"...What, what exactly is this...?"
Looking at the Acromantulas frozen in their fleeing positions in all directions, Hagrid, who had just dragged Fang up from the hollow, felt a loss for words.
"Two, four, six, eight... Hmm, we're rich!"
William reached into his wizard robe and soon pulled out a patched deep brown cloth bag. He casually dusted it off and then opened the bag—
An invisible force came from the bag's opening, and after a special effect worth fifty cents, all the Acromantulas in the woodland were sucked inside.
Even those eight giant spider legs—in the future, they could be sent to the kitchen for processing to see if they're edible; if not, they could still be used to feed dogs...
"Poke! Poke? Answer me!!"
In the spider nest above the hollow, Argo was still shouting loudly, squinting his clouded eyes with all his might. And the only spider head William left behind was shivering its massive fangs, then an unclear voice rang out, "Fa-father..."
"Poke? Are you still alive?" Argo locked onto the direction of the voice and turned his head, "What's up with the human now? Did you kill that damned human?"
Though he detected something odd about Poke's tone, and the brief noises earlier in the woodland didn't sound like a victory, he still asked a bit stubbornly.
"Fa-I..."
Poke trembled and fell silent.
"Uh, its condition doesn't look... very good." Hagrid slung the giant crossbow onto his back, still reeling from shock. He held no special affection for these regular Acromantulas, after all, Argo was the only spider he had raised since hatching—
That kind of bond is incomparable, much like the little Fire Dragon sent to Romania last year... Yet, these creatures he saw as incredibly cute, friendly, and dear individual were enough to scare half the little wizards in the castle to tears.
The other half wet their pants from fright.
"Damn you, you cruel human! We were doing just fine in the Forbidden Forest, why do you..." Argo angrily climbed down from the web, hurling accusations at the air beside Hagrid, his eight thick formidable spider legs restlessly pacing.
"Argo, calm down—"
Hagrid seemed a bit frightened, though he wasn't sure whether he was scared of William being attacked by Argo, or... Well, in any case, he wasn't keen on losing this pet which had been free-range for nearly fifty years.
"I'm over here." William put the stuffed cloth bag back into his robe, waving to guide the blind old spider.
"Speak—why did you have to...?" Argo demanded furiously.
"...Simply put, you're valuable." William rolled his eyes, an old spider trying to play the moral binding card.
"...?!"
Argo was left speechless, his big fangs quivering in bewilderment.
"Alright, enough idle chatter—"
"Wait, William—" seeing William raise his magic wand, Hagrid quickly stepped forward to shield Argo, "Don't, don't do it, it's just a harmless little spider, it's never harmed humans before, I beg you, please spare it—"
William didn't speak, instead pointing his wand aside—
"Snap—"
A skull wrapped in cobwebs rolled onto the ground, perhaps belonging to some poacher.
"...Uh, I, it," Hagrid scratched his beard, looking somewhat at a loss, "I mean..."
"Don't worry, I don't plan to kill it."
William gestured for Hagrid to step aside, figuring this old thing didn't have many years left anyway, no need to cause a rift with Hagrid over a bit of venom, especially since his bag was already filled with... not, spiders.
"You don't intend to..." Hagrid eyed the magic wand in William's hand, clearly still doubting, in the end, he anxiously asked, "Then what are you planning to do?"
"A bit of harmless modification—" William paused, lightly flicking his wand as a deep blue charm flowed from the tip and circled around Hagrid, striking Argo on the head.
"What did you do..." Argo wobbled blankly, but the next moment, his body, once the size of a small elephant, rapidly shrank until he was beneath William's recently-raised boot—
"Hiss—"
Just as William was about to deliver a stomp, he halted his movement—yeah, he'd grown rather accustomed to squashing those Spinybacked Orbweavers daily, almost sending Argo along to meet his son due to a quick combo.
"This, this is..."
It was unclear how many times Hagrid had been shocked today, his mustache slightly trembling as he looked at the small spider held by William.
"See, harmless modification—"
William casually tossed the now palm-sized and dizzy Argo over—Hagrid, somewhat excited, caught the fiercely flailing spider, carefully placing the little guy nearly as big as half his palm in his hand.
"How did you do this?"
Looking at Argo, whose size had been reduced and now truly appeared somewhat "cute", Hagrid still found it unbelievable.
"Simple transfiguration technique, utilizing knowledge from third year." Noting the thrilled half-blood giant, William remarked, "Though it's smaller, because the Acromantula's venom can still be lethal, I took the liberty of removing its fangs..."
Argo: "?"
"This will keep it from speaking, but there mustn't be any risks—" William eyed Hagrid, "You need to watch over it, and if you notice signs of it growing, come find me, I'll renew the buff, probably every two weeks."
Hagrid naturally had no objections, eagerly nodding.
Just being able to take Argo back to the wooden cabin was already beyond his expectations, not being able to speak—well, he could teach it to write, couldn't he? With eight legs to hold a pen, surely it wouldn't be a problem?
"And these spiders?" William patted his pocket—though Dumbledore agreed to farm chickens, raising a bunch of man-eating spiders in the castle, even if he was sure they wouldn't harm anyone, wouldn't sit well with the old man if he were to find out.
Especially after visiting the Headmaster's Office last night, he felt like that Riddler-head might have caught wind of something—but he checked with Professor Jerard (one of the Ancient Magic Guardians, details in Chapter 21) who often hung around the Headmaster's Office but hadn't noticed anything unusual.
Perhaps the hat leaked some secrets, or it was something else entirely...
However, William wasn't too concerned with whether his identity had been compromised anymore, since initial secrecy upon enrollment was due to uncertainties about the current Headmaster's character, especially knowing there was a "chubby" secret vault buried underground enough to blow up the entire Magic Realm. If this Headmaster was someone even worse than Phineas Black, he didn't want to end up clashing with the headmaster at the onset of his studies, then dealing with headaches over the secret vault's location.
But based on his observations so far, coupled with Professor Jerard's assessment—
Dumbledore, despite his half-speaking habits, Riddler antics, deaf and blind faculty choices, and disregard for doctor's orders with his constant candy consumption, was overall a good person, responsible towards students and continuously thwarted two would-be world dominating Black Wizards...
Honestly, William himself wanted to find an occasion to face off against the old man, to see if he truly lived up to the rumors.
"They're all yours, I won't tell anyone!" Hagrid said urgently, then added, "Not even Dumbledore!"
"Let's keep it that way then—" William nodded in satisfaction, not truly expecting if questioned, Hagrid could keep a secret—yet why would Dumbledore even bother asking about this? Surely the Basilisk was keeping him busy enough?