“What about the – er – werewolves?  Aren’t there werewolves in the forest?”

“Piss and sod ter the werewolves.  We’re lookin’ fer the spiders.  An’ besides, there are goo’ things in the forest too.”  Harry had an image of the Darcorn that had saved him and Niamh in his min’s eyes as he said this.  He wondered if he might see it on this trip into the forest.

“C’mon,” he hissed to Ron as they neared Hagrid’s hut.  He pushed the door open and was greeted by Fang, who jumped up on him and began to lick his face.

“Pleh – nice ter see ye too, Fang.”

Ron plucked the plunked the invisibility cloak down on the table.  They wouldn’t need it in the forest.

Harry finally separated Fang from his face and growled, “Le’s go.  C’mon, Fang.”

The three of them set off from Hagrid’s hut towards the forest, Fang bounding joyfully in front of them.  Ron muttered, “Why couldn’t we bring Jardin?”

“‘Cause ‘e can’na find ‘is way in the dark.  Light yer wand.  We’ll need i’.”

Ron nodded and the both of them said, “Lumos.”  Light blossomed at the tip of their wand and they looked at each other before setting off.

“Look.”

A line of spiders scrambled over the ground in front of them.  Harry and Ron looked at each other again then began to follow them, only pausing when the spiders left the path.

“What’s wrong?”

Harry shook his head and kept on going.  Hagrid may have told him to stay on the forest path the last time he was there but this was emergency.

They followed the spiders deeper and deeper into the forest, where the darkness pressed down heavily upon them and they could only see two feet in any direction.

Snap!

“What was that?” asked Ron in a squeaky voice.

Harry shook his head, eyes darting from side to side.  Suddenly he sense something coming up behind them and turned in time to see two long, hair legs seize him about the middle.  Whatever had grabbed him seized him up and began to carry him away.

And from the two surprise yelps he heard, whatever had gotten him, two more had gotten Ron and Fang.

He watched the ground, as it suddenly got lighter.  He could see spiders scrambling across the leaf strewn forest floor.  Then they entered a huge hollow lit by the stars far above and the creature that held him dropped him onto the ground.  Ron and Fang landed beside him with two muffled thumps.  The boarhound whimpered and cowered down beside Harry.  Ron, meanwhile, was staring open-mouthed in horror at the scene before them.

Spiders.  Huge, black spiders surrounded them, towering over them.

Harry suddenly noticed that the spiders were talking as their pincers gnashed together.  The spider that had carried him stepped towards a domed web in the center of the hollow, clicking its pincers as it spoke.

“Aragog!  Aragog!”

A huge spider – much larger than those around Harry, Ron, and Fang – emerged from the domed web slowly.  Harry could see gray on his body and the milky whiteness of his eight eyes.  The giant spider was blind.

“What is it?”

“Men,” replied the spider that had caught Harry.

“Is it Hagrid?” asked Aragog and Harry looked at Ron, who was still gaping in horror at the spiders.

“Strangers.”

“Kill them.  I was sleeping…”

Harry’s breath caught in this throat.  He mentally swore then yelled, “We’re frien’s o’ Hagrid’s!”

Aragog paused and his blinked swiveled in Harry’s direction.

“Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before.”

“Hagrid’s in trouble.  Tha’s why we’ve come.”

“In trouble?” said Aragog, concern tinting his voice.  “Why has be sent you?”

“They thin’ Hagrid’s been settin’ a monster on students up a’ the school.  They’ve taken ‘im ter Azkaban.”

Aragog clicked his pincers in a furious manner and the sound was echoed all around the hollow.

“That was years ago.  Many years ago.  That is why they made Hagrid leave the school.  They thought I was the monster that dwells in their Chamber of Secrets.”

“But yer na,” breathed Harry.

“I!  I was not born in the castle.  A stranger gave me to Hagrid as an egg and he cared for me, feeding me scraps from the table.  He is my good friend.  When I was discovered, he protected me.  He even found me a wife and you see how our family has grown.”

Harry’s eyes flicked to the spiders around him.  Yes, he could see exactly how much Aragog’s family had grown…

“So – ye never attacked anyone?”

“Never.  Out of respect for Hagrid I never harmed a human.  I never even saw a part of the castle but my cupboard.  Our kind like the dark…”

Now that sparked an idea…

Harry filed that information away then asked, “Do ye know wha’ did kill tha’ girl?  Whatever i’ is, its ba’ and attacking people again?”

Pincers clicked angrily all around him and he reached for the smooth wood of his wand.

“The creature that lives in the castle is ancient.  We spiders fear it above all others.  I pleaded much with Hagrid to let me go when I sensed it moving about the school.”

“What is i’?”

“We do not speak its name!”

Harry thought that sounded rather like most of the wizarding world and Voldemort.  Now that really sparked a thought…

“Thanks.  We’ll jus’ be goin’ then,” said Harry.

“Go?  I think not…” drawled Aragog.  “I cannot deny my children fresh meat when it wanders willingly into our midst.”

