"I am pleased with this development," James said, folding his hands together like he was some sort of distinguished professor.

"And… why, exactly?" asked Peter, raising an eyebrow.

"Because, Pete! Dumbledore's left, hasn't he? That gives us a chance to find out where's he been going lately?"

Peter frowned. "But… if Dumbledore's gone now… doesn't that mean he's out there now? I mean, doesn't that mean he's in the place that we want to explore?"

James frowned along with him. "Good point."

"Oh, bollocks," yawned Sirius, his body slumped over the arm of his favourite overstuffed chair. "He's probably out at the Ministry doing some political bosh."

Remus glanced at Sirius out of the corner of his eye. Peter saw him hesitate. "I don't know, Sirius. If we're caught by Dumbledore, or any other professor-"

"We could be expelled!" squeaked Peter. A fit of nervousness grew in the bottom of his stomach. The thought of Professor Dumbledore catching them sneaking out on the castle grounds after curfew was terrifying. And imagine if McGonagall caught them-!

Sirius was silenced for a few moments, but James soon came to his rescue. He bent over the side of his trunk and pulled out a bunched out ball of silvery material.

"That's why we have this!" he proclaimed, waving it about his head.

Peter had almost forgotten about the Invisibility Cloak.

"Pete! "Pete!"

"Ugh… wha…?"

"Wake up, Pete!"

"Yeah, but mind you, keep quiet!"

"What?... Why?" Peter groaned and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. It was Saturday, he knew, and he usually slept in until at least eleven. But judging by the window above James' and Sirius's grinning heads, it wasn't even 6 o'clock. In fact, it was still dark out.

"What time-" Peter began, but before he could finish, James slapped his hand over his mouth and heaved him upright.

"Hey!" Peter's voice was muffled completely, and Sirius immediately shushed him.

"Steady on, mate!"

"What's going-?"

"We're going down Matilda's passage," whispered James, heaving the Invisibility Cloak over his head and shoving them all from behind. "C'mon, let's go."

Peter watched the Cloak flutter over their heads, but was a little assured as he heard Remus say by his ear, "Don't worry, Peter. We're just going to take a peek."

They crept down the stairs to the Common Room. As they approached the Fat Lady's portrait, Peter hesitated again; James hissed in frustration.

"C'mon, Pete!"

"W-what if we get caught?"

"We won't get caught, for God's sake!" snorted James, annoyed.

"We will, if you two don't stop gaggling like some godforsaken geese," Sirius scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Sirius, I'm honestly impressed," said Remus by Peter's ear.

"Thank you."

"Shut up!" said James, nudging the portrait open.

The Fat Lady was snoring soundly. Peter was suddenly glad that she was such a heavy sleeper.

"This way," said James hoarsely, prodding Peter's back.

"We know which way it is!" snapped Sirius.

"Stop it," interjected Remus. His pale complexion looked eerie against the silvery fabric of the Invisibility Cloak. "Both of you, just shut your mouths."

Peter was surprised to see that they obeyed. Their journey down to Matilda's passage was silent and heart-pounding, pausing for a full minute if the floor creaked or if they thought they heard approaching footsteps. Peter had never felt more stressed in his life; he thought that they would never reach the hall that contained the god-ugly witch.

But, an hour later, after many twists and turn-arounds, they finally found Matilda's passage.

At once, Sirius threw off the Invisibility Cloak and strode up to her. "Hullo," he said confidently, shaking his dark brown hair out of his eyes.

Matilda's smile was reminiscent of Mona Lisa's; Peter had expected her to be asleep.

"What do you want?" Out of the corner, Peter saw Remus frown, and he knew why. Her tone sounded different from when the last time she saw them.

"Thaumatrope," said Sirius, brushing his hair out of his eyes again. He looked expectantly at Matilda, while she stared blankly back.

A minute passed. Then-

"No."

"No?" asked Sirius

"No!" repeated James, shoving his way forward towards Matilda. "That's the password: 'Thaumatrope!' You have to let us in, we've said the password!"

