126: Chapter 126 The Spider's Path

"Are you really planning to let them enter the Forbidden Forest? Allen, it's full of Acromantulas in there!"

Draco lowered his voice, his fingers tapping the silver spoon noisily. The fireplace in the Slytherin Common Room was burning low, and the water's reflection clung to the window; outside, the Black Lake lay submerged on the other side of the stone wall, like lead pressing against one's throat.

Nott closed his small notebook, his fingertips pressing against a new mark. "Potter and Ron are wearing the invisibility cloak, coming down from Gryffindor Tower, bypassing Professor McGonagall's patrol, and heading toward the entrance hall. Before Hagrid was taken away, he said to follow the spiders."

Zabini looked at Allen. "Are you going to stop them?"

Allen leaned back in the armchair, his blackthorn wand hidden under his sleeve. "If I stop them, they'll just find another way. Letting the spiders give them the answer is safer than me writing a note."

Draco cursed, his voice stuck between his teeth. "Safe? Acromantulas eat people!"

"They won't eat Harry." Allen raised his eyes. "He has destiny, he has the invisibility cloak, and he has Ron's audacity, which is loud enough for the entire forest to hear."

Crabbe, holding a pumpkin pasty, was stunned for a long time. "Does that count as a merit?"

"It counts as an alarm," Pansy replied coldly, her gaze lingering on Allen's face. "Your complexion is worse than last night. If you collapse in the Common Room again, don't expect me to explain to the girls how reasonable it is for you to be sleeping on the sofa."

Draco turned to glare at her. "Is now the time for this?"

"Now is exactly the time." Pansy pulled her shawl tighter. "Every time he says he'll let others do dangerous things, he ends up risking his own life to plug the loopholes."

Allen didn't refute. He reached out and touched a knut on the table, his fingertips pressing against the edge of the coin, and the entrance to the Portable Space opened to the width of a fingernail inside his sleeve.

Inside the Portable Space, the Void coiled over the golden-patterned map, its silver pupils fixed on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Beside the ebony box, the blue light of the cracked pocket watch was very faint; the golden thread on the north side was not moving toward the Chamber of Secrets, only glowing faintly at the edge of Hogwarts.

"Void, outer edge of the Forbidden Forest."

The black snake-tail pointed down, and three bright spots appeared on the map: the Castle entrance hall, the gamekeeper's hut, and the old spider path on the east side of the Forbidden Forest.

Nott couldn't see the image inside the space, but he could understand the timing of Allen's pause. He pushed his notebook closer. "I had a portrait on the Third Floor keep an eye on the entrance hall. The portrait said Harry and Ron have already gone out, and Ron is holding his wand, his hand shaking violently."

Draco stood up immediately. "I'll go notify Snape."

Allen flicked a knut to his feet; the coin landed without a sound, yet it stopped Draco's steps.

"Sit down."

Draco turned back, his expression ugly. "You still want to wait?"

"If Snape goes, the spiders will scatter, and Aragog won't speak. Harry won't get the clue about Myrtle, and the location of the entrance will be delayed by a day or even longer."

"Ginny won't last that long."

"That's why Harry needs to get the answer tonight." Allen raised his eyes. "If you want to save someone, don't block the path."

Draco's chest heaved, and finally, he grabbed the back of his chair and sat back down, the wood creaking under his grip. "You'd better have calculated this right."

"I calculate for the Basilisk, not for the jaws of spiders." Allen closed his eyes. "Nott, the entrance hall. Zabini, the Board of Governors. Pansy, check if there are any rumors about Ginny before she went missing on the girls' side. Draco, go back to arguing about homework; don't let Flint think we're too quiet."

Flint looked up from not far away. "Malfoy, what are you lot whispering about again?"

Draco turned and started cursing. "Whispering about how your Potion essay looks like the footprints of a Troll. What, do you want me to read it out for you?"

A few people in the Common Room laughed out loud. Flint stood up halfway, then remembered Snape's recent temper and sat back down stiffly.

Allen pressed his consciousness into the Portable Space. The fluctuations at the edge of the Forbidden Forest unfolded layer by layer; the vibration of spider legs stepping over dead branches was amplified by his Spatial Perception, like dense needles walking across the map.

"There are too many." Peter was un-silenced for three seconds, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "Acromantulas live in colonies. Aragog is old, but his children will eat living things. Harry and Ron will be surrounded."

"They will escape."

"On what basis?"

"The Ford Anglia is in the Forbidden Forest." Allen sealed the silencing spell again. "The Weasley Family's broken car is more reliable than many Professors tonight."

Peter opened his mouth, but his voice was pressed back into his throat by the space. He shrank into the corner of the cage, not daring to gesture anymore.

Time slipped away bit by bit. In the Common Room, Draco deliberately argued with Flint for two rounds, Pansy went to the girls' side to take a look, Zabini received a short message from the direction of the Three Broomsticks, and Lucius was still waiting for news from the school. Nott wrote a line every ten minutes, his handwriting getting tighter and tighter.

"The portrait in the entrance hall says no Professors have been dispatched."

"The Fat Lady is changing shifts; no one in Gryffindor Tower has discovered they are missing."

"There are headlights in the direction of the Forbidden Forest." Nott stopped writing and looked up. "The portrait could only see a flash outside the window, like Muggle headlights."

Draco looked sharply at Allen.

Allen opened his eyes. "They've started running."

Inside the Portable Space, the Void's tail whipped against the map. The spider swarm on the east side of the Forbidden Forest suddenly fell into chaos. A crude, mechanical Muggle magical force rushed out of the encirclement, tires snapping tree roots, and the metal car body carried the two students as it crashed out of the spider swarm.

"They're alive." Allen narrowed the entrance to the space. "Direction: Castle."

Draco let out a breath, then immediately tightened his face again. "Did they get the clue?"

"Wait for them to speak."

Before dawn, Nott brought back news: Harry and Ron had returned to the Castle from the direction of the gamekeeper's hut. Both of them were covered in mud, Ron could barely stand, and Harry kept repeating a few words.

"Not spiders, the girl died in the lavatory, a ghost."

Nott finished speaking, and the corner of the Common Room went quiet. A piece of charcoal collapsed in the fireplace, sparks jumped up, but were quickly suppressed by the damp air.

Draco looked at Allen. "Myrtle."

"Second Floor Girls Lavatory." Zabini tucked the silver spoon into his sleeve. "The entrance."

Pansy said in a low voice, "They finally caught up."

Allen picked up the parchment and drew a line connecting the four words: Aragog, Myrtle, Girls Lavatory, and Harry.

Inside the Portable Space, the cracked pocket watch clicked. The golden pattern on the north side lit up, and the image of the Hogwarts underground waterways folded inward, like the mouth of a hunter's net finally tightening.

"Harry has already obtained the location of the entrance." Allen put down his pen. "The final strike is missing."

Draco stared at the paper. "What final strike?"

Allen didn't answer immediately. He looked through the water window of the Dungeon toward the depths of the Black Lake.

"Tom wants to take Ginny down, to write the final sentence. Then Harry will go to save her."

"And you?"

Allen tucked the parchment into his sleeve. "I'm waiting for the door to open."