HP: For a better world

Chapter 18 Aragog's Web

Hagrid pushed open the door and tied Fang to the side. "Right there you said," Hagrid said happily. "When I went there, they seemed to be moving, so I took them to a good tree over there in the paddock and put them there before coming back." He took off his hat and his moleskin coat and hung them all on hooks in the house, next to a bunch of dried herbs that had changed color and were unclear in appearance.

He pulled the only big chair in the room and sat in the middle. He looked at Winster standing aside with surprise and asked Winster to sit down.

They talked a few more words about the Bowtruckle, but Winster never found a chance to ask Aragog about the function of spider silk alone. Finally, because the class was about to start, he had to leave and go back to look up information on his own.

As soon as Winster left, there was only one person and one spider left in the cabin.

"What did you give him?" Hagrid asked. Aragog had promised to thank him when he learned about the potion Winster had made.

"A gift," Aragog said. Its pincers clicked involuntarily.

"He wanted to make a potion out of it."

Hagrid looked a little confused. "Spider silk to make potions?" He muttered, "I've never seen that before."

Aragog's face was expressionless, only his eight eyes blinked, and his voice sounded a little stiff: "Yes," he said, "there are always some unusual things in potions."

"By the way, Hagrid," Aragog suddenly asked, "will you allow my body to be disassembled when I die?"

Hagrid was stunned, then said angrily, "Of course not! You are my best friend——"

"I will take you away from your offspring! I can't let them eat their father!" Hagrid said loudly, his voice seemed to be tinged with tears, "Don't say that anymore, Aragog, you can live for a long time."

Aragog wiggled his fangs and put the pliers down quietly. "...Yes."

It looked at Hagrid quietly.

------

Winster hurried back to the castle, running back and forth between several classrooms under the invisibility spell. After class, he went to the Potions Office to use a cauldron. Snape said that he was not allowed to come before Halloween, but Winster still had potion in the cauldron, so he had to go.

A few days later, when Winster was looking for the use of the silk of the giant eight-eyed spider, a notice was posted in Hogwarts, announcing that at the end of October, third-year students could go to Hogsmeade for the weekend for the first time.

It was just before Halloween, and Winster remembered that it was during this weekend that Harry sneaked out and learned that Black was his godfather.

Winster was not sure. When he was reading Harry Potter, he could not remember the date of every event in detail, but only the order in which they happened. Just like in the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, he blocked Snape's joke of wearing women's clothes, but rumors still spread. From the beginning, it was said that Snape's smile was so scary that the students in his own house were afraid, to Snape couldn't stand the fact that there were too many Gryffindors around his good students, and he planned to poison them one by one, especially Potter and Granger.

The rumor was so convincing that Harry didn't dare to eat properly for several days. In addition, Snape's treatment of Gryffindor had become even more severe in recent days, making the rumor even more credible.

Winster had no choice but to run over to comfort Harry.

As a result, just as Winchester had persuaded Harry to come and feel at ease, rumors started again - someone was spreading nonsense that Snape was actually a werewolf hiding in Hogwarts, and he had set his eyes on Harry Potter's meat and wanted to have a feast on it, so he had raised him for two years and planned to have a good meal for him on Halloween.

Lupin also got involved - someone believed it and ran to him, swearing that it was true and asking him to report it to Headmaster Dumbledore immediately.

"We are all doing this for Harry!" a voice came out in a righteous tone.

But seeing this style of work, it is hard for Winston not to suspect that it was done by the Weasley twins.

Although Lupin tried his best to dispel the rumor, Snape was obviously furious. He openly threatened in class to drug the Gryffindor food, and specifically mentioned the Weasley twins and Harry Potter.

Neville did take it out, but Snape was busy targeting Harry. Occasionally, when Winston failed to remind him in time, the venom would still spray on his head.

Winster didn't dare to intervene anymore and could only let the teacher torture Harry as much as he wanted.

As for the appearance of Loewe and the others in the Boggart mirror, they were completely ignored by the rumors. Winster also gave them the commemorative coins and agreed to meet at the time and place marked with the numbers and letters on the commemorative coins.

After figuring it out, Winster ran to apologize to Hermione, and the two of them spent time in the library looking up information - Winster was stuck on what ingredients to add to mix the potion when it still failed after changing to wormwood infusion.

Boomslang didn't dare to act naughty in the face of the teacher's anger. Fortunately, Summer brought a message from the owner of the potion shop on the morning before Halloween, saying that the Boomslang had contacted the seller for him and would be delivered to Winster in a few days.

Winster also breathed a sigh of relief and planned to turn around and return the African bush snake skin he borrowed from the teacher. He really couldn't bear Snape's venom anymore.

But when Halloween came, all the students went to Hogsmeade to have fun, and Winster couldn't help but feel envious. Harry couldn't go either. It was said that he had asked Professor McGonagall but was not allowed to go, so he could only wander around the castle in a depressed manner.

