With an arrogant swagger, Malfoy marched toward Aragog, nostrils flaring as he sized up the giant spider.
"The eight-eyed giant spider, I presume?"
He leaned in close, practically shoving his face into Aragog's.
"Our professor went to great lengths to find you in this forsaken place, and you dare to attack him instead of offering a greeting? What exactly do you think you're doing?"
As expected of Malfoy; even before he started cursing, his tone was irritating enough to warrant a punch.
"..."
To Malfoy's surprise, Aragog completely ignored him.
"Oh, ignoring me, are we?"
With a sharp smack that echoed through the forest, Malfoy slapped the spider's head, which was far larger than himself. The action stunned everyone, spiders included.
"Hiss!"
"Holy crap! Help! A spider's eating people!"
Malfoy yelped, scrambling back behind Tom as if fleeing for his life.
Aragog, seemingly unfazed, merely fixed Tom with its eight large, blood-red eyes.
Tom, too lazy to acknowledge Malfoy's recklessness, simply raised his head slightly toward Aragog.
"Speak."
The eight-eyed giant spider could communicate with humans; the two that had vanished earlier proved it.
Aragog swallowed his resentment and spoke in a low voice, "Wizard... Ah!!!"
Tom lightly flicked the Elder Wand, and all four limbs on one side of Aragog were severed. No magical light flashed; it was as if an invisible blade had sliced them clean off.
Seeing Tom's displeased expression, Malfoy, who had thoroughly studied "The Seventy-Two Rules of Being a Henchman," instantly understood what was expected of him.
He turned to Aragog, who was groaning in pain, and barked, "What should you call 'sir'? Call him 'Master'!"
"..."
Why is it always your business?
Aragog glared at Malfoy, then looked back at Tom, instantly adopting an obedient demeanor.
"Sir, you can have anything you want, just spare my life!"
Huh? Huh??? Ancestor, didn't you mean 'them'?! The giant spiders behind him were completely dumbfounded.
"I need your venom. Not much, just one pint (about five or six hundred milliliters) from each adult spider."
That's not much?!
Each giant spider had a very limited amount of venom; losing too much would kill them!
Despair washed over the spiders, though they had no tears to shed.
"Or..."
There's another option? Hope flickered in their multifaceted eyes.
"I'll kill you all and then collect the venom."
"..."
Two and a half minutes later, Tom handed each young wizard a delicate, specially made container, instructing them to extract the venom from the giant spiders.
The little snakes, who had been laughing so happily just moments ago, were now uncharacteristically silent, having just finished cursing the giant spiders.
This time, Malfoy was "especially" afflicted, because Tom had assigned him Aragog, the spider ancestor he had so rudely slapped.
He should have known better than to be so impulsive.
Thinking this, Malfoy gritted his teeth, took the special container, and approached Aragog.
As the wizard brat who had just struck and insulted him drew near, Aragog's eight crimson eyes flashed with malice.
"..."
Could your intentions be any more obvious?
Malfoy was certain that the old spider would find some way to leave him with a lasting memento.
But chickening out here was worse than death – he'd never hear the end of it from Harry.
So Malfoy steeled himself, engaging in a verbal standoff with Aragog.
The gist of it was: Spider, as long as you don't bite me, you can have whatever meat you want! I, Draco Malfoy, may not have much else, but I have plenty of money.
Although Aragog had lived for many years, his existence consisted of mostly eating and sleeping; his conversational peak was limited to chats with Hagrid.
Before long, Aragog was completely enthralled by Malfoy's tales of "Thunderbird meat" and "Dragon meat."
Seizing the opportunity, Malfoy lunged forward and began siphoning Aragog's venom into the special container.
That's right; this special container could not only "store" but also "absorb."
By the time Aragog realized what was happening, it was too late.
"Hehehe... Trying to bite you, Malfoy? In your next life!"
Malfoy grinned smugly, reveling in his triumph.
Aragog struggled in vain because Tom, who had been watching intently, had also become interested and began using the Imperius Curse to control him.
"Wait! Wait! Stop!"
Aragog began to scream in agony, "It's gone! It's gone! It's really gone! Not a single drop left!"
It wasn't just venom anymore; Aragog could clearly feel its life force draining away.
Tom, true to his Dark Lord persona, simply watched coldly as Malfoy slowly milked Aragog dry.
Not only that, but the "sexual" tension between the wizard and the spider was orchestrated by Tom.
And it was also at Tom's request that the wizard and the spider engaged in this battle in the wild in full view of everyone.
Perhaps driven by a pang of conscience, or thinking that this quality of venom was hard to come by, Tom finally ordered Malfoy to stop and chose to spare Aragog.
As Malfoy removed the special container, Aragog collapsed to the ground, as limp as if he had been thoroughly violated.
Looking at the exhausted behemoth before him, Malfoy, for some unknown reason, chuckled mischievously.
"Hehehe... I'll brag to Harry when I get back..."
Facts aside, Malfoy could claim to have single-handedly defeated a magical creature with a danger level of 5X.
This led to the younger Slytherins who came later to extract venom all seemingly "coincidentally" claiming to have defeated an adult eight-eyed giant spider; as for how they did it... well, that was none of your business.
Watching Tom and his group finally depart, the exhausted giant spiders erupted into wails of despair.
...
Even before reaching Hagrid's Cabin, as they left the Forbidden Forest, they saw Quirinus Quirrell, looking smug, leading Albus Dumbledore toward them.
"Professor, look! Professor Tom Riddle is taking his students into this dangerous Forbidden Forest so late at night. I wonder if he's here to poach magical creatures? If something happens to the students, can he take responsibility?"
But to his surprise, Tom remained calm, showing no surprise or displeasure.
Dumbledore wasn't angry as he expected either, simply speaking in a consultative tone, "Tom, the Forbidden Forest is dangerous. Try not to bring students to places like this next time."
"What? You have a problem with that?"
Faced with Dumbledore, Tom reverted to his old "I don't care what you say, I'm not listening" attitude.
Dumbledore remained unruffled by Tom's defiance, simply continuing, "Alright, alright, it's late; take them back to their dormitories."
So, until Tom left with his group, Quirrell still couldn't understand why he had that expression, as if he'd been caught relieving himself in the wild.
Even Voldemort's remnant soul with the face on the back of his head wore the same expression; back in the day, Dumbledore treated him like a thief.
...
As Tom walked, he suddenly noticed a problem.
"Huh? Why does it feel like one is missing?"
Never mind, it's probably just my imagination.
Meanwhile, elsewhere...
Having finally finished a rock cake, Harry silently shed tears of regret.
---
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