Leeds Thugut was the president of Hogwarts' Weaving Club. Not long ago in Aindale, she had been the one to cast a net over the Troll and Horned Serpent, tripping them to the ground.
That net had indeed been made from Acromantula silk, though the silk required special treatment after collection before it could be made into sufficiently tough "thread."
The silk spun by web-building spiders was stickier than that of hunting spiders, but they could only live for one year. Hunting spiders' silk was not as sticky, but they could hibernate in caves and seal their entrances with their own silk.
Leeds had taken advantage of this habit to gather spiderwebs throughout the Forbidden Forest on winter nights. It had taken her two years to finish the previous net.
Although Pomona had not provided flowers for the Celestial Ball, the girls had found other ways, and the Weaving Club was overwhelmed with work. It was only because the preparations for the ball were drawing to a close that Leeds had time to attend to her own affairs. The moment she emerged, however, Minerva caught her.
Still, Leeds' matter was a minor one compared with what happened that night.
When a boy had two girlfriends, and both of them happened to want to attend the Celestial Ball, what should he do?
As it turned out, he did not need to worry about it. The girls found the answer themselves, discovered each other's existence, and then began fighting. No one used a wand.
The headmaster would not deal with this sort of thing, and the deputy headmistress was drunk...
The nightmare was not over. Even someone like Barnaby had a friend—a Gryffindor Muggle-born boy named Ben Cooper.
He and Barnaby were in the same year. When his magic awakened, the whole