Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures-Chapter 1453: Aragog's Funeral
If it were in the past, let alone inviting him, Slughorn would have “bolted like a leopard” the moment he saw the two of them.
“Is it really that surprising he accepted the invitation? I actually think we succeeded the moment he heard how much the venom was worth in Galleons,” said Elaine dismissively. “So greedy — what’s the point of having so much gold?!”
Evan didn’t want to answer that kind of question.
What’s the use of gold?
What a naive question. What doesn’t require money?
Not to mention the long-term, the food she ate every day was not cheap. Without enough gold, what would Elaine be drinking?
At that point, she wouldn’t be asking what gold was for — she’d be scrambling to figure out how to make money.
Watching Elaine sneer at Slughorn, Evan felt that the road to education was long and arduous. After teaching her how to properly get revenge, he still needed to guide her toward a correct view of money. Having a vampire classmate was no easy task.
Just think — on top of the huge extra expenses, there was the occasional biting, feeding her blood every night, and instilling proper values…
So exhausting, emotionally and physically. Evan felt completely drained.
The three of them walked towards Hagrid’s hut, covering their figures with the Invisibility Cloak to avoid being seen by anyone in the castle.
“Yeh came,” croaked Hagrid, when he opened the door and saw the three of them emerging from the Invisibility Cloak in front of him.
His voice was hoarse, and his face was full of sadness and fatigue.
“Hagrid, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just a little too sad, but don’ matter,” said Hagrid, letting out a great sob.
He had made himself a black armband out of what looked like a rag dipped in boot polish.
“Sorry, Hagrid, Hermione and Ron couldn’t come. It’s too late. They…”
“Don’ — don’ matter … He’d’ve bin touched yeh’re here, especially yeh, Evan. Means a lot yeh came. Yeh know, Aragog has always missed you. Yeh saved him. Before he left, he was still mutterin’ yer name. He’s always wanted to thank yeh in person.”
“Well, I have a deep impression of him too,” Evan paused, not sure how to say it.
Rather than saying thank you? He felt that the reason why Aragog was still thinking about him was more likely to drag him to hell with him.
“Yeh still remember him, I know.”
“Yeah, he was a good spider. I’m sorry he’s gone,” said Evan, insincerely. “It was so sudden!”
“Thank yeh, Evan!” Hagrid sobbed again, his eyes puffy, red, and swollen, “He was so old… at least he didn’ suffer.”
Evan and Harry walked over and patted him consolingly on the elbow, which was the highest point of Hagrid they could easily reach.
Elaine looked into the house curiously, but didn’t see Aragog.
“Hagrid, that big spider … where is he?”
“There! Outside!”
The three of them followed the direction of his pointing finger and saw a truly horrifying scene — enough to make one’s skin crawl.
Behind Hagrid’s hut, the enormous dead spider was lying on its back, its legs curled and tangled.
Aragog… Though it no longer had the same threatening presence it did when alive, it was still terrifying.
Or maybe it was even scarier. The skin had turned a sickly gray. Evan had never imagined that a spider’s corpse would look like this.
“Wow!” Elaine exclaimed, and took two steps forward to observe it carefully.
Harry looked away unnaturally and asked, “Where are we burying him, Hagrid? The forest?”
“No… that place just brin’s him sorrow. Yeh know, after the students went in and cleared thin’s out, a lot of his children died in the forest. I don’ blame anyone fer that, but…” Hagrid paused to wipe his tearful eyes with the corner of his shirt. “In his final days, he wouldn’t even go back to his old lair or into the forest. He said it made him too sad. I was thinkin’ of buryin’ him …”
He didn’t finish and broke into sobs again.
Evan, Harry, and Elaine had to pat his elbows and comfort him.
“Professor Slughorn met us coming down here, Hagrid,” said Harry suddenly, as if the potion itself had nudged him to bring it up.
“Not in trouble, are yeh?” said Hagrid, looking up, alarmed. “Yeh shouldn’ be outta the castle in the evenin’, I know it, it’s my fault —”
“Don’t worry, it’s fine,” said Elaine. “He was very excited when he heard what we were doing.”
“This is it,” Harry explained hurriedly. “When Professor Slughorn heard what we were doing, he said he’d like to come and pay his last respects to Aragog too. He’s gone to change into something more suitable, I think … and he said he’d bring some bottles so we can drink to Aragog’s memory. …”
“Did he?” said Hagrid, looking both astonished and touched. “Tha’s — tha’s righ’ nice of him, that is, an’ not turnin’ yeh in either. I’ve never really had a lot ter do with Horace Slughorn before. … When we were in school, he didn’ think much of me. … Comin’ ter see old Aragog off, though, eh? Well … he’d’ve liked that, Aragog would. …”
Well, Aragog would have liked Slughorn, just like he’d liked Evan at first sight, liked him so much he wanted to eat him.
What the Acromantula would have liked most about Slughorn was the ample amount of edible flesh he provided.
“Hagrid, you still haven’t told us where we’re going to bury him? Not in your garden, right?”
If that were the case, Hagrid’s backyard would definitely become one of the creepiest spots at Hogwarts.
Word would get out, and hordes of thrill-seeking students would come to pay their respects to Aragog.
“No, jus’ beyond the pumpkin patch, I thought,” said Hagrid in a choked voice. “I’ve already dug the — yeh know — grave. Jus’ thought we’d say a few nice things over him — happy memories, yeh know —”
His voice quivered and broke. There was a knock on the door, and he turned to answer it, blowing his nose on his great spotted handkerchief as he did so.
Slughorn hurried over the threshold, several bottles in his arms, and wearing a somber black cravat.
“Hagrid,” he said, in a deep, grave voice. “So very sorry to hear of your loss.”
“Tha’s very nice of yeh,” said Hagrid. “Thanks a lot. An’ thanks fer not givin’ the three of them detention neither. …”
“Wouldn’t have dreamed of it,” said Slughorn. “Sad night, sad night … it suddenly occurred to me that Aragog should be the spider you kept when you were still a student at Hogwarts? So many years have passed in the blink of an eye, alas … Where is the poor creature?”
“Out here,” said Hagrid in a shaking voice. “Shall we — shall we do it, then?”
Slughorn nodded, and the five of them stepped out into the back garden.
There was still a bit of a cold evening breeze blowing slowly, and the moon was glistening palely through the trees now, and its rays mingled with the light spilling from Hagrid’s window to illuminate Aragog’s body lying on the edge of a massive pit beside a ten-foot-high mound of freshly dug earth.
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Chapter 1453: Aragog's Funeral
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