Hogwarts: Oh no, I've become Voldemort!

“Of course,” Ron said suddenly as they strode across the dark grass, “we might not find anything to follow once we get into the woods. Those spiders probably didn’t even go there. I know they seemed to be moving in that direction, but…”

He didn't finish his sentence, leaving Harry with a glimmer of hope.

They arrived at Hagrid's cabin and looked sadly at the dark, empty windows.

Harry pushed the door open, and as soon as Baa saw them, he was overjoyed and jumped around excitedly.

Cyrus, fearing its deep, booming barks would wake the people in the castle, didn't hesitate to cast a spell on it, silencing it.

Harry placed the Invisibility Cloak on Hagrid's table.

“You also need to break the spell, then we won’t need invisibility when we get to the Forbidden Forest,” Harry said. “Come on, Toothpick, let’s go for a walk.”

The three people left with a dog.

Cyrus walked at the very back, looking at the invisibility cloak that Harry had placed on the table—the legendary Deathly Hallows.

Finally, he slowly closed the door.

Thank you for your 1000-point reward to Mingyue Mujixu. I checked with the editor today, and they said it can be released on Friday. There will be five chapters on the release day, plus the rewards from all of you. I'll add an extra chapter for every 10,000 points accumulated, so there should be a total of ten chapters.

Chapter 73 Forbidden Forest

The area near the Forbidden Forest seemed even darker than inside the castle; the entire sky was covered by a huge black cloth, obscuring the stars and moon, and there was no light at all.

Cyrus took out his wand and murmured, "Flash!" A thin beam of light emanated from the tip of the wand. He could have made it brighter, enough to illuminate the entire forest, but that would have been far too conspicuous. As it was, it was just enough for them to spot any spiders on the path.

Harry followed suit.

“Good idea,” Ron said enviously. “I’d like my wand to light up too, but you know, it can explode if you’re not careful…”

“Don’t worry, I think Mr. and Mrs. Weasley will definitely buy you a new one during your summer vacation. Then you can just say that the wand was broken while looking for a successor,” Cyrus comforted him.

“Great idea, Mr. Riddle!” Ron’s eyes lit up. He hadn’t told his family about his broken wand yet.

Just then, Harry patted them on the shoulder and pointed to the grass. Two lone spiders were hurrying away from the light of the wand, disappearing into the shadows of the trees.

"As expected, even spiders have entered the Forbidden Forest."

“Well,” Ron sighed, seemingly resigned to the worst, “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

So they went into the Forbidden Forest, with Toothbrush hopping and skipping around them, sniffing the roots and leaves along the way.

By the light of Cyrus and Harry's wands, they followed the spider that was constantly crawling along the path.

They walked for about twenty minutes without speaking, listening intently for any other sounds besides the snapping of branches and the rustling of leaves. Then, the trees grew denser, and the stars overhead disappeared. Their wands glowed faintly in the boundless darkness, like two feeble fireflies.

“They’ve left the road,” Cyrus said softly, stretching out his arm so the cold light shone on the ground.

Harry stopped, trying to see where the spider was moving, but beyond the area illuminated by that faint light lay utter darkness. He had never ventured so deep into the Forbidden Forest before.

“The Forbidden Forest is already dangerous, but at least Haig often moves around on the roads, and there are also signs of centaurs. But once you stray from the forest trails, who knows what you’ll encounter?” Cyrus warned.

His words made Ron even more uneasy.

Harry also clearly remembered that the last time he entered the woods, Hagrid had warned him not to stray from the path. But Hagrid was now thousands of miles away, probably sitting in his cell in Azkaban, and he had also said to follow the spider.

“Let’s go, I believe in Hagrid!” Harry said firmly. In fact, there was no other way but to believe in Hagrid now.

“Hagrid is trustworthy, but…” Cyrus pursed his lips and stepped forward first.

“What are your thoughts?” Harry asked Ron. He could see the glint of his wand reflected in Ron’s eyes; Ron seemed hesitant to speak.

“I just wanted to say that perhaps Mr. Riddle is right. It’s not that I don’t trust Hagrid, it’s just that Hagrid might not think the Forbidden Forest is that dangerous,” Ron said tremulously. “But it’s different for us. He thought the dragon was just playing with him when it bit him. But do you know how long my hand swelled up after Norbert bit me?”

“But Mr. Riddle is almost gone,” Harry said helplessly. “Think of Hermione, we have to save her!”

“Alright!” Ron took a breath. “For Hermione!”

So they followed Cyrus's shadow into the thicket.

The paths in the forbidden forest were difficult to traverse. It was a remote place, with tree roots and stumps everywhere blocking the way. To make matters worse, visibility was so poor at night that they could barely see the obstacles on the path.

After a while, they noticed that the ground seemed to be sloping downwards, even though the trees were still as lush as before.

"We walked for at least half an hour."

His and Harry's clothes were constantly caught on low branches and thorny vines, making them look a bit disheveled, while Cyrus walked along as if he were taking a stroll on a Quidditch pitch.

But at least they didn't encounter any other dangers along the way.

“These spiders are pretty smart; at least they know how to avoid danger,” Ron said, swallowing hard.

