If Tom could've heard Magorian's inner complaints, he would've cried injustice.
He wasn't here to bully anyone!
He actually brought good news.
Centaurs wouldn't have to be unemployed forest dwellers anymore, they could become glorious factory workers in his future paper industry, producing sheets specifically for his enchanted notebooks.
Magorian and Firenze would probably cry tears of gratitude!
If they weren't his teachers (sort of), Tom wouldn't even offer them such a strategic position.
...
After another thirty minutes of walking deeper into the forest, Hagrid's mood grew heavy.
"Tom, we've reached the Acromantula territory. Aragog and his children won't attack me, but you're a stranger. They'll feel threatened."
"No worries," Tom replied seriously. "I'm very friendly to those who are useful to me."
Hagrid twitched.
"Tom, honesty is good… but you don't have to say it out loud."
They arrived at a sunken clearing. Tall trees surrounded them like walls. At the center, a massive web stretched across the air, obscuring whatever lurked beneath.
"ARAGOG!" Hagrid bellowed.
The answer came immediately, rustling sounds from every direction.
From above, from below, from shadows, spiders swarmed.
Hagrid stepped in front of Tom, bow raised. Even though he could legally use his wand now, old habits clung tightly, bows felt safer against monsters.
The spiders dropped from the trees on thick silk, crawled up from burrows in the earth. Some were the size of goblins, others even larger than Thestrals.
"STOP! I need to speak with Aragog!" Hagrid roared, firing a warning arrow.
The swarm halted, but they left only a ten-meter gap for the humans, closing in like a shrinking arena.
Then came a grinding, chitinous scrape from within the pit, followed by a low, hoarse voice:
"Hagrid… you brought an outsider for the first time."
From the shadows emerged a monster the size of a small elephant. Gray-black, with scarred, massive fangs, and eight clouded eyes, each milky and unfocused.
Tom blinked.
This was a spider with cataracts? Animals could get cataracts?
"Aragog," Hagrid called loudly, "this is my friend, my savior. Tell your children to back off and stop frightening him!"
"Savior?" Aragog rasped. His bleary eyes shifted toward Tom. "A student? How could a student save you?"
"He solved the Chamber mystery!" Hagrid shouted. "The Ministry cleared my name! Aragog, Tom saved you too, you are no longer accused of murder!"
"I do not care."
Aragog clacked his fangs. "I promised I would not harm you, Hagrid. But if fresh meat enters my territory, and my children hunger… I cannot stop them."
His voice lowered.
"Take him and flee. I can only restrain them for seconds. Ten, at most."
Hagrid paled.
That was the difference between intelligent beasts and humans, you could not punish instinct. Even a king could not deny hunger.
He reached to grab Tom and run,
, but Tom dodged casually.
Then he raised his voice, calm and clear:
"Aragog, if you can't control your children… then let me help you."
"You?" Aragog hissed. "If you can, then do it. Kill them if you like. I have too many children anyway."
"No need for killing."
Tom reached into his bag and tossed something onto the ground.
BOOM!
The heavy object landed with a thud, dust exploding outward.
Silence.
Every spider froze.
Then,
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
A deafening chorus of terror erupted. The swarm fled instantly, retreating faster than they had attacked, trampling the forest floor in panic.
Even Aragog tried to flee, but his aging legs buckled and he collapsed in a pathetic heap.
Left alone. Trembling.
Tom smiled.
"Can't even say its name, can you?"
He tapped the severed head of the basilisk with his foot.
"I killed it."
"And if you can't speak the basilisk's name, you don't deserve to speak mine. You may call me… Master. Understood?"
Hagrid stared at Tom like his brain had been turned to stone.
The world had many rulers.
But fear was always the strongest crown.