"That is not the password," said Matilda haughtily, looking her nose down at them. "That was never the password; who ever heard of a word that absurd: thaumatrope, it's simply ghastly. Run along, children, I have no time for your foolish pranks."

And with that she turned around and hummed tunelessly.

"Oi!" said James. "OI! We can still see you!"

Matilda ignored him and started to play with her hair.

Remus sighed. "James, this is getting us nowhere."

"What's wrong with her?" Peter wondered, staring at the back of Matilda's head. "She's… different-"

"I'll say!" snorted Sirius, sounding offended. "She's didn't even know who I was!"

James, still fuming, turned around to face the rest of them, the tips of his ears scarlet. "I'll tell you what's up," he muttered, crossing his arms. "Dumbledore's found out we've been following him, so he's put a spell on Matilda. Or changed the password. Or both."

Peter felt a fit of nervousness grow in the pit of his stomach. "But- if he's found out, why hasn't he-"

"Told anyone? I dunno," said James, his frown deepening.

"I don't like not knowing," agreed Sirius, scuffing his shoe on the stone floor.

"I don't think I want to know," said Remus all of a sudden. Peter turned towards him; Remus was clutching the Invisibility Cloak. His grey eyes looked strangely ominous. "Come on, Filch will be about, and we don't want him seeing Sirius, not after that incident with Mrs. Norris and the Droobles."

"How long did it take for him to notice Mrs. Norris was on the ceiling?"

"About five seconds, to be precise, but it took him four hours to figure out how to get her down."

Sirius chortled as they draped themselves with the Invisibility Cloak.

James, Peter noticed, was still extremely upset, and decided not to speak to him about Matilda. For the next few days, James threw out not-so-subtle hints that they should return to the passage and interrogate Matilda, but Remus quickly shot him down, saying that if Dumbledore knew they were tracking him, and if he had actually warned Matilda about them trying to follow him through the passage, then Dumbledore would have installed heightened security anyways, and they shouldn't be surprised if they came across Trick Jinxes or armed trolls.

"Shut it!" bellowed James, and retreated behind the curtains of his four-poster. Sirius rolled his eyes and followed. Peter gave Remus a helpless look, while Remus just shrugged and turned another page of his book.

Peter made a point of avoiding James for a time, as James and Sirius spent most of their time with their heads together, whispering over quills and parchment like a couple of teenage witches. He couldn't help wondering what they were doing.

"Dumbledore couldn't know, could he?" he asked Remus nervously one evening in the library.

Remus scowled for a second into his book, which surprised Peter. He'd never seen Remus scowl at a book before. "I don't know, Peter. He could… he's the greatest wizard to ever live, after all. But we've been very careful…. To be honest, I'm still finding it hard to believe that Dumbledore could be doing something as fishy as this - what is he doing in the Forbidden Forest?..." He paused for a very long while, then glanced up at Peter, looking startlingly worried. "You don't think it's anything illegal, do you?"

Peter replied that he didn't know. He understood that Remus was a huge admirer of Dumbledore, though he didn't know why. He pondered this… Remus looked rather forlorn, he thought. He wondered if it had anything to do with Dumbledore. Or… perhaps...

He spoke up. "D'you think-"

He was interrupted by a very loud bang; his view of Remus was abruptly obscured by a teetering mountain of books.

"Remus?" came an anxious voice from behind the quivering mountain.

"Hullo, Lily," replied Remus.

Huffing, Lily plopped down in the seat opposite him and gathered a few books in her arms. "You know, this is nearly impossible! It's hard enough as it is to stay on top of classes-!"

"Er- what's impossible?" Peter broke in.

"She's trying to help us figure out what happened to Paige Vaughan," Remus reminded him.

"Oh, right."

Lily nodded over at Peter, who was very glad to be involved in this secret meeting. "It was a potion; Dorcas is a genius! We had to tell a few fibs to get into the Restricted Section of the library, but-"

"Wait." Remus held up a hand, his brow furrowed. "The Restricted Section? What did you need to go there for?"

