The Boy Who Couldn't See: Year 2

Aragog

Harry takes a deep breath and straightens his robes. "I'm going to work with Ron today, Neville, but I will work with you in our next Herbology class."

"Oh, that's fine, Nev can just work with Hannah, can't he?" Seamus says.

"Shut up, Seamus," Neville hisses.

"Right, I'm sure she'd be super glad to work with Professor Sprout's little prodigy," Dean teases.

"That's not funny!" Neville exclaims while Seamus snickers.

The happy mood quickly vanishes once they reach the greenhouses. With Hermione and Justin gone, the class is very subdued.

Professor Sprout sets them to work pruning the Abyssinian Shrivelfigs, something Harry isn't bad at because the withered stalks feel different than the still alive ones. He's just going to throw an armfull into the compost pile when Ron suddenly grabs his wrist tightly. Harry is just about to ask him what his problem is when a voice starts talking.

"I just want to say, Harry, that I'm sorry I ever suspected you. I know you'd never attack Hermione Granger, and I apologize for all the stuff I said. We're all in the same boat now, and, well —"

There's a beat of silence.

"Right," Harry says awkwardly. He passes the withered stalks to Ron and then holds his hand out. Ernie takes it.

Ernie and the same Hannah that Dean and Seamus had been teasing Neville about come join Harry and Ron at their Shrivelfig and begin to help them.

"That Draco Malfoy character," Ernie says, "he seems very pleased about all this, doesn't he? D'you know, I think he might be Slytherin's heir."

"That's clever of you," Ron says stiffly.

"Do you think it's Malfoy, Harry?" Ernie asks.

"No," Harry says firmly, sending a glare in Ron's direction. Ron takes a step away from him and Harry jumps probably a foot in the air when Ron gasps and presses himself against Harry's side quickly. "What are you —"

"Spiders," Ron hisses, sounding very irked.

Harry perks up, "Really? Where are they headed?"

Ron takes a moment and then he makes a strangled noise in the back on his throat. "The forest..."

"Wicked."

"Harry."

At the end of class, Professor Sprout leads them back up to the castle for the DADA lesson. Harry and Ron lag behind so they can talk.

"We'll have to use the Invisibility Cloak," Harry whispers. "And we can bring Fang. I'm sure he'd like to go on a walk, and he usually goes into the forest with Hagrid so he might be some help, y'know?"

"Right," Ron says. "And, uh, what happens when we don't find any spiders to follow?"

"We try again later," Harry says. "Ron, I would do this by myself if I could, but I can't. I know you don't like spiders" — Ron scoffs — "but think about Hermione! If she wakes up and finds out we've done nothing when we could've done something, she'll be pissed with us! Dealing with a pissed Hermione when exams are this close is not high on the list of things I want to do right now."

"I'd take a pissed Hermione over following spiders into the Forbidden Forest when just last year around the same time, you came across You-Know-Who in the same forest!" Ron hisses.

"It doesn't have the same scare factor when you don't say his name, Ronald," Harry says. Ron groans. "Look, if you don't want to go, fine by me, but I'm going and I'm sure you'd be pleased to let your best friend wander into the Forbidden Forest looking for spiders when he can't even see."