Rustle! Rustle!
Luo Bin sensed the disciplined spiders piling one atop another, wrapping the white web in layer after layer.
He looked up. Just as he had guessed, huge, pitch-black creatures covered in bristles were staring down with blood-red eyes, trying to peer through the silk and see what was happening inside.
"Aragog, you don't make a habit of hanging red lanterns from your ceiling, do you?" Ron asked.
"Go! Hurry! They're... about to go wild!"
Harry urged them on anxiously.
"Go?!! I wouldn't. They wouldn't dare enter my nest, but..."
"Aragog, we're Hagrid's friends!"
Aragog waved his legs and curled himself into a huge Black Stone. From beneath it came his soft, unhurried voice.
"Yes, merely 'friends.' A friend's friends mean nothing to me. My descendants obey my orders and never harm Hagrid, but I have no reason to stop them from enjoying a human-flesh buffet delivered to their door."
"Aragog, that seems rather... Fine. Before we leave, I have one more question. I hope you'll answer honestly. Spiders instinctively fear the Chamber Monster. What creature does the Chamber Monster instinctively fear?"
Click! Click!
Aragog raised his head, his white-filmed eyes fixed on the brown-eyed girl.
Click, click! His great pincers waved furiously, but he refused to say a word.
"You know, don't you? Aragog, Azkaban is a wizard prison. I've heard that if a guard is in a bad mood, they'll torture prisoners in all sorts of inhuman ways. Hagrid is a Half-giant. Someone his size stands out wherever he goes. Do you understand what I mean? The longer this takes, the more likely he is to become the guards' first target. Please, tell us!"
Rustle! Rustle!
The big black spider that had been communicating with Aragog blocked the entrance with its ugly head. If Luo Bin hadn't