"Because," said a new voice, pulling up a chair beside Lily; Peter could only guess that it was Dorcas Meadowes. She had a pale, narrowed face with a short, freckled nose. She also wore little bells on her ears. "We searched the library from top to bottom for hours on end every night for the past week, and we couldn't find a thing - it was hopeless - but then I remembered Professor Slughorn mentioning the Restricted Section one class in October… he said that they had loads of Potions books there!"

"So you went there, snatched a few," Peter deduced. "But how…" His voice faded as Madam Pince, the wizened and wrinkled caretaker of the library passed by them. She eyed the precarious pile stacked on their table, and, for a moment, she hissed and spluttered in protest. Peter lowered his voice. "How did you manage it?"

"Easy," announced the boisterous voice of Marlene McKinnon; she was leaning on the back of Dorcas's chair. "We asked Slughorn."

"And Slughorn let you?" Remus's voice was riddled with disbelief.

"Well-" began Lily.

"Are you kidding? Slughorn adores her," gushed Marlene. "They should get married. All it took was one signature, and it was a cinch."

Remus still looked impressed. "What did you find out?"

"Lily told you, it was a potion," whispered Dorcas, biting her cheek. "I read up on it - there's so many nasty books - I don't understand it! There's a lot of components, easy to find, I think, Hagrid told me he's seen plenty of Fluxweed and Nightshade in the Forbidden Forest… lots of herbology, going by what Lily told me-"

"And we were in the Herbology Greenhouse," muttered Remus.

"You don't think it was administered in the Greenhouse?" Lily looked aghast at the idea, but Dorcas shook her head.

"No, she would have to drink it beforehand - two to three hours before! But if someone snuck it into her drink, I don't know how she wouldn't have noticed… judging by what's in it, it's bound to taste worse than Polyjuice Potion…!"

She stopped, suddenly, and turned white. Peter knew why. Madam Pince was stalking up to their table, hissing like an angry cat.

"Oh, God," said Lily. She sounded more annoyed than frightened.

"What's this?" choked Madam Pince, seizing a particularly fat book atop the pile. Holding it inches away from her square spectacles, she gave a shriek of horror that sent Peter tumbling off his chair onto the floor.

"Steady on!" shouted Marlene.

"Befouled!" Madam Pince screamed; to Peter she sounded like she was gargling marbles. "Beriddled! Bespoiled! Return those at once!" Immediately, she started scooping the books into her arms. Amidst the struggle, Peter managed to glimpse one of the covers of the books: Moste Potente Potions.

"No!" protested Dorcas, wrestling a couple away. "We're not finished!"

"Absolutely disgraceful! Disgusting!" frothed Pince, yanking them away. She looked rather odd, with a mountain of books in her stick-arms, but she managed to stumble away, sagging under the weight of them.

"God," muttered Marlene. "I hate her."

There was a sudden crash: Remus jumped, and Lily yelped, and they all saw Madam Pince rush out the door like she was running a marathon, clutching a few books to her chest. In seconds, she was out the door.

Five mouths dropped open.

"Is she always that strange?"

"She's a natural sprinter, looks like."

"Batty," mouthed Marlene, grinning. "She's as mad as a bat."

"Gone off her rocker," agreed Peter.

Remus leaned into his hands, his elbow almost sliding off the edge of the table. "There's something not right here," he groaned, rubbing his forehead with the other hand. "Not right at all…"

Remus first said it in their dormitory.

"I think Paige's incident and Dumbledore disappearing are connected," blurted out Remus.

Peter froze. "How?"

