Just like that, Hermione led Fang, who kept hopping around them, into the forest with the Slytherins.
By the light of the Slytherins' torches, they followed closely behind the spider as it slowly crept along the path. Fang's paws made faint rustling sounds on the fallen leaves. Its tail was tucked tightly between its legs, and from time to time it glanced back at the Slytherin students holding torches before turning forward again, nose pressed to the ground as it sniffed around.
They walked in silence for about twenty minutes. The trees grew denser, and the stars above vanished from sight, leaving only the torchlight swaying in an ocean of darkness. Then they saw their spider guide leave the path, climb up the trunk of an old oak tree, and disappear into the shadows of the canopy.
Though Fang was still leading them, they were no longer moving very quickly. Tree roots, stumps, and other obstacles that were hard to make out in the dark kept appearing in their way. Harry could feel Fang's hot breath against his hand. More than once, they stopped so Harry could crouch down and use the light from his wand to search for the spider.
After walking for at least another half hour, their robes were streaked with tears from low-hanging branches and thorns. After a while, they noticed that the ground seemed to be sloping downward, though the trees remained dense.
Suddenly, Fang let out a loud, echoing bark that startled both Harry and Ron.
The Slytherin students quickly spread out to inspect their surroundings. Torchlight flared up in every direction like a scattered ring of sparks.
"What is it?" Ron shouted. He scanned the endless darkness, clutching Harry's arm so tightly that Harry's arm went numb.
Malfoy, standing nearby, laughed so hard he shook.
Hermione told everyone to be careful. The Slytherin students also activated their Kurama Cloaks, golden chakra surging from the badges on their chests. The light burst through the darkness, illuminating the surroundings as brightly as day.
Just then, a light suddenly appeared to their right. It was so white and bright that Harry and Ron had to raise their hands to shield their eyes. Fang let out a miserable yelp and tried to turn and flee, but it was caught in a thorn bush. It yelped even more desperately, all four legs flailing wildly among the thorns as it struggled in vain to free itself.
"Harry!" Ron cried, his voice trembling with relief. "Harry, it's our flying car!"
"What?"
"Come on!"
Harry stumbled after Ron toward the light, and soon they reached a clearing.
Mr. Weasley's car stood empty among a ring of dense trees, its headlights on, two straight beams piercing deep into the darkness. Ron walked toward it with his mouth hanging open, and it slowly moved toward him as well, like a turquoise dog greeting its owner. Its front end swayed slightly, as if wagging its tail.
"It's been here all along." Ron circled the little car excitedly, his voice full of the thrill of recovering something lost. "Look at it. The forest has made it wild..." He reached out and touched the car door.
The car's wings were caked in mud. Clearly, it had wandered through the forest on its own. Fang did not like it at all. It pressed itself as close to Harry as it could, its entire body against Harry's calves. Harry could feel it trembling. His breathing gradually steadied, and he tucked his wand back into his robes.
"What a terrible car. Just what you'd expect from something belonging to the Weasleys," Malfoy sneered with a laugh.
"We actually thought it was going to attack us." Ron leaned against the car, too excited by getting it back to pay attention to Malfoy's mockery. He patted the door like it was an old friend. "I wonder where it's been!"
Harry squinted and searched the brightly lit ground for any sign of the spiders, but the spiders had all been frightened away by the harsh headlights. They had scattered into the surrounding grass and beneath the tree roots. Not a single one was visible.
"We've lost the trail," he said. "Come on, let's find them."
"Stay alert!" an older Slytherin student suddenly ordered.
The other Slytherin students immediately took up their positions, wands raised, forming a back-to-back circle around Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Ron neither spoke nor moved. His eyes were fixed on a point about ten feet above the forest floor behind Harry. His face turned from terror to a sickly gray, his lips trembling. He pointed in that direction, unable to say a word.
Then the battle began.
Malfoy's wand was the first to flash with pale green light. Diffindo spells shot forward like green snakes, striking the furry creatures ahead. Their bodies burst apart upon impact, green fluid splattering across the tree trunks with a sizzling sound.
The other Slytherins continuously used Confringo to clear away the gigantic beasts around them. Red firelight flashed through the darkness, and explosions rang out one after another.
"Look, the valley! That valley!" Hermione cried anxiously, pointing at a gap ahead lit by moonlight. "They're Acromantulas! They all came from that valley!"
Malfoy and the others watched the spiders pour out densely from the valley, their eight legs scuttling rapidly across the ground with a thick rustling sound, like thousands of feet stomping on dry leaves at once. They surged from the mouth of the valley like a black tide, spreading toward them in an overwhelming wave.
"So we've finally found your nest," Malfoy said excitedly. "Then let's fight our way in! Harry! Aren't you looking for them too? They're right here now, so stop being such a coward like Fang!"
As he spoke, the Slytherins began using large-scale Dark Shockwaves to continuously strike the area around them in fan-shaped arcs. Black ripples spread from their wand tips, and wherever they passed, the Acromantulas around them exploded one after another. Fluid sprayed everywhere, and a sharp, fishy stench filled the air.
"Are they always this violent?" Ron looked half-scared out of his wits, his mouth open and his eyes wide.
Harry nodded beside him. "When you fainted in first year, what they did in the Other World was even more brutal than this. I just didn't dare tell you." He kept his voice very low, as if afraid the Slytherins might hear him.