“Or—maybe nothing else dares to come near here.” Cyrus’s eyes gleamed.

Without a doubt, this small area is already the territory of the eight-eyed giant spiders, and no magical creature would be so foolish as to come here and become their dinner.

“What? Don’t scare me!” Ron said, trembling.

Suddenly, Toothpick became agitated, curling its tail in fear. It couldn't make a sound, only whimpering, but it still made a lot of noise, scaring Harry and Ron out of their wits.

"What is that?" Ron shouted, peering into the darkness while gripping Harry's elbow tightly.

“There’s something moving over there,” Harry said breathlessly. “It sounds like… a big guy.”

They listened intently. Some distance to their right, the large thing was carving a path through the bushes, snapping countless branches in its path.

They stood there, waiting in terror, the darkness seeming to oppress their eyes. Cyrus, however, was not afraid at all, for he knew what was there.

"Alright, there's nothing there. It's not a monster, it's just the car you used to drive when you were going to school."

As soon as Cyrus finished speaking, a dazzling light immediately shone to their right, blinding them in the darkness.

Harry and Ron both raised their hands to cover their eyes. Toothy roared and tried to run away, but tripped over a patch of thorns and rolled around on the ground.

"Quiet down!" Cyrus cast another spell on it to calm it down.

The car is coming.

"The car?" Ron's voice choked with relief. "It really is our car!"

Harry and Ron followed Cyrus, stumbling and falling as they made their way toward the light. After a while, they came to an open space.

Mr. Weasley's car was parked in the middle of a dense circle of trees, their branches intertwined overhead. The car was empty, its headlights gleaming. As Ron walked toward it with his mouth agape, the car slowly moved toward him, like a large, green dog welcoming its master.

"So it's always been here!" Ron said excitedly, walking around the car. "Look at it, the woods have turned it wild..."

“In the Muggle world, this is practically a total wreck. But this car seems to have undergone some magical modifications; to be honest, it can still run.” Cyrus was actually quite interested.

The existence of magically modified vehicles demonstrates that technology and magic are not entirely separate. Perhaps he can modify something else entirely, such as—a Gatling gun killing curse?

He shuddered; this was far too evil.

The car's wings were torn and covered in mud. Tooth seemed utterly uninterested; it stayed close to Harry, cautiously eyeing Cyrus—the terrible wizard who had cast two spells on it!

Harry could feel it trembling.

Now, Harry and Ron's breathing gradually calmed down.

“We thought it was going to attack us!” Ron said, leaning against the car and patting it. “I had no idea where it went!”

But Harry had no time to pay attention to the car. He squinted, continuing to search for the spiders' shadows on the ground illuminated by the lights, but they all hurriedly avoided the glaring headlights and disappeared.

“We’ve lost track of them,” he said. He was more interested in finding the spider than a car. “Let’s go, don’t waste any more time here.”

But Ron suddenly stopped talking and didn't move.

His eyes were fixed on the spot ten feet above the ground behind Harry, his face ashen, a testament to his sheer terror.

“Looks like we don’t need to look anymore.” Cyrus raised his wand, looked up, and saw several enormous eight-eyed spiders staring greedily at them.

He initially intended to eliminate them directly, but after thinking about it, he decided against it.

Instead, he watched helplessly as Harry and Ron were lifted up by their massive jaws and dangled in mid-air. He gave up resisting and let the monsters drag them into the dark thicket.

Chapter 74 Aragog

Cyrus had no idea how long he had been trapped in the animal's claws.

All he knew was that the darkness seemed to have receded somewhat, and he saw that the ground, once covered in fallen leaves, was now teeming with spiders. He turned his neck and found that they had reached the edge of a wide hollow, where the trees had been cleared. The clouds in the sky parted a little, and the stars illuminated the eerie and terrifying scene.

spider.

Unlike the small spiders that scurried about among the fallen leaves below, each one was as big as a horse pulling a cart, with eight eyes and eight legs, dark and hairy, a truly enormous creature.

The giant spider carrying Cyrus and his companions descended the steep slope towards a misty, hemispherical web in the center of the depression, surrounded by its companions. Upon seeing what it had grasped, they excitedly twitched their large pincers, producing a series of clicking sounds.

The spider released its grip, and Cyrus flicked his wand lightly, landing smoothly like a cat. Harry and Ron, however, weren't so lucky; the two of them, along with the dog, crashed heavily to the ground at his feet.

Toothpick cowered in fear, seemingly playing dead. Ron and Harry's mouths were wide open, as if they were emitting silent screams, their eyes bulging outwards.

Letting him pass out now might be a little better than him being awake.

"Are you alright?" Cyrus asked in a low voice.

"fine……"

“What do you think? We’re going to die!” Ron’s voice was hoarse.

Just then, the spider that had led them there made a loud noise, and Cyrus realized it was actually speaking human language. It wasn't easy to understand because it clicked and smacked its large pincers with every word it spoke.

However, as a magical creature, the eight-eyed giant spider can speak and possesses considerable intelligence; Cyrus even suspects they might be slightly smarter than Hagrid. This almost qualifies them as a demi-human species. Even dragons, after all, cannot speak.

"Aragok!" it cried. "Aragok!"