ITW,H - Chapter 112 - Acromantulas (3) (Patreon)

(Word Count: 1,673)

He had checked his quest and saw that it still hadn’t been completed, despite the hours-long search. There were still more than a hundred acromantulas out there. There were likely just too many of the small young spiders out there. The big ones were easier to spot, but young acromantulas started out as small as regular spiders, small enough to travel in someone’s pocket. Those small spiders could easily hide under leaves or bushes to escape the basilisk’s sight.

Harry groaned. This quest was more of a hassle than he thought it was going to be.

Still, despite not completing the Magic quest yet, the Fate quest was completed with Aragog’s death.

[Fate Quest: Hagrid’s Friend Aragog

You’ve chosen to slay Hagrid’s dear friend of 50 years, Aragog. How heartless. Honestly, it was for the best.

Reward: +1 Magizoology]

With that level in Magizoology, it reached 15, giving him a new perk.

[Perk Gained: Symbiotic Bond. Magical creatures sense your nature and are more willing to ally with you, and some may even seek you out for aid. Any creature that is considered “yours,” whether that is a familiar, mount, summon, or owned, is more productive in yield and abilities. They're healthier, and more resistant to diseases.]

Harry grinned at that. Considering that the Black Family owns several reserves, and is starting another for the wolfsbane potion production, this was very useful. While he didn't manage them directly, they could still be considered “his” since he was the heir of the house.

[Name: Harry James Potter-Black

Level: 37 => 39 72%

Stats: [+10]

Power: 150 => 152, [11], [40]

Control: 121

Focus: 134

Classes: Mind Arts 15, Magizoology 14 => 15, Dueling 13, Divination 5, Curses 3, Alchemy 5, Charms 1, Transfiguration 1, Potions 1, Herbology 1, Astronomy 1, [+2]

Skills: Occlumency 5, Legilimency 5, Serpensortia 5, [+2]

Perks: Potter Family Magic, A Mother’s Love, Horcrux, Parselmouth, Black Family Magic, Animagus, Natural Occlumens, Magical Growth, Emotional Empowerment, Harvester, Empathetic Sensing, Insight, Seer, Wide Wormhole, Teamwork Makes the Dream Work, Spellchainer, Memory Infusion, Duelist, Purify, Third Eye Opened, Natural Legilimens, Nature Natural, Basilisk Slayer, Symbiotic Bond]

[Year 2 Quests:

Fate Quests: Gilderoy Lockhart

Magic Quests: Acromantula Nest, Centaurs

Death Quests:

Overall Quests:

Fate: Fulfill the Prophecy, The Snake Nagini, Draco’s Dilemma

Magic: Ravenclaw's Diadem, Slytherin's Locket, Hufflepuff's Cup, Find Excalibur!, Room of Requirement (repeatable), Magical Tutor (Repeatable)

Death: Horcruxes, Ghosts of Hogwarts]

It looked like despite not completing Magic’s quest, this endeavor had gained him two levels naturally. For the 10 stat points, he dumped it all into Power, bringing it up to 162. For the Class points, he could put them both into Dueling or Curses to get another perk but, honestly, he could already handle himself just fine right now, and he wasn't about to get into another major fight at the moment. Maybe if he had gained these levels beforehand, he would have put them into Dueling. Now though, he was more inclined to get started on two subjects he had been studying a lot lately and could be helpful to learn the field of rituals: Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. He placed a class point into each.

He didn't gain any perk or anything, but he had a feeling. The Alchemy class was a hidden class, only unlocked because of a Magic Quest. He had a feeling there were more hidden classes, and Rituals seemed to be a large enough field on their own to warrant a class. He had to find out, and the best way to start is to start leveling up the two fundamental skills required for rituals to work.

For the skill points, nothing really spoke to him at the moment. He would have to think carefully on what he wanted to accomplish. Perhaps he would save them for skills from future hidden classes.

With that handled, Harry raised his wand, and began creating and enchanting as many golems as he reasonably could. This time, instead of making them look like Rocky, he made simple featureless humanoid golems, taking care to craft functional hands that can handle the delicate harvesting of the venom. He made sure to imbue his knowledge they would need to know into every one of them.

He also spent a bit of time transfiguring many large sealable jugs for the venom, dozens and dozens of fine rods for the web to wrap around, and some axes and saws, just in case.

