Chapter 161: The reward of the Acromantulas

Walking down the steep slope for about twenty minutes, Ivan reached the crest of a vast hollow, a hollow that had been cleared of trees. Looking up, he could see the vast starry sky.

The open space in the center of the hollow was covered with thick leaves. Stepping on them, Ivan had the sensation of walking on a carpet. He saw Peter Pettigrew and the spider carrying him in the middle of the open space. In front of them was a huge, misty, domed web.

"Ivan, Ivan, you've come to save me, I knew you'd come!" Pettigrew cried softly, looking extremely miserable. He trembled on the ground without dignity. He crawled like a worm, trembling and said, "Please don't leave me alone here, no...."

"Shut up!" said Ivan angrily.

Peter kept crying and distracted him. His appearance made Ivan feel bad and despise him even more.

He was sad, weak, stupid to the extreme... Why does such a person exist?!

Ivan didn't look at Pettigrew, but looked at the Acromantula to the side.

It paused on the thick leaves, its eight legs swayed slightly, four of its eyes to the side watched him and Pettigrew, and the other four eyes looked at the huge spider web not far away.

Click, click, click, click, click....

He moved his pincers quickly, giving a quick, sharp click.

Ivan realized that the spider was saying something. It had been hard to tell, because it clicked its pincers with every word it said. "Aragog! It's Aragog!"

And out of the mist, a spider the size of a small elephant emerged, very slowly.

There was gray in the black of its body and legs, and every eye in its ugly, pinched head was milky white. He was blind.

Seeing Aragog, Ivan involuntarily clenched his wand in his hand.

This monster had to be Hagrid's pet, the ancestor of all the Acromantulas in the forest.

The image in front of him was too terrifying, although he was mentally prepared, when this giant spider appeared, Ivan discovered that he had been underestimating the size of the monster.

It had eight legs, each one thicker than Ivan's own body.

Peter Pettigrew, who had been curled up on the floor, suddenly stopped shaking; his mouth opened wide, and he seemed to be making a silent scream with his wild eyes.

This was simply a nightmare. No, this was a thousand times worse than that.

With Aragog's arrival, countless Acromantulas came out of nowhere.

Each one of them was larger than the three that attacked Ivan and Peter Pettigrew. They swarmed. When they saw the person in the center of the field, they became excited and moved their large pincers, sending out a terrible, sickening snapping sound.

Pettigrew got goose bumps, and swore that if he could choose the path of death, he would rather be crushed by Sirius Black, or have his soul sucked out by a Dementor, than be food for these spiders.

"What is it?" he said, snapping his pincers rapidly, sounding a bit majestic, "Why do you call me?"

"Humans," said the spider that had caught Peter Pettigrew.

"Is it Hagrid?" said Aragog, approaching them, his eight milky eyes wandering vaguely.

"No, strangers," said the Acromantula.

"Kill them," said Aragog angrily. "Don't bother me with this sort of thing, I was sleeping..."

Hearing Aragog, all the other spiders were excited.

They gathered around the center of the field, waiting for Aragog to return to his domed web, for Ivan and Peter to be their food.

"No, no , think of a way out!" Peter crouched on the ground, clutching tightly at Ivan's tunic, and staring in panic at the acromantulas surrounding him.

Ivan pushed him aside and took a step forward; he could even see Aragog's hairs clearly.

He swallowed, his heart seeming to burst out of his chest and leap from his throat.

"Hang on, Aragog!" shouted Ivan. "I'm Hagrid's friend!"

"Hagrid's friend?" croaked the old spider, paused and said slowly, "Hagrid has never sent men to our nest."

"My name is Ivan Mason, I'm from the castle, I'm close to Hagrid..." said Ivan.

"Hagrid told me that a few months ago you killed that thing in the castle," Aragog said slowly.

"Yes!" Ivan replied excitedly, "Harry and I killed the Basilisk!"

At the sound of the Basilisk's name, all the furious snapping suddenly stopped, and the whole place went silent as never before.

Besides his heavy breathing and Peter's sobbing, Ivan could no longer hear anything else.

He even thought that all the Acromantulas were gone. He turned his head and saw that they were still huddled there, but they were all silent and even took a step back.

Their ugly spidery faces were very human and showed fear.

"How dare you mention that name!" Aragog madly snapped his pincers and made an unprecedented snapping sound. He said with intense emotions, "That thing is our nemesis!"

Aragog snapped his pincers furiously, and all around the hollow the sound was echoed by the crowd of spiders; it was like a clap. Ivan saw again the crunch of many long legs moving angrily; large black shapes were moving around him.

"Hurry up, say something else, don't mention that!" Pettigrew reminded Ivan in an almost suffocating voice.

It was clear that Aragog thought the same thing. He changed the subject and said to Ivan, "Hagrid's friend, what did you come to our hollow for?"

"I followed this guy and accidentally came here. He's an evil black wizard - he planned a despicable plan in the castle!" Ivan hesitated and continued. "This guy works for Voldemort..."

Hearing the name, Pettigrew convulsed.

"Voldemort?!" Aragog repeated slowly, seemingly without any particular reaction. It said, "I've heard of that name. Fifteen years ago, that wizard sent someone to contact me. You humans were at war at the time. He asked us to join his camp, but I refused. I was not interested in the wizarding war, although my children were very eager to follow him. Voldemort promised them a very generous reward."

Hearing "Voldemort," the spiders around them became much more excited. They all seemed to remember Voldemort's promise in those years, the promise they simply could not refuse: as long as they were loyal to him, they could get fresh human flesh as food.