"Think about it," Remus sputtered, "Paige Vaughan acts strangely, Professor Sprout Petrifies her and we don't hear about it again! Couple days later - we see Dumbledore go into the Forbidden Forest, alone. We know he takes a secret passage, it's probably because he doesn't want anyone to see him. Then, today, Dorcas said the potion had ingredients - Nightshade, Fluxweed… - that were in the Forbidden Forest! So…"

"So…" Peter continued. "You're saying that Dumbledore went into the Forest, made a crazy potion, came back, somehow gave it to Paige, then went back into the Forbidden Forest to collect more ingredients for more crazy potion?" He rolled anmEvery Flavour Bean between his fingers. "Uh… I dunno, Remus. Sounds a little…"

"Far-fetched?" asked James, who was laying on his four-poster with his arms behind his head. "I don't think so. Makes perfect sense to me."

"And me," piped up Sirius.

"What?" cried Peter, gagging on an Every Flavour Bean. He hated being the only one defending his ideas. "How-?"

"Oh, it's a good theory," said James to the ceiling. "It just needs solid proof."

"I don't want proof!" said Remus immediately; Peter was quick to notice the worry in his eyes. "I want to prove that he didn't do it!"

"You want to prove that Dumbledore isn't sneaking off to the woods to make potions that are poisoning kids," said Sirius, grinning. "Easy enough."

Remus frowned him. "Sirius. What are you thinking?"

Sirius flashed a smile and winked. "Fancy a visit to Hagrid's?"

Peter felt stupid.

"This is really, really easy," he mumbled they all strode down the main hall.

"Too easy," grumbled Remus.

James grinned back at them. "Ah, don't worry about it, Remus. Sometimes it takes a genius to see the obvious."

"Thanks, James," said Sirius.

"You're welcome."

Sirius had thought of something truly ingenious, even if it was the most obvious thing in the world. James had gotten an Invisibility Cloak for Christmas: why not use it? After classes ended, they would simply cover themselves with said Invisibility Cloak, easily slip out the main doors, and make their way down to Hagrid's hut. It was close enough to the Forbidden Forest so that they could head that way effortlessly without Hagrid getting that suspicious.

"This was a really good idea, Sirius," Peter emphasized.

Sirius beamed. "Why, thanks Pete."

Remus snorted as the main doors leading out of Hogwarts came into view.

"Well, someone's jealous," muttered Sirius, rolling his eyes. "You're not the only smart one here, you know."

"Guys!" hissed James, shoving the doors open.

Silently, they slipped past the doors and into the cool spring evening. Even if Filch had been lingering near there, he wouldn't have noticed; they were too quiet. Peter felt unnaturally proud of himself. Usually he had the grace of a bull in a china shop.

In fact, everything went smoothly for the next half-hour.

Hagrid was cheerful and welcoming. With a jolly, "Why, hullo there!" as he opened the door of his hut, he reminded Peter of a less portly, but slightly more dangerous-looking Santa Claus. Peter liked him well enough, but he couldn't help but be a bit intimidated. The only one who looked completely comfortable was Sirius, who immediately seated himself between the huge Groundskeeper and his enormous boarhound, a wolf-like creature Hagrid called "Fang." Peter made sure to keep as far away from it as possible.

Hagrid was as talkative as he was friendly, so they were there for a while, listening to him ramble on about odds and ends while trying to keep Fang's drooling head off of them at all times.

"So, Hagrid!" Sirius finally said, somehow managing to chew and swallow a brick-like biscuit Hagrid had given him. "We're thinking of exploring the Forbidden Forest sometime. What paths do you recommend we take?"

Remus choked a little; Peter shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He hadn't expected Sirius to be this blunt.

Hagrid's smile faltered a little. "The forest, eh? Y'know, Professor Dumbledore made it clear t'me that nobody's supposed to go in there… not even meself, and that's me own job, y'see…"

"Yes, well-" James interrupted, "Sirius put it wrong, Hagrid, he's a bit hard of hearing-"

"What?" Sirius asked, frowning.

"Proves my point," said James briskly. Hagrid raised an eyebrow. "You see, Hagrid, Professor Dumbledore took a trip into the forest recently, and he… ah…"

"He what?" asked Hagrid, leaning forward.

"He… ah… lost something! He lost something important."

"Ah!" grunted Hagrid, shifting his generous weight in his chair. "Not something too important I hope."

