Chapter 157
Chapter 157
Suer considered how best to make his entrance.
The situation in the clearing changed. Several enormous spiders appeared in the car’s headlights and, without a word, wrapped Harry, Ron and Fang in silk. Hanging them upside down from their sharp legs, the creatures carried them deep into the dark trees.
The two boys and the dog were bound from head to foot, swaying beneath the spiders’ claws like three limp worms. Suer laughed rather unkindly at the sight.
By the time he cautiously crossed beneath a strand of web stretched between two trees and reached the edge of a broad hollow, Harry and Ron were already speaking with an impossibly large spider.
Fragments of speech and clicking sounds travelled through the air to Suer’s ears, but distance left them faint and unreal.
Mr Scamander’s book had explained that Acromantula possessed a special sensitivity to their own webs. The moment an outside creature touched a strand, they knew. It was a hunting method unique to them, or perhaps to all spiders.
Suer therefore had to follow with great care, avoiding every strand of silk lest the hunters notice him.
He could go no closer. Acromantula stood all around the leaf-filled hollow, and pale, sticky webs covered its edges.
Even with a phoenix feather to save his life, Suer did not imagine he could fight at least a hundred spiders alone.
These creatures certainly bred quickly. Spiders large and small packed the dead leaves so densely that anyone with arachnophobia would have fainted at the sight.
Suer carefully raised one paw and allowed a hurried procession of spiders to pass on their way to venerate their ancestor. Then he leapt lightly onto a branch and watched the clearing through gaps in the leaves.
Hmm. That must be Aragog, the little darling Hagrid had raised.
Its body and legs were blackish-grey. Three pairs of compound eyes ran evenly down the head bearing its great pincers, with another pair hidden beneath its body where Suer could not see them.
The white film covering those eyes suggested that the spider was extraordinarily old.
Suer hoped it lived long enough to see Hagrid again. He could not summon the slightest respect for age or tenderness towards the young when faced with creatures as cruel as Acromantula, particularly when a blood feud lay between them.
Mercy towards an enemy was cruelty towards oneself.
His previous encounter in the Forbidden Forest remained vivid.
Everyone knew that badgers never forgot a grudge.
The old spider in the hollow suddenly waved its enormous blackish-grey pincers in agitation. Clicking and fragments of speech reached Suer more clearly.
“I remember very well… it was because… that Hagrid… the Forbidden Forest…”
Immediately, dense clicking erupted from every direction. The surrounding spiders responded together, as though their leader had made a magnificent speech and they were applauding.
Suer could sense how badly Harry felt while facing the old spider.
He was trembling…
Yet Harry continued questioning it. “The attacks… the Chamber of Secrets…”
Suer could not make out more than scattered phrases. He saw only that Aragog had become extremely angry, white spittle spraying continuously from beneath its ugly head.
Even its descendants began closing around Harry and Ron.
Suer immediately grew excited and quietly poked his head forwards.
The scene was identical to the moment when three enormous spiders had advanced upon him.
Aragog withdrew into its nest. Harry’s voice rang across the clearing filled with nothing but spiders.
“Then we’ll be going!”
Harry clutched Ron’s clothes and called loudly as he backed away.
He failed to notice the approaching spiders piling one atop another behind him to form a wall.
Suer saw Harry draw his wand and cast several spells. He also saw the panic and terror on Harry’s face, but still he did not move.
Dumbledore’s contingency ought to arrive now, surely?
A long, high-pitched sound rang out the next instant. Twin beams, each seemingly a thousand watts strong, pierced the darkness and illuminated the entire hollow. Covered in green moss and branches, a car charged down the slope with unstoppable force.
Crash…
Splatter…
The wall of spiders collapsed. Dark green fluid sprayed everywhere, adding fresh colour to the hollow carpeted in yellow leaves.
Several smaller spiders disappeared beneath the wheels and emerged as thin sheets of black paper.
Spiders tumbled in every direction, countless long legs flailing in the air.
The sudden arrival caught the Acromantula unprepared. Clicking sounded without pause as the car burst through the wall, drove back and forth and crushed out a road. Several more unfortunate spiders died beneath its wheels.
The old car had found new life and displayed skill worthy of a million-pound racing machine.
The old fellow still had it.
After opening a path, it performed a beautiful reverse drift, stopped steadily before Harry, sprang its doors open and honked for them to climb inside.
To Suer’s relief, Harry and Ron did not forget Fang, who had led them there.
With another long, powerful roar, the car carried the two boys and the dog away. It knocked aside several Acromantula that had recovered and moved to block it, crushing a few more spiders in the process.
“I refuse to believe Mr Weasley built something like that. The car is practically a living steel monster,” Suer marvelled.
Then again, Dumbledore possessed considerable knowledge of alchemy.
Suer privately suspected that Dumbledore had done something extraordinary to the Muggle car.
Snide thoughts aside, it was time for action.
Suer touched the pouch on his body and leapt. There was no longer any reason to avoid alerting the ugly spiders.
The black-and-white figure moved like lightning through the gaps, passing one Acromantula after another as they struggled to right themselves. He stopped before a group that had organised itself and was preparing to pursue the car.
The enormous spiders clicked excitedly among themselves and moved their long, black-bristled legs, ready to chase at once. If they waited any longer, their tender snacks would escape.
The vast difference in size made them ignore the little badger blocking their path. A badger? They had eaten plenty in the Forbidden Forest.
Why bother with a scrawny morsel containing scarcely any meat when two great lumps of tender flesh were available?
They changed their minds the next instant.
Suer cancelled his Animagus transformation before them, smiled and waved.
“Good evening.”
To an Acromantula with the intelligence of a child, the choice was obvious: eat the snack immediately before its eyes, or pursue snacks it might never catch.
Their minds could not understand how a badger had become a living human.
It did not matter.
Several impatient Acromantula began moving their long legs, shining strands of saliva dripping from their mouths.
Bloodlust gleamed in their glossy black eyes.