harry and Ron instantly grabbed each other’s hands as they looked down at Hermione’s frozen form.
It was horrifying, to say the least.
But something in Harry’s chest settled at just seeing her.
Ron sucked in a breath. “Hey, Mione. Out of all of us, I didn’t expect you to be the one laid up here to get out of class.”
The twins snickered as they gave Ron and Harry room, settling on Justin’s bed instead.
Harry moved forward, slipping his hand into Hermione’s as best he could. “I’m mad at you, you know. You can’t yell at us for Quidditch being unsafe and then turn around and get petrified.”
Ron chuckled. “Seriously. Not to mention, now we have to do all this extra work to make sure we have notes and things for you to catch up in class when you wake up.”
“What is this we? I’m the one doing it all.”
“Uh, I think Luna would have something to say about that.”
They fell into a comfortable bickering, voices lowered.
For a moment, it was almost as if nothing had happened, that Hermione was there with them, reading while they argued.
For a moment, there wasn’t a pit of anger, of fear, lurking in Harry’s ribcage.
They got a few minutes with Hermione and Justin, catching them up on how the school year was going, before the wards of the infirmary finally registered the breach, and Pomfrey came huffing out of her rooms with a broom, whacking them all as she ushered them out of the room.
Detention was worth it.
Things with Draco had been… odd, stilted, since the first dueling club.
(They had other sessions, but not many students went. The prefects had a meeting, and decided to take a page out of Slytherin’s book, and taught the younger years themselves in the relative safety of their part of the castle. Most of the people who went to Lockhart's club just went to see if they'd win the bet on him setting himself on fire.)
Pansy was right. Harry could almost see the war going on in his cousin’s head.
Every conversation was testing waters, seeing how far he could push before Harry got pissed, testing how pissed Harry still was. Usually, it seemed almost afraid, as if he thought Harry might throw him from the family. Other times, he didn’t seem to care, and his comments were laced with something aiming at cunning.
Harry, mostly, ignored him.
Those around him, however, not so much.
Pansy did her best to smooth things over. She and Theo tried, especially with Ron.
Draco was just twelve, after all.
He was scared of Harry, he was mad at himself for letting Harry down, he couldn’t understand why he actually felt bad about Justin and Hermione getting hurt.
But he knew what his father expected of him, of the political game he was expected to play.
And he played his part to a T, even if he seemed uncertain.
The Monday after Hagrid and Dumbledore were both removed from the school, Harry could tell that Draco was bolstered from his father’s presence on campus.
The Malfoy Lord had made a short speech in front of the students, concerning the change in power within the school, as he was a representative of the Board of Governors.
He then left the hall, nodding at his son on his way past the Slytherin table and out of the school.
Draco made his way to potions with a smug smirk in place.
His godfather, however, didn’t seem to hold such confidence in the events of the day.
Harry just sighed when something extra plopped into his brew as Draco walked past with ingredients in his arms.
“Too bad your pet Mudblood isn’t here to fix this for you,” he sneered.
Like they weren’t both painfully aware that Harry had surpassed Hermione in brewing the second month of their first year.
They were brewing a Hair-Raising potion, and it was an inert enough potion that anything that had been added wouldn’t be difficult to counteract.
Even staring down at the alarming bubbling threatening to overflow from the pot.
Snape, however, immediately appeared at Draco’s desk when he sat back down.
The professor’s gaze flickered to Harry before he lowered his voice, not many besides Malfoy able to hear. “Draco, do not bring whatever power plays you attempt into my classroom. This is not the place nor time for such things.”
The boy blushed violently but nodded.
“Potter, do be careful of your additions. I know you enjoy pushing the limits of my patience, but I will be rather upset if I have paperwork to do because you blew something up.”
Harry rolled his eyes.
Susan huffed. “He knew that Draco did that, why is he yelling at you?”
