They surrounded the four of them in a circle, tap-dancing as they closed in.
Soon, the four were pressed against a huge dome-shaped web. An enormous black spider hooked its sharp pincer into the silk and tore a small hole.
Click, click. It passed some sort of message inside.
The four held their breath, afraid the slightest sound would startle the giant inside the web and bring a thousand black spiders down on them.
"Is that Hagrid?"
An aged but commanding voice came from within the dome. The four jumped. A monster that could speak was rare indeed!
The spider acting as messenger waved its pincers and clicked out a reply.
"Strangers? They woke me up! Kill them. You can share the meat!"
Luo Bin: So it was just a giant spider in a foul mood after waking up!
The black spiders around them grew excited. They started tap-dancing again, as if celebrating their feast in advance.
"Aragog, we're Hagrid's friends. Before the Ministry of Magic took him away, he told us to find you. He said you could answer our questions about the legend of the Chamber of Secrets."
The moment Luo Bin finished speaking, the web shook violently. The messenger spider and all the others stopped dancing, lowered their heads, and backed away.
"Aragog's coming out. Brace yourselves!"
"Okay!"
A large hole opened in the web. First came a massive gray-streaked black pincer, then huge eyes veiled in white. Soon, a spider six meters tall, with legs five meters long, stood before the four of them.
"What right did the Ministry of Magic have to take Hagrid away?"
He waved his pincers, furious.
"It's a long story. Not long after school started last year, there was an attack at the Castle. A gray cat was petrified by some