By the time he was done, night had long since fallen. So, he left the golems to their work. Luckily, he didn't have to constantly supply the golem with magic. Once the spell takes, it would go off and do its thing. Only familiars like his snakes, or spells that he was actively channeling used up his magic.

However, he had summoned a snake—just a normal snake—so he could check in on the progress once in a while without having to come all the way back out here. This way, he could keep an eye on when they need more jugs or rods to keep collecting. Because what he had created just now definitely wouldn't be enough for everything, even considering the time it would take before it goes bad.

He turned back into a crow, and flew back to the castle. The talks with the centaurs could wait until tomorrow. Right now, he was hungry and exhausted. He had been up for nearly 20 hours by now, due to the use of the time turner. He was in no state of mind for negotiating anything with another species right now.

As he flew back, he noticed the murder of crows near Hagrid's hut and got an idea.

He changed course, and swooped down towards them. Harry had, on several occasions in his free time, conversed with the murders around Hogwarts so all the crows around here knew him already and were friendly.

Due to this, he also knew for a fact that all of the birds around here hated the spiders with a passion. Many of them frequently got caught in their webs and died, mostly the foolish younger birds that got too curious for their own good.

Crows were smart. They were smart enough to investigate the cause of death of their dead. They were smart enough to pass on information about people they love or hate to other crows that had never seen them before. They could learn to use tools to accomplish their needs, like filling a tube with rocks to raise the water level inside so they could reach the floating ball.

So, when Harry had become an animagus, he had learned how to communicate with other crows, using their specific caws, barks, and other sounds and body language. 

Using this, Harry basically had this conversation:

“Hello, great news!” Harry said.

“What is it?” The crows said curiously. This green eyed crow was always so intriguing.

“The evil spider nest has been destroyed! All the big ones are dead. Only the little ones remain!” Harry said excitedly. All of the crows cawed in celebration. They all hopped around excitedly, some flying around before landing again eager to hear more.

“When? Who did this?” They asked.

“I did!” Harry said. “But I need your help. I cannot find all of the little spiders by myself. The forest is too large. Can everyone help me?”

The crows cheered, “Of course!” And many of them scattered to inform the rest of the murders, crying out “It's time for revenge!”

It didn't even take 30 minutes before a huge swarm of crows all converged into the forest. Several crows went off beyond into the valley to gather more.

Harry had even noticed crows from warring murders flying together. Disputes between murders were put on hold, so they could finish off their old enemy for good.

Seeing this, Harry cackled excitedly. “Cawcawcawcaw!”

With all of the murders of the forest and the valley of Hogwarts on the case, combing through every inch of the forest, the acromantulas were as good as dead. All he had to do was sit back and watch.

He looked over, and saw Hagrid eying him suspiciously from the window. 

He gulped and flew off, making sure to divert away from the castle until he was out of sight before turning back.

Finally, Harry swooped down into a more shadowed corner of the main courtyard and transformed back.

He didn't immediately head back to the common room. First, he snuck down to the kitchens, grabbed a sandwich and some orange juice, and then to the common room.

When he arrived in his room, he found Neville, Ron, Dean, and Seamus all still awake, and playing cards. 

“What are you guys still doing up?” He asked, speaking around a mouthful of sandwich.

They all looked up from their game.

“It's only 10, why would we be asleep?” Ron asked.

“Ah, right…” Harry trailed off. 

“Where have you been? We haven't seen you since dinner,” Dean asked.

“Did you sneak off to slay some other legendary monster?” Seamus asked teasingly. “I can't believe you two really went and found Slytherin's monster. If Neville hadn't shown me the photo you took, I wouldn't have believed him.”

“No, not this time. I was just down in the chamber. I was exploring to see if it had anything else down there,” Harry lied. He didn't want Hagrid to link Aragog’s death to him. That would be the death of their friendship.

“Really?” Neville asked. “Was there anything else?”

Harry shook his head. “Not as far as I could tell.”

“You want to be dealt in? We only just started,” Ron asked.

“No thanks, I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep early tonight. Don't worry about keeping it down for my sake, though. I can just muffle the area around my bed so I won't hear you,” Harry said, downing the last of his sandwich and stripped off his clothes until he was in his boxers, closed the curtains around his bed, muffled it, and promptly passed out.