Hearing the knock, the three hurriedly hid. After making sure the Invisibility Cloak was in place, Hagrid turned and opened the door.
Dumbledore walked in with a short, stout man. "That's my dad's boss," Ron said, breathing hard. "Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic."
When Fudge saw him, Hagrid's face turned deathly pale. "This is bad, Hagrid," Fudge said in a brisk, clipped tone. "There have been four attacks already. The Ministry of Magic has to take action."
"I didn't do it!"
"I hope you understand, Cornelius, that I have complete faith in Hagrid." Anger flashed in Dumbledore's eyes. At that moment, Harry seemed to understand how Dumbledore had earned the other nickname Bing Huan had mentioned: the White Demon King.
Facing Dumbledore, who had gone from a kindly old man to an enraged White Demon King, Fudge broke out in a cold sweat. "I don't want to do this either, but the Ministry has to do something. After all, he's the only one at Hogwarts with a criminal record. If we find out it wasn't Hagrid, we'll return him to you in one piece."
"Where are you taking me?" Hagrid's voice trembled. It seemed he'd been reminded of something unpleasant.
"Don't worry, it won't be for long." Fudge didn't dare keep looking Dumbledore in the eye, and turned to Hagrid. "This isn't a punishment, just a precaution. Once we catch the real culprit, we'll let you go immediately and offer you a formal apology."
"If an apology were enough, what would we need the Ministry for?" Bing Huan kicked the door open and strode in. The boy was like a keg of gunpowder, and Fudge had arrived at just the right moment. "And this 'precaution' of yours is Azkaban! You can embezzle that much money every year, but can't afford to build an ordinary holding cell?
"Since there's no evidence, Hagrid is innocent. Even if you suspect him, you have no right to lock him up in Azkaban. If you don't know how to treat people, we'll take care of Hagrid."
"This isn't the Dao Sect's territory. This is the Western Wizarding World!" Fudge was shocked by Bing Huan's sudden appearance, but his words made him seethe with anger.
Bing Huan walked right up to Fudge and met his gaze without fear. "It doesn't have to be. Depends on how you behave."
Fudge stumbled back a few steps and pointed at Bing Huan. "Fine... fine! The Dao Sect people came here, and it turns out you really do have ulterior motives."
Bing Huan shoved Fudge onto the sofa without the slightest courtesy. "Give me a break. You think anyone wants this dump? There's no food, no space, and you can't even stretch out when you sleep. And I'm not negotiating with you. I'm informing you."
He looked up at Hagrid and jerked his head toward the door. "Go ahead, Hagrid. My people are waiting at the front gate. Stay at the Dao Sect's outpost for now. If anyone tries to take you, fight back. If you can't beat them, call for help. I've already arranged everything."
"Dumbledore, is this your idea too? Aren't you going to do anything?"
"Cornelius, I'm the headmaster."
"Dumbledore, you'll regret this."
Bang!
Fudge angrily slammed the door behind him and left. Hagrid gathered a few things and went to wait by the entrance. Before leaving, he made sure to call out from the room that they should keep an eye on the spiders.
"Knock, knock, knock."
The door opened again, and Lucius Malfoy walked in.
"Why has the head of the Malfoy family come here?"
Lucius greeted the two of them and took out a roll of parchment. "Sorry to disturb you both, but we may have a problem."
Lucius handed the parchment to Dumbledore. "It seems Voldemort's remaining supporters are more influential than we thought. This time, eleven School Governors have jointly called for your suspension. To avoid exposing myself, I had no choice but to sign it too.
"Their reason is that you failed to stop the recent attacks, and there's not much we can say against that. My people also reported that their people are watching all your properties near Hogwarts. If you need somewhere to rest for a while, you can go to one of the Malfoy family's estates. No one will be watching you there."
"If the governors want me to leave, I'll gladly step down. Thank you for your kind help. But if they don't see me leave Hogwarts, they probably won't let it go. You'll need to keep an eye on the governors for me."
"Of course. Let's go, then." Lucius bowed and led Dumbledore out. Bing Huan glanced toward the corner. "All right, stop hiding."
"Have we been spotted?" Harry asked in confusion as he took off the Invisibility Cloak.
"Everyone except you and Fudge noticed."
With the immediate crisis over, they began to think about what Hagrid had meant. Ron noticed a line of little spiders heading toward the Forbidden Forest.
Harry acted at once and took Fang by the leash. "Come on, Fang. Let's go for a walk." Following the spiders, they gradually strayed from the path Hagrid had said they mustn't leave.
Soon they reached the depths of the Forbidden Forest. The trees grew denser, and the stars overhead disappeared from view. The only light came from the Lumos spells on their wands. Suddenly, Fang let out a loud bark. In the darkness nearby, a huge figure stretched its body.
They'd felt the ground sloping downward for a while. Now, as they looked around, it seemed they'd entered a cave made of towering trees.
"Is that Hagrid?" the largest spider asked.
"We're friends of Hagrid."
"Hagrid never sends anyone to see me."
"He's in trouble, and it's connected to what happened fifty years ago." Bing Huan got straight to the point. He wanted to learn the truth about what had happened back then as quickly as possible.
"Oh, that unpleasant business?"
"Yes. We know you and Hagrid were framed, but we need information about the real culprit. At the very least, we need to know about the Chamber of Secrets."
Aragog fell silent for a while, then said angrily, "The people in charge back then were a bunch of fools. But I truly don't know who did it, and I know nothing about the Chamber of Secrets either. I only know that whoever it was was the bane of our kind. But I can't say his name."
"Then what do you know?"
"I only know about the girl who was killed. She was found in a bathroom."
"Looks like we haven't learned anything useful. Let's go back." Bing Huan turned to look at Harry and the others.
"I'm afraid you can't." Aragog's voice came from behind them, and all around, they heard the ceaseless scuttle of spiders.
"I remember you promised Hagrid you wouldn't hurt anyone." Bing Huan drew Crimson Trail from its scabbard.
"I did promise Hagrid, and I told my children not to hurt him. But fresh human meat has come right to our door. I can't stop them from enjoying it. Goodbye."
The four stood back-to-back as countless spiders formed a sturdy, towering wall of bronze around them. Countless red eyes gleamed in the darkness.
Protego Diabolica.
A circle of blue-gray fire suddenly sprang up around them. Every spider that touched the flames turned to ash. Grindelwald, dressed in a suit, slowly emerged from the fire. "Aragog, was it? Your kind has worked hard to multiply this much, hasn't it? If you don't want me to wipe you out, get out of here!"
If Aragog could have swallowed, he certainly would have. A spell of that power meant that the man before him had to be one of the two most powerful old men Hagrid had mentioned.
"Of course, of course. If they're with you, sir, you may take them."
Before you continue