—Inside the cabin—
"I'm coming…" Hagrid answered, nervous. Then he turned to the girls. "You need to leave. Don't let them find you here!"
"But how…?" Padma began to say, when a faint hiss cut her off.
"Pssst… over here!" whispered someone from the corner opposite the door.
A brick removed from the wall revealed a familiar face. Cho was looking at them calmly, as if everything was under control.
"Sorry, Hagrid, we'll fix it later," she said with a confident smile.
The girls waiting outside had already begun working, pulling bricks one by one, improvising a tiny passage. It was enough for Hermione, Padma, and Susan to escape unnoticed, while the knocks on the door grew louder and louder.
Hagrid stalled just long enough for the girls to get out of his house. He opened the door just as the group finished putting the bricks back in place and sealing them temporarily. Now, fully reunited, the girls waited behind the house, anxious to know what was happening.
Finally, Hagrid stepped out. His expression was already grim, and it darkened further when he saw Lucius Malfoy among those present.
"What's going on? Why are you battering my door?" he growled, trying to hold back his fury because of Dumbledore's presence.
"Rubeus Hagrid, you are under arrest for the recent attacks and petrifications of students," declared one of the aurors, though his voice shook when facing the imposing figure of the gamekeeper.
"It wasn't me! How could I ever do that to the students?" Hagrid shot back, his indignation so palpable that anyone could feel it.
"It's happening again, and all the while you remain at Hogwarts…" Fudge cut in, showing no compassion. He wanted to resolve the matter quickly—and in his own way.
"Fudge…" Dumbledore's voice was firm, equally displeased with the situation. "You cannot arrest Hagrid without evidence. I vouch for his innocence."
"This cannot be overlooked, Dumbledore. Hagrid's record is already poor, and we cannot take the risk." Fudge didn't meet his eyes; he wanted to assert his authority.
"I don't even know why he's not in Azkaban already. It isn't safe to have a half-giant criminal roaming free," Lucius said. It was a veiled attack on Dumbledore—one of many ammunitions he would use to try to unseat him from the headmaster's office in the near future.
Hagrid glared at him, his rage barely contained, but before Dumbledore could answer, he spoke in a grave voice:
"Fine, I'll go with you." He didn't want Dumbledore to have to defend him again and keep causing trouble. "But know that I am innocent, and the real culprit is still out there."
"Say what you like," Fudge replied with disdain. "When the attacks stop, you can tell that to the Wizengamot. Cuff him."
The aurors stepped forward. Frustrated and powerless, Hagrid didn't resist. He allowed the chains to be put on him, clenching his fists so as not to do something reckless that would only make things worse.
"I just want to say one thing…" he muttered, casting a quick glance behind his cabin, where the girls watched him from hiding. "If anyone wants answers, follow the spiders. They'll lead you to the culprit." He believed they would find Aragog and that the spider would tell them the truth… never realizing how catastrophic that outcome might be.
Everyone present heard it, but it was the girls who understood at once. One of them had just seen a group of spiders walking toward the forest. They didn't linger; they were already risking too much by being there. Quietly, they slipped into the forest without looking back. Now their mission was even more important: an innocent man was being taken away, and they had to do everything possible to free Hagrid.
Fudge, Lucius, and the aurors ignored Hagrid's words, convinced they were nothing more than the ramblings of a criminal. His half-giant blood weighed heavier than any argument, and that prejudice was enough to dismiss him entirely.
Hagrid's shoulders sank with heaviness. He knew he wasn't wrong, but any resistance would only worsen the situation. So he chose to accept his arrest. He trusted that the girls would find Aragog, learn something from him, and later tell Dumbledore, who in the end would know how to resolve everything.
At that moment, two figures came running from the castle to the hut, just as Hagrid was being led outside.
"Hagrid!" cried Harry and Ron when they saw him in chains.
"Harry? Ron? What are you doing here?" asked Hagrid in surprise, with a trace of pain. He didn't want them to see him like this.
"What's going on? Why are they taking you away?" demanded Harry, glaring at each adult present, his gaze stopping on Lucius, whom he silently blamed at once.
"Hello, Mr. Potter," Fudge replied with a fake smile, softening his tone suddenly. "We're arresting the one responsible for the attacks. Now you can rest easy: Hogwarts is safe again."
"But he's innocent!" Ron shouted indignantly.
"Yes! It can't be Hagrid, he'd never hurt anyone," Harry confirmed, incredulous.
The night before, they had been with him and heard words that seemed like a clue, since Hagrid had found it much easier to speak about his past after having already told the girls. That very clue had brought them back, seeking confirmation. And now they found him in chains.
Lucius intervened with his usual venom:
"Hmm… You can't even keep order in this school, Dumbledore. Boys wandering around at all hours, on the eve of curfew… Hogwarts has fallen very low under your leadership." He smiled cruelly. "You're lucky this criminal didn't harm the Savior, because then there'd be no one left to save you."
"That's not true!" Harry and Ron shouted in unison.
"I'd never hurt them!" Hagrid roared so fiercely that the aurors instinctively stepped back, tense from the chained giant's thunderous voice.