Before leaving the office, Winster saw Snape viciously adding several strange-smelling things that would not interfere with the efficacy of the medicine into the crucible containing the aconite.

——It seems that the teacher has made great progress in researching wolfsbane potion, Winster thought.

Wolfsbane Potion is a potion given to Professor Lupin to transform into a quiet being when the moon is full. It is specifically for werewolves. Snape did not think much about it at first. He hated werewolves so much that it was a task assigned to him by Dumbledore.

In addition to Harry, there were a few more students staying in the castle, but not many. Luo and his friends also went to Hogsmeade and promised to bring some snacks back to Winster.

Harry didn't dare to go to Winston because of Snape's rage in the past few weeks, for fear of running into Snape and getting his points deducted. Gryffindor's rubies this year were much lower than those of other colleges, so they could only hope to recover from Quidditch.

Winster could only go find a place to play by himself. Silk hadn't figured it out yet, and he didn't want to go find Hagrid and be fooled by Aragog again - Winster already suspected that Aragog had given him something to get rid of him. The Acromantula didn't like wizards. Aragog only regarded Hagrid as an outlier.

Many potion books found in the library did not record the uses of spider silk. However, Muggle books did say that spider silk could be used to make clothes - but that was before Winster came to the wizarding world, and it was not known whether it still existed now.

He walked to the astronomy tower while he was relaxing. There was no one on the top of the tower, and students were usually not allowed to enter. But there was no one watching over there, so Winster just walked in.

Looking out from the top of the Astronomy Tower, the sky is endless, the Forbidden Forest in the distance is lush and green, and a little to the left you can see Hagrid's hut - mainly because of his huge golden pumpkin patch, which is full of pumpkins that have been enchanted with puffing spells and are ready to be decorated tonight. It is very iconic. The back is blocked by a wall, so you can't see Hogsmeade.

Winster sat on the wooden floor, not doing much, just like he would sometimes turn the time-twister a few more times and go to the lawn to relax in the sun. He felt the magic flowing through his body and looked lazily at the Forbidden Forest. The Forbidden Forest was densely covered with trees, and there were few open spaces. There was only a small gap in the center, with water shimmering - it should be a small lake. I wonder if it was the lake where Harry released the Patronus.

Somewhere beside them were trees covered with spider silk. It was darker, but dotted with spider webs—the gathering place of the giant acromantula, one of the most dangerous places in the Forbidden Forest. Aragog didn't care if his offspring caught anyone to eat in the Forbidden Forest. He just suppressed them and didn't dare to come out to catch people—they ran out during the final battle with Voldemort.

Winster muttered something about Aragog in his heart, looked away, and then looked towards the Black Lake. The giant squid was lying on the shallows waving its tentacles, waiting for students to come and tickle it. Normally, it could be seen eating fish comfortably in the Black Lake in the Slytherin lounge, but unfortunately, few students would help tickle it today.

There were occasional complaints and tired calls from a few owls; for them this was like working overtime in broad daylight.

Dumbledore's phoenix seemed to be complaining as well. It jumped out and hung on the window of the principal's office, calling towards the inside - it sounded like it was singing, but the fiery red bird looked so excited that it seemed more like it was cursing. It wondered what bad thing the principal had done.

Winster was so focused on watching the hustle and bustle of Hogwarts that he didn't even notice when a cat came and lay beside him. He was startled when he found a cat. Mrs. Norris, who was raised by Filch, lazily turned her belly out to bask in the sun, and her tail swept the ground carelessly. She ignored Winster and just lay there with her eyes closed, snoring comfortably.

Winster couldn't help but stare at it for a long time. Mrs. Norris was still calm and composed with her belly exposed. She was not worried at all that Winster would torture the cat like some other students in the castle.

Well, Mrs. Loris's enjoyment made Winster feel drowsy, so he simply lay down on the star instrument next to him and took a nap.

Until the warning spell that Winster had casually set was triggered and woke him up.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Filch's ugly face. He was almost scared to death by uttering a silencing spell. Although there had been no progress in the Patronus Charm, as he became more and more proficient in the Invisibility Charm, Winster had recently begun to practice the technique of silencing spells, in order to avoid encountering any trouble where he would become invisible and unable to fight back.

After coming to his senses, Winster could only secretly say "Oh no!" He only remembered that it was normal for cats to run around, but forgot that wherever Mrs. Norris went, Filch would follow her. It was because Winster had encountered Mrs. Norris's several night walks, but she seemed to have avoided them without noticing. He didn't see Mr. Filch following her at all.

But Filch wasn't there to catch Winston breaking into the top of the Astronomy Tower.

"You are, how did you succeed--" He came up and grabbed Winston, asking in a low voice.

"What - what was successful?" Winster felt a pain in his arm and was pulled to his side, leaning close to his mouth to listen to what he said.