“He’s not,” Harry replied, shaking his head. “He’s saving face with the Slytherins while telling me that he trusts me to fix the potion myself.”
Her face twisted into confusion. “I’m so glad I’m not a Slytherin.”
“You would have taken over immediately, whether or not you understood the nuances. Don’t even front.”
She giggled and started dicing the weed he pointed towards.
After class, as the Slytherins fell into a group following Snape towards their next class, it was clear that not everyone was happy with Draco’s antics, as mild as they had been.
Ron nodded at Pansy’s pleading gaze, but threw an arm around Draco’s shoulder as he straightened out of his normal slump.
“Shove off, Weasley, I’m not in the mood for whatever Gryffindor semantics you’re trying to pull.”
He rolled his eyes, pulling the blond a little further away from the rest of the group. “Listen, Malfoy. You may not see the same as us when it comes to politics, but I know that a year of even just casual acquaintance means you’re affected by Mione and Justin. Just remember who has the power when you make all of those comments to make yourself feel better, to distance yourself. And that just because they can’t defend themselves right now doesn’t mean they won’t hear what you’ve said.”
Draco once again went red, and shoved Ron’s side. “Get off of me, you filthy bloodtraitor.” He pulled ahead, ducking between Vince and Millie to walk beside Blaise.
Ron just sighed and slunk back to mutter something to Susan.
Harry was getting tired of not even being able to walk from class to class unaccompanied.
Especially when more often than not, the professors tended to keep a special eye on him.
He had to bite back a sigh when Snape motioned for him to stay behind on their way into the greenhouses.
“I do hope, Mr. Potter, that you don’t intend to pull any more… how did you describe them last year… Gryffindor hysterics? And notice that I am not questioning your sudden acquisition of the dog currently being hidden in the common room.”
“I don’t know what you mean, Professor.” Harry gave Snape an innocent if not tired smile as he shifted his bag on his shoulder.
“I realize the events of the last few months have been trying, Mr. Potter. But the Minister and Lord Malfoy are now involved, and you must be aware of how easily the political world can sway before you make yourself known.”
He scanned the area around them before taking a half step forward, voice lowering. “I’m already known, sir. They know my name, they know that I exist. But if I step forward now, and start to build a platform before they can begin to expect anything from me, I’ll have more control further on, with both sides.”
Snape shook his head as he looked towards the greenhouses. “You play a dangerous game.”
“There’s no other path for me to take, reasonably. The only paths that are already laid out would see half of mine on another side. I won’t stand for it. So I’ll make my own path, one that sees us all to the end of this.”
“You’re planning for a war that hasn’t even started yet.”
Harry scoffed as he stared down the professor. “And no one else is? I may not know specifics, sir, but your placement here at the castle must be in the expectation for the other shoe to drop. You’d be much better off as a researcher, it wouldn’t be hard for you to get grants. But you’re here . Besides, the war never fully ended. The terror culture is still rampant; people may not show it but you know they do a double take when Draco or Theo’s dad walks through Diagon. If anything, I’m playing catch up, not planning ahead.”
The professor stared at him with a critical eye. “You realize you are just twelve.”
“In this society, that means nothing. You think the other Slytherins care about my age? All of the people who read about me in the Daily Prophet? I'm the heir to two of the most powerful houses in our world, Professor. I will be expected to act as such. And even if it wasn’t expected, I would hate myself if I had the power to change something, change the way my friends, my mother were treated, and did nothing.”
Snape worked his jaw. “Very well. I will leave you for your class. Just be wary of your next steps.” He turned to head back to the castle.
Harry hesitated before calling after him. “Professor?”
He turned halfway.
“Do you tell Albus about these conversations of ours?”
Snape gave a sneer. “What would the headmaster care of a Head of House consulting family House matters with one of their students? Don’t get an even bigger head, Mr. Potter. Get to class.”
Herbology wasn’t really a class, anymore.
