A Shocking Remark

"So, Dumbledore was the one who limited how many spiders you could keep?" Harry asked, following Aya's train of thought.

"That's definitely at the top of Dumbledore's 'wisest decisions' list," Ron muttered.

"Just how many did you raise?" Hermione asked, a little frightened. A student like Aya-well, perhaps not an ordinary student-could get hold of a hundred or so. She didn't dare imagine how many there must be in the huge Forbidden Forest!

They were highly venomous spiders the size of small cars!

"...You must have been raising them to supply the kitchens with meat someday," Harry asked, a little numb. He had thought last term's dragon and three-headed dog were outrageous enough, but Hagrid had already been this unrestrained fifty years ago.

"Those are Aragog's descendants! How could I want to eat them?" Hagrid shouted through his tears.

"You already have," Aya said, blinking. "That's what I gave you for Christmas."

Hagrid froze in disbelief, then let out a wail and cried himself unconscious. Harry hurried over to catch him, only to be pulled down by his enormous body.

"What does it matter, Hagrid?" Aya walked over and crouched beside him, looking down at him. "People used to be on the Acromantulas' menu, didn't they? Now we're on each other's menus. Isn't that a big improvement?"

"...Aya, you'd better stop trying to comfort people." Hermione helplessly pulled her behind her.

"Yeah, Hagrid, and besides, you only have one pet. The rest are wild spiders!" Ron came over, shuddering as he spoke.

"Boo-hoo, no, that's not true! I even helped Aragog find his wife, and I watched them all grow up-" Hagrid cried so hard that snot bubbles came out of his nose.

"..." Harry was speechless. They had all thought Aragog might have met his one true spider, but it turned out to be an arranged marriage by someone who knew he was breaking the rules.

"...What do we do?" Ron mouthed to Hermione.

Hermione turned to look at Aya, who stood behind them with her hands clasped behind her back, watching as if it were a show. She struggled to find an opening. "Er, Hagrid, why don't you think about finding a way out for Aragog's colony? Maybe... contact a Fantastic Beasts protection organization or something? Acromantula Venom is so valuable, after all. Surely someone would be willing to take them in?"

Hermione had underestimated the number of Acromantulas, which was why she made the suggestion. Hagrid had calmed down a little. Though he couldn't bear to part with them, he had always treated Dumbledore's words as gospel. He knew that in the end, the spiders would have to disappear from the Forbidden Forest; he just couldn't accept it yet.

"Thank you for the suggestion, Hermione." Hagrid blew his nose into a handkerchief, and the children all stepped back a few paces in unison. "I'll think about it, thank you... boo-hoo... and thank you too, Aya. Even though, even though you killed so many of Aragog's descendants, but, but perhaps Dumbledore has a point... boo-hoo... they've already reached the boundary..." Hagrid began sobbing again.

By the time they finally managed to comfort Hagrid and leave, it was already time for dinner.

"I can't believe Hagrid is so sensitive inside," Ron said, looking a little shaken.

"Is that why he could be Norbert's mum?" Aya swished her tail.

"Honestly, I don't know what you were thinking, giving Hagrid spider meat to eat. Weren't you afraid he'd come after you to stand up for his pets?" Ron shook his head.

"He couldn't hit me anyway!" Aya shrugged. "Besides, I thought my guess was perfectly reasonable. Every part of an Acromantula is a treasure. Professor Snape said Acromantula Venom was very expensive, so I thought Hagrid was raising them to sell—he just didn't have a licence."

"Hagrid has done quite a few things without a licence," Hermione said with a frown. "I wonder what he'll raise next. Hopefully, after his name is cleared, he'll remember to get a Fantastic Beasts breeding licence. Speaking of which..." Hermione hesitated for a long time. "I remember Hagrid was apparently reported by someone fifty years ago?"

"Does that matter?" Ron asked, a little puzzled. "Anyone who saw a spider capable of killing people after a murder would report it, wouldn't they?"

"Hmm... all right. I just thought something was a little odd, but you're right. Anyone would have reported it." Hermione put that doubt aside.

"Maybe you were thinking we could find that person. We might be able to learn some more details about what happened back then," Harry said.

