Chapter 56: Chapter 56. Long Legged Terror

"I was here before it started." Mathias butted into our conversation, attracting our attention. "Professor Drumwind went running in that direction with Professor Faringray behind him and when Hagrid curiously tried to find out what was the matter, Professor Faringray attacked him."

I looked sharply in the direction of the scuffle, it seemed like Professor Faringray was on the ground, he must have been subdued by the other Professors.

Professor Drumwind had run into the Forbidden forest, had he realized that he was trapped inside Hogwarts and was looking for a means of escape?

A low rumbling sound caught the attention of everyone, essentially silencing the chatty students who were discussing the events happening right before their very eyes.

"What's that?" Blair joined the group, Tanner right beside her.

I listened intently, staring at the Forbidden Forest with everyone, I couldn't guess. What could be coming?

Hagrid was the first to react, running in our direction shouting and waving wildly with an unconscious Professor Faringray thrown over his shoulder.

"What…" Someone trailed off.

"Get to the safety of the castle!" He shouted, running forward. "Danger's coming!"

We saw it just then, Acromantulas, tens of them running out of the forest.

Their lengthy spindly legs brought them closer in a matter of seconds and as they got closer to the mouth of the forest, they spread out, rushing over the school grounds, some heading for the castle.

Right through the mouth of the forest came Professor Drumwind riding the lead spider, maniacal laughter spilling from him.

Headmistress McGonagall, Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout worked together to blast a handful of the large spiders away, quickly retreating so that they didn't get overwhelmed by the influx of spiders.

Chaos broke out immediately, students screaming as they fell over each other in a bid to get to safety.

I gripped the base of my wand as the car-sized spiders spread around, their pincers clicking ominously.

Acromantulas were sentient but they also had a taste for human flesh.

While I still practiced in the Forbidden Forest, I never went deep in enough to confirm if the dangerous creatures survived the battle of Hogwarts.

The evidence that they did was running towards the school, charging us.

Just like with the Thestral, it would seem that the Acromantulas were Imperiused, well at least the rather large one that Professor Drumwind was riding on as well as the two smaller ones crawling on either side of him.

Was an attack supposed to happen today? Or had Professor Drumwind felt cornered and tried one last ditch effort?

I felt someone clutch the back of my robes and I looked to find Hazel cowering behind me.

I remembered her Boggart, Hazel was deathly scared of spiders, especially large ones.

We were forced back, Hagrid hurrying us inside the castle but even the castle wasn't spared as some had begun to climb up the towers and turrets.

The teachers were trying their best but they couldn't hold back the swarm all by themselves.

"Anyone who feels like they can assist stay behind but if you can't seek safety in the castle!" Alfreda announced and the rest of the prefects went around with that information.

An Acromantula a little way to the right fell after a handful of students bombarded it with Stunning jinxes.

"Arania Exumia!" I blasted back another spider, it didn't get up, its legs twitching weakly up in the air.

Knowledge of the book, movie and game franchise was starting to come in real handy.

Pretty soon it was an all-out battle against the spiders, the students working with the teachers to beat back the swarm.

"We have to take out Professor Drumwind or they'll just keep coming!" Witter had joined the fray sometime ago.

Hazel still stuck to my side, refusing to leave even though her phobia was visibly wearing her down.

I looked around, it was difficult to make out anything in the swarm of students' robes and large spiders.

Roxana, just like Hazel, also stuck close to me but I had lost Tanner and Blair to the fray sometime ago, I hope they were doing okay.

"He's over there, protecting himself with a handful of Acromantulas!" Roxana's sharp eyes picked out.

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She was already heading in that direction, joining another group of students to help defeat a spider that was in the way.

I ran ahead, leaving Hazel to Witter. We needed to clear a path to Professor Drumwind.

The teachers had their hands full trying to stop more Acromantulas from escaping from the Forbidden Forest.

Everyone was stretched thin, there were injured students that had to be removed from the battleground lest they risked being eaten by the human-hungry spiders

Defeating the Acromantulas on the school grounds was left to the students who could fight back.

"You're quite the nuisance!" He snarled, pointing his wand at me. "Avada Kedavra!"

I jumped out of the way, horror sinking low in my stomach at the thought of it hitting some other student but luckily it hit a spider instead. The creature immediately went down.

I couldn't let him cast another Killing curse because this time, we might not be so lucky and it would hit someone.

The others had similar ideas because Roxana immediately tried to knock Professor Drumwind's wand out of his hold but he got her first, her wand flying from her hold.

A couple Acromantulas had also blocked off Hazel and Witter, keeping them from helping me.

I decided to go for the Acromantula that he was riding, blasting back the large spider and barely ducking to dodge another spell from Fodel.

I hadn't been in enough duels to be skilled enough in predicting what spells my opponent was casting and how to protect myself from them.

Even if I was smart enough to figure out which spell, it would take time and a lot of guessing.

Lots of spells were cast with similar light shows and unless they chanted their attack out loud, I would be hard-pressed figuring out which exact spell had been cast.

I was quick on my feet and had really good reflexes, I was better off putting those to use.

From how sloppy Fodel was getting, it was clear that he had no plans to win this battle, he was prepared to go down in it as a matter of fact.

I didn't want him dead if I could help it, he would be useful in convicting the rest of the perpetrators and was also a fountain well of information.

My MP was almost at the same level as professors so I was on equal footing with him even though he had experience on me.

"Aqua Eructo." I blasted a torrent of water, the powerful whirlpool stopping Professor Drumwind from casting his next spell.

The spider was blasted back with him, I ran forward, Roxana helping to cover me from other Acromantulas as I faced off Fodel.

Professor Drumwind's wand got knocked out of his hand when they were thrown back and I used the chance to knock him back.

He slammed into a tree, groaning from the impact.

I didn't give him a chance to recover, casting the 'full body bind' and then 'Ebublio' charm to keep him contained.

With Fodel half unconscious, it seemed that his hold over the Acromantulas broke and the largest of the Acromantulas that I had blasted back with 'Aqua Eructo' immediately scrambled to its feet and tried to eat Professor Drumwind.

It wasn't successful and after a couple of stunning spells, it scrambled in the direction of the forest.

The rest of the Acromantulas who could still move followed suit, escaping back into the safety of the Forbidden Forest.

It seemed like the battle was over, there was slight confusion at the sudden retreat of the Acromantulas.

My sigh of relief however got stuck in my throat when Witter shouted Hazel's name a couple feet away from me.

If he wasn't so close to me, the sound of his panic would have gotten buried in the din.

I looked over to where he was staring at in horror and just as I feared, an Acromantula was quickly running to the forest with Hazel.

Witter immediately ran after it and I followed, Hazel didn't seem to be moving. Had she passed out cold from the sheer terror?

Running through the chaos that ensued as the Acromantulas scurried back to the safety of the forest was difficult and dangerous because the students were still trying to get a few last attacks in even as the spiders tried to drag some back into the forest with them.

We were hardly noticed by others as we shot past the first row of trees, Witter barely noticing that I had followed him.

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