Fang was a large, stocky black hound. When Brian followed Hagrid to a clearing in the woods and found him, the dog was running in circles around two enormous creatures, each roughly the size of a full-grown horse.
The moment the big dog saw Hagrid, he bounded over in excitement.
The two enormous creatures, however, remained motionless on the ground. Their dark, hairy bodies had eight legs and a pair of massive pincers at the front. Their eight eyes, which should have been menacing, were dull and lifeless-meaning that all life had left them. They were dead.
Brian recognized these fantastic beasts-Acromantulas. Cruel by nature, they could speak human languages, ate people, and excelled at spinning vast, misty, dome-shaped webs. They stood at the top of the food chain, were extremely dangerous, and represented the number eight in ancient runes-
All this knowledge surfaced naturally in his mind when he saw them.
"Good heavens! Fang, why would Acromantulas attack you?"
Hagrid dropped his crossbow and gathered the big dog into his arms, crying out in disbelief as though he had suffered a terrible betrayal.
"And how on earth did you beat them?!"
"Awooo, awooo!" Fang pushed Hagrid away and shook his head vigorously. "Awooo, awooo!"
"Oh... you mean they didn't attack you. Something attacked them instead, and even killed them!" Hagrid immediately understood what Fang meant.
To Brian's surprise, Hagrid didn't become more alert. Instead, he suddenly relaxed a great deal. He even looked a little pleased.
"Phew... I knew it... Aragog's friendship with me hasn't changed. His children still listen to him," Hagrid muttered.
"Wait, could you explain that to me?"
Brian had been listening in complete bewilderment.
"Why wouldn't Acromantulas attack Fang? And who's Aragog? Come to think of it, why are you comfortable letting a big dog patrol at night all by himself?"
As he spoke, he rubbed Fang's large head.
According to Professor McGonagall, students were strictly forbidden from entering the Forbidden Forest, and older students were no exception-
Yet Brian thought that, no matter how you looked at it, older students armed with wands surely couldn't be worse at protecting themselves than an ordinary breed of hunting dog.
Fang wasn't a Three-Headed Dog!
Besides, even a real Three-Headed Dog couldn't go wherever it pleased in the Forbidden Forest.
"Oh... I can't believe I never told you... Aragog's a good friend of mine, and he's the leader of the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest. Fang has his protection, so he'll be all right in here. Don't worry, I'll take you to meet him in a bit."
Hagrid approached the two dead Acromantulas with his lantern, his expression turning angry.
"Now, let's see what brutally murdered these two poor children!"
"Er... you're taking me to meet an Acromantula?"
Brian raised his wand, keeping Lumos active, and followed Hagrid over to the two bodies.
"All right. I hope it'll be a friendly meeting, rather than a meal delivery."
Honestly, Hagrid's explanation only left Brian more confused-he would have been better off saying nothing. It was hard to imagine giant spiders that ate humans by nature becoming friends with one-
Shouldn't a giant look like an extra-large meal to them?
He distinctly remembered that giants were classified as part of the human species-all right, all right, that was a human system of classification. The spiders certainly didn't have to follow it.
Perhaps the giants of some Giant Tribe rode Acromantulas rather than horses when they traveled.
Brian became keenly aware of one thing-all the magical knowledge he currently possessed was still insufficient to explain the breadth and strangeness of the magical world-
But that was a fortunate thing. It meant there were still plenty of fascinating unknowns waiting for him ahead.
Then Brian watched Hagrid feel here and scratch there on the two giant spiders. After quite a while, he finally couldn't help asking:
"Hagrid, have you figured anything out?"
Hagrid turned around and said sorrowfully:
"Of course, of course! Good heavens, it's so sad. Brian, can you believe it? These two children weren't even fully grown! But Death has already taken their souls!"
Well, Hagrid was an expert for a reason-there certainly couldn't be many people in the world who could tell whether an Acromantula was fully grown just by feeling it-
Brian could see that Hagrid had become caught up in his emotions again. A sentimental giant... there was nothing for it. He would have to do the examination himself.
Over the next ten minutes, Brian was sincerely grateful for the Acromantulas' hair. Unlike the hairs on the tarantulas he had handled before, these didn't sting-and those tarantulas also had a nasty habit of kicking hairs off themselves now and then.
After examining them for a while, Brian finally reached a conclusion:
"There are no obvious wounds on their bodies, so they weren't killed by other animals in the Forbidden Forest-Hippogriffs, for instance. If they had been, there would definitely be marks-claw marks, peck marks, things like that.
"We can also rule out Centaurs. Although they can use magic, they're better at healing magic and divination. When they attack, they prefer using magical bows and arrows. Unicorns are even less likely. Those pure creatures have always favored peace.
"Hmm... Hagrid, I suspect a human wizard did this-with the Killing Curse, or some other curse that leaves no trace.
"But nobody took the venom from these two Acromantulas, which means whoever killed them wasn't after money. What do you think?"
At first, Hagrid nodded along in agreement. Eventually, he simply gave up thinking and stared at Brian, dumbfounded, asking in astonishment:
"All this knowledge... did you learn it over the last two days? Have you really never attended a magic school before?"
"Er, Hagrid, you know I'm a genius."
Since Brian couldn't reveal anything about the Book, he had no choice but to brush the question aside with an enigmatic remark before changing the subject.
"That's not important. What matters is that a strange wizard slipped into the Forbidden Forest tonight and suddenly killed two Acromantulas for some unknown reason. We need to tell the staff in the castle and tighten security in the Forbidden Forest immediately.
"Oh, right, we also need to tell that friend of yours, Aragog. What if that wizard came specifically to target the Acromantulas? Aragog's life might be in danger too!"
Sure enough, Hagrid's attention shifted. He nodded gravely and said:
"You're right, Brian. We'll leave at once-Aragog might be under attack right now! Good heavens, he's blind. I really don't know how he'd protect himself... **Aragog! Arago-**mmph?"
"Why are you shouting his name so loudly?" Brian withdrew the hand he had clapped over Hagrid's mouth and asked in confusion. "Do you not know where he lives, so you're calling him out to meet you?"
Hagrid spoke as though it were obvious:
"No, of course I know where Aragog's cave is. I'm shouting to scare off that wretched wizard!"
But if you do that, won't we lose any chance of catching that wizard? Brian had wanted to say.
But he immediately understood that Hagrid was genuinely worried about his spider friend-he feared that Aragog really was being attacked at that very moment.
Was catching the culprit more important, or was giving up that chance to protect a friend who might be in danger more important? Would choosing the latter lead to greater danger in the future? Would that mean sacrificing something greater for something smaller?
The answer was that thinking so much was pointless. People only needed to make a choice when they had one to make. Regret could come later.
"Aragog!" Brian joined Hagrid in shouting.
At last, in front of a deep, dark cave, Brian and Hagrid met the blind Acromantula and his countless descendants. As far as the eye could see, there was a seething mass of black. Brian keenly noticed that all the spiders were staring at him and drooling.
Without Hagrid, he was certain he would have drowned in the forest-swallowed by a sea of spiders.
Aragog was undoubtedly a giant among his kind. In front of him lay a smaller Acromantula, barely breathing and clinging to life-far smaller than the previous two.
"Is that Hagrid? No, go back at once. Leave the Forbidden Forest-and don't come here for a while. There's danger in the forest!"
Aragog spoke in panic, his terrifying pincers clicking audibly with anxiety.
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