"Where I'm from, the person who reported it would be a major suspect," Aya said, her voice a little excited. She had heard the players playing that cartoon about the elementary schooler of death, and her own story had scenes like that too.

"Those are just special cases-" Ron stretched. "Merlin, comforting Hagrid used up everything I ate at lunch. Let's get back to the castle. I'm cold and hungry again."

"You really should have eaten some Rock Cakes. They're very filling." Aya rubbed her still slightly bulging belly.

"It's not as if you did much to comfort Hagrid. You kept rubbing salt in the wound," Harry said helplessly.

Before long, Harry got busy again. Wood began calling the Quidditch team together for practice, and Aya went along to play with her broom again. When the Slytherins were there, she played 2001; when they weren't, she played 2000. She had it all neatly arranged, and Wood praised her as a genius—the Slytherins never scheduled practice at the same time as them anymore.

Aya accepted the compliment.

"Good heavens," Harry said in disbelief one night after practice, the moment he returned to the common room. "I just heard Lockhart asking Professor McGonagall for permission to hold an event on my way back. He's up to something again!"

"Wasn't the failure of the Duelling Club enough to make him see himself for what he is?" Ron was stuffing biscuits into his mouth as he spoke. He nudged the Lockhart fan beside him with his elbow. "Right, Hermione?"

"Professor Lockhart has virtues nobody else does!" Hermione said firmly. She had only used Lockhart's signature to borrow a book from the Restricted Section of the library yesterday. She couldn't betray Professor Lockhart.

"You're mad," Ron said with a curl of his lip. He turned to Aya. "What about you?"

"Me?" Aya was folding sweet wrappers. The sweets in the gift box Dumbledore had given her last time had all been especially pretty, and she couldn't bear to throw the wrappers away. "I don't think Lockhart's brain can come up with anything more interesting than PVP for now, but if he can get me out of doing homework, I'll support him just like Hermione!"

"Me too, then." Ron changed his mind in an instant and pressed his palms together in prayer.

"I just hope I don't get caught up in it." Harry joined in the prayer.

"Aren't wizards not supposed to pray to God?" Aya asked oddly, holding up her pretty little book of sweet wrappers.

"...I'm going to wash up. A whole evening of practice was exhausting." Harry left, clutching his beloved broom.

Perhaps to leave a striking mark on his short teaching career, Lockhart launched his event with great fanfare on Valentine's Day.

On February fourteenth, Aya and the others came downstairs yawning, only to find the Great Hall dressed up in delicate colours-pink met their eyes everywhere.

"What an old castle with such a tender side," Aya said, looking over the decorations with interest.

The four walls were decorated with great bunches of pink flowers and bright pink ribbons, along with pink gauze that swayed gently in the breeze. Confetti kept drifting down from the pale blue ceiling. Aya watched it float slowly, slowly onto her bread, piling up higher and higher.

"Honestly, who knows whether this confetti is clean?" Katie cleared the confetti away from in front of Aya and put a cover over her soup bowl.

"This is definitely just the appetiser," Angelina said with a helpless smile. "There's definitely something bigger coming."

"What big thing could there be on Valentine's Day? A group confession?" Aya asked, blinking as she chewed her bread.

"How could there be such a thing as a group confession?" Alicia laughed at Aya's words. "At most, he'll just urge the students to confess their feelings, right? Lockhart's nearly ruined his own image. The only people who still like him now are fans of his books."

Aya blinked. How could there not be group confessions? She had taken part in a group wedding event the players held before!

"Just look at him!" Ron's voice was overflowing with disgust. Aya followed his gaze and saw Lockhart standing at the staff table in bright pink robes, beaming as he waved for everyone to be quiet. Every other professor at the table wore a stern face.

"Good morning, everyone. Today is a special day, and I've decorated Hogwarts a little-happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart showed his gleaming white teeth. "Quite a few people have already given me cards, and I'd like to thank them! Of course, I've also taken the liberty of arranging a few little surprises for everyone-far more than just these lovely decorations!"

Lockhart clapped his hands, and twelve gloomy-looking dwarfs walked in from outside the Great Hall.