Professor Sprout seemed to be extremely worried about the threat to the school, and was using the growing season of the mandrakes to plant and tend to as many plants as possible.
She used most of her classes that didn’t have OWLs or NEWTs to help her. There’d be maybe two actual lessons throughout the week, and every other second was spent making fertilizer, repotting, or weeding the mandrakes.
So it was a pleasant hour, at least, idly working at tending to plants, not needing to think about it.
Leaving Harry plenty of time to think about their next moves.
Leaving Harry, whose eyes were locked on a trail of small spiders evacuating the greenhouse through a small crack in a window, with the growing realization that they needed to make a move that night.
The Slytherin common room was full, as no one really had anywhere else to go.
The good thing about Slytherin, however, was that no one was going to be the one to sell out a fellow Slytherin for making plans that went against the rules.
Which is why Harry didn’t see much point in pulling Ron somewhere private to tell him his idea.
“We should go. Tonight.”
Ron looked up from his usual sprawl on the couch, saw the look on Harry’s face, and just nodded. “Okay.”
“You know we’ll be going into acromantula territory.”
He took a deep breath, but nodded again, hand reaching down to pat Fang’s back. “Anything for Mione, mate. Tonight.”
“No one likes the fact that you two are doing this alone.”
The boys looked up to see Ginny and Pansy staring down at them, Pansy with her hands on her hips, Ginny biting her lip with worried eyes.
“This isn’t like taking the dragon to Charlie last year. I’m the only one who knows how to navigate the forest if something goes wrong.”
“Luna—”
“Luna is brilliant, but you know she doesn’t have the practical knowledge to go into dangerous areas of the forest at night.”
“And you do?”
“Enough. Between Ron and I—”
“Why Ron? No offense, but why not take Marcus or the twins?”
“Marcus can’t get in trouble, and the twins have something to do with Lee later. Besides, Ron and I have trained together for almost two years. I wouldn’t want anyone else watching my back for this.”
Ron grinned, even as his face turned red.
Ginny frowned. “I don’t like this. You wouldn’t be able to contact anyone. What if something goes wrong?”
“We’ll be close enough to the centaur camp to get there if something happens. But it won’t. We’ll be fine.”
“If that’s not a jinx, I don’t know what is,” Pansy sighed. “Just… get back here in mostly one piece? Hermione will murder us if we let you two run off and get maimed while she wasn’t there to either yell at you or follow behind.”
“Or both.” Ginny gave them a worried grin.
Harry smiled back. “Get some rest, and we’ll let you all know what happens in the morning.”
“You’ve already fallen into the Black Madness if you think any of us are going to get any sleep tonight, Hadrian Potter. We’ll find Theo and start working on some kind of communication for the next time you decide to be a Gryffindor.” Pansy grabbed Ginny’s hand and pulled her away.
Even with prefects and teachers making patrols, even with an angry, alone Filch on the prowl, even with Fang trotting behind them, it wasn’t hard for them to sneak out of the castle.
It was… quiet, to say the least. Their footsteps were quiet as they crossed the grounds, softened by the dew already condensating on the blades of grass. It was warm, with the upcoming summer creeping into campus with a vigor.
They ducked quickly into Hagrid’s cabin, where there was a jar of spiders on a shelf he kept to use as pest control in his garden.
Harry carefully picked one out, shepherding it into a spare vial from his bag.
Ron blanched.
“We’ll keep it until we get close to the acromantula territory. I don’t know exactly where the main hub is, so once we get close enough, we’ll enlarge this guy and follow him further in.”
“En-enlarge it?”
“So we can actually see it to follow it?” Harry sighed and clapped Ron’s shoulder. “C’mon, mate. We’re in for a long night.”
Ron swallowed harshly, but followed Harry back out of the cabin, and they crept into the edge of the forest.
Each step felt… heavier, somehow, as they got further into the dark recesses of the forest. Anticipation, fear, determination clouded their minds as the shadows grew and they lost sight of the castle.
