Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 281: Surround and Annihilate

In addition to Harry and Malfoy, the only one saddened by the Acromantulas’ siege was Hagrid, who insisted that the creatures were not dangerous.

He told Evan that Aragog and its descendants wanted to be friends with humans.

He repeatedly conveyed the goodwill expressed by Aragog and the other Acromantulas, but Evan was sure that those monsters only saw humans as food.

Needless to say, he had set Aragog’s Lair on fire burning hundreds of Acromantulas, and kindling the irreconcilable and utterly undying hatred between them. The Acromantulas’ darkness, their evil nature, and their instinct to hunt humans as food doomed them and the wizards to be natural enemies.

Evan, Harry, Ron and Hermione gave many examples, hoping to persuade Hagrid to understand this and make him realize Acromantulas’ danger, but it was in vain.

On Tuesday afternoon, they walked out of Hagrid’s Hut dejected.

“We are really wasting our time. Think about it. What Hagrid likes, three-headed dogs, dragons, hippogriffs, Acromantulas…” Ron complained, “He thinks such monsters are friends to man.”

“Hippogriffs are good!” Harry whispered. “But the other creatures are really bad, especially the Acromantula.”

“Hagrid’s problem is here!” Hermione said sharply, “He always thinks these animals are good, and never thinks they’re dangerous…”

“The only fortunate thing is that he is not going to stop us.” Evan followed, “That was a significant step forwards. We should persuade him step by step.”

“Come on, Evan!” Ron sighed. “We all know what’s going on. Dumbledore must have talked to him, so he couldn’t object.”

As they all agreed, Hagrid was indeed very fond of all the dangerous creatures, not to mention Aragog of which he took care ever since it was so young.

He believed in Acromantulas, just as he believed in Evan.

Although he said that he would not stop the siege and extermination of the Acromantulas, shortly after the operation began, Hagrid was often seen patrolling outside the Forbidden Forest with a bow and arrow and Fang, driving all the Acromantulas he could see back into the Forbidden Forest or sending signals to sabotage the siege.

Evan suspected that he must have warned Aragog, because the Acromantulas were now more alert than ever, and rushed back to the depths of the Forbidden Forest as soon as they saw humans.

But being the flesh-hungry creatures that they were, and considering their large numbers in the Forbidden Forest, Acromantulas eventually had to come out for food.

The young wizards needed only to set traps, or go a little deeper in the Forbidden Forest.

In search for Acromantulas, the Centaurs also played a very important role.

They could provide precise directions and help people find the giant spiders.

Stubborn Centaurs like Magorian were only a small minority. When facing such a common natural enemy, the proud Centaurs had to cooperate with the wizards to a certain extent.

In fact, besides Hagrid, Harry, and Malfoy, everyone was enthusiastic and interested in the matter.

According to the plan, Acromantulas’ surrounding and annihilation operations were going smoothly.

Hogwarts young Wizards were divided into different groups according to their Houses and age.

Under the guidance of the professors, they went to the Forbidden Forest to fight the Acromantulas. They joined forces to kill the spiders and bring their eyes back to Evan to get their trophies of Gold Galleons.

Stimulated by both the potential for personal growth and the gold, the young wizards attacked with unimaginable enthusiasm, and this once in a life time “practice session” became the most popular course in the school. Everyone fought the Acromantulas, honing their skills and experimenting with various spells.

At the end of the day, even the students at Slytherin House were all looking forward to it.

It’s to be known that Snape was originally opposed to Sirius’s proposal to seige the Acromantulas. He sneered at it and did not intend to support it.

But after Dumbledore announced his support, Hogwarts went into action to fight the giant spiders, and Snape had to change his mind to join the operation.

As the head of the house of Slytherin, he was responsible for the safety of Slytherin House students.

With that in mind, and considering that the saliva and eyes of The Acromantulas were very valuable potion materials, Snape asked all Slytherin students to give their all in this Acromantula hunt, and to collect saliva and eyes. At the very least, the number had to exceed Gryffindor’s.

To make up for Evan’s reward, Malfoy and several other pure-blood students began collecting the eyes of Acromantulas for Snape and giving even more Gold Galleons.

Because of this, no Slytherin handed the eyes to Evan.

Sparks were reforming obviously between the two houses, as they vied with each other and competed fiercely.

In turn, the number of Acromantulas that they had hunted increased with that rivalry, exceeding the number of those caught by both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Houses.

Because of past disagreements, for their House honor, and many other reasons, Harry and Malfoy were now really angry.

The hostility between the two and the two Houses reached its peak.

Not just for the Acromantulas, but also for the Quidditch Cup and the Academy Cup to be decided this year between the Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses, tension between the two teams and their Houses was at the extreme since February.

A number of small scuffles broke out in the corridors, culminating in a nasty incident in which a Gryffindor fourth year and a Slytherin sixth year ended up in the hospital wing with leeks sprouting out of their ears.

Harry hoped to play his game against Malfoy, and win the battle.

But Slytherin students obviously did not want the same. They didn’t plan to let them confront each other head-on. They had their own plans, so Harry was having a particularly bad time because of that.

He couldn’t walk to class without Slytherins sticking out their legs and trying to trip him down; Crabbe and Goyle kept popping up wherever he went, and slouching away looking disappointed when they saw him surrounded by people.

Wood had given instructions that Harry should be accompanied everywhere he went, in case the Slytherins tried to put him out of action.

The whole of Gryffindor House took up the challenge enthusiastically, so it was impossible for Harry to get to classes on time because he was surrounded by a vast, chattering crowd.

The situation was so bad, even Ron was affected. Because he rarely got to be in the spotlight, he was very happy.

Unlike the two of them, Evan wasn’t being harassed by anyone, let alone Malfoy, who had not yet recovered from the impact of that Dark Magic. After several other senior Slytherin students failed to provoke Evan, he could finally enjoy some calm again.