"Not that important," James assured him. "Just a thaumatrope."

James was good. Peter bit his lip as Hagrid scratched his beard thoughtfully. "Hmph. I dunno wot that is, but it sounds pretty important."

Sirius nodded earnestly. "It is. And it's really important to Professor Dumbledore as well… he forgot it, you see, the other day, when he went into the forest to speak to the… the…

"Unicorns?" suggested Peter.

"Centaurs," said Remus confidently. "Professor Dumbledore wanted to speak to the centaurs about their stand on the law recently passed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and how it categorized their sort as having 'near-human' intelligence-"

"I expect so!" rumbled Hagrid angrily, rising from him chair. "'Near-human' intelligence - I've never heard of such bosh!"

Peter began to catch on. "Dumbledore must agree with you… a-and that's why he left s-so all of a sudden; he wanted to appeal to the Ministry-"

"On behalf of the centaurs," Remus finished. James and Sirius gaped at him. "Please let us go, Hagrid. We'll be in and out in a flash, we promise."

Hagrid narrowed his beetle-black eyes at them. "Promise, eh?"

They all nodded; Peter swallowed as a nervous silence overtook the room. Hagrid squinted harder.

"A'right then!" he boomed, seizing all eight of their hands in a handshake that nearly wrenched their arms off. "A promise it is! But just remember -" He lowered his voice. "It can get awful scary in that forest, especially fer people yer size… take Fang, a'right? He's a ruddy coward, but he'll scare a great lot o'them creatures away, I reckon."

"Alright," said Sirus, dragging Fang over to the door with them. "Thanks, Hagrid. We'll be back before you know it."

"Be careful, a'right?" called Hagrid.

"We will!" James yelled, sprinting towards the forest, with Sirius and Fang in hot pursuit.

"Can I ask one thing? Where'd you learn all that Ministry mumbo-jumbo?"

"My dad works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He talks about his job often. I find it interesting."

"If by interesting, you mean mind - bogglingly boring, then yes, I quite agree."

"Well, I think our cover story was very well-put together, if I say so myself."

"I'd say so."

"Me too."

"Yes," sighed Remus. "We are all disturbingly good liars."

"Remus, you didn't even lie," James yawned, lifting his already-lit wand aloft. "You just spouted some nonsense about some Department in Controlling Dangerous Animals-"

"The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, you mean? And I did lie, I said Dumbledore was talking to centaurs in the Forbidden Forest."

Peter glanced overheard, expecting to see silhouette of leafy branches, but instead was met with an inky blackness - the trees were so thick they completely covered the sky.

"Do you think centaurs even live here?" he gulped, scanning the wood around him. Twisted grey bark dotted with knotholes and -

"Look!" gasped Sirius, dragging Fang towards a nearby tree. This one was strangely marked, with long thin scratches across its already pitted surface. "Claw marks!"

Just the sight of them made Peter tremble. "W-w-what do you reckon made those, S-Sirius?" he stuttered.

"Oh, I dunno Pete," said Sirius casually, turning towards him. "Maybe…" he paused for a moment, before jumping at Peter and yelling, "WEREWOLVES!"

Peter thought he was going to have a heart attack - he yelled almost as loud as Sirius and fell backwards into Remus. Sirius and James broke down laughing.

"Bloody hell… That wasn't funny!" insisted Peter, feeling his face warm up as he stood upright.

"Yeah, it was," chuckled James, wiping away tears.

"But don't worry, Pete!" said Sirius, still rolling around on the ground. "We have Fang to protect us!"

"Fang won't be able to protect you against werewolves," Remus said darkly. Peter saw him in the light of James's wand; he was an unearthly white that was practically translucent. James and Sirius must've seen him too, because they immediately grew silent.

"Let's keep going," muttered Remus, snatching Fang's leash from stared blankly at James and Sirius, who stared blankly back. Then, they all followed, James falling in behind Remus with the light.