Harry pulled at Ron’s arm when they reached a split in the slightly worn path he was leading them down. He pointed in the other direction with his lit wand. “If anything happens, take Fang and run through there. There should be at least one or two centaurs on patrol close enough to find you quickly. They’ll at least listen, they won’t hurt kids. They’ll keep you safe enough to get to the castle and sound the alarm. Hagrid usually controls the borders, but Silvanus should be able to at least come and get whatever’s left of me.”
Ron looked sick. “Okay. Ronan, right? Or Firenze?”
“Preferably. Bane will hear you out, but it’ll take forever for him to actually act.”
“Okay. Okay.”
“Okay. Now, I’m going to enlarge the spider. I don’t know a spell to make it slower, but hopefully we can at least follow it.”
Ron just nodded.
He looked deathly pale under their wandlight.
Harry almost regretted bringing him, asking this much of him.
But they needed answers.
Harry pulled out the spider, and Ron took several steps back, pulling Fang with him.
“Engorgio.”
The spider grew, from the size of a fingernail to slightly bigger than a quaffle.
It jumped from Harry’s hand as it grew, and it immediately began to skitter into the underbrush.
“C’mon.” Harry started to jog after it, wand lit in the air.
He didn’t look back, but he could hear Ron and Fang just behind him.
The further they went in, the harder it was to keep track of the spider.
It grew darker and darker, the underbrush and tree canopy getting thicker.
At first, they could follow the sounds of it working its way through the branches and leaves that littered the forest floor.
But as they got further in, that sound started to echo, coming from all sides.
Webs began to be more prevalent than leaves in the branches, glittering from their spells.
They started to see the other spiders skulking around them.
Getting larger the further in they got.
He could see a clearing, covered in webs, movement visible through the brush.
Harry stalled, hand blindly reaching back to grab Ron’s, who immediately squeezed their fingers together.
Fang started to growl as the sounds around them grew.
From one step to the next, Harry’s feet were no longer on the ground, and he felt the bristles of something large grapple him.
He heard Ron curse and Fang begin to bark and struggle behind him.
They were lifted up, and crested a hill to show a large hollow, clear of trees, webs slung around like a massive cocoon. Within the hollow were massive spiders, all of their eyes glittering as they watched the arrival of the intruders.
Harry groaned as he landed harshly on the ground, a branch scraping across his face as he tried to catch himself.
Ron fell next to him, shivering in fear. He looked towards Harry and whispered, “Fang got loose, started running back.”
“Aragog…” The spider above Harry hissed, its voice hardly audible, almost more of a vibration through the webs around them.
“What is it?”
If anything, this voice was worse.
And so was the spider that followed it.
It was the size of Hagrid’s entire hut, black body peppered with gray, eyes all a disturbingly milky white.
It moved slowly, testing each step by glancing against one of the many webs surrounding it.
He was clearly old, and completely blind.
“Humans,” the spider above him spat.
“Is it Hagrid?”
“No.”
“Kill them.”
The hissing from all around the clearing grew, but Harry pulled himself to his knees.
“Wait! We’re friends of Hagrid’s! He sent us here because the idiots at the school blame him for their troubles, the same way they tried to blame you fifty years ago!”
It grew quiet, only the odd snap of pincers from Aragog.
“We know how much Hagrid has done for you, keeping you safe all these years. He sent us to make sure you were aware of the danger, to tell us what we might do to bring him back safely!”
“He did…” Aragog moved forward, blind eyes listlessly skating around. “I was just an egg when someone gifted me to him. He kept me in a cupboard, feeding me scraps. He protected me when those fools blamed me for the death of that girl. As if I ever left the cupboard to hunt in a bathroom.”
Harry turned to look into the fearful eyes of Ron.
“He made sure I could have a home here, talked with the centaurs. He visits me still. Brought me a wife, allowed our family to flourish…”
“He’s a good man,” Harry continued, staggering to his feet. “He doesn’t deserve what’s happening to him. But in order to help him, we need more information. Do you know what is actually attacking students?”
