Spiders hatched from eggs. Even Acromantulas grew from little spiders into big ones.
Yet spiders were unlike bees and ants, where only the queen bee and queen ant could lay eggs. This had caused spiders to proliferate disastrously throughout the Hogwarts Forbidden Forest. Some spider colonies had even attacked Aran County at the "border," beyond which lay Muggle communities.
After Pomona came up with spider racing, Albus announced it over dinner, telling upper-year students that they could go to Aran County to help the locals. It sparked a great deal of interest, though naturally, some people scoffed at it.
But regardless, most people's attention was focused on these matters. The atmosphere at school was nothing like how awful it had been after Sirius and James entered sixth year, even though most people knew nothing of Remus Lupin and his friends' secret.
It was also because she had run into Dolan that Pomona learned Severus had not gone to train with the Centaurs for a month.
"Then where did he go?" Pomona asked anxiously.
"I think it was those people in masks," Dolan said. "I once saw him talking to a masked person in the Forbidden Forest."
Pomona felt even more anxious.
Not everyone was like Bella and never wore a mask. Most people wore masks and cloaks, which meant that the identities of many Death Eaters remained unclear.
"Look," Frank said from ahead. "There's a tunnel."
The butterfly flew into the pitch-black cave, and Pomona only had time to see it vanish. Frank and Alice cast Lumos, allowing her to see that it was a partially man-made tunnel.
"I heard Goblins once mined here," Dolan said. "This may be an abandoned mine shaft."
"I heard that during the Goblin Rebellion, they planned to dig a tunnel leading to Hogwarts," Frank