The Gryffindor Common Room was always crowded these days since the attack on Hermione and Penelope.
From Six o'clock onwards, they had nowhere else to go with the mandatory stay-in orders.
The Common Room was always full until some time after midnight, so going out to the Forest wouldn't be easy.
Lucifer passed the time reading and Fred and George had challenged Harry and Ron to Exploding Snap.
Ginny had sat down in Hermione's usual chair in a subdued state.
Lucifer noticed she was even paler than usual. He wondered what exactly was going on with her.
She was fine when he'd seen her in Diagon Alley, and on the Train but since arriving at Hogwarts, she hadn't looked so good.
He couldn't worry about her right then, because they had to head for the forest once everyone else went to bed.
It was well past midnight when they went to bed, and after the satisfying click of two doors closing, they threw the Cloak over themselves and made their way out of the portrait of the Fat Lady.
He was too busy on exterminating this monster, that not even showed disgust while using Harry's cloak, or tried to make himself invisible.
It was just as difficult as the last time they did this.
Dodging teachers and ghosts was not easy or fun, but they had no choice, they couldn't turn back now.
Ron began to complain a little about this, but Lucifer ignored him.
They soon reached Hagrid's house and the sight was nothing short of sad, seeing no lights on in its blank windows.
They walked inside and Fang immediately jumped all over Lucifer, who managed to keep him calm enough to not bark.
Harry left the invisibility cloak on Hagrid's table, as there would be no need for it out in the dark of the forest.
"Let's go, Fang," Lucifer said, patting his leg.
As they walked towards the forest, Lucifer raised his wand, "Lumos!" He said and his wand tip started to shine.
The path before them was now illuminated and they could see any Spiders that they would have to follow.
"Good thinking," Ron said, "I'd light mine but... I might just end up blowing all of us to pieces..."
Harry tapped Ron on the shoulder and pointed to where Lucifer's wand was aimed and there were two spiders scurrying away from the wand light.
Ron took some deep breaths, "Okay..." he inhaled one more time before exhaling, "I'm ready, let's go."
With Fang accompanying them, sniffing around tree roots and bushes, even urinating on one of the trees, they bounded deeper into the forest.
"Just stay with me, and you'll be fine," Lucifer told them. He slowed his breathing down so that he remained calm, his senses on high alert.
They followed the spiders as they moved along the path.
It wasn't long before the stars above them disappeared from view, the canopy getting thick and preventing any light from getting to the forest floor.
The sound of crunching leaves and twigs underfoot was all that could be heard aside from Fang's occasional whimper.
When it got almost too dark to see, even with the spell, Lucifer enhanced it with a better version, "Lumos Maxima!" He muttered and the light grew to be three times brighter than the regular spell.
"Well that certainly helps," Harry said in a dry tone.
"Come on," Lucifer urged them forward.
They walked for quite a while, occasionally getting their clothing snagged on low-hanging branches or thorns.
The spiders ahead of them tried their best to escape the light, but with how far it reached and how fast they were moving compared to the spiders, they weren't making much headway.
They were led into a small cave, completely covered in webs and dead spider limbs.
The loud squelching coming from beneath their feet as they moved made Ron groan in disgust and cover his mouth as if he was about to be sick.
"Please don't, this tunnel's bad enough without your puke in it." Lucifer said, turning his face sideways.
Ron swallowed. "Did you just swallow that?"
Ron shook his head slowly as to not make the vomit come back up.
Fang suddenly and without warning let out a resounding bark.
It scared Harry and Ron, "What!?" Ron said in a panicky voice.
"Over there," Lucifer rolled his eyes, pointing his wand in the direction that Fang barked.
Whatever it was, it was coming right towards them.
Lucifer wasn't worried, but if it was a pack animal, then he would have to be mindful of flank attacks, "Oh no... oh no, oh no, oh no," Ron said, panic in his voice rising.
"Shut up, will you?!" Lucifer said in a loud whisper.
Ron tried to calm himself, but as it got closer, he started to panic more.
Soon, it went away, but Lucifer still had an unnerving feeling, like he was still being watched.
Then a blinding light came from their right and the thing emerged from the treeline.
Fang yelped and tried to run when it emerged, but he got tangled in a bunch of thorns and he yelped even louder.
Lucifer went over to him and carefully helped him out, calming him down, "Who's a good boy?" Fang's tail began to wag and he knew he'd be okay.
"Harry," Ron shouted, "Harry, it's the car!"
"What?" He heard Harry ask in an astounded voice.
"Come on!"
"Let's go, Fang," Lucifer said and they followed Harry and Ron.
They approached the car and Lucifer noticed how much it was acting like an oversized puppy. "It's been here all this time!" Ron said in delight, walking around the car, "Look at it, the Forest has turned it wild..."
The car looked far worse than Lucifer last saw it flying in the air alongside the Hogwarts Express.
It was scratched and smeared with mud, it must've been trotting around the forest the entire year.
Lucifer wondered if Charmed cars didn't have to worry about fuel?
Fang wasn't keen on it, and stuck close to him, who felt him quivering.
"And we thought it was going to attack us!" Ron said, leaning against the door. "I wondered where it had gone."
Lucifer had kept his wand out and looked around for the spiders, but didn't see them, "Come on, we've lost the-" he stopped talking as he suddenly felt a presence that wasn't there before.
It was menacing, but it wasn't just one, it was hundreds or thousands of presences, bloodlusting, but holding back, as though on order.
He turned and aimed his wand high above him, and to his complete eyes widened, he saw dozens and dozens of large Acromantula.
He didn't have time to react as they rushed the three of them and Fang.
They didn't attack in a lethal sense, but they took them alive, dragging them away, bringing them to something, Lucifer suspected.
Fang was yelping in terror, but he couldn't calm him down this time.
Lucifer knew they weren't native to Britain, but after what Harry had told them in the Diary, Hagrid had an Acromantula that he called Aragog.
They were held by two legs as the Acromantula scurried on six legs to wherever they were taking them.
The spiders eventually brought them to a halt and one of them began to speak excitedly, "Aragog! Aragog!"
From the middle of the misty, domed web, an Acromantula the size of a small elephant came slowly out to them.
There was gray in the black of his body and his eyes were milky white.
He was both old and blind. "What is it?" He clicked quickly.
"Men!" The one that had dragged Harry said.
"Is it Hagrid?" Aragog asked, his eyes moving aimlessly. He moved closer to them, awaiting an answer.
"Strangers," said the one who brought Ron.
"Kill them," Aragog said fretfully, turning back towards the dome, "I was sleeping..."
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