Aragog began to click his pincers furiously. “That creature is a spiderkiller. As soon as I felt it stirring within the castle, I begged Hagrid to free me.”
Harry motioned for Ron to rise as the spiders around them began to press in. “I understand. I won’t press further. Thank you for the information, we’ll be going now.”
“Going? I don’t think so.”
Harry slowly moved his hand towards his bag.
“My children haven’t feasted on fresh meat in so long…”
Harry slid his hand into the opening.
“I ensure Hagrid’s safety, but I can’t deny them…”
Harry’s arm disappeared up to his elbow.
“Goodbye, friends of Hagrid…”
“Ron, now!”
Ron sprung forward, wand raised as he cast lumos maxima, spiders screaming as the light blinded them.
Harry’s hand wrapped around the handle of his broom, and he pulled it out, throwing a leg over it just as Ron ran towards him.
He cast the disarming charm, using it as a repellent against the few spiders dizzily making their way towards them, giving Ron enough time to climb on the broom behind him.
They shot up, dodging webs and reaching legs, grimacing through the thick canopy until they broke free and leveled out over the treetops.
Harry immediately flew them forward, waiting until they were over safer parts of the forest before slowing down, even risking to dive back underneath in case a professor was looking out of a window.
Ron had his arms wrapped around Harry’s stomach, breathing heavily into his shoulder blade. “Blimey, why couldn’t it have been follow the butterflies?”
Harry laughed.
They stopped back at Hagrid’s, utilizing his kitchen while they waited for Fang, who bound up to the hut a few minutes later.
Harry didn’t bother getting further than the Slytherin common room before finding the first comfortable couch and falling asleep.
They didn’t mean to sleep through Defense, but when their wands buzzed with their morning alarm, neither Ron nor Harry could be bothered to actually go.
They took one look at each other before dragging themselves from the common room back to their dorms and falling back asleep.
They didn’t dare, however, sleep through Potions.
Tweak gave them a disappointed look when he popped into the lounge to hand them both a stack of buttered toast and a jar of hot chocolate.
“Cheers, Tweak.”
The elf grumbled something under his breath and disappeared from the room.
They stumbled the few halls between the dorm and the Potions classroom, practically inhaling their food. Harry blearily settled into his chair next to Susan, and Ron immediately put his head on Hannah’s shoulder, starting to doze again.
To be fair to the boys, none of the Heralds seemed well rested, most of them having stayed up out of concern for the events in the forest.
Snape took one look at the group of them and sighed.
“Today, you’ll get in groups and review every potion we’ve gone over within the past two years. I will assign an essay at the end of the period, so I expect you all to take notes to prepare.”
Harry shot him a thankful smile as he slid further into his seat.
“Spill.” Susan prodded his shoulder, voice lowered. Ron and Hannah had moved their stools to the other side of their table, Ron back to leaning against Hannah’s side as she pulled out her notes.
“Well, it’s no surprise that Hagrid’s innocent. The creature Riddle caught him with was a baby acromantula, who ended up escaping to the forest, and now leads the colony.”
Hannah’s jaw dropped. “Wow.”
“We did find out that whatever the monster is, the spiders are terrified. That’s why the colony has been acting strange, that’s why the centaurs are on the lookout.”
Ron groaned, rubbing at his eyes. “Apparently Hagrid kept his pet, Aragog, up to date on the gossip. So he knew a bit of what happened. Some girl died last time. Fifty years ago. And since it’s not more well known, it was probably a first gen.”
“And it didn’t make the papers?” Susan frowned.
Harry shrugged. “I’m sure it did, but like Millie said, the headmaster at the time was a major fundamentalist, and probably did his best to sweep it under the rug.”
Hannah huffed. “Some days I can’t imagine how our world survives.”