"That's how you cast the spell!" Filch asked, as if he had finally found a place where there were few people and no one was watching. His hand pinched Winster so hard that it hurt. "You were just like me before -" A squib.

He blurted out, looking too excited to be lying, "You said you found someone to help you - how did you succeed? Tell me!"

"Me? I have lost my memory!" Winster pulled his hand out with all his strength, and rubbed the place where he was grabbed with lingering fear. He felt that it was all blue from Filch's excitement.

"What—" Filch's face turned pale. He suppressed his anger and said, "You promised me—"

Suddenly, Winster felt a warmth on his legs. He lowered his eyes and saw Mrs. Norris rubbing her tail between him and Filch like a spoiled child - it seemed that White and Filch were very familiar with each other, otherwise even the cat would not be so fearless - you know, many students wanted to kick it.

Winster bent down, picked up Mrs. Norris, and handed her to Filch. Mrs. Norris did not struggle at all, and was picked up by him obediently. She looked at Winster with her red eyes and was handed over.

"But I really have no memory - do you know who I found?" asked Winster.

Filch took the cat and stared at Winster until he asked this question. Then he said gloomily, "You only said that you found someone who can solve your problem and came to my house to ask me not to interfere too much with your night wandering. You need to find a place to study the solution that person gave you."

"You just agreed to it?" Winster asked in surprise. In other people's eyes, White should still be a student of 11 or 12 years old, so why did he just agree to it?

"Of course not -" Filch said gruffly, "You are the same as me, but you are looked at differently by Professor Snape -" and you are different from those arrogant guys. He swallowed the second half of the sentence and didn't say anything. White was just luckier to be recorded in the admission book, and he would still be called a squib by those magical students behind his back.

Winster had never expected that the original owner would use Snape's banner again - is the banner of the potion master so useful? He was a little annoyed, but White had disappeared, so he wouldn't fight with a dead man.

Winster had to say, "I don't know what the situation is now. The method I am guessing is too dangerous - I'm not sure if it is true or not." Winster saw Filch's intention and quickly added the second half of the sentence.

Can Horcruxes cure squibs? If Winster and White were really the same person, there would be no such thing as changing souls to be able to cast spells. It means that White really found a way to learn how to cast spells, which led to Winster's outstanding magical talent.

But it's not reliable. Horcruxes absorb magic and vitality, while Squibs' magic is naturally scattered or poor, so they can see things that Muggles can't see, and can use some magical items and magical creatures that can help them, but they can't cast spells. It doesn't seem like they can be put together from a basic point of view.

Finally, Winster had to tell Filch that if he remembered it later or found a way, he would definitely tell him. But Filch obviously didn't have much hope. He rudely drove Winster out of the Astronomy Tower, warned him not to tell anyone about it, and left.

Now there is one more person, who helps White?

Winster exhaled and walked towards the Slytherin common room, preparing to go back and look through the things left behind in the dormitory - White had left no letters except the notice. Winster really had no idea who else he had communicated with, so he could only slowly check again.

What bothered Winster the most was that he didn't understand how White could make so many people trust him.

——————Some off-topic remarks————————

Filch's excuse was not complete, and Winston believed half of it. After all, no matter how much Snape admired him, White was only eleven or twelve years old at the time.

Let me sort out the known information about Winster for those who will see it:

1. White may have deliberately obtained Voldemort's Horcrux diary in advance, and after killing the chicken, he threw the diary to Ginny, who opened the Chamber of Secrets and petrified four students, a cat and a ghost.

2. White's handwriting and behavior habits are very similar to Winster's, and there is a general traceable pattern. It is very likely that they are the same person remembered at different times.

3. Snape showed signs of bias towards White not long after he entered school, but no one knows why.

4. White knew Hermione before entering school and they had a good relationship, but Hermione didn't know what White had done in Slytherin.

5. White has saved many people who were discriminated against and bullied and formed a small group. Luo and Jenny may have been one of the former managers. In the second grade, he refused the help of the small group and seemed to know that he was in trouble, or he took the initiative to contact the Horcrux.

6. Slytherin's enemies are Selwyn and Marcus (current Slytherin Quidditch captain), and they have an ambiguous relationship with Malfoy (not emotional, referring to Malfoy's attitude of showing affection but sometimes keeping away)

7. White cleaned up all the traces very thoroughly, except for the diary and course notes that were left for others to see, as well as some sundries. He did not leave a single word for Winster, which seemed to be well prepared.

Now two more points have been added. He has a good relationship with Filch and has an agreement. The agreement should not involve White running around. He just needs a place and time to study. The agreement was probably implemented before obtaining the Horcrux, because in the second year, White was locked up by Lockhart most of the time at night.

There was also an unknown person who had communicated with White and gained White's trust and provided a solution.

There are 9 items in total.

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