Ron stared at Harry with wide eyes, then turned to Hermione. Hermione spread her hands. "I don't really know either. I didn't go in, after all. But they were already pretty brutal when they came to save us. If you hadn't fainted, I could have gone in and seen it too."
Ron was silent for a moment, then said quietly, "I provoked Malfoy before, and he didn't kill me. I'm truly grateful for his mercy."
As the group continued clearing the way, Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally reached the valley. Every tree in the entire valley had been cleared away. Under the bright moonlight, they saw an utterly revolting sight—Acromantulas were everywhere, large and small, crammed together in numbers too great to count. White spider silk covered the rocks, branches, and ground.
Suddenly, more than twenty people appeared on the cliffs on both sides using Apparition.
Ka-jie also suddenly appeared beside Hermione. She reached out and patted Hermione's head, her fingers gently brushing through Hermione's fluffy curls.
"No wonder Su Yu touches your hair every time he sees you. It really does feel nice," Ka-jie said with a lazy smile in her voice.
Hermione rolled her eyes at Ka-jie. "Why are you here too?" She had noticed that everyone who had come this time was a sixth- or seventh-year Slytherin.
"Of course we're here to wipe them out. We've been searching for them for a long time too. Ever since we started hunting them, they've been hiding." Ka-jie walked ahead, the golden light of her Kurama Cloak making her look like a golden statue. She raised her wand without looking back, her voice crisp and powerful. "Everyone, get ready. Fiendfyre!"
More than twenty streams of black-gold Fiendfyre streaked with dark purple patterns erupted from the wand tips. Waves of inky fire surged forth, molten gold flames leaping fiercely at their cores. Twisted shadows of flaming beasts roared as they lunged forward. The beasts seemed alive—some like wolves, some like snakes, some like eagles. With their jaws wide open, they pounced upon the spider horde. Wherever they passed, webs instantly charred and shattered into ash. Scorching heat exploded in every direction, making everyone's faces burn.
The fleeing Giant Acromantulas were swept up and engulfed by the waves of fire, their shrill cries rising one after another. The dark flames continued to multiply and spread, expanding along the rock walls and spider nests like black snakes crawling over every inch of land.
The entire nest was swallowed by an endlessly rolling tide of fire. The rocks glowed dark red as they heated beneath the flames. Layers of webbed nests collapsed, and the whole Spider Nest Valley fell completely into the rampaging, surging black fire of destruction. Giant spiders curled into balls as they burned, their legs tucked beneath their bodies like black lumps of coal, before exploding into ash.
"Enough! I said, enough!" Suddenly, a spider the size of a small elephant slowly emerged from the black flames. Gray markings streaked its black body and legs. Every eye on its ugly, pincer-like head was white—he was blind. His mouth opened and closed continuously, producing a hissing sound.
"What do you want from us? Are you going to wipe us out completely?" Aragog said angrily, his voice deep and hoarse.
"What's the point of keeping you around? So you can eat people in the Forbidden Forest?" Ka-jie dispersed the flames, leaped to Aragog's side, and stomped his head into the ground. Her boot pressed down on his ugly head. Aragog's legs scraped wildly at the ground, but he could not break free. "Don't you think there are too many of you? When your numbers keep growing and food starts running out, what will you do? Slaughter every animal and person you can?"
"But I've never killed anyone!" Aragog said furiously, snapping his pincers through the air several times, unable to reach Ka-jie.
"But which of your descendants hasn't killed people? Don't forget, Acromantulas are naturally fond of human flesh!" Ka-jie said disdainfully, pressing down harder with her foot. "You're allowed to kill people, but we're not allowed to kill you? What ridiculous logic. From the moment you allowed them to slaughter humans, your only path was extinction."
"Still, for the sake of training future Slytherin students, don't worry. We won't wipe you out completely." Ka-jie turned to Hermione and said, "If you have anything you want to ask, ask now. Our mission is complete, and we're leaving. Malfoy will take it from here."
With that, she took the older students and Apparated away, leaving behind only the torches in Malfoy's group and the golden glow of their Kurama Cloaks.
Aragog climbed up from the ground. A small dent had been crushed into the part of his head Ka-jie had stepped on, and gray fluid seeped from the wound. He stood there, breathing heavily, his white eyes facing the empty air, as if he did not know where to look.
Hermione took a deep breath, stepped forward twice, and stood before Aragog.
"Hagrid is innocent." Her voice was firm. "We know he didn't open the Chamber of Secrets. Do you know what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is? Who is controlling it?"
Aragog was silent for a long time. His pincers lightly touched the ground, then lifted again.
"We do not speak of that," he finally said, his voice much quieter than before. "We do not speak that name. In that castle, there is something—it is older and more terrifying than all of us spiders. When it moves, we can all feel it. Our kind fled from there and escaped into the Forbidden Forest, but even that was not far enough."
"What is it?" Harry asked urgently.
Aragog turned his head toward Harry's voice, though he could not see him. "We do not say its name. But it is beneath the castle, deep, very deep. It has been waiting, waiting for its master to return."
"Who is its master?"
Aragog did not answer. He turned around and slowly crawled back toward the still-smoking nest. Black ash rose beneath his feet and settled on his back. His legs made soft thudding sounds against the scorched earth until he disappeared into the dark cave.
Hermione stood where she was, staring in the direction he had vanished, her lips pressed tightly together.
Ron stood behind her, looking at the spider corpses scattered everywhere and the still-smoking webs. His face remained pale. Harry patted him on the shoulder.
"Let's go," Harry said. "We're heading back."
Before you continue