The uncomfortable silence remained for a while, broken only a few times by creaking branches and Fang's pants. The only thing Peter could really see was the back of Remus's neck, which was dotted by a few freckles and was as white as a T-shirt.

They kept walking.

"Does anyone actually know where we're going?" asked Sirius. No one answered, so they just kept walking.

"Remus?" asked James quietly. "D...Did something happen to y-"

"My dad knew a fellow," said Remus sharply. "A family friend, that got bitten by a werewolf. My dad told stories. That's it, really."

"Alright," said James gently, using a tone Peter had never heard him use before.

It was another minute before Remus audibly murmured, "And I'm really not fond of them."

"That's okay, Remus," said Peter, jogging a little to stay in pace with Remus's long stride. "I'm not fond of turtlenecks."

Remus, to Peter's surprise, cracked a smile and laughed out loud. "Well, thank God for you anyways, Peter."

"Does anyone actually know where we're going?" demanded Sirius from the back of the group.

"Oomph!" One minute Peter was standing, the next, he had a faceful of dirt and grass.

"Pete!" James was crouching down beside him. "You alright, mate?"

"Ghh… yeah…" muttered Peter, stumbling to his feet. "Just tripped…. Over a tree root, I think…"

James shone his wand down to where Peter had fallen.

"That's not a tree root," Sirius said, snatching it up from the ground. Peter saw it in the wandlight - it was a book. Earthy in color, covered in dirt, worn leather and metal clasps. Sirius blew on the cover.

"Moste Potente Potions!" Peter read excitedly. "Remus!"

"Madam Pince!" gasped Remus. "But why would she-?"

"Unless she and Dumbledore-" Peter started.

"But that would mean…" Remus frowned deeply. "That wouldn't be good. Come on. We must be close then."

"No, no, no, you ninnes," Sirius chided. "What the hell was that all about?"

"Madam Pince!" said Peter, red in the cheeks. "Remus, Lily, Marlene, Dorcas and I were in the library, reading up on different potions that could've been used-"

"To curse Paige," Remus continued. "Dorcas had gotten a lot of books, and Madam Pince got angry, God knows why-"

"And she started taking them away, but then she just - suddenly - grabbed a few and ran out like Satan was chasing her," finished Peter, a little breathless.

James and Sirius just stared at them, but not in awe or amazement. To Peter's surprise, they looked quite angry.

"It didn't occur to you to tell either of us?" James asked furiously.

"Well, we didn't really have time, did we?" shot back Remus.

"Are you kidding me?" said Sirius, eyebrows furrowed. "You had time to talk it over with Evans, I'm guessing-"

"She was there, of course we did-"

"And you two weren't exactly inclusive in your little plots, were you?"

"Oh, excuse me, I don't remember you ever being brave enough, Pete-"

"Stop making excuses, we all know you're keeping something from us-"

"What could I possibly be keeping-"

"I can't believe you wouldn't tell us-"

"Oh, I'm sorry I don't tell you everything I do in every minute of every day!"

"You're just a big- "

Remus had to stop mid-sentence; Fang had pulled away with such force that the leash had slipped from Remus's grasp. The boarhound bounded away, howling, the leash snaking away behind him.

"What? Fang! Come back!" shouted Remus.

"What do you think made him run awa-" James stopped mid-sentence as he turned, and his mouth hung upon. Sweat visibly appeared on Sirius' brow, and Peter suddenly lost the ability to stand.

Five gigantic spiders had convened behind them. Five enormous spiders, disgustingly hairy and alien-looking, clicking and clacking their pinchers and hissing like snakes. Forty red eyes glared into the wandlight, but they didn't move.

"God," Sirius whispered, leaning against a tree for support. "Acromantulas."

"Good! Good!" came five wheezing voices. "You know of us, and we know of you."

James exchanged worried glances with Remus, who was frozen with terror, before stuttering, "Y-y-you do?"

"Yes," said one, advancing a little. Peter hands shook uncontrollably. "Wizards. Good for eating. It is lucky that we found you."

