At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, toward the Black Lake, everything was exceptionally quiet beneath the moonlight. Occasionally, the Giant Squid rolled lazily in the water, sending ripples across the surface.
Before long, a clatter of hooves broke the silence.
"We can only take you this far," the centaur captain at the head of the group said in a steady, powerful voice. "Without Dumbledore's permission, we cannot leave the Forbidden Forest."
Su Er jumped down from the centaur's back first, then reached up to help a dizzy Hermione land safely.
"Thud..." Fred and George fell off the centaur behind them too. The centaur had tilted sideways, tipping the brothers off.
Su Er merely glanced at them before turning to the centaur captain leading the group.
"Thank you for bringing us back."
"You're welcome. It was the priest's order." The centaur captain shook his head and answered in a low voice.
"Don't provoke those Acromantulas again." As he spoke, he glanced at the spider legs Su Er had bound with a vine. "Not a single group in the Forbidden Forest is willing to antagonize them."
"You can follow this path back to the Castle now. Goodbye."
The scene returned to the hillside deep in the Forbidden Forest.
It had to be said that Sectumsempra, invented by Professor Snape, truly delivered maximum speed and power. Silent and undetectable, it had sliced the "commander" spider in half.
Against an adult Acromantula, the spell would at most have cut through its thick shell, rather than slicing it cleanly in two.
Just as Su Er had guessed, the moment that palm-sized Acromantula died, the entire swarm fell into chaos.
The centaurs' arrival left the commanderless Acromantulas with even less attention to spare for Su Er and the others. Their bows and arrows were