Harry spat a curse and leapt to his feet as the spiders moved closer, pincers clicking.  He pulled out his wand and roared, “Lumos solem!”

Bright light flooded the hollow and the spiders shrieked, scurrying back away from them.  A second later another black shape hurtled into the hollow, the bright light glinting off its ebony horn.

The Darcorn!

Harry yelled in surprised and sheathed his wand as the huge, black unicorn thundered to a halt before him.  He looked into the dark eyes for a moment then grabbed Ron and shoved him upwards onto its back.

“What…?”

Harry grabbed Fang about the middle a moment later and shoved him up into Ron’s arms.  The Darcorn stomped a hoof and snorted, blowing out wisps of breath that were silver in the bright light, and Harry noticed that the light from his spell was fading, the spiders slinking closer once more.  He grabbed onto the Darcorn’s mane and swung himself up onto its back in front of Ron.  The muscles bunched under the inky black coat and Harry yelled to Ron, “‘Old on!”

The last of the light faded from the hollow and the spiders charged.  Ron screamed in horror while Fang let out a howl.  Harry reached back blindly to grab onto Ron’s shirt at that, afraid his friend would lose his grip in his horror.  He kept his face away from the approaching spiders and hissed to the Darcorn in what he would later find was the Elven language, not English.

But while the spiders were fast, the Darcorn was faster.  It barreled forward through a gap in the spiders and ran on into the forest, the spiders clicking angrily as they followed.  They kept up for a while but soon the Darcorn left them behind, racing on into the forest with Harry, Ron, and Fang clinging to its back.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

After what seemed like hours of racing through the forest, the Darcorn finally galloped out onto the Hogwarts ground, slowing to a smooth trot as it neared Hagrid’s hut.  As soon as it stopped, Fang leapt off and ran into the cabin. Ron, shaking, slipped off while Harry sat up on its back for a moment longer, his fingers stroking the silky fur that could have been soaked with sweat after that run but was not.  When he finally slid down, Ron was leaning heavily against the cabin wall being violently sick.  Harry patted the Darcorn’s shoulder and whispered, “Thank ye.”  The huge creature nickered softly and gently nipped his fingers before turning and vanishing into the forest at a lope.  Harry watched it until it vanished then turned to Ron, who was wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

“‘Follow the spiders’ he says.  Trust Hagrid to have a giant spider for a friend.  I’ll never forgive him.”

“‘E probably though’ Aragog would’n hurt friend o’ his.”

“That’s Hagrid’s problem!  He thinks monsters aren’t as bad as they’re made out and now look where he is!  A cell in Azkaban!”

Harry shook his head at Ron and went inside to get the invisibility cloak.  Fang was shivering uncontrollably in his basket and Harry gave the dog a gentle pat, murmuring something.  When he returned outside he found Ron wiping his mouth with his sleeve again.

“What exactly did we accomplish by nearly getting killed?” growled Ron.

“We found ou’ tha’ Hagrid did’n open the Chamber,” replied Harry.  “‘E’s innocent.”

Ron snorted as Harry threw the cloak over the both of them and they began to walk.  As they neared the castle, Ron asked, “And what was that that saved us?”

“A Darcorn.”

“A what?”

Harry smirked.  “A black unicorn.  They’re supposedly evil but I doan thin’ so.”

Ron rolled his eyes and said, “You’re as creature crazy as Hagrid.”

“Na.  I would’n try ter raise an acromantula.”

“Thank Merlin for that.”

Harry laughed then pulled the front door open.  They crept inside and up to Gryffindor Tower, where Ron slipped out from under the cloak and inside quickly.  Harry then turned to leave, barely catching the Fat Lady’s warning for him to be careful.  He murmured a reply then headed for the dungeons.

Once inside the common room, he went to the corner that had been deemed the ‘Hexer’s Corner’ because of his and Niamh’s occupation of that space while studying up on hexes and curses.  And also because of their nicknames.

Collapsing in a chair, her rolled up the invisibility cloak and used it as a pillow.  His mind drifted and he thought of the creature that Aragog had described.  It sounded so much like Voldemort that it was uncanny…

Suddenly he sat up.  Why hadn’t he thought of it before?

Leaping out of the chair, he ran over to one of the bookshelves scattered about the common room and grabbed a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  Flipping hurriedly to the page he wanted, he skimmed it quickly then gasped when he found what he was looking for.

Why hadn’t he realized…

Harry snapped the book shut and shoved it back onto its shelf.  He knew now what Slytherin’s monster was.  And why he kept hearing that voice in the corridors.

But what about the girl it had killed?

Harry frowned and thought about the various ghosts he knew about in the castle.  He remembered the Gray Lady once telling him of a girl’s ghost that haunted one of the second floor bathrooms.  She had told him that the girl had died some odd fifty years ago…

Hell’s bells…

Harry gasped as the pieces of the puzzle came together.  If he was right – if he was right – he knew what the creature in the Chamber was and where it was.