"Yes! Yes!" echoed the other four.

Peter was more than scared, he was terrified. Every inch of his being was screaming, panicking, telling him to abandon everyone and everything and run for his life. But he couldn't. His muscles weren't working. He was too frightened.

"This is all Hagrid's fault," muttered Sirius to himself. But Peter heard, and the Acromantulas must have heard to, because they perked up all together and whispered,

"Hagrid?"

Sirius turned white, but didn't say anything else. The spiders hissed quietly and stamped their legs on the leafy ground, but didn't advance, like Peter had thought they would.

Finally, one of the spiders spoke.

"Fools!" it rasped. "These creatures cannot know Hagrid! If they did, they would know about Aragog!"

"Aragog!" shouted James suddenly. "I know about him!"

The spiders retreated a few feet, still wheezing and hissing with confusion.

"Why are you here?" Two of them asked in unison.

"Hagrid left something here," said James shakily, gesturing to the book under Sirius's arm. "Just a book.. You know… about-"

"Magic," Sirius said weakly.

"Yes," said James. "So, if y-you don't mind, we'll be on our w-w-way now…"

The spiders narrowed their eyes at them. Peter had been holding his breath so long it hurt. Had it worked? Were the Acromantulas actually going to let them go unscathed?

"They know of Hagrid," one of the spiders was saying to its brethren.

"They know of his interest with magic. If we harm them, Aragog will not be pleased."

"What Aragog does not know will not harm him," another croaked.

"We will not disobey Aragog," murmured a third. "Our obedience must be absolute."

After what seemed like hours of whispering, the largest spider advanced towards them. It was even more disgusting up close: it smelled like dead rats and rotting flesh. Peter suddenly felt faint.

"We will release you," it gasped. "But do not set foot in our territory again. Otherwise, you will have to answer to Aragog."

"Fair enough," said James, some of his old confidence returning to him.

"Do not test our-" The spider froze, mere inches away from them. (Peter could have reached out and grabbed hold of one of their legs, though his fingers wouldn't have been able to go all the way around.) Its eyes rolled around in its ugly head before it hissed, "It is here."

The spiders erupted in a panic, and the hissing seemed to come from all sides; they stamped their feet like they were going to charge, and white foam bubbled from their mouths as they wailed angrily, "It is here! It is here!"

They made a racket so stupendous that Peter was forced to clamp his hands over his ears.

"What did you do?" shouted Sirius to James.

"Have you come to kill us, monster?" The spiders wheezed, clicking and clacking their pinches. "The moon is not yet full!"

"What?" screamed Peter.

"God!" cried James, stuffing his fingers in his ears. "What happened? What did we do?"

The spiders made a high-pitched hissing, whistling noise through their pinchers, a sound Peter guessed was supposed to be laughter. "We hear your screams!" they rasped together loudly. "We hear your pain, monster-"

"Where is it?" yelled Sirius, spinning around in a circle. "Where's the monster?"

"LUMOS MAXIMA!" shouted someone behind them; Peter turned, it was Remus, pale and glassy-eyed, holding out his hand in front of him and clutching it like a lifeline-

And Peter was blinded. A circle of the brightest light Peter had ever seen shot out of it like a beacon and washed over them all - the spiders shrieked and stamped and covered their eyes - Peter felt like his eyes were going to burn out of their sockets-

Then it was over. Peter opened his eyes. James and Sirius were rubbing their eyes and blinking, and the Acromantulas were hissing and grunting, trying to get used to the darkness again.

There was a hand on Peter's shoulder. Peter yelped and shirked away-

"Remus!" he choked.

"We need to run," Remus instructed him shakily, hoisting Peter to his feet. James and Sirius looked on, as the spiders shook their enormous heads and wheezed angrily at the four of them, pinchers opening to reveal a gaping, frothing maw with pointed fangs.

"Remus…" started Sirius, stumbling to his feet.

"Run," gasped Remus, stowing his wand in his sweatshirt. "For God's sake, run!"