"Come on, take him away," Fudge ordered impatiently. He hadn't come at this hour to argue, but to be seen capturing the supposed criminal. A confrontation with Harry Potter wasn't in his plans, nor good for his image, so he wanted to leave quickly.
"Wait, don't take him!" Harry and Ron cried desperately. "He's innocent!"
"It's alright…" Hagrid said gravely, looking at them with the only hope he had left. "Just follow the spiders. There you'll find the truth."
"Yeah, yeah… you and your spiders," scoffed one of the aurors, prodding him with his wand to make him move.
And then something happened that froze everything in place and chilled the very air. This was no simple interruption like two boys appearing in the scene. No. This was far worse.
A shrill voice, cracked by pain, came from within the forest, like a muffled cry barely finding strength to escape.
"Hagrid… Hagrid!… Help… Hagrid!"
Everyone turned instantly toward the dark trees. What emerged made even the most hardened aurors go pale: a gigantic acromantula, staggering in a wretched state, dragging itself out of the forest with its last strength.
It was still massive, still imposing, but its battered body spoke for itself: nearly blind, covered in wounds, starved to the point of looking like a living corpse. The seasoned among them noticed at once it wasn't coming to attack. Even so, Ron froze, on the verge of fainting, and though he'd never admit it, let out a high-pitched scream like a little girl.
"Aragog!?" Hagrid exclaimed, his heart clenching as he recognized his old friend—almost like a son to him.
"Aurors, attack!" Fudge ordered instantly, fumbling for his wand. Lucius, much quicker, had already drawn his from his cane, a cold glint of murderous intent flashing. No one expected such a creature to appear out of nowhere.
But before spells could be cast, the acromantula collapsed onto the ground with a dull thud. It was dying.
"Aragog!" Hagrid roared, rushing toward him, ignoring everything else.
"Stop him!" Fudge ordered, and the aurors cast spells that bounced off the half-giant's tough skin with little effect. Hagrid didn't even notice; all his attention was fixed on his dying friend.
He knelt by the massive body, tears streaming down his face.
"Aragog, are you alright? What happened to you?" he asked, his voice breaking, his trembling hands stroking the acromantula's weakened carapace.
"Well… here is the criminal and his monster," Fudge proclaimed with grotesque enthusiasm, unable to hide his glee at what he saw as a victory. He already pictured the Prophet's headlines: the Minister who captured the culprit and the beast.
"Shut up!" Hagrid bellowed, his thunderous roar silencing everyone for a moment. "Aragog is no monster!" He turned back to the spider, powerless, pleading. "What happened, my friend? How can I help you? Professor Dumbledore… please, help him!"
"Hagrid… invaders… from outside… the forest… my children… fight… but too… strong…" Aragog gasped with difficulty, trying to warn him. "Spiders… enemies…"
A cry of pain tore through the scene. Then, in a horrific and unimaginable way, Aragog's abdomen burst open, as if something exploded from within. Out of his body emerged a ghastly creature: a reddish spider, smaller but ferocious, that tore its way free. With impossible speed it darted into the forest. The aurors fired spells, but the beast dodged with quick, sinuous movements, and within seconds it was gone among the trees.
"ARAGOG!" Hagrid's roar was one of despair, his soul shattering into pieces. He clutched his friend's lifeless body, unable to accept reality, sobbing like a child at an unbearable loss.
The silence that followed was absolute. Everyone present was shaken, though in different ways: horror, confusion, disbelief. Only Hagrid truly wept for the loss of a friend, his tears falling on the acromantula's cold shell.
"Minister… what do we do?" one of the aurors asked in a trembling voice.
Fudge, after a brief moment of reflection, saw in this tragedy his perfect opportunity. He already had the culprit and the monster to present to the world; Hogwarts' problem was "solved" and his glory secured. Straightening his back, he spoke with feigned solemnity:
"Imprison him. Take him to Azkaban. He has been found guilty. And take the acromantula's corpse as evidence." Fudge ordered, his hands clasped behind his back.
"Fudge… do you really think that spider, in such a state, could have caused all this?" Dumbledore said, his face grave.
This was beyond his calculations. Luckily, Hagrid hadn't sent Harry to investigate, or he'd be in danger. Of course, he knew about the girls, but also about some of the things they hid, and he believed they were capable of leaving the forest the moment they sensed danger. In that sense, he admitted he had trained them well, and he also trusted that I wouldn't have let them risk themselves without giving them a way to escape. He just had to wait and watch from afar for a while, though he still didn't know how dangerous it truly was.
Fudge was unfazed; if anything, he seemed to revel in the role.
"Clearly, it's worse than we thought," he declared, as if giving a press conference. "The attacks weren't mere accidents: it's a racial war between spiders. Hagrid orchestrated the petrifications, luring the aurors to eliminate his creatures' rivals… but he failed, and we caught him red-handed."
He raised his voice, as if already speaking before the Prophet's cameras:
"In a few days we'll send a detachment into the forest to exterminate the acromantulas and their enemies. Thus, we will restore Hogwarts' safety."
No one believed him. Not Dumbledore, not Harry, not Ron. Not even Lucius Malfoy, though he kept silent. Everyone knew it sounded far too contrived. But the damage was already done.
Aragog's death, at that exact time and place, was the worst thing that could have happened to Hagrid's case.