"AGLAD!" Julian said firmly, and a bolt of electricity as thick as his arm exploded from his wand tip. For the briefest instant, the flash lit up the creature's true form.
It looked like a brown huntsman spider, except it was the size of a full grown man.
The acromantula shrieked and locked up, seizing so hard it lost its grip and crashed to the ground with a heavy THUD. It was still alive.
Julian did not hesitate. He hit it with another brutal surge of lightning, then another, and another, until at last the monster went limp and curled inward the way ordinary spiders did after death.
...
Julian did not believe in gambling with his life.
With a flick of his wand, he transfigured thick metal chains out of the forest soil itself. They snapped into place and wrapped tight around the acromantula's limbs.
It was a good decision.
The spider immediately began to thrash, struggling violently the moment it realized its death act had failed. Julian scoffed at the attempt. The chains he created were tungsten, and that made brute forcing an escape nearly impossible.
He leveled his wand at the restrained beast and spoke a single word, six times in rapid succession, ending it cleanly for good.
...
After that, he stored the entire corpse minus the legs inside Greed, then set off at a quick but careful pace back toward the secret passage leading to Hogwarts.
The flag was still hanging from the marked tree. Julian cancelled it, opened the hatch, and climbed down, officially finishing his first trip into the Forbidden Forest.
...
Unfortunately, the hunt did not go entirely unnoticed.
The centaurs that lived in the forest found the discarded legs later on. They understood what they were seeing immediately.
In the end, they chose to let it go.
Whoever had entered the forest had hunted an acromantula, and the centaurs hated those spiders with a deep, burning passion. In this case, the trespasser's goal suited their own interests, so they looked the other way.
Julian did not know any of that.
And even if he did, it would not have changed anything, aside from perhaps giving him another reason to approach them in the future.
...
Once he was back near the greenhouses, Julian checked to make sure Professor Sprout was not nearby. Then he slipped out of the fourth greenhouse and reentered the castle.
He made his way through the corridors with the same careful attention as before, and soon reached the Room of Requirement. He asked it for a space designed specifically for harvesting the spider's useful parts.
The room responded immediately.
...
Julian had to be precise. If he damaged the organs, the entire hunt would be wasted effort.
First, using the tools the room provided, he removed the fangs along with the venom sacs. Then he selected a curved blade and worked it carefully into the seam of the carapace, separating the body into two pieces without harming what lay inside.
He lifted the top portion away from the bottom slowly, watching closely to ensure no organ clung to it, then set it aside.
After that, he began the slow methodical process of separating the organs from one another without bursting any of them.
...
He stored the heart in a preservative potion immediately. Then he had the room produce a list of remaining useful parts, and he preserved those as well.
The final harvest was the silk producing organ, along with the spinneret used to shape it. For that, he used transfiguration to draw the fluid out and weave it into thin, strong thread that was not sticky.
Then he stored it inside Greed.
One spider yielded a single large spool of silk. Not enough for clothing, but perfect for fastenings, bindings, or decorative work.
...
Julian incinerated everything left that held no value to him. Then he left the room and checked the time with a quick Tempus charm. Lunch was approaching.
He did not take shortcuts this time. He wandered the longer way to burn off the last stretch of time before the meal, then entered the Great Hall wearing a pleasant smile.
He was in a genuinely good mood.
...
Harry and Ron greeted him as he sat down, and Julian returned it easily.
"What's got you so cheerful?" Ron asked, clearly curious.
"I've just been having a good day, that's all," Julian answered honestly.
"If you say so," Ron replied, then stabbed a sausage with his fork. "Still got any plans for the rest of the weekend?"
"Got a bit of research I need to do," Julian said, reaching for a couple finger sandwiches, "but other than that, I'm totally free."