"Are those a different kind of House-elf? They look so old." Aya looked at the dwarfs, who wore golden wings and carried harps on their backs. Even dressed up as Cupid, they hadn't thought to shave off their beards.

"I really wonder where Lockhart hired them from... If Cupid looked like that, nobody would want to be struck by his arrow, would they?" Alicia said.

"The book I read said dwarfs make a living by mining," Hermione said. She wasn't very interested in Lockhart's special event, but she didn't dislike it either. "They're a bit like the dwarfs in Muggle fairy tales."

"The ones from Snow White?" Aya asked curiously.

"How unusual. You actually know those stories?" Ron was a little surprised.

"Duoduo told me about them~" Aya hummed twice. "Bedtime stories!"

"They must have helped you sleep," Harry said, brushing confetti off the bacon in front of him. He looked at the jubilant Lockhart. "Wandering all over the castle delivering Valentine's cards, haha. I have a bad feeling about this."

"He won't pass up on you, the Wizarding World's perennially popular topic." Aya confirmed his premonition. Hearing Lockhart mention Potions, she asked curiously, "What's Amortentia? Is it a powerful potion?"

"Little Aya, that's a Love Potion~" Katie winked at her, her voice teasing. "That's not something children should know about."

"A Love Potion?" Aya blinked. "A 'beep-' drug?"

"Pfft-"

"Cough, cough, cough-"

"Merlin's lacy skirt!!"

"W-wait? What are you saying?!" George, who had been sitting nearby listening to them chat, was horrified. "How can you say that word with a face like yours?!"

Aya swallowed the bread in her mouth. "Isn't it? A Love Potion?"

"It's not that direct!" Fred's eyes nearly popped out.

"Be good. That's not something good children should know about. Quick, erase it from your brain!" Alicia hurriedly wiped her mouth, then poured Aya a glass of orange juice.

"...I want pumpkin." Aya dodged the subject. Although she liked eating everything, she had developed some preferences now, and citrus fruits ranked a little lower.

Alicia hurriedly asked Fred to pass the Pumpkin Juice over. She poured Aya a glass to keep her mouth occupied, then breathed a sigh of relief. She explained resolutely, "Amortentia makes people feel false love. It's mental!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione were staring in a daze.

"That's a nice way to put it. As long as it's not Platonic, doesn't it all end up affecting the body?" Aya muttered.

"Oh-Merlin, cover her mouth, quick!" Angelina covered her face. "We absolutely, absolutely can't let what this second-year said get out-"

"I really didn't expect..." Fred held his fork in a bit of a daze. "Aya, didn't Ron say your head was empty?"

"How can you keep this stuff in your empty head?!" George's hands trembled as he cut some bread, spread a thick layer of butter and jam on it, and stuffed it into her mouth. "Let's forget it. Delete it, quick-"

Merlin knew, they had always thought Aya was a sweet, innocent little junior-all the older students in their circle who often sat with Aya at meals thought so—if a little domineering and single-minded. Her sudden, shocking remark today had frightened him so much that he'd lost his appetite.

After the meal, Aya hurried to class with the unusually silent Harry, Ron and Hermione. It was Friday, and although everyone had just witnessed Lockhart's antics in the Great Hall, they were still in fairly good spirits.

A long time passed, and they had reached the classroom for their first lesson before Ron finally spoke in a subdued voice. "I hope none of us sent Lockhart a card."

Hermione looked at the sky, the ground, anywhere but at him, and told Aya to hurry and sit next to her.

"You really are like someone who's taken Amortentia. It's been months, and you still refuse to face reality-" Ron sat down behind them with Harry, shaking his head at Hermione.

"Please, don't say Amortentia," Harry said quietly. "I can't look at the stuff the same way anymore. Even Snape seems a little strange to me now—he's actually brewed that kind of potion..."

They had only been muttering for a little while when the bell rang. This was History of Magic, and Aya drifted peacefully off to sleep-

She couldn't sleep.

The sound of dwarfs knocking on the door kept ringing through the classroom. Each time they knocked and barged in, they carried an envelope and shouted a student's name. As soon as a student answered, the dwarf would take the harp off his back and begin playing and singing the confession written in the envelope.

This was the first time Aya